The Forgotten Soldier

One of the best books on the topic available anywhere.

My Dad - at 92 - is a veteran of some of the most fierce fighting in the Hurtgen Forest.

He recommended this book to me.

Although written from the German Soldier's perspective my Dad told me that it was an honest, compassionate account of the hardships and personal tragedies of every soldier called to do battle.

The BEST book I've ever read on the subject and I unconditionally recommend it to anyone interested in either this period of warfare or the sacrifice of soldiers of any period in history.

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THE BEST

I COULDN'T WAIT TO GET HOME FROM WORK EVERYDAY TO READ THIS BOOK. I HAVE READ MANY BOOKS ON THE WAR AND I HOPE TO READ MANY MORE. THIS IS THE BEST SO FAR ABOUT WHAT IS WAS LIKE FOR A SOLDIER IN WW2. HARD TO BELIEVE MEN CAN ENDURE THIS FOR 2-4 YEARS. SOMETHING IN THE BOOKS STANDS OUT IN MY MIND, 6 MEN EACH WITH A PANZERFAUST (THE GERMAN VERSION OF THE BAZOOKA) TOLD BY AN OFFICER TO CHARGE A COLUMN OF TANKS AND SHOOT AT THEM, AS THEY ARE STARTING TO RUN TOWARDS THEM HE CRAPS HIS PANTS WITH FEAR. IF YOU ENJOY READING ABOUT THE WAR AND HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT I PROMISE YOU

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent Classic

Truly amazing down to earth recording of the life of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front in the waning years of the Wehrmacht power. Does a wonderful job of examining the life of a grunt fighting a losing battle but fighting nonetheless. If you want an book which demonstrates the tenacity of the human spirit in the absolute worst of conditions this is the one.

A must read if you want to be credible about the history of warfare

One of the most arresting books I've ever read. "The Forgotten Soldier" tells the author's story from recruitment, to war, to disaster...in Hitler's Wehrmacht. Veterans talk about how difficult combat is to describe to the uninitiated; Guy Sajer provided as clear a picture of its horrors - and thrills, frighteningly - as we've ever received. Yes, it could have been edited differently. It's overly long during several sections. Yes, it has a few historical inaccuracies. (If it were perfectly factual, I would think it a fraud. Soldiers on the ground rarely have a full idea of overall strategy while they're fighting.) All in all, it's a masterpiece of first-person reportage, a blunt assessment of a lost cause, and a terrifying coming-of-age story for the author. If you are interested in history, you have to read this book to be conversant in true stories about war. "Band of Brothers," with all due respect, pales in comparison.

No Glory, Just Grime

Guy Sajer was a unique individual to start with, born and raised in an area contested by France and Germany for many years. He had family ties to both sides and his worldview strikes the modern reader as an idiosyncratic, naive, homogenized nationalism. He was filled with pride, for instance, when the Vichy French joined the Axis--his 2 nations, fighting as 1 (as he saw it). But putting his convoluted motivations aside, Sajer wrote one of the best war memoirs ever--and about one of the biggest, bloodiest campaigns ever: WWII on the Eastern Front. His experiences as an infantryman should be required reading for every young man who imagines war to be heroic or glorious. His honesty about what he saw, did and thought is striking. The closest anyone in Sajer's auto bio comes to heroism is a man Sajer often refers to as "the veteran" (Wiener was his name, so Sajer undoubtedly did him a favor by dubbing him with that title). Sajer and the other soldiers came to depend on the veteran, who was a pragmatic survivor, almost never lost his cool, and had a keen grasp of the strategic big picture well beyond his tactical grunt's-eye-view. The men in his squad thought him invincible. "Combat fatigue," "shell shock," "post traumatic stress" or whatever you choose to call it affects every soldier differently, and I found it profoundly sad what happened to the veteran's mind by the end. The reason for the war on the Eastern Front was that one power-mad dictator wanted territory (Leibensraum) from another. But Sajer's story resonates with the experience of veterans of any war who endured heavy fighting and monumental hardships.

Worth the read

I thought it was a great book, but rather sanitized on some issues. Worth reading just for his persepctive during the war and the various issues he faced as a rear echelon soldier and then later as an infantryman in one of the elite German divisions. No glory hound here and it rather frank about various aspects of combat. But he is also very silent when it comes to the treatment of the soviet citizens by the Germans, war crimes and if you believe the author, he had no idea the allies were deep into Western Germany at the end of the war (he fought in the east, but was captured by the British at the end). Those few things are kinda silly to leave out or even write and defy explanation. But the rest, great book. He was very factual about the treatment of veterans home on leave back in Germany by the military police during the war.

Forgotten Soldier

Very good book although the horrors of the Eastern Front become numbing after a point. Should have cut 100 pages from the work.

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Amazing for ALL

This must be one of the best written and accurate accounts of any war or historic event. His amemory for the events are extremely credible and can be verified by many other historians. His writting is spectacular and will keep you in your seat unil you are finished.

Amazing Book -- Highly Recommended

This book is absolutely amazing. Not only does it offer an unfortunately rare insight of the war 'German point of view', but it does so in an engaging and sensitive way. Guy Sajer makes a superb narrator, relaying the events candidly, sensitively, and honestly. In reading this book, one may learn to cast aside the stereotype that all the Germans in this time were ruthless 'Nazis' -- in fact, a majority of them seemed to just be fighting because they were pressed into service, or just fighting for their country as everyone else did. This book has made me laugh and smile at the moments of friendship, cry because of the horrors and tragedies of war, and opened my mind to a whole new perspective. It is quite a simple read, but is hard to put down once you start reading though it is a memoir, it reads like a top-rate fiction novel. Don't pass on this great novel just because it isn't from a familiar, or popular, point of view. 'The Forgotten Soldier', though it might be hard to read because of the sheer horribleness of the war it depicts so heartrendingly, is definitely a must-read. [Also, get the illustrated edition if possible. The rare photographs included enhance the memoir greatly and offer more insight into the German side of WWII.]

A reviewer

It¿s like you¿re in the foxhole with Guy Sajer. An incredibly honest, well written memoir of WWII on the eastern front while in the Germany army. The horrors of a seventeen year old¿s time during the downside of German battles against Russia. A classic!

Recamended to all

Short sweet and to the point, BUY THIS BOOK and more importantly read it! This is a gripping account of Guy Sajor, a German soldier on the Eastern front. This is a must read!

Kidnapped and sent to the Eastern Front

I didn't realize that the Nazis inducted half-German teenagers to fight. This autobiography is pure prose, as Sajer tells about the war he fought from the fall of 1942 until 1945. He went through boot camp and began to learn German the hard way. He was in the wehrmact division of Gross Deutschland, where he was first in a supply company, and then in an infantry company. He tells about carrying supplies through the snowy wasteland of the Eastern front and later being a replacement for a combat unit. They'd be let out of a truck and follow a non-com. A trail would fork off and a green recruit would have to walk alone through the frozen snow to his machine gun post that was kilometers away. Reading this, a person can feel the cold biting into the feet and the crunch of frozen snow, while carrying heavy burdens. Sajer tells about fighting toward Minsk and the battles of Kursk. He tells about being given leave and on the way to the west, everyone at the depot or on the train was comandeered to counter a break through by the Russians. Nazi propaganda said that the occupied countries were terrified of the Soviets and were trainning forces to join the fight against the Soviets. Sajer ran into French speaking SS and thought that France had joined the fight. When he found out that they were Belgian SS vounteers, his heart sank. Sajer tells us what he felt about people, and caused me, the reader, to wonder about 'The veteran', an older Prussian soldier, who was almost 30 years old. So many times, Sajer was seperated from the veteran and his boot camp friends, Hal, Lensen, Neubach,because of leave or hospitalization, and Sajer would jump into a shelter or machine gun emplacement and find his friends there. We see men have breakdowns during artillery barrages, starve and survive, as their clothes and arms deteriorate. As they do this, they helped rescue German civilians, young and old, from the Soviet onslaught. Sajer shares the fear and reality of being trapped between a deep, wide icy river and the Soviet artillery and fighter planes. Sajer often was part of the rear guard that covered the retreat of others. Fortunately, Sajer and his unit ended up on the western front, and they were captured by the British. He felt betrayed by the French when the British turned him over to them. His recollection of going home shows the anguish he was in. He went near the house and stood on the main road for hours. His German mother walked past him, without recognizing him. When she returned and, as she passed him, he called to her. He was 19. The photos are wonderful.

Excellent and engaging

This book is a kind of German 'Band of Brothers' in the way it follows the shared experiences of a small group of comrades in uniform. They happen to be fighting ultimately losing battles, which makes their struggles that much more compelling.

Amazing insight

It seems like a lot of times as you read memoirs, you don't get too much of a glimpse of the feelings a soldier went through. Sajer really lets you into his thoughts and heart as he goes through his experience. A must read.

Excellent Book. Written different than most books

This book truly tells the tale of how horrible war can be, especially from the enemy's side ( I say enemy loosely, as it appeared that most soldiers had no choice and were just fighting to survive). My only regret is that there is no extra epilogue into what Mr Sajer did up until his death.

Fantastic book and hard to put down

Anyone who is interested in World War II history, especially those who study the Eastern Front, will thoroughly enjoy this great book. Having said that, I think anyone who enjoys reading about real people who are subjected to unreal hardships in their lives would enjoy reading this book as well. Apparently there has been a lot of controversy in recent years regarding this book. Some historians have claimed that the book is really part fact and part fiction (a.k.a literature of fact). However, other historians have defended Guy Sajer and supported his claims that the book is completely factual and he has embellished nothing. I have to agree that I believe the book is factual. The author is so honest about his own fear and shortcomings under fire, that I believe he is telling the truth. Highly recommended by this writer.

An intense and personal narrative of the Eastern Front

I am an avid WWII reader, amateur historian, and son of a US WWII Vet of the ETO. I picked up this book two years ago, when I felt my understanding of the war on the Eastern Front was limited. Never did I think a book would affect me as much as this one did. Guy Sajer has written a book that should be read by every school student in the world. Often one reads books about war, that covers it from strategic point of you. Rarely does a book cover war from it's lowliest actors. Even more rare is when an author can explain his emotions and physical anguish to the point the reader feels this pain himself. Someone mentioned above that you should never forget though that the author was a Nazi. I for one would never act as an apologist for the Nazi's. None the less, Guy Sajer was not a Nazi. He was an child of a German mother and a French father, living in an area of Europe that has been fought over by these two countries for centuries; Alsace-Lorraine. From my reading Guy Sajer was an unwilling participant in the Wermacht. If you haven't bought this book yet, DO IT ASAP. Whatever the price, it's worth it.

A must read - a definite classic!!

I have been reading mainly historic, non fiction books since I graduated high school about 20 years ago. This interest has grown to a book collection of over 1,200 titles in that time. 'Forgotten Soldier' is quite possibly the best book I own. I recommend it to my friends whether they are history buffs or not. It is spellbinding and impossible to put down. Sajer makes you see things from a vastly different perpective, that of a low ranking German infantryman, the enemy, on a far away Russian front. I recommend this book highly, it is World War II's version af Erich Marie Remarques 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. It's that good.

Keeping World War II in Perspective

This book is certainly riveting. Although gory in detail of battles, I found it difficult to put the book down. However, one must always remember when reading this book that Germany and it's Axis soldiers were the aggressors. They invaded Russia. Nazi ideology was based on hatred and superiority. Russian soldiers were fighting for their lives and their country.

Outstanding accout of WWII

this book is my all- time favorite war story.It includes so much action, and also brings you to feel the same way he felt about the war. A great Read.