Short description
The devastating true story of a young Franco-German soldier trapped in the lethal machinery of total war on the Eastern Front in World War II.
Long description
An international bestseller, this is a German soldier's first-hand account of life on Russian front during the second half of World War II. When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942 the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue and constant deprivation. Posted to the crack Grosse Deutchland division, with its sadistic instructors who shoot down those who fail to make the grade, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive. As the biting cold of the Russian winter sets in, and the tide begins to turn against the Germans, life becomes an endless round of pounding artillery attacks and vicious combat against a relentless and merciless Red Army. A book of stunning force, this is and unforgettable reminder of the horrors of war.
Review
A harrowing account of war on the Russian front as seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Sajer went through some of the worst fighting of the Second World War around Kharkhov, Voronezh and the Drieper River and then, towards the end of the war, on the Baltic coast in the final battles for Mewel and Danzig. Posted to the elite Grosse Deutschland Division in 1943, he tells of its savage training system where sadistic instructors shot down those who failed to shape up; vicions combat against Russian partisans; and the carriage of battles against a desperate but merciless Red Army with its mind-numbing artillery attacks and endless waves of infantry and tanks. An all too realistic account of a violent and remorseless world that destroyed all hope and idealism and where only brute survival counted. (Kirkus UK)