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No holds barred WWII German memoirs??

 
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No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 11:53:06 AM   
Perturabo


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Joined: 11/17/2007
Status: offline 		Whenever I'm trying to read memoirs of some WWII prominent German soldier I get transported into a bizarro alternate universe where Germany is an idyllic place without the whole dictatorship and secret police terror thing going on and German soldiers are gallant knights, usually fighting evil Bolshevik hordes.
Now I'm reading Rudel's memoirs and in them Russians exist only as attacking Mongol hordes. Apparently Russian civilians didn't even exist :what: .

Are there any German military memoirs that are more honest about all that stuff?

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 3:50:50 PM   
Treale


Posts: 1052
Joined: 8/10/2003
From: Central Florida
Status: offline 		Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjager on the Eastern Front, 1941-43 was an interesting read???

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 8:09:53 PM   
Tarhunnas


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From: Hex X37, Y15
Status: offline 		Rudel is kind of a special case I would say. Rudel was an unrepentant Nazi.

I Suggest "A mind in prison" by Bruno Manz.

"I Flew for the Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoke also has an authentic feel if you want something about the arieal war.

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 9:54:38 PM   
Lützow


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Joined: 7/22/2008
From: Germany
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

Are there any German military memoirs that are more honest about all that stuff?


Depends what you mean with honest. Most of these memoirs got written in the 50's already and focus on military operations, while German war crimes and in particular the Holocaust barely got picked out until late 70's. The typical prominent soldier was blaming Hitler for wrong strategic decisions in his memoirs but never himself, and he omitted anything related to crimes. Examples for this are the books of Guderain, Manstein or Paul Carell. On the other hand there were quite a few cleaving to National Socialism after war, like Rudel and several Waffen-SS officers (Hausser, Steiner, Degrelle, etc.) and their books sometimes have an ideological colored approach.

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 10:04:00 PM   
Orm


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Status: offline 		I think that most who write about their participation in a war want to put a positive light on their actions and on their own side as they can. And this regardless of conflict and side.

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 10:04:14 PM   
warspite1


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

Whenever I'm trying to read memoirs of some WWII prominent German soldier I get transported into a bizarro alternate universe where Germany is an idyllic place without the whole dictatorship and secret police terror thing going on and German soldiers are gallant knights, usually fighting evil Bolshevik hordes.
Now I'm reading Rudel's memoirs and in them Russians exist only as attacking Mongol hordes. Apparently Russian civilians didn't even exist :what: .

Are there any German military memoirs that are more honest about all that stuff?
warspite1

Perhaps to them, they were being honest. It can't be nice knowing you have just been to hell and back, fighting for your country in a war - that you ultimately lose - only to find you were the bad guys.... I have no doubt many believed they were doing the right thing in waging such a cruel and barbaric war against the Bolsheviks. Let's face it, it wasn't just the SS who did the murdering of civilians.

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/4/2012 10:50:56 PM   
Zorch

 

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Status: offline 		One honest memoir is Werner's Iron Coffins, about the U-boat war.

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/5/2012 6:43:42 PM   
SLAAKMAN


Posts: 2105
Joined: 7/24/2002
Status: online 		Perturabo,
quote:

Are there any German military memoirs that are more honest about all that stuff?

Have you read Glantz & House's, "The Battle of Kursk"?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Kursk-David-Glantz/dp/0700613358



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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/5/2012 8:04:53 PM   
wodin


Posts: 6503
Joined: 4/20/2003
From: England
Status: offline 		1.The Forsaken Army by Heinrich Gerlach (has alot to say about Stalingrad and Manstein aswell as several other German Officers. great read. Concentrates on his time at Stalingrad and in the kessel))
2.In Deadly Combat by Gottlob Herbert Bidermann (Excellent memoir, infact it was the first German East front memoir I bought)
3.Soldat by Siegfried Knappe (Good read)
4.But not for the fuehrer by Helmut Jung (Great read. Could be what your looking for more so than he others even)
5.Shades of Grey by Arthur O Naujoks (unusual memoir, he was actually a Mormon)
6.Too young to be a hero by Ulrich Holz (found him to moan alot. However I suppose he had alot to moan about. Again could be what your looking for)


Number 1, 4, 5 and 6 are close to what your looking for I feel. First one I'd buy is No1 , then No4. After that any. They are all very good reads. No6 for me was the weakest but then I didn't connect so much with the author.

< Message edited by wodin -- 9/5/2012 10:28:20 PM >

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RE: No holds barred WWII German memoirs?? - 9/5/2012 10:16:29 PM   
Lützow


Posts: 1414
Joined: 7/22/2008
From: Germany
Status: offline 		My all time favorites are Carell's "Unternehmen Barbarossa" and "Verbrannte Erde". He has an enthralling writing style by portraying the East Front and draws an arc from high command to the common soldier. Guess I'd read these books a dozen times since I was a 14-years-old boy.

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