The Cross of Iron [Paperback]

Willi Heinrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1981

CROSS OF IRON is the thrilling story of a German platoon cut off far behind Russian lines in the second half of World War II. A resourceful and cynical commander somehow manages to coax his men through the bitter hand-to-hand fighting in forests, trenches and city streets until eventually they regain the German lines. But safety is only temporary. After the tension of waiting for the last overwhelming Russian advance the platoon is forced into futile counter-attacks and murderous house-to-house fighting until its final decimation becomes inevitable. A modern classic of war fiction both as a book and a film, this is a strikingly realistic story of action on the Eastern Front, where the grimness of combat seems to have neither pity nor end.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (Mm) (March 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553147870
• ISBN-13: 978-0553147872
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A review of Cross of Iron, October 25, 2003

By 

The WW2 Seminar at the College of William and... (Williamsburg, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cross of Iron (Paperback)

Willi Heinrich's Cross of Iron addresses the challenges facing German soldiers on the Eastern front during World War II. Some of these trials are physical; the novel begins with a German platoon stranded miles behind the Russian lines, without rations or adequate weapons, and progresses through brutal sieges and shattering assaults. Under the strain of mental exhaustion and the extreme stress of combat conditions, the platoon's commander, non-commissioned officer, Rolf Steiner, must make critical decisions for his men to survive. More compelling than the substantive difficulties Steiner and his men undergo are the psychological problems that war imposes on those who fight. The soldiers' reactions to these problems, ranging from bleak acceptance of what seems inevitable to an unquenchable ambition for advancement, provide the impetus for a plot line that centers on the unremitting hardship of war.

Heinrich writes in understated, direct prose designed to relate events that are inherently dramatic without pretension or histrionics. Coming suddenly, without warning or prejudice, death is documented rather than lamented: "The earth exploded. The blast knocked him backwards and he lay staring up at the sky" (257). Dialogue becomes the author's outlet for addressing the important questions raised by the book's events. Hardened by the experience of relentless combat, the soldiers scathingly scrutinize both motivations for combat and human nature itself. The infantrymen's reactions to the deaths of their comrades carry a particular significance. In one instance, two soldiers remark upon the death of a companion in markedly different ways. Private Kern finds a cause for anger as well as lament when Pfc. Dorn, "the professor," dies, blaming not the enemy but the war: "This miserable war - just to kill like that - a man of his learning" (258). Expressing an indifferent fatalism, Corporal Kruger responds, "You think any of you are going to make out better?" (258).

One of Germany's great novels of World War II, Cross of Iron tells of a world without reason. Heinrich's antagonist is not human; death, an indiscriminate and omnipresent force, drives the action and torments the reader's emotions. As this work shows, war supercedes such fixtures of humanity as God, patriotism, heroism, and morality; the necessity of survival renders them peripheral.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steiner is the MAN., March 4, 2006

By 

Ozark Trail Outrider (Jenks, OK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cross of Iron (Cassell Military Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Unlike so many of his fellow German veterans, Willi Heinrich elected to relate his WWII experiences through his outstanding novel, The Cross of Iron. The book deals with the German withdrawal from the Kuban Peninsula. This is one of the far flung fronts that comparatively little has been written.

Heinrich's protagonist is Sgt. Steiner, the veteran platoon leader that has seen more than his share of combat and knows how to achieve an objective and keep his men alive. He is the cynical sort of heroic soldier, who does his job not for medals or politics, but to keep himself and his men alive for one more day.

Heinrich's Landser are a great cross section of Germans from the young replacements to the grizzled veterans to the true Nazi. Into his group arrives Cpt. Stranksy, who has been in the occupied West and seen virtually no combat, yet is foaming at the mouth to win his Knight's Cross as befits his status as a member of the Prussian Officer Class. His motivations are purely self-serving and contrast sharply with Steiner.

Heinrich portrays the German officer class with fairness and realism. Officers like Kiesel and Brandt represent the best characteristics of German officers and Stransky and Triebig show the dark side of that same group. And of course Steiner and his men aren't that far removed from Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe slogging it through Italy.

The book is at its best during Steiner's Platoon's efforts to escape a Soviet occupied factory. It is riveting reading and as frightening as any horror movie. And in truth what could be more frightening than knowing that you are being hunted by an enemy that wants to kill you with extreme prejuidice.

Heinrich brings the reader into that factory and into the dark woods of the Kuban peninsula. He succeeds in making the reader see Steiner and his men, not as Nazis, not as German Soldiers, but as men trapped by circumstance in the most awful of situations.

And finally, he creates in a Steiner, a man that we can all respect and root for. We want Steiner and Kruger and Schnurrbart to make it back to their own lines. But war is war and Heinrich does not hold back its punches. And in the end the best anyone caught in the cataclysm of war can hope for...is a trip into the light.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated!, December 13, 2005

By 

Cassandra Morgan (Philly 'burbs, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cross of Iron (Cassell Military Paperbacks) (Paperback)

I loved this book very much, and think that like others have said, it is comparable to All Quiet on the Western Front. Furthermore, I think it surpasses AQWF in terms of exploring war and the people involved, especially from the German/Nazi side. It's harsh and crude at times, with descriptions more direct than poetic. Perhaps many would be put off by the fact that it's written from the Nazi perspective, but the truth is that 'Nazi' is more a description of an ideology that not all followed, rather than a term for the foot soldier who is simply fighting to save his life and what he may believe at first to be the survival of his country.