Five Years, Four Fronts: The War Years of Georg Grossjohann [Paperback]

Georg Grossjohann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

Wartime memoir of a professional German soldier who rose from sergeant to major during WWII, commanding infantry units from platoon to regiment. Includes unusually candid recollections of not only combat, but of professional and personal relations with superiors, peers, and subordinates alike during combat duty on four fronts across Europe. 26 original photos, 27 original maps, appendices, notes, index.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Best German Military Memoir of 2000." -- Military Heritage magazine, February 2001

"Grossjohann "Undeniably tells it like it was." -- Military Heritage magazine, June 2000

"Not...All Quiet on the Western Front or another The Forgotten Soldier. In my opinion, it is a better book." -- The Journal of Military History, June 2000

About the Author

The son of East Prussian farmers, Georg Grossjohann enlisted in the Reichswehr, the Army of the pre-Nazi Weimar Republic in 1928, at age 17. A senior sergeant in the invasion of Poland in 1939, he was commissioned in 1940 and served in an escalating variety of combat infantry leadership positions during the invasion of France in 1940, the campaigns in the USSR in 1941 - 44, and the Rhône Valley and Vosges Mountains in 1944-45. Awarded the Knight's Cross for valor, he was captured by the US Army when the war ended. Unable to return to his Soviet-occupied home, he built a privately-owned tailoring and fashion business in the German Federal Republic, and declined a commission in the Bundeswehr in the 1950s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: The Aberjona Press; First edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096663893X
• ISBN-13: 978-0966638936
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical German solider memoir - this is BETTER!, May 25, 2004

By 

Mannie Liscum (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Five Years, Four Fronts: The War Years of Georg Grossjohann (Paperback)

"Five Years, Four Fronts" by Georg Grossjohann is a fabulous look into the life of a young Wehrmacht officer from his time before the outbreak of WWII to its end. Unlike many books that are similarly dedicated to the views from a single soldier, those of Grossjohann are steeped in broad vision. For example, while individual battles are discussed Grossjohann places them squarely within the context of the overall theatre of operations, making them more than personal snippets of information. Amazingly, despite this broad perspective, Grossjohann does not get trapped into the position of defending or apologizing for actions of the whole German war machine. This is a refreshing change from the plethora of recent Axis biographies that have emerged in recent years. A reader can enjoy Grossjohann's journey in proper context without feeling disgust, anger or pity. Rather one can walk away feeling one has gotten a rare glimpse into the life of a truly honest and fair soldier who fought bravely for his country - in this case a German rather than Allied soldier. Quite an amazing experience actually!

While "Five Years, Four Fronts" does in fact cover (at least) five years and four fronts (as Grossjohann traverses back and forth across Euro-Asia moving from command to command and up through the lower ranks of the Wehrmacht) readers will not get an in-depth look at a large number of battles spanning the entire war. Rather the reader sees how a good lower-level officer can be move from one situation to the next as needed and how that officer (Grossjohann) perceived his place in this opera. The combat discussions are in fact quite good but not numerous, so if this is what you are looking for this may not be your cup of tea. However, if you want more in your personal historical accounts (as I did) "Five Years, Four Fronts" soundly delivers.

As is typical of so many other Aberjona Press books, it is the extra detail that pushes the book into a "must have/must read" category. The Preface provided by T.C. Mataxis, Brigadier General, US Army (retired), sets the stage for a book that is MORE than just another German soldier's story, but rather the story of a warrior demanding respect from peers of all nationalities. The Historical Commentaries at the beginning of each chapter further set Grossjohann's text within the larger context of the war (spatially and temporally). These facts together with Grossjohann's style and Aberjona editing make "Five Years, Four Fronts" a solid 4.5 star book - easy to pick up and read but hard to put down!!

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, January 13, 2003

By 

"crabtownprofs" (Annapolis, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Years, Four Fronts: The War Years of Georg Grossjohann (Paperback)

Five Years, Four Fronts, The War Years of Georg Grossjohann, Major, German Army (Retired), Aegis, 1999. Forward by Theodore C. Mataxis, BG, USA (Ret).

It has long interested me to hear veterans speak, especially to and about former enemies. Ted Mataxis was with Task Force Herren, a scratch force comprised primarily of the first arrivals in France of our 70th ID. General Mataxis was asked by Keith Bonn, editor of Aberjona Press (Aegis) to write the intro to Five Years... Both men (and Bonn for that matter) had been career army. But unlike Seven Days in January, with the 6th SS-Mountain Division in Operation NORDWIND, for which Ted M. also wrote the intro, he had not fought against Grossjohann's outfits. But still, these men had a lot in common, e.g., having to suddenly cobble together bunches of untrained men and try to teach them how to survive the battlefield. Our 70th was filled with former army air corps crew members, anti-aircraft gunners, and former students from the Army Specialized Training Program. What was needed by the fall of 1944 was more infantrymen. Everyone knew the war would soon be over so there would be no point in having all these highly educated technicians just sitting around, now was there?? (To read about the Battle of Wingen sur Moder and other, later 70 ID garden spots such as Forbach, go to the Trailbazers website, and click on the 276th Regiment).

Major Grossjohann's story is very interesting and importantly, he's not apologizing for anything. He's particularly irked at the rash of books decrying poor officer leadership, noting for example, in WWII, 287 German generals were killed in the front lines. "Between 22 June and 31 October 1941, my division (the 198th ID) lost about fifty-one percent of its officers versus thirty-eight of its NCOs and troops. It is obvious that relatively few of our combat officers indulged in fanatical self-preservation. Incidentally, in the German Army, the vast majority of officers had once served as soldiers..." Grossjohann joined the army in 1928 as a Zwolfender, "so called after a twelve-point buck, because under the provisions of Versailles, the minimum enlistment in the Reichswehr was twelve years." When the war began he was w/in five months of discharge. He was picked up as an Officer Aspirant after the invasion of France.

When in France awaiting SEALION (the invasion of England), "the regimental staff was quartered in the chateau of the manufacturer of fine liqueurs whose products are world-famous. The relationship between the owner of the chateau and his family and our soldiers was friendly and congenial, and I mean that for both sides. This was the case almost all over France, but was especially evident in Normandy, for historical reasons, the people there were not very fond of the English, so we had a common antagonist." (Editor's note, I had the same experience when I lived in Normandy in the 1950s. The people I knew were fonder of the Germans than les anglais..).

When G. then went to the Soviet Union to participate in BARBAROSSA, interestingly he had a similar experience. Now a company commander and therefore with "quarters in a cottage, situated directly next to the company orderly room.... My Russian, or more precisely Ukrainian hosts, were as nice and friendly as the French had been during my time in Normandy. I was always given a sofa covered with a black wax-coated sheet cloth to sleep on, while the whole family retired to sleep on the giant stove. Unfortunately, my sofa was so full of bugs that in the morning I always looked as if I had the measles. My hosts, who seemed to be completely immune to bedbugs, were always greatly amused when I got up in the morning swollen from stings and bites. But their harmless glee in my misfortune was certainly not intended." Despite Himmler and Hitler, apparently not all Germans considered Slavs untermenchen...

Five Years... is a well balanced work. In addition the editor's historical commentary which is solid enough to serve as a text as World War II history courses, the author discusses tactics, leadership and military/political as well as cultural realities. There's an excellent description of his regiment's egress from the Cherkassy Pocket and nearly being again cut off by the Soviets at Uman. Grossjohann early on notes that he had no particular problem fighting for Adolph Hitler since as a soldier he was initially not permitted to get into politics. After the war began, he was too busy to care about politics. However, "it was unimaginable and simply irreplaceable considering the men and material we lost by stubbornly sustaining positions and so-called 'strongholds' since Stalingrad." Hitler had abandoned the very able German 'mobile defense' and thus subjected his troops to envelopments which had been the Wehrmacht's speciality early on.

After Operation Bagration, his regiment, now a shadow of the original, was assigned to southwestern France for refitting. After 15 August 1944 and the American invasion of southern France, they became part of the German 19th Army's withdrawal up the Rhone Valley. conducting rear guard activity in hot spots such as Montelimar. While fighting in the High Vosges, initially against U.S. and then against French colonial troops, Grossjohann was assigned as provisional regimental commander of another outfit. Regardless that everyone knew the war was all but over, but not surprising due to German administrative/bureaucratic thoroughness, when his war ended the author had just reported to the course for new regimental commanders... And most Soldaten just fought on...

He entered U.S. Army captivity in May, 1945.

Awards: Iron Cross 2nd Class, June 1940; Iron Cross 1st Class, July 1942; Wound Badge in Black, August 1942; German Cross in Gold, October, 1944; Wounds Badge in Silver, December, 1944; Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, December, 1944.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Broad scope, human perspectives, May 18, 2003

By 

Benjamin R. Myers (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Years, Four Fronts: The War Years of Georg Grossjohann (Paperback)

Georg Grossjohann fits an image that historically curious readers today might have of a "typical Wehrmacht officer" -- Prussian background, long pre-1939 service, and campaign experiences on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during the war. Where his book "Five Years, Four Fronts" excels, is in presenting a ground-level view of the World War II German Army through the eyes of such an officer, who commanded troops close enough to the front to convey the day-to-day details of battle and the lives of officers and men, but at the same time far enough away that his perceptions of what took place were not limited by the horizon of an individual fighting position or armored vehicle.

Some of the most interesting material in this book involves the attitudes of Wehrmacht officers and men toward their chain of command, which, Grossjohann relates, were not always as rigid and "Prussian" as persisting stereotypes still suggest. There are revealing descriptions of the foibles of leadership figures ranging from a master sergeant at Grossjohann's old prewar regiment, to Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler as he took amateurish charge of German forces on the Upper Rhine late in the war. Also, Grossjohann details such dynamics of front-line action as the agreement between his regiment and the mayor of a French town to let civilians evacuate during a pause in combat.

Overall, "Five Years, Four Fronts" gives insight into the daily culture of the Wehrmacht service as well as laying out full-fleshed and detailed accounts of events in lesser-known war theaters such as the Rhone Valley and the Vosges Mountains of France. It is substantial historical work which also reads engagingly enough to keep the reader interested throughout.