The Forgotten Soldier: The Classic WWII Autobiography (Brassey's Commemorative Series WWII) [Paperback]

Guy Sajer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1990

War on the Eastern Front, seen through the eyes of a young German soldier.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A work of soul." -- Life Magazine

"I don't think that anyone who reads [it] will ever forget it." -- New York Times Book Review

"May well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited." -- Christian Science Monitor

"Simply as a record of an unfamiliar aspect of World War II--the Russian campaign from a German viewpoint...fascinating. It has even greater interest as a painful personal history, with reticences as significant as its disclosures...I don't think that anyone who reads [it] to the end will ever forget it." -- New York Times

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 472 pages
• Publisher: Brassey's (April 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0080374379
• ISBN-13: 978-0080374376
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The horrifying truth about World War Two in Russia., March 18, 2000

By 

ALEXANDER KENNETH KUHNS - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forgotten Soldier: The Classic WWII Autobiography (Brassey's Commemorative Series WWII) (Paperback)

"The Forgotten Soldier" is all the explanation you need on the horrors of war in general, and World War Two on the Eastern Front in particular. It is the story of Guy Sajer, a young Alsatian who volunteers for service in the Wermacht as a member of a supply unit. He ends the war having served as an infantryman with one of the Wermacht's (not the Waffen-SS's) elite Panzer divisions in some of the most ferocious battles of the war. I read this book when I was a teenager and wasn't able to leave behind its most vivid images: the men of his squad under intense artillery fire outside Belgorod, the living misery of existence in Memel, the seemingly endless and deadly Russian winters, his falling in love with a young Berliner. Years after reading it the first time with dropped jaw and tears, I picked it up again; I was amazed at its undiminished ability to jar my emotions and leave me mentally exhausted. I won't lie: this book is difficult to read simply because it encapsulates every morsel of TRUTH about one of the most horrible chapters of human history. That said, if you are a student of history or simply humanity, brace yourself for a harrowing journey into hell, and read it. To read this book is to understand humanity's duality: its magnificence and nobility in being able to rise above adverse conditions; and its depravity and ignobility in its massive capacity to inflict them. Quite possibly the greatest work of military non-fiction ever written.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare literary talent, May 5, 2000

By 

R. Barlow (Norfolk, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Forgotten Soldier: The Classic WWII Autobiography (Brassey's Commemorative Series WWII) (Paperback)

Guy Sajer makes you feel the brutal cold, fear, and despair that was the German soldier's lot on the Eastern Front, which was quite possibly the most brutal campaign in human history. But, at the same time, Sajer lets you share his simple joys, and the deep bonds which he forms with his circle of friends with whom he has faced hell on earth. In my opinion, Sajer's book is the best personal memoir to come out of the war. It is impossible to read it and not be moved. His stories of his training, his first combat, and of his dawning realization that the war was lost, are particularly vivid. The closing pages of the book will live in the reader's memory for a long while. This book is a true military classic, and I cannot recommend it too highly.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book fromm the soldier's perspective, November 27, 1999

By 

Kevin Earl (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forgotten Soldier: The Classic WWII Autobiography (Brassey's Commemorative Series WWII) (Paperback)

I have been reading and studying about WWII for 30 years, with the war in the east, between the Nazis and the Russians, my specialty. The vast majority of books I've read depict the overall battles, such as what army did this or what division or general did that and on what date. But a war as vast as that begun with Operation Barbarossa, involving millions of soldiers, you would think there would be more books written by the "common" soldier, those who actually dug the foxholes, saw their buddies killed, and survived through the incredible physical hardships. There are numerous books by the field marshals and the generals, but precious few by the men who actually fought it on the front lines and Guy Sajer does an absolutely unbelievable job of describing all he lived through, as seen through the eyes of the enlisted man. You can perhaps begin to imagine some of the true stories that have gone to the graves of these now old men, of a war that was often unmatched in terms of feriocity and barbarism on both sides. A spellbinding, riveting book! About the best war book I've ever read. Incredible action and hardships.