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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A humorous look at the Wehrmacht from one of their soldiers.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Forward Gunner Asch (Hardcover)
This is, as I recall, the first of a trilogy of Gunner Asch books, the others being The Revolt of Gunner Asch and The Return of Gunner Asch. All are eminently enjoyable, and it is a shame they are no longer in print so that more readers could enjoy them.All of them recount the adventures of a non-com in the German army during World War II. They are especially humorous to anyone who has ever served in the service, for the foibles of the military organization must be universal. Whether or not the reader has been in the military, these books are a guaranteed enjoyable read.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gunner Asch,
By
This review is from: Forward Gunner Asch (Hardcover)
I read all the books about Gunner Asch when i was a kid .They are very funny and also if you have served in the military you will see that nothing has changed since the second world war.A great read if you can get them
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gunner Asch on the Eastern Front,
By
This review is from: Forward Gunner Asch (Paperback)
Well, how about a reprint of a Time Magazine review so you will know a bit about the book.
In Germany, it has seldom occurred to novelists that life in uniform is a laughing matter. But in 1954 a Prussian-born veteran of the Wehrmacht named Hans Hellmut Kirst wrote a book called Null-Acht-Fiinfzehn-the model number (0-8-15) of the Wehrmacht service pistol-which in Germany is a term roughly equivalent to G.I. The book snickered behind the officers' ramrod backs, put in a plea for the dignity of the individual in uniform, and demonstrated hilariously how a canny conscript like Gunner Asch could win at the old army game simply by hiding behind regulations. Old army pros denounced it, and the publisher's office was ransacked by hoodlums. But Gunner Asch became the talk of the land and Null-Acht-Funfzehn the bestselling novel of postwar West Germany. Kirst's wry chronicle of the peacetime Wehrmacht was published in the U.S. as The Revolt of Gunner Asch (TIME, March 5). Forward, Gunner Asch! is sketched in the frame of the Russian front. But Author Kirst, who fought there, knows that a sense of the ridiculous is valid up to and including the front lines. Sergeant Asch never liked the army in peacetime, and he likes it even less in war. He is no hero, but he is something even better: an intelligent man who does his duty superlatively well. His instinctive dislike of Hitler and his works makes him no less the friend of his artillery unit commander, who stubbornly insists that the Fuhrer is infallible. When a martinet from the rear comes to take over the troop, Asch has a field day that a G.I. of any nationality can appreciate. It is the old story of the parade-ground perfectionist who simply cannot grasp the fact that war is a dirty and even unmilitary business. When Captain Witterer fouls up an "according-to-plan" withdrawal, Asch simply ignores him and does his best to save the troop. Forward, Gunner Asch! has its sententious anti-Hitlerism ("Yes, Lieutenant-a dishonorable war. Deliberately unleashed. Conducted with the methods of a pimp "), and a melodramatic love affair which features a class-C movie Russian Mata Hari who loves her German officer sincerely even as she betrays him. But its freewheeling candor is as engaging as it is un-Prussian. Even its most improbable episodes are edged with Soldier Kirst's knowledgeability, which consistently saves Novelist Kirst's neck.
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