Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper [Hardcover]

Martin Poppel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1989

Follows the author's military career from the Hitler Youth in 1933 to the bitter end of hostilities in 1945. The chaos, confusion, and improvisation of warfare are vividly recreated.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870527231
• ISBN-13: 978-0870527234
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,812,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heaven and Hell, start to finish, December 11, 2002

By 

adlbrns (FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper (Paperback)

Many are not aware that the Fallschirmjäger, or German paratroopers, were among the most elite of the fighting forces in WW2. So, those who are interested in the FJ and their history should be more than interested in this book. How many German paratrooper accounts of World War 2 can you think of? You can count them on one hand.

From the start to the finish - Poppel recalls the days of his Hitler Youth, his naive views of Germany & the world before his entrance in to war (which becomes understandable), his and his comrades' views of Italian, British, and American troops, and inevitably, the loss of his friends and his own country. His accounts of battle range from the disastrous jump at Crete, to Holland, Russia, France and Italy. You'll watch Poppel go from a very enthustiastic trooper to a very tired veteran, wishing for nothing more than the entire ordeal to be done with.

Note that German paras were not used in many combat jumps during WW2 because of "failure" at Crete - don't be angry when you find alot of the book is from the view of an FJ trooper with his wings clipped.

Also, don't expect for the book to be a grand story of his life. It is exactly what it says - a war journal. Some entries are rather abrupt and not entirely descriptive. Regardless, considering the amount of days chronicled, it's quite an achievement. Those who are interested in the FJ or simply the German perspective during the war will know full well that finding information on the troops is scarce, especially an account directly from one of the elite. That said, trying to fathom what the man must have gone through on some occasions is difficult, especially since he doesn't get too far into the psychology of his time in the field - how he felt on most occasions. He simply states what he went through and leaves it up to you to understand the impact of what he is saying.

While it may not be as descriptive as Donald Burgett's US para accounts, its definitely informative - and a treasure for anyone interested in German paras or paratroops in general. Add it to your war library.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but has serious flaws, May 7, 2004

By 

isala "Isabel and Lars" (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper (Paperback)

This is, as far as I know the only account in the market by a German paratrooper. As such it is an important document.
What Mr Poppel writes is so obviously heartfelt. He comes out as just about as nice a fellow as they come. As a paratrooper he literally existed between heaven and hell. He is lyrical in his descriptions of the actual parachuting. It is when he tries to describe his combat experience where his language falters. The man is not a writer. And the translation is atrocious.
The fact is that the only major paratdrop by the Germans was Crete. Mr Poppel just states that the fighting was so horrible that he does not want to write about it. We must respect that decision. It does make it a weaker book though. It is an interesting war memoir. He sees action in Sicily, at the D-Day, and Holland. If you want to read about paratrooper warfare I would not recommend this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good parts, January 5, 2004

By 

Scott D. Palmer "Scott P" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heaven & Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper (Hardcover)

Poppel's book does give some good first hand accounts of combat, but it does have some limitations.

It seems he did not start keeping a diary until '42 so his experiences up to that point are not very detailed and very general. Which is disappointing since his unit was rushed to the Russian front in December(?) of 1941 to help stop the Soviet's counter attack. Accounts of combat with Red Army soldiers in '41 would have been very informative.

He also does not fill in periods of the war where he was not in combat. Yes it is not easy to remember events 50 years ago, but it would have been nice to know some general info about where he was staying and what he was doing there. We learn he has a fiancé but nothing as to where they met and so forth.

I think the worst thing is the translation, it is atrocious. Sometimes I would have to read a sentence two or three times to figure out what was being conveyed. There were a few sentences that I could never figure out, it seems as if they were literally translated from German into English. Also the translator used British slang which make comprehension even harder.

Having said that I would recommend this book, it is not perfect but parts of it were very interesting and entertaining.