Customer Reviews

STORMTROOPER ON THE EASTERN FRONT: Fighting with Hitler's Latvian SS

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I found this to be a very readable and interesting book about a Latvian's war time experiences as a `volunteer' in the Germanic Waffen-SS. Having experienced Soviet conquest and rule, most Latvians welcomed the German invasion of 1941. When the Germans initiated conscription, many nationalists saw it not only as a chance to fight the hated Russians but as an opportunity to gain national sovereignty from a hopefully grateful 3rd Reich. Given the choice to serve with Order Police Units, war labor service, as auxiliaries with the Wehrmacht or in the Latvian Legion, draftee Blosfelds and many of his age group signed up for the Legion which was part of the Waffen-SS. This book follows his experiences from the initial German invasion, his conscription, his training, his service on the Eastern Front, the long retreat back through the Baltics and Germany, surrender to the Western Allies and life as a POW. Although actual eye-ball to eye-ball combat makes up a small part of the story, Blosfelds was a good observer and I found this book to be a fascinating look at the life of a foreign national in the service of Germany. I am happy to add it to my WWII collection.

A side note: as to whether Blosfelds was in the Waffen-SS or not (as stated by another reviewer) is splitting Politically Correct hairs. Yes, the Latvians wanted their own armed force under their command and were successful to a point. But they still wore Waffen-SS uniforms, were under SS control and were ultimately in 2 divisions (15th & 19th) entitled "Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS". All foreign national groups who fought on the German side were eventually put under Waffen-SS control and people shouldn't make more out of it than the administrative device it was. The majority of these people were not fighting for the `greater Reich', but against bolshevism and for their own nationalistic goals. A good and highly detailed book to read about the Latvian experience is the out of print "Latvian Legion" by Arthur Silgailis which is available on Amazon as a used book.

I really hate to say anything bad about a former war vetern's personal account on his wartime experiences, but I must. I must say that I had high hopes of reading a great wartime book, espically about a foreign legionare in the Waffen SS. There are not many foreigners that want to write about their experiences serving with the Waffen SS.

Now first off, I must say it's not all bad. But the title of the book is miss leading. The title should have been- Wounded Trooper on the Eastern Front. There wasnt much- "Stormtrooping" going on. If you took out all of the pages dedicated to the authors wounds/hospital visits and his total obsession of detailling everything they ate, you'd have a 20 page book. I think the total "action" pages could be summoned up on 5 pages. So if your thinking of buying this book to read about his wartime "stormtrooping", your going to be very, very disappointed.

Like I said, if you want to read something different and like to read about food gathering and train rides to and from different hospitals, then this is the book for you. If you can purchase this book at a second hand book shop for a couple of bucks- then that's what I'd do.

Even today, American rightwingers fantasize about the lost opportunity of 1945, when the United States and Nazi Germany should have allied to invade Russia. Their hero would have been Patton (a second-rate army commander, although not bad as a corps commander) and their ideal footsoldier would have been Mintauts Blosfelds.

Blosfelds, a Latvian patriot, would have signed up, too. In the prisoner of war stockade where he spent months, he writes, "All the time I was at Putlos there were rumours circulating concerning the coming war between the Western Powers and the Russians. To us such an outcome seemed inevitable. We could not imagine the Western Powers allowing the Communists to continue occupying our own and other Eastern European countries."

You might suppose that someone who had felt the full might of the Red Army would have been skeptical of the desire of the "Western Powers" to tangle with the force that had demolished the Wehrmacht. During the summer of 1944, the Eastern Ally and the Western Allies had each faced a German army of the same size, about 45 divisions. Under attack by the American, British, Canadian and French armies, the Germans made an orderly retreat; under attack by the 2nd Belorussian Front, the Germans simply dissolved, and about 30 divisions (including Blosfelds') were annihilated.

This diary, edited by Blosfelds' daughter, is not very interesting, except for what it leaves out. The letters "SS" grab attention, but Blosfelds was a draftee in the Latvian Legion, and didn't go in until after the German SS has completed its massacres in his part of the world.

In an SS memoir, we want to know about the SS and the Jews. Not a word here. Early in the war, to the distress of his mother, young Blosfelds roamed Riga. Whether he knew about the mass graves dug in the sand dunes near the sea, he must have noticed that the numerous Jews of Riga had vanished. If he wondered where, he never says.

The Blosfelds had suffered moderately under Soviet occupation and Mintauts was happy to join the Latvian Legion to help the Germans keep the Russians out. Besides, "I rather looked forward to some adventure and a change in my life."

The two divisions of the Latvian Legion were second-class or fortress troops. Blosfelds describes his army as undisciplined, poorly officered and incompetent. The Germans used the Latvians as filler to occupy idle sections of the front. It was trench warfare, not unlike World War I in France.

Blosfelds was lucky to receive several minor wounds, so much of the diary describes his convalescences. When the real war reached him, he didn't last long but did well enough to win an Iron Cross. And get a minor wound again.

The Latvians virtually ran across Brandenburg to avoid being captured by the Russians. Some of the daily marches claimed by Blosfelds, over 40 miles, are hard to believe.

"Stormtrooper on the Eastern Front" affords only a slight insight into the position and reactions of the small peoples caught between two totalitarianisms.

Dr. M.K. Baltais in her research work "The Latvian Legion - Selected Documents" has stated that the eminent historian on SS, Bernd Wegner of the Universitat der Bundeswehr in Hamburg Germany, has expressed astonishment that anyone could still claim that Latvian Legionaires were SS. Yet inspite of undeniable evidence to the contrary, Pen and Sword Books Ltd. has published a book titled "Stormtrooper of the Eastern Front - Fighting With Hitler's Latvian SS. The Publishers should note that Latvian Legionairs were not SS. It would be correct to write Latvian Legionairs, officially Waffen Grenadiers on the Eastern Front fighting under Hitler's SS, because Latvian Legionairs were not SS.