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85 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Steer clear of this one., August 9, 2002
This review is from: Through Hell for Hitler: A Dramatic First-Hand Account of Fighting on the Eastern Front With the Wehrmacht (Hardcover)
This book is a strange "war memoir" that anyone familiar with the WWII Eastern Front will find puzzling. Mr. Metelmann claims to be a veteran of the 22nd Panzer Div. who went to the eastern front in the winter of 41/42. The author's story begins at childhood, then moves to his training and service in the Wehrmacht on the eastern front,fighting and surrendering to the Americans, and finishes in the immediate post-war situation. This book gives the reader little information about the war on the eastern front except for his contact with soviet soldiers and civilians. Despite the premise of the book (i.e. as a war memoir), the author spends little time on his supposed combat experience. He doesn't talk about his weapons or the vehicles he drove (he claims to have been a panzer driver). He doesn't talk about the types of tanks he drove, their characteristics, or being retrained for new models (tank types were upgraded throughout the war on all sides). The author, unlike all other war memoirs (axis and allied) that I have read, does not even name his comrades. In fact, he hardly mentions them and then only with first names. This seems strange in light of the strong bonds communicated in books as diverse as "Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer and "With The Old Breed" by American Marine E.B. Sledge. He seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with soviets. All Soviet soldiers are portrayed as heroic figures who die making political speeches about the glories of marxism. Every soviet civilian he comes upon vows they will defeat the evil facists while also making boring political speeches about Lennin and the communist cause. I find it odd that he never ran into anyone in the Ukraine that welcomed the German invasion since the Soviets had starved millions there. He never runs into a russian civilian who curses the collectivization that destroyed the lives of millions and sent millions to the gulags. He never speaks to a soviet soldier who was forced into suicidal attacks by commissars and NKVD troops. Curious. His brief overviews of combat actions always extol the wily Soviets who always seem to get the better of the Germans whose officers are usually portrayed as mindless Prussian aristocrats who can think of nothing other than costly frontal assaults. This seems to be exactly the opposite of all other historical analyses of German vs. Soviet performance. Curious. Strangely enough, he seems to omit all of 1943! He seems to go from the retreat after Stalingrad in the winter of 42/43 directly to the retreat after Bagration in the winter of 44/45! He does not mention participating in Manstein's counterstroke at Kharkov in spring 43 even though he certainly would have taken part, given that he was part of Army Group South. He makes no mention of Citadel except to mention that an officer he served under will finally die in the battle. Curious. His encounters with soviet soldiers and civilians seem almost scripted, like bad Soviet propaganda. Although he accurately portrays the brutality of the war on the eastern front with regard to the treatment of civilians by the Germans (but, strangely enough, not by the Soviets), there's very little else here to be commended. In short, this is a book which has very little useful historical information to offer. This book would not be reccommended by anyone who knows anything about the eastern front and I certainly would give it zero stars if I could. Buy "Forgotten Soldier" instead.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps the most uneven book I've ever read from a German Soldier, July 18, 2006
This review is from: Through Hell for Hitler: A Dramatic First-Hand Account of Fighting on the Eastern Front With the Wehrmacht (Hardcover)
This reviewer has read several WWII books from German Soldiers. I've read this book and can't figure out if it's real or not. I'm like some of the other reviewers and think it's sort of real. However, there is quite a bit of mis-information that you can't tell what's real and what is a lie. Now, you'll see a picture of the author wearing a M36 Heer (Army) uniform. The German Army stopped giving them out after 1939 when they were replaced by the M40 uniform. How did he end up in Russia in 1942 in an M36? By then all the German Army had was the M40 uniform. The Author says he drives a Panzer III. But we don't see any picures of that nor or much fighting with the tank. Instead he is assigned to a half track and spends his time pulling around a 50 mm anti-tank cannon (PAK). The Author is abandoned in a Russian village with an Panzer III at about the time of the major fighting of Stalingrad. He ditches his uniform, lives with the Ukranians, and the tank is allowed to rust in a field. It sounds like he was told to drive a tank some place and it "just broke down". When he and the tank is found the authorities must have figured he was not worth it. By that time in the war everybody was need, even a screw off. By the author's own words he is caught stealing from an army food supply truck. Also, when coupled with several other incidents, it becomes clear the author may have been a "barracks thief", a person of low character in any army. I do not like this book. The author seems like a petty criminal who just happens to be in events larger than himself. It's kind of like reading the exploits of a pick-pocket on the Titanic who was lucky enough to live. I speculate this soldier was in jail for some years over some crime. He then is set free and has to be watched closely by his superiors and fellow soldiers. That explains his dislike of officers and inability to remember anybody he served with. You can't cross reference his story with other characters. If you're going to read any books on the individual soldier then read either "A Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer or "The Good Soldier" by Alfred Novotny. "Forgotten" goes into great detail on everything; "Good" is one of the best because it's a short and an easy-to-read book. This review likes easy. This book is two stars. And it didn't earn them.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Curious War Memoir by an Anti-militarist, June 6, 2007
Henry Metelmann was interviewed in the 1970s for the BBC series "The World at War," and I was taken aback by his almost offhand reference in that interview to the Wehrmacht committing atrocities while in retreat on the Russian Front. It was known that atrocities were committed, but Metelmann's matter-of-fact statement was astonishing in that it was made at a time when very little was being said at all by rank-and-file German soldiers. I purchased this book to try to learn and to understand more about this soldier whose attitude is, perhaps, not typical. It is important to understand that this book was written at the request of Metelmann's children approximately 40 years after the war. What might have been emphasized had Metelmann written this sooner may have been lost with the passage of time and introspection. Thus, the book is more of an internal, psychological monologue (compiled many decades after the event by an anti-militarist) than any sort of "historical" account. It should be read in that light though I agree that for the military historian the lack of detail is sometimes irritating. Previous reviewers raise a number of valid criticisms about this book. The most glaring deficiency is the lack of any account of the period from the Spring of 1943 until 1945. Many reviewers are also put-off by Metelmann's perceived "coldness" towards dead or wounded fellow soldiers. But not everyone can be a Eugene Sledge ("With the Old Breed"), a Charles MacDonald ("Company Commander") or a Guy Sager ("Forgotten Soldier"). There is more to military life than being part of a Band of Brothers. Just as there are all sorts of personalities in civilian life, there are all sorts in military life as well. It jars when a "war memoir," doesn't follow the expected "form," but perhaps therein is some value. I do believe that Metelmann was a member of the 22nd Panzer Division. That he clearly has a selective memory about the war in Russia is undeniable, but perhaps there is much that Metelmann does not care to dwell on beyond giving his children a summary and a moral lesson. For the limited purpose of seeing the war on the Eastern Front through the eyes of a common, though perhaps not typical, German soldier, this book is worth reading.
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