Best German Memoir about WWI/WWII?

hasdrubal barca

Though not exactly related to alternate history, what is the best German memoir of WWI/WWII to read? I have read few and know of some others, which are worth reading?

Thanks,:D

I have read

Grand Admiral
Infantry Attacks
Rommel Papers
Tigers in the Mud
Stuka Pilot
Panzer Leader
Lost Victories

I have also heard about

The Forgotten Soldier
The Army of Outlaws
Panzer Commander
Achtung Panzer
Grenadiers
Panzer Operations
 

mudhead

I read Walter Bloem's The Advance from Mons many years ago (German title Vormarsch), and thought it very good.

It's an account of the advance through Belguim, and subsequent encounters with the BEF. Published in 1916, I think, and for that date remarkably free of the hatred being churned out full-throttle by all sides at the time.

A long time since I read The Forgotten Soldier, but from what I remember it's definitely worth a read. Very good on the decline in capability of even the elite German formations (the author was in Grossdeutschland).

Odd point: the cover of the UK pb edition showed a soldier in SS uniform, though the publishers weren't alone in thinking that GD was Waffen-SS - the formation is referred to as SS in John Erickson's work.
 

historyfool

In Stahlgewittern (Storm of Steel) by Ernst Jünger, depending on the edition. I think the 1st edition is the truest, a simple report of his personal war without justifications either for him or for Germany. Gives an interesting view since obviously Jünger liked frontline duty. Don´t know whether it was ever translated. The 1924 revision, which was the first translated into English, adds a lot of nationalistic stuff, which is unnecessary and born from the circumstances of that edition. Later editions got rid of the nationalistic stuff, but also got more literary, which imo softened the graphic description of trench warfare.
 

mudhead

More thoughts.

Rudolf Braunburg: Betrayed Skies(1980) is worth a look if you can find it.

It's a novel about a FW190 pilot, stationed in East Prussia, during the closing months of WW2. His unit is tasked with intercepting US 8th AF raids against the area, rather than operating against the Soviet Air Force.

Quite interesting, IIRC - the central character is no ace, to say the least, and suffers from what the RAF referred to as "LMF problems".

Trouble is, I don't know if its based on personal experience or not.
 

Generaloberst

Banned
mudhead said:
A long time since I read The Forgotten Soldier, but from what I remember it's definitely worth a read. Very good on the decline in capability of even the elite German formations (the author was in Grossdeutschland).
Click to expand...
I remember reading somewhere that The Forgotten Soldier was fake/wasn't fully true. Personally, I haven't read the book so I can't personally judge.

I've read In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front by Gottlob Bidermann, and Panzer Leader by Guderian. I thought both were solid reads. Bidermann's got rather tiring at points and some parts dragged on, but Guderian's memoirs was a solid read, definitely recommended.

I want to read Grenadiers, Tigers in the Mud, and a few others that don't come to me at the moment.
 

mudhead

Another: Martin Poppel's Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper. Norway, Holland, Crete, Russia, Sicily, italy, Normandy, the Westfront. I thought it v honest in portraying his thoughts at the time - he thought it was great, and says so, unedited. You get a good sense of the confidence and superiority he and his unit felt, whoever they were up against.
Generaloberst
I remember reading somewhere that The Forgotten Soldier was fake/wasn't fully true. Personally, I haven't read the book so I can't personally judge.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that: looked it up, the wiki seems good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forgotten_Soldier
 

edvader

Neither Hope nor Fear(?) book by Frido Von Sendger.Believe it deals with his carreer and Monte Casssino.
 
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