RE: In my opinion THE book to buy..

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RE: In my opinion THE book to buy.. - 11/24/2015 12:34:14 PM

TheWombat_matrixforum

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Sajer's Forgotten Soldier is really interesting, as it's a personal account of a Frenchman of mixed German-French parentage, who got swept up in the German war machine in the East. It's a lot easier to digest than some of the memoirs from the war, and a bit poignant, as it captures the difficulties of occupied Europe in dealing with the realities of the war. Sort of like Paul Verhoeven's great Soldat van Oranjen, a sadly overlooked WWII film with Rutger Hauer as the hero.

(in reply to Ostwindflak)

Post #: 31

RE: In my opinion THE book to buy.. - 11/24/2015 12:57:54 PM

bobarossa

Posts: 262
Joined: 6/11/2002
From: Columbus, Ohio USA
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THE book to buy? I'll double the pleasure with two.

Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East by David Stahel. Discusses german planning (get it for this alone) and how they lost the war by end of August, 1941.

The Bloody Triangle by Victor Kamenir. Discusses panzer operations in Ukraine during first weeks of war. Great read at operational and tactical level.

< Message edited by bobarossa -- 11/24/2015 1:59:24 PM >

(in reply to TheWombat_matrixforum)

Post #: 32

RE: In my opinion THE book to buy.. - 11/24/2015 4:42:51 PM

Philippeatbay

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Joined: 12/3/2014
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Sajer's account is very interesting.

There was a big scandal about the book a few years ago, when historical accuracy hounds started pointing out all of the mistakes and discrepancies in his stories.

But a close reading of the book shows that, especially in the early days, Sajer's command of German was somewhat fragmentary. When you realize that that he was an adolescent when he signed up, and that the favorite local form of entertainment was apparently feeding the dumb French kid tall stories to see if he'd swallow them, it's not too surprising that some of his accounts are reminiscent of Sir John Mandeville's geography. I suspect that during the first year or two he barely understood half of what anyone said to him, and anything involving subtlety, sarcasm, or shades of meaning went clear over his head. And he probably didn't know what to make of it when he encountered German soldier humor.

But what his book does, and does spectacularly well, is to give an in-the-weeds portrait of what it felt like to be a grunt in the German army on the eastern front. I believe the account is spot on for describing his emotional reaction to the experience (though probably worthless as a source for OOB's or uniform details). Sajer has a great memory when it comes to emotional details, but is not so good with the things that history buffs and re-enactors care about.

I liked his book a lot: it's well worth reading. But just remember to take all of his details cum grano salis and listen to them the way you would listen to a story told by a grandmother who's getting on in years.

(in reply to TheWombat_matrixforum)

Post #: 33

RE: In my opinion THE book to buy.. - 11/24/2015 5:47:59 PM

lparkh

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Joined: 7/25/2004
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My understanding is that their was some corroboration of his role etc by other German officer(s).
Great book.
An interesting video by eminent historian Glantz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Clz27nghIg

(in reply to Philippeatbay)

Post #: 34

RE: In my opinion THE book to buy.. - 11/25/2015 4:40:37 PM

GI_Tom

Posts: 12
Joined: 2/10/2009
From: Plano, Texas
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Now having purchased the game and played with some of the options regarding the operational decisions on the German side, I can easily recommend Barbarossa, The Russian-German Conflict 1941 to 1945 by Alan Clark. This was initially published in 1965, so there are some things that were not known then that have been reasonably proved out now and the author occasionally takes some liberties. However, as far as motivations, the way each AG commander felt as well as PG commander is very well detailed. It also does a masterful job imho of showing how each lobbied for their particular theatre, gruppe or corps and in several cases operated with operational freedom sometimes with permission, and sometimes without. It shows how the political element stacked out which is obviously a huge focus in this game. As it pertains to this game, is a great read, even not related to this game, gives good insight on the behind the scenes action.

Because I cannot post links for 7 days from my 10th post (per the error message) google the title of the book. Can't post ISBN as that's a phone number per the error message and I have the same 7 day wait time.

Enjoy.

Tom

(in reply to lparkh)

Post #: 35