I'm just nearing the end of reading 'The Forgotten Soldier' by Guy Sajer.

It really is incredably interesting to read about what it was like for a man fighting on "The wrong side" of the war.

Would anybody else be able to reccomened any similar books?

I read that year or so ago, Googled it for further info and found it the book is very suspect, ie Fiction.

The Forgotten Soldier

Always remembered the old cover in bookshops years ago.

http://members.shaw.ca/grossdeutschland/book.gif

That image has stayed in my mind for years.
Took long enough before I read it though.

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There has been controversy on Sajer's account. A good book is "In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front" by Gottlob Bidermann



BTW: Welcome to the forum

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

ah well, if it is fiction then i've seen stuff like it before.

I'll look into that book PzJgr cheers for the info.

sajer's is a brilliant book mate, but I now regard it more as a fine novel than a memoir.
I'd say try not to be tempted by Guderian or Manstein's 'memoirs' as I found them deathly dull.
Skorzeny's are worth a read though as a tale of Nazi 'Derring do'.

In case you're interested in more general military memoirs rather than just 'enemy' ones I'd seriously recommend Col. David Hackworth's - 'About face'; (at least it's 'other side of the pond ) only a tenuous link with WW2 as his career only just begins in the closing days of the war and it mainly focuses on Korea and vietnam. He's controversial in certain quarters as one of the US's most highly decorated soldiers who turned against the war but he really does write a rivetting tale of military life. His descriptions of actual combat have immense atmosphere.

I rate it as one of the most interesting books relating to war, and more importantly 'warriors' I've ever read, and you can find it's bulky form cheap in 2nd hand shops quite easily.

cheers,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Sounds good Adam, Skorzeny was the German 'commando' guy wasn't he? Led the English speaking Germans in the Ardennes?

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Regards,
Alex

Correct and he was also the one who led the rescue of Mussolini from the Gran Sasso Hotel.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

By you mentioning Mussolini got me thinking. I have seen a few German "true stories" but are there any accounts from Italians, Japanese etc? I find it fasinating to read about them even though they were on the "wrong side".

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Regards,
Alex

I have not read any Italian autobiographies but that would be something I would not mind doing.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

The Italians seem to have been largely forgotton about by most people. A little while ago on another forums I posted asking about a object of Italian uniform I wanted ID'd. It took a lot of research and time to find out the answer (Von Poop and Wessex Wyvern may remember this). None of us knew much at all about Itaian equipment.

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Regards,
Alex

Personally I have thought that the Italians were underestimated. Given good equipment and solid leadership, they would and did perform as good as the Germans. Rommel has mentioned this in his writings.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Alot of the best Italian equipment (in terms of tanks, fighter planes etc) were produced too late in the war to have an effect. Abit like some of the later German tanks or planes, they were great in combat but against the massive Russian war machine or the combined allies in the ETO they were almost futile.

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Regards,
Alex

Good or bad equipment, I don't think the Italian soldier had any good reasons to feel motivated to fight for the recognised bunch of crooks above.

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Bah!