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 Customer Reviews
Harrowing, 15 Dec 2008
Actually let me first explain that I know very little about the eastern fronts role in WWII so this is me jumping in straight from the perspective of the Germans. As such this book is a truly enlightening account of life from the perspective of a German footsoldier on the German front, and their continual retreat and gradual downfall after many years of loss.
There are some genuinely harrowing, and disturbing accounts in this memoir. Of which a few I don't think I will ever forget, and understand why they have not made the movies due to their nature...
If you're expecting to know how to snipe after reading this, or to learn some in depth techniques on the practise this book isn't for you. A lot of the techniques used are dated and impractical in todays terms, but it still provides an interesting insight into the birth of modern sniping.
Truly a great read, disturbing in places, and really interesting all the way through. Personally I was never bored through any point of this book and I doubt anyone with even a vague interest in a Snipers role would be...
High marks all round.
Great, but biased., 12 Dec 2008
First off, this book is violent and graphic, as you might expect from a book about World War Two. This book tells the story of a German sniper on the Eastern front. It is a very personal view. The book goes into detail about many kills. It is a fantastic book because it brings the personal life on a sniper/rifleman/soldier in WWII, something you don't get in normal books concerning the subject. However, it is very biased its written in a way that makes the Nazi invaders appear the victims of the USSR. It lists many atrocities performed by the Soviet Army, yet there are no accounts of any wrong doing by the Nazi troops. It also portraits the Russians as beasts and tries to make you almost discount there death as a bad thing. I also find it disturbing that "Sepp" is has apparently been haunted ever since by the fact that he failed to retrieve a comrades dogtags, yet he thinks nothing of the fact that he would purposely aim for the Soviet soldiers kidneys and guts in order to prolong death and cause the maximum agony. Even though I find myself disliking "Sepp" as a person for his cold infliction of mostly unnecessary pain, I applaud him for coming forward and letting this book be written about his exploits, it is a valuable insight into the personal level on the Eastern front. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in German/Soviet action during WWII. It is a short book and only took me a couple of days to read, but every page is full of interesting material and it never gets boring.
Great book..........But, 02 Jun 2008
The first time I read this book I coudlnt put it down (Apart from two incidents described that made me feel sick and forced me to close it). I have just finished reading it for the second time and although I still find it a great read I couldnt help feel parts of it were poorly written. Perhaps this is beacuse this isn't the full version translated from the german original or its just down to the skill of the author. In parts it reads like extremely grim fiction (almost cliche) rather than a first hand account of the front line and gives the feeling that the author has taken a few liberties here and there. After reading it again I have found myself asking questions about the validty of some parts. weather this is due to something being lost in the translation or the author giving it his own point of view I guess we will never know. My utmost appologies would be given if evidence came to light showing these things happend. Or even if the person who this book is based on (sepp Allerberger isnt his real name) or even other soldiers in his unit came forward and said "no this is how it was these are the things I have seen". But untill then I guess I will still find myself doubting. Remember this is a (supposed) account of one man in a war. If you are expecting him to go into technical detail about being a sniper such as camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation then this probably isnt for you. Its an account of the things experianced and the attrocities seen rather than a "this is how I went about being a sniper in ww2" account.In all its a great (yet harrowing) read. If you want somthing to be engrossed in then give it a go (But if you read into it too deeply you may find yourself asking the same questions).
A brilliant read, 12 Mar 2008
I found this book thoroughly absorbing and a fascinating insight into the deadly and personal world of a sniper operating on the Eastern Front in WW2.
He tells it how it was and pulls no punches when witnessing atrocities. Its a gritty odyssey. I thoroughly recommend it as a great read.
Great story but the author gives it no justice at all..., 28 Jan 2008
Great story but the narrative is very poor. The book has been translated into English by a German speaker, therefore there are many instances of appalling grammatical errors and some comments which only make sense when read in the German original. A point to note for the Publishers; a good translator can be hired cheaply and would make an immense improvement in the quality of this shoddy product.
Unfortunately, the author's powers of writing have failed him in this endeavour despite the impression in the cover notes of him being a leading expert in the field as all he has achieved here is the cobbling of individual interviews about the subject meshed into a kind of mish-mash pulp book. There is no attempt to put the narrative into an overall framework of the unit in which Allerberger served nor any information about the campaign/situations it was placed in other than a brief & inadequate map at the beginning. There has been no additional research or "value add" by the author. The book contains some glaring mistakes such as the Author's glib statement undervaluing the knights cross which he claims were given away like sweeties even although a great deal of research has been proven otherwise.
There were only 7000+ of these medals issued to an army/Navy/Airforce at war for over 6 years and which comprised many millions of people..so it wasnt an easy medal to win, in fact research shows that it became tougher to win as time went on, although there were some other awards given out easily for morale sakes the Knights Cross was not one of them.
The action in which Allenberger was supposedly awarded his knights cross for reads like something from a comic story, unfortunately the author confuses the facts and changes the figures throughout the passage, the kill figure so emphatically stated in the narrative is reduced from a very large figure down to a more manageable one by contradicting what he has just described and then choosing to ignore the inconsistancy. A great disappointment is that there is no actual evidence that Allerberger was awarded the Knights Cross and the Author has done NO research whatsoever to try to show if this was a problem based on the circumstances in which his subject supposedly received the award(in late 1945 this was a possibility) or whether it was because it wasnt actually awarded, everything is taken at face value. There are no interviews with any member of Allenbergers unit or the other named parties to determine if this was the case, nor has the author made the trip to the extensive archives relating to the German servicemen of WW2 held in Germany, USA & other countries..in doing so he devalues the story of Mr Allerberger and does the reader a great dis-service. This is further compounded by having no references, bibliography or links to any confirmation sources, surely the author must have done some research other than getting poor old Mr Allerberger to sit in front of the tape for hours at an end, for without that research hes merely a transcriber and Not an Author at all.
incidentally, Allerberger is meant to be a pseudonym for the real person and for those non German speakers among you, it roughly means "any mountainer" which is a quaint way of saying that it stands for any member of the German Mountain(Gebirgsjaeger) troops of the war. However if he really came from the 3rd Division and was awarded the Knights cross in 1945 and the other awards at the dates previously stated by the author then it wouldn't take too long to locate the real man's records and identity! so much for protecting his identity.
it has been said that this book is a cut-down version of the German language edition and if thats the case then it shows only too clearly in the poor linkages. I will probably borrow the German version from my local library(in Germany)and chec if this is the case but i suspect that the German version may well be worse if this is the distilled copy.
All in all the facts in the story are presented in a confusing manner and it's very clear that the biographer is not a military expert despite what the cover notes say. It's a pity that the real Sepp Allerberger didnt have a real biographer who was worthy of the challenge of telling his unique story of bravery, perserverance and incredible skill.
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Customer Reviews
Harrowing, 15 Dec 2008
Actually let me first explain that I know very little about the eastern fronts role in WWII so this is me jumping in straight from the perspective of the Germans. As such this book is a truly enlightening account of life from the perspective of a German footsoldier on the German front, and their continual retreat and gradual downfall after many years of loss.
There are some genuinely harrowing, and disturbing accounts in this memoir. Of which a few I don't think I will ever forget, and understand why they have not made the movies due to their nature...
If you're expecting to know how to snipe after reading this, or to learn some in depth techniques on the practise this book isn't for you. A lot of the techniques used are dated and impractical in todays terms, but it still provides an interesting insight into the birth of modern sniping.
Truly a great read, disturbing in places, and really interesting all the way through. Personally I was never bored through any point of this book and I doubt anyone with even a vague interest in a Snipers role would be...
High marks all round.
Great, but biased., 12 Dec 2008
First off, this book is violent and graphic, as you might expect from a book about World War Two. This book tells the story of a German sniper on the Eastern front. It is a very personal view. The book goes into detail about many kills. It is a fantastic book because it brings the personal life on a sniper/rifleman/soldier in WWII, something you don't get in normal books concerning the subject. However, it is very biased its written in a way that makes the Nazi invaders appear the victims of the USSR. It lists many atrocities performed by the Soviet Army, yet there are no accounts of any wrong doing by the Nazi troops. It also portraits the Russians as beasts and tries to make you almost discount there death as a bad thing. I also find it disturbing that "Sepp" is has apparently been haunted ever since by the fact that he failed to retrieve a comrades dogtags, yet he thinks nothing of the fact that he would purposely aim for the Soviet soldiers kidneys and guts in order to prolong death and cause the maximum agony. Even though I find myself disliking "Sepp" as a person for his cold infliction of mostly unnecessary pain, I applaud him for coming forward and letting this book be written about his exploits, it is a valuable insight into the personal level on the Eastern front. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in German/Soviet action during WWII. It is a short book and only took me a couple of days to read, but every page is full of interesting material and it never gets boring.
Great book..........But, 02 Jun 2008
The first time I read this book I coudlnt put it down (Apart from two incidents described that made me feel sick and forced me to close it). I have just finished reading it for the second time and although I still find it a great read I couldnt help feel parts of it were poorly written. Perhaps this is beacuse this isn't the full version translated from the german original or its just down to the skill of the author. In parts it reads like extremely grim fiction (almost cliche) rather than a first hand account of the front line and gives the feeling that the author has taken a few liberties here and there. After reading it again I have found myself asking questions about the validty of some parts. weather this is due to something being lost in the translation or the author giving it his own point of view I guess we will never know. My utmost appologies would be given if evidence came to light showing these things happend. Or even if the person who this book is based on (sepp Allerberger isnt his real name) or even other soldiers in his unit came forward and said "no this is how it was these are the things I have seen". But untill then I guess I will still find myself doubting. Remember this is a (supposed) account of one man in a war. If you are expecting him to go into technical detail about being a sniper such as camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation then this probably isnt for you. Its an account of the things experianced and the attrocities seen rather than a "this is how I went about being a sniper in ww2" account.In all its a great (yet harrowing) read. If you want somthing to be engrossed in then give it a go (But if you read into it too deeply you may find yourself asking the same questions).
A brilliant read, 12 Mar 2008
I found this book thoroughly absorbing and a fascinating insight into the deadly and personal world of a sniper operating on the Eastern Front in WW2.
He tells it how it was and pulls no punches when witnessing atrocities. Its a gritty odyssey. I thoroughly recommend it as a great read.
Great story but the author gives it no justice at all..., 28 Jan 2008
Great story but the narrative is very poor. The book has been translated into English by a German speaker, therefore there are many instances of appalling grammatical errors and some comments which only make sense when read in the German original. A point to note for the Publishers; a good translator can be hired cheaply and would make an immense improvement in the quality of this shoddy product.
Unfortunately, the author's powers of writing have failed him in this endeavour despite the impression in the cover notes of him being a leading expert in the field as all he has achieved here is the cobbling of individual interviews about the subject meshed into a kind of mish-mash pulp book. There is no attempt to put the narrative into an overall framework of the unit in which Allerberger served nor any information about the campaign/situations it was placed in other than a brief & inadequate map at the beginning. There has been no additional research or "value add" by the author. The book contains some glaring mistakes such as the Author's glib statement undervaluing the knights cross which he claims were given away like sweeties even although a great deal of research has been proven otherwise.
There were only 7000+ of these medals issued to an army/Navy/Airforce at war for over 6 years and which comprised many millions of people..so it wasnt an easy medal to win, in fact research shows that it became tougher to win as time went on, although there were some other awards given out easily for morale sakes the Knights Cross was not one of them.
The action in which Allenberger was supposedly awarded his knights cross for reads like something from a comic story, unfortunately the author confuses the facts and changes the figures throughout the passage, the kill figure so emphatically stated in the narrative is reduced from a very large figure down to a more manageable one by contradicting what he has just described and then choosing to ignore the inconsistancy. A great disappointment is that there is no actual evidence that Allerberger was awarded the Knights Cross and the Author has done NO research whatsoever to try to show if this was a problem based on the circumstances in which his subject supposedly received the award(in late 1945 this was a possibility) or whether it was because it wasnt actually awarded, everything is taken at face value. There are no interviews with any member of Allenbergers unit or the other named parties to determine if this was the case, nor has the author made the trip to the extensive archives relating to the German servicemen of WW2 held in Germany, USA & other countries..in doing so he devalues the story of Mr Allerberger and does the reader a great dis-service. This is further compounded by having no references, bibliography or links to any confirmation sources, surely the author must have done some research other than getting poor old Mr Allerberger to sit in front of the tape for hours at an end, for without that research hes merely a transcriber and Not an Author at all.
incidentally, Allerberger is meant to be a pseudonym for the real person and for those non German speakers among you, it roughly means "any mountainer" which is a quaint way of saying that it stands for any member of the German Mountain(Gebirgsjaeger) troops of the war. However if he really came from the 3rd Division and was awarded the Knights cross in 1945 and the other awards at the dates previously stated by the author then it wouldn't take too long to locate the real man's records and identity! so much for protecting his identity.
it has been said that this book is a cut-down version of the German language edition and if thats the case then it shows only too clearly in the poor linkages. I will probably borrow the German version from my local library(in Germany)and chec if this is the case but i suspect that the German version may well be worse if this is the distilled copy.
All in all the facts in the story are presented in a confusing manner and it's very clear that the biographer is not a military expert despite what the cover notes say. It's a pity that the real Sepp Allerberger didnt have a real biographer who was worthy of the challenge of telling his unique story of bravery, perserverance and incredible skill.
Great book, 25 Apr 2008
I recently bought this book from Amazon.co.uk and I can say that it is well worth a read. I know that there are loads of memoirs out there from soliders fighting in the various allied armies, but I jumped at a chance to read a book from the frequently under-represented German persepctive.
The author writes very well and I felt that he was able to portray the sheer terror of fighting on the Eastern front very well. One engagement in the early part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered how they would repel an attack frmo Soviet armour without any ATG's etc.
Great book, great author, great read.
A story from the general ranks rather than the generals, 27 Feb 2007
There is a mass of German autobiographies hitting the market place at the moment which is certainly a good thing if we are to understand all sides of the Second World War. Some books are obviously better than others and I have to say that this book is very good. Well-written, well-organised and telling things from the general ranks (a rare thing), this is a powerful book, not least because it brings to life the characters mentioned in the text, and thereby makes the story more accessible and less academic. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front as well as the Second World War.
An extraordinary book, 01 May 2003
This is truly a remarkable first hand account of the fighting on the eastern front during WWII. There are many other books which have all dealt with the same topic, but I have never read a book which simply describes what happened with honesty and simple clarity. We follow machine gunner Koschorrek between the years 42-44 in different parts of Russia, Italy and Romania. The book actually starts with his lucky escape from the Stalingrad pocket in Dec -42, from there on it just gets worse. He describes the incredible bravery performed by the average soldier, the friends and comrades who were not so lucky and last but not least, the inhuman conditions of war as they were experienced on the eastern front. I read this book in two days - it was impossible to put it down.......
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Customer Reviews
Harrowing, 15 Dec 2008
Actually let me first explain that I know very little about the eastern fronts role in WWII so this is me jumping in straight from the perspective of the Germans. As such this book is a truly enlightening account of life from the perspective of a German footsoldier on the German front, and their continual retreat and gradual downfall after many years of loss.
There are some genuinely harrowing, and disturbing accounts in this memoir. Of which a few I don't think I will ever forget, and understand why they have not made the movies due to their nature...
If you're expecting to know how to snipe after reading this, or to learn some in depth techniques on the practise this book isn't for you. A lot of the techniques used are dated and impractical in todays terms, but it still provides an interesting insight into the birth of modern sniping.
Truly a great read, disturbing in places, and really interesting all the way through. Personally I was never bored through any point of this book and I doubt anyone with even a vague interest in a Snipers role would be...
High marks all round.
Great, but biased., 12 Dec 2008
First off, this book is violent and graphic, as you might expect from a book about World War Two. This book tells the story of a German sniper on the Eastern front. It is a very personal view. The book goes into detail about many kills. It is a fantastic book because it brings the personal life on a sniper/rifleman/soldier in WWII, something you don't get in normal books concerning the subject. However, it is very biased its written in a way that makes the Nazi invaders appear the victims of the USSR. It lists many atrocities performed by the Soviet Army, yet there are no accounts of any wrong doing by the Nazi troops. It also portraits the Russians as beasts and tries to make you almost discount there death as a bad thing. I also find it disturbing that "Sepp" is has apparently been haunted ever since by the fact that he failed to retrieve a comrades dogtags, yet he thinks nothing of the fact that he would purposely aim for the Soviet soldiers kidneys and guts in order to prolong death and cause the maximum agony. Even though I find myself disliking "Sepp" as a person for his cold infliction of mostly unnecessary pain, I applaud him for coming forward and letting this book be written about his exploits, it is a valuable insight into the personal level on the Eastern front. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in German/Soviet action during WWII. It is a short book and only took me a couple of days to read, but every page is full of interesting material and it never gets boring.
Great book..........But, 02 Jun 2008
The first time I read this book I coudlnt put it down (Apart from two incidents described that made me feel sick and forced me to close it). I have just finished reading it for the second time and although I still find it a great read I couldnt help feel parts of it were poorly written. Perhaps this is beacuse this isn't the full version translated from the german original or its just down to the skill of the author. In parts it reads like extremely grim fiction (almost cliche) rather than a first hand account of the front line and gives the feeling that the author has taken a few liberties here and there. After reading it again I have found myself asking questions about the validty of some parts. weather this is due to something being lost in the translation or the author giving it his own point of view I guess we will never know. My utmost appologies would be given if evidence came to light showing these things happend. Or even if the person who this book is based on (sepp Allerberger isnt his real name) or even other soldiers in his unit came forward and said "no this is how it was these are the things I have seen". But untill then I guess I will still find myself doubting. Remember this is a (supposed) account of one man in a war. If you are expecting him to go into technical detail about being a sniper such as camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation then this probably isnt for you. Its an account of the things experianced and the attrocities seen rather than a "this is how I went about being a sniper in ww2" account.In all its a great (yet harrowing) read. If you want somthing to be engrossed in then give it a go (But if you read into it too deeply you may find yourself asking the same questions).
A brilliant read, 12 Mar 2008
I found this book thoroughly absorbing and a fascinating insight into the deadly and personal world of a sniper operating on the Eastern Front in WW2.
He tells it how it was and pulls no punches when witnessing atrocities. Its a gritty odyssey. I thoroughly recommend it as a great read.
Great story but the author gives it no justice at all..., 28 Jan 2008
Great story but the narrative is very poor. The book has been translated into English by a German speaker, therefore there are many instances of appalling grammatical errors and some comments which only make sense when read in the German original. A point to note for the Publishers; a good translator can be hired cheaply and would make an immense improvement in the quality of this shoddy product.
Unfortunately, the author's powers of writing have failed him in this endeavour despite the impression in the cover notes of him being a leading expert in the field as all he has achieved here is the cobbling of individual interviews about the subject meshed into a kind of mish-mash pulp book. There is no attempt to put the narrative into an overall framework of the unit in which Allerberger served nor any information about the campaign/situations it was placed in other than a brief & inadequate map at the beginning. There has been no additional research or "value add" by the author. The book contains some glaring mistakes such as the Author's glib statement undervaluing the knights cross which he claims were given away like sweeties even although a great deal of research has been proven otherwise.
There were only 7000+ of these medals issued to an army/Navy/Airforce at war for over 6 years and which comprised many millions of people..so it wasnt an easy medal to win, in fact research shows that it became tougher to win as time went on, although there were some other awards given out easily for morale sakes the Knights Cross was not one of them.
The action in which Allenberger was supposedly awarded his knights cross for reads like something from a comic story, unfortunately the author confuses the facts and changes the figures throughout the passage, the kill figure so emphatically stated in the narrative is reduced from a very large figure down to a more manageable one by contradicting what he has just described and then choosing to ignore the inconsistancy. A great disappointment is that there is no actual evidence that Allerberger was awarded the Knights Cross and the Author has done NO research whatsoever to try to show if this was a problem based on the circumstances in which his subject supposedly received the award(in late 1945 this was a possibility) or whether it was because it wasnt actually awarded, everything is taken at face value. There are no interviews with any member of Allenbergers unit or the other named parties to determine if this was the case, nor has the author made the trip to the extensive archives relating to the German servicemen of WW2 held in Germany, USA & other countries..in doing so he devalues the story of Mr Allerberger and does the reader a great dis-service. This is further compounded by having no references, bibliography or links to any confirmation sources, surely the author must have done some research other than getting poor old Mr Allerberger to sit in front of the tape for hours at an end, for without that research hes merely a transcriber and Not an Author at all.
incidentally, Allerberger is meant to be a pseudonym for the real person and for those non German speakers among you, it roughly means "any mountainer" which is a quaint way of saying that it stands for any member of the German Mountain(Gebirgsjaeger) troops of the war. However if he really came from the 3rd Division and was awarded the Knights cross in 1945 and the other awards at the dates previously stated by the author then it wouldn't take too long to locate the real man's records and identity! so much for protecting his identity.
it has been said that this book is a cut-down version of the German language edition and if thats the case then it shows only too clearly in the poor linkages. I will probably borrow the German version from my local library(in Germany)and chec if this is the case but i suspect that the German version may well be worse if this is the distilled copy.
All in all the facts in the story are presented in a confusing manner and it's very clear that the biographer is not a military expert despite what the cover notes say. It's a pity that the real Sepp Allerberger didnt have a real biographer who was worthy of the challenge of telling his unique story of bravery, perserverance and incredible skill.
Great book, 25 Apr 2008
I recently bought this book from Amazon.co.uk and I can say that it is well worth a read. I know that there are loads of memoirs out there from soliders fighting in the various allied armies, but I jumped at a chance to read a book from the frequently under-represented German persepctive.
The author writes very well and I felt that he was able to portray the sheer terror of fighting on the Eastern front very well. One engagement in the early part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered how they would repel an attack frmo Soviet armour without any ATG's etc.
Great book, great author, great read.
A story from the general ranks rather than the generals, 27 Feb 2007
There is a mass of German autobiographies hitting the market place at the moment which is certainly a good thing if we are to understand all sides of the Second World War. Some books are obviously better than others and I have to say that this book is very good. Well-written, well-organised and telling things from the general ranks (a rare thing), this is a powerful book, not least because it brings to life the characters mentioned in the text, and thereby makes the story more accessible and less academic. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front as well as the Second World War.
An extraordinary book, 01 May 2003
This is truly a remarkable first hand account of the fighting on the eastern front during WWII. There are many other books which have all dealt with the same topic, but I have never read a book which simply describes what happened with honesty and simple clarity. We follow machine gunner Koschorrek between the years 42-44 in different parts of Russia, Italy and Romania. The book actually starts with his lucky escape from the Stalingrad pocket in Dec -42, from there on it just gets worse. He describes the incredible bravery performed by the average soldier, the friends and comrades who were not so lucky and last but not least, the inhuman conditions of war as they were experienced on the eastern front. I read this book in two days - it was impossible to put it down.......
Latvian volunteers, 21 Oct 2008
A good personal account with lots of detail and stories of individual actions. Not read any from this particular perspective before and it gives an interesting history for these 'volunteers' in the Waffen SS. It uses the war diaries of the author - comes across as credible and not a post war embelishment.
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Customer Reviews
Harrowing, 15 Dec 2008
Actually let me first explain that I know very little about the eastern fronts role in WWII so this is me jumping in straight from the perspective of the Germans. As such this book is a truly enlightening account of life from the perspective of a German footsoldier on the German front, and their continual retreat and gradual downfall after many years of loss.
There are some genuinely harrowing, and disturbing accounts in this memoir. Of which a few I don't think I will ever forget, and understand why they have not made the movies due to their nature...
If you're expecting to know how to snipe after reading this, or to learn some in depth techniques on the practise this book isn't for you. A lot of the techniques used are dated and impractical in todays terms, but it still provides an interesting insight into the birth of modern sniping.
Truly a great read, disturbing in places, and really interesting all the way through. Personally I was never bored through any point of this book and I doubt anyone with even a vague interest in a Snipers role would be...
High marks all round. Great, but biased., 12 Dec 2008
First off, this book is violent and graphic, as you might expect from a book about World War Two. This book tells the story of a German sniper on the Eastern front. It is a very personal view. The book goes into detail about many kills. It is a fantastic book because it brings the personal life on a sniper/rifleman/soldier in WWII, something you don't get in normal books concerning the subject. However, it is very biased its written in a way that makes the Nazi invaders appear the victims of the USSR. It lists many atrocities performed by the Soviet Army, yet there are no accounts of any wrong doing by the Nazi troops. It also portraits the Russians as beasts and tries to make you almost discount there death as a bad thing. I also find it disturbing that "Sepp" is has apparently been haunted ever since by the fact that he failed to retrieve a comrades dogtags, yet he thinks nothing of the fact that he would purposely aim for the Soviet soldiers kidneys and guts in order to prolong death and cause the maximum agony. Even though I find myself disliking "Sepp" as a person for his cold infliction of mostly unnecessary pain, I applaud him for coming forward and letting this book be written about his exploits, it is a valuable insight into the personal level on the Eastern front. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in German/Soviet action during WWII. It is a short book and only took me a couple of days to read, but every page is full of interesting material and it never gets boring. Great book..........But, 02 Jun 2008
The first time I read this book I coudlnt put it down (Apart from two incidents described that made me feel sick and forced me to close it). I have just finished reading it for the second time and although I still find it a great read I couldnt help feel parts of it were poorly written. Perhaps this is beacuse this isn't the full version translated from the german original or its just down to the skill of the author. In parts it reads like extremely grim fiction (almost cliche) rather than a first hand account of the front line and gives the feeling that the author has taken a few liberties here and there. After reading it again I have found myself asking questions about the validty of some parts. weather this is due to something being lost in the translation or the author giving it his own point of view I guess we will never know. My utmost appologies would be given if evidence came to light showing these things happend. Or even if the person who this book is based on (sepp Allerberger isnt his real name) or even other soldiers in his unit came forward and said "no this is how it was these are the things I have seen". But untill then I guess I will still find myself doubting. Remember this is a (supposed) account of one man in a war. If you are expecting him to go into technical detail about being a sniper such as camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation then this probably isnt for you. Its an account of the things experianced and the attrocities seen rather than a "this is how I went about being a sniper in ww2" account.In all its a great (yet harrowing) read. If you want somthing to be engrossed in then give it a go (But if you read into it too deeply you may find yourself asking the same questions).
A brilliant read, 12 Mar 2008
I found this book thoroughly absorbing and a fascinating insight into the deadly and personal world of a sniper operating on the Eastern Front in WW2.
He tells it how it was and pulls no punches when witnessing atrocities. Its a gritty odyssey. I thoroughly recommend it as a great read. Great story but the author gives it no justice at all..., 28 Jan 2008
Great story but the narrative is very poor. The book has been translated into English by a German speaker, therefore there are many instances of appalling grammatical errors and some comments which only make sense when read in the German original. A point to note for the Publishers; a good translator can be hired cheaply and would make an immense improvement in the quality of this shoddy product.
Unfortunately, the author's powers of writing have failed him in this endeavour despite the impression in the cover notes of him being a leading expert in the field as all he has achieved here is the cobbling of individual interviews about the subject meshed into a kind of mish-mash pulp book. There is no attempt to put the narrative into an overall framework of the unit in which Allerberger served nor any information about the campaign/situations it was placed in other than a brief & inadequate map at the beginning. There has been no additional research or "value add" by the author. The book contains some glaring mistakes such as the Author's glib statement undervaluing the knights cross which he claims were given away like sweeties even although a great deal of research has been proven otherwise.
There were only 7000+ of these medals issued to an army/Navy/Airforce at war for over 6 years and which comprised many millions of people..so it wasnt an easy medal to win, in fact research shows that it became tougher to win as time went on, although there were some other awards given out easily for morale sakes the Knights Cross was not one of them.
The action in which Allenberger was supposedly awarded his knights cross for reads like something from a comic story, unfortunately the author confuses the facts and changes the figures throughout the passage, the kill figure so emphatically stated in the narrative is reduced from a very large figure down to a more manageable one by contradicting what he has just described and then choosing to ignore the inconsistancy. A great disappointment is that there is no actual evidence that Allerberger was awarded the Knights Cross and the Author has done NO research whatsoever to try to show if this was a problem based on the circumstances in which his subject supposedly received the award(in late 1945 this was a possibility) or whether it was because it wasnt actually awarded, everything is taken at face value. There are no interviews with any member of Allenbergers unit or the other named parties to determine if this was the case, nor has the author made the trip to the extensive archives relating to the German servicemen of WW2 held in Germany, USA & other countries..in doing so he devalues the story of Mr Allerberger and does the reader a great dis-service. This is further compounded by having no references, bibliography or links to any confirmation sources, surely the author must have done some research other than getting poor old Mr Allerberger to sit in front of the tape for hours at an end, for without that research hes merely a transcriber and Not an Author at all.
incidentally, Allerberger is meant to be a pseudonym for the real person and for those non German speakers among you, it roughly means "any mountainer" which is a quaint way of saying that it stands for any member of the German Mountain(Gebirgsjaeger) troops of the war. However if he really came from the 3rd Division and was awarded the Knights cross in 1945 and the other awards at the dates previously stated by the author then it wouldn't take too long to locate the real man's records and identity! so much for protecting his identity.
it has been said that this book is a cut-down version of the German language edition and if thats the case then it shows only too clearly in the poor linkages. I will probably borrow the German version from my local library(in Germany)and chec if this is the case but i suspect that the German version may well be worse if this is the distilled copy.
All in all the facts in the story are presented in a confusing manner and it's very clear that the biographer is not a military expert despite what the cover notes say. It's a pity that the real Sepp Allerberger didnt have a real biographer who was worthy of the challenge of telling his unique story of bravery, perserverance and incredible skill. Great book, 25 Apr 2008
I recently bought this book from Amazon.co.uk and I can say that it is well worth a read. I know that there are loads of memoirs out there from soliders fighting in the various allied armies, but I jumped at a chance to read a book from the frequently under-represented German persepctive.
The author writes very well and I felt that he was able to portray the sheer terror of fighting on the Eastern front very well. One engagement in the early part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered how they would repel an attack frmo Soviet armour without any ATG's etc.
Great book, great author, great read. A story from the general ranks rather than the generals, 27 Feb 2007
There is a mass of German autobiographies hitting the market place at the moment which is certainly a good thing if we are to understand all sides of the Second World War. Some books are obviously better than others and I have to say that this book is very good. Well-written, well-organised and telling things from the general ranks (a rare thing), this is a powerful book, not least because it brings to life the characters mentioned in the text, and thereby makes the story more accessible and less academic. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front as well as the Second World War. An extraordinary book, 01 May 2003
This is truly a remarkable first hand account of the fighting on the eastern front during WWII. There are many other books which have all dealt with the same topic, but I have never read a book which simply describes what happened with honesty and simple clarity. We follow machine gunner Koschorrek between the years 42-44 in different parts of Russia, Italy and Romania. The book actually starts with his lucky escape from the Stalingrad pocket in Dec -42, from there on it just gets worse. He describes the incredible bravery performed by the average soldier, the friends and comrades who were not so lucky and last but not least, the inhuman conditions of war as they were experienced on the eastern front. I read this book in two days - it was impossible to put it down....... Latvian volunteers, 21 Oct 2008
A good personal account with lots of detail and stories of individual actions. Not read any from this particular perspective before and it gives an interesting history for these 'volunteers' in the Waffen SS. It uses the war diaries of the author - comes across as credible and not a post war embelishment. Going to disagree, 22 Aug 2008
I have to disagree with previous reviews, I found this book a chore to read and nothing like the other dozen I have read such as The Forgotten Soldier or most recently, Blood Red Snow.
I prefer books written in the style of those that concentrate on their experiences and of those in a foxhole around them. In Deadly Combat those around the author get rare mentions, they are simply faceless and nameless, frankly you don't care what happens to them.
Instead you get a rather dry overview of the combat as if written by a General using his memoirs and a map. I found myself skipping over paragraphs that appeared to be lifted out of a history book on German troop movements.
There are a few exceptions that describe close combat with tanks, but you will not get to hear about who the gun crew was, or how they dealt with combat on a personal level.
Maybe I am being harsh, but the difference between this book and others I have read is striking and as such I can not recommend it to those who prefer the style of The Forgotten Soldier.
*edited for spelling error
A well written, intelligent German memoir of World war II, 20 Jan 2008
Rather than trying to sensationalise the story with gruesome details the book reads more like a novel. Biderman's style is interesting, it is very well written by a man of obvious intelligence & ability to convey the feel of any given situation. The book flows in such a way with the opening skirmishes on the Eastern front that the reader is drawn in as if reading faster & faster as the Wehrmacht steam headlong into the great expanse of Russia. Infact it is a sign of Biderman's intelligence & miliatary understanding that even these swift victories worry Biderman long before they finally come to a grinding halt in the trenches of the Crimea.
An interesting style of the book is that as the Wehrmacht becomes bogged down & then ultimately turns to defence, the pace of the book changes so reflecting this change in the campaign & the soldiers lives.
Eventually the pace becomes frantic & quite broken reflecting the headlong retreat the soldiers are thrust into. This expertly reflects the fact that German soldiers were never trained in defence & you really can feel how the soldiers start to improvise & slowly learn by experience how to successfully defend against overwhelming odds. It is a testament to these soldiers that they hold out for so long with their backs against the sea. Infact the Russians cannot believe how few soldiers they have been fighting against.
A highly recommended, intelligent & thought provoking book. It would be a very good introduction to for anybody who had never actually read a German soldiers memoirs. It gives a very clear & precise snapshot of exactly how the Heer operated from the Infantryman on the front, through the artillery, supply lines & to the HQ. It does this without being a chore but rather as a fascinating insight into a well oiled war machine.
Excellent, 05 Jun 2003
This book is a must read for all those interested in the German-Russian war 1941-1945. It tells Bidermann's story from the battle of Sevastopol in the Ukraine to the snowy forests near Leningrad and then his 3 years internment in a Soviet camp. This book was written as an historical document for his comrades and it shows in the sheer detail of information concerning divisional level etc, something which perhaps makes it a little harder to get into. I say this in comparison to Sajer's book which is a highly personal account. Some things that Bidermann says are questionable, he claims not to have known of the Nazi exterminations, then says that the Western Allies should have been fighting the Soviets, and helping the Nazis to defend Europe. One gripe is that the map is not very good and virtually useless. Otherwise a great read, you must read this to understand the German view of the war, not just what we see in the Hollywood films!! Buy this book, 18 May 2003
This book is a must-read for everyone, interested in the war or not. It shows the German experience of the war, something I feel we in Britain do not give any thought to. In comparison to Guy Sajer's book, i think this comes a close second as because it was written for the survivors of the unit, there is a lot of regimental level description and not so much personal experience. One slight gripe I have is that the map was not at all useful with many places missing. This is only a slight problem with an altogether excellent book! Engrossing Account of Combat on the Eastern Front, 03 Mar 2002
Firstly, before launching yourself into this excellent book please take the time to read the introduction by Dennis Showalter as it will help explain the style of writing to be found in this book. The book was originally written for the survivors of Bidermann's regiment and division, not for the general public. Bearing this in mind you will have a better understanding and feeling for the author's account of his experience of fighting on the Eastern Front during WW2. At times you might find the narrative old fashioned and even cliched but this is definitely not the case, it has to be taken in context of when and why this book was first written. This is a great story, on par if not better than Guy Sajer's 'Forgotten Soldier'. This is a combination of a combat history of the 132nd Infantry Division and the author's role and experiences in the fighting on the Eastern Front. The author, Gottlob Herbert Bidermann, won two Iron Crosses, the Crimea Shield, the Close Combat Badge, the German Cross in Gold, the Gold Wound Badge (wounded five times), the Honour Roll Clasp and the Tank Destruction Badge. What is remarkable is that the author survived five years of combat on the Russian Front fighting in Crimea, Leningrad and later in the Courland Pocket. I found his stories about his early years fighting with an anti-tank section using the Pak 37 "doorknocker" very interesting, I had always believed these weapons to be next to useless on the Russian Front however I was surprised. You can trace the change in the author from a novice who still cared about human beings, even his enemy to one whom has been brutalised by warfare to a point past indifference to death and destruction. I have taken the liberty to include below a short section of the text from the first chapter to give you an idea of the author's style of writing: "The NCO was grasping one of the wheels of the Maxim carriage, his sightless eyes peering forward at the ammunition belt where it fed into the chamber of the weapon. Another held his rifle clenched in cold fists, his head resting against the ground as if asleep, the olive-colored helmet secured tightly under his chin. Hartmann slipped past me and slowly approached two other figures lying closely together, side by side. One of the figures had draped an arm across the other in a last embrace, as if attempting to comfort a dying comrade. As Hartmann neared, a cloud of flies rose in protest, breaking the deadly silence and I moved forward to join him in surveying the ghastly scene. Moving silently among the carnage, Hartmann suddenly turned and slipped past me without speaking, heading in the direction from which we had come. Carefully avoiding the eyes of the dead, I quickly followed him. In this abode of death, only the trees, still and quiet, appeared to be survivors and witnesses to the struggle that had occurred, hidden within this wooded glade". I found this book to be a very fascinating account of the fighting conducted on the Eastern Front from the perspective of a young German soldier. It offers some very interesting insights into combat and its affect on men who in the end just tried to survive against immense odds. There is a number of absorbing black and white photographs supplied from private sources that give the book a human touch. The only real problem that readers may find with this book is the lack of maps detailing the movements and combats of the 132nd Infantry Division. Overall this is the sort of book that should be in the library of every serious reader or student of the war on the Russian Front during World War Two.
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Customer Reviews
Harrowing, 15 Dec 2008
Actually let me first explain that I know very little about the eastern fronts role in WWII so this is me jumping in straight from the perspective of the Germans. As such this book is a truly enlightening account of life from the perspective of a German footsoldier on the German front, and their continual retreat and gradual downfall after many years of loss.
There are some genuinely harrowing, and disturbing accounts in this memoir. Of which a few I don't think I will ever forget, and understand why they have not made the movies due to their nature...
If you're expecting to know how to snipe after reading this, or to learn some in depth techniques on the practise this book isn't for you. A lot of the techniques used are dated and impractical in todays terms, but it still provides an interesting insight into the birth of modern sniping.
Truly a great read, disturbing in places, and really interesting all the way through. Personally I was never bored through any point of this book and I doubt anyone with even a vague interest in a Snipers role would be...
High marks all round. Great, but biased., 12 Dec 2008
First off, this book is violent and graphic, as you might expect from a book about World War Two. This book tells the story of a German sniper on the Eastern front. It is a very personal view. The book goes into detail about many kills. It is a fantastic book because it brings the personal life on a sniper/rifleman/soldier in WWII, something you don't get in normal books concerning the subject. However, it is very biased its written in a way that makes the Nazi invaders appear the victims of the USSR. It lists many atrocities performed by the Soviet Army, yet there are no accounts of any wrong doing by the Nazi troops. It also portraits the Russians as beasts and tries to make you almost discount there death as a bad thing. I also find it disturbing that "Sepp" is has apparently been haunted ever since by the fact that he failed to retrieve a comrades dogtags, yet he thinks nothing of the fact that he would purposely aim for the Soviet soldiers kidneys and guts in order to prolong death and cause the maximum agony. Even though I find myself disliking "Sepp" as a person for his cold infliction of mostly unnecessary pain, I applaud him for coming forward and letting this book be written about his exploits, it is a valuable insight into the personal level on the Eastern front. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in German/Soviet action during WWII. It is a short book and only took me a couple of days to read, but every page is full of interesting material and it never gets boring. Great book..........But, 02 Jun 2008
The first time I read this book I coudlnt put it down (Apart from two incidents described that made me feel sick and forced me to close it). I have just finished reading it for the second time and although I still find it a great read I couldnt help feel parts of it were poorly written. Perhaps this is beacuse this isn't the full version translated from the german original or its just down to the skill of the author. In parts it reads like extremely grim fiction (almost cliche) rather than a first hand account of the front line and gives the feeling that the author has taken a few liberties here and there. After reading it again I have found myself asking questions about the validty of some parts. weather this is due to something being lost in the translation or the author giving it his own point of view I guess we will never know. My utmost appologies would be given if evidence came to light showing these things happend. Or even if the person who this book is based on (sepp Allerberger isnt his real name) or even other soldiers in his unit came forward and said "no this is how it was these are the things I have seen". But untill then I guess I will still find myself doubting. Remember this is a (supposed) account of one man in a war. If you are expecting him to go into technical detail about being a sniper such as camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation then this probably isnt for you. Its an account of the things experianced and the attrocities seen rather than a "this is how I went about being a sniper in ww2" account.In all its a great (yet harrowing) read. If you want somthing to be engrossed in then give it a go (But if you read into it too deeply you may find yourself asking the same questions).
A brilliant read, 12 Mar 2008
I found this book thoroughly absorbing and a fascinating insight into the deadly and personal world of a sniper operating on the Eastern Front in WW2.
He tells it how it was and pulls no punches when witnessing atrocities. Its a gritty odyssey. I thoroughly recommend it as a great read. Great story but the author gives it no justice at all..., 28 Jan 2008
Great story but the narrative is very poor. The book has been translated into English by a German speaker, therefore there are many instances of appalling grammatical errors and some comments which only make sense when read in the German original. A point to note for the Publishers; a good translator can be hired cheaply and would make an immense improvement in the quality of this shoddy product.
Unfortunately, the author's powers of writing have failed him in this endeavour despite the impression in the cover notes of him being a leading expert in the field as all he has achieved here is the cobbling of individual interviews about the subject meshed into a kind of mish-mash pulp book. There is no attempt to put the narrative into an overall framework of the unit in which Allerberger served nor any information about the campaign/situations it was placed in other than a brief & inadequate map at the beginning. There has been no additional research or "value add" by the author. The book contains some glaring mistakes such as the Author's glib statement undervaluing the knights cross which he claims were given away like sweeties even although a great deal of research has been proven otherwise.
There were only 7000+ of these medals issued to an army/Navy/Airforce at war for over 6 years and which comprised many millions of people..so it wasnt an easy medal to win, in fact research shows that it became tougher to win as time went on, although there were some other awards given out easily for morale sakes the Knights Cross was not one of them.
The action in which Allenberger was supposedly awarded his knights cross for reads like something from a comic story, unfortunately the author confuses the facts and changes the figures throughout the passage, the kill figure so emphatically stated in the narrative is reduced from a very large figure down to a more manageable one by contradicting what he has just described and then choosing to ignore the inconsistancy. A great disappointment is that there is no actual evidence that Allerberger was awarded the Knights Cross and the Author has done NO research whatsoever to try to show if this was a problem based on the circumstances in which his subject supposedly received the award(in late 1945 this was a possibility) or whether it was because it wasnt actually awarded, everything is taken at face value. There are no interviews with any member of Allenbergers unit or the other named parties to determine if this was the case, nor has the author made the trip to the extensive archives relating to the German servicemen of WW2 held in Germany, USA & other countries..in doing so he devalues the story of Mr Allerberger and does the reader a great dis-service. This is further compounded by having no references, bibliography or links to any confirmation sources, surely the author must have done some research other than getting poor old Mr Allerberger to sit in front of the tape for hours at an end, for without that research hes merely a transcriber and Not an Author at all.
incidentally, Allerberger is meant to be a pseudonym for the real person and for those non German speakers among you, it roughly means "any mountainer" which is a quaint way of saying that it stands for any member of the German Mountain(Gebirgsjaeger) troops of the war. However if he really came from the 3rd Division and was awarded the Knights cross in 1945 and the other awards at the dates previously stated by the author then it wouldn't take too long to locate the real man's records and identity! so much for protecting his identity.
it has been said that this book is a cut-down version of the German language edition and if thats the case then it shows only too clearly in the poor linkages. I will probably borrow the German version from my local library(in Germany)and chec if this is the case but i suspect that the German version may well be worse if this is the distilled copy.
All in all the facts in the story are presented in a confusing manner and it's very clear that the biographer is not a military expert despite what the cover notes say. It's a pity that the real Sepp Allerberger didnt have a real biographer who was worthy of the challenge of telling his unique story of bravery, perserverance and incredible skill. Great book, 25 Apr 2008
I recently bought this book from Amazon.co.uk and I can say that it is well worth a read. I know that there are loads of memoirs out there from soliders fighting in the various allied armies, but I jumped at a chance to read a book from the frequently under-represented German persepctive.
The author writes very well and I felt that he was able to portray the sheer terror of fighting on the Eastern front very well. One engagement in the early part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered how they would repel an attack frmo Soviet armour without any ATG's etc.
Great book, great author, great read. A story from the general ranks rather than the generals, 27 Feb 2007
There is a mass of German autobiographies hitting the market place at the moment which is certainly a good thing if we are to understand all sides of the Second World War. Some books are obviously better than others and I have to say that this book is very good. Well-written, well-organised and telling things from the general ranks (a rare thing), this is a powerful book, not least because it brings to life the characters mentioned in the text, and thereby makes the story more accessible and less academic. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front as well as the Second World War. An extraordinary book, 01 May 2003
This is truly a remarkable first hand account of the fighting on the eastern front during WWII. There are many other books which have all dealt with the same topic, but I have never read a book which simply describes what happened with honesty and simple clarity. We follow machine gunner Koschorrek between the years 42-44 in different parts of Russia, Italy and Romania. The book actually starts with his lucky escape from the Stalingrad pocket in Dec -42, from there on it just gets worse. He describes the incredible bravery performed by the average soldier, the friends and comrades who were not so lucky and last but not least, the inhuman conditions of war as they were experienced on the eastern front. I read this book in two days - it was impossible to put it down....... Latvian volunteers, 21 Oct 2008
A good personal account with lots of detail and stories of individual actions. Not read any from this particular perspective before and it gives an interesting history for these 'volunteers' in the Waffen SS. It uses the war diaries of the author - comes across as credible and not a post war embelishment. Going to disagree, 22 Aug 2008
I have to disagree with previous reviews, I found this book a chore to read and nothing like the other dozen I have read such as The Forgotten Soldier or most recently, Blood Red Snow.
I prefer books written in the style of those that concentrate on their experiences and of those in a foxhole around them. In Deadly Combat those around the author get rare mentions, they are simply faceless and nameless, frankly you don't care what happens to them.
Instead you get a rather dry overview of the combat as if written by a General using his memoirs and a map. I found myself skipping over paragraphs that appeared to be lifted out of a history book on German troop movements.
There are a few exceptions that describe close combat with tanks, but you will not get to hear about who the gun crew was, or how they dealt with combat on a personal level.
Maybe I am being harsh, but the difference between this book and others I have read is striking and as such I can not recommend it to those who prefer the style of The Forgotten Soldier.
*edited for spelling error
A well written, intelligent German memoir of World war II, 20 Jan 2008
Rather than trying to sensationalise the story with gruesome details the book reads more like a novel. Biderman's style is interesting, it is very well written by a man of obvious intelligence & ability to convey the feel of any given situation. The book flows in such a way with the opening skirmishes on the Eastern front that the reader is drawn in as if reading faster & faster as the Wehrmacht steam headlong into the great expanse of Russia. Infact it is a sign of Biderman's intelligence & miliatary understanding that even these swift victories worry Biderman long before they finally come to a grinding halt in the trenches of the Crimea.
An interesting style of the book is that as the Wehrmacht becomes bogged down & then ultimately turns to defence, the pace of the book changes so reflecting this change in the campaign & the soldiers lives.
Eventually the pace becomes frantic & quite broken reflecting the headlong retreat the soldiers are thrust into. This expertly reflects the fact that German soldiers were never trained in defence & you really can feel how the soldiers start to improvise & slowly learn by experience how to successfully defend against overwhelming odds. It is a testament to these soldiers that they hold out for so long with their backs against the sea. Infact the Russians cannot believe how few soldiers they have been fighting against.
A highly recommended, intelligent & thought provoking book. It would be a very good introduction to for anybody who had never actually read a German soldiers memoirs. It gives a very clear & precise snapshot of exactly how the Heer operated from the Infantryman on the front, through the artillery, supply lines & to the HQ. It does this without being a chore but rather as a fascinating insight into a well oiled war machine.
Excellent, 05 Jun 2003
This book is a must read for all those interested in the German-Russian war 1941-1945. It tells Bidermann's story from the battle of Sevastopol in the Ukraine to the snowy forests near Leningrad and then his 3 years internment in a Soviet camp. This book was written as an historical document for his comrades and it shows in the sheer detail of information concerning divisional level etc, something which perhaps makes it a little harder to get into. I say this in comparison to Sajer's book which is a highly personal account. Some things that Bidermann says are questionable, he claims not to have known of the Nazi exterminations, then says that the Western Allies should have been fighting the Soviets, and helping the Nazis to defend Europe. One gripe is that the map is not very good and virtually useless. Otherwise a great read, you must read this to understand the German view of the war, not just what we see in the Hollywood films!! Buy this book, 18 May 2003
This book is a must-read for everyone, interested in the war or not. It shows the German experience of the war, something I feel we in Britain do not give any thought to. In comparison to Guy Sajer's book, i think this comes a close second as because it was written for the survivors of the unit, there is a lot of regimental level description and not so much personal experience. One slight gripe I have is that the map was not at all useful with many places missing. This is only a slight problem with an altogether excellent book! Engrossing Account of Combat on the Eastern Front, 03 Mar 2002
Firstly, before launching yourself into this excellent book please take the time to read the introduction by Dennis Showalter as it will help explain the style of writing to be found in this book. The book was originally written for the survivors of Bidermann's regiment and division, not for the general public. Bearing this in mind you will have a better understanding and feeling for the author's account of his experience of fighting on the Eastern Front during WW2. At times you might find the narrative old fashioned and even cliched but this is definitely not the case, it has to be taken in context of when and why this book was first written. This is a great story, on par if not better than Guy Sajer's 'Forgotten Soldier'. This is a combination of a combat history of the 132nd Infantry Division and the author's role and experiences in the fighting on the Eastern Front. The author, Gottlob Herbert Bidermann, won two Iron Crosses, the Crimea Shield, the Close Combat Badge, the German Cross in Gold, the Gold Wound Badge (wounded five times), the Honour Roll Clasp and the Tank Destruction Badge. What is remarkable is that the author survived five years of combat on the Russian Front fighting in Crimea, Leningrad and later in the Courland Pocket. I found his stories about his early years fighting with an anti-tank section using the Pak 37 "doorknocker" very interesting, I had always believed these weapons to be next to useless on the Russian Front however I was surprised. You can trace the change in the author from a novice who still cared about human beings, even his enemy to one whom has been brutalised by warfare to a point past indifference to death and destruction. I have taken the liberty to include below a short section of the text from the first chapter to give you an idea of the author's style of writing: "The NCO was grasping one of the wheels of the Maxim carriage, his sightless eyes peering forward at the ammunition belt where it fed into the chamber of the weapon. Another held his rifle clenched in cold fists, his head resting against the ground as if asleep, the olive-colored helmet secured tightly under his chin. Hartmann slipped past me and slowly approached two other figures lying closely together, side by side. One of the figures had draped an arm across the other in a last embrace, as if attempting to comfort a dying comrade. As Hartmann neared, a cloud of flies rose in protest, breaking the deadly silence and I moved forward to join him in surveying the ghastly scene. Moving silently among the carnage, Hartmann suddenly turned and slipped past me without speaking, heading in the direction from which we had come. Carefully avoiding the eyes of the dead, I quickly followed him. In this abode of death, only the trees, still and quiet, appeared to be survivors and witnesses to the struggle that had occurred, hidden within this wooded glade". I found this book to be a very fascinating account of the fighting conducted on the Eastern Front from the perspective of a young German soldier. It offers some very interesting insights into combat and its affect on men who in the end just tried to survive against immense odds. There is a number of absorbing black and white photographs supplied from private sources that give the book a human touch. The only real problem that readers may find with this book is the lack of maps detailing the movements and combats of the 132nd Infantry Division. Overall this is the sort of book that should be in the library of every serious reader or student of the war on the Russian Front during World War Two.
Excellent Photo History, 04 Jun 2000
Not much can really be said about this publication other than that it is a must have book for anyone who has an interest in the German Tiger Tank. To me this was the 'tank' of WW2, a truly formidable weapon. This is mainly a photo history of the Tiger I on the Russian Front with limited text. The photographs were excellent and numerous, many never seen before. The book offered some great shots of the Tiger I in action. Jean Restayn has also supplied a number of colour drawings showing the markings and camouflage patterns for each German unit that crewed Tigers in Russia. The overall presentation from Histoire & Collections make this a very nice title for any serious WW2 buff. Not as detailed as some of the current books published by J.J. Fedorowicz but a whole lot cheaper! This is the type of book that you can just pick up and browse through and admire this massive tank in action. One of the photographs shows a Tiger with an awesome amount of hits against its armour and its still operational (I won't tell you how many as that will spoil it). It really makes you appreciate why it was such a feared weapon by the Allies.
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Customer Reviews
Harrowing, 15 Dec 2008
Actually let me first explain that I know very little about the eastern fronts role in WWII so this is me jumping in straight from the perspective of the Germans. As such this book is a truly enlightening account of life from the perspective of a German footsoldier on the German front, and their continual retreat and gradual downfall after many years of loss.
There are some genuinely harrowing, and disturbing accounts in this memoir. Of which a few I don't think I will ever forget, and understand why they have not made the movies due to their nature...
If you're expecting to know how to snipe after reading this, or to learn some in depth techniques on the practise this book isn't for you. A lot of the techniques used are dated and impractical in todays terms, but it still provides an interesting insight into the birth of modern sniping.
Truly a great read, disturbing in places, and really interesting all the way through. Personally I was never bored through any point of this book and I doubt anyone with even a vague interest in a Snipers role would be...
High marks all round.
Great, but biased., 12 Dec 2008
First off, this book is violent and graphic, as you might expect from a book about World War Two. This book tells the story of a German sniper on the Eastern front. It is a very personal view. The book goes into detail about many kills. It is a fantastic book because it brings the personal life on a sniper/rifleman/soldier in WWII, something you don't get in normal books concerning the subject. However, it is very biased its written in a way that makes the Nazi invaders appear the victims of the USSR. It lists many atrocities performed by the Soviet Army, yet there are no accounts of any wrong doing by the Nazi troops. It also portraits the Russians as beasts and tries to make you almost discount there death as a bad thing. I also find it disturbing that "Sepp" is has apparently been haunted ever since by the fact that he failed to retrieve a comrades dogtags, yet he thinks nothing of the fact that he would purposely aim for the Soviet soldiers kidneys and guts in order to prolong death and cause the maximum agony. Even though I find myself disliking "Sepp" as a person for his cold infliction of mostly unnecessary pain, I applaud him for coming forward and letting this book be written about his exploits, it is a valuable insight into the personal level on the Eastern front. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in German/Soviet action during WWII. It is a short book and only took me a couple of days to read, but every page is full of interesting material and it never gets boring.
Great book..........But, 02 Jun 2008
The first time I read this book I coudlnt put it down (Apart from two incidents described that made me feel sick and forced me to close it). I have just finished reading it for the second time and although I still find it a great read I couldnt help feel parts of it were poorly written. Perhaps this is beacuse this isn't the full version translated from the german original or its just down to the skill of the author. In parts it reads like extremely grim fiction (almost cliche) rather than a first hand account of the front line and gives the feeling that the author has taken a few liberties here and there. After reading it again I have found myself asking questions about the validty of some parts. weather this is due to something being lost in the translation or the author giving it his own point of view I guess we will never know. My utmost appologies would be given if evidence came to light showing these things happend. Or even if the person who this book is based on (sepp Allerberger isnt his real name) or even other soldiers in his unit came forward and said "no this is how it was these are the things I have seen". But untill then I guess I will still find myself doubting. Remember this is a (supposed) account of one man in a war. If you are expecting him to go into technical detail about being a sniper such as camouflage and concealment, stalking and observation then this probably isnt for you. Its an account of the things experianced and the attrocities seen rather than a "this is how I went about being a sniper in ww2" account.In all its a great (yet harrowing) read. If you want somthing to be engrossed in then give it a go (But if you read into it too deeply you may find yourself asking the same questions).
A brilliant read, 12 Mar 2008
I found this book thoroughly absorbing and a fascinating insight into the deadly and personal world of a sniper operating on the Eastern Front in WW2.
He tells it how it was and pulls no punches when witnessing atrocities. Its a gritty odyssey. I thoroughly recommend it as a great read.
Great story but the author gives it no justice at all..., 28 Jan 2008
Great story but the narrative is very poor. The book has been translated into English by a German speaker, therefore there are many instances of appalling grammatical errors and some comments which only make sense when read in the German original. A point to note for the Publishers; a good translator can be hired cheaply and would make an immense improvement in the quality of this shoddy product.
Unfortunately, the author's powers of writing have failed him in this endeavour despite the impression in the cover notes of him being a leading expert in the field as all he has achieved here is the cobbling of individual interviews about the subject meshed into a kind of mish-mash pulp book. There is no attempt to put the narrative into an overall framework of the unit in which Allerberger served nor any information about the campaign/situations it was placed in other than a brief & inadequate map at the beginning. There has been no additional research or "value add" by the author. The book contains some glaring mistakes such as the Author's glib statement undervaluing the knights cross which he claims were given away like sweeties even although a great deal of research has been proven otherwise.
There were only 7000+ of these medals issued to an army/Navy/Airforce at war for over 6 years and which comprised many millions of people..so it wasnt an easy medal to win, in fact research shows that it became tougher to win as time went on, although there were some other awards given out easily for morale sakes the Knights Cross was not one of them.
The action in which Allenberger was supposedly awarded his knights cross for reads like something from a comic story, unfortunately the author confuses the facts and changes the figures throughout the passage, the kill figure so emphatically stated in the narrative is reduced from a very large figure down to a more manageable one by contradicting what he has just described and then choosing to ignore the inconsistancy. A great disappointment is that there is no actual evidence that Allerberger was awarded the Knights Cross and the Author has done NO research whatsoever to try to show if this was a problem based on the circumstances in which his subject supposedly received the award(in late 1945 this was a possibility) or whether it was because it wasnt actually awarded, everything is taken at face value. There are no interviews with any member of Allenbergers unit or the other named parties to determine if this was the case, nor has the author made the trip to the extensive archives relating to the German servicemen of WW2 held in Germany, USA & other countries..in doing so he devalues the story of Mr Allerberger and does the reader a great dis-service. This is further compounded by having no references, bibliography or links to any confirmation sources, surely the author must have done some research other than getting poor old Mr Allerberger to sit in front of the tape for hours at an end, for without that research hes merely a transcriber and Not an Author at all.
incidentally, Allerberger is meant to be a pseudonym for the real person and for those non German speakers among you, it roughly means "any mountainer" which is a quaint way of saying that it stands for any member of the German Mountain(Gebirgsjaeger) troops of the war. However if he really came from the 3rd Division and was awarded the Knights cross in 1945 and the other awards at the dates previously stated by the author then it wouldn't take too long to locate the real man's records and identity! so much for protecting his identity.
it has been said that this book is a cut-down version of the German language edition and if thats the case then it shows only too clearly in the poor linkages. I will probably borrow the German version from my local library(in Germany)and chec if this is the case but i suspect that the German version may well be worse if this is the distilled copy.
All in all the facts in the story are presented in a confusing manner and it's very clear that the biographer is not a military expert despite what the cover notes say. It's a pity that the real Sepp Allerberger didnt have a real biographer who was worthy of the challenge of telling his unique story of bravery, perserverance and incredible skill.
Great book, 25 Apr 2008
I recently bought this book from Amazon.co.uk and I can say that it is well worth a read. I know that there are loads of memoirs out there from soliders fighting in the various allied armies, but I jumped at a chance to read a book from the frequently under-represented German persepctive.
The author writes very well and I felt that he was able to portray the sheer terror of fighting on the Eastern front very well. One engagement in the early part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered how they would repel an attack frmo Soviet armour without any ATG's etc.
Great book, great author, great read.
A story from the general ranks rather than the generals, 27 Feb 2007
There is a mass of German autobiographies hitting the market place at the moment which is certainly a good thing if we are to understand all sides of the Second World War. Some books are obviously better than others and I have to say that this book is very good. Well-written, well-organised and telling things from the general ranks (a rare thing), this is a powerful book, not least because it brings to life the characters mentioned in the text, and thereby makes the story more accessible and less academic. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front as well as the Second World War.
An extraordinary book, 01 May 2003
This is truly a remarkable first hand account of the fighting on the eastern front during WWII. There are many other books which have all dealt with the same topic, but I have never read a book which simply describes what happened with honesty and simple clarity. We follow machine gunner Koschorrek between the years 42-44 in different parts of Russia, Italy and Romania. The book actually starts with his lucky escape from the Stalingrad pocket in Dec -42, from there on it just gets worse. He describes the incredible bravery performed by the average soldier, the friends and comrades who were not so lucky and last but not least, the inhuman conditions of war as they were experienced on the eastern front. I read this book in two days - it was impossible to put it down.......
Latvian volunteers, 21 Oct 2008
A good personal account with lots of detail and stories of individual actions. Not read any from this particular perspective before and it gives an interesting history for these 'volunteers' in the Waffen SS. It uses the war diaries of the author - comes across as credible and not a post war embelishment.
Going to disagree, 22 Aug 2008
I have to disagree with previous reviews, I found this book a chore to read and nothing like the other dozen I have read such as The Forgotten Soldier or most recently, Blood Red Snow.
I prefer books written in the style of those that concentrate on their experiences and of those in a foxhole around them. In Deadly Combat those around the author get rare mentions, they are simply faceless and nameless, frankly you don't care what happens to them.
Instead you get a rather dry overview of the combat as if written by a General using his memoirs and a map. I found myself skipping over paragraphs that appeared to be lifted out of a history book on German troop movements.
There are a few exceptions that describe close combat with tanks, but you will not get to hear about who the gun crew was, or how they dealt with combat on a personal level.
Maybe I am being harsh, but the difference between this book and others I have read is striking and as such I can not recommend it to those who prefer the style of The Forgotten Soldier.
*edited for spelling error
A well written, intelligent German memoir of World war II, 20 Jan 2008
Rather than trying to sensationalise the story with gruesome details the book reads more like a novel. Biderman's style is interesting, it is very well written by a man of obvious intelligence & ability to convey the feel of any given situation. The book flows in such a way with the opening skirmishes on the Eastern front that the reader is drawn in as if reading faster & faster as the Wehrmacht steam headlong into the great expanse of Russia. Infact it is a sign of Biderman's intelligence & miliatary understanding that even these swift victories worry Biderman long before they finally come to a grinding halt in the trenches of the Crimea.
An interesting style of the book is that as the Wehrmacht becomes bogged down & then ultimately turns to defence, the pace of the book changes so reflecting this change in the campaign & the soldiers lives.
Eventually the pace becomes frantic & quite broken reflecting the headlong retreat the soldiers are thrust into. This expertly reflects the fact that German soldiers were never trained in defence & you really can feel how the soldiers start to improvise & slowly learn by experience how to successfully defend against overwhelming odds. It is a testament to these soldiers that they hold out for so long with their backs against the sea. Infact the Russians cannot believe how few soldiers they have been fighting against.
A highly recommended, intelligent & thought provoking book. It would be a very good introduction to for anybody who had never actually read a German soldiers memoirs. It gives a very clear & precise snapshot of exactly how the Heer operated from the Infantryman on the front, through the artillery, supply lines & to the HQ. It does this without being a chore but rather as a fascinating insight into a well oiled war machine.
Excellent, 05 Jun 2003
This book is a must read for all those interested in the German-Russian war 1941-1945. It tells Bidermann's story from the battle of Sevastopol in the Ukraine to the snowy forests near Leningrad and then his 3 years internment in a Soviet camp. This book was written as an historical document for his comrades and it shows in the sheer detail of information concerning divisional level etc, something which perhaps makes it a little harder to get into. I say this in comparison to Sajer's book which is a highly personal account. Some things that Bidermann says are questio | | |