Albrecht Wacker

At eighteen in 1943, his apprenticeship over, our protagonist got drafted into a war, which, in the aftermath of the huge German defeat at Stalingrad, was not winnable. That didn’t seem as obvious to anyone then, as it does to us now. What was crystal clear was the barbarism of the enemy, finding the bodies of his own recently captured friends, tortured, and murdered after a successful counterattack. The details are not for the squeamish, but from my extensive reading about the era, they seem authentic. Obsessed as I am with history I enjoyed the details of daily life, the groin inspections and use of sulfonamide solution to protect against VD or outright crotch rot. The too brief description (our hero’s information came second hand) of the military brothels set up to service the desperate pleasure of the lower ranking troops, whereas officers had better access to willing female auxiliaries.
The god-awful war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia has fascinated me since childhood. There was no clear, unequivocal ‘good’ side to be on, despite Russia becoming allied with the Western Allies after Hitler double-crossed them. They had started out as dubious allies dividing Eastern Europe between them and perpetrating the worst crimes on the people in their areas of control. If, by accident of birth, you found yourself embroiled in that titanic struggle, you likely would be outraged by the harsh actions of the other side and excuse or minimalize those of your own. We see this in our own conflicts, when the atrocities of ‘our boys’ are swept under the rug, while those of the enemy are prosecuted with vigor.
… (altro)

One of the grimmest and brutal descriptions of real war I have read. If you do not want to read about real war wounds, torture and death then do not read this book.

This story follows one German soldier on the Eastern front who became one of WWII's best snipers. Typical of most young men in war, he was doing what his country ask and thought he would find adventure. Instead he found that he was just being pushed into the meat grinder between to nations who would fight until they ran out of bodies. The only way to stay alive was to win. Germany's Eastern defeat was decided before he killed his first Russian.

Very interesting book. Lots of new info I had not encountered before. It surprised me that a very modern Germany was virtually without snipers and only created them in response to the Soviets. Early German snipers used captured Soviet sniper rifles because they had scopes.… (altro)