As a memoir, I think this came out about as well as it could have for someone who apparently never intended for anyone else to read it, and never took the time to polish it. We hear so much about World War II through the eyes of the Allies, and those the Nazis persecuted. It's quite a novelty to see it through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. He writes plainly. I don't think he's trying to make himself sound good, although he pulls off some pretty clever stunts in the story.

If only Oskar Scheja had edited the book himself, or written an epilogue, or some kind of context to his narrative. I think his nephew did the best he could. The only real problem I find with it is there are a lot of typos, mainly misspelled words. The acronym "NKVD" was often rendered "NKDV" for example. ( )