This is certainly not a triumpiantalist book, despite what you might think from a first glance at the title. It holds no bars in describing the dark psyche of a German Soldier (in all the various combination of the land soldier, from Landser to Panzer Commander and all shades in between). How they lived and died for the Third Reich, fighting on well past the point of hope. It dispels any illusion of nobility, any fictional occlusion of the truth of what is meant to fight for Germany in WWII, with the underlying guilt and stain of the regime. It describes the fighting, successes and failures but also the underlying "why" they fought. There are too many chilling home truths to attempt to list here, but the nature of the whole hearted commitment of the German Army to the Nazi State is plain to see. From 1934 the German Army incrementally sold its soul to the Nazi regime, to the point where the two in the end in 1945 the two were indistinguishable from each other. A fascinating and shocking read, along the lines of Ordinary Men (see below, the compunction to a "duty" made them fight - by oath to see the Fuhrer, as the embodiment of Germany):
Like many good books, once I have listened to them on Audible and cannot stop thinking about them. I inevitably buy a paper copy for reference. This book is both chilling for the haunting message it tells and very informational in the sense of detail and context it gives. Highly recommended!
No comments:
Post a Comment