Rating:  Summary: This book you'll read again and again. Review: This book tells the story of a soldier on the losing side in WWII and perhaps for that reason it's so moving. Never before or since have I read a book that has left such a mark on me as this one, it puts our every day lives into perspective, it really does. The saying 'things can only get better' does not apply on the Eastern front, and Guy Sajer's Forgotten Soldier makes this abundently clear.
Rating:  Summary: A powerful experience on both a military and personal level Review: This has got to be one of the best books written about war, period. Sajer's range of feelings, his introspective nature, and his ability to express himself simply yet powerfully create a book that is truly inspired. Aside from the obvious interest the book has for the military reader, I have not met anyone who has read the book and not been moved by the totality of his experience.
Rating:  Summary: Damn Good Review: Buy this book, put it away and make your children read it when they grow up before this and other stories of WW1 and WW2 are forgotten.
Rating:  Summary: One read is not enough with Sajer's account Review: I don't know what to say, other than I can't stop reading this book. I'm currently in my second read, and Sajer's account of the Eastern Front is heart wrenching to the point that it brings tears to my eyes. We are all familiar with the "evil" nature of the Nazi war machine, but The Forgotten Soldier makes you realize that most of these guys are simply regular army; soldiers that are just trying to stay alive. Soldiers who have little or no regard for Nazism. Without a doubt, this is truly a gripping account that should not be forgotten. I wish I could meet Sajer.
Rating:  Summary: Splendidly written from a foot soldiers perspective!!!! Review: Shocking portrayal of how an average French-German teen got swept up into the Nazi Juggernaut that catapulted him into horrors unimaginable. True, gutwrenching tales of zero degree weather, cowardice, and heroism, of love, anger and death around every corner. As Sajer wrote in his book " Wars must be fought by the young, for only they have the energy and strength to endure the horrors that will come". I would love to sit down with a bottle of Cognac, a pack of cigarettes, and a few hours to kill, and listen to this man tell of his Eastern Front experiences first hand!
Rating:  Summary: One of the most outstanding military books ever written. Review: I first read this book in 1974. I have read it countless times since. Having spent almost 20 years in the US Army ( Special Forces & Rangers ) I can avow to the fact that this book has had a profound influence on my military career, if one can believe that something as simple as one book ( except The Bible ) can do. Everytime that I thought that I was suffering, either through intense training or deployment, I have reflected on what it must have been like to have endured the meatgrinder on the Eastern front. My own experiences seem trivial in comparison. There has been speculation on the facts involved with the area of operations involving the Gross Deutschland division & Sajer's accounting. By whom ? Another smug arm chair military historian? Please. There is already enough of that ilk in the world, speculating about things that they have neither the balls nor the experience to ever endure themselves. Stick to your " gaming tables."
Rating:  Summary: One of the most outstanding military books ever written. Review: This book was first published many years before most people seem to be aware of. I first read it in 1974 when I was in the 7th grade. I have re-read it several times since.This book ( Sajers story ) has gotten me through almost 20 years of hardships in training with US army special forces. Every time that I think that I'm suffering, I try to imagine what it must have been like on th Eastern front, surviving endless hardship, death. There is speculation as to the facts concerning Sajer's experience. From who? Another smug armchair military historian that probably never served anywhere,anytime? Please. The world seems to be full of that ilk.
Rating:  Summary: Probably the greatest war book ever written. Review: A remarkable record of the human experience. A note to the skeptics on historical accuracy: to this day, very little is known about the events of the battles near the eastern front. Much of the existing war record is largerly speculative. As happened frequently on the eastern front, there was simply no one left alive, on either side, to tell the story. My late grandfather had been shipping ammunitions across Volga into Stalingrad until immobilized due to a heavy wound in 1943. He accounted that entire divisions had evaporated into the void, along with their commands. The front line was never clearly marked, and the whereabouts of the divisions frequently unknown to the commanding generals.I hope that Hollywood never attempts to make a movie out of thes book. No great book has ever been made into a great movie. There is no need for another abomination.
Rating:  Summary: A chilling first-hand account of the Eastern Front Review: I found this book chilling in many respects. It is not well written in the conventional sense and yet it portrays reality in a battlefield as only a first hand account can. Of the many WW2 books I have read this book is the only one that makes you sit and think.
Rating:  Summary: The best World War 2 book Review: Forget what the one guy says below and read all the 5 star reviews the other 64 people give on The Forgotten Soldier as it really is the best World War 2 book ever.
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