Five Years, Four Fronts: The War Years of Georg Grossjohann

Rating:
Summary: Not your typical German solider memoir - this is BETTER!
Review: "Five Years, Four Fronts" by Georg Grossjohann is a fabulous look into the life of a young Wehrmacht officer from his time before the outbreak of WWII to its end. Unlike many books that are similarly dedicated to the views from a single soldier, those of Grossjohann are steeped in broad vision. For example, while individual battles are discussed Grossjohann places them squarely within the context of the overall theatre of operations, making them more than personal snippets of information. Amazingly, despite this broad perspective, Grossjohann does not get trapped into the position of defending or apologizing for actions of the whole German war machine. This is a refreshing change from the plethora of recent Axis biographies that have emerged in recent years. A reader can enjoy Grossjohann's journey in proper context without feeling disgust, anger or pity. Rather one can walk away feeling one has gotten a rare glimpse into the life of a truly honest and fair soldier who fought bravely for his country - in this case a German rather than Allied soldier. Quite an amazing experience actually!

While "Five Years, Four Fronts" does in fact cover (at least) five years and four fronts (as Grossjohann traverses back and forth across Euro-Asia moving from command to command and up through the lower ranks of the Wehrmacht) readers will not get an in-depth look at a large number of battles spanning the entire war. Rather the reader sees how a good lower-level officer can be move from one situation to the next as needed and how that officer (Grossjohann) perceived his place in this opera. The combat discussions are in fact quite good but not numerous, so if this is what you are looking for this may not be your cup of tea. However, if you want more in your personal historical accounts (as I did) "Five Years, Four Fronts" soundly delivers.

As is typical of so many other Aberjona Press books, it is the extra detail that pushes the book into a "must have/must read" category. The Preface provided by T.C. Mataxis, Brigadier General, US Army (retired), sets the stage for a book that is MORE than just another German soldier's story, but rather the story of a warrior demanding respect from peers of all nationalities. The Historical Commentaries at the beginning of each chapter further set Grossjohann's text within the larger context of the war (spatially and temporally). These facts together with Grossjohann's style and Aberjona editing make "Five Years, Four Fronts" a solid 4.5 star book - easy to pick up and read but hard to put down!!

Rating:
Summary: Not your typical German solider memoir - this is BETTER!
Review: "Five Years, Four Fronts" by Georg Grossjohann is a fabulous look into the life of a young Wehrmacht officer from his time before the outbreak of WWII to its end. Unlike many books that are similarly dedicated to the views from a single soldier, those of Grossjohann are steeped in broad vision. For example, while individual battles are discussed Grossjohann places them squarely within the context of the overall theatre of operations, making them more than personal snippets of information. Amazingly, despite this broad perspective, Grossjohann does not get trapped into the position of defending or apologizing for actions of the whole German war machine. This is a refreshing change from the plethora of recent Axis biographies that have emerged in recent years. A reader can enjoy Grossjohann's journey in proper context without feeling disgust, anger or pity. Rather one can walk away feeling one has gotten a rare glimpse into the life of a truly honest and fair soldier who fought bravely for his country - in this case a German rather than Allied soldier. Quite an amazing experience actually!

While "Five Years, Four Fronts" does in fact cover (at least) five years and four fronts (as Grossjohann traverses back and forth across Euro-Asia moving from command to command and up through the lower ranks of the Wehrmacht) readers will not get an in-depth look at a large number of battles spanning the entire war. Rather the reader sees how a good lower-level officer can be move from one situation to the next as needed and how that officer (Grossjohann) perceived his place in this opera. The combat discussions are in fact quite good but not numerous, so if this is what you are looking for this may not be your cup of tea. However, if you want more in your personal historical accounts (as I did) "Five Years, Four Fronts" soundly delivers.

As is typical of so many other Aberjona Press books, it is the extra detail that pushes the book into a "must have/must read" category. The Preface provided by T.C. Mataxis, Brigadier General, US Army (retired), sets the stage for a book that is MORE than just another German soldier's story, but rather the story of a warrior demanding respect from peers of all nationalities. The Historical Commentaries at the beginning of each chapter further set Grossjohann's text within the larger context of the war (spatially and temporally). These facts together with Grossjohann's style and Aberjona editing make "Five Years, Four Fronts" a solid 4.5 star book - easy to pick up and read but hard to put down!!

Rating:
Summary: Five Years,Four Fronts
Review: Another first person account that is no longer in my collection of German soldier memior's. A very boring book that lack's any kind of specific detail.A book of small overview's is all it is. Beter off buying book's like Infantry Ace's or Forgotten Soldier.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book on WW2 history
Review: Five Years, Four Fronts is a classic, not only of WWII history, but of military literature. Major Grossjohann's recollections are the carefully selected reminiscences of a professional soldier, not the lurid "war [...]" that some other authors have opportunistically used to titillate a certain type of reader. Grossjohann's candor about his superiors and his peers-with anecdotes that run the range from searing criticism to amusing storytelling to profound praise-is unusual and refreshing, especially coming from a field grade officer...of any army. His unstinting praise and respect for his subordinates not only mark the author as a first class leader of men, but as a paragon of what every officer should be.

Five Years, Four Fronts is packed with unusual and fascinating details. Many of them are unique to this book, in fact. The process by which enlisted men from the interwar Reichswehr became the commissioned backbone of the wartime Wehrmacht, for example, are enlightening and thought-provoking. Grossjohann's use of detailed flashbacks to his earlier years as a junior enlisted man are a fascinating and sometimes humorous device that lends special life and allows great insights into this process in particular. The heavy demands that a lengthy war against a combination of enemies exerted on an officer are also abundantly illustrated in this book. The book abounds with accounts of not only commanding platoons, companies, battalions, and regiments in fierce combat, but of the unusual assignments officers often draw. These include (and this is only a partial list) service as the commandant for a key river crossing site; negotiating a surrender of an enemy garrison; training recruits and garrison duty while recovering from wounds; or commanding a unit of soldiers who did not speak the same language as the chain of command.

This book also avoids the pitfalls of so many WWII memoirs. There is very little sentimentality; absolutely no attempt to apologize or rationalize political events beyond the author's control or understanding; no quotation of mundane letters from home; no whining about Allied or Soviet numerical superiority. It does not even seem to have occurred to Grossjohann to brag about his numerous important decorations for valor, up to and including the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross! Indeed, the only thing about which the author does seem to express more than understated professional pride in is his intimate familiarity with the nature of the ladies of the regions in which he fought. This is not done as braggadocio or boorishness, however, but rather, as a matter of being something of a connoisseur, with a light-hearted and funny tone.

The professionally crafted maps are also noteworthy. Readers can follow the action with ease, and understand how the course of combat in every significant battle in which the author participated. Few military memoirs have anything like enough maps, but this one is strongly supported by over two dozen of them.

Five Years, Four Fronts compares favorably with any other German officer's memoir I have ever read; I honestly believe it is the best memoir ever written by a German infantry officer. Strongly recommended for anyone who wants to understand the German Army during World War II or military leadership in general.


Rating:
Summary: Broad scope, human perspectives
Review: Georg Grossjohann fits an image that historically curious readers today might have of a "typical Wehrmacht officer" -- Prussian background, long pre-1939 service, and campaign experiences on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during the war. Where his book "Five Years, Four Fronts" excels, is in presenting a ground-level view of the World War II German Army through the eyes of such an officer, who commanded troops close enough to the front to convey the day-to-day details of battle and the lives of officers and men, but at the same time far enough away that his perceptions of what took place were not limited by the horizon of an individual fighting position or armored vehicle.

Some of the most interesting material in this book involves the attitudes of Wehrmacht officers and men toward their chain of command, which, Grossjohann relates, were not always as rigid and "Prussian" as persisting stereotypes still suggest. There are revealing descriptions of the foibles of leadership figures ranging from a master sergeant at Grossjohann's old prewar regiment, to Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler as he took amateurish charge of German forces on the Upper Rhine late in the war. Also, Grossjohann details such dynamics of front-line action as the agreement between his regiment and the mayor of a French town to let civilians evacuate during a pause in combat.

Overall, "Five Years, Four Fronts" gives insight into the daily culture of the Wehrmacht service as well as laying out full-fleshed and detailed accounts of events in lesser-known war theaters such as the Rhone Valley and the Vosges Mountains of France. It is substantial historical work which also reads engagingly enough to keep the reader interested throughout.

Rating:
Summary: An Honest Account
Review: Here is a soldier who saw it all. From private to major on four fronts is quite a journey and the author makes it an interesting one. There is no 'puffing' here, just the facts. I was intrigued with his depiction of other officers, those who could 'cut it' and those who talked a good game.
The class distinctions, regional differences and the varied reactions to the stress of combat were revealing. Grossjohann is a fine example of leadership.

Rating:
Summary: A Short version of Four Fronts
Review: Herr Grossjohann is a very lucky man who survived the end the of the war. During the war he fought on both Eastern and Western fronts, in various outfits. He displays courage, intelligence and bluntness in his endovours. He gives the reader a somewhat summerized picture of his time during the war.

This is a fine book, at the same time though, it depends on who is reading it and the depth of which that reader wishes to engage his mind. Their are few details in this book of the fighting, of strategic formations and the overall mood of his men. There are some parts which are noteworthy, mainly the way he talks about his superiors, their actions but nothing much beyond that. This is basically a very short version of what was his life during the war. Lacks in many details which in the book he says cannot say because they would take too long to explain. I am sure the author has his reasons as to why.

Over all this is a fine book if you are a High school Student trying to write a paper on the Western front and especially the the months after Operation Overlord and the German Operation Norhtwind. Serious readers, who have a lot of knowledge already, should only pick up this book for curiosity, since it's a very quick read. I don't believe this book adds much to the other great War Diaries of the war. If you are interested in more in depth reading, check out: "German Boy" by Wolfgang Samuel and "Soldat" by Siegfried Knappe, are a few of my favorite books.

I hasitate to say that this book should be overlooked becuse it does have a good story to tell but it is just told in a manner too summarized to get too involved with the writer and his struggles.

Rating:
Summary: Truthful autobiography
Review: I bought this book from the publisher and was not disappointed. First off the book was mailed and arrived on time and in great shape.
The book starts off w/ the authour and his training and early battles. It describes how, through hard work and good battlefield initiative he is being recommended for promotions. It describes the bonding w/ the soldiers through the good and bad times of the war.
There is no political affiliation or "poor me" in this book but a truthful insight from a front line officer of the German army during the war. The authour has the rare privilage of fighting on 4 of the major fronts of the war and has a few useful stories both humorous and sad.
The book ends w/ the authour surviving the war and avoiding capture until he is betrayed. If you are interested in personal accounts of soldiers of World War II then you will NOT be disappointed in this book. Highly recommended

Rating:
Summary: Terrific WWII Memoir!
Review: If you want a historically correct WWII book on the "German" mulit-front war from a first person perspective, this is the book for you! Grossjohann provides a candid and often stark view of the realities of combat for an infantryman in the German war machine. Outstanding job!!!

Rating:
Summary: Rare account of an infantryman's war
Review: In Five Years, Four Fronts, Georg Grossjohann provides an account of his wartime military career. What the thoughtful reader will learn is that this man was an exceptional professional soldier and a humble human being.
This book is based on Grossjohann's highly personal and private papers, which were not written with intent to publish and which were printed posthumously. To make up the gaps the editor offers the historical context which Grossjohann could no longer provide.
We read of Grossjohann's participation in many actions, from the fruitless and costly assault on Fortress Fermont in the Maginot Line, to numerous vicious battles in the Soviet Union such as those at the Mius River, Cherkassy, and Uman, and eventually to the withdrawal from the beaches of southern France to the ideal defensive terrain of the Vosges Mountains. If the narrative is not lurid it is because Grossjohann was not the type of man to self-aggrandize or belittle the sacrifices made by the soldiers of either side. We see him constantly doing his duty and always thinking of his men and-because of his basic humanity-the circumstances of the enemy as well. One example of this is his attempts at Hohneck in the Vosges to convince the surrounded French to pull out rather than experience their own destruction. Typically, Grossjohann ends this account by correcting the existing historical record. A booklet on the combat in the Vosges Mountains mistakenly credits him with commanding the difficult final assault on Hohneck.
His accounts of dealing with pencil-pushers, puffed-up superiors, and incompetents remind the reader that armies are bureaucracies and regardless of the situation or crisis at hand continue to operate as such. How else could one explain why in March 1945, Grossjohann, who by then had commanded three different regiments in combat, was transferred from the front to attend a course for regimental commanders?
The foreword by General Ted Mataxis is a valuable introduction to anyone interested in understanding military history. It demonstrates, through the school of his hard experience in combat in three wars, that soldiers of belligerent armies have much in common. He suggests that, at its core, combat has immutable elements which bridge time and space. Lastly, this is a handsome and well-made book.