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Summary: In Deadly Combat
Review: "This book is dedicated to the fallen - however, it is written for the living." This quote, written by a surviving member of Gottlob Bidermann's 132nd division hints at the tone of this reworked memoir, originally published in 1964. The author recognizes the attrocities of Nazism very little in this account, save for the influence of political operatives in the front-line units, the growing suspicions discussed by family members while on furlough, and rumors of the mistreatment of civilians by units behind the lines. This omission is very noticeable, yet I don't think it ultimately detracts from the narrative. Bidermann's account is that of a devoted front-line soldier whose unit fights both in the Crimea and eventually from Leningrad to Courland. The task at hand is always to meet the enemy, while preserving the lives of his men. The 132nd infantry division engaged the Soviets in battle roughly seventy times from June, 1941 to May, 1945, exacting a heavy toll on body and spirit. The author recounts the events of almost four years of fighting, as well as the transformation in his own spirit. Although his unit was never defeated in open battle, their diminished supplies eventually put them on the constant defensive. The pending loss of the war and reports of his destroyed homeland weighed heavily on Bidermann. And despite the fact that the memoir was written close to twenty years after the fact, these passages capture the mood well. The author portrays an emptiness separate from the attrocities of Nazism and focusses on the defeat at the hands of a retributive Soviet army. Finally, Bidermann tells of his three-plus years in the Soviet Gulag. His final trip home is not accompanied by elation or relief, but bewilderment and emptiness. Overall, this soldier's story is enlightening since not many exist for Germans on the eastern front. The conspicuous omission of the Nazi element will be problematic for some readers. It was only marginally so for this one. What proved most useful was one man's history of the success and defeat of ther German wehrmacht in the east.
Rating: 
Summary: In Deadly Combat
Review: A German soldier's World War II memoir that traces the grueling experiences of an army marching on the road to ruin from the first march into Russian in 1941 to life as a prisoner of war in 1945.
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Summary: In Deadly Combat
Review: A superb book about the hopeless situation on the Russian front . Moves fast , loaded with action , even has a few gory pictures of some unfortunate Russian tankers that show how horrible war can be . Would make a great war movie .
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Summary: Just Pray to St. Barbara!
Review: Although he was never an cannoneer, Leutnant Bidermann must have prayed on occasion to St. Barbara, the patron saint of artillerymen everywhere. Infantrymen fear artillery above all else (tanks a close second), and Bidermann was right up front with the rifle-toting infantrymen trying to stop Soviet tanks with his popgun Pak 37 even as Russian counter-battery fire fell all around. His many close calls, attested to by the deaths of comrades who died but a few feet away, gives depth to the meaning "luck of the draw". Attacked by a Russian infantryman who sprayed the interior of the tiny hut he was resting in with a full drum of machine gun bullets (50 rounds), Bidermann finds to his surprise that he was not alone after all: on the wall is a framed, hand-painted ikon of the Virgin Mary, riddled with bullet holes. Even a hardened athiest, which Bidermann isn't, would tend to attach some small significance to this symbolic evidence of protection. Bidermann's book should have been titled: "Against All Odds." Or "Nine Lives." A book that benefits from two readings: its many harrowing details are not easily absorbed the first time around.
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Summary: must read
Review: An absolute must read for anyone truly interested in WWII.
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Summary: Prompts nostalgia for my Father's tales of WWII
Review: Biderman gives a fantastic, continuous narative that had me cringing at the thought of hardships to come and exhausted by the never-ending, life-threatening encounters with the Russians. Biderman fails only in the lack of maps and the repetitious descriptions of the campaign of the northern army, but this is in keeping with the drawn-out events in the battles surrounding Leningrad. The conditions endured by Biderman and his colleagues will humble the hardiest mountaineer and reminded you of just how easy you have it in life. I wish my father had lived longer so that we might sit and ponder Biderman's experiences. My father served in the US army on the Western Front, and met the Russians at the end of the war. Read this book along with stories of Shackleton, and H. W. Tilman for the sheer adventure of it.
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Summary: Prompts nostalgia for my Father's tales of WWII
Review: Biderman gives a fantastic, continuous narative that had me cringing at the thought of hardships to come and exhausted by the never-ending, life-threatening encounters with the Russians. Biderman fails only in the lack of maps and the repetitious descriptions of the campaign of the northern army, but this is in keeping with the drawn-out events in the battles surrounding Leningrad. The conditions endured by Biderman and his colleagues will humble the hardiest mountaineer and reminded you of just how easy you have it in life. I wish my father had lived longer so that we might sit and ponder Biderman's experiences. My father served in the US army on the Western Front, and met the Russians at the end of the war. Read this book along with stories of Shackleton, and H. W. Tilman for the sheer adventure of it.
Rating:
Summary: In Deadly Combat
Review: Bidermann writes a great book. He brings the reader into the world of the Eastern Front from the view of a real soldier...not some staff officer as many others books available. He tells it like it probably truly was there in Russia. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: Bidermann writes a great book. He brings the reader into the world of the Eastern Front from the view of a real soldier...not some staff officer as many others books available. He tells it like it probably truly was there in Russia. I recommend this book.
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Summary: excellent personal account of the eastern front
Review: Brave men facing overwhelming odds against the Russian during the end of the brutal war. Under the point of view of landsers fighting bravely through hunger, bitter cold, and fatigue through an unrelenting barraged of Russian troops. Their sacrifices are so tragic that they made if for a Fuhrer who can never comprehend what valor and honor mean. This memoir give a very detail account of a soldier's life in the eastern front w/ vivid details of the horror one face in war. The only setback is there's no map detailing the movement of the troops and their retreat making a better visualization. Also it seems to be missing the flight, torture, execution, and slave labor of the Russian people. It would seem that as an officer, he would've witness these acts. So I am not sure if he just want to focus only on the military aspect of the war or avoid it altogether.
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