Twilight of the Gods: A Swedish Waffen-SS Volunteer's Experiences with the 11th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, Eastern Front 1944-45

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Summary: The story of a Nordland veteran
Review: 'Twilight of the Gods' describes the experiences of a Swedish Waffen-SS man, Erik Wallin, in the ranks of the 11th-SS 'Nordland' division, from Courland to Pomerania, the Oder and finally Berlin, 1944-1945. He served in the mortar platoon of the reconnaissance battalion of this divison manned by Scandinavian volunteers. It is a short book, readable in an evening. One of the most striking aspects of the book is its unapologetic nature, the text is riddled with unabashed references to 'Asiatic Hordes' and 'staunch Nordic defenders of European civilization'. Many readers might well be offended by this. The editor's (who is apparently also a Swedish SS veteran) introduction is annoyingly in the same vein, one would have hoped for a far more balanced and impartial approach. On the other hand, the book describes numerous small-unit actions in detail, during the final desperate battles on the Eastern Front (readers should however keep in mind that this is not a first-hand account, the story was written by the editor based on conversations held with Wallin soon after the war). There are plenty of references to tactics, weapons and equipment to satisfy the military buffs. King Tigers, Panzerfausts, assault rifles etc. all make their appearance. The intense combat scenes are many and vividly related.
If you are looking for a self-critical/remorseful account of a (non-German) SS volunteer, this is not the book for you. If you are more interested in the military aspects of this dramatic closing period of the war, and/or want to know what motivated men such Wallin to fight for an evil regime, then I suggest you read it.

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Summary: A combat memoir of a fanatic Nazi
Review: Erik Wallin belonged to an armored recconnaisance battalion of the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland" and in this book he recounts some of his most terrible battles during the last days of the Third Reich. Although the battle scenes are terrific and hair raising and the magnitude of danger through which the German troops had to pass is ably described, the motives which made a Swede like Wallin and many of his compatriots to leave their idyllic and neutral country and their families in order to fight a foreign war for a monstrous dictatorship are not touched at all. Wallin repeats many times the word "duty" but fails to explain how this struggle came to be his duty. He was one of the "tough men, voluntarily dedicated fighters to death" who swelled the Waffen SS strenght to a full 38 divisions until the ened of the war!

Reading this memoir it is not difficult to understand how the much depleted Wehrmacht managed to put up such a hard resistance to the Allies for so long. Wallin and his comrades were believing nazist nonsense such that "sensational weapons would soon be put into action and, thanks to that, the war would take on a completely new character". He also let himself to be immersed into Nazi propaganda considering the Red Army as a barbaric asiatic horde which threatened the european civilization (!) recounting General Felix Steiner's speech: "In the presence of the greatest danger that had threatened wesetern peoples and their cultures since Attila and his Huns, these peoples were standing more divided than ever. Instead of facing up with united powers to ward off the new invasion, they were wasting their forces in devastating "civil" wars (sic). It had led to having only a part of Germany's armed forces as the most important defence against the threat of worldwide Bolshevism, facing the Barbarians!" What a rubbish! Wallin had forgotten who signed a pact with Stalin in 1939 and who had conquered and terrorized the "western peoples" for two years before operation "Barbarossa". He also forgot who started the Soviet-German war and who invaded first. Let's not forget that Russia fought every time against the oppresors who threatened Europe (like Napoleon, Hitler and the militant Islam today) and surely less frequently against the western peoples than other "civilised" Europeans like the French, the British and the Germans! If Russians were "barbarians" then what to say of the Turks who terrorized Europe for centuries with unparalleled cruelty and savagery and now are about to become full members of the EU with the energetic support of the USA? When, after the fall of Berlin, Wallin came along some Turks in northeastern Germany, he realised what "Asian barbarian" really means: "It was quite alright to dine with them at the field's edge, as long as you avoided looking at them. One single glance at their physiognomies was enough to transform the asparagus in your mouth to grass, dry as dust, and the swallowing function to get cramped!" It is always hard to admit that you spent some years of ultimate danger and hardship fighting against the wrong opponent!

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Summary: Amazing !
Review: THE best memoirs of an SS soldier i've ever read . This guy had angels on his shoulders to have survived half of what he went through . Absolutely fantastic reading .

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Summary: Interesting individual account
Review: This is a short, intense account of a specific period of the war. I found this to be a gripping story, and hard to put down. With the number of personal accounts appearing, I also found it interesting that it tracks and crosses with several other personal accounts currently available dealing with the battle for Berlin. The one disappointment is that the story starts in the middle, since the ending was so exciting, I would have liked to read about the beginning. Because it is the story of one person and limited to his view as a member of a mortar platoon, I would recommend reading something with a larger scope to give this book more context. None of this detracts from the book, however, I heartily recommend it.