The Forgotten Soldier | 
 enlarge | Author: Guy Sajer
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $8.15
You Save: $11.80 (59%)
New (22) Used (28) Collectible (3) from $8.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  192 reviews
Sales Rank: 28416
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 476
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 1574882864
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9781574882865
ASIN: 1574882864
Publication Date: October 15, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: book in very good condition. Tight binding, clean and unmarked pages. There are corner/eges/crease on the cover and some pages. Otherwise, a great copy.
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Product Description
This book recountsthe horror of World War II on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, young Guy Sajer’s war becomes, as the German invasion falters in the icy vastness of the Ukraine, a simple, desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and above all the terrifying Soviet artillery. As a member of the elite Gross Deutschland Division, he fought in all the great battles from Kursk to Kharkov.
His German footsoldier’s perspective makes The Forgotten Soldier a unique war memoir, the book that the Christian Science Monitor said "may well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited." Now it has been handsomely republished as a hardcover containing fifty rare German combat photos of life and death at the eastern front. The photos of troops battling through snow, mud, burned villages, and rubble-strewn cities depict the hardships and destructiveness of war. Many are originally from the private collections of German soldiers and have never been published before. This volume is a deluxe edition of a true classic.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 187 more reviews...
 Is it fake? August 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The wind sucks the breath out of my mouth, even though covered. Ice crystals form on the outer layer of my sock-mask. If I did not knock the crystal off I fear that I would no longer be able to fear. As I wander endless white do I dream or hallucinate of summer at the lake. I have never been so cold and oh so alone..............
Though I read this book 20 odd years ago I still shiver when I encounter this book on some lost shelf in some back alley bookstore. Sajer glares at me from the cover with his scruffly sunken cheeks. The fear in his eyes tell me he is at an end and I should leave him as fast as I can. Alas I cannot. We had fought together and now we must survive. I am haunted.
This book is touted as a work of fiction, which clearly bases it plot in the reality of the Eastern Front in WW II. Yet the writing style could almost best be described as an autobiogrphical account of one man's suffering. Few authors have the knack of drawing in their readers so intensly, i.e. Remarque,Manchester,Shiver,Rand even Silverman. If the story is true then I feel more sympathetic for Sajer. Be it fiction then I have been duped, but quite happily had I gone along toward my embarrassment.
I had heard that this book had been produced as a movie, but as of yet have been unable to confirm that claim. The conseus being that a movie would not prove worthy of the book (unlike say "The Sand Pebbles")
any student of WW II, owes it to him/herself to read this story and to seek out similar such books. For they reflect war on a deeply personal level of suffering other than the ultimate suffering of non-existence. We read the history, the oral historys, the "big picture" analysis books and we say oh, wasn't that terrible. Seldom do we think that those are people suffering and dying in those sentences. With "The Forgotten Soldier" we can see and if you concentrate, hear and feel what a true, tired warrior felt. You can walk away from this book and if you are lucky you may be able to forget this book. But the book is a ghost, eventually you won't be able to escape - and then Winter sets in.
 Memoir of survival August 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
What an amazing book. The author's luck in surviving nearly 3 years of combat as a conscripted 17 year old is eye opening. He describes in detail how his training and first missions went as a supply soldier attempting to rescue Stalingrad. The difficulties in logistics in providing food, shelter, and sanitation in the vast open Russian steppe is clearly made.
The author also describes how he and others in his unit were recruited as "volunteers" for the Gross Deutschland Division as infantry soldiers and the training they received as replacements. The difficulties of survival, the mental and emotional toll that war has on people is also described.
Also noteworthy is the personal impact war has on families where he meets the parents of his best friend, who was killed by a fighter plane strafing run. The impact of years of Allied bombing on the German civilians, their ability to provide food to themselves and their army, is also described from the ground level perspective.
This book is a first person account and avoids "armchair analysis" of senior leader decisions. The author describes how those on the ground, in the mud, endured the extreme cold to fight against the Soviets reclaiming their country in executing senior leader decisions.
For "armchair analysis", after reading this book, one wonders how the US Army would have fared fighting in Russia if Patton was allowed to battle the Communists in 1946? Would the American supply system been able to function in the road-less and open steppe?
A humbling book, we are so very fortunate to live in peace, not having to endure the suffering of total war.
Interesting perspective from the other side of WWII July 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a good read. Most people don't know this, but this book is required reading at the US War college at West Point.
Yes, he may get some of his facts mixed up a little, but hey.... it's WAR! Many people have trouble remembering the small stuff through the haze of war.
Gripping tale will stay with you a long time July 4, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've quite a few excellent WWII histories but this one is one of the most visceral and savage accounts I've ever seen. Your feelings about the universality of the foot soldier will never be the same.
 Captivating account. But is it true? April 22, 2008
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is very involved and a joy for WW2 history buffs. Unfortunately, after conducting a little side research, I discovered a great deal of skepticism leveled at Guy Sajer and his account of his "experiences" on the Eastern Front during WW2. His critics provide specific instances of discontinuity, fabrications, or deliberate gray-areas detailed in The Forgotten Solder, and one must take this into account when wieghing it's authenticity. I found these accusations downright troubling and didn't rate the book quite as high as a result. If you can overcome the skepiticism associated with it and consider the book a "partial" fabrication, you'll probably enjoy the storyline none the less.
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