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 enlarge | Author: Ernst Juenger
Creator: Michael Hofmann
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 14629
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0142437905
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.4144092
EAN: 9780142437902
ASIN: 0142437905
Publication Date: May 4, 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 Harrowing and unforgettable May 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an amazing book to read. Junger was a stormtrooper--the German soldiers who lead the first wave into the trenches--for something like four years. It seems extraordinary that anyone could have survived such a holocaust, let alone four years of it. There is very little in the way of emotional expression in this book, or personal or political observation. Junger devoted his writing to the material details of the battle. This book takes you right into it with unforgettable detail--the acrid smoke, the seemingly ceaseless rain of artillery. More of Jungers men seem to be felled by German artillery than the opposition. Junger describes a scene in which a battery is destroyed and a single horse survives, fleeing across the desolate landscape, "a white ghostly figure." From the very first minutes on the line, artillery remained a constant danger for these men. The book describes harrowing scenes of shootouts with snipers and machine gunners, shooting men at pointblank range with pistols. One scene describes a group of British cornered in a trench. Junger's men throw grenades into the trench. After each blast, helmets, rags of body parts, and blood flies up in the air. His unit moves forward to the edge of the smoking trench to finish the British off, only to be mowed down by British rifle fire as they prepare to fire. This is combat at its most intense! An ungorgettable read that takes you into the eye of the storm of steel. Definitely, good reading. You won't be able to put it down.
BUY THIS BOOK! April 13, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
At first I thought this book was going to turn out to be one of those books that were written at a different time that just couldnt have a style to keep readers this day and age interested. I was wrong. Junger has a style all his own and you will feel has if you are the one standing in his boots through all the epic battles and hardships. You can almost see the mortor shells landing around him with all the carnage that goes with them. You will feel happy when he triumphs, and sad when men are there one minute and gone forever the next. This book will only get better the further you get into and the ending I will admit put a tear to my eye, this man deserved everything he earned and more. His final battle is one you will not be able to put down. I found my self reading paragraphs two and even three times over again convincing my self that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. This book is a must have for anyone who is even mildly interested in combat novels.
Storm of Steel is a harrowing memoir of life in the World War I Trenches of France and Belgium November 28, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Ernst Junger lived a long and literary life. He was born in Heidelberg in 1895 and died there 103 years later! Junger ran away from home at 14 to become a soldier in Kaiser Wilhelm's army. He wrote several novels following World War I, refused to be a Nazi member and is well known in Europe. Storm of Steel was his first and best known book.
The first person account of trench warfare in World War I is related by Lt. Junger with descriptive prose worthy of a fine novelist. We as his readers experience all the horror, terror, fear, mud, slime, filth and death which were the soldiers daily challenges. Junger served on the Western Front from 1914-1918 miraculously surviving at least 14 wounds! Junger was a patriotic German who respected his British and French foes as men of courageous valor and courage. He impresses this reviewer as someone who considered soldiering a duty to be endured for a land he loved.
This true story is filled with countless stories of good men killed in an instant due to a shell or poison gas. We see deep trenches filled with death, stench and rats. We feel what it was like to go over the top into the forbidding No-Man's land. The landscape drawn by Junger resembles Dante's descriptions of hell. In the wasteland of war Lt. Junger found time to listen to the birds or appreciate a beautiful sky but the majority of the book is a grim recounting of what war is like for the men who are called upon to fight and die for their nation. Junger loved his troops and grieved when they were killed. We catch the small moments of smoking a pipe, reading "Tristam Shandy", enjoying a cup of coffee and enjoying a night at the tavern with fellow soldiers. We see Junger fighting on the Somme and Flanders as he won the Iron Cross and several other military awards. Despite the medals this realist paints a sobering lurid portrait of modern war where steel metal, tank and huge artillery pieces determine the victor in battle.
Storm of Steel is not for the squeamish but is the best first person account of combat in World War I. It is also of interest because it allows the English speaking reader to see what was going on in the German army in this holocaust which killed over ten million men in the modern cesspool of mechanized warfare.
MUST READ for anyone interested in WWI November 27, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Storm of Steel" is the definitive eye-witness account of trench warfare in WWI from a German soldier's perspective. Without swagger, bluster or biais Junger recounts in his own simple style what it was like to join up and fight, the morale of his friends over the years, the simple day to day experiences, the images ... what it was like to fight the French compared with the English ... but never with a word towards the strategy or politics of the war. Junger was a born warrior and lied about his age to ship off with the Foreign Legion in North Africa before WWI. His father went to get him. When the war began in Europe Junger couldn't be held back. By 1918 Junger had been wounded several times and had become a junior officer. He earned all the top combat awards including the "Pour le Merite" (aka "Blue Max"). Storm of Steel was to be the first of many books for Junger, who became a writer and lived almost to the end of the century. There is a moving picture of him standing with Kohl and Mitterand during the ceremonies at Verdun commemorating the war and renewed Franco-German amity. Although Hitler was, liked many of his generation, quite moved by Junger's heroic approach to his wartime experiences, Junger didn't join the Nazi party and was side-lined in WWII. He spent the war in large part in Paris, where he led a curious existence serving his country behind a desk but also in the company of the many artists and intellectuals who were his friends. Junger's son died on the Eastern Front. Junger kept journals his entire life and they are a fascinating read, especially the volumes concerning the phony war, the march on Paris, and the occupation. Viewing the events from the pov of an eloquent humanitarian like Junger is priceless. A friend knew him well and recounted the following anecdote ... my friend was driving Junger through Paris in the 90's and the streets were blocked with traffic. Junger commented that it was much easier to get around during the war (tongue in cheek since there were practically no cars in Paris during the Occupation other than those of the Occupiers; the rest of Paris was riding a bicycle!) I have read "In Stahlgewittern" several times in the French translation, I own a 1940s German edition autographed by Junger, and now I've reread the book in English. It's slightly different of course but still as powerful and fresh as the first time I read it over 20 years ago. The preface is very interesting, contains essential information and should not be skipped.
Surpisingly incredible book October 20, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I just read this book, and I must say I'm amazed by it.
I'll critique the book mainly by comparison with that most familiar WW1 work which is of course "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. There are others that are similar, such as "Under Fire" a noted work by Henri Barbusse from the French side, "Goodbye to All That" by Robert Graves (Englishman), and "Company K" by William March (US Marine Corps). Then there is pure fiction such as "Farewell to Arms" by Hemingway. I believe these books represent the dominant WW1 literary genre, across several countries. With the exception of "Storm of Steel", they are all more-or-less of the 'war is hell' theme started first perhaps by Stephen Crane's seminal novel of the American Civil War, "The Red Badge of Courage". Interestingly, Crane was never in combat - a fact unknown to most readers. in fact, many Civil War veterans who read Crane's novel were incredibly moved by its so-called 'accuracy' and depth of feeling. This shows the power of literature in our lives...
The immediately obvious differences about "Storm of Steel" vis-a-vis the others are:
1) It was written from Junger's diary, not from dim rememberance. It contains a higher level of detail as to names, dates and places. 2) Junger was a front-line Officer, having been promoted from the ranks. Far as I know (and interestingly) this promotion system was only typical of the German and American armies - the English and Russian armies, and to a slightly lesser degree the French, for instance had only upper class Officers and a strict de-facto class system. 3) Perhaps most significantly, Junger started the book very soon after the war's end. In other words, it is not watered down by time. Though Barbusse's "Under Fire" was even sooner (written during the war), Barbusse spent little time in the army himsel and this as a stretcher-bearer, not a rifleman. Barbusse's work is acknowledged as highly fictionalized.
All the others were written some 10 yrs after the war, in a melancholy-ish, "what happened to us?" sort of vein - i.e. the Lost Generation. This is significant both to the level of detail (accuracy and remembrance) and to the mood of the writing.
There are other points - Junger served throughout the war. American author March obviously only served during the American involvement (but he may be forgiven in that the last half of the war was surely its worst, with the industrialization and de-humanization of warfare at its peak). Along a similar line, Remarque ("All's Quiet") like Barbusse, somewhat mysteriously served only a short time; a point not at all obvious from his book which is presumed to be autobiographical and covers perhaps three years. There have also been challenges to Remarque's war service - some of the charges unfounded - and some feel he was rather a fantasist about his service which was only a few weeks or months at the actual front. Remarque was spotted soon after the war's end wearing an Officer's coat with decorations he had not earned (he was never an Officer); he was somewhat vague in later years about his service, where he was stationed, etc... He was indeed wounded; that is well documented. But ultimately, the point is, it's impossible he experienced everything he wrote about in "All's Quiet".
Junger, on the other hand, had ample experience in the war, having joined in 1914, was wounded multiple times, and was highly decorated (one of the youngest to recieve the 'Pour le Merite', the Blue Max, and its last living military recipient).
Junger's reputation is tainted by possible associations with German nationalism after the war. But assertions that he was pro-Nazi are quite untrue. In fact, he lost his son to the Nazi regime. He may even have been on the fringes of the July 20th plot to kill Hitler.
Sure, he supported his country, but that does not make him a Nazi. Unfortunately, his supposed politics affected the reception of his writing (and by default, "Storm of Steel") in more recent times. In my opinion this is a loss to the literature from the WW1 period...
On to the book: The book is written in a very matter-of-fact way. This may surprise some readers, given that so many other books (as mentioned above) are of the hopeless 'war is hell' theme. Junger pulls no punches - he was trying to do his part to win, and he states it that way. I honestly can't see anything in this book to lead me to think he was some sort of war monger or "pre-Nazi Nazi". Junger had a deep sense of adventure and the ability to keep a cool head. He strikes me as a man trying to do a job, and he wrote thusly. He shows sympathy for his men and NCOs, writes from a 'team perspective' and admits his own mistakes. "All's Quiet" protagonist Paul Baumer on the other hand goes into depth of feeling about the individual soldier (read: Privates) and his sense of futility, hopelessness, camraderie (only with certain other soldiers) and concern over survival versus victory (perhaps justified).
Once you read Junger, and contrast him to Remarque, you see the differences: Remarque was a kid, with little overall sense of what was going on beyond his day to day survival and a certain dreaminess; perhaps a representation of the narrow age group that makes up the true "Lost Generation". Junger, on the other hand, was a Type-A personality who directly involved himself in the efforts to win.
I unfortunately found that a reading of Junger tends to denigrate (for lack of a better word) the efforts of a Remarque who writes about feelings and hope (or hopelessness, as it were). And vice-versa. You have to juxtapose the two to get a feel for the war in its entirety.
I'm uneasy with it, but I also get the feeling Junger was a stronger person than the other WW1 writers - he had a healthy sense of life, and moved on after the war to live a full life (102 yrs), became a scientist (entomologist), and wrote prolifically. His selection to be an Officer is also indicative of an active man. He was adventurous, and had joined the French Foreign Legion before the war while in his teens.
Regardless of all my opinions, Junger's book should be better known than it is. It is great for its historical context if nothing else.
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