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Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front
Gunter Koschorrek wrote his illicit diary on any scraps of paper he could lay his hands on. As keeping a diary was strictly forbidden, he sewed the pages into the lining of his thick winter coat and deposited them with his mother on infrequent trips home on leave. The diary went missing and it was when he was reunited with his daughter in America some forty years later that it came to light and became Blood Red Snow. The author was a keen recruit at initial training and his excitement at the first encounter with the enemy in the Russian Steppe is obvious. The horror and confusion of fighting in the streets of Stalingrad are brought to life by his descriptions of the others in his unit; their differing manners and techniques for dealing with the squalor and death. He is also posted to Romania and Italy, assignments he remembers fondly compared to his time on the Eastern Front. This book stands as a memorial to the huge numbers on both sides who did not survive and is, over five decades later, the fulfillment of a responsibility he feels to honour the memory of those who perished. Gunter K. Koschorrek was a machine-gunner on the Russian front in WWII. He lives in Germany, having retired from his job as managing director of a sales company.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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July 19, 2025
"After you have spent some time at the front, like I have, you no longer fight for Führer, Volk, und Vaterland. These ideals have gone. And no one talks about National Socialism or similar political matters." pg 255
This was a great account of combat in Stalingrad and the Eastern Front. Koschorrek told his story as he lived it: an infantry private. I enjoyed the story because it was from the heart and almost gave a down-to-earth feel. My perception was Korschorrek didn't embellish and try to paint the picture of being a hero: he was just a normal scared recruit trying to survive.
On the Front, he and his fellow infantrymen battled the enemy, the elements, the terrain, and hunger together. More importantly they bonded together by experiencing emotional highs and lows associated with men who serve together in extended life & death combat zones.
This was a an excellent read that almost read like a novelization. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in first-person accounts on the Eastern Front. Thanks!
This was a great account of combat in Stalingrad and the Eastern Front. Koschorrek told his story as he lived it: an infantry private. I enjoyed the story because it was from the heart and almost gave a down-to-earth feel. My perception was Korschorrek didn't embellish and try to paint the picture of being a hero: he was just a normal scared recruit trying to survive.
On the Front, he and his fellow infantrymen battled the enemy, the elements, the terrain, and hunger together. More importantly they bonded together by experiencing emotional highs and lows associated with men who serve together in extended life & death combat zones.
This was a an excellent read that almost read like a novelization. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in first-person accounts on the Eastern Front. Thanks!
February 21, 2010
What I learned from this book is that war is the most insane activity in which humans engage. What I learned from this book is that I'd never want my son to be a soldier. What I learned from this book is that we must read about the past and we must write about the past in order to live a better future. This book is heavy reading, but nowhere near as heavy as writing and living must have been. The soldier was an 18 year recruit when the book begins but how he must have aged before the war was out. This memoir is particularly close to me because my father also fought for the Germans on that violent Eastern Front. But he never talked much about it.
August 27, 2017
An easy 4 Stars for my second in a row excellent original source account of history. This one takes us to the Eastern Front shortly before Operation Uranus encircles Stalingrad and the Sixth Army. Koschorrek is a new recruit, anxious to get into battle and prove himself. He is quickly disabused of the glory of battle as we get a long exposure to the retreat back to Germany over the next two years. His incredible survival against the odds brings the fate of the common German soldier into focus. Brutal. He becomes an experienced and lethal Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) gunner. His HMG saves the day many times but the MGs are always a target. His crew pays a heavy price. We are with him as he loses two assistant gunners in rapid succession to headshots by a Soviet sniper with explosive bullets (I was unaware of the sniper explosive bullet until now). The unrelenting cold and the mud come to life in his account. Short detours to France, Italy and Denmark break up the story. Wounded 7 times, you get to follow a plain, unassuming mudslogger into the deepest penetration of the USSR and back out. Permanent addition to the WWII library--now I just need to get a hard copy.
November 3, 2016
One of my favorite books of all time is the Forgotten Soldier, it's the standard I measure other personal accounts to and there's been few that have matched it. Have to say this one did it. Blood Red Snow is fabulous! The opening was nice but honestly headed for a weak 4 star rating; I think this was partially because Gunter was either finding himself in writing or had written that section well after the war. What happened during the retreat from Stalingrad though just totally opened Gunter up to us and gave us so much more than so many personal account give; emotion and feeling, fear and joy. As we Gunter both breakdown somewhat and become a stalwart of his unit we see him become so much more. This isn't just a former soldier telling his contributions to a greater fight; instead it becomes more personal, as in you almost feel Gunter is telling you his experiences in person. This is a very good account of a warrior's experience, an absolute must for anyone interested in personal accounts from WWII.
October 17, 2015
I would probably give this book 3.5 stars because the author does give a good overview of his time on the Easter Front. There's no question he and his fellow soldiers went through hell, even though he escaped the actual fighting in Stalingrad. The thing that bothered me most was the fact that he said little why the German Army was in Russia. To read this book, you might think Russia attacked Germany.
He also seemed not to understand why the Russians behaved as they did. Both sides behaved barbarically to soldiers and civilians alike. He may have had some principles which he espoused at times, but he was more the exception. He was indeed fortunate to survive, and start a new life. Too many were not given that chance. Woina Kaput!
He also seemed not to understand why the Russians behaved as they did. Both sides behaved barbarically to soldiers and civilians alike. He may have had some principles which he espoused at times, but he was more the exception. He was indeed fortunate to survive, and start a new life. Too many were not given that chance. Woina Kaput!
July 30, 2015
How is it possible not to see that such accounts like this one (as is often the case with memoirs of German soldiers) fail to express the most basic acknowledgements of what nazi Germany has done in Russia and the incommensurable sufferings brought to its people. Even if not all soldiers could be fully aware of this at the time of the events, there is no excuse when writing after the end of the war, when everything is made clear. No sorry feelings, or just mockery of it, just the bare minimum to look politically correct. When one reads such a book one has the feeling that Germans came there as liberators instead of conquerors. The eventual prevail of Soviets is explained only by the sheer number of cannon fodder thrown down on the Germans. No analysis, no conclusions. What's more, even the description of the drama is not really gripping when compared to other German accounts.
January 25, 2021
Wow, what a brutal war, fighting on that Eastern front in sub zero temperatures must have been horrific for any man, must read for any History/WW2/ War reading enthusiasts.
⭐⭐⭐⭐1/3 Stars. Review to come.
⭐⭐⭐⭐1/3 Stars. Review to come.
January 27, 2020
MMM...I have mixed feelings about this book. The author was deployed in various theaters of wars so there are some interesting facts to witness to, no doubt. But don`t forget that this is a densely subjective book, so some of the truth told here maybe arent in their 100% accuracy...The germans were the invaders, there weren`t the saviours so some of the motivation here is kinda of out the context. BUt, nevertheless, I understand that in some way, in that period of time, you couldn`t stay against the tide so you`ll have to fight in order to survive, so I`m not judging for these peculiars aspects.
Anyway, the war is a hideous beast and this books don`t tells you the otherwise.
Anyway, the war is a hideous beast and this books don`t tells you the otherwise.
November 24, 2019
The screenwriters of Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter ("Generation War" for the Anglophone market) should've based the TV serials entirely on this book instead of making the plot up. I've been waiting for ages for a show from the German side based on a real unit's story à la Band of Brothers, and my top contender has always been Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier," but now I'm adding this one as well.
Koschorrek's memoir, unlike so many others, doesn't make any attempt at being literary or philosophical, it's neither preachily anti-war nor a grovelling mea culpa manifesto for the crimes of Germany. It's simply a diary-formatted account of a common foot soldier living, fighting, and being repeatedly wounded in the hell that was the Eastern Front, and as such it's extremely brutal at times. It reminded me by moments of the bleak film Stalingrad from 1993, especially because one scene from the film was so strikingly like one in this book (the part were a German infantryman slips in the snow and falls before an advancing Russian T-34 tank and is flattened to death by it, if you're curious). The short chapters give it the feel of an authentic field diary, as if Koschorrek had hurriedly scribbled a few lines every chance he got, though it's not exactly his unedited war diary (he says he lost his initial notes in the front). I liked this style a lot, because sometimes when veterans write their memoirs years later, they narrate stuff as if it were for a novel; which isn't bad, just that it gives the impression that it all comes to you "predigested," to put it somehow, whilst Koschorrek's short-note style gives the impression of it coming raw and unrelenting, although he's writing decades after the war.
It's maybe the best German memoir out there, for this reason and because the author is a simple "grunt." No high rank, no Nazi party line, no discussion of grand strategy and tactics; there's already fine memoirs from the Wehrmacht's top brass for all that, so this is ideal for a feel of the average recruit's experience.
Koschorrek's memoir, unlike so many others, doesn't make any attempt at being literary or philosophical, it's neither preachily anti-war nor a grovelling mea culpa manifesto for the crimes of Germany. It's simply a diary-formatted account of a common foot soldier living, fighting, and being repeatedly wounded in the hell that was the Eastern Front, and as such it's extremely brutal at times. It reminded me by moments of the bleak film Stalingrad from 1993, especially because one scene from the film was so strikingly like one in this book (the part were a German infantryman slips in the snow and falls before an advancing Russian T-34 tank and is flattened to death by it, if you're curious). The short chapters give it the feel of an authentic field diary, as if Koschorrek had hurriedly scribbled a few lines every chance he got, though it's not exactly his unedited war diary (he says he lost his initial notes in the front). I liked this style a lot, because sometimes when veterans write their memoirs years later, they narrate stuff as if it were for a novel; which isn't bad, just that it gives the impression that it all comes to you "predigested," to put it somehow, whilst Koschorrek's short-note style gives the impression of it coming raw and unrelenting, although he's writing decades after the war.
It's maybe the best German memoir out there, for this reason and because the author is a simple "grunt." No high rank, no Nazi party line, no discussion of grand strategy and tactics; there's already fine memoirs from the Wehrmacht's top brass for all that, so this is ideal for a feel of the average recruit's experience.
November 24, 2024
Books like Antony Beevor's Stalingrad are heavy on historical detail and very well researched but you can't get close to the gritty first person account of actually being there on the freezing cold hellish battlefields of the Eastern Front like you do here. One of the best WWII memoirs I've read; at least when it comes to the serving soldiers on the ground, regardless of which nationality. No surprises, his account absolutely reeks of death. Others may bemoan he doesn't later acknowledge the full impact of what the Third Reich did during their time, but that's up to him, this book isn't a guilt trip, but an account of doing your job, trying to stay alive, in just about the worst conditions in any period from any war.
September 24, 2020
Inspiring but shocking at the same time!
This was the personal story of a humble, front line, private soldier in the German army. It was a tale of death and destruction. How such men managed to maintain their humanity under such conditions is awe inspiring. With nothing but contempt for their political leaders and senior officer class for whom the saying, " patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel " was most apt. Far from the recollections of retired generals this was a story that should be read by everyone, and the lessons never forgotten
This was the personal story of a humble, front line, private soldier in the German army. It was a tale of death and destruction. How such men managed to maintain their humanity under such conditions is awe inspiring. With nothing but contempt for their political leaders and senior officer class for whom the saying, " patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel " was most apt. Far from the recollections of retired generals this was a story that should be read by everyone, and the lessons never forgotten
September 14, 2012
This is an edited version of a diary kept by a Wehrmacht enlisted man during the various stages and theaters of his service from mid-1942 until the end of the war, with brief interruptions when he gets wounded or doesn't have time to write. As he explains, keeping a diary was forbidden, and though a lot of the situations he gets into seem too insane to be real, given the conditions of the war I can give him a pass on authenticity questions. The Eastern Front was by far the most vicious and awful front of the war, and so his descriptions of Stalingrad and Bagration are amazing in how unlikely his survival seems to be. I'm not sure of the survival rates for machine gunners, which was Koschorrek's specialty, so when I was reading I just sat back and marveled as he dodged endless waves of T-34s and mortars, or in the most ridiculous scene, manages to keep one step ahead of the Russians by stealing a pony. He didn't seem to be stuck in Stalingrad for too long, fortunately for him, but the retreats he chronicles are still epics of chaos and death. Having never served in the military, I read war memoirs for the action and the sense of "what war is like", which he does pretty well. He does a good job of conveying how non-ideological a good portion of the military was; when political officers show up late in the book to spout Nazi propaganda everyone rolls their eyes at them, and while there are some instances of atrocities he sees, they're things like shooting partisans, not death camp-type stuff. A lot of the book is about small things: food, new shoes, cigarettes, letters to home, and complaining about officers. It's interesting to see this kind of different take on the war, and I enjoyed Koschorrek's stories.
April 4, 2019
one of the best german soldier memoires about ww2 i have ever read.
April 13, 2017
Really enjoyed reading this book Definetly on par with Forgotten soldier by guy sajer allways really interesting to read of the exploits of the german soldier on the eastern front how some ever got through it god knows nobody can understand what it was like unless they was there and this book takes us as near as possible recommended
February 6, 2017
I thought this was a pretty good memoir. The author explained very well all of his troubles he had during the war and it really shows how hard fighting in a war was.
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October 10, 2024Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front was a compelling and hard to put down read but I’m having a hard time deciding on a rating or even what to say about it beyond that I believe it’s worth reading. War is brutal and Koschorrek does a great job of portraying that in complex and empathy inducing ways.
While I’m tempted to give Blood Red Snow 4 or 5 stars, I’m cynical enough and cautious enough to feel hesitant to give it that high of an endorsement. It definitely tugged my heartstrings in ways that I know cloud my judgment. Regardless, I appreciate it for what it is and that it didn’t sugarcoat the horrors and brutality of war.
Of note for my future self because I’m super forgetful, these reviews especially resonated:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
While I’m tempted to give Blood Red Snow 4 or 5 stars, I’m cynical enough and cautious enough to feel hesitant to give it that high of an endorsement. It definitely tugged my heartstrings in ways that I know cloud my judgment. Regardless, I appreciate it for what it is and that it didn’t sugarcoat the horrors and brutality of war.
Of note for my future self because I’m super forgetful, these reviews especially resonated:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 28, 2018
As a report transmitting a German front line soldier's experience, Koschorrek's book could be recommended, if it didn't contain some dubious claims that arouse the suspicion of propaganda serving political-ideological purposes.
I'm referring to the descriptions of Soviet massacres against their own civilian population accused of collaborating with the enemy, which the author claims to have witnessed during the German troops' retreat from the river Inhul to Voznesensk on the southern Bug (Mikolayiv Oblast, Ukraine) in March 1944 (pages 230, 235/236 and 242/243 of the English translation).
As two historians familiar with the subject matter informed me in response to my related inquiry, such massacres did in fact happen - but only in isolated cases and mainly in the areas that had been annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939/40, not on territory that had been part of the USSR before 1939. According to these historians there is no indication that such massacres - as Koschorrek claims - were falsely blamed on the Germen troops. Such wouldn't have been necessary anyway, after German units, including such of the Wehrmacht, had copiously provided for mass graves in the course of the extermination of the Jews (about 2 ½ million victims from the occupied Soviet territories), the treatment of Soviet prisoners of war (about 3 million out of 5.5 million Soviet prisoners of war did not survive captivity), the so-called fight against partisans (300,000 - 350,000 civilians killed in Belorussia alone, about half a million in total in all occupied Soviet territories) and also during the retreat (killing of prison inmates, brutally carried-out forced evacuations, in some cases also massacres of civilians like at Borissov and Ozarichi in Belorussia, and wherever possible the "scorched earth" destruction that left local civilians with little if anything to subsist on).
None of all this is mentioned by Koschorrek; according to his memoirs the German side was obviously so gentlemanlike as a rule that the author was deeply shocked when an non-commissioned officer Schwarz killed Soviet wounded with a shot in the head so as not to be eventually shot in the back by them. And then there is the touching story of the Ukrainian kitchen helper Katya and her constant worry about the soldiers from Koschorrek's unit, who she had grown so fond of ...
It may be that Korschorrek, as a frontline soldier fighting for his life in the phase of German retreats, did not or only marginally get in contact with crimes of his own side. But it would also be an extraordinary and accordingly improbable coincidence if, out of millions of Wehrmacht soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front, it had happened to be the machine-gunner Koschorrek and his comrades who became witnesses of some of the few massacres committed by Soviet troops against Soviet civilians accused of collaboration, and that in areas of southern Ukraine that had already belonged to the Soviet Union before 1939 (it is also a seemingly improbable coincidence, incidentally, that Koschorrek's unit, as he later claims, should have taken part in the retaking of the East Prussian town of Nemmersdorf and he should thus have become witness to the atrocities committed there by Soviet troops and loudly decried by NS propaganda). Given that this is also the (at least to my knowledge) so far only description by a German soldier of massacres committed by Soviet troops against Soviet civilians, I consider skepticism to be very appropriate.
In addition there is the contemporary context of Mr. Koschorrek's claims: when his book was published for the first time in 1998, the controversy about the first Wehrmacht War Crimes exhibition was still under way, and a fake version of Stalin's order 0428 of 17.11.1941 (so-called "torch-men order"), according to which Soviet special units were instructed to put on German uniforms and commit massacres against the Soviet civilian population in order to stoke up hatred against the German invaders, roamed the related discussions (see Christian Hartmann/Jürgen Zarusky, Stalins "Fackelmänner-Befehl" vom November 1941, in: Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, issue 4/2000, pages 667-674). Could it be that Mr. Koschorrek tried to provide assistance to the "torch-men" myth?
Given such doubts about the accuracy and honesty of certain claims, my evaluation of this book cannot be a good one.
It may be that Koschorrek's diary was a truthful account of the man's experience at the time it was written. But by the time of publication the author, now an old man, seems to have added the parts about Soviet troops slaughtering their own people (while German troops were innocent as lambs) and having personally witnessed, coincidence of coincidences, the most well-known massacre committed by Soviet troops against German civilians, the one at Nemmersdorf, which was widely touted in Nazi propaganda at the time. (No, I don't say this means that Nemmersdorf didn't happen. I just don't think Koschorrek was there.) These falsehoods (to put it bluntly) devaluate what could otherwise have been one of the better German frontline soldier memoirs to come out of the Eastern Front - the kind of memoir that one of my uncles, Obergefreiter Ernst August Schmidt (http://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHR...) might have written if he had survived.
If you want an honest memoir of the Eastern Front, written shortly after the war, forget about Koschorrek. Read The Invisible Flag by Peter Bamm (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...).
I'm referring to the descriptions of Soviet massacres against their own civilian population accused of collaborating with the enemy, which the author claims to have witnessed during the German troops' retreat from the river Inhul to Voznesensk on the southern Bug (Mikolayiv Oblast, Ukraine) in March 1944 (pages 230, 235/236 and 242/243 of the English translation).
As two historians familiar with the subject matter informed me in response to my related inquiry, such massacres did in fact happen - but only in isolated cases and mainly in the areas that had been annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939/40, not on territory that had been part of the USSR before 1939. According to these historians there is no indication that such massacres - as Koschorrek claims - were falsely blamed on the Germen troops. Such wouldn't have been necessary anyway, after German units, including such of the Wehrmacht, had copiously provided for mass graves in the course of the extermination of the Jews (about 2 ½ million victims from the occupied Soviet territories), the treatment of Soviet prisoners of war (about 3 million out of 5.5 million Soviet prisoners of war did not survive captivity), the so-called fight against partisans (300,000 - 350,000 civilians killed in Belorussia alone, about half a million in total in all occupied Soviet territories) and also during the retreat (killing of prison inmates, brutally carried-out forced evacuations, in some cases also massacres of civilians like at Borissov and Ozarichi in Belorussia, and wherever possible the "scorched earth" destruction that left local civilians with little if anything to subsist on).
None of all this is mentioned by Koschorrek; according to his memoirs the German side was obviously so gentlemanlike as a rule that the author was deeply shocked when an non-commissioned officer Schwarz killed Soviet wounded with a shot in the head so as not to be eventually shot in the back by them. And then there is the touching story of the Ukrainian kitchen helper Katya and her constant worry about the soldiers from Koschorrek's unit, who she had grown so fond of ...
It may be that Korschorrek, as a frontline soldier fighting for his life in the phase of German retreats, did not or only marginally get in contact with crimes of his own side. But it would also be an extraordinary and accordingly improbable coincidence if, out of millions of Wehrmacht soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front, it had happened to be the machine-gunner Koschorrek and his comrades who became witnesses of some of the few massacres committed by Soviet troops against Soviet civilians accused of collaboration, and that in areas of southern Ukraine that had already belonged to the Soviet Union before 1939 (it is also a seemingly improbable coincidence, incidentally, that Koschorrek's unit, as he later claims, should have taken part in the retaking of the East Prussian town of Nemmersdorf and he should thus have become witness to the atrocities committed there by Soviet troops and loudly decried by NS propaganda). Given that this is also the (at least to my knowledge) so far only description by a German soldier of massacres committed by Soviet troops against Soviet civilians, I consider skepticism to be very appropriate.
In addition there is the contemporary context of Mr. Koschorrek's claims: when his book was published for the first time in 1998, the controversy about the first Wehrmacht War Crimes exhibition was still under way, and a fake version of Stalin's order 0428 of 17.11.1941 (so-called "torch-men order"), according to which Soviet special units were instructed to put on German uniforms and commit massacres against the Soviet civilian population in order to stoke up hatred against the German invaders, roamed the related discussions (see Christian Hartmann/Jürgen Zarusky, Stalins "Fackelmänner-Befehl" vom November 1941, in: Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, issue 4/2000, pages 667-674). Could it be that Mr. Koschorrek tried to provide assistance to the "torch-men" myth?
Given such doubts about the accuracy and honesty of certain claims, my evaluation of this book cannot be a good one.
It may be that Koschorrek's diary was a truthful account of the man's experience at the time it was written. But by the time of publication the author, now an old man, seems to have added the parts about Soviet troops slaughtering their own people (while German troops were innocent as lambs) and having personally witnessed, coincidence of coincidences, the most well-known massacre committed by Soviet troops against German civilians, the one at Nemmersdorf, which was widely touted in Nazi propaganda at the time. (No, I don't say this means that Nemmersdorf didn't happen. I just don't think Koschorrek was there.) These falsehoods (to put it bluntly) devaluate what could otherwise have been one of the better German frontline soldier memoirs to come out of the Eastern Front - the kind of memoir that one of my uncles, Obergefreiter Ernst August Schmidt (http://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHR...) might have written if he had survived.
If you want an honest memoir of the Eastern Front, written shortly after the war, forget about Koschorrek. Read The Invisible Flag by Peter Bamm (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...).
August 7, 2011
This book left me with a slight unsatisfactory feeling. Although the writing was strong and it contained a lot of interest, it pales substantially when compared to Sajer's 'the Forgotten Soldier' opus. Written in a diary format, the book starts strongly but I was left feeling that something didn't quite add up, and I can't really explain what. Whilst Sajer's book does not even attempt to cover the political side or the atrocities both the Axis and Russians committed, this one goes to great pains to point out how evil the Russians were, and rarely portrays any Wehrmacht soldier in a negative light, bar the very rare bad apple. The SS remain the only German villains and even that is conveniently left woolly. I also was put off by the art, depicting a fairly prominent swastika, perhaps designed for a certain subset of readers who this will no doubt appeal to. It's not something you will want to be seen with in public, that's for sure.
I was hoping to find something similar here to 'the Forgotten Soldier' and whilst much of the book delivers, I can't really recommend this on the whole due to that niggling feeling that you are being delivered a substantially airbrushed version of history.
I was hoping to find something similar here to 'the Forgotten Soldier' and whilst much of the book delivers, I can't really recommend this on the whole due to that niggling feeling that you are being delivered a substantially airbrushed version of history.
April 3, 2023
Very powerful memoir. Really shows that the average German solider was just a person caught up in war no different than any one else unfortunate enough to find themself in one.
They felt the same sadness when their friends & family died, and the same fear when their lives were in danger as any allied soldier.
Gunter hides nothing, every gruesome detail is given. The things that happen to Gunter were horrible and make me so grateful for the life I lead.
Overall if you are interested in WW2 and want to read about it from a different and personal perspective I would pick this one up.
They felt the same sadness when their friends & family died, and the same fear when their lives were in danger as any allied soldier.
Gunter hides nothing, every gruesome detail is given. The things that happen to Gunter were horrible and make me so grateful for the life I lead.
Overall if you are interested in WW2 and want to read about it from a different and personal perspective I would pick this one up.
August 7, 2019
Gruesome account of fighting on the Eastern Front in WWIi. When I started reading, my only thought was how did the author survive? Recommended.
November 22, 2023
I've read WW2 memoirs from an American perspective or Russian perspective, but this my first from a German perspective.
I wish the audio narrator was German. Nigel Patterson's strong British accent seemed extremely awkward for a German memoir. Even the translator was apparently British, with an abundance of British slang peppered throughout the book. I kept having to remind myself this was a German memoir... not a British one. Awkwardness aside, the narrator does a good job.
Also, throughout the book I felt bombarded by German terms that lacked introduction, which left me feeling confused at times.
The memoir consists of the author's adventures fighting the Russians primarily on the eastern front near Stalingrad or in Ukraine. He describes the horrendous treatment committed by Russian soldiers against their own Russian civilians who they falsely accused of harboring Germans.
The author describes himself and most of his comrades as gentleman soldiers and absolves himself of any participation in or knowledge of the barbarous actions of the Nazi regime and the SS.
The details are sobering and challenges the perspective that all German WW2 soldiers were bloodthirsty barbarians. Rather, according to the author, most believed they were fighting a patriotic war for the benefit of their homeland. The author offers up grim details of the suffering they endured and the reality of war.
I wish the audio narrator was German. Nigel Patterson's strong British accent seemed extremely awkward for a German memoir. Even the translator was apparently British, with an abundance of British slang peppered throughout the book. I kept having to remind myself this was a German memoir... not a British one. Awkwardness aside, the narrator does a good job.
Also, throughout the book I felt bombarded by German terms that lacked introduction, which left me feeling confused at times.
The memoir consists of the author's adventures fighting the Russians primarily on the eastern front near Stalingrad or in Ukraine. He describes the horrendous treatment committed by Russian soldiers against their own Russian civilians who they falsely accused of harboring Germans.
The author describes himself and most of his comrades as gentleman soldiers and absolves himself of any participation in or knowledge of the barbarous actions of the Nazi regime and the SS.
The details are sobering and challenges the perspective that all German WW2 soldiers were bloodthirsty barbarians. Rather, according to the author, most believed they were fighting a patriotic war for the benefit of their homeland. The author offers up grim details of the suffering they endured and the reality of war.
May 31, 2013
Serving in the German army on the Eastern front from 1942 to 1945, Gunther Koschorrek wrote small notes as a form of a diary. Years later, the notes formed the basis of this book, an account of his experiences in the war. The book reads quickly, as he leaps through large portions of time with only small notes and then slows down to give accounts of particularly brutal battles and incidents. The result is similar to many other first hand accounts of combat, with descriptions of fear, terror, hunger, terrible cold and confusion that seem to be universal. Koschorrek's story is both unique and universal. It was a good read, and if you'd like to understand what life was like for a soldier in World War II, I'd certainly recommend this book.
The book needed a better editor. There were enough mistakes in spelling and punctuation to make me notice. In addition, the names of some of the people in the book seem to change, often on the same page. It's already a large cast of characters, and confusing the issue is a problem.
In addition, the maps used in the book are poorly drawn and don't really provide much of a sense of location to the battles described. Other than Stalingrad, I had no idea where on a map of the Soviet Union these battles were fought.
The book needed a better editor. There were enough mistakes in spelling and punctuation to make me notice. In addition, the names of some of the people in the book seem to change, often on the same page. It's already a large cast of characters, and confusing the issue is a problem.
In addition, the maps used in the book are poorly drawn and don't really provide much of a sense of location to the battles described. Other than Stalingrad, I had no idea where on a map of the Soviet Union these battles were fought.
March 29, 2017
After a visit to Berlin, I felt like I understood the Western front of WWII much more than I understood the Eastern front. After mentioning this to my dad, he bought me two books; the famous "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer and this book, which is less well-known.
In many ways, I preferred this book to the former. The translation was more faithful, so it some ways it felt like I was listening to a German with excellent command of English, but who spoke with German mannerism. I also preferred the broad experience he had in many theaters of battle besides engagements in the Soviet Union.
I was also impressed with his humanity! This may be a bit of a retcon (I'm not sure when he wrote the memoir as opposed to the notes sewn into his jacket) but he mentioned in several places how he didn't want to commit the atrocities so many of his other soldiers did. This helped me read this as a soldier's story rather than a Nazi soldier's story.
In many ways, I preferred this book to the former. The translation was more faithful, so it some ways it felt like I was listening to a German with excellent command of English, but who spoke with German mannerism. I also preferred the broad experience he had in many theaters of battle besides engagements in the Soviet Union.
I was also impressed with his humanity! This may be a bit of a retcon (I'm not sure when he wrote the memoir as opposed to the notes sewn into his jacket) but he mentioned in several places how he didn't want to commit the atrocities so many of his other soldiers did. This helped me read this as a soldier's story rather than a Nazi soldier's story.
October 12, 2024
Some have questioned the book's veracity as it is vague in places. That said, most wartime diaries are in my experience and this seems legit. The unit he seems to have mostly served in was the 24th Panzer Division. One thing lacking is the hatred I have glimpsed in other accounts. True, some things were likely edited out, but while he admits that soldiers around him commit atrocities and the text lacks the bitterness and cruelty of the much darker The Forgotten Soldier or even Iron Coffins. This is more a tale of survival and of all the accounts few have as many comrades die and people lost as the war drags on. Also Koschorrek, while not a Nazi, is clearly a nationalist (which is something Hitler and others have exploited to serve other means) and does not seem angry with the party until after the bomb plot as the war is clearly hopeless and the military was becoming much more thoroughly Nazified.
May 15, 2012
This was a very good memoir of a German machine gunner who servived on various fronts.It tells about his service in general terms, no political crap just the thoughts of common soilder caught in the hell of war.It's amazing that he survived when so many on all sides did not,It's written so it flows quickley and it keeps you interested through out the whole book. If you like reading memiors this one should be included in your to read list.
March 16, 2024
When I read a book about a German soldier or officer, I don't expect him to apologize profusely for fighting against the worst and most bloodthirsty regime in all times.
I recommend this book.
I recommend this book.
March 7, 2022
If one is a WWII historian, or just avid history of one of the most devastating conflicts in history, this is nicely done. Went into this a bit trpidacious, but pleasantly surprised. Have read and studied and a self proclaimed authority on WWII. The perspective garnered from this is quite different. 👌
September 19, 2024
9/10
very interesting account of the eastern front from a Wehrmacht soldiers perspective the author is a machine gunner and I feel explains the role and responsibility a good amount without going into detail to much.. the writer arrives on the out-skirts of Stalingrad and documents his experience of the retreat all the way back to Germany.
it is fascinating learning how his experiences (most of which awful) change his motive very quickly from the want glory to the need to survive and a deep sense of duty, which shifts from duty to his country and superiors to that of his brother in arms whom he loses a lot of along the way.
would really recommend for anyone who wants to understand the mindset of a person who knows they are losing the war but is driven to continue to fight. and of course anyone interested in the eastern front.
very interesting account of the eastern front from a Wehrmacht soldiers perspective the author is a machine gunner and I feel explains the role and responsibility a good amount without going into detail to much.. the writer arrives on the out-skirts of Stalingrad and documents his experience of the retreat all the way back to Germany.
it is fascinating learning how his experiences (most of which awful) change his motive very quickly from the want glory to the need to survive and a deep sense of duty, which shifts from duty to his country and superiors to that of his brother in arms whom he loses a lot of along the way.
would really recommend for anyone who wants to understand the mindset of a person who knows they are losing the war but is driven to continue to fight. and of course anyone interested in the eastern front.
October 10, 2024
Fascinating read. There's possibly a bit of whitewashing going on when Koschorrek presumes to inflict upon the reader no knowledge whatever of the goings-on behind the walls of the concentration camps that dot Romania, Poland, and Germany, but we're used to that by now I suppose. Telling, too, is the familiar concerns of being captured by the Soviets as the war wound down, fear of falling into the depraved hands of that side of the Allies, and hoping against hope to wind up with the Americans, known to be less harsh and more professional with its POWs. Then, pages later, Koschorrek complains bitterly over the treatment from the American guards - their audacity included purposely dropping precious American cigarettes (half smoked!) on the ground, and grinding them out rather than allowing the prisoners an opportunity to fetch the prizes for themselves.
In all, a very interesting look at the camaraderie built on the battlefield and the horrors often found there.
In all, a very interesting look at the camaraderie built on the battlefield and the horrors often found there.
September 14, 2021
Bazı paragraflar vardı ki okurken kanım dondu. Kitabı zaman zaman roman okur gibi okudum çünkü gerçekten sadece kurgu olaylarda olmasını dilediğim anlar yaşamış yazar. Hangi tarafta olursa olsun kelimelerle tarif edilemeyecek acılar yaşanmış ve yaşanmaya da devam ediyor.
Savaşın nasıl bir vahşet olduğunu kana susamış bencil insanlar dışında herkes zaten gayet iyi biliyordur ama bu düşüncelerim kitap sayesinde daha da derinleşti, pekişti. Bir daha böyle şeyler yaşanmaması için fazla iyi niyetli bir dilek dilemekten başka elimden başka bir şey gelmiyor maalesef.
Savaşın nasıl bir vahşet olduğunu kana susamış bencil insanlar dışında herkes zaten gayet iyi biliyordur ama bu düşüncelerim kitap sayesinde daha da derinleşti, pekişti. Bir daha böyle şeyler yaşanmaması için fazla iyi niyetli bir dilek dilemekten başka elimden başka bir şey gelmiyor maalesef.
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