SERVANTS OF EVIL. NEW FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR FROM SUVIVORS OF HITLER'S ARMED FORCES.

by Bob Carruthers

Bob CarruthersThis is the story of the Second World War as told for the first time by survivors of Germany's armed forces. Like old soldiers everywhere, they are fading away. But these soldiers have an incredible and sometimes shocking story to tell. It certainly does not make for comfortable reading. Secrets which ha

Genres: World War II

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much to say here. A decent story about how some Germans dealt with WW11. A bit hard to follow some of their stories but managed to finish the book. A good read but not awesome.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a companion piece to the television series by the same title. What sold me on this book was its claim of learning about the WWII from the perspective of average German soldier, airmen, and sailor. Their personal experiences in the military are well presented. However, book claimed their "first-hand accounts from the ranks of the armed forces, men who went to war believing in the Reich and victory...." Here the book fell short. There was little there about the background of those beliefs.

[Michael Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read about German veterans accounts of fighting from the air, land, and see along with their experiences as POWs.

[Dachokie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Tantalizing but Unpolished Final Product …

Reading first-hand accounts from World War II combatants will always be a source of temptation for me as I find the individual perspective of the conflict to be so varied from one person to the next. A conglomeration of first-hand accounts from the German perspective was enough to lure me into reading Bob Carruthers’ SERVANTS OF EVIL: VOICES FROM HITLER’S ARMY. Unfortunately, I found the book’s structure and organization damaging the value of its content.

SERVANTS OF EVIL provides numerous first-hand accounts of German combatants in World War II. Superficially, that book is evenly split with one half of the book representing the period of German military success and the other representing Germany’s decline and fall. Each half is separated by an unusually large segment of pictures that depict many of the “voices” accounted for throughout the book. Contrary to what its title (“VOICES FROM HITLER’S ARMY”) alludes; the “voices” do not solely represent the army, but those of the Luftwaffe (air force) and Kreigsmarine (navy/U-Boats) as well. The three military branches are provided individual chapters representing both the victory and defeat phases. While I was expecting a book on land battle experiences based on the book’s title, I was surprised (and pleased) to hear stories from those who fought at sea and in the air.

The content of the book is interesting and revealing to a degree. Readers will immediately sense that the men quoted in the book were nothing but boys serving their country in what seemed to be a great adventure that eventually turned into a miserable struggle to survive. The air of confidence that exudes in the victorious years is replaced with misery and fear after the tide of war turns against Germany. It is also quite clear that the war against the Soviet Union was far more terrifying to the men than the war being fought against the western Allies. The hostile weather, unseen partisans, relentless frontal attacks, streams of tanks and a mortal fear of being taken prisoner are common themes. Of all the services represented, I found the accounts of the Kreigsmarine to be the book’s biggest attribute because the stories really captured the hair-raising, cat-and-mouse drama that U-Boats faced in the Atlantic. They clearly illustrate the deadly nature of serving on a U-Boat more than anything I’ve previously read. The last chapter on prisoners of war was interesting in that it underlines the reasons Germans wanted to avoid Russian captivity.

Whether intentional or coincidental (the reader must decide), the “voices” chosen for SERVANTS OF EVIL are void of representing any sort of hard-line political perspective (Nazi ideals), even though many of the men were active participants in the Hitler Youth prior to military service. In other words, the accounts represented are centered on a sense of chivalrous duty to Germany and void of any Nazi-indoctrinated hate toward the enemy. There are a multitude of references that attempt to humanize the German soldier, such as the Luftwaffe fighter pilot rationalizing that his goal was to destroy the plane, not the pilot or crew. There are no “Servants of Evil” in the book, only ordinary soldiers following orders. Some readers may wonder if there are additional stories these men are less willing to tell.

While the accounts of these men are generally captivating, trying to discern the first-hand accounts from the author’s narrative is another issue. Typos and grammar issues abound, I found myself re-reading many passages to make sure I correctly understood what was being said, by whom and even the context at times. Some of the errors were egregious enough to make me believe quotes were simply word-for-word translations of Germans speaking shoddy English, but I don’t think that was the case. Aside from better editing, there needs to be a discernible contrast between the narration and the first-hand accounts, like using italics, a different font or bold print. Additionally, the abundance of pictures in the middle of the book (some 30 pages worth) could have been effectively dispersed throughout the book to link them to particular accounts, rather than cramming them all together.

SERVANTS OF EVIL is an example of how the good qualities of a book can be diminished by poor editing. The book’s content is appealing (especially the U-Boat accounts), but the presentation is quite disappointing. I am hoping later editions give this book the upgrade it needs.

[Hubert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, this is just all around bad. The stories are there - I had such high hopes of sone interesting angles, tactics, historical Aspects.....but thus appears to be largely unedited and with the worst translation. I’m a native German speaker, so I could figure some things out - because the translation in some cases was literal (and therefore made no sense in English.) I have never given that poor a rating. The last third of the book doesn’t even bother to introduce characters, so you jump lines and you’re in the next account of the captivity of the next German soldier.

[Pericles Enache · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In the area of Orel and Kursk, the Kursk bend we called it, a final attempt was made by German army to go on the offensive. To the south of us, the greatest mass of our tanks was collected and then it started. They wanted to attack but the Russians intended to do the same thing, and one offensive met the other. But the Russians were stronger, in material and had greater numbers of men.
Before we advanced on this offensive, first came a dreadful barrage. I knew in advance what it was going to be like, because my father, which was injured at Verdun in the First World War, described it to me. He knew what it was to be at the mercy of the big guns, and in 1943, the Russians had many big guns. My father said that he had to jump into shell holes. The ground looked as if it had been ploughed up. It was the same for us in Russia. You saw on the left or the right of you that there was a new shell crater so you jumped into that one and then, the next one. This went on for three hours before the actual fight began. And that is what we did too. The barrage ended after three hours and the actual fighting began. But our offensive collapsed, the Russians were superior and we had to retreat. Futher and further we retreated. Fortunately, we were protected by a German tank named 'Ferdinand', the biggest and haviest tank that I had ever seen. It was so big that the ground was practically shaking when it was three kilometers away. Not even the Russians had one like it. But then, there was this thunderstorm and it began to rain and rain. The ground went soggy and that was the end of 'Ferdinand'. The motors were damaged and the tank broke down".

Excelletnt true accounts like this make this book very interesting to read. There are a lot of spelling mistakes in the text but nothing serious.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to say the least!