Berlins sista timmar - En svensk SS-soldats berättelse om slutstriden

by Thorolf Hillblad, Erik Wallin, Bosse Schön

April 1945 – Berlin står inför ett totalt sammanbrott och det handlar om timmar innan staden har övertagits av de allierade. Under de sista timmarna slåss en handfull svenska SS-soldater för sina liv mitt inne i den tyska huvudstaden. Slutstriden om Berlin är en av de mest fasansfulla strider som överhuvudtaget rasat i en stad i modern tid.
Mitt i stridens hjärta kämpar också den 23-årige Erik Wallin från Hägersten. Han var SS-Unterscharführer, en av de absolut mest meriterade svenska SS-soldaterna som var med in i det sista och försvarade Hitlers bunker.

Några månader efter kriget berättade Erik Wallin om sina upplevelser av krigets sista dagar. Resultatet blev boken Ragnarök, ständigt efterfrågad på antikvariaten och nästan omöjlig att få tag i. I Berlins sista timmar ges Ragnarök nu ut tillsammans med en inledande text där Bosse Schön knyter samman personer och historiska händelser. Den är också illustrerad med fotografier och kartor.

Genres: World War II, History, War, Military History, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I liked this first-person account. Erik Wallin was a Swedish volunteer in the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division 'Nordland' unit comprised of volunteers from the Nordic countries. He was an Unterscharführer (the equivalent of a corporal) in a mortar platoon. This story is the last six months of the war when he was assigned to a SS-Panzer Aufklärungs Abteilung unit. That is the equivalent of a reconnaissance detachment that relied on quick movement with halftracks, anti-tank guns, and operated as traditional Panzergrenadier (mechanized Infantry). Most of this was in the book's appendix and I looked up the rest.

The story follows constantly being pushed back through Eastern Europe back to Berlin. Some parts were descriptive, tragic, and brutal as the Red Army pushed the German forces back. Once the war ended he recounts his efforts to get back to Sweden while hiding from the Soviets.

My only complaint was I wish Erik Wallin went more into his reasons in volunteering for the SS, cultural dynamics of being Swedish in the German war machine, and the distressing psychological impact of combat. The tone seemed a hopeful one as he and his unit fought until the very end.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in personal accounts on the Eastern Front. Thanks!

[JD · Rating 2 out of 5]

At times I enjoyed reading this book, but most times I just wanted it to finish already. There is too much propaganda and dialogue full of bravado that makes this book seem more like a novel, which outweighs the few good parts in the book where front-line conditions and battles are described. The photo section in the end seems a bit generic as well.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

There aren't very many books written by SS soldiers from World War II, and there definitely aren't many by foreign volunteers in the SS. Erik Wallin was a Swedish volunteer in the SS Nordland Division and saw extensive combat on the Eastern Front. This book doesn't cover his entire combat career, but starts with New Year's 1945 and goes through the end of the war. The combat descriptions in the book range from pretty graphic to fairly mundane, but the unbridled brutality of war comes through very clearly. Even when faced with the overwhelming colossus of the Red Army, Wallin and his fellow SS soldiers seem to maintain a fairly high morale and belief that final victory is still a possibility. This is a pretty quick read , but I certainly wish there was a bit more in some parts as some battles are described in a fair amount of detail while others get much smaller mentions. A very good addition to anyone's library if they're interested in the Eastern Front.

[Tomasz · Rating 1 out of 5]

W zasadzie jedyna wartość tej książki tkwi w przedstawieniu profilu psychologicznego żołnierza Waffen SS. Cała reszta do luftu. Ze wspomnień szwedzkiego ochotnika z Dywizji "Nordland" można się dowiedzieć, że żołnierz SS nigdy nie oddawał pola, zawsze wygrywał, a Rosjanie to bez wyjątku "kałmuki i mongoły". Apologia III Rzeszy i Hitlera jest przerażająca. Biedni cywile niemieccy cierpią, bo bombardują ich okrutni i źli Anglicy i Amerykanie, gwałcą i mordują dzicy ludzie z Azji, czyli Rosjanie. Jednocześnie żołneirze SS to paladyni stojący na czele obrony czegokolwiek i gdziekolwiek. Bronią miast, wsi, domów, dróg, cywilów rosyjskich etc. Ot, II Wojna Światowa wydarzyła się, bo Rosjanie nadeszli. Jasne, po drugiej stronie też stał totalitarny potwór, ale bez jaj - III Rzesza to nie baranek, to pieprzone bagno i syf. Nie w tej książce. Tutaj praktycznie żołnierze SS sami obronili Europę, choć ponieśli straszliwe straty, praktycznie dokonując samoofiarowania. Wespół ze starymi volksturmistami i ośmioletnimi ochotnikami z Hitlerjugend (obie grupy, wedle autora, charakteryzowały się bitnością i wysokim duchem bojowym godnym weteranów).

W skrócie, jeśli ktoś chce przeczytać tę książkę, niech się uzbroi w cierpliwość i odporność na nazistowską propagandę (JPRDL to wydała Bellona).

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what the title says an account of WWII from a member of the SS. Not bad but nothing new here. The grim reality of surviving the war and struggling through occupied Germany as drunken Soviets rob, rape, pillage, and plunder tends to be the most difficult part of these books. As when the war ends you tend to want the danger to subside and for the survivors to be able to catch their breath.

[Brian Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most dramatic accounts of the WWII autobiographies I've read. Additionally, it allowed a real insight into the views of the German soldier of the time, instead of trying to whitewash it out with apologetics. The only negative is that it only really takes place over the last year of WWII, so it's unfortunately limited and relatively short by comparison to some other autobiographies.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit heavy on the embellished side. There seems to be a lot of propaganda wrapped up in this tale. I believe that the general facts are mostly accurate but that the author didn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. He believed that the SS were heroes defending western civilization from the eastern Asian hordes.

[Charise · Rating 1 out of 5]

When you confuse your profound racism with enlightenment. Yeah, this guy... but I guess no real surprises, he did volunteer to join the SS after all.

[Hec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the better WW2 memoirs that I've read. It has all the drama and bravery of similar books, but is set apart by surprisingly evocative descriptions of scenes and events. I wonder if that's because it was dictated to the Swedish journalist (then Waffen-SS volunteer himself) Thorolf Hillblad, allowing Erik 'Jerka' Wallin to be an oral storyteller and Hillblad to capture it in the right words.

As other reviewers have noted, Wallin doesn't go into his reasons for joining the Waffen-SS in any great detail, apart from some brief comments about holding back Bolshevism. So, it's more about the action and violence of the retreat to Berlin. Having read Soldaten by Neitzel and Welzer, I can see that this conforms to a normal pattern of soldier-to-soldier conversations - speaking more about specific actions than one's beliefs. This can be a bit frustrating when you just want to know what drove this Swede to join the Panzergrenadiers of Nordland.

However, the story is a good one. His final escape from Berlin is a James Bond-worthy feat, and similarly incredible. According to Hillblad, Erik Wallin died during a meeting of Division Nordland veterans in Germany, after a long and eventful post-war life.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interview/war memoir of a Swedish volunteer into a German WW2 unit fighting in the East against Stalin. Not a very common perspective to encounter, as most of the Waffen-SS were killed. Unclear how to really evaluate the fighting aspects of the book -- hard although conventional combat on a horrible front where everything was terrible for everyone, and from this soldier's account, many brave actions as well as many stupid actions, but no real way to establish veracity. Seemed like the entire conflict was after any reasonable chance of victory was gone, so it was just one holding action after another, but as this book basically only covered the last months of the war in Europe, even more so.

The more interesting part for me was after the war was winding down, and the politics/legality of non-German troops from neutral powers like Sweden, and how he'd get out of it (which he ultimately did).

Mostly it's an account of nasty fighting on the Eastern Front; worth reading if you don't know how bad that is, but otherwise probably redundant.

[Mary Vogelsong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique to read a WWII account from the Axis viewpoint. I was unaware any Swiss were soldiers.

[Ahte S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this quite a while ago. The (true) story follows the Waffen-SS soldier Erik “Jerka” Wallin”, in the “Nordland” volunteer division, recounting his experiences in the closing months of the war.

The book holds back nothing. Starting with a Christmas exchange between the Red Army and the Waffen SS in the Courland pocket where soldiers on both sides lob gifts at each other like grenades, and exchange banter through shouting at one another. The temporary ceasefire for Christmas Day 1944 doesn’t last long before the fighting ramps up once again and the “asiatic Judeo-Bolsheviks” (a term often used throughout the book by the narrator) begin to press their advance against the SS lines.

The Nordland division is redeployed to Western Poland to help repel the incoming Vistula-Oder offensive, from the words of the author it can be assumed that the Axis still believed there was hope for an armistice (or even victory) at this point in the war. Following this the book recounts a controlled retreat back to Berlin, with the occasional counter-attack (although accomplishing little more than stalling the soviet offensives by a few days).

These counter-attacks and their aftermaths provide the most gruesome images of the book, where upon liberating German villages the SS encounter women having been gang raped (and in some cases killed) by the advancing Red Army. In one case the narrator recalls shooting dead a German woman who had been raped by dozens of Red Army men, so as to “spare her a slow death from Siberian Syphilis”. In another case a shop owner, who had a few days prior denied the SS men the right to resupply from his stocks unless they paid him, is found dead in his store with all his goods looted (presumably by the reds).

Then we reach Berlin, where begins what the narrator calls “the twilight of the Gods”, an ancient Nordic prophecy of Ragnarok where the Gods would engage in one final battle before the end of the world. This was it and he knew the part he was to play. One by one, his compatriots are gunned down or torn apart by shrapnel artillery, he himself wounded until the Bolshevik advance reaches the Reichstag itself and the final surrender is announced. Laying amongst the rubble of the fallen city, wounded, as the German military collapses and Dönitz announces the end of the war in Europe, Wallin decides that there is nothing left now but survival.

He goes to the Swedish consulate in Berlin, where he is welcomed in by none other than Baroness Ungern-Sternberg (a distant cousin of another famous figure). There he spends a short while recovering but the diplomats grow uneasy of the possibility of being accused of harbouring an SS man, as such he leaves. Eventually, he ends up in a hospital, packed with wounded Wehrmacht soldiers. He switches into a Wehrmacht uniform in the bathroom, with the aid of one of the nurses, and takes a bed. The Red Army enter the hospital, questioning everyone on their background, he manages to convince them that he is just a common Wehrmacht Mann and not a member of the SS. Later he and the others are boarded onto trains headed for Siberia.

At one of the stops, at a processing centre, he makes a run for it, managing to escape. The rest of the book is a several hundred mile journey out of East Germany into the British zone of control. The author comes across more women having been subjected to rape and harsh treatment by the Red Army, mass graves of civilians and the general terror of soviet occupation, until he finally reaches the West.

Throughout the book the author does not hide his opinions. Volunteering from neutral Sweden he states his reasons for joining the SS as wanting to be part of the Great European Crusade against the Asiatic Bolsheviks. He laments the blindness of the western allies to the Bolshevik threat and wishes they had sided with Germany, believing they had the same interests. Deeply racially-charged the author opposes Marxism on the basis of religion, tradition and race believing in upholding these pillars of European civilisation against communist atheism and racial egalitarianism. A critique rarely seen today where left-wing ideology is only ever opposed on an economic level.

There were also photographs provided by the narrator himself throughout the book, that he had taken during the war, showing him and his fellows throughout its’ final phases.

All in all an excellent read that gives the experiences and motivations of one of history’s most vilified archetypes. The SS volunteer.

[Vladimiro Sousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The irony is tremendous. The Nazis are the brave man, the man that sacrifice themselves for higher values, the underdog that fights mechanic armies in avalanches, and armadas of planes and bombs in the skies, and “the enemies don’t fight fair” and crimes committed against them are tremendous!
The success of the first years of the war made them rank themselves as “Gods” but… the wheel of fortune turns both ways! And now – in 44 and 45 – the “gods” are being hard bitten, terrified and shattered, bloody and massacre, suffering horrible wounds, scare of the night, the bullets, the explosions, the cold, the mud, shouting to the winds: if only we had half of what you master! The wheel had turn, and the jaws of war brings defeat day by day by day, and they feel their own unbearable tainted humanity. tainted because they don’t find compassion or feel regret for what they had done, but rather the fragility of their condition and the new turn of the wheel.
The author tries to justify their actions as noble and their position as righteous, he fails in both! They created the monster, the “atrocities” committed against them were more the results of their own actions than anything else. And he fails specially because he tries to clean their own atrocities, of which he knows or presents none!

[Kenneth Mcklinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take from one of the foreign-born volunteers who fought for the Nazis/SS during WW II as elite units, emphasizing the disposition of many towards Communist Russia and not wanting to see Bolshevism move westward as it has in the fighting of 1920.

That being said, there are a lot of beats that touch on the Wermacht forces retreat from the East from 44/45, with harried defenses and counter-attacks, giving the Soviets attacking a temporary brushback, and then falling back themselves. It is an interesting take on the retreat, as it is from a survivor's perspective, with those who had run out of *soldiers' luck* being described in more horrific ways than Allied narratives tend to.

Also of note is the nonchalant sneer of looking down at the Russian people as backward, simple, and unkept, with poor hygiene the norm. It wasn't until I saw the Zemlyanka and Burdei, the half dugout shelters that gave a name to what was described as living in holes in the ground or mud huts by German veterans in their narrative.

It is a quick read and can be swept through as being insightful as to why someone would sign up to fight, though not so much as a reflection by Erik Wallin on fighting for a lost cause where forgiveness is as hard to come by as culpability for the actions that he participated in, military as they were.

[Brad Petley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account of an elite Waffen SS unit, made up of Nordic volunteers, in the dying months of World War 2. It took us into the mindset of foreign volunteers and why they signed up; namely to fight the Bolsheviks. It dispels myths that all Waffen SS fighters were inhumane monsters. Instead it paints a picture of an elite fighting force that repeatedly came to the rescue of Wehrmacht units. It ends with an amazing account of what it was like to be under siege in the hell of Berlin as it was being pounded by Soviet artillery. An account well worth the read.

[Astor Teller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bosse Schön har valgt å utgi memoarene til den svenske SS-soldaten Erik Wallin (hvor Thorolf Hillbald var ghostwriter), for å vise en mindre «gullig» side av Sverige under krigen. Bosse Schön mener slike memoarer er viktige, selv om de er forfattet av to nazistiske frontkjempere. Han gir oss en innføring om hvordan Erik Wallin endte sammen med andre svensker i sluttkampene om Berlin og hvordan han også klarte å komme hjem og utgi sine krigserfaringer allerede i 1946 i Sverige uten å få noen særlige rettslige ettervirkninger av å ha vært i Waffen SS (svenske myndigheter var mest interessert i hvor han hadde gjort av den svenske uniformen som han ikke hadde levert tilbake). Boken har også flere fotografier, også et ganske kjent et av et vrak av et beltekjøretøy i Berlin hvor liket ved siden av trolig er svensken Ragnar Johansson, som er en av Erik Wallins kamerater.

Med den bakgrunnskunnskapen føres vi inn i den litt over hundre sider lange skildringen av Erik Wallins opplevelser fra nyttår 1944-45 ved Østersjø-kysten til han ender opp i Berlin. Selv om boken er teatralsk selvmedlidende, rasistisk og Erik ikke har tatt noe oppgjør med sin fortid, er den like fullt ganske nøytral når man ser forbi propagandaen.

Og det er mange scener her som minneverdige, som et slags karneval i Dantes inferno, og som jeg velger å tro på, fordi det er skrevet av en med nazistiske sympatier som ikke har noe å vinne på å gjengi flere av hendelsene.

Han beskriver blant annet en slags våpentilstand på nyttårsaften hvor russere opptrer i ingenmannsland med munnspill og tyskerne og russerne krangler om de beste julegavene de har fått og tyskerne vinner da en av dem har fått tøfler, noe ikke russerne vet helt hva er.

For Erik er kampmoralen viktig siden russerne har overlegent materiell. Et artilleriangrep (med Stalinorgeler?) utrydder det meste av angrepsstyrken rett før et motangrep og russernes fly dukker stadig opp for å gjøre sine innhugg. Men brev hjemmefra og kameratene hans samt troen på vidundervåpen er med på å holde motet oppe.

Samt panserfauster som brukes ved flere anledninger til å slå ut de talløse russiske stridsvognene som stadig dukker opp etter hvert som de omringes inne i Berlin. Erik beskriver en scene hvordan tre Wehrmacht-soldater klarer å slå ut fem stridsvognene med panserfausten og også hvordan dette våpenet blir livsfarlig i hendene på fanatiske barn i Hitlerjugend.

Hans rasistiske side blir tydelig da han rakker ned på slavearbeidere som han mener hadde det så bra i Tyskland hvor de fikk oppleve det siviliserte liv, og har ingen forståelse hvorfor de har lyst til å hevne seg. Og da franske prostituerte dukker opp i Berlin hvor de «kopulerer» med russere på et gatehjørne, langer han ut hvor ille disse franske kvinnene er, og det er null medlidenhet når de og russerne sprenges i fillebiter av artilleri.
Det er for så vidt ikke bare russere som har sex i den døende byen. Også tyskere har sex på åpen gate, mens andre skjærer løs kjøtt fra et hestekadaver rett ved, uten at noen av partene bryr seg om hverandre. Det minner litt om Traudl Junge beskrivelser av orgier i førerbunkeren.

Vi får også servert flere voldtekter og drap av sivile, blant annet en fet butikkeier som Erik og hans medsoldater havner i klammeri med da de forsyner seg av varene i butikken, men som siden ender opp spiddet og drept av russere.

Man kunne være fristet til å tenke at dette er propaganda om hvor ille russerne er, men noen sider senere, når Erik er på et lasarett, kommer russerne og de oppfører seg korrekt (så lenge du skjuler du er Waffen SS) og sender inn sine leger for å hjelpe de skadde.

At Erik klarte å unnslippe heksegryten i Berlin skyldes at han er svensk. Han oppsøker den svenske legasjonen med velkledde diplomater utenfor deres egen personlige bunker, men de er ikke videre interessert i å hjelpe en stridende, og ser heller ned på ham (særlig en friherrine von Ungern-Sternberg, jeg lurer på om var i slekt med Freiherr Roman Nicolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg som en kort tid var herre over Mongolia).
Det er slike scener mellom dresskledde diplomater og en skitten soldat som gjør boken karnevalesk, samt hvordan han siden faktisk får et nødpass som han bruker på en mannlig vakt for å slippe ut av fangenskap på lasarettet (etter å ha mislykket med dette mot de russiske amasonevoktere) og deretter går mot vest for å overgi seg til britene.

Uavhengig av hva man synes om Erik Wallin, synes jeg dette er et verdifullt vitnesbyrd sett gjennom øynene til den tapende part.

[Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work of nonfiction describes the experiences of a Swedish Waffen-SS Volunteer’s time on the Eastern Front against the Red Army during World War II (WWII). The Waffen SS was the combat branch of the NAZI party’s paramilitary SS organization. Members of the Waffen SS were an especially hated enemy of the Russians. If captured alive, any member of that organization met with a quick execution on the battlefield. They were never taken as Prisoners of War (POW). Of course, the same was true for any Russian commissars that were captured by the Germans. The war between these two countries (especially the political organizations) was a savage and brutal component of WWII. Several Waffen SS units were made up of foreign personnel who sympathized with the NAZIs and their views about racial superiority. They came from countries such as Sweden, Finland, Demark, the Baltic States and so forth. The period covered in this book, that is 1944 and 45 were bleak times for the Germans fighting on the Eastern Front. By then, the Germans had been forced back out of Russia and desperately trying to prevent the Russians from getting into Germany proper. As this book points out, those objectives were probably impossible to achieve. The conditions for the Germans on the Eastern Front were poor to say the least. Poor food, poor weather conditions, inferior weapons and manpower dogged them. Many of their comrades were now dying in battle. So, why did the German Army and Its SS component continue the fight? One reason in this Swedish SS unit was a belief that if Germany were conquered, Sweden would be next on Russia’s list. Other reasons include belief (or hope anyway) in the German propaganda that super weapons like jet aircraft and King Tiger Tanks would soon be massed produced and put into service which would alter the fortunes of war into Germany’s favor. They Eastern Front soldiers had also been hearing that Germany’s offensive on the Western Front in the Ardennes (known as the Battle of the Bulge in the west) was very successful which would soon free up troops and enable those soldiers to come to their relieve the Eastern Front. As they continued to be pushed back into Germany and then Berlin itself, the men became more desperate to survive. The narrator of this story used the mass confusion at the end of the war to change his identity and convince the Russia authorities that he was just a regular Wehrmacht soldier, not a member of the SS. This is quite a nuts and bolts story of the men in the Waffen SS and their experiences on the Eastern Front in WWII.

[Geoff Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book contains the partial memoirs of Erik Wallin, a soldier fighting for a cause that is already lost. Despite starting the fight against the Soviets in 1941, the author chooses only to discuss the final stages of the fight - the Soviet breakthrough into Germany and the Battle of Berlin.

Given the high casualty rate among the Waffen SS and the policy of the Soviets to shoot them when captured, it's extremely rare for a veteran with the author's experience to survive and tell his tale. This unusual point of view is what gives this memoir much of its value. The other key aspect is that it was written very shortly after the end of the war; the crimes of the regime were not yet fully understood, and the author seemed not to regret his participation in any way. Many Axis war memoirs get bogged down in long confessionals and disavowals of the regime; whether or not they are honest, the old soldiers feel that they need to distance themselves from Hitler and the crimes of the Nazis. These repudiations often make one question the honesty of the work as a whole; if the authors know that they must write as though they always hated Hitler, they're likely editing events to fit politically correct history.

In Twilight of the Gods, Wallin is honest about his motivations, he feels that he is fighting to save Europe and European values from Communism and the "Asiatic hordes." He feels no shame in fighting for such a cause, and as a result we get an interesting look at the ideology that motivated so many men to fight so hard, for so long, against overwhelming odds. To me, that was the real value of the book, although it is both well written and relatively fast-paced.

Some reviewers are angered by Wallin's failure to mention war crimes committed by his side and to praise National Socialism. That seems silly, to me; no one volunteers to fight in a war they believe is evil, so it should be expected that the author would support his side. The crimes are documented in countless texts, the value here is the look inside the mind of a committed, though seemingly not ideologically crazed, Waffen SS soldier.

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original title of Ragnarök/Twilight of the Gods is a better fit since only the very last portion of this book deals with the fall of Berlin, and then at a completely myopic level. That's what's so interesting about the book itself, the microhistory perspective of a single soldier's experiences during the war, and at that from a very rarely discussed POV in an SS soldier's shoes. The grand narrative of war only exists as interpreted through the eyes of Erik Wallin, and it gives you a good sense of what appears unfathomable from our 20/2o hindsight perspective; what seems to us paper thin propaganda about Wunderwaffen or a peace negotiated by Himmler to turn the western powers against the Red Menace threatening to destroy western civilization, are in fact what rallies Wallin's (and company) morale. It's hard to read the accounts of war crimes and the fear of eastern barbarism without a sense of poetic irony, but I think that's where the real value of this perspective lies. The SS soldier is disgusted by the killing of civilians and the mass rapes of the soviet armies, fears the itchy trigger fingers and summary executions committed by the Red Army, there's clearly a moral conscience at work, not some "just following orders" banality of evil as Arendt would have us believe.
The challenge is being able to empathize with the human experience of the horrors of war even when it comes from an unrepentant nazi perspective.

[Medusa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I decided to read this book after the recent (I write this in February 2022) brouhaha over Headstamp Publishing’s attempt to publish the memoirs of a modern day Swede with Nazi sympathies who volunteered with Finland and then with the Azov Battalion in Ukraine, a unit with actual Nazi emblems in plain sight, and whose own leadership admits contains 10-20 % literal neo nazis. I remembered hearing about this book and its Swedish author who, decades earlier during Ww2, also volunteered with the Finns and then joined the Waffen-SS. Unapologetic Nazi. I decided to listen to the book as scribd had the audio, figuring there’s always something to learn, even from the despicable; some Germans who were Nazis were in fact impressive warriors. One learns to sort things out. So I knew who and what this piece of garbage was going in; but he managed to fall dramatically short even of my low expectations . The book is literally jam packed with racist nazi propaganda. And unlike, say, unrepentant Nazi Hans Rudel’s book, it’s not even very compelling as a combat narrative. Filled with self aggrandizing, self serving utter bullshit, flagrant lies, transparent racism, and some homoeroticism with which I as a bisexual woman have no problem but which would no doubt have mortified this credulous, swaggering, unintelligent Nazi sh*tbag. Avoid. Read Rudel’s book or any number of other better alternatives if you wish to understand the sort of people who gave their all for the Nazis. Keep the mental bleach handy for afterwards.

[Richard Mayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many personal memoirs, and documentary films, about the heroic victory of the allied armies in WWII. Honest accounts like this, about what it was like to fight to the end and lose, are rarer.

It's not clear if the story begins on New Year's Eve 1944/45, because the author preferred not to talk about what he was involved with prior to that, or any other reason. I know my grandfather fought in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in North Africa, and he never shared any stories of his experiences. So I would not want to presume or imagine this author's reasons for what he shared and what he withheld. We are simply fortunate to have access to these stories.

Here in New Zealand there was a recent kerfuffle when it became known that a ski run in our southern alps was named after the recently deceased man who marked it out, he had been an SS Panzer Captain a lifetime ago in his youth. All nuance was immedialtely abandoned. Nobody was interested in the details of whether a tank captain might have been involved in atrocities, or was perhaps just an ambitious young man who wanted to fight for his country as one of the elite. No! Nazis are Nazis, and we prefer to think of them as one-dimensional caricatures of evil.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was turned on to this book because of the movie Downfall and its reference to a famous photograph of a SS half-track seen after the fall of Berlin. While I had seen the picture many times before the movie I had never fully examined it or read about it's history. Shortly after the film I came across a discussion board where the story of the picture was featured prominently, as well as a reference to this book. Sadly the picture is only featured in the book with a short description of the scene.
Twilight of the Gods is a quick and easy read for anyone, but is probably not in depth enough for a true WWII enthusiast, and tells mostly the story of one man and what he saw in quick chapters. Not surprising given the length of the book there is not much about the larger picture of the battles. I was also disappointed that there was not much on the treatment on volunteers when they returned to Sweden/Norway/Finland. This was also the first book I read with such a strong pro-German viewpoint, an interesting read to see what some of the 'other side' though about what was happening around them.

[Robert Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book if you can overlook the author's opinions

So I enjoyed reading the author's numerous war stories, which are some of the most vivid and detailed I've read in any book. However as others have mentioned the author was fighting for the Nazis and fully believed in their vision, at least that's the impression I got. It was frustrating at times to read about the author's views on how Germany was innocent and the Russians were the aggressor. However overall if you read this book with a detached curious viewpoint it is an interesting book that gives an interesting perspective.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but almost a repeat of the book I had previously read; "Forgotten Soldier". It was indeed a horrifying time for the German troops assigned to the Eastern front. War is Hell - I know this first hand. I suppose the most surprising things revealed in this book were; #1 - That men from many other nationalities joined the German military (this author, a Swede who served in the Waffen SS) and #2 - most of these "foreign" troops fought just as valiantly and fanatically as their counterpart German soldiers did. In this case, it was revealed that Thorolf Hillblad remained a loyal Nazi soldier to the very end.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really worth a read unfortunately. I lack the knowledge on how to dissect even the slightest bit of useful information of this book. It’s almost certainly fiction in every respect. Maybe if I knew more about postwar Germany and how narratives like this impacted the culture? I know there was a big shift in the 90s post reunification.

Still - either I’m far too much of an amateur to use this piece of history or it’s incredibly fake SS propaganda. I knew it would be propaganda to begin with but I hoped, perhaps foolishly, to locate kernels of truth. I was incorrect or as previously mentioned. I’m very stupid lol

[Larmie Fahrendorff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vision widening account of the eastern theatre's ultimate tragedy.

This is an excellent book. It paints a vivid (not pretty) picture of WWII's eastern campaign from the turning point of German fortunes to the tragic end. I've read numerous books on this particular theatre of the war, I find the plight of the common soldier worthy of sympathy regardless of which side one might prefer. So much destruction, so much death, so much tragedy! My history courses taught but one side of history's story. Books such as this paint a complete picture.

[SpiritualKungFu · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting blend of biographical history and absurd propaganda, mostly filled with war stories of bravery and dogged resistance, there's no way of backing these stories up but they don't seem extreme considering the performance of the SS during its retreat from Russia, the other aspect is that it presents the German as great guys and the Russians as barbarians, there's absolutely no way this wasn't cherry picking from the story teller but I guess if you want unbiased sources don't pick up the SS volunteers book.

[Krieger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, short book with stories of heroism and luck in WW2.

So many people here seething, “How dare he not express his deep regret/guilt for fighting with the Nazis!!” Or “This is propaganda!” Truly, anytime someone with a different opinion speaks, these world purveyors of justice jump to action and condemn them. I’m certain they would prefer such books to never be published. Oh man, it feels sooo good to read books that the enemies of the western world consider offensive.

[Bleys · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read, descriptions are polished and gritty; however, one must be wary of the National Socialist Nationalism which was honestly surprising, considering that Erik Wallin did not grow up as a member of the Hitler Youth, yet was so devoted to the cause. This memoir is fantastically written and a beautiful documentation of World War Two and the atrocities committed by the Red Army, chiefly, the Rape of Berlin.

[Douglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish this propaganda-laden thing. True believer Nazi who worked to rehabilitate the Waffen-SS rep. True believer editor who left for Argentina and date-locations his forward from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for no discernible reason. Tell me you’re a white supremacist without telling me you’re a white supremacist 😕

If you’re into this kind of wartime troop memoir, there are many much better choices. One can be on your side without all this other crap, “Tiger tanks cannot be defeated” etc