What Became of Gunner Asch

Gunner Asch #4

by Hans Hellmut Kirst

English, German (translation)

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

285 pages, paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

A veteran from WW II, he wrote various novels focused on military life and the corruption in the army.


Hans Hellmut Kirst, der international erfolgreichste deutsche Autor der Nachkriegszeit, wurde am 5. Dezember 1914 in Osterode in Ostpreußen als Sohn eines Gendarmeriebeamten geboren. Von 1933 bis 1945 diente Kirst als Berufssoldat. Mit seiner später verfilmten Romantrilogie „08/15“, seinen Welterfolgen „Fabrik der Offiziere“ und „Die Nacht der Generäle“ fand Hans Hellmut Kirst auch literarisch große Anerkennung.

Reviews

[Bobby D · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was my thought that I first read this book sometime in the 1970s. My copy is from among my collection of Kirst’s books. He became one of my favorite authors in 1969 when I first read his early Gunner Asch books. I also recently reread his NIGHT OF THE GENERALS. This book is the last and somewhat an afterthought to the Asch four-book series. They feature Asch as a troublesome enlisted man in the German Army, looking for any way to twist and thwart disagreeable regulations; especially any regulations that were imposed or endorsed by Hitler or his fellow Nazis. I recalled parts of the book but mostly it was fresh and held up quite well on the second reading.
In this book, Asch is now married and the owner of a hotel in a small backwater German town. His main clientele are servicemen from the two local bases. One is an Army training center, and the other is an Air Force base. The central metaphor of the book is that the Army base (in 1955) still holds to its war time authoritarianism and the air force is a new modern base who’s members honor the new post war German constitution.
The story has a limited role for Asch. He, on occasion, comes in to solve or reveal problems, especially when he sees wrong. The main characters are Grenader Recht (an Army grunt accused of misconduct) and Captain Ahlers (an Air Force officer who runs afoul of regulations). There is even an Army sergeant who defies regulation throughout the whole book (for example, he hires a taxi to take him and some men back from a field exercise rather than hike or march and expects the Army to reimburse him the fare). Kirst has a way of capturing the characters and sending them up with sarcasm aimed at military politics.
You could read this book as a stand-alone, but I recommend you first find the earlier books: THE REVOLT OF GUNNER ASCH and FORWARD, GUNNER ASCH. These feature Asch’s wartime adventures and are especially entertaining if you have been in the military.