Jungvolk: The Story of a Boy Defending Hitler's Third Reich

by Wilhelm R. Gehlen, Don Gregory

This is the wartime memoir of a boy named Will, who happened to be the nephew of the head of Nazi Germany’s intelligence agency, Foreign Armies East. After reading this book, the reader will wonder who had the most exciting time during World War II.

Will Gehlen’s father, a trolley driver, was drafted into the Wehrmacht to man a Sturmgeschutz assault gun in Russia. His older brother, Len, was enlisted in the Hitlerjugend. The author, only 10 years old when the war began, became a helper at the local Luftwaffe flak battery, fetching ammunition. It was exciting work for Will (a member of the “Jungvolk”) and by the end of the war he had become expert at judging attacks. As fighter raids increased in frequency he noted that the pilots became less skilled.

Aside from aircraft kills, Gehlen had other adventures during the war, as when his mother dragged him to visit his aunt in Luxembourg in 1944. Crossing the lines they found no aunt but met American troops, and were surprised when the German Army launched an offensive, overrunning the village and forcing US soldiers to retreat with casualties. Making their way back to Germany was even more perilous, until they discovered the most secure vehicles were mail trucks. No one, not even the SS, tried to interfere with their progress.

Gehlen’s town was repeatedly bombed and he often had to help with the wreckage or to pull survivors from basements. He witnessed more death than a child ever should; nevertheless, his flak battery continued firing until US tanks were almost on top of the position. In this book Gehlen, provides an intimate glimpse of the chaos, horror and black humor of life just behind the front lines. As seen through the eyes of a child, who was expert in aircraft identification and bomb weights, food-rationing and tank types, one encounters a view of life inside Hitler’s wartime Reich that is both fascinating and rare.

343 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot about the topic, but this book still manages to stand out. It really feels like a child describes life in the times of war. While terrible things happen, he takes all in his stride, finds wonder in everything and handles some very mature situations while still remaining a child. It feels a lot like a story told in front of a fireplace. It's not about ideology, troop movements or strategy. It's about survival and being a child in a world in which all you've ever known was war. I'm glad I grabbed it from a shelf on a whim.

[Jeff Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent story! Wilhelm Gehlen is ten years old when the Wehrmacht sets up an anti-aircraft battery in his front yard. As time goes on, he becomes friends with the soldiers and becomes an honorary member of the crew, even with the Captain’s approval. One thing they make certain is that he gets himself out of harms way when the Jabos and bombers make there run. They don’t want to feel the wrath of his mother. Imagine the excitement he felt being a part of the adult world. However, all of his dreaming and glories of war come crashing home when one of his friends is killed by an 88mm shell that didn’t detonate at its appointed height and comes crashing down, exploding in a tree, killing one of his classmates. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time he would see death in all its glory. He was starting to understand why his father, a Sturmgeschütz, driver, did not want to talk about the war when he was home on leave.
Another compelling part is when he and his mother get trapped behind the lines during “Wacht on Rhein.” They become guests of the American troops, at Wiltz and find out the propaganda that Goebbels has been babbling is exactly that-propaganda. He was amazed how friendly the troops were and how generous they were with their abundance of supplies. He also realizes that there was no way Germany was going to win the war. The Ammies, had more equipment then he had ever seen.
In the end, he like many of his countrymen wished for one thing, for the war to end so life could return to normal.
Highly recommend this story for all World War Two enthusiasts!

[Lucia Fidhel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro se me hizo muy interesante, bastante fresco y original. Parte desde la perspectiva de los alemanes de la guerra, algo muy difícil de encontrar, ya que todo siempre se suele venir desde el salvajismo hacia las víctimas, pero ver el conflicto desde los ojos de los victimarios también tiene un punto muy atractivo.

Para empezar, tenemos que partir desde el hecho que no todos los alemanes eran nazis insensibles y antisemitas. Muchos de ellos estaban en medios de un conflicto que nunca pidieron y que sufrían las mismas carencias, el mismo miedo y las muertes que los civiles de otros países conquistados. No todos eran partidarios de los nazis ni de Hitler.

Es un libro que te hace reflexionar, que te hace entender que en la guerra no hay buenos ni malos, sino sólo gente que sufre por los egoísmos de sus "líderes".

Es un libro muy chevere que les súper recomiendo que lean.

[Sethelarian]

A very interesting read on a child's perspective of World War 2 from within Germany and Luxemburg.

[Luis Del Aguila · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia es muy interesante; pero algo poco creíble es la memoria prodigiosa que tiene el autor para narrar acontecimientos de cuando era un niño, las fechas, los lugares, y sobre todo los acontecimientos tan crudos, los narra de manera muy especifica, asi que a mi parecer es una cronica en gran parte novelizada , pero igual es buena.

[Tom Gaudreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. A must read for WWII history buffs. Not a literary masterpiece but I enjoyed it very much.