What do you think?
Rate this book
They Lie Around in Heaps: World War II, Eastern Front – With anti-tank gunner Leonhard März to the Tarnopol Pocket, the “Little Stalingrad”
Markus Bauer tells the moving story of his great-uncle, Leonhard März, who experienced the madness of the Eastern Front as an anti-tank gunner – and never returned from the Tarnopol encirclement in 1944.
“If things continue as they are now, there won’t be anything left of our regiment within a month. Every day ten to twenty of the boys are wounded or killed.”
“We drove the Russians out of the city. They had suffered terrible losses. They lie around in heaps.”
Drafted into the Wehrmacht in early 1941 and trained on an anti-tank gun, the young soldier is thrown into the hell of the Eastern Front within months. For three long years, Leonhard fights for his life along the front lines. He is wounded, patched up, and sent back to the front. Finally, in 1944, his trail is lost in the battle for Tarnopol. Surrounded by the Red Army, the German troops fight desperately “to the last bullet” in a doomed attempt to break out of the pocket.
Decades later, author Markus Bauer discovers a storage box in his grandmother’s inside are photos, documents, and dozens of field post letters from his great-uncle Leonhard. From this treasure, a unique contemporary testimony emerges.
This book presents the complete collection of Leonhard’s field post letters – unvarnished, personal, and brutally honest. Gain direct insight into the deprived everyday life of a front-line soldier. From Kiev to Kursk, from Gomel to Orel, Leonhard takes part in numerous major battles until he is finally trapped in the Tarnopol pocket. Letter by letter, you feel how the young soldier becomes increasingly embittered as the war drags on and his fear for his own life and that of his comrades grows with every passing day.
But this book offers much more than just 50 illustrations and photos provide a rare visual insight into Leonhard’s military service.Contemporary newspaper articles show how propaganda at the time reported on the fighting.Never-before-published material from the US National Archives reveals what really happened in the Tarnopol pocket. The Tarnopol pocket is also known as the “little Stalingrad”, yet the bitter struggle for this Ukrainian city is still largely unknown. They lie around in heaps closes this important gap and offers first-hand impressions of an almost forgotten chapter of German military history.
Secure this unique contemporary witness to German military history now and immerse yourself in the reality behind the front-line reports and propaganda.
“If things continue as they are now, there won’t be anything left of our regiment within a month. Every day ten to twenty of the boys are wounded or killed.”
“We drove the Russians out of the city. They had suffered terrible losses. They lie around in heaps.”
Drafted into the Wehrmacht in early 1941 and trained on an anti-tank gun, the young soldier is thrown into the hell of the Eastern Front within months. For three long years, Leonhard fights for his life along the front lines. He is wounded, patched up, and sent back to the front. Finally, in 1944, his trail is lost in the battle for Tarnopol. Surrounded by the Red Army, the German troops fight desperately “to the last bullet” in a doomed attempt to break out of the pocket.
Decades later, author Markus Bauer discovers a storage box in his grandmother’s inside are photos, documents, and dozens of field post letters from his great-uncle Leonhard. From this treasure, a unique contemporary testimony emerges.
This book presents the complete collection of Leonhard’s field post letters – unvarnished, personal, and brutally honest. Gain direct insight into the deprived everyday life of a front-line soldier. From Kiev to Kursk, from Gomel to Orel, Leonhard takes part in numerous major battles until he is finally trapped in the Tarnopol pocket. Letter by letter, you feel how the young soldier becomes increasingly embittered as the war drags on and his fear for his own life and that of his comrades grows with every passing day.
But this book offers much more than just 50 illustrations and photos provide a rare visual insight into Leonhard’s military service.Contemporary newspaper articles show how propaganda at the time reported on the fighting.Never-before-published material from the US National Archives reveals what really happened in the Tarnopol pocket. The Tarnopol pocket is also known as the “little Stalingrad”, yet the bitter struggle for this Ukrainian city is still largely unknown. They lie around in heaps closes this important gap and offers first-hand impressions of an almost forgotten chapter of German military history.
Secure this unique contemporary witness to German military history now and immerse yourself in the reality behind the front-line reports and propaganda.
- GenresWorld War II
151 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 2, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 22, 2026
Excellent collection of letters and photographs left behind by a German soldier who went missing on the Eastern Front in 1944. It also describes his family's efforts to find out what actually happened to him. Written from a human perspective, not a military or ideological one.
September 3, 2026
amazing book
This was one of the best books I have read in quite some time. To the author…I appreciate you for honoring your lost relative, and the many others, in this way. Reading the collection of letters, the reader feels a strong connection with the writer, and can imagine this being a soldier from anywhere, feeling the same feelings about the war. Highly recommend this book.
This was one of the best books I have read in quite some time. To the author…I appreciate you for honoring your lost relative, and the many others, in this way. Reading the collection of letters, the reader feels a strong connection with the writer, and can imagine this being a soldier from anywhere, feeling the same feelings about the war. Highly recommend this book.
January 16, 2026
Finally tales from the “other side”, I’m buying a hard copy.
The only ONLY reason Germany lost was because of the deceitful supply chain general he was so afraid of telling Hitler the truth. You see the young man all of them still fighting even when food and bullets ran out. They would have fought even harder had they know what would be done to their women children and country land.
The only ONLY reason Germany lost was because of the deceitful supply chain general he was so afraid of telling Hitler the truth. You see the young man all of them still fighting even when food and bullets ran out. They would have fought even harder had they know what would be done to their women children and country land.
May 6, 2026
The author was right the lives in this book were wasted. I am glad that he took the time to write this book about his great uncle. I can just imagine him when he’s 80 years old and yet he only lived to be 24 years old. Insightful book I’m probably going to write the author. He put his email in the book so we’ll see if he gets it or if it goes through a publisher agent. I don’t know if I’d read it again. I might buy it though just to put in my library. I keep thinking of him writing all those letters on the east in front and especially when the pin might’ve been broken or ink hard to find or hard to manage. That’s it :-)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews