Πέντε χρόνια πολέμου με την Βέρμαχτ

by Georg Grossjohann, Παντελής Μούτουλας (Translator), Δημήτριος Β. Σταυρόπουλος (Translator)

Ένας ατράνταχτος στα πεδία των μαχών, αυθεντικός "μπαρουτοκαπνισμένος" αξιωματικός της Βέρμαχτ, γεννημένος στην κοιτίδα του γερμανικού στρατοκρατικού πνεύματος, την Ανατολική Πρωσία, καταγράφει με εκπληκτική ακρίβεια τις πολεμικές εμπειρίες του σε τέσσερα διαφορετικά μέτωπα του Β΄ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου (1939), Δυτικό (1940), όπου συμμετείχε στις πολυαίμακτες επιθέσεις εναντίον των οχυρών της "Γραμμής Μαζινό"), Ανατολικό μετά την εισβολή στη Σοβιετική Ένωση (ο "πραγματικός πόλεμος", σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο) και ξανά Δυτικό μετά το Καλοκαίρι του 1944.

Ο Γκέοργκ Γκροσγιόχαν, επανειλημμένα παρασημοφορημένος για τις διακρίσεις του και τους τραυματισμούς του σε μια σειρά σκληρών συγκρούσεων, αναντίρρητα διηγείται τα γεγονότα όπως έγιναν. Τώρα, με το "Πέντε χρόνια πολέμου με τη Βέρμαχτ", το ελληνικό αναγνωστικό κοινό μπορεί να γνωρίσει τη δράση και τις εντάσεις των στιγμών "από την άλλη πλευρά του λόφου", εκείνη των Γερμανών επαγγελματιών στρατιωτικών καριέρας, οι οποίοι είχαν καταταχθεί στη Ράιχσβερ στα χρόνια της Δημοκρατίας της Βαϊμάρης και παρακολούθησαν αμέτοχοι την άνοδο του εθνικοσοσιαλιστικού κόμματος στην εξουσία.

Διότι, πράγματι, τα πέντε (και πλέον) συγκλονιστικά χρόνια που καλύπτει η αφήγηση του Γκροσγιόχαν, μέχρι τη σύλληψή του από τους Αμερικανούς το Μάιο του 1945, αποτελούν την κατάληξη και συνάμα το κρεσέντο της δικής του πορείας, συνολικής διάρκειας 17 ετών, στις γερμανικές ένοπλες δυνάμεις. Η λεπτομερής, ρεαλιστική και επαγγελματική περιγραφή των πολεμικών γεγονότων είναι το κύριο προτέρημα του παρόντος βιβλίου. Ο συγγραφέας αποδίδει ολοζώντανα και με δωρικό τρόπο τα όσα επέδρασαν θετικά η αρνητικά στο μαχητικό πνεύμα του ίδιου και των στρατιωτών του, τους οποίους πάντοτε σέβεται και θεωρεί ισότιμους συναδέλφους του.

Η έκδοση είναι εμπλουτισμένη με πολλούς χάρτες, φωτογραφικό υλικό, ευρετήρια και γενικότερο ιστορικό σχολιασμό του κάθε κεφαλαίου.

Genres: History, World War II, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War, Biography, Russia

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book of a German soldier who experienced a war and survived to write about it. I have been interested for some time to read more about World War 2 from the German side, after reading so many excellent books about the gallant Allies, which sometimes diminishes the courage of the enemy. The author also writes about one area that caught my attention when we holidayed in Provence a few years ago, namely the Allied landing in that area, as well as the defeat of Germany and the chaotic aftermath and how he survived that period. A very interesting book that I thoroughly recommend to anyone who is fascinated by World Ware 2 and like me want to get the other feller's point of view.'

[Robby Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My aide-de-camp and I noticed at dusk how clever and dangerous the opponent was. For some time, there had been total silence and we had a short exchange of thoughts as we were standing in a clearing. Suddenly, a shot was fired, and a messenger who had come with us stood for a second as if frozen, then fell to the ground. Upon my rather frightened call, "Fiege, what's the matter?" he answered in clearly understandable words, "I am dead, Herr Major!" Seconds later, that's what he really was. One could move only with the most extreme caution. ...After my return to the command post, I heard the rattle of shovels in the dark. When I questioned what they were doing there, they answered, "We're digging a hole for Fiege!" Exhausted and depressed as I was, I just could not control myself anymore and yelled, "This is not a hole, you idiots, this is a grave!" Right away I regretted my outburst, since the poor guys were at least as depressed and worn out as I was. Their irreverent expression was only a kind of cover for their stress. This nocturnal episode was always one of those especially deep impressions I had of the war."

[Clarke Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a remarkably tedious book where the author manages to serve for five years, but manage to describe little or nothing to relate to the actual fighting or operations. He records gossip and spends some time justifying his cause, but his description of his actual activities is remarkably vague with relatively few interesting anecdotes. He also makes it plain that he is recording a "worms view" of the fighting, but he commanded platoons, companies, a battalion, and then a regiment, so one might expect he would have some perspective beyond this. As it stands, even as a worm he really recounts nothing of interest.

[Jflay · Rating 2 out of 5]

To start if you want to read a world war 2 book from the other sides perspective this is a good one to start with. My main issue about it is for a memoir I felt it lacked a lot of detail about daily life during the war and more so focused on tasks his units were to accomplish. The times he goes in depth about things like escaping through the forest to avoid the Russians or even the end when he is explaining post war Germany and the last days of world war 2 were some of my favorite parts of the whole book.

[Daniel Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

The historical events and details were very good, but the "memoir" portion was not very captivating. If anything, it seemed to be more of a self-promotion writeup. Since he had written another book prior to this one, maybe that was better and he didn't want to repeat things. I was just expecting more out of this.

[Alejandro Mejia · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked up this book I was expecting it to be full of more action but since this is an officers account it lacks the gory details one would find in a book like With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge. This shouldn’t discredit the reader though, because it still serves as a great account of how a German officer saw the war. This story is about a German officer, Georg Grossjohan, who would rise to the rank of Major. He served on multiple fronts, as the title would suggest, and he would survive the war.

Most war accounts are from the infantrymen but reading from an officers perspective shows you the tactical and logistical side of battle. Grossjohan recounts the tremendous push into Russia that saw the Wehrmacht win battle after battle and the subsequent perils that come with being pushed back, outnumbered, and surrounded as his regiment desperately held on to a crumbling empire. This book also shows how towards the end of the war, the OKW seemed to be oblivious the fact the war was lost.


During WW2 many high ranking German generals would not dare to ask permission to retreat, despite the incessant march to Berlin by the Allies. This was because Hitler would immediately replace Generals with such notions and thus, fateful decisions on when to withdraw to fight another day were left to officers like Grossjohan. More than once, Grossjohan makes the decision to defy orders and pull his troops to better defensive positions. Each time he has to provide a reason as to why he defied orders and each time he is let go with no punishment. Grossjohan tells how this attitude prevailed among the Wehrmacht.

Overall this book is a quick read that helps you understand the war from a German officer’s perspective and is a good supplement to our understanding of WW2.

[Robey NeJame · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is refreshingly different from your typical war story. This soldiers story didn’t try to justify any actions, politics, generals or otherwise, but instead gave a personal account that feels very real and honest. It was, “just the facts” and I appreciated it. Pacing was good, quality of penmanship as solid.

My only negative is that I didn’t feel as though there was a lot of background on Grossjohann, nor was there an epilogue that described what happened to him after the war. I wasn’t looking for an epic telling of either his childhood or his post-war life, but being plopped down in the middle and plucked out of the middle of the story left just a little to be desired

[Edward Mcewing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a really good history book about WW2

[Eric Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

*****

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A personal and candid account of what someone's daddy did in the war. And that the author survived throughout, including two tours on the Eastern Front, is remarkable in itself.

Gave it three stars because I was feeling generous by the end. At points, I wondered if it would merit two stars. So maybe let's settle on 2.75 stars for a book that's interesting just because it's so different. It seems like (and is confirmed when one reads the epilogue by the author's son) a rambling reminiscence by someone not skilled in exposition. The "historical commentary" ties all the first-person material together, creating a context that isn't always clear in the author's tales. Without the "historical commentary," this would simply be a ragged primary source for someone's research, not a publishable book.

Most interesting take-away of all -- the manner in which the army kept operating even in the face of utter chaos. By the end, most of the German troops weren't trained for the job, and still they put up a fight. Also, the administrative apparatus kept working -- the author was sent off to a school for regimental commanders just days before the final collapse.

The personal photos from the author's collection add a nice touch, and the publishers have attempted to provide useful maps -- some are too small to be clear, but at least there's an effort to illustrate the sites of the author's experiences.

This is not a book I'll keep.

[Andrew Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of a German officer in WW2. The writing (translation?) is a bit awkward at times, but it's an engaging read. There are relatively few 1st person accounts of their career in the German army in WW2. It compares well with books like Hills' "By Tank Into Normandy", but covers a longer time period.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book where written by Mr Grossjohann. The flow is broken by pointless exposition by the editor. This would have been a better book without it to be honest.

Maybe some more detail from the major would be welcome. Poland, the Battle of France and the war in Russia seem to be covered far too quickly. Is this because the author was involved in incidents he wasn't proud about?

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

There aren't many books available written from the perspective of a Nazi soldier. This is one written from the perspective of a simple footsoldier in the German army.
I enjoyed the reverse viewpoint here.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reasonable book. Fascinating story of Authors life during WWII. The undercurrent of sarcasm and disdain at crackpot commanders is rather amusing throughout. Like all good biographies during this period, the author remains unapologetic. Light read.

[Sally Ashmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a powerful epilogue, and should be read as a forward to the book.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, and as the title suggests an interesting topic.