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Forgotten Soldier


Xipe

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I've been reading Forgotten Soldier (by Guy Sajer - excellent book, read it!) and discovering CMBB at the same time. Would anyone be interested in a "Forgotten Soldier-pack" which simulates a couple of the battles that Guy Sajer, in Gross Deutschland, experienced during the war?

The battles would be, more or less, typical retreatment and delaying battles fought by the germans on the Ost Front during their retreat.

The period covered would be winter -42 till winter -44 or something like that (maybe 5-10 battles).

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You may be interested in some of the discussion re: The Forgotten Soldier that has occurred in the scholarly community (if you are unaware of it). See the GD link in my sig, there is an entire page on the Forgotten Soldier. It remains controversial with regards to how much stock can be placed in it as a historical resource. Given it is a story of one man - true or not - your scenarios will just be fantasy. You may want to check some of the other books on GD in order to fill in some of the blanks Sajer leaves with regards to unit composition, etc.; there is a complete bibliography at my site on references in English that might help you on your way.

Even if your scenarios are simply fiction, please remember to submit them to the Scenario Depot so others can download and review them.

Any specific ideas on situations, titles, etc?

What specifically in the book inspired you to create a CM battle? Just curious. It's not a bad idea at all. It's been a while since I've tried to read Forgotten Soldier so I can't recall any specific situations that jump right out at me.

[ January 19, 2003, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: Michael Dorosh ]

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Thanks for the input, I'll be sure to check those resources you mentioned. I had heard somewhere before that Sajer's account wasn't 100% accurate.

As for why I want to do it is that I have been so touched by it. For me it was as traumatizing as it was to watch the intro scene to Saving Private Ryan and realizing that war is not something that you ever want to be a part of. And I've done compulsory military service, but that service didn't prepare me for what neither Saving Private Ryan, nor Forgotten Soldier, offered me emotionally.

I'll try to take any historical critique of Forgotten Soldier to heart when making the scenarios, and once finished I'll be sure to post them to Scenario Depot (fictional or not).

Again, thank you for your input.

PS (edit) - I'll outline some of the proposed battles/operations once I've summarized them internally. But from the top of my mind I can think of the column of trucks that are ambushed by partisans, the heavy russian artillery preceding a russian winter attack, the defence and outbreak from a russian pocket, the crossing of the Donau, and the relief of a rumanian-held outpost under attack from partisans.

[ January 19, 2003, 05:38 PM: Message edited by: Xipe ]

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