Loyalty is My Honor

[realest]

I've read several threads about WW2 books. For those of you who would like to read personal accounts of those who served in the Waffen-SS this is an excellent read.

It covers all thoughts from why they joined the Waffen-SS, their opionions of the war, how they were treated afterward, how they treated others, russia, france, after the war, their thoughts on the leadership of the allies.

The book is a makeup of many individual stories. It's for the most part i feel heartfelt and honest. The author talks about the reluctance of the members to discuss their affliation in the beginning due to the occurances after the war.

Great book in my opionion. One every History buff should own since it gives voice to a chosen few who have not been allowed to speak.

[zmoney]

I foresee this thread getting real ugly. So hi Mom.

[Holman]

"Not been allowed to speak?" In most bookstores you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a frickin' SS memoir, or at least a modern fanboy picture book.

How many Red Army memoirs do we see translated?

Anyway, "Achtung, Mutter!"

[Bannon DC]

This is pure Jason-bating.

[realest]

Ummmm, i do apologize. It was coined from their own words, i should have put that in i suppose. The accounts taken were from the lower ranks. These folks were by and large i suppose E1-E5 ranks by comparison. It was written and compiled by "GORDON WILLIAMSON".

I wasn't starting any debates about the SS and all thoughts implicite. First hand accounts from an unlikely source, or so i thought.

At any rate.

[realest]

Martry, if by chance you do find a red army account book, i'd like to know. The hardships and the way they faced them would be a great read.

Those poor folks endured things we haven't had to even pretend to deal with.

[McIvan]

"A Writer at War" by Vassily Grossman, edited by Anthony Beevor, is a quite recent book about the ordinary Russian soldier as seen by Grossman. A lot of it very poignant and insightful. Thoroughly recommended.

[Balázs]

A memoir from a Red Army soldier:

Pjotr Stepanovich Alihanov: Infantry Regiment

As to "Loyalty is My Honor" I also do have this book - really a good one worth to read.

[George MC]

Several Soviet books available as mentioned above and I'd add:

"Tank Rider" by Evgeni Bessonov about his experiences as a tank rider.

"T34 In Action" by Artem Drabkin and Oleg Sheremet first hand accounts of being a Soviet tanker. Both books are IMHO superb and give the Soviet human side of the Eastern Front.

Cheers fur noo

George Mc

[realest]

Thanks folks, i'll pick some of those up. I worked for a woman that was survived the war in Germany in the soviet zone.

She told me that they used to make schnapps and one day they made a batch incorrectly (she said it tasted like gasoline) and were attempting to pour it out. A soviet patrol caught them and refused to let them throw it away. She said her mother told them "we don't speak russian, and they will shoot us or worse if we don't give it to them."

They were horrified the next morning when 3 officers and 2 of the men came back to what they called their house the next day. She said they were yelling and banging on the door to "Open Up, Immediately" as the soldiers were standing by the road. She said they all stood around looking brave thinking we've killed some of them and now they take us away.

The truth of the matter was far different. The officers caught the men finishing off the drink and were furious at them because they weren't informed of the find. The officers wanted them to continue making their drink "Exactly like they got". One of the officers spoke some german and Renate told them that the batch they took wasn't good and they were trying to pour it out. "They refused to believe me", she told me. So for the next 3 months till they escaped to west germany they continued to give them Green Schnapps and weren't harrassed and lived generally well. She told me those men must have no taste buds and the hardest stomachs on earth.

That was about the only story she told me.

[Corvidae]

yep,

Jason baiting,

I grew up on countless WW2 propaganda novels, Most of them writen in the 1950s and 60s,

Usualy by americans who knew nothing whatsoever about the war.

These novels alowed profoundly ignorant people to parade their ultranationalist bigotry in printed form.

Many of these novels attempted to pass as history, And being 9 or 10 years old, I couldnt tell the difference.

Unfortunately such novels are still being poured out, and most people cant tell history from propaganda from entertainment these days.

[realest]

Originally posted by Balázs:

A memoir from a Red Army soldier:

Pjotr Stepanovich Alihanov: Infantry Regiment

As to "Loyalty is My Honor" I also do have this book - really a good one worth to read.

I'll look that up. Thanks.

[realest]

Originally posted by Corvidae:

yep,

Jason baiting,

I grew up on countless WW2 propaganda novels, Most of them writen in the 1950s and 60s,

Usualy by americans who knew nothing whatsoever about the war.

These novels alowed profoundly ignorant people to parade their ultranationalist bigotry in printed form.

Many of these novels attempted to pass as history, And being 9 or 10 years old, I couldnt tell the difference.

Unfortunately such novels are still being poured out, and most people cant tell history from propaganda from entertainment these days.

What???????????????????

Oh this is too sweet... LOL, your from Canada Eh? How funny and what a small world, my wife is Canadian, from Barrie Ontario. Her mom lived up in Collingwood for awhile where the shipyards used to be. Beautiful country.

[kenfedoroff]

Hi All,

I just finished reading "Penalty Strike", "The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45", by Alexander V. Pyl'cyn.

I enjoyed this book, as it was strictly a "worm's eye view" of the war. Completely different from the "Grand Campaign" type of books that were written by high officers of the time.

I have no idea if it's a real first-hand account or a "Forgotten Soldier/Guy Sajer" type of memory, as I'm no Grog, but couldn't find any glaring descrepencies in the account.

I learned a lot about Penal Companies (the author dispels a lot of myth).

Be warned... there is not a lot of first-hand battle accounts, as the author was wounded several times, and also... units within the Company were often "Left out of Battle", so that the entire unit wasn't wiped out, if things went wrong...

I enjoyed it.

Sincerely,

Ken

[kenfedoroff]

Hi Again,

I also enjoyed "On the Roads of War", "A Soviet Calvalryman on the Eastern Front", by Ivan Yakushin.

The same "Worm's-eye- view" of the war. Again... I did not catch any glaring errors that would warn of this not being a first person account.

For what it's worth,

Ken

[GhostRider3/3]

Im curious as to all of you readers think of the Author.. Michael Reynolds? He has written many books and I have read nearly all of them. If your not familiar with some of his titles he has written "Steel Inferno" "Sons of the Reich" "Men of Steel" "The Devils Adjutant" These books are mostly about the 1SS and 2SS PzKorps.

Just wanted some more opinions if you have read any of his titles. He was a Major General with the British. I think he started off in the "Qweens Royal Regiment" He is said to be an expert in the Battle of the Bulge. I found his books myself very interesting and very informative. If you have not read them.. they are great books.

[Michael Dorosh]

My impression was that he wrote Steel Inferno with a very British outlook on what he was studying, to the detriment of the work, but I gave the book away about 5 years ago so can't really justify that impression. Most here seem to think he's ok though.

[realest]

Haven't read him. I do have another i read not long ago that was a very good fictional historical book on the soviet front. I'll try and find it and post it. The author did a great job at impressing what it was like to be a lowly german grunt in the winter of russia. I'll look for it since the discussion i see here is quite interesting.

I'm going to the book store this weekend, i'll pull a book or 2 from this thread.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by realest:

Haven't read him. I do have another i read not long ago that was a very good fictional historical book on the soviet front. I'll try and find it and post it. The author did a great job at impressing what it was like to be a lowly german grunt in the winter of russia. I'll look for it since the discussion i see here is quite interesting.

I'm going to the book store this weekend, i'll pull a book or 2 from this thread.

If it's Guy Sajer and the Forgotten Soldier, don't bother...

[zmoney]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

If it's Guy Sajer and the Forgotten Soldier, don't bother... [/QB]

Why? What do have against un true stories about history. :confused:

[ October 27, 2006, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: zmoney ]

[zmoney]

Michael Dorosh, since you know a lot about GD when did you figure out that “The Forgotten Soldier” was fantasy?

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by zmoney:

Michael Dorosh, since you know a lot about GD when did you figure out that “The Forgotten Soldier” was fantasy?

I've not made any such conclusion, but the book is brought up here often. True or not, it's not a great source of accurate info, especially when so many other, better, memoirs have been published. Try SOLDAT by Siegfried Knappe, THE GOOD SOLDIER by Alfred Nowotny (also a soldier in the GD, I believe in the Panzerfüsilier Regiment, and in the same platoon as a Knight's Cross holder of whom he provides at least one candid photograph), and apparently von Luck's book is also good though I have not yet read that one.

Gordon Williamson is mentioned above- he also wrote INFANTRY ACES which was ok reading.

[Gpig]

A bit off topic, but I'm reading a book on the Devil's Brigade (FSSF) by John Nadler called A Perfect Hell.

It's pretty good (half way through). A little Ambrosian, but an interesting read. Compiled mostly from interviews with surviving members of the First Special Service Force. A bit slanted toward the Canadian participants. Dispels a lot of the myths and reveals a whole lot more I never new.

There was a high ranking officer in the FSSF originally from your unit, Mr. Dorosh (though you most likely know this). You created some CMBO FSSF scenarios, did you not?

Has anyone read any history books by David Cooke?

Thanks,

GPig

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Gpig:

A bit off topic, but I'm reading a book on the Devil's Brigade (FSSF) by John Nadler called A Perfect Hell.

It's pretty good (half way through). A little Ambrosian, but an interesting read. Compiled mostly from interviews with surviving members of the First Special Service Force. A bit slanted toward the Canadian participants. Dispels a lot of the myths and reveals a whole lot more I never new.

There was a high ranking officer in the FSSF originally from your unit, Mr. Dorosh (though you most likely know this). You created some CMBO FSSF scenarios, did you not?

Has anyone read any history books by David Cooke?

Thanks,

GPig

Yeah, Lieutenant Colonel John McQueen was originally the senior officer of the Force, but I think he hurt himself in a parachute jump or something. I did one SSF scen, I think for CMAK, based on an old ASL scen from one of the annuals. Someone else may have done some for CMBO...?

I'll have to watch out for that book, though. Still trying to afford a copy of SUPERCOMMANDOS.

[Balázs]

Originally posted by realest:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Balázs:

A memoir from a Red Army soldier:

Pjotr Stepanovich Alihanov: Infantry Regiment

As to "Loyalty is My Honor" I also do have this book - really a good one worth to read.

I'll look that up. Thanks. </font>