Steiner's War - The Merville Battery

The War years as experienced by a young Austrian who was conscripted from an anti-Nazi family into the German Army in World War Two.

After service on the Eastern front he decides to become an officer to protect his family at home from persecution by the NSDAP. On recovering from a severe wounding he is sent to Normandy and made temporary commander of the Merville gun battery as a second lieutenant aged 24. No more senior replacement arrives and he finds himself in command of the Battery on D-Day, 6th June 1944.

From the 6th June until 17th August 1944 he holds a key position as the foremost German artillery unit commander against British invaders, ably supported by his battery Sergeant Major.

The majority of the story consists of verbatim accounts by German and British servicemen.

During the period 1983-2003 the author, Major Michael Strong, undertook research and display work for the Merville Battery museum in Normandy. This book and "Sid's War" are the outcome. 

Available from:
Amazon

Hitler's Last Army - German POWs in Britain

After the Second World War, 400,000 German servicemen were imprisoned on British soil, some remaining until 1948. These defeated men in their tattered uniforms were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Britain used the prisoners as an essential labour force, especially in agriculture, and in the devastating winter of 1947 the Germans helped avert a national disaster by clearing snow and stemming floods, working shoulder to shoulder with Allied troops.

Slowly, friendships were forged between former enemies. Some POWs fell in love with British women, though such relationships were often frowned upon: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW …!’ Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners, from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended.

Having collected and read numerous books on German POWs in the UK, I can say this is probably the best book on the topic published in the last 20 years. If this is an area of interest, I strongly recommend Robin Quinn's title.
You can find out more and read extracts at http://www.robin-quinn.co.uk/

Available from:
The History Press

400,000 GERMAN TROOPS ON BRITISH SOIL! In 1940, when Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain, his greatest wish was to read a headline like this. Yet, five years later, there really were 400,000 German servicemen in the UK – not as conquerors but as prisoners of war. They were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners: from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended. ‘Being taken prisoner was for the other side, not us,’ one man remembers. ‘A strange new existence was about to begin,’ another says. ‘We were in a kind of limbo, a vacuum between the old life and whatever the future held.’ Britain used the prisoners to provide essential labour, especially on farms. In time, friendships were forged between former enemies. ‘We met the farmers, we met English people and liked them as human beings,’ says one German ex-soldier. ‘We didn’t want to let the farmers down so we worked hard.’ Some POWs fell in love with British women, although such relationships were often condemned: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW!’ - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/military-history-books/world-war-2-books/hitler-s-last-army-24711.html#sthash.w6vqEpj2.dpuf

400,000 GERMAN TROOPS ON BRITISH SOIL! In 1940, when Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain, his greatest wish was to read a headline like this. Yet, five years later, there really were 400,000 German servicemen in the UK – not as conquerors but as prisoners of war. They were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners: from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended. ‘Being taken prisoner was for the other side, not us,’ one man remembers. ‘A strange new existence was about to begin,’ another says. ‘We were in a kind of limbo, a vacuum between the old life and whatever the future held.’ Britain used the prisoners to provide essential labour, especially on farms. In time, friendships were forged between former enemies. ‘We met the farmers, we met English people and liked them as human beings,’ says one German ex-soldier. ‘We didn’t want to let the farmers down so we worked hard.’ Some POWs fell in love with British women, although such relationships were often condemned: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW!’ - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/military-history-books/world-war-2-books/hitler-s-last-army-24711.html#sthash.w6vqEpj2.dpuf

400,000 GERMAN TROOPS ON BRITISH SOIL! In 1940, when Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain, his greatest wish was to read a headline like this. Yet, five years later, there really were 400,000 German servicemen in the UK – not as conquerors but as prisoners of war. They were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners: from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended. ‘Being taken prisoner was for the other side, not us,’ one man remembers. ‘A strange new existence was about to begin,’ another says. ‘We were in a kind of limbo, a vacuum between the old life and whatever the future held.’ Britain used the prisoners to provide essential labour, especially on farms. In time, friendships were forged between former enemies. ‘We met the farmers, we met English people and liked them as human beings,’ says one German ex-soldier. ‘We didn’t want to let the farmers down so we worked hard.’ Some POWs fell in love with British women, although such relationships were often condemned: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW!’ - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/military-history-books/world-war-2-books/hitler-s-last-army-24711.html#sthash.w6vqEpj2.dp

400,000 GERMAN TROOPS ON BRITISH SOIL! In 1940, when Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain, his greatest wish was to read a headline like this. Yet, five years later, there really were 400,000 German servicemen in the UK – not as conquerors but as prisoners of war. They were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners: from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended. ‘Being taken prisoner was for the other side, not us,’ one man remembers. ‘A strange new existence was about to begin,’ another says. ‘We were in a kind of limbo, a vacuum between the old life and whatever the future held.’ Britain used the prisoners to provide essential labour, especially on farms. In time, friendships were forged between former enemies. ‘We met the farmers, we met English people and liked them as human beings,’ says one German ex-soldier. ‘We didn’t want to let the farmers down so we worked hard.’ Some POWs fell in love with British women, although such relationships were often condemned: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW!’ - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/military-history-books/world-war-2-books/hitler-s-last-army-24711.html#sthash.w6vqEpj2.dpuf

400,000 GERMAN TROOPS ON BRITISH SOIL! In 1940, when Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain, his greatest wish was to read a headline like this. Yet, five years later, there really were 400,000 German servicemen in the UK – not as conquerors but as prisoners of war. They were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners: from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended. ‘Being taken prisoner was for the other side, not us,’ one man remembers. ‘A strange new existence was about to begin,’ another says. ‘We were in a kind of limbo, a vacuum between the old life and whatever the future held.’ Britain used the prisoners to provide essential labour, especially on farms. In time, friendships were forged between former enemies. ‘We met the farmers, we met English people and liked them as human beings,’ says one German ex-soldier. ‘We didn’t want to let the farmers down so we worked hard.’ Some POWs fell in love with British women, although such relationships were often condemned: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW!’ - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/military-history-books/world-war-2-books/hitler-s-last-army-24711.html#sthash.w6vqEpj2.dpuf

400,000 GERMAN TROOPS ON BRITISH SOIL! In 1940, when Adolf Hitler planned to invade Britain, his greatest wish was to read a headline like this. Yet, five years later, there really were 400,000 German servicemen in the UK – not as conquerors but as prisoners of war. They were, in every sense, Hitler’s Last Army. Using exclusive interviews with former prisoners, as well as extensive archive material, this book looks at the Second World War from a fresh perspective – that of Britain’s German prisoners: from the shock of being captured to their final release long after the war had ended. ‘Being taken prisoner was for the other side, not us,’ one man remembers. ‘A strange new existence was about to begin,’ another says. ‘We were in a kind of limbo, a vacuum between the old life and whatever the future held.’ Britain used the prisoners to provide essential labour, especially on farms. In time, friendships were forged between former enemies. ‘We met the farmers, we met English people and liked them as human beings,’ says one German ex-soldier. ‘We didn’t want to let the farmers down so we worked hard.’ Some POWs fell in love with British women, although such relationships were often condemned: ‘Falling pregnant outside marriage was bad enough – but with a German POW!’ - See more at: http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/military-history-books/world-war-2-books/hitler-s-last-army-24711.html#sthash.w6vqEpj2.dpuf

Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing and Dying - The Secret Second World War Tapes of German POWs

In November 2001, as the world still reeled from the attack on the Twin Towers, German historian Sonke Neitzel discovered an extraordinary cache of documents from the Second World War in the British National Archives, held at Kew.

The documents were the transcripts of German prisoners of war talking among themselves in prisoner of war camps, and secretly recorded by the allies. In these apparently private conversations the soldiers talked freely and openly about their hopes and fears, their concerns and their day-to-day lives. With a banality and ease which to the modern reader can appear shocking, they also talked about the horrors of war -- about rape, death and killing.

Sonke Neitzel shared the material with renowned and bestselling psychologist Harald Wezler and they set about trying to make sense of the vast piles of documents, the hours of transcripts. The result is Soldaten, a landmark book which will change the way we look at soldiers and war, and is as relevant to our modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as it was to the soldiers of the German Army in 1945. Published to huge acclaim and controversy in Germany it was a number one bestseller there and reignited the debate about the banality of evil under the Nazi regime.

The authors will be discussing the book at Waterstones Piccadilly (London) on the 25th September 2012. See the Waterstones website for more details.

Available from:
Simon & Schuster

Aus Meiner Sicht (From My View) - The Memoirs of Werner Mork - A Private's Life in the Wehrmacht during World War II

This is a very interesting memoir which I came across by chance. It covers Werner Mork's service during WWII in the German Wehrmacht and is available to download free of charge.

Mork served as a driver in North Africa in 1942, in the Tobruk area. Hospitalised for a period in Germany, he was then posted to Corsica and was involved in the battles in Italy - Ortona, Anzio and Monte Cassino. Transferred to the Eastern Front, he later experienced the Russian invasion of Silesia, and was ultimately captured in Czechoslovakia.

I haven't had chance to read the book in detail, but a quick glance through indicates it is worthy of attention. The chapters available are:

• Driving Supply Trucks in Africa - 1942
• Driving Supply Trucks in Africa - 1942- Part II
• Driving Supply Trucks in Africa - 1942- Part III
• Recuperation in Halberstadt - 1943
• Mork on Corsica - 1943
• The Battle of Ortona - 1943
• The American Landing at Anzio / Nettuno - 1944
• The Battle of Monte Cassino - 1944 - Part I
• The Battle of Monte Cassino - 1944 - Part II
• The War on the Eastern Front - 1945
• The War on the Eastern Front - 1945 - Part II
• The War on the Eastern Front - 1945 - Part III
• Aftermath: P.O.W.

Available from:
The book can be downloaded free of charge on Daniel Setzer's page (he translated the text).
Other selections from memoirs in the original German text can be found on the website of the German Historical Museum.

Crossing the Zorn The January 1945 Battle at Herrlisheim as Told by the American and German Soldiers Who Fought It

Conceived in desperation after the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945, Germany’s Operation Nordwind culminated in the frozen Alsatian fields surrounding the Zorn River. In what was expected to be an easy offensive, the German 10th Waffen SS Panzer Division attacked the American 12th Armored Division near the villages of Herrlisheim and Weyersheim. Neither army foresaw the savage violence that ensued.

Combining the vivid eyewitness accounts of veterans from both sides of the conflict with information gleaned from a variety of long-unavailable print sources, this richly detailed history casts a fascinating light on a little-known but crucial battle in the Second World War. Common stalwart German and American soldiers carried out near-impossible orders.

Available from:
McFarland

The War Diaries of a Panzer Soldier: Erich Hager with the 17th Panzer Division on the Russian Front • 1941-1945

This book is a unique personal account of the war on the Russian Front, written using the diaries and photos of Erich Hager who served in the 39th Panzer Regiment, 17th Panzer Division throughout the war in Russia.

Hager rose to the rank of Unteroffizier and served as a company commander’s tank radio operator. During this time he kept diaries in which he recorded the events he went through every day at the front. His diaries have been translated and are presented with additional notes. Hager also took many personal photographs of comrades, and vehicles – many are included here. The book also includes a chapter on the 17th Panzer Division.

Despite taking part in many in many battles on the Russian Front, including the attempted relief effort at Stalingrad, little information on the 17th Panzer Division has been published. Hager’s material provides a tremendous insight into the war on the Russian Front from a front line soldier’s perspective.

Available from:
Schiffer Books

Two Soldiers, Two Lost Fronts - German War Diaries of the Stalingrad and North Africa Campaigns

This book is built around two recently discovered war diaries—one by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommel’s AfrikaKorps. Together, along with detailed timelines and brief overviews, they comprise a fascinating “ground level” look at the German side of World War II.

The assignment of keeping the first diary was given to a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 201st Panzer Regiment by a commanding officers and the author never saw fit to include his own name. This diary covers the period from April 1942 to March 1943, the momentous year when the tide of battle turned in the East. It first details the unit’s combat in the great German victory at Charkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the brutal winter of 1942–43.

The second diary’s author was a soldier named Rolf Krengel. It starts with the beginning of the war and ends shortly after the occupation. Serving primarily in North Africa, Krengel recounts with keen insight and flashes of humour the day-to-day challenges of the AfrikaKorps. During one of the swirling battles in the desert, Krengel found himself sharing a tent with Rommel at a forward outpost. The Field Marshal read parts of the diary with interest and signed it. Evacuated due to illness, Krengel then records service in Berlin beneath the relentless Allied bomber streams and other occurrences on the German homefront.

Neither of the diarists was famous, nor of especially high rank. However, these are the brutally honest accounts written at the time by men of the Wehrmacht who participated in two of history’s most crucial campaigns.

Available from:
Casemate

Your Loyal and Loving Son - The Letters of Tank Gunner Karl Fuchs, 1933–1941

These are the compelling letters of Karl Fuchs, an ordinary German soldier who was completely convinced of the righteousness of his cause and who wrote them free of the recriminations and hindsight arising from the bitterness of defeat. Combining enthusiastic expressions of loyalty to the Führer and the Fatherland with messages of love for his family and requests for necessities from home, they provide a personal look at a youth typical of his time, one whose fervent and naive nationalism was of the very sort that later fanned the flames of the Holocaust.

Throughout Your Loyal and Loving Son, young Fuchs remains an idealist, confident in his concept of duty. Yet his letters clearly support the general assertion that many Germans who backed the Third Reich did so neither out of opportunistic self-interest nor nihilistic delight in destruction, but instead in the hope for a better future. Killed on the Eastern Front, Fuchs did not live to see his son, the infant to whom he wrote and who as an adult compiled these letters for publication. With an introduction and annotations by eminent historian Dennis Showalter, this collection will help make those early war years more comprehensible to contemporary readers.

Available from:
Potomac Books

Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers - Untold Tales of Men of Jewish Descent Who Fought for the Third Reich

They were foot soldiers and officers. They served in the regular army and the Waffen-SS. And, remarkably, they were also Jewish, at least as defined by Hitler’s infamous race laws. Pursuing the thread he first unraveled in Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, Bryan Rigg takes a closer look at the experiences of Wehrmacht soldiers who were classified as Jewish. In this long-awaited companion volume, he presents interviews with twenty-one of these men, whose stories are both fascinating and disturbing.

As many as 150,000 Jews and partial-Jews (or Mischlinge) served, often with distinction, in the German military during World War II. The men interviewed for this volume portray a wide range of experiences—some came from military families, some had been raised Christian—revealing in vivid detail how they fought for a government that robbed them of their rights and sent their relatives to extermination camps. Yet most continued to serve, since resistance would have cost them their lives and they mistakenly hoped that by their service they could protect themselves and their families. The interviews recount the nature and extent of their dilemma, the divided loyalties under which many toiled during the Nazi years and afterward, and their sobering reflections on religion and the Holocaust, including what they knew about it at the time.

Rigg relates each individual’s experiences following the establishment of Hitler’s race laws, shifting between vivid scenes of combat and the increasingly threatening situation on the home front for these men and their family members. Their stories reveal the constant tension in their lives: how some tried to hide their identities, and how a few were even “Aryanized” as part of Hitler’s effort to retain reliable soldiers—including Field Marshal Erhard Milch, three-star general Helmut Wilberg, and naval commander Bernhard Rogge.

Chilling, compelling, almost beyond belief, these stories depict crises of conscience under the most stressful circumstances. Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers deepens our understanding of the complex intersection of Nazi race laws and German military service both before and during World War II.

Published by The University Press of Kansas.

Available from:
Amazon

An Artilleryman in Stalingrad

In August 1942, Wigand Wüster was a veteran 22-year-old officer leading an artillery battery in Artillerie-Regiment 171 (71. Inf.-Div.) as it approached Stalingrad. The preceding months had been marked by heat, dust, endless marches, and brief skirmishes with the enemy - but mostly by an ongoing battle with his bullying battalion commander.

In this brutally honest account, Wüster provides a glimpse of the war on the Eastern Front rarely seen before. With frankness, humour and perception, Wüster takes us from the heady days of the German 1942 summer offensive to the icy hell of Stalingrad's final hours, and finally into captivity.

Available from:
Leaping Horseman Books