It’s been a while since my last book recommendation, but here’s one I think is one of the best. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer (a pseudonym of Guy Mouminoux) is the memoir of a German soldier telling the story of his time on the Russian front from 1942 through the German retreat and rout through Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. The book was published over 20 years after the war ended (in 1967), so this might explain better how it was so beautifully written. It is the story of a 16-year-old French boy with a German mother being drafted into the German army after the fall of France, and it’s filled with the horrors of the war from the German side.
I read it knowing who won, and generally who the bad guys were, but of course I couldn’t help but feel something for someone who experienced nearly three years of suffering, surrounded by death and disease, wasting away in starvation and weakness. It’s bleak, but as I’ve said, it is beautifully written. If you like history, military history, or just a riveting story, I think you should read it.
