One German soldier's experience in the deadly crucible of World War II combat.Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Erwin fulfilled his dream on May Day 1941, when he walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw recruit. On arrival at the Eastern F...

Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just seventeen-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recr...

A soldier with the German Army's Wallonian Legion chronicles his experience as a foreign volunteer for the Nazi war machine during WWII.A french-speaking Belgian, Fernand Kaisergruber volunteered to fight with the military force that occupied his country. His detailed chronicle of that time reads like a travelogue of the Eastern Front campaign. Until recently, very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals who fought with the Germans. Kaisergru...

"Kindler's detailed, often harrowing account of armored operations of the elite German Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler during World War II . . . gripping." — HistoryNet.comBetween 1941 and 1944 Waffen-SS Oberscharfhrer (Sergeant) Werner Kindler took part in 84 days of close combat, qualifying him for the Close Combat Clasp in Gold, the Third Reich's highest decoration for a frontline soldier. He was also awarded the German Cross in Gold, the Iron Cross First ...

I volunteered to sneak up and throw a grenade into the bomb crater containing four Red Army soldier's as the rest of the company gave me some covering fire. At about five metres away, I threw in the grenade and it exploded. You can imagine the mess. The lone surviving Red Amy soldier stood up with blood pouring from his mouth, nose and ears. He stood there with rifle in hand - before I had time to shoot - he fired at me and I was hit in the shoulder. The force of the round knocked off my f...

A collaborationist who fought for Germany during WWII and later for the French in Vietnam tells his eventful life story in this military memoir.This is the riveting true story of Paul Martelli who fought on the Eastern Front in 1945 as a fifteen-year-old member of the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier-Division of the SS Charlemagne, and later, as a soldier with French forces in the Tonkin area of Vietnam.Paul recounts his time at the Sennheim military training base; hi...

03:15, 22nd June 1941 - Barbarossa is unleashed and Kampfgruppe von Schroif are right there at the cutting edge of the battle for Russia. Thrown into action against the fortress of Brest-Litovsk, von Schroif and his crew drive a new weapon into battle - the legendary Sturmgeschtz. However, even with this latest armoured marvel there is hard fighting as the Reds dig in and doggedly defend the island fortress to the last man.rnrnPenetrating , authentic and stunning in its detail, the long aw...

A detailed examination of one of the most infamous divisions of the Waffen-SSIncludes 120 rare photographs and maps of the divisionAuthoritative text is accompanied by maps and organisation charts

Until seriously wounded in August 1944, when he was badly burned when his tank was hit and caught fire during fighting in southern Poland, Armin Böttger experienced the horrors of the Second World War on the Eastern Front from the perspective of a tank radio operator in the 24th Panzer Division. In this memoir he gives a full and honest account of his wartime career, encompassing both the hellish terror of combat and the everyday annoyances and injustices of army life in wartime.Bö...

Dutch SS accounts are very rare, particularly ones such as this, covering recruitment, training, and front-line service first with 5th SS Panzer Division 'Wiking', then later with SS Regiment Besslein. He not only informs and illustrates the general politics of the time, but also explains how Dutch views of the Third Reich changed so radically, discusses the founding of the Waffen-SS, the recruitment of Dutch volunteers into it and why so many non-German Europeans volunteered to fight and ...

A detailed military biography of the most highly decorated Nazi regimental commander in WWII.The most highly decorated German regimental commander of World War II, Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz first won the Iron Cross in the Great War. He was serving with the 1st Panzer Division when the Polish campaign inaugurated World War II. Strachwitz's exploits as commander of a panzer battalion during the French campaign earned him further decorations before he transferred to th...

The personal memoir of a Nazi soldier, from joining the German Army in 1941 through his time as a Panzer on the Eastern Front.Originally written only for his daughter, Armin Schedierbauer's Adventures in My Youth chronicles his time as a solider during World War II. As an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German Army, Schedierbauer saw four years of combat on the Eastern Front.After joining his unit during the winter of 1942, he wa...