At first an exciting adventure, young Guy Sajer’s war becomes, as the German invasion falters in the icy vastness of the Ukraine, a simple, desperate struggle for survival against cold, hunger, and. Sajer's perspective as a German foot soldier makes The Forgotten Soldier a unique war memoir, the book that the Christian Science Monitor said 'may well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited.' A work of stunning force, this is an unforgettable reminder of the horrors of war. Forgotten Soldier recounts the horror of World War II on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier.

I have read this book several times and now I have listened to Derick Perkins' narration and I am as blown away as I was when I first read it. However, he quickly finds that for the foot. Guy Sajer's The Forgotten Soldier is a memoir of his experiences as a German Landser caught in the maelstrom of the Eastern Front between 19. When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. As the biting cold of the Russian winter sets in, and the tide begins to turn against the Germans, life becomes an endless round of pounding artillery attacks and vicious combat against a relentless and merciless Red Army. An international bestseller, this is a German soldiers first-hand account of life on Russian front during the second half of the Second World War. Sajer has an often-overlooked perspective on war. His book challenges its readers to reevaluate the way in which war in remembered.

Posted to the elite Grosse Deutschland division, with its sadistic instructors who shoot down those who fail to make the grade, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive. Guy Sajer gives a personal narrative, based on his personal recollections of an intensely chaotic period in German military history. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue, and constant deprivation.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer