CharlesMcCain
Recruit
- 7
- Sep 3, 2010
Here is an excerpt from a review of Five Years, Four Fronts: the War Years of Georg Grossjohann I wrote on my blog, Charles McCain
"Despite the lack of introspection in this memoir such as "what am I fighting for," it is a very solid three star memoir by a German soldier. Of particular note, this is the only memoir I have read in which the author had been an enlisted man in the Reichswehr, the 100,000 man army allowed to Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. With the economic uncertainty present in Germany in the 1920s, the army had far more applicants than vacancies and recruiting officers could take their pick of the best men. These men had to sign on for a twelve year hitch. They were intensively trained and highly experienced. Unfortunately, it was these very men who formed the backbone of the Wehrmacht during World War Two. While almost all officers in the German Army began their careers as non-officers, that was just temporary since they were officer-cadets. Few came from the ranks and rose to Major.
Georg Grossjohann didn't particularly like being a soldier. He didn't particularly even want to be a soldier. But he was from Prussia, times were hard, and the natural place for a strong and intelligent lad was the army and so he went. Just before his twelve year hitch was up, and he was itching to get away from the military, Hitler came along and no one could leave the army so he got stuck."
"Despite the lack of introspection in this memoir such as "what am I fighting for," it is a very solid three star memoir by a German soldier. Of particular note, this is the only memoir I have read in which the author had been an enlisted man in the Reichswehr, the 100,000 man army allowed to Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. With the economic uncertainty present in Germany in the 1920s, the army had far more applicants than vacancies and recruiting officers could take their pick of the best men. These men had to sign on for a twelve year hitch. They were intensively trained and highly experienced. Unfortunately, it was these very men who formed the backbone of the Wehrmacht during World War Two. While almost all officers in the German Army began their careers as non-officers, that was just temporary since they were officer-cadets. Few came from the ranks and rose to Major.
Georg Grossjohann didn't particularly like being a soldier. He didn't particularly even want to be a soldier. But he was from Prussia, times were hard, and the natural place for a strong and intelligent lad was the army and so he went. Just before his twelve year hitch was up, and he was itching to get away from the military, Hitler came along and no one could leave the army so he got stuck."