Tim:
Thanks for the input. I´ll be honest with you for i did not detect this change in style you are commenting. Next time i grab the book i will make a more detailed screening.
I agree with you; in general i will believe what a person tells me. Unless proven otherwise he speaks with the truth. So i do believe Sajer went through the events so intensely described in his memoir.
Also you make a very good point when referring to the physical and mental conditions a common Landser had to endure in the east, especially during the last year which was a true horror story to those who were there German and Soviets, Civilian and military alike. Countless sleepless nights, long periods of time without sufficient food and even water, sometimes medical attention would not even be in place during those chaotic weeks. The constant moves and the retreat, the slaughter of civilians trying to save their lives, the screams and crying of the dying. Do you recall his account on Memel? Really, his words are so strong in that part, i really saw or felt the very end of absolutely everything; very few times a nighmare can be described so vividly.
One thing is to inquire and possibly doubt the accuracy of the accounts...and another -very different- is to get as far as to suggest "he probably did not even serve in the army...he did not fight": totally and simply going out of the line.
In all honesty, if i came across those researchers -or whatever they are- who accuse Sajer of not even being a soldier in the Heer, i´d tell them they have no right to harrass nor accuse the veteran until they walk 1/9 of a mile in his boots, but i am sure these self-proclaimed "prosecutors" would not even last half a morning in the conditions Sajer and his fellow soldiers endured.
But it is probably our fellow members here who have been to battlefields who should tell this for they are the ones acquainted with the kind of sights Sajer had to become accustomed to during the war.