- Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Dell; Reissue edition (Aug 9 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0440215269
- ISBN-13: 978-0440215264
- Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 3 x 17.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #58,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This engaging, introspective memoir, coauthored with Bruslaw ( The Business Writer's Handbook ) offers insight into the thinking and attitudes of a Wehrmacht officer. Knappe served in the artillery during the invasions of Czechoslovakia, France and the Soviet Union and as a staff officer during the Italian campaign and the defense of Berlin. Though he had moral reservations about the Czech campaign and was troubled by his government's betrayal of its non-aggression pact with Russia, Knappe believed that his participation in combat was honorable and that the overriding purpose of the war was to correct the injustice perpetrated against Germany by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. Only after he was captured by Soviet troops in 1945 did he begin to understand that he had been an "unthinking cog," accepting without question Hitler's might-makes-right philosophy. The memoir closes with an account of his release from a Soviet prison camp in 1949 and his reunion with his family in Leipzig. Knappe came to America in 1955 and is now a retired corporate executive in Ohio. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Knappe's Wehrmacht career began in 1936. He participated in the final collapse of the Eastern Front, then spent more than four years as a Russian POW. Readers may doubt Knappe's insistence that he fought not for National Socialism but for Germany, but this mindset, common among his generation, cannot be dismissed out of hand as special pleading or selective memory. His memoir, based heavily on a wartime diary, shows a talented professional soldier and unreflective patriot who initially regarded Hitler as fulfilling legitimate German aspirations; by the time he began probing beneath the regime's surface, it was far too late to take action. Soldat makes a worthwhile companion to Hans von Luck's Panzer Commander ( LJ 10/15/89). Both works highlight an unresolved paradox: never did soldiers perform better in a worse cause than the men who served Adolf Hitler.
- D.E. Showalter, U.S. Air Force Acad., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- D.E. Showalter, U.S. Air Force Acad., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unexpected,
By A Customer
This review is from: Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm writing this to say I like Soldat for all the reasons most other reviewers don't. I like the fact that Knappe focuses his narrative on his own interests and motivations during the war and not the war aims, troop movements, numbers and battle sequences that the other reviewers can't get enough of. The photo section included in the paperback edition is made up of Knappe's personal photos taken while on vacation, dating, or in uniform through the years. His decisions throughout the war are guided by two things; his career path as an army officer and the time he spends with his young wife. I was fascinated by the twists of fate that kept him moving from place to place attached to different commands. Clearly, Knappe's war experiences qualified him to write revealing, detailed and highly technical war novels from the German viewpoint. He chose, however, to fill his novel with the rare human touch of things and people he most valued during the war. If you remember and like 'Samurai!' by Saburo Sakai, Soldat has a similar tone.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Detached perspective reads like a history book,
By BasinBictory "Mister Basin to You" (Nowhere in particular) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 (Mass Market Paperback)
Siegfried Knappe is one of the Wehrmacht's better officers. He is conscientious, ambitious, hard-working, a good student, and an able leader. Soldat follows Knappe throughout his experiences in the German Army, starting before the war. Knappe starts as an artillery officer, where he is dismayed to learn that the supposedly high-tech German military still uses horses to tow its cannons and howitzers around. Still, he is an intelligent officer, and eventually makes his way up the career ladder,winning promotions and medals, and eventually securing a staff position in Hitler's own bunker toward the end of the war. After the fall of Berlin, Knappe is taken prisoner and sent to Siberia, where he tells of Soviet attempts to brainwash him and his comrades. He is finally released and makes his way back to his family in Germany, and eventually emigrates to America.For all his wealth of experience (He fought in almost every major theater of the European War) however, Knappe tells the story with such a dearth of feeling and emotion that the story feels like a historical research paper, and not the wartime memoirs and recollections of a combat veteran. While Knappe is undoubtedly a combat soldier (he was wounded several times) he never relates the sense of terror, exhilaration, heartbreak and fatigue associated with combat. The death of his own brother is related as though he were a distant relative or neighbor's son. If you're looking for an insider's view of the WW2 German military by a real up-and-coming officer, this is your book. If, however, you're looking for a true combat memoir, there are none better than Guy Sajer's "Forgotten Soldier."
4.0 out of 5 stars
very interesting book,
By
This review is from: Soldat: Reflections Of A German Soldier, 1936-49 (Hardcover)
Knappe gives the reader a great insight on the day to day running of the German Army as his role as an officer in the horse drawn artillery and then as he moved up the ranks, ending up being one the defenders of Berlin serving under General Weidling.He fought in a number of campaigns that included France, Russia, Italy & finally defending Germany as the end drew near. He was a very lucky man to have survived the war and its aftermath in a variety of harsh Russian prison camps. Knappe comes across as a decent sort of fellow and like most other German soldiers was appalled when the truth of what the Nazis had been doing in the concentration camps was finally revealed. The writing style is fairly straight forward and as someone else stated has a rather cold style about it, but it is totally absorbing and I highly recommed it to anyone interested in military history.
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