I am an avid reader of historical accounts of the wars – I have read many accounts from the veterans on the Allied side, books about the Friekorps and the rise (and fall) of Nazism, some accounts from Axis combatants (such as Ernst Junger – who I am re-reading again right now), many accounts of key battles (Stalingrad, Berlin, Somme etc) and finally authors like Primo Levi but the one piece of the puzzle I feel I am missing is the view of the ordinary German – not fanatical Nazis, just the people caught up in the war and having to live through it – my *assumption* is that non-combat citizens from the Allied side will have understood they were fighting against evil (especially in WW2) and will have mostly accepted the sacrifices they needed to make, but I’d like to read about Axis citizens (or non-Nazi fighters who were simply doing their duty).

Can anyone recommend any must-reads? Thank you.

Visibility bump

Ordinary Men

edit: I think it fits most of your brief, although perhaps not quite hitting the non-combatant part.

All Quiet n the Western Front is an obvious choice.

All Quiet n the Western Front is an obvious choice.

Read it (it’s next on my list for a re-read). I didn’t appreciate (before I first read it) it is actually *only* a work of fiction that is loosely based around his experiences.

although perhaps not quite hitting the non-combatant part.

No problem – it sounds interesting and I will add it to my list.

“Promise Me you’ll kill Yourself”- Florian Huber.

Explores the German civilians perspective of the Red Army advance in 1945. Harrowing read in places. Hard to put down though.

My Father’s Country –  Wibke Bruhn

Traces her fathers time in the War from watching a documentary on telly

The Ratlines – Phillipe Sands

Mingles family history, a narrative of people caught up and exploiting the Nazi party and escaping the Allies

I Flew for Hitler – Heinz Knoke

Fighter pilot memoirs

Alone in Berlin – Hans Fellada; fiction, but based on a true story

“Every Man Dies Alone or Alone in Berlin is a 1947 novel by German author Hans Fallada. It is based on the true story of a working-class husband and wife Otto and Elise Hampel who, acting alone, became part of the German Resistance. “

The Lost Boys: A Family Ripped Apart by War
by Catherine Bailey

Berlin, September 1944. Ulrich von Hassell, former ambassador to Italy and a key member of the German Resistance, is executed for his part in an assassination plot against Hitler. In response to the attack, Himmler, leader of the SS, orders the arrest of all the families of the plotters.

In a remote castle in Italy, von Hassell’s beloved daughter, Fey, is discovered just when she thought she had escaped the Nazi net. She is arrested and her two sons, aged three and two are seized by the SS. Fey has no idea of her children’s fate as she is dragged away on a terrifying journey to the darkest corners of a Europe savaged by war.

Moving from a palazzo in the heart of the Italian countryside to the horrors of Buchenwald, Catherine Bailey tells an extraordinary story of resistance at the heart of the Second World War. The Lost Boys is an illuminating and devastating account of great personal sacrifice, of loss and, above all, of defiance.

The foresaken army Heinrick Gerlach- an account of an ordinary german soldiers part in Stalingrad

Not ideal as it’s a combative perspective but this thread reminded me I have ‘D Day through German Eyes’ to read.

Unless anyone tells me it’s rubbish 😉

Unless anyone tells me it’s rubbish 😉

Well, I can certainly tell you how it ends 🙂

The German War – A nation under arms 1939-45, by Nicholas Stargardt, would be a good one.

I realise it’s after WW2, but a good read.

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Germany-1945/Richard-Bessel/9781416526193

Well, I can certainly tell you how it ends 🙂

It was the butler wasn’t it? 🙂

Not ideal as it’s a combative perspective but this thread reminded me I have ‘D Day through German Eyes’ to read.

Unless anyone tells me it’s rubbish

I read it a few years ago, it’s an entertaining read, but my recollection is that there seemed to be an awful lot of highly skilled German heroes for a front line largely composed of low-grade static divisions!

This is a very good read, I have a copy going if you want, currently based in Romiley/Manchester or I’ll post.

my recollection is that there seemed to be an awful lot of highly skilled German heroes for a front line largely composed of low-grade static divisions

Yeah – all the experienced personnel were fighting on the Western front weren’t they? The Germans thought the risk from the Eastern front was minimal compared.

The German War – A nation under arms 1939-45, by Nicholas Stargardt,

That sounds perfect – added to my birthday list 🙂

This is a very good read, I have a copy going if you want, currently based in Romiley/Manchester or I’ll post.

If you post it to me, I’ll give a suitable donation to your preferred charity thank you 🙂

Unless anyone tells me it’s rubbish

I think most historians think it’s a faked account now, don’t they? Most of the soldiers names can’t be traced, the unit the history is mostly about ; doesn’t exist in the way that Eckhertz claims.

I think it was quite the controversy

Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People is a good book.
Although as the name suggests its mostly about the prewar period it is a fascinating book.

Infantry Attacks, Rommel

First world war first hand experience

Military not a civilian take on WW2 but an interesting read non the less. It’s a little controversial in that some believe it to be a work of fiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forgotten_Soldier

James Holland’s books tell the story from both sides, specifically The War in The West.

Also, Duel Under The Stars by Wilhelm Johnen gives an account of the air war from the perspective of a Luftwaffe Night Fighter pilot.

Forgotten Soldier is generally accepted as fiction now but is still very good. I’ve just started Aftermath by Harald Jahner about the 10 years after the war – good so far!

Heinz Knoke also good.

Ein Volk ein reich by Louis Hagen is also supposed to be very good. He was a German Jewish emigre who joined the British army and flew a glider into Arnhem. But after the war he went back to Germany and interviewed a number of people about their motivation for supporting the nazis..

There’s a good book by a chap called Reinhard Eggers who was the chief ferret at Colditz, trying to foil the prisoners escapes. Probably should be read alongside Pat Reid’s account. Eggers only found out about how some of the escapes took place when he read Reid’s book! It also covers their worries and concerns as food supplies ran out, the outcome of the war was becoming clearer (despite the rhetoric from high command) and the advancing allied forces.

And if you want a chilling account of how humans can be complete c***s there is a short book which is essentially the written notes of one of the architects of the holocaust written in prison when he was captured and put on trial. In it he tried to explain how why he got to that position, starting from his childhood. Can’t recall the title but it’s horrific reading and a very good reminder why people should not be allowed to have too much power.

Yeah – all the experienced personnel were fighting on the Western front weren’t they? The Germans thought the risk from the Eastern front was minimal compared.

Real accounts or not, I guess “I picked off half a dozen careless Tommies by moving from concealed position to concealed position” reads better than “I promptly shit myself then ran away”.

Which is what I strongly suspect my war memoir would have read.

Until the Eyes Shut: Memories of a machine gunner on the Eastern Front, 1943-45

-This was pretty harrowing.

Tigers in the the Mud – Otto Carius

-I personally wasn’t too fussed on.

+1 for James Holland. Currently reading Sicily ’43 and it certainly covers allied and axis views. It’s a very good read

Yeah – all the experienced personnel were fighting on the Western front weren’t they? The Germans thought the risk from the Eastern front was minimal compared.

Doh – I have got my East and West mixed up LOL – they were fighting the greater Communist threat in the EAST, they didn’t think the WEST had much for them to worry about.

NEVER
EAT
SHREDDED
WHEAT

As a lad I once spent an afternoon with a guy (Willi) who claimed to have been with Skorzeny at Gran Sasso and with a panzer brigade in what I assumed later to be Kursk.

It was an interesting tale or two he had (esp. re tank battles). He said whatever happened, you made your way back to friendly lines, even if you had to steal a Soviet tank/vehicle as, well, Total War I guess.

Apparently he was held in Caithness after the war but definitively wasn’t a nazi… figured he’d have had to be Waffen SS.

My German Mum was engaged to a tank commander who was killed in action. She was posted to Riga on the Eastern front as a civilian telephonist with the German army and evacuated very quickly in cattle trucks as the Russians advanced. Her home town was bombed in a test run for Dresden and very narrowly escaped ending up in East Germany. A schoolfriend of hers was in the Waffen SS, it was a regiment and he was conscripted into it. An aunty of mine was raped by Soviet troops in Berlin.

My English dad was captured in Greece and saw out the war in an Austrian PoW camp.

As far as I’m aware none of them had much influence in what their political masters had them do.

Sorry, can’t recommend any books.

Awesome, let’s do it.

It’s first hand accounts of the Holocaust from bystanders and those involved from the start, it’s pretty full on!

it’s horrific reading and a very good reminder why people should not be allowed to have too much power.

Well, as a wise man once said, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Possibly not quite what you’ve asked for but When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr is a fascinating book by a remarkable woman. A child’s view of having to flee Nazi Germany and life in war time Britain as a German.
Readable by children but not necessarily a children’s book.

One of my Professors was in the Hitler Youth. He grew up in a state where it was demanded of his family. He didn’t really talk about it much, except to make a point about the awfulness of it.
[Just looked him up, he died last spring]

it’s not quite what you asked

“Das Boot”

“The boat”

Firstly a great story. Secondly some investing perspective. The captain isn’t a Nazi. Fight believe the propaganda. Does fight for a country he is loyal to.

Hmm can’t find the book on Amazon

Iron Coffins. Story of the glory days of U Boats to their final defeat from a German Commander. The futility and waste of life at the end on the orders of the Party to keep fighting.
I was on an expedition to find the last U Boat sunk in Norway after peace had been declared. They’d been submerged under radio silence and a British plane saw them surface and flew over. The gun crew opened up on the plane so they circled back and bombed them sinking the u boat. Sitting ducks in a narrow fjord. The things we do to each other.

Doh – I have got my East and West mixed up LOL – they were fighting the greater Communist threat in the EAST, they didn’t think the WEST had much for them to worry about

I just thought you were being ironic!