The Forgotten Soldier

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The Forgotten Soldier is presented as an autobiographical account by a veteran under the name Guy Sajer of World War II as experienced on Germany's Eastern front. The historical accuracy of Sajer's autobiographical work has been questioned, with proponents on both sides.

The book, in reference to the autobiographical soldier's ambiguous relationship to war and its passions, has been called "the account of a disastrous love affair with war and with the army that, of all modern armies, most loved war", being written with the "admiration of a semi-outsider" (an Alsatian in a German unit).^[1]

A movie adaption of The Forgotten Soldier is currently in production. Paul Verhoeven is attached to direct the film. ^[2]

Contents 1 Controversy 2 Blurb 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Controversy

The accuracy of the book has been disputed by historians. Some details in the book are cited as incorrect, while other details are simply not verifiable: for example while the names of some officers don't appear on official rolls in the Bundesarchiv, these records are far from complete. The inaccuracies which have been cited may have been a result of poor memory or as possibly due to mistranslations from the original French text, to English (or from French to German to English)

In defense of the book, there are many very accurate references in the book, such as bunkers on otherwise unknown beaches which exist to this day, and descriptions of towns and terrain which would be unknown to someone unless they had actually been there. One of the more compelling arguments is a reference to and accurate description of a ship called the "Pretoria" (later named the "GUNUNG DJATI"), which the author places in Hel on March 28 or 29th of 1945. This ship was in fact purchased by the Kriegsmarine at the start of the war and used to evacuate areas around the Baltic at this precise time. The ships logs record leaving Hel at 9:00 AM on the morning of the 30th. And finally, the comrade of the author ("Hals") who is referred throughout the book has been identified, contacted, and has verified Guy Sajer's account.^{[citation needed]}

See the external links below for summaries of the opposition to the notion that the book is factual.

Some commentators have suggested that given the controversy surrounding the historical accuracy of the book, The Forgotten Soldier shouldn't be taken as an historical book of the Großdeutschland but rather a book about Guy Sajer's experiences during the Second World War. This has also been the advice of the author since, as he says, he did not try to write a history book, but a book of his own experiences.

Despite the recent critique from mostly U.S. military historians, it is still considered to be a genuine autobiography by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and has remained on their recommended reading list for World War II.^[3] Apart from being recommended in the United States, it is a recommended read for insights in the personal experience of war in many armies around the world.

[edit] Blurb

This devastating first-hand story of a young German soldier trapped in the lethal machinery of total war on the Eastern Front in World War II captures the real experience of modern war in all its shattering terror.

This is one man's true story of the bitter, killing cold of the Russian winter, of vicious combat against Russian partisans, and of the carnage of battles against a desperate but merciless Red Army with its mind-numbing artillery attacks and endless waves of infantry and tanks.

Posted to the crack Grosse Deutschland division, with its savage training where sadistic instructors will shoot down those who fail to shape up, the soldier enters a violent and remorseless world that relentlessly destroys any hope and ideals and where all that matters is brute survival fighting a relentless enemy.

[edit] External links

• LANDSER article on The Forgotten Soldier controversy

[edit] References