New eastern front memoir:"until the eyes shut"by Andreas Hartinger

[superbee]

Just finished reading a great eastern front memoir: "Until the eyes shut" by Andreas Hartinger.
Once you start reading you will not be able to put it down, well written, non-political, a brutally honest and emotional touching account.
It is about a simple Austrian farm boy caught up it the world wind of the eastern front meat grinder.He fought for 2 years with the 3rd mountain division as a MG42 machine gunner.Excellent descriptions of the inner workings of a German machine gun squad.He describes the emotional bonds and comradeship that can only be formed in brutal close combat.The explicit trust in your fellow solider knowing he's got your back every time.
You also see what a human being can endure and still survive.After the war he was imprisoned in Russia until 1948.
My only criticism is that there is no hard cover version.

Available on amazon

Amazon.com: Until the Eyes Shut: Memories of a machine gunner on the Eastern Front, 1943-45 eBook: Andreas Hartinger: Kindle Store 8683&sr=8-1

[boltaction]

I went on Amazon and bought the Kindle version of that book as it does look good. However, another one caught my eye, "Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjager on the Eastern Front 1941-43". I bought it at the same time, started it, and have been unable to stop reading it. It is horrifying and fascinating--it is a translation of journals kept by this man on a day to day basis. They were kept by his brother and only recently handed down and translated. It is hard to imagine how anyone could go through the relentless misery he describes (shelling, mudholes, bugs, stench, cold, heat, dust, constant attack, etc) and stay remotely sane. It would have had to be the same for the Russian soldiers facing him. Presumably he was working on a fourth journal when he disappeared in 1944 during Operation Bagration which accounted for Army Group Centre. Incredible read, really, and a good look into the mindset of a soldier at the time, not written post from recollection. Yikes. I thought Campion VAughn's Some Desperate Glory was eye opening enough. This is a whole different level.

Ed

[CINDERS]

From my shelf this ones not to bad, you did not want to be caught by the Russian soldiers with your sniper rifle nor any embellishments that signified your trade as a sniper pretty brutal as most of that conflict on the Eastern front was.