Fact or fiction

I’m not convinced this is all fact ? It may well be but the story is exciting and interesting anyway .

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interesting view into the mind of a fascist zealot

The interesting thing here was the insight into what drove these zealots on. Alas very much echoed in the white supremacist movement currently, lots very selective views of history. Very much at odds with several other views from German veterans who either had nothing to do with the politics and could see the writing on the wall once America became involved.

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Addictive

I had withdrawal symptoms when I finished. Excellent inside story of the horrendous war in the East and the trauma suffered by soldiers and civilians caught up in battle.

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Very interesting

Interesting story with both personal experience and the fall of Berlin. Horrendous civilian casualties and destruction.

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Interesting perspective

Wish he elaborated in what actually drew him to SS in the first place. It seems his views are almost ignorant to the abundance of horrors the Germans caused on civilians as well.

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Excellent!!!

Fabulous book, this is the second time I've listened to it and enjoyed it thoroughly. I wish Audible would do more like it. Highly recommended!!!

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3 people found this helpful

Short but a good book.

A good book that gets you into the action. The narrator get excited when the action requires him too which adds to the experience.

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3 people found this helpful

Fall of pseudo Gods

There is a lot of Goebbels's propaganda in this book as the author is obviously biased by serving in SS unit and his brain was soaked through by Nazi ideology and unipolar perception of the World. He gladly ignores all killings and extermination done by SS.
I didn't give this book the lowest possible rate because some parts, where the author describes fighting on the front and escaping after the end of hostilities are really interesting.
Unfortunately, the narrator didn't help at rating this audiobook higher.

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excellent book.

this is the kind of book that really gets me. the german point of view. the truth. history is written by Victor's. memoirs are the real deal not the historians that only know the allied point of view. this is a fantastic book and added to the collection to re listen to at a later date.

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A fully truthful recollection

of what happened in dark end days of world war 2. no hints of chosenite influence

An excellent account of an elite Waffen SS unit, made up of Nordic volunteers, in the dying months of World War 2. It took us into the mindset of foreign volunteers and why they signed up; namely to fight the Bolsheviks.

It dispels myths that all Waffen SS fighters were inhumane monsters. Instead it paints a picture of an elite fighting force that repeatedly came to the rescue of Wehrmacht units.

There aren't very many books written by SS soldiers from World War II, and there definitely aren't many by foreign volunteers in the SS. Erik Wallin was a Swedish volunteer in the SS Nordland Division and saw extensive combat on the Eastern Front.

This book doesn't cover his entire combat career, but starts with New Year's 1945 and goes through the brutal end of the war. The combat descriptions in the book range from pretty graphic to fairly mundane, but the unbridled brutality of war comes through very clearly.

Even when faced with the overwhelming colossus of the Red Army, Wallin and his fellow SS soldiers seem to maintain a fairly high morale and belief that final victory is still a possibility. This is a pretty quick read , but I certainly wish there was a bit more in some parts as some battles are described in a fair amount of detail while others get much smaller mentions.

Some reviewers are angered by Wallin's failure to mention war crimes committed by his side and to praise National Socialism. That seems silly, to me; no one volunteers to fight in a war they believe is evil, so it should be expected that the author would support his side. The 'alleged crimes' are documented in countless texts, the value here is the look inside the mind of a committed, though seemingly not ideologically crazed, Waffen SS soldier

It ends with an amazing account of what it was like to be under siege in the hell of Berlin as it was being pounded by Soviet artillery. An account well worth the read.

A great addition to anyone's library if they're interested in the Eastern Front.

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10 people found this helpful