A rarity, in English at least, is a World War II novel from the German perspective and this novel set on the Eastern Front is probably the best. It is written by a veteran of the unit the story is based on that had a casualty rate of 700%; in effect it was repeatedly decimated and reconstituted. The churn rate of characters matches that reality and it is a brutal tale of survival. Nonetheless both the main character and his antogonistrival remain and their rivalry is the thread the holds the tale together, showing both the experience of the soldiers and culture of the German army as fought on this most brutal war front .
Reading it today has a certain echo as war once again rages in this same territory today
by econoquist