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The Forgotten Soldier is the terrifying memoir of Guy Sajer, a Frenchman who fought for Germany in WW2. He describes the brutality of the Eastern Front -- the fear, hunger, cold, and constant onslaught of the enemy that he endured during years of fighting.
The book also tells a story rarely told. WW2 From the perspective of German soldiers, who are usually portrayed as soulless Stormtroopers. Sajer humanizes them and shows that despite the lunacy of their leadership, most of them were just ordinary men serving their country.
Before invading the Soviet Union, Hitler told the German High Command that this war would be different. The norms of conventional war will not apply to Russia, since it must be annihilated and its vast territory serve as Lebestraum for the Germans.
Guy Sajer was one of the millions of men that were sent to the meat grinder to achieve Hitler's pipe dream. He describes every step of his journey. Starting as an eager 16-year-old in boot camp, then his gradual descent into the depths of Russia as if into hell itself. And finally the torturous retreat back to Germany. With his first taste of combat, Sajer discovers that behind the shiny boots, elegant uniforms, and grand slogans; war is gore, men breaking down in tears, and unimaginable suffering.
He marched into the battlefields of Russia as a member of the elite Division Grossdeutschland; a proud and devastating force that stomped on their enemies all over Europe, but towards the end of the war was reduced to a band of vagabonds. From the beginning, the odds were against Sajer and his comrades, and they became slimmer as the story unfolded. Most of them were engulfed by the vastness of Russia and the Red Army.
The Forgotten Soldier is a book I could not put down. I, like most men from my generation, have never experienced war. While reading it, I was facing difficulties in my own life. But I realized they all pale in comparison to what soldiers experience in war. I almost felt grateful for my hardships. If you are facing difficulties, I recommend you read this book to gain perspective.
But not everything in Sajer's account of the war is bleak. There are moments of incredible heroism, meaning, and even joy. Civilian life, especially the prosperous one, deprives us of the immense joy that big ordeals can bring us. Surviving an artillery barrage you thought will never end, climbing out of a trench alive, eating after a few days of hunger, having a drink with your comrades, and the pure glory of a few weeks of leave from the front. The greatest joys are only available to those who experience the strongest hardships.
The Forgotten Soldier does not delve into politics, making it even more powerful. It bypasses the abstractions of ideology indulged by armchair dwellers. And only leaves the essentials of the war. The blood, the tears, and the reality that despite wearing different uniforms and speaking different languages the men on both sides were just trying to survive.
War can only be romanticized by those who learn in safety. Well fed, well rested, and not trembling with cold and fear in a rotten trench just a few hundred yards away from an enemy who is waiting to butcher them. Once you experience it, you will think of war for what it is. Senseless savagery. At the end of the day, it's men who want to come back home. But once they do, they longer recognize themselves.