Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjäger on the Eastern Front, 1941–43

Sometimes history is presented in such a general manner that end results often overshadow the reality of events that lead to those results; this often leads to misperceptions, dare I say "myths", regarding what really happened. World War II is rife with such generalizations, especially the conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union, where four bitter years of brutality are often summarized in only a few sentences. But, occasionally, a lone voice emerges that can provide an honest and refreshing view of events and even contradict popular belief by providing a first-hand, moment-by-moment account of events as they happened ... EASTERN INFERNO is such an example.As the men and women who survived World War II rapidly vanish from the world's population, new information, stories and details of the war continues to flow at an exponential rate. Christine Alexander and Mason Kunze have published three (of possibly four) volumes of their grandfather Hans Roth's wartime journal. Roth, a German soldier (specifically an anti-tank soldier) who participated in the war on the Eastern Front from the initial German invasion of the Soviet Union through the retreat from Stalingrad, provides a unique perspective of those early days of the conflict. Unflinching and brutal at times, the journal sheds new light on the initial months of the "war in the East" by contradicting the ease of the German advance into the Soviet Union. Roth also conveys the deplorable conditions in which the war was fought, the atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict, the unfathomable destruction of life and material, the filth and the miserable weather. What the journals reveal are the inner thoughts of an ordinary German, not an ardent Nazi, who dutifully serves his country, but longs to be home with his wife and daughter.EASTERN INFERNO is divided into three chapters and each chapter represents one volume of Hans Roth's journal. The journal entries are recorded daily with some days being more eventful, descriptive and involved while others are only a sentence or two of personal thoughts about his family. Roth's knack for detail sets an early tone for the book, allowing the reader to witness the life of the typical German soldier in those "heady" early days when the German blitzkrieg seemed unstoppable. It only took a few pages before I realized Roth had taken me alongside him on that hot and humid day in June 1941 with his descriptive journal entries ... and this is exactly the experience I want when reading about first-hand accounts. I could easily imagine the dust clouds created by moving vehicles sticking to the sweaty faces and hands of exhausted infantrymen moving to the front lines under the oppressive sun ... uncomfortable and miserable. Something else the reader will notice early-on is that this soldier's account of participating in the invasion of the Soviet Union does not necessarily jive with the broad, generic summary of events that commonly defines Operation Barbarossa. While the huge swaths of land consumed by the German military and the enormous tally of prisoners taken in the initial weeks/months are well-documented, Roth's experience at the front indicates the Soviet military put up a much more spirited fight than history typically generalizes. With continuing accounts of his comrades being killed or wounded, Roth even reveals a degree of respect toward the Soviet enemy for his tenacity ... as well as his skill. But beneath this begrudging respect reveals the underlying element of Nazi racial indoctrination in that he is shocked that the Russian "swine" could manage to fight as effectively as they could. An early account of witnessing an execution at the hands of the SS is recounted with relative indifference.The journey that Roth takes the reader on is a brutal one filled with fear, death and misery and he meticulously details his observations in a manner that heightens the readers senses into what he actually experienced. The exuberant and optimistic tone present in the first third of the book dissipates as the war drags on and the tides shifts against Germany. Harassed by partisans that melt in and out of the forests and daily strafing attacks by Soviet planes (Ratas), the journal entries reflect a souring of optimism. As a brutal winter sets in, Roth's writings reveal that he and his comrades are a shell of their former selves ... the prior year's youthful enthusiasm is gone ... instead, the men are filthy, infested with lice and suffering from dysentery. Roth effectively describes this sense of despair he shares with his fellow soldiers as they squat in dingy panje huts to escape the deadly cold where the men turn to searching for and destroying lice as a game. Adding to the strain is that the enemy never stops attacking ... regardless of their losses. Roth even witnesses the Soviets murdering their own soldiers after retreating from a failed attack. A recurring theme in many of the journal entries is the gore and mass devastation he sees on a daily basis: his journey into Russia is a path filled with body parts, blood and decaying flesh of man and horses ... many, many horses.Interspersed throughout his journal entries, Roth personally addresses his wife and daughter in what appears to be little moments of solace amid a world of death and destruction. There is no heroic action accounted for, no chest-thumping and no resounding political rhetoric that comes forth in his writing ... just a simple journal of what is seen and felt.EASTERN INFERNO provides an amazing perspective of the average German infantryman's personal experience in Russia from the very beginning of the conflict ... as it happened. Roth's journal entries are vividly clear, informative and captivating. Hopefully, the publishing of this engaging journal will not only satiate those with a craving for history, but generate an interest in younger generations to learn more of about the brutal conflict between the Soviet Union and Germany.

Apart from about a half dozen blasphemies which some people find extremely offensive the book was an interesting read. It explains how rough, bloody, and merciless life on the Eastern Front really was and casaully human life was taken. The author does not appear to be a nazi, but rather just a patriotic German do his bit for the Fatherland, EXCEPT that he does have mixed emotions about anti-Semitism. At one point be is euphoric that over a thousand, I forget the number, of Jews were massacred when they conquered a certain town, but at another point is shocked when he actually sees the carnage first hand and the brutality of the Reich's occupation. But he seems brutally honest on all points. He talks frankly about how ruthlessly Russian prisoners were interrogated and usually executed there after and also about how the Russian's employed similar tactics, even to the point of using children and trained dogs as living bombs. Most of all he captures the scope of the whole conflict. Millions were killed and maimed and thousands upon thousands of square miles were simply raised to the ground by both sides in order to deny the other the advantages of civilization. Unlike the war in the West where there was at least some measure of respect and humanity towards all belligerents, very little mercy was shown by either side. The author also makes the reader feel the extreme conditions under which both sides fought the war. The weather believe it or not was more of danger than the actual enemy. As one author put it, the Russian climate is a series of natural cdiasters and that was no understatement. Floods, oceans of mud deep enough to drown in, constant sub zero temperatures, typically about -40 C. It was amazing to see how anybody could live much less fight under such circumstances. Amazingly its under the worst possible weather that the Russians usually chose to attack and attack in mass. Tragically the Russian commanders cared little for their troops and hardly blinked an eye when several divisions would be wiped out en masse in an absolutely foolhardy attack straight into the German machineguns. And then the attack would be repeated and repeated for weeks until they broke through. At one point the author talks about being covered with flies during the summer because of all the dead bodies and the reader cant help but feel this is God's judgement falling upon the invaders for their sins, though the Reds hardly much better. While Hilter killed about 6 million Jews and assorted other ethnicities, Stalin wiped out roughly about 6 -10 million Ukrainians to say nothing smaller ethnic groups history has forgotten as well as all practicing Jews and Christians he coulod find. The defining difference between Hilter and Stalin was that Hilter would have wiped out 99% of the world if he'd had his way, Stalin would have merely enslaved it (along with an occassional genocide here and there.)

For those who want to know a little more about the Eastern Front in the sight of a German soldier is quite interesting. It confirms what historians already know, the degree of perversity and cruelty of the Eastern front has rarely been equated in the records of human conflicts.

Very good book, simply impressive first hand writing of a front soldier living an unimaginable drama, fighting to survive and to return home

I've never read an more a more savage account of the eastern front. It gives one an idea of the mindset of the German soldier at the eastern front. Through his eyes and without any whitewashing, the writer of this diary describes a brutal war without mercy. Pretty shocking. I highly reccomend this book to anyone, who wants to know something about the vicious fighting at the eastern front, through the eyes of a simple Landser. But warning ! This book needs some stomach. It's a pitiless first hand account of the bloody slaughter in Russia without any filter or belittlement. The simple language of the diary makes it even more graphic.

I found reading a WWII book from the German perspective a new experience for me albeit a rewarding one. As the reader would have guessed I do not do extensive reading in WWII items, but this grinding, depressing recall of a German soldier that had fought Barbarrosa from the first day until the day some four years later is an enlightening yet depressing read.I found the final years of this book particularly difficult reading because the author in his diaries ruminated at length regarding the situation of the army and the continual retreat from their furthest point of victory, and now continual defeat.

A la différence de plusieurs ouvrages de ce type, "Eastern (...)" s'appuie sur un matériau véritablement original, un journal - incomplet, s'arrêtant en 1943 - d'un soldat allemand servant dans une unité de Panzerjäger - "chasseurs de chars" - de la 299.ID engagée en URSS. Ici, pas de témoignage rédigé après la guerre, souvent "politiquement correct", car expurgé de toute référence à des massacres de masse ou à l'attrait du nazisme mais des souvenirs bruts, souvent confus mais possédant les accents de la vérité. Pas de sympathie pour les Russes, ce sont des "schweine", des "porcs", et plusieurs passages laissent à penser que l'auteur - tué en 1944 lors de l'opération "Bagration" - a assisté à des fusillades de Juifs soviétiques, probablement à Babi-Yar, près de Kiev en septembre 1941, le texte n'est pas clair sur ce point.On touche là aux limites de l'ouvrage. Il est publié "tel quel" par des descendants de l'auteur qui auraient retrouvé le journal il y a quelques années. Mais il ne s'agit pas d'historiens ni même de passionnés qui se seraient livré à l'indispensable accompagnement du texte. Pas de carte - en dehors de quelques croquis/vagues cartes d'époque récupérées par l'auteur et pas d'informations sur sa division - organisation, opérations, matériel utilisé, etc... ou même les opérations militaires générales. Il est extrêmement difficile même à un lecteur familier du sujet de suivre l'auteur, qui, comme souvent les "simples" soldats n'a qu'une vague idée des actions auxquelles il participe surtout dans un pays aussi mal connu à cette époque que l'URSS - des noms de lieux défient mes connaissances... c'est d 'autant plus dommage que la division semble participer aux opérations sur le Don en soutien des Italiens durant l'hiver 1942-1943 - je dois avouer que je n'ai pas eu le courage de chercher plus avant dans ma doc. Les erreurs de traduction n'arrangent rien. le terme "granate" - obus ou grenade - est souvent traduit maladroitement, idem pour les canons d'assaut devenus à un moment "storm guns" je crois.Bref, il ne suffit pas de trouver une source réellement originale pour réaliser un bon travail historique, ce livre en est la preuve. Alors oui, la guerre c'est horrible et l'auteur traverse des épreuves terribles mais ce n'est pas vraiment de l'Histoire.