《被遗忘的士兵》书评

作者RP不错

东线打了三年，多次上前线，甚至作为掩护战友撤退的敢死队炸坦克，居然都没受过什么伤，不得不说RP也太好了。维尔纳和林森的死真的让我很难过，还有那个孤儿，一辈子也没享过什么福，还被扔到前线当炮灰，最后为了掩护战友偷食品被判了死刑。

战争远比想象的残酷

从来，我们读战争都只是关注整个战局的发展，这本书从一个最普通的士兵的角度来描写战争。作为最基层的战士，他并不完全了解整个战局的发展，从开始为国家为荣誉而战，到最后为了自己的生存而战。“只有胜利者才有权利讲述历史。而我们这些失败者，则无一例外地被认为是懦夫和下等人。失败者的回忆、恐惧和情感是不该被铭记的。”这些普通的士兵大多都是被卷入战争的，他们也想过平常人的生活，他们也有自己的家，他们也有心中思念的人，但却不幸的成为了战争中的牺牲品。“无论是哪里的战争，虚伪和谎言的伎俩都是一样的，最重要的是我们必须在生活中找到诚实和忠诚。我在艰难中依旧忠实于我这个信念。”“人生就是战斗，战斗即是人生。真正的自由是不存在的。” 从书中能够感受到战争的残酷，人的生命在战争中是那么脆弱。连续的炮击、空袭可以轻易摧垮最坚强的人的意志。战争真的不是想象中的那么简单。面对身边最亲密战友的牺牲，面对战场上那么多不完整的尸体，他们仍然要继续战斗！“勇气意味着什么——在极度绝望中看不到尽头的挣扎，还有对于那些远超出常人所能面对的恐惧的接受。”感动于书中详细讲述的友情，在战场上并肩作战而得到的兄弟情是世上最牢固的，“我们找到和经历了今生再不可能找到的战友之情，这种深厚的友情是难以用言语描述的，越是经过艰难险阻，这种情感就愈发历久弥坚。”印象最深刻的人是作者笔下的“老兵”，对战局有着准确的判断，多次让身边的战友脱险，而在最后又掩护战友的撤退，“战争结束后像我这样的人是没法正常生活的，你们还记得吗？”，这是老兵最后留下的话，作者没有详细的描述老兵的牺牲，“老兵”这个词就是对他最大的尊敬。惊讶于德国的严谨、士兵们的素质，所有的事情都很有条理，战争中竟然还有士兵的休假制度。单就士兵的素质而言，或许德国是强于苏联的，作者常常写道他们与敌军的比例可以达到1:100，在这种情况下他们仍然能够抵挡对方数次进攻，当然最后还是会守不住。中间有一个很小的故事印象比较深，德军在摧毁了数辆进攻的苏军坦克后，有一辆坦克勇敢地冲到了他们的阵地前，直到最后才被摧毁，萨杰他们很敬佩这些敌人，当对方的坦克手出来的时候，他们还会和对方坐在一起，喝酒。我们都会敬佩勇士，尽管他可能是你的敌人。相反，他们对待苏联游击队却是另外一个态度，由于游击队会杀害德军士兵，并且用最残忍的方式处理尸体，当萨杰他们部队去围剿游击队的时候，不会把他们当战俘，而是为了自己的兄弟们报仇。似乎游击队打仗的方式，破坏了某些大家默认的规定。萨杰很幸运的活到了最后，他记得自己的每一位战友，想念着他们。“能活到最后真好。”太多的人对于战争的兴趣仅仅是他们安逸生活的一些调料。一个愿意尽可能体验那段历史的读者应该在一种尽可能压抑和不舒服的状态下阅读这些作品，应该在自己最失意的时候去阅读战争，这样你就会记住那些和平年代里的忧虑和烦恼是何等的微不足道。因为在和平的岁月里，没有什么是真正值得你所忧虑的。

战争的想象和真实的距离

这本书看了1/3的时候，就大呼过瘾了，大呼的同时，不禁想起埃德加·斯诺在《西行漫记》里描写的中国共产党人，这些人都有一个共同点，那就是采访他们，很希望听到他们自己的一些感受和感想，对一些事情的个人见解和真实的想法，但无一例外，就象是商量好的一样，这些人回忆中都是用一个共同的人称，就是“我们红军”如何如何，很少有人讲到自己...其实，对于和平时代生长的我而言，我是理解斯诺的,我也最希望听到这些参战者自己的亲身感受和经历。但，我也同样理解当时的那些共产党人的感受，他们倒不是虚伪，而是他们的胜利就来源于这种对于群体的认同和来源于群体的力量。不过，还是很幸运，今年有幸读到了一部真实地描写个人感受的书，那就是这本《被遗忘的士兵》。看过本书后，除了感叹战争的残酷外，最直接的观后感确是本书作者盖伊·萨杰，他仿佛生来就是为了写这本书来的。他经历过无数残酷的战斗后能够幸存下来，也好象是上天因为这个理由特别垂青于他。士兵，大多数文化程度较低，而文化程度较高能生存下来的，就寥寥无几了，而这寥寥无几的生存者中，记忆力惊人而文学水平较高的人，就万里挑一了。看完本书后，不得不赞叹作者超凡的记忆力，他每个战争细节都记忆得很清楚，而他，又是经历过无数次残酷战斗的普通一兵，人名地名，经过，心理，都描写得很清楚，据我所知，作为普通一兵的战争回忆录，这还是我知道的第一本。其实，我们身边充斥着大量的回忆录，但这些回忆录，大量的都是高级指挥官或者名人，他们对于战争的描写，除了纸上谈兵，就是指挥所文学。很少有战壕真实。而当今的很多军迷们，都缺乏对战争残酷性最真实的文字感受，战争的感觉只存在于我们的幻想和猜测中，当然，即使我们也曾想象过战争原比我们想象的残酷和震撼，但，从一个真正的参战者的描述里感受到，这还是第一次。我相信，文字在真实面前是非常匮乏的，人类的语言有时是无法描述出当时真正的感受的，但是，如果你是一个感情正常的人，你还是能从那些本书作者的描述中对那场苏德战争有一个最真实的感受的。首先，这些德国士兵，大部分是普通人，他们不是狂热的纳粹分子，即使是当时的党卫军青年团的士兵，也不过是一群十几岁的毛孩子，他们过早地为了这场战争送掉了性命。其次，苏军当时在人数上的优势和工业能力上的优势，是取胜最直接的原因。最近有另外一本《二战苏联惨胜真相》也从这个角度描述了事实。苏联人经常不择手段地投入甚至正在组建的军队投入到战争第一线。对平民的屠杀，和对待战俘的杀戮，苏联人是一点都不逊色的。还有就是乌克兰人对德军的欢迎。这一切，虽然我在以前也都知道，但本书还是从另一个角度左证了这一点。但是，本书最让人难以忘怀的，还是战争的描述，就象是译者所说的，普通个体在人类屠戮中的无足轻重。这点上，不仅作者从第一人称的描述中体现了这点，而他们的对手俄国人，一样更体现了这点。战场上，一个人的生命连一个蚂蚁都不如，这让我想起了我国参加的朝鲜战争中上甘岭的描述，一个士兵开始轻伤，后来变成了重伤，最后死亡了，死尸最后被炸碎了，被土埋葬了，这一个过程在几分钟时间内就会发生。。。而萨杰所描述的，更多的是普通士兵的命运，他们中，没有英雄，只有普通的人，而这些普通的人，在你死我活的战争中，又是人类的缩影，他们的潜能被激发，最后忘记了一切道理，只是在靠人类的原始本能在战斗，这个本能就是活下去。所谓幸福是相对的，对于战场上的普通士兵来说，可能一个干燥温暖的房子，就是他们幸福的全部内涵。甚至死，才是真正的解脱。最后的一幕让人动容，当这些受尽了磨难的德国兵主动地放下了武器投降英国人的时候，对于英国人的所谓粗暴，所谓的侮辱，都能够以笑脸来面对，对于参加过东线战斗的德国士兵来说，这简直就是天堂般的待遇。我相信看过本书的人，不同的人有不同的感悟。但是，就象是在封底写上的一句纽约时报的评语一样：读过此书的任何人都永远不会忘记它。当然，真实的，永远都有瑕疵，本书没有交代被俘的作者的朋友们的结局，以及后来有没有联系，这是我感到意尤未尽的。这也从另一个侧面上代表了我入戏的一面。。。顺便说一句，和一个军迷朋友聊天，他告诉我，还有其他的士兵战争回忆录，比如讲阿富汗战争的。我说，遗憾的是，对于我最感兴趣的二战的，这是我见到的第一部，而我最感兴趣的，还要是朝鲜战争的，可惜的是，一定没有了，因为那时候大部分我军的官兵，象曲波这样的人，还是太少了，而曲波，又太文学化了。而现在的士兵，原比我们的前辈要有思想，所以，有回忆录就不足为奇了。所以，从这点上讲，本书是配得上这些赞美的，可惜但可贺的是，67年第一次出版的书，我在2010年还算是有幸看到了。

回家

终于看完了这本书，战争的血腥与残酷令人震惊。俄罗斯零下40摄氏度的严寒、别尔哥罗德苏军炮火的猛烈、美迈尔战役的惨烈令人感到痛苦，无穷无尽的撤退和饥饿令人精神极其低落，在这种情况下精神崩溃很正常。在苏联坦克群和人海进攻中谁能撑得住，勇敢二字并不是像某些电影电视中描写的那样轻松容易，再极其恶劣的环境中睡觉本身就是一种勇敢的表现。我知道三言两语没法说明本书的真实与残酷，在最后我想用那些交战国阵亡士兵最奢求的愿望、来表达对那些被迫卷入这场战争的人们表达敬意：战争结束了，回家吧！

这段话是这本最好的

太多的人对于战争的兴趣仅仅是他们安逸生活中的一些调料。他们一边坐在一个舒服的躺椅上，双脚靠着暖暖的壁炉，一边轻松地读着凡尔登战役或斯大林格勒战役的回忆录，然后准备在第二天继续正常上班。一个愿意尽可能体验那段历史的读者应该在一种尽可能压抑和不舒服的状态下阅读这些作品，应该在自己最失意的时候去阅读战争，这样你就会记住那些和平年代里的忧虑和烦恼是何等的微不足道。因为在和平的岁月里，没有什么是真正值得你所忧虑的。对于经历过战争的人而言，那些为自己能赚多少钱而常常忧虑的人不过是一些可怜的白痴。人们应该在困倦难当的深夜里去读战争的历史，正如现在我已经写到了天将破晓的时分，而我关节炎的疼痛也消退了几分。甚至是到了今天，在我无眠的劳顿困苦里，我还是感到和平的岁月是何等的温柔并让人惬意。 那些读了凡尔登和斯大林格勒的人，他们在读完之后便一边喝着咖啡，一边向自己的朋友阐述自己对战争的见解，这样的人其实根本就没有能力去读懂战争。只有这样一些人读懂了这些书——他们在读这些历史的时候能会心地微笑，当他们上班去的时候还会微笑，他们为自己正常地活着而感到庆幸。

好书！

情节紧凑-战斗不断/描写细腻情感饱满/提供大量真实细节，值得购买珍藏。写回忆录首先还是要有文学天赋，像斯坦因写中国新疆西藏的探险，虽然是亲身经历，但作者缺乏文才，写得枯燥无味，读来味同嚼蜡。并不是你亲身经历就一定写得好。而本书作者文笔娓娓而谈，读者就像他的一个战友，陪他一起经历严寒/各种激战/胜利和溃败/喜悦和恐惧。如身临其境，穿越到1942-1945这三年中的德国陆军中经历横夸欧亚的大作战。无论是军事迷还是普通读者都会喜欢这本书。当然翻译差些。不明白译者译完后为什么不稍稍再读一下，润色整洁一下文字？

这是一个鲜活的，个体的战争史

正如这本书所吸引我的那样，这是一本士兵的战争史。生活在和平年代我对战争的理解大多来自战争题材的影视作品。中国的影视作品大多是领袖英雄式的故事，欧美的多是个人英雄主义的故事。真正让我看到战争残忍可怖一面的是南京大屠杀的纪录片。一将成而万骨枯，所有官方战争的伤亡数字之后，是一个个可怜的个体和家庭。

战争也许没有荣誉可言

二战的书籍，之前看了一些，包括三位德国名帅的回忆录。很幸运发现并阅读了这本书，让我感到对于战争有了更真实的了解。阅读将军们的回忆录，让我感受到的是战略格局，德国军人的高尚精神以及德国陆军的强大，而被遗忘的士兵恰巧描述了普通士兵的真实感受。读这本书几乎可以说从头至尾都非常精彩，或者说越来越有强烈的窒息感，因为战争的残酷在不断升级，人类身体承受极限被一次次突破，而人性也被逐渐撕裂。书中几段德军的撤退和阻击苏军进攻的战斗都让我看到触目惊心，闭上书脑海中不断出现被炮火狂轰滥炸的地域场面。而这些年轻士兵的人性的逐渐丧失也让我难以忘记，就像书里描述的，饥饿的德国士兵为了一个土豆，一本牛奶就可以枪杀平民。我想我们应该感谢这位普通的士兵，盖伊.萨杰。这是一部伟大的著作，想要了解战争的人一定要读一读。战争，对于这些无力做选择的士兵来说，也许根本就没有荣誉而言。昨天晚上当我读到萨杰和他的战友们走出战壕向盟军投降的时候，心里有一种如释重负的感觉。终于摆脱了东线的噩梦，在西方盟军的战俘营里，他们吃到了罐头，住进了营房，这是他们最幸运的结局了。

也许还应该看第二遍

之前在校内网上贴 大江大河1949.一同学推荐我看 被遗忘的士兵，他说看这本书才能感受到和平的美好。于是便买来看了。但一直只看了几页没有看下去。五一三天看完了它。首先觉得有点颠覆自己之前所知道的一点零星的历史或者历史价值观。在我心目中德国纳粹大约和魔鬼差不多，就像日本鬼子一样。可是在这本书中，却看到苏联的军队也未尝不残忍。比如他们对待德国军俘的方式 对待德国难民的杀害。以及在与德军开火之前，他们没有组织本国的平民撤退。看到魏斯雷德上校对苏联游击队的家属说，你们是被一些传言给煽动的，战争就要结束了。其实这一块是很矛盾的。用作者的话说，就是仇恨。苏联的平民恨德国在自己的家园里战争，所以他们要把德国人赶出自己的家园，所以他们是用对待仇人的方式对待德军。而德军，认为战争是两国军队的事情，游击队不应该参与，游击队的参与甚至打破了战争的规则。可是当他们的战友被游击队打死时，他们也在仇恨的引导下对游击队 对苏军 甚至对平民 进行了屠杀。在开火时，双方还会去抓俘虏。可是等到双方都充满了仇恨，那么俘虏都不抓了，直接杀死对方。作者在书里问：我们是为了什么战争？是因为领导的一个号召吧。领导为了不败，甚至在最后把老人家和未满十三岁的孩童拖入战场。所以这些发动战争的领导人，他们为了自己的胜利不惜民众的性命，每个多一个活着的人只是在人数上增加了他们胜利的可能性而已。任何人都想活着，即便在前线最英勇的战士，也是希望自己可以活下来的。也许和平中的我们未必可以体会那种强烈的生存欲望。可是，正如作者所说，能在和平的环境下活着真的是很幸福的事情了，在和平年代活着而却为工作 物质发愁的人是很愚蠢的。提到这个，就会想到中日战争。日本人在战争中对中国人民做的事情也是惨绝人寰 丧尽天良。可是目前还没有看过一本关于八年抗日战争的纪实的书籍。以及电影——南京南京之类的电影也根本不敢看。战争发生的原因应该是很复杂的，因为利益 因为仇恨等等。民众往往没有权利选择自己的去向。因为国家机器可以决定你的一切。民众要珍惜和平，而一国政府更应该珍惜和平吧。想到利比亚的战争。有人说卡扎菲独裁。有人说美国为了利益。不管怎样表达，仿佛都可以很激愤一把。真实的情况到底是什么样子呢？到底怎样的认识才可以排除国家有意无意给予我们的意识形态和判断标准，怎样才可以接近事情的真相？作者在书中说到他看到十几岁的孩子去奔赴战场时震惊的心态。提到柏林爆炸时，他看见的孩子的泪水 疑问 无助。而是他什么也做不了。他能去指责国家元首的政策吗？他能大声疾呼什么吗？他只能做一名士兵应该完成的任务，在离开的时候假装没有看见，可是内心却有很多触动。看到那里会惊觉，孩子真的很重要。这种重要并不是说让他们长大了就完成使命了。而是我们能给予这个社会上众多的孩子什么？放眼望去，这个地域辽阔的国家又有多少孩子活在没有童年幸福的童年里？而我们这些大人可以做些什么呢？看完之后，真希望老兵不要死。他在最后放弃了逃脱的机会。因为他厌倦了撤退 战斗 撤退 战斗，因为他觉得他即便回到和平时代也不能正常地活下去了，其实他才三十几岁而已。还有弗罗施。老兵说他“即便得不到铁十字胸章，也配进天堂。”他是那样善良的小孩。孤儿，被买去到农场干活，被送入军队，被长官殴打，上了前线，并且活了下来。看到他活下来，我真是开心啊。因为之前我一直有担心他的命运。可是他最后还是死了。并且死的非常委屈。看到一直倾倒的卡车有吃的。大家都去拿吃的。他和另外一个人给其他战友放风。然后他被本国军队的宪兵抓住了，然后被吊起来并且被挂了一块耻辱的牌子。这样一个善良的人居然受了这么多苦并且死去了。。。想不通啊，想不通，不是善有善报吗？就算没有善报，也不应该给予他如此恶劣的命运吧？。。。。。

唔 简单的说

在我读这本书之前，我记忆的二战里德国都是一个充满罪恶的国家，当然肯定也包括它的士兵都是纯粹的纳粹狂热分子，可是这本书让我的想法有了很大的转变战争是上层人的游戏，利用群众的无知和信任，发挥他们自己的人性的丑恶，煽动着人民满足他们自己的欲望，战争里的士兵无论是敌方还是自己方的都是单个的个体，在战场上只是为了能让自己活下去而已.作者的这个，没有很多的政治思想描述也没有什么国家利益高于一切的想法，让我看到了一个不一样的二战，一个士兵眼里的二战，也是普通老百姓里的二战我总觉得自己的语言非常的匮乏，很多想要表达的感情我都没有办法正确的清楚的表达出来，但是这本书很好翻译的也很不错，可以反复的读，当一个人有太多杂乱无章的想法和生活的无奈的时候可以读下，会让自己的想法变简单，活着 是多么重要的一件事情，至少我们对生活还有希望

真实的再现

这本书我我从上学期开始就反反复复读了八次，我记得第一次看的时候没看到一半就被深深地震撼了，这不像其他的回忆录，作者不是什么高级军官，而正是因为这个条件，他才能写出一个普通军人的经历，真实的战场经历。这也让我的个人思想又一个很大的飞跃

坑道里端刺刀冲锋的人，办公室里拿放大镜看地图的人，都在战争中吗？

本书是以一个二战战败国德国的低层士兵视角去写战争的细节。 坦克来回碾压人体，履带上还粘连着自己方人体的器官组织，河对岸整夜惨绝人寰的号叫...，这与喝着咖啡拿放大镜看军图并作百万雄师在我胸状的人，都在同一场战争中吗？圣人不仁，以天下为刍狗。看过这些就知道现在健康的活着是多么的幸福，没有比较就不知道在绝大多数时间里，我们应该绝对的开心。战争是政治的手段，人类愚蠢而又貌似不得已的产物。此书翻译的还可以，真实感强烈。但也有文章和对比照片说此书作者有假，我没太关注。类似以德国一线士兵视角看战争的图书近些年来还有好几本《狙击手》、《黑色雪绒花》、《“斯图卡上校”鲁德尔战记》等和国内出版的《德意志的另一行泪》...值得花时间阅读。

我与孩子的代沟？ 小人物vs大事件

这本书，我没读过。但孩子看了至少三遍。问他为什么，说“好看，觉得真实”。由此想到孩子的“好看”，与我的区别。他最喜欢看《兄弟连》《这里的黎明静悄悄》我看《不列颠之战》《虎虎虎》他更爱看《被遗忘的士兵》《父亲的战场》我看《遥远的桥》《中国抗日战争正面战场作战记》他看小人物，与主人公一起摸爬滚打流汗流泪；我看大事件，冷静地分析得失经验教训。我是在伟大革命阶级斗争群众运动的熏陶下长大的，在潜意识里，个人微不足道的念头，根深蒂固；他伴随着《猫和老鼠》成长，在他眼里，古德里安与一个坦克手的命运，同样会引起他的共鸣。这或许是孩子与我的“代沟”；我从这“代沟”中看到希望。

《被遗忘的士兵》——小人物的血泪史

回想起来，年纪小的那会儿被问及理想时，大部分人为了迎合家长，老师，或是自己不切实际的yy，都会答出一些诸如某某家，某某长，某D主席等志向远大的玩意儿。鲜少有人提起一份平凡的工作亦或做一个普通小人物的人生计划。即使闷骚如我，也会为了博父亲一笑而信誓旦旦地告之曰，“国防部长”，从而把一直心心念念不能忘怀的dream work——书店售书小姐，窝藏起来。然后，长大不过是倏忽间的事情。那些关于某家某长某D主席等有如八一制片之片头天安门一般闪闪发光的幻梦也早已黯淡了。有时候，我只是眨了下眼，身边的一些人就藉此电光火石之际迅即完成了从理想主义到犬儒主义的华丽变身。彷如一夜的功夫，大家都开始坦承，自己不过是大象身上的一粒尘土，只能随着它笨重的脚步，在其皮毛的某个不起眼的角落，上下翻腾。我们，都不过是小人物。而这本书，是一个小人物写给成千上万小人物看的书。但作者是一个奇怪的小人物。父亲是法国人，母亲是德国人，他却加入了大德意志师；参加了与苏军的所有重要会战，竟侥幸在3年的惨烈战争中存活了下来；对了，最重要的是，在这期间，他都一直维持着一个小人物的身份，作为一个最不起眼的小兵。所以，他就是用小人物最平实的笔触，记了一份小人物的流水账：有小人物最开初的踌躇满志，兴高采烈——“我们这些新兵每天都生活在巨大的兴奋之中，每一天都有新的事情发生在我们身上”；也有小人物的生活渐渐地与残酷的现实接轨——“在极度惊愕的状态下，我只对霍尔斯发出了一声呜咽般的回应，每一个平板车厢里都是这样用尸体堆砌起来”；还有真实世界完全显山露水之前，小人物的领导装模作样的训话——“士兵们！德国公民们！在此时此刻，第三帝国的战斗正在俄罗斯辽阔的土地上进行着，我们的祖国期待着你们夺取最后的胜利”；小人物自然有每逢佳节倍思亲——“自从参军以来，我对自己家乡的回忆还从没有像现在这样强烈”；也有小人物的小友情——“我们重逢时的快乐心情让我们都不由自主地抓住了对方的肩膀，一边大笑着，一边跳起了夸张的波罗乃兹舞”；还有小人物的小爱情——“葆拉和我走在一起，依旧保持着她一如既往的微笑”；甚至于小人物的有了媳妇儿忘了娘——“其实我已经给葆拉写了至少20封信了，而给家里只写了1封”；小人物当然也很顾及自己的小面子——“我现在是既愤怒又伤心，首先他们揍了我，然后又当众吼了我”；也和领导较劲儿——“那个狗娘养的军士长像一个高级军官一样傲慢地巡视着我们的工作，他做梦也想不到他的生命只有48个小时了”；终于，小人物开始反思ZF的说话——“德军最高统帅部称之为‘绝对的牺牲’，这些话让我的头有些发晕”；虽然此时小人物已经被目睹的现实麻木——“我们呆滞的目光仍旧漫无目的地观望着城市的断壁残垣，我们的大脑里一片空白”；但生存才是无用的小人物最需要面对的问题——“我们在茫然的沉默中看着对方，已经说完了一切在这种场合下所能说的话，生命在此时成了一种等待”；然而小人物却还有感恩之心——“虽然我们的国家以这样的方式感谢我，我和不少人比起来依旧是幸运的”；哪怕又一记响亮的耳光打到痰中含血的小人物的脸上——“随着这个通知，数以千计士兵的休假梦想破灭了”；于是小人物只能在极度的绝望中挣扎求生——“我们的睡眠是怪异的，能够大睁着眼睛睡着，就像是一盏熄灭的灯一样，这时我们的脸和那些死人的脸没有什么区别”；幸而，小人物随着大历史，当了快乐的失败者——“那些在一边漠然看着我们的英国士兵们绝对搞不懂为什么我们此时的脸上已经露出了笑容并开心地在卡车上聊起天来”；并且无比幸运地回归——“回家！他也许是在谈论火星上的事情吧”“现在走吧，回家，然后忘掉这些事情”。这才有了这本我们这些小人物正在读的小人物写的书。哦，当然，你也可以把这本书看作是在保时捷虎式和俄国喀秋莎的一路陪伴下，作者亲身带领我们所做的穿梭于苏德波等国的二战历史地理大串讲。但是于我这个小人物而言，这真真是一簿关于小人物的流水账，或者说，小人物的血泪史。I’m Nobody!Who are you?Are you — Nobody — Too?Then there’s a pair of us!——By Emily Dickinson

战败国的士兵也值得同情

终于可以看到描写关于战败国士兵的书了，不论是《挽救大兵》、《兵临城下》、《兄弟连》，写的都是胜利者。为什么敌人总是凶恶？他们也是人，也是响应自己国家的战争号召，作为一个公民为自己祖国服役。作为战败国，他们比任何人都值得同情。为英勇的士兵致敬。

《被遗忘的士兵》

凤凰网上偶然看到的书评，当当网上买的书。确实好书一本，德军威武，即使在败退过程中依然如是，美迈尔战役，即使面对死亡，依然排队上船。到了战俘营，依然秩序井然。最后，结束时，留下了一些沉重和哀思。

直面战争，直面残酷

看着看着我就想了：能够以第三者的心态用第一人称的笔触书写真实与惨烈的见闻，不夸大自家的所谓正义也不低毁敌国的人民及军队就是一件了不起的事情，读后让人深切体会到了战争的残酷，也让人看到在战争面前个体士兵是如何的脆弱与无能为力。

一部不忍让你重读的书

我买了，看了。翻译的有欠缺的地方。特别是德语人名的翻译不太好。但总体是不错的，在国外也有不少读者。看过后，不想再重读了。因为太沉重。如同一场恶梦。就如同作者自己描述的那些为理想现身的德国战士，他们英勇的牺牲，但如今是被人辱骂和诋毁，尸骨无存。只有俄国原野上的向日葵在他们的尸骨上生长。他们已经被他们自己的民族遗忘。如果让我评说人类近现代的理想主义者，我认为德国人这个群体是最典型的。他们一直忠于自己的理想。而不像俄国人搞的那种谎言下的恐怖。俄国人的伪君子，而德国人作了一把真小人。我欣赏德国人。他们把人类的那种生命的张力体现的最充分。当然，还要以悲剧为结尾。谁能说希特勒不是个味道的人，谁能说那些如今被遗忘的士兵们不是纯洁的人呢、

真实才是美的

以前看过几本苏联”战壕真实派“写的二战小说，感觉和这本书类似。不过这本书是从轴心国士兵的角度写的，单就这点来讲就十分难得。可以看到许多史书上没提到的细节，从他参加哈尔科夫反击战前对党卫军士兵的描写看，他们的士气和对战争的信心明显要高于国防军，不愧是德国最精锐的部队。有一点疑惑作者有一半法国血统，可他却选择加入德军，当德军入侵法国时他是怎么想的呢？对法国就没点感情么？

被遗忘的士兵

战争是木有真正胜者的，严格意义上，彼此都是败者，受伤害的永远是最底层的百姓，苏联苏维埃的残暴其实比德国法西斯有过之而无不及。美迈尔归了立陶宛，但泽归了波兰，萨杰加入法军服役了10个月。值得一提的是，书中介绍苏联采用人海战术去破德军的地雷阵，以减少坦克和装甲车辆的消耗，其中的人海炮灰多为“蒙古人长相”，其实应多为日军战俘。

狂热解毒剂

《被遗忘的士兵》盖伊.萨杰这是一部无聊的书，一部可怕的书，一部值得一读的书。作者好像一个没有受过任何文学训练一样，将整个整个经历和盘托出，像一部流水账，真实却拖沓。这样的感受与阅读《西游记》的体验相仿，重复，重复。人的生活，大抵如此吧。整部书充满了血，肢体，肉块甚至内脏，那场战争给作者留下的极其可怕的印象，难以想象如今的我能否在那样可怕的情形下活过一天。血腥的景象伴随着作者的描述，贯穿始终。除了作者开始训练和最终回到家里，那里有回忆的温暖。描述战争的残酷可以产生一种净化作用，可以净化狂热。随着国力上升，我国民族主义狂热已经达到让人害怕的地步，看看那些可怕的军事论坛和煽情的报纸。我们要警惕审视每一个打着国家和民族口号的行动。作者似乎在避免描述自己亲手击毙敌人的情景，虽然作为运输兵、机枪供弹手很少有机会，但是毕竟那么那么长的战役。译者说本书翻译有若干删节，不知道是哪一部分。作者描述了苏军的残酷，也描述了德军的残酷，并没有因为身份原因而隐藏一方，基本上，可以说是一个公平的描述吧。本书仍然有些错别字，校对不够仔细。作为译后小结，本书最后几段话可以作为个人阅读后的心声，译者比我总结得好多了：（有调整，不是原文）作为发动一次世界大战的国家，德国在一战战败后受到英、法、美等战胜国的严厉惩罚。除了巨额赔款外，德国的八分之一的国土被割让给了邻国。毁灭德国经济的惩罚性措施成为了德意志民族狂热复兴主义的温床。窘迫的生活和复仇的烈火成为一战后德国人生活的主旋律。民族主义是一把可怕的双刃剑，它既可以调动人的骄傲和自尊，也可以驱使人在这些情感的控制下走向疯狂的毁灭。我衷心地希望读者通过这部书能够思索人性，而不是简单地将历史划分为黑白两个部分。实际上，只要有合适的诱因，在德国身上发生的事情完全可以发生在任何一个民族身上，当然也可能在我们身上，我们的清白不过是因为幸运罢了。德国的经历无非暴露了人类处理自身矛盾上的愚蠢和自负。我们不应该将德国的问题看做是某种主义的作祟，而应该看成人性弱点可怕力量的释放。

第二次读的感受

我又读了第二遍，因为这是个无比经典的书籍。我在读的时候、觉得自己就是萨杰的一个战友，面对俄罗斯零下40度的严寒，感受着别尔格罗德、苏军让人崩溃的炮击，在恐惧中、面对着数量庞大的苏联坦克和士兵，看着自己的战友一个接着一个的死去，然后是没完没了的撤退，每天食不果腹，随着时间的推移人也麻木起来，在美迈尔那个死亡之地身心俱碎，哭泣也会让人释然，但人们早已哭干了自己所有的泪水，剩下的只是麻木地面对死亡，或许只有死亡才能把人们从不幸与痛苦中拯救出来。最后回家了，难道经历的战争只是一个噩梦。反差的强烈让人无比痛苦，无数的人在自己的双眼中痛苦死去了，留下的只是让人心碎的记忆。我记得作者、在无法改变那些快要死去的人的命运时，总是在说，“人总是要死的”。这是一种怎样的无奈，我们能理解吗！对我们来说这只是个故事，而对萨杰来说却是他生命的全部。

Guy Sajer's book THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIER is rather notorious in the historical community;

Guy Sajer's book THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIER is rather notorious in the historical community; the book purports to be the memoirs of an Alsatian who served with the Division for the last years of the Second World War. Much has been written on the subject of whether or not the book is a true story or not. Two articles are presented here, plus an exchange of letters to the editor to an American military journal. Those curious may wish to obtain a copy of their own, and to investigate further for themselves whether or not they believe the story to be true.Le Soldat Oublie first published in France by Editions Robert Laffont. Copyright 1967 by Editions Robert Laffont.First published in Great Britain as The Forgotten Soldier by Weidenfeld & Nicholson Ltd, 1971. Translation copyright 1971 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.Edition shown below published by The Penguin Group, Harmondsworth, England, 1988 reprint.THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIERby Louis Brown(This article originally appeared in the January 1992 issue of Die Feuerwehr, a newsletter produced by a Grossdeutschland re-enactment group in the US. Lieutenant Colonel Brown was a West Point educated scholar and armored officer whose service included duty in Germany.)For those of you who are using this as a "Bible" for Grossdeutschland, I recommend extreme caution. There is a substantial body of criticism surrounding this work which generally has caused historians to discount it as what it is purported to be. Simply stated, most historians tend to regard the book as a novel, probably not even written by a soldier. There are two sorts of "criticism" which historians use to evaluate the authenticity of anything from actual documents to artifacts; because they may be of some help, I shall expand a bit:- Internal criticism looks at the actual "item." In the case of paper, the type of paper, inks, stamps, as well as wording, grammar and print are compared to what was possible in the given historical period. Artifact examinations would look at both materials and methods of construction. In short, George Washington didn't write with a felt-tip, use "OK" in correspondence, nor did he wear polyester put together on a sewing machine.- External criticism seeks to deal with the fact that, even if an item passes the internal examination, it might not be "authentic." Particularly hard to detect are "forgeries" in which original materials are "assembled" in an authentic manner -- many of these are caught by this examination. Certainly less conclusive, it can still trip-up a good fake. External criticism seeks to place the item in its historical context and examine its "reason for being." "Why was this document written?" or "What was the purpose of this uniform?" can lead historians to the conclusion that, even though appearing to be authentic, the item is a forgery (sometimes documents in particular turn out to be "authentic forgeries" -- an actual document written during the period in question (thereby "authentic" in style, material, etc.) but not that which it actually purports to be. The uniform equivalent might be a (dress uniform) manufactured for a Berlin costumer; made in the period and of authentic materials, it is not what it seems.) The great "Hitler Diaries" were eventually unravelled as a fake due mainly to external criticism -- once historians had sufficient doubt, they went back into the documents and found the internal mistakes that had been overlooked originally. (The "great" British historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper bit the BIG BULLET on the Hitler Diaries -- he's the one who took a first look at them from an internal perspective and, because of his extreme haste (and apparent predisposition) to be the one to certify them authentic, failed to catch what he should have. Formerly regarded as one of the foremost WWII historians, many historians are now convinced that his shoddy methodology and apparent willingness to believe that which suited his predispositions were not confined merely to this case. The result has been a marked decline in reliance on his work -- a veritable death for the professional historian.)I took the "long route" because it occurs to me that the above might be useful in both collecting and re-enacting -- remember that we are dealing with an historical subject which is properly studied via the proven methods of the discipline, not popular myth or opinion. To return to Sajer's book and conclude, many historians doubt the work; some of the (reasons) are as follows:- The work contains a lot of factual or detail errors. From being assigned to the XVII Battalion of light Infantry GD to the referral to the Brandenburg penal battalions and the good old 19th Rollbahn (19 ROAD?), the details not only don't ring true, they are suspiciously similar to a lot of the mis-information that floated around in the 50's/60's before any serious research had been done. One gets the impression of someone looking up details in a book to include them in a story. Additionally, some of the procedures described don't seem to accurately reflect the German Army's "way of doing business:" Sajer finds himself in a Luftwaffe squadron then is marched down the road to become a soldier? He's in the "drivers' corps" and drive a "tank" but does not know how to drive a truck? Sajer's unit also never seems to have owned unit equipment -- they drive their trucks to the front, then are put on a train and, next thing we know, they are delivering supplies under fire using horse carts? These and so many other things tend to simply make the story fantastic.- Perhaps most telling is the general "feel" of the book -- it simply does not flow the way European wartime narratives flow. Particularly, there is a lot of dialogue or quoted material which is not usual; in addition, there are errors in the German and a lot of "curse words" which, interestingly, the Europeans do not use as we do. Sajer's continued bemoaning of his poor German ability is also ludicrous -- immersion into the German Army would have solved that problem in short order.Of course, none of this is conclusive, but the obvious caution is to treat The Forgotten Soldier with some healthy skepticism; there is a good chance that it is not what it is supposed to be. And even if it really is the true account of Sajer's experiences, either the author's memory is so poor and unreliable, or the translation so riddled with errors that, again, the information cannot be counted on. Either way, it amounts to much the same thing: The Forgotten Soldier is not a good source of information about the German Army.In a later issue of the newslettter (March 1992), Brown added the following:"The Forgotten Soldier goes to great lengths to talk about not being fed -- without exception, every German to whom I have spoken about the subject has affirmed that the logistics system, so long as the unit was not cut off or so far away as to be out of supply, continued to work very well right up until 8 May 1945. While they admit to shortages of specific items, they claim to have continued to receive supplies and were not reduced to foraging. (Another reason I don't trust that book.)"THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIER: Unmasked by Douglas E. Nash(This article was first published in the Summer 1997 issue of Army History the official publication of the U.S. Army's Center of Military History) Several years ago Edwin L. Kennedy in an article on these pages entitled "The Forgotten Soldier: Fiction or Fact?" advanced the thesis that The Forgotten Soldier billed as an autobiographical work by Guy Sajer was in fact fictional.1 The book describes Sajer's experiences as a volunteer in the German Army during World War II from the time of his enlistment in 1942 until the end of the war.2 Despite the book's popularity (to date it has been published in at least five languages) the article cautions readers to exercise care and not to place much stock in the book due to its "suspect" nature. Kennedy believes that Sajer's book is a "carefully written novel that cleverly disguises [itself] as a factual account." The implication is of course that as a fictional work The Forgotten Soldier's chief significance lies in its entertainment value rather than as a serious work which military professionals may use to enhance their knowledge of the art of war. This issue is worthy of discussion because The Forgotten Soldier has long been included in many professional development reading lists compiled by the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps. Frequently cited by military leaders and historians as an excellent example of a twentieth-century footsoldier's perspective of combat in its most elemental state The Forgotten Soldier has educated two generations of military readers in the reality of combat especially its human dimension--how combat affects the individual physically psychologically and mentally.3 Is The Forgotten Soldier fact or fiction? And if it is fiction why would Sajer offer it up as fact? This article argues that Guy Sajer's account of his personal experiences is true. The Forgotten Soldier is an excellent first-person account which allows the reader to experience vicariously the reality of combat and to draw lessons still applicable today. Not only do the contents of the book itself testify to its authenticity but as we shall see they should convince anyone that the book is not fiction. Unfortunately this claim cannot be made unequivocally as Kennedy's arguments demonstrate. Another careful examination of The Forgotten Soldier itself is required as well as inquiries about its author. At this point it is clear that the pronounced weight of the evidence indicates that the book is factual. As readers of his book know Guy Sajer was a 16-year-old French youth living in Wissembourg Alsace who volunteered in July 1942 to serve in the German Army. Motivated by a sense of adventure as well as admiration for the German soldiers who had conquered France in 1940 he initially sought to become a Stuka dive bomber crew member but failed and was sent to the army instead. After his initial training he was sent to the Russian front where because of his youth he first served in a transportation unit. In April 1943 he volunteered for service in the infantry as a member of the prestigious Grossdeutschland Division at the time one of Germany's most powerful mechanized infantry divisions. Sajer's life over the next two years can only be described as an especially intense experience. His account of these years gives his book its most enduring value. His description of the horror elation fear hope and sense of sacrifice he felt and encountered during the Eastern Front campaigns mark the book as a land-mark in autobiographical military history. To sense what the average German soldier experienced on the Russian battlefield Sajer's is one of the best works extant. His book concludes in 1945 as his unit surrendered and he was treated as a "doubtful case" by his Allied captors who were unsure whether to classify him as a German or as a French collaborator. Given the option of rehabilitating himself by joining the French Army after the war Sajer chose to bury his memories. No one was sympathetic to a former German "collaborator" in postwar France. He was and remains a "forgotten soldier" in the country of his birth. Few until recently have questioned the essential truthfulness of Sajer's account certainly not previous reviewers. The English language version of his book received an overwhelmingly positive response when it appeared twenty-five years ago. J. Glenn Gray wrote in the New York Times in 1971 that Sajer "succeeded uncommonly well in describing the details of action and feeling of suffering and terror that fell to his lot as a private .... Those who have never known war at first hand will be unable to grasp more than a fraction of the reality he describes. Even veterans of combat will conclude that what they experienced was child's play in comparison." 4 Another reviewer Waiter Clemons wrote the same year that the particulars of Sajer's narrative "like nails drive it home and hurt us in unexpected places." The story told with "youthful intensity " is "now and again set down with a clarity for which 'Tolstoyan' is not too strong a word." Clemons concludes that "We are reading the memoir of a man whose freshest deepest feelings were aroused by the ordeal of war who came out physically whole but never cared so much about anything again."5The success of the book in the United States Canada and England has led to numerous reprintings since it first appeared. The most recent American edition issued by Brasseys in cooperation with the Association of the U.S. Army and the Air ForceAssociation became available in 1990. Not until Kennedy's article in 1992 did anyone question the book's standing as a genuine autobiography. Indeed Kennedy's article remains to date the only serious attempt to argue otherwise. His article attempts a step-by-step demolition of the book's veracity by focusing on a variety of details which according to Kennedy prove overwhelmingly that "the book is a carefully written novel that cleverly disguises [sic] as a factual account." Additionally he asserts the book"provides a useful example of how analysis of historical works can prove or disprove lend credibility or discredit supposed 'history."'(g) This is stating the obvious indeed but it remains to be seen how well the "analysis" stands up to scrutiny. In broad strokes the essence of Kennedy's argument is this: Sajer used historical fact to flesh out the background of his "novel." But he wasn't careful enough. Several small details escaped his notice. Taken together these details expose the work as fiction. In other words "the book is accurate but not to a 'tee."' Kennedy builds his argument around five key discrepancies which appear in the book. These discrepancies involve which Luftwaffe training unit Sajer was briefly assigned to the location of his uniform's cuff title which unit he was assigned to in the famous Grossdeutschland Division the names of key individuals in the book and other unaccountable errors which by Kennedy's lights should have been common knowledge. In each instance the writer makes some interesting points but none of his objections is totally resilient to challenge and taken together they amount to little more than a straw man. Let's examine the discrepancies one by one: The Luftwaffe training unit. Kennedy doubts Sajer's claim that he was briefly assigned to Colonel Hans Rudel's Stuka training unit because during the summer of 1942 Rudel's unit (according to Rudel himself) was located near Graz in southern Austria quite a distance from Chemnitz where Sajer claimed to be. Simply because Sajer was not in Graz does not rule out the fact that he could have been with Rudel's training unit. To an impressionable 16-year-old anything having to do with Stukas probably would have made Sajer associate it with Rudel a well-known hero at the time. Rudel was to Stuka dive bombers what Michael Jordan is to basketball. According to Rudel in his book Stuka Pilot "crews are sent to me for further training from the Stuka schools after which they proceed to the front."7 Sajer states that he was assigned to the 26th section of the squadron commanded by Rudel failed to pass the Luftwaffe tests for Stuka crewman and was sent to the infantry. The fact that Sajer was in Chemnitz does not rule out his claim. Rudel's unit may well have had a training and evaluation element at or near Chemnitz. Georg Tessin's Verbaende und Truppen der deutsche Wehrmacht und Waffen SS the standard reference work on German Army and Air Force field and training organizations locates the 103rd Stuka training squadron near the town of Bilina (Biblis) in the modern-day Czech Republic about forty miles (sixty-five kilometers) from Chemnitz.8 Incidentally Tessin's study makes no mention of a unit based in Graz Austria at the time. Could it be that the once-famous and never-forgotten Rudel also let small details escape him? Was Sajer ever assigned to the Grossdeutschland Division? Kennedy suggests he was not because Sajer writes that he was assigned to the "Siebzehntes Bataillon" (17th Battalion) which Kennedy says never existed in that division's structure. He is right. There was no such "battalion " but there was a 17th Abteilung (Detachment) in each of that division's two infantry regiments.9 The term Abteilung describes a unit which may range in size from company to regimental strength but it was usually used for a unit of approximately battalion size or smaller. There were however even Armee Abteilungen (army detachments) which were corps-size units. In writing his book Sajer may have used the term roughly equivalent to Abteilung that being the term "Bataillon" (battalion) which would be most easily understood by his French readership. He might instead have used the term "Kompanie" (company) but did not. As in many other instances that Kennedy and I noted Sajer is distressingly vague about such finer points. Another possibility is that since Sajer had been a truck driver in a transportation unit before volunteering for infantry training and combat duty he initially could have been assigned to the 17th Kolonne (Column) of the division's Nachschubdienste (the German equivalent of a U.S. division support command). A Kolonne was another German battalion-size unit that has no direct English translation. Regardless the 17th was a rather high number indeed for an organic element of a regiment in the Wehrmacht be it an Abteilung Kompanie or Kolonne and only a few divisions the Grossdeutschland being one of them had regimental elements with numbers that went up this high. Most three-battalion German regiments only went up to the fourteenth Kompanie or Abteilung. The Grossdeutschland as befitting its elite status had until its reorganization in July 1944 four battalions per regiment with a total of eighteen Kompanien or Abteilungen. So at the very least Sajer could have belonged at one time or another to the 17th Abteilung or Kolonne. Sajer claims more convincingly that on the eve of the Kursk offensive he was assigned as a replacement to the 5th Company of one of the division's infantry regiments which certainly did exist.10 Kennedy fails to mention this in his analysis. Sajer's statement dovetails with the testimony of a former member of the Grossdeutschland Hans Joachim Schafmeister-Berckholtz. Schafmeister-BerckhoItz who served as a Leutnant (lieutenant)with 5th Company 1st Battalion Panzergrenadier-Regiment Grossdeutschland from 1940~44 stated in a letter to the author that he had only recently heard of Sajer's book and had been given a copy to read. However he wrote that "At the mention of the name Sajer my ears pricked up because we did have a Sajer in the 5th Company 1st Grenadier Battalion". Although Schafmeister-BerckhoItz added that he did not know this particular Sajer his statement of which company the man was assigned to does coincide with Sajer's account. At the very least there seems to have been one Grenadier named Sajer in the Grossdeutschland.11Although at this time there is no conclusive proof one way or the other that Guy Sajer was assigned to the Grossdeutschland the available evidence seems to show that Sajer knew what he was talking about. He relates to the reader in a very convincing manner his experiences in the battles of Kursk Kharkov Kiev Romania East Prussia and Memel. All of these battles and campaigns figured prominently in the battle history of the Grossdeutschland.Nothing short of his service record or a unit muster roll could prove the point beyond the shadow of a doubt. His permanent service record or Wehrstammbuch would have been located at the Grossdeutschland' s recruiting office and main personnel records office in a Berlin suburb.12 If this office and the records contained therein survived both the bombing of Berlin and the street fighting which led to the fall of the city the files would have been seized by the Soviets. If they exist at all they may be in the Russian Army's archives outside of Moscow. To date the Russians have been reluctant to allow Western historians access to this site. Sajer relates that he was assigned to a variety of ad hoc Kampfgruppen (battle groups) during two years of service with the Grossdeutschland. That the 17th "Battalion" was not one of them may arise more from the vicissitudes of memory and translation than to the faulty research of a cunning novelist. Moreover it's a much more plausible explanation. 3. Sajer's Commander. For Kennedy one of Sajer's most convincing errors is that the name of his commander in the book a certain Hauptmann (Captain) Wesreidau cannot be found on the personnel rolls of the division. In fact this is hardly convincing at all. That none of the existing muster rolls or records show a "Wesreidau" simply underscores the well-known fact that many wartime divisional records are incomplete. How else could one explain the numerous blank "faces and spaces" in the various unit organizational charts which are scattered throughout the text of the three-volume divisional history issued by its veterans' association?13 Officer casualties in the German Army of World War II were so high especially during the second half of the war that the names of many company commanders and staff officers may never be identified.14 This is even more likely in an elite unit such as the Grossdeutschland which suffered far greater officer casualties than other comparable units since it spent a greater proportion of time in combat.15 Kennedy also seems to have overlooked the possibility that Sajer might have changed his commander's name to spare "Wesreidau's" family further suffering since "Wesreidau" was killed by a land mine near the Romanian border in 1944. 4. Other minor errors. There are many other minor errors in the work as Kennedy points out. These relate to weapons' calibers vehicle designations units and nomenclatures. Many of these no doubt are due to the English edition's poor translation of military terminology. This is even more likely since Sajer was initially writing for a French and Belgian readership and would have felt compelled from time to time to substitute a French equivalent for a German military term. Further translating these terms into English could have compounded any slight errors. Sajer wrote his rough draft in pencil which may have led to further errors in the initial publication due to illegibility. Moreover Sajer spent a brief period in the French Army after the war and some French military terms would necessarily have crept into his soldier's lexicon. One must also consider that Sajer was sixteen years old when he enlisted; he was discharged as a prisoner of war three years later at the ripe old age of nineteen. Besides being little more than a child Sajer spoke German poorly and did not display a good eye for military details. Thrust into a different culture (German versus French) and sent far away from home it is a wonder that he was able to remember clearly anything about his experiences at all. The very fact that Sajer sometimes gets the small details wrong but is correct in the larger ones actually argues for the credibility of the writer. What could be more human more believable than forgetting such things or misremembering them twenty-two years beyond the events? What American draftee in the Vietnam conflict who experienced months of combat would get every single detail right almost a quarter of a century later? Very few I would submit and this would be true even for people with an eye for such things. Details of great significance to college-educated military historians professional soldiers and World War II buffs and collectors such as uniforms weapons accoutrements and vehicles seem to have been of little importance to Sajer hence his haphazard even lackadaisical description of military trivia. 5. Uniform insignia. Kennedy's most serious assertion is that Sajer misplaced the location of his uniform's insignia. Sajer did misstate where the unit cuff title was placed on his uniform. This point was also made to me in correspondence with the present head of the Grossdeutschland Division's veterans' association Major (Retired) Helmuth Spaeter.16 This accusation alone as far as Kennedy is concerned would seem to be enough to label the entire book as fiction. (In Kennedy's words "To cite the location [of the cuff title] on the wrong place is unimaginable...") It is true that as an elite unit of the German Army the Grossdeutschland Division was entitled to display a cuff title on the right sleeve of its members. This cuff title embroidered with the word "Grossdeutschland" in German Suetterlin script was as much an honored insignia at the time as a Ranger tab or Special Forces flash is today. The Waffen-SS divisions were also entitled to wear cuff titles which they wore on the left sleeve. Sajer recalls in his book that upon receipt of their cuff titles he and his comrades in arms were ordered to sew it onto their left sleeve a patent error since they should have been told to sew it onto their right sleeve. So Sajer gets this wrong but what does that prove? His forte was not military details but feelings moods and experiences. The placement of the cuff title was simply another detail that paled beside the horror and heroism he remembered all too well. Sajer may simply have forgotten on which side he wore his cuff title. This is not nearly as inconceivable as it may seem even though this sort of information is generally known among historians of the wartime German Army. How-ever as we have already seen the fact Sajer was often careless of such details is not all that uncommon among veterans. I have spoken with U.S. veterans of World War II who could not remember on which side their overseas service stripes were worn. My grandfather who jumped with the 82d Airborne Division at Sainte-Mere-Eglise on June 6 1944 could not remember whether he wore an 82d Airborne shoulder insignia or an unauthorized 508th Infantry shoulder patch. He was by no means senile; some people simply do not regard these details as important. To claim that such a mistake on Sajer's part invalidates his story is straining at a gnat and ignoring the elephant. On its face the assertion that The Forgotten Soldier is fiction will not stand although if so inclined one could niggle about the historical trivialities engendered by the discussion forever. Much more conclusive to the outcome of this discussion would be the voice of Guy Sajer himself. The discovery of the truth about the forgotten soldier depended upon whether he could be located and convinced to come forward and lay the fiction/nonfiction question to rest. This proved to be a daunting task. The first question was whether Sajer was still alive thirty years after his book first appeared in print. If so where was he? Answering these questions proved easy compared to getting him to reply. Forwarding a letter to Sajer through the current publisher Brasseys met with no response. Nor did an attempt to contact him through his original publisher Editions Robert Laffont.17 Finally after eighteen months and numerous dead ends Guy Sajer was located in France through the efforts of three European military historians I had dragooned into the Sajer search service. Through the good offices of one of these historians I have received background information on Guy Sajer and The Forgotten Soldier not previously available in English--and finally a response from Sajer himself. The information on Sajer which has recently emerged sheds further light on his identity and postwar occupation. A letter from a close friend of Guy Sajer Jacques Le Breton located the elusive "forgotten soldier" living in a rural village in France east of Paris under his nom de plume. The surname Sajer is the maiden name of his mother who had been born in Gotha Germany.18 In an interview in 1969 with his German publisher Sajer disclosed that his father a Frenchman from Auvergne in south-central France had moved his family from Wissembourg in Alsace to Lorient prior to the outbreak of the war. It was there in June 1940 when his family was stranded on the road as refugees that young Sajer first encountered the soldiers of the Wehrmacht who had only a few days before completed their conquest of France. In the interview Sajer related how in line with World War I propaganda he had feared that the Germans would cut off his hands. To his surprise instead of cutting off his hands the German Landsers handed him food and something to drink.19After his family had moved back to Alsace (once again incorporated into the German Reich) in 1941 Sajer was called up for labor service duty (Reichsarbeitsdienst) since as a half-German he was required to perform six to eight months of manual labor just as German youth were. While serving in labor service camps in Strasbourg and at Kehl right across the Rhine Sajer admitted envying his youthful German counterparts who seemed so self-confident and eager to serve their country. He remembers his own feelings of inadequacy watching them volunteering for combat. At the time combat seemed a great adventure but it was a privilege extended only to pure Germans. Finally in 1942 when German manpower shortages began to worsen and he turned sixteen Sajer was allowed to volunteer for military service. From July 1942 to May 1945 he served in a variety of German Army units on the Russian Front most notably the elite Grossdeutschland Division and took part in many of the critical defensive battles that eventually decided the fate of Germany in the East. Following a short period of captivity at the end of the war he served briefly in the French Army. Shortly thereafter he found employment as a graphic illustrator in Paris an indicator of the artistic temperament which manifests itself throughout his book. He married a French woman who bore them a son in 1954. In 1952 between bouts of asthma he began recording his memoirs as a means of overcoming the horrible memories which had haunted him since the war's end. By 1957 the single school notebook in which he had begun recording his experiences in pencil had grown to seventeen volumes. Although many times he wanted to destroy his work friends intervened and persuaded to allow a Belgian periodical to publish excerpts of his story in the early 1960s. The success of these excerpts attracted the notice of the French publishers Editions Robert Laffont. Laffont acquired the complete set of memoirs and published them in 1967 as Le Soldat Oublie' (The Forgotten Soldier). The book an overnight success in Gaullist France gained Sajer both accolades and approbation since his was the first published postwar memoir by a wartime German sympathizer which presented an unabashedly favorable account of the hated former enemy. The German-language version was published in 1969 as "Denn dieser Tage Qual war gross: Bericht eines vergessenen Soldaten" (These Days Were Full of Great Suffering: Report of a Forgotten Soldier). Its roaring success in Germany and Austria led to its being published in a number of other languages including the 1971 English-language version The Forgotten Soldier. Through German historians I finally got in contact with the reclusive M.Sajer.What led the search to the "forgotten soldier's" door was a letter from Jacques Le Breton a close friend of Sajer whom he has known for over a decade. M.Le Breton advanced a strong case for Sajer's veracity: "Nothing [in Sajer's book] proves that he didn't go through the events he describes ... on the contrary he describes without bragging the usual daily experiences of the life of a Landser on the front lines. A fraud would have claimed to have destroyed more tanks by his own hand and would have been more boastful about it ... Sajer does nothing of the kind. On the contrary Sajer remains modest sensible and plausible. He doesn't claim any Iron Crosses or great deeds of heroism." (as many other French volunteers did) 20According to this close associate Sajer writes military history not with a big "H" but as a testimony from a humble soldier who served on the Russian Front. Sajer's friend claims to trust his veracity implicitly though he admits that Sajer possesses a dark pessimistic personality. Le Breton says Sajer prefers to live with the memories of his wartime service while holding the current world in contempt. Finally able to question Sajer through German historian Klaus Schulz I posed to him all the questions Kennedy had raised: the matter of his cuff title unit designations company commander and so on.21 Sajer replied almost immediately squelching any further speculation about his book's authenticity. In his response to Herr Schulz Sajer explained why he wrote the book in the first place in words both illuminating and moving: "I succeeded in having this horror story from the Second World War published in a country hostile to me [France] against my own best interests and with all of the problems in describing the well-merited compassion I still feel for my German soldier comrades ... all of them. I conveyed the difficulty of these moments ... the anguish and the horror. I [publicly] acknowledged the courage and good will of German Landsers in a climate where one was not permitted to talk about them. I depicted their faithfulness and self-sacrifice ... I moved the hearts of millions. I have proudly glorified the honor of all German soldiers at a time in history when they were slandered and reviled. In my opinion this was my duty and I asked for nothing in return."22His book then is a memorial to his comrades in arms both living and in their hundreds dead. In regards to questions about cuff titles commanders and so forth Sajer answered with ill-disguised contempt: "You ask me questions of chronology situations dates and unimportant details. Historians and archivists (Americans as well as Canadians) have harassed me for a long time with their rude questions. All of this is unimportant. Other authors and high-ranking officers could respond to your questions better than I. I never had the intention to write a historical reference book; rather I wrote about my innermost emotional experiences as they relate to the events that happened to me in the context of the Second World War."23Thus what could be fairly adduced from a close reading of the book itself as I have shown is now confirmed by the author himself. Details did not cloud the author's vision as it did some readers'. What is more important Sajer writes is the favorable impact that his book has had and the enormously favorable public acceptance it has received. To date according to Sajer it has been published in sixteen languages and has been read by millions. Sajer cites the thousands of letters from readers who have been moved by his book in the thirty years since it was first published. Concluding on a sad poignant and yet majestic note the seventy-year-old Sajer writes that "I am now an old man tired sick and disgusted with human incoherence; I would like nothing more than to be left in peace .... I give you my book as an homage to the German people whatever their generation."24To my surprise I finally received a response from Guy Sajer directly. In his letter Sajer echoed the same sentiments that he had expressed in his letter to Klaus Schulz several months prior. Asked to explain inconsistencies in his book Sajer replied: "Apart from the emotions I brought out I confess my numerous mistakes.That is why I would like that this book may not be used under no circumstances as a strategic or chronological reference. Except for some clear landmarks we didn't know exactly where we were (I am speaking about Russia). We had only code numbers for mail which meant nothing to us .... In the black Russia of winter I would not have been surprised if someone had told me that we were in China." 25At this point is there still room to argue that this man is a fraud? That his book is a clever concoction? That it does not as thousands of readers attest bare the soul of a single human tossed into the pitiless cauldron of war? In the words of M. LeBreton "A serious criticism of Sajer's feats of arms coming from a genuine veteran of the Grossdeutschland Division could in a pinch be taken seriously but coming from an American and especially a young one (who did not take part in that war) ..does not seem to merit being taken into account."26What do German veterans think of Sajer's book? One German veteran of the war Herr Hans Wegener who fought in Russia from 1941 to 1943 as a noncommissioned officer in the 39th Infantry Division had this to say: "I read Sajer's book in the early '70s...[it] depicted deeds and events ...corresponding even with the minute tactical and great strategic events of the period described in the book. The language is of overpowering simplicity yet extremely smooth and impressive. The train of thought and reflections correspond to those of a young soldier who is tossed into the maelstrom of the hard suffering and hopeless retreat battles of the Eastern Front. I can verify that the Landsers thought this way acted this way and suffered and died in the pitiless retreat actions on the gigantic expanses of Russia which in itself gave you a feeling of loneliness and loss if faced ... as an individual human being. Even small inconsistencies cannot change my belief because the overall impact of the manuscript the inherent balance and truthfulness are for me the determining criteria [as to its authenticity]. I am quite sure that Guy Sajer did not tell a fictitious story. I look at this book as a tremendous monument for the great and singular achievements of the German soldier during a hopeless situation." 27This is a powerful endorsement indeed. By the way Wegener has never met Sajer yet still feels strongly about the book more than twenty years later. Perhaps even more persuasive testimony comes from a member of the vaunted Grossdeutschland Division itself Herr Helmuth Spaeter a former major who commanded the division's reconnaissance Abteilung during the war and served for a period as the head of the division's veterans' association. Quoted by Kennedy as one of Sajer's most vociferous critics Spaeter was absolutely convinced until recently that The Forgotten Soldier was fiction. However when I provided him a copy of Sajer's letter to examine he was evidently moved enough to completely reexamine his earlier position."I was deeply impressed by his statements in his letter " he told me. "I have underestimated Herr Sajer and my respect for him has greatly increased. I am myself more of a writer who deals with facts and specifics-much less like one who writes in a literary way. For this reason I was very skeptical towards the content of his book. I now have greater regard for Herr Sajer and I will read his book once again. Thank God I still have a copy of it here."28Apparently here is one skeptic who is willing to abandon his preconceptions and look at Sajer's book from a new perspective and a well-known member of the Grossdeutschland Division who fought in the same battles as Sajer did no less. Spaeter's reversal suggests a course of action that might wisely be taken by other skeptics far less personally engaged in these matters. Helmuth SpaeterTo date no existing service record for Guy Sajer that substantiates his service in the Grossdeutschland Division has been found but that is not unusual. Hundreds of thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers' personnel files perhaps millions were destroyed either during or after the war. Only incomplete personnel rosters exist from the Grossdeutschland Division. Trying to track down the identity of one man in an organization that with its offshoots had over 100 000 men pass through its ranks from 1939 to 1945 is a nearly impossible task.29 But one doesn't need this kind of proof to reach a conclusion about Sajer's identity. Both his personal testimony and the overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence point to the inescapable conclusion that his book is genuine.Until solid evidence that shows otherwise emerges an unlikely event in any case the words of Guy Sajer himself as well as numerous other witnesses all point to the conclusion that Guy Sajer is genuine and The Forgotten Soldier is autobiography: fact not fiction. I would like to gratefully acknowledge the substantial assistance I have received on the research and writing of this article from my friend Dr. Thomas E. Schott of Brandon Florida. The help extended to me by Dr. Schott a professional historian went way beyond the call of duty or even the demands of friendship. NOTES. (The Forgotten Soldier: Unmasked by Douglas E.Nash "ARMY HISTORY" Summer 1997)Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr., "The Forgotten Soldier: Fiction or Fact?" Army History, no. 22 (Spring 1992): 23-25. Guy Sajer, The Forgotten Soldier (New York: Harper and Row, 1971). See, for example, Col. Harold W. Nelson, "From My Bookshelf," Military Review 70, no. 3 (March 1990): 90, and Maj. Gen. Michael F. Spigelmire, "From My Bookshelf, " Military Review 70, no. 5 (May 1990): 89-90. J. Glenn Gray, "The Forgotten Soldier," The New York Times Book Review, 7 Feb 71, p. 4. (Gray, then a philosophy professor at Colorado College, was the author of The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle [New York: Harcourt. Brace. 1959]. Sajer 's book has more recently been used for historical documentation by the academic historian Stephen G. Fritz in Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II [Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, I995].-- Ed.) Waiter Clemons, "A Young Man's Marriage to War," The New York Times, 18 Jan 71. See also Maj. Robert C. Clarke, "The Forgotten Soldier," Military Review 51, no. 6 (June 1971): 106. Kennedy, "Fiction or Fact?" p. 23. Col. Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Stuka Pilot (Costa Mesa, Calif.: The Noontide Press, 1987), p. 53. Georg Tessin, Verbaende und Truppen der deutsche Wehrmacht und Waffen SS in Zweiten Weltkrieg, 17 vols. (Osnabriick, Germany: Biblio Verlag, 1979), I: 353. Helmuth Spaeter, ed, Die Geschichte des Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland, 3 vols. (Duisburg, Germany: Selbstverlag Hilfswerk, 1958), 1: 404. Sajer, The Forgotten Soldier, p. 207. Ltr, Hans-Joachim Schafmeister-BerckhoItz to Douglas E. Nash, 11 Mar 7, in author's possession. Ibid. For an example of this, refer to Spaeter, Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland, 1: 541~4. For further examples of this, refer to Rudolf Lehmann, Die Leibstandarte: Die I. SS Panzer Division, 4 vols. (Osnabrueck, Germany: Munin Verlag, 1982), or Martin Jenner, Die 21 6./2 72. Niedersaechsischelnfanterie-Division, 1939-I945(Bad Nauheim, Germany: Podzun Verlag, 1964), which both frequently depict organizational charts with names missing. After the war, many survivors forgot the names of men with whom they had served with only briefly. Omer Bartov, Hitler 's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 5~-57, states that officer casualties for the Grossdeutschland Division over the course of the war totaled approximately 1,500 men, more than five times the number of officers authorized. Ltr, Spaeter to Nash, 10 Sep 96, in the author's possession. Incidentally, Spaeter claims to have never met nor heard of Edwin L. Kennedy. Ltr, Editor, Editions Robert Laffont to Nash, 15 Feb 96, in author's possession. Ltr, Jacques Le Breton to Studiendirektor Friedrich Pohl, 8 Oct 96, copy in author's possession. "Zur Person des Autors," in Sajer. Denn dieser Tage Qual war gross: Bericht eines vergessenen Soldaten (Munich: Verlag Fritz Molden, 1969), pp. 6-7. Ltr, Le Breton to Pohl, 8 Oct 96. Ltr, Klaus Schulz to Sajer, 4 Oct 96, copy in author's possession. Ltr, Sajer to Schulz, 13 Oct 96, in author's possession. Ibid. Ibid. Ltr, Sajer to Nash, 16 Jan 97, in author's possession. Ltr, Le Breton to Pohl, 8 Oct 96. Ltr, Hans Wegener to Schulz, 2 Oct 96, copy in author's possession. Ltr, Spaeter to Nash, 24 Nov 96, in author's possession. Ltr, Spaeter to Nash, 6 Nov 96, in author's possession. Spaeter's three-volume history shows that the Grossdeutschland suffered approximately 56,678 casualties from June 1940, when it first saw battle as a regiment, to May 1945, when it ended the war as a Panzergrenadier division. Comparing these losses against its authorized strength in 1943 of approximately 18,000 men shows that the division suffered some 300 percent casualties in five years of its existence. The Forgotten Soldier Revisitedby Douglas E. NashIn a letter to the Editor of "Military Review", printed in the March-April 1997 edition, Nash added the following:I recently established contact with Guy Sajer, the author of the well-known autobiography The Forgotten Soldier, a military literature classic that describes the author's experiences fighting for Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. With regard to a previous letter to the editor by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin L. Kennedy, published in your March-April 1996 issue--"Military Professionals do not Use Fiction as Fact"--I would like to set the record straight. After 18 months of research, I was able to locate Sajer. He lives in a rural village approximately 50 miles east of Paris under his nom de plume. Although not his real last name (Guy is his real first name), Sajer is his mother's maiden name. She was born in Gotha, Germany. He enlisted in the German Wehrmacht in 1942 under a German name to avoid the ridicule he would have received had he used his real French last name. To verify his book's authenticity, I asked Sajer a series of questions that had been raised by Kennedy in a Spring 1992 Army History article titled "The Forgotten Soldier: Fiction or Fact?" Sajer quickly responded to my query. Although he admitted that minor details such as uniform insignia, weapons nomenclatures and other such things were not important to him, he stands by what he wrote 30 years ago. He insists that he did not set out to write the definitive history of World War II, only what he had personally experienced while fighting in the elite Grossdeutschland division on the Russian Front. He admitted that he could have erred in describing locations and chronology, but that he wrote things as he remembered them. In his letter to me, he stated that "In the darkness of a night in Russia, you could have told me that we were in China, and I would have believed you." Further details on Sajer's wartime and postwar experiences are described in an upcoming article I wrote for Army History, scheduled for publication in their Fall 1997 issue. Kennedy's own key witness, former Grossdeutschland Division historian and reconnaissance squadron commander Major (Ret.) Helmuth Spaeter, who claimed that The Forgotten Soldier was fictional, has now changed his thinking. After reading several letters from Sajer, Spaeter admitted in a letter to me that he now believes that Sajer could have been a member of that famous division after all. Spaeter wrote about his new-found admiration for Guy Sajer and planned to reread his own German copy of the book, titled Denn diese Tage Quall war gross: Erinnerung eines vergessenen Soldaten (These Days Were Full of Great Suffering--Memories of a Forgotten Soldier, (Munich: Verlag Fritz Molden, 1969) in order to examine it from a more unbiased point of view. Hopefully, Sajer's efforts to clear his name will reestablish the prominence his book has earned on many a soldier's bookshelf. Readers can rest assured that when they pick up a copy of The Forgotten Soldier, they will be reading one of the best and most realistic books ever written from an infantryman's perspective, regardless of which side he fought for in World War II. Lieutenant Colonel Douglas E. Nash, USA, US Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida The Forgotten Soldier - Authentic Fiction by a Real `Guy'by Edward L. Kennedy, Jr.In a letter to the Editor of "Military Review", printed in the July-August 1997 edition, the author to which Nash refers above, had the following to say:In response to Lieutenant Colonel Doug Nash's letter in the March-April 1997 Military Review, I wish to offer a few short observations, then let the matter rest. By seeking primary-source information, this time, instead of relying solely on secondary-source library materials, I believe Nash has presented a more effective defense of "Guy Sajer," but not for the authenticity of The Forgotten Soldier. I am still skeptical. Dr. Richard Swain, author of Lucky War: Third Army in Desert Storm, states, "It is authentic bad history? But it's O.K. because Sajer . . . was a real guy?" (No pun intended.) The real issue Nash obscures by his continual fixation on whether or not The Forgotten Soldier is a factual account of a German soldier's experiences on the Eastern Front is the one that motivated my earlier critique-the publisher's dust-jacket claims that The Forgotten Soldier is an authentic autobiography. My main point continues to be that it is not. Regardless of how autobiographical the experiences the author relates, he did not create a true autobiography. World War II historians cannot (or should not) cite passages from the book as an official record of the author's unit as they might from General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Crusade in Europe or Field Marshal William J. Slim's Defeat Into Victory to document the combat actions of each of these commander's respective units while researching and writing histories of the European Theater or Burma. Sajer wrote, as many soldiers have done, what in literary terms is known as a roman a clef - a novel based on real persons and events. The roman a clef is a powerful literary form that permits the author the literary license to create characters for dramatic effect, move events forward or backward in time, assign the experiences of several individuals to one central character, or disguise the identify of the novel's principal character by using an assumed name. All of these devices are used in The Forgotten Soldier. Thus, the book is similar to Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer or Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Although these deal with World War I, both novels are powerful evocations of their respective authors' experiences in the cauldron of combat. Both novels contain incidents and events, written in prose narrative, that trace their central characters' experiences, many of which are based on fact. For example, Sassoon actually participated in the Battle of the Somme as a British subaltern. Therefore, these novels are authentic. However, what they are not are autobiographies, regardless of how authentic they may seem and despite their authors' participation in historical events that provided them with inspiration. Nash's correspondence with Grossdeutschland veteran Hans-Joachim Schafmeister-Berckholtz is a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Interestingly, Schafmeister-Berckholtz has a phenomenal memory. Nash writes that Schafmeister-Berckholtz now recalls the famous "Sajer" -the same "Sajer" who uses the nom de plume "Guy Sajer" to protect his anonymity. Schafmeister-Berckholtz says to Nash, "At the mention of the name Sajer, my ears pricked up, because we did have a Sajer in the 5th Company, 1st Grenadier Battalion." Wait a minute. Doesn't "Sajer" himself say that the name "Guy Sajer" was not his name but only a cover? I think attorneys consider this "coaching" the witness. In other words, Schafmeister-Berckholtz now remembers the famous "Sajer" as a member of his unit when he is prompted with the name. Nash's current research is more scholarly than his original work, but some of the most important pieces, the analyses, are still flawed. It's the quantity of errors in toto and the lack of corroborating specific information that make the book suspicious. Any good writer with access to open-source archival material on the Grossdeutschland could do what "Sajer" has done-match many real dates, places and units to known historical events. Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels is my favorite example of this. Nash's interpretation of my articles seems to indicate that I think everything in The Forgotten Soldier is wrong. Not so. The use of John Le Breton's weak argumentum ad hominem adds nothing of substance to Nash's thesis. There are some things that are right. But enough blatant misrepresentations and incorrect information occur to cause me serious concern for its use as a legitimate historical reference. I have never denied that it is interesting and good reading. "Sajer's" refusal to answer my correspondence only makes my suspicions more acute. Somehow Nash has broken the code in corresponding with "Sajer." However, I did not approach "Sajer" in the same corroborative manner as Nash. I simply wanted honest answers to questions that might prove the veracity of The Forgotten Soldier, none of which would have violated "Sajer's" privacy or revealed his true identity. "Sajer's" and the various publishers' lack of response to my inquiries sends a fairly negative and unequivocal message. Nash's efforts in researching "Sajer" are commendable. However, I would caution him to not let his significant emotional involvement cloud his reason as a professional soldier. I sincerely hope that "Sajer" is a real German Army veteran because I like the story he tells. I wish there weren't so many errors in the book that make it implausible as a historical autobiography. However, I will not throw out my first edition, hardback version of the book because of its faults. My challenge of The Forgotten Soldier is for professional soldiers. They should question supposed autobiographies or histories with honest skepticism and curiosity until such are proven authentic. The problem with The Forgotten Soldier is that we cannot be certain it is not fiction. The Forgotten Soldier is great literature and has been recognized as such, but it is neither an official history of the Grossdeutschland division nor an autobiography of "Guy Sajer." Nash's arguments are getting better, but they are still flawed. My friend, the author and former Grossdeutschland officer, Helmuth Spaeter, has not abandoned his position despite what Nash implies. Therefore, long live Grossdeutschland veteran "Guy Sajer" and his outstanding novel. Lieutenant Colonel Edward L. Kennedy Jr., USA, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (The debate continued in the Jan-Feb 1998 issue) Sajer - A Real "Guy"Regarding Retired Lieutenant Colonel Ed Kennedy's response (in the July-August 1997 issue) to my letter in the March-April 1997 issue of Military Review, I would like to offer one more perspective, then let the debate rest concerning the authenticity of Guy Sajer's book The Forgotten Soldier. Kennedy holds to his opinion that the book is a roman ?clef, that Sajer is an assumed name and that the book is beneath the military professional's dignity - not worthy of time and effort unless as an interesting diversion from normal military studies. Webster's New New World Dictionary defines roman ?clef as "a novel in which real persons appear under fictitious names." One could argue little details forever, but Sajer's own testimony is more convincing. In a letter to an associate, Sajer said his book records his actual World War II experiences while fighting on the Russian Front in the ranks of the Grossdeutschland division. While admitting to many errors in the chronology of events, weapon calibers and geography, he says he wrote about "my innermost emotional experiences as they related to me in the context of the Second World War." What is of importance to him is his description of an infantryman's life on the Russian Front - not strategy and tactics. To some, the distinction between a roman ?clef and an autobiography may be a fine line. My point is this: Sajer wrote about his experiences -not those of a fictitious person. Sajer never claimed to have written a definitive history of the war - only what he experienced. Guy Sajer is not a nom de plume -never has been. His last name was originally Monminoux, but because he wanted to pass as a German, he enlisted under his mother's maiden name -Sajer. He has been using the name of Guy Sajer at least since 1952, probably earlier. He signs his artwork Guy Sajer and receives his mail (and probably his royalty checks) as Guy Sajer. Why should soldiers read books such as Sajer's? Simply, to read about what battle is like, what to expect and to find out just how bad it can get. Sure, there are many other more comprehensive books about the Russian Front than Sajer's in terms of troop movements, strategy and such. But, if a reader wants to know what it was like to be a Russian Front soldier, to be afraid, to fight alongside a band of brothers, then Sajer's is still one of the finest accounts and deserves to remain on professional military reading lists. Lieutenant Colonel Douglas E. Nash, USA, US Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida

看谁命更长

我想 ,被这本书吸引的人,都会有同感.比如说瑕疵,翻译者提供的信息太少了,好歹也应该写出作者的外文名阿.任何信息都没有,想在google上进一步了解都不行,无从得知作者更详细的背景和后续,甚至一度对可信性产生怀疑.比如想到我们自己的战争. .我也想知道抗日游击队是不是采用了苏联游击队一样的手法.但我知道关于这点我永远也不会找到答案. 比如还想看看苏联士兵的回忆录,但想想70年代前能出来的苏联回忆录,都不那么全面客观的;比较真实的,肯定也出不来.;等到柳暗花明之时,亲历者都没几个了.这是一个遗憾.甚至是侵略中国的日本士兵的回忆录.想看到他们的回忆录应该比苏联的更难了.游击队或单靠小米加步枪对日本侵略部队的牵制作用太被动了. 还想看到越南战士的回忆录.时间能还原真相.看谁耗得起,命更长阿.另,有一本<狙击手>,也同样是东线战场普通士兵的回忆录.

地狱里的天才--2012年我最震撼的图书

看着网上搜索到萨杰在集中营的照片，满脸是羞涩和稚气的表情，这就是曾经冷酷无情的战场杀手，九死一生的战士。战后的作者成了法国的漫画家，看着充满激情和张力的漫画，我终于醒悟了，萨杰，就是落入地狱的天才，只有与生俱来的文学感悟力和观察力，才能写就如此了不起的书籍！有人质疑作品的真实，我想说：如果不是亲临其境，绝对不可能描述的如此栩栩如生。它为什么会如此动人心弦？比较（二战狙击手）之类的士兵回忆录，可以发现士兵萨杰在17-20岁人记忆力最好的时期，却鬼使神差进入了人类无法接受的地狱，强烈的反差和天生的现场观察力，使读者有一种快速和恐怖的代入感，仿佛站在作者身边，亲眼目睹发生的一切。朴实但优美的文字，处处可见的细节和感情，使它超越了同期德国兵呆板和生硬的日记体回忆录，超越了你来我往的厮杀和血腥肉块的堆积，上升到人类智慧的高度，带给人更深的思考！记忆里能翻来覆去阅读的书，寥寥无几，本书即为之一。

一个人被卷入战争的普通士兵的摧残人类承受极限的体验回忆录

//tips豆瓣评分很高，从网易云阅读的推送中看到的“士兵系列”中的一本。第一人称视角，//挑战人类承受极限随处可见的挑战人类承受极限--吃（臭的、冷的、一点点的可怜的食物）、穿（破破烂烂的、无法抵零下三四十度的酷寒）、住（战壕、破木屋、地下室、经常浑身湿冷）、睡眠（很少看到能睡个完整觉，而且担惊受怕睡不踏实，还要在酷寒中站岗）、各种死亡的威胁无处不在（冲锋死掉、被大炮炸死、被飞机扫死、冻死、累死、饿死、病死、承受不了这一切而自杀、被军法处死、还有其它各种被杀死）、听（战败的、失望、沮丧的消息，枪炮声）、看（目所能及的地方，死亡、尸体、炸乱的内脏、残肢、零碎的尸体。。。一望无际的让人发狂的广阔的泥泞的寒冷的草原）、闻（死亡的味道、腐烂的尸体、当达到一定程度人数死亡时的特有气息、臭的食物）。。。。。。//压垮苏联的无穷无尽的资源和士兵、澎湃的战斗意志、还要恶劣的气候---都要把人的意志压垮，//非常多的第一人称视角的体验性描述萨杰对种种体验的细致描述--身体的（不敢看自己的被冻坏的身体）、心理的（在苏联的仿佛无穷无尽的炮击中，让人抓狂的）。最低程度的生存需求都不敢渴求，而且还时时刻刻的挑战生存的底线。没有更多宏大的叙事，只有作为一个生命体在那样的时空里的所能做出的必然的反应--逃不开避不掉、无穷无尽的折磨威胁下所能做出的各种反应---失望、抱怨、发泄、害怕、麻木、渴望。。。在种种的几乎一切能想得到的最恐怖的阴暗笼罩下，还有弥足珍贵的、珍视的、明亮的、让人活下去的希望的--战友情谊、放在心底里的葆拉、那个法国小村庄。但在那个时空下，最最珍贵的不是远处的，而是就在自己身边的战友！---这可能是最最重要的精神支柱了，他们还活着，还在向自己微笑，一个眼神，彼此支撑。。。这种体验很多是碎片化的、不完整的、凌乱的从萨杰的种种珍贵的体验性的描述里，仿佛身临其境般的重新带回到那个时空里，难得的是萨杰整篇都平稳的描述。//作战：除了和人作战，还要和自然界作战辽阔的苏联草原，漫长的战线，漫长的冬季严寒，恶劣的气候。//侵略路线沿着侵占路线的逐步撤退（基辅、明斯克、斯大林格勒）。//运输补给苏联辽阔的疆土，恶劣的自然气候--是一道天然的屏障，在这里闪电战不能持续下去。也极大的限制了补给运输。战争就是消耗--粮食、弹药、士兵、装备。最后德国人的补给装备弹药越来越匮乏。萨杰描述了自己的吃穿和装备--战争后期，装备的质量和数量都下降。兵源也耗尽--人民冲锋队和党卫军的10几岁的年轻人就是证明。德国国力已经耗尽，国内人民实行配给制来供给前线也不能弥补战争带来的巨大消耗。很巧合的是，萨杰先当运输兵，后当前线战士，能看到运输补给和前线作战两方面的内容。正好可以搭配起来看--后方补给是前线作战的重要保障，而德军在辽阔苏联的深入极度拉长了补给线，要保障补给线的安全通畅稳定的难度几乎达到了不可能完成的任务。最后看起来，苏联的辽阔的领土、恶劣的气候、还有众多的人口--这些都是苏联的优势，这也是大国的优势--疆域辽阔，人口众多。德国的优势--武器装备、士兵都很精良，战术也好，国力经济也比苏联好，各方面都占优，看起来没有理由希特勒不有战胜苏联的自信。但是，接下来就和日本人同样的结局，在N个月灭掉一个国家的口号下，踏入了战争的泥潭。感觉，德国和日本的胃口实在太大了，太自信了，也有点太狂妄了。//一个人被卷入战争的人能做什么？在战后，写回忆录的萨杰也放弃了过多的对这场战争的思考，而是忠实的描述，告诉在那个时空发生在自己身上的一个普通士兵的种种，少了许多的憎恨，多了些平静。今天，能感受到战争对人类的极度摧残，是人自己所创造的地狱，就知道在战争中的人对于和平中的一切是怎样看待的--一张温暖干燥的床、一口热饭、一个好觉、一个平静的时刻、一个疲倦后的休息。。。

战争的冷酷

这是我读过的一本最棒的关于战争的书，内容十分的写实，读起来让人身临其境。当时我读这本书时在炎炎夏日，但是书中大量关于冬季的描写让我也觉得脊背发凉，几乎读不下去。作者写的这本书应该算是回忆录，而不是根据自己经历改编的小说。从全书的第一页，就把人代入到作者的视角，并开始跟着作者走上战场。他们的生活在眼前一点点的展开。对于最底层的士兵来说，战争总是最残酷的，他们要面对最前线的子弹，离死亡最近，要承受最恶劣的气候，高层的错误一般由最底层的士兵付出最为直接的代价。他们也都是人，也有七情六欲，面对可能到来的死亡也会恐惧，承受严寒也会寒冷。但是对于决策者，他们却只是一个数字，一个冷冰冰的没有感情的数字，可以任意的使用，也可以随时抛弃。战争会磨掉人世间的美好，将人的丑陋的一面放大出来。绝非是想象之中的充满浪漫主义的事情，从这本书中我能读到士兵对于死亡的恐惧，对于生存的渴望，对于战争的厌恶，对于自己命运的担忧。不得不说，作者的运气十分的好，好几次都是死里逃生，但更多的人死没有这种运气的。全书之中最温情的就是和霍尔斯的友情了，一直持续全书将要结束。全书很是沉重，残酷，希望还有勇气再读第二遍。希望世界上永远不会再有战争。

真实，不一样的视角

关于德军小人物的回忆录一般的东线多，西线很少，至少目前我没见过，确实，东线真的很惨烈，这一点在书中就已经体现了，没玩没了的撤退，苏联的追击，坦克海和飞机的追击，德国人几乎一直在撤退，书中的关于苏联的冬季也有描写，果然冬将军的威力名不虚传，这一本书，题材，内容，以及作者法籍德军士兵的特殊身份，战斗在惨烈的东线，每次都大难不死，，最后活着向英国人投降了，等，完全可以一读，不过翻译还有一些错误，比如德军的7.7mm机枪，77mm的高射炮，这些都是军事常识，7.7和77都是英国人的口径，德军的MG42机枪口径为7.92mm，高射炮为88mm高射炮，这些低级错误还是不应该的

给自己一个读下去的理由——《被遗忘的士兵》读书笔记（一）

我没有一边看书一边听音乐的习惯，但是，看这部战争回忆录的时候，我不得不强迫我听一些平静的音乐，经常是整个文件夹的佛歌。晚上做梦，经常能够复原那些场景，当然，主角成了我。有时候，我真的想把这些书压在柜子的最底处。但是，马上就有另一种声音在我耳边响起。如果仅仅学习战争理论，一旦条件成熟，我肯定会变成一个彻头彻尾的战争机器、杀人魔头。我当然不希望这样，为了将来的我能够保持理性、人性，现在我还是忍受一些生理和心理的煎熬吧。丘吉尔说过，历史是胜利者写成的。对于战争的失败者，历史通常只会忠实的接受和记录胜利者加给失败者的一切罪责和指控。如果我们还是以一种简单的思维模式对待任何战争的失败者，而不去反思那些导致人类自相残杀的根源，那类似的悲剧一定还会在人类未来的历史中再次重演。这绝不是危言耸听，最鲜活的例子就是一战后的德国。战败之后接受了战胜国的严厉惩罚——巨额的赔款和八分之一国土的割让，这些都成了德意志民族复兴主义狂热势力的温床。窘迫的生活和复仇的烈火成了一战后普通德国人日常生活的主旋律。随着国家实力的强盛，在复仇和雪耻的旗帜下，德国终于发动了闪击波兰，随机对英、对法宣战，单方面撕毁苏德互不侵犯条约，酿成人类近代第二次悲剧。孙子兵法写：兵者，诡道也。《国际法》规定“背信弃义”是一项罪状。“诡道”和“背信弃义”有什么区别吗？如何做到“诡道”，是军事理论研究的范畴。如何避免“背信弃义”，却不仅仅是《国际法》能够约束的。仰望星空，脚踏实地；胸怀祖国，放眼世界。路，还很长。

真实、残酷的战争；杯具的士兵

这里面的战争才是真实的，火车上拉的俄国俘虏把尸体堆起来挡风，坦克履带上的肢体，内脏，都血淋淋的说明了战争是什么样的。根本就不是地道战，地雷战那样，好像玩着就赢了。这作者也够杯具的，要是在西线还好嘛，打得挺顺的，在东线杯具，打一次输一次，莫斯科，斯大林格勒，杯具。。。

书及书中的问题！

“我们现在既想哭泣逃走，又想大叫着冲出去面对临近我们的危胁”。趴在泥地里的士兵面对敌人坦克洪流的这种感觉，真是穿越了时空传达到了下一个世纪的读者心里。很难想像，如果没有日记或当时记载的支持，光靠回忆，能把过去发生的像好莱坞大片似的场景送到读者眼前。除非作者善于修饰和编造。仔细看这本回忆录，前半段讲当运输兵和前期参加别哥尔罗德战役时的叙述尤其详细，给人一种非常强的现场感。而后来的生活与战斗的描述则相对比较笼统。这难道是说读者在早期还能写写画画，后来一路溃退就疏于记录，对后半部分的写作主要靠回忆来完成？不可否认作者写作水平很高，对战争，对战争中的人、人性常常能用非常精当的语句表达出来。这也得感谢该书的翻译者杨先生。杨先生翻译水平不低，对语言文字的运用非常娴熟，文章读起来自然流畅。但是，杨先生似乎对进一步提升书的品质兴趣不大。虽然我读的是修订版，但修订版还是有诸多的不尽人意之处。比如1、把防炮洞称作中国人特有的说法“猫耳洞”。P170有“太监”一词，又一个中国专用词用在了西方人的书里。用“阉人”不行吗？用明显的中国特有的土语去译外国文字，最难让人接受。2、根据前言的介绍：作者的父亲是法国人，母亲是德国人。在开篇“作者自序”中写道：“我的父母都是乡下人，但他们俩却是来自两个完全不同背景的人——相隔遥远的地域，迥民的文化，被祟山所隔绝的边界，拥有同样的情感却难以用共同的言语来表达”。读到最后这句“拥有同样的情感却难以用共同的言语来表达”时，我当即对本书有种崩溃感，以为又买了本地摊翻译水平的地摊书籍。诸如此类还有第一页“前言"的注释，关于卢德尔的“空军的头号王牌”的说法似乎有些问题。卢德尔这个王牌应是对地攻击中得来的吧。空战第一王牌应是埃里希·哈特曼。此外还有一个死在北非的为西方国家所承认的空战王牌。一本书开始就给人留下不好的印像真可怕。好在本书能在后面渐渐扳回印像分。3、P77页：“我们遇见的装甲部队是古德里安将军所统率的······”。作者此时写的是1942年底到1943年年初的事，古将军是哪年被解除装甲部队领导职务的？就算原文如此，作个注释也是好的。4、一个我没弄懂的关于萨杰他们这个战斗小组人员的问题：P131，“我们从C口一个紧跟一个······军士长走在队列的最前面。紧跟着的是我们组的掷弹兵格朗帕斯，他看起来有22岁左右；接着就是霍尔斯，他刚刚过了自己的18岁生日；接下来是林德伯格，还不满17岁；林德伯格后面是一个名字特别难念的捷克人，我们叫他苏台德人，今年19岁；苏台德人后面是我；紧跟在我后面的是那个老兵和他的副手——另一个被吓坏了的男孩；最后面是掷弹兵克劳斯，他看起来已经快30岁了。我们就按着顺序出发了······”。这段说了9个人，前文介绍一个战斗小组是10个人。问题在于P140说“军士长，格朗帕斯，捷克人和那个受伤的男孩都已经永远离开了我们”，但后来却提到还活着的原班的6个人：我、老兵、克劳斯、霍尔斯、林德伯格、“苏台德人（这个人名后来还反复出现过）”。加起死掉的4个又正好10个。我反复看了看前后文，觉得此处应有一处错误，但需核对原文才能找出来。5、一个公说与婆说的译名小问题：普里皮亚季沼泽被译作“普利佩大沼泽”（P89）。卡尔梅克草原被译作“卡尔马科平原”（P124）。保时捷，旧译“波尔舍”（P169）。“美迈尔”（P317）旧译作“梅默尔”或“梅梅尔”。东普鲁士首府科涅斯堡旧译作“哥尼斯堡”或“柯尼斯堡”等。译名这档事儿有没有统一标准不太清楚，但对一些常见地名再自由发挥恐亦有不当，即使在译名之外给一个注释，我相信也是专业人士应有的态度。本书还有些小问题。就不一一列举了。谈这些问题不是说我们比译者高明，而是我坚信好文章是修改出来的。

这一代人躲过了炮弹但是终将被毁灭

和其他现在流行的欧美战争剧一样，在休假期间总会有一起艳遇的。我们很少看到战败者的述说，这本书虽然这么晚才来到我们的面前，但就像《西线无战事》一样原来侵略者也会厌恶战争。虽然在内心描写上不如《西线无战事》但是一个普通的士兵就像微不足道的尘土那样被随意丢弃。在广袤的俄罗斯原野上风雪交加，如何才能走回家？当时回家也许是支持这些人活下来的唯一动力。战争的残酷与恐惧让一个个善良的人变得面目全非起来，那些被打倒的德国人俄国人现在变成了一个个冰冷的名字被刻在纪念碑上，印在教科书里或者在档案馆里，但是他们曾经是那么美好，有着美丽的梦想.......曾经沉浸在血水里的欧洲已经趋为一体了，人们深深的厌恶战争，以至于美国的伊拉克战争让欧洲与美国产生了深深的裂痕。而我们呢？许多人还在向往着战争，认为解决争端的办法就是战争，但是当他们扛起枪去杀死别的一些人或者面临着被杀时他们会吓得尿裤吗？奥玛克说一战时的那代人躲过了炮弹但是还是被毁灭了，希望我们不在重蹈覆辙。

我只是个普通人

我只是个普通人，这是书里的人告诉我的，战争总会给这个世界带来改变，无论会更好更坏。但是对于身处战争的人来说，这都是灾难。但是书里的故事和叙述又告诉我，如果战争真的来到我的身边，我又无力抗拒，那我还不如勇敢面对，虽然我只想活下去，但是活下去不能把我的一切夺走，我爱的人就是其中之一生命是何等珍贵，没有人能任意夺走另一个人的生命

个人是如此的无力

萨杰背负着法德混血这样的矛盾身份，加入了德军，参加了东线的对苏作战。东线的苦难书中描述的再具体不过，读起来都觉得胸闷，尤其是那三个冬季，给人留下的印象难以磨灭。书中有几个人物印象很深。广受爱戴的少校、霍尔斯、老兵维尔纳。萨杰转述的少校的几段话真的是发人深省，萨杰对战争的理解也在这几句话中了：士兵们是为了自己能活着而战斗，他们死了也只会成为向日葵的养料而已。老兵维尔纳在他们中间几乎是战神一般的人了，最后老兵还是作出了自杀式的选择：掩护战友的后撤，自己留在了阵地上。老兵最后的话简单而震撼：我知道自己已经不能像正常人那样生活了。其实何止是老兵，经历了这一切的人，谁还能像正常人那样生活呢？如同萨杰说的，他已经抛弃任何的梦想了，他们只不过是行尸走肉了。身处地狱般的战场，萨杰发觉和平时代那些忧虑是如此的可笑。他也是想通过自己的回忆告诉别人，珍惜当下的一切。读此书是为了思考，而不是将它当作饭后的消遣，毕竟这是萨杰通过悲惨的战争回忆写就的。据说要拍成电影了，拭目以待。太沉重的书，一言难尽。

战争中的人

上学的时候曾经被同学称为战争贩子，因为自己的天真幼稚，也因为那些英雄主义浪漫主义的红色文学熏陶，当然还有二战德军无可比拟的战绩。历史的真相、普通人的磨难都被文学作品、统计数字以及浪漫的想象所掩盖。我们的教科书、官方的宣传以及好莱坞的战争大片，无时无刻不在强调着自己一方行为的正义以及战士的英勇。但幼稚的我大都把这些当成了真正的历史，象那些走上战场之前的炮灰一样胸中充满了荣誉感、光辉的想象及奋勇冲杀的激情。现在的我，固然已经彻底shit这些东西，但依然希望了解那段历史的每一个细节，使自己的认识更接近于真实。我没有办法质疑或者考证此书的真实性，宁愿相信其已经很接近于真相。至少，它解答了我长期以来的两个疑问：在库尔斯克那样上百万人厮杀的战场上，普通士兵个体面对的感受的到底是什么？军人，或者说士兵而不是将军，在残酷的战争中到底是什么样的人？虽然我早已知道无论他们做了什么遭遇了什么，都和我一样有家庭有梦想也有阴暗的一面。正如作者在说中所说，他不知道能用什么语言来形容那种绝望和恐惧，我也找不到语言来形容深陷其中的这些鲜活的个体。我只知道在那样的情况下我不会比他们勇敢不会比他们坚强更不会比他们高尚。南京那样的暴行固然无法原谅，但真正最大的暴行就是战争本身。希望人类有一天能彻底摈弃战争，又是一个天真的幻想，呵呵打仗，打你x的仗，革命，革xx的命。期望我的同胞只有在外敌入侵的时候才需要拿起武器，那样我还是会毫不犹豫的去战斗。

好书

印象最深的是描写是作者与葆拉的爱情，在战争的缝隙中如同一次脆弱的花开。感情描写非常细腻，在那么大的战争图画背景中让人读来感同身受。战争的描写真实，生动。值得一读。

好累啊....

看过整本书才能体会到萨杰在波兰训练，准备开赴前线时的日子是多么的惬意。苏联实在太大了，大到机械化的军队也是疲于奔命。我不记得萨杰干过了什么，只有奔波，火车，汽车，步行；进攻（几乎没有），撤退（永恒的主题）。开始时人还有感情，对周围事物还有闲情逸致，到后来完全麻木了，连我这个读者也麻木了，感觉自己也在跟着萨杰机械的运动。我也能体会到什么叫战争机器了，它一刻不停的高负荷运转，每个士兵都是个小零件。麻木的士兵才是好零件，他们累得麻木了生死。这本书很压抑，士兵一直在撤退，阻击，撤退。苏联人像洪水一样的涌来，像乌云一样漫天压来....让人透不过气。士兵像麦子一样被成片割到，像蚂蚁一样被碾死....死亡还是奔逃，只有两个选择。我很好奇苏联一方的士兵是如何的情况，他们是否也是如此疲惫。不过败退一方的士兵情绪应该会糟糕得多吧。历史书中的战争永远是宏大壮丽的，歼敌都是以“万”人计，死几千人都不好意思说出来。再加上“不想当将军的士兵不是好士兵”之类烂大街的句子....战争对于过惯太平日子的人来说越发“干净”，“戏剧化“....实际呢？它真的”很脏“，这个很脏是真的很脏，不是正义与否，也无关人性。脏衣服，臭鞋子，蓬头垢面，吃不好，睡不稳....”真累“，进攻很累，败退更累....战争真不是个好活动，希望我们总能有兴致看战争片....

幸而我们并非生于二战

虽然我不知道人名的翻译问题，但是这对文章本身没有影像。按照作者的话语来说，你必须在忧虑的时候，急躁甚至愤怒的时候翻阅此书，你才能良久品味和平年代的甘甜。我们不能承认战争的是非与对错，但是，起码作者让人看见的人性的光辉，让人饱尝一种血淋淋的绝望和苦难。所有被卷入战争的人都是无辜的，他们为了自我生命而犯下滔天罪恶。但是，可恨之人自有可怜之处，最惊骇的是结尾的一句“日后，他们的尸骨将被俄国的农民翻出，砸碎，变成肥料然后在上面种下向日葵”总而言之，请尊重这本书！不要和任何舆论牵扯到一起！

我们都是小兵而已

前半细节极其详细，作者加入大德意志精锐部队的训练往事及参战经历历历在目，后半部分对于战斗细节反而是一笔带过。我能理解，那都是类似炼狱的回忆。恐怕作者光是回想就是无限的恐怖。印象最深的是，在一次撤退的掩护狙击战中，面临即将被苏军包围的绝境，因为作者是大德意志师的老兵，几乎所有的幸存者都在等待他能给出一个决定，死守或者突围。但作者头脑一片空白呆住了，因为他只是一个习惯于听从指挥，坚决执行命令的小兵而已。对，只是一个小兵。作者事后深深地的悔恨，觉得让所有的人失望了。读来一种深切的真实，并不是每个人都是想在杀戮战场上建功立业，更多的是被动的被时代的漩涡卷入战场，他们只是想活下去而已，然后再与家人相会。

像我这样的人是无法适应正常的生活的

看这本书的时候，我对后面的情节没有任何的期待和设想，因为我已经深深的沉醉在了萨杰当前所发生的一切之中，我只希望陪同萨杰一起去面对那未知的恐惧和危险而不仅仅是去设想！萨杰在战场上可以毫不犹豫的和战友霍尔斯杀死几个已经向他们投降的苏联士兵，但是在战场下，他们却可以和苏联战俘相视而笑并且交换香烟，甚至把他们本已少的可怜的食物和战俘共享！如果没有战争，也许他们会成为很好的朋友的。 战争让“人性”这个词显得是那么的微不足道。战争永远没有所谓的胜利，也没有所谓的对错，有的只是恐惧和牺牲，战争的痛苦是不分语言和国界的！战争让每个人都学会了去珍惜那些原来并不起眼的好事。了解战争的残酷，能够让我们明白现在的和平是如何的珍贵但又是如何的脆弱。以前在教科书中也了解了许多关于二战的知识，但是对于教科书上所写的一场战役动辄上万上十万的的伤亡人数，没有一点感觉，仅仅觉得那只是个数字。但是，看这本书的时候，那怕仅仅死一个人，那怕一个士兵只是受了伤都会让自己有很深的触动，都会让我感觉到战争的残酷和无情，都会让我感觉到生命在庞大的战争机器下只是一粒尘埃，萨杰的描述真实的让人无法直视战争的残酷。“战争结束后，像我这样的人是没法正常生活的。”老兵维纳尔临死前的这句话是那么的让人心痛，也许他就是在意识到了这一点之后才毅然决然的选择为了自己的战友而自我牺牲。不知道萨杰，霍尔斯，林德博格以及其他的战友们在战争结束之后会以什么样的方式适应正常的生活。有太多的话想说，有太多的感受想写，但总是受困于自己言语的匮乏。有一句话却不得不说：盖伊萨杰是一名伟大的士兵，尽管他可能在战后被人遗忘，甚至从来都没有被人记得过！…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………那些令人印象深刻的话语我知道我们所称的“勇气”意味着什么——那是指在极度绝望中看不到尽头的挣扎，还有对于那些远超出常人所能面对的恐惧的接受，即便是我们的大脑在这一切中已经失去了正常的思考能力。我知道这种“勇气”的含义，这样的“勇气”也让我想起了在酷寒的冬日里必须要趴在冻得硬邦邦的地上长久地一动不动，任凭刺骨的寒气浸透你的全身；当然还有去习惯你旁边掩体里受伤的陌生人所发出的垂死的呼救声。只有胜利者才有权利讲述历史，而我们这些失败者，无一例外的都被当成是懦夫和下等人，失败者的回忆、恐惧和情感是不应该被铭记的！当这些威胁终于出现在我们眼前时，我感到了一种完全的解脱和放松。至少我知道了那些让我们恐惧的东西是什么了。如果这种危险是不可抗拒的，那至少面对危险的人可以知道一切将很快结束。但是，如果一个危险没完没了地延续着，那就会让人受不了了。在那种时候，号啕大哭也不会让人释然的。就如同那些在别尔戈罗德的连续几天没完没了的炮击一样，一个人在那种情况下最终只会崩溃和疯狂，恐慌和哭泣只是这种崩溃的开始。最后，那个人会不可遏制地呕吐并倒下，整个人的身心都被撕碎并呆滞地等待着死亡。 我们的意识已经和正常的人分割开了。我们的思想，如同我们的眼睛一样已经不能习惯那些具体和安宁的事物，正常世界的感觉在我们这里没有地位。 战争结束后，像我这样的人是没法正常生活的！这里的一切都没有变化，只是我改变了，我清楚地知道我已经不可能再回到战前那样的生活了。 在战争里，双方的士兵都是能够遵从同样的美德或生活的原则的，战争的痛苦是不分语言和国界的

死亡并不是最恐怖的

近年来一口气读完的作品。即酣畅淋漓，又心痛欲绝。此作带入感太强，犹如自身亲历了一番。看到“回家”一节，人都几乎快瘫软了，眼睛更是模糊。。。现在觉得好好珍惜现在“正常生活”是最重要的，也希望战争永远不会再有。

戰爭不應該被遺忘

真正的戰爭絕不像中國電影所拍攝的那麼輕鬆，那是屍塊橫飛的地域一樣的場景。有人說，中國電影裡被消滅的日本兵已經超過日本在華喪生的總數了，一點兒也不誇張。怎麼杜絕戰爭，首先是認識戰爭的殘酷。可惜，現在很多人並不懂得這一點。

没有胜利者

这是一名战败国士兵记录的二战实录，真实地反映了战争中，士兵这一任由上层人物摆布的基层身份的内心世界的挣扎与无奈，时而不择手段，时而充满了爱与牺牲，一个个血肉之躯在死亡面前的真实写照，让读者认识到了战争对于人类本身而言永远没有真正的胜利者，只有摒弃战争这一不当手段，才能迎来有希望的明天！作者和翻译者的水平精湛，每一个描写都恰到好处，引人入胜！实为一本不可多得的二战好书！

真实的战争

每次看战争回忆录，无论是战败国还是战胜国都是由统帅写的，作者都是站在战略的角度评判战争的得失，从来没有关心一个士兵的生死。战争的损失其实只是一些数字。一直想知道战争中一个普通一兵的生活，于是有了这本书，而且是战败国的士兵，作者的经历可谓传奇，但更重要的是让我们看到了战争的残酷，身临其境的感受了战壕中炮击的惨烈，俄罗斯的寒冬……。看过装甲迈尔的回忆录，已经感受了战争的残酷，但看了本书更能体现一个普通一兵在战争中的感受，没有光荣，祖国，骄傲，有的只是身边的战友和活下去的渴望以及对死亡的恐惧。

我读过的最棒的一部战争回忆录！

这部回忆录很写实，故事性很强。作者以战败国士兵的视角记录了这场战争的很多重要片段，让人身临其境。战争是残酷的，无论是基于什么目的的战争，都是以毁灭生命来实施的。俄国人对德国士兵的报复，当然有着深刻的原因，但是毕竟同样地极其血腥和非人道。士兵是战争的牺牲品，他们被煽动、被蒙蔽、被奴役，被迫投入到毁灭自己的战场中，由上帝决定自己的生死。那段血雨腥风的年代，那段不堪回首的历史，可能我们这些身处和平的人很难完全体会，但足够我们警惕和回避了。

恩，我喜欢的题材。。。

除开他的种族政策，我似乎都对希特勒情有独钟，我十分佩服于他的演讲水平，领导能力，自然而然对他的士兵十分爱好，正如我所一直坚信的，当初的德国士兵是当之无愧的世界第一兵种，他们的精神，他们的素质，那都是当时各国所无法匹敌的，以一国之力席卷整个欧洲，在此书中"我”跟着的国度的步伐进入了那个残酷的战场。。。

这个视角不错

这个普通人的视角让人更真实的了解战争。20世纪国内也经历过许多战争，好像就没有这种类似的回忆。另外，虽然作者不能决定自己的命运，也表示厌恶战争，但字里行间还是能看出他对于参加过这场战争的自豪，对于德国军队的自豪。

推荐想了解二战中东线战场及普通德国士兵眼中的二战的人读

作者的身份很特殊，是在阿尔萨斯和洛林地区出生的，父亲是法国人，母亲是德国人，作为一名第三帝国的士兵参加了二战。文章写得很真实，真实的经历，真实的情感，使得我们更真实地体会战争的残酷及单个个人面对战争这种人类最疯狂的活动的那种灵魂体验。印象深刻的片段有训练中的那种从平民向士兵的那种不自觉的心理转变，行军途中拉肚子造成便便在裤子里的窘态，还有为了不知名的毫无意义的战斗而大量牺牲的双方士兵，还有最后在阻击中马上就要被消灭时援军出现死里逃生的庆幸。

荷戟独彷徨

一个母亲为德国人、父亲为法国人、年仅十八岁的青年，在二战期间被征召为德国士兵，被送到苏联战场。几年艰苦的消耗战之后，这位士兵侥幸活来下来，在战争结束之后，他回到了法国，并当了两年的法国士兵。然后，写了这本《被遗忘的士兵》，回忆他在战争中的经历。这是大背景下的小人物故事，让我们从普通士兵的角度，来观照那场并不普通的战争。这样的视角，使伟大的苏联卫国战争，有了更生动的细节，让我们对于军旗之下行进的士兵，有了更多的了解。当然，此书的意义不仅于此。这是一个战败战败一方士兵的回忆，且这个战败方作为挑起战争的非正义方，被钉到历史的耻辱柱上。这样的书，尤其难得。他们如何经历这场战争？他们又是如何看待这场战争？他们对于战争中正义的一方又是持何种看法？尤为重要的是，战争对于这些士兵究竟意义何在？这些问题是作为读者的我所关心，而且我认为这正是其价值所在。作为战争中的普通士兵，其命运是相当悲惨的，无论他自己有着什么样的思想，他自己对于战争是持支持还是反对的态度，他在战争中是没有任何发言权的，他担负的只要义务与责任。只要国家甚至是政权需要，他就得应征入伍，扛上枪去到战场，以自己的血肉之躯，去与和他一样只是身处战争另一集团的士兵性命相搏。生命也许就在倏忽之间消逝，而他甚至还来不及去思考这场战争的意义。该书的作者盖伊·萨杰就是如此。他并非纳粹分子，甚至不是一个真正的德国人，所说的德语充满了法国味儿，然而就被征召入伍，稀里糊涂地被推上了苏联战场。苏联，是一个与他的生活毫无关系的国家，如果他安逸地生活于法国乡间的话，也许一辈子也不会与这个国家打交道。可在那样的情形下，他却要冒着被杀的危险，去枪杀另外一些他并不认识的人。当然，萨杰在入侵苏联的德军之中，并非独特的一例，其实绝大部分的士兵，想法与他一致。真正死硬的纳粹分子，恐怕少之又少。从应征入伍起，也许最开初还有些为国而战的热情，战事越到后面，这样的念头也会越是淡薄，更多的只是为保存自己的生命而战，为同伴的情谊而战了。在书中我们也可以看到，当自己的战友特别是好友，在战争中被对方击伤或者击毙，那是最让这些士兵愤怒之事，此时他们宁愿牺牲自己生命，也要为战友复仇。而这，恰恰也为战争主导者所利用，将“公仇”成功地转化为私仇，将己仇转化为士兵之仇。让士兵用自己的身躯，去为自己的目的铺路。在战争之中，我们所见到的只是群体，他们被分为正义的一方，与非正义的一方。在普遍的叙事情境之中，正义的一方无论从军官到士兵，都是充满着正义感与勇敢精神的，而非正义的一方，即使是士兵，也是恶魔的化身。萨杰却在书中给我们提供了另外一个视角，将战争中的群体消解掉，而将活生生的个人突显出来。他是法西斯军队的一员，他是魔鬼般的德国鬼子中的一个，他扛着枪向着正义的军队射出罪恶子弹。不过，他也只是一个刚成年的孩子，他有着自己的生活，有着自己的家庭，也有着自己的梦想。作为个人，他有着良好的教养，有着道德底线，没有明显的恶习，向往着美好的爱情，至少不是一个视杀人如儿戏的变态。他不想打仗，却在战争中毫不吝惜自己手中的子弹。他眼中所看到的战争中正义的一方，即是苏联红军，他们正在为保卫自己的国家而战。关于这些红军的英勇形象，已经有太多的作品去表述。而萨杰则在本书中，向我们描述了另外一种情形。在我们的印象中，凡是战争中代表着正义的军队，一定是纪律严明的军队，一定遵守着最基本的战争伦理与人性底线的军队。不过，看了《被遗忘的士兵》中所叙述的诸多细节，感觉并非如此。在苏德战争之中，无论德军是在凯歌高进的进军之中，还是在兵败如山倒的溃退之中，都有着非常严整的军纪，面对着平民，有着残存的人性。与之相对应，苏军则反如匪兵，纪律松弛。他们面对着强大的德军，也是胆怯畏战；相反，对于手无寸铁的普通人，则又凶狠而残暴。因此，正义与邪恶，文明与野蛮，个人与群体，其间的分野，确实让人困惑。其实，在战争中，萨杰的战友或者敌人，也是困惑着的。从宏观上来观察这场战争，人们自然有许多的说道，能够从中看到正义的伸张，能够看到文明的兴盛，能够看到国家的存亡，战争的意义非常的宏大。然而，对于战争的个人来说，他们在经历着生与死的转换之后，看到他的战友们在不断地献出自己年轻的生命，他所射杀的敌人也非犯下无可赦免的大罪，这种宏大对于他还有什么意义？对于一场战争，即使是历史学家也需要经过一段时间才能有所判断，对于一个身处其中的普通士兵而言，他们又从何来区分正义与非正义？即使他们明白了，又如何能做出正确的选择？大多数人可能都只能如萨杰这样，随波逐流，在战争中尽量地保全自己的生命。活着，对于他自己及家人来说，才是最重要的。鲁迅曾写过一首诗，描述了敌对的两个思想阵营之间，在一场笔战之后尸横遍野，只有自己犹存时的心态：“两军余一卒，荷戟独彷徨。”用此来形容战争中的普通士兵，也是颇为传神。是啊，开不开枪，枪向谁开，确是让人犹豫啊。

只有受益者才会喜欢战争

并不是“只有政治家才喜欢战争”“只有军事家才喜欢战争”“只有民族主义者才喜欢战争”而是只有受益者才会喜欢战争也即是说如果战争不符合政治家的利益，那他也一定会大力宣扬反战主义说和平下次当你看见有人煽动仇恨，鼓吹打仗，说什么誓死必报挥洒热血之类这种激昂人心富有煽动性的话语你最好想想要是打起来你会是那个受益者，还是受害者

一切都是真实的

　这是一本１９６７年就出版的个人回忆录，现在才被引进到国内，不过能看到已属幸事，以前只关心大人物的传记，谁会留意到小人物呢？相对于著名将帅写的回忆录，相对于战史学家写的作品，这部作品完全从士兵的角度出发，描述的是士兵眼中的残酷战争，完全是第２次世界大战苏德战场的真实写照。作者父亲是法国人，母亲是德国人，作为一个混血儿，在那个战乱的年代让他无从选择，成为法西斯德国军队中的一名普通士兵（和纯粹的德国士兵不同，个人感觉他有点类似日本军队中的韩国士兵，属于二等士兵）。相对没有经历过残酷战场的我们来说，他提供的苏德战场印象更残酷更真实，往往看的我不寒而栗。也许在回忆细节上有偏差，我想这是可以被理解和接受的，毕竟个人局部眼光是狭隘的。但是大部分描述是被世界各地的２战史专家探讨与考证过的，所以该书被美国陆军指挥及参谋学院认定为是一部真实的二战回忆录。　作为士兵他是尽职的，也许他不勇敢（没有勇敢杀敌的事迹），也许他没有体会到胜利的荣誉（苏德战场德军基本上是守势和撤退），可是从士兵的角度对他无可指责，和战友并肩作战，完全服从上司的命令。在战场上从他的角度出发，他亲眼目睹了苏军的暴虐，也许他更认为他参与的战争是必须的，也许这更激发了他对苏军的敌意吧？不管怎么说，作为普通一兵他没有意识到侵略战争黑暗的一面（视野和当时的环境导致），认为他的付出和所得不成正比，没有得到应有的尊重，所以书中处处流露出被遗忘的困惑和愤懑。从普通人的角度来看，作为战争经历者的他是可悲的，他只是卷入世纪战争中亿万人中的一员，在没有意识到战争的意义是什么的情况下奔赴战场，是可怜的，是悲惨的，他也渴望平静的生活，热烈的爱情，可是士兵的身份让他无能为力。甚至在战争接近尾声的时候，他都不敢直接回家，他对自己真正的祖国（法国）没有感情，也完全没意识到肆意践踏别人的家园是可鄙的。就是这么一个人却记录了他眼中的战争，让现在的读者可以从另一个角度去体会战争的无情以及对人的摧残。道义上的是是非非留给专家去评说吧。　　再来一段源自网上的小道消息：《被遗忘的士兵》目前正在被荷兰导演保罗-范霍文（电影《黑皮书》的导演）拍为电影，该片将于明年上半年内在全球公映。