Overview

Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just seventeen-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recruit. On arrival at the Eastern Front in late summer 1941, Erwin was assigned to a frontline communications squad attached to 4.Kompanie and soon discovered that survival was a matter of luck--or the protection of a guardian angel. Good fortune finally deserted Erwin on 11 July 1943 when shrapnel sizzled through his lung during the epic Battle of Kursk-Prokhorovka. Following a period of recovery, and promotion to Unterscharführer, Erwin took up a post as machine-gun instructor with the Ausbildung und Ersatz Bataillon. From the war on the southern sector of the Eastern Front to a bomb-shattered Berlin populated largely by old men and demoralized lonely women, this candid eyewitness account offers a unique and sometimes surprising perspective on the life of a young Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler volunteer.

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9781665269933

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This is a valuable memoir, providing both a good account of the nature of the fighting in the East, and the changing attitudes of the author, both towards the Nazi regime and the chances of final victory.-- History of War

This is a valuable memoir, providing both a good account of the nature of the fighting in the East, and the changing attitudes of the author, both towards the Nazi regime and the chances of final victory.-- ""History of War""

Author Information

Erwin Bartmann was born on 12 December 1923 in Schlochau, a town close to the then Polish border. Today the town, now called Czluchow, lies within Poland. Erwin was the youngest of four brothers two of whom died in infancy during a period of hyperinflation that brought great financial hardship to his family. In the hope of finding a better life, they moved to the Friedrichshain district of Berlin in 1927. In 1941, Erwin enlisted voluntarily in the 1st Waffen SS Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and fought on the Eastern Front until seriously wounded during the failed German assault on Prokhorovka. After a period of recuperation, he served as a machine-gun instructor stationed in Alt Hartmansdorf, a village to the east of Berlin, and saw action once more when the Russians crossed the River Oder in April 1945. Erwin eventually fell into captivity several days after hostilities ended in May 1945 and spent time as a POW first in England, then in Scotland, until he was discharged from the Waffen SS in late December 1948. Unable to return in safety to his home in the Soviet controlled sector of Berlin, Erwin decided to remain in Edinburgh and took up a position as a baker, the trade he had learned after leaving school. He became a British citizen on 5 November 1955 and later married his Scottish sweetheart with whom he raised a son. Erwin died on 14 September 2012, three months before his eighty-ninth birthday. Coming soon . . . Coming soon . . . Coming soon . . . James Anderson Foster was one of those kids that actually lettered in drama way back in High School (and if you ask nicely, he might even tell you just how far back that was). Since that time, he's done most of his acting behind a microphone, and has narrated audiobooks for a variety of publishers, across nearly all genres-both fiction and nonfiction. He was born and raised on the west coast, and even though he's lived in the Midwest for over a decade now, still considers Oregon home. In 2015, James was a finalist in three categories for the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Voice Arts Awards (Mystery, Science Fiction, and Fantasy). James has been praised for his conversational delivery and ability to sound exactly like the voice you were imagining in your head.

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