Memoirs of a Waffen SS Volunteer on the Eastern Front During World War II, 1941-1945

Amazon Customer: A brilliant book from History

United Kingdom on Nov 12, 2023

Wachkatze: It's a mighty thin slice of ham that doesn't have two sides, and this memoir takes the reader through the journey and struggles of one who volunteered the fight the Russians. No matter which side one is on politically, war is hell, and this work helps you feel to feel what it was like to struggle against the Red Army.
As an amateur historian and military member, I can say that this is very well worth reading.

United States on Sep 30, 2023

Davetheliontamer: This is my 2nd review of this book as the 1st review was not allowed due to 'hate speech' by myself.
So I shall not use the word again which I used previously to describe the political party of which Leon Degrelle was a proud member, you know? That political party, the one started by Hitler et ali n the 1930s and called the Natzionalsozialistiche Deutscher Arbeiterpartei.
The National Soccialistic German Workers Party, which is usually shortened to a single and very well known four letter acronym that apparently we can not use on Amazon.
This is no different in this context to saying a labour member or a conservative member, it is simply the name of the political party they belonged to and obviously not an insult to a traffic warden.
Context folks, its all in the context.
Rant over.
This is a fantastic book for anyone with an interest in WW2 and particularly the Schutz Staffel or SS of which Degrelle was a proud and unapologetic member.
This is what makes this book so very interesting, I have over 100 of these first hand accounts written by members of the SS and they usually have a very common theme, a deep guilt.
Very few such authors admit to many of the...

United Kingdom on Sep 09, 2023

Michael Robins: This is a well written interesting book and well worth a read. I do feel it could have been improved but reducing the number of description accounts of the colour of environment. What I would most like to see though would be some dialogue and character descriptions which would really bring the book and the action to life.

United Kingdom on Oct 17, 2022

Jan Wlochowski: Initially, because of censorship, I did not want to comment. Some people may consider this book controversial. The censors want to rewrite history to their own liking. I experienced similar censorship under Communism, so it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The book is a good documentary of WW II . If you want to know what war is like-he describes it well . My own recollection of the smell of burned human flesh , the screams of wounded or buried, the destruction, desperation, deprivation of people one never forgets. War is ugly.
The author , a Belgian, describes how he fought on the Eastern Front in WW II, because he believed that in his native Belgium the corruption in so called "democracy " did not serve the people of Belgium well (rings a bell ? ) . He fought for a better ideal which would improve the life of his people . He knew that Communism would destroy it .

WW II was about domination of the world through International Banking. It could have been prevented . Communism was a tool to destroy many countries ,so it had to be defended. Support of the Spanish Communists in Spain in 1936 by France, England, USA is therefore not surprising. WW II was not about Axis...

United States on Jul 08, 2022

Blake Mitman: It seems the majority of war memoirs that are given the public spotlight are those of soldiers who were part of the Allied Powers. A great deal of people have little to no conception of the experiences of the opposing side. A side comprised of millions of soldiers who were subjected to the most intense battles, skirmishes, and firefights of the entire Second World War.

‘The Eastern Front’ gives a rare insight into the eyes of an often overlooked yet significant part of the Axis cause - the foreign legionaries. Leon Degrelle, a Belgian fascist of Walloon decent is one of these soldiers. The beginning of the book details his life just before the breakout of the Second World War with a young Degrelle at the forefront of fascist politics in Belgium known as “Rexism”. The story quickly delves into the circumstances of the German invasion of his country with his perspective of the occupation thereafter and how it opened up profound opportunities for the Belgian fascist, energetically collaborating with his occupier.

The majority of the book thereafter centers around his experiences as a foreign legionnaire of the Waffen-SS and his account of the many, incredibly...

United States on Oct 09, 2021

Photowyzard: I have held off on buying this book for years. Finally decided to take the plunge. It was a mildly entertaining read from a Belgian who drank the Nazi-Koolaid. Make no mistake, Degrelle was a dye-in-the-wool Nazi and the book reeks of his dedication to the cause.

"Was Hitler really dead?" .... "I was sure that in every house and in every cart on the roads people were crying or praying at this moment. But I was certain that none was breathing word of reproach. No one felt sorry for himself. It was for Hitler they felt sorry.

He disappeared in an apotheosis of vanquished god, amid an uproar like the end of the world, which seemed to burst forth in a Wagnerian chorus."

Get the idea? And, yes, if Hitler had a son, he would like him to be just like Degrelle...

This book is no different than any Soviet-era memoir written by a Russian Marshal. If you like reading, "That is the way we did it in the Red Army" tripe, this is similar only better written. The only difference is that it is Nazi tripe, written by someone who viewed himself and his Legion as honorable men crusading to stop the spread of the unwashed Bolshevic hordes into Europe.

If you can get...

Canada on Feb 05, 2020

Eggleston: This book, written by an obviously brave man [in his telling of it], shows the mindless idiocy of wars of conquest into the Soviet Russia of that day. The country was, outside the big cities, a backward sea of mud, blood, endless plains, disease and cold, -45ºF cold. Why would anyone want to conquer such a place? Hitler, that master tactician, made the decision. Degrelle and his men paid the big price for such folly. Not for a minute does he complain, while all around some of his men are suiciding to get out of it.

Whether Stalin or Hitler was the bigger thug, murderer and gangster is a matter for debate. Hitler killed based on a misplaced social Darwinian theory that some races were inferior or superior. Stalin killed on the misplaced Communist social theory that some classes were inferior or superior. Both killed millions of their own citizens and made war on others in the most gruesome, frightful way possible. Prisoners routinely killed. Red Army tanks running over wounded men. Fighting in the snow, wind, cold and ice for patches of ground no sane person would ever want. This was the Eastern Front; a war between rival terror states. Yes, the early days were a walkover...

United States on Apr 01, 2018

John lehr: Interesting but tedious account by a committed fascist. Good for insights into the motives behind collaboration with the Nazi regime by non-Germans in the occupied lands of western Europe. The combat narrative is detailed but lacks any real strategic overview and Hitler and Himmler are depicted as geniuses. Degrelle's beliefs are embedded in the text both in implicit and explicit ways. His Walloon SS volunteers are portrayed as pure in mind and body, in contrast to the hordes barbarian Mongols, Asiatics and Russians they were fighting. I was rather disappointed in this book on two levels: its tedious writing style and one-sided depiction of events.

Canada on Jun 22, 2017