audiobook The Ten Pillars of Buddhism (Sangharakshita Classics) by Sangharakshita in History

Description

This is a classic soldier’s chronicle; told in unvarnished candor; about the author’s experiences as a volunteer with the Wallonian Legion of the German Army and later the 5th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade Wallonien and the 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien. However; it also ventures far beyond the usual soldier's story and approaches a travelogue of the Eastern Front campaign; seldom attained by the memoirs of the period. His self-published book in French is highly regarded by Belgian historian and expert on these volunteers Eddy de Bruyne; and Battle of Cherkassy author Douglas Nash. This book merits attention as the SS volunteer equivalent of Guy Sajer’s The Forgotten Soldier; a bestseller in the USA and Europe. By comparison; Kaisergruber’s story has the advantage of being completely verifiable by documents and serious historical narratives already published; such as Eddy de Bruyne’s For Rex and for Belgium and Kenneth Estes' European Anabasis.Until recent years; very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals from Norway; Denmark; Holland; Belgium; France and Spain who served voluntarily in the military formations of the German Army and the German Waffen-SS. In Kaisergruber’s book; the reader discovers important issues of collaboration; the apparent contributions of the volunteers to the German war effort; their varied experiences; their motives; the attitude of the German High Command and bureaucracy; and the reaction to these in the occupied countries. The combat experiences of the Walloons echoed those of the very best volunteer units of the Waffen-SS; although they shared equally in the collapse of the Third Reich in May; 1945.Although unapologetic for his service; Kaisergruber makes no special claims for the German cause and writes not from any postwar apologia and dogma; but instead from his firsthand observations as a young man experiencing war for the first time; extending far beyond what had been imaginable at the time. His observations of fellow soldiers; commanders; Russian civilians and the battlefields prove poignant and telling. They remain as fresh as when he first wrote some of them down in his travel diary; ‘Pensées fugitives et Souvenirs (1941–46)’. Fernand Kaisergruber draws upon his contemporary diaries; those of his comrades and his later work with them while secretary of their postwar veteran's league to present a thoroughly engaging epic.