A German Soldier Remembers

“The injured men between the trenches died wretched deaths; no one dared to go through enemy fire and help them. They perished slowly; very slowly. After many hours, there was nothing but whimpering from a few men; they went to sleep one after the other, never to wake again.”

This new edition of A German Soldier Remembers published in English for the first time in over one hundred years, is an extraordinary account of WWI trench warfare. Anyone who survived the inhumanity of the front lines in the Great War was mentally scarred for the rest of his life as mankind’s highest ideals were trodden into the filth in a conflict in which every base instinct, every aggressive emotion that could be summoned, was necessary to stay alive for just one more day, one more hour.

And yet there was more that united the fighting soldiers on all sides than separated them. The contempt for many of the officers, for example, who “… kept themselves alive for the fatherland”, as the author scathingly remarks.

In his unsparing description of trench warfare the author appeals to us from an era long past, reaching out to future generations; in his detailing of the terrors he went through, lies also the hope that such insanity would not be repeated. A German Soldier Remembers is also a question mark thrown up by the front line soldier; for whom was this war really fought?

Review from an Amazon.com customer:

“This is a highly engaging, moving, and realistic account that at once summarizes the political and social situation in WWI and the personal experiences of a reflective soldier. God only knows how many beautiful souls like him never made it back to write similar accounts. Don’t be fooled to think that this account is only history as it’s aptly relevant to today’s wars where scores of people from the working classes or the poor are sacrificed in senseless ugly wars of the ruling elite across the globe. The rebellion of this soldier in addition to his pure bravery is what we need to save our young innocent from the wars of greed and manipulation. Kudos to Mr. O’Neill for translating beautifully and making this available to the English speaking world.”