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Hardcover At Leningrad's Gates: The Story of a Soldier with Army Group North Book

ISBN: 1932033556

ISBN13: 9781932033557

At Leningrad's Gates: The Story of a Soldier with Army Group North

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Format: Hardcover

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Book Overview

This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front.

William Lubbeck, age 19, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. After grueling marches admidst countless Russian bodies, burnt-out vehicles, and a great number of cheering Baltic civilians, Lubbeck's unit entered the outskirts of Leningrad, making the deepest penetration of any German formation.

The Germans suffered brutal hardships the following winter as they fought both Russian counterattacks and the brutal cold. The 58th Division was thrown back and forth across the front of Army Group North, from Novgorod to Demyansk, at one point fighting back Russian attacks on the ice of Lake Ilmen. Returning to the outskirts of Leningrad, the 58th was placed in support of the Spanish "Blue" Division. Relations between the allied formations soured at one point when the Spaniards used a Russian bath house for target practice, not realizing that Germans were relaxing inside.

A soldier who preferred to be close to the action, Lubbeck served as forward observer for his company, dueling with Russian snipers, partisans and full-scale assaults alike. His worries were not confined to his own safety, however, as news arrived of disasters in Germany, including the destruction of Hamburg where his girlfriend served as an Army nurse.

In September 1943, Lubbeck earned the Iron Cross First Class and was assigned to officers' training school in Dresden. By the time he returned to Russia, Army Group North was in full-scale retreat. Now commanding his former heavy weapons company, Lubbeck alternated sharp counterattacks with inexorable withdrawal, from Riga to Memel on the Baltic. In April 1945 Lubbeck's company became stalled in a traffic jam and was nearly obliterated by a Russian barrage followed by air attacks.

In the last chaotic scramble from East Prussia, Lubbeck was able to evacuate on a newly minted German destroyer. He recounts how the ship arrived in the British zone off Denmark with all guns blazing against pursuing Russians. The following morning, May 8, 1945, he learned that the war was over.

After his release from British captivity, Lubbeck married his sweetheart, Anneliese, and in 1949 immigrated to the United States where he raised a successful family. With the assistance of David B. Hurt, he has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, Soldatbuch, regimental history and personal memories to recount his four years of frontline experience. Containing rare firsthand accounts of both triumph and disaster, At Leningrad's Gates provides a fascinating glimpse into the reality of combat on the Eastern Front.

Customer Reviews

5 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
The Best Eastern Front Memoir Thus Far...

Of the many accounts of German soldiers' experiences of combat on the Eastern Front published in recent years, "At Leningrad's Gates" is by far the best to date. Not only is this an extremely interesting and well written memoir of combat experience with Army Group North in the campaigns around Leningrad and the retreat back into Germany, "At Leningrad's Gates" also details the difficulties Lubbecke's family faced living in...

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Rated 5 stars
Rock-Solid German Infantryman's Memoir

Highly recommended. The author served in the 13th Company (Infantry Gun Company) in a German regiment in France 1940 and on the northern sector of the Eastern Front from 1941-45. This book contains detailed information on the organization, training, equipment, and operations of his unit. The author attained the rank of sergeant before being assigned in late 1943 to officer training in Germany. He returned to the Eastern...

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Rated 5 stars
A Rare View of A Horrible War

It's well known that World War II combat on the Eastern Front was brutal on both sides by any standards, and this book doesn't refute that a bit. What it does is portray the transformation of a rural German boy bent on doing what he felt he should for his country into a seasoned and finally defeated soldier of those awful clashes. Lubbeck entered the Wehrmacht as an enlisted man, and through bravery, good fortune and force...

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Rated 5 stars
One of the best personal narratives yet about the Eastern Front

I should say up front that perhaps I'm a bit biased regarding this book. It is my pleasure and honor to know Captain Lubbeck. I teach a college level course on WWII and Captain Lubbeck has been a guest speaker a number of times for my class. He hesitated to do so at first, protesting that he is first and foremost an American, and his WWII experience was part of a different life. When he finally did speak he held his...

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Rated 5 stars
A good solid memoir

This is a welcome addition to WW2 German soldier memoirs. It does start out a bit slow, as the author has included a lot of material on his pre-war youth, but in the end is a good comparison to farm life in Germany under Soviet rule. My only real complaint about this book is I do wish it were longer. There's a lot of interesting material in here from an average infantry division, and as far as I know perhaps the only such...

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