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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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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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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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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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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