Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper

by Martin Pöppel and Martin Poppel

Book Overview

A personal book from a German soldier who served in Poland, Holland and Narvik, Crete, Russia, Sicily and Southern Italy, Normandy and Holland/Lower Rhine, where he was captured by the 6th Airborne... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1873376642
• ISBN13: 9781873376645
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Spellmount Publishers
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Love this book!

This is by far one of my most favorite books. The only problem that I have with this book is that the second half is not as interesting as the begging.

Superb Read

This was a wonderful book to read. It is loaded with all of the details related to the life of a German Fallschirmjager. I highly reccomend this book for anyone interested in the German Fallschirmjager, and or other branches of der Wehrmacht.

Interesting, but has serious flaws

This is, as far as I know the only account in the market by a German paratrooper. As such it is an important document.What Mr Poppel writes is so obviously heartfelt. He comes out as just about as nice a fellow as they come. As a paratrooper he literally existed between heaven and hell. He is lyrical in his descriptions of the actual parachuting. It is when he tries to describe his combat experience where his language falters. The man is not a writer. And the translation is atrocious.The fact is that the only major paratdrop by the Germans was Crete. Mr Poppel just states that the fighting was so horrible that he does not want to write about it. We must respect that decision. It does make it a weaker book though. It is an interesting war memoir. He sees action in Sicily, at the D-Day, and Holland. If you want to read about paratrooper warfare I would not recommend this book.

Honest Account

Poppel's account appears reasonably honest from his initial enthusiasm for war to ultimate disillusionment. One of the better German WWII accounts of action. Good discriptions of actual actions

Heaven and Hell, start to finish

Many are not aware that the Fallschirmjäger, or German paratroopers, were among the most elite of the fighting forces in WW2. So, those who are interested in the FJ and their history should be more than interested in this book. How many German paratrooper accounts of World War 2 can you think of? You can count them on one hand.From the start to the finish - Poppel recalls the days of his Hitler Youth, his naive views of Germany & the world before his entrance in to war (which becomes understandable), his and his comrades' views of Italian, British, and American troops, and inevitably, the loss of his friends and his own country. His accounts of battle range from the disastrous jump at Crete, to Holland, Russia, France and Italy. You'll watch Poppel go from a very enthustiastic trooper to a very tired veteran, wishing for nothing more than the entire ordeal to be done with. Note that German paras were not used in many combat jumps during WW2 because of "failure" at Crete - don't be angry when you find alot of the book is from the view of an FJ trooper with his wings clipped. Also, don't expect for the book to be a grand story of his life. It is exactly what it says - a war journal. Some entries are rather abrupt and not entirely descriptive. Regardless, considering the amount of days chronicled, it's quite an achievement. Those who are interested in the FJ or simply the German perspective during the war will know full well that finding information on the troops is scarce, especially an account directly from one of the elite. That said, trying to fathom what the man must have gone through on some occasions is difficult, especially since he doesn't get too far into the psychology of his time in the field - how he felt on most occasions. He simply states what he went through and leaves it up to you to understand the impact of what he is saying. While it may not be as descriptive as Donald Burgett's US para accounts, its definitely informative - and a treasure for anyone interested in German paras or paratroops in general. Add it to your war library.