Five Years, Four Fronts: A German Officer's World War II Combat Memoir [Paperback]

After Hitler’s invasions of Poland and France came the Russian Front–and that’s when the real war started.

An infantryman who rose from the enlisted ranks to regimental command in combat, Georg Grossjohann fought on four different fronts during World War II, but saw most of his fighting–from 1941 to 1944–against Russians in the Soviet Union and Romania. He provides shattering glimpses of the horror and chaos of the war, as well as profound insights into everyday life in theWehrmacht.

Five Years, Four Frontschronicles the combat experiences of Grossjohann and his men as they triumphantly roll across Poland, France, and the sunny steppes of the Ukraine, only to ultimately sustain grinding defeats in the endless, freezing plains of the Soviet Union and the grim, dark Vosges Mountains of France. Grossjohann was a soldier’s soldier, respected by his men, undaunted by his superiors, and, as can be observed in this raw, brutally honest account, not afraid to call the shots as he saw them.“A better book [than]All Quiet on the Western Front.”
–Journal of Military HistoryThe lateGEORG GROSSJOHANNenlisted in the Reichswehr from his hometown in East Prussia in 1928 as a soldier bound for twelve years service to the Weimar Republic. His World War II service began as an NCO in the Polish campaign and ended as a regimental commander. In between he earned the Iron Cross and other awards for bravery on the battlefield.Chapter One

The Polish Campaign: Stukas, Haystacks, and High Ranking Generals Historical Commentary

September 1939 marked the end of bloodless victories for the Third Reich and the beginning of general war in Europe for the second time in less than twenty-one years. After formally repudiating the military limitations of the Versailles Treaty in March 1935, Hitler supervised the vigorous reconstruction of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht), including ló¦