The Forgotten Soldier
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4.7 • 26 Ratings
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue, and constant deprivation. Posted to the elite Grosse Deutschland division, with its sadistic instructors who shoot down those who fail to make the grade, he enters a violent and remorseless world where all youthful hope is gradually ground down, and all that matters is the brute will to survive. As the biting cold of the Russian winter sets in, and the tide begins to turn against the Germans, life becomes an endless round of pounding artillery attacks and vicious combat against a relentless and merciless Red Army. Sajer's perspective as a German foot soldier makes The Forgotten Soldier a unique war memoir, the book that the Christian Science Monitor said "may well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited." A work of stunning force, this is an unforgettable reminder of the horrors of war.
Customer Reviews
The Infantry
The Forgotten Soldier is one of the most honest, haunting, and deeply human accounts ever written about the Second World War. Guy Sajer doesn’t glorify war—he strips it bare, showing it for what it truly is: chaos, endurance, and the erosion of everything we think we know about ourselves.
From the first page, Sajer pulls you into the Eastern Front—the most brutal battlefield in human history. His descriptions of freezing marches, hunger, exhaustion, and comradeship are vivid enough that you feel the frostbite in your own hands. Yet what makes this book so powerful isn’t just the horror—it’s the humanity. Amid unimaginable suffering, there’s courage, loyalty, and moments of raw beauty that only a soldier could recognize.
Sajer’s writing is unpolished in the best way—it feels like a man remembering, not performing. You can sense the weight of memory pressing on him, decades after the war ended. It’s not propaganda. It’s not politics. It’s just truth—the kind that only someone who’s been there can tell.
Whether you’re a student of military history, a veteran, or simply someone who wants to understand what war really means beyond the headlines, The Forgotten Soldier will stay with you. It’s not an easy read, but it’s one of the most important ones.
★★★★★ — A devastating and unforgettable memoir of war and survival.