Born Under a Lucky Star

A Red Army Soldier's Recollections of the Eastern Front of World War II

By: Ivan Philippovich Makarov, Anastasia Walker - foreword and translator

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

As a Russian recruit in World War II, Ivan Makarov witnessed General Chuikov pull out his pistol and shoot their regimental commander as a traitor. That was on his first day at the front. Thrown into an open field to face German tanks and artillery fire, with only rifles and machine guns to defend themselves with, almost 2,000 men of his regiment were wiped out in only six days at the Eastern Front. At this rate, Ivan struggled to comprehend how he would survive the hundreds of battles that lay before him, with death seeming to be the only certainty.

In his raw and trenchant memoir, Ivan recounts the terror and despair faced by a Red Army soldier on the Eastern Front. He has no sympathy for Stalin and his incompetent commanders, who sought awards and recognition at the expense of their soldiers' lives. He simply wanted to serve his country.

It is rare to find firsthand accounts of the Great Patriotic War from Red Army soldiers, as many did not survive to tell the tale. For the first time, Ivan reveals his gripping recollections of battles, times, places, and people encountered throughout World War II, from when he was drafted in 1941 until their victory in 1945. These recollections he dared not put on paper until 1992.

©2020 Anastasia Walker (P)2022 Tantor

Part of the story is missing?

I have no intention of denigrating the tremendous sacrifice of this soldier. However, he did not include the killing of the four prisoners. I suspect he did not include the tremendous suffering of 2 million German women and girls from the conquering soldiers. Stalin felt the assaults on the German women were justified. His biography stops with the crossing into East Germany.
The United States benefited from Russia’s, staggering sacrifice.
We all owe the Russian people our gratitude for the millions who died to stop the Nazis.
The author spent many years fighting on the eastern front in the Soviet Army. He was in the infantry. He was a gunner on a tank. Worked as a Sapper. A scout who was required to bring back German prisoners on night missions. He was run over by a German tank more than once. He was a prisoner of war for a short time. His descriptions of his remarkable multiple escapes from death re-create the uniqueness of each situation and his response to the escape from death in a way that other soldiers have not done.

The authentic story

It was like having a chance to listen to the adventures of one's elders. The toughness, and suffering of those guys is admirable.

Great story horrible reading

The insight provided by the author about the eastern front of WW2 is outstanding, the reading is not. The fake Russian accent and the stilted inflections and pauses mid-sentence were very distracting.
If I see this re-released by a new reader, I would buy again.

Good war story bad story telling

I liked it overall it's good war story and insight from Soviet soldier however.... personally I really hated the accent I rather to have it narrated in normal English accent it had the opposite effect of what intended...