Soldat

Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949

By: Siegfried Knappe, Ted Brusaw

Narrated by: John Wray

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

A German soldier during World War II offers an inside look at the Nazi war machine, using his wartime diaries to describe how a ruthless psychopath motivated an entire generation of ordinary Germans to carry out his monstrous schemes.

©1992 Siegfried Knappe Charles T. Brusaw (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Best, detail oriented, overall explained memoir

One of the best memoirs about this subject so far for me. Knappe covers from 36' to 49' and for me at a good pace. His detail is dramatic, a must read for WW2 enthusiasts and Von Luck's is a close second. 100% amazing.

Robotic Narration

Great story- 6 stars. Narrator was flat as as the sheets from which he read. It's almost as though he deliberately avoided any inflection so as not to lead anyone to believe he had any sympathy for the author and his story. Oh well. Rare to find axis memoirs on audio- recommend.

Wunderbar!

What did you love best about Soldat?

It is great to get a German soldiers perspective of the war. It is easy to demonize the German military during WWII, but in the end, soldiers are soldiers who take commands and execute them. I often wondered if the soldiers ended up taking on the perspectives of their Nazi leaders. Some did, but what this book confirmed was that war is ugly and evil, but it brings out both the good and the bad. Herr Knappe perspective helped paint a better picture.

What other book might you compare Soldat to and why?

I don't have a frame of reference for this book, but I'm hoping in the future I do. I'm looking into books from the Japanese soldier's perspective of WWII.

Have you listened to any of John Wray’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any of John Wray's other performances, but I loved his performance here. Never got boring and his accents were great!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Not all of us agree with evil.

Any additional comments?

This book was well worth my time.

Soldat

Fantastic narrative about war, I loved the book, if you like study or only know about the Second World War don't loose.

German innocence portrayed

Could it be possible for any German, much less a highly intelligent officer in 1945, be unwary of the atrocities taking place? If so, this story defends the nobility and virtue of Germany, save that of its highest official conspirators, through the telling of one of their most respectable and compelling soldiers. The book is one thousand percent entertaining and enjoyable. Want to know the power if propugnada? Listen to this and you’ll soon find yourself on the same ideological side of this Wehrmacht Soldat.

No Fox news, Germany goes to war....

One of the few books I have read from a German point of view so it was interesting. I think the 'soldier' was especially kind to his experience in hindsight. Obviously he was intelligent, awfully hard to believe he did not have a better understanding of what was really going on politically. If he is truthful, it should give pause to anyone on what a country is capable of when there is no free press to ask the hard questions and hold the political leaders accountable. Think about that the next time you see a politician being asked uncomfortable questions, irregardless of which side, politically, that you are on.

Let me know if this review was helpful!

Fine story, much detail.

Very nice story. So interesting to hear from the German side of WWII. The details Siegfried gives you are incredible, from the uniforms, terrain and emotions of his combat experience.

SOLDAT IS AN EXCELENT STORY

A very gripping story. It gave a vview from the other side of the war. I was actusally soory when the book ended.

Interesting Read

Let me start off by saying that much of this book is complete self-serving BS. I find it laughable that a high-ranking officer on the general staff knew absolutely nothing about the Holocaust or the atrocities committed by the Germans on the Eastern Front. Some of them he outright denies and claims they are Soviet propaganda. So, from that point of view, this book is detestable. However, it is an interesting and valuable glimpse into the mind of a German soldier and the every day world of the Wehrmacht heading into and during WWII.

This could have been SO much better.

The positive: This is the first time I've ever read anything that was so personal from a German WWII soldier. I loved the fresh perspective. I didn't anticipate his reaction to some of the events and decisions. So, content (story) gets 4 stars.

Now let's talk about the narration and audio. To say the narration is flat is an insult to flat things. It is unbearable. Even the lighthearted moments are delivered in that same one-tone voice. And the audio? Whenever the audio needed to be edited, it was done with a clip that didn't match the audio quality of anything before or after. So all of a sudden, you'll hear a sentence that sounds completely different. It's really amateurish and annoying.

It's really too bad the audio and narration has been this mangled. I think this book would be a great read. Forget listening until it's fixed.