Listen free for 30 days
-
Blood Red Snow
- The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $31.27
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
Adventures in My Youth
- A German Soldier on the Eastern Front 1941-45
- Written by: Armin Scheiderbauer
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author could be described as a veteran in every sense of the word, even though he was only age 21 when the war ended. Armin Scheiderbauer served as an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German army, and saw four years of bitter combat on the Eastern Front, being wounded six times. This is an outstanding personal memoir, written with great thoughtfulness and honesty.
-
-
Enjoyable.
- By Holly Robar on 2020-02-21
Written by: Armin Scheiderbauer
-
Panzer Ace
- The Memoirs of an Iron Cross Panzer Commander from Barbarossa to Normandy
- Written by: Richard Freiherr von Rosen, Robert Forczyk
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Freiherr von Rosen was a highly decorated Wehrmacht soldier and outstanding panzer commander. After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, he led a company of Tigers at Kursk. Later he led a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group (12 King Tigers and a flak company) against the Russians in Hungary in the rank of junior, later senior lieutenant (from November 1944, his final rank). Only 489 of these King Tiger tanks were ever built.
-
-
Good but not Great
- By Amazon Customer on 2020-08-20
Written by: Richard Freiherr von Rosen, and others
-
The Forgotten Soldier
- Written by: Guy Sajer
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 21 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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, 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.
-
-
I have PTSD after reading this
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-08-11
Written by: Guy Sajer
-
Tigers in the Mud
- The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius
- Written by: Otto Carius
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II began with a metallic roar as the German Blitzkrieg raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century: the Panzer. No German tank better represents that thundering power than the infamous Tiger, and Otto Carius was one of the most successful commanders to ever take a Tiger into battle, destroying well over 150 enemy tanks during his incredible career.
-
-
An Interesting Man
- By Michael Sherrer on 2020-08-08
Written by: Otto Carius
-
Until the Eyes Shut
- Memories of a Machine Gunner on the Eastern Front, 1943-45
- Written by: Andreas Hartinger
- Narrated by: Tim H. Dixon
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rulers’ mistakes are paid for with the blood of the people. This is shown in history both recent and ancient, time and time again. It was no different for an Austrian mountain farmer’s son who was thrown into the carnage of the Eastern Front. He was in the prime of his youth, and the German Reich was already close to losing the war. In ripe-old age, he remembers those dark hours that have haunted him throughout his life.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Anthony on 2023-10-16
Written by: Andreas Hartinger
-
We Will Not Go to Tuapse
- From the Donets to the Oder with the Legion Wallonie and 5th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade ‘Wallonien’ 1942-45
- Written by: Fernand Kaisergruber
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Until recent years, very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals from Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, and Spain who served voluntarily in the military formations of the German army and the German Waffen-SS. In Kaisergruber's book, the listener discovers important issues of collaboration, the apparent contributions of the volunteers to the German war effort, their varied experiences, their motives, the attitude of the German High Command and bureaucracy, and the reaction to these in the occupied countries.
Written by: Fernand Kaisergruber
-
Adventures in My Youth
- A German Soldier on the Eastern Front 1941-45
- Written by: Armin Scheiderbauer
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author could be described as a veteran in every sense of the word, even though he was only age 21 when the war ended. Armin Scheiderbauer served as an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German army, and saw four years of bitter combat on the Eastern Front, being wounded six times. This is an outstanding personal memoir, written with great thoughtfulness and honesty.
-
-
Enjoyable.
- By Holly Robar on 2020-02-21
Written by: Armin Scheiderbauer
-
Panzer Ace
- The Memoirs of an Iron Cross Panzer Commander from Barbarossa to Normandy
- Written by: Richard Freiherr von Rosen, Robert Forczyk
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Freiherr von Rosen was a highly decorated Wehrmacht soldier and outstanding panzer commander. After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, he led a company of Tigers at Kursk. Later he led a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group (12 King Tigers and a flak company) against the Russians in Hungary in the rank of junior, later senior lieutenant (from November 1944, his final rank). Only 489 of these King Tiger tanks were ever built.
-
-
Good but not Great
- By Amazon Customer on 2020-08-20
Written by: Richard Freiherr von Rosen, and others
-
The Forgotten Soldier
- Written by: Guy Sajer
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 21 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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, 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.
-
-
I have PTSD after reading this
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-08-11
Written by: Guy Sajer
-
Tigers in the Mud
- The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius
- Written by: Otto Carius
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II began with a metallic roar as the German Blitzkrieg raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century: the Panzer. No German tank better represents that thundering power than the infamous Tiger, and Otto Carius was one of the most successful commanders to ever take a Tiger into battle, destroying well over 150 enemy tanks during his incredible career.
-
-
An Interesting Man
- By Michael Sherrer on 2020-08-08
Written by: Otto Carius
-
Until the Eyes Shut
- Memories of a Machine Gunner on the Eastern Front, 1943-45
- Written by: Andreas Hartinger
- Narrated by: Tim H. Dixon
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rulers’ mistakes are paid for with the blood of the people. This is shown in history both recent and ancient, time and time again. It was no different for an Austrian mountain farmer’s son who was thrown into the carnage of the Eastern Front. He was in the prime of his youth, and the German Reich was already close to losing the war. In ripe-old age, he remembers those dark hours that have haunted him throughout his life.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Anthony on 2023-10-16
Written by: Andreas Hartinger
-
We Will Not Go to Tuapse
- From the Donets to the Oder with the Legion Wallonie and 5th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade ‘Wallonien’ 1942-45
- Written by: Fernand Kaisergruber
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Until recent years, very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals from Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, and Spain who served voluntarily in the military formations of the German army and the German Waffen-SS. In Kaisergruber's book, the listener discovers important issues of collaboration, the apparent contributions of the volunteers to the German war effort, their varied experiences, their motives, the attitude of the German High Command and bureaucracy, and the reaction to these in the occupied countries.
Written by: Fernand Kaisergruber
-
Enemy at the Gates
- The Battle for Stalingrad
- Written by: William Craig
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On August 5, 1942, giant pillars of dust rose over the Russian steppe, marking the advance of the 6th Army, an elite German combat unit dispatched by Hitler to capture the industrial city of Stalingrad and press on to the oil fields of Azerbaijan. The Germans were supremely confident; in three years, they had not suffered a single defeat. The Luftwaffe had already bombed the city into ruins. German soldiers hoped to complete their mission and be home in time for Christmas.
-
-
Entertaining. Historically accurate
- By Langer MD on 2020-09-05
Written by: William Craig
-
With the Old Breed
- At Peleliu and Okinawa
- Written by: E. B. Sledge
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Joe Mazzello, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries.
-
-
a must read/listen for ALL civilians
- By David Unger on 2019-03-24
Written by: E. B. Sledge
-
Twilight of the Gods
- A Swedish Waffen-SS Volunteer's Experiences with the 11th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, Eastern Front 1944-45
- Written by: Thorolf Hillblad - editor
- Narrated by: Bruce Mann
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erik Wallin served with his unit in all of these locations, and provides the listener with a fascinating glimpse into these final battles. The book is written with a "no holds barred" approach which will captivate, excite, and maybe even shock the listener - his recollections do not evade the brutality of fighting against the advancing Red Army. Twilight of the Gods is destined to become a classic memoir of the Second World War.
-
-
Good listen
- By achil on 2019-12-04
Written by: Thorolf Hillblad - editor
-
Spearhead
- An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II
- Written by: Adam Makos
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the international best seller A Higher Call comes the riveting World War II story of an American tank gunner’s journey into the heart of the Third Reich, where he will meet destiny in an iconic armor duel - and forge an enduring bond with his enemy.
-
-
Superb storytelling AND it's true!
- By Destry Rides on 2019-06-28
Written by: Adam Makos
-
Ivan's War
- Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945
- Written by: Catherine Merridale
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of the 30 million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, 8 million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan - as the ordinary Russian soldier was called-remain a mystery. We know something about how the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought.
-
-
A stunning account
- By Julie Panning on 2020-01-26
Written by: Catherine Merridale
-
Red Road from Stalingrad
- Recollections of a Soviet Infantryman
- Written by: Mansur Abdulin
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mansur Abdulin fought in the front ranks of the Soviet infantry against the German invaders at Stalingrad, Kursk, and on the banks of the Dnieper. This is his extraordinary story. His vivid firsthand account of a ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives rare insight into the reality of the fighting and into the tactics and mentality of the Red Army's soldiers.
-
-
Enjoyed every moment!
- By Tyler on 2023-06-26
Written by: Mansur Abdulin
-
D DAY Through German Eyes
- The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944
- Written by: Holger Eckhertz
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost all accounts of D-Day are told from the Allied perspective, with the emphasis on how German resistance was overcome on June 6, 1944. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers and gun emplacements of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest seaborne invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day?
-
-
Powerful and Eye Opening
- By Military History Buff on 2019-04-10
Written by: Holger Eckhertz
-
Panzer Gunner
- From My Native Canada to the German Ostfront and Back. In Action with 25th Panzer Regiment, 7th Panzer Division 1944-45
- Written by: Bruno Friesen
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Panzer Gunner is a unique memoir of a Canadian serving in a German armored division. Bruno Friesen explains what it was like to fight in a tank on the Eastern Front and provides details on the battlefield performance of the Panzer IV tank. Six months before World War II erupted in 1939, Bruno Friesen was sent to Germany by his father in hopes of a better life. Friesen was drafted into the Wehrmacht three years later and ended up in the 7th Panzer Division. Friesen experienced intense combat against the Soviets in Romania, Lithuania, and West Prussia.
Written by: Bruno Friesen
-
Helmet for My Pillow
- From Parris Island to the Pacific: A Young Marine's Stirring Account of Combat in World War II
- Written by: Robert Leckie
- Narrated by: James Badge Dale, Tom Hanks (introduction)
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed. Audible Studios, in partnership with Playtone, the production company co-owned by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and creator of the award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, as well as the HBO movie Game Change, has created new recordings of these memoirs, narrated by the stars of the miniseries.
-
-
Hooked from the start
- By iadey on 2023-10-01
Written by: Robert Leckie
-
The German Aces Speak II
- World War II Through the Eyes of Four More of the Luftwaffe's Most Important Commanders
- Written by: Colin D. Heaton, Anne-Marie Lewis, Dr. Dennis Showalter - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The German Aces Speak II, Heaton and Lewis paint a picture of the war through the eyes of four more of Germany's most significant pilots, put together from numerous interviews personally conducted by Heaton from the 1980s through the 2000s. The four ex-Luftwaffe fighter aces bring the past to life as they tell their stories about the war, their battles, their off-duty lives, their lives after the war, and perhaps most importantly, how they felt about serving under the Nazi leadership of Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler.
-
-
Learning about German soldiers
- By Mike D. on 2020-05-04
Written by: Colin D. Heaton, and others
-
Fur Volk and Fuhrer
- The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
- Written by: Erwin Bartmann, Derik Hammond
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just 17-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recruit.
-
-
An enjoyable honest read
- By Stig on 2018-03-28
Written by: Erwin Bartmann, and others
-
Tank Action
- An Armoured Troop Commander's War 1944-45
- Written by: Captain David Render, Stuart Tootal
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1944, David Render was a 19-year-old second lieutenant fresh from Sandhurst when he was sent to France. Joining the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry five days after the D-Day landings, the combat-hardened men he was sent to command did not expect him to last long. However, in the following weeks of ferocious fighting in which more than 90 per cent of his fellow tank commanders became casualties, his ability to emerge unscathed from countless combat engagements earned him the nickname of the 'Inevitable Mr Render'.
-
-
Great story and great narrator!
- By Ben Wierenga on 2022-09-02
Written by: Captain David Render, and others
Publisher's Summary
Gunter Koschorrek wrote his illicit diary on any scraps of paper he could lay his hands on. As keeping a diary was strictly forbidden, he sewed the pages into the lining of his thick winter coat and deposited them with his mother on infrequent trips home on leave. The diary went missing, and it was when he was reunited with his daughter in America some 40 years later that it came to light and became Blood Red Snow.
The author was a keen recruit at initial training, and his excitement at the first encounter with the enemy in the Russian Steppe is obvious. The horror and confusion of fighting in the streets of Stalingrad are brought to life by his descriptions of the others in his unit; their differing manners and techniques for dealing with the squalor and death. He is also posted to Romania and Italy, assignments he remembers fondly compared to his time on the Eastern Front.
This book stands as a memorial to the huge numbers on both sides who did not survive and is, over five decades later, the fulfillment of a responsibility he feels to honor the memory of those who perished. Gunter K. Koschorrek was a machine-gunner on the Russian front in WWII. He lives in Germany, having retired from his job as managing director of a sales company.
More from the same
Narrator:
What listeners say about Blood Red Snow
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pavel
- 2019-12-28
The author cuts out or invents things altogether
First the good. The overall performance of the reader is fantastic. The intimate description of what life was life for an average German soldier on the Eastern Front is quite good.
Now the bad. As someone who is Russian and knows the history of that time period quite well, I am quite disappointed. First off. Author keeps saying that the Russians were using Kalashnikovs. They most definitely were not, as it was not invented until 1947. Then there is absolutely no mention of the Scorched Earth policy and the attoricities the Wermacht (not just SS) committed against the civilian population. Granted, not all soldiers were blood-thirsty murdering thugs that raped and pillaged everything in their way, however I have a hard time buying into the story with Katya. How gentlemanly of men who had just spent months and months living in most terrible of conditions with no women in sight to "just be friends" with a beautiful 18 year old girl.
Basically my gripe with it all is that he portrays them as the most innocent of sheeps and gentlemen. That's not how things went on back then on the Eastern Front.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2022-01-28
Great listen highly recommended
Great book, highly recommended for any WW2 or history buff. Time line was easy to follow and was well detailed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris McDonell
- 2019-04-12
Worth reading.
One of the best german eastern first hand accounts I’ve yet found. I would quite put it up there with E.B Sledges edge of your seat read “with the old breed” but it does have something that Sledge didn’t. This book has one of the best first hand accounts of amazing leadership, and very poor leadership and how each can raise the troops up or make them completely fail.
“Two recruits went missing from our barracks in Poland, upon questions their comrades it became apparent they did not desert they were simply gone... this was not an uncommon event in Poland” little tid bits such as these really help put you into the shoes of the individuals and the horrors faced by all sides
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hugh
- 2023-11-13
Well written
A good description of an elite BMG operator on the Eastern front in WW2. Lots of grim detail accurately depicted…you can imagine all the scenes of carnage as they’re described. Very interesting from the perspective of a German soldier experiencing at the hands of ‘Ivan’ what he himself dolled out to others while advancing either Wehrmacht: overwhelming might, cruelty and constant terror
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Howard G.
- 2022-12-04
More than just ‘entertainment’
As a military veteran and military historian, I found this to be very accurate in historical terms but more meaningfully, it is a tour de force into the experiences of the average soldier and its psychological effects on the mind and spirit of the frontline warrior.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-11-16
voice actors needed
I didn't mind the reader but I would have preferred someone with a German accent. other than that a very good story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2022-08-09
Decent story, bad narration
Though Blood Red Snow is a good story, it falls short of greatness like other great titles (The Forgotten Soldier). This is made worse by the narrators nearly comical tone, which dilutes the seriousness of the situation. The author also hints at a self serving narrative, distancing himself at every opportunity from the atrocities of his side. All in all, not bad
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tavis
- 2022-02-18
hero
This is a Great memoir from a frontline German soldier on the eastern front struggling in ww2
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simon
- 2021-07-30
Fascinating insight into the realities WW2
Well read, clear and excellent pronunciation. Found it more interesting than expected to follow this young soldier through his experience. he seems to have been involved in many of the major events of the eastern front. Also insightful was his shifting attitude and the organization of the German military.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Progo
- 2021-02-13
A brilliant must listen
I really enjoyed it. The reader did a great job although I found his accent to be a little bit too posh. It sounded that posh, that it was almost fake sounding. As posh as you can get. Giving the impression that the writer is very soft natured and royal. It was just a little bit annoying but as the book goes on he either gets better or you get used to it.
The story was brilliant. One of my favourites so far.
In the story he mentions Russians with kalashnikovs. Kalashnikovs(AK47) didn’t exist then. But I believe it to be an error of the editor/ translator and wouldn’t let it discredit the story. Apparently in the German book he used the word machine pistol. In the English version the editor used Kalashnikov. It’s wrong.
Gripping story with no bullshit. It’s to the point with no ego boosting poetics. If you want to know what it was like for some Soldiers in the war it’s a fantastic detailed memoir that’s about life at the time and fighting for survival. Not just glorified fighting. Not all German soldiers were bad people like some people believe. Everybody in Germany was fed propaganda but not everybody took the bait. This man seems like he was a gentleman warrior with morals in an army that had a lot of evil people within it. I listened to the rise and fall of the third reich before this and it set it up perfectly.
I’ll definitely give this another listen at some point.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sonia Lopez
- 2019-12-09
One of the best personal accounts coming out of WW2
I’ve read many many wartime biographies and autobiographies including such classics as the thin red line, helmet for my pillow, with the old breed, samurai, forgotten soldier and this beauty holds its own. The author did a fantastic job balancing foxhole detail with thoughtful and intelligent reflections which show he never really lost perspective on what he was going through. What a masterpiece.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Grant Harper
- 2021-04-01
OK war story but off putting in its cleanliness.
Our German protagonist serves as a heavy machine gunner on the eastern front and in the story you’ll find good info about the day to day life of a soldier but our author scarcely witnesses any ungentlemanly behavior from his comrades and only notes the Russians massacring prisoners and raping women in droves, most of the time their own civilians. It is quite off putting just how clean the author depicts German forces and it strikes as inauthentic and scrubbed. Nothing at all like the raw look at war’s brutality we see in Eugene Sledge’s famous memoir. The narrator did a good job with his performance but I can't help but feel like the narrator should have been younger. I understand that there is a certain appeal to the "old man telling his war stories" approach but I personally would have preferred a voice actor closer in age to a young man undergoing these events.
In fact, this book is filled with strange almost propaganda like scenes. The Soviet civilians are all too ready to jump up and serve the nice Germans even as late as 1942/1943. There is a Russian peasant girl who falls in love with the German occupiers billeted in her house and cries when they are forced to retreat. A Russian pilot is shot down after mistaking a German column for one of his own and the German soldiers share a hearty laugh and cigarettes with him when he realizes his mistake. The author at one point after being rotated to Italy for a period remarks at how the people there long to be annexed by Germany. The Russian soldiers are always portrayed as drunk savages and at one point in the book some of them run straight into German lines to be captured after being chased by angry bees they’ve stirred up in a scene that sounds more like a cartoon than anything resembling the horrors of the eastern front.
All in all it is a fairly standard if generic war story. The politics and politicians are bad. Our soldiers were good. National Socialism, war of eradication against Judeo Bolshevism? Pffft never touched the stuff myself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- S. H. Moore
- 2019-05-31
Simply one of the best.
Whether you are looking for a German WW2 story. WW2 in general, or just a first hand accounting of war in general, Blood Red Snow is a vivid real telling of some of the ugliest most brutal combat in modern history. Splendid telling of a terrible experience. 5 stars.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- fill
- 2018-08-04
Great Book
Liked the story from a grunts point of view on the Eastern Front. Narrator was good except the English accent. Thought a German accent would have been more realistic but maybe too hard to understand?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 2018-08-25
Mediocre personal account
This is only mediocre personal account of WW2 compared to other books, poorly and dull written.
But I wanted to thank the narrator for really ruining this book with his reading style. He narrates it with his english accent like it's a children or a love story book, not a WAR book. Horrible reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mathew
- 2019-05-12
Humanizing the average German soldier
In today's interpretation of history Germany is a nation that must bare the guilt of some murderous mad man who assumed power through means of sedition and went on to try and take over the world. We're sort of encouraged to look at the German citizenry of the time to be in favor of genocide, and imperialism, This book puts a plethora of human faces on the people we've been told were "the bad guys". It shows they were normal people who were turned into the cudgel of the actual bad guys. The author does describe meeting people who bore our archetypal image of a German soldier who is barbarous, but he describes meeting a lot of people who were just normal people dragged into a terrible war. He wasn't in the SS so maybe that's why he wasn't engaging in barbarous acts, but I did feel compassion for the author and his comrades on the front lines.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tefft Smith
- 2019-05-29
War is hell!!
A well written, riveting account of the horrors of ground combat and the understandably dehumanizing emotions it engenders in those misfortuned to experience it. Fascinating to experience it vicariously and from a German soldier’s experience, giving me all the more gratitude that I personally was spared the misfortune. Also, it made all the more understandable how the Nazi regime manipulated so many young men and women, thrusting them into the caldron of the total terror of “kill or be killed, brutally.”
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 2020-03-09
Awesome story
This is a great memoir of a german soldier and his comrades. The narrator does a great job . It has intense moments yet I found myself laughing at some events he describes. would recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous
- 2020-02-22
Excellent book!
This book is great! The author goes into so much detail you almost get absorbed into it as if you're right there with them! Very well detailed and be really breaks everything down, I also enjoyed the fact that he wrote this book as he wrote it in his diary with the dates and everything. The author does say he's fairly young when he enters the war, and you get that vibe. Unlike some of the other memoir/ firsthand experience books, you know right of the bar the author is either an adult or a better older. This author was fairly young and you can tell from his writing the way he complains about certain things at the beginning and shows he really has no battle experience. Then as the book progresses you can see that author is maturing and his confidence really boosts up as the war goes on, it's almost as if that author grows up right in front of us!
I see a lot of people disliking the British accent from the narrator, and I get it british terms are used here and there and kind of throws you off a bit. But i also feel like he did an excellent job portraying the author in his thoughts, tiredness, being hurt, and modifying his voice when he read something a different soldier stated, i feel he did a great job!
Overall this book was great, I just wish that author would've elaborated a bit more on his life before the war and after the war/ captivity. He basically picks up after when he's in the middle of his training and ends the book when he leaves captivity. I wish he would've let us know what he did after that, what career did he end up going into etc.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 2021-04-29
Great writing, better narration
I think this is the most enjoyable narration of a WW2 book I have listened to, out of dozens. the book itself is quite well done and insightful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ginger
- 2021-08-28
le front russe au jour le jour
Poignants souvenirs d'un mitrailleur allemand bien souvent en première ligne. Le narrateur est bien adapté.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!