Comments on: I’ve read your book

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:13:01 +0000

It looks like Ernst Jünger's war diaries, the unadorned original notes that became Storm of Steel, are getting published.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 16:29:06 +0000

I’ve been meaning to read Jünger for some time now.

By: Dan Kurt

Dan Kurt — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 19:19:36 +0000

If you want a first hand account of how the WWI storm troopers fought, read the book Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger (1895–1998), tr. Michael Hofmann, ISBN-10: 0142437905. The last third of the book covers how storm troopers fought, as he was one of those trained in the then-new tactics. Hell of a book in all respects and only about war from start to finish. I enjoyed this book much more than the Rommel book, perhaps because of the translation. This is something I have noted in reading some of Solzhenitsyn's books.

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:16:05 +0000

It only becomes more surreal as he describes the actions in Romania, possibly the high-point of the book. You find yourself taking a step back from the narrative and thinking "They did what?!" In general, though, that sort of dry, deadpan, matter-of-fact style of description was the encouraged style for field-grade officers' writing in the German army of the time. Remember that he wrote Infantry Attacks as part manual in addition to part memoir.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:07:49 +0000

That line struck me as almost British in its deadpan understatement: “Apparently my men sought shelter behind me and couldn’t help me.” Quite so!

By: Gwern

Gwern — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:02:02 +0000

Apparently my men sought shelter behind me and couldn’t help me. I fired again. The rifle missed fire. I quickly opened the magazine and found it empty.

Wow. Puts quite a spin on when he says “In a man to man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.”

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:00:46 +0000

I almost certainly never would have found it on my own; my family only had a copy because Fry was the C.O. of one of the regiments in my grandfather’s division: the 88th Blue Devils. Incidentally it was the first division composed from scratch entirely of draftees, an experience instrumental to the later expansion of the US Army.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:34:15 +0000

Naturally, Combat Soldier is out of print. (It's not unavailable though, so I may have to add it to The List.)

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 12:30:48 +0000

It's a fantastic book. For a somewhat similar narrative of an American commander in WWII try Combat Soldier by James C. Fry. Not quite as heavy on the tactics and from a somewhat higher (company to regimental command) perspective. It's important to recognize that the principles that embodied storm-tactics were not some new concept but were the application of the traditional German approach to military affairs to the lowest tactical subunits of the army. I strongly suggest Robert M. Citino's The German Way of War for an excellent overview of how this military culture originated and developed over time. Also Citino's Death of the Wehrmacht as an application of that perspective to its ultimate failure.