Grandfather's Tale: The Tale of a German Sniper
by Timothy Erenberger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Timothy ErenbergerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-12-26
ISBN: 0595164625
Number of pages: 330
Publisher: iUniverse Star
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780595164622
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Grandfather's Tale: The Tale of a German Sniper
Book Review: An Epic Tale of War and Survival
Summary: 5 Stars
This book really surprised me in many ways. It begins in the modern USA with a boy going to visit his grandfather, who at first seems to be nothing more than an old man. When the boy and his grandfather go target shooting, the boy quickly recognizes that his grandpa is no ordinary marxman, as he nails one bullseye after another.
One thing leads to another, and the boy finds an old box of German war medals. Rather than being upset with the boy for snooping around in the attic, the old man decides that he should finally pass on the story of what happened to him during the war, so that the memory would live on.
At this point, the story goes back in time, to (I believe) 1938. The grandfather, Georg, is a young man in Germany. He is working at his mother's Bakery when he recieves a draft notification. The world suddenly changes for the baker as he joins the German Army and is trained to be a soldier.
Next comes the annexation of the Sudetenland, where young Georg rolls into Czechoslovakia along with thousands of troops. Not much happens here in the way of combat, but it is an omen of things to come.
A few months later, the army rolls into Poland in the first real blizkrieg of the war. Jeorg experiences combat for the first time as he picks off enemy Polish soldiers with extremely long-range shots with his scoped Kar 98K rifle.
The Polish campaign surprised me, as I have always been told that the Polish were incompitent soldiers, charging the German machinegun emplacements with cavalry. In Grandfather's Tale, the Polish cavalry behaves much differently. They dismount for combat and are very well armed and trained. The Poles also have an airforce (although a very outdated one), tanks and artillery. It is more the tactics of the Germans than their technological advantage that they prevail over the Poles.\
During the Polish campaign, Jeorg is befriended by a master sniper, named Ellis. This man teaches him tricks he learned during the First World War. The two of them make an amazing sniper team as they pick off enemies from hundreds of yards away, concentrating upon soldiers using heavy weaponry.
After the Polish campaign, Jeorg and Ellis join the Fallshirmjager, which is the equivilent to the US Airborne. As paratroopers, they participate in the taking of Eben Emael, the greatest single fortress in the world, which is located in Belgium. Here, a mere force of 85 paratroopers overcomes a garrison of 1500 men. This enables the remainder of the German Army to take Belgium and France.
Next the story moves on to the invasion of Crete, a small island south of Greece. Here, the English Army is waiting for Georg and his fellow paratroopers with a deadly trap, for they have already cracked the German Enigma codes. Though the enemy is waiting for them and thousands of their fellow paratroopers are killed, the Germans manage to take a small pocket on the island, enabling reinforcements to land on a newly captured, crater-filled airstrip.
Just when you think Georg and his buddies could not possibly go through anything worse than that, they are informed that they'll be participating in the invasion of the Soviet Union!
This begins with an enormous, 3-million man army thrusting into Soviet Poland (Since the Soviets took the eastern portion of Poland). Jeorg and the other snipers participate in battle after battle, moving ever closer to the capital, Moscow.
The army is bogged down in the mud, which dellays them for about a month. Only days after the mud begins to dry, the army is frozen in an arctic blast of cold, which freezes the mud, and everything else (including the oil in their tanks!). The Soviet counterattack is ferocious.
The harrowing Soviet campaign goes on for several chapters, as the soldiers fight in one horrific battle after the next. About two years after the innitial invasion, the paratrooper's division is recalled to Italy, to help in the defense against the American invasion!
When the Americans and British land in Italy, the now amazingly compitent soldier Georg begins to lead a squad of men in the defense of Italy. They lay mines, set boobytraps, and of course, shoot several enemy soldiers in a tactical retreat up the Italian mountains.
From here, they are moved into the army which attacks the Americans in the Ardennes, in what the Germans refer to as "Whact am Rhine," or the "Battle of the Bulge." Though the innitial attack fails, the paratroopers fight on the western front for several months.
Finally, Jeorg and his remaining friends (many were killed throughout the many battles in which they fought) are sent to the final defense of Berlin. In this battle, about 75,000 German soldiers, police and Hitler Youth attempt to hold off a Soviet army of some 1-million men! This very climactic final battle will not disappoint you, as it is as thrilling and suspensfull as anything ever written.
Check out Grandfather's Tale. I guarantee you'll love it.
Summary of Grandfather's Tale: The Tale of a German Sniper
Every grandfather has a tale and this is the tale of Georg Frick, a German sniper for the German Army during World War II. Georg Frick is an old man now, but in 1937 the German Army drafted him.Grandfather?s Tale is the story of Georg?s transformation from reluctant new soldier into a master sniper. Georg fought in dozens of battles in several countries, including Poland, Belgium, the Soviet Union, Crete, Italy and Germany. After proving himself to be an exceptional sniper, he joined a special team of German paratroopers. This group of expert soldiers was parachuted into Eben Emael, the strongest single fortress in the world!
Georg's story is one of adventure and survival under extreme circumstances, including the brutal Soviet winter, and the final battle, the Battle of Berlin. Join Georg as he recounts his harrowing experiences to his grandson, in hopes that he may learn the lessons of war, and not repeat them.
Grandfather's Tale is an action-packed journey through the entirety of the Word War II. German weapons, tactics and strategy on a platoon level are explained with meticulous detail. Several battles, including the Battle of the Bulge and the Invasion of Crete are told from a German perspective.
"Erenberger's story is fast-paced, his descriptions of the conditions a sniper must undergo through in each engagement were unforgettable...This book is strongly recommended for all who want to know what 'the big war' was all about in the eyes of a German sniper."?Capt. M.R. Doehrmann, USMC
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