Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross
by Albrecht Wacker
List Price:
Our Price: $21.09
You Save: $13.86 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $19.99 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Albrecht WackerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-06
ISBN: 1844153177
Number of pages: 196
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Book Reviews of Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross
Book Review: Readable, even enjoyable, but.....
Summary: 4 Stars
I have of recent times taken to reading memoirs or stories of snipers and their roles within the battlefield strategy. It is facinating how a well placed individual (or team),with the appropriate skills, can influence an engagement, a battle or political will with, primarily, a single shot weapon.Also of recent times I have taken a much more active interest in the history surrounding the Russian or Eastern Front of WWII having been brought up on a diet of the 'sexy' Western Front. D Day, Dieppe, El Alamein, Cassino, 'Market Garden', Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine. But having read Beevors "Stalingrad' and 'Berlin' along with Max Hastings 'Armageddon' is was truly eye opening to see the vast expanse of battle, the inhumanity and the utter human waste and devestation wrought on both German and Russian alike. So it was on to this book, a book promising to not only cover both of these topics but also grant a rare insight to the ways and whys of a sniper in a theatre that epitomized 'total war'.
So how did I find it? Certainly readable although the author Wacker isn't my sort of writer. I found his constant references to how tired the soldiers were and the constant referral to the term 'Landsers' a bit tiresome. I got it after the first ten references and the reader can pick this up through the story line! This also goes for the recounting of the 'bullets impact' on the human flesh. I can see he was trying to express the horror a bullet, especially the explosive bullets which were being used by both sides, imparts on the human body but by repeating the process over and over it begins to lose its impact (no pun intended). Once or twice conjurs up an image and allows you to experience something first hand, at the tenth time my eyes blur and my mind switches off. It's a shame because this describes real war, not something off movies or Playstation!
The constant references and vivid detail given to the Russian atrocities, whilst anything done by the Germans, was referred to rather generically and somewhat sanitized. It comes off sounding a little one-sided.I guess I can understand it as Sepp wouldn't be the first person to impart his story and 'diminish his or his comrades responsibility'as I am sure he has enough ghosts to live with without exposing things done by him or fellow soldiers in the heat of battle.
Lastly I said I had an interest in how a sniper deploys in such an environment and I came up questioning the assertion that one man (normally Sepp), with only a rifle, could hold down an attacking force (especially Russians)in a sector for a period of time. It is well documented that Russian tactics were aimed solely on the offensive with no consideration given to the casualties incurred. They believed in a maxim of throwing men and material at their objective until they were either annihilalated or overcame their foe with superior numbers. Therefore I express doubt that one marksman (sniper), shooting at one man at a time, would hold up a formation for a period of 6 odd hours. On the other side of the coin I have to ask myself then why would the author write this if it isn't based on fact? It is a defined sniper tactic today to play a part in defensive operations but with the tactics employed by Russian troops at the time I would suggest a sniper would move on quickly or be run over! Surely it wouldn't be to build up Sepp into some 'super sniper' or suggest Germans were better than Russians. I don't believe either need building up. With what was endured throughout 1941 -45 on that front by both sides, all who fought and who survived deserve hero status in my opinion.The reader can form his/her own opinion on this.
Having said all this I enjoyed reading Sepps story. Who he was or why he masked his name doesn't interest me. Fiction or non-fiction, it exposes the hardships and privations inflicted on an unfortunate generation of German and Russian youth. It shows how primal war is and how measured we now must be before we commit the youth of today to the experiences only armed conflict can bring. A brave story by a brave man. For the historian or student of WWII you may have a 'but' in mind when you read it but it does allow an insight into the life and times on the Russian Front during 1943 -45, albeit from one side only, but combine this with other reading and you will truly appreciate the massive travesty that was the Eastern Front. Very readable.
More Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Summary of Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross
Josef "Sepp" Allerberger was the second most successful sniper of the German Wehrmacht and one of the few private soldiers to be honoured with the award of the Knight's Cross.An Austrian conscript, after qualifying as a machine gunner he was drafted to the southern sector of the Russian Front in July 1942. Wounded at Voroshilovsk, he experimented with a Russian sniper-rifle while convalescing and so impressed his superiors with his proficiency that he was returned to the front on his regiment's only sniper specialist.In this sometimes harrowing memoir, Allerberger provides an excellent introduction to the commitment in fieldcraft, discipline and routine required of the sniper, a man apart. There was no place for chivalry on the Russian Front. Away from the film cameras, no prisoner survived long after surrendering. Russian snipers had used the illegal explosive bullet since 1941, and Hitler eventually authorised its issue in 1944. The result was a battlefield of horror.Allerberger was a cold-blooded killer, but few will find a place in their hearts for the soldiers of the Red Army against whom he fought. REVIEWS "...a very unique story and experience worth telling of an Eastern Front Sniper."Sniper Central 06-07General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Glückliches Hakenkreuz
They LiveRelease date: 2009-06-26; Video On Demand; Movie
Best price: $9.99
The InheritorsRelease date: 1999-10-19; DVD
Best price: $37.99
Our Hitler: A Film From GermanyFACETS VIDEO; Release date: 2007-12-11; DVD
Best price: $51.47
Price in other shops:
WolfenWarner Brothers; Release date: 2002-08-13; DVD
Best price: $3.64
Price in other shops:
White Dog - Criterion CollectionIMAGE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2008-12-02; DVD
Best price: $20.10
Price in other shops:
Europa / ZentropaDVD
Best price: $8.83
Guderian: Panzer Pioneer or Myth Maker (Brassey's Military Profiles)by Russell Hart
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2006-10-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.19
Price in other shops:
The Blue LightPATHFINDER HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-08-22; DVD
Best price: $10.56
Price in other shops:
Look to Germanyby Stanley McClatchie
Victory WW2 Publishing Ltd; Published: 2001-03-30; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Eternal Front (Hitler's Priest: The Anton Holzner collection, Volume 1)by Anton Holzner, SS Sturmbannfuehrer Alfred Hartl
Preuss; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Similar Books and other products
Grenadiers: The Story Of Waffen SS General Kurt 'Panzer' Meyer (Stackpole Military History)by Kurt Meyer
Stackpole Books; Published: 2005-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.83
Price in other shops:
Lost Victories: The War Memoirs of Hitler's Most Brilliant Generalby Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, Anthony G. Powell, B. H. Liddell Hart, Martin Blumenson
Zenith Press; Published: 2004-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius (Stackpole Military History Series)by Otto Carius
Stackpole Books; Published: 2003-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.06
Price in other shops:
Seven Days in January: With the 6th SS-Mountain Division in Operation NORDWINDby Wolf T. Zoepf, Theodore Mataxis
The Aberjona Press; Published: 2001-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
AT LENINGRAD'S GATES: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group Northby William Lubbeck
Casemate; Published: 2006-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.47
Price in other shops:
In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front (Modern War Studies (Paper))by Gottlob Herbert Bidermann
University Press of Kansas; Published: 2001-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.97
Price in other shops:
Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Frontby Gunther K Koschorrek
Zenith Press; Published: 2005-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.87
Price in other shops:
The Forgotten Soldierby Guy Sajer
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2001-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.50
Price in other shops:
Grandfather's Tale: The Tale of a German Sniperby Timothy Erenberger
iUniverse Star; Published: 2001-12-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.20
Price in other shops:
Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SSby Johann Voss
The Aberjona Press; Published: 2002-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.66
Price in other shops: