Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS

Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS | Johann Voss | Another great personal account from the German Army

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Black Edelweiss: A...

	Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS Johann Voss The Aberjona Press, 2002 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 58 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

BLACK EDELWEISS

An outstanding work.

Makes very sad reading. But one can not but admire the comradeship evident within the text. Despite the heroism and extraordinary achievements these German troops achieved, The book clearly shows the futility of war. Also what a loss to Germany so many bright, intelligent and brave young men dying.

This book, along side the book 7 Days in January, would be an invaluable text for those engaged in the study of Military history. Also too many texts only show the American side of the conflict. I particularly enjoyed the bloody nose given to the Amercians (as desribed in this text and the aforementioned text) As such i have sent a copy to Westpoint military academy with my compliments !!!!

The detailed battle scenes and graphic description's of soliders daily lives. Both in Norway and during and after the battle of the bulge make this a must have text.

Very enjoyable reading

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Another great personal account from the German Army

Great read for a student of military history or one who is interested in how it is in combat. Unfortunately, guys like this dont live in Europa anymore they have passed on :-( Every European should read this one.

Good book, but must be read with a bit of skepticism.

I purchased this book to help me understand the otherside of WWII. I was curious to see how the war was witnessed through the eyes of the defeated.
Voss does a good job with his descriptions of life in the SS. I believe that he goes a bit far though with trying to persuad the reader that the SS was not the criminal gang portrayed at the Nuernberg trials. Every Officer was excellent and every soldier was honorable. Anyone with military experience knows that no unit has perfect sodiers and officers. I can understand and respect that he wants to protect the honor of his fallen friends. He also tries to portray the unit as humanitarian when they hand out what few rations they have to American POWs since they fought so bravely against his unit. Or when they bury church bells in Finland to "protect" them from the advancing Russian Army. Again these stories seem to embelish upon his recollections of the war.
I find a common thread within the book, that is a patriotic, selfless, honorable individual who did what he felt was right given the information provided to him from his government. Voss does note that he sees a box car filled with people but states he was ignorant as to where they were going. He never takes this any further. This could be attributed to his youth, military training not to ask questions, or ignorance is bliss. If on the otherhand Voss is telling the truth and he was a simple soldier doing what he felt was right then it makes it difficult to think of the whole German Army as a simple killing machine. He was just a person who wanted to do what was right and may or may not have been ignorant of the atrocitties his government was commiting. But as the story goes on you find Voss not fighting for Hitler but instead for his own survival and his comrades around him. Maybe it is a good thing to put a human face on the Axis soldier.
I would highly recommend this book along with the Forgotten Soldier, In Deadly Combat, and Seven Days in January.

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Good short read about Waffen SS soldier

This book was a good short read about the life and military combat experience of a Waffen SS soldier fighting in Finland during WWII. It gives you a difference perspective about the war including fighting above the Arctic Circle and the reasons why to fight in a later condemened organization. It also touches on the common German soldiers lack of knowledge of the war crimes that were occurring behind the front lines. An interesting read despite not flowing fast sometimes.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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