Two war diaries that reveal โjust what it was like, day by day, living in a Wehrmacht unitโ (Internet Modeler).
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This book is built around two recently discovered war diariesโone by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division, which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommelโs Afrika Korps. Together, along with detailed timelines and brief overviews, they comprise a fascinating up-close look at the German side of World War II. The stories are told primarily in the first person present tense, as events occurred, and without the benefitโor liabilityโof postwar reflection.
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The first diary, author unknown, covers April 1942 to March 1943, the momentous year when the tide of battle turned in the East. It first details the unitโs combat in the great German victory at Kharkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the lethal winter of 1942โ43.
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The second diaryโs author was a soldier named Rolf Krengel, and the diary was the original, handwritten copy. It starts with the beginning of the war and ends shortly after the occupation. Serving primarily in North Africa, Krengel recounts with keen insight and flashes of humor the day-to-day challenges of the Afrika Korps. During one of the swirling battles in the desert, Krengel found himself sharing a tent with Rommel at a forward outpost.
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Neither of the diarists was famous, nor of especially high rank. These are simply the brutally honest accounts written at the time by men of the Wehrmacht who participated in two of historyโs most crucial campaigns.