Detta är en personlig skildring av den unge soldaten Johann Voss krigsår under andra världskriget. År 1943, vid 17 års ålder, går Voss med i Waffen-SS och hamnar sedan som kulspruteskytt i de arktiska områdena i Sovjetunionen och Finland. Läsaren får följa honom och hans kamraters vedermödor i det kalla och karga klimatet. Efter stilleståndet mellan Finland och Sovjetunionen i september 1944 förflyttas han till västfronten. Där strider han fram till krigsslutet i maj 1945 då han hamnar i amerikansk fångenskap.

Det är en stark skildring av en ungs man brinnande idealism att få tjäna sitt land och hur denna idealism efter hand slås i spillror. Rädsla, förnedring och död kantar hans väg fram till det nesliga krigsslutet i maj 1945. Hans världsbild rasar samman då det efter kriget uppdagas att Waffen-SS varit inblandat i den systematiska judeutrotningen.

A heart-felt and thoughtful telling of one young man's experiences all before the age of twenty-one. It is well written, easy to follow with ample explanation and maps. At times quite insightful and sometimes very personal and harrowing, both physically mentally, and morally. I would recommend this book.

Update 14.8.17 - The author mentions several times seeing and hearing geese as they were migrating during August. One night as I was laid in bed reading one of these passages, a flock of geese flew honking over my house on their long journey (I live in the north of England). It struck me as quite poignant and just a touch creepy. ( )

The writing style of the book seems to lack something, much of the combat is glossed over, the author instead seems to spend more time examining the personal struggle of coming to grips with reality of his service and what his organization did during the war. Book itself is fairly short, just dont read this expecting any intense descriptions of combat on the Eastern Front or of Operation Nordwind. Its no 'Forgotten Soldier' or 'Blood Red Snow', the writing seems forced and doesnt flow too well. ( )

Interesting account of a young man who ended up fighting for one of the SS divisions in Finland. He introduces you to the side most people don't know about the SS. Not all of them were guarding camps and participating in the Holocaust. A large number of them were in regular army divisions like the author's. His point of view is fairly limited during his time in the army, so it is a bit different than your standard war book with the overall battlefield picture. I found myself wondering how much of his story was true and how much of it was whitewashing. I don't really know. He came off as a fairly regular guy caught up in a war that he was fighting simply to defend his country. At the end of the day, the average German soldier was not much different than the average Allied one. We don't tend to look at it in that light. The horrors and evils of the Holocaust stain every decent German who took up arms in the defense of their country during WWII. This book will give you a little more insight into the German army. Perhaps you will look at them a little more as humans and a little less as monsters like our history books are so fond of telling us.

You can finish this book in a day or two. Read it. If nothing else you can come a little closer to understanding why so many young people were willing to die for a monumental idiot like Hitler. ( )