Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II

Really interesting look into the mindset of the German soldier during World War II... as the title implies. Uses letters, quotes, and narratives written by soldiers to get a “uncut” view into how they thought. Fascinating to see the similarities and differences between how you'd expect “normal” soldiers would react and how these soldiers, in the midst of large-scale ethnic cleansing programs and riding high on propaganda of hate and intolerance, dealt with the war.

Falters a bit in its presentation, though. The book was separated not in terms of time period (in fact, the time periods were mixed all together, which I think took away a neat aspect in seeing how their headspaces would have changed as the war went on) but subject matter, I suppose. How the German soldier saw death, how they saw the people they were around, how they saw the horrors discovered (and reexamined) at the end of the war... But these differences weren't clearly defined and it often felt like the subjects the chapters were supposed to be about blended together in a repetitive way. Would have definitely preferred a more timeline based approach, but I see why this approach wasn't taken - to put less of an emphasis on the events and politics of the war but more on the person at the very bottom of the chain.