Two Soldiers, Two Lost Fronts: German War Diaries of the Stalingrad and North Africa Campaigns

by Don A Gregory, Wilhelm R Gehlen

Overview

Two war diaries that reveal “just what it was like, day by day, living in a Wehrmacht unit” (Internet Modeler).
 
This book is built around two recently discovered war diaries—one by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division, which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommel’s 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 benefit—or liability—of postwar reflection.
 
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 unit’s combat in the great German victory at Kharkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the lethal winter of 1942–43.
 
The second diary’s 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.
 
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 history’s most crucial campaigns.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935149743
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	01/10/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	277
Sales rank:	802,935
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Wilhelm Reinhard Gehlen was born in Germany’s Rhineland in 1933, the year Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor, where he joined the Hitler Youth and attended one of Adolf Hitler's Volk Schools. Will has since served in Indochina (Annam-Tonkin) and North Africa with the Foreign Legion and worked for the International War Grave Commission of NATO.Don Allen Gregory has been Professor of Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville since 1993. Before teaching, Don was supervisory research physicist for the US Army Missile Command, and a Materials Scientist for NASA/ Marshall Space Flight Centre. He is the author of more than 130 technical publications as well as having written articles for World War II History, Military History, and World War II Magazine.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Part I To Stalingrad and Back 1

Introduction 3

1 Departure from Paris and Arrival in Charkov 15

2 The Battle for Charkov, 5-29 May 1942 17

3 Forward to the Oskol River, 31 May-22 July 1942 31

4 Toward the Don and Ssal, 23-30 July 1942 47

5 Advance to the Caucasus, 1 August-24 November 1942 53

6 Our Part at Stalingrad, 25 November-25 December 1942 73

7 Our Retreat from Stalingrad, 26 December-19 March 1942 79

Historical Timeline 89

Part II To North Africa and Back 109

Introduction 113

1 Conscription and On to France ("Case Yellow"), 1939 135

2 My North Africa Campaign, 1941 139

3 Chase and Being Chased through the Desert, 1942 161

4 Home to Germany 1943 187

5 The End of the War, 1945 197

6 After the End 201

Epilogue: The Fall of Berlin and the Airlift 205

Historical Timeline 215

Appendix 1 Biography of Ludwig Bloos 253

Appendix 2 Obituary of Rolf Krengel 258

Bibliography and Sources 261

Editorial Reviews

The detailed accounts of life on the front lines and in rear areas- often boring, frustrating, and sometimes terrifying- has never been more observed and recorded. Highly recommended.

World War II History

"Recommended."

Armor Modeling and Preservation Society

"…provides something that often gets lost in the analysis found in other books: just what it was like, day by day, living in a Wehrmacht unit…a very personal view of the war…quickly puts you in the shoes of the diarists…"

Internet Modeler