Radio Operator on the Eastern Front cover art

Radio Operator on the Eastern Front

An Illustrated Memoir, 1940-1949

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Radio Operator on the Eastern Front

By: Erhard Steiniger, Anthony Tucker-Jones - foreword
Narrated by: Julian Elfer
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About this listen

This is the true and dramatic testimony of a German grenadier during World War II.

Erhard Steiniger joined his Wehrmacht unit on October 12, 1940, as a radio operator, a role which required his constant presence with troops at the Front, right in the midst of combat. On June 22, 1941, he accompanied his division to Lithuania where he experienced the catastrophic first day of Operation Barbarossa.

He later witnessed intense clashes during the conquest of the Baltic islands and the battles leading up to Leningrad on the Volkhov and Lake Ladoga. He describes the retreat from battles in Estonia, Kurland, and East Prussia and his eventual surrender and captivity in Siberia. He finally returned to Germany in October 1949, a broken man.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Verlagshaus Würzburg GmbH & Co, KG, Würzburg Fleschig Verlag; Forward copyright 2020 by Anthony Tucker-Jones; Translation copyright 2020 by Geoffrey Brooks (P)2021 Tantor Military Military & War World War II Memoir War

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I find listening to this book very difficult, because it's not my first German WW2, but it's the first that wasn't some big plane/sub/panzer, rather the guy just seems like the typical soldier from any country, any era, very likeable, but he's on the "wrong side" of history, against the whole world, and anyone who's spent 5 minutes in history class knows where this will go. He describes losses almost from the get go, at a horrific rate. I've read so many war stories where people make friends and lose a couple, but this is something else. I forget, Germany was mostly against Russia during the war, in terms of effort and material etc. It's fast paced book and sometimes months pass in just a few minutes, while other times, it's much more intense on specific battles or situations. the narrator is ok, but lacks real emotion, ie He stumbles into his brothers grave, while fighting out in Russia. Perhaps a stark reminder of how bad they had it, his parents living in part of Germany that was broken off, given zero compensation for loss of home and property. it reminds us there were no winners in ww2, least of all those on losing side. The very last few words brought some much needed hope and colour back into a very bleak book, reflecting the time of history. I don't agree with comments that he should be made to endlessly apologise for being on the wrong side.

A Defeated German

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Being a big fan of Guy Sajer’s The Forgotten Soldier I was looking forward to this and it didn’t disappoint. Not as good as Sajer but an interesting insight into a widely under appreciated experience lived by the Germans. Well worth a listen

Easy and informative listen.

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Love this book absolutely amazing just wish it was a bit longer but other then that no complaints

Amazing

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Good narration makes this a good book and the story is very believable and interesting

Interesting

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A good story with clear narration made this easy listening. It comes wth supplementary photography. I found myself listening and then reviewing the imagery. I could put faces, uniforms and landscape to the story!

An honest and compelling account.

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An interest account of the war on the Eastern Front, but ultimately lacking in any real detail or emotion. He appears to have witnessed no atrocities, war crimes, or any wrong doings by the German forces.

He's also spectacularly insensitive at times. The Russians used Auschwitz as a transit camp for German prisoners after the war. Of the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free) sign over the gates he says "How true it was. I did 4 years of hard labour in Russia before I returned home". No mention of the millions who were murdered after walking under those signs in the many Nazi death camps.

Interesting but sanitised

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I really got into the story and life of this incredible man.
And from a opponent standpoint it just shows that everyone really just wanted to survive, and the common ranks were just used as cannon fodder and not cared about by the generals or state leaders

Amazing story

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I really liked this honest and truthful approach and writing. This veteran said it as he remembered it which gave a good insight into what he experienced. A Good story overall.

Radio Operator on the Eastern Front

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Great memoir of a frontline German signaller on the eastern front. Sadly, rather dryly performed/read.

Great and detailed memoir

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As usual, only too happy to mention the Russian atrocities, even Dresden, but mentions the Holocaust perhaps twice. “There were rumours there was a concentration camp at Auschwitz”. Give me a break. I enjoyed this book as a freebie and from the perspective of someone who wasn’t frontline infantry/panzer. Spent the whole book portraying the Sudetenland VolkDeutsch that they were the victims basically the whole time from 1918 to 45. Well, I hope the author still considered his lovely Adolf as his “liberator” as he wasted his years in Siberia. He was very lucky to somehow survive the whole thing.

Typical German OstFront memoir

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