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 Aberjona
From Austrian Social
Democracy to Communist Captivity with a Soldier of Panzer-Grenadier Division
"Großdeutschland " (Alfred Novotny)
Alfred Novotny was born in Vienna on 1 April
1924, and was perfectly placed to suffer the ancient Chinese curse: “May you
live in interesting times.” His times were interesting and deadly, but that he
survived them is not the greatest surprise. Rather, what stands out is that Fred
never lost his compassion, nor his humanity, nor his mind.
Growing up in 1930s Vienna, the former home of a
young, frustrated, and fuming artist named Adolf Hitler, Fred was the stepson of
a dedicated Social Democrat. As such, he grew up with a visceral and deep
dislike and distrust of their rival parties, including the National Socialists,
or “Nazis.” Although the political situation in Austria throughout the 1930s was
stormy, the German annexation of Austria absolutely ended effective opposition
to the “New Order.”
Attracted by the superficial benefits of unity
with Germany and the evident achievements of the Nazis, young Alfred gradually
parted ways with his stepfather. He performed his duty to the Reich when called
up for service in the Reich Labor Corps, and later proudly served in the most
elite division of the German Army in World War II, Panzer-Grenadier Division
Großdeutschland ("Greater Germany").
From 1942 forward, Fred saw more than his share
of combat. Starting with action as a member of a hurriedly-armed labor
detachment in the famous British naval and commando raid at St. Nazaire, France,
in March 1942, Fred later joined the Großdeutschland Division in time to
participate in some of the most well-known and most bloody battles of the war on
the Eastern Front.
During the Germans’ last great offensive in the
Soviet Union in 1943, Fred fought at Poltava and in the titanic clash of
thousands of tanks at Kursk. Wounded there, he later returned to his unit and
fought in the long series of fiercely-contested defensive battles that ended
only when the Soviets occupied much of eastern and central Germany and Austria.
. . and when Hitler and the Thousand Year Reich were finally destroyed.
Like so many members of German units, Fred was
happy to surrender to the US Army at the end of the war, but under the terms of
inter-Allied agreements reached months before, units which had fought only
against the Soviets were turned over to the Red Army, en masse. Thus began the
ordeal after the ordeal—2½ years in Soviet prison camps.
After being freed from captivity by the Soviets,
Fred eventually escaped the old world and the old conflicts . . . and started a
new life in the United States, free of the competing "isms" of Europe that had
wreaked misery on millions.
Supported by detailed commentary by
author/historian Marc Rikmenspoel, The Good Soldier contains 62
illustrations, including original diagrams and sketches drawn before the war and
during the author's captivity; comprehensive documentary authentication of the
author's military service; and extensive wartime photography.
Size: 6"x9", Soft cover, 160 pages, 62
photos. Price: $15 USD / $17 CAD/INT.
 Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front
(David Glantz)
In terms of sheer numbers of soldiers, armored
vehicles, guns, and the scale of destruction and casualties, the Eastern Front
was the most active and decisive theater of war during the 20th century. For
four years, the armies and air forces of the world's two most powerful and
brutal dictators savaged each other over terrain that stretched from the Arctic
to the Middle East. The map of Europe was changed forever by the fighting on
this front, and even today, the world reverberates with the echoes of that
fighting, in places like Chechenya and the Balkans.
Despite the enormous importance of the fighting
that occurred between Nazi Germany and her allies and the Soviet Empire, we are
still uncovering vastly important and long concealed facts about the war. For
almost 50 years, the world had to depend largely on captured German records for
its understanding of the Eastern Front, since almost all information made
available by the Soviets was propaganda or even disinformation. Over the last
decade, following the fall of the Communism in Europe in general, and Russia in
particular, long-sealed archives have begun to open, and the truth about the
Soviet side of the war is finally being discovered.
Slaughterhouse includes the
following features:
-
Two chapters by famed Sovietologist
David Glantz: "Chronology of the War on the Eastern Front" (with nine
detailed maps) and "Forgotten Battles" of the Eastern Front.
-
The German armed forces and their
allies: Thumbnail histories of 487 army groups, armies, corps, and divisions
that saw combat on the Eastern Front.
-
The Soviet armed forces: Thumbnail
histories of 881 directions, fronts, armies, corps, and divisions.
-
Biographical sketches of 57 key Axis
and Soviet wartime personalities.
-
Highly-detailed organizational diagrams
of 55 types of Axis and Red Army divisions that served on the Eastern Front.
-
Comprehensive, meticulously researched
performance data comparisons of hundreds of Axis and Red Army weapons,
including small arms, mortars, artillery, tanks, assault guns, combat
aircraft, and more.
Size: 6"x9", Soft cover, 520 pages, 88
photos, 9 maps, 16 page annotated bibliography.
Price: $30 USD / $33 CAD/INT.
World War II spawned some of the most famous-and
infamous-fighting organizations the world has ever known. None was more feared
by its battlefield foes or more hated by political enemies of the National
Socialist regime than the Waffen-SS. Six decades after the last Waffen-SS unit
capitulated or was annihilated, the facts about many aspects of this
organization are still shrouded in legend and half-truth. Loathed by many as a
criminal organization, yet also respected for the esprit, resolve, and valor of
its component units and individuals, the Waffen-SS was unarguably a
highly-complex, multi-faceted phenomenon, unique among the military
organizations of the world.
Marc Rikmenspoel, has crafted the ultimate
reference for those trying to understand the intensely controversial and
complicated nature of the Waffen-SS. A comprehensive overview that will be
useful to historians, buffs, wargamers, and re-enactors alike, no matter what
your predisposition to the Waffen-SS, you will learn a great deal from this
book. The book includes a concise history of every one of the major fighting
formations of the Waffen-SS (those designated as "divisions").
Sections include:
-
Formations
-
Structure of Divisions
-
Germans in the Waffen-SS
-
Germanics in the Waffen-SS
-
Non-Germans and Non-Germanics in the
Waffen-SS
-
Leading Personalities
-
Weapons
-
Misconceptions and Controversies
-
Weapons Tables
Size: 6"x9", Soft cover, 300 pages, 82 photos, 20 page annotated
bibliography. Price: $20 USD / $22 CAD/INT.
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