We Will Not Go to Tuapse cover art

We Will Not Go to Tuapse

From the Donets to the Oder with the Legion Wallonie and 5th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade ‘Wallonien’ 1942-45

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We Will Not Go to Tuapse

By: Fernand Kaisergruber
Narrated by: Paul Woodson
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About this listen

Until recent years, very little was known of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals from Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, and Spain who served voluntarily in the military formations of the German army and the German Waffen-SS. In Kaisergruber's book, the listener discovers important issues of collaboration, the apparent contributions of the volunteers to the German war effort, their varied experiences, their motives, the attitude of the German High Command and bureaucracy, and the reaction to these in the occupied countries.

The combat experiences of the Walloons echoed those of the very best volunteer units of the Waffen-SS, although they shared equally in the collapse of the Third Reich in May 1945. Although unapologetic for his service, Kaisergruber makes no special claims for the German cause and writes not from any postwar apologia and dogma but instead from his firsthand observations as a young man experiencing war for the first time, extending far beyond what had been imaginable at the time. His observations of fellow soldiers, commanders, Russian civilians, and the battlefields prove poignant and telling.

©2016 Fernand Kaisergruber (P)2018 Tantor Military Military & War World World War II War Belgium
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not a great book. it starts a bit too slow. there are much better books with a similar story

average

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A soldier’s story. A recollection of events from the experiences of a youth attracted to the ideals of order. He was a very fortunate survivor.

Thought provoking.

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narrator was excellent. Biography was well done told by one man, and rarely does he give details about other comrades' experience's unless they shared in his, and he could verify that after the war, and they gave him permission. It is definitely narrow as it only deals with his immediate tiny little part in the war. He is unrepentant. He gives details on how he dealt with the incidents of a violent unforgiving war and how this shaped his views and allowed him to survive the long captivity after the war.

Thought provoking

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This book is worth a read just to see a version of the war written by an unrepentent SS soldier who makes no mention of the holocaust, never says nazi, barely speaks of combat and dismisses the treason he committed to Belgium when he joined the Wehrmacht then the SS. In his experiences on the Eastern Front he says how well liked he was, how welcoming the Russian peasants were and how honorable the German military was. He is baffled by Russian hatred of the Germans. He is outraged by his imprisonment after the war and disgusted when his watch is stolen by a guard stating that would never have been done by the Germans. Throughout the whole book he his the center of every stage, the hero of every action, never once looses his sang froid, always acts honorably and exhibits the highest moral fibre. This book is worth a read just to see his skill at reconstructing the war how he wanted it to be. The piece de resistance is when he comments on SS bodies killed in combat and one in particular stating that the soldier appeared happy to have died from the honorable and joyful expression on his face. This book is so profoundly biased and one sided it makes your eyes water.

A view of WW2 profoundly one sided and biased

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