Soldier X

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This article is about The novel. For the comic book character, see Cable (comics).

Soldier X is a Novel written by Don Wulffson about a young German being unwillingly recruited into the Jugend, or children's army during World War II. Though he is technically a Nazi, he does not share the Nazist perspective. It shows the war from the differing perspective of the Nazis and the Russians, as well as the ways in which war can effect a person.

[edit] Plot Summary

The two main characters are Erik Brandt and Tamara Imanov. They meet after Erik is badly injured in a battle, during which he becomes trapped behind the Russian lines. He is found by a group of Russian soldiers, and brought to a hospital. He was not recognized as a German, even though he had blond hair and blue eyes, due to the fact he spoke fluent Russian due to his ancestry. From the beginning, he liked Tamara, as did many of the others in the hospital. After he had mostly recovered, she discovered he was a German when he screamed out in German when he spilled a pot of hot water on himself. She did not turn him in, but she stopped talking to him. When the hospital was attacked, they were forced to run away with four of the others. Three of them were killed, and the other, Sergo, was shot but managed to escape. The two wandered until they found a house in a small village in Czechoslovakia, that was recently used to house german soldiers that left for the front. They were taken in and cared for. But the house was under fire and they had to leave again, but the lady who had taken them in had refused to leave.

They traveled with a large group of people who were fleeing as well; they came across a hospital where they stayed in for a few days. Once they had left, they had little to eat and drink for many days. They came across a small deserted town where they were shot by Americans (who thought they were German.)

When Erik woke up, he was in another hospital, and to his disbelief, his left arm was missing, and his face was severely damaged. He learned to live with his now partially healed face, he gradually came to accept how he was and ended up marrying Tamara. He became a schoolteacher in America, but never told his students anything other than that he fought in World War Two.

The turning point of the story is when Erik discovers what happened to him when he first “became” a Russian soldier by using the uniform of a real one.