The Forgotten Soldier

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The Forgotten Soldier is presented as an autobiographical account by a veteran under the pseudonym Guy Sajer of World War II as experienced on Germany's Eastern front.

The historical accuracy of Sajer's autobiographical work has been questioned, with proponents on both sides.

[edit] Controversy

The accuracy of the book has been under attack by a few vocal young historians. Some details in the book are cited as incorrect (such as reference to subunits of the Großdeutschland Division that never existed) while other details that some claim to be inaccurate are simply not verifiable (while the names of some officers don't appear on official rolls in the Bundesarchiv, these records are far from complete). The inaccuracies which have been cited may have very well been a result of poor memory or as possibly due to mistranslations from the original French text, to English (or from French to German to English).

In defense of the book, there are many very accurate references in the book, such as bunkers on otherwise unknown beaches which exist to this day, and descriptions of towns and terrain which would be unknown to someone unless they had actually been there. One of the more compelling arguments is a reference to and accurate description of a ship called the "Pretoria" (later named the "GUNUNG DJATI"), which the author places in Hela on March 28th or 29th of 1945. This ship was in fact purchased by the Kriegsmarine at the start of the war and used to evacuate areas around the Baltic at this precise time. The ships logs record leaving Hela at 9:00 AM on the morning of the 30th. And finally, the comrade of the author ("Hals") who is referred throughout the book has been identified, contacted, and has verified Guy Sajer's account.

See the references below for summaries of the opposition to the notion that the book is factual.

Some commentators have suggested that given the controversy surrounding the historical accuracy of the book, The Forgotten Soldier shouldn't be taken as an historical book of the Großdeutschland but rather a book about Guy Sajer's experiences during WWII. This has also been the advice of the author since, as he says, he did not try to write a history book, but a book of his own experiences.