The Forgotten Soldier

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The Forgotten Soldier is presented as an autobiographical account by a veteran under the name 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.

The book, in reference to the autobiographical soldier's ambigious relationship to war and it's passions, has been called "the account of a disastrous love affair with war and with the army that, of all modern armies, most loved war", being written with the "admiration of a semi-outsider" (an Alsatian in a German unit).^[1]

[edit] Controversy

The accuracy of the book has been disputed by 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 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 Hel 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 Hel 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.^{[citation needed]}

See the external links 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 the Second World War. 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.

Despite the recent critique from mostly U.S. military historians, it is still considered to be a genuine autobiography by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and has remained on their recommended reading list for World War II.^[2] Apart from being recommended in the United States, it is a recommended read for insights in the personal experience of war in many armies around the world.