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ISBN :0-89141 -402-9 $22.50 Hans Werner Woltersdorf A n engaging, meaningful and memorable memoir of a German soldier in World War II that reads like a novel. The author reminds us that there are many sides in any conflict; there are guns and tanks, death and destruction, but most of the young men who march off to war are strong, spirited, romantic and reckless. The soldier in this account combines all those qualities. When he was seventeen, he joined the Waffen SS because the line was shorter than at the other divisions. He became a good soldier, a lieutenant in the Das Reich \<?d on back flap '.V'/' / i Division. Fighting on the Eastern front, his big battle was at Zhitomir, occupied by the Axis in August 1941, and retaken by the Soviets on the thirty-first of December, 1943. Here he was wounded and eventual- ly lost a leg. Seventeen years after the war, on a summer vacation with his wife, brother and sister-in-law, Woltersdorf revisits the French countryside were he had been during the war. He finds his French sweetheart and for the first time learns that he has a son, Julien. Weaving back and forth from this present to the war years, Woltersdorf relives those years. He adds his mature wisdom and a philosophical perspective to the vividness of his fighting memories. The gods of war, to which the author often prayed, had mercy and he survived. With the British and American occupying forces, however, life was even more difficult. All Waffen SS were sought as war criminals. There was that ineradi- cable tattoo on the upper left arm that could not be disguised. And so he changed his name, he ran, he evaded, but was finally captured and taken to a prison camp, where he was interrogated daily. Woltersdorf personally was not guilty of any war crimes, had not been a Nazi, but he makes no apologies for his countrymen. His voice is important for us to hear, and what he has to say is most relevant to the world today. ISBN 0-89141-402-9 9 780891 414025 VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARIES NOS >. He AS F REGIONAL LIBRARY 23 TILTON ROAD ST JOHNS8URY VT 05S19 * y Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/godsofwarmemoiroOOwolt GODS OF WAR GODS OF WAR A Memoir of a German Soldier Hans Werner Woltersdorf Translated by Nancy Benvenga ★ PRESIDIO Copyright © 1989 by Alverlag, Postfach 1168 5480 Remagen, Germany 02642-41056 Original German title, Picknick Zwischen Biarritz and Shitomir First published 1990 in the United States by Presidio Press 31 Pamaron Way, Novato CA 94949 Distributed in Great Britain by Greenhill Books Park House, 1 Russell Gardens London NW11 9NN All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Presidio Press, 31 Pamaron Way, Novato CA 94949. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Woltersdorf, Hans Werner. [Picknick zwischen Biarritz und Shitomir. English] The gods of war : a memoir of a German soldier Hans Werner Woltersdorf; translated from the German by Nancy Benvenga. p. cm. Translation of: Picknick zwischen Biarritz und Shitomir. ISBN 0-89141-402-9 1. Woltersdorf, Hans Werner. 2. World War, 1939-1945—Personal narratives, German. 3. Germany. Heer—Biography. 4. Soldiers- Germany—Biography. I. Title. D811.W6413 1990 940.54'82'092—dc20 90-41386 CIP Printed in the United States of America