{"product_id":"in-deadly-combat-modern-war-studies-hardcover","title":"In Deadly Combat (Modern War Studies (Hardcover))","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirsthand perspectives of German WWII infantrymen are rare, as respected historian Dennis Showalter (Tannenberg: Clash of Empires) points out in his excellent introduction. Bidermann, who is an 18yearold private in the 132d Infantry Division at the beginning of this memoir, takes us through the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, passage across the Dnieper and southern steppes, battles in the Crimea, engagements in northern Russia and retreat through Riga to the Baltic. He retrospectively reviews historical records and sketches the daily happenings and ambience of his unit in a matteroffact and unpretentious  yet invariably proud  tone. The translation is direct and generally graceful, sometimes lyrical. Retired Navy SEAL Zumbro, who has translated German accounts for the Eisenhower Center of the University of New Orleans, has translated and expanded Bidermann s 1964 private German publication, utilizing the same preserved documents and retrospective interviews from other members of the 132d. Before war s end, the unit was cut off in Courland, though Bidermann claims it was  never defeated in open battle . After surrender in 1945, the remnants of the division were held in extended captivity. The Wehrmacht subculture, which Bidermann describes but does not connect back to the Reich s atrocities, was compulsively  professional , with loyalty to fellows its allconsuming central ethic. This ethic seemingly sustained these soldiers through continual dire peril of body and soul. Some did survive.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University Press of Kansas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47333206098165,"sku":"SONG0700610162","price":10.82,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/81lH3ETuPuL.jpg?v=1763909634","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/in-deadly-combat-modern-war-studies-hardcover","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}