Review: Ordinary Men

[sniper1shot]

Title: Ordinary Men
Authour: Chistopher R. Brown
ISBN: 0-06-019013-2 (Cloth)
0-06-099506-8 (Paperback)
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

I picked this book up at a book fair for $2 and believe that I got a good deal as the book was both interesting and informative. As I study WWII this was a topic that I rarely read on.
This book is about a German Reserve Police Battalion that is formed up and sent to Russia for "behind the lines" duties. As this was not a front line unit, it is picked to carry out Round Ups of Jews and in a few cases the actual massacre of Jews, and on at least 1 occassion, Poles
This unit has older men, with quite a few family men in its ranks too. The book has been researched well, to say that quite a few of them were upset at what they did however still carried out the duties that were ordered of it. There are also well researched comments, that some of the soldiers that carried out a small amount (or large) of the executions quietly left the sites or hid until the shootings were over as they could not believe they had to perfom such tasks. The book also states that there were no shortage of volunteers to cover for those that were not available, or were busy with other tasks.
The chapters deal with the forming of the unit, the first massacres and Round Ups, duties in Russia and the final aftermath

This book was written with actual court documents that were made available after the war during some of the trials. The only men actually executed for these crimes were for the execution of the Poles.

I recommend this book as it deals with a topic and a unit that there is not that much written on. The authour does mention that he has had some disagreements with another authour that has touched on this unit.