Forgotten Soldier - a good read, but a true one?

Discussions on books and other reference material on the WW1, Inter-War or WW2 as well as the authors. Hosted by Andy H.
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Michael Dorosh
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#256

Post by Michael Dorosh » 17 Feb 2009, 07:36

cha wrote:Please do not get another Forgotten Soldier Movie thread closed AGAIN. Try and keep it on topic here I like when Doug keeps us informed on this matter.
You're quite right, it would be a shame to see the discussion brought to a close. I'll pass on discussing the off-topic questions he's raised and if he is really confused further, invite him to start another thread and PM me with the URL.

I am sincere in my observation that Verhoeven has picked up on some interesting commonalities between Starship Troopers and The Forgotten Soldier, even if it is just in the subtext of the material. Beyond that, I guess we all wait and see.

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LWD
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#257

Post by LWD » 17 Feb 2009, 13:28

I actually though we had wandered back on topic. With a digression or two. Nothing that was in danger of closing the thread certainly. Commonalities between TFS and other movies by Verhoeven are certainly on topic.


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Ingsoc75
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#258

Post by Ingsoc75 » 22 Mar 2009, 14:56

There is one thing I guarantee will happen if the movie is made and that is there will be a 'mistakes' thread about it on here. ;)

Anglian22
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Re: Forgotten Soldier

#259

Post by Anglian22 » 19 Jun 2009, 15:59

B Hellqvist wrote:
The Tempelhof airfield wasn’t used for military aircraft during the war (except for emergencies), so no Focke-Wulf 190’s could’ve been based there, much less any “Focke-Wulf 195”.
I've recently seen a documentary about the Tempelhof and it seems that FW 190's were manufactured there. Slave labourers (women) worked there. Production kept up during the Battle of Berlin.

cha
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#260

Post by cha » 25 Jun 2009, 01:08

Anything new at all on this movie?

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Doug Nash
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#261

Post by Doug Nash » 25 Jun 2009, 01:25

No, nothing new - I'll have to write my contact and ask him what's the status ---
Cheers,
Doug Nash

cha
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#262

Post by cha » 25 Jun 2009, 04:06

Please do when you have the time I am really anticipating this movie

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JagerRoll
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#263

Post by JagerRoll » 04 Jul 2009, 05:13

They finally have revealed who is going to play Sajer. Here is a even a photo of him on set."Gefrieter Bean" :lol:
Image

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B Hellqvist
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#264

Post by B Hellqvist » 04 Jul 2009, 18:29

JagerRoll wrote:They finally have revealed who is going to play Sajer. Here is a even a photo of him on set."Gefrieter Bean" :lol:
Image
Oh, Guy Bohn-minoux! ;) (Multi-language pun.)

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Doug Nash
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#265

Post by Doug Nash » 06 Jul 2009, 23:33

The movie project has now been called off due to the economic downturn in Europe - the major European backers had to pull out due to economic constraints. A sad day! One more year and it would have been filmed!
:cry:

Larso
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#266

Post by Larso » 07 Jul 2009, 00:11

Noooooo!!!!!! I was worried about this. The financial crisis is hurting me now!

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B Hellqvist
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Re: Latest of The Forgotten Soldier Movie

#267

Post by B Hellqvist » 07 Jul 2009, 14:51

Bad news indeed. Let's hope it will be resurrected when theeconomy improves.

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auggie_o
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Re: Give the "Guy" a break.

#268

Post by auggie_o » 20 Aug 2009, 05:31

This is a review of the book that I wrote after reading it about a year ago... and I have done a lot of research since then and my opinion still stands...

I read this book from cover to cover in a little over a week because I could not find it in me to put it down. I've been a WWII buff for longer than I can remember, especially when it comes the the German side of the war. This book was a god-send! It is very rare to be able to find a book written from the German point of view, especially from a German grunts point of view. Many of the German memoirs out there are written by officers in the various branches of the Wehrmacht, and they read like after-action reports. Very technical and dry. This book is written with the focus more on what it actually physically and mentally felt like to be on the East Front. I read it from the comfort of a warm chair, but the descriptions he gave of the frozen hell that they went through often made me shiver.
As far as the "controversy" that has been raging over this book about weather it is fact or fiction, I have to admit, is ridiculous and even a little childish. I've read the essays that have been written both for and against this books creditability. The argument that this author made everything up, or even twisted the truth, has no legs to stand on.
The essay that made the argument that this book was fake contained several weak points. One point stated that Guy's unit was never in some of the places that he claims to have been. Well, as a avid reader of many WWII German books, I can tell you that from 1941 till the end of the war German units as a whole were seldom used as one cohesive fighting force. Rather they were often broken up into kamphgruppen and attached to other units for periods of time. Especially towards the end of the war. Guy said it himself in his book that he and a few of his close comrades would often get taken away from their "assigned" unit and get put into hodgepodged units for special duties, patrols, or attacks. So if you go and check the official German records and they say that a certain unit, such as the GD, was at a certain place on a certain date, that may be true for the majority of soldiers within that unit, but not for all of them.
Another point that that "nay-sayer" essay makes is something trivial about the uniform of the Gross Deutchland. Every good WWII buff knows that the German "elite" divisions in both the SS and the Wehrmacht wore cuff titles. And most WWII buffs even know that the SS wore their cuff titles on their left sleeve while the Heer and the Luftwaffe units wore theirs on their right sleeve. In the book, Guy mentions that the day he received his Gross Deutchland cuff title he sewed it onto his left sleeve. So the author of that essay I mentioned earlier states that because Guy wrote about putting his cuff title on the wrong sleeve that is supposed to mean that the whole book is a fake. Are you kidding me? Guy Sajer wrote the book 20 years after the war was over, and mostly late at night when he would sit and recall all the bad memories that he said he had suppressed for 20 years. You can't tell me that he might have remembered things a little differently than they actually happened. Or that he might have even forgotten a few of the details over time. Guy even states right in the book that he had held back these memories for so long that there are things that he just couldn't remember. Several times he tells of retreating though towns in Russia that he can't remember the name of. He and his comrades walked hundreds of miles in retreat from the Red Army. If you were running away from a horrible enemy and fearing for your life, do you think you would remember the names of ALL the towns you went through? I think not. Heck, I was stationed in California when I was in and I can't remember the names of some of the towns I drank in on leave. All that I'm saying is that this was a GREAT read. If you are looking for a technical book that gives you every detail about troop movements, uniforms, weapons, and equipment, this is not the book for you. Go buy and encyclopedia or something. But if you are looking for a book about what it FELT like to be a German soldier on the ground in Russia... What is was like to be right in the middle of such battles as Kursk and Karkov.... And what spending a month sleeping in a hole in the frozen Russian earth and not eating anything for days.... Then this is the book for you!
Sgt. "Auggie"
USMC
L Battery 3/11

jerimiah
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Guy Sajer

#269

Post by jerimiah » 03 Oct 2009, 14:36

Can anyone tell me exactly what unit was Guy Sajer in when assigned to the großdeutschland? and is there a roster for that unit avalable

bil
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Re: Guy Sajer

#270

Post by bil » 04 Oct 2009, 01:52

I think the answer is 'no'-there is a large thread here on his book,I am fairly computer illiterate and still can't figure links,but it is in 'search' :D ---bil

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