Adventures in My Youth

A German Soldier on the Eastern Front 1941-45

By: Armin Scheiderbauer

Narrated by: James A. Gillies

The author could be described as a veteran in every sense of the word, even though he was only age 21 when the war ended. Armin Scheiderbauer served as an infantry officer with the 252nd Infantry Division, German army, and saw four years of bitter combat on the Eastern Front, being wounded six times.

This is an outstanding personal memoir, written with great thoughtfulness and honesty. Scheiderbauer joined his unit during the winter of 1941-42 and, during the following years, saw fierce combat in many of the largest battles on the Eastern Front. His experiences of the 1943-45 period are particularly noteworthy, including his recollections of the massive Soviet offensives of summer 1944 and January 1945. Participating in the bitter battles in East Prussia, he was captured by the Soviets and not released until 1947.

Adventures in My Youth is a unique memoir - the author originally wrote it only for his daughter. It has never been published in any language until now.

©2003 Helion and Company (P)2017 Tantor

The war in the East!

An excellent story from a German soldier serving on the Russian front. The accent of the narrator adds to the story.

Loved it!

Started out about slow for my taste then and 1/4 in I couldn’t stop listening

Facts trump fiction

Alway do but seldom recognized or understood . Here is a true accounting . No one could make up such a thing . It did happen , a fact based narrative of someone who was there , Read it and weep .

Great listen

Great performance and compelling story - really interesting to get an insight into ww2 that focuses on the German experience on the eastern front and subsequent captivity.

A Harrowing Account

Scheiderbauer's experience, both on the battlefield and off it, paints a picture of what life was like in the 1930s and 40s for millions of young German men who were swept up by the disaster of war. Most German war veterans end their account with the end of the war itself, but Scheiderbauer gives a very detailed account of life as a slave laborer in the Soviet Union. His experiences are interesting to compare and contrast with the accounts of gulag survivor Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his book A Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich.

Each war memoir is ultimately an autobiography as much as it is a historical account, and it becomes very clear what Scheiderbauer values and what motivated his tenacity in defense of Germany. Scheiderbauer's strong connections to his family ultimately give him the will to survive war, injury, bereavement, defeat, thoughts of suicide, capture, captivity, slave labor, disease, starvation, and torture. And in the end, survival justifies the journey and is a victory in itself.