Für Volk and Führer. The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler by Erwin Bartmann I've been reading a different book at the moment i obtained this one but being extremely intrigued by the book titla i decided to postpone my present book and start this one. Its rather difficult to estimate the number of pages since i got it digitally as any English books are extremely rare in my country and shiipping from abroad is really long and complicated process. Amazons states that hardcover copy has 256 pages, and it took me a week or so to read it all on my cellphone spending approx an hour a day on it. it describes the story of Erwin Bartmann, a member of Leibstandarte, starting with his early childhood, school years, joining SS and right up to his surrender to Allied forces. Books is mainly focused on his war time experience on the Eastern front with detailed combat and area description with his thoughts on the events which follows him during the war time. Its a classic autobiography which i liked a lot since its a great retrospective of the events described from a position of a simple soldier. its a very interesting to see how his attitude changes during the course of war - from almost fanatical SS man and to the understanding of lack of sense in this war and desire just to return home. Author provides the reader with some photos made by himself mostly picturing himself in different parts of Europe and some members of his unit. The thing i liked a lot about this book is an attention to detailes, every single event and area the author speaks about is literally pictured in front of your eyes so brilliantly that i was sometimes finding myself not in an overcrowded underground coming home from long working day but somewhere in East Prussia retreating from advancing Russians with an author unit.. With all that said, its highly recommened to obtain this book and try to get it in hardcover because this masterpiece should be a part of every WW2 fan book collection.
