How Good Was the Good War?

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
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No, I think you got the point, which was simply Gudmundsson sticks to the mechanics of ops, while Junger adds emotional content to his descriptions of said ops…Regarding Remarque vs. Junger: There have been 2 very good films made based on “All Quiet”, but there will never be one made of Jungers work(s) for obvious reasons…Just for the record, Junger was well and truly pissed-off about the Ratzis misusing his work for propaganda purposes in his later years I read…

[quote]GDollars37 wrote:
Blacksnake wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:

For the operational and tactical side of it, “Stormtroop Tactics” by Bruce Gudmundsson is very good, and Gordon Corrigan’s “Mud, Blood and Poppycock” is very readable, although I thought he was kind of making an argument that’s already becoming the consensus among academic military historians…

I take it you would think “Storm of Steel” or anything by Ernst Junger would be too biased to then?..Same with any of those stories about young Rommel’s stormtroop activities?..

Huh? I’m not sure I get your point. Stormtroop tactics is very good on the operational and tactical side of it, but it does not really deal with the strategic level from what I remember. It’s not an issue of bias; the book is written by an American military historian.

Storm of Steel is great, a fantastic memoir. Of course it is “biased”, Junger is one of the few frontline soldiers who seems to have loved every minute of it. Funny that the same nation produced Ernst Junger and Erich Maria Remarque.[/quote]

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[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:
… Funny that the same nation produced Ernst Junger and Erich Maria Remarque.

Look at their names and tell me who was warrior blood running through his veins.

What a stupid thing to say. Keyboard warrior at its finest. I respect Junger, but blind nationalism (in contrast to patriotism) is nothing to be admired.

You really are an arrogant SOB. If you had the brains to back it up it wouldn’t be so bad but alas you do not.[/quote]

My take on Ernst is that he just took to his work with enthusiasm simply because he was was there in hell where the action was, and lets be frank, it’s not like he was the first and only “war lover” out there (maybe the first to put it in print without shame if you dont count Ceasar & Napoleon, but those assholes were generals, not mud-soldiers)…They are in every army & I’ve worked with several back in my “active” days, and as I mentioned, even he resented having his “pure warrior” self-image sullied by power politics, something I think we can all appreciate hopefully, as it still is going on even today…