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  • Adventures in My Youth

  • A German Soldier on the Eastern Front 1941-45
  • By: Armin Scheiderbauer
  • Narrated by: James A. Gillies
  • Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (193 ratings)
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Adventures in My Youth

By: Armin Scheiderbauer
Narrated by: James A. Gillies
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Summary

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

What listeners say about Adventures in My Youth

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filled with detail

he remembers in great detail the battles and places from early to late war. and the sadness beautifully stated about returning home. it gave me a Gone With The Wind style epic sensation near the end.

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Different Personal Perspective

I found this book to be incredible, Armin at such a young age shows a German view of the Eastern front and also how they had to deal with impossible situations. The ordeals after the war had ended were insightful and something I had not before considered.

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  • Me
  • 16-03-18

very interesting listen but quite dry.

interesting listen but it was very much facts and events based. Not much about how he felt about the war.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary witness account

I was addicted..the book gave me a new perspective on WWII.
Terrifying in parts and unforgettable descriptions of battle scenes.

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nice ending

even the losers deserve a happy ending !!
a good story
well written & well told by the narrator!👍

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Great book and great narrator!

I've read the book many times and I'm sure it will forever stand as an insightful look into both the war and how ordinary, good men could take part in the horrors of ww2. Focused on the Eastern front it also gives the reader a view on how the Germans and Russians where percieved by the Many nations they interacted with during the years of the war. Surely an important read for the young western student.

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interesting in parts

like others have said ,not always easy to follow and feels censored abruptly by the changing of subjects .

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Fantastically written & touching story telling

The way in which the detail of the writer and incredibly well documented places, names and personalities shine through is touching.
A refreshing view from the other side as it were, as the Axis perspective is rarely seen.
Very glad I found this & sad to finish it

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Fantastic

This book is not only fantastically written, but extremely well performed and was a pleasure to listen to.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Towser T

This was the second of recent verbatim reports of ordinary soldiers fighting for the German Reich I have listens to on Audible. I suppose, given the atmosphere of growing up in the Thirties and the age of Herr Scheiderbauer when he joined up, he could be forgiven in calling it “Adventures in My Youth”.

For want of any corroborating evidence to the contrary, I took his narrative as honest and an attempt to let the reader see that the Second World War was for many Germans as awful as it was for the Allies.

Also, being a young man at the time, he seems very keen to mention, throughout his narrative, the many medals available and won by him. He was clearly looking for a natural progression through the ranks and conducting himself honourably.

It was his bad luck to represent one totalitarian state against another in the East.

There was no mention of Germany’s guilt in the War but his mention of fighting Bolshevism and how cruel the Russians could be. Seeing this was written many years after it all happened, I thought that there may had been some comment on his part in the destruction of many countries, deaths of many, many innocent people. However, it is interesting, well narrated and gives a further view on this period.

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