Honor Denied: The Combat Memoirs of SS Radio Operator Karl Metzger by Karl Metzger, Paul K. Harker
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(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: March 2007
- 480pp
- Sales Rank: 546,762
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: March 2007
- Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
- Format: Paperback, 480pp
- Sales Rank: 546,762
- ISBN-13: 9781432703226
- ISBN: 1432703226
Synopsis
We did not aim and fire our rifles for Adolf Hitler or National Socialism. We did it for our fellow comrade soldiers.
At 17 years of age the German military seemed a wise choice to Karl von Metzger. Following enlistment he was sent to Radio School at Kiel to train as a wireless operator on a U-Boat. However, a shortage of radio operators changed his destiny by reassignment to the 2nd SS Das Reich Regiment. Karl participated in the invasion of the Low Countries and France in 1940 and believed in the cultural and historical significance of the war. A transfer to the 5th SS Wiking Regiment in 1941 took him to the Eastern Front where years of brutal combat and mindless suicidal orders forced him to question the political motives of Nazi Germany's war. While growing into manhood under barbaric hand-to-hand combat, merciless firefights and vicious artillery bombardments, Metzger clung to shreds of his boyhood innocence. He watched his comrade soldiers get pulverized by bombs and bullets until he abandoned his faith in the Third Reich with a resolve to survive the war. Metzger fought on the Eastern and Western Fronts through the harshest of conditions. Whereas the war began for him as a boy, it ended for him as a man. This is his story.
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Honor Denied: The Combat Memoirs of SS Radio Operator Karl Metzgerby Anonymous
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May 29, 2008: This book was produced by the same author as 'Directive 19'. It is my opinion, and that of others, that these books are NOT real but fiction. In fact, if the author had advertised them as such they would probably have been well received, overlooking the enormous amount of factual mistakes the author makes, he does show some talent for fictional writing. Sad to say that the writing in both books is similar enough that one would know they were written by the same person rather than simply 'transcribed' from two totally separate veterans. While 'Directive 19' shows the 'ugly' side of the SS, that of an officer personally responsible for mass murder and genocide, 'Honor Denied' is more a book about the 'innocent' soldiers who simply fought for reasons other than what has been prescribed to the majority of those who served in the SS. Some would say this is a 'white washing' of the SS, I would agree with them.
Honor Denied: The Combat Memoirs of SS Radio Operator Karl Metzgerby Anonymous
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January 30, 2008: Honor Denied is the perfect title for this book. As Americans we have spent years watching the well deserved glorification of our veterans for the sacrifices made during World War II. But Honor Denied told me about the sacrifices, sadness and human suffering on the opposite side of the battlefield. This book made me rethink what I learned and was told about the German combat soldier. Was he a mindless Hun? A murderer? A senseless brutalizer? When I read this book I learned that Metzger and his comrades shared a universal patriotic devotion to their country and endured intolerable pain the same as we did. Metzger is amazing at drawing vivid pictures with his prose. While reading this book I saw the experiences through his eyes and found myself emoting for his friends. Metzger mixes history, politics, society, warfare, sadness and even humor into a blend that can easily be enjoyed by all genders and ages. This isn't a stuffy memoir or a dry histoy book. It reads more like an Action-Thriller written by someone who passionately lived it. There is and probably always will be a dark cloud over German history for this period of time, but Honor Denied lets you stand in a patch of light. Truly Honor was denied to thousands of patriotic German soldiers. This book shows you the war from the German side and lets you understand what those average men thought while waging it. It also shows you the celebration of the German high points of the war and finally ends with the disgrace these men were shown by their fellow countrymen for losing it. I highly recommend this book.
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