‘The infantry is only a few metres ahead of us when suddenly, on the left of our tank, a Russian stands up. The swine had pretended to be dead when our infantry came past him! That’s an old classic, pretending to be dead and then firing from the rear. But that isn’t a good idea when facing tank-men like us… floor the accelerator! Turn left and run over him!'
'An utterly gripping first-hand German account of the war on the Eastern Front.' - Dan Snow
“Unvarnished, absorbing, gritty and pulling no punches. One of the best accounts of war on the Eastern Front I have ever read.” - Peter Caddick-Adams
"An erudite, well-written, thoughtful account of the harsh realities of combat on the Eastern Front in World War Two" - Roger Moorhouse
The war on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 was the bloodiest combat theatre in the bloodiest war in history. Oberleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Sander experienced this bloodshed first-hand when serving with the 11th Panzer-Regiment. This regiment made up the core of the 6th Panzer-Division, one of Hitler’s top armoured formations, which was involved in most of the major campaigns on the Eastern Front; campaigns such as Operation Barbarossa and Operation Winter Storm.
Sander recorded his experience of these campaigns in astounding detail in some recently-discovered diaries covering the period from April 1938 to December 1943, translated here for the first time by historian Robin Schäfer. Written during the fighting, these diaries not only offer an honest assessment of the war on the Eastern Front, but also provide an insight into the mind of a young and highly politicised officer, and offer an intimate glimpse into the close-knit community of a German Panzer crew.
A brutally honest, immediate and unfiltered personal account, Sander’s translated diaries make for some uniquely fascinating reading about some of the most important campaigns of the Second World War. Supported by more than 100 photographs and maps from the period, Blood, Dust & Snow will be of great interest not only to readers studying the war on the Eastern Front, but also to any historian researching the Second World War.
Robin Schäfer is a German military historian, writer and producer. He has worked as historical advisor for British and international television programmes, including the BBC’s The Great War Interviews, Voices 16 – Somme, Last Heroes of the Somme and Channel 4’s Battle of Britain: The Last of the Few. He is the creator and former historical editor of Iron Cross Magazine and co-author of Fritz and Tommy: Across the Barbed Wire. Roger Moorhouse is an historian of the Third Reich. He is the author of the acclaimed Hitler's Third Reich in 100 Objects and The Devil's Alliance, and has been published in more than 20 languages. He is also a tour guide and visiting professor at Warsaw's College of Europe. You can see him on Twitter at @Roger_Moorhouse.
