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Written by Gunter K. Koschorrek, Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front is the compilation of two years of the author's diaries while serving in World War Two. Despite the title there is an interesting chapter on partisan hunting in Italy and several descriptive accounts of the Ferdinand in action. His being in the right place at the right time saw him avoid being captured at Stalingrad but illuminates the retreat to the Don bridgeheads. A machine gunner by trade his memories high light the use of machine guns in flanking positions to defeat the Russian human wave attacks. Not as long or as in depth was Sajer's Forgotten Soldier it still offers yet another perspective of warfare on the Eastern Front. Simply written it is an easy read and offers some insight into the philosophy of the code of conduct in an ideological war. It also brings home the fact that the portion of German civilians in farming and rural areas were often better off in respect to food than their peers in the urban areas. As for the Golden Pheasants there are one or two particularly interesting paragraphs on their treatment by front line troops. All in all not a bad read.
