Book: D-Day Through German Eyes by Holger Eckhertz
Posted By RichC on July 21, 2024
Have you ever started to read one of those book that you don’t want to put down? Here’s one:
Holger Eckhertz published a two volume set from the viewpoint of German soldiers in “D-Day Through German Eyes” in 2016. It is a different perspective than most of us learn and view the events of June 6, 1944 when it comes to studying World War II history.
The author transcribed and wrote the books based on interviews conducted by his grandfather, Dieter Eckhertz, a German military journalist during World War II. He wrote a series of interview with German soldiers manning the “Atlantic Wall” prior to “the invasion” and follow-up interviews with those who survived after the war. Most of these men were ordinary German soldiers assigned to defend the Normandy coast.
One can’t help but come away with just how terrible war is and why mankind repeatedly ends up slaughtering each other time and time again throughout history? My bewilderment aside, the recorded history from a point of view most readers of military history do not see.
“D-Day Through German Eyes” offers a perspective …
… in which ordinary German troops struggled to make sense of what was facing them, and emerged stunned at the weaponry and sheer determination of the Allied troops. Above all, we now have the unheard human voices of the individual German soldiers – the men who are so often portrayed as a faceless mass.
Unfortunately the interviews and translation comes with skepticism as to the authenticity. While reading, it seems to be brutal and filled with details that only those “in the trenches” could recall … but nevertheless, some say that they were unable to corroboration the interviews, etc … and that is it a hoax. Hm?
The book is not without its controversy. Giles Milton, a prominent WW2 historian, calls it an elaborate fabrication, with compelling evidence to support his claim. There are no details to be found of the German publishing house DTZ History Publications, nor of the translation service Sprech Media. Of the soldiers interviewed by Eckhertz, there is no trace, not even in the Bundesarchiv (the German National archives). This could have been attributed to the author changing names to protect identities, but nowhere in the book is this mentioned. While information regarding publications and even magazine covers of Die Wehrmacht have survived to date, nothing can be found about Dieter Eckhertz; the closest search result was of Dietrich Eckart, the man who purportedly was Hitler’s mentor but who died in 1923. For someone claiming to be such a prolific writer of a German propaganda magazine, he is awfully secretive.
This claim is countered by Robert Kershaw, another historian who says that the detailed description of the events and the intimate knowledge of the happenings could only have been known by someone present at the scene. It may be that Dieter Eckhertz was the name adopted by the author after the War for reasons known only to him, and his grandson continued the charade. Whatever may be the case, no matter which side you choose to believe, the fact is that as a book that provides a rare inverted look into one of the most impactful historical events of the War.
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