On the devil's tail
Subtitle: in combat with the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front 1945, and with the French in Indochina 1951-54
By: Paul Martelli with Vittorio dal Cengio
Contributors: Dal Cengio, Vittorino, author
Publisher: Helion & Company
Published: 2015
Place of publication: England
Language: eng
Number of pages: 327
ISBN-13: 9781909982093
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Waffen-SS. Waffen-Grenadier-Division "Charlemagne," 33; France. Armée. Légion étrangère; German Personal narratives; France; Campaigns; Indochinese War, 1946-1954; Germany; World War, 1939-1945; Military History; Waffen-SS; Soldiers; SS-Ausbildungslager Sennheim; Biography
Other titles: In combat with the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front 1945, and with the French in Indochina 1951-54
Description: "This is the riveting true story of Paul Martelli, a fifteen-year-old German-Italian, who fought in Pomerania, on the Eastern Front, in 1945 as a member of the 33.Waffen Grenadier-Division der SS 'Charlemagne' and, later as a solider with French forces during three years (1951-1954) in the Tonkin area, Vietnam. Paul recounts his time at the Sennheim military training base, where he was introduced to the rigorous discipline of body and mind : he then goes back to 1940, during the German invasion of France, when he was still a boy in Lorraine, hinting at his motivations for enlisting with the Waffen SS. He reveals his and many young soldiers' exciting and often humorous escapades at Greifenberg, his first love with a German girl helping refugees, his experiences and feelings during the combats at Körlin, during the strenuous defense of Kolberg, while regrouping at Neustrelitz and at the German defeat. With a companion he ends up at a castle delivering a group of women camp prisoners to a Russian officer, living in disguise among enemy soldiers until he escapes and surrenders to the Americans. After his sentence, imprisonment, evasions and military service in Morocco, Paul is sent to fight in defense of bases north of Hanoi, Vietnam. He survives three years of fierce combats, assaults, ambushes, night patrols, fatal traps and mortal risks but, deep down, he compares his service with the Waffen SS during the last year of war with the inefficiency of the French Expeditionary Force in the Far East and comes out deeply frustrated. At almost 26, he has fought and lost in two wars, both against the communists, be they Soviet or Viet Minh. Unemployed, and with the ideals of 'Nouvelle Europe' in pieces, he briefly joins the French Foreign Legion, his last hope, but in the end chooses another path. This is a unique memoir, packed with incident and recounting the story of one individual caught up in a series of life-changing events." --- from first page.
Table of contents: title: The Wafen SS volunteer; title: The Greifenberg base; title: The Battle of Körlin; title: The Siege of Kolberg; title: Escape to the West; title: Trials and tribulations; title: Vietnam.