Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front

Günter K. Koschorrek recounts his experience as a German soldier serving on the Eastern Front during World War II, fighting against the Russian army in brutal winter conditions. Koschorrek kept an illicit diary on scraps of paper during his service, entrusting the pages to his mother during occasional leaves. The diary was lost for decades until he was reunited with his daughter in America, where it resurfaced and became this memoir. His account begins with his initial encounters with enemy forces in the Russian Steppe, then moves to his service in Stalingrad, where he describes the horror and confusion of urban combat through observations of his unit members and their varied responses to the death and devastation around them. He was also stationed in Romania and Italy, postings he recalls more favorably than his time on the Eastern Front. The author presents this work as a memorial to the vast numbers of casualties on both sides and as fulfillment of his responsibility to honor those who died.