The Forgotten Soldier

The Forgotten Soldier is a memoir by Guy Mouminoux, writing under the pseudonym Guy Sajer (for clarity, the summary will refer to him as Sajer). It is a comprehensive account of his experiences as a member of the German Wehrmacht (army) during World War II, with particular focus on his role in the ultimately disastrous German invasion of the Soviet Union (a theater generally known as the Eastern Front). Originally published in 1967, it has become recognized as one of the most significant chronicles of World War II from the German perspective. Although it has fallen under scrutiny for some points of historical detail, the general thrust of the narrative is understood to be both accurate and a powerful testament to the experiences of soldiers fighting a total war.

This study guide is based on the Brassey’s paperback edition (Washington, DC: 1990).

Content Warning: This summary contains extensive and graphic descriptions of combat and atrocities carried out during wartime, including events associated with the Holocaust.

Summary

The Forgotten Soldier begins in the autumn of 1942, over a year into the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Guy Sajer, not yet 16 years old, is the son of a French father and a German mother living in German-occupied France. He has enlisted in the Wehrmacht (German army) to avoid the forced labor that Germans imposed upon their conquered peoples (including the French), and after a period of training in Poland, Sajer is assigned to a unit responsible for supplying the front lines to the East. He undergoes a long and arduous journey, catching early glimpses of human suffering and the bitter Russian winter. He soon makes it to the front line, getting his first taste of combat, and although he learns that the German siege of Stalingrad resulted in their surrender, a devastating setback for the German war effort, Sajer thrills at being part of a rout of Soviet forces in his own sector.

After earning leave to Berlin, Sajer falls in love with a local girl named Paula, with whom he spends an enchanting several days and exchanges letters for the duration of the war, although he will never see her again or learn of her fate. Upon returning to the front, he joins the Gross Deutschland division as part of a mobilized infantry unit. After a brutal training regimen, Sajer and his fellows take part in battle after battle, and while they more often than not win their own engagement with Soviet forces, the overall strategic situation is turning decisively against the Germans, and so they find themselves retreating from one strategic point to the next, often just managing to avoid encirclement and destruction by a fast-moving and vastly superior enemy. They deal with misery after misery, from cold and disease to partisan attacks behind enemy lines and foolish leadership that needlessly gets their fellow soldiers killed. As the war pushes Sajer further and further west, he loses touch with anything beyond the war.

After a fierce series of battles in the city of Memel, Sajer is able to escape capture (or worse) by Soviet forces and is redirected to the Western Front, where he is promptly captured by British soldiers. Upon learning that he is the French son of a German mother, they promptly release him and tell him to join the new, pro-allied French army. Sajer returns home to his mother and family, although he is burdened by the memories of what he has endured and the people he loved along the way.