Storm of Steel (Penguin Classics)

Hands down the best book I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone even if war stories aren't their thing. Junger puts the war into great personal perspective and is definitely an inspiration to anyone reading his work if for no other reason than his ability to tell it how it is with almost complete neutrality.

I found this book an interesting insight into the lives of German soldiers in WW1. It was difficult to understand the scale of slaughter the author was describing. Highly recommended.

Great book.

J'ai décidais d'acheter cet édition qui coûtait 5 € plus cher que l'autre car j'aime ces éditions, mais il est venu avec une déchirure sur la face arriéré du couverture. Pour 15 € c'est pas correcte.

With World War II still being a newsworthy topic, the horrors of the First World War have pretty much been forgotten. Even though this significant historical event now seems like “ancient history”, it is still a valid subject to read about when one considers it arguably being a starting point for many of the world’s ills 100 years later. Honestly, I’d never heard of Ernst Junger’s STORM OF STEEL, but considering the standard German perspective of the war is a novel (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), I felt compelled to read this book … and I’m glad I did.While the misery of trench warfare has been well-documented by historians, there is a distinct difference in reading a historian’s version of what the experience must have been like versus the account of someone who actually lived through it. Written in 1920, Junger vividly recollects his wartime experience in a manner that reads a little like a diary/journal. Enlisting at age 19 (73rd Hanoverian Fusiliers) and experiencing combat over the war’s entire 4-year span (including the bloody battles of Flanders and the Somme), there is arguably no better first-hand account of World War I available.STORM OF STEEL is both honest and blunt … its pages are full of destruction and death. Junger’s writing doesn’t come across as a cathartic release of the horrible events he experienced, but more as a documentation of an extraordinary event being left for others to interpret. As a commander, Junger led his men in “over the top” charges against enemy trenches and organized defenses when the enemy reciprocated. Most of the book’s pages account for some form of combat, whether it be enduring artillery barrages, poison gas or repelling enemy infantry attacks. Junger brings the battlefield to life in vivid detail in describing the persistent smell of death from the torn bodies left to rot in “no man’s land” between the trenches. His remembrances of seeing men ripped apart or horribly disfigured changes as the book progresses … hardened to the sight of death, such images simply become part of the terrain he describes. Remarkably, Junger survived being wounded seven times … most of his friends did not. Reading STORM OF STEEL, I was reminded of two similarly written accounts of World War II: Guy Sajer’s THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIER and Eugene Sledge’s WITH THE OLD BREED. I found the similarity centering on how these books not only provide readers a visual experience of combat, but an extremely personal experience as well.There is no glory in this gritty account of war and while Junger exudes a sense of pride in fulfilling his duty as a soldier, he never expresses any significant emotional thoughts on what he sees or what he does. Unlike “All Quiet on the Western Front” there is no expression of emotional guilt associated with war, just the raw facts of what war brings. I found it noteworthy that Junger could write such a straight-forward, apolitical account of his wartime experience, after simmering on his wartime experience for two years.I am somewhat surprised that I not previously been aware of STORM OF STEEL. After reading it, I find it hard to believe there is a single work of literature that provides a better understanding of World War I from an individual perspective (or any war for that matter). After reading Junger’s book, I am confounded as to why Erich Maria Remarque’s NOVEL is deemed so important … STORM OF STEEL should be considered a classic literary work of historical importance.

very great book! everybody should read this book on first world war (great war) I strongly recommend this to others who are interested to know the history of the great war and how this destroyed Great Britain