Save the Last Bullet: Memoir of a Boy Soldier in Hitler's Army

Heidi Langbein Allen has written an engrossing, compelling and very readable memoir of her father, Willi Langbein, who was conscripted in the German Army to be used as fodder in the waning days of the Third Reich. Miraculously he survived. Save the Last Bullet is an unvarnished examination of Nazi Germany and the corrosive nature of hate in all of its manifestations. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Second World War but it's a gripping cautionary tale and an antidote to the gathering modern storm clouds that frighteningly echo the Germany of the 30's and 40's. It's a clarion call to understand it can happen again. Through her father' story of his harrowing experiences and survival again all odds, the author offers a poignant story of what it was like to be conscripted at such a young age and to be inculcated from birth until his early teen years with doctrines of blind obedience to the state. The tone of the book is authentic with not a shred of revisionist history. Through her father she offers an unflinching look at the reality of war-- refracted through the eyes of a child. The author supplies translations for many of the German words to enable the reader to clearly understand the narrative and its nuances. While much has been written about World War II, few have ventured into this territory that provides a firsthand look at the reality of children being forced to serve and with the knowledge that the likelihood of their survival was slim. In the end, it is a stunning story of redemption and our urgent obligation to remember.

Save The Last Bullet” is amazing story – not so widely known – of forced child soldiers in Germany in the waning days of WWII. Heidi Langbein Allen recounts the stories her grandfather told her, as well as take from his extensive journals that chronicles the horror that he faced as an innocent 13 year old being conscripted into Hitler’s war machine is the dying days of the 3rd Reich. While much has been written about the Nazi’s, from many perspectives, including self-reflection from German writers, Ms. Langbein Allen’s book is one of a kind in personal story telling of another type of human tragedy. I highly recommend this book to any one with a general interest in general history, in WWII and especially why fascism in all forms is so insidious. Steve Weyer

This book is for the "non-scholar" who is looking to learn about life for the average German family in Hitler's Reich. It is a short memoir of Wilhelm Langbein, who like many young boys, were put into service with the failing German military towards the end of WWII. The memoir was put together by the author, who is Langbein's daughter. So it is a very familial story and reads like a relative sharing his life with his kin or his close friends. Langbein's family were devout Roman Catholics. It is interesting to see how they balanced their faith and loyalty to the Fuhrer. Langbein shares what he knew about the Holocaust before and after the war. He discusses his patriotism, his participation/action on the Eastern Front, and the state of his and his family's life after Germany's surrender. He also tells how he and was family were treated by the American and British authorities after the war. As I mentioned above, this is not for the scholar looking to read a lot of historical facts. The book is an easy read but gives you insight to how the youth in Hitler's Germany were robbed of their childhood.

Interesting account of growing up in Nazi Germany and being forced to fight on the Eastern Front. Surrendering to Americans and the hardships of life in a devastated, occupation country. His difficulty with war memories. (PTSD) during forced labor after the war and return to his interrupted studies. His eventual overcoming his demons to become a productive citizen of Europe as well of a free democratic Germany.

Having been born in the U.K. during the early years of the war, and my father then serving in the Royal Navy, I was conditioned as a child to view all Germans as "the enemy." In adult life, I came to know that not all Germans were evil Nazis, but reading the life story of Willi Langbein opened my eyes to how much the Nazis were also the enemy to the ordinary German people, whether or not they realized it. His harrowing story, is fleshed out eloquently by his daughter Heidi from verbal accounts recorded on tape by her father in his final years. We meet him as a child who, at the age of 8, sees a burning synagogue set alight by Nazi Brown-shirts during the infamous Kristallnacht. Willi had to become a member of the Hitler Youth at age 10, which was compulsory for all German children at that age, and the indoctrination then began. Some time later, he was separated from his parents on the pretext of being evacuated from areas suffering Allied bombing, and then at age 13 was picked out by the SS to be trained basically as canon fodder. At age 14, we find him standing in a foxhole holding an anti-tank weapon with orders to take out advancing Russian tanks. As the tanks advanced, he sees on of his fellow boy soldiers deliberately crushed to death under the tracks of one of the tanks. At that point, the war was lost, and to avoid being captured,tortured and killed by the Russians, he and some others head for the American lines to surrender, witnessing some SS atrocities on the way. He successfully surrenders, but life does not become a bed of roses for him for a very long time afterwards. But eventually, he rises above his nightmarish wartime past and its aftermath to become one of the shapers of modern Europe. This is a fascinating read, which I highly recommend.

Outstanding deal.

I was born in former Czechoslovakia, and I spent my childhood in communism under the strict supervision of the Soviet Union. The history we learned in school was clear, Soviet soldiers were heroes - Germans (especially western ones) were Nazis and “devils”. This excellent book Save The Last Bullet” is not only an amazing story but also brings a different perspective on history. On the one hand, it is still difficult to understand how Hitler could manipulate the entire German nation, on the other hand, most of the German soldiers were ordinary people with loving families and their dreams, which this book describes beautifully. This book is also the story of a man who, due to the war, had a life starting position very low below zero, but because of all his efforts in life, he became a very successful and respected person, and contributed significantly to democracy in Europe, for which he was later rightly awarded. I can recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this little-known place in history. If we do not understand history, we cannot fully understand present and the future. An example is today's situation in Ukraine, thanks to which this book becomes very relevant. "Understanding" of life in Germany during and just after World War II is exactly what this book brings.

very sad when children are drafted into the German army and the tribulations they endured and then put in Russian mines/concentration camps and starved, and those who escaped or managed to survive and released. I met two in Oz who were on anti aircraft guns, and captured by the Russians and released in 19950, were bad alcoholics, very sad.

Good read

This book told me so much I didn’t know about the German side of the war. It’s a breathtaking story that takes you right through from before the war to beyond. The parallels with what’s going on in Ukraine are uncanny and you could see how democracy unwound as Hitler and his henchmen manipulated the population and troops. The scrapes this young lad gets into are truly scary but at times hilarious but the most riveting is where he’s in the thick of the action shooting at a Russian tank, followed by hand to hand fighting. Would I buy the book again? Definitely, it’s a stunning book that everyone should read.