Publisher Description
Panzer Gunner is a unique memoir of a Canadian serving in a German armored division. Bruno Friesen explains what it was like to fight in a tank on the Eastern Front and provides details on the battlefield performance of the Panzer IV tank.
Six months before World War II erupted in 1939, Bruno Friesen was sent to Germany by his father in hopes of a better life. Friesen was drafted into the Wehrmacht three years later and ended up in the 7th Panzer Division. Serving as a gunner in a Panzer IV tank and then a Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer, Friesen experienced intense combat against the Soviets in Romania, Lithuania, and West Prussia.
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"Bruno Friesen has an interesting story to tell. His is the personal style and he’s at his most interesting when he takes us into tank battle through his recollection of personal experiences. Some other parts are also good: Life in Germany, his training. Unfortunately, he talks much about technical details which don’t make sense to anybody but nerds and old tank crew.
All in all, his story is highly readable, or listenable, and very personal. He saw action on the eastern front in 1944-45, when Germany was in retreat. There are plenty of books about this part of the war. Bruno Friesen doesn’t focus on the growing despair among the Germans. He tells about the actions he was involved in, and of course, his and other German units experienced plenty of local victories.
Then, suddenly, he is wounded, he finds his way west, the war is over, and he starts working for the Western Allies. I could have hoped for more details about this dramatic transition, but Mr Friesen chose to go lightly on it.
I enjoyed the book and recommend it to others with an interest in the topic.
"
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Jostein Moen (4 out of 5 stars)
About Bruno Friesen
Bruno Friesen (1925–2012) was born in a German-speaking Mennonite family who emigrated from the Ukraine to Canada to escape Communism. Bruno’s father sent him and his brother to Germany in 1939. Friesen was drafted into the Whermacht in 1942, and fought with the 25th Panzer Regiment until returning to Canada after the war.
About David de Vries
David de Vries, an Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator and veteran stage actor and director, spent three years in the cast of Wicked and was the last Lumiere in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. He has also appeared in numerous films and voiced commercial campaigns for companies large and small, including American Express, AT&T, UPS, Motorola, Georgia-Pacific, Delta Airlines, Coca Cola, and Ford, among others. He can be seen in a number of feature films, including The Founder, The Accountant, Captain America: Civil War, and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. On television, his credits include House of Cards, Nashville, and Halt and Catch Fire.