A great, if somewhat horrifying book, from a brilliant point of view of the victims. The author does an amazing job with the POV, and making you feel the dread of those on the ship. It's quite a macabre read, and very gruesome which was a pleasant surprise. It made the stakes rise exponentially.

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

The RMS Titanic is known as one of the worst (or perhaps the most popular) maritime disasters in History, resulting in over 1500 deaths. Now, imagine if you will, a wartime sinking that resulted in 9400 deaths that many do not know anything about? That is the story of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, our topic for today’s review of Screams of The Drowning by Klaus Willmann. For the first time, this book has been translated into English by Pen and Sword Publishing, originally being released in Germany a few years ago. This is a remarkable account of that very disaster, as told by former Wehrmacht soldier Hans Fackler. After being injured in battle, Hans was to be discharged from the Eastern Front in a medical ward en route to Germany. Unfortunately for him, and 10,000 other passengers, Russian Submarines had other ideas.

"This is the true story of how one soldier experienced the horrors and bloodshed of World War II — and lived to tell the tale. Hans Fackler, like many boys his age, was conscripted into the Wehrmacht at the age of seventeen and sent to the Eastern Front. A pioneer in the infantry, he barely survived the carnage of the front lines and lost comrades to the Russian forces. Eventually, Hans suffered a grievous injury from a grenade explosion. No longer able to fight, he found himself drugged on morphine and ob board the controversial Wilhelm Gustloff, an armed military transport ship for SS, Gestapo and Wehrmacht personnel, which operated under the guise of transporting civilians.

The Gustloff was attacked and sunk by Russian torpedoes, drowning more than 9,000 passengers. Rescued by a German freighter, Hans recuperated in a military hospital near Erfurt in the Harz, which subsequently fell into the Russian zone. He escaped and undertook the arduous task of walking almost 200 miles back home to Bavaria. The extraordinary first-person account of one of the few soldier-survivors of the sinking of the Gustloff, it also includes Hans’ experiences of taking part in the Kiev and the Vercors mountains massacres in 1941 and 1944 respectively."

As the introduction states, Hans has the benefit of some 60+ years for introspection and hindsight with his account; who really knows what he may have said or what he was really thinking back then. That isn’t to say that the book really goes into 1940s politics or anything, but it’s something to keep in mind when reading the narrative. That said, his accounts of battles and the eventual sinking, as told from a perspective we rarely get in the US (That of a former German soldier) is rarely told. For me, it’s refreshing to see accounts like this and very important. Learning about how the political climate at the time was was somewhat jarring. He tells of one instance when his mother said something bad about Hitler at a grocery store, and soon had gestapo trying to “scare some sense” into her soon after. I can’t imagine the terror of constantly walking on eggshells in that climate, and accounts like this show why most citizens simply went with the flow no matter what atrocities The Reich was doing.

I enjoyed this book for the unique perspective and the harrowing account of a terrible sea disaster. The book is well-done and you really get a feeling for how a normal everyday soldier must have felt during the war, especially one as young as Hans. Being indoctrinated into believing that the one true way to be a man was to join the military seems like a crazy mindset to have, but war will do that to people. Hopefully this book brings awareness of the events themselves and will help show that bad things happen on every side of a conflict.

This book was one that makes you sit back and put yourself in someone else's shoes.. I had not heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff before, but I am itching to read more about it now!

This story is given in a first person narrative, and is so well done, you almost feel like you are there with him - on the ship, waiting to be rescued, escaping and making the long trek back home. Perfection in a book for military history lovers!

I had never heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff before and it was an informative read for me-- 9,000 people perished and only 1,252 survived. Hans Fackler, an "ordinary solider" or "Landser" similar to the American "GI," was one of the survivors. This book (translated from German to English) is an account from Hans of his time in the German forces starting from a Hilter Youth member at age 14. There was rich detail in this book, down to gruesome descriptions where his fellow officers shot other Germans at point blank range. I think this book would appeal to someone who wants to read about the life of an everyday soldier in World War II. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

In January, 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship, had more than 10,000 people packed in, and thousands of other refugees desperately wished they were included. The ship was torpedoed by a Russian submarine and sank in less than an hour in the Baltic Sea. Over 9,000 died.
One survivor was Hans Fackler. He was born in 1926 and left for the Eastern Front at the age of 17, in 1943. He fought for two years before being wounded and evacuated. This is his story, consisting of his training, the fighting, the sinking, and his postwar life. Despite the title, the sinking is the shortest portion.
Hans describes the excitement of training camp that gave way to the disillusionment and increasing numbness that came in battle. The sinking was seared into his memory, even though he was filled with morphine. He believed peace is only the period between wars. Here is a sobering look at why wars should be avoided.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

What really strikes me most about the writing of this enthralling book is that the author has two perspectives, one as a young man of 17 and another after living several more decades, looking back. First person perspective is my favourite, too. Klaus Willmann was born in Munich and fought on the front line at the age of 17. I look at my nephews who are that age and just can't fathom it.

Willmann details his experiences in a matter-of-fact way from hunger and the morale boost of occasional hearty meals to lice infestations to war injuries to seeing men die gruesomely. He worked with dangerous land mine devices and survived the sinking of the transport ship, Wilhelm Gustoff, one of about 1,200 out of 10,000! He was on a stretcher on the ship when Russians sank it and transferred to a boat, still heavily drugged with morphine for serious injuries, and describes hearing children in boats and in the water pitifully plying their parents with questions. As the title says, he heard the screams of the drowning then and throughout his life. More unspeakable imagery. And he was still in his teens!

WWII buffs, do pick up this book. It's well worth a read for Nonfiction fans who wish to learn more about history as well.

My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this fascinating book! Learning brings such joy.

224 pages

5 stars

The title of this book, I believe, refers not only to the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, but also to the everyday experience of the ordinary German soldier such as Hans Fackler was. From a Hitler youth who knew nothing of any government than Hitler's to a much wiser (at aged seventeen no less), and disillusioned soldier by the end of the war. The soldiers were very disheartened and were indeed drowning at the end of the war.

Hans was a soldier in the Wehrmacht at seventeen and immediately sent to the Eastern front. His harrowing journey took him all the way to Russia. His biographer describes the terrain and the conditions under which the men stationed there had to suffer: the filth, the hunger and the rabid Nazi-believers they encountered from time to time.

As the German effort fell apart, the men were constantly retreating with the Russians on their heels all the way. There were moments of happiness, such as finding food or escaping the enemy. There were also moments of sheer terror.

Hans was wounded badly and spent the final months of the was in a hospital.

I like the way Hans talks of the soldiers with whom he made friends. They seemed kind and generous, sharing what little they had. The book ends with Hans describing the jobs he had in post-war West Germany.

This book is a very interesting and engaging telling of one young man's experience as a Wehrmacht soldier. It is very easy to read and is footnoted to explain the German terms and slang. Mr. Willmann did a fine job in telling Hans' story.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pen & Sword/Greenhill Books for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This is, without doubt, one of the most remarkable and memorable first hand accounts that I’ve read. In relatively recent years, I’ve come to realise that the school version of the Second World War taught in the 1950s and 60s was a very particular narrative, taught by those who’d lived through it as British subjects and many still saw Germans as the enemy. We were told of the Blitz on British cities, but reciprocal action like the bombing of Hamburg where 50000, mainly civilians, were killed in a single night, were totally ignored. I find it astonishing that a maritime disaster on an epic scale, over 9000 lost, is almost totally unknown.

Screams of the Drowning gives an often harrowing but honest account of events. The book has a very personal feel; I believe the translation is true to the original and I found the introduction really helpful in terms of putting the narrative into context.

There’s a real flow to the story, which starts with Hans Fackler’s involvement with Hitler Youth and then his pride at becoming a soldier. Experiencing the war through his eyes adds a very human dimension to the appalling experiences. The camaraderie of the young men shines through and the simplicity of the language used adds makes it very readable. It’s difficult to imagine how these young soldiers managed to survive mentally given their experiences and there are moments in the book that brought tears to my eyes. It’s a powerful and completely engaging. It’s one of the very few first hand accounts of the Wilhelm Gustloff disaster and for that alone, it’s worth reading. It’s a book which should be on every school curriculum and one which will stay with me.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.