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On the Devil's Tail

Written by: Paul Martelli, Vittorino dal Cengio - with
Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
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Publisher's Summary

This is the riveting true story of Paul Martelli, a 15-year-old German-Italian who fought in Pomerania, on the Eastern Front, in 1945 as a member of the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne" and later as a soldier with French forces during three years (1951-1954) in the Tonkin area, Vietnam.

Paul recounts his time at the Sennheim military training base, where he was introduced to the rigorous discipline of body and mind. He then goes back to 1940, during the German invasion of France, when he was still a boy in Lorraine, hinting at his motivations for enlisting with the Waffen SS. He reveals his and many young soldiers' exciting and often humorous escapades at Greifenberg, his first love with a German girl helping refugees, and his experiences and feelings during the combats at Körlin, during the strenuous defense of Kolberg, while regrouping at Neustrelitz, and at the German defeat. With a companion, he ends up at a castle delivering a group of women camp prisoners to a Russian officer, living in disguise among enemy soldiers until he escapes and surrender to the Americans.

After his sentence, imprisonment, evasions, and military service in Morocco, Paul is sent to fight in defense of bases north of Hanoi, Vietnam. He survives three years of fierce combats, assaults, ambushes, night patrols, fatal traps, and mortal risks, but, deep down, he compares his service with the Waffen SS during the last year of war with the inefficiency of the French Expeditionary Force in the Far East and comes out deeply frustrated. At almost 26, he has fought and lost in two wars, both against the communists, be they Soviet or Viet-Minh. Unemployed, and with the ideals of a "Nouvelle Europe" in pieces, he briefly joins the French Foreign Legion, his last hope, but in the end chooses another path.

This is a unique memoir, packed with incident and recounting the story of one individual caught up in a series of life-changing events.

©2014 Vittorino dal Cengio (P)2018 Tantor
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Interesting story

I had never heard of the Charlemagne division of the Waffen SS until this book. Paul’s journey is a unique one given his background and the decision for fight for the Germans. His young age, the loss of comrades in arms and the respect he was given as a member of the SS with the end of the war left him angry and on the run. His attempt to repatriate himself and evade imprisonment led him to Vietnam where his anger constantly left him walking a thin line between Valour and Jail. This book is an interesting insight into the effects of Nazi Ideology on young impressionable men, and the trials navigated by a few of those left in the wake of the collapse of the Third Reich.

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