SS-Flak : Memoir of SS-Sturmmann Helmut Semmler, SS-Flak-Abteilung 9, 9 SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, Ardennes, 1944-45 Book

SS-Sturmmann Semmler's account covers the participation of the 2nd Battery, SS-Flak-Abteilung 9 in the Ardennes campaign between 16th December 1944 and 28th January 1945. His unit formed part of 9 SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, well known for its participation in the savage blood-letting of Normandy, the escape from the Falaise pocket and the ill-fated Operation Market-Garden.. "If Semmler's diary may at times seem to dwell overlong on his meals and billeting arrangements, it is because it faithfully reflects the concerns of the ordinary non-front-line soldiers. Even so, from the perspective of a predictor operator in an 88mm Flak battery, he charts the battle's course, its descent from initial euphoria to desperate attempts to escape the tightening encirclement.. "What is far more important is what is not even hinted at: capitulation, desertion, malingering. The undemonstrative, unassuming Semmler, like thousands of his comrades in field-grey, faced ever more clearly with defeat and the unconditional surrender demanded by the Allies, was at all times ready to do his duty.