Martin Poppel

4933. Heaven and Hell The War Diary of a German Paratrooper, by Martin Poppel translated from the German by Dr. Louise Willmot (read 11 Jun 2012) This book was published in German in 1988 and tells of the author getting into the German military at age 18 (he was born in 1920). He became a paratrooper but only seems to have actually jumped in Holland and in Crete. He was also in Poland, Norway, Russia, Sicily, Italy, and France (at the time of the 1944 invasion).. He surrendered in Germany in show more March of 1945 and spent a year in England as a POW (which sounded like the best of the time he had from 1938 to 1946). Much of the book is a recitation of not too interesting events in Italy and France. There are many photos reproduced very poorly in the book and the few maps are singularly unhelpful.. The evolution of the author's thinking in regard to Hitler I found of interest--he says the women of Germany were more perceptive in regard to Nazism than the brain-washed men. show less