Jonathan Nicholas is a brilliant storyteller. Here, with formidable literary skill he recreates events in Hitler's disastrous attack on Russia, seen through the eyes of a young aviator, Paul Goetz.
A young man's understanding of the horrors of war is full of poignant moments, making this a compellingly readable novel. The detail is harrowing and brutal. Paul's loss of innocence and naivety, and his gradual acceptance of the terrifying cruelties inflicted by both sides of the conflict convinces by its integrity, depth of research, and an evocative narrative finesse. Eighty years on it still has the power to shock with the intensity of the harsh realities of war and its human cost, as events so terrible become a stark reminder that in war there are no victors, only the dead and vanquished.

Vermisst by Jonathan Nicholas is the best book I’ve read for a long time. Vermisst (Missing) is the story of Paul Goetz, a WW2 Luftwaffe fighter pilot who left school to become an air force mechanic, trained on the French coast as a pilot and was transferred to the Russian front where he fought with the Luftwaffe until a crash-landing led to his capture. The second phase of Goetz’ story is his survival in the Russian POW and political prisoner system until his release in the 1950s.

It is a detailed account of Goetz’s time in the Hitler Youth before the outbreak of WW2 with interesting perspectives on the news and propaganda of the time. His time as a mechanic is described in detail as his perception of the heroic pilots. The accounts of his pilot training are both scary and fun in equal measures as are his early flights as a wingman out over the Channel, including the first of several crash-landings.

The accounts of both the planes and the relationships with his fellow pilots are fascinating in their complexity and at times their luxury which is soon seen in grim contrast to his life after being captured. One has to suspect the descriptions of his imprisonment, although not lacking in adversity, deprivation and deaths is somewhat less well-described even though he seemed to spend more years in this situation than on active duty in the Luftwaffe. The most poignant moment for me, in this rather long book, was when Goetz read a letter from his childhood friend’s mother informing him of his parents’ death in an air raid; he only received the letter many years later and just before his release.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a refreshingly new voice ad perspective on a well-told story.

It is not often you get a view from the German point of view in World War 2.
Follow Paul Goetz as he goes training as an aircraft mechanic and then later to become a fighter pilot over leningrad and the Eastern front.
He naively believes the propaganda regarding his enemies and believes right is on his side until disillusioned by experience and what he has to go through.
If you like to read novels about world war 2 you will enjoy this given it is from a different angle.

A truly heartbreaking and inspirational story. The hardships endured by these men during the war was truly heartbreaking. The savagery between the two armies was intense and harrowing. The story is a great read that will hold your attention!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.