Sons and Soldiers audiobook

We immigrant newcomers were proud of the contribution we provided in the war effort, although it was not known about or greatly appreciated by many Americans. Even if we were only small pieces in an elaborate jigsaw puzzle that had to be assembled in order to win the war, we German-speaking refugees were like 'natural resources' in America's fight against Hitler and the Nazis." - Martin SellingI had not heard of the Ritchie Boys, newly immigrated Jews who escaped Hitler and joined the military to defeat him, and according to Bruce Henderson, this is an untold story of WWII. Ritchie Boys were present in all major battles from Normandy to The Battle of the Bulge, with special training in military intelligence. My grandfathers fought in WWII in Germany, each in different places, and neither would talk with us about their experiences. I read quite a bit of WWII fiction and nonfiction, probably in attempt to wrap my head around what it must have been like for them. Sons and Soldiers was a wonderful reading experience and definitely added to my understanding. Henderson took us right to the battlefield in an approachable way, but this book was so much more. My favorite parts of the book included the beginning chapters where we get to know the early life of each of the soldiers, the end with their involvement in the liberation of the camps, as well as finding out where they are now. Bruce Henderson is a smooth writer and excels at nonfiction that reads as fiction. I cherished my time spent getting to know the Ritchie Boys and hope each of their memories and sacrifices will never be forgotten. Thanks to Goodreads, William Morrow, and Bruce Henderson for the complimentary copy.

I think most readers of WW2 histories know a bit about the American and British soldiers who translated for the Allies in occupied Germany after the war. These men often did more than just interpret; many were hunters of war criminals and did other investigative work. Most of these men - native German speakers - were Jewish and had left Germany in the 1930's and early 1940's for safety in the United States and Britain. Many left family members behind who were lost in the Holocaust.Bruce Henderson, in his new book, "Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Stories of the Jews who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the US Army to Fight Hitler" (whew, that some subtitle!) traces the lives of about 10 men who were lucky to leave Germany as teenagers and found safety in the United States. Wanting to give something back to their adopted homeland, many joined the US army and found themselves assigned to Fort Ritchie in Maryland, where they received training in the work they would do in Germany with the occupying forces. As native-German speakers familiar with Germany, they were able to give a valuable service to the US Army. (The British Army also used German-born Jews, but this book is only about the Americans.) Henderson writes movingly about their mission and how they carried it out. Many were also looking for relatives left behind.Bruce Henderson's a very easy writer and the book is a pleasure to read. I also bet it would make an excellent Audible book.

I received a copy of this book for free through the Goodreads Giveaways program. This book was expertly written, compelling, and compiled a significant amount of research to tell a very important story. My only complaint was that at times, I felt there were too many characters to keep track of easily, and I sometimes found myself flipping back to remind myself of each character's background and story. This book would make a great film - it is a fantastic story that so many more people should be aware of. Henderson's research and writing capabilities do justice to these brave men's stories.

During World War II there was a little known group of men who were trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Their extensive classwork and field training was designed to prepare them to interrogate German prisoners of war and gather intelligence to be used against Nazi forces. What became known as the “Ritchie Boys” was formed in mid-1942 and was made up of 1985 German born Jews who had immigrated to the United States in response to Nazi persecution particularly after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, Kristallnacht in November, 1938, and the events of 1941. Most of these German-Jewish boys arrived without parents and siblings and had to adapt to their new homeland on their own. Part of the reason was due to the racist/anti-sematic attitude on the part of a number of important State Department officials like Breckenridge Long who as an Assistant Secretary of State helped set American immigration policy. The journey of the Ritchie Boys and their impact on the Second World War is aptly told by Bruce Henderson with compassion and insight in his latest book, SONS AND SOLDIERS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE JEWS WHO ESCAPED THE NAZIS AND RETURNED WITH THE ARMY TO FIGHT HITLER. The story of the Ritchie Boys takes them through their wartime experiences in gathering important intelligence from German POWs, their participation in a number of important battles, including the Normandy invasion, Operation Market Basket, the Battle of the Bulge, liberation of extermination camps, and their efforts after the war to locate family members.In the first part of the book Henderson focuses on the early plight and immigration of a number of men who would become Ritchie Boys. They include Martin Selling, who was rounded up after Kristallnacht, separated from his family, imprisoned in Dachau and after his release made it to the United Kingdom due to the work of a Jewish relief agency that eventually provided a visa to enter the United States. Gunter Stern, who would change his name to Guy grew up in a middle class family in Northern Germany and as the situation for Jews deteriorated in 1937 he was sent by himself to the United States to live with an uncle in St. Louis because the State Department refused to allow the rest of his family to immigrate. Stephan Lewy was placed in an orphanage after his mother died and the economic fortunes of his father collapsed. After his father was released from a concentration camp and they experienced Kristallnacht he left Germany for Paris leaving his father and step mother behind. Werner Angress was not a very good student and he was sent to an agricultural farm in Poland where he found success. Once things deteriorated in Berlin his father developed a successful plan for the entire family to escape and go to Amsterdam. In 1939 Angress escaped from Holland and left for America. Lastly, Victor Brombert, another teenage boy was smuggled out of Germany in 1933 and moved to Paris, however, during the Vichy regime he left France to experience a harrowing voyage to New York and safety in 1941.All of the boys experienced the emergence of Hitler, their removal from schools, harassment by Hitler Youth, and the collapse of their families as parents were arrested, businesses confiscated, and the eventual separation. All witnessed and were affected by the 1935 Nuremberg “Blood” Laws, Kristallnacht, and the difficulty of emigrating in part because the Nazis seized their assets and only allowed them to take a pittance of their wealth out of the country. Henderson further explores the difficulties as they had to navigate the exclusionary immigration laws of the United States and their enforcement by elements in the State Department. Jews were required to provide affidavits from American citizens that they would take care of their relatives financially, along with other documentation that took a great deal of time to obtain. The work of David Wyman provides an inside look into the “old boys club” of the State Department and their arcane views when it came to race and Jews. Henderson describes the heroic efforts of the families as they realized that only one family member would be allowed to leave and in most cases it was the eldest son with the hope they could reunite later. The boys that are the center of the story would become naturalized American citizens before they were sent overseas to fight the Nazis. Henderson describes their training and dispatch to England to participate in the Normandy landing. Since native Germans would have knowledge of Nazi/German culture and colloquial language the Ritchie Boys were in high demand to interrogate POWs. The individual stories Henderson presents reflects the importance of the Ritchie Boys to the allied war effort. Particularly interesting is Werner Angress who was attached to the 82nd Airborne and with little training parachuted behind German lines. His later intelligence gathering leading up to and during the Battle of the Bulge was very important. Another insightful segment deals with Victor Brombert’s participation in the 28th Infantry Division as he experienced combat in Belgium and Northern France and predicted the Battle of the Bulge which was ignored by hire ups. Perhaps one of the most ingenious of the Ritchie Boys was Guy Stern who after Normandy was made Head of Survey and his reports were distributed to all allied commanders including General Eisenhower. Along with another Ritchie Boy named Manfred Ehrlich, who changed his name to Fred Howard, he developed a number of unusual schemes in order to extract information from POWs.Henderson tells a number of wonderful stories including the visit of Marlene Dietrich as part of the USO, the capture of Hauptmann Kurt Bruns who ordered the death of two captured Ritchie Boys, how the Ritchie Boys had to overcome the skepticism of some officers who accused them of being German spies, and at times the guilt they felt when they had to use unorthodox methods to extract information from POWs. Perhaps the most poignant part of the book is when the Ritchie Boys confronted the Holocaust when they witnessed the concentration camps. Stephan Lewy arrived at Buchenwald with the Sixth Armored Division, Guy Stern arrived at Buchenwald three days after its liberation, Werner Angress witnessed the Wobbelin concentration camp, and when Manny Steinfeld arrived there he could not escape the possibility that his sister and mother were murdered there. Overall, Henderson tells a remarkable story. It is told clearly integrating numerous interviews with the Ritchie Boys and accompanying research. My main criticism involves the method of sourcing which is very ineffective and difficult to attribute information. As a historian I would love to have been able to match materials to citations so I might have pursued certain aspects of the book further. However, the topic is fascinating and Henderson has done these men a great service by telling their story.

On par with The Boys in the Boat. This is a little known story that deserves to be well known.

Fantastic! As someone who has read a lot about WWII, this is the first I've ever read of the Ritchie Boys.There are two components to my praise of this book:1) The writing was well written and easy to read. Very often non-fiction books are boring, long winded or written text book style but this book was written to be read. Once I picked this up I couldn't put it down and had it in my hands or on me waiting to be read for the best of two days. Despite being over 380 pages, I finished it in about 48 hours.2) The content:The book was very well organized. It followed the story of several German Jews as they were forced to flee as the Nazis rose to power in Germany. It described their early days in the US, their training at Camp Ritchie in the US, their wartime stories and the aftermath. Despite it being the story of several people, their narratives didn't get mixed up during the telling of it and everything was tied up neatly at the end. I think the best part of the book was the interrogation. It went into some depth into the techniques and experiences of the different Ritchie boys. In fact, so much so that I think it should be taught in interrogation school. I surely learned more about good interrogation than anything else I've read before. Now I wonder if there was a similar school for Japanese-American speakers.Overall, a very fascinating look into the lives of these Ritchie boys, the background of early Nazi Germany, the war from their point of view and a little of the aftermath of WWII. Highly recommended.I received this book as a free review copy.

Mr Henderson weaves a great story with a healthy amount of research.I thought it might get redundant, however he advances the story with ease.For those who like little known stories of World War II, this it it !!!

Before the beginning of World War II, a new power was rising in Germany. It was a party that had only one doctrine, and it was willing to annihilate anyone that stood within their path to achieve what they saw as a true and pure race. One where they were the dominating force, subjugating the rest of the world to their will. As the Nazi party rose within the country, and German nationalism rose, there were just as many living with the Germany territories that were afraid for the future. While many of them looked to escape early, some held on thinking that the worst was behind them. They could not have been more wrong. Six boys faced a future of uncertainty, and while their families did everything they could to remain together, it was eventually clear that some of them had a chance to get out, and these families grasped at the chance. These young boys, from all different walks of life, all had one thing in common. They were Jewish. That alone was the one factor that separated them out from the rest of their neighbors and friends. It did not matter that they had been born in Germany and had grown up there. It did not make a difference that their fathers had fought for Germany in the first World War, many of them were decorated veterans. The only thing that mattered was their faith, and that was even turned around to become a race. They were despised and ridiculed. The children picked on, many by former friends. A few made it out early, but others like Stephan, were not as quick to leave the country. There were organizations set up to help get children out of the country, and parents jumped at the chance to have their children removed from the danger, with the hope that the rest of the family could soon follow. Sometimes families were reunited quickly, some took years. Still others were never reunited, never to see their loved ones again. But these boys were not finished with Germany yet.Being sent to America, they flourished. Living with relatives, holding jobs, going to school was something that they jumped at. While life in America was much different than it was back home, they all assimilated into their new surroundings. Learning the language (if it was not already known) was key, and many of them still spoke their native tongue at home. But while they were living in America, they were still aware of the events swirling around Europe. With the outbreak of the war, they felt as though they needed to do their parts to help win the war against Hitler. Many of them had ideas of what they wanted to do, but not being a United States citizen held them back. While attending training, they were pulled out and send to a specialized training which would allow them to act as interrogators overseas. Their mastery of the languages and by knowing the countryside, as well as how the people within the country would think would help them to gain information that would be vital in not only pursuing the German army, but by saving American lives as well. Working with the units they were assigned to, the information that they managed to get gave not only troop numbers and movements, but placements of mines. It was not just the American lives that they were saving. Through their interrogations, war crimes began to come to light. The concentration camps were revealed and the true horrors of what the Germans were trying to hide was uncovered. Werner Angress, Victor Brombert, Stephan Lewy, Martin Selling, Manny Steinfeld, and Guy Stern are not just footnotes in a history book. These six names, six heroes are just a few of the brave soldiers who not only defied Hitler once by leaving Europe before they could be scooped up, but returned with the United States Army to bring him down. There is a longer list of names within the pages of the book, all men who willingly risked their lives to save people that they loved, and people they had never met. Sons and Soldiers follows their stories in a vignette, and masterful intertwining of history and facts that shows just how personal the war was for some. It was not just nameless souls they were trying to save. They were out to save their heritage, their families, their past, and their future. If you only read one book this year, this is it! Wow! I could not put this one down! I was glued from the start. Well researched and fantastic detail.. this book leaves nothing to the imagination. This book was everything I was hoping it would be and more. Tissues will be required at a few parts, due to the heartbreaking nature of the material.

This book follows the story of some of the Ritchie Boys. They were a number of Jewish teenagers who escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930's and made their way to the United States. There they wound up joining the armed forces and were sent to Camp Ritchie Maryland where they were trained for IPW - Interrogation of Prisoners of War. The book then follows them through D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and on to the liberation of concentration camps.The book is well written, endlessly interesting and what I enjoyed most, it covers a chapter of WW2 I had never heard about let alone read about. If you like reading the exploits of individual soldiers I would highly recommend this book.

Love when I read a WWII book from a new perspective I’ve never read before! Loved these boys and their stories. It taught me new things about those trying to immigrate in the 30’s and about the poor German soldiers who didn’t want to be there. Great read, great narrator. It tells the story of many different boys and so keeping them all straight did prove slightly difficult just because I was listening, but in the end it didn’t really matter and he actually did a great job of giving you a little reminder of who they were when he switched characters.

A must read. Pure and simple. To truly comprehend what happened during WWII, this book really shows the personal side of the Jewish people in pre-war Germany, and the changes that took place thanks to the Nazi regime. Men who were once war heroes for Germany during WWI were suddenly considered to be enemies of the Reich. Escaping the oncoming horror was nearly impossible, and people did what they could to at least get a son out before the worst of it hit. And for those sons, knowing they'd left family behind and yet not knowing what was happening to them was one of the most heartbreaking things of all. But then those boys had the chance to fight on the side of the Allies, which was both redemptive and dangerous, especially considering they were German Jews going back to a fascist controlled territory, where Jews were being exterminated. The bravery of these young men leaves me in awe. I especially liked the soldier who jumped behind enemy lines with only fifteen minutes of training, and the firsthand account of traveling with Patton. There were just so many personal details that, not only did I learn so much, but I gained an even greater respect for those labeled "The Greatest Generation." Overall, I think it's important to read books like this, because the more we know about history, the less likely we are to repeat it.

This is such a powerful story that was both engaging and fascinating. The book is quite long, but it didn't feel that way. Immediately, I felt like I belonged in the world of the Ritchie Boys, and I could connect with them right away. The story is at times raw and painful, at times inspiring and thought-provoking. The writing makes the characters and plot shine, and ultimately, it is an excellent historical read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading WWII American-Jewish history and the principle of fighting against tyranny and oppression. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Incredible story. Inspiring & occaisionally frightening. There are sections that transport the reader to a place where you may break out in a cold sweat... a must read for all history lovers.