Too Young to be a Hero

Book excerpt: Rick Holz was born in a small town in Germany in 1924, to a father who told him glorious stories from the Great War, and a mother who never understood him. When his father dies on the first day of school, little 'Ollie' feels deserted in a harsh world. He joins the Hitler Youth at ten and begins to greet his mother with 'Heil Hitler' instead of 'Good morning'. At seventeen, the young patriot can barely wait to sign up for the infantry and fight for his beloved Fuhrer. But his years of brainwashing quickly wear off as he reaches the brink of insanity defending a corridor west of Stalingrad. .