Brotherhood of Iron

Retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and decorated armored combat veteran Ralf Zimmermann is an expert of both, US and German military forces—then and now. In his novel Brotherhood of Iron, he challenges the American reader to embark on a unique exploration of WWII through the eyes and the psyche of German soldiers and airmen. Were they really like the stupid Hollywood stereotypes, so much different from the British Tommy or the American GI? You will know the truth!

Emil Kramer, a nineteen-year-old Panzer crewman battles his fears, the French Resistance and the Allied Invasion, while his brother, twenty-nine-year-old Rolf flies Focke-Wulf 190 fighters against the growing Allied air armadas. Together with their comrades, these young Germans fight an increasingly hopeless battle on many fronts, one that doesnÂ’t spare their loved ones at home. In brutal industrial warfare, they discover that soldiering and war are drastically different from the propaganda media presentations and the recruitersÂ’ promises. War reveals itself as a demonic cocktail of terror, confusion, suffering, tendered by moments of glory and blossoming friendships.

Brotherhood of Iron combines lessons in military history, combat leadership, German culture, and human drama, in an action-packed read.