Love and War Book 2: 1944-1945: An American Volunteer in the Soviet Red Army (Love and War An American Volunteer in the Soviet Red Army)

The second volume of these memoirs is also very good, but I would say heavier than the first--the war becomes grimmer in this volume, with more comrades lost, more encounters with the horrors of war. The battles of Bagration, Warsaw, Berlin, concentration camps, casualties in his unit--this book gets very intense at times.For the account of the war itself, I would give five stars, I found it very interesting, but I've subtracted a star because the account ends very abruptly at the Reichstag in May 1945. But what then? The author said several times during the book that he wanted to go back to the US after the war, and yet it appears that he stayed in Russia for another fifty years (only returning to the US in the ninenties). What happened? What about his US family and the Russian family that was to come?Maybe this will all be explained in a third volume, but really I'm not sure that I want book-length treatment of these topics, although adding another chapter to this book to at least briefly describe these issues would have been helpful.

Reading this book was a deeply emotional experience for me. Once started, I could not stop until finished. Fascinating story! Amazing life! Deep understanding of life and vision I share with all my heart. I wanted to thank the author in person, but unfortunately, he had died in January, 2016! His books will be a must-read for generations of my family, I am sure. Not only because it teaches everybody valuable lessons and provides a sound worldview, so needed for any young person, but also because the life of his family is uniquely close in so many details to our family.To start with, my mother was born in Makeevka and lived there when Nicholas walked the same streets. Her father Nick (Nikolay, I was named in his memory) was killed in Stalingrad in the street near the Mechanical Plant in October 1942. That was when Nicholas volunteered to fight in the Red Army - exactly the same time my father volunteered too. Nicholas walked fighting from there all the way to Berlin in 1945 (my father ended his war service at the same time in Prague, Czechoslovakia). The previous generation of Nicholas family lived in the area of Askania Nova - the same area where my father's family lived. There is much more in common between our families and probably between many other Ukrainian families too. I could go on for pages.It is such a waste that people are so divided politically. There is no good reason for us to be so separated. We all people and humans who want to live and let other live too. So simple.This book describes vividly the raw reality of war. Once in a while amazing heroism happens, tragic makes the heart bleed, and seemingly impossible lucky recovery moistens the eyes.Nicholas happened to take part in several key battles of the war and met several greatest participants in person. He paints them in the details one cannot make up. Nicholas had to be killed so many times that his survival is a true miracle. And his views of life changes through this experience and the reader inevitably shares this change - from plain slogan-patriotic to the deep wise understanding of human nature and wrongness of those who wage a war, any war for that matter.By the very end of the war, because of his special status (as native English speaker), Nicholas was part of the group of scouts assigned with the task of finding Hitler's body. They were in front of the front while coming into the Reichskanzlei's garden. They were shot from all sides but continued crawling losing their war friends left an right. Nicholas describes it in simple words, but exactly this simplicity gets you. I do not recall more powerful war-action account, although I have read many memories of veterans.This is a major first-hand account of the WWII and memorable presentation of life of a soldier in any war. I highly recommend it to everybody.

Nicholas provided me with the best history lessons of my life! I got so caught up in his experiences that for the first time, I took an interest in the history of WW2! I am in awe of what he and his comrades experienced at such a young age and how much they endured all for the love of Country! They are the true heroes and I have such respect and admiration for them all but especially for Nicholas!I shed a few tears as I thought about how painful it was for Nicholas to share his experience after having lived through so much hell and to think, he did it for all of us to know the true story! That is admirable and such an unselfish act that I want to say thank you Nicholas for re living the pain in order to teach us what sacrifices were made and why!I cannot wait for book 3! Please Nicholas--- finish it soon!

Although the author jumps some gaps in time, his work shows the true humanistic side of life in a war.