Review: The Last Knight of Flanders

[sniper1shot]

Title: The Last Knight of Flanders
Authour: Allen Brandt
Publisher: Schiffer Publisher Ltd
ISBN: 0-7643-0588-3
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

This biography is on a Belgian serving with the German forces in WWII, Remy Schrijnen. Remy won the Knights Cross on the Eastern Front.
I have been looking for this title for a few years and when a fellow forum member on another site had his for sale I snapped it up. There are 5 chapters and each contains many sub titles. Everything from the beginning of the war right up to the bitter end is described. I personally, was naive to how the Belgians took their politics and that there were two different "classes" of people in Belgium, the Walloons and the Flemings. This alone made for some interesting reading.
This book covers all the units that Remy served in (and their designation changes) and the positions he held. From a runner right on up to a Pak gunner. Chapters also cover all the places he served and how they faired vs the Soviet forces. Battles of attrition seemed to be the word for almost all of them.
The one sticking point I found for this biography is that is seemed to jump around a bit from different soldiers who are either describing Remy or a certain battle. This made for some rereading of certain sentences or paragraphs to grasp what was being described. It does come across more as a unit biography than a personal memoir. If not really paying attention you can miss the action where Remy wins the Knights Cross. With all the pictures there are write ups that make for some good reading too.
Recommended. :[]

[RAF Liberators]

Thank you for that, it does seem to make for an interesting read. I was vaguely aware of the political struggles between the Walloons and the Flemings, I remember watching a documentary on the History Channel about it. I didn't realise that some of them fought on the side of the Germans during WWI.