Disclaimer I am not looking for this because I, in any way, shape, or form seek to relate more with Nazis or to emulate them or anything of the sort.
Anyways... I consider myself a WWII enthusiast... enthusiast may even be too strong, but I've read quite a few books on that time period and find it fascinating.
Lately, I've been wondering if there are any widely available books out there, in English, (my German is still very, very weak) that tell stories from the German soldier's side. I'm not looking for propaganda pieces (although those would be interesting), but more stories of battles and what not on the German side. I know the victors write the history books and all, but I'm hoping there's at least something out there that is reputable and at least some what well written.
Apologies if this isn't an appropriate question for this sub. Let me know if not and I'll move it. Thanks!
German memoirs are often problematic due to the fact the authors will try to downplay the bad parts, and uplay the good experiences. Something like Kurt "Panzer" Meyer's book "Grenadier" is thus exciting, but full of fabrications and at times disturbing evasions of the truth. So instead, let me point you to a few good things to read, which don't fall into that trap.
"A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War: Russia, 1941-1944" by Willy Peter Reese: This is perhaps the most honest memoir of WWII you'll find from the German perspective. Because Reese died and the book was published from his writings decades later, you see none of the evasions, half-truthes, and outright lies of many others writing of their experience, and instead a forthright accounting of the barbarity, and his own complicity. If you're reading just one book, this is it.
"Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing, and Dying" - From transcripts of German POWs recorded during captivity, another work which is quite honest about their experience, unlike most memoir writings.
""The Good Old Days": The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders" ed. by Ernst Klee, Willi Dreßen, and Volker Riess: Pretty much what it says, a collection of Holocaust accounts by those who did it and those who saw it happening. It can be quite brutal at times.