HOT MOTORS, COLD FEET

An exciting personal account of front-line service with the motorcycle reconnaissance battalion of SS-Division "Das Reich" from 1940 until late 1941. Helmut Gunther initially served as a messenger and eventually as a squad leader in the Balkans Campaign and subsequently the invasion of Russia - Operation Barbarossa - until the retreat from Moscow. He was evacuated in late December 1941 with severe frostbite to both feet. Gunther is quite a character and a natural storyteller, who writes in a very compelling style. His story is riveting, and in many cases very amusing, as he and his comrades manhandle their 600cc BMW and NSU motorcycles through some of the roughest terrain and toughest combat imaginable. This is a revealing look at what it was really like to serve in the original SS division. Many of the officers the author served with, such as Klingenberg and Tychsen, later became well-known SS commanders. Volume 2 of Gunther's memoirs, which cover his service with 17.SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Gotz von Berlichingen", will be published at a later date.