This project seeks to make a small contribution to the understanding of combat motivation and morale on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. It aims to explore personal motivation as set out by individuals in diaries, letters or memoirs and seek to quantify this data and examine how different types of motivation shaped individual opinions and actions. The study will consider what shaped the behaviour and opinions of combatants in both the German and Soviet forces.
The first part of this project is to explore 55 published accounts from members of the German armed forces including the SS as well as the Wehrmacht.
A book review for each of these ego-documents will be published on this website. It is intended that this work may form the basis for an academic article.
The motivation of Soviet forces will be considered once the German element has been completed.
(January 2021)