Genre: Nonfiction—History & Military History
Completed: 12 August 2013
Summary & Review:
In 1910, a large plot of land in eastern Bavaria was designated as a training area for the Bavarian Royal troops. Now, more than one hundred years later, the area has nearly doubled in size and is in the hands of the United States military. Throughout the preceding century, “Graf” has seen more than just mortar rounds and tank tracks. Visitors ranging from Hitler to Eisenhower and from Mussolini to Elvis Presley have passed through.
Having recently been assigned to the dental clinic here at Grafenwöhr, I thought that this book was fascinating. While the organization of the sections left much to be desired, as did the clumsy German to English translation, the content made up for these stylistic weaknesses. I was impressed with how thorough Morgenstern was at examining nearly every aspect of the training area. He walked the reader through the early Royal Barvarian days, World War I, the Third Reich, and American occupation. He detailed the villages that were forcibly abandoned when Hitler decided to double the size of the area in the 1930s and chronicled the American units that now call Graf home.
One particularly interesting thing was that while Elvis Presely was in the army, he spent several weeks training here. During that time he sang at a local bar whose building has now been converted to the church where our ward meets. Pretty cool.
Thank you to my lovely wife who gave this book to me as a birthday present.
Rating: 8.0
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