As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Escape from a Siberian Labor Camp and His 3-Year Trek to Freedom Paperback – May 17, 2008

Reading “As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me” was thrilling. I started the book with the knowledge that he does eventually escape, but almost the entire book I am wondering how he will do it. The first section of the book simply details his extraordinary journey just getting to the prison camp, never mind escaping it.We don’t often hear stories of German soldiers either, mostly brandishing them with the same generalizations of the SS or Nazi leadership, when in reality many of them were pretty normal people who were forced into extremely difficult situations, like being a Russian POW sentenced to 25 years working in a lead mine in Northeastern Siberia.The setting is tremendously interesting, Northeastern Siberia is simply not a place I have heard or read much about. And it is its own amazing place with indigenous peoples, a far reaching USSR, and winters that are nothing less than brutal, and you see it all firsthand in this account.As a lover of memoirs and a lover of books that depict a foreign place and time, this was an absolute favorite book. It's so well written that it is almost excruciating to read it. And it is inspiring. To think what a man can do, and read this man's journey, gives me tremendous personal inspiration to do hard things.

This was a book I avoided purchasing for sometime. The topic seemed to be too outlandish. But the truth of the matter is, if anything, this is a the real deal. The man who this book is based on really did walk out of a Siberian lead mine and walked nearly 3,000 miles home.Try as I might, I can't seem to find a fault with the book or even a negative statement anywhere that suggests the story is not true. In light of that, I'm stunned, and more importantly the book opened my mind to the concept of German POWs spread around the world. Since I have read this book I have found reference to at least a dozen other soldiers who managed a similar escape, including one who escaped in the US, another by way of Canada and another Eastern Front veteran who walked out of Russia.The book is facilitating in concept. But loses a little in translation, but that does not take away in any form from the fact the book is an excellent easy book to follow. The concept of how this man escapes, what he does to survive and his sheer will to live are totally fascinating. He is the ultimate survivor, eating snow and small game, avoiding people where he can.The concept is fascinating. But as I mentioned truth is better than fiction. Things I enjoyed most about reading this book include the description of the vast land that is Siberia and the nature of hardy people who live there. I also enjoyed the fact the author was basically one step ahead of being captured for most of his trip. Also interesting are the personal relationships that develop over the years it takes him to escape.If you enjoyed this book you may enjoy The Final frontiersman, the story of an American who lives in the most remote areas of Alaska. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find an history book that would be a better companion except Guy Sajar's The Forgotten Soldier.

This book reminded me once again how tough human beings have to be when they’re determined to survive in hostile environments. I like the way the author reconstructed Forell’s story and held my breath to see how he was going to escape certain situations. Well worth reading, even as an extreme example of what a man is willing to go through to get home again. The story stays with you, I believe I’ll be learning from it for some time,.

The book arrived in a timely manner and was a good copy and packaged well. In the mid 1980's I met a man through my work who had been a German soldier during WWII and was captured by the Russians at the end of the war. This man had been conscripted into the Army because they were desperate for soldiers even though he was only 16 or 17 years old. He was also an athlete...a skier who had trained for the Olympics. He told me that this was the only reason he had survived his captivity in Russia. He escaped twice but was recaptured each time. He was held by the Russians for 3 or 4 years after the war had ended. Hs English was somewhat limited so he didn't go into detail about where he was actually held in Russia or whether he was forced to work. I'm sure he was though. He mainly stressed that it was only his youth and his physical fitness which enabled him to survive. So reading this book was very interesting to me having some background of this time and place. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and am very thankful that his story was told and not lost to mankind.

I first became acquainted with this book when I watched the terrific television series based on it when I was in college in Germany for a year in 1974. Upon returning to the United States I was somewhat surprised to find that the book had been translated into English, and I read it, in English, in 1975.I recently read Guy Sajer's fascinating memoir "The Forgotten Soldier" and it reminded me once again of "As Far as My Feet..." I was pleased, and somewhat surprised, to see that it is still in print in English, and I've just read it again.This time, thirty years after my first reading, I found it nearly impossible to take the particulars of Bauer's story as literal facts. I don't doubt that there was a man who escaped from a Soviet prison camp and managed to return to Germany, and his experiences may have been somewhat similar to the events described in this book, but somehow the narrative doesn't now strike me as particularly genuine. It may be simply that in contrast to Gus Sajer's intensely personal account, Bauer's more professional narrative just doesn't measure up. If anything, this book has a lot more in common with Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet" (a terrific story for a 12-year-old) than it does with a soldier's survival tale.In any case it's a good adventure story, especially recommended for a young adult reader.