Excerpts from the book:
A Boy’s Survival in the Combat Zone
(1939-1945)
Some of the fiercest battles and bombardments of World War II took place in the border region between France’s Maginot Line and Germany’s Siegfried Line, where Walter Beller and his family lived. Allied air raids all but leveled his German hometown. Young Walter’s survival was nothing short of miraculous. “Between the Lines” is his story.
Rounding out his memories of dangerous times, evacuations and mischievous adventures, Beller re-examines the impact of pivotal historical events, including the humiliating aftermath of Germany’s defeat in World War I, the frustrating and failed German land negotiations with Poland that triggered the start of World War II, and the Allied bombing campaign that deliberately targeted cities and civilians.
Descriptions of battles, air raids and post-war American and French occupations will be of interest to historians. Also described are the circumstances surrounding Rommel’s forced suicide and the “massacre at Malmedy” (recently made famous by the Bill O’Reilly controversy).
Giving voice to what many German people (including his anti-Nazi father) felt and believed at the time, he provides a different perspective than the official version of what happened during the war. Despite the atrocities and destruction of war, in the Beller family, life was respected, people from other cultures were accepted, and prisoners of war and those in need were treated kindly.
“Between the Lines,” Beller’s gripping saga of survival, offers a moving account of war as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
Read The Latest Book by Walter Beller
The book is a lively, often humorous account of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing, industrial spying, contract negotiations, board meetings and office politics. From doing business in Communist countries to calling corrupt executives on the carpet to hiring rocket scientists who had worked for Werner von Braun, the father of American space travel, Beller’s stories are as entertaining as they are instructive. His hard-earned, savvy understanding of the rules governing local and international business practices will benefit anyone looking to find his way in today’s global economy.