Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front, Volume II: Russia, Hungary, Lithuania, and the Battle for East Prussia: The Memoir of Dr. hans Heinz Rehfeldt

 This is the second half of the author's diary/memoirs, covering actions in the latter part of WWII as the Wehrmacht retreated from occupied Soviet territory, through Hungary, the Baltic states, and into Prussia.  Much of these entries follow the same pattern as those in the first volume, there's plenty of action, a lot of mundane information, and every now and then some insightful commentary on the Wehrmacht, the Eastern Front, and Nazi Germany.  

 True to form for a soldier serving in a vaunted German Army formation, the author consistently praises German actions on the field of battle and belittles his Red Army counterparts.  German troops inevitably outperform their Soviet counterparts on the field of battle but inevitably need to retreat.  Red Army troops are the usual 'faceless mass' and there is little discussion of atrocities or the ongoing holocaust, although at one point reference is made to the execution of prisoners of war.  As the diary unfolds, the chaos of the battlefield, unplanned retreats, and mentions of anticipated 'wonder' weapons are regularly described and discussed.  

Readers that pay particular attention to these entries will notice the constant attention to enemy mortar and artillery fire.  This is partly understandable as the author was a mortarman, but it also shows that many of the casualties his unit sustained came from the consistent pressure Soviet forces put on German troops with their artillery and mortars, something that's often left out of memoirs that deal with higher level officers/generals, but is front and center here.  Additionally, one of the more interesting aspects of this volume are the many photos of propaganda leaflets by both the Soviets and Germans, trying to entice the other to surrender.  Although they are not fully translated, those with images are worth studying for they do and don't say.

Overall, these aren't the 'best' memoirs I've read when it comes to the Eastern Front, but as with practically every other primary source account, there's always something interesting to be found in these pages that enhances our understanding of the war on the Eastern Front.