The Final Encounter—Rommel, Patton and Zhukov

by Jane Pejsa

Unsolicited readers’ comments, from 2006 Manuscript to 2007 Published Book 
 

I admire you for walking in the footsteps of Dante, into the antechamber of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.

Manfred Rommel, son of the Field Marshal,
Lord Mayor Emeritus of Stuttgart, Germany

I find [the manuscript] most interesting and imaginative … an unusual and fascinating read.

David M. Glantz, Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas,
Recognized authority on the Soviet Union and Red Army

I was absolutely fascinated by your manuscript, “the Final Encounter—Rommel, Patton, and Zhukov.” Currently, many books are in the bookstores on WWII battles and American leaders’ memoirs, but very little in print about Rommel, other than “the Desert Fox,” and almost nothing about Zhukov. Frankly, I read the entire manuscript with excitement in one day—and relived my days as a Second Lieutenant, HQ Co. 2nd, 355th Reg, 89th Infantry Division. We landed in LeHavre in December 1944 …

Jane, you have created a masterpiece. I was enthralled, and any veteran of WWII would have the same reaction. Congratulations.

Miles W. McNally of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Served in Patton’s Third Army

There are others, of course, and more competent ones to judge. Here is just a normal reader who spent most of the time between the years with “The Final Encounter.” In short: A fantastic book!

To be honest, I at first thought: “There are hundreds of books and essays about the three, why another one?” But after a quick glance at the book and at page vii with the Contents I was sure to have something great in my hands. I was gripped by the book. … What a tremendous work! … Once again: A wonderful book; thank you very much. And a last question: When will the German issue be on the market?

Gerhard Rühlow of Steinfurt, Germany, a child in WWII

Yesterday, I stayed glued to the [computer] monitor most of the day, reading your opus on the three generals. It’s lucid, well-balanced, and historically right on target, especially where historical emphasis is called for. It’s also very clever--a real tour de force. Congratulations! I can see how it can become a spell-binding theater play.

Serge Petroff of Mill Valley, California
Authority on the Russian Civil War, 1918-1920

 
It’s a marvelous book, Jane. I greatly admire your abilities to find all this disparate stuff and fit it all together and then come up with letting the three generals meet in a room on the way to somewhere. … It’s a “holy Mackerel” Script!

Herb Nadelhoffer of Naperville, Illinois, sometime playwright

 
My intention was to divide the manuscript into six parts and read 30 pages a day. So fascinated was I that I couldn’t put it down. So much for my six-day reading. The manuscript is filled with all the Pejsa expectations—word and sentence construction, usage, intrigue, O-Henry surprises, use of lexicon, and the exceptional vocabulary that we’ve all come to expect in your work.

Especially profound for me, a military person, is the Acts of Contrition portion. My eyes are still watering from memories brought back by your book. I suspect other military personnel will have similar reactions. I hate to put it down. …

Robert Vockrodt of St. Paul Minnesota
U.S. Army Col. in the Vietnam War

 
My mind was rather skeptical when I was about to read the book “The Final Encounter” by Jane Pejsa. I thought: one more book about the remarkable generals Rommel, Patton and Zhukov. There has been so much written, you see, about these most famous military leaders of the WWII. Quite often highly contradictory. What else was there to write? With these thoughts I started to read the story. And right from the very first my skepticism evaporated—totally disappeared. The author has found a different, unusual, absolutely unique, extremely interesting, exciting, brilliant way into the soul of the reader.

Indeed these outstanding generals appear before the reader of course as eminent personalities, but at the same time, perhaps ordinary people. Like you and like me. I did not expect it. Three men speaking about themselves, about their deeds, their families, loved ones, their purely human sins. They sound so earthy, so touching, so moving. I read the story at one time to the very end. I could not stop. I could not make a break.

Mark Rechkin of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, WWII Red Army veteran
First Ukrainian Front, 1943/44; Second Ukrainian Front, 1944/45

When in 2002 you wrote me of your intention to write a Halb-roman about the meeting of the three famous generals in Heaven, I advised you against it because I could not imagine a meeting of the three in Heaven and also because so much has already been said and written about these historic figures. Indeed, a man can be in error! Alone the idea of the three meeting in an antechamber of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory and having the opportunity to converse with each other, exchange thoughts and even look through windows into the past is uniquely interesting and beautiful! Thus, personal histories as well as the detailed historical events involving these generals are wonderfully presented. …
[translated from the German by Jane Pejsa]

Hans-Joachim Döring of Marbach, Germany
WWII veteran of Rommel’s Afrika Korps

 
Jane, I’ve read The Book and it really pulled me in—so much good stuff and Real Information about the men, their backgrounds and experiences and some of their actions and decisions that affected so many lives. This is by far your best.

Susan Bishop of Princeton, New Jersey
Formerly with Princeton University Press