Into the Wide World

Series Metadata

Creator:
Series Begun:
2018-08-27
Series Updated:
2020-11-27
Description:

This series focuses on Friedrich Arnheiter during and after his service in the Afrika Korps in Hauptmann Hans Dietrich’s company in 3rd Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion.

Many years ago, when I began writing Rat Patrol fiction, I created an original character, Friedrich Arnheiter, to be the new guy in Dietrich's company. He was originally intended only to be a walk-on part in that first story ("The Pass of Thermopylae Raid"), never to be seen again. However, he became a recurring character in my RP fiction as an Everyman and the Afrika Korps' answer to Radar O'Reilly.

Some readers have been interested in reading more about ‘Fritz’. In the days of print fanzines there was no way that I could explore him in any depth. But with the rise of fan fiction online, I am finally able to tell his story from his point of view in a way that was never possible before.

The series title "Into the Wide World" comes from an old German folk song, which begins "Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen, den schickt er in die weite Welt...". This translates as "Whom God truly wishes to do good, He sends him into the wide world." From North Africa to Scotland to London, Arnheiter's world became much wider than he ever expected.

Stats:
Words:
95,820
Works:
4
Complete:
No
Bookmarks:
7

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