The terrible underbelly of the Second World War and the tragic fates of the soldiers who fought in it have been described many times in world and domestic literature. But not many works described the difficult path of the fighters who fought in penal units. There were such units in the German army. And, as usual, they got the dirtiest and most difficult work - to advance first and retreat last. Only a few managed to survive the hell of the Eastern Front... This novel is the first in a series of books by the Danish writer S. Hassel, who fought in the ranks of a penal tank regiment of the German Wehrmacht. Autobiographical in form, it exposes the criminality of this war and those who started it.