Professor, MD Hans Killian participated in two world wars. As a consultant surgeon, he oversaw the work of military and field hospitals throughout the Kaunas sector and witnessed bloody battles in the area of Lake Ilmen and Staraya Russa, facing the terrible consequences of the severe frosts of the winter of 1941/42. The expectation that victory on the Eastern Front would not require effort failed, and the soldiers paid a terrible price for the miscalculation of the high command.