When young Karl von Kunow enlisted in the Reichswehr in 1928, he could not even imagine the end of his military career. His 12-year contract expired in the fall of 1939 - however, the young Spieβ (sergeant major) had to wait another five long years for demobilization: von Kunow went through four fronts, participated in the Polish and French campaigns, prepared for the landing on the British Isles and fought against the Allies in Western Europe. But the most difficult, most terrible and bloody years were three years on the Eastern Front. In 1941, the divisions in which he happened to serve advanced in Moldova and broke through the “Stalin Line” in Ukraine, in 1942 they rushed to the Caucasus and fled from there, in 43 they bled to death on Miussa and the Dnieper... About all this , von Kunow spoke about what he saw and experienced in his unique memoirs, especially valuable because the author, who rose from a platoon commander to a regiment commander, saw the war both from the front line and from the rear headquarters, knew both the “soldier’s” and “general’s” truth and understood better than others what life and death were worth on the Eastern Front.