Maxim Kustov’s new book shows, as always unexpectedly, the life of the Wehrmacht from the “undress” side, which is practically unknown to the domestic reader. After reading it, you can learn about how the German authorities officially equated their soldiers to beggars in need of alms, why German officers shot at Hitler’s portrait and who proposed to land an assault force near Berlin from German soldiers captured in Stalingrad. How in the Third Reich it was possible “ make a fool of yourself” so as not to be sent to the front? What were the rules for executing soldiers sentenced to death? How did they usually give bribes in the German army? How did the pests act in the German rear? And there is a lot more that allows us to understand hitherto unfamiliar aspects of the existence of the Wehrmacht and the reasons for its defeat in World War II.