A Nazi infantryman recalls the horrors of combat against the Soviet Union in this WWII memoir as told to his son. Friedrich "Fritz" Sauer was posted to the Eastern Front in 1942. A soldier in the 132nd Infantry Division, he was deployed in Hitler's grand invasion of Russia. But instead of the swift knockout blow the Germans had anticipated, Operation Barbarossa ground on for almost four years. Sent first to the Crimea and then the region around Leningrad, Fritz experienced horrors of all kinds. In this memoir, Fritz recalls losing his best friend to a sniper, rescuing the body of a fallen comrade from No Man's Land, enduring Soviet tank assaults, and his own wounding during a counterattack. Fritz was later transferred to a tank assault regiment where, on a mission to contact another unit, he lost his way in the snow. After sheltering with a farmer's family, Fritz headed west to flee the advancing Red Army. His subsequent journey home took many twists and turns.

Known to his friends and family as Fritz, FRIEDRICH GOTTFRIED SAUER was born on 22 December 1923, in Bassenheim near Coblenz in the Rhineland, to farmer and potato dealer Josef Sauer and his wife Antoinette. He was just eighteen when he was first conscripted by the German authorities in the winter of 1940-41\. Initially joining the ranks of the Reich Labour Service, he was soon transferred to the Heer, the German Army, and posted to an infantry unit which formed part of Army Group North on the Eastern Front. Despite being terribly wounded, Fritz survived the war. Based on his recollections, this account of his wartime experiences was written by his son, Arno Sauer.