In his memoirs about World War II, Wehrmacht General Dietrich von Holtitz describes the battles and operations in which he took a personal part: the capture of Rotterdam in 1940, the siege and assault of Sevastopol in 1942, the battles in Normandy in the summer of 1944, where he commanded the army corps. Holtitz pays great attention to the organization of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, the combat training of troops, the relationship of the military elite with the political leadership. The author's last place of service was Paris, the commandant of which the general was appointed in early August 1944. The author devotes a large place in his memoirs to the concept of soldier duty, reflects on the place of the army in society and the limit of subordination of the military to the orders of the supreme power.