In 1939 the German Army, with the infantry as its backbone, were probably the best-trained and best-equipped army in the world. By the long Russian winter of 194142 they were on an inexorable slide toward defeat. This book tells that story through the many unpublished photographs of Gerhard Sandmann, who served as an infantry soldier until he was captured in 1944, thus ensuring survival of both himself and his photographic record.