A lieutenant of the German army, a participant in hostilities on the Eastern Front, in his memoirs tries to analyze the events preceding World War II and the reasons for its unleashing. The author describes in detail the pre-war situation and the mood of different segments of the German population, the attitude towards the Nazis and the figure of Hitler. Describes the features of the "strange war" on the Western Front, his participation in battles on the territory of Ukraine and Russia, the state of euphoria from the victories of the first years of the war and the crushing fall of the Third Reich.