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It is a pretty gritty book looking at the war in Germany where their society seems to fall into chaos. Life is meaningless, the threat of sending someone to the Eastern front is the threat of a death sentence... death by firing squad and beheading is common even on trumped up charges.

This book is seen through the eyes of the author. He has several comrades that are part of the penal brigade. They are fed up with the war. You follow them as wounded they are transported from the Eastern Front in cattle cars back to Germany for convalescence. You follow their recovery, adventures and dependence on alcohol, women (often as not raped) and fighting anyone that they dislike or just for fun including some of their mates.

It is not an easy read. If you dislike coarse language, brutal violence and apocalyptic scenarios then this is not a book for you. I almost put it down after 50 pages but now the characters are growing on me and I want to see how this ends for them.

Each of the main characters are well developed, some you grow to hate... others you grow to like. There is some humour but mostly horror due to a breakdown of a society.

One wonders if this is pure exaggerated fiction or is it an accurate view of Germany towards the last couple of years of WWII.
It gives you a lot to think about and it is not pretty.

When I started this book I thought the violence was gratuitous... however, I stuck with the story through 100 pages and eventually could not put it down. Not a fun read or even heroic for the most part. It is a very depressing viewpoint of war from the losing side point of view. ( )