-- Uses a wealth of primary source material, including personal letters and diaries

WWII German Infantryman examines the life of the average landser, the German foot soldier, who -- in the remote likelihood that he survived -- could have fought through the blitzkrieg, in the North African desert, and in the horrific frozen wastes of Russia against the most implacable foes. Using archival and reenactment photographs and contemporary accounts in official documents, letters, diaries, and contemporary reportage, this book portrays what it was like for ordinary men to be thrust into battle and into the most extreme conditions they had ever had to face.