In these firsthand accounts--never before published in English--German soldiers describe the horrors of combat on the Eastern Front during World War II. A panzer crewman holds out to the bitter end at Stalingrad, fighting the Soviets as well as cold and hunger. An assault gun commander seeks out and destroys enemy tanks in Poland. Along the Oder River, a ragtag antiaircraft battery turns its guns against Russian infantry. And in Berlin a paratrooper makes a last, desperate stand in the war’s closing days.