This extraordinary book stands out from the multitude of publications on World War II due to its linguistic power in the narrative, the unique fate of the author, who was repeatedly deployed on genuine suicide missions, and the completely unvarnished and candid description of events. In 1938, Herbert Brunnegger voluntarily enlisted in the barracked SS and, at the age of 15, became the youngest soldier of the Third Reich. Deployed as a crisis firefighter at the hotspots of the war, his unit, the Waffen-SS Division Totenkopf, traveled from France to the Demjansk pocket, participated in the winter battle for Kharkov, and took part in Operation Citadel, which became known as the largest material battle in the history of warfare during the German offensive in the Kursk-Orel area in the summer of 1943. After being wounded four times, Brunnegger was deployed in Italy.