The phase of the military collapse of the "Third Reich" between the summer of 1944 and the spring of 1945 is historically unique. The warfare of the Wehrmacht had long since lost its rational political-strategic justification and led, regardless of the loss of human lives and destruction, relentlessly towards national downfall. Against this backdrop, Andreas Kunz examines the extent of the Wehrmacht leadership's influence on the course of the Nazi regime before the end of the war, whether there were still rational concepts underlying this, and why the Wehrmacht continued to fight in an evidently hopeless situation. He questions the totality of the "final battle" and the consequences of the years-long war of attrition on the structure and effectiveness of the military organization. The topic also includes how the soldiers themselves experienced the collapse.