“War is hell. And the infantry is hell from hell. After all, you are always going to be shot! You go first!” These are the books they say: written in blood. You won’t read this in any novel, you won’t see it in a movie. This is the real “trench truth” of the Great Patriotic War. Only veterans can speak so openly, so confessionally, piercingly and reliably about the war... Although the Second World War is called the “war of engines,” despite all the successes of tanks and aviation, the main role on the battlefield continued to be played by the “queen of the fields,” the infantry. It was she who bore the brunt of the war on her shoulders. It was the infantry that accounted for the lion's share of losses. It was the infantrymen who raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. You will hear their living voices in this book.