IN THE HELL OF THE EASTERN FRONT: The Fate of a Young Soldier During the Fighting in Russia in WW2

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Fritz Sauer initially joined the ranks of the Reichsarbeitsdienst, the Reich Labour Service, but was posted to Infantry Regiment No. 437 (132nd Infantry Division) in April 1942, first in the Crimea and then the Leningrad areas. He recalls events such as recovering the body of a fallen colleague from No Man's Land, the terrifying experience of facing a Red Army infantry attack, Soviet tank assaults, and the moment when a group of comrades in a neighboring crater were hit by a shell. He became a casualty himself when he was badly wounded in the legs during a counterattack.

After his recovery and retraining in a convalescent unit, Fritz was detailed to serve as a guard in a prisoner of war camp - still on the Eastern Front. Transferred to a tank assault regiment during the last year of the war, he was ordered to make contact with another unit, but lost his way in the snow. After sheltering with a farmer's family, Fritz decided to head west, fleeing before the advancing Red Army. His subsequent journey home took many twists and turns