I.A teen on the eve of war. Vinnitsa -- Kiev -- II. The war. The war begins -- Three months at a military college and seven weeks in a re-forming division -- The beginning on the Volga's Left Bank -- The Mius front and the Donbas -- The path to the Dnieper River's mouth -- Fighting for the Crimea -- In the first Baltic front -- Initial months on the enemy's land -- Some fortunate finds in East Prussia -- The fall of Königsberg -- Finally, the great victory -- III. Various reflections on the war. An important factor in our victory -- What war taught me -- Letters from afar -- Sometimes we marched in our sleep -- Two more bloodless aspects of our daily routine -- Leisure at the front -- Ideological pressure -- A Jew at the front: a frank discussion -- Women of our rifle regiment -- The Germans: recollections of my feelings and encounters -- IV. The war ended but life went on. Three postwar months in East Prussia -- My discharge from the Army -- My return home -- I rejoin my alma mater -- Our young family.