A nuance

As the Amazon summary, this book allows us to follow the adventures' of the 18th Infantry from beginning to end. Relatively easy book to read when you know all the gigantism that represented the Russian campaign: difficult to simply as the events are many and complex!

If, once the book is closed, we have confirmation that the fighting in the east have far exceeded in intensity and suffering all that we have known in the West.
If, as the French, the Battle of Normandy and the Ardennes are often the highlights of the conflict, we quickly see that the fighting on the Eastern Front have known many Omaha and other Verdun

Nevertheless, I would like to make a 'downside' to this story where there is no mention of the unique features of this campaign.

Indeed no mention is made of industrialized and systematic ethnic cleansing carried out on Russian soil. Kageneck does 'that' we narrating the exceptional courage, spirit of sacrifice and an art of combat mastered to perfection by his brothers in arms (which is undoubtedly correct)
An uninformed reading could therefore hasty conclusions on this German heroism, outstanding warriors who had to deal with the material and numerical superiority of the Russian barbarism since the war could not be won by the Nazis

To stay in the same author, I invite the reader to read "examination of conscience" to begin to have a more nuanced view of what was ultimately a campaign of extermination of a people considered 'subhuman' by the Nazi regime.

Then understand a little better why the Russians were only very rarely prisoners and why the battle for Berlin was spent as everyone knows ...