It is 1943, and also the army--ravaged and demoralised--is retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the insanity, conflict brews between your aristocratic eventually pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the Corporal Steiner that is courageous. Stransky may be the only man who considers that the next Reich is vastly better than the Russian army. However, within his pompous character lies that he can return to Berlin a fanatic a quivering coward who longs to the Iron Cross. Steiner, however is doubtful, defiantly more worried about the security of his men rather than ornaments agreed to him by his superiors' horde and non-conformist.