Original subtitles

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[choir singing in Latin]

[woman] Balance and surviving.

Balance is the balance itself of Nature.

Surviving is the challenge that Nature imposes.

There's no purpose in life without challenges.

Surviving has yet shown great roots in every soul.

As a small seed of a tree grows constantly higher and higher

toward the light,

surviving is deeply implanted in each living being.

Nature itself fights every day for her survival.

She struggles and keeps going on,

sometimes showing us incredible landscapes,

that is all the fruit of thousands of years

battling in order to stay alive.

She also imposes hard choices.

She governs over laws that we often ignore.

Love, love is the engine.

This engine pushes everything and everyone.

As Nature loves the fruit of her own survival,

every living being loves as well all the fruits that Nature offers,

living according to her rules.

This is perfect balance.

Human beings translated love in many different ways

while time was passing on,

but love was always there.

She might have been different from one century to another

but she kept pushing people to act.

Sadly, she kept changing.

People started to lose those values that were not suppose to ever die:

love for other human beings,

love for one own family,

love for one own country.

[birds chirping]

Hundreds of years will pass,

and we won't even love Nature anymore.

[man, in German] Nothing remains the same...

when around you there's only death.

[yells and groans]

[bombing in distance, faint]

[coughing]

[groaning]

[coughing]

My name is Ludwig Herckel.

I volunteered in the First Division SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler

when I was 20 years old.

Yesterday, I got promoted to Unterscharführer.

Today I lead my men for the first time.

[birds chirping and singing]

- [Herckel] What's happening? - I heard something coming from that way

in front of us.

- [Herckel] Understood. - [man] What do we do?

- Hold the position - Understood.

[bullet humming]

Ambush! Retreat, retreat!

[gunfire]

- [gunfire] - [heartbeat racing]

[Herckel] I felt quite stupid hiding like a rabbit, leaving my men behind.

I wouldn't let it happen again.

[heartbeat slowing]

Hey. Hey!

Come here!

- [whispers] What do we do now? - Shut up!

- They came up so fast, what do we do? - Shut up now! They will kill us!

Did you see anybody else?

Shit, we need to get out of here.

[whispers] What's the plan now?

[Herckel] We need to be the most silent we can and get back to the company.

I'm not hearing anything. We can go.

- [man 2] You've lost your weapon. - Don't worry.

You go first.

We shouldn't be very far.

- How are you? - [man 2] I'm doing fine.

- Your name is Steiner, right? - [Steiner] Yes, sir.

[birds cawing]

Hans was my friend.

I'm sorry.

He was a good kamerad.

You will have your time to revenge him.

You're still alive. Now, let's go.

[Herckel] The situation was getting quite difficult in the last months.

We were convinced to end the war soon and finally see a united Europe.

But a year later, since Operation Barbarossa,

we were still there fighting against Soviets and partisans.

We strive to be brave and full of energy.

I'm proud to fight in this cause.

♪ In the beautiful Westerwald ♪

♪ The wind whistles so cold ♪

♪ In the beautiful Westerwald ♪

♪ Ohh ♪

♪ The wind whistles so cold ♪

♪ Over your heights The wind whistles so cold ♪

♪ However, the smallest sunshine ♪

♪ It pierces the heart ♪

[gunfire in distance, faint]

[Herckel] Our new leader of the second company came to the front that week--

Untersturmführer Kolbe.

After the campaign in France he was assigned to the SS General Quartel.

Some say that he asked so many times to be transferred to the front

that he finally got the authorization.

He is a great leader and a great example.

He knows when the risk is not worth it.

[Kolbe] Everybody get ready!

[explosion and gunfire in distance, faint]

Move!

My son will be an excellent pilot too.

Everybody to the right side!

[man] Take cover! On the right!

[man 2] Achtung!

- Untersturmführer! - Yes, sir!

Take the second platoon and move straight to the first line of holes.

- The infantry will come soon. - Yes, sir.

Herckel!

Let's go!

Herckel, listen.

We move across the street

and hold the position in the first line of holes.

Not over than that!

Let's move.

With electricity in the building.

[man] Russian aircraft!

[Kolbe] We are too uncovered. We need to move!

- Go! - [Herckel] Yes, sir!

Listen, this is the second line. We move and go forward!

On my command!

[Herckel] Jawohl.

- [man] Take cover! - [man 2] Take cover!

Herckel.

Herckel! We move.

Position!

Hey, Untersturmführer! Kolbe, the line!

[Kolbe] We have to hold the line!

- Nobody must pass. - [Herckel] Understood.

- Men, nobody must pass! - Yes, sir!

Nobody!

Follow me!

[man] Open fire!

[man 2] More ammo!

[shouting in German, indistinct]

Russian tanks!

Russians! They're coming!

[gunfire]

[Kolbe] Keep firing! Keep firing!

[men shouting]

[Herckel] My dearest wife, today we had to retreat again.

It breaks my heart to lose another battle but this is how it goes.

I'm doing fine, but we are sad thinking of our brothers that are prisoners now.

I'm still faithful in the final victory.

We all can't wait to battle again and revenge our kameraden.

Most of them are just like beasts.

I can't write you about that,

but for sure I will never let them put a foot on German land.

[men shouting in German, indistinct]

[speaking German]

[crickets chirping]

Everything is going to be all right.

Yeah.

We will make it. We will get back to our homes...

- ...after our victory. - Of course.

We know we will win.

You know, after the taking of Poland, we moved to France.

Many people died but, you know,

some sacrifices are necessary,

to bring honor to our nation and to our lives.

I'm honored that you are with us. You are a great leader.

But the important part is you.

To find the strength right here.

I have total trust under your command

and I will follow your example.

Thank you, Herckel.

All right?

Good night.

[Herckel] My dear wife, summer is quite gone.

I often remember our walking with the colored trees above us.

I miss you so much, my dear.

I hope to see you soon. For the moment we are not advancing.

The enemy keeps growing every day. They are so many.

I'm starting to get a little worried about this.

That's why I have to write you through my journal.

I don't want to give up, but I feel more comfortable doing this.

You help me a lot during hard moments.

I hope you are proud of me and of what I'm doing here.

[gunfire in distance]

[man] Achtung!

Men, listen.

We leave in five minutes.

The second company got ordered

to clear inside an old factory five kilometers from here.

Remember, we got chosen for this job!

For the Leibstandarte! And for our wonderful Reich!

[chanting in German]

I go first with one man. You take the rest of the platoon and cover our butt.

- Yes, sir. - You, with me!

Machine gun! Everybody advance!

Machine gun, machine gun! Advance!

[Herckel] Meisen, come here!

- Steiner, follow me! - Yes, sir!

[Kolbe] Window on the right! The window on the right!

Herckel, the window on the right side!

[gunfire]

Grenade! One grenade!

[men shouting, indistinct]

Sniper!

[Kolbe in German, indistinct]

[Herckel gives command, indistinct]

Herckel! Take two men and fix this shit now!

Yes, sir.

Steiner, come with me!

You go with him!

Covering fire!

[Herckel] Move, move, move!

Sniper! Move, move, move!

Steiner! Advance!

[gunfire]

[coughing]

Fucking Commie!

Kolbe! Clear!

Steiner, enough!

[spits]

Advance!

[Kolbe] You good? All of you are fine?

Good job.

Meisen, on you.

[Herckel] I don't agree too much with Steiner's attitude.

But we were a team.

I admire the courage he showed many times.

He was often volunteering for patrols and firing squads.

He doesn't care a lot about prisoners.

His friend Otto got stabbed with a bayonet even though he was injured.

He decided not to spare any of the enemy, not even one.

I never asked him but I'm quite sure that now that we are retreating,

he's afraid that enemies will get to his little brother.

He doesn't want him to fight in this war. It's so cold here.

[rain pattering]

Attention!

[Herckel] Italy is a wonderful country.

I can't write a lot about here. Partisan activity here is huge.

In Cuneo, we lost some men. We burned almost an entire town.

We won't stay here long, we will be back soon in the Ukraine.

Fighting only for some meters.

Conquer again what we lost.

Stay here.

Herckel.

Unterscharführer.

I'm afraid I have bad news.

Ivan broke again into our lines so get ready to move.

The Wehrmacht is having big losses so we have to cover their retreat.

We will form small groups of three or four men

to deploy a line while they pull back.

- So we keep retreating? - Yes, I'm afraid so.

Come here!

- Franz Johann Scholl. - Heil Hitler.

[Kolbe] He arrived today, so please take him into your squad.

Jawohl.

[Herckel] Another kid.

Another soul.

Another target.

Another dead.

Another thought.

Another tear.

We are sent like chess pieces in an endless chessboard.

And I still want to do my best, even if I'm just an insignificant pawn.

[branches rustling]

[Herckel] Scholl! What's wrong?

- [Steiner] I go first. - [Herckel] Good idea.

Good job, hey?

Scholl, go get the mine.

- [Steiner] I hate these situations. - You think we have any other choice?

And after all our efforts, we have to cover those losers' butts?

It seems that theirs are pretty important.

Anyways, keep digging. Stop saying bullshit.

[sighs] Jawohl.

Scholl, you're like a princess.

- How did you get into the first SS? - I volunteered.

Whatever. I bet your parents filled out the forms for you.

[Scholl] Very funny, Steiner.

Ivan will come today?

No, not today.

The biggest part of their army will pass north.

Here only reconnaissance patrols.

- We will block those fucking Bolscheviks. - Well, thank you, Steiner.

- Scholl, did you kill someone yet? - No, not yet.

Don't worry. You will have your time for it.

One more stupid than him for sure.

At least I hope you are a good shooter. At least that.

[Scholl] We'll see.

Herckel, this one won't last longer than a week.

Steiner, please shut up. Keep working.

Jawohl.

[Herckel] We are born and we learn.

We learn and we don't teach.

We want examples to follow.

We don't care in being examples.

Other's lives are getting more insignificant every day.

So are ours.

We survive. The call of duty keeps living in our chests.

Yes, we want to live.

And we don't know what for.

We are brothers. I see them living.

I want them to live.

I fight for this now.

[birds chirping, rain pattering]

[rain pattering on tarp]

- Fucking rain. - [Steiner] I can't see a damn thing.

[Herckel] Scholl, I never asked you, where are you from?

[Scholl] Kremmen.

- And where's that? - North Berlin.

But then I moved to Oranienstein, into a NaPolA.

NaPolA? Now I understand how you got here.

My parents wanted to. I felt obliged.

Do you have a family?

[Herckel] I have a wife.

[Scholl] What's her name?

[Herckel] Margarite.

She's waiting for me at home.

[mortar shells exploding, distant]

[Herckel] A new day.

- Steiner, any news? - All quiet.

- You can rest. I'll take care of this. - Jawohl.

Get up!

Steiner, I know you are tired,

- but go to Kolbe and ask for orders. - Jawohl.

- So quiet. - Yes.

- Ivan will come? - Yes, they always come.

I didn't volunteer to argue all the time.

He is like that. Don't forget that you are an SS.

You look like a motivated soldier, but show that in the battle.

Not only words. We are lions.

- So? - Orders are to hold the position.

Even if another group is under fire, we don't move.

Yes, Kolbe is right.

If we leave the position, the Russians could pass through here.

Scholl, come to the MG.

- Do you trust him over there? - Yes.

Steiner, why do you keep breaking my balls?

Because you are a fucking recruit.

Enough, kameraden. Steiner, you calm down.

[explosion]

- [Steiner] What was that? - [Herckel] One of our mines.

Good, they're coming.

[Herckel, whispering] Russians. I shoot first.

[gunfire]

Steiner, grenades! Grenades!

[in Russian] Grenade!

[Herckel] Keep shooting! Keep shooting!

[in Russian] On the sides!

[gunfire]

Reloading!

[yelling]

[in Russian] Retreat! Retreat!

- They're retreating! - Run away, bastards!

Cease fire! Cease fire!

[Herckel] More numbers to add.

Steiner, come with me. Let's take a look.

[moaning]

[moaning, speaking Russian]

[groaning, speaking Russian]

[sobbing]

Unterscharführer, over here!

Get up!

- What do we do now? - Orders are clear. No prisoners.

Scholl found it so he has to shoot him.

[Herckel] How can you feel better

when you have the authority to stop something, yet you're not supposed to?

Come on. Show us your honor.

[in Russian] Please don't shoot.

- [Steiner] Shoot! - [soldier pleading in Russian]

Come on! Shoot him now!

Are you happy now?

Steiner, inform Kolbe about what happened.

We blocked the patrol, and that we had no losses. Go.

Oh, yeah, with Scholl, please stop it.

[coughing]

[coughing and sniffling]

Scholl, who are you writing to?

Technically to my mother.

But I...

I have no idea what to write.

Did you write to your parents?

No, not in months.

Here.

- Write to them. - No.

Come on, write to them.

I'm sorry. I can't write.

What's your mother's name?

Margot.

- Are you doing good? - Yes, I'm alive.

- Do you eat well here? - Yes, all the time.

- [chuckles] Is it warm here? - Very warm.

We are all suntanned.

[Herckel] Once again, I'm proud not to suffer the war alone,

but with my brothers.

[Scholl] With love, Steiner.

[Herckel] The following day, we received the order to leave our position

and join the Company again.

[Scholl] In the NaPolA, they taught us to be obedient.

- In what NaPolA did you go? - Hessan Nassau.

But they taught us well.

Many of us kept studying but I volunteered in the SS.

If they really wanted to serve, they should have volunteered too.

I think so too, Scholl.

And you, Unterscharführer? Why did you join the SS?

When I was a kid,

my dad left for the front even though he was too old.

My mother was very proud of this.

I hope that is the same for my wife as well.

He never came back, and we had to leave our home.

We weren't able to survive with the money. The crisis was huge.

So...

Moreover the place where we lived wasn't Germany anymore.

That's quite heavy to realize.

My mother had to work all day long

in order to have some flour to cook some bread.

We always ate that bread.

That year for my birthday,

my mother brought me a little can of tuna.

It was the first different meal I ate after months.

Damn.

No one ever came to say what happened to my father.

I'm sorry.

While we moved, my mother couldn't find any other job.

This was because most of the economy was held by the Jews.

Naturally, they preferred to help Jews instead of helping us.

Often we had to hide and sleep in haystacks.

It was the National Socialism that finally gave her a job.

Did you volunteer to thank the Führer?

One day, my mother received a letter from the Gaulater

saying that our Nation was proud of what our father did for the country.

Nobody ever cared about it.

Now, yes, that's why I fight.

[Herckel] Winter was approaching.

We got transferred to the Western part of Ukraine

and we were often asked to help other divisions as communication support.

The landscape was so breathtaking.

It was weird to combine all that death in such a beautiful place.

Margarite, my love, the snow covers everything.

For the moment we hold the line.

I feel safe with my friends, even though it is I who is their point of strength.

It is so cold here. I don't even know what day is today.

I hope you think of me.

[girl singing "Silent Night" in German]

- Hey, guys, Merry Christmas. - [Herckel] Is it Christmas today?

- Merry Christmas, Steiner. - Merry Christmas, Scholl.

- Merry Christmas, kameraden. - Merry Christmas, Herckel.

[coughing]

[Herckel] Merry Christmas, Margarite.

I'm very sick of this.

Always us, to cover the shit.

Always us, to do the job that other idiots can't do.

Steiner, if they need our help, we go.

Because maybe tomorrow we will need their help.

And we are screwed.

So, if they need us, we go.

Stop it. Nothing else to complain about.

Do you see what's around us? What do you see?

Snow everywhere! Covering our fallen, kameraden.

We should retreat once again, hold a line, wait for them and kill them all.

Is that what you want?

Everyday we keep losing meters. Every day we are closer to our homes.

This war, it won't be only with us if we keep thinking this way.

And if we lose a meter today, we won't get it back tomorrow!

You understand this?

Do you want your brother to fight?

Do you know what they would do to our families or our women?

While I breathe, I will do my best to get those bastards out of my country.

Understood? You just think about your fucking job.

You are a fucking soldier just like me, we aren't worth a damn.

And remember that this talking is undermeaning military morale!

- [tapping] - You are an SS. Remember that!

You know they could execute you for that. Should I report you?

I'm sorry, my friend. But that's how it goes.

This is total shit, but we can't do anything.

What are we? Nothing.

What did you expect?

[Herckel] What are we in this world? What can make a single soldier?

How can we choose the best

even when things do not go as your leaders promised to you?

The only thing I do now is dig.

Dig and dig again.

I took an oath for my leaders. I believed in them.

At the end of March, we got transferred to Netherlands.

One thing was sure-- we were no longer training to win in Russia.

We started realizing we were training in order to defend our country.

Scholl, a little higher.

Good, you got it.

I miss my wife so much

but I feel uncomfortable about getting back to her.

None of us went home.

They were worried about the war so much

that they didn't want to waste one single day.

[man speaking German, indistinct]

[counting in German]

[Herckel] Things got worse and worse. The Americans landed in Normandy.

Now we started to feel real fear in being completely surrounded.

France is quite different from the East.

Even if there was debris everywhere, it looks sarcastically happier.

I received other men in my platoon.

Many of them were just drafted boys.

It was weird to lead drafted SS in the First Division, it was very weird.

The Führer wasn't sparing anyone.

Kolbe refused any promotion. He didn't want to leave us.

He got assigned again at Hitler's office but he never left.

He's the man I admire the most.

We hold the line.

Beating the Allies would have been excellent propaganda,

to get our revenge on the Russians.

We should have known. It wasn't like that.

[man] The Americans are advancing right into our line.

We need to attack right now and stop them.

Sturmscharführer Prunelle came today and will join the Second Company.

I want you to fight with all your strength! Like lions!

- It's time to push them back! - [Herckel] Lions.

The faces were becoming pretty much the same.

The results were always the same.

[horn honking]

[Kolbe] Are you nervous? Because of all this?

Don't get discouraged. We'll totally make it.

All right. Five minutes.

[airplane buzzing]

All right, we will move together. You, you and you, with me.

I will move on the left side. Understood?

[Herckel] Once again, another battle.

Another big question...

Will I be alive in an hour?

Together. So desperate.

Tired. My hands feel so heavy.

[gunfire, distant]

Sick.

Convinced souls are dead.

Is this my time to go?

I need to see you one more time.

[Kolbe] Sturmscharführer! Sturmscharführer!

I'll move forward!

[Herckel] Alone.

You watch over me.

No soldiers. No bombs.

- [gunfire] - [men shouting, indistinct]

Take care of me. Don't abandon me.

[gunfire]

Your light is life.

[explosions]

[aircraft buzzing]

[gunfire]

[man shouting and wailing, indistinct]

- [gunfire] - [men shouting]

[men grunting]

[Margarite] I love you.

[grunts and groans]

[coughing and groaning]

[coughing]

[thunder rumbling]

[twig snaps]

[man] Are you alone?

Who are you?

- You are lost. - I guess so, too.

The Americans defeated us.

I believe they went that way.

I woke up all alone. Do you have some water?

I lost mine.

Thanks.

You belong to which company?

First Division SS.

- Leibstandarte. - Ah, the first one.

My name's Herckel, Unterscharführer.

Unterscharführer.

- And you? - Oh, a regular soldier.

What division?

21st.

We were in Caen.

Why are you all alone?

- Where are you from? - From a small town in west Germany.

- Braunschweig? - Yes.

Me too.

- But I have never seen you before. - Me neither.

What's your name?

Hermann Dietwolf.

Well...

You don't look German.

- Aren't you? - No, no.

My mother is from Spain.

- You know that Jews work for us, right? - Of course.

And we hate them, right?

- They ruin our nation. - Yes, right.

Do you know that we are killing them all?

What?

- We send them to work camps, for us. - Sure.

That's what they tell you.

I don't know.

I've never been in work camps.

[Dietwolf] I didn't believe it as well.

But I've seen it with my eyes.

- Where? - In Poland.

- [train bell clanging] - [steam engine hissing]

[Dietwolf] I was patrolling around a train station.

Trains came from everywhere filled of Jews.

Then they were sent to several working camps.

One day a train arrived with women.

They got separated before getting onto it.

Someone caught a Jew hiding in the town.

They wouldn't send him with the women, so they brought him behind the station.

The SS were talking about a special treatment for them.

- Do you know what's that? - [Herckel] No.

[gunshot echoing]

Since that moment, I'm scared to see my wife...

among those women.

Her father is a Jew.

And her name's Eleonor.

We fell in love and we changed her last name.

We married and we moved to Braunshweig.

Since I was drafted, I'm scared to death that they might find her.

That's why I deserted. I suffered that guilt for too long.

Now I can't any longer.

[Herckel] Is this bad? Is this wrong?

She gave me this before I left.

I won't let them get her.

- [Herckel] So what are you going to do? - I don't know.

- I will surrender to the Americans. - Surrender?

They will help me.

- The war won't last too long. - Maybe not.

- Good luck, Unterscharführer. - Good luck, Dietwolf.

[footsteps fading]

[vehicle approaching]

[speaking German, indistinct]

You were lucky.

Here you are, Herckel.

Good.

I heard all about you.

But listen, you never took your leave.

Next week, there is a plane going to Germany. You go on it.

- All right? - Yeah.

Herckel.

You are alive.

[Herckel] I felt totally different going home as ordered by Kolbe.

I didn't feel like a coward.

My dearest wife, I'm coming to you.

[cheering]

[steam whistle blowing]

[train engine churning]

It's so weird to be home after so much time.

That's what you say. Without you it's so boring here.

What do we eat today?

I reserved two places for tonight at the restaurant.

- We'll go to Haussmann's. - Oh, that's great.

You are so beautiful.

Shall we go? Come.

- What? - You are gorgeous.

Thank you.

But how is it at the front?

- Russia was a disaster. - So many cities were bombed.

We are so lucky here.

This is a small town. They don't care about this place.

I'm sick of this situation.

- If the Führer-- - Don't talk like that, please.

You're right. Things aren't good.

But I love you so much and I love Germany so much.

I won't give up and we all want to do our best.

I can imagine, it's not easy at all.

[Herckel] What does a man have to fight for?

What's the meaning of love?

Love.

Isn't this beautiful? You.

It's time for love.

It's time to be brave.

Duty is something we can't avoid,

but love is something a man can't live without.

I want to stay with you now.

Doubts keep staying inside me. I need answers.

[moans]

[yawns]

Eleonor?

Eleonor?

I met your husband in Normandy. Are you there?

[footsteps rustling]

Hello. My name's Ludwig Herckel.

- What do you need? - I met your husband at the front.

I found out that we didn't live so far and I came to visit you.

He told me about you.

Don't worry. I won't do anything to you.

- Is he alive? - Yes.

Is he doing well? Is he injured?

You can tell me.

If you see him again, please salute him from me.

I will do it.

Now I have to go.

Nice to meet you, Mrs. Dietwolf.

[man] Unterscharführer.

Kamerad, what's going on?

I'm driving two Gestapo officers.

- Gestapo? - Yes, sir.

- Heil Hitler. - Heil Hitler.

What happened?

[sobbing] Please let me go!

- No. - What's going on?

- [official] Do you know this girl? - [Herckel] No.

- [sobbing] - Her husband is a dirty traitor.

And checking his documents, we found out that she's not German,

she's from Poland.

Unterscharführer, are you sure that you don't know this woman?

[Herckel] No, but what did she do?

My name's Eleonor.

My name's Eleonor. I'm not Polish.

- [grunts] - Hey, hey! Hey! Hey!

[gunshots]

Eh, I bet she was a Jew.

Are you insane? Why did you have to shoot her?

Unterscharführer.

- Your documents, please. - [Herckel] Of course.

Unterscharführer, so you don't know her.

No, I already told you so.

- Heil Hitler. - Heil Hitler.

[boy] You can't catch me, you can't catch me!

Oh, a soldier!

[man] Come, children, time to go home.

[Herckel] It's hard to hide what you feel inside.

Your men expect to find strength inside you.

I got promoted when I got back here.

I'm very disappointed about how things are going.

Whatever the Third Reich is doing,

I'll need to find a new motivation or I will die soon.

Attention!

- Heil Hitler. - Heil Hitler.

Scharführer Herckel, I introduce to you Sturmscharführer Prunelle,

so you can talk later and get to know each other.

You can leave us now.

[all] Heil Hitler.

So...

What are you writing?

- Nothing important. - Good.

I heard you have some feelings

that could undermine morale.

From you.

No more! Lead your men, understood?

Hey! Do you know we are surrounded?

- Do you realize it? - Yes, I know.

Shall we all die like dogs? Is it right?

That's our job, that's what we do. We fight until the final victory.

The final victory!

I'm trying to keep you away from judgment, Herckel.

- We're fighting for nothing, Kolbe! - You need to calm down.

[Steiner] Why do I always have to follow your great ideas, Scholl?

[groans] Nothing.

I'm more stupid than you because I end up following you.

Nothing.

Wait. Want to bet I'll find candies here?

Oh, here! Check this out.

Let's go!

Hey, Steiner, you know that this fucking weather reminds me

a lot of your home?

Why you always have to say bullshit? Your home is even worse.

No, whatever. You're wrong.

It rains bombs. Come on.

- You're just jealous. - Let's move.

Come on.

- You know that I'm just kidding with you. - Shh!

Steiner, this one's full.

Nice.

Pfft! Is it you that stinks so much?

Yes, Scholl. I only fart when you are around.

- Let's go, move! - Come on, come on.

Yes, I'm coming.

You stink of shit. I'm coming.

- Did you call me, sir? - Scharführer.

Whatever you're doing, it must stop right now.

Or I will send you to judgment.

It won't happen again.

I leave in one hour. Get back to your men.

Are you escaping, sir?

I'm very sick of you. This is no longer a game.

I gave you an order.

Get back to Kolbe's platoon and do your job. I will do mine.

- Dismissed, Scharführer. - Yes, sir.

[Herckel] This is what we do.

We fight until the end.

[crickets chirping]

[Kolbe] I'm sorry for being rude today.

I really want to do my best, especially in front of the others.

But I understand how you feel.

While you were home,

I had to escort a Standartenführer for an inspection.

Sometimes it's hard to understand if something is right or not.

But you have to do it. Of course you have to.

Why do you have those weapons? Who do they belong to?

Talk, now!

They probably were a starving family.

He told me that I had to shoot them.

He ordered me.

Her name was Eleonor.

A girl who lived not very far from me.

She got shot. They killed her because she was a Jew.

I only wonder now what the world will think of us.

When will all of this end?

If we lose this war, we are cursed forever.

I never killed a Jew.

- Herckel, are we moving? - Yes, tomorrow morning.

- Are they going to transfer you? - No. We keep staying with Kolbe.

Herckel, listen.

What's going on?

I don't know.

I'm just very tired.

On the radio,

they said that Americans executed 13 German prisoners.

Don't believe everything they say. I don't believe it.

All right, my friend. I'm with you tomorrow.

[Herckel] What if Dietwolf is right?

Herckel, an American soldier.

The only survivor of a patrol.

Check him out.

Look. Dog tags.

Untersturmführer.

They can kill however many they want, they are not going to win this war.

[Herckel] What?

Why do you have this? Look at me!

Why do you have this?

Answer me, bastard. Fucking bastard!

Answer me!

Hey! Hey, hey!

- Bastard! - Herckel, stop it!

[Herckel] No point to look at.

No strength to hold.

No sense, no reason.

[man] Where is Untersturmführer Kolbe?

Thank you.

- Oberschütze Hans Von Grobel. - Do you have your Soldbuch?

[Herckel] New soldiers kept coming.

New meat to send before getting caught.

Time to leave.

No energy.

I will kill all those bastards.

Grobel, take your stuff. You come with us.

[Herckel] Eleonor. Dietwolf.

One killed by them, the other killed by us.

What am I fighting for?

[man shouts, distant]

- [man] Achtung! - [gunfire]

[gunfire]

Cover this side!

[gunfire]

[grunts]

- [gunfire] - [shouting, indistinct]

Herckel! Take three men, go that way!

[gunfire and explosions, distant]

Shit! Shoot!

Herckel, shoot!

Shoot him! Herckel, shoot him!

Come on! Shoot!

Are you stupid? Why didn't you shoot?

Pull back.

Steiner! Steiner!

[gasping]

[softly] Run!

[gunfire, shouting muffled and fades]

[Herckel] It only takes a few seconds.

Nobody wants to die this way. After years you become numb.

Yet you have to fight. Of course you have to.

You have to.

Steiner.

[crying]

[crickets chirping in distance]

It's hard to believe.

He died in my arms.

The only thing we can do now is to honor him. Nothing else.

So what happened to your ugly faces?

Steiner.

[laughter]

Hello, kameraden. What's going on?

Is everything all right?

- Time to sleep, all right? - [Herckel] Yes, sir.

Good night to you, Steiner.

[Herckel] We kept losing men.

The war was not going to last too much longer.

And the more days that passed on,

the more I was fighting for my wife.

For my lovely Germany.

We were destroyed and we raised.

We were destroyed again.

[explosions, faint]

[explosions]

[Kolbe] First and second platoon here!

The second platoon goes first, the first follows behind.

Understood? Do you understand?

[explosion]

[mortar shell explosions, distant]

[gunfire]

Open fire!

- Did you see where the sniper is? - I don't know!

Cease fire! Cease fire!

Kolbe! Where's Kolbe?

[explosion in distance]

[Herckel] I'm so sorry to leave you here, brother.

Scharführer, retreat! Now!

First and second platoon retreat! Move, move, move!

[man] Move, move, move!

I'm sorry for Kolbe, Herckel.

Can I help somehow?

Can you bring him back?

I understand.

What are we fighting for?

You know, I love my nation.

I don't care about politics anymore.

I only fight for what I love.

[gunfire and explosions in distance]

[Herckel] My dearest Margarite,

in a place where I can't find out what my real duty is...

Halt!

...I can only tell you that I did my best.

I tried to be a good example, a good soldier.

I never gave up even when I was feeling discouraged.

I hope to see you soon and hug you again...

telling you that I did everything I could.

[heartbeat, faint]

I really fought for you, for my home, for my land.

I love you so much.

Fire!

[heartbeat racing]

[woman] The war didn't last too much longer.

Soldiers realized that the Allies were pressing all around.

Their offensive became more and more desperate.

But they kept fighting.

Sometimes they could see little sparks of hope.

Other times, they could only wait.

Wait to live, wait to die.

Even if we fought for the freedom against their tyranny,

soldiers did fight for their lives, for their country.

Many of them didn't want to see another defeat.

Many of them were terrified that enemies were getting

into their cities, into their homes.

They had to do it, they had to be there.

Waking up, they had to embrace their rifles

and finish what their leaders had begun.

Another bullet, another bomb, another run.

[gunfire]

Run, to catch the life. Run, to live one more day.

German leaders were accused of terrible crimes against humanity

but we learn that those crimes were committed by all of them.

Those responsible of crimes were punished as they deserved.

But do we know if all the guilties are only in their army?

They were pushed to do whatever they could instead of doing nothing.

Sadness, hopeless, desperation.

[explosion in distance]

Unterscharfuhrer, I tried to do everything I could.

I cannot anymore.

[woman] Their honor was loyalty.

While their generals were ready to die for their leader,

other soldiers were ready to die to defend their people, their brothers.

Politics are often wrong

but soldiers take oath to honor their lovely nation,

as my husband did to ours.

They fought until the end.

Even when age didn't call them to duty,

even when they could only hope a bomb didn't fall in their houses.

We try always to feel safe being in the right part of the situation,

but we don't wonder too much if dropping atomic bombs on people is right also.

[yelling in German]

[woman] Millions died.

Millions will die tomorrow and we won't do anything.

- History is written by winners. - [explosion]

They're able to tell the world what happened.

- They're able to tell who the evil is. - [air raid siren blaring]

They can show others' army crimes,

they can hide their own.

We judge too often about things we don't know.

We always look for someone to point the finger against,

because it's easy.

But I could never deny that thanks to that evil German soldier

my husband is still alive.

I won't teach my children to believe that they were right,

I will teach that I opened my eyes

and I saw that they were not all the same.

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