Corporal Jimmy Wilhelm, a boy of nineteen and proud of his German descent, hopes, in his nerdy, peace-loving way, to avoid injuring, least of all killing, a cousin or an uncle in the war. Shooting a fleeing German prisoner, he solves that dilemma on his first day at the front. Combat and capture come just a few days later, followed by frozen feet, a starving belly and a boxcar ride across Germany to Stalag IIIB. Later, when the Russians approach the camp, he takes a week-long forced march across Germany to Stalag IIIA near Berlin. Besides kicking up a "Bouncing Betty" mine that kills a buddy, his sergeant is lost when he helps Wilhelm off a barbwire fence during the bombing of Limburg. Wilhelm wonders if there is a God and why, if he is watching, he allows such wholesale slaughter. is also a coming-of-age novel. It tells the story of a boy's transformation into a mature man and soldier who is capable of killing an enemy with his bare hands.