OUR PLATOON: GUSTAV EICKEN 'PLUTO', A HUGE DOCKER FROM HAMBURG HAD LANDED IN A CLINK BECAUSE HE HAD STOLEN A LORRY FULL OF FLOUR. HE INSISTED IT HAD BEEN A FRAME-UP.

JOSEPH PORTA; CORPORAL BY THE GRACE OF GOD. IMPRISONED FOR PLANTING A RED BANNER ON TOP OF ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH IN BERLIN, AND THEN SENT TO THE PENAL REGIMENT.

MÖLLER: UNWILLING TO WRITE OFF HIS RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS. HUGO STEGE: OUR ONLY UNIVERSITY MAN; INVOLVED WITH SOME STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS. BOTH REPRIEVED WITH THE RIGHT TO DIE IN THE REGIMENT.

AND I... SVEN. AN 'AUSLANDER,' CONDEMNED FOR DESERTION, AND BRANDED A 'PU' AS WELL. I WAS POPPED INTO THE MINCING MACHINE OF THE 27TH (PENAL) PANZER REGIMENT.

ALFRED KALB, 'THE LITTLE LEGIONNAIRE', HAD BEEN LOCKED UP FOR 3 YEARS FOR BEING 'POLITICALLY UNSTABLE' (PU) AND HAVING SERVED ILLEGALLY IN THE FOREIGN LEGION.

'THE OLD UN': OUR TROOP SERGEANT. HIS POLITICAL CONVICTIONS DEEMED HIM AS PU AND LANDED HIM A STINT IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP.

WE HAD NEWLY RETURNED FROM THE EASTERN FRONT TO TRAIN WITH OUR NEW TANKS AND TO MAKE UP OUR NUMBERS.

CHAPTER 2: FURIOSODEAD, DEAD, ONLY THE DEAD.

PARENTS, CHILDREN, ENEMIES, FRIENDS, PILED IN ONE LONG ROW, SHRUNKEN

AND CHARRED INTO FOSSILS.

THOSE WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN TO WEEP, WOULD HAVE BEEN TAUGHT ANEW HAD THEY

STOOD BESIDE THE GHOULS' SQUAD, AND WATCHED THEM AT THEIR WORK.

LOOKS LIKE WE'LL BE

HAVING COMPANY TONIGHT...

JOSEPH PORTA, CORPORAL BY THE GRACE OF GOD, AND CORPSE-CARRIER AT

YOUR SERVICE!

WHAT A BACKSIDE CYCLONE! IT STINKS WORSE THAN YOU,

PLUTO!

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WASTING TIME FOR?

I DO WHAT I BLOODY WELL LIKE, WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!

IF YOU'D LOOK AT THE GIRL, YOU'D AGREE SHE CAN'T BE BURIED

LIKE THIS.

GET IT OVER WITH, PORTA, AND I'M

ORDERING YOU TO SHUT THE HELL UP!

SHALLKIJ PRASSTALUDINA, MALENKI,PRASSTALUDINA...

THEY'RE LETTING NOTHING GO TO WASTE. I WOULDN'T WONDER

IF WE WERE ASKED TO CUT OFF THE HAIR OF THE CORPSES - THOSE THAT HAVE ANY LEFT.

IN FIVE DAYS, ASSISTED BY RUSSIAN PRISONERS, WE HAD SHIFTED LOAD AFTER LOAD OF BODIES WITH ALMOST NO HOPE OF IDENTIFYING THEM.

PORTA AND PLUTO STOOD IN THE OPEN GRAVE. WE HEAVED THE CORPSES TO THEM FROM REFUSE-CARTS.

MOST DOCUMENTS AND VALUABLES HAD DISAPPEARED. IF THEY HADN'T BEEN DESTROYED BY THE FIRE, THEY WERE STOLEN BY MARAUDERS...

...LIKE PREDATORY FISH THEY POURED FROM EVERYWHERE. WHEN THESE HUMAN SHARKS WERE CAUGHT, RIFLE SHOTS QUICKLY EXTERMINATED THEM.

RATS AND DOGS MADE OFF WITH GREAT CHUNKS OF FLESH. WE WERE CONSTANTLY VOMITING. EVEN PORTA BECAME SUBDUED AND SILENT. HE TRIED TO STRAIGHTEN THE LEGS OF A HALF-NAKED WOMAN THAT WERE GROTESQUELY DRAWN UP.

IN ONE LEAP, LIEUTENANT HARDER WAS ROUND THE GRAVE AND UP IN PORTA'S FACE.

WE KEPT YELLOW AND RED RECORD CARDS ON THOSE WE MANAGED TO IDENTIFY. LIST UPON LIST WAS MADE.

A GIANT RUSSIAN PRISONER OF WAR WHO WORKED WITH OUR PARTY WEPT AND PRAYED THE WHOLE TIME.

BLOODY HELL, WHAT COWS!

BE GONE!!

IT WAS A BLESSING TO HAVE PORTA WITH US. HIS ROBUST HUMOUR MADE US FORGET THE HUMAN DEGRADATION WE WENT THROUGH.

STEADILY, WE GOT MORE AND MORE DRUNK. WE'D STUMBLE OVER THE CORPSES AND MAKE RIDICULOUS APOLOGIES TO THE DEAD.

EVERY TIME WE ARRANGEDA ROW OF CORPSES, WE THREW A THIN LAYER OF DIRT ON TOP AND THEN A NEW LAYER OF BODIES.

HELL, WILL IT NEVER END?

WE BURIED PEOPLE FOR DAYS. IN OUR DRUNKENNESS, WE MADE THE FILTHIEST JOKES ABOUT OUR HORRIBLE WORK...

WE, THE GHOULS' SQUAD, WITH THE LAUGHING SKULL FLASH ON THE COLLAR, USED FLAME-THROWERS TO DESTROY THE LAST REMAINS OF WHAT HAD ONCE BEEN HUMAN BEINGS. WHERE WE ADVANCED, THE LIVING RAN IN TERROR.

...THEY KEPT US FROM INSANITY. BRUTALLY, EVILLY, VIOLENTLY, DEATH HAD COME.

THE ONLY MESSAGE FROM THE ARMY ABOUT THIS HELL RAN LACONICALLY: 'SEVERAL CITIES IN NORTH-WEST GERMANY HAVE SUSTAINED TERROR ATTACKS FROM ENEMY AIRCRAFT. RETALIATION WILL RAPIDLY FOLLOW'.