There he calls upon the family of a man he befriended who was subsequently killed in action. He is prevented from reaching France by massive Allied bombardments and instead spends his two weeks leave in Berlin. The men are given a two-week pass and Sajer attempts to visit his family in France. From a desire to remain with his friends, Sajer also volunteers. Hals and other of Sajer's friends volunteer. Some weeks later an infantry recruiter visits the transportation units and seeks volunteers to enter the famous Gross Deutschland combat division. Surviving a few firefights, Sajer reaches the eastern front and resupplies units on the very combat front. His unit faces considerable difficulty in managing to remain supplied itself and the transportations situation-grave to begin with-is seriously hampered by the freezing temperatures and constant snow. Sajer's unit is sent to the east to supply the German front in Russia. Sajer also meets several other men who will become his close companions throughout the remainder of the war, including Hals. He is then sent to a transportation unit and learns to load and drive trucks.
Sajer faces compulsory conscription and instead volunteers for the Luftwaffe but fails to pass the required entrance examinations.
He lives in the Alsace region of France as it is overrun by German forces during early World War II. Sajer is of mixed nationality-his father is French and his mother is German. Guy Sajer authors this autobiographical account of his participation as an infantry soldier during World War II.
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