It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.
as Unteroffizier / Feldwebel Rolf Steiner
as Hauptmann Stransky
as Oberst Brandt
as Hauptmann Kiesel
as Unteroffizier Krüger
as Gefreiter Kern
as Leutnant Treibig
as Anselm
as Schütze Maag
as Unteroffizier Schnurrbart
as Dietz
as Marga
as Zoll
as Eva
as Hauptmann Pucher (uncredited)
as Leutnant Meyer (uncredited)
as Nurse Sadie Finkelstein (uncredited)
as Hartwig (uncredited)
as Schütze Maag (voice) (uncredited)
as Boy Soldier (uncredited)
as Partizan Soldier (uncredited)
as Ruskinja (uncredited)
as German Officer (voice) (uncredited)
as Corporal Joseph Keppler (uncredited)
as Michail (uncredited)