'The most thorough, nuanced, and gripping analysis of life in the German army during this war.' Roger Chickering, Georgetown University 'With this publication you get two books for the price of one. (...) This book is not only a richly documented 'military history from below', but a convincing, finely argued history of mentalities of a region in a crucial period.' Alan Kramer, Trinity College, Dublin 'Benjamin Ziemann's book, first published in 1997...can justifiably be seen as one of the most seminal works in this area. Indeed many, if not all, of his conclusions have stood the test of time (if ten years is an adequate test); and the on-going influence of his book can be seen in the numerous references to it in other scholarly works. As such, the decision to make it available to a wide audience of anglophone students and scholars is as welcome as it is inevitable.'Matthew Stibe, Sheffield Hallam University'Benjamin Ziemann's excellent examination of life in rural