By 1942, Nazi persecution extended beyond Jews to Roma, gay people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and disabled people. University student Sophie Scholl and her White Rose resistance group distributed pamphlets urging Germans to resist. In February 1943, she and her brother were guillotined for treason.

Eddie and Siegfried arrived at Łazy, a Polish work camp run by Wehrmacht soldiers. Wearing Star of David patches, they were forced to repair railroad tracks. Siegfried demonstrated that they had to work hard to survive. Fifteen-year-old Dutch orphan Maurits “Mike” Swaab joined them, and he and 16-year-old Eddie bonded instantly; Siegfried took Mike under his wing. When Eddie laughed at a Polish guard’s broken German, the guard beat him. Siegfried then slapped Eddie, teaching that missteps meant death. That night, he coached them on taking beatings without flinching.

After six months, they were transferred to Ottmuth for construction work. Mike was reassigned to the Bata boot factory; many major German corporations exploited the forced labor of Jewish people for profit. After 18 months, the men’s appearances reflected hardship. Eddie’s logic complemented Mike’s street smarts; Siegfried acted as surrogate father to both. One day, 188 names were read, Siegfried’s, Eddie’s, and Mike’s among them. They were transported to Auschwitz.

In late 1943, President Roosevelt appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander. On June 6, 1944, over 156,000 Allied troops stormed the Normandy beaches. German defenders inflicted 9,000 Allied casualties by sunset, but by mid-June, the beachhead was secure.

On June 24, D Company crossed the English Channel. The troops were quiet and frightened. Pepsi worried for the frontline soldiers. Elmer found comfort in his prayer book. Omaha Beach was littered with twisted metal and wrecked vehicles. D Company’s tanks rolled off landing craft onto French soil. One eager tanker shouted a defiant warning as they came ashore.

As D Company landed in France, Eddie, Mike, and Siegfried arrived at Auschwitz with 188 other prisoners. Sharp SS guards replaced the Wehrmacht escorts at gates bearing the message “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work sets you free) (98). Karl Demerer, the Jewish camp elder, acted as a middleman. While translating SS orders, he used Yiddish to tell Jews to hide some valuables, which were later used to barter with corrupt guards for necessities. Prisoners were processed and forced to shower. Fearing gas chambers, they panicked, but water flowed: They had been selected for labor at Blechhammer, part of the Nazi industrial complex. Their heads were shorn, and their bodies deloused. Eddie barely recognized himself without his black curls. They received ill-fitting striped uniforms and Star of David patches. Their forearms were tattooed with serial numbers: Eddie became #A-5662, Mike #A-5636.

The camp’s promised facilities—kitchen, infirmary, bathhouse—were lies. Inside overcrowded barracks, 200 ghostlike prisoners stared back at the newcomers. Three or four men were wedged into each three-tiered bunk. At 4 am, they rushed to clean barracks, raced to a filthy latrine, grabbed fake coffee and sawdust bread, then stood at rigid attention on the Appellplatz for hours-long roll call.

Blechhammer was run by the elite SS Totenkopf battalion. Commandant Otto Brossmann oversaw operations. Deputy Kurt Klipp carried a whip. Guards nicknamed “the Goons” routinely beat inmates. The one most feared was nicknamed “Tom Mix;” he wore double holsters and killed on whim. Twice-daily “Selektions” determined whether each person was fit for work or killed. Escape was impossible: If one fled, he and 10 friends were executed. Each morning, 4,000 prisoners marched to the worksite.

D Company’s baptism of fire came in Villiers-Fossard’s hedgerows, where unfamiliar terrain forced single-file movement. An ambush shattered their confidence, and Private Claude Young became the first casualty. Shermans proved inferior to German Panzers, with thinner armor, weaker guns, and prone to igniting. Within three weeks, the division lost 83 tanks. Crews adapted, adding improvised armor. Sergeant Culin invented hedge-chopper blades. They developed tactics exploiting the Sherman’s speed to hit the Panzer side armor. After brutal fighting, they broke through at Saint-Lô with over 10,000 casualties, a turning point.

Captain Jack Downey was wounded; Lieutenant McDowell became commander. Elmer started as maintenance officer, then took front-line command when another platoon leader fell. McDowell proved unreliable, avoiding the front. Elmer and the platoon leaders improved tactics; sergeants noticed Elmer’s leadership and Myers’s fearless scouting.

Fred Headrick and Baby Face Vance bonded inside Myers’s tank. They fought across France, helped liberate Paris in August, then pushed into Belgium, capturing 10,000 at Mons. Pepsi provided hot meals and emotional support.

Elmer effectively took charge of the company, personally reconnoitering and devising innovative solutions. Myers volunteered to scout ahead repeatedly, his instincts saving the unit. General Maurice Rose, the new division commander, led from the front, and Myers emulated this. Elmer and Myers became close friends, praying together. The crews formed bonds closer than brotherhood. The sergeants increasingly looked to Elmer for leadership as he and Myers worked to set a more effective course for the company.

Three miles from camp, prisoners arrived at Blechhammer North synthetic oil factory, a gargantuan complex twice Central Park’s size that produced fuel critical to Hitler’s war. The site employed 60,000 forced laborers. Jews were considered the lowest status, systematically starved and beaten. Eddie, Mike, and Siegfried were assigned hard labor. Prisoners learned survival tactics: stay mid-column, look healthy at daily selections. British POWs shouted encouragement and insults at the SS. Work was brutal, and starvation set in as food was meagre. In barracks, men dealt with lice and woke beside people who had died overnight.

Siegfried mentored the boys on survival and maintaining the will to live. He instilled hope, urging them to protect each other and to maintain not just their lives but their souls. Escape was nearly impossible, yet Eddie constantly dreamed of it.

On July 7, 1944, nearly 500 American bombers struck Blechhammer, killing about 100 prisoners but destroying critical facilities. Despite casualties, the inmates were ecstatic, knowing help was coming. Enraged, Tom Mix tortured prisoners all night, shooting those who collapsed. A month later, bombers escorted by Tuskegee Airmen struck again. Prisoners cheered openly. During one raid, Eddie and Mike hid in a concrete bunker. Eddie impersonated an SS officer on an emergency telephone, diverting fire brigades to a nonexistent fire while the main facility burned.

Tom Mix became increasingly manic, beating two downed American airmen. He eventually beat Eddie and Mike, who survived by not flinching. Mike received a near-fatal 50-lash flogging. Around his 18th birthday, Eddie was shot in the head during a mass shooting. Wounded, he helped load bodies and, unexpectedly, a guard spared his life. An inmate doctor sewed his wound without anesthesia. The next day, Eddie passed selection, his life dependent on appearing fit.

On Yom Kippur, September 27, the SS held a public hanging after Tom Mix accused a Dutch boy of sabotage for picking up wire to hold his pants up. During the execution, the boy’s noose broke. Demerer pleaded for mercy, but Commandant Brossmann ordered him hanged again. While waiting, the boy called out, “Kom goed thuis” (Come home well, a traditional Dutch phrase wishing the hearers a safe homecoming), and then, “Friends, do not lose courage!” (143). His defiance deeply moved prisoners. At future hangings, condemned prisoners shouted similar messages.

The SS called for “dud commando” volunteers to defuse unexploded bombs for extra bread. Despite the risk of death, Eddie and Mike volunteered. A British POW threw Eddie a piece of chocolate—a small kindness that lifted his spirit.

By autumn 1944, D Company prepared to assault the Siegfried Line. Fear remained constant. Captain McDowell’s unreliability worsened. After he presented a dangerously flawed plan, Elmer provided the sergeants with a sound alternative, solidifying his de facto leadership of the company. He and Myers continued their close partnership, leading from the front.

After breaching the Siegfried Line, the company rested in Stolberg. Elmer and Myers were promoted to first lieutenant. Elmer personally welcomed replacements into the D Company “family.”

Pepsi entertained troops and celebrated birthdays with improvised cakes. Myers shared his alcohol ration. Mail brought great joy. Elmer received letters from pregnant Harriet; Pepsi carried a photo of his friend George’s sister, “Blue Eyes.” Elmer led the company in battlefield church services; D Company had the largest attendance, one of his proudest accomplishments. For Thanksgiving, Pepsi’s crew scavenged ingredients for a feast, and Elmer led the prayer. In December, the Germans launched a surprise attack in Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge. D Company had to backtrack into the Ardennes Forest, a crushing psychological blow.

Winter arrived at Blechhammer. B-24 raids continued, but inmates feared help would come too late. Siegfried prayed that his old World War I enemies, the Allies, would now save the Jewish people of Europe.

Eddie and Mike grew dangerously thin. Siegfried repeatedly reassured them they would survive, speaking with prophetic conviction. He made Eddie memorize 26 family members’ names. Siegfried’s health deteriorated, and, at 50, suffering from edema, he was taken to the infirmary. At the fence, he calmly told Eddie, “They’re sending me for a rest” (161). The next day, Siegfried was murdered—a decorated German war hero killed by his countrymen. Eddie realized his father had made him memorize names so he could find their relatives after the war.

Siegfried’s loss devastated Eddie. He recited a Goethe poem about defiant strength and retreated into childhood memories. He imagined escaping to his old neighbors for help but returned to harsh reality: His companions were now German soldiers, and his family was gone. With only each other, Eddie and Mike pledged to look after each other until the end. Eddie became more determined to escape. Like a prayer, he recited the list of 26 relatives. Unbeknownst to Eddie, all 26 had already been murdered in the Holocaust. He was the sole survivor of his family.