Die Zeit der jungen Soldaten

the long version

"This book describes the boy's experience of the war before he is old enough to join up - his meeting with a French prisoner of war who communicates to him that he has sons of the boy's age, the death of his cousin in a bombing raid, his pride in Germany's presumed victory, and his work at the railway station as soldiers pass through their way to the front. At seventeen, he joins up, eager and optimistic..." --Inside front dust jacket.