As a German soldier in the 6th Army, Colonel Joachim Ebershagen is trapped in the Stalingrad cauldron. His experiences cause him to begin to doubt the meaning of the war. He is flown out as a wounded soldier on one of the last planes. Back home, he becomes commander of Greifswald. Towards the end of the war, he surrendered the city to the Soviet army without a fight on April 30, 1945. The death sentence pronounced by a court martial is not carried out.