Russia, 1941. Operation Barbarossa.

Winter has set in and the German advance is stalling before Moscow. Temperatures are dropping as the promised end to the Russian invasion has not arrived. The winter is the coldest of the century, and German troops are freezing as they push themselves through the snow towards the enemy.

Meanwhile, dissent stirs among the German ranks and on their home front. Karl Tesdorpf, a captain in the 30. Infanterie-Division, is caught between his family and the Schutzstaffel - he escapes, but becomes a fugitive among his own allies.

Russia, 1941. Western Front.

The Soviet frontlines have been overrun again and again. Their great people are completely on the defensive. While reserves are brought in to stem the German forces, the troops on the front line are left with limited supplies and support. Whole Soviet armies are wiped out as they are surrounded and cut off, and for the troops on the ground and in the air victories are few and far between.

Amid this chaos, his rifle division reduced to a tenth of their size by enemy armour, Oryl Denikin walks away from the conflict. He heads home, into German-occupied territory, but he is soon to find that his motherland is no longer the place he knew and lived.

As both sides funnel their resources into the second great war in a generation, trying to force the other to break first, millions upon millions of men are caught in the middle. This is the tale of just two of them.