An authentic diary of Josef Sramek, a Czech soldier drafted to the Hungaro-Austrian army to fight from the beginning of World War 1. An ordinary Czech boy, twenty-two-year-old Josef Sramek was working at Kohn & Kornfeld, a textile distribution company, before he was forced to go to war in 1914. Having no respect for individual, national, or ethnic opinions, the Austrian military drafted thousands of unwilling youths like Josef, a process that wasn't too different from an unjust prison system. He was captured by Serbs. He survived and describes a series of death marches through Serbia and...

An authentic diary of Josef Sramek, a Czech soldier drafted to the Hungaro-Austrian army to fight from the beginning of World War 1. As prisoner of war he survived a series of death marches, suffered from cold and diseases, and witnessed soldiers and civilians turning into either brutal predators or helpless prey. He was confined in a concentration camp at the italian island of Asinara which comprises an important part of his story. Later he was transfered to a more humanly captivity in France where his diary ends. "Clarion Foreword Reviews" have given the book four stars and commented: "...