The Battle of Perekop is recalled as part of the German advance into the Crimean peninsula after the crossing of the Dnieper. For Hans Reiter, the fighting meant not only combat but also the grim work of clearing corpses and controlling the movement of civilians; his conspicuous bravery carried a private, self-destructive purpose.

Advance into the Crimea

After crossing the Dnieper, the division pressed into the Crimean peninsula. Reiter fought at Perekop and in several nearby villages, whose names he never learned even as he walked their dirt streets. His experience of the advance is thus recorded through the places traversed and the tasks imposed on him, rather than through a complete itinerary of named settlements.

Combat and civilian life

In Perekop and the surrounding villages, Reiter helped clear away corpses. He also ordered elderly people, women, and children to go inside and stay there. The scenes place military occupation alongside the exposed lives of civilians, whose movement was restricted even as the battle continued. The account does not specify their identities or what became of them, leaving the commands themselves as a measure of how war entered ordinary streets.

Reiter’s recklessness

The physical strain of the fighting appears in Reiter’s spells of dizziness. When he stood abruptly, a black fog sometimes rose before his eyes, filled with grain-like dots that he likened to meteors; strangely, these seemed motionless. At other times he threw himself into attacks on enemy positions alongside his companions without taking precautions. Others interpreted this as daring and bravery, but the narration discloses a darker explanation: Reiter was seeking a bullet that might bring peace to his heart.

Suicide and the battle’s aftermath

One night, Reiter unexpectedly discussed suicide with Wilke. Wilke answered with a joke about good Christians masturbating but not committing suicide; before sleeping, Reiter wondered whether the joke concealed a truth. The exchange does not resolve his suicidal intent. Instead, it sharpens the contrast between the humor of his companion and Reiter’s persistent desire for death, which continued to shape his conduct in battle.