Four weeks later, a brutal winter has set in and the Soviets have surrounded the German Sixth Army. Hauptmann Musk thus reassigns the penal battalion—which includes disgraced fellow officer Otto—to combat duty. Witzland's platoon defends a position from a Soviet tank column, and emerge victorious after a bloody battle. Hauptman Haller (likely ordered by General Hentz) later orders von Witzland and his men to execute some unarmed civilians, much to their reluctance.