The two main characters in "Stalingrad" are the Panzer commander Vilshofen and Gnotke, NCO of a Strafbattalion (penal battalion). Both men come from different backgrounds and experience the war differently. The Colonel is a convinced soldier who obeys orders and cares for his men. He fights with a sense of duty, but loses confidence in the German military leadership as he senses that he and his men are being sacrificed to a lost cause. NCO Gnotke's work is to collect the dead, or their dismembered parts, from the battlefield. He loses his humanity as he works under constant fire and is exposed to unrelenting horror month after month during the war, even to the point of warming up his body on freshly fallen soldiers.