Now boys of 16 and 17 were being called up into the Wehrmacht and receiving only the most basic training before being sent to the front.Įrwin Bartmann was a veteran of the Eastern Front, who had spent the last eighteen months recovering from wounds. In October the Nazis had announced the creation of the Volkssturm, a militia force outside the main Wehrmacht, for men and boys from 13 to 60 not yet serving in the armed forces. Yet the circumstances in Germany were becoming ever more desperate. The scale of casualties was causing concern amongst the Allies, with the British in particular now running out of men to replace losses.