Alfred Kriehn fought on the Eastern Front from 1944 as an assault gun loader (Sturmgeschutz) in the elite Sturmgeschutzbrigade "Grossdeutschland". In January 1945, his unit was transferred from East Prussia to the area of Kutno (then Warthegau) in order to stop Red Army troops advancing towards Poznań. After a dramatic escape, losing his vehicle along the way, Kriehn and several of his colleagues reached Poznań, where, as a member of the assault cannon crew and the Festung Posen garrison, they again resisted the Red Army.