After being sent to a training camp near the end of World War II, a man (Tatsuya Nakadai) struggles to remain a pacifist.

Conscientious objector Kaji, now forced to serve in the Japanese army during the Second World War, helps a friend defect to the Russians and nearly goes with him. But despite his opposition to war, Kaji does his best to serve as help and guide to the men in his charge, most of whom are doomed to fall to the relentless attack of Russian armored divisions.  Writer/director Masaki Kobayashi’s powerful trilogy continues as the newly drafted, idealistic Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) is ordered to Manchuria, the site of Japan’s longest and most savage atrocities during World War II. When he sees the rampant mistreatment of the soldiers, Kaji makes a protest. In response, he is threatened and tortured, eventually escaping only to see his entire unit destroyed as the Allied victory becomes inevitable.