Henker, Frauen und Soldaten (1935)

Rittmeister Michael von Prack, a daredevil pilot in the First World War, is taken prisoner by the British in Asia Minor in 1918. At the first opportunity, however, he escapes in an English aircraft to his home in East Prussia, where he is caught up in the postwar turmoil. Shortly afterward, in a bar, he meets Captain Eckau, who wants to assemble a Freikorps of demobilized professional soldiers and continue fighting Russia, and joins him. At the same time, he meets the attractive Russian Vera Ivanovna. At first, she mistakes him for his cousin, the Russian General Alexei Alexandrovich von Prack, with whom she is in love and whom Michael closely resembles. Alexei commands the opposing Russian troops. On the way to the actual battle zone, Michael meets Vera again. She is not only Alexei’s lover but also a Russian spy. Although she has since realized her mistake, she nevertheless spends a night of love with Michael before returning to Russian headquarters. When Alexei learns there that she has met the cousin he has hated since childhood, he swears to kill him and sets a trap for the Freikorps by luring it into a swamp. There, he challenges Michael to a duel, in which Alexei is killed and Michael seriously wounded. Since Michael had taken off his uniform jacket before the fight, the Russians mistakenly take him for his cousin, the general, and bring him to their headquarters. Although Vera recognizes Michael immediately, he manages to learn important military secrets about the Russian troops and issue them orders that in fact improve the position of his Freikorps. Meanwhile, Vera is torn between love and patriotism. In the end, her love of country prevails, and she confides in the Russian commissar. But before Michael can be arrested, he manages to escape. Under his command, the Freikorps now attacks the Russians from behind and shells their headquarters. Vera dies in the rubble, and Michael is killed in the fighting.