English to Russian Art/Literary Military / Defense A biographical novel by an American author

The war was going badly for Germany, as everyone except the government seemed to know. Millions had been slaughtered by January 1918, when Benjamin received in the mail a call-up order. He was suddenly reclassified as ***‘fit for light field duty,’*** which meant he was fit to be lined up before enemy guns without further ado. My own situation was not much different: I had been repeatedly hauled in for reexamination. In those years I suffered from a nervous condition that the military doctors had diagnosed as dementia praecox; this lovely disease meant I could not possibly be subjected to violence on the battlefield, and I was classified as unfit for duty. As one might have expected, my physical condition did not improve, so I never had to lay my body on the line in aid of German nationalism.