German Soldier with his wife and child after arriving at the american lines near the Czech Border, May 1945

German soldier and family, 

Panzergrenadiers from Kampfgruppe (Battle Group) Hansen (one of the three large Kampfgruppe of the Leibstandarte Division) take a cigarette break. Such a state was the norm during combat operations. - On December 18, 1944, very early in the morning, the American "14th Cavalry Group" had gotten into an ambush of the German "Kampfgruppe Hansen" on the road between Poteau and Recht, about 7-8 miles south of Malmedy, Belgium. 


Cigarette break after combat

While their families are on their way to the west, fleeing with the great masses of refugees, the Volkssturm soldiers have burrowed in the soil of their Silesian homeland to defend it against the Soviets. They make a hopeless attempt to stop the Red Army in their advance. German-Soviet Front in Silesia, now Poland; February 1945.