An American soldier pays the ultimate price for the United State's policy of quantity over quality in armored warfare in the ETO (Germany, March 1945).  Few American pictures (this one from Life magazine) displayed fallen American combatants due to censorship and the believed effects it would have on civilian morale - this policy was somewhat relaxed toward the end of the war, when there was no longer an ability to hide the tremendous losses incurred in a war on two major fronts.   I am unsure if this photograph was published during the war for public viewing. 

Germany, March 1945

Conflicting stories surround this wounded individual.  In researching this photo taken by P. Hennell (surgeon/photographer), the photo was either described as a wounded English soldier (WWII) or wounds resultant of a civilian shogun accident (around the same period of the war).  Regardless, it provides a glimpse into the advancement of medical practices since the Great War, with it's famous, "Men With Broken Faces."  Remarkable advancement, considering many of the wounded in the First World War took to wearing masks to hide their awful injuries.

It also provides a vivid reminder that those dashing lads, in those heroic posted pictures, suffered terribly - enduring horrific wounds and, at times, terribly violent deaths -in this, and all armed conflicts.

Wound treatment WWII

Those that didn't survive the last days of Auschwitz II - Birkenau are carried to burial...1945

(image taken from a Soviet film documentary, NFD)