Once the lines broke after days of fighting, the Hungarian battle dead could not be attended to, so they lay twisted in frozen clusters along the Don, as a sad testimony to the horrors of WW2.

Killed in Action Hungarian Soldiers, Don, 1943

Snow, driving wind, and lack of shelter aggravated the situation of the dead-tired retreating soldiers, suffering from constant hunger and decimated by frostbite in the bitter cold. The weak and wounded often fell by the wayside, just to freeze solid stiff in a short while by the side of the road.

Honved Retreat in Russia, 1943

Sadly contorted in death, a fallen Honved soldier lies at the bottom of a stone embankment somewhere along the Don front, after being killed in action, with his rifle on the ground nearby. Nature had already begun to provide a covering blanket with twigs and leaves. Far away from home, may the poor soul rest in peace, whatever became of him, perhaps as a symbol for the Don disaster of WW2.