‘We have learnt here what air raids mean - but we do not know the...

‘We have learnt here what air raids mean - but we do not know the abysmal horror of ‘Total War’, 1943. Photograph, World War Two, Eastern Front (1941-1945), 1943. The official caption to this image states: ‘In Russia, while her fighting men endure the stress of battle, the agonised civilian population suffer all the unspeakable atrocities of the barbarian enemy within their very homes. Women and children are raped and tortured - before the eyes of their family. Think well over this!’ The war in the east was notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction and huge loss of life. At least 13 million members of the Soviet armed forces and eight million civilians died in the struggle against Nazi Germany. In this image, a female Red Army soldier rescues a young girl from a destroyed building. One of 26 British and Soviet official photographs.