Destruction

Stopped by the road during the night and slept until daylight.
There is a huge disorder on the roads.
Armored vehicles, up to five linked together to save petrol.
Refugees from the east with carts, hay wagons, horses, livestock, and old cars.
The people, gray and tired with bundles in their hands, drift along the roads.
Probably don’t even know where they are going.

We see shot-up, burned-out vehicles by the roadside, horse and livestock carcasses, human bodies.
When I finally, after these days, arrive home at the billet in Friedrichsruh around one in the morning, I am met with great joy.
They had not believed they would ever see me alive again.