These are people who have gone on to leave an important but often hidden trace in the moral and cultural life of Britain and beyond. The story of the Second World War is usually told in tales of bravery in battle, or stoicism on the home front, as the British public stood together against the Nazi threat.
The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape, pillage and destruction.