Ned Hardy

Soviet soldiers celebrate returning home alive, 1945.

They are laughing. They embrace one another, their faces bright with the simple, almost unbelievable happiness of being alive. Of the roughly 34 million men and women who served in the Soviet armed forces during the war, nearly nine million would never return. For those who fought on the front lines, particularly in the terrible battles of 1941 and 1942, the chances of survival could be far worse.

For four years, death had walked beside these men, slept in their trenches, and called out the names of their comrades. Now the war is over, and they are going home. Somewhere, mothers are waiting at railway stations, wives are listening for footsteps, and children are trying to remember the faces of their fathers. Yet in every returning train there are empty places, and in every village there are doors that will never open again. These men have survived what millions did not. They laugh because the sun is shining, because the earth is no longer trembling beneath their feet, because tomorrow belongs to them once more. And perhaps, beneath their laughter, there is a sorrow too deep for tears.

[Read more…] about 21 Fascinating Photos Collected From History