he is deployed to the front lines. facing annihilation at the hands of Soviet shock troops in a battle inside a factory. Thomas escapes as the sole survivor. Shell-shocked, he takes refuge in a bomb crater where he meets Astrid, a student-nurse foraging. Together they flee and join the mass exodus of refugees heading westwards, away from the advancing Soviet Army. Thomas and Astrid bond like brother and sister and rely on each other to survive. During an aerial attack they meet Karl (Thomas Darchinger), who informs them of an army evacuation transport pick-up post, which after weeks of walking they reach with other soldiers. Fighting for a seat on the lorries, they get separated. Astrid and Karl get aboard the last lorry. Left alone on the road, Thomas is seconded by troops into a last offensive. Fighting alongside a mish-mash of soldiers, including British Free Corps member Harry Stone, he fights for an aleatory success and little respite. Meanwhile, Thomas's hometown is devastated by Soviet artillery and then attacked by Soviet troops who quickly overrun the town's weak defenses. The invading soldiers kill and loot. Melanie and her family are found and lined up on their knees. Melanie's grandfather, mother, and father are all killed. Melanie gets abused and raped by the soldiers but manages to escape unsuccessfully. Days later, Thomas sees Melanie step off from a refugee lorry. She was left for dead, and found by retreating soldiers. Thomas embraces her but she is in a state of shock. The two take refuge under a staircase but found in the morning by Russian soldiers assaulting the town. Thomas then tries to kill them with his knife, but there's no point. They start beating Thomas but stop when Melanie offers herself in exchange for Thomas. The soldiers agree and leave with Melanie. Thomas then picks up his knife while the soldiers are leaving, drunk. He hears Melanie scream and sees a soldier pursuing her up the stairs and shooting at her. Thomas runs up to protect her, reaches the soldier and stabs him, killing him. But Melanie is also dead. An anguished Thomas sits at a roadside on the edge of the destroyed town. A tank pulls up next to him and Tanya (Kincso Petho), a Commissar, dismounts and sits next to Thomas. Tanya tells him that Stalin provides for orphans and invites him to join on her journey