The Big Trek: The fate of the refugees

The German population in the Eastern Territories was forced by Hitler to stay put because of his demented notion that they had to persevere. Then it was too late for any attempts to rescue the civilians. In January 1945, while the Red Army was already fighting on German soil, several hundred thousand civilians started to flee precipitously. On foot, on horse drawn carts laden with their prized possession, they risked the icy roads and extremely low temperatures, helplessly exposed to Soviet attacks. More than two million of the 12 million refugees did not survive the exodus. The war that had been started by Hitler had ricochet on the defenseless people in whose name it had been started.