‘Every time a shell landed another family hit the road, driving their cattle, pulling long strings of makeshift vehicles in the tow of oddly-paired horses or even oxen, cluttering up the crossroads…’

Looking at Lee Miller’s 1945 photographs of refugees fleeing Luxembourg, you can almost hear the commotion attributed to mass movement; the grinding of wheels, the shouting of farmers competing with instructions from soldiers in another language, the braying of livestock and the rumble of tanks.

Lee writes of the confusion and exhaustion experienced in the specific town where she found herself, but also of the wearisome knowledge that the same was taking place throughout Europe. Civilians were ‘heading for some relative’s farm which was probably equally dangerously placed. From there they’d move on, blocking more roads to reach someone safer but who would already have several families tucked away, the barns full and thinking of moving back himself.’

Image: Cows in the street with Lieutenant Sam Magill’s men, Route d’Echternach, Consdorf, Luxembourg, 1945 by Lee Miller © Lee Miller Archives, England 2024. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk