The main image on the front cover of Hitler's Defeat on the Western Front 1944-1945, part of the Images of War series from Pen & Sword, immediately arrests the eye. The background is ruined buildings in some war-torn city, while the foreground shows a couple of twisted German tanks, left in ruins by an Allied attack; what draws your attention, however, is the elderly woman, dressed in black and with her head wrapped against the cold, walking among the wreckage and ruins with a sack of groceries. It's a stark reminder that, war or not, the mundane necessities of living go on, and it doesn't let you look away.

I've enjoyed several volumes in the Images series, most showing scenes from World War II and many from the European theater of war. Few photos have stuck in my head like this one. The full photograph, on page 119 at the very end of the book, shows a broader panorama; the woman is an even smaller figure among the devastation. Sadly, the caption doesn't tell readers where the photo was taken -- not the town, nor even the country -- and doesn't even mention the only human presence in the scene.

But it sticks with you, nonetheless.

Otherwise, Hitler's Defeat is less interesting than some other books I've perused in the series. There's relatively little action in the photos, although you'll see plenty of German tanks and weapons. More compelling, perhaps, are the faces of the German soldiers who, as the war rolls to a close, are caught in a conflict they know they will lose. Some still appear hopeful, others dejected and resigned. And some of them are simply young men who probably don't want to be there.

It's always interesting to put a face on war, to remember that there's a human cost beneath all the grand troop movements, the victories and losses. And that's one of the great powers of this series.