The Last Green Valley explores how the brutality of war has a deep, abiding effect on civilians. The Martel family’s journey out of Ukraine under Nazi protection is marked by scenes of violence and devastation. The refugee caravan passes through many towns and villages destroyed during battle. Adeline is shocked by much of what they see, including “maimed corpses frozen in the grotesque positions in which they had died” (65). These scenes demonstrate that the devastation of war is never confined to soldiers.

The Volksdeutsche refugees find themselves consistently at risk of bodily harm and death as they escape Ukraine. The Martels are often forced to seek shelter to escape bombs and artillery fire; on the fourth day of their trek, as they hide in a culvert during another round of bombing, they “hear the shrieking of horses and the cries of those without shelter” (77). Several times, they barely escape surprise attacks by the Soviet armies. Living conditions during the journey increase the refugees’ suffering. Within just two weeks, exposure and disease wreak havoc on the caravan: “Not an hour passed when [the Martels] weren’t rolling by a wagon pulled off to the side of the route so survivors could bury their dead” (83).