Two Soviet infantrymen frozen to death in their foxhole, Finland; ca. 1940.

Freezing to death is one of the most peaceful and non-violent ways of natural dying. After the shivering stops and you slip into hypothermia, it’s pretty much a warm and fuzzy sensation until you slowly doze off as your vital organs slowly begin to shutdown.

The Soviets had to bring troops from far away to the Finnish front. Some of these soldiers were from the south and had never experienced winter conditions like this, combined with Finnish patrols destroying the support lines and the hardest winter of a lifetime created a grim environment. These soldiers lacked winter warfare training and gear. By simply covering the foxhole with branches and packing snow on top could have saved their lives.