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View Full Version : Nazi War Crimes as Described by German Soldiers


sandiego2003
04-10-2011, 03:31 AM
The myth that the Nazi-era German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, was not involved in war crimes persisted for decades after the war. Now two German researchers have destroyed it once and for all. Newly published conversations between German prisoners of war, secretly recorded by the Allies, reveal horrifying details of violence against civilians, rape and genocide.

It is March 6, 1943, and two German soldiers are talking about the war. Fighter pilot Budde and Corporal Bartels were captured by the British a few weeks earlier. The war is over for them, and it's time to share memories.

Budde: "I flew two spoiling attacks. In other words, we shelled buildings."

Bartels: "But not destructive attacks with a specific target, like what we did?"

Budde: "No, just spoiling attacks. We encountered some of the nicest targets, like mansions on a mountain. When you flew at them from below and fired into them, you could see the windows rattling and then the roof going up in the air. There was the time we hit Ashford. There was an event on the market square, crowds of people, speeches being given. We really sprayed them! That was fun!"

Two other pilots, Bäumer and Greim, also had their share of amusing experiences, which they described in a conversation with other soldiers.
Bäumer: "We had a 2-centimeter gun installed on the front (of the aircraft). Then we flew down low over the streets, and when we saw cars coming from the other direction, we put on our headlights so that they would think another car was approaching them. Then we shot them with the gun. We had a lot of successes that way. It was great, and it was a lot of fun. We attacked trains and other stuff the same way."

Greim: "We once flew a low-altitude attack near Eastbourne . When we got there we saw a big castle where there was apparently a ball or something like that being held. In any case, there were lots of women in nice clothes and a band. We flew past the first time, but then we attacked and really stuck it to them. Now that, my dear friend, was a lot of fun."

Disconcerting Tone

It is an unfamiliar and disconcerting tone that soldiers Budde, Bartels, Bäumer and Greim use in these conversations. It has little to do with the tone one encounters in television documentaries or memoirs about the war. But it's the way soldiers talk when they are together and chatting about their experiences.

The public discourse about war is characterized by contempt for the bloody sides of the military profession, a contempt to which soldiers themselves conform when they are asked to describe their experiences. But there is also another view of war, one in which it is not only an endless nightmare, but also a great adventure that some soldiers later remember as the best time of their life.

Read the rest of the article here http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,755385,00.html

Someone once said the veneer of civilization is very thin. I think they are right.

whoarmongar
04-10-2011, 09:14 AM
I think this book should now be closed . WWII for us is just an interesting historical scenario for a bit of fun in a game. In reality it was a great disaster that ruined or ended so many peoples lives and in which so many things that happened could be descibed as war crimes on all sides.from individual acts to strategically planned operations. I really dont think we need to go here.

winny
04-10-2011, 11:41 AM
War is a crime.
The biggest crime however, would have been to let the Germans win.

Anyway not exactly video game thread material. Interseting though.

Zatoichi_Sanjuro
04-10-2011, 01:41 PM
The myth that the Nazi-era German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, was not involved in war crimes persisted for decades after the war. Now two German researchers have destroyed it once and for all.

I'm not aware of that myth. All sides committed war crimes. That can't be disputed.

The material that historian Sönke Neitzel uncovered in British and American archives is nothing short of sensational.

It's unfortunate that this is what recent historians are lowering themselves to: sensationalism propped up by strawman arguments. They claim that they will "destroy once and for the myth of a "clean" Wehrmacht." What myth?!