Interview with WWII reconaissance pilot

[Romanator21]

Don't know about you, but I would never shoot someone in the back(aka retreating).
This is not an act war but pure murder - without the intention to capture them.

Uhhh... no. Retreat does not exempt you as a target in war. You shoot them in the back any chance you get, or they'll do the same to you. War is war.

[robtek]

The first thing lost in a war is humanity!
It' all about winning not petty feelings.
I don't like it, but thats the way it is.

[Flanker35M]

S!

Be quiet! We know who won the war and killing Germans(soldiers and civilians alike, no discrimination) was justified because they were the root of all evil. Europe was liberated from fascist regime and came under protection of the communist wonder. What are you complain of?

[swiss]

Originally Posted by Romanator21

Uhhh... no. Retreat does not exempt you as a target in war. You shoot them in the back any chance you get, or they'll do the same to you. War is war.

If they were just falling back to recollect - ok.

But it's may '45: they were already defeated, no danger coming from them, just running to surrender to the Americans rather than to the Red Army.

From your point of view mass executions of POWs are ok too - I mean, they potentially could hold a gun, right?

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by swiss

From your point of view mass executions of POWs are ok too - I mean, they potentially could hold a gun, right?

The Australian's did that with Japanese prisoner's in the pacific a lot and had no qualms about it.

I think too many people here have been conned by the Bush/neo-con propaganda that a clean war where only "bad people" get hurt is possible

[Romanator21]

From your point of view mass executions of POWs are ok too - I mean, they potentially could hold a gun, right?

Yes, I whole-heartedly support mass execution. (lol)

But seriously, that's the reality of war. I would bet that if you were in such a situation you would not give a second thought to strafing those troops. It's only from your comfortable stress-free position at your desk, not having experienced years of horror in war, that you think otherwise.

[FPSOlkor]

Originally Posted by swiss

If they were just falling back to recollect - ok.

But it's may '45: they were already defeated, no danger coming from them, just running to surrender to the Americans rather than to the Red Army.

From your point of view mass executions of POWs are ok too - I mean, they potentially could hold a gun, right?

Starting from the moment when capitulation was signed ALL German units were ORDERED to stop fighting and stay where they were/ If they DISOBEYEDORDER they were legitimate target. Example from the West - U-boat, whichwere hunted for for at least a month after hostilities ended.

[Flanker35M]

S!

Well, Red Army had a "slight" problem when approaching Germany and Berlin. Ilya Ehrenburg's speeches and the propaganda had driven the soldiers to a frenzy "to kill the nazis in their wombs, in their nest..kill them all, show no mercy, strike them down"..This worked fine when the war was not going well, troops rallied but closer to Germany how to restrain them anymore? They should come as a glorious Red Army, liberators of nazism brining freedom to the oppressed proletariat of Europe. So no wonder when reports of Red Army's acts on first German towns occupied reached civilians and soldiers = to west no matter what.

Rapes and other crimes were done by ALL sides of war, not just Germans. So no-one can sit on the high horse of morality and justify their acts. War is hell but no-one is clean.

Originally Posted by Flanker35M

S!

Well, Red Army had a "slight" problem when approaching Germany and Berlin. Ilya Ehrenburg's speeches and the propaganda had driven the soldiers to a frenzy "to kill the nazis in their wombs, in their nest..kill them all, show no mercy, strike them down"..This worked fine when the war was not going well, troops rallied but closer to Germany how to restrain them anymore? They should come as a glorious Red Army, liberators of nazism brining freedom to the oppressed proletariat of Europe. So no wonder when reports of Red Army's acts on first German towns occupied reached civilians and soldiers = to west no matter what.

Rapes and other crimes were done by ALL sides of war, not just Germans. So no-one can sit on the high horse of morality and justify their acts. War is hell but no-one is clean.

AFAIK mass rapes were done by the Algerians/Moroccans advancing in Italy and the Russians in Berlin, but I'm open to hear about other cases.

[Splitter]

I understand the thought process of not shooting an enemy in the back, but the reality is that retreat is not surrender. Retreat is often characterized as a strategic withdrawal. The common soldiers did not know when the war was going to end. News was often conflicting or non-existent. So unless the other guy is surrendering, he is still an enemy.

Even surrender is not always surrender. There were more than a few instances of soldiers, especially in the Pacific, who came out under white flags with grenades or guns looking to take down a few conquerors with them.

Add to all of that the fact that the German and Russians fought a brutal war against one another. There was often no quarter given and none accepted. There was a good chance that capture meant death so soldiers fought desperately.

Crimes happened on all sides, they always do. But in some cases those crimes were common, in others they were the anomaly. We all know of instances like the Rape of Nanking where such "crimes" were the policy. However, to show all sides being equal, people like to focus on other incidents committed by one or a small number of soldiers. All things were not, in fact, equal.

Just think about it this way: you are an enemy soldier in WWII, to which countries would you rather surrender? We know who treated their prisoners "well" and who treated them brutally as policy, don't we?

Some of it depends on which country you were fighting for. Germany tended to treat British and American prisoners reasonably well and vice versa. Then again, there seemed to be a special hatred between German and Russian troops and neither side had a good track record of treating the other's prisoners very well.

Splitter