It was very interesting Indy’s video about gentleman’s behavior in Africa between enemies, and only some words about horror in Eastern front. But I think , it was not only horrible.
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First rule - do not shoot corps man (unfortunately for Germans theirs uniform was the same like normal soldiers)
2. Do not shoot water-carrier ( exceptions were because of order from officers, and soldiers tried to shoot beside the mark)
3. Do not shoot parachuting pilots
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For rule 3, does this only mean parachuting pilots being shot by other pilots? Or even those on the ground wouldn’t shoot at a pilot parachuting down? I know in 'nam this wasn’t a rule as my uncle got shot up the heel into his knee by a VC as he was coming down. Though I guess guerilla fighters have different rules. Seems as war rages on the gentleman’s war has gone out the window.
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I think there were no gentlemans rules. The Germans shot all female Russian POWs right after capture. Surely individuals on both sides would show acts of humanity. In Antony Beevors excellent book on Stalingrad It is described how humans ended up with only the goal of survival. All other cilvians emotions, like empathy was long gone.
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I think, unfortunately, there were a lot of exceptions. And communists, commissars, partisans like British commandos were executed without any mercy by Germans.
And consequently it was hard to wait following war rules from partisans.
And I wrote about WW2. Guerilla fighters in VC it’s different story.
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Yeah, Stalingrad wasn’t place for humanity.
The same like female POWs , Russian mariners POWs shot right after capture. Black SS uniform was guarantee for shot after capture by Soviet soldiers. Sometimes other german soldiers had black uniforms, not from SS troops, and nobody wanted examine.
From other side, Finnish sailors leaved for Soviet captured sailors their striped vest , because it was very important for Russian POWs.
And I know even story about football playing between Soviet and German trenches in long calm period between fighting.
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I guess that especially airman to airman and sailor to sailor there was some kind of understanding, but they fought at a distance. Many airman that parachuted over Germany and Japan late in the war was killed by civilians when they landed. But I think the Eastern front was the most brutal with no mercy from either side, and it was up to the single soldier to show acts of compassion
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Yeah, You are right. Very hard to be human when you remember about your relatives. Which bombed in a cities or burned in a villages. Plus - propaganda. But anyway there were regular rules . Do not shoot enemy in a his moments of natural needs, for example.
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