How aware the average German soldier was in, say, 1944 that they are losing the war? Was the reason they still put up a fight that they didn't really know what the situation was on the other fronts and how great the Allied industrial base was compared to theirs? From what we know already, the war was decided by at least 1943. But I suspect most soldiers were unaware of this, otherwise they would have started deserting by the divisions.
How aware the average German soldier was in, say, 1944 that they are losing the war...
Josiah Ramirez
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Nathan Thomas
>How aware the average German soldier was in, say, 1944 that they are losing the war?
Fairly well aware. At that time Germany wasn't fighting to win any more but to minimise damage.
Bentley Gonzalez
Of course they were aware they were losing. One year you are the masters of Europe, the next you are fighting for your very survival.
Christopher Morales
Most were fairly aware that they were losing, especially veterans who had been fighting since the early victories of 1941.
Jace Rogers
The reason they kept fighting and trying to slow down the Soviets as much as possible was to give time to their fellow Volk to run as far as possible from their gentlemanly war manners
Dylan Rodriguez
My grandfather told me a story that he and his comrades managed to successfully ambush an American supply train, this must have been some time in 1944-1945, and for them at this point, supplies were very tight and they were low on both food and ammunition. After the skirmish they were excited to open the trucks and hopefully find enough supplies to continue fighting. They were instead quite devastated to discover that each of them were packed floor to ceiling with nothing but Hersheys candy bars.
He told me that there they were, starving, freezing, without enough bullets to shoot, and the Americans felt sufficiently comfortable that they could ship their soldiers chocolate bars.
At that moment he said that he realized they had lost the war, and I believe they began making plans to surrender.
Julian Ortiz
Like literally ->
>Holy fucking shit we blew it
>the communists are going to overrun us and lay waste to all of Germany
>Maybe through some magic last hope the West will realize this and stop the commies from taking over Europe before they kill us all and rape all our women
>Just keep fighting and hoping
>Oh shit it isn't going to happen
>Well fuck this let's surrender to a nice guy named Joe from Michigan instead of Ivan from Novgorod
Nathan White
so did they eat the Hersheys
Charles Diaz
Probably
Nicholas Gutierrez
samefag
>The reason they kept fighting and trying to slow down the Soviets as much as possible was to give time to their fellow Volk to run as far as possible from their gentlemanly war manners
Yeah that.
>Holy shit if I can just hold out here for a few more minutes maybe Frau Miller and her daughters can make it to the British lines and will not end up gang raped by Siberians
Isaiah Ramirez
No , he and his buddies just took the train and oppened a shop in france selling them and living happily ever after.
Plus with every 5 bars you get one white flag for free
Blake Gomez
They knew they were gonna lose. Like immediately after shit started to hit the fan in the southern eastern front the finnish front had been told to start taking defensive positions and trenching up.
Joseph Foster
>will not end up gang raped by Siberians
What you talking about, Hans?
Kevin King
You don't have to scavenge boots from enemy dead when things are going well.
David Martinez
>american soldiers were all good people meme
There are shit tons of accounts of mass rapes by british and american soldiers
Luis Myers
Link to one such account? Go ahead, I'll wait.
Jacob Bell
What's the point of scribbling on the signs and on the crucifix thing on the right?
Angel Jones
It was a widely accepted idea that being captured by the Americans was a hundred times better than being captured by the Russians who, rightfully, were intent on revenge and treated POWs like shit.
William Harris
Cooper Green
for PoW's, no doubt.
All I'm arguing was the whole 'only russians raped and stole' meme is propaganda
Charles Collins
Every army since the beginning of time has raped and stolen from those they conquered. No one is saying that the western allies didn't have incidences of rape and theft, just that the amount it happened isn't comparable to what the soviets were doing.
Gabriel Kelly
Jesus Christ.
Austin Harris
Because Allies were forcing "unconditional capitulation" - capitalation without any rights, even right to live.
Elijah Perry
Yeah, definitely not equal.
Though the whole 'Brits and Americans were heroes who were loved by the french and germans' is jingoistic military propaganda
Jason Morgan
military censor marks
Julian Murphy
>First article says that the 190,000 rape claim is probably bullshit
>Wikipedia says that there were around 11,000 rape cases for the Americans and the first article supports that claim
>3rd article says "When French outrage eventually forced action, a series of kangaroo courts resulted in 153 prosecutions for sex offences and 29 soldiers being hanged for rape, 77 per cent of them were black GIs."
While no army is any Saint, I think most people were just saying that being liberated by the Americans and British was probably better way better than being liberated by the Russians. That 11,000 pales and looks nothing in comparison to when I scroll over to the Soviet section and you see that 2 million women were raped and most of them were raped multiple times.
Josiah Thomas
>There are shit tons of accounts of mass rapes by british and american soldiers
Shit tons of accounts of them stopping rapes as well, not that it matters.
Rape has always been a part of war, especially when a belligerent is spurred by vengeance. That the Brits and Americans raped less is undoubtedly true, but it's not a reflection of some superior morality.
Gabriel Diaz
>77 per cent of them were black GIs
wtf I hate blacks now
Bentley Diaz
Still way better than the Russians. I don't mind having lost to the west, what I mind is that they let the Russians handle our occupation. Fuck Russia.
Robert Perry
You could also bring up their even less equipped volkssturm comrades.
Benjamin Brooks
The knew defeat was inevitable in 1941 after the Rzhev meatgrinder