The war against the Red Army - journal of one NAZI soldier

[MarkShot]

It is here:

https://youtu.be/Hw-VUaeNmgw

[Der Kuenstler]

It is here:

https://youtu.be/Hw-VUaeNmgw

Those journal videos are interesting - I sometimes have them on one screen while playing turns on the other.

[MarkShot]

I finished the documentary of this one soldier's journal. I forget his exact name, but you can check the YouTube link.

For the most part, it is what one would expect of a young man raised as a racist/imperialist kid to become a fascist soldier and minor tank officer (but in the end, there were no tanks left and he was thrown into infantry). These are things I found unexpected:

* As the war persisted his actions and the combat around him became more brutal and bloody. In his journal later into the war, he was expressing initial doubts of the institutions of war. Yet, at the same time, his persona in the conflict was becoming more brutal and violent. We play a game and use "depleted", but his journal defined depleted. The men and tanks lost and how they died. I am left with question about his anti-war musings which were only, inner self. Were they the result of war, or the result of being the loser? The journal didn't begin to turn despite the violence until ground began to be lost. At which point, the sacrifices began to seem senseless.

* Until late in the first year against the Red Army, he was relatively unsympathetic to the deaths of many of his comrades. It was their stupidity and lack of professionalism that got them killed; not the random nature of a war zone. He partially saw good in the deaths of these comrades as "they got what they deserved" and less of a risk would be posed to the soldiers who were doing it right.

* On the whole between German racism against the "Untermensch" and the huge gains in the first six months, we are left with the impression that the Red Army were poor soldiers. Although objectivity is his hard to find in the crucible of war, even in the first two weeks of Barbarossa, Red Army soldiers fought to the last bullet. They approached tanks carrying a mine after infantry and armor began to pass beyond their position; when this had little chance, but still they made these attacks as opposed to surrender. Finally, according to him, feigned surrender and attempts to take Germans with them were very common. In his eyes, despite many kilometers and prisoners were taken, but the men who served in Red Army were tenacious from Day #1.

[homer82]

Thanks, I've watched half of this so far and it's fascinating. Survival, there's nothing else.