American GI's get annoyed.

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gmc
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Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:44 am

American GI's get annoyed.

Post by gmc »

Nazi SS guards being tortured in Dachau witnessed by American Army doctor | Daily Mail Online

No surprise there seems like the revisionists are at it a little bit I doubt anyone at the time would have condemned the troops any more than they would condemn the bomber pilots - the bombing campaign wasn't controversial at the time it was only later politicians of the time tried to pretend they opposed it on moral grounds. These things happen we shouldn't be surprised is it right to be so condemnatory now?

I knew a british veteran ( well OK he was scots) in the tank corps one of those at bergen belsen he told a story how they had the german guards throwing the bodies in the mass graves and useing a bulldozer to fill it in when some of the germans got caught up in the moving earth (presumably the driver couldn't see them) and buried alive. I always remember the way he put it that he saw british troops do something he never thought he's see - they turned their backs and said nohing. When I asked what he did about it himself and bear in mind unlike the american this as a guy who had fought in the desert campaigns drove a flail tank on d-day and later one of the churchill crocodile tanks he said at that point he didn't care any more he'd lost a lot of mates and quite frankly it's not something that bothered him thirty five years later it was a memory he could look at dispassionately. My dad had fought in the desert as well but he never talked about it - at least not to a child. In my experience soldiers who have been in actual combat tend not to talk about it and in my parents generation there were an awful lot that didn't tlk about it but there must have been a lot of times soldiers didn't take prisoners or even offer the option.

Incidents like Abu grahib and my lai were cold blooded and rightly condemned I'm not so sure these kind of incidents fall in to the same category.
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Smaug
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American GI's get annoyed.

Post by Smaug »

gmc;1479492 wrote: Nazi SS guards being tortured in Dachau witnessed by American Army doctor | Daily Mail Online

No surprise there seems like the revisionists are at it a little bit I doubt anyone at the time would have condemned the troops any more than they would condemn the bomber pilots - the bombing campaign wasn't controversial at the time it was only later politicians of the time tried to pretend they opposed it on moral grounds. These things happen we shouldn't be surprised is it right to be so condemnatory now?

I knew a british veteran ( well OK he was scots) in the tank corps one of those at bergen belsen he told a story how they had the german guards throwing the bodies in the mass graves and useing a bulldozer to fill it in when some of the germans got caught up in the moving earth (presumably the driver couldn't see them) and buried alive. I always remember the way he put it that he saw british troops do something he never thought he's see - they turned their backs and said nohing. When I asked what he did about it himself and bear in mind unlike the american this as a guy who had fought in the desert campaigns drove a flail tank on d-day and later one of the churchill crocodile tanks he said at that point he didn't care any more he'd lost a lot of mates and quite frankly it's not something that bothered him thirty five years later it was a memory he could look at dispassionately. My dad had fought in the desert as well but he never talked about it - at least not to a child. In my experience soldiers who have been in actual combat tend not to talk about it and in my parents generation there were an awful lot that didn't tlk about it but there must have been a lot of times soldiers didn't take prisoners or even offer the option.

Incidents like Abu grahib and my lai were cold blooded and rightly condemned I'm not so sure these kind of incidents fall in to the same category.


I'm not surprised he didn't talk much about it. My Grandpa was the same. The article reminds me a little of the holocaust deniers, insomuch as it's also "revisionist". I think it's becoming a fashion...

I'm quite prepared to accept that atrocities WERE committed by "our" troops at times though. Hardly surprising when you consider the unimaginable horrors they had to face, stuff we've never had to, because of their bravery, determination and sacrifice. Let's hope it never happens again....though they say that history often repeats itself.
" To finish first, first you have to finish!" Rick Mears. 4x Winner Indy 500. 3x Indycar National Champion.
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