I understand that a soldier may offer to surrender, but you don't have to accept the offer.
Feel free to shoot any Nazis you see as far as I'm concerned.
You need to read more friend... expand the borders of knowledge a bit.
Have a great day
I understand that a soldier may offer to surrender, but you don't have to accept the offer.
Feel free to shoot any Nazis you see as far as I'm concerned.
I understand that a soldier may offer to surrender, but you don't have to accept the offer. Feel free to shoot any Nazis you see as far as I'm concerned.
That would be a war crime, which of course is exactly one of the reasons why the free world doesn't like Nazis.
War crimes are strange things, determined by the victors.
Griz
Marilyn had such an incredible face - yep, curvy and profoundly girl-shaped, but the face, my God, that face. That was her superpower.
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War crimes are strange things, determined by the victors.![]()
https://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-us-marilynmonroe-idUSBRE9970DE20131008Yup, Marilyn definitely won the genetic lottery........![]()
According to the Geneva Convention:
"2. It is forbidden to kill or injure an enemy who surrenders or who is hors decombat."
I am not sure I agree with that eather. Most of thoes kids if not born under the nazi rule were at least educated by it and like the japanese then and todays isis, taliban, and al queda were fanatical hardline belivers in that system. They had been brain washed from birth to belive above all elts. Many of thoes kids were not recruited nor impressed but lined up to join.
To be clear, given our family's history with Nazi occupation I wouldn't shed a tear for any of those heathens. But I would limit my Nazi cleansing to the WW2 battlefield.
Can real warfare truly be regulated? Ugly things happen in total warfare, and that's why I hope that we never again see the atrocities that were committed in WW2.
The Geneva Convention is a good thing if we all abide by it's rules. I hope we do. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrific events, but we can see in hindsight that they were an ugly necessity as well.
A Canadian infantry veteran of Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium and Holland told me about another of his unit's members who "had been with them since the beginning" and was killed by sniper fire near the end of the war by a young 14/15 year old 'Hitler Youth'...who then surrendered/was captured...after telling me about the incident and the grief of the other unit members at losing this soldier so near to the end .. the veteran just asked a rhetorical question "what do you do?"
Well said, history is also written by victors.
A quote that came out of Viet Nam from some politician, I don't remember who to attribute it to, and i think it was after Mei Li, ...."if you want to know what young ,well brought up American boys are capable of...send them off to war"
Peter Dmytruk – Saskatchewan’s Forgotten Hero
Peter Dmytruk was born in Radisson, SK on May 27, 1920. The only child of Ukrainian immigrant parents George and Mary, his father was a Massey Harris mechanic and Peter grew up working on farm equipment. As his father’s career advanced, the family moved around Saskatchewan and they lived for a time in Kamsack, where Peter attended Kamsack Collegiate Institute. Around 1938, his parents settled in Wynyard.
With Canada’s entry in WW2 and the Call to Arms, Peter eagerly enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in July 1941. After graduating from Bombing and Gunnery school in 1942, he was posted to No. 405 “City of Vancouver” Bomber Squadron, flying from the bases of Topcliffe and Leeming, Yorkshire, England. Achieving the rank of Flight Sergeant, Peter was assigned the dangerous position of tail gunner on a Halifax bomber.
On March 12th, 1943 Peter and his crew were part of a massive 457 aircraft raid against the Krupp Steel Works in Essen, Germany. While over France, his Halifax was shot down by enemy fire and Peter had to ‘bail out’ over German occupied territory. Protected by the cover of darkness, he landed safely in a forest 200 km East of Paris. He managed to evade capture and was protected by local farmers until he was able to make contact with the French Underground freedom fighters, the ‘Resistance’. Once in their care, Peter was smuggled through German occupied territory towards an escape route in Spain. Along the journey however, he got to know the Resistance fighters he has travelling with and was able to see first hand how brutal and oppressive the Nazi occupation on the people of France actually was. After giving it some thought, Peter made a decision – he would forfeit his chance at freedom and stay in Occupied France to join the Resistance and fight the Nazis head on.
For the next 9 months, Peter helped the Resistance with a myriad of tasks such as assisting to smuggle out other downed Allied airmen, sabotaging German equipment, disrupting communication lines, blowing up railway equipment, stealing supplies and generally wreaking havoc on anything associated with the German occupation. Though he didn’t speak French and spoke English with a heavy Ukrainian accent, Peter was adored by the members of the Resistance who were enamoured with his ‘boyish charm’ and ‘genuine friendliness’. He quickly established a reputation of being ‘fearless and willing to go anywhere, do anything’. His upbringing around farm machinery proved a valuable skill, as he could quickly adapt to repairing and operating unfamiliar equipment – as well as thoroughly and permanently sabotage machinery when necessary. Peter fit in so well that his fellow Resistance members looked at him as ‘one of their own’ and gave him the nickname, ‘Pierre la Canadien’. He also became a ‘wanted man’ by the Nazis who were eager to put an end to his activities.
On December 9th, 1943 Peter was part of a group that attacked a German ammunition supply train at the town Les Martres-de-Veyre in Central France. The destruction of the train enraged the local SS commander who in retribution, ordered the 1,400 men in the town to be rounded up for execution. Peter saw what was about to happen and made a decision to sacrifice himself in order to save the lives of the townspeople. He jumped in a car and drove erratically though town, blowing the horn to ensure that he was highly visible to the Nazis and was stopped at a checkpoint. Upon being captured he defiantly announced that he was ‘Pierre la Canadien’ of the Resistance and that he alone was responsible for the destruction of the train. Peter Dmytruk was immediately executed on the spot. Believing that they had killed the head of the local Resistance, the SS commander cancelled his order to round up the men of the town and allowed everyone to return home. Peter’s selfless act had saved the town. His body was recovered by the townspeople and buried with the honour of ‘hero’ in the local cemetery.
Unfortunately, due to the ‘fog of war’ news of Peter’s death was not officially relayed to his parents until a year later. His activities in France were not publicised in Canada and at the War’s end he became ‘just’ another forgotten name on a list among the thousands of other casualties suffered during the conflict.
At least in his home country.
In France, Peter Dmytruk was recognized as a hero. In 1946, the Government of France posthumously honoured him with the prestigious Croix de Guerre medal and named him ‘a Hero of France’. The town of Les Martres-de-Veyre erected not one, but two memorials in his honour – including a life size statue in the town square. His name and exploits are taught to school children and every year since 1946, the citizens of the town have a parade and memorial service to celebrate his life and ensure his sacrifice will never be forgotten.
While he was celebrated in France, Peter remained forgotten in Canada until 1972 when the Mayor of Les Martres-de-Veyre reached out to Wynyard explaining their admiration for him and requesting the two towns ‘twin’. The letter exposed that Peter Dmytruk was so much more than a name on a memorial, but he was a true War hero. Unfortunately the idea was met with apathy by both the Federal and Provincial Government, however a determined grass roots campaign led by the residents of Wynyard made it happen. Later that year, a 13-person delegation of family and officials from Wynyard traveled to France to attend a commemoration ceremony on December 9, 1972 to unveil a new memorial to Peter Dmytruk - ‘Pierre la Canadien’.
Though still virtually unknown in Canada, Peter’s exploits have slowly begun to be recognized. A lake in Saskatchewan was named after him and in 1999, he was posthumously awarded with the Nation Builders Award, which celebrates the contributions of outstanding Ukrainian Canadians from Saskatchewan.
Photos in public domain, text by Thom Cholowski
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