I've been reading about World War 2 a lot lately. This morning I saw a photo of a long column of trucks carrying the 71st German Infantry Division heading east towards Stalingrad. The unit suffered a 90% casulaty rate and disintegrated in the fighting there with the survivors likely captured by the Russian army to live a life of imprisonment. None of the people in the photo survived their encounter with fate.
The soldiers are all smiling, proud of themselves and their uniforms. They all had families and stories. They grew up in Germany and through their service they made a name for themselves in their communities. They weren't all Nazis, they were soldiers. I am an avid student of military history but I abhor the carnage and loss of war.
I wish I could share the photo with you here but I can't find it online. Perhaps I will scan it in.
0 comments:
Post a Comment