Post by magnum on May 5, 2020 18:51:21 GMT
These guys:
Imagine you're a young man, fighting for the Wehrmacht on the eastern front.
You're desperate. Surrender isn't an option. Anyone caught trying to surrender is shot. Besides, the Red Army hasn't been taking prisoners…
You’re exhausted, going days at a time without sleep.
Your rations have just been cut again, and you would be willing to eat anything that you could find. Sometimes you are lucky enough to buy (or “confiscate”) a few eggs or a handful of butter from the locals. In your state of starvation, you crack the eggs right into your mouth. It's delicious, or at least better than nothing.
You are cold. Not the kind of cold that you get when you're healthy and have had a good night’s sleep, but a biting, aching cold that goes all the way down to the bone. It's so cold that all your fingers are cracking and it is excruciating to bend even one of them.
You are stressed to the breaking point. Waiting for an ambush, on edge every moment.
You are allowed to go into the village for a one-nights rest.
And then:
Partisans!
In a very small moment of respite, you let your guard down, and your one and only life is summarily snuffed out by one of these guys. A shot, or stab or bludgeon, sends you off to Valhalla.
I know, they don't look like much, but you're looking at the most terrifying killing machines that the axis ever faced.
Is it because they had superior weaponry or technology?
Not even close
Why are they scary?
Because they are that guy that you took butter from yesterday, or you winked at his daughter, or you just walked past him. He looked innocent to you, and he probably smiled, and cooperated when the power was in your hands. You may have even thought he welcomed the Wehrmacht into Russia.
Not a chance.
He is terrifying because he is just a face in the crowd, not an enemy soldier in the trenches just out of sight.
Of course you know that this is a threat so you stay on your guard. You're not only watching your front but your back, and all your sides, as well.
You sleep with one eye open, when you sleep at all.
Your body aches, but you can't stop.
You can't let your guard down.
You’re terrified.
Just terrified.
Imagine you're a young man, fighting for the Wehrmacht on the eastern front.
You’re exhausted, going days at a time without sleep.
Your rations have just been cut again, and you would be willing to eat anything that you could find. Sometimes you are lucky enough to buy (or “confiscate”) a few eggs or a handful of butter from the locals. In your state of starvation, you crack the eggs right into your mouth. It's delicious, or at least better than nothing.
You are cold. Not the kind of cold that you get when you're healthy and have had a good night’s sleep, but a biting, aching cold that goes all the way down to the bone. It's so cold that all your fingers are cracking and it is excruciating to bend even one of them.
You are stressed to the breaking point. Waiting for an ambush, on edge every moment.
You are allowed to go into the village for a one-nights rest.
And then:
In a very small moment of respite, you let your guard down, and your one and only life is summarily snuffed out by one of these guys. A shot, or stab or bludgeon, sends you off to Valhalla.
I know, they don't look like much, but you're looking at the most terrifying killing machines that the axis ever faced.
Is it because they had superior weaponry or technology?
Not even close
Why are they scary?
Because they are that guy that you took butter from yesterday, or you winked at his daughter, or you just walked past him. He looked innocent to you, and he probably smiled, and cooperated when the power was in your hands. You may have even thought he welcomed the Wehrmacht into Russia.
Not a chance.
He is terrifying because he is just a face in the crowd, not an enemy soldier in the trenches just out of sight.
Of course you know that this is a threat so you stay on your guard. You're not only watching your front but your back, and all your sides, as well.
You sleep with one eye open, when you sleep at all.
Your body aches, but you can't stop.
You can't let your guard down.
You’re terrified.
Just terrified.
