The good side of conflict

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Paul D
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Posts: 37
Joined: 01 May 2014, 22:56

The good side of conflict

#1

Post by Paul D » 12 May 2014, 21:54

I've been wondering if anybody knows of more stories of kindness in the face of conflict. Such as the German SS POW who asked to have his ashes scattered on the Scottish hillside that his camp over looked, the Bert Trautman story is another example. Does anybody know of a book that covers these fantastic stories that show the kinder side of something that many associate with great evil.

durb
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Joined: 06 May 2014, 10:31

Re: The good side of conflict

#2

Post by durb » 20 May 2014, 13:29

I do not know if there is any book putting together all or many of the chivalrous and human efforts during the war. I think that the war makes both the worst and best of human character visible. For example the case of My Lai in Vietnam war is a good example. In a way I can understand frustrated soldiers, who hated an enemy hiding among the civilians. The frustration and hate led to bloodpath, which was one of the less glorious moments in the history of US Army. When the moral and restrain codes breaks down, the way is open to brutality and massacre. By the other side it must be noted that helicopter pilot Hugh Thomas, who saw the bloodpath, intervened with the risk of his own life and saved probably tenths of villagers of My Lai.

Even worse Incident was the massacre of Nanking in 1937, when Imperial Japanese Army showed the worst of it´s capabilities. However, when it comes to "good nazis", then John Rabe fits the definition perfectly. With great risk he created a safety zone and saved thousands of lives (and thousand of women from the rape by IJA soldiers). Rabe was a active nazi, so he may be a controversial character, but deserves credit for what he did in Nanking.

In the air war one question is if it is justified to shoot parachuted enemy pilot. I used to believe that strafing parachuted pilots in air combat was a rare phenomenon. However after studying more the history of air war, I have come to conclusion that it was a common practice and pilots of all air forces did it more or less. Japanese were perhaps the most systematic in it, and one of their nasty tricks was to use wingtip to cut off the cords of parachute. But I know couple of cases, when Japanese pilots were more chivalrous and prevented other Japanese pilots to shoot parachuted enemy.

There were also other examples of chivalrous attitude. Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stigler is well known for letting one badly damaged B-17 to escape. In Spanish Civil War Nationalist pilot Angel Salas Larrazabal was known to be chivalrous toward an enemy - once he escorted parachuted enemy pilot to the ground making sure that no one was going to shoot the man on parachute. Of the same war I know one incident, when Legion Condor´s floatplane bomber pilot decided that he was not going to sink at open sea a badly damaged enemy ship with hundreds of defenceless men, although he had enough bomb load to finish the ship off. Instead he signalled the ship to follow his course and escorted it to the nearest Nationalist harbor.

Here is one case more: http://chivalrytoday.com/chivalry-war-peace/


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