Booty, Looting etc.

DBF:
Just seen your post. If you kinew what Kevin meant why the ridiculous comparisons?

 

OWEN,
I have no doubt, some things come easy.

 

DBF:
Unfortunately you do try to justify it and in addition are talking in a most petulant and silly way. I have drawn no lines other than to say theft is indeed theft. Robbing the dead of personal items, as this is what the discussion is about, has indeed gone on for centuries but not by the majority or even a vast number troops. You are the one talking about pinching cows and boots which is somewhat different to stealing a ring, watch etc. of a dead soldier, as well you know, or should. Even the dead soldier can see the sense in someone having his boots but I doubt he would be pleased to know his family heirlooms have been stolen!That you appear to agree with such conduct does you no credit at all.

OWEN: Ok prisoners were robbed! What has that to do with robbing the dead? There is a strange morality at work here. I bet if soldiers who are killed in Afghanistan were being robbed of personal items there would be absolute uproar at the 'savage conduct' of the Taliban. If the same publicity were given during the 2nd WW about German troops stealing from dead Britains there would have been uproar. That some, a minority I'm sure, of British soldiers stole personal items from dead Germans is a certainty. That does not make it acceptable in any society. Like DBF, you think otherwise and it does you no credit either.

 

'Fireman', all I can say is you've led a very sheltered life and can't have read many soldiers memoirs of the war, or indeed of any war.

 

OWEN:
A rather pathetic rant. That wasn't what Kevin was getting at in his post. If you want to make your own story up start another thread. I doubt we have an army full of choir boys and monks but I also doubt we have an army full of soldiers who would rob the dead.

 

I was just picturing some German soldier rotting in a Russian swamp, and how his family at home would be waiting to get back his belongings...

Anyway, Fireman, nobody said a 'vast majority' of troops were involved in stealing. But wars and battlefields are extreme situations, rules get bent and they're still commonly accepted. That one understands it, doesn't mean one also agrees with it. I don't see where exactly your problem lies - is it that you find the act of stealing something from a dead that one doesn't necessarily need despicable or the fact that theft is, well, theft? In that case we could take your point a little further: Do you still call it theft, despicable and (socially) unacceptable if someone in a camp/ghetto would steal a ring off a dead to trade it for food rather than starve to death?

 

Paul Reed,
And yet another tough guy. You have no idea of the life I have led nor I of yours. I presume you have robbed many a dead soldier. Fortunately most don't.

 

Fireman you can argue your point without resorting to calling someone pathetic; if you can't you're in the wrong place.

 

A government takes young men and gives them the skills to kill and and actually encourages them to do it.War is not a civilised society in peace time. The veneer of civilization is surprisingly thin. I cannot imagine the horrors of a battlefield but Ron have seen it and experienced it. How would I act after a couple of years of combat ? I haven't a clue.Some sort of desensitization to corpses must take place . How can I judge people's actions without going through those horrors myself.? Simple ,I cannot.

 

What an unpleasant turn this thread is taking.

 

It's OK Paul, I'm childish, offensive & now pathetic.
I don't mind.
All in good fun I'm sure.
nor to mention grumpy as well
I've been reading a lot more of this book, and while I see people's point of view, I still find it difficult to actively hunt for souvenirs. I bet German soldiers on the Russian front fought each other to get their hands on a set of Russian winter gear, and soldiers who were short of rations and ammunition will do anything to survive.

 

OWEN:
A rather pathetic rant. That wasn't what Kevin was getting at in his post. If you want to make your own story up start another thread. I doubt we have an army full of choir boys and monks but I also doubt we have an army full of soldiers who would rob the dead.
This says more about the poster than the intended recipient of the post.

 

I bet German soldiers on the Russian front fought each other to get their hands on a set of Russian winter gear, and soldiers who were short of rations and ammunition will do anything to survive.

They actually did. And when it came to Soviet political personnel, taking from them boots and winter clothing saved ammo. (And no, I didn't make that up, it's from German sources)

 

Certain things were sought after. The Luger. I had one. But what I collected was photos. After the battle had scorched across the earth, there would be bodies everywhere, and often Photos laying about of of girl friends, and wives and children.

It seemed sacrilegious to let those precious photos and memories of home to moulder and decay in the sun and rain, so I picked them up and kept them. When my war came to an end,I have no idea what happened to any of those photos/

I had the idea that I would keep them and try to find the owners after the war..But BANG That's your lot Sapperbrian. The only thing that came back to me was a photo of my Dad.
Sapper