I don’t understand how soldiers can go into a situation when they know there is a high probability they will die.
All soldiers go into battle knowing that there’s a very real probability of death. That’s the reality of direct combat.
Cause. They knew the war was lost, but continued to carry the fight to their end.
Death before dishonor.
It was even worse than you would think. This was the Hunley’s third crew, assembled following the drowning of the two previous crews. After the second crew was lost and the Hunley was recovered, I read that it took 200 pounds of soap to clean out the remains.