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To: Viennacon
Can only laugh at 5:30, where the German commander doesn’t even seem remotely bothered that they lost.

It's over, they'll live, and they're in American rather than Russian hands. I read a fascinating memoir from a Gebirgsjaeger sniper who went to great lengths to be captured by the Americans, rather than the Russians. The American unit that his bunch surrendered to was sending prisoners back to the Russians, so he bolted and...just went home.

14 posted on 01/03/2014 4:26:56 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: Riley
The American unit that his bunch surrendered to was sending prisoners back to the Russians, so he bolted and...just went home.

One of my uncles was with the Sixth Minesweeper Flotilla, serving in the Baltic. They all hauled posterior when the Russians came down and surrendered to the British. The Russians wanted the minesweepers and the Brits said they could have 'em. Next, the Russians said they needed the German crews to bring the ships to Russia as their men didn't know how to run them. Said they'd send the Germans back at the end of the cruise.

They never did.

28 posted on 01/03/2014 5:51:40 PM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Riley
A machine shop in Montgomery, AL had a semi-retired employee who came in to run the especially challenging jobs. He was a Russian who fought in WW II and still spoke with a thick Russian accent.

He was captured by the Germans early in the war and sent to a POW camp in Austria. He said the camp was the nicest place he'd ever seen and he was treated better there than he had been in the Red Army.

Late in the war, the Wehrmacht recruited a Russian division to fight on the Eastern Front against their countrymen. He volunteered.

On their way to the front, however, it became apparent that the situation in the East was collapsing. The German officers turned the men loose, to do what they would.

The machinist said that he turned and made for the American lines as quickly as he could. He knew what would happen to him were he ever caught by the Red Army. He described it as a "breathless race" across South Germany -- on foot, on a bicycle, riding on horse-drawn wagons, anything to get away.

To his dying day, the Russian thanked Gen. George S. Patton for his life. And he probably loved America as much as anybody ever loved any country.

29 posted on 01/03/2014 6:11:52 PM PST by okie01 (The Mainstream Media -- IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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