[ContraryMary]

Schooled in the Nazis' power of rhetoric during his childhood in Bavaria, Ratzinger later deserted the German Army during World War II,...

What a smear job. He was born in 1927. WWII ended when he was 18. How could he have served in the German army?

[Bogey78O]

They drafted him as a teen and he was assigned to guard a BMW plant in the Flak corps.

[1066AD]

Plenty of kids were drafted in the latter days of the war, I knew a guy who was manning flak guns at age 14.

[Lion in Winter]

He was drafted at 16 into an artillery unit as were thousands of German boys. He deserted shortly after drafted.

He was brave to do so because he could have been killed by the nazis for that.

[Protagoras]

Negative piece, but he was indeed a german soldier. He was forced into the Hitler youth and later deserted the regular army in spring 1944.

[Veto!]

He was born in 1927. WWII ended when he was 18. How could he have served in the German army?

Quite easily. Toward the end of the war, German troops were either dead or deployed all over the place. Hitler called up old men and young boys, some as young as 12, to defend the "glorious fatherland."

[angelanddevil2]

"What a smear job. He was born in 1927. WWII ended when he was 18. How could he have served in the German army?"

At the end of the war, germans were recruiting 14 year olds.