> sometimes you can’t take prisoners. <
A friend of the family served with the US Army in Italy during WW2. During a battle in early 1945 his unit captured a large number of Germans. To escort them all back to a prison camp meant leaving his unit weaker and the flank of the next unit over unguarded.
Those Germans never did make it to a prison camp, if you get my drift.
That story greatly bothers me to this day. Was it a war crime? I would think so. But I wasn’t there. So all I can do is quote Gen. Sherman. War is hell.
I let it be known that I wouldn’t waste so much as a single Band-Aid on any NVA. General Sherman was right.