09-13-2008, 07:47 PM
People tend to overestimate the efficiency of the German killing machinery - it is, in fact, one of the myths that sustained German conservatism through the postwar period that the majority of soldiers and civilians did not know or were not involved. History does not bear this out. There were German troops that did not participate in atrocities, especially those engaged on the Western front, but large numbers of German soldiers and civilians were part of torture, killings, looting, slave labour and all manner of very ugly things. We have no hard numbers (neither do we have them for the Japanese), but the records are clear on the fact that German soldiers of every arm routinely shot hostages, destroyed or looted property, murdered prisoners, hunted slave labour, and beat, raped and shot civilians in Eastern Europe. One thing that German veterans recall from the last years of the war is how different units drawn from the Eastern front behaved in combat in France. But even the 'regular' German occupation troops there were far more dangerous and violent men that the stereotype allows.
It is quite likely that nonetheless, the proportion of Japanese troops who personally participated in atrocities was larger simply because the military culture was more strongly pervaded by the idea that this was right. Japanese who refused were punished or bullied while there are many documented cases of Wehrmacht troops suffering no adverse consequences for refusing to be part of murders (though in other cases, it did happen). But the divergence is unlikely to be very great. For the Japanese, everywhere was the Eastern Front.
As to what the Romans would have though, we need to keep in mind that we're talking about people who thought watching a woman raped to death by a bull was great afternoon entertainment. They'd probably think the whole thing wasteful - needlessly destructive of good slave stock - but hardly shocking.
It is quite likely that nonetheless, the proportion of Japanese troops who personally participated in atrocities was larger simply because the military culture was more strongly pervaded by the idea that this was right. Japanese who refused were punished or bullied while there are many documented cases of Wehrmacht troops suffering no adverse consequences for refusing to be part of murders (though in other cases, it did happen). But the divergence is unlikely to be very great. For the Japanese, everywhere was the Eastern Front.
As to what the Romans would have though, we need to keep in mind that we're talking about people who thought watching a woman raped to death by a bull was great afternoon entertainment. They'd probably think the whole thing wasteful - needlessly destructive of good slave stock - but hardly shocking.
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach
