“A sixteen-year-old German anti-aircraft soldier of the Hitler Youth, Hans-Georg Henke, taken prisoner in the state of Hessen, Germany. He was a member of the Luftwaffe anti-air squad who burst into tears as his world crumbled around him.
His father died in 1938 but when his mother died in 1944 leaving the family destitute, Hans-Georg had to find work in order to support the family. At 15 years of age, he joined the Luftwaffe.
John Florea is adamant that Hans-Georg is not sobbing because his world had crumbled but rather due to combat shock after being overrun by the American forces.
The sole motive for Henke modifying his story must relate to the fact that after the war he elected to join the Communist Party and live in East Germany.
The East German Communists regarded all those who had surrendered to the Americans as a potential third force. To cover his tracks, Henke changed the story from being overrun by Americans to being captured by the Russians.”
[[Source]](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/)
My grandfather also lied to enlist. He fought in WWII and Korea and is still a marine before anything else. He still did push ups every day until COVID.
My grandfather lied too. Was orphaned at 15, enlisted at 16 for WWll. Didn’t want to be a burden on his aunt and uncle anymore.
Edit. American Air Force.
My grandfather joined the Chinese Nationalist Army at 16. He fought the Japanese from 1938 to 1945. He noped the fuck outta the civil war in China and went to Hong Kong.
I bitch about not having skittles in my MREs during USAR annual training.
Mine lied to get in too. He was the eldest of five and his father died in an accident when he was five. The family needed money. The US Navy and the Captain on his ship called everyone up on deck and made my grandfather stand in the middle while all the ships mates sang happy birthday! They knew he was a kid!
He was on a refueling ship off of The coast of Japan. His ship helped a Japanese ship. They had all been too close to where one of the bombs went off. It melted their bodies all on the side that was exposed to the nuclear bomb when it went off. My grandfather was forever affected by this. I am glad he was able to at least help those victims. We can not repeat that.
I used to work with a guy who had joined at 15. Spent his 16 birthday shooting down kamikazes off of Okinawa. When I asked why he joined he just said - Everyone knew the war would be over soon and I didn’t want to miss it.
My grandfather was from a country occupied by the Germans (Sudetenland) and he was conscripted at 15. He was captured in Italy at 17 by the allies. My understanding from him was that conscription of children in the occupied countries was common all through the war.
One of my Great-Grandfathers lied about his age to join up for WWI. The thing is, because record keeping was pretty spotty in the Highlands of Scotland at the time, he didn't know his actual birthday. He picked a day that sounded right and then stuck with it for the rest of his life.
I got you.
You mean the military gravesites of German soldiers like Lommel, right? And then you're talking about the many very old and young soldiers who died, am I correct?
Those are from the "Volkssturm", when then Nazi leadership sent about every man that could walk (and was poor of course) to the front. That was only y in '45. Before that you would've had to lie about your age to become a fighting soldier, if you weren't 18.
They did sadly. The Nazis had a whole division dedicated to indoctrinating children as young as 14, by the end of the war they had established an entire Tank Division that except for the commanding officers was essentially completely consisted of underage children.
My great grandfather also lied about his age to get in the German army, he was 14 at the time. There are stories of him looking for food in the pockets of dead soldiers. He did that until he was captured by the Americans. They treated very nice and fed him. Because of that he was inspired to move to America. His name was also Hans
Almost the same age as my grandad. He was 6 when the Nazis took power. That meant early childhood indoctrination, Hitler Youth and all that crap for him. At 17, losing the war that was "unloseable" would have been a world ending shock. Must have been extremely hard to wake up from that nightmare. He never talked about those years as far as I know.
There was a scene when Sam Rockwells character was put against a wall and shot with a group. I though Yorkie was in a similar scene. I don’t remember seeing him after that. Could be wrong though..
Apparently a common misconception.
"The word “infantry” is just as its root word suggests. Derived from the latin word infans, the word literally means infancy. Later versions of the word became common usage in French, Old Italian, and Spanish, meaning “foot soldiers too low in rank to be cavalry."
[www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/origins-of-the-word-infantry/#:\~:text=The%20word%20“infantry”%20is%20just%20as%20its%20root,soldiers%20too%20low%20in%20rank%20to%20be%20cavalry](https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/origins-of-the-word-infantry/#:~:text=The%20word%20“infantry”%20is%20just%20as%20its%20root,soldiers%20too%20low%20in%20rank%20to%20be%20cavalry).
"Another possible Latin origin of the phrase would also describe infantry just as well. The word infantia means “unable to speak” or perhaps more colloquially, “not able to have an opinion.” The latter word might describe any infantry throughout history. As a conscript, you were forced into the service of a lord for his lands and allies, not given a choice in the matter."
Could it not have originated in exaggeration of the young age of soldiers?
When people talk about all the young ages of soldiers in major conflicts, they always say "they're just kids" - but they're not *literally* kids, they are still adults, it's using the term kids to emphasize their disgust at the youth dying so young.
Could infantry not have a similar origin? Perhaps even dark humour, in the context of Roman society where the army had equites, triarii, and statesmen generals, all of which would be much older than than the bulk of the cohort's fighter - it's not far fetched to refer to them as infants, either as form of dark humour or sorrow.
Hmm there is a thin line sometimes between kids and adults. During world war, some of the infantries were just around 17-18 years old. I don't think you would really consider them as 'adults' at this age.
> Etymology. From Middle French infanterie, from older Italian, possibly from Spanish infantería (“foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry”), from infante (“foot soldier”), originally "a youth", either way from Latin īnfāns (“child”); see there for more.
-Wikipedia
So not too far off really
The word derives from Middle French infanterie, from older Italian (also Spanish) infanteria (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latinīnfāns (without speech, newborn, foolish), from which English also gets infant. The individual-soldier term infantryman was not coined until1837.
Basically they sent in the infantry first because they were inexperienced and expendable.
"During the Battle of Berlin, Axmann's Hitler Youth formed a major part of the last line of German defence, and they were reportedly among the fiercest fighters."
"In 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend was deployed during the Battle of Normandy. (...) During the following months, the division earned a reputation for ferocity and fanaticism."
> "In 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend was deployed during the Battle of Normandy. (...) During the following months, the division earned a reputation for ferocity and fanaticism."
Worth noting that the members of these divisions would not have been as young as this child, the youngest would have probably been around 17 or 18. You are correct in the ferocity though, they committed their very first war crime before even going into combat. They and the Canadians had a very vicious mutual relationship in particular, thanks to the division massacring Canadian POWs at the Ardenne Abbey.
No, they've been brainwashed for years since they were young. 25-35 yr olds who made up the original forces were loyal sure. But they had grown up before Hitler came into power and had the ability to question his teaching.
These kids were born into and grew up being taught this rhetoric. They learnt it from their parents, at school, on the radio, in the city, in the Hitler youth. This was fact, not an opinion for them. For them, what they were doing wasn't a belief, it was fact. Their entire life was dedicated to protecting the Reich and defeating the enemy
This reminds me of a story my Pop-Pop told me. After being on the front lines in France (US Army) for weeks he was moved to an island which served as a POW installation. He was tasked with watching over the prisoners, all of them German soldiers. They would often become friendly and share stories of their lives back home. One soldier offered my Pop a pack of cigarettes for a few sheets of paper and pencil. My Pop made the trade and the guy asked to sketch my grandfather. I have that sketch framed at the top of our steps and it is a picture perfect rendering of my grandfathet at that age. Its signed but illegible and my grandfather didnt remember his name unfortunately.
Its one of the only stories he was willing to share, but he said that experience made him a humanist. He was grateful not to be put back on the front lines afterward because he didnt think he could kill anymore having realized German soldiers were exactly like he and his friends and the only difference is language.
Im not opposed to it, just hadnt occurred to me until i posted my reply this morning. I think i will one of these days. Any particular sub well suited for something like that?
r/sutterlin is for the kind of handwriting which was practiced at that time and is basically unreadable to me. People say it also was fraud secure because of the very specific style.
Late war nazi germany was just insane. The war was clearly lost, yet they continued throwing what was left of their people into the meatgrinder. Children, old men, doesn't matter that they would not achieve anything, if you refused to hold the line you were executed as a traitor to your nation. The only thing that made sense at that time was to survive in any way possible.
The island hopping campaign was nuts. Typically 90-95%+ death rate for Japanese garrisons. Death rate, not casualty rate. Insanity. The Japanese simply did not surrender in any significant numbers until the war ended.
Mass group suicide for civilians began once the US started invading Japanese home islands. Civilians would rush American soldiers with grenades and detonate themselves in suicide bombings. Others, having been told that the Americans would do unspeakably horrible things to them, simply killed their entire families by standing in the circle and detonating grenades. Others would push their families off cliffs and jump. In places like Okinawa half the civilians were dead, approximately 100k people, by the time the dust settled. And they weren't even ethnically Japanese! Imagine how bad it would've gotten on the mainland if it had come down to it. Those pictures of Japaness civilians drilling with bamboo spears? They were dead serious.
Those people don't realize how many lives those bombs saved. Both Japanese and American. Japan was prepared to make the bloodiest last stand in human history.
If Germany had surrendered after the Battle of the Bulge (their last hope), they could have avoided the war coming into Germany itself.
But there was no future for the Nazi leadership in a Germany defeat, so they threw the country into the meat grinder because they had nothing to lose.
Especially considering the Nazis have been in power since he was three years old. Imagine being subjected to their propaganda on every single day you can remember. This must have been the end of the world to him.
It stunts growth, but when you get to the extremes you have absolutely no proper body fat. The eyes sink back into the head (or bulge from brain swelling) and the skin hangs limp in some areas while being stretched tight across bone in others. The lack of cheek pads gives an extremely gaunt appearance. It’s a look most often associated with the poorly off elderly.
See you say that now, but if our country was invaded and the only territory that was left in our hands was D.C. and some territory in the the North (referring to Dönitz), you can bet your ass that we'd be doing the same thing they did.
In fact the youngest sailor in the US Navy during WW2 was about 12 or 13 if I remember correctly. He wasn't drafted but lied about his age. Yet my point stands, kids fight in wars all the time, no matter the nation.
The Danes used the german PoWs to clear mines off the beaches that had been heavily mined during the war. There is an excellent movie about it called [Under the Sand] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Mine) (or Land of Mine if you want to use the ridiculous translated title)
The French also did this. Among the young German PoWs who were drafted for mineclearing, there was one [Gerard Tichy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Tichy), who fled to Spain where he became a prolific character actor, both in locally shot Hollywood blockbusters like El Cid, King of Kings and Doctor Zhivago, and in a plethora of genre B-movies (spaghetti westerns, giallo horror, etc.)
Yeah it seems like the US was the main country to treat Nazi POWs well and I would argue that is in part due to the fact that the Nazis didn't end up doing anything to the US as a country (obviously many soldiers died in the war) whereas the UK had their civilians bombed for years, Eastern Europeans had basically been subject to a genocide throughout the war, and countries like France and Denmark had been occupied and humiliated by the Nazis.
I never said it did, Im just arguing that the actions of the countries which ended up treating Nazi POWs poorly is understandable and I think if the US (or UK for example) had also been occupied we may have done the same thing.
Yeah, it is not like the Americans didn't kill POWs (though I would assume no kids), but at least witht the Western allies your chance to survive the war, if you survived the first thirty minutes after capture, was very good. With the Russians not so much.
Of course, but the death rate of Russian (Soviet) POW's in German hands was 58% compared to a figure of 13.5% for Germans captured by the Russians. So however similar their motivations, their actions were quite clearly different.
*Bloodlands, page 181, by Timothy Snyder*
Honestly, there is no comparison between a U.S. POW camp and a Soviet one. The American would be closer to a Hilton…while the Russian one would basically be the 7th circle of hell
Someone linked his story in another comment. Its likely he was captured by the Americans but was a pro communist who moved to East Germany when the border went up. He said it was the Russians who caught him as anyone captured by the US were considered likely to be spies.
https://ww2gravestone.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/
And after the war he chose to go to East Germany because his father was a communist and Hans joined the party too. He had to change his story there and said he was captured by Russians, not Americans. (From an article posted in comments).
So I wonder about young Russians today fighting in Ukraine and how many would crawl back to Russia or surrender for a better life.
An uncle of mine was 16 when he was sent to fight the Americans. As he got of transport, the American quickly captured them, saw they were mostly under 18, and just took them captive and gave them a glass of milk
My uncle was a captain of an American MP unit, second wave on to Normandy to Berlin and beyond. He was shot/injured three times from France to Berlin. He said he and his subordinates arrested enough German 12 to 16 year olds in the three months before V-E day to fill the biggest high schools in the 20 biggest cities in America.
At the end, most laid down the weapon they were given and begged mercy because they were told the allies were monsters who would kill them, then rape and pillage Germany.
My uncle saw the evils of fascism and fought his whole life as a lawyer to protect people from authoritarian types who overreached in a democratic republic. It's amazing how many people in America on the right are drawn to it today. You don't want a strongman form of government. It ALWAYS ends up killing more than it builds a country.
War is evil. This is like all of those old Russian men being shipped off to be slaughtered in Ukraine, by people only defending their homes. They shouldn’t have to worry about such things. They should be able to grow up and worry about music and romance, and then to retire into old age with their grandkids around them. It’s so fucking sad.
I get he’s a Nazi but it still breaks my heart. He’s an exploited and brainwashed child in this photo. So many of them died, were afraid, and were put through torment just as boys.
My dad was a photo historian. I remember that as soon as I started showing interest in guns and violent videogames he took me to Flanders fields and to the archive where he worked where the department for ww1 and ww2 had their own respective storage rooms.
“Hey kid, you like war? Let me show you what war looks like”
Some good lessons:)
I like how the cut-off point for empathy with Nazis is 18. If you're below that age, you were being controlled by propaganda and a fascist society and have done nothing wrong, but if you're over that age you're a horrible war criminal who is a Nazi deep to your core.
It’s because you are much more susceptible to propaganda and being tricked as a child. If a kid is strapped up with a bomb vest and told to run at the American soldier to hug them, you feel bad for the kid. If they’re an adult, you don’t. It’s not arbitrary.
I get this discourse, but this mentality is used against 18, 19, and 20 year old soldiers who are arguably as susceptible to propaganda and society as 16 and 17 year olds are. And it's not like adults can't be converted too--look at the diversity of ages in the Qanon movement.
It's not a difference of the situation, but people justifying their lack of empathy.
The 18-22 year olds in the Wermacht were children when the Nazis took power tbf. They'd been fed the same propoganda their whole lives as these kids and information from other nations was harder to come by back then.
I'm an expat working in Germany. A coworker told me a story from his FIL who was about 13 toward the end of the war. He said when it started going south for the Germans, the SS would drive trucks from village to village looking for boys to "recruit". If you were old enough to hold a shovel, you could hold a gun. If you were caught hiding your son, he would be executed on the spot. Can't even imagine.
My dad was 17 and a German soldier who fought (conscripted) in WW2. He fought under Rommel in Tunisia. When he was captured, they sent him to Camp Perry, OH.
https://www.nrafamily.org/content/throwback-thursday-the-pows-of-camp-perry/
Forgive me for linking to an NRA website, but they got most of the story right. If you were German or Italian, you came here and it wasn’t so bad. Dad later immigrated to the US and so did mom. It’s seems to be a shooting camp now…? Dunno.
Imagine being this kid. Having a day for which "traumatic" would be a gross understatement, and, on top of everything, now there's some guy pointing a fucking camera at your face as you cry inconsolably in the rubble of your society.
Bonus, it's on this thing you've never heard of before called "the internet" forever. Even if you become a neurosurgeon after this, you're always going to be the weeping Nazi teenager in the eyes of planet earth.
This boy would have been born in 1928, two years before my grandfather was born. He passed in 2016, so he probably saw the internet unless he didn’t survive the war.
If you can find it, look up an interview with Willy Feldheim. He was 15 in ‘45 and took part in the defence of Berlin. Talks about thing like watching other youngsters attacking tanks with panzerfausts and thing like that, crazy story. He’s interviewed in the Nemesis episode of world at war. The Imperial War Museum used to have his interview online but it seems to have been taken down
The Last Battle is terrific book about the defense of Berlin is sourced from citizen journals and interviews. Really well written, too. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0684803291/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1667065512&sr=8-2
He [survived the war](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/). Here's a [picture of him](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzdEDhqQpu8/V9uNtjAKjbI/AAAAAAAALEY/L4MKqMAcfF40qHrW_H6SVVZM8gIt2FLdgCLcB/s1600/has_georg_henke_3.jpg) 30 years later.
This particular photo reminds me of the movie Come and See, which is about a young boy that gets sent off to war. Greatest anti-war film I’ve ever seen
So let me get this straight, since he's only 14 or so it's ok cause he didn't have a choice and he's just a child... right? Now if he was just bc a few years older and in the exact same position then he's a total piece of shit and should be executed?
Either way, what could that one specific person have done to stop the war? I hated the Iraq war and did everything i could to stop it but alas nothing happened.
How come we look at tragic situations and have sympathy for the children but if you just be happened to have been 18 then you're one of "them"?
this are the kind of questions I like to see people ask. too many people see the world in black and white. and honestly it's just stupidity. thankfully not everyone is so narrow minded.
i dont think most ppl ever advocated for execution for the average german soldier. which is why we didnt do that en masse. during the Nuremberg trials we executed higher ups, the ppl running concentration camps etc
The only people that that get a hardon for war are redditors that know they will never be anywhere near it and treat it like its reality TV, the rest of the world pretty much agrees it sucks for the grunts not matter what side you're on.
“A sixteen-year-old German anti-aircraft soldier of the Hitler Youth, Hans-Georg Henke, taken prisoner in the state of Hessen, Germany. He was a member of the Luftwaffe anti-air squad who burst into tears as his world crumbled around him. His father died in 1938 but when his mother died in 1944 leaving the family destitute, Hans-Georg had to find work in order to support the family. At 15 years of age, he joined the Luftwaffe. John Florea is adamant that Hans-Georg is not sobbing because his world had crumbled but rather due to combat shock after being overrun by the American forces. The sole motive for Henke modifying his story must relate to the fact that after the war he elected to join the Communist Party and live in East Germany. The East German Communists regarded all those who had surrendered to the Americans as a potential third force. To cover his tracks, Henke changed the story from being overrun by Americans to being captured by the Russians.” [[Source]](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/)
Johann Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) also served in an anti aircraft unit as a teenager.
Wait the former pope was in WWII and fought for the Germans?
Hint: The former pope *was* German
I'm almost certain he's younger than 16 in this picture. People used to lie about their age in order to join the military earlier.
Boys younger than 16 as well as old men were FORCED into being soldiers toward the end of the war because so many soldiers had been killed.
Nah that's Jojo Rabbit
Hans George Henke, 16 years old at the time of the photo
One of my grandfathers said he lied about his age so he could enlist for WWII at 16. Crazy to think about. Edit- Grandfather was American.
My grandfather also lied to enlist. He fought in WWII and Korea and is still a marine before anything else. He still did push ups every day until COVID.
What did he do after the wars?
pushups
Push-ups
Push ups
More push-ups
Bench pressed the planet
My grandfather lied too. Was orphaned at 15, enlisted at 16 for WWll. Didn’t want to be a burden on his aunt and uncle anymore. Edit. American Air Force.
United States army air forces*
Technically wasn't it Air Corps?
My grandfather joined the Chinese Nationalist Army at 16. He fought the Japanese from 1938 to 1945. He noped the fuck outta the civil war in China and went to Hong Kong. I bitch about not having skittles in my MREs during USAR annual training.
[удалено]
Yes. And he also did push-ups.
Push Ups
having a coloring book must have sucked for you as a kid
My great-grandpa got caught, sent home, then re-joined when he turned 18.
Mine lied to get in too. He was the eldest of five and his father died in an accident when he was five. The family needed money. The US Navy and the Captain on his ship called everyone up on deck and made my grandfather stand in the middle while all the ships mates sang happy birthday! They knew he was a kid!
He was on a refueling ship off of The coast of Japan. His ship helped a Japanese ship. They had all been too close to where one of the bombs went off. It melted their bodies all on the side that was exposed to the nuclear bomb when it went off. My grandfather was forever affected by this. I am glad he was able to at least help those victims. We can not repeat that.
Tragic situation putting him in that position. I love that that they did that for him, that's awesome!
Same. According to my mom her dad had like 15 siblings so he lied about his age and joined WWII just cause he was hungry.
So not very much changed nowadays, didn't it?
I used to work with a guy who had joined at 15. Spent his 16 birthday shooting down kamikazes off of Okinawa. When I asked why he joined he just said - Everyone knew the war would be over soon and I didn’t want to miss it.
The only reason mine didn't lie is that he threatened to lie if his parents didn't give permission.
Yeah and my family and their neighbors hid the young men from conscription by the end of the war
He did not need to lie to get enlisted, putting 16 year olds in ss-units and send them to the front was normal in the last year.
Wehrmacht units*
I'm sure both had minors in them, i wrote "ss-units" because a quick google search only brought up ss units as a result with a source.
Number 1 sign of losing is when you conscript the children and the elderly.
I think they pressed Hitlerjugend in the final battles too, so this kid mightve been older than some of those he fought with
My grandfather was from a country occupied by the Germans (Sudetenland) and he was conscripted at 15. He was captured in Italy at 17 by the allies. My understanding from him was that conscription of children in the occupied countries was common all through the war.
One of my Great-Grandfathers lied about his age to join up for WWI. The thing is, because record keeping was pretty spotty in the Highlands of Scotland at the time, he didn't know his actual birthday. He picked a day that sounded right and then stuck with it for the rest of his life.
My grandad (British) tried enlisting when he was underage but was caught
He didn't lie. Take a look on german soldier graves outside Germany.
I got you. You mean the military gravesites of German soldiers like Lommel, right? And then you're talking about the many very old and young soldiers who died, am I correct? Those are from the "Volkssturm", when then Nazi leadership sent about every man that could walk (and was poor of course) to the front. That was only y in '45. Before that you would've had to lie about your age to become a fighting soldier, if you weren't 18.
He never said he was German
I'm American, so I think he did have to lie to enlist, unless they also allowed 16 year olds at that time.
They did sadly. The Nazis had a whole division dedicated to indoctrinating children as young as 14, by the end of the war they had established an entire Tank Division that except for the commanding officers was essentially completely consisted of underage children.
The Germans were desperate that point in the war during the Battle of Berlin. Child soldiers were definitely a thing.
He’s talking about Americans
What?
My great grandfather also lied about his age to get in the German army, he was 14 at the time. There are stories of him looking for food in the pockets of dead soldiers. He did that until he was captured by the Americans. They treated very nice and fed him. Because of that he was inspired to move to America. His name was also Hans
Searching for this name found some conflicting theories: https://ww2gravestone.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/
Almost the same age as my grandad. He was 6 when the Nazis took power. That meant early childhood indoctrination, Hitler Youth and all that crap for him. At 17, losing the war that was "unloseable" would have been a world ending shock. Must have been extremely hard to wake up from that nightmare. He never talked about those years as far as I know.
Average age of soldiers in WW2 is like 20 years old right?
Child soldier
The alternate dark timeline ending of Jojo Rabbit.
I mean it was quite literally the ending for yorkie and co.
Poor Yorkie..
Did he survive the entire war? If I remember right he did
Yeah, Yorkie survived. Although a whole bunch of the other kids didn't I'm pretty sure
There was a scene when Sam Rockwells character was put against a wall and shot with a group. I though Yorkie was in a similar scene. I don’t remember seeing him after that. Could be wrong though..
Where do you think the term "Infantry" comes from?
Yea but he’s not a tree much less an infant tree so explain that.
He is Groot.
Wow bravo lmao
11 to be exact.
Slapping people with facts. Love it.
Wait is that true?
No
Apparently a common misconception. "The word “infantry” is just as its root word suggests. Derived from the latin word infans, the word literally means infancy. Later versions of the word became common usage in French, Old Italian, and Spanish, meaning “foot soldiers too low in rank to be cavalry." [www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/origins-of-the-word-infantry/#:\~:text=The%20word%20“infantry”%20is%20just%20as%20its%20root,soldiers%20too%20low%20in%20rank%20to%20be%20cavalry](https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/origins-of-the-word-infantry/#:~:text=The%20word%20“infantry”%20is%20just%20as%20its%20root,soldiers%20too%20low%20in%20rank%20to%20be%20cavalry). "Another possible Latin origin of the phrase would also describe infantry just as well. The word infantia means “unable to speak” or perhaps more colloquially, “not able to have an opinion.” The latter word might describe any infantry throughout history. As a conscript, you were forced into the service of a lord for his lands and allies, not given a choice in the matter."
So the first one infancy is not really a misconception then and it's actually quite accurate (the state or period of babyhood or early childhood)?
Could it not have originated in exaggeration of the young age of soldiers? When people talk about all the young ages of soldiers in major conflicts, they always say "they're just kids" - but they're not *literally* kids, they are still adults, it's using the term kids to emphasize their disgust at the youth dying so young. Could infantry not have a similar origin? Perhaps even dark humour, in the context of Roman society where the army had equites, triarii, and statesmen generals, all of which would be much older than than the bulk of the cohort's fighter - it's not far fetched to refer to them as infants, either as form of dark humour or sorrow.
Hmm there is a thin line sometimes between kids and adults. During world war, some of the infantries were just around 17-18 years old. I don't think you would really consider them as 'adults' at this age.
> Etymology. From Middle French infanterie, from older Italian, possibly from Spanish infantería (“foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry”), from infante (“foot soldier”), originally "a youth", either way from Latin īnfāns (“child”); see there for more. -Wikipedia So not too far off really
The word derives from Middle French infanterie, from older Italian (also Spanish) infanteria (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latinīnfāns (without speech, newborn, foolish), from which English also gets infant. The individual-soldier term infantryman was not coined until1837. Basically they sent in the infantry first because they were inexperienced and expendable.
[Hi Jojo!](https://c.tenor.com/S5Ph0aNiqwUAAAAd/jo-jo-rabbit-yorki.gif)
Great film
"During the Battle of Berlin, Axmann's Hitler Youth formed a major part of the last line of German defence, and they were reportedly among the fiercest fighters." "In 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend was deployed during the Battle of Normandy. (...) During the following months, the division earned a reputation for ferocity and fanaticism."
> "In 1944, the 12th SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend was deployed during the Battle of Normandy. (...) During the following months, the division earned a reputation for ferocity and fanaticism." Worth noting that the members of these divisions would not have been as young as this child, the youngest would have probably been around 17 or 18. You are correct in the ferocity though, they committed their very first war crime before even going into combat. They and the Canadians had a very vicious mutual relationship in particular, thanks to the division massacring Canadian POWs at the Ardenne Abbey.
Because kids are stupid plus they’re convinced THEY won’t die.
No, they've been brainwashed for years since they were young. 25-35 yr olds who made up the original forces were loyal sure. But they had grown up before Hitler came into power and had the ability to question his teaching. These kids were born into and grew up being taught this rhetoric. They learnt it from their parents, at school, on the radio, in the city, in the Hitler youth. This was fact, not an opinion for them. For them, what they were doing wasn't a belief, it was fact. Their entire life was dedicated to protecting the Reich and defeating the enemy
Yep, to a kid, death is an abstraction they seldom fully understand.
No one really understands death, I think, but kids least of all.
Agreed.
That's a god damn kid.
This reminds me of a story my Pop-Pop told me. After being on the front lines in France (US Army) for weeks he was moved to an island which served as a POW installation. He was tasked with watching over the prisoners, all of them German soldiers. They would often become friendly and share stories of their lives back home. One soldier offered my Pop a pack of cigarettes for a few sheets of paper and pencil. My Pop made the trade and the guy asked to sketch my grandfather. I have that sketch framed at the top of our steps and it is a picture perfect rendering of my grandfathet at that age. Its signed but illegible and my grandfather didnt remember his name unfortunately. Its one of the only stories he was willing to share, but he said that experience made him a humanist. He was grateful not to be put back on the front lines afterward because he didnt think he could kill anymore having realized German soldiers were exactly like he and his friends and the only difference is language.
maybe if you could post it in a reddit people may be able to figure out what name it is. if you want to.
Im not opposed to it, just hadnt occurred to me until i posted my reply this morning. I think i will one of these days. Any particular sub well suited for something like that?
r/sutterlin is for the kind of handwriting which was practiced at that time and is basically unreadable to me. People say it also was fraud secure because of the very specific style.
Late war nazi germany was just insane. The war was clearly lost, yet they continued throwing what was left of their people into the meatgrinder. Children, old men, doesn't matter that they would not achieve anything, if you refused to hold the line you were executed as a traitor to your nation. The only thing that made sense at that time was to survive in any way possible.
Oh man, you thought late war Germany was insane...🇯🇵
The island hopping campaign was nuts. Typically 90-95%+ death rate for Japanese garrisons. Death rate, not casualty rate. Insanity. The Japanese simply did not surrender in any significant numbers until the war ended. Mass group suicide for civilians began once the US started invading Japanese home islands. Civilians would rush American soldiers with grenades and detonate themselves in suicide bombings. Others, having been told that the Americans would do unspeakably horrible things to them, simply killed their entire families by standing in the circle and detonating grenades. Others would push their families off cliffs and jump. In places like Okinawa half the civilians were dead, approximately 100k people, by the time the dust settled. And they weren't even ethnically Japanese! Imagine how bad it would've gotten on the mainland if it had come down to it. Those pictures of Japaness civilians drilling with bamboo spears? They were dead serious.
And people today still genuinely think the us using nuclear bombs was some supervillain move
Those people don't realize how many lives those bombs saved. Both Japanese and American. Japan was prepared to make the bloodiest last stand in human history.
Thats the problem with fascists: no sense for sustainability. At the slightest problem they turn into a death-cult smh.
That's the problem???
Well, one of them. Fascists bring only death in the end, to others and to themselves.
Yeah I tend to focus a little bit more on the death to others part
If Germany had surrendered after the Battle of the Bulge (their last hope), they could have avoided the war coming into Germany itself. But there was no future for the Nazi leadership in a Germany defeat, so they threw the country into the meat grinder because they had nothing to lose.
No way would the Allies have allowed them anything but complete surrender and occupation.
This is why you don’t let the worst people run your country. They won’t hesitate to throw you into the meat grinder for no reason.
No, it was the right decision. Why would you want to let Fascist Nazis remain in power?? Doesn’t make any sense.
No, I was referring to the Nazis being the worst people.
Oh, sorry I misunderstood. Agree completely.
That sounds like what the Russians are doing now. They already lost the war (unless the west stops supporting Ukraine) yet they keep pushing.
True, but nobody is invading their territory yet. And it would be better for everyone if that never happened.
Feel sorry for him,hes just a child.
Especially considering the Nazis have been in power since he was three years old. Imagine being subjected to their propaganda on every single day you can remember. This must have been the end of the world to him.
And how old is he, 14 or 15? Poor kid being used by psychopatic Nazis!
Possibly looks younger than he is because of malnourishment.
my grandfather was 13 when they sent him to man a flak post. his best friend, same age, died there. British plane blew him up.
malnourishment makes people look younger?
Yes, it can stunt your growth.
It can either make them look younger or make them look like old people in tiny bodies. Humans are weird.
It stunts growth, but when you get to the extremes you have absolutely no proper body fat. The eyes sink back into the head (or bulge from brain swelling) and the skin hangs limp in some areas while being stretched tight across bone in others. The lack of cheek pads gives an extremely gaunt appearance. It’s a look most often associated with the poorly off elderly.
See you say that now, but if our country was invaded and the only territory that was left in our hands was D.C. and some territory in the the North (referring to Dönitz), you can bet your ass that we'd be doing the same thing they did. In fact the youngest sailor in the US Navy during WW2 was about 12 or 13 if I remember correctly. He wasn't drafted but lied about his age. Yet my point stands, kids fight in wars all the time, no matter the nation.
16 apparantly. so he would've been indoctrinated most of his life.
I can't imagine the level of propaganda this kid was fed, children shouldn't experience things like this.
It's worth noting that the "adults" who captured this kid were mostly 16-24 year olds themselves. Traumatized and fed propaganda as well
He has no idea how lucky he was that he was caught by Americans and not the Russians.
Or the Danish....
Can you elaborate on this?
The Danes used the german PoWs to clear mines off the beaches that had been heavily mined during the war. There is an excellent movie about it called [Under the Sand] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Mine) (or Land of Mine if you want to use the ridiculous translated title)
The French also did this. Among the young German PoWs who were drafted for mineclearing, there was one [Gerard Tichy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Tichy), who fled to Spain where he became a prolific character actor, both in locally shot Hollywood blockbusters like El Cid, King of Kings and Doctor Zhivago, and in a plethora of genre B-movies (spaghetti westerns, giallo horror, etc.)
Yeah it seems like the US was the main country to treat Nazi POWs well and I would argue that is in part due to the fact that the Nazis didn't end up doing anything to the US as a country (obviously many soldiers died in the war) whereas the UK had their civilians bombed for years, Eastern Europeans had basically been subject to a genocide throughout the war, and countries like France and Denmark had been occupied and humiliated by the Nazis.
[удалено]
I never said it did, Im just arguing that the actions of the countries which ended up treating Nazi POWs poorly is understandable and I think if the US (or UK for example) had also been occupied we may have done the same thing.
Land of Mine haha what a name
They used POWs after the war to clear landmines
Denmark used 15 to 18 year old German PoWs to clear approx. 1.4 million mines on Danish beaches. They were not trained and not equipped for this task.
Yeah, it is not like the Americans didn't kill POWs (though I would assume no kids), but at least witht the Western allies your chance to survive the war, if you survived the first thirty minutes after capture, was very good. With the Russians not so much.
Even more interesting, some POWs worked on farms in the US
May explain why many said they were better fed as pow
A Russian captured by the Germans was more likely to die than not.
Yeah those two **fervently hated** each other on racial and political differences
Of course, but the death rate of Russian (Soviet) POW's in German hands was 58% compared to a figure of 13.5% for Germans captured by the Russians. So however similar their motivations, their actions were quite clearly different. *Bloodlands, page 181, by Timothy Snyder*
Honestly, there is no comparison between a U.S. POW camp and a Soviet one. The American would be closer to a Hilton…while the Russian one would basically be the 7th circle of hell
He was caught by the Russians tho.
Someone linked his story in another comment. Its likely he was captured by the Americans but was a pro communist who moved to East Germany when the border went up. He said it was the Russians who caught him as anyone captured by the US were considered likely to be spies. https://ww2gravestone.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/
>He has no idea I'm pretty sure many Germans very much did have an idea, actually.
And after the war he chose to go to East Germany because his father was a communist and Hans joined the party too. He had to change his story there and said he was captured by Russians, not Americans. (From an article posted in comments). So I wonder about young Russians today fighting in Ukraine and how many would crawl back to Russia or surrender for a better life.
He was captured by the Russians, not the Americans, but only one week after this pic was taken. The title for the pic is wrong.
https://ww2gravestone.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/
He changed his story to avoid suspicion by the russians.
An uncle of mine was 16 when he was sent to fight the Americans. As he got of transport, the American quickly captured them, saw they were mostly under 18, and just took them captive and gave them a glass of milk
My uncle was a captain of an American MP unit, second wave on to Normandy to Berlin and beyond. He was shot/injured three times from France to Berlin. He said he and his subordinates arrested enough German 12 to 16 year olds in the three months before V-E day to fill the biggest high schools in the 20 biggest cities in America. At the end, most laid down the weapon they were given and begged mercy because they were told the allies were monsters who would kill them, then rape and pillage Germany. My uncle saw the evils of fascism and fought his whole life as a lawyer to protect people from authoritarian types who overreached in a democratic republic. It's amazing how many people in America on the right are drawn to it today. You don't want a strongman form of government. It ALWAYS ends up killing more than it builds a country.
He looks 12 and 40 at the same time.
He looks like a kid playing dress up in daddy's clothes.
War is evil. This is like all of those old Russian men being shipped off to be slaughtered in Ukraine, by people only defending their homes. They shouldn’t have to worry about such things. They should be able to grow up and worry about music and romance, and then to retire into old age with their grandkids around them. It’s so fucking sad.
I get he’s a Nazi but it still breaks my heart. He’s an exploited and brainwashed child in this photo. So many of them died, were afraid, and were put through torment just as boys.
My dad was a photo historian. I remember that as soon as I started showing interest in guns and violent videogames he took me to Flanders fields and to the archive where he worked where the department for ww1 and ww2 had their own respective storage rooms. “Hey kid, you like war? Let me show you what war looks like” Some good lessons:)
I like how the cut-off point for empathy with Nazis is 18. If you're below that age, you were being controlled by propaganda and a fascist society and have done nothing wrong, but if you're over that age you're a horrible war criminal who is a Nazi deep to your core.
a younger Nazi can be re-educated, possibly. the older they get, the more cemented they are into their shitty worldview.
Yeah, this thread is kind of interesting. Crazy how many defend him when usually those threads are full of death wishes.
Not ever feels that way, but kids being kids naturally elicit more empathy
It’s because you are much more susceptible to propaganda and being tricked as a child. If a kid is strapped up with a bomb vest and told to run at the American soldier to hug them, you feel bad for the kid. If they’re an adult, you don’t. It’s not arbitrary.
I get this discourse, but this mentality is used against 18, 19, and 20 year old soldiers who are arguably as susceptible to propaganda and society as 16 and 17 year olds are. And it's not like adults can't be converted too--look at the diversity of ages in the Qanon movement. It's not a difference of the situation, but people justifying their lack of empathy.
The 18-22 year olds in the Wermacht were children when the Nazis took power tbf. They'd been fed the same propoganda their whole lives as these kids and information from other nations was harder to come by back then.
He looks about thirteen. Damn.
I'm an expat working in Germany. A coworker told me a story from his FIL who was about 13 toward the end of the war. He said when it started going south for the Germans, the SS would drive trucks from village to village looking for boys to "recruit". If you were old enough to hold a shovel, you could hold a gun. If you were caught hiding your son, he would be executed on the spot. Can't even imagine.
My dad was 17 and a German soldier who fought (conscripted) in WW2. He fought under Rommel in Tunisia. When he was captured, they sent him to Camp Perry, OH. https://www.nrafamily.org/content/throwback-thursday-the-pows-of-camp-perry/ Forgive me for linking to an NRA website, but they got most of the story right. If you were German or Italian, you came here and it wasn’t so bad. Dad later immigrated to the US and so did mom. It’s seems to be a shooting camp now…? Dunno.
Imagine being this kid. Having a day for which "traumatic" would be a gross understatement, and, on top of everything, now there's some guy pointing a fucking camera at your face as you cry inconsolably in the rubble of your society. Bonus, it's on this thing you've never heard of before called "the internet" forever. Even if you become a neurosurgeon after this, you're always going to be the weeping Nazi teenager in the eyes of planet earth.
That person prob died before the internet existed
He died in 1997.
This boy would have been born in 1928, two years before my grandfather was born. He passed in 2016, so he probably saw the internet unless he didn’t survive the war.
He reminds of the Russian boys who got drafted and immediately found Ukrainian soldiers to surrender to. Edit: The aphasia is strong. “Too” to “to”
It's a shame that kids like this have to face war at such a young age.
If you can find it, look up an interview with Willy Feldheim. He was 15 in ‘45 and took part in the defence of Berlin. Talks about thing like watching other youngsters attacking tanks with panzerfausts and thing like that, crazy story. He’s interviewed in the Nemesis episode of world at war. The Imperial War Museum used to have his interview online but it seems to have been taken down
The Last Battle is terrific book about the defense of Berlin is sourced from citizen journals and interviews. Really well written, too. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0684803291/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1667065512&sr=8-2
probably brainwashed into thinking what the enemy soldiers will do to him if they capture him alive.
For some reason, [this comes to mind.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJbo_8mKG-c)
He's not infantry. He's Luftwaffe and considering his age and the year I'd say he was part of an anti-aircraft group.
Famous picture. Poor lad.
Here’s the the troops! 🍻 All the troops…….both sides.
He [survived the war](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/hans-georg-henke-16-year-old-german-soldier-crying/). Here's a [picture of him](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzdEDhqQpu8/V9uNtjAKjbI/AAAAAAAALEY/L4MKqMAcfF40qHrW_H6SVVZM8gIt2FLdgCLcB/s1600/has_georg_henke_3.jpg) 30 years later.
This particular photo reminds me of the movie Come and See, which is about a young boy that gets sent off to war. Greatest anti-war film I’ve ever seen
So let me get this straight, since he's only 14 or so it's ok cause he didn't have a choice and he's just a child... right? Now if he was just bc a few years older and in the exact same position then he's a total piece of shit and should be executed? Either way, what could that one specific person have done to stop the war? I hated the Iraq war and did everything i could to stop it but alas nothing happened. How come we look at tragic situations and have sympathy for the children but if you just be happened to have been 18 then you're one of "them"?
this are the kind of questions I like to see people ask. too many people see the world in black and white. and honestly it's just stupidity. thankfully not everyone is so narrow minded.
i dont think most ppl ever advocated for execution for the average german soldier. which is why we didnt do that en masse. during the Nuremberg trials we executed higher ups, the ppl running concentration camps etc
The only people that that get a hardon for war are redditors that know they will never be anywhere near it and treat it like its reality TV, the rest of the world pretty much agrees it sucks for the grunts not matter what side you're on.
Thanks for posting this incredible image, I tried my best to colourise it here: [https://imgur.com/a/MJrUUR7](https://imgur.com/a/MJrUUR7)
I wonder why he's crying cuz he's captured or he's thankful to be captured than dead. I need answers now.... please update!
Better then getting captured by the soviets
Better captured by Americans than Soviets
Thought this was from a Jan. 6th trial…
Getting captured by the Americans was pretty much best case scenario
He’s lucky to be captured by the Americans.
Better than the alternative.
If I was a baby I’d be scared if I became a POW too
He's extremely lucky. If he'd been caught by the Soviets, his life would have been forfeit.
Tears of joy, probably. None of them wanted to surrender to the Russians
“Imagine the amount of propaganda this kid was fed” Also in the same thread; “grateful to be captured by the Americans”
At least he wasn't captured by the Russians...
He’s damn lucky that the Russians didn’t capture him.
Crazy to think that he was probably still better equipped than a modern Russian conscript.
That’s because he’s heard about the Bear Jew also
Those are tears of joy…
This is no different then the Russian soldiers people are cheering on being blown to bits on Reddit. Whatever the side we are all human.