[Eichenlaub]

Hi there,

Well, where to start?

I play just about all of my sims from the German perspective. I've played that way for about 10-12 years now. Doesn't mean I wouldn't play as an Allied commander at all, I will happily play an American commander in SHIV for instance (Dutch would be better of course).

My first person shooters are usually Allied, but when multiplaying, I let the choice of weapons decide which side I'm on - if I want a tommygun I'll go Allied, if I want a Sturmgewehr, I'll go Axis. I happily mowed down tons of German infantry and armour in MOHAA, Call of Duty and Return to Wolfenstein. Didn't bother me either.

When I first started playing simulations (flight mostly), I generally played from the Allied side. There were very few games around in the late eighties and early nineties that would allow a German perspective anyway, but mostly because during that era I was still walking around with a pair of anti-German glasses.
When I was around 15 years of age, I got inspired to check out why certain things happened the way they did. I wondered why any German would want to fight for Hitler or the Kaiser. Stories about Allied exploits were easy to come by, but finding good stuff on German personnel was a tad more challenging. Eventually I read so much about the actual fighting men (focussing on Luftwaffe and kriegsmarine) of that war, I began to see some answers.

One answer is that not everything is black and white. People fight wars for various reasons and the reasons that are popularized in history aren't always the actual ones. There's a broad spectrum of reasons that explain why people still fought for Hitler. Having acquired that broader scope, I feel I can play a game as a submariner without disrespecting the war casualties.

What appeals to me about air and sea operations, is the un-personal flavour of combat: you generally find yourself shooting at a ship or plane, not a man. This was true in real wars too. Furthermore, sea and air warriors have always been forced to not only deal with the enemy, but also with the elements, which is a futher bond between enemies. It explains why there is more camaraderie between navy and air force personnel of opposing nations than between say, opposing infantrymen.

Then there is the blood attached to a particular service: the Luftwaffe has some but the Kriegsmarine is virtually spotless (in actual sea operations, I don't know how they rated as regular troops).

Don't forget the game aspect: simulations are in the end merely games designed to create a feeling and to entertain. It's entertaining doing something on your pc you could otherwise never have done in real life - or maybe never even wanted to in the first place.

Being the underdog can be attractive. It is interesting to see whether you could change history or whether the underdogs really stood a chance to begin with. Seeing as Germany lost both wars, they must be considered the underdog in simulation games.

Having read of the magnificent performance of the German Jagdflieger and submariners, I always enjoy comparing myself to them in simulation games. It would be unrealistic to have a score of 100+ aerial victories as an American, but about 105 Germans managed to do so. Likewise, no American submariner ever made it to 200,000 tons of shipping. I think that the German soldiers fought a tougher war because they had to keep on fighting until:
1) the war ended
2) they were killed
3) they were too wounded to continue fighting

All in all their odds were bad. As a Brit or American fighting man, you'd have a chance to retire from combat after some time. To the Germans, the term "tour of duty" did not exist. It's unimaginably difficult to survive almost 6 years of combat while any supremacy in numbers and material that may have existed in 1939-41 was gradually dwindling away.

Like someone else said: playing with the better tools is fun too. In all aspects of warfare Germany developed some technology that was very impressive and highly advanced. Think of the Stg.44, the Panther tank, the Type XXI submarine, the Me262, the V2, etc. It's fun to feel superior in your Panzerkampfwagen V when you espy a quartet of M4 Shermans 3 kilometres away... I gloat when I catch a convoy in 1940 with only two escorts while sailing in my fully loaded VIIB. I love it when my heavily armed Fw190 gets down on the deck, just below an IL-2 Sturmovik and blows it to bits without having to fear return fire.
It's just fun. I also enjoyed Silent Service II, destroying half the Japanese fleet, or flying a Spitfire in 1940.

All of the above explains why "fighting for the Germans" can be appealing.

For the record: I accept submarine warfare as a legitimate type of combat and don't buy the "U-boat men were killing helpless civilians on merchants and are thus war criminals" line I get to hear every now and then. You don't have to be in the armed forces to be part of a war machine.

Your question was valid and I don't think you've offended any one here. I hope my long answer can satisfy your curiosity somewhat. I think many people here will agree with at least some if not all of my points.

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub