[Mostinius]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Soundly true. Infact the Ubootwaffe, was argubly the most "unpoltiical" branch of their armed forces. But i will say what set me on my course of thought. Somewhere on uboat.net i found a post once (I can't find it now), by a fellow who claimed to be in the merchant marines during the time. He admonished the posters in this particular thread for hero worship, or rather, words like, "I never thought id hear about admiration for the uboats!" This set me thinking. Here was a man who faced it. On our side of the conflict, and now now, we "youngin's" are bestowing adulation, and praise for the same men who tried to kill him.

Even if his claim is false, the principle remains true. Put yourself into this situation: you find an old man in your home country. (US or UK), and he starts to talk about how it was out in the atlantic as a merchant sailor. How lofty will you hold uboats in admiration then? Will you defend or bestow praise on their actions to this man (a fellow countryman or ally) who was there? To us, the reality of Uboats nothing more then storybook material. We never see, nor feel, nor touch, nor fear. Its just a story. To others, the reality was very different. Its these thoughts, that made me rethink my enthusiasm.

I've no reason to wonder whether his claim was false. And yes, I understand what you're saying. In answer, and at the risk of sounding condescending, if I were to meet that man or someone like him I would shut the f--- up and listen to his stories. I would acknowledge his own courage and that of his comrades. And I would always appreciate and be grateful to those people for that courage, without which we couldn't possibly have won the war.

And now, in a time of relative peace when Germany and Britain and America and France and Japan and Russia are friends (if uneasily so sometimes), I have the luxury of being able to acknowledge the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women on all sides - while at the same time recognising and despising the horror and the atrocities inflicted by some.

Only if we're willing to recognise the people involved in that conflict as people can we have any hope of averting the next one.