Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Chapter 6, Chapter 73: The German-Soviet War (27)

Throughout the history of world wars, we can find that when faced with the same desperate situation, soldiers from the East and the West made very different choices. Eastern soldiers will choose to fight the enemy until the last moment, and would rather die together than be taken prisoner as traitors; however, Western soldiers will choose to surrender without hesitation.

The fundamental reason lies in the differences between Eastern and Western cultures.

Since ancient times, Eastern culture has attached great importance to the "spirit of sacrifice". Whether it is serving the country or dying in battle, these spirits are worthy of praise. In Eastern culture, there is the value of honor first, "It is better to be broken than to live in ruins". Therefore, in war, when encountering the situation of running out of ammunition and food, soldiers will use their last strength to kill the enemy and regard death as home. In the development of Eastern culture, surrender means humiliation, and enemy soldiers who surrender often become slaves. It is better to die for the country than to live in an ignoble existence, so the Easterners would rather die in battle than surrender.

In Western civilization, most armies will surrender to the enemy when they try their best in battle but find themselves in dire straits, and they still think that they are honorable soldiers who have tried their best to fight for the country. Continuing is just a meaningless sacrifice. Under an international agreement, their names will be notified nationwide to let their families know they are still alive.

Whether they serve as soldiers or ordinary citizens, family members will not feel shame because in Western culture, everyone is equal before God and human rights are above all else. Respect for individual life is particularly tolerant. For example, Cervantes, the author of "Don Quixote", although he was captured in the war, his status as a prisoner of war did not become a stain in his life. It not only provided a source of inspiration for his works. The infinite source of creation also just shows that he fought bloody battles for his motherland, so he is glorious.

Major Elton looked at the self-defense pistol in his hand, threw it aside, and raised his hands.

After a while, several German soldiers gathered around, chattering in German, but Major Elton could not understand a word.

One of them picked up the M1911 pistol beside him, took a look at it, and handed it to the person next to him. "Which of you wants American goods?"

Several soldiers looked uninterested. "This kind of standard product has no value at all and is not as good as our own."

During World War II, ordinary soldiers in most countries were not equipped with pistols. Some countries cannot afford it because they are poor, and even if some countries can afford it, ordinary soldiers do not want to carry it.

Carrying an extra pistol means more combat load. A pistol weighs about one kilogram, and with reserve ammunition, it will increase your own burden. For a soldier, increasing the weight of a "pistol + 2 magazines" is far less economical than "carrying 2 more magazines for the main weapon".

The short barrel of the pistol means that the bullet has a low muzzle velocity and a short range. Accuracy is a secondary factor. Quickly drawing the gun and shooting to knock the enemy to the ground is the most important task. During World War II, most firefights were fought at a distance of 200-400 meters. With a pistol with a range of less than 50 meters, you could only make hand gestures, but you could not hit the enemy at all.

When you really need to use a pistol, it's basically when you're in close combat. For example, during World War II, in order to effectively resist the Japanese army's assassination charges, most grassroots soldiers in the US military were equipped with an M1911 pistol. Its 43mm bullet has a good stopping effect, and it almost loses its mobility after being hit by one shot.

When the U.S. Army was in close combat with the Japanese Army, they would form a group of three and take turns shooting at the Japanese Army from behind. This could not only make up for the shortcomings of sight, but also compensate for the problem of the M1911 pistol's ammunition capacity (only 7 rounds). If one of them had an empty bullet, situation, the other two can cover and load bullets. Once this short-gun-versus-bayonet combat method came out, the Japanese army no longer dared to casually challenge the US military to fight with bayonets.

Although today's German army does not issue pistols to ordinary army soldiers, it does allow private purchase of equipment, but it prohibits soldiers from purchasing officer-style weapons.

Naturally, arms dealers would not let go of this opportunity to make money, and rushed to launch a variety of new pistols with high quality and low price. Some brand weapons with excellent performance, beautiful appearance and novel designs were sought after in the military, so these German soldiers naturally looked down upon them. This M1911 pistol.

Seeing that no one was interested, the soldier casually dismantled the M1911 pistol into parts and threw them around. "Let's go."

One of the German soldiers shouted something in English. "Get up and go!"

Major Elton endured the pain in his right ankle and limped forward with them.

The German soldier said in broken English. "You're the one who donated the supplies these days, right? We've had a taste of your American lunch meat, but it doesn't really taste that good. It feels like wood residue has been added to the flour. Do you just eat that stuff every day?"

The soldier picked up a stick from the side and handed it to Major Elton, continuing to chatter. "I really don't know if you are stupid or stubborn. After suffering such a big loss last time, you still dare to bomb at night?"

"When was the last time?" Major Elton was confused and couldn't help asking. This was the first time they had carried out night bombing. Although there were some losses in the airdrop operations in the previous two days, they were not considered major losses. Which time was this German soldier talking about?

The German soldier pointed into the distance. "The last time you bombed the Baku oil fields at night, weren't we shot down more than 200 bombers by our night fighters? Haven't you longed to remember it?"

Another German soldier corrected. "Hey, that's a Soviet bomber."

"Aren't they all the same? Aren't they just the same group?"

Major Elton finally understood. It turned out that these Soviets had already experienced the power of German night fighters, but these damn bastards didn't even mention a word. Wasn't this just pushing them American pilots into the fire pit? ? !

When he thought that more than 500 people in his brigade had died in vain, Major Elton was filled with anger and embarrassment. He wanted to run to Stalin to settle the score immediately! "You damn Soviet guys, are you still human! Are you treating your allies like this?!"

Several German soldiers were startled by his sudden howling and looked at each other. "What is he doing?"

"Who knows, maybe he is unwilling to be a prisoner. Watch carefully and don't let him play any tricks."

"He was scolding the Soviets, calling them not human beings."

"Criticizing the Soviets? How interesting."

Even after scolding him severely, Major Elton didn't feel relieved. What made him even more worried was that he didn't know how many Americans would be killed by these hateful Soviets in the future.

He really wanted to spread the news, but he had become a prisoner and could do nothing.

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