Originally posted by Schwein
Yes indeed. If I had to die I'd march to the showers with my head held high, rather than taking many other innocent civilians with me in some hopeless "last stand". When you know you can't surrender it doesn't take courage to fight to the death, but it does take courage to give up your live to save others.
People who fight and die for nothing aren’t heroes. They’re idiots.
That's quite the paradox Schwein. If you're headed to the gas chambers, you're either Jewish.. put there because you're Jewish.. or a political dissident. Lets assume for the moment you are Jewish. You're sparing the lives of civilians by nobly marching to a death in the gas chambers.
Exactly what civilians are you sparing? Not Jewish civilians. They're already on the train headed to put together more V-2s and meet death in slave labor factories, and those that are not, are collected in ghettos and shipped out for your noble death at a later date. So, obviously, you're not protecting the Jewish civillians at all.
That leaves German civillians to protect. Okay, fair enough, many, many were good people with nothing to do with the regime... but why do they deserve to be protected by your heroic march into the shower, and not the people being shipped to camps daily?
Pacifist? Good, whirrled peas for everybody. Hate guns? Fair enough, not everybody has to enjoy weapons. Deplore violence? GOOD! So do I! (expecting Boxing). Claiming that marching into the gas chamber and being executed is better than fighting to free your people, because civillians might get hurt... that's either very confused, or downright dishonest. Those people you refuse to fight and protect would already be getting gassed right alongside you.
Lastly, the entire concept of the "last stand" is actually a phenomenon of warfare since Napoleon & the total war concept. Early examples exist, but were extremely rare. Even since the 19th century it's very, very rare in practice. This glorious last stand you keep saying is stupid, really & truly is, stupid from a tactical standpoint. What you've totally ignored however is the insurgent activities of the French, Polish, and every other country with a resistance movement that did not stand and fight to the death. Instead, they took their rifles, and waged guerilla war, without ever leaving their home countries.
