Originally posted by xNOVAx
I would assume the luftwaffe pilot would have had to shoot off some rounds, otherwise I doubt his ground crew would have believed the B-17 was shot down.. Is there evidence of him doing that?
The proper thing for the pilot to have done was to fire some warning shots, and then escort the B-17 back to his air base. The crew could have then been arrested, and would spent the rest of the war as POW's.
To allow them to get away, and come back to bomb Germany another day, was rather foolish on his part.
Mercy in war is a big luxury. Look at that US Navy Seal Lt. Michael P. Murphy in Afghanistan who allowed a farmer who discovered his team to go free. The farmer then reported them to the Taliban, and he and most of his special forces team all died, as they ended up being surrounded and greatly outnumbered. He ended up winning the Medal of Honor, for sacrificing his own life by going to an open area where he could achieve radio contact to call for help. However, his action of sparing the farmer resulted in the deaths of most of the men on his team, as well as his own. Only one member of the Seal team survived to tell the story.
Just this past week, a similar case has come up in Iraq, where US Army Sergeant Evan Vela went on trial for killing an unarmed Iraqi citizen that stumbled upon the hidden position of his sniper team.
Vela feared that the man would give their position away to the insurgents, so he killed him, and covered it up. He was court martialed, and sentenced to 10 years hard labor on Feb 11th.
If he had instead allowed the man to get away, and he and his team then all died because their position was compromised, it seems to me that is a rather bad outcome too.
There are no easy answers in war. It is truly hell. It is often kill or be killed.
SIG 220
