You should really read “The Road to Stalingrad” by Benno Zieser.
It’s from the German side, but it has a man blowing up a tank with some grenades fixed to the end of a long pole so he can run up and stick the pole under the tank, Benno taking a whole squad of Soviets prisoner while completely naked after swimming, and lots of other fun stuff. It’s sort of harrowing since it is a picture of ordinary war from the POV of an ordinary infantryman, but it is a fascinating picture of war from the ground, all the way from he and his friends all signing up brimming over with German patriotic fervor, to pretty close to the end of the war.
My parents were both ex-military. They didn’t serve during active wartime, so they never saw combat, but man, the stories they told really contextualise war.
Little stuff like how some people would burn through an entire month’s paycheck in one weekend, because at the end of the bender, they could have nothing left and still be fine because the army covered bed and board.
A friend of mine who was in the military said it was like living in a socialist country. Everything is provided by the state, you don’t have to worry or take care of yourself. But, at the same time, your job is assigned, you don’t make any decisions or minimal ones to determine the parameters of your own life. From the way he described it, it sounded like he thought that aspect of it was kind of nice.
You should really read “The Road to Stalingrad” by Benno Zieser.
It’s from the German side, but it has a man blowing up a tank with some grenades fixed to the end of a long pole so he can run up and stick the pole under the tank, Benno taking a whole squad of Soviets prisoner while completely naked after swimming, and lots of other fun stuff. It’s sort of harrowing since it is a picture of ordinary war from the POV of an ordinary infantryman, but it is a fascinating picture of war from the ground, all the way from he and his friends all signing up brimming over with German patriotic fervor, to pretty close to the end of the war.
My parents were both ex-military. They didn’t serve during active wartime, so they never saw combat, but man, the stories they told really contextualise war.
Little stuff like how some people would burn through an entire month’s paycheck in one weekend, because at the end of the bender, they could have nothing left and still be fine because the army covered bed and board.
A friend of mine who was in the military said it was like living in a socialist country. Everything is provided by the state, you don’t have to worry or take care of yourself. But, at the same time, your job is assigned, you don’t make any decisions or minimal ones to determine the parameters of your own life. From the way he described it, it sounded like he thought that aspect of it was kind of nice.