Lt. Hugo Broch, 98, and his medals. 81 air victories make him the most successful german
3 years ago by lmaopics · 142 Likes · 13 comments · Trending
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Yes, he was a nazi pilot. That's a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.
We don't know for what values he fought for or whether he knew what was going on or not. Nor do we know what his position on Nazi doctrine is today. But as an elite fighter pilot he would've been involved, not in the defence of his nation, but in Nazi Germanys attack on other nations.
Whatever the case is his actions aided the atrocities carried out under Nazi rule and he is alive and millions are dead.
I'm not judging him, I'm stating historical facts.
Post WWII military differs in that after a lot of countries decided that following an unlawful order is illegal and it's the responsibility of the individual soldier. Certainly refusing to follow lawful orders is a court martial offence, as is giving unlawful orders.
Regardless of that, when a soldier follows an order they have to decide for themselves whether they can follow that order. Sure, you might be court martialed and hanged but is your life worth more than the defenceless villagers you are about to murder?
In militaries where this is not the case, such as in dictatorships or the US, you get atrocities. Korea and Vietnam are no different from the Soviet invasions of Afghanistan or Czechoslovakia in that respect.
Nazi soldiers where just following orders but that doesn't mean they aren't responsible for their actions. Maybe not all soldiers, maybe not the entire war machine, maybe not every politician, voter and entire nations.
But certainly some soldiers, officers, generals, political leaders and the people who supported them. If not legally then morally.
You might be just a non-voting, blue collar worker in a munitions factory with a military contract trying to feed your family but that bullet you just assembled might kill an innocent child somewhere. It's up to you to feel about that.