BTW, less savagery peoples lost their war in weeks. And tell me ,pls, a tale about humanity of german occupation time. Fine, i find them... Keys are here
Yeah, I bet those German families that got bombed to smithereens in the next bomber raid that crew took part in really had that warm and fuzzy feeling in their bellies that you get when you read stories about military "honor" such as this one. I'm with Roland on this one, the guy failed to complete his mission ... simple as that. From our (i.e. the people that would rather not live in a Nazi empire) point of view, the fact that one less bomber got shot down is obviously a good thing, but from a German military perspective it was simply stupid.
Must be a boring week, going back to this thread. Wow, so many tuff guys here. Yeah, that German failed his mission. Must have gotten out of his plane and helped gas some more Jews. The Germans failed in that effort too. Amazing that such a story of chivalry is met with so much disdain. I should have expected as much from a bunch of WW2 flight sim dweebs. Living-out the fantasy in front of a monitor and keyboard. Lot of big talk from the warmth and safety of Mama's arm chair. The chicken-hawks have spoken.
Keep your pants on, loose. Since the guy that decided to let his enemy get away to fight another die was fighting for the opposite side I'd be rooting for I effectively couldn't give a rat's ass. Though I'd be really pissed if e.g. a British Spit pilot had deliberately let a German bomber escape ... doubly so if I had been one of the British civilians who lost their loved ones in a German bomber raid.
In my first post it came across as if I blamed the German pilot for not shooting down the B-17. That is not the case. It was human of him to have pity for the crew of the bomber. I suppose you can't hold that against him. But the end result is still that the men he allowed to escape may have come back to bomb Germany again on another day and killed a whole bunch of people that Mr Steigler was supposed to protect.
i heard that the whole crew of that plane revenge raped steigler's mom to a state of pure sextasy followed shortly thereafter by a painful semen overdose death
Yes, I see your point Red, ok. However it would be even more poignant if the 109 pilot had family in Dresden, wouldn't it? The great part of the story is that in the middle of killing and carnage and war, he took a stand and said "No. No more killing for today, this time." In the madness and in the terror there was a moment of humanity. In my book that was a far more brave thing to do than just squeeze a few more rounds to paint another icon on the cowl. OK- I'll throw in this little story and share with you: There was this old man in the neighborhood, a family friend from a long time. we would visit him sometimes. One day he gets this letter and I helped translate it for him. It was a letter from some guy in Europe that the old man met in WW2. He had told us some of his experiences but he has never mentioned this one. I'm leaving out some details, got little time for this, sorry. Turns out this old bent guy had been in some nasty actions and one time they were running up buildings. He ran into some guy who was about to jump. He grabs him and in a few words of the local language tells him it's better to be a POW than another dead. He wouldn't have made the jump and he was surrounded anyway. This old man now gets a letter from this other old man. He wrote that after the war he got a job, pension, married, five kids, several grand kids and now in a few months a great grand children. He said he hopes that this letter reaches him or at least someone from his family. That every Christmas when his whole family gets together, he sees his wife, kids, grandkids, laughing, happy, a warm house and food on the table, all these things and all those people, that little group of humanity that if it were not for that one act from this one American G. I. in the middle of madness and death and despair. Where this soldier, this other kid (as they were around the same age 19~20), all his fellow soldiers dead or captured, no food and little ammo, he knew that day he too would be dead soon, he could never face the idea of surrender, he knew he would never see his parents or brothers or sisters. He had only panic and the advent of death as his companions. He looks at all this around him now and he gives thanks to that soldier and to his one non-premeditated act. All he has, all he is, he owes to that single action of that single soldier. That every year he thanks that man. It went on to give names and dates and places etc. I must have choked a dozen times trying to read it, out loud to his family and our friends. Not a dry eye in the house.
