Being frightened of what you do in war

[The Aviator]

Seeing the thread on Milne Bay reminds me of an old neighbor that my wife takes shopping once a week because he can no longer drive to the supermart.
Harry invited us over for afternoon tea occasionally to say thanks.
On one visit I was looking at his 2nd World War photo of himself in army uniform and asked what he did in the war.
He said that he was at Milne Bay. He went on to tell me that they had Vickers machine guns set up in the sandhills behind sandbags and when the Japanese marines came ashore they mowed them down in their hundreds. He said that it was such a massacre that him and the boys became very frightened at what they were doing. He said that in war it kinda seemed like some casualties were a price to pay to inflict greater destruction on the enemy. But when it was so one sided it was like they expected to get into trouble for doing it.
He said they felt ashamed after, when they looked at all the bodies.

This reminds be of another action in southern Malaya in the state of Johore where it was approaching the causeway south to Singapore.
Australian infantry mostly just boys had set up an ambush with half a dozen Bren guns on a narrow gravel road.
Next thing along came hundreds of Japanese infantry on bicycles with their rifles slung on their backs.
The Australians opened fire at point blank range. The carnage was unbelievable and the Japs kept coming as barrels ran hot. Riding around their fallen they seemed to be oblivious to the slaughter as they were mowed down in their hundreds.
The young soldier telling the story said that him and his mates became very frightened at what they did and finally ran from the scene.
He said that after all the defeats and retreating, to win something so one sided, didn't seem right.

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Interesting,

If I were to give a single word answer, it would be guilt for the fact I survived and so very many better men did not.

All the best
Jack

[Owen]

If they had killed that many people and not felt some guilt they wouldn't be Human.
After all we're all brought up to believe Thou Shalt Not Kill.
I know as a Trained Soldier you are expected to kill the enemy but that doesn't mean you have to feel good about it.
Thankfully I don't know what it's like to kill someone.
I never do want to find out either.

[sapper]

Feel Guilty? About killing the Enemy? The SS? men that were responsible for Orador? The enemy that murdered, slaughtered, tortured and killed all over Europe, and elsewhere? You are joking?
GUILTY? For putting these evil scum down? You must belong to a different generation? Guilty for shooting those responsible for the deaths of 60 million in WW2?

Guilty for killing the nation responsible for the Death camps all over Europe and the East? Guilty?........Are you serious?
Sapper

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Hello Sapper,

I'm not certain if you are understanding my reply, I did my bit in helping the Jap die for his emperor, after my brother was killed I kept score for a while. As far as generations go, I was born in 1917.

All the best
Jack

[Ron Goldstein]

Originally Posted by SouthWestPacificVet

Hello Sapper,

I'm not certain if you are understanding my reply, I did my bit in helping the Jap die for the his emperor, after my brother was killed I kept score for a while. As far as generations go, I was born in 1917.

All the best
Jack

Jack

I know that Brian will reply and tell you that he was not "having a go at you in person" but I also know where he is coming from and so, until he gets around to replying, would like to add my own thoughts on the subject of "Guilt".

Brian

I read your emotive response on this thread and felt obliged to offer my own thoughts on the subject of “feeling guilt on killing an enemy”.

I had what some might have considered a relatively “easy” war.

Between 1942 and 1945, although I lived at times in horrendous circumstances, I was a wireless-op and was therefore never called upon to fire at the enemy.

This all changed for me in late 1944, when my Ack Ack unit was disbanded and I was willy-nilly trained to be a loader/ op in tanks. Even then, as the Squadron Sgt.Major’s wireless op, I found my role was mainly that of being the signals man for someone who was the odd job man on the battlefield and we were too busy in that role to even think of actually firing at anyone.

Except for one fateful day, which I have described elsewhere, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/30/a2017630.shtml
when I actually pointed a machine gun directly at the enemy and fired simply non-stop for about ten seconds.

The fire that had been directed at us stopped almost immediately.

I have no way of knowing how or why it stopped but sheer logic indicates that I had wounded or killed whoever was shooting at us.

Did I feel guilt ? Did I hell !

Why should I ?

Even without going into Sapper’s deeper reasoning of the need to rid the world of the Nazi regime, the matter was simple to the extreme.

I was being attacked, I defended myself, end of story.

Ron

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Hello Ron,

I share your opinion, we were responding to the need to rid the world of the Japs, island by island, one at a time hand to hand when necessary.

All the best
Jack

[deadb_tch]

Think that there can be two types of kill at war: kill to defend self or soldiers around when enemy attacks u and kill of enemy that do not attacks u, like that japanese that were just moving somewhere not trying to attack australians. This what Owen tried to say. But anyway if man feels good after he/she killed someone (even if its 1000000th enemy) think this not a good sign..

[51highland]

These were my late Fathers thoughts on the subject:

"............... It would get a lot easier to kill. I would get to the point where I wanted to kill. I was to change from a one-time, church going Choirboy, to being a total animal............."

[The Aviator]

I am sorry that you became upset Sapper.
There were plenty that needed killing, no doubt about it and I understand.
But in this case we were talking about young soldiers many in their teens, who left Mum and Dad and grandma a few months ago.
Their opposite numbers that they were mowing down were more of the same.
Many like my father in law didn't get over it until about 1980.
That is another story and I might tell it.