They seem generally older in the grand scheme of things, kids as young as 9 were sent to fight the Red Army during the German retreat. From the beginning the Red Army would also take orphans who were at least 8-9 and put them into the army. English Russia » Children of War
thanks for the link.i had no idea children THAT young were in the military. (altough,most those kids look happy to be holding guns.)
What is sad is to think that because they were and were deadly with those guns, that our troops were forced to shoot at them. Can you imagine the mental and emotional horror that each Allied soldier went through when they would initially have such an encounter?
Children fight in every war. My grandpa joined the national guard when he was 13, months later they kicked him out and sent him back to school. Then he got into the army when WWII broke out. He said there children who attacked him during the Battle of the Bulge.
Technically, the Allies had children fighting in the war too, I'm sure any soldier would face some really tough mental trauma and perhaps even question the government that would send such children to war. Some people did lie about their age to get into the army to fight, the view of war then and today was very different and something many wanted to eagerly see. I've heard this was a more common occurrence in World War 1 than in World War 2, perhaps the commonwealth would have some cases?
