Thank you for posting this information, I too have not heard of that battle. How sad to have to die right at the very end of the war. Is Don Rickles still doing shows in Las Vegas ? I saw him in an old war movie where he played a submarine crewman.
Yes, this is a tragic battle. It somewhat reminds me of the end of All Quiet on the Western Front. The worst thing to consider is that there was really no other option for these men. They were facing two difficult alternatives, both with poor outcomes.
G'day There are rumours the allies didn't want to mingle in the fight for fear of losing men in a fight between "enemy" forces. But what would you've done in that position this far in the war? Popski
Indeed Crapgame The lost of the Dutch civilians is indeed a great shame. But it is strange the fighting could continue after the Germans had officially surrendered. Popski
Thanx Crapgame! Very sad but I guess the Georgian soldiers were quite desperate. I read somewhere as well the Russian volunteers started shooting at Germans in Austria late spring 1945...
G'day Kai I would't exactly call them volunteers. They had to choose between certain death in a POW camp or work for a new warlord, either one or the other dictator. Stalin wasn't too kind for his "own" people and in the Oekraine there was sympathy for Germans only because they were against Stalin. And Crapgame is was indeed a jungle in Holland at the end of the was. At the end of 1944 some partisans took prisoner some 30 Germans to hand over to the allies but the allies didn't come right away and they had to hide them in the forrest for some time. They even executed a German for trying to escape. Pretty mess they made of it. The Germans weren't too kind either. The Amsterdamincedent as an example. Maybe Stevin can fill us in at that?? Popski
