While technically not in the SS the Headhunters did come under command of the SS. Something that Arnold Schwarznegger was dismayed to learn when he investigated his father's past.
@@LoudaroundLincoln hmmm I wonder if he really was, dismayed I mean, war is war. Even a former chairman joint chiefs of staff had a father who served in an SS cavalry unit
The German Feldenarmirie both SS and Wehrmacht uniforms ..and alway those big ostentatious Bling things around their necks .. Called ‘Dog collars’ by the rank and file who disposed them .
Couldn't he have said that the rest of his unit was slaughtered, and that he was trying to get back to German lines but was hungry and tired, so he stopped in an abandoned peasant hut for a night and took off his uniform so he could wear some dry clothes? Maybe the MPs wouldn't have believed him, but he was a decorated company commander in good standing, and maybe it would've worked during the court martial.
It wouldn't have made a difference though Wilhelm would still be seen as a coward and traitor regardless of the reason for deserting the Wehrmacht and with Friedhelm dead (as far Wilhelm knows) there really was no reason to fight for him anyway
The german military police found many deserters as the war progressed, and they all excused themselves like this. Obviously, they don´t believe that anymore. Also as far as i know, every soldier had to immediatly get back to the lines, when the own unit was destroyed
@@danieltobin4498🤔 I don't think so. He is forced to work amongst others desertors, and they are looked down and mistreated, especially by a sadistic officer. Until they kill him and flee. Then come back to Germany.
@@knutritter461 kinda ironic considering they did commit some atrocities one soldiers since by the late war stages many soldiers were old young and unfit for service so kinda ironic
What's sad is that according to Hitler, combat fatigue did not exist in the German Army. Like shown here soldiers were sent to penal battalions or summarily court-martialed. (In 1945 just suspicion would get a soldier strung up.) They weren't totally blind to this problem; leaves were given out regularly and frequently with each soldier guaranteed one. I think I read that almost 1/4 of German soldiers were on furlough throughout the war. However being killed or suffering a debilitating injury were the ONLY escapes.
One of the really unrealistic scenes of the film. He deserted during the Battle of Kursk and stayed not far away on this lake for several weeks. Several weeks later the german troops were hardly retreating behind the Dnjepr, so he would have get captured by sovjet soldiers, not german.
Feldgendarmerie are military police. They can arrest anyone suspected of doing a crime. Military police can even arrest a Colonel or any high rank of officer. Any soldier whatever he's rank is has to obey the military police
While you can pull rank when you get to camp. In the middle of the woods . With two guys pointing guns to you. You can get killed and nobody would know. You wait until you get into the camp or have more soldiers on your side
He came to that quick conclusion because as the scene shows, he saw the bottom of the deserter's boots, and this gave it away. Presumably only German soldiers wore boots with that pattern. But it was a dead giveaway when they found his uniform.
Wilhelm did desert though even if his entire platoon (and as far as he knew Friedhelm) had been wiped out at Kursk it wouldn't have made any difference and Wilhelm was lucky that his life had been spared and had been sent to a penal battalion instead of being shot
What gave him away is his stiefels. Talking bout jackboots, in ww1 and ww2, germany had to get rid of its jackboots and replace em with lowboots and puttees or gaiters. Great show
Because they’re the Military Police, even Winter was an Oberleutnant but they believed that Winter has deserted from the army, as a deserter, they can arrest him for that and put him to court martial.
Wenn Menschen, ein Video produzieren und keine Ahnung über Geschichte oder Truppenkennzeichnung haben...... Ergibt es diese Verschwendung von Lebenszeit.
He's one of the AWOL because eastern front is now broken in the wermacht side, lots of them attempting escape by dwelling to the local population. One soldier dressed as an officer to avoid imprisonment and it was a real story though he ended up being a douchebag for abusing the fake power he took
Kettenhunde! ([literally: "chain-dogs", nickname of uniformed military police units of German forces of the 19th and 20th century) Normal MPs, if you know MP ;-)
Du verwechselst da was. Die deutschen haben im Gegensatz zu euch Verstand und Taktik. Niemand kommt auf die Idee unserer guten Ahnen mit solchen Versagern zu vergleichen. Wenn ich Navy Seals schon höre oder ähnliches, bleibt nur die Frage ob sich das Gegenüber totlacht oder bei einem Unfall verstirbt. Auf jeden Fall nicht an den Qualitäten der Einheiten
