“What are you, like a captured German…” The Main Myths About German Soldiers
What associations do we often have in our minds when we mention a German soldier? These are necessarily rolled up sleeves, a submachine gun, a helmet with horns and a harmonica. But why such associations, was it really so? Did the Germans, for example, really walk around with their sleeves rolled up and submachine guns? In fact, some of these facts are myths that we have become accustomed to over the years and accept as truth.
So, let’s start with the sleeves. Indeed, in various films, including Soviet ones, we have already become accustomed to such an image of a German soldier, where his sleeves are necessarily rolled up. Yes, the sleeves were rolled up, but not as massively as it may seem. For example, I served in the army. He served a long time ago, when he was still two years old. So, in the summer period, according to the charter, we also introduced a uniform with rolled up sleeves. But when we went to some exercises, where it was necessary, for example, to crawl a lot, we were allowed to turn back our sleeves. And everyone turned them away. There is a logic to this, because rolled up sleeves and crawling is almost certainly an injury to the elbows. And this, as they say, is already minus one combat unit. And besides, it’s completely uncomfortable to shoot from a prone position with your sleeves rolled up, I know from my own experience.
The Germans were also far from being fools and turned up their sleeves mainly only on the march, from where those numerous pictures of them have come down to us. It is easier to take down a German who is not involved in the battle than in the attack. For the sake of interest, find photos of the Germans taken during the battle, there are few of them with their sleeves rolled up. And on top of that, it’s worth remembering that the Germans didn’t fight against us all the time in the summer. In our country, the frost can stand outside for almost half a year, when you walk there with open hands, it would be better to insulate. And the Germans are a relatively heat-loving people. Yes, they have snow and even frost, but they are very far from us. What about insects in the summer? Mosquitoes in the woods? You don’t want to roll up your sleeves here. So, rolled up sleeves are far from being massive, but only individual examples.
In addition to the fact that we associate the German soldier with rolled up sleeves, of course, the MP-40 submachine gun is an invariable attribute. Yes, the MP-40 was indeed the most mass-produced weapon in the German army, that’s true. But, if you look carefully at the archival photographs, namely the German ones, we will not see all of them exclusively from the MP-40. Such a mass character in the troops was given to it, mainly at the instigation of filmmakers. Still, for filming crowd scenes, such a weapon was more accessible, and it looked organic in the frame.
Few people know, but in fact, the MP-40 was originally intended mainly for units in which compactness was important to soldiers. These are, for example, paratroopers, scouts or tankers. Yes, yes, the tankers also had machine guns. Not all of them, of course, but they did. As for the main weapon of the German soldier, it was the Mauser rifle, which was produced back in 1898. I myself have repeatedly accidentally found cartridges from this rifle in the places of past battles.
Another misconception is the form of clothing. Almost everyone, when asked about the German soldiers, will tell you that they were always neat in their clothes. Like, not like ours, in bast shoes and felt boots, the Germans always had everything perfectly. I’ve heard this many times. But what was the reality? And here everything is simple, remember at least the phrase, that your parents told you when you were a kid when you got into something. “That you’re like a German prisoner.” That meant you were dirty and untidy. And it really was.
There is also a logical explanation for this – the war, as I have already said, did not end in the summer, as the Germans had planned. Soon autumn began, cold, rains, and later snow. Well, the Germans are still a more heat-loving people than you and me. Accordingly, they were freezing and looking for something to insulate themselves with. They used absolutely everything that they could take away from the civilian population of the occupied territories. These were women’s headscarves, shawls and even children’s blankets. And when the real Russian winter began, the Germans there looked not so much like pedantic and well-groomed soldiers, which we consider them to be, but like the real army of Father Makhno. Some of the soldiers, and in some units – a large part, were dressed in I don’t know what and I don’t understand how.