Shooting pilots in their parachutes

[Oberst]

Well, private and confidential letters of a Luftwaffe Pilot family member of my Mothers side tells me different, my appologies for not posting them.

[drgondog]

Originally Posted by Oberst

Well, private and confidential letters of a Luftwaffe Pilot family member of my Mothers side tells me different, my appologies for not posting them.

Simply stated - who cares. How many extermination camps did your Luftwaffe pilot family members make visits to - and what were ther reactions to THAT?

[Oberst]

Originally Posted by drgondog

Simply stated - who cares. How many extermination camps did your Luftwaffe pilot family members make visits to - and what were ther reactions to THAT?

Ha! missed this one completely.

Some of my family were simple farmers during WWII. They had no Idea about the extermination camps until AFTER the war. They were not privy to secret NAZI goverment activities nor were they members of the Waffen SS. My Great Uncle did fly a 109 for the Defence of the German Homeland & Her people, not for NAZI ideology.

Perhaps you can include that in your next book.

Kindest Regards

[drgondog]

This is a weary discussion - for every claim of a luftwaafe pilot being killed in his chute there are eyewitnesses of bomber crews bing killed intheir chutes or by civilians or soldires on the ground. I have a personal friend, Bill Cullerton who was shot down over Ansbach, suurendered to SS and shot in the gut with his surrendered .45 - saved by a German Catholic Priest during the last two weeks of the war.

What are we to make of this 'Oberst'??

How many unarmed civilians were pushed into gas chambers or shot by German soldiers on East front or France - how do you wish to balance this with your spurious claims of Jimmy Doolittle?

[Oberst]

no comment.

[kaki3152]

Unfortunately, war being what it was, Nick Beale is correct in that EVERY nation shot up innocent targets, be it, airmen hanging in parachutes, individual enemy soldiers, ambulances, cows, children, what have you.
I have book on the 357th FG where a pilot who was subsequently KIA wrote the following:"However, in the short time I've been flying I have been given the chance to see that in our aerial warfare against Germany we have brought ourselves down to their level and have murdered women and children of Germany. If this is a total war and has to be may God have mercy on us...Within this group with which I am flying we strafed houses,villages, and even though I didn't do it myself,I'm as guilty for I do not have the courage to quit before I do kill innocent people."

[RT]

" The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

But plagiarism no

[Hallvor]

I think the OP asks a fair question that should not be met by emotional trench warfare, but honest research.

In this context, German war crimes or other "two wrongs make a right"-fallacies have nothing to do with the OP's question. I am sure you will find many other threads dealing with German war crimes, but it really has no relevance in this thread.

Remember that the war is over. Let's try to act like it as well.

Just my two cents.

[drgondog]

Originally Posted by Hallvor

I think the OP asks a fair question that should not be met by emotional trench warfare, but honest research.

In this context, German war crimes or other "two wrongs make a right"-fallacies have nothing to do with the OP's question. I am sure you will find many other threads dealing with German war crimes, but it really has no relevance in this thread.

Remember that the war is over. Let's try to act like it as well.

Just my two cents.

Good sentiments - what triggered my response was an unfounded, undocumented reference to an 'instruction' from FDR to Doolittle. Doolittle is not alive to rebut Oberst and Oberst is not forthcoming with his documentation for such character assasination.

[Hallvor]

Originally Posted by drgondog

Good sentiments - what triggered my response was an unfounded, undocumented reference to an 'instruction' from FDR to Doolittle. Doolittle is not alive to rebut Oberst and Oberst is not forthcoming with his documentation for such character assasination.

If there was an instruction there should be a written order somewhere.

Having said that I did see gun camera footage from an American P-51 where a German pilot hanging in a parachute was shot, and saw the very same veteran pilot bragging about it in a documentary. He claimed that the German pilot had done it first, and wanted to give him his own medicine. The documentary also featured the Bf109 ace Günther Rall, but I can't remember its name.

Anyway, if anyone has new sources on this, that would be interesting. If not this whole thread is not very useful, in my humble opinion.