Its very touchy, but they really were asking for it, lets not foget the sinking of passenger liners by German U Boats in 1940...but war is war.I've seen pictures from the Hamburg firestorm and they were truly shocking, but..well....as you say, the winner is always right.

A.

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Sorry Andrew, but of the 200,000 to 300,000 (the figure varies) that were taken prisoner at Stalingrad, only 5,000 returned (that figure never varies).

I'm led to believe that the majority died from disease and starvation, rather than from physical assault and murder (although there is a thin line).

I'm not sure of the actual figure for the ALL the Germans taken prisoner by the Russians, but I have heard and read the Stalingrad figure time and again from many sources. I'm sure the overall figure is not as bad as the Stalingrad one, in fact nowhere near it. But that particular army was very unfrotunate in that regard. 

I'm personally appalled by any kind of cuelty towards anyone for any reason. However, there was a war. We all know it and some of us know what that means first hand in terms of what it can do to you, as a soldier and as a human being.

As for the 'war crimes' committed by the Allies and the 'questionable' tactics, raids and pratices, I can only say this.

At the risk of sounding 'unfeeling' (which I am not - nor am I unsympathetic towards the 'innocents' in Germany).

Had Germany not started a war born simply out of revenge (for WWI and Versaielles), greed (for the land and raw materials of other nations) and arrogance (their belief in their own superiority over other races), none of these things would have occurred.

No other nation in Europe wanted war. The appeasement and grovelling that went on before they finally realised the truth is testamant to that.

And the very same goes for the Japanese.

This is, as I said, not born out of an unfeeling attitude. I hate to think of what every single person went through, regardless of what side they were on, but when you have so many millions of people fighting, at times, with the very survival of their homes and families at stake, some bad decisions are bound to be made, especially by people who have lost sons, brothers, daughters, mothers and even young children to the enemies terrors.

In light of this, the Hamburg and Dresden raids can be understood, at least partly, in the interest of simply shortening the war (whether that was the instigators reasoning doesn't matter, although I'm sure it was as far as Trumans A-Bomb decision is concerned).

The plain fact is, the concentration camps, inhuman cruelty towards POWS (by Japanese and sometimes German), medical experiments (by both German and Japanese) and the terrorising of civilian populations (by both German and Japanese) were NOT 'bad decisions' made by individuals in haste or under duress or in any other mitigating circumstance. They were systematic, purposeful, intentional 'programs', which were ordered, documented and carried out by tens of thousands.

There are no excuses and there is nothing that the Allies did that can in any way be compared to that kind of premeditated inhumanity to man.

In the immortal words of a famous person: "They started it. We finished it!"

P.S. When I say German, I mean more specifically 'NAZI'. But I'm sorry, I have no codicil for the Japanese.

I recall that episode, Webb. In fact, I don't have to recall too much. I saw it last week on Fox (we get heaps of ST every day - all series').

The fact that you've mentioned that the reality of how horrible war is, is naturally abhorrent to us as human beings, reinforces my main point. The one responsible for starting it, provided it's relatively clear cut who did, has to bear the responsibility for the resultant horror.

I think, anyway.............

Basically.........yes.  

Again, with as much sympathy and understanding as I can feel, you can't start a fight and then complain about getting hit.

Look, without meaning to ruin my reputation, the NAZIS asked for it.
The Germans didn't, but the NAZIS did.

A.

And V-2's were more accurate?

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V-2s weren't even meant to be accurate.