Quote Originally Posted by Peter View Post
We are not arguing over whether they run but over why they dont.

All the armies in boththose wars were made up almost exclusively ofconscripts or 'volunteers'. Very few professional soldiers.

Germans deserted in their droves at various stages on the Eastern front and I dont ****ing blame them. Fighting the russians on their own turf is worse than trying to win a test series in India.
Large-scale desertion didn't start on the Eastern Front until very late in the war. That was because the Germans had started to replace their effective troops with children, crocks and old men who had received minimal training and were led by inexperienced officers and NCOs.

However, for the most part, experienced conscripts fought just as well as anyone else. Not running is about morale, training, discipline and comradeship rather than how one got into the army in the first place.