400,000 people that could have taken up arms against their dictator but they chose not to.
If being sent to the western front is a death sentence anyway, why not choose to die trying to live?
I’d gladly take a bullet in the back of the head rather than starving and suffering frostbite for months THEN taking a bullet in the gut or bleeding out after having my legs blown off by a mine.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s honor in defending your country and your freedom, but these men aren’t dieing for either of those things.