French soldiers wearing Stahlhelm impersonating surrendering German soldiers, 1916 - 1918
French soldiers wearing Stahlhelm impersonating surrendering German soldiers, 1916 - 1918 Today I'll write about the action of surrendering in the First World War, by no means a safe one to take, for a myriad of reasons. Surrendering could either happen in the heat of battle or voluntarily sneaking out to the enemy lines when others weren't looking. For the latter, the main motive for surrendering was escaping the frontlines by being taken prisoner instead. However, soldiers surrendering during an enemy attack was far more common, but also far more dangerous. Although killing surrendering and unthreatening enemy soldiers was and still is a war crime, it was still a widespread occurrence which happened during attacks. The majority of such cases came down to the individual soldier's decision. There were various motives for killing surrendering enemy soldiers, such as fearing the surrender was just a bluff, and if it was inconvenient for the attackers to have to escort prisone...