REACTIONS FROM FIGHTING

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 11, 2 July 1945, Page 26

REACTIONS FROM FIGHTING

“ One got skilled in avoiding being hit, and as time went on our casualties became fewer, though we were desperately tired and thought less about personal danger. But we had acquired a kind of sixth sense and somehow did the right things automatically. In moments of half dozing, whilst manning my attic position, I felt terribly pleased and grateful for this newly discovered ability. No one can know or can influence his reactions to great personal danger beforehand. And this feeling of pride and pleasure compensated a little for the hatefulness of the whole bloody business. I hate war, I can’t stop thinking of the

friends and relatives of anyone who has been hit. I know the Germans. I have seen them do the most vile and frightful things. I know that they have destroyed millions of Jews and political opponents. But Ido not enjoy killing or wounding any one. Once I’m forced to fight, however, the whole affair becomes a matter of skill and a job that needs all my powers of concentration. Ino longer consider the effect it has on my opponent.”—This paragraph is reprinted from Arnhem Lift, Diary of a Glider Pilot, an eye-witness account of the famous landing of the Ist Airborne Division at Arnhem in September, 1944. The author is anonymous.