Captured Soviet female soldier.

Captured Soviet female soldier.

Captured Soviet female soldier. 1941. Due to German belief which prohibited women from serving in the military, as well as the general anti-Soviet attitude of the Wehrmacht, an order was issued according to which all Soviet female combatants were to be put to death.

She appears to be a nurse. Female nurses were not considered combatants and were used by both sides, thus the Germans exempted them from that order. The order was made by Field Marshall Gunther von Kluge, commander of the 4th army. It was an illegal order and almost immediately rescinded by higher command. Given the Wehrmacht approach to rape however; these people likely faced quite a hell if they weren’t under the order.

In contrast, the only American female POW in German captivity was released within a few months from being picked up by the Nazis after the plane she was in crashed. Though she sufferred long term psychological effects following the ordeal, she was treated fairly well and even had her own quarters.

I have read book after book after book on the history of the German Army during WWII as well as focused my studies for my degree years ago on WWII and have always invested my time to this war and it still never ceases to amaze me the ignorance and archaic way of thinking in both the Soviets as well as the Germans during war. I understand war can bring the best and worst out in people but what amazes me is that the way of thinking all those years ago is what the soviets still have to this day. The Germans too at that time for all the wonderful art, music, and literature they had prior to this war for 200 years still shows how easily people can be brainwashed and how far they will carry out insane orders.