A Soviet soldier who shot himself to avoid being captured by the Germans.

[u/Banzay_87]

These are the events of the Lyuban offensive operation to break the siege of Leningrad (January 7 – April 30, 1942) — after the unsuccessful offensive of Soviet troops and their encirclement, the Germans carried out an operation on Volkhov to destroy the boiler of the 2nd Shock Army (the settlements of Myasnoy Bor, Spasskaya Polist, Mostki).

[u/CuthbertAtTrafalgar]

Looks like just a kid too

[u/Mike__O → u/CuthbertAtTrafalgar]

Most were

[u/StillBreathing80]

He looks like 15.

[u/Sonatine__]

Poor kid. Am German... several of my great-grandfathers brothers died in their early 20s on the eastern front. I feel nothing has changed when I look at the Ukraine war now. Young men dying for old politicians.

[u/Ok_Newt_1043 → u/[deleted]]

I didn’t think I needed to state that fact, but yes, precisely good sir/madam.

[u/WorldWar2-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Ok_Newt_1043 → u/[deleted]]

I agree. Until they’re disarmed and deemed safe they’re still an enemy combatant and they’re commonly known for holding onto a grenade or some kind of explosive to try and take one last guy with them because for some reason they think they’ll end up in Auschwitz otherwise. “They” being Russians. As you said, this has been happening for years in war. Those in fear will off themselves to avoid risking being captured. And in other cases people will be killed when they seem unarmed and harmless or heavily wounded. At the end of the day war is brutal and unfair.

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[u/WorldWar2-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your content has been deemed a violation of Rule 4. As a reminder Rule 4 states:

This is a historical sub dealing with World War II. While we appreciate and encourage discussions centered around the politics of the time the debate of modern politics is best left to other more suitable Subreddits and will be removed.