Date
3-2025
Department
History
Abstract
WWII was the bloodiest conflict in all of human history, the study and research of the war, events leading up to it, and the post-war world are covered extensively. Through all the historiography relating to WWII, the everyday American soldier who fought on the frontlines is underrepresented in the historiography, a vast majority of works look into high-level generals, key political figures, and major battles and campaigns. This paper looks into the attitudes of those everyday American soldiers who did the brunt of the fighting and what their feelings were of the average German soldiers they were sent to fight and defeat. This study relies on the memoirs of Charles L. Foreman, his memoirs are accounts of himself and other junior enlisted soldiers in his battalion who participated in the Western European theater. The study also uses other primary sources of American soldiers and documents published by the United States Government that were disseminated to their soldiers. Through an analysis of these sources, it shows that everyday American soldiers were either empathetic or indifferent towards the average German soldier, as long as they abided by the written rules of war and a set of unspoken rules of war. This paper allows us to gain a larger understanding of how the war was conducted on a personal level, it was these everyday soldiers that won the war, and studying their actions will contribute to the historiography of WWII.
Recommended Citation
Larson, Christopher R., "Do Empathy and Compassion Outshine Hatred? The Attitudes of American Soldiers Towards German Soldiers During World War II." (2025). HS 390 Primary Research Papers. 10.
https://commons.nmu.edu/hs_390_primary_research_papers/10