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This article brought back fond memories of my uncle Rudy. He was 18 years old when he enlisted in the Wehrmacht in 1940. In 1941 his unit was part of the German forces that invaded the Soviet Union.
In August of that year he was wounded by shellfire near the city of Smolensk. His infantry company which started the invasion with about 200 men was down to 120 that month.
He returned to Russia in October and took part in the fighting near Moscow, where in November he was again wounded, by gunfire. He spent 2 weeks of recuperation in the rear and was back with his unit in December, just in time for the Russian counter-offensive outside Moscow. By March of 1942 his company was down to 65 men. In 1943 he received his third wound while fighting in the Ukraine. To make a long story short he was captured by the Russians in 1944 and not released by them until 1950.
He eventually emigrated to the US in 1953. He always considered himself lucky to have only been wounded three times since many of his comrades had been wounded five or more times, in Russia.
I still recall the arguments between him and my uncle Patty who served in North Africa and Italy. But the moral of the story was that his story was not uncommon for a German serviceman during those days.
There's no comparison between today's German men and their fathers and grandfathers.

Great story.
Have many like that in my family. Both German, and American sides. Lol.
Dated a girl back in the 90’s who’s father was brought here as POW in ‘42
captured in Africa.
He was a Stuka Pilot shot down 5 times! Lucky guy to have been finally captured by the Americans.

My old landlord in Germany was in the 26th Infantry in Russia, walked the same ground with your uncle Rudy I think. Those old guys would never have put up with Merkel and her policies.