[Yardstick]

It is honorable to refuse to surrender, and to fight for your country.

But in doing so you accept the possibility that you will be killed, which is what happened.

And the repeated offer of surrender is not just nothing. It changes the moral logic. Did the Germans who machine gunned the lifeboats offer the possibility of surrender first? I'll bet not. Therefore Forrest is not like the Germans.

And unlike Malmedy it wasn't a case of slaughtering prisoners.

So I guess I'm not sure you have a point.

[Leaning Right]

But in doing so you accept the possibility that you will be killed, which is what happened

You accept the possibility that you will be killed in action, but not that you will be simply murdered.

And unlike Malmedy it wasn't a case of slaughtering prisoners

It actually depends on the motivation. If Forrest shot those men only because they were trying to escape, then Fort Pillow wasn't like Malmedy.

But if Forrest shot them because they had earlier refused to surrender, or because they were Negro troops, then yep, it was a Malmedy.

I suppose it boils down to this: did Forrest order the shooting of the men who had surrendered and weren't trying to escape? To this day, that question is being debated.

[ansel12]

And the repeated offer of surrender is not just nothing. It changes the moral logic. Did the Germans who machine gunned the lifeboats offer the possibility of surrender first? I'll bet not.

My dad said that his Light Cruiser spent about 90 minutes trying to talk some Japanese survivors to surrender and come on board, but with no success, so they machine gunned them and got back under way.