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Originally Posted by katana
Dmitry, if a soldier refused to fight, for any reason, he would be branded a 'coward' or 'deserter' and excecuted by firing squad.
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This is true regarding one soldier, a platoon, perhaps a company.
However, when the whole French armies refused to fight, leading to the coordinated massive strikes in France, and effectively brought the country and the French government onto its knees.
Same thing happened on the Eastern Front, when the Russian soldiers, demoralized, cold, hungry, and sick, dropped their weapons, and left the trenches in droves, hundreds of thousands of them.
Going back to the Christmas cease fire - we cannot possibly comprehend what went through the minds of those people, and what it meant for them. For us, it's just an anecdote.
Then the moment of clarity
Faded like charity does...