Children and War: World War II--Military Service

World War II child military service
Figure 1.--

Children were not only victims of the War, but also active participants in the fighting. All World War II combatant countries had conscription and voluteer regulations with age limittions. These limits varied from country to country and at different stages of the War. The two countris in which children and youth were most extensively involved in regular military service was the Soviet Union after the German invasion (June 1941) and NAZI Germany in the final years of the war. The Soviet Union did not formally induct boys into the Red Army, but as the Whermacht drove into the Soviet Union, large numbers of orphaned and displced boys attached themselves to Red Army units. German actions against civilns rsulted in massive casualties. Many children were both killed and orphaned. Joined the military was often the only option available and many also had a burning desire for revenge. A Hitler Youth SS Panzer division was forned with older Hitler Youth boys--a present for Hitler's birthday (April 1944). The other country extensively using chilren was NAZI Germany. The Germans made an mjor use of boys and male youth. Hitler as Soviet and allied armies were closing in on the Reich ordered the foration of an auxialry--the Volksstrum (October 1944). They were placed in the Whermachr order of battle. The Volksstrum was formed by conscripting of youth down to 16 years of age and older men up to 60 years of age. Reich Führer-SS Heinrich Himmler, as Replacement Army Commander, was charged with armament and training. In actuality they received little training and were poorly armed. Actually much younger chilren were thrown into battle. Hitler Youth boys were pressured to resist advancing eneneny forces. Boy below conscription age served in other combatant countries, but not in the masive numbers noted in the Soviet Union and Germany. Children were even more involved in the Resistance, because there was no legal conscription and this age limits. In addition children could be very useful for resistrance operations. Japan took a very diffrent aproach as the Americans prepard to invade. They adopted the Kesugo approach. They did not organize cvilians as a resiatce force, but rather to resist the Americans, with or without modern weapons. It was essentially a form of national suiside.

Combat Service

All World War II combatant countries had conscription and voluteer regulations with age limittions. These limits varied from country to country and at different stages of the War. The two countris in which children and youth were most extensively involved in regular military service was the Soviet Union after the German invasion (June 1941) and NAZI Germany in the final years of the war. The Soviet Union did not formally induct boys into the Red Army, but as the Whermacht drove into the Soviet Union, large numbers of orphaned and displced boys attached themselves to Red Army units. German actions against civilians rsulted in massive casualties. Many children were both killed and orphaned. Joined the military was often the only option available and many also had a burning desire for revenge. The other country extensively using chilren was NAZI Germany. The Germans made an mjor use of boys and male youth. A Hitler Youth SS Panzer division was forned with older Hitler Youth boys--a present for Hitler's birthday (April 1944). Hitler as Soviet and allied armies were closing in on the Reich ordered the foration of an auxialry--the Volksstrum (October 1944). They were placed in the Whermachr order of battle. The Volksstrum was formed by conscripting of youth down to 16 years of age and older men up to 60 years of age. Reich Führer-SS Heinrich Himmler, as Replacement Army Commander, was charged with armament and training. In actuality they received little training and were poorly armed. Actually much younger chilren were thrown into battle. Hitler Youth boys were pressured to resist advancing eneneny forces. Boy below conscription age served in other combatant countries, but not in the masive numbers noted in the Soviet Union and Germany.

Mascots

World War II was a massive cataclism that affected virtually every part of the world in on way or another. And because of the intensity of the War and the genocidal policies of German and other Axis nations, many more civilians than combatant were killed. While children were the most vulnerable, in many cases it was the parents who were killed or transported for forced labor. As a result, Europe and Asia were awash with tens of thousands of orphaned children in desperate need. The soldiers who waged the war could not help but be affected by the plight of civilans. This was less true of the Axis countries because of the racist policies of their Governments and goals of destroying whole nation states and policies of ethnic cleansings. Some of the children, always boys, attached themselves to groups of soldiers. This was discouraged by higher command, but it did occur. There were several instances of this. We know more about the U.S. Army that other armies. It was most noted in Italy, probably the United States beginning wuth the invasion of Sicily (July 1943) was committed in Italy for nearly 2 years. This did not occur in France, probanly because combst operations were confimed primarily to 3 months and few French children were separated from their parents and a French Government was quickly organized by DeGualle. (During World War I, men of the American Expeditionsry Force which spent more than a year in France adopted a number of French boys.) There were also many examples of this among U.S. servicemen serving in the Paific. There was also some noted mascots adopted by the Germans, mostly children they believed to be ethnic Germans. One of the most famous World War II was a Jewish boy taken in by a Latvian working for the Germans. hile Axis soldiers took in mascots as well, there were differences beteen the Allied and Axis mascots. The Axis soldiers tended to taken in people like themselves, such as ethnic Germans in the East. There were before the War, substantial German minorities scatterd all over Eastern Europe. There was some sympathy for the Germans, eoecially in the Baltics and Ukraine. We note several examples of boys attaching thenselves to the Germans from the photographic record compiled by German soldiers. A few of these children were actually Jews. One example was a Latvian boy. The American soldiers took in local boys which some times were very different ethnically such as the boys in the Pcific.After the War there was a desire of many of the men if the children cold not be reunited with family to adopt them and bring them home. The Italian boy here is a good example. There were movies made on this subject. The best known is 'Europa, Europa' (1990). An American film and comic strip was 'Dondi'.

Resistance

Children were even more involved in the Resistance, because there was no legal conscription and this age limits. In addition children could be very useful for resistance operations. The largest and most effectibe Resistance Movement was and children played an important role in the Soviet Resistance.

Civilian Combat: Japanese Kesugo

Japan took a very diffrent aproach as the Americans prepard to invade. They adopted the Kesugo approach. They did not organize cvilians as a resiatce force, but rather to resist the Americans, with or without modern weapons. It was essentially a form of national suiside. The Emperor and the Japanese military were determined to resist. Emperor Hirohito approced the strategy of Ketsugo (January 1945). This was part of the overall strategy of bleeding the Americans to force a negotiated peace. Ketsugo meant self defense, As a national defense policy it meant preparing civilans to fight an American invasion. It was a refinement of Japan's Shosango victory plan which envisioned defending the home islands to the last man. The plan was to prepare the Japanese people psychologically to fight the Americans and die defending their homeland. There was to be no surrender, even civilians were not to surrender. Some Japanese sources claim that Japan was defeated and ready to surrender. Such claims are starkly disproved by what happened to civilians on Okinawa. The military there actively prevented civilians from surrendering and incouraged civilians to kill themselves. Ketsugo went a step further. It involved training civilians to actively resist an American invasion. The plan included training children, boys as well as girls, to fight with improvised weapons. The military began implementing the strategy of Ketsugo (April 1945). Soldiers were assigned to schools to train even primary-level children in the use of weapons like bamboo spears. I am not sure how widespread this effort was and how intensive the training.







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Created: 6:21 AM 2/28/2015
Last updated: 6:21 AM 2/28/2015