After WW2, did any German soldiers just return home without surrendering to the Allies first? Did the Allies try to find and arrest them?
This is the kind of truth the history books won't tell you about Hans's story. Not the kind of tale you want out of WWII, not the heroic, cinematic kind. No, this was survival and desperation and the choices that soldiers like him understood had to be made when they understood it was a war where they were nothing more than the cheeks of its grinding wheels. And he didn't die at the bitter end, slaying the same number of people as they had slain him, like any noble figure in a propaganda film. Just as many others, he deserted, to outrun the nightmare.
Picture it: It was treacherous weeks of travel dodging Soviet forces and living off whatever scraps he could find. But glory wasn’t the point anymore. It was about going home. That was the reality: His village, his home, had been in ruins. It wasn’t ending the way Hollywood describes it. Hans made it back, like so many didn't.
But it’s another story of what happened after. War torn Germany was not land of rebuilding and reconciliation. Shattered lives. That's what it was, desolate. But Hans rebuilt his life, with him talking very little about his experiences, other than being some heroic war survivor. Because why would he? You don’t gain valor just because you survived something you never wanted in the first place.
Many soldiers didn’t see the option of surrender. Instead, they deserted. No, they weren’t evil, just humans dragged through a system more concerned with its political agenda than the men it was sending to die. The real question is: Why aren't their stories told more. Because it's easier to pitch a story where soldiers are monsters or heroes, and anything in between makes the war a lot harder to swallow.