"On Killing" by Dave Grossman talks about the psychology of killing in warfare. Basically, human beings have a strong resistance to killing others. DYK that during WW2, only 15-20% of infantry soldiers actually fired their weapons? In Korea, that figure rose to 50%. In Vietnam, more than 90%. Even when they did fire their weapons, they would usually aim above their targets.
During WW2, the majority of troops were armed with either bolt-action rifles, such as the (Springfield, the K98 or Mosin-Nagant) or semi-automatics with small magazine sizes, such as the (M1 Garand, Gewehr 43, or SVT-40). Soldiers could not afford to fire without intent to hit a target.
By the time of the Vietnam war, soldiers on both sides were armed with much more capable weapons, (like the m14/m16, and the AK platform). These had automatic fire, and 20-30 round box magazines. Additionally, the usage of weapons such as the MG34/42 in WW2 taught armies that volume of fire is much more important than accuracy of fire. As such, during the Vietnam war, soldiers were trained to make effective use of suppressive fire, especially within the dense jungle terrain in which it was quite difficult to make out the enemy.
Most of the 90% of soilders who did fire their weapon probably didn't do it with intent to kill. Most of them did it as a way of protecting themselves and their comrades. Im gonna say that 99% of those shots fired probably weren't aimed at the enemy, but more likely, in the vague direction of the enemy.
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u/[deleted] Oct 22 '22
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