Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
Luckily I don't have such experience, but still I don't think that even a seasoned soldier would act like this. Senses go numb, of course, but I doubt that all military men are blood-thirsty maniacs.
I'm really not enjoying talking about that f**** crap, so I would only mention one obvious thing and I would prefer to discuss this no more. You see, if the peaceful villagers have contacts with partisans, once you leave the village, the partisans would very soon know you were there. And they would follow you. And attack at the moment you expect the least. That is one of the f***** rules of that f***** crap. So, from the moment you leave you should expect that to happen. Do you have the guts?

Quote Originally Posted by Ramil
Maybe it was only I who understood this story this way. But in my opinion the sergeant failed to satifsy the criteria of being human in robot's mind.
Yes, I agree with your interpretation of the story. Provided as-is it leaves a lot of room for the reader to perceive the shleps as pure victims. But what I said was the reality is often different. The one-side interpretation is adequate when the story is open-ended (from both sides).