I know this is a really stupid question but say a soldier was killed in battle, would a soldier (maybe the one that was standing next to him) take his spare ammo or ciggarettes or anything else valuable, or would he leave that stuff alone out of respect. sorry if I wasted your time asking such a dumb question.
"War is hell, but war is also mystery and terror and. In truth war is also beauty. You stare out at tracer rounds unwinding through the dark.The fluid symmetries of troops on the move. The sheets of metal-fire down from a gunship, the illumination rounds, It's astonishing. You hate it,yes, but your eyes do not. Any battle or bombing raid has absolute moral indifference- a powerful beauty. and a true war story will tell the truth about this, though the truth is ugly.
Ammo was taken for sure, bread and cigarettes.. Personal stuff, such as watch or wallet (that's pretty much of the personal stuff any reasonable man would carry on the battlefield) were left alone. If it was impossible to recover the body (while retreating or on a mission behind enemy lines) the personal stuff would have been stripped and sent to the mourning family (as there was no body to bring home).
Of course, different nations had different points of view. Russians couldn't have cared less for their dead. Still, as Russians advanced on the Finnish front, they were amazed as there seemed to be only a few Finnish bodies despite the heavy fighting just half an hour ago.. Finns took their dead with them..
