Author(s)

Claire Masiée

Department of History, Sociology, and Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

This paper argues that on both the Eastern Front and in Vietnam, the forces of authority, exclusionary order, and comradeship fostered conditions where atrocities became likely, compounded by the psychological “Diffusion of Disorder”. It examines these dynamics through the Wehrmacht’s war crimes and the Vietnam War’s My Lai massacre. While Nazi atrocities were often organized by SS units, ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers also engaged in violence against civilians, aided by legal and ideological sanction. Memoirs like that of Luis Raffeiner illustrate how duty and obedience justified acts of cruelty, though such testimonies must be read critically. Milgram’s obedience experiments, and later refinements showing that compliance stemmed from identification with authority’s goals, help explain these behaviors. Similarly, in Vietnam, young American soldiers fighting a guerilla war with little cultural understanding turned against civilians despite official U.S. aims to protect them. The massacre at My Lai revealed how authority, group identity, and structural pressures converged to produce extreme violence.

Eastern Front, Vietnam War, Wehrmacht, My Lai Massacre, War Crimes, Authority, Comradeship, Obedience, Diffusion of Disorder, Milgram Experiments, Collective Violence, Exclusionary Order, Soldier Psychology, Group Dynamics, Atrocity Studies, Comparative Warfare

Masiée, C. (2025) War Crimes: What Drives Soldiers off the Edge? An Examination of Atrocities Committed by the Wehrmacht and Vietnam Soldiers. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 13, 390-403. doi: 10.4236/jss.2025.1310022.