re: When did the German soldiers of WWII realize they were the 'bad guys'?

As people have mentioned a generation grew up with the Nazis rebuilding after WWI. These were the diehard fodder outside the core members. The old warhorses went along with the German profession because they were professionals but they had no love of the Nazis party or Hitler. Paulus infamously refused to die for the little colonel at Stalingrad and sent out an underling to negotiate surrender of the army and his capture.

One sub captain at least was relieved of command by his crew for taking down Hitler's portrait while saying there will be no idolatry here.

As for Britain, had Hitler not ordered bombing away from the RAF bases it would have knocked out the will. Instead attacking the cities gave the RAF breathing room and Churchill enough propaganda to stay in the saddle.

Berlin you had the Nazi youth, old men seeing annihilation, what remained of the military that hadn't moved west to surrender to UK and US, and the Charlemagne division. None of the fodder would admit they were bad, hell our own sub command stood up for Donitz at the trials.

Bless Zhukov for sending his boys to die instead of ours.

When they put on a uniform that had a skull and crossbones on it

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but I probably shouldnt be responding rationally to a LucasP post

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Yeah, he had to have known that

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That organized massacres took place doesn't change the fact that typical German soldiers were not privy to such policies or that the extermination camps were not deliberately kept secret.

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Regular Wehrmacht units were frequently attached to the Einsatzgruppen, either for logistical support or as active participants. If you were an ordinary soldier in Kiev, you certainly knew what was going on at Babi Yar. Was every Wehrmacht soldier an eyewitness? No, of course not. But plenty were.

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One of the first things the Nazis did was remake the education system. The adult population may have been willing to accept what benefits the Nazis initially provided, but you wouldn't find many true believers among them. However, by 1939 there was a generation of teen and twentysomething fanatics willing to fight to the end.

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Sounds familiar

When you say the "vast majority were not", where are you getting this ? There are books after books by credited historians & documents & documents from the Germans themselves who say otherwise. In the East, perhaps. But early on, in Poland, and then later on, the German Army did their share of mass murder. Catch AMC's series on WWII, there are interview after interview with German Army troops/officers & they all admit, in various forms, that they did their share of mass murder. Of course, they all blamed Hitler for it. There is absolutely no evidence that any German soldier or even SS was punished, let alone killed, for refusing to participate in mass murder. Himmler himself took note of the effect on his SS & made arrangements for those effected to simply be re-assigned.

Germans =/= Nazis.

This is like saying all of us 'Muricans are fricking assholes because of the libtards and SJWs.

As far as the OP's question, when you look at films of all the fanfare surrounding Hitler's parades or public addresses after 1936, do you actually see a country full of people gung-ho for him and his ideals? Cuz all I see are a shitload of normal folks SCARED SHITLESS to not APPEAR gung-ho AF.

How many attempts were made on Hitler during the war FROM German soldiers/citizens? How many were foiled before gaining headway- being ratted out by the same SCARED SHITLESS citizens hoping to gain favor with a madman?

Germany, as a country, was under no illusion for very long...by the time they realized just what they were dealing with, of course it was too late.

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MusclesofBrussels

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thank you. beat me to it

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When they put on a uniform that had a skull and crossbones on it

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Kinda like this?



or this



or this?



Here's a tombstone from a graveyard in Pass Christian, MS of a member of the predecessors of the Grim Reapers: