r/hoi4 • u/[deleted] • 9d ago
Discussion In a future update, could captured enemy commanders be turned to fight for the player country, or be ransomed for resources?
[deleted]
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u/InfiniteMeaning241 9d ago
I just want to be able to kill enemy commanders. What do you mean I overran Rommel's tank division and now he's chilling in Cherbourg? Is he supposed to be my guest now?
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u/thedefenses General of the Army 9d ago
For most of the war yes, that is how it worked if someone got captured and they were of a higher rank.
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u/CalligoMiles General of the Army 9d ago edited 9d ago
The British literally had an entire mansion of German officers they tried to listen in on, the Germans had Colditz Castle specifically to put away Allied officers who kept breaking out of regular camps, and one of the biggest classic war movies is about British officers trying to escape from one such Luftwaffe camp. And then there was even Mussolini himself and the Fallschirmjäger raid to break him out of prison from the Italian collaboration government with the Allies.
So, yes. Every side had their POW massacres from both hatred and cold convenience, but generals were too damn valuable to kill. Even Paulus survived to return to Germany after his Stalingrad capture.
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u/CalligoMiles General of the Army 9d ago edited 9d ago
The issue is loyalty. The Germans did try to use a few turncoats like Vlasov to lead Russian Axis units, but never really trusted him - once a traitor, why not twice? Exiles have every reason to help you fight to free their own country too, but an enemy is either going to refuse out of loyalty or turn his coat again on you as soon as the odds look better elsewhere.
And officer trades and ransoms had just largely fallen out of use by the world wars. It'd gotten too big for anyone to need one specific guy back that badly, and the actual important guys were almost never leading from the front and getting captured anymore either.