The 12th SS and Paul Hardcastle

[Crossroads]

I was just re-reading Beevor's Normandy book and I thought I would post here for suggestions for good books covering the battles especially between the Canadians and the 12th SS, the Children's Division.

Children's division, as they were enlisted from boys born in 1926, average age of a soldier was thus 18. But then I thought about it this:

"In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26
In Vietnam he was 19"

(19, by Paul Hardcastle)

Obviously, a child sent to Vietnam was raised in a democracy, not under a constant propaganda of racial superiority and s**t like that. And not a child anymore, as he was 18 or older...

We still have a draft system in place in finland. Once 18, you need to visit the draft board and let them know whether you want to enlist now, or whether you for an example want to finish your studies first. Previously, it was possible to enlist already at the age of 17, but that was removed as Finland acknowledged the international law for not using children as soldiers. We laughed at that law change at the time. When you are young, 17 year olds seem to be quite mature already, right?

But the 12th SS child were all recruited at the age of 17...

I was 20 when I did my service, had some 17 year old kids at the time in my squad as well. At times, it was impossible to tell between 17 or 27 year olds... At other times they appeared clearly a lot more childish than say the "much" more mature 20 year olds. My conclusion from the performance point of view alone, however, was that the 17 year old kids mixed well with the older ones.

Still, looking back now, some 25 years later, I guess I would draw the line at the 20 years of age that I was at the time, for a combat soldier...

I am of course speaking as a civilian who has not needed to serve in any real confrontation.

So, what are your thoughts on Children's Divisions of then and now?