in strategy games you usually have troops at the frontline whose sole purpose is to die fighting to buy you time to execute your plans or to protect stronger troops. is this something that happens in real life / used to happen before, if so what are the logistics of it, do the troops know that they are most likely goona die, etc..
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During WWII, Japanese Kamikaze pilots intentionally flew their planes into Allied ships, killing themselves in the process.
They lifted off with the understanding that they would die. Those that were reluctant were chained to their seat to prevent bailing out.
The Soviet Union employed penal batallions which were tasked with particularly dangerous assaults and accordingly suffered high casualty rates. Contrary to popular belief, the Soviet Union did not employ human wave tactics except in a few isolated instances in which they had little choice.
Nazi Germany had its own penal batallion which was filled with violent and sadistic criminals. This batallion was often tasked with pacifying civilians, often by murdering them, because Wehrmacht and SS units refused to fight alongside them, and would in some instances fire at them.
Nazi Germany and Great Britain constructed human torpedoes. These were not suicide weapons in that the operator was intended to survive, but in practice that rarely occurred.
Russia is currently employing prisoners as unskilled shock troops intended to expose Ukrainian positions. They’re sent toward Ukrainian positions in a poorly coordinated attack in order to draw fire.
Japanese Kamikaze pilots are the only example that I can think of where the combatants death is a certainty.
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