Why do aliens steal people? To study them? Dissemination through them among mankind of new knowledge, ideas? There is another version: the kidnapped earthlings become fighters of the "star infantry" and take part in intergalactic wars.
This story is from the category of tales, what is true and what is fiction, and in what proportions all this is mixed, no one will say for sure.
Angers Psychiatric Clinic
In August 1944, Anglo-American troops took the city of Angers (France). The list of city “attractions” included a psychiatric hospital for Wehrmacht officers. An American intelligence officer arrived at the hospital and demanded the personal files of the patients. He should have found out if there were any sick war criminals trying to escape from justice.
The officer was sorting through folders: a Luftwaffe pilot who had gone crazy from endless combat missions, a tankman who was miraculously rescued from a burning car, an SS officer whose roof had gone from mass shootings, an infantry captain … The American put this folder aside.
Strange patient
Promotional video:
Captain Norbert Goetz was arrested in August 1943 for fraternization with the enemy. The corporal who had “laid down” his commander reported with a report that he saw Captain Goetz meeting a Russian officer in the no-man's land at night and talking to him for a long time about something. The conversation was in a language unknown to the corporal, but not in Russian, the corporal could swear to that. He had heard enough of Russian speech and could distinguish it from another.
The captain was arrested, but instead of the penalty section he ended up in the Angers psychiatric clinic, where one of the most prominent French psychiatrists worked. The SS officers who delivered Goetz wondered if the infantry captain was sane.
In the case, the American found a medical report from the luminary of psychiatry: no signs of mental disorders in the patient are observed, from a medical point of view, Norbert Goetz is absolutely healthy.
Getz was kept in a separate ward, according to the magazine, visitors came to him several times, spending several hours in the patient's ward. Ordinary staff were forbidden to communicate with Goetz. The American ordered to deliver this "strange patient" to him.
The incredible tale of an infantry captain
A smart officer in a field uniform with a captain's shoulder straps and an Iron Cross on his chest entered the room. Sitting on the chair offered to him, he began his story in a tired voice. Each phrase was honed, it was clear that the captain was retelling his story for the hundredth time.
In the summer of 1942, as a reconnaissance platoon commander, he fought near Rzhev. July 30 received the task to find out the presence of enemy troops in the area with. Karmanovo. With the soldiers of his platoon, he advanced to the village, where he encountered the same Russian reconnaissance group. A fight ensued. The last thing he remembered was a Russian throwing a grenade at him. Spinning slowly, she fell directly at his feet.
Goetz woke up in a barrack-type room with bunk beds, where, besides him, there were several other German soldiers whom he did not know. A tall man entered and explained that the earthly war was over for them. All of them were taken from the Earth by representatives of other worlds a few moments before their death, and each rescued person is invited to enter military service in the army of the highest race.
Aliens, as it turns out, also fight, but the "cannon fodder" in their wars are representatives of "underdeveloped worlds." And the "masters" only send them into battle. After three years of service, everyone who has signed a contract (if he remains alive) can either return to Earth and there "miraculously escape" from death, or remain a colonist on one of the conquered planets.
Those unwilling to conclude a contract will be returned to Earth at the time of their death and will die. Goetz, like everyone else, chose to postpone his death and chose a contract.
In the training camp, recruits were taught to endure multiple overloads and weightlessness, to use weapons and equipment, the principles of which they did not understand. Most of all in the camp were Russians and Germans, although there were British, Americans and French.
Pilots and tankers were appreciated, from the infantry - snipers, scouts and fighters of elite units. All of them were "snatched" at critical moments: pilots from falling vehicles, tankers from burning tanks, infantrymen, like Getz, from battle in moments of imminent death.
The cadets were quickly trained in a new language, and the training battalion was commanded by an officer from the "host" race. Outwardly, he was no different from people, but whether it was his real appearance or some kind of metamorphosis, Goetz did not know.
Star Infantry
For three years Norbert served in the "shock infantry", whose task was to capture bridgeheads and hold them until the main forces arrived. Then he became friends with the Russian lieutenant. Getz was lucky, he miraculously survived. The Russian lieutenant too. At the end of the term, they both chose to return to Earth.
"The owners" kept their word: Getz woke up at night in the village. Karmanovo. An unexploded grenade lay at his feet. The captain made his way to his own people and fought with dignity for another year, not telling anyone about his service in the "star infantry". And if not for a chance meeting with a "comrade in arms" …
And then there was an attempt by the Nazis to recapture the city, a shell hit the clinic building, the patients fled. Many were found, but Norbert Hertz was missing. Apparently, the skills he acquired while serving in the "shock infantry" helped him escape. And the Americans were not very looking for the crazy infantry captain who had escaped from the clinic.