Soldiers were pawns of fascist dictators.

Still are.

"...many if not most of these soldiers weren't 'Germans'."

My father was in the second wave landing on D-Day. Not far inland he came upon a German-made jeep with dead German soldiers; they were wearing German uniforms. He stole that jeep, picked up other Americans, and drove to confront the Germans. Although he never spoke of it, he received a metal for his acts of bravery.

"Soldiers not German"?
If I were conscripted and forced to fight in those bunkers that day, I would think I would have had a choice. I would have turned my weapons against those forcing me to be there, the GERMANS. And I would have put my hands in to the air when facing the Allied Forces.

How could that not have occurred to any thinking person, especially when facing sure death, because what would they have had to lose?