A lesson from WWII from Spearhead

Just finishing "Spearhead" by Adam Makos. Excellent book. The ending is distressing because the war in Europe is basically lost in mid 1944, but the Nazi party tells the army to fight to the death.  

In the Battle of Cologne, the Nazi party leaders tell the tank crews to continue fighting against encroaching Allies, and that they, the Nazis, would hold the last bridge for the tankers to escape and then blow up the bridge. The tankers are surprised when the Nazis blow the bridge right after the Nazis exit, leaving the soldiers stranded with orders to fight to their death.

A quarter of all deaths in the Reich happen in the last part of the war when the leaders know the war is lost, but keep throwing away the lives of its soldiers and civilians.

It is vitally important that a country's leaders put their citizens' lives above their own political ends. Sadly in the US this is not always the case.