SS Lieutenant

The SS Lieutenant is a minor villain in the movie Fury.

Story
The lieutenant was the ranking SS officer in a small German town during World War II. Apparently a very fanatical man, he ordered the execution of several German civilians who refused to fight against the Allies, including several teenagers and children. This happened often during the end of the war as the Nazis were losing. Many of them, especially civilians, simply wanted to quit fighting and get on their lives. But fanatics accused them of "treason" and "defeatism" and executed them as examples to others.

While en route to the town, the crew of Fury, an American Sherman tank in World War II, came upon the grisly sight of the Germans hanging from telephone poles along the road, placed there on the lieutenant's orders. Newcomer Norman was appropriately shocked, but his war-weary companions, particularly Sergeant Don "Wardaddy" Collier, did not seem in the least bit surprised at the extent of the atrocity.

During the battle for the town, the lieutenant was injured somehow, necessitating the use of a sling for his left arm. The majority of the Germans, civilians and soldiers alike, hid in a building. The town's mayor came out with a white flag and pleaded with the Americans, and Wardaddy allowed the soldiers hiding inside the building to surrender. The majority of them were children from the Hitler Youth, including several girls.

Upon seeing the SS lieutenant filing out amongst the other surrendering Nazis, Wardaddy got a bad feeling. For unspecified reasons, he had a severe hatred of the SS but this officer in particular bothered him, likely because the man showed no emotion or fear unlike the other Germans. He came across as very machine-like. He asked the mayor who had been executing the civilians and hanging their bodies up, and the mayor immediately gave up the lieutenant. "Shoot that guy," Wardaddy ordered another American soldier named Angel. "The SS cocksucker with the busted wing."

Angel grabbed the lieutenant and dragged him over in front of Fury. Apparently, the officer didn't speak English as he did not seem to understand what was happening until it was too late. After making the German mayor move aside, Angel shot the lieutenant numerous times with his Thompson SMG, then looted his corpse.

Trivia

 * The lieutenant's execution despite his surrender is the second war crime committed by the Americans in the film. Unlike the first, though, a regular German corporal in the Wehrmacht, the lieutenant's killing was arguably justified (if not entirely moral) because he himself was a war criminal and child killer.