My grandpa mentioned when he was on the front, they had to tie thier boots a very specific way.
He recalled one night, he could feel someone running thier fingers over his boot laces. I guess they were really good at sneaking around at night, and if they weren't sure if they'd found friends or foes, they would check the boots. If they were tied like Germans, they had some kinda throat slitting knife.

That's exactly what he described! That big curved blade!
He was very fond of those dudes. Vicious in battle but very disciplined and overall good guys.
There were a few OTHER groups he fought with who he was not a fan of. In Italy, he was issued a Thompson and given orders that if he came across any allied troops trying to rape, to just mow them all down.
War is fucked up.