[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by davem

Yet, can we honestly imagine that none of the PBI in Gondor or Rohan felt that way?

Probably not. Generally, the commanders of the 'good side' seem to have been respected, admired, in some cases (like Beregond/Faramir) even loved by their soldiers; but we have one little scene where a soldier of Rohan expresses his doubt, or even distrust, of one of the Big Bosses (without fear of being informed on and punished!) - LotR Book III, Helm's Deep:

'What does that mean?' said one of the guard to Háma.
'That Gandalf Greyhame has need of haste,' answered Háma. 'Ever he goes and comes unlooked-for.'
'Wormtongue, were he here, would not find it hard to explain,' said the other.
'True enough,' said Háma; 'but for myself, I will wait until I see Gandalf again.'
'Maybe you will wait long,' said the other.

We may also wonder whether anybody bothered to tell the common soldiers who took part in the last attack on the Morannon that they were merely bait in a trap, with little hope of survival - and if so, or if they guessed the truth by themselves, how did they feel about it? Unfortunately, we're not told, but it would have been interesting.

Now to the Orcs.

if they are stupid & vicious as well we are forced to ask ourselves whether we could expect anything else, given that they are brought up without education, ambition, or hope for the future.

True; and this is still the most efficient method of reducing human beings to moral Orc-level. On the other hand (to take up WCH's point), if we suppose that the Orcs were sentient beings and not robots, does that not also mean that they were in some degree morally responsible for what they made of the starting conditions they were raised in, even if these conditions were admittedly bleak? How far did their corruption by Morgoth and Sauron actually go?
The sparse glimpses of the other side's perspective Tolkien offers us (not only in the Gorbag/Shagrat scenes, but also in the dialogues of Uglúk and Grishnákh in the Uruk-hai chapter) are very interesting in this respect. Among other things, they show us that the Orcs did believe in such values as honour and solidarity, just like the 'good guys' - but they also show us their utter inability to act according to these values, even in their dealings among themselves; rather they treated each other just as badly as they were treated by their superiors.
But how did they acquire any idea of such values in the first place? And if their inability to act on them is a measure of their corruption, does that mean they're not to blame? I don't think the Professor himself ever made up his mind about that.

But is he attempting to elicit sympathy for sentient beings in a hellish situation, or contempt?

A strange mixture of disgust and pity, I'd say - disgust at the result of the corruption they had undergone, and pity (as in Gandalf's 'I pity even his slaves') for the sentient beings who were thus corrupted.