Russia in WWll

[Artfuldodger]

I LOVE reading auto-biographies of WW2 soldiers...especially from non-US soldiers. I've read the stories written by US soldiers, Australians, British, German, and Russian.

The most interesting to me was reading the German soldier's perspective on the war. It really makes you think about life basic humanity when you read about how they were just as scared as the allied soldiers were. As youngsters we learn about "the evil enemy" but when you contemplate the average joe-blow German soldier, they were just 18-20 year old kids trying to stay alive too.

Germans were so disciplined.....but they were scared witless of being captured by the Russians.

I agree, what can the average 18-20 year old do but to fight for his president or dictator, regardless of his political outlook. Then one has to put propaganda into this young person's mindset. Make the enemy the devil and his job as a fighting Christian soldier. If the enemy is less than human, it's easier to kill him. But when fighting evil sometimes this is necessary. Sometimes it is just political.

Somewhat related, I was reading about the US soldiers liberating the concentration camps in Germany. They were so mad and upset with what they saw that they rounded up the local towns people to view the camps. To see the death and corpses. Perhaps to feel shame, who knows.
Most of these viewers, to include women and children, said; what could we have done?
Maybe to a certain extent, they were victims of Hitler too. Maybe most of the young German soldiers were victims of Hitler as well.
That's one of the terrible aspects of war, two young groups of soldiers fighting for the ideologies of the few. Especially when the few are evil and most of their countrymen are oppressed.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

In what way did Hitler violate the pact?

Germany's defeat in WW1 (a two-front war in which Germany was fighting Russia in the east, and France and Britain in the west) taught them that they couldn't win such a war. So to Hitler signed a non-aggression treaty with Stalin prior to Hitler's expansion into Poland, Czecholslovakia, and eventually France, keeping the eastern front free so that Hitler could focus on the storm he knew would come from France and England.

He broke the treaty when he invaded Russia in an attempt to reach the oil fields in the south. Thus, Russia was drawn into the war.

 

[rayjay]

First off, Russia was our ideological enemy before WWII. During the war our liberal president adopted the idea 'the enemy of our enemy is our friend' which has been used many times since. In the long term it's NEVER worked out. We always end up eventually fighting and losing people to the enemies that we gave aid to. We never should have given Russia even one bullet. It was stupid in the long view. Germany could have never beaten Russia. Sending Lend Lease arms to Russia doomed eastern Europe to misery. Plus Russian soldiers were probably even worse than German soldiers when it comes to rape, murder and pillage. Read some about the Russian "liberation" of "Manchukuo".

China. All during the war CKS's main emphasis was hoarding lend/lease supplies and men for his real focus which was defeating Mao's forces after the Japanese were defeated by the US. He did lose a lot of soldiers fighting the Japanese while Mao mostly hid out and bided his time. During the Chinese civil war Mao got lots of supplies from the Russians, much of it our own lend/lease stuff. We did not assist CKS enough for him to win. There is also the aspect of graft and corruption that permeated CKS China. This meant much of what we sent them was diverted both during WWII and during the civil war.

Communism has been a scourge on the planet. Never forget that the current rulers of China are Chi-Coms just as in Korea. There has been no make over or lessening of their communist zeal. Their current aggressive warlike actions in the SCS show this.

As I have said before, Nixon was an idiot.

If you take up reading about WWII and wars after that I would caution you to try to find older books. There is lots of history revision going on. If you really want to make me furious [ cleaned up for language ] just call the Viet Nam war a civil war as you often see history revisionists doing nowadays.

 

[JSnake]

This is a very good read.

https://www.amazon.com/Russias-War-History-Soviet-1941-1945/dp/0140271694

It's hard to comprehend the scale of the battles and losses sustained by both sides on the eastern front. Also - there's a great multi-part podcast on this subject - Hardcore History by Dan Carlin - Ghosts of the Ostfront.

 

[rayjay]

How serious are you and how much time are you willing/able to dedicate to reading ? The pic below is some of what I've bought and read since about May. I can't afford new books so I get mine at used book stores, Goodwill and other thrift stores. Occasionally you can score at yard sales and estate sales. The county library is also good and free !!

I made a major score at Goodwill a few weeks back. Some awesome authors including Eddie Rickenbacker and Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

 

[rayjay]

I also forgot to mention Gary Francis Powers' autobio.

 

[Artfuldodger]

As far a Hitler breaking the pact, I think they were going to invade Germany so Hitler just beat them to the punch by invading Russia.

 

[king killer delete]

In what way did Hitler violate the pact?

Barbarosa , Hitler invaded the U.S.S.R 21, June, 1941

 

[king killer delete]

I agree, what can the average 18-20 year old do but to fight for his president or dictator, regardless of his political outlook. Then one has to put propaganda into this young person's mindset. Make the enemy the devil and his job as a fighting Christian soldier. If the enemy is less than human, it's easier to kill him. But when fighting evil sometimes this is necessary. Sometimes it is just political.

Somewhat related, I was reading about the US soldiers liberating the concentration camps in Germany. They were so mad and upset with what they saw that they rounded up the local towns people to view the camps. To see the death and corpses. Perhaps to feel shame, who knows.
Most of these viewers, to include women and children, said; what could we have done?
Maybe to a certain extent, they were victims of Hitler too. Maybe most of the young German soldiers were victims of Hitler as well.
That's one of the terrible aspects of war, two young groups of soldiers fighting for the ideologies of the few. Especially when the few are evil and most of their countrymen are oppressed.

To understand WWII you must understand WWI. I would read up on WWI. Hitler had fought in WWI as a unit runner. He was awarded the Knights cross and was wounded several times. When the war ended he was recovering from a gas attack in hospital when he found out that Germany had thrown in the towel. He felt that the German soldier had been stabbed in the back by Berlin. Also Hitler was not German.

 

[king killer delete]

Germany's defeat in WW1 (a two-front war in which Germany was fighting Russia in the east, and France and Britain in the west) taught them that they couldn't win such a war. So to Hitler signed a non-aggression treaty with Stalin prior to Hitler's expansion into Poland, Czecholslovakia, and eventually France, keeping the eastern front free so that Hitler could focus on the storm he knew would come from France and England.

He broke the treaty when he invaded Russia in an attempt to reach the oil fields in the south. Thus, Russia was drawn into the war.

Also Hitler said in Mien Kampf that German people would always need to move east.

 

[king killer delete]

When Germany went to war in WWI it had not been a state that long.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Did Stalin Plan to Attack Nazi Germany in July 1941?

Was Hitler or Stalin responsible for the outbreak of the bloody and destructive Nazi-Soviet War? The traditional Western and Soviet view was that Nazi Germany launched a sudden and unprovoked attack—Operation Barbarossa—on an innocent USSR on June 22, 1941. That interpretation views the Nazi- Soviet War as the result of unprovoked but planned Nazi aggression against a Stalin anxious to avoid a conflict. In sharp contrast stands Viktor Suvorov's (pseudonym for Viktor Rezun) article of 1985, and 1988 book Icebreaker, asserting that Stalin was preparing to attack Nazi Germany on July 6, 1941, invade Western Europe and communize it. In his Day-M book of 1994,

http://www.oocities.org/rf_mikael/rezun.html

I was reading elsewhere that Stalin was gearing up for an aggressive invasion of Germany. He was in the process of removing barricades in order for the invasion when Germany invaded Russia instead.
He was putting in place a very offensive front instead of a defensive front.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Also Hitler said in Mien Kampf that German people would always need to move east.

Lebensraum.

 

[king killer delete]

It would have taken Stalin another two years to wage that type war.Stalin would have gone to war with Hitler but when the war broke out he was not ready.

 

[king killer delete]

Lebensraum.

Exactly, I see you have read it to.

 

[king killer delete]

One thing to remember Stalin killed as many Soviets as Hitler did.

 

[king killer delete]

The World at War (1973–74) is a 26-episode British television documentary series chronicling the events of the Second World War.
You can watch it on Youtube for free.

 

[king killer delete]

The war in the U.S.S.R. was the greatest land battle the world had ever seen.

 

[king killer delete]

The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire (the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Heiliges Römische.
The Second Reich was the Hohenzollern Germany, from the unification of Germany following the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871) and crowning of Wilhelm I as German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles, with Otto von Bismarck as the first Reichskanzler, to the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1919 following the German defeat in the First World War.
It is common knowledge that Germany under Adolf Hitler (1933-1945) is referred to as the Third Reich.

 

[king killer delete]

The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government that had replaced the Tsar.