Posted on 07/12/2013 10:09:00 PM PDT by cunning_fish
President Vladimir Putin participated in memorial events on Friday commemorating the Battle of Prokhorovka, fought by Soviet tank regiments near the town of Prokhorovka in the Belgorod region 70 years ago.
Putin and World War II veterans laid flowers at the Zvonnitsa memorial bell tower at the Prokhorovskoye Polye military-historical museum.
The Russian president also visited the St. Peter and Paul Church, where he lit a candle for the soldiers killed during the battle and venerated an icon.
The church's archpriest told Putin that the church was built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the battle.
The tank battle was fought in 1943 at a crucial moment in World War II.
Russian tank regiments inflicting irreparable casualties on the German tank forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the Belgorod region to attend ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Prokhorovka during World War II, the Kremlin press service reported.
The Battle of Prokhorovka took place on July 12, 1943 as part of the Battle of Kursk and is reckoned to be one of the major military events using armored vehicles.
During the Battle of Prokhorovka, Nazi forces were stopped from breaking through the Soviet Army's defense lines and capturing Prokhorovka.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.ruvr.ru ...
The Russian President honors those who fought and dies for the Russian people.
Too bad that worthless Kenyan sh1tstain in the White House could give a rat’s ass about our modern military, let alone our Valiant Veterans of past conflicts.
Too bad that worthless Kenyan sh1tstain in the White House could give a rat’s ass about our modern military, let alone our Valiant Veterans of past conflicts.
He hates them.
He may be only a slightly reconstituted commie, but the guy loves and reveres his country.
Can anyone imagine the Kenyan marching with Iwo Jima or Okinawa vets? Hell, I bet Putin can even keep cadence..........
Perfectly said, Conor.
F U B O!!!
President Putin does not appear to be wearing his Super Bowl ring.
A little known fact: in Dec. 1941-Jan 42 some 80% of the tanks-—and most of the heavy tanks-—defending Moscow were British and American. The best Russian fighter plane of 41-42 was the P-39 Airacobra, a plane the US didn’t even want.
Guy at work is a Russian Jew. His grandmother is in a nursing home in Moscow, and he went back to visit her. I think he sensed that I felt some concern about her care. He told me she was a World War veteran, a doctor in the Red Army, and the Russians take exceptionally good care of veterans of the “Great Patriotic War”. There are a lot of things about Russians not to like, but the individual Russian’s fighting spirit and doggedness and the respect and support shown by the following generations are exemplary.
BTW, you might find this youTube of Moscow’s 1945 victory day parade interesting, I found it oddly inspiring. The guy on the white horse at 1:05 is Zhukov, he had been a cavalry officer. I feel for the horse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtU3vUOa2sw
“We fought for the future, destroyed the invader,
and brought to our homeland the Laurels of Fame.
Our glory will live in the memory of nations
and all generations will honour her name.”
Those old guys flanking Putin have almost as many medals as John Kerry. Bet they earned theirs.
You have a reference for that?
In 1941 the Soviets had by far the largest number of tanks of any country, most of which were produced in country.
It seems really odd to me that in early 1942 huge numbers of British and American tanks would be in Russia. The Brits had their hands full elsewhere, and the US had just gotten into the fight, was desperately expanding and needed all the armor it could get for its own forces.
They had the biggest number by 1941 but most were absolete mid-1930s types, there were little to none fuel and people to man it. A majority of these tanks were abandoned and captured or destroyed.
Soviet military was in state of stagnation and decay 1937-1941 due to Stalin’s purges. I think some 95% of highest command were purged and more that half total officers. Soviets probably had the best technology and numbers in mid-1930s (for example their SB bomber were faster and flew higher than most German fighters intended to intercept it early in Spanish civil war) but in late 1930s armed forces were full of incompetent toadies, appointed for political reasons.
Winter War has shown the abilities of these new forces in full colors.
It wasn’t a Soviet air force that toasted Nazy in Spain and army that kicked the crap out of Japanese just a few years ago.
The problem is that period of their stagnation was also a period of major technological leap in both aircraft and tank design. Soviets simply slept through it.
I don’t know if 80% of tanks at battle of Moscow were of foreign make but there were a lot for sure.
Generally agree.
But Nomonhan, where as you say the Soviets kicked the crap out of the Japs, was in the summer of 1939, presumably just when the Red Army was most incapacitated by the purges.
The biggest Soviet problems with their armor in the early days of the war was not quantity or quality. It was support.
They had almost no provision made for refueling, reprovision or ammo supply. Maintenance did not exist.
So a tank group would go into battle, and promptly run out of gas and/or ammo or break down.
Hard to imagine anything more vulnerable than an out of gas tank.
The absence of such support was probably at least partially related to Stalin’s destruction of the officer corps. And something that should be remembered when US combat troops complained about the support troops not fighting.
>>>Generally agree.
But Nomonhan, where as you say the Soviets kicked the crap out of the Japs, was in the summer of 1939, presumably just when the Red Army was most incapacitated by the purges.<<<
Gen. Zhukov and his stuff was in a Far East, to far away to get busy killing him , unlike other old school generals like him.
I don't know how much armor the U.S. supplied to the soviets, but I've heard we did supply them with a huge number of trucks which were absolutely vital (as you just pointed out). This alone took a tremendous burden off of their manufacturing, allowing them to focus on building more tanks.
You are right. But I greatly doubt very many of those trucks had made it to USSR in January 42.
Sorry, I was just speaking in general terms, not specifically about the Battle of Moscow. I think the Murmansk Run started in Oct. '41, so your assertion is probably accurate. However, by the time of Kursk some of the following had certainly arrived:
"In total, the US deliveries through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 billion in materials: over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks); 11,400 aircraft and 1.75 million tons of food."
The Soviets had only 1700 tanks total after the first Nazi offensive that destroyed 10,000 tanks (!!), of which 670 were at Moscow and the arrival of 466 British tanks was a dramatic increase. Although Soviet factories did recover some, most of those new tanks were not at Moscow.
In general, also see our "Patriot's History of the Modern World, volume 1, chapter 5.
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