Posted on 09/29/2014 2:49:58 AM PDT by wetphoenix
The Soviets had beaten the Japanese in border skirmishes in the 1930s; they knew of their limitations. They weren’t much of an ally, just an outstretched hand asking for weapons and supplies; they took their pay for fighting at the end of the war by grabbing eastern Europe and far east territories.
I don’t have Netflix; I may have seen it on Starz? (we have some promotion for free channels for a bit - I have expanded basic cable). The opening scene you describe in “Enemy at the Gate” is the most honest portrayal of the Soviets I’ve ever seen; a refreshing change from the nonsense propaganda (though it is implied that the HQ listens to the commissar and mends its ways).
Poles are a great example of the West’s hypocrisy at the time; France & Britain declare war against Germany for invading western Poland, but ignore the Soviet’s simultaneous invasion of eastern Poland. At the end of the war, Poland is lost anyway (to a communist occupier instead of a Nazi one); Churchill knew Britain had been had. France, realizing it was all a hoax, simply sat out the war.
I believe I’ve seen that earlier one; I agree it was better. Was that the one with graphic frostbite scene on the guy’s feet?
Absolutely; many eastern Europeans point that out (having tasted it firsthand). They were forced to choose between two devils (Hitler & Stalin), and neutrality simply wasn’t an option available to them. After the horrors of the Spanish Civil War became known (it ended in 1939), many opted for Hitler.
The United States had just finished supplying the Soviets with over a hundred American built landing craft at a base in Alaska to be used by the Soviet Red Banner Fleet in the Far East. The U.S. Coast Guard had just finished training the Soviet crews in the use of these American landing craft. The proposed Soviet invasion of Hokkaido was limited to regimental strength in the planning due to this limited number of landing craft and amphibious craft, much of which was already being committed to the Soviet amphibious operations in the Kuriles and Sakhalin Island.
The Soviet-Japanese campaign was far more than just some kind of opportunistic smash and grab operation. The Russians and Soviets had been fielding armies in Manchuria, China, Mongolia, and Korea since the Russian Empire. An entire Soviet air fleet was engaged in clandestine air campaigns in China in support of the Communist Chinese armies since the 1930s. So, the Soviet campaign in 1945 was long planned and well prepared.
Apparently the Soviet campaign was designed to allow the Japanese to concentrate as many troops as possible where they could kill Americans and British troops.
“This little piece of pro-Russian feel good propaganda for the Russians does nothing whatsoever to makeup for the Russian seizure of tens of thousands of British Commonwealth and American POWs in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War only to be murdered or sent to their deaths in the Soviet Gulag/s of Russia. It would be unfortunate for Russia if any of the remains of these missing British and American POWs were ever to be publicly discovered in the mines of Donetsk where many of them were used as slave laborers for Russia.”
Well said.
Once they are all gone our country (schools) will forget their sacrifice and what they did for us. We are already seeing signs of repeating poor policy decisions of the 30’s.
Back during the war itself they were showing films like this to Americans to convince them the Soviets were like Americans with a different language - just silly....................... LOL, We were doing the same here, watch “Mission to Moscow” “North Star” “Days of Glory” and “Counter-Attack”, we made Russian Propaganda films for the American audience. Needless to say, as a child, I like them, but in retrospect, I now see through them for what they were. The Russians also held our B 29 pilots as prisoners in eastern Russia. B 29’s that were damaged flew there after the raids on Japan because they couldn’t make it to their bases. That’s how Stalin got his Tu 4’s.
I’ve mentioned “North Star” on related threads; absolutely criminal deception. I never saw them as a child, so I always saw them for what they were; in my area there were plenty of Eastern Europeans who could tell you the truth about Stalin. Just calling them “Russians” instead of “Soviets” is a disservice to their millions of victims; I still refer to “mainland” China as Red China.
As far as the bomber crews, I believe the USSR was required to intern them (because they were neutral in the war between the US & Japan).
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