Posted on 06/12/2019 9:34:00 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Thankfully, it wasn’t for him to decide.
If the US and British had just waited to send an Army to France the Russians and Nazis would have fought to a severe stalemate. Russia had already defeated a significant Nazi Army by the time the US entered the war. Attrition by both of the engaging armies would have benefited the Brits, French, Eastern Europe, and the US.
Stalin is Hitler without sartorial splendor..
It’s a darned shame that Hitler didn’t get far enough to where Stalin would have been deposed and someone more reasonable took his place, and then rallied the Soviet Union to victory.
I am close to finishing Alexander Werth’s Russia at War, 1941-1945. Not my first book on the subject and I agree the Russians paid an awful toll in WWII. I don’t like the Soviet system and recognize that Stalin signed on with Hitler (for a variety of reasons). But having read these books it’s easy to see why the Russkies can be paranoid. And to say they just fell back to the Urals is wrong, see Leningrad, Moscow. Stalingrad and the Caucuses for examples.
Stalin and Hitler greatly admired each other. I believe Stalin’s cruelty showed Hitler what was possible, and ultimately led Hitler to believe that the Final Solution was a viable option.
“Well, Sergey, you soviets would know about “airbrushing”.”
And furthermore Sergey, the real truth of the matter was that at the time the Allies had no choice but to include your buddy Josef Stalin in the mix to secure a victory. And then there’s the partitioning of Germany for you Commies as “allowed compensation for your help.”
1. One in Volgograd to celebrate the defeat of the Germans in the Battle of Stalingrad.
2. One in the battlefield where the Battle of Kursk happened.
3. One just west of Moscow to show where the German advance at Moscow stopped.
4. One to honor the defenders of the Siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
Stalin wanted the war in the West, anticipating that the German, French and British armies would bleed each other dry, making the entire continent easy pickings for the Red Army.
It actually was a good thing France fell so quickly, leaving the Germans and English pretty much intact.
Many of whom, were killed by Stalin after the War. He was suspicious of anyone from Leningrad.
--Roy Acuff, from Advice to Joe
There is no doubt that the Russians killed the majority of German troops and destroyed more of the German war machine. The Eastern Front featured some the biggest battles of the war, including the Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history. It involved 6,000 tanks, 2 million troops, and 4,000 aircraft.
Over 7 weeks the Germans lost 110,000 dead, 1200 tanks, and 700 aircraft. The Soviets lost 250,000 dead, 700,000 wounded, 6,000 tanks and guns, and 2,000 aircraft. It was the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front. From then on the Soviets were on the offensive and the Germans on the defensive. The battle raged from July 5, 1943 to September 23, 1943. It was arguably the most important battle ofWWII.
“The German Army in fighting Russia is like an elephant attacking a host of ants. The elephant will kill thousands, perhaps even millions, of ants, but in the end their numbers will overcome him, and he will be eaten to the bone.”
- Colonel Bernd Von Kleist
Just as some Americans need occasionally to be reminded that the war did not start on 7 December 1941, some Russians apparently need to be reminded that it didn't start on 22 June, 1941, either. The brutal crushing of Poland was something that nobody should need to be reminded of, after all. Or its predation of Jews by both sides.
In fact, the Soviet Union was an ally of all of the major participants of that war at one point or another. I just alluded to the Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact but let us not forget the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of April, 1941, an agreement that the Japanese honored even while its merchant marine was being slaughtered by the U.S. More than half the U.S. supplies to the Soviets came through Vladivostok unmolested, even on U.S.-flagged ships. No, none of that is forgotten.
Over-crediting the Soviet effort and the works of such historians is currently (a sad) trend among a lot of disenchanted Americans who have lost any bit of pride in our history. It’s now trendy among CONSERVATIVES to REGRET our role in WWII and to BLAME our efforts in Europe for our current state of lefty globalism. And inherent in all of this is a lot of latent anti-Semitism as well, the downplaying of the Holocaust, etc...
To assess the USSR’s role, it’s important not to just zone in on the MILITARY and BATTLEFIELD dimensions of the war. (And even in those narratives, some pro-Soviet historians conveniently leave out the mass raping and savagery that often accompanied Soviet victories...)
Rather, it’s important to zone in on the context of the continent LEADING UP TO THE WAR. And from that standpoint, there is no way to leave the Soviet Union in a positive light.
They were just as responsible for inviting the carnage as they were in defeating the rival carnage-makers. (Which they also too helped set the stage for.)
There really is no difference between the evil of the Bolshevik legacy with that of the National Socialists of Germany. Period. Both threatened to swallow the continent and globe whole...And it’s because of America (however imperfect we may be) that that didn’t happen.
I have the highest admiration for the Russian people and soldiers, who defended their Motherland, in spite of their leaders.
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