Posted on 05/05/2010 7:01:27 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Soviet commander admits USSR came close to defeat by Nazis
An interview in which a Soviet commander admitted how close Moscow came to defeat by Germany during the Second World War has been broadcast in Russia for the first time.
Published: 11:58AM BST 05 May 2010
The Soviet Union nearly lost the war in 1941 and suffered from poor planning, according to Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the frank television interview that has been banned since it was recorded in 1966.
Zhukov, the most decorated general in the history of both Russia and the Soviet Union, admitted that Soviet generals were not confident that they could hold the German forces at the Mozhaisk defence line outside Moscow.
"Did the commanders have confidence we would hold that line of defence and be able to halt the enemy? I have to say frankly that we did not have complete certainty.
"It would have been possible to contain the initial units of the opponent but if he quickly sent in his main group, he would have been difficult to stop," he told the interviewer, the Soviet writer Konstantin Simonov.
Zhukov also revealed details of his exchanges with Joseph Stalin, the wartime leader, in the interview broadcast on state-run Channel One.
In giving the reasons for the Soviet victory, Zhukov made no mention of Stalin, who was taken unawares by the Nazi invasion of Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
interesting!
Add Lend Lease. 750000 military transport vehicles,8000 Sherman tanks, 25000 locomotives,100 octane aviation gas,1000s of A20 attack planes ,P39s,P40s Hawker Hurricanes,diesel fuel, and the list goes on. No soft skin transport and the great Russian advances lose momentum and bog down. T34s sans accopnyiing infantry are targets for 88s and panzerfausts.No deuce and a halfs, no accompanying troops. If Soviet industry has to make up the motor transport, then fewer T34s are built. Without Lend Lease there are no dramatic Soviet offensives and the war stalemates in the East.
We would own the world!! lol
Actually,some people need to recognize that the American army fought only a small portion of the German army,and our men ,were not supermen either.
I concur with the poster that IF Hitler's army had defeated the Soviets the world would be a very different place today.
Ultimately it was Hitler's insanity that lost the war for the Germans:Hitler exterminated millions of loyal,or at worst indifferent polically,Jews who could have contributed mightily to an "ordinary" war effort,he failed to utilize the strong dislike of the Czechs,Ukrainians, and others and turned down the certainty of another 500,000 or more soldiers fighting against Red Russia...in all Hitler was NOT a brilliant leader,just a vicious demagogue bent on destroying those who didn't worship him.
I don’t think your analogy holds up at all. The allies were essentially exhausted by the time of the Bolshevik coup in November 1917, and yet with the addition of the doughboys in 1917, the allies were able to turn back the desparate gamble, and last ditch effort of General Ludendorf. Yes, we defeated the vaunted German army, even with the collapse of the eastern front precipatated by Lenin’s strategic surrender at Brest-Litovsk.
As for the Germans hooking up with the Japanese, a lot of good it would have done, since the Germans were essentially bled dry by the Russian red army, and would have surely faced unrelentless guerilla warfare from the partisans from the Urals to Vladivostock. And don’t worry about the Japanese, my father’s boys and the rest of the heroic American Navy, Marines, and Army service men in the Pacific theatre would have taken care of Japan, whether Hitler was able to resupply them or not.
That worked out well. lol.
The Germans were taken by surprise by the onset of the Russian winter in 1941. Plus Hitler's refusal to let them retreat from Stalingrad (winter 1942/43) was a major error.
That’s what I remember too.
I hope that Freep LS is lurking and will weigh in on this.
Wonder if Deep in the Hurtgen Forest will show up?
God directly intervened by providing two of the most brutal winters in history, even by Russian standards.
I would enjoy the good Professor’s take on the subject. It would certainly enhance the debate. Currently, I’m reading his “Patriotic History of the United States,” and I can’t put it down. Professor Schweikart has a great chapter on “Democracy’s Finest Hour 1941 to 1945,” and within this chapter there’s a subchapter entitled “Putting the Ax to the Axis.”
You can't have free will and God constantly stepping in to correct the mistakes at the same time;you can have a God who gave us the rules and commands us to do good yet gave us the free will to do good or ill,and who will judge the results in the end.
Did God intervene with Katrina?
Cool Site!
Add Lend Lease. 750000 military transport vehicles,8000 Sherman tanks, 25000 locomotives,100 octane aviation gas,1000s of A20 attack planes ,P39s,P40s Hawker Hurricanes,diesel fuel, and the list goes on. No soft skin transport and the great Russian advances lose momentum and bog down. T34s sans accopnyiing infantry are targets for 88s and panzerfausts.No deuce and a halfs, no accompanying troops. If Soviet industry has to make up the motor transport, then fewer T34s are built. Without Lend Lease there are no dramatic Soviet offensives and the war stalemates in the East.
great point...the T-34 gets all the glore but it was our motor-t (and other) that kept there army moving
That makes H’s opening up the Western Front so bizarre to me. I guess it could not be avoided following the invasion of Poland considering the treaties then in force. If I recall correctly, even the German high command was surprised France folded like a cheap suit. Seems to me like such a crazy gamble.
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