interesting!
It’s true; Stalin was caught flatfooted, and early on didn’t want any decisions about the conduct of the war to be made at lower levels. One thing that I credit Stalin is, unlike Hitler, after a few million lives were lost due to his own stupidity and paranoia, he stepped back and let those who knew what they were doing fight the war. His “Patriotic Armies” literally evaporated under the early Nazi assaults. Ten or so years ago an eyewitness account of the death (as a POW) of Stalin’s son in German captivity emerged, but hey, Stalin executed some other members of his own family, so...
WWII winters were especially cold, however, and despite the use of methadone to alleviate the pain of the extreme temps, the German offensive stalled in that first winter. That was in part because the machinery froze, but also because the Russian waves of attack continued, for example the area around Lake Ilmun, and some of those old German veterans (who survived) used to smile and say that the winter battles of 40 and 41 were some of the greatest times of their lives. Weirdos.
Stalin was putting constant pressure on regarding the extension of Lend-Lease to the USSR, and FDR got that passed with some difficulty. Molotov was sent east to meet in secret with Japanese diplomats, and returned with nothing in writing, but stated to Stalin that he believed the Czar-era treaty with Japan would hold. Stalin ordered all the Red Army assets moved to the western theater; the trains would literally roll back completely empty to pick up another load. Suddenly there were 70 fresh divisions chucked into the turmoil.
The various factories producing the necessities of war were mostly torn up and moved east of the Urals, to keep them out of the range of the Nazi air and ground attacks. I believe the Lend-Lease deliveries were mostly via the Arctic Ocean and via air, but some may have been moved to that big eastern port, I forget the name. It would have been a gamble, it seems to me, after December 1941, to go that way, so prior to that time, perhaps a good bit did arrive via that route. Others will no doubt know this.
When the Germans first arrived in the Ukraine, they were greeted as liberators, because of Stalin’s various purges and pogroms, and the nationalization of agriculture. That impression didn’t last, imagine that. There was at least one Ukrainian Waffen SS unit, and perhaps Byelorussian as well. Those who survived the war fled to the west. The 1st Ukrainian and 1st Byelorussion armies of the Red Army were given the coveted task of taking Berlin in 1945. The taking of Berlin cost 100s of 1000s of lives in the Red Army, it was very likely the most vicious urban battle of the war, though not the most costly in lives.
So, yeah, he ain’t lyin’! Zhukov kinda got the cold shoulder after the war, because he wasn’t a career politician. I believe he was on the panel that tried and condemned Beria, Stalin’s former go-to guy for gettin’ crap done and a mass-killer in his own right. For six months or so after Stalin’s kinda sudden demise (heh heh) Beria and Khruschev struggled for the succession. One of the blatant lies about Zhukov was that he never lost a battle; it all depends on whether one considers the entire area under his command to have been one years-long battle. :’) He had the right idea, which was based really on the German approach in both WW — massive superiority in firepower. The Battle of Kursk, which broke the Wehrmacht and started its constant retreat to annihilation, was Zhukov’s masterstroke, not least because Hitler’s personal involvement in its planning gave Z enough time to prepare.
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Thanks GeronL. |
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