This standard version of history does not incorporate information from the Soviet archives, which shows that the Soviet Union had amassed the largest and best equipped army in history. The Soviet Union was on the verge of launching a massive military offensive against all of Europe. Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union was a desperate preemptive attack that prevented the Soviet Union from conquering all of Europe. Germany was totally unprepared for a prolonged war against an opponent as powerful as the Soviet Union.
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Then, Russian winter in the Father land.
ReplyDeleteRick
Not pleasant.
DeleteStalin decreed that The Soviet Union would not honor the terms of the Geneva Convention and captured German soldiers would be shot. Hilter answered in kind saying Russian soldiers would be treated likewise. The Germans did hold more in captivity in the early stages of the war using most as slave labor (farm workers, logging, sawmilling, road gangs, etc.). Early on the Russians killed most Germans below the rank of non-coms after brief interrogations. It was only later and afterwards that German soldiers were kept alive in significant numbers. Most of these were used as slave labor. Very few ever saw Germany again. I read a biography once of a young German soldier who stated that surrender to the Russians usually meant a small brown hole in the back of the head. As and example, between 120,000-200,000 German soldier surrendered at Stalingrad. After the war fewer than 5,000 were ever returned to the Fatherland.
ReplyDeleteEarly on the Russians killed most Germans below the rank of non-coms after brief interrogations.
DeleteDidn't know that. Thanks