JAN 21, 19 (Part 3 of 3) .. SOME THOUGHTS ON WORLD WAR II AND RUSSIA

Below is a fascinating (at least to me) link about World War II and the battle between the German and Russia armies for the capture of / protection of Moscow :

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/battle-moscow-how-russia-stopped-nazi-germanys-military-23602

Notice in the above article the following :

Stalin had been reassured by information from Richard Sorge, a German living in Japan but working for Soviet intelligence, that the Japanese would turn south to fight the Americans and British instead of north against Siberia. He felt able to transfer 18 elite Siberian divisions, well-trained and well-equipped for operating in harsh winter conditions, by rail to Moscow.

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My very good friend, Tom Detroit Tiger Baseball Fan Par Excellence tripped my switch when he made the following comment to my Post of yesterday JAN 20, 19.

Hello Mr. Cap !! Caught up on all your posts & the photo blog as well. Especially enjoyed the WW 2 monument & WW 2 Museum. I was impressed that they had a memorial to the victims of Stalin.

To which I replied :

Russian friends of mine here say this : Hitler killed his enemies. Stalin killed his own people. Russia paid a terrible price in WWII, a price I am feeling as I traverse this land. When Germany invaded Russia, the German troops got all the way to Moscow. And then Tom, the weather in Moscow brutally froze overnight. The German military could not move their vehicles because they were frozen into the ground.

And then Tom, and then Mister Tom, here came the Russian Army. All the way to Berlin marched the Russian Infantry! It is a wonder that Russia let-up on their occupation of East Germany.

And we in the United States seem to think the Russians are the bad guys. That Tom I do not understand, but I DO UNDERSTAND Stalin was no friend in the final analysis. You got me started here Tom. YOU come here, you walk Russian soil with Russian people, and then Tom, maybe you too would be another American who actually feels the pain of WWII in Russia as felt by the Russian people!

Good on you Mister Tom and thank you for following us. Cap in Mariinsk, in RUSSIAN SIBERIA and proud of it. Patti in Anchorage, Alaska.

Then Patti joined in :

Reading about Stalin in Wikipedia, it says in 1939 the Soviet Union and Germany had a peace pact. Then, the SOVIET UNION invaded Poland. This was followed by Germany ending the pact and invading Russia, getting as far as Moscow before they were turned back successfully. Interesting facts …
Hmmmm. Patti

To which I replied :

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Several weeks later, Russia invaded Poland on September 17, 1939 to protect its Western front, Russia not wanting Germany to occupy all of Poland right up to the border with Russia. This (odd situation) campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty.

Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. The operation stemmed from Nazi Germany’s ideological aims to conquer the western Soviet Union so that it could be repopulated by Germans, to use Slavs (especially Poles) as a slave-labour force for the Axis war effort, and to seize the oil reserves of the Caucasus and the agricultural resources of Soviet territories.

And Russia paid a dear price for this invasion by Germany on September 22nd, 1941.

Somewhere back in time (June 24th, 1812) the French wandered into Russia. A book, War and Peace, was written about this invasion. I have heard that the French troops could not withstand the cold winter weather and? That was that! Russia kicked some ass.

Being here has been an education for yours truly! Much Love .. Cap

Then Gullible joined us :

My reading indicates Germany and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to divide Poland between the two countries. The Nazis staged events that made it appear the Poles were acting against German-speaking Poles. On that pretext, Germany invaded. Sixteen days later, the Soviet invaded Poland from the East. Germany eventually took all of Poland and kept going into the Soviet Union.

The Germany army reached within 3 km of Moscow. They broke off their first assault and headed for Leningrad in order to keep supply lines open. (St. Petersburg). The siege of that city lasted 872 days before it was lifted.

Cold weather halted the German’s second advance on Moscow and that’s when things went very, very bad for the Germans.

To which I replied :

Your words .. “Cold weather (I’m adding that it got to minus 45°F) halted the German’s second advance on Moscow and that’s when things went very, very bad for the Germans.” Truer words never spoken.

I quote : “By the end of November, German reconnaissance units were just 12 miles from Moscow, so close they could see the towers of the city through their binoculars. So close and yet so far. By the beginning of December, the thermometer had dropped to 45 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. It’s not true that the Germans were unaware of the Russian winter. But with limited supply capacity, priority was given to fuel and ammunition. Besides, who needs winter clothing if Moscow was supposed to be captured before General Winter struck?

When the counter offensive began on December 5, the Soviet armies punched through an enemy more scarecrow than human. German weapons were frozen, German soldiers were frozen, and sometimes the soldiers froze to the weapons. The survivors could only watch helplessly as the attackers, warmly clad in fur-lined jackets and boots, and camouflaged in white snowsuits, emerged like ghosts through the mist and snow.”

My words : And the Russian Infantry kicked ass all the way into Berlin!

All of this history is just fascinating to me who lived for over four years in West Germany from July of 1974 until October of 1978. This was during the ‘Cold War’ and we, the United States, were ‘at odds’ with Russia during this tense time. Now I find myself with an entirely different perspective about World War II and the war here on Russian soil.

Cap, fascinated by the history lesson!

• ← JAN 20, 19 .. ON THE RAILS AGAIN ..
• JAN 21, 19 (Part 2 of 3) .. IT’S A GAME .. BAIT AND SWITCH .. MARIINSK / МАРИИНСК RUSSIAN SIBERIA →