Stalingrad WW2 collectables

OneBarfly said:
For balance, please know that my Grandfather on my father's side died in a German concentration camp for his political beliefs. Not everything is just black or white.
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No problems on my side ...

do not blame Germans in general ... way into the history ... but there are heroes and heroes ...

And I remember what Uncle Joe said: "Hitlers do come and go; German people stay" .
 
SLToronto said:
Of course, it's June 22nd coming ...
Putin with the country of just 140 millions, the military budget of less than 10% of the USA's, with hundreds of missile bases around his country is planning to attack NATO tomorrow ...
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SLToronto said:
A hero? In 42?

Please have a close look at his photo collection ... may be there's a photo of my Grandma being hanged in July 41... for treating wounded ...
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And the Russians took my relatives, the Volksdeutsche of Ukraine and threw them in gulags or just onto the frozen steps of Siberia after throwing cold water on women and children. Point being? My point is the Soviets weren't benevolent victors, quite the opposite. And Putin? What?
 
Recce21 said:
And the Russians took my relatives, the Volksdeutsche of Ukraine and threw them in gulags or just onto the frozen steps of Siberia after throwing cold water on women and children. Point being? My point is the Soviets weren't benevolent victors, quite the opposite. And Putin? What?
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Point being - you just essentially stated - Soviets = Russians ... I guess there were much more Russians (including my relatives) in Soviet Gulag than anybody else
 
A different twist to add,,on who treated who poorly. Between my bud and his best friend, their experiences from talking to Stalingrad vets and relatives was this... The Germans were respected as more civilized than the other Axis allies. The Hungarians and Romanians were seen as the devils,, no mercy to them, as they were viewed as savages plundering and raping their way across the USSR. How true is this? No idea, just going on word I heard from over there.
 
05RAV said:
This is quite debatable. There is a very interesting book titled "Icebreaker" by Victor Suvorov (a real name: Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun; he was a Soviet intelligence officer who defected to the West). In his book, he gives pretty strong arguments/historical facts that the Soviet Union was ready to invade Nazi Germany-controlled territories in July 1941. Hitler was faster and "broke the ice" which in a long-term allowed the Soviet Union to dominate Eastern Europe for nearly 50 years. I think that in history nothing is "black and white".
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The Soviets were definitely not in the position to invade German held territory in 1941 given that paranoid Stalin had just butchered most of the officer core in 36'-38'. The Red Army was a completely disorganized, poorly trained rabble in July 1941 - that's why they were absolutely decimated by the Germans during the opening months of Operation Barbarossa. Stalin, after ignoring Churchill's advice to prepare a proper defence against Germany, was reported to have suffered some sort of mental breakdown upon learning that the USSR had been invaded. He supposedly locked himself up in his dacha for three days refusing any telephone calls or visitors. If true, it really doesn't seem like he was prepared to go to war anytime soon.
 
Higgs602 said:
The Soviets were definitely not in the position to invade German held territory in 1941 given that paranoid Stalin had just butchered most of the officer core in 36'-38'. The Red Army was a completely disorganized, poorly trained rabble in July 1941 - that's why they were absolutely decimated by the Germans during the opening months of Operation Barbarossa. Stalin, after ignoring Churchill's advice to prepare a proper defence against Germany, was reported to have suffered some sort of mental breakdown upon learning that the USSR had been invaded. He supposedly locked himself up in his dacha for three days refusing any telephone calls or visitors. If true, it really doesn't seem like he was prepared to go to war anytime soon.
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The conflict was inevitable, and both sides knew it even in the late 30s. I have some interesting translated Soviet poltiburo documents that were listing possible outcomes (I believe it was dated late 1938, I'll have to find the book at home), every scenario came to a war of annihilation between the two. Both sides were just buying time until they were ready and the Germans were ready first. I think the common "Stalin was surprised by the invasion" argument is false, Stalin was surprised at the timing and the performance of his troops at the border, that is all.
 
Higgs602 said:
The Soviets were definitely not in the position to invade German held territory in 1941 given that paranoid Stalin had just butchered most of the officer core in 36'-38'. The Red Army was a completely disorganized, poorly trained rabble in July 1941 - that's why they were absolutely decimated by the Germans during the opening months of Operation Barbarossa. Stalin, after ignoring Churchill's advice to prepare a proper defence against Germany, was reported to have suffered some sort of mental breakdown upon learning that the USSR had been invaded. He supposedly locked himself up in his dacha for three days refusing any telephone calls or visitors. If true, it really doesn't seem like he was prepared to go to war anytime soon.
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True. I have read Nikita Khrushchev's Memoir and he describes, how Stalin was scared to death after learning Nazis invaded the Russia.
 
jaroslav said:
True. I have read Nikita Khrushchev's Memoir and he describes, how Stalin was scared to death after learning Nazis invaded the Russia.
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Nikita Khrushchev's couldn't write that USSR was going to stop Germans at the border and then invade all Europe and spread communism to all western world in one shot. He had a lot of interesting things in his memoirs but I would guess that he left or twisted even more. Remember that he was at the top of propaganda machine, he was very close to Stalin and was a good loyal member of Soviet Union Communist party all his life.
 
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