The Russian
Contribution
This is
but one simple mans view of the events of modern times which I think explains so
well why we are in the position we find ourselves today..
I would like first to concentrate on the role
played by the Russian People in WW2...In the UK, their contribution was well
known & extremely well respected..
Maybe the American will see it different as I know
that at this time in history, American policy makers were creating a hate
relationship with communism.. As far as I know the word Communist was first to
enter common mans language in 1917 when the Russian revolution took power from
the aristocracy and gave it to the people...
I have never understood why politicians in America
felt threatened by this in 1921.. just 4 years after that event.. After all not
many Russian Communists and Americans would have even met in that time.. But tis
a fact that the American "Red Under The Bed Scare" changed history in 1945 and
left a legacy of the Berlin Air lift...Korea & later Vietnam... More on this
later.
Hitler believing he had the UK beat...Turned his
army east and attacked the Russian people... Napoleon had made this mistake and
paid dearly...Hitler thought he was better than Napoleon so had not heeded the
lessons of history...
I should explain just how big this land mass is...
You And I believe America with it's 4 time zones is a large land mass... Sure it
is being something like 3000 miles across and 2000 miles deep if we were to
consider America to be just a rectangle...
But consider Russia has 11 time zones... It is
almost 3 times the size & because of this land mass it has many areas so far
inland from the sea that winter temperatures can be very low... London in the
winter experiences maybe 24 degrees Fahrenheit... like 8 degrees below
freezing... Moscow is on the same latitude line and experiences Minus 40 degrees
Fahrenheit... Some 72 degrees below freezing... Here Truck fuel will go solid
without special heating equipment..
It is a simple Russian tactic.. to
fight and pull back... The German Army in Summer Uniforms advanced over a great
distance with ever increasing supply lines... An Army Marches on its stomach it
is often said...So supply lines are most important.. The Russians fought all the
way taking massive casualties.. But pulled progressively back operating a
scorched earth policy along the way...This left no shelter or food for the
Germans to capture...Their supply lines became critical in their survival..Many
German soldiers perished in the winter that was to come..
A major stand took place at Leningrad...Stalin now
convinced that the German supply lines could not support such a large army gave
the order that Leningrad must not fall...
This very beautiful city was now under constant
siege... The entire population including women children and the old folk were to
endure the worst atrocity of the Russian war... Constantly shelled the city was
to become a bomb site... almost all the buildings were set alight and reduced to
rubble... Whole families lived for months in that hell seeking shelter from any
likely place they could find...
No food or fuel could get into the city and winter
was here.. The Russian people towards the end of this siege were reduced to
catching rats & mice as food in order to survive... Survive some did...But
many thousands perished at the hands of the Nazi
onslaught..
This event was recorded at the time by both
Russian & German cameramen and the black & white film I saw of the
actual events.. were totally horrific...This was no Hollywood
glamorisation...This was real people dying caught in the path of flame
throwers..
The Russian Winter was to be the turning point... The German
Army were not equipped for this weather and many German soldiers froze to death
in their trenches and foxholes.. When the Germans decided to retreat.. their
transport so frozen up was of no use... Here for the first time a defeated
German Army had to walk home over a very long distance... About 50% died of
exposure along the way.. To be able to walk out became very important to me as
an individual when I served in the Military..
This was a major physiological break through.. for
the first time this mighty army was beaten
The Russians recovered quickly from their ordeal
and constantly pushed the German army towards the borders of Poland.. The UK
recognised the sacrifices made by the Russian People as we owed them a debt we
could never repay... We never stopped to worry about the politics of Communism
at this time...But we did stop to honour a great fighting Nation
The
Russian Army supply lines were only used to supply arms and ammunition... They
did not have the resources to feed and cloth their army...The Russian Soldier
had to live off the land and cloth himself from the dead he came
across...
When at the end of the war My Father met the
Russians for the first time as both armies came together he was shocked... He
once said to me..." I thought I had nothing until I met
these Russians... They were virtually starving and were dressed in rags..
We could not speak as we did not
understand the language.. But they understood the food..Shelter and clothing
that we could provide.. And it was so little as we did not have sufficient to
give... Those poor Bastards & I thought that I had had it bad..
Simply
Steve
Democracy Link Page
