I think that Hitler was one of the main reasons the Nazi’s lost Stalingrad. If he had let the Wehrmacht retreat, they might have been able to get supplies and the course of the war may have changed. Also, the death of one German soldier was a lot worse than the death of a Soviet soldier logistics wise. The Germans didn’t have the same manpower reserves as the USSR to take sustained losses like that.
Month: March 2018
Comment on They Did Nazi That Coming… by bassford79
The Soviets won the Eastern front with shear force of will. They threw thousands upon thousands of men into the German lines until they surrendered. This is not the ideal approach but it worked so it wasn’t that bad. It shows how determined and patriotic the USSR was.
Comment on The Girl with the Tokarev SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle. by eclaybrook
Ok, so this was a really cool post to read about, and the presentation of this Soviet hero was very well done. I vaguely knew about Pavlichenko before reading this post, but the statistics and images you provided made me truly understand not only how impressive this woman was as a sniper, but also the indiscriminate hate she had for all Nazis. This post, I feel, sheds light on how the people of Russia felt, regardless of Soviet propaganda, and involved the war effort was for everyone. Great job with this post.
Comment on Germany’s Mistake is a Soviet Success by eclaybrook
This post was very well done all around. You gave a solid context and background to your topic that was compounded by equally concrete evidence throughout the post. I really like the sort of style/format you took with the body of your post where you individually discussed each aspect of your topic in short and concise paragraphs. For me, it really helped attain a better grasp of how the Soviet’s were able to bounce back from such a catastrophic start to the war and become a superpower less than 5 years later. Awesome work!
Comment on Territory & WWII by edinerjim
Great post, it was interesting to read about the political deals the Russians and Germans had before, they became bitter enemies. Also how the Russians were able to make a deal with the Germans to acquire the land the Germans had previously won 20 years prior. Unfortunately, as we see Hitler violated the pact, and invade Russia. I wonder if German had never invaded to you think that Russia would have still stayed neutral, or do you think they would have declared war and invaded themselves.
Comment on Innocence Lost: The Great Patriotic War in “Ivan’s Childhood” by scmaclay
I want to say that I am very interested in watching Ivan’s Childhood now. As deplorable as using child soldiers is, it is a testament to how desperate the war was for the Soviet Union. I am really interested to see how the partisans are depicted in the film. In History of WWII, we learned that Germany issued very harsh punitive actions against partisans and the people who supported them. Great post!
Comment on Episode 5: The Motherland Strikes Back by eclaybrook
As always, you really put yourself into your work, and it goes towards making a very entertaining and informative post each week. I really appreciated the hyperlinks that you posted throughout the blog for those who are interested in learning more. Overall, the overview of Stalingrad was very well put together, and you were very effective at providing context and commentary throughout. Great job.
Comment on An Unorthodox Approach by Grace Callanan
Ethan, I thought your post was interesting and very knowledgable. I think looking at religion in Russia during the 20th century since there is such a connection between state and the church. I like how you mentioned that the rebirth of the church was a risk to Stalin but that it paid off, I think it would have been easy for religion to condemn Stalin (although he would have shut them down quickly then). But that religion was actually able to help boost morale and therefore Stalin’s influence is very interesting.
Comment on The Katyn Forest Massacre by zaneg96
James, this was really interesting to read about. I was unaware of this massacre prior to reading your post. It really does show how far the Soviets were willing to go in order to try to protect themselves. Their barbarism in this massacre, and other atrocities during WWII, is often overlooked in favor of focus on Nazi atrocities, unfortunately. Both sides committed horrible acts and students of history should know the scope of what the Soviets did as well.
Comment on 5th Stop: Yantarny by Jim Erdely
Sad, but informative post, like you, mentioned I to was never taught about how other countries also killed ethnic minorities, especially France which was a shocker to me. I never knew just how little I knew about the Holocaust, and how it wasn’t just the Germans who killed Jews. As everyone else as already stated even though I don’t think it can be stated enough great find on the NPR story, I enjoyed reading it, it was very sad but informative.
