vi- Forward to Victory! 1943-1945

!!!" !#$%&'$Stalin’s SSSR

session vi-Forward to Victory!; 1943-1945!"!!#$ vi-%&"'"( ) &*+"("!; 1943-1945 ,

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

!!!" !#$%&'$Stalin’s SSSR

session vi-Forward to Victory!; 1943-1945!"!!#$ vi-%&"'"( ) &*+"("!; 1943-1945 ,

BENEATH THE BANNER OF LENIN-FORWARD FORTHE MOTHERLAND, FOR OUR VICTORY!


this session’s major topics

• Introduction; The Supremo

• Kursk

• Teheran

• To the West!

• Poland’s Crucifixion

• Yalta

• Revenge: To Berlin!


The Supremo()*+,-'./Verkhovnii


The Supremo()*+,-'./Verkhovnii


Operation Uranus [at Stalingrad] seemed to refresh Stalin who, observed Khrushchev, started to act “like a real soldier,” considering himself “a great military strategist.” He was never a general let alone a military genius but, according to Zhukov, who knew better than anyone, this “outstanding organizer...displayed his ability as Supremo starting with Stalingrad.” He “mastered the technique of organizing front operations...and guided them with skill, thoroughly understanding complicated strategic questions,” always displaying his “natural intelligence...professional intuition” and a “tenacious memory.” He was “many-sided and gifted” but had “no knowledge of all the details.” Mikoyan was probably right when he summed up in his practical way that Stalin “knew as much about military matters as a statesman should--but no more.”

Montefiore, pp. 438-439


Operation Uranus [at Stalingrad] seemed to refresh Stalin who, observed Khrushchev, started to act “like a real soldier,” considering himself “a great military strategist.” He was never a general let alone a military genius but, according to Zhukov, who knew better than anyone, this “outstanding organizer...displayed his ability as Supremo starting with Stalingrad.” He “mastered the technique of organizing front operations...and guided them with skill, thoroughly understanding complicated strategic questions,” always displaying his “natural intelligence...professional intuition” and a “tenacious memory.” He was “many-sided and gifted” but had “no knowledge of all the details.” Mikoyan was probably right when he summed up in his practical way that Stalin “knew as much about military matters as a statesman should--but no more.”

Montefiore, pp. 438-439

AND NOWWE TRIUMPH!


Stalin’s “tells” (non-verbal “clues,” various warning signals)

• Stalin was always pacing up and down (neutral, not a “tell”)

• if the pipe was unlit (a bad omen)

• if he put it down (an explosion imminent)

• if he stroked his moustache with the stem of his pipe (he was pleased)

• his tempers were terrifying:”he virtually changed before one’s eyes,” wrote Zhukov, “turning pale, a bitter expression in his eyes, his gaze heavy and spiteful.” (major “tell”)



The atmosphere at the GKO (Government Defense Council)

War was the natural state of the Bolsheviks and they were good at it. Terror and struggle, the ruling Bolshevik passions, pervaded these meetings. Stalin liberally used fear but he himself lived on his nerves: when the new Railways Commisar arrived, Stalin simply said, “Transport is a matter of life and death...Remember, failure to carry out...orders means the Military Tribunal” at which the young man felt “a chill run down my spine….” Seconds later the Commissar, “white as a sheet,” was being shown out by Poskrebyshev who added, “See you don’t slip up.”

Montefiore, p. 439


• like Stalin, a son of a shoemaker

• 1917-joined RSDLP (b)

• 1918-graduated training as a medical assistant

• 1935-office manager of the General Secretary (Stalin), “gatekeeper”

• worked 16-18 hours a day!

PAS•KRO•BEE•SHUFF1891-1965


Mikoyan was one of the chief workhorses, overseeing the rear, rations, medical supplies, ammunition, the merchant navy, food, fuel, clothing for people and armies, while also Commisar of Foreigh Trade negotiating Lend-Lease with the Allies, a stupendous portfolio.

Mikoyan worked from 10 a.m. until almost 5 a.m., napping at his office.

Montefiore, pp. 441 & 435

Anastas Mikoyan!"#$%#$ &'()#""*$+ ,+-'.#"

1895-1978


The “terror of the Party,” Beria, who behaved like a villain in a film noir, blossomed in wartime, using the Gulag’s 1.7 million slave labourers to build Stalin’s weapons and railways. It is estimated that around 930,000 of these labourers perished during the war. But his NKVD was the pillar of Stalin’s regime, representing the supremacy of the Party over the military.

Ibid.

Lavrenti Beriain his NKVD Marshall’s uniform


“We could all remember 1937,” said Zhukov. If anything went wrong, [we] knew “you’d end up in Beria’s hands and Beria was always present during my meetings with Stalin.”

After General Voronov had twice defied him in front of Stalin, Beria was finally allowed to arrest him. When Voronov did not appear at a meeting, Stalin casually asked Beria:“Is Voronov at your place?” Beria replied that he would be back in two days. The generals are said to have coined a euphemism for these terrifying interludes: “Going to have coffee with Beria.” His minions watched the soldiers on every front...

Montefiore, p. 440 & pp. 441-442


Kursk


KurskRussian infantrymen i n a p r e p a r e d defense with a WW I Maxim machinegun


After victory at Stalingrad (Stalin’s City) the Verkhovnii, once again, felt invincible, just as he had after the battle for Moscow in early 1942. “Those who ignore the lessons of history…”


• 19 Feb-the front at the beginning of this map is a solid black line

• Leningrad is still encircled and suffering

• but the Red Army has driven the Nazis far back from Stalingrad and almost out of the Northern Caucasus

LENINGRAD

NORTHERN CAUCASUS





• to 18 March-the orange area indicates what the Nazis were able to re-conquer

LENINGRAD

NORTHERN CAUCASUS






• thus creating a dangerous salient around Kursk

KURSK

LENINGRAD

NORTHERN CAUCASUS






• thus creating a dangerous salient around Kursk

• and creating the condit ions for Operation Citadel, the battle for Kursk

• to 1 August-the green area shows the initial gains made by the German Army in their attempt for another Kesselschlacht

KURSK

LENINGRAD

NORTHERN CAUCASUS



At dawn on 5 July the Germans threw 900,000 men and 2,700 tanks into this colossal battle of machines in which fleets of metallic giants clashed, helm to helm, barrel to barrel. By the 9th, the Germans had reached their limit. On the 12th, Zhukov unleashed the costly but highly successful counter-attack. The Battle of Kursk was the climax of the Panzer era, the “mechanized equivalent of “hand-to-hand combat,” which left a graveyard of 700 tanks and burnt flesh. Agreeing to cancel Citadel, Hitler had lost his last chance to win the war.

Montefiore, p. 452


badge of theWaffen SS

New Tiger tanks were available for the first time in large numbers

Waffen SS units were optimistic, as was Hitler


the new Soviet T-34was arguably even better. Note the sloped armor to send “incoming”

ricocheting off












PROKHOROVKA


battle of Prokhorovka--12 July 1943“the greatest tank battle of all times”

• the Reds launched a counter offensive, hoping to catch the Germans off balance

• “best described as a very costly tactical loss but an operational draw for the Soviets”

• neither accomplished their missions that day

• losses a contentious subject:

Soviet-200(?) 822 (?) --probably 150-300

German-80(?) “hundreds, including ‘dozens’ of Tigers” (?) --probably 70-80 “operational reductions” short/long term

battlefield monument


Red tank recovery vehicle towing a T-34 from the Prokhorovka battlefield


strategic outcomes

as series of Red Army operations lead to the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kiev, autumn of 1943

a new pattern emerges--the initiative passes to the Soviets

Germans spend the rest of the war reacting to their moves

the Italian front drains resources from Ostfront

only the Soviets have the manpower, Lend-Lease, and industrial production to recover fully

Germany will never again launch a major eastern offensive


long term results

the loss further convinces Hitler of the incompetence of his General Staff

he continues his interference in military matters, by the war’s end he is involved in tactical decisions

Stalin moves in the opposite direction, he sees Stavka’s planning justified on the battlefield, steps back from operational planning, only rarely overrules military decisions

predictable results ensue for both sides:

German Army moves from loss to loss as Hitler “micromanages”

Soviet Army gains freedom and becomes more and more fluid


Teheran, 28 Nov-1 Dec1943


Teheran, 28 Nov-1 Dec1943

age 64 age 61age 69


Stalin’s first flights

• for the first meeting of the Big Three he reluctantly took to the air

• he had declined to fly to the earlier Cairo Conference, 22-27 November 1943

• 26-27 Nov--he travelled to Baku by rail and then chose among the four transport planes the one whose pilot was the most experienced

• the transports were guarded by twenty-seven fighter aircraft

• extremely uneasy, he “was terrified when the plane hit an air pocket”

• after the return flight, he would never take to the air again


outside the Soviet legation, Teheran

the small Soviet delegation; only Molotov, Voroshilov, & Beria, 12 security and translators


two against one

the new friends


two against one

• both, for their own reasons, chose to treat Churchill as “odd man out”

• Stalin, fearing that the “capitalists” would try to gang up on him, invited FDR to stay at the Soviet legation “for security reasons.” It made some sense as the American legation was several miles out of town and the narrow streets were hard to guard. Naturally, FDR’s rooms were “bugged”

• FDR expected to charm “Uncle Joe” as he had so many others. He let Stalin know that he was no friend of the British Empire. He thought India “was ripe for a revolution ‘from the bottom’ like Russia, [he] was as ill-informed about Leninism as he was about the untouchables.”

the new friends


At 4:00 p.m. the Big Three gathered around the specially constructed table in a big hall….

“In our hands,” declaimed Churchill, “we have the future of mankind.” Stalin completed this…”History has spoiled us,” he said. “She’s given us very great power and very great opportunities...Let’s begin our work.”

Montefiore, p. 467


From the first moment of the conference, [Field Marshal Alan Brooke, Churchill’s top advisor] convinced himself that Stalin had ‘a military brain of the very highest calibre. Never once in any of his statements did he make any strategic error, nor did he ever fail to appreciate all the implications of a situation with a quick and unerring eye.’ By contrast Brooke characteristically thought Marshal Voroshilov had ‘nothing in the shape of strategic vision.’

Andrew Roberts, Masters and Commanders; How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945. 2009. pp. 443-444

Chief of the Imperial General Staff, at his desk, 1942


the agenda

• the Second Front-- Churchill preferred “the soft underbelly,” a Balkan approach, using troops already in Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean

• FDR was already committed to the Channel. He winked at Stalin, “the start of his gauche flirtation that greatly enhanced the Marshal’s position as arbiter…”

• FDR proposed an international organization, the future United Nations

• the Western generals met with Voroshilov about the Channel operation. Stalin pressed for the earliest possible date certain

• FDR said he couldn’t discuss Poland because of the upcoming election.”The subordination of the fate of the country for which the war was fought to American machine politics can only have encouraged Stalin’s plans for a tame Poland.”


the agenda

• the final agreement promised that Overlord (the Channel) and Anvil (the invasion of Southern France) would be the top priority of 1944 and would occur no later than May

• Stalin promised to launch a major offensive at the same time to prevent Hitler from shifting forces westward

• Poland would be shifted westward to please Stalin. Her eastern border would be the Curzon Line of 1920. Her western border the Oder-Neisse at Germany’s expense

• there would be a United Nations Organization, details to follow

• agreement was reached on Iranian post-war independence


Churchill’s contemporaneous memo of a conversation with Voroshilov


atmospherics

• Beria’s handsome son Sergo was one of those who briefed Stalin on the bugging reports. Stalin was amazed that the Americans didn’t realize he was eavesdropping on them. He was gratified that FDR seemed charmed by him.

• Stalin put on the charm for his two “opposite numbers.” But he treated his subordinates “like dogs.”--Br. interpreter Hugh Lunghi

• Churchill presented Stalin with a ceremonial sword from King George VI to commemorate the victory of Stalingrad. When Voroshilov dropped its scabbard with a clatter, Stalin humiliated him

• Stalin joked about executing 50,000 German officers to eradicate militarism. FDR and his son Elliot made light of it. Churchill stormed out in disgust and had to be charmed back by Stalin, “I was only joking!”


the farewell group picture with military chiefs behind them

Voroshilov

Brooke

Leahy


To the West!


To the West!

NA ZAPAD !




























THE FRONT DRAWS NEARER

The way to Stalingrad was through Kiev, then the Russians in 10 months have reversed matters, now the way to Breslau is through Kiev

Soviet propaganda leaflet


Soviet superiority in materiel and personnel

beginning in 1941, Stalin orders defense manufacturing moved east of the Urals. After the U.S. enters the war, we supply vast amounts of equipment and supplies to the USSR.

he demands ruthless human sacrifices, both on the battlefield and in the factories, of his more numerous population ( 197 vs 60 million Germans)

at great cost, this capacity starts turning out superior war equipment

we’ve already seen the T-34 tanks

now we’ll let the Shturmovik IL-2 aircraft stand for many other such weapons systems


development of the 0#1*2,-&3 (Shturmovik)

• throughout the mid-1930s, Soviet aircraft designers worked to develop an anti-tank attack aircraft like the Ju-87 Stuka

• first prototypes were flown in 1939

• wartime production was slow until Stalin started cracking heads


YOU HAVE LET DOWN OUR COUNTRY AND OUR RED ARMY. YOU HAVE NOT MANUFACTURED IL-2S UNTIL NOW. THE IL-2 AIRCRAFT ARE NECESSARY FOR OUR RED ARMY NOW, LIKE AIR, LIKE BREAD. SHENKMAN FACTORY PRODUCES ONE IL-2 A DAY AND TRETIAKOV BUILDS ONE OR TWO MIG-3S DAILY. IT IS A MOCKERY OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE RED ARMY. I ASK YOU NOT TO TRY THE GOVERNMENT'S PATIENCE, AND DEMAND THAT YOU MANUFACTURE MORE ILS. I WARN YOU FOR THE LAST TIME. STALIN.


development of the 0#1*2,-&3 (Shturmovik)

• throughout the mid-1930s, Soviet aircraft designers worked to develop an anti-tank attack aircraft like the Ju-87 Stuka

• first prototypes were flown in 1939

• wartime production was slow until Stalin started cracking heads

• the first massive use came during Uranus, the Stalingrad encirclement

• by late 1944, they dominated the skies and were the scourge of the German panzers



When I was working on my book Red Phoenix, I did interview a number of German pilots who told me of the overwhelming numbers of Soviet a/c [aircraft] (supplemented with USA Lend Lease). At the [Smithsonian] Museum, I just turned in the restoration package for our Il-2 Shturmovik, one of a handful of survivors of a production effort of over 30,000 warplanes of this type.

Von Hardesty,Aerospace Museum

Smithsonian Institution,e-Mail to JBP, 17 April 2008


Ostfront 1944


Ostfront 1944


Soviet Spring Offensive--4 March-12 May

Soviet gains during their winter offensive leave them well positioned for the new assault

the Ukraine was the focus of the Spring Offensive

the Red Army drove from the Dnieper to the Bug to the Dniester Rivers

10 April--with the fall of Odessa it became impossible to supply the German forces in the Crimea

10 May--Sevastopol is evacuated by sea

DEATHTO THE GERMAN FASCIST

ROBBER!


ON THE JOYOUS DAY OF FREEDOM FROM THE YOKE OF THE GERMAN DESTROYERS THE FIRST WORDS OF BOUNDLESS GRATITUDE AND LOVE OF THE LIBERATED SOVIET PEOPLE ARE TO OUR FRIEND AND FATHER COMRADE STALIN--THE ORGANIZER OF OUR STRUGGLE FOR THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF OUR MOTHERLAND


Operation BagrationSoviet Summer Offensiveopens 22 June--the third anniversary


Operation BagrationSoviet Summer Offensiveopens 22 June--the third anniversary

STRIKE GERMAN BEASTS!TO DESTROY THE HITLERITE ARMY--IT’S POSSIBLE & NECESSARY



Nazi POWs from the Fourth Army are marched through Moscow17 July 1944


Poland’s Crucifixion


Poland’s Crucifixion


Katyn, 1939-1940--intensification of Poland’s hatred for Russia












J Stalin

NARODNII KOMISSARIATVNUTRENNIX DEL

(NKVD)

abbreviation for Central Committee, All-Union

Communist Party (bolshevik)

(to) tovarish STALIN

5 March 1940

K VoroshilovV Molotov

A Mikoyan

(copies to)T. (for tovarish, comrade)

KalininT. Kaganovich

Beria’s request for approval of the Katyn massacres


Symbol of the Polish Home Army

Kotwica (anchor)

PW has a double signification:1) Polska Walczaca (Poland fights)2) Powstanie Warszawskie (Warsaw Uprising)

1 August-2 October 1944


T h e S o v i e t s u m m e r offensive, forces two of Hitler’s allies, Rumania and Bulgaria, out of the war. By Augus t t he Red A rmy reaches central Poland


Operation Bagration brings Soviet forces to the outskirts of Warsaw by August, 1944

the Polish Home Army begins an uprising to assist in driving out Nazi forces and to win a place at the peace table as not merely the passive recipient of Russian aid. Free Polish leaders were

aware of Stalin’s Lublin Committee




Powstanie Warszawskie (Warsaw Uprising)

• part of a nationwide rebellion, Operation Storm

• initially the Poles seized substantial areas of the city

• 16 Sept-Soviet forces reach a point a few hundred meters from Polish positions across the Vistula

• they made no further gains during the Uprising

• Polish: about 16,000 KIA, 6,000 WIA--150-200,000 civilians die, mostly from mass murder by German troops

• German: over 16,000 KIA, 9,000 WIA

• Jan 1945- when Soviets entered, 85% of the city in ruins

Positions held by the Polish Home Army on Day 4 of the uprising


unequal conflict

initially the Poles had 45,000 soldiers (only 23,000 armed and combat ready) the German Warsaw garrison, 11,000

ultimately, the Germans deployed 90,000 combat hardened forces to crush the Poles

here, the Dirlewanger brigade employs the Thor siege mortar which they had used to capture Sevastopol


Thor’s target


soldiers of the Armia Krajowa


















Instead of coming to their aid as the Poles expect, the Red Army waits for 63 days while the Germans butcher

the less well armed Poles.

Now the way is clear for the Soviet puppets, the Lublin Committee, to be the post-war communist government

of Poland.


Today, a less sinister, less “Cold War” explanation is offered:

The Red Army was exhausted by their offensive,

they hadn’t asked for the uprising.

“We report.You decide!”


Monument to the Uprising

notice the bullet scars this bank was one of the last centers of resistancethe kotwica continues to be a nationalist symbol


Yalta age 65age 70

age 67


Yalta

Cunningham

PortalLeahy

age 65age 70

age 67 Friday, 9 Feb 1945courtyard of the Livadia Palace

Marshall

ArnoldBrooke


1944-Preparing for the peace settlement

• immediately after Teheran, as the Red Army approached the pre-war Polish border, a dispute began between London and Moscow over governance there

• the Polish government-in-exile (the London Poles) recognized by Stalin until the 1943 discovery of Katyn

• the Lublin Committee-(formally proclaimed 21 July 1944) Stalin’s “tool” for administering the reconquered Polish territories

• June 1944-the British propose dividing the Balkans into zones of occupation on a percentage basis

• Rumania, Bulgaria & Hungary--80% Soviet, 20% British; Greece-- 100% British; and Yugoslavia--50%, 50%

• Oct 1944-the Big Three agree on this formula in Moscow


in no shape for a 50 K ride in cold weather in a jeep






differing views on FDR’s fitness

• hindsight focused on this issue after:

• the public shock of his death two months later

• the Cold War search for blame as to why Eastern Europe was “sold out” at Yalta

• opinions varied:

• Lord Ismay of the British Imperial General Staff thought he was “more than half gaga”

• Adm Cunningham: “The President, who is undoubtedly in bad shape and finding difficulty in concentrating...does not appear to know what he is talking about”


differing views on FDR’s fitness

• opinions varied:

• Gen Marshall: “[FDR] looked very, very tired”

• Cordell Hull: “The President looked dreadful when he was wheeled into the room--sagging jaw, drooping shoulders. He appeared almost oblivious of his surroundings and of his guests. After several strong martinis, however, he seemed to come to life.”

• Stewart Crawford: “half dead with grey sunken cheeks and little spark of vitality.”

• Nonetheless, Admiral Land: that Roosevelt was not so ill at Yalta as the photos there might suggest, but was merely “having trouble with his dentures”, which had “affected his speech and caused his face to fall unduly.”


a conference site at theLivadia Palace


The Polish Question


The Polish Question


The Polish Question

Oder River

Neisse River

Stettin

Breslau


The Polish Question & Occupation Zones

Berlin


It is hard to be naive and cynical at the same time, but Roosevelt was both when it came to Stalin and the fate of the Poles. ‘Of one thing I am certain, he told the Polish Prime Minister-in-exile Stanis!aw Miko!ajczyk,‘Stalin is not an imperialist.’ To the former American Ambassador to France, William C. Bullitt, he also said: ‘I have a hunch that Stalin doesn’t want anything other than security for his country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing in return, noblesse oblige, he won’t try to annex anything and will work for a world of democracy and peace.’ To the British minister Richard Law in late December 1944, the President said that ‘he was not afraid of Communism as such. There are many varieties of Communism and not all of them are necessarily harmful.’

Roberts, p. 557


Major agreements

• priority was Germany’s “unconditional surrender.” After the war there would be four occupation zones

• Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification

• German reparations would be partly in the form of forced labor to repair the damage Germany had inflicted

• Poland’s Provisional Government which had been installed by the USSR would be reorganized “on a broader democratic basis”

• Poland’s eastern border would follow the Curzon Line and Poland would receive compensation in the West from Germany


Major agreements

• Poland’s eastern border would follow the Curzon Line and Poland would receive compensation in the West from Germany

• Churchill alone pressed for free elections there. Stalin agreed, but never honored his promise.

• Citizens of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries regardless of their consent

• Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany

• Nazi war criminals were to be hunted down and brought to justice


the United Nations Organization (UNO)

• 1943-the idea emerged in declarations signed at conferences in Moscow and Teheran

• Aug-Oct 1944-the Dumbarton Oaks Conference (Wash DC) of France, the Republic of China, UK, USA, and USSR, made preliminary plans

• Feb 1945- at Yalta, it was agreed that membership would be open to nations that had joined the Allies by 1 March 1945

• Stalin initially held out for separate delegations in the General Assembly for each republic

• 25 April-the UN Conference on International Organization began in San Francisco to draft a charter for the organization

• 24 Oct 1945- 51 original members signed its “birth certificate,” the Charter of the UNO


The Charge of the Light Brigade

Although Balaklava mattered much to men like Churchill and Brooke who had grown up with Tennyson’s poem, the Prime Minister complained that the local Russian guides had shown ‘no sort of feeling’ there. ‘Either they thought they had won the battle or they had never heard of it.’

‘I wish you could have seen Sir Alan Brooke, with a school history book in one hand, explaining the battle of Balaclava to an audience of field marshals. We stood on a little ridge on the end of that famous battlefield where the Charge of the Light Brigade took place. All around us were the twisted remains of German anti-tank guns.’

Roberts, p. 553


All that Yalta did was to recognize the facts of life as they existed and were being brought about....The only way we could have in any way influenced that in a different way was not to have put our main effort into France or the Low Countries but to put it into the Balkans….It might have meant that Bulgaria, Rumania, and possibly others of those Eastern European countries that are now Communist-dominated would have other types of control at present. But...it would also mean that all of Germany and probably a good portion of the Low Countries, Belgium, Holland and even France, might have Soviet influence over them rather than Western influence. To me there was no choice to make.

General John Hull, Vice Chief of Staff,in an oral interview at the Army War College, Carlisle, PA, 1974


The fascist vulture has learned,that we’re not a lamb!


TO THE ENEMY’S LAND

FORWARD TO VICTORY!


LET’S GO TO BERLIN !Tuesday, March 30, 2010


Strike to the heart





the death of Berlin


mounted on a Studebaker Lend-Lease truck. By war’s end10,000 launchers are produced

Soviet Katyusha rockets


“Stalin’s organs”in action






Stalin’s Winter Offensive, 17 January 1945

• with massive superiority, the Red Army drives all before it

• civilians clog the roads

• German forces, stripped for the Ardennes Offensive, fall back

• Königsberg and Posen, encircled, hold out


Stalin’s Winter Offensive, 17 January 1945

• with massive superiority, the Red Army drives all before it

• civilians clog the roads

• German forces, stripped for the Ardennes Offensive, fall back

• Königsberg and Posen, encircled, hold out


As rumors of the approach of Soviet forces reach Germancivilians, they flee on foot

Goebbels has no need to exaggerate the infamies which vengeful Red soldiers inflict


A Google Earth view of the terrain


with the fall of the Seelow heights the road to Berlin lay open

• 16-19 April--the Soviet offensive begins with the biggest artillery barrage of the war

• 2.5 million men, 6,250 tanks, 7,500 aircraft, 41,600 artillery pieces and mortars, 3,255 truck-mounted Katyusha launchers & 95,383 motor vehicles

• German trenches atop the Seelower Höhe were evacuated before the opening barrage

• 143 searchlights were supposed to blind the defenders as the Reds crossed the river under fire. Actually, they were counterproductive

• finally, after four days, numbers prevailedAllied propaganda sheet to demoralize the Germans


Soviet victory monument Tuesday, March 30, 2010

the end game

• a race is encouraged between Zhukov’s generals, Konev and Chuikov, to see who can enter Berlin first. This adds to the unnecessary loss of Russian as well as German life

• a terrible slaughter of German soldiers and civilians occurs on the narrow roads of the pine forests south of Berlin

• Hitler continues to micromanage from the Führerbunker beneath the Reichschancellery

• 20 April-by Hitler’s last birthday, Berlin is invested


the U-bahn stations were cautiously emptiedTuesday, March 30, 2010




WE SET IN PLACEIN BERLIN

THE BANNER OF VICTORY!


Victory in the war...turned Stalin into the embodiment of patriotism, world power and a radiant future for the country. And such was his despotic authority that innumerable people lived their lives on the assumption that they had to accept the political structures and the official ideology. Many millions of course hated him in the 1930s and continued to detest him to the end of his days. But supporters of one kind or another certainly existed widely among people in the USSR.

Service, p. 602



Education

vi- Forward to Victory! 1943-1945