This thread is inspired by an episode of ULTIMATE WEAPON I saw last night: now Vassili Oshchepkov, as 1 of the 1st Europeans to go to japan to learn judo & the main founder of the eclectic hybird fighting style which became Sambo, wished to have this martial art taught to the ordinary peasants & proletariat of the USSR instead of just being restricted to the elites of the GPU/OGPU/NKVD & Red Army. However, his populist idea for Sambo was frowned upon by Stalin's ruling elite, with Oshchepkov himself being sent to the gulags then liquidated in 1937.
WI somehow Oschepkov's idea for disseminating Sambo to everybody actually did eventuate ? WI also he hadn't fallen foul of the NKVD & had lived to see 1941- what impact could he have had if he'd been around to help fighht against BARBAROSSA ?
WI somehow Oschepkov's idea for disseminating Sambo to everybody actually did eventuate ? WI also he hadn't fallen foul of the NKVD & had lived to see 1941- what impact could he have had if he'd been around to help fighht against BARBAROSSA ?