Strange that I stand by the position that the Soviet Union was the country which won WWII in Europe and that Yalta was NOT a sell out to Stalin yet am now a Russophobe(which would especially shock half my ancestors).
Now, far be it from me to defend Stalin or Stalinism, but all of that is not entirely correct. The Purges, for example, were, excepting the very highest levels of command, not as big a part of the RKKA's bad readiness as has traditionally been thought; there were never enough officers for the Army, and they were traditionally badly educated. The purge of some 30,000 officers was a relatively minor affair; far more encompassing was the formation of so many new half-filled divisions in '40-41 and the complete reorganisation of large parts of the army.
As for the intelligence reports, Stalin had received many false alarms before, and was thus a little jaded when he got the correct one. He did step up preparations; the essential mistake he did was misjudging the time of the German attack.
None of which makes him any less evil, of course, but he wasn't as incompetent as is traditionally assumed.
You are free to draw your own conclusions about my accusations. I deliberately turned the heat in this statement on, to tell you the truth, but I really believe that plain Russophobia is one of mighty forces driving this kind of undying and unwavering devotion to Cold War tales.
Thanks for the link Grimm Reaper. The article appears to have a very favourable slant towards the Cossacks. Nonetheless the thrust of my argument is supported by the facts it presents.
Some things the article failed to mention, as did some of the posters here, that are relevant to the discussion include the fact that the Cossack units in particular and others formed from inhabitants of the Soviet Union who chose to join the Nazi invasion force were incorporated into the SS. The article goes to some pains to point out that they were somehow separate from the SS despite the overwhelming evidence that they wore the uniform of the SS, were armed and supplied by the SS and like all SS units swore a personal oath to Hitler.
The amazing claim made here that because Vlasov tried to surrender to the western Allies and hand over Prague to them somehow makes him and his army secret allied sympathizers fails to take into account that hundreds of thousands of German soldiers surrendered to the western allies instead of the Soviets. This did not make them any less guilty of their crimes nor did it somehow prove they were reluctant participants.
Another fiction posted here is that because some people left the Soviet Union before the end of the Civil War that somehow they were not Soviet citizens. Unless they took up citizenship of another country, they were indeed citizens of the USSR. The Soviet Union was the legitimate successor state to Tsarist Russia and by the early 1930s the US was the last of the later western allies to acknowledge that fact when they recognized the USSR. Therefore, under International Law they automatically because citizens of the new state.
As an analogy consider the official position of former Confederate citizens after their territory was incorporated into the US after the Civil War. Were Vichy citizens exempt from French justice because at the time their crimes were committed they were technically citizens of another state? In these examples, the people were citizens of a state at the end of hostilities and were incorporated back into the original country. There was no Tsarist state in the 1920s, 30s and 40s so the people in question here were citizens of another state and unless they took up citizenship of another country they were Soviet citizens.
I could find no reference to citizens of another country being handed over to the Soviet authorities after the war against their will. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary I would appreciate some citations.
Grimm Reaper I appreciate your comments about the circumstances of the Red Army victory over the Japanese in Manchuria, but my point was that despite what was said regarding their somehow inferior quality to those units the Americans (and Australians and others) fought, they were of at least a similar calibre. Terrain made all the difference but the assertion someone made that Stalin ‘did a Mussolini’ is simply absurd.
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Some things the article failed to mention, as did some of the posters here, that are relevant to the discussion include the fact that the Cossack units in particular and others formed from inhabitants of the Soviet Union who chose to join the Nazi invasion force were incorporated into the SS. The article goes to some pains to point out that they were somehow separate from the SS despite the overwhelming evidence that they wore the uniform of the SS, were armed and supplied by the SS and like all SS units swore a personal oath to Hitler.
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Another fiction posted here is that because some people left the Soviet Union before the end of the Civil War that somehow they were not Soviet citizens. Unless they took up citizenship of another country, they were indeed citizens of the USSR. The Soviet Union was the legitimate successor state to Tsarist Russia and by the early 1930s the US was the last of the later western allies to acknowledge that fact when they recognized the USSR. Therefore, under International Law they automatically because citizens of the new state.
could find no reference to citizens of another country being handed over to the Soviet authorities after the war against their will. If anyone has any evidence to the contrary I would appreciate some citations.