Another Anniversary
Russia's VE Day is a day later than ours. This website is a good place to spend a few minutes thinking over the 60th anniversary of the end of the Real War, the Eastern Front. Some choice excerpts:
- "We had the right to advance, but if we wanted to retreat - sorry. We would stand to the death."
- "Q: It is considered noteworthy that the Sherman was very well appointed on the inside. Was this true? A: It was true. These are not just words! They were beautiful! For us then this was something. As they say now, "Euro-repair"! This was some kind of European picture! In the first place, it was painted beautifully. Secondly, the seats were comfortable, covered with some kind of remarkable special artificial leather. If a tank was knocked out or damaged, then if it was left unguarded literally for just several minutes the infantry would strip out all this upholstery. It made excellent boots! Simply beautiful! "
- "Marusia said: "Let me take the watch now." She got up, it was a sunny day, and she apparently moved the lens. As soon as she got up, there was a shot, and she fell. Oh, how I cried! The German was 200 meters away from us. I screamed so loud it could be heard all over the trenches, soldiers ran out: "Quiet, quiet, or they'll open mortar fire!" But how could I be quiet?"
The author of that last one:
posted by Anonymous at 12:54 PM
3 Comments:
Nice bloggin'
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I think in the West we don't give Russians full credit because we can't extricate the Great Patriotic War from the relentless mass murder of Stalinism, not to mention the Post-War occupation of Europe- Stalin or no, 27 million Russians died, men, women, and children, saving the world from the industrial homicide of fascism.
In the nonsense game of comparative genocides, it seems absurd but I think true to say, that there was a vapor of hope in Soviet communism, demonstrated perhaps by its eventual liberalization after Stalin died. Fascism was a eternal dance of sociopathic ideology and insatiable profiteering, that would only end with its physical destruction.
There were internal political pressures (and arguably still are) in the United States and England that may well have driven us into very real fascism had the war gone differently in the East. Without the Russians' desparate struggle for national survival, all might have been lost.
America's owes a great deal to the WWII sacrifice of the people of Russia.
Defending, you can only roll two dice, but you win all ties.
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