31–40 of 41 posts
Well worth the ticket price to support future work like this.
Who else noticed the flag of China? It should be called ROC or Taiwan if you use that flag.
Not at all. During WWII, that was already the flag of the Republic of China, which happened to be the only "China" in existence at the time. No other flag was used then, so it would be anachronistic to use communist China's flag here, and Taiwan was not part of China at the time so it would be even worse to talk about Taiwan fighting the war.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's some scientific evidence of the Russian winters 1940 - 1942 being particularily harsh: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1256/wea.248.04/pdf Of course, it did not help that Hitler thought he could advance much faster and did not even prepare for winter. Those two winters weakened the Germans significantly.
Here's some scientific evidence of the Russians throwing over 20 million human lifes [1] into german gun barrels: take a look at the original post. You mentioning the winter twice seems quite cynical in context. [1] I've recently read a newish book about the casualties on the eastern front which suggests (based on research by western scholars) that the actual numbers were probably well over 32 million people and due…
A Russian division-strength attacking force pushed a Finnish brigade-strength force back about 400 m on a fraction of the front which was about 800 m wide.
The "bad losses" were 49 men killed on the Finnish side. The Russian losses in this two-day battle were estimated about 1400 men killed. And as a result the Finnish commander remarked that "the Russians have changed; they are no longer throwing human life away completely mindlessly and they actually try some sensible military attack tactics".
A ratio of 30 Russians killed in attack to grind down 1 enemy was "sensible" compared to what the Russians had been doing before that. Of course, eventually it worked, they had the 31st soldier as well.
Looks like he is also working on U.S budget viz
corresponding video
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You think the 20 million Soviet war dead had anything to do with it?
Here's some scientific evidence of the Russian winters 1940 - 1942 being particularily harsh: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1256/wea.248.04/pdf Of course, it did not help that Hitler thought he could advance much faster and did not even prepare for winter. Those two winters weakened the Germans significantly.
In school, when I was educated about the war, Germany is construed as this bully that no one stands up to. I remember having the impression that the rest of Europe just lacked the courage to fight back, opting for appeasement instead. I remember being taught that Nazi Germany only appeared strong -- but that inside was a crumbling, weak core. Like a bully who would crumple in a real fight.
I remember being taught that countries that are evil cannot be also strong. I remember being taught that the Soviet Union was similar -- it was evil, and therefore weak, and that's why it ultimately collapsed.
Thinking back, I was obviously indoctrinated. The truth was, Germany was strong. Evil, and strong. Just look at the numbers. All the other theaters of the war pale in comparison to the Eastern Front.
It seems like such a massive mistake of Hitler to attack the USSR. I wonder what the world would look like today had he not...
This guy should receive an award of something. The end is amazing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do the winters last for 1.5 years around St Petersburg?
From the diary of Otto Geipel: “1942: The winter comes with full strength, hardly a way left to advance without missing winter equipment. Even the winter clothing is missing. (. . .) At midnight the temperature dropped to a new reported low point. On 24 January 1942, –56 °C was measured at our division observation post.” Temperatures like that make a difference.
No-one doubts that the Russian winters were a significant factor, but your original statement pandering to mythology, not fact. Russians were throwing themselves into a meat-grinder to stop the Germans - at Stalingrad, the average life expectancy of a newly-arrived soldier was 1 day, and for an officer it was 3 days. Writing off that kind of sacrifice as "nah, basically it was the winter that did it" is living in a fantasy world.
This is just stunningly beautifully presented, and yet very sobering to think of so many deaths. Also ... Thank you, Russia, for doing so much more. I'd read the 20M deaths, but never seen the larger picture before.
But still, thank you, Russia.
I don't get why he calls all german soldiers nazis, as if every german soldier was a nazi back then ...