7 main myths about the Great Patriotic War

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Let us examine the main false myths about the Great Patriotic War, deliberately invented or resulting from the illiterate reasoning of people who do not know or are trying to blacken the history of our country.

1. The USSR fought against Nazi Germany and its few allies

In fact, the entire united Europe fought against the USSR. European Union.

Countries occupied by Hitler have always presented themselves as victims. Like, evil invaders came, what could we do against them? It was impossible to fight. They were forced to work on pain of death, starved and tortured. However, in reality it turns out that in the West, under the Germans, everything was not so bad. It was our troops, retreating, blowing up industrial enterprises so that they would not fall into the hands of the enemy. Partisans and residents of the territories occupied by the fascists staged sabotage and sabotage. In most occupied European countries, workers worked diligently, getting paid and drinking beer after work.

Just one fact: the weapons that Germany captured in the defeated countries were enough to form 200 divisions. No, this is not a mistake: 200 divisions. We had 170 divisions in the western districts. To provide them with weapons, the USSR took several five-year plans. In France, after its defeat, the Germans immediately seized up to 5,000 tanks and armored personnel carriers, 3,000 aircraft, 5,000 steam locomotives. In Belgium, half of the rolling stock was appropriated for the needs of its economy and the war.

“Without the Czech military industry and Czech tanks, we would not have had four tank divisions, which would have made an attack on the Soviet Union impossible,” admitted Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht's tank forces Helmut Ritgen. Strategic raw materials, weapons, materials, equipment - a united Europe provided the Nazis with everything they needed. Including human resources: about 2 million people volunteered for the Nazi army.

2. Soviet soldiers fought only because there were detachments behind them, which were shooting retreating machine guns

Since the losses of German troops even at the beginning of the war, despite the retreat of the Red Army, were unprecedentedly high, and in some places some units were completely defeated, the opponents of the Great Victory had to come up with a myth that Soviet soldiers were forced to fight under machine guns, shooting retreating ones. To make the theory sound more convincing, the machine-gun shootings were attributed to special barrage detachments of the NKVD, which allegedly hid behind the backs of the soldiers and simply shot all retreating ones. In reality, the NKVD detachments did exist, and their duty was to protect the rear of the Soviet armies, like other military police in any army in the world. These units played a significant role in restoring order in the troops of the Red Army. Take, for example, the data on the "Battle of Stalingrad":

In August and September 1942, 36 109 people were detained by the barrage detachments of the Stalingrad Front. Of them: 730 people. was arrested. Of the 730 arrested, 433 were shot; 1,056 people were sent to penal companies; 33 people in penal battalions; 33,851 people were sent to their units for further service. That is, out of 36 thousand people, only 433 people were shot for serious crimes, this is just over one percent. And these data refer to the time when the "atrocities of the detachments" allegedly took place. Perhaps, among the 433 executed, not all were guilty enough that they should have been executed, but given the difficult situation at Stalingrad, this was a necessary measure. In addition, there is no need to talk about any shooting from machine guns to their own people, and all the detainees were first arrested and sentenced by a military tribunal. Later, with the stabilization of the front, such harsh measures were no longer resorted to.

3. The USSR filled up the Nazis with corpses

• In the last 15-20 years, we often hear that the ratio of losses of the USSR and Germany to the allies in World War II was 1: 5, 1:10, or even 1:14. Further, of course, a conclusion is drawn about "filling up with corpses", inept leadership and so on. • However, mathematics is an exact science. For example, the population of the Third Reich at the beginning of World War II was 85 million people, of which more than 23 million were men of military age. The population of the USSR is 196, 7 million people, including 48, 5 million men of military age.

• So, even without knowing anything about the real numbers of losses on both sides, it is easy to calculate that victory through complete mutual destruction of the male population of draft age in the USSR and Germany is achieved with a loss ratio of 48.4 / 23 = 2.1, but not 10.

• By the way, here we do not take into account the allies of the Germans. If we add them to these 23 million, then the ratio of losses will become even less. It should be borne in mind that at the very beginning of the war, the Soviet Union lost large densely populated territories, so the real number of men of military age was even less. However, if, indeed, for each killed German, the Soviet command would put 10 Soviet soldiers, then after the Germans killed 5 million people, the USSR would die 50 million - that is, we would have no one else to fight, and in Germany there would still be as many as 18 million men of military age.

4. Won in spite of Stalin

All these myths add up to a global statement, expressed in one phrase: “We won in spite of”. Contrary to the illiterate commanders, mediocre and bloodthirsty generals, the totalitarian Soviet system and personally to Joseph Stalin. History knows many examples when a well-trained and equipped army lost battles because of incompetent commanders. But for the country to win the global war of attrition in spite of the state leadership - this is something fundamentally new. After all, war is not only a front, not only questions of strategy and not only problems of supplying troops with food and ammunition. This is the rear, this is agriculture, this is industry, this is logistics, these are issues of providing the population with medicines and medical care, bread and housing. Soviet industry from the western regions in the first months of the war was evacuated beyond the Urals. Was this titanic logistics operation carried out by enthusiasts against the will of the country's leadership? In new places, workers stood up to their machines in an open field while new buildings were being laid out for workshops - was it really only out of fear of reprisals? Millions of citizens were evacuated beyond the Urals, to Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the inhabitants of Tashkent took to their homes in one night everyone who remained at the station square - is it really in spite of the cruel customs of the Soviet country? Is all this possible if society is fragmented, if it lives in a state of cold civil war with the authorities, if it does not trust the leadership? The answer is actually obvious.

5. Hitler was defeated not by the Soviet army, but by impassability and frost

The myth that the Soviet Union won the war solely with the help of severe frosts, mudslides and snowstorms is leading in the list of myths about the war.

If you look at the plans of the German command to attack the USSR, it becomes clear that the victory over the main forces of the Soviet army should have happened during the summer or, in extreme cases, the summer-autumn campaign. That is, Hitler did not initially plan to conduct active hostilities during the cold weather. But as a result of the most powerful blows and the capture of key cities of the USSR, the defense of the Red Army did not break down, and the German units suffered losses that they had not yet had.

Up to five German divisions were defeated, and the offensive on Moscow stopped for a long time. It is worth noting that all these events took place in the summer and early fall. At the same time, the weather conditions in the summer of 1941, as you know, were practically ideal for the German offensive.

It is known that, hoping to end the war before winter, the German command did not bother with the timely purchase of winter clothing and other necessary equipment.

In addition, one should not forget that the thaw that slowed down the German offensive near Moscow acted on both sides. Moreover, its effect on the retreating Red Army was in some respects even more negative than on the Wehrmacht: for the advancing side, a tank stuck in the mud is just some fuss of engineering units to pull it out, but for the retreating side, a tank stuck in the mud is equal to a tank lost in battle.

Fans of this myth spread it strictly for the 41st, 42nd year, but do not talk about the subsequent years. For example, the Great Battle of the Kursk Bulge or Operation Bagration is hushed up. These battles took place exclusively in the summer.

6. The decisive importance of the second front and Land Lease deliveries

From the first days of Hitler's aggression against the USSR, the "allies" did not in the least conceal their unfriendly attitude towards the Soviet Union. And participation in the war was motivated only by selfish interests. Suffice it to recall a quote from an article by the future US President Truman, which was published in the "central" American newspaper "New York Times" on June 24, 1941, that is, a day after the German attack on the Soviet Union: "If we see that Germany is winning, then we should help Russia, and if Russia wins, then we should help Germany, and thus let them kill as much as possible "… Only one fact: their financial tycoons financed both sides - nothing personal, just business ! By the way, after World War II, the United States became the richest country in the world, having previously robbed, robbed and enslaved a significant part of the world. Today, some American-loving historians breathe in talking about Lend-Lease (American supplies of equipment and weapons to the USSR during the war years). But, firstly, this is a drop in the bucket (only 4 percent of what was produced during the war in our country), and secondly, this is again a business. Few people know that for these "friendly" supplies the USSR, and then Russia, paid the Yankees until 2006! No one today remembers that there were so-called "reverse" lend-lease agreements, according to which "brothers in arms" were supposed to provide the US Army with goods, services, transportation services, and even allow the use of military bases after the war. By the way, the "reverse lend-lease" of the USSR amounted to $ 2, 2 million. Another aspect unfavorable for the USSR in connection with the "help of the allies." Having held out with the opening of the second front until 1944, the United States and England in the very first serious battle with the already weakened Hitler received a furious blow. The Red Army had to save the "allies" at the cost of additional losses. In January 1945, British Prime Minister Churchill plaintively requested help from I. V. Stalin, and he replied: “We are preparing for

offensive, but the weather is now not favorable for our offensive. However, given the position of our allies on the western front, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided to complete preparations at an increased pace and, regardless of the weather, to open wide offensive operations against the Germans along the entire central front no later than the second half of January. " So the opening of the second front turned out to be "unnecessary" losses for our troops.

7. Allies. Operation Unthinkable

Not only did the "allies" constantly delay the supply of weapons, delayed the opening of the second front, and opened it when the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion, but also planned a military operation that was unprecedented in its cynicism.

At the beginning of April 1945, just before the end of the Great Patriotic War, W. Churchill, the Prime Minister of our ally, Great Britain, ordered his chiefs of staff to develop an operation for a surprise strike against the USSR - Operation Unthinkable. It was provided to him on May 22, 1945 in 29 pages.

According to this plan, the attack on the USSR was to begin following Hitler's principles - with a sudden blow. On July 1, 1945, 47 British and American divisions, without any declaration of war, were to deal a crushing blow to the naive Russians who did not expect such boundless meanness from their allies. The strike was supposed to be supported by 10-12 German divisions, which the "allies" kept undisturbed in Schleswig-Holstein and in southern Denmark, they were trained daily by British instructors: they were preparing for war against the USSR. The war was supposed to lead to the complete defeat and surrender of the USSR.

The Anglo-Saxons were preparing to crush us with terror - the savage destruction of large Soviet cities by crushing blows of waves of "flying fortresses". Several million Russian people were to die in the "fiery whirlwinds" worked out to the smallest detail. So Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo were destroyed … Now they were preparing to do this with us, with the allies.

However, on June 29, 1945, the day before the planned start of the war, the Red Army suddenly changed its deployment for the insidious enemy. It was the decisive weight that shifted the scales of history - the order was not given to the Anglo-Saxon troops. Prior to this, the capture of Berlin, which was considered impregnable, showed the power of the Soviet Army and the enemy's military experts were inclined to cancel the attack on the USSR.