quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I love the before and after pics superimposed on each other. This one always gets to me.

Heres a link to several of those images, you can click and drag the image left to right to see the before and after.

https://interactive.guim.co.uk.../index.html?ww2-dday

^^^^Very interesting. Thank you.

Several years ago I read a book by an ex Soviet intelligence officer that claimed Stalin was planning to invade Germany at the same time Hitler was making his own invasion plans but Hitler beat Stalin to the punch. Stalin's plan was supposed to make Russia look like the liberators of Europe and of course, giving them the opportunity to spread communism there. Each of the dictators used their half of Poland to make invasion easier.
I'm not sure how true the claim is but the two dictators were going to go to war sooner or later anyway.

I try to not see Stalin and the common soldat as the same. Similar to Hitler and the Wehrmacht.

My wife's grandmother was a nurse, she was 14, when she returned to her village after the war....none of her family had survived, in fact 90% of her village was gone.

I have lived in Ukraine, in fact the town my wife is from exchanged hands 3 or 4 times and was 100km from Poltava, Hitler's eastern HQ.

The Soviets were terrible but the common soldiers were no different from ours. They were defending Rodina and in many situations their families.

Most of the officers at the beginning and embarrassingly displayed during the "winter war" were politically "safe" but inept including Stalin who locked himself in his room for 3 days after being told of the invasion, this led to loses that did not have to happen.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
The US certainly made a major contribution in war production and military effort. We probably had fewer casualties because we used our soldiers smarter than some others but that is only part of the story.

Some others more versed in this can confirm (or, deny) that our doctrine with artillery and its liberal use to prep the battle space was one of the big separators with how US troops vs others fared.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
The US certainly made a major contribution in war production and military effort. We probably had fewer casualties because we used our soldiers smarter than some others but that is only part of the story.

Some others more versed in this can confirm (or, deny) that our doctrine with artillery and its liberal use to prep the battle space was one of the big separators with how US troops vs others fared.

That’s part of it but I was also thinking about bypassing islands in the pacific that weren’t necessary to invade because they didn’t provide a needed airstrip or some other strategic need.