Top 7 Red Army Myths - World War 2

Top Myths about the Red Army in World War 2. Namely, unlimited manpower, blocking detachments, human wave tactics, preemptive war thesis, general winter and lend-lease.

Cover: vonKickass

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Hill, Alexander: The Red Army and the Second World War. Armies of the Second World War. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2017.

Töppel, Roman: Kursk 1943. The Greatest Battle of the Second World War. Helion: Warwick, UK: 2018.

Reese, Roger R.: Why Stalin’s Soldiers fought. The Red Army’s Military Effectiveness in World War II. University of Kansas: Kansas, US, 2011.

Dick, C. J.: From Defeat to Victory. The Eastern Front, Summer 1944. University of Kansas Press: Kansas, US, 2016.

Zetterling, Niklas; Frankson, Anders: KURSK 1943. Frank Cass: London, UK, 2000.

Mawdsley, Evan: Thunder in the East. The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945. Bloomsbury: London, 2016.

Glantz, David M.: Colossus Reborn. The Red Army at War, 1941-1943. University Kansas Press: Kansas, US, 2005

Wettstein, Adrian; Rutherford, Jeff: The German Army on the Eastern Front. Pen and Sword Military, 2018.

Stahel, David: Kiev 1941. Hitler’s Battle for Supremacy in the East. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2012.

Echternkampf, Jörg (Hrsg.): Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg – Band 9 / 1 – Deutsche Kriegsgesellschaft 1939 bis 1945. DVA: Stuttgart, 2004.

Liedtke, Gregory: Furor Teutonicus, August 1943 to March 1945. In: Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 21, 2008, p. 563-587.

Jacobsen, H.A.: 1939-1945. Der Zweite Weltkrieg in Chronik und Dokumenten. Dritte durchgesehene und ergänzte Auflage. Wehr und Wissen Verlagsgesellschaft: Darmstadt, 1960

Report of the Committee on Military Affairs. House of Representatives. Seventy-Ninth Congress, Second Session. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1946.

Doubler, Michael D.: Busting the Bocage: American Combined Arms Operations in France, 6 June-31 July 1944. Combat Studies Institute: U.S. Army, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Harrison, Richard W.: Soviet Planning For War, 1936-1941: The “Preventive Attack” Thesis In Historical Context. In: The Journal of Military History, Vol. 83, No. 3, July 2019. Soc. of Military History: Virgina, USA, 2019, p. 769-794

Müller, Rolf-Dieter (Hrsg.); Volkmann, Hans-Erich (Hrsg.): Die Wehrmacht – Mythos und Realität. R. Oldenbourg Verlag: München, 1999.

Pahl, Magnus: Hitler’s Fremde Heere Ost. German Military Intelligence on the Eastern Front 1942-45. Helion & Company: Solihull, UK, 2016.

Boris V. Sokolov: The role of lend‐lease in Soviet military efforts, 1941–1945, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 7:3 (1994) p. 567-586

Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan M.: When Titans Clashed. How the Red Army stopped Hitler. Revised and Expanded Edition. Univ. Press of Kansas: USA, 2015

#RedArmy #Myths #Top

[crashtestdolphin]

The Red Army was not actually red. It was usually either brown or green and occasionally white depending on the time of year. The more you know

[TheGreatWar]

Wow, learned a lot from this. This kind of critical analysis of WW2 myths is more relevant than ever and the Battle of Berlin is an event that needs to be analyzed this way too.

Also: Enemy at the Gates is a movie that aged like milk.

[MeinungMann]

As a Russian, seeing a German guy destorying anti-Russian myths is such a pleasure for my soul. Thank you! Subscribed

[jackobrien]

Just found out Russian soldiers do not in fact have British accents. Enemy at the gates lied to me!

[RoyalFusilier]

I've always been confused by the "endless Russians" myth in general. Their population isn't exactly sky-high, it's their vast territory that's effectively endless.

[korstmahler]

Next you'll be telling me the Japanese infantry didn't charge into battle surfing on tankettes and cutting machine gun barrels with katanas.))

[cleanerben]

You mean to tell me Enemy at the gates isn't accurate?

[austinjacques]

You mean the entire soviet army wasn’t bears on unicycles?

[yousefseed]

What do you mean Enemy at The Gates & Company of Heroes 2 are not documentaries?

[TaganayTV]

Thanks for video!
From Russia with great respect

[killian]

We can all agree, T34s speeding at full throttle on the battlefield and ramming Tigers sounds badass asf

[newru]

You know the guy is German when he says **SCHTALIN**

[CruelDwarf]

I must point out that NKVD was not a 'predecessor' to KGB per se. KGB was intelligence service (both domestic and foreign) while NKVD was essentially a ministry of internal affairs.

[Shunteration]

So:
1) The Soviets couldn't throw more soldiers than there were bullets at the Germans, but rather, faced heavy losses during the first half of the war, due to disorganization - an aftereffect of the purge.
2) It wasn't the failure of Operation "Citadel" that devastated the German tank forces - rather, it was the effect of consecutive, steady losses throughout the summer of 1943.
3) The commissars didn't just shoot any soldier they saw retreating - some did, but they were an exception.
4) The Soviets didn't use "Human wave attacks" - they fought with very simple tactics, while their operations and overall strategy was far more complex.
5) Operation "Barbarossa" was not a preemptive attack - the Soviets were in no shape for an offensive war, and even if they were, German military intelligence was far too lacking to determine it.
6) It wasn't "Genera Winter" who stopped the Wehrmacht - it was their heavy losses in 1941, that affected the army when it was in it's peak condition, that would eventually halt their advances.
7) Lend-Lease did't "Save" the Soviet Union, but it was still very important for its war effort.

[arsenal-slr]

Almost 27 minutes?! Christmas came early this year!

[НикЕфремов-цг]

I know there's no other way to reach Russian archives for western historical researchers, as to find russian historian and try to collaborate. And the main couse of it - language - too many russian documents, which avalible for russian history is in "fog of language" for western history... BUT! I'm really surprised here and now, cause when i finish to watch this video I feel like a have a great conversation with my friend historian with nearly same opinion . Great thanks for your work, guys! And let's try to make our countries to live in peace.
With best regargs, an ordinary russian guy.

[MrRappy]

True, about Soviet Union recruiting from the liberated- occupied territories. My grandfather has been recruited in octomber 44 afted Romania switched sides, till september heve been in 10th Romanian inf. Division, 38 inf. reg. then after the switching all Romanians from Bassarabia and Bucovina were send back home. Most were properly trained, that helped them to survive the war and many of them been awarded by Soviets with medals for courage and high valor in battle, like my Grandfather who been awarded with Order of Glory 3rd grade and some more, i remember only this one.

[jimsy]

I think one important aspect of lend-lease that often gets overlooked is the psychological impact that having foreign arms would have on local forces - it's a concrete, tangible demonstration that you are not alone in the fight, and that even if you cannot see your allies, they are there and you are supported by them. Much easier to fight on in a desperate situation if you feel are not isolated or abandoned.

[CruelDwarf]

Also, about the last point - Boris Sokolov is not well regarded in Russian historical community because of his unsavory practices like plagiarism and outright usage of fake sources.

[Aslanyano]

I am really surprised, that someone out from Russia decided to speak about myths about Soviet Union
Thanks for such a video)