[ms224]

Quote:

COL (Ret) David M. Glantz, Editor, Journal of Slavic Military Studies, presents "The Soviet-German War, 1941-1945: Myths and Realities," as part of the Perspectives in Military History Lecture Series. The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center sponsors a monthly public lecture series, "Perspectives in Military History," which provides a historical dimension to the exercise of generalship, strategic leadership, and the war fighting institutions of land power.

I found this to be quite interesting and well worth the hour and a half of watching.

[CaptainCrazy]

Are you Russian or German?

If not, don't even touch this topic.

[ms224]

American

Randomly found the youtube link and found it interesting.

Note the scale, the piles of major operations buried after the war, and really just a different view on things.

[DChambers]

^ The acquisition of knowledge knows no barriers resulting from one's nationality. Even in amongst topics of great contention.


The Eastern Front is a fascinating subject, can you summarize what is in the video?

[ms224]

Basically the guy talks about many misconceptions , such as the reds simply rolled over in the beginning, the massive scale, in the order
of 10 million combatants, and that some commonly accepted reasoning is wrong, especially in light of new records after the fall of the wall.

[Aer]

After reading a good amount of well written literature on the subject, it's easy to categorize the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union as a rollover and a complete surrender.

While this is occasionally oversimplified, the reasoning behind this was Stalin's paralysis. He was unable to believe that Hitler had broken the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided their spheres of influence. Even when German forces began building at the Polish border, he refused to mobilize any forces, believing that Hitler would stick to his word.

The Soviet forces were not incompetent, but Stalin was unable to cope with him being betrayed, as he purged all of his officer corps and made himself invincible in the Soviet Union.

He couldn't purge Hitler until the very end.

[Frontenac]

If you like this, then look up Dan Carlin's Ghosts of the Ost Front. It's a four part podcast, or rather, an audio book, on the Eastern Front. Very interesting and really well presented.

[Orion]

A very good book on the futility of Operation Barbarossa, and how German offensive was doomed way before Stalingrad.

[DarkTriad]

(03-18-2015 07:37 AM)Aer Wrote:  

After reading a good amount of well written literature on the subject, it's easy to categorize the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union as a rollover and a complete surrender.

While this is occasionally oversimplified, the reasoning behind this was Stalin's paralysis. He was unable to believe that Hitler had broken the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which divided their spheres of influence. Even when German forces began building at the Polish border, he refused to mobilize any forces, believing that Hitler would stick to his word.

The Soviet forces were not incompetent, but Stalin was unable to cope with him being betrayed, as he purged all of his officer corps and made himself invincible in the Soviet Union.

He couldn't purge Hitler until the very end.

If you purge your entire officer corp, yes your military will become suddenly incompetent and apparently paralyzed. It will take a long time to develop competent leaders and put them in charge, and you can take a beating while it happens.

[kruger41]

Quote:

If you purge your entire officer corp, yes your military will become suddenly incompetent and apparently paralyzed. It will take a long time to develop competent leaders and put them in charge, and you can take a beating while it happens.

Surrounding yourself with yes-men creates an echo chamber that stifles creative and independent thought.

Didn't Nassim Taleb talk about something to that end in his book on Antifragility? How the free-exchange of ideas promotes strength whereas restricting the flow of information opens up the possibility of hairline cracks widening and weakening the whole?

[Phoenix]

Can someone post a list of the myths?

[xxxronjames]

Listen to Dan Carlin's Ghosts of the Ostfront. Absolutely amazing retelling of the war. Deconstructs the myths and realities of the war too.