Moscow residents listen to the June 22 government radio announcement on the treacherous invasion of Nazi Germany. "Our case is just. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours," Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov ended his speech to the Soviet people announcing the news of the war at 12:15 p.m. (Sputnik)
WNU Editor: I forgot that it was 75 years ago that Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This was always a special day for my father. He was in Kiev on the first day of the war, 19 years old and in university. He witnessed the German aerial bombing of Kiev, and after that he ran to his hometown south of Kiev to his parents where he then heard Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov announce that the Soviet Union Was at war. For more photos on the start of the Great Patriotic War, go here.
10 comments:
I was going to post something on this but waited for you instead.
My Grandparents told me that when they heard the news of Barbarossa, they knew, no matter what, it was over for Hitler.
Half of nazifascist armies are crushed in this campaign, always thanks for yours sacrifice, people and comrades of Soviet Union.
So did Comrade Stalin indeed have a nervous breakdown right after the invasion? That is the legend I was taught.
No.
I'm afraid he was too busy giving everyone else a nervous breakdown. If that man had anything, it was nerve.
The reason why Foreign Minister Molotov made the announcement that the Soviet Union was now at war with Germany was because Stalin did go into shock that Hitler had broken his promise to leave the Soviet Union alone. Years later Nikita Khrushchev contends that he was with his generals, but after a week of listening nothing but bad news he collapsed and went to his private dacha for a week to ponder on what to do .... it was actually 2-3 days but before going into his retreat he did tell his subordinates to mobilise for war. My father always found it disturbing how absent Stalin was at the beginning of the war, and when he finally did go on the radio (July 3, 1941 .... 11 days after the invasion) .... his voice and tone was nervous and shaky but at times he was also defiant. Those who heard him (including my dad) wonder if he was drunk. I have heard an audio recording of that speech .... and yes .... it is a great speech, but hearing Stalin say it you have to wonder if he had hit the bottle to sum up the courage to give that speech.
That 'scorched earth speech is here .... http://www.greatspeeches.net/2013/06/joseph-stalin-scorched-earth.html
Thanks Editor,
I've read "Molotov Remembers" and remember him denying any "breakdown" on the part of the Vozd. I've listened to the speech too and can totally believe he could have had a drink or two. Who wouldn't!!! (Could you imagine one of our "leaders" in the same position?! No shirt, waving a white flag.)
For all his faults -and I'm sure it will be seen as a calling from Jesus by our resident team of red baiters to list them- Joseph Stalin did not have nervous breakdowns; for good or ill, he brought them on in others.
Even his many - legion of-academic detractors have made note of his refusal to leave Moscow as the Germans approached that fall. Call him a murderer and a villain, fine, but a coward or weak nerved? Bullshit.
So there!!!
https://youtu.be/HK2lNuiD7gM
The problem RRH is that for the people who lived during this time .... they know that he disappeared for 11 days .... and it did have an impact. No FDR speech 24 hours after the event.
Soviet education (at least what I got) .... and now Russian .... do point out this 11 day disappearance .... and are not shy to say that he went into shock with what had happened.
As for Molotov .... I can spend the entire night explaining why this Stalin apologist should never be trusted .... but I do not have to .... the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union in one of its last acts before the Soviet Union fell apart in 1989 was to condemn him for his actions when he worked with Stalin.
Interestingly .... in my humble opinion .... Stalin was not the same person after the war as he was before it. It is almost as if his inner circle realised how insecure he was inside .... and positioned him and themselves to make sure that the mass purges and executions of party members that occurred before the war was to end ... and it did. Unfortunately .... the Gulags stayed open and busy until the 1950s.
Red Army music .... I cannot tell you how many hours I had to listen to that music because of my dad. He accumulated hundreds of those albums .... I have about 50 in my basement in my home in Montreal right now .... and while I would like to get rid of them ... sighhh .... I just cannot get rid of them because of the dad connection.
Shock. Ok. Nervous breakdown? C'mon.
No doubt the war took its toll on the whole bunch of them. I have often noticed the difference in Stalin's appearance from photographs before and after the war. I can say one thing though, I don't believe he was getting less dangerous with age.
Oh yes, no denying Molotov was certainly loyal to Stalin but I do recall he managed to get his party membership back before he died. As for what that particular Congress thought of him... I think if I had been a Soviet worker, I'd have some issues with what they had to say about anything or anyone.
The Red Army stuff is classic. I grin every time I hear it.
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