The statue of six children dancing around a crocodile became famous worldwide due to several pictures that a Soviet photographer took after the German army’s devastating bombings.
Victor Davis Hanson, NRO: Remembering Stalingrad 75 Years Later
It is now fashionable to demonize Russia, but most Americans have forgotten key aspects of 20th-century history, including the Russians’ fight to stop the march of Nazi Germany.
Seventy-five years ago this month, the Soviet Red Army surrounded — and would soon destroy — a huge invading German army at Stalingrad on the Volga River. Nearly 300,000 of Germany’s best soldiers would never return home. The epic 1942–43 battle for the city saw the complete annihilation of the attacking German 6th Army. It marked the turning point of World War II.
Before Stalingrad, Adolf Hitler regularly boasted on German radio as his victorious forces pressed their offensives worldwide. After Stalingrad, Hitler went quiet, brooding in his various bunkers for the rest of the war.
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WNU Editor: I wrote this in September .... The Battle For Stalingrad Began 75 Years Ago (September 1, 2017) ....
.... The Russian offensive to encircle the German Army at Stalingrad was my father's first major battle. When the war broke out he was part of a "press-gang" that took those who refused to enlist, and after that he was trained to command an artillery unit. He was studying math at the University of Kiev (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev) when the war broke out .... my guess is that his superiors probably felt that since he was good at math, he would not make that many mistakes when calculating where to point the artillery. And even though he was usually a few kilometers away from the front .... as he told me more than once .... the front was so fluid at times that he and his men sometimes found themselves behind enemy lines. Sighhh .... it is days like this that I miss him. One day .... time permitting .... I will give a brief bio of my father, especially what he saw and experienced during the Ukraine famine, the Second World War, and after the war. He definitely did not live a boring life.
3 comments:
Please do tell us about your father. You yourself are an interesting individual, I can only guess at how your father was. I'm guessing he helped shape your world views.
I have read many books on stalingrad. The word sends chills down my spine. A true Cauldron and Crucible. Biblicle. As close to hell as mankind has ever fallen.
I'm looking forward to Victor Davis Hanson's new book Second World Wars. I don't know what details it covers for the Russian fight, but in interviews it sounds like he gives it more notice than the usual Brit/American view.
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