tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post279223550378190918..comments2024-03-20T11:41:56.776-04:00Comments on Tank Archives: Armoured Confusion: Start of the Great Patriotic WarPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622237223229485503noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post-46567337484414056152021-06-15T17:28:27.490-04:002021-06-15T17:28:27.490-04:00I also forgot to add--in an offensive strike in Ju...I also forgot to add--in an offensive strike in July 1941, Stalin could not have counted on support from Britain or the US as a sure thing. A strong reason *why* both countries supported the Soviet Union was, given the initial German successes, both had a very real fear Hitler might overrun the Soviet Union and if he could exploit its natural and manpower resources, he might become unbeatable (or at least much, much, much harder to defeat). <br /><br />George Marshall for his part believed that standing by and watching a potential ally with an army of Soviet Russia's size go down to defeat without offering it aid would be the worst blunder in military history, and he was determined not to let it happen if at all possible as long as he had any say. Stewart Millenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01261690405884935161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post-39066231534300292402021-06-15T13:14:46.490-04:002021-06-15T13:14:46.490-04:00Yeah, I can address the preparedness question from...Yeah, I can address the preparedness question from the point of view of tanks, and it's depressing how unready the Red Army was for war. Sure there was a shortage of modern tanks, but that was on schedule to be addressed by 1943. There was also a shortage of prime movers, fuel trucks (every kind of truck, really), mobile workshops, spare parts, trained personnel... with the exception of the latter there wasn't really a plan to resolve these issues even on paper.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09622237223229485503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post-6742249670375817312021-06-15T12:57:38.015-04:002021-06-15T12:57:38.015-04:00Fans of alternative history continue to spread the...<i> Fans of alternative history continue to spread the fairy tales about a preemptive strike, but the truth is that Red Army wargames held in 1941 followed the same scenario. The Western force attacks first, and the Eastern force defends, with the border guards delaying the enemy for long enough that the main force can form a steel fist that delivers a crushing blow against the aggressor. The Red Army was not training to attack first. </i><br /><br />The more I've read about "Viktor Suvorov"'s hypothesis, the more fanciful it becomes. For one thing, many other "facts" that Suvorov revealed, like in the development of the Tu4 bomber (a copy of the B-29) turned out to be more "tall tales" than historical fact. Such as two stories cited here:<br /><br />https://aviationhumor.net/soviet-b-29-clone-the-tupolev-tu-4-with-a-very-small-unnecessary-hole/<br /><br />In fact, the Soviet designers did make significant changes to the Tu4 (engine, armament, fuel system, etc). And there was no small hole drilled into the left wing of every Tu4 as Suvorov claimed. Yet (largely because Suvorov was championed by right-wing American supporters) his "facts" were elevated to holy writ.<br /><br />Suvorov's alternative history of Stalin planning to attack first is likewise at *the very best* an selected interpretation of the military situation largely independent of any documentary support, it also neglects or twists important political and strategic implications. For instance:<br /><br />1) Suvorov claims that the Soviet Union was inherently unstable, and needed to expand, even though he admits this view was more a "Trotskyist" interpretation and that Stalin had held to the tenant of "socialism in one country", that Soviet Russia could hold out, at least for years, on its own. <br /><br />2) Suvorov maintains that Stalin wanted the Western powers to fight it out amongst themselves, while he bided his time to build up his strength to intervene at the decisive moment, neglecting Stalin's offer of 1 million troops to defend Poland in 1939.<br /><br />https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/3223834/Stalin-planned-to-send-a-million-troops-to-stop-Hitler-if-Britain-and-France-agreed-pact.html<br /><br />This to me would better fit with a more traditional intepretation that Stalin shifted his policy from opposing Hitler initially and forming a common front with the West to neutrality when conservative politicians in the West couldn't bring themselves to make an alliance with the Soviet Union.<br /><br />3) Suvorov claims that Stalin would launch his attack when Germany was occupied with the West---*what, in July 1941*?? Where exactly was Germany occupied at that time? Any attack by the Soviet Union against Germany in July 1941, even if initially successful, would have been countered by a shift of German ground and air resources to fight it, and ramped up German military production. Stalin would not have been opening up a "second Front" against Hitler but would have been opening up a *SINGLE* front, ALONE.<br /><br />Look at the actual war--Stalin never considered the Battle of the Atlantic, the War in North Africa and the Mediterranean or the Allied strategic bomber campaign to be true "Second Fronts". Why would he have thought differently in July 1941 where there was no ground opposition to Hitler anywhere on the European continent?<br /><br />4) The military unpreparedness of the Soviet Union has been documented in articles like this above and by authors like David Glantz. It is inconceivable that an military force that was both so understrength to its tables of organization, and moreover so undersupplied in terms of munitions and spare parts, would have been ready for an offensive strike in less than a month. Most historians I've read agree that Stalin was preparing for a war, but thought he had at least another year or more. <br />Stewart Millenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01261690405884935161noreply@blogger.com