The Red Army made many mistakes: execution of its capable officers, terror, abolishing ranks, placing NKVD troops as a barrier to prevent retreat, and treating its common soldier in a typical Russian manner - with no regard for his life. This and scarce insofficent equipment created an image of "faceless Ivan"- uneducated uncivilized peasant. And only 50 years after westerners started to see a different image, shown through the personal stories of those people who committed the deeds of great courage and lived to tell about it. Very few know the story of my Grandparents, who did not tell much to anybody for different reasons. They were my heroes... Their stories of war, valor and tragedy are engraved in my memory since early childhood. They were not abstract soldiers in dusty shelter-halves that I used to see in propaganda photographs and films.
Facts that are good to know:
1.Not all the people in the Red Army were "left pink commies".
2.There was not much unity in the USSR, as it included 15 major states with different culture and languages, who often historically were sworn enemies
3.There were Russians, Ukranians, Georgians and many others in the German Army
4.The people above did not fight their own people out of hate for them or love for Hitler, but to spare their Motherland from the Communists
5.Far not all the people were atheists, Stalin had to use the support of the Orthodox Church in 1942 to raise the people for the defense of Moscow
The photo above is a photo of a POW from 1941-1942.
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