Ivan's War
Catherine Merridale - Ivan's War
British writer Catherine Merridale had an opportunity to see some of the archives of the NKVD before they were closed down again and interviewed dozens of surviving veterans of what the Russians still call the Great Patriotic War. Interviews were not easy. The state had officially forbidden the soldiers to tell anything about the horrors of the war in public. The decades-old habits die hard. In addition to Soviet sources, she also studied German documents about Soviet prisoners of war. Both sides would treat their enemy prisoners wretchedly.
Interestingly to Finns, Merridale refers to the Winter War as the ”Finnish catastrophe” from the Soviet point of view. Conditions of a Soviet soldier were not that different from a Finnish ones, if we consider equipment and environment. Granted, we looted lots of equipment from the enemy.
Stalin had probably wanted more time to prepare for war against Germany but when the Germans attacked, there was shortage or just about everything (except warm bodies). Political officials were too scared to show any initiative and only made a token, cosmetic effort to lay the blame elsewhere. Officers had been selected for political fervor instead of any military skills. Old guard had already been mostly purged. Many soldiers had to learn everything on the job - and still work in the fields as well.
Soviet soldier was essentially expendable as far as the Red Army was cornerned - not that different from the pre-Revolutionary times, actually. Just like many other soldiers, soviet soldiers tried to make their conditions tolerable - even if it would include drinking heaps of vodka to forget everything at least for few moments. They even took turns to get drunk on communal alcohol rations. They even added their own form of comradeship in form of self-made songs that the communist party machine apparently saw a a threat to their influence. The Party tried to replace the soldiers' own songs with their own propaganda and music.
Later in the war the Red Army organisation approached less communal organization, with rewards of individual initiative and obvious appearance of the officers. Soldiers were hoping that their sacrifices would be rewarded as new liberties after the war. They were bound to be sorely disappointed. The Party intended to take all the credit and definitely didn't intend to reliquish any power. Vice versa, actually.
NKVD propaganda also essentially induced soldiers to use rape as an instrument of war against the Germans - not that different from some SS had done to Russians. Asking about rape nowadays could be useless however; the guilty won't admit anything and the innocent are fed up and offended. Otherwise NKVD did its best to hide the realities of war from the home front, including summary executions, constant drunkennes, lack of everything and mutual atrocities.
Merridale does not concentrate on detail of individual battles like the sieges of Leningrad or Stalingrad but in the general course of the war and what happened to ordinary soldiers - men and women - during it.
British writer Catherine Merridale had an opportunity to see some of the archives of the NKVD before they were closed down again and interviewed dozens of surviving veterans of what the Russians still call the Great Patriotic War. Interviews were not easy. The state had officially forbidden the soldiers to tell anything about the horrors of the war in public. The decades-old habits die hard. In addition to Soviet sources, she also studied German documents about Soviet prisoners of war. Both sides would treat their enemy prisoners wretchedly.
Interestingly to Finns, Merridale refers to the Winter War as the ”Finnish catastrophe” from the Soviet point of view. Conditions of a Soviet soldier were not that different from a Finnish ones, if we consider equipment and environment. Granted, we looted lots of equipment from the enemy.
Stalin had probably wanted more time to prepare for war against Germany but when the Germans attacked, there was shortage or just about everything (except warm bodies). Political officials were too scared to show any initiative and only made a token, cosmetic effort to lay the blame elsewhere. Officers had been selected for political fervor instead of any military skills. Old guard had already been mostly purged. Many soldiers had to learn everything on the job - and still work in the fields as well.
Soviet soldier was essentially expendable as far as the Red Army was cornerned - not that different from the pre-Revolutionary times, actually. Just like many other soldiers, soviet soldiers tried to make their conditions tolerable - even if it would include drinking heaps of vodka to forget everything at least for few moments. They even took turns to get drunk on communal alcohol rations. They even added their own form of comradeship in form of self-made songs that the communist party machine apparently saw a a threat to their influence. The Party tried to replace the soldiers' own songs with their own propaganda and music.
Later in the war the Red Army organisation approached less communal organization, with rewards of individual initiative and obvious appearance of the officers. Soldiers were hoping that their sacrifices would be rewarded as new liberties after the war. They were bound to be sorely disappointed. The Party intended to take all the credit and definitely didn't intend to reliquish any power. Vice versa, actually.
NKVD propaganda also essentially induced soldiers to use rape as an instrument of war against the Germans - not that different from some SS had done to Russians. Asking about rape nowadays could be useless however; the guilty won't admit anything and the innocent are fed up and offended. Otherwise NKVD did its best to hide the realities of war from the home front, including summary executions, constant drunkennes, lack of everything and mutual atrocities.
Merridale does not concentrate on detail of individual battles like the sieges of Leningrad or Stalingrad but in the general course of the war and what happened to ordinary soldiers - men and women - during it.