Russian WW2 interesting stats and facts

I find it very irritating when people who do crimes against others get released from prison for "health reasons". His victims never had the chance to grow old.

 

Himmler visiting Finland 1942 and getting no food....

The story is that in 1942 Himmler was visiting Finland but due to the weather he could not get to the Finnish front by plane. The journey by car took hours and Himmler arrived hours late to the Finnish General Siilasvuo. By that time dinner time was long past and the Finnish General only gave Himmler a cigar to smoke because in his opinion "When the dinner time is over you don´t eat!" Astonishingly enough Himmler accepted this and smoked happily his cigar..The picture is from this mentioned occasion and General Siilasvuo behind the flower pot.

 

"There is no war in the Caucasus but there is in the Ukraine."

October 1941 Stalin´s answer when he heard that the British were increasing their presence in the Iran in order to protect the supply lines to Russia

http://www.thehistorynet.com/mhq/bloperationunthinkable/index2.html

Angered by the Kremlin's accusatory tone, Churchill informed the Chiefs of Staff that they should be prepared to send fighters and bombers to the Caucasus to blunt a German advance on Baku, whether Stalin wanted them there or not. Wavell's successor, General Claude Auchinleck, was ordered to ready the transfer of several bomber squadrons, along with fighters and anti-aircraft guns, to northern Iran. If sent, the bombers would attack German lines of communication in the southern Soviet Union. If that failed to blunt the German onslaught, Auchinleck's orders continued, the bombers were to inflict the "greatest possible damage to Baku oil resources should they fall undestroyed into German hands."

Churchill now considered transferring two divisions from Africa to the Soviet southern front as soon as Crusader was over!!

...later..


With Moscow saved and Rostov recaptured, the idea of sending British land forces to the Eastern Front was abandoned and the G(R) Sixteen sabotage operation permanently suspended. Had the Soviet capital fallen, however, British bombers and saboteurs may well have appeared in the Caucasus in the hopes of inflicting as much damage as possible before the Germans could redeploy their forces for a drive on Baku, which Ismay predicted would occur when winter was over.

 

On 30th November 1941, Gerd von Rundstedt received orders not to withdraw from the Mius River in the Soviet Union. Rundstedt sent a wire that resulted in him being dismissed from office.

It is madness to attempt to hold. In the first place the troops cannot do it and in the second place if they do not retreat they will be destroyed. I repeat that this order be rescinded or that you find someone else.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERrundstedt.htm

 

Understanding ancient Maya language odd happenings part I and Berlin 1945...

Yuri Knorossov served in the Red Army as an artillery spotter during World War II. In early May 1945, he entered Berlin with his army unit and noted that the national library was being consumed in a fire. He rescued a book from the flames and, amazingly, it was a one volume edition of copies of the then three known existing Maya codices. After the war, Knorossov studied ancient languages, specializing in comparative linguistic analysis. During the course of his studies he was challenged by a professor to attempt to decipher Bishop Landa's work and to seek to unlock the meaning, if there was one, of the Maya script. As a consequence, he wrote his dissertation on Landa's work....

http://www.chilit.org/GOULD1.HTM

http://home.planet.nl/~roeli049/engels2.htm

 

PUBLIC EXECUTION

(December 19, 1943)

Three German Gestapo officers and a Russian accomplice, were hanged in the market square of KHARKOV in the USSR. Captain Wilhelm Langheld, Hans Ritz, Reinhardt Retelav and Mikhail Bulanov were found guilty of war crimes by a Russian Military Court. A crowd of around 40,000 watched as lorries on which they stood were driven away, leaving them hanging from the scaffold.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/1943.html

 

Ostfront pctures:

http://www.ww2mmrefphotos.com/photos/RUSSIA/RussiaMain.htm

Italian T-34:





http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/Italy/ItalianTanks.html

 

Some pics from the front:



Dead Red Army woman soldier



Dead Finnish soldiers -41



Finnish soldiers in Karelia



A Finnish soldier and "Lenin"

 

Finnish patrol returning from behind the enemy lines march 1942



A couple of destroyed Russian tanks

 

1945 May 1 Russians troops find the bodies of 1,000 volunteers of Himalayan origin in Berlin wearing German uniforms, but without any papers or identifying badges. Their identities have never been determined.

http://www.humanitas-international.org/holocaust/1945tbse.htm

 

After the beginning of operation Barbarossa the Free French offered a fighter squadron. Stalin was only too glad to get the Normandie Squadron. The unit flew Soviet LaGGs and Yaks against the Germans, who declared that any Normandie pilots captured by them would be shot. Despite this, the Normandie Squadron racked up 273 confirmed kills and 36 probables during their short tour of the Eastern Front.

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Normandie-Niemen Regiment was a unit of Free French. The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres in French) were French fighters who decided to go on fighting against Germany after the Fall of France and German occupation and to fight against Vichy France in World War II.

First 12 Free French pilots were assigned to Soviet Union in the August 17 1942.

They were equipped with Soviet Yak fighters and initially named 3rd Fighter Group Normandie.

Pilots began active service in March 22 1943.

The regiment fought in three campaigns and in the battles in Smolensk, Belarus, Lithuania and east Prussia.

After July 1944 Stalin renamed the group Normandie-Niemen after they had participated in the Soviet victory at Alitous on the Niemen river. Field Marshall Keitel in turn ordered all the captured Normandie pilots shot. By the end of the war the group had grown to four squadrons.

Four of the pilots were awarded with the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Pilots returned to France June 20 1945.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Normandie-Niemen%20Regiment

 

Interestingly, as the regiment became famous they were given a free pick of what aircraft type they wanted to operate, Soviet or Lend-Lease, as they were something of a showcase unit for the Soviets. Not surprisingly they eventually ended up picking the outstanding lightweight fighter of the war, the Yak-3.

They flew this aircraft to the end of the war, when apparently each pilot received their aircraft as a pesonal gift for their outstanding service. Dunno how many were able to take this high-powered piece of military hardware with them back to France though!

 

French Pilots Fly In to See Old Friends

[27 Jun 2001] Six decades ago, Joseph Risso, a French pilot, and Nikolai Tuniyev, a Russian mechanic, fought side by side to help defeat the Nazis. On Tuesday, they had a chance to get together again, tell the old stories and crack jokes. They both served in the legendary Normandie-Niemen escadrille de chasse, a French regiment that fought in the Soviet air force during World War II, flying Soviet Yakovlev planes. A delegation of 45 men from the regiment, including five war veterans, is in Russia on a weeklong visit organized by the Defense Ministry. They have been to historical places and participated in demonstration flights. On Tuesday, the Frenchmen visited a Moscow school that has a small museum devoted to their regiment and were treated to a performance by schoolchildren who took a break from their summer holiday to see the men their school has honored. Many schools in Russia have small military museums, and 18 of them celebrate the Normandie-Niemen. The regiment flew over from France last weekend in four of their Mirage F-1 fighters and two transport planes and then tested their skill in Russian MiG-29, Su-25 and Su-27 fighter jets in Lipetsk. They then visited their old base in the town of Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, where they had trained and from where they flew to the front line. But back in 1942, when General Charles de Gaulle ordered the creation of the regiment, their trip to Russia was not as direct. ''France capitulated in 1940. In 1942, de Gaulle decided to send some French pilots to Russia because Free France wanted to be represented on all the fronts,'' Risso said. ''We traveled three weeks by sea, crossed Africa, : came to Egypt, then went to Palestine, Lebanon. ''In October 1942, we left for Iraq, then to Tehran. From there we set off with the Russians on Russian aircraft. We went to Baku and finally settled in Ivanovo. Thus our adventure started.'' Risso was one of 14 pilots who made the trip, along with 48 French mechanics. They later were replaced by Russians. In Ivanovo, they trained to fly Yakovlev planes, beginning with the Yak-1B and finishing the war with the Yak-3, what was then a modern light fighter. At the end of the war, they were given 40 of these planes to fly home. Of the first group of pilots, only three are alive today. Overall, 45 out of the regiment's 97 pilots who fought in the Soviet force either died or went missing. The pilots of Normandie-Niemen made 5,240 sorties, took part in 869 battles, gunned down 273 enemy planes and damaged 80 more planes, their itinerary stretching from Moscow to Elbing, East Prussia. They helped liberate Oryol, Bryansk, Smolensk, Belarus and Lithuania. Awards were given to 83 Frenchmen; four of them became Heroes of the Soviet Union. De Gaulle gave the regiment the first part of its name, Normandie, in English Normandy. The second, Niemen, was added by Stalin after the Frenchmen fought in the battle to retake the Neman River in August 1944. Risso shot down 15 enemy planes and was known as a bit of a hot dog. His nickname, Tuniyev said, was vozdushny khuligan, an endearment that translates literally as ''air hooligan.'' He stayed in the air force until his retirement in 1972. Of his first days in the regiment, Risso, now 82, recalls less difficulty with the Russian plane than with the Russian weather. ''The Russian planes were easy to operate. What was difficult was Russia's climate, snow. When we started training, the winter days were very short, and we had to make the most of the time we had to fly. ''We were very proud to serve with the Russians. It was a unique case in the history of the war,'' Risso said half in French and half in Russian. Tuniyev, who is a retired designer of mining equipment, has fond memories of working with the French pilots in the Normandie-Niemen. ''They were very committed,'' he said. Tuniyev and Risso described how one French pilot, Maurice de Seynes, sacrificed his life rather than desert his Russian comrade, mechanic Vladimir Belozub, when his plane was shot down. ''Maurice could have jumped out of the plane, but Vladimir, who sat behind him, did not have a parachute, so they died together,'' Tuniyev said. This and many more heroic acts have been documented in both countries in books and films. After the war, Normandie-Niemen was not dissolved and still exists as an active regiment in France's air force. The French and Russian veterans have stayed in touch over the years. Risso and Tuniyev last saw each other in 1997, the last time the French visited. Next year, the regiment will celebrate its 60th anniversary in France. ''For us it is a chance to reunite, to pursue communication with Russia and keep the memory of Normandie-Niemen alive,'' said the commander of the regiment, Ciril Claver. By Lyuba Pronina /Moscow Times/

http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/aeronews/conv/article_June_2001_27_107.htm

 

The aces of Normandia-Niemen


http://acesofww2.com/Normandy-Niemen/Normandie-Niemen.htm

 

KAI, thanks for this stuff. Only people from Finland can understand how treacherous and deadly was the neighbourhood of Stalin Russia.

 

A repro of the campaign medal for the occupation of Finland 1939....No Red Army soldier was awarded this!

 

like the man says, "You can't win the all"!

 

I guess this applies here but any Red Army General that would have said "You can't win them all"! to Stalin would have faced his death before finishing the sentence...

 

Friedrich-Karl "Tutti"Müller
Oberstleutnant

In May 1942, I./JG 53 was relocated back to the Eastern front. Müller was particularly successful during this period. In August, Müller claimed 25 victories, including five enemy aircraft shot down on 12 August (47-51). In the period 1 to 19 September, Müller claimed 35 victories, including six Russia Il-2 Sturmovik ground-attack aircraft shot down on 9 September (78-83), five enemy aircraft on 17 September (88-92) and seven on 18 September (93-99).

http://www.luftwaffe.cz/mullerfk.html

 

Galena Pavlovna Brok-Bel'tsova, Ekaterina Polunina And Anna Kiralina - Russian Women War-pilots

http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/WW2History-VVS_ladies.html