Russian POWs

A brilliant post!

And yet, even if the "Siberians" have defeated the Germans the victory was Russian because the "Siberians" are still predominantly Russians.

There are several views on the question how could the USSR recover and win the war despite devastating defeats at the beginning of the war with the Axis:

According to R. Service: ‘already having been a highly “militarised” society before 1941, the USSR became co-ordinated as if it were simply a great armed camp wherein the Red Army itself was but the most forward and exposed contingent.’

The official Soviet view was that the USSR’s wartime economic mobilisation was made possible by the economy’s centralised ownership and control, and by effective planning of resources and outputs.

G. Hosking’s claims that ‘the planned economy was better at improvising than at planning’

But in my humble view the key factors were: (i) firm determination of average Ivan to defend his motherland and (ii) intensive industrialization of the USSR under the communist region during 1920-1940.