Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
PRESIDENT VLADAMIR PUTIN led a huge commemorative WWII march through Red Square today as Russia celebrated 70 years since Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
Clutching a portrait of his father Vladimir, who fought in the war, Putin unexpectedly joined a massive column of some 250,000 Russians who carried pictures of their relatives in a Kremlin-backed campaign dubbed the “Immortal Regiment.”
“I think that my father, just like millions of simple soldiers – and he was a plain soldier — had every right to walk through this square,” Putin told reporters on Red Square.
The 62-year-old president said the campaign was a tribute to the country’s fallen soldiers and civilians but also a sign of Russia’s strength.
“It also speaks of our self-confidence, confidence in our strength and the happy future for our children.”
The crowds of Russians proudly carrying portraits of their relatives snaked along central Tverskaya street, Moscow’s main avenue, before reaching Red Square.
Earlier in the day Putin presided over a mammoth parade featuring more than 16,000 troops and cutting-edge military equipment.
In what is seen as punishment for Kremlin’s meddling in Ukraine, Western countries led by Russia’s World War II allies boycott the May 9 festivities, leaving Putin to mark the big day in the company of the leaders of China, Cuba, India and other Moscow-friendly figures.
But Putin chose to ignore the boycott, thanking Britain, France and the US for their “contribution” to the defeat of Germany.
“Our fathers and grandfathers went through unbearable suffering, deprivation and losses,” Putin said, feting the country’s veterans and the “grandeur of Victory over Nazism”.
“We are grateful to the people of Great Britain, France and the United States for their contribution to victory,” he added.
Source: Alexander Zemlianichenko" title="">
Source: Alexander Zemlianichenko" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
Source: AP/Press Association Images" title="">
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Have to hand it to the Russians – They know how to put on a parade
Former USSR defeated the Nazis, moreso than any western intervention. Well done and thank you.
Pity about the follow up annexation of half the continent…
They had the manpower but were screwed without the lens lease program.
Diarmud
Without US aid, the British Arctic convoys USSR would not have succeeded as with the occupying of German troops in Italy and the west.
Without USSR troops tying up millions of Germans the allies would not have defeated Germany
With only one irregardless whether USSR or Western Allies Germany would have lost but it would have taken a lot longer possibly years and cost a lot more lives.
Putin thanked the West for a reason he knows that it was a joint effort.
Former USSR started the war on the Nazi side, and did feck all in the specific until after the a-bombs were dropped on Japan.
Pacific, even.
USSR gave people a better life than,the west ever did???
Irónach go leor ach chuile seans nach mbeadh ár saoirseacht againn marach íobairt mhór na Rúisigh.
I thought Kiev was full of Nazis and facists? Also Russia has more neo-Nazis than any other country in the world, this military parade is all about a dictator flexing muscle, Nazi BS excuse doesn’t hold up
Gaeltan, aontaim le Churchill ar an pointe seo, the allies should have pushed on from Berlin to Moscow, it would have stopped the 50 subsequent years of the Iron Curtain
@jack. There is a parade every year. It’s been happening for decades. 9 May is a huge national holiday. People feel very strongly about ww2 in Russia. They even clear the clouds to ensure there’s no rain. A bit bigger this year because it’s 70th anniversary.
@Anne my opinion is the allies should have pushed on from Berlin to Moscow, it would have stopped the 50 subsequent years of the Iron Curtain
The USSR primarily defeated the Nazis, let’s not pretend otherwise.
Think people totaly exaggerate the amount of supplies given through lend lease.was tiny when compared with soviet production.point in case… of the millions of photos of war on the eastern front you’d be hard pressed to find examples of western equipment.It was the soviets on all levels who bled the whermact white in world war two.
Diarmuid, Hitler was a mad man, he alone defeated the Nazis, they overran much of the Russian Empire at will and if Hitler’s insanity had not led Nazi Germany to fight a war on 4 or 5 fronts the Russian Empire would have been annihilated and now be around the same size as the Ukraine
Just as well that they didn’t Jack, because like Napoleon and Hitler the Americans and British would not have been able to sustain a hold on Moscow without fuel and supplies.
Chris, the allies had complete air superiority over the Red Army at the end of the war, they also had the A bomb, they could have submitted Russia as quickly as Japan was submitted if they could have somehow envisioned the destruction the iron curtain would have on countless millions of Eastern Europeans, a crystal ball would have been helpful, Churchill was the only one with the foresight to comprehend what was about to unfold
Jack Dunne
No, they have hade one every year since 1945, its to commemorate victory in WW2, there is a little hint in its name for the intellectually challenged like you, it has always been called and known as ” The Victory Parade “
@ Gerard considering you are the intellectual heavyweight in this conversation, can you school us all a bit, what does hade mean in this context, I can find a few definitions but my intellectual inferiority can’t match them to what you might be trying to say
Here are my findings:
hade (heɪd) geology
n
1. (Geological Science) the angle made to the vertical by the plane of a fault or vein
vb
2. (Geological Science) (intr) (of faults or veins) to incline from the vertical
Who lost the most citizens to Germany – Russia !
Yet the Poles and the countries that were behind the Iron Curtain dislike the Russians more than the Germans. …If only they knew how much the West is spied on ….apparently 20% of all public CCTV cameras in the world are in Britain…someone very paranoid in Old Blighty – wonder why ?
Jack Dunne
When you open a thread on geology !
Gerard, go to the back of the room you are in and put a cone shaped hat on your head, it will remind you of your school days
I was going to say something like that Diarmuid, when you consider that 70000 times more Soviet people died in War2 compared to the Us. 30000000 is a big number,the “West should be on their knees every remembrance day to thank the Soviet people for the allied victory, without the Russians we would be all Nazis now LEST WE FORGET
Foresight is not the same as hindsight Jack, the Red Army is not the Taliban you know…….
Jack Dunne
Without the Russians keeping most of the German busy the Allies could not have pushed on to Paris, never mind Berlin.
Without the Soviet’s there would have been no Luftwaffe and no Blitzkrieg.
Without the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Poland would have provided a much more substantial obstacle to Nazi ambitions. And without both the Blitzkrieg and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact the Nazi’s may have had their asses handed to them as soon as they crossed the Polish border. The Nazi’s would be a minor footnote of history and most Germans Polish-speaking today. But that would be second guessing history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipetsk_fighter-pilot_school
The nonaggression pact of August 23 contained a secret protocol that provided for the partition of Poland and the rest of eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres of interest. In accordance with this plan, the Soviet army occupied and annexed eastern Poland in the autumn of 1939. On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, precipitating a four-month winter war after which the Soviet Union annexed Finnish territory borderlands, particularly near Leningrad. With German indulgence, the Soviet Union also moved to secure its sphere of interest in eastern Europe in the summer of 1940. The Soviets occupied and incorporated the Baltic states and seized the Romanian provinces of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
What are we going to do with fascist Ireland now fg labour are right trouble now. dont listen to people at all.
Sean O’Keeffe, I like your angle, the Russian and the Nazis were as bad as each other in WW2 they both planned to cause immeasurable damage on Europe with the Molotov-Ribbentrop before the start of WW2, this is why the allies should not have stopped at Berlin but should have destroyed mother Russia too, if they had we wouldn’t now be looking at Russian aggression all over Russia’s border with Europe, a leopard doesn’t change its spots
Brilliant. Lest we forget, outside the star spangled version of WW2 presented to us by Hollywood, that something like 80% of the Nazi soldiers who died during WW2 died fighting the Russians (not to diminish one bit from the significant role America played in Europe)
Actually the downfall of the nazis was wars on too many fronts. Had they steamed full into russia they would have smashed russia.
I’ve seen a few of your historic recollections you seems always mistaken.
Or if they’d just checked the weather forecast before going gung-ho into the USSR.
Lest we forget. That the Soviets did a deal with the Nazis to carve up Poland. And stood by while Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Cyprus and Norway. Yes Were Jammin. Lest we forget.
Most of them from cold, disease and malnutrition or while prisoners of the other side rather than actual combat!
140 German divisions fought against the Russians, less than 20 on the western battlefront.
Lest we forget the soviets killed millions of their fellow countrymen.
You’re right James, the Nazis should have concentrated on the Western or Eastern front (not that I agree what the Nazis did)
More German soldiers died after the war in British and American POW camps than died in the 6 years of war on the western battlefront…the little things they don’t drum into you in their history books.
It’s worth reading theis article http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32529679 “The Rape of Berlin”. Not for the faint hearted and certainly not to be read aloud in Russia as you would be facing 5 years in prison.
Beevors – berlin the downfall 1945, is well worth a read too. Genuinely horrific.
I wonder will putin mention anything in this?
http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v14/Teplyakov.html
Most of the German soldiers were normal wehrmacht soldiers not nazi’s jammin.
Many of them where sent into combat without a weapon in there hands . When the man next to you falls pick up his weapon . No Russian soldier was aloud to retreat or they would have been shot by there own side . The Russians where responsible for the murder of millions of there own soldiers . There lives ment nothing to mother Russia .
@Derek
“More German soldiers died after the war in British and American POW camps than died in the 6 years of war on the western battlefront…the little things they don’t drum into you in their history books.”
They don’t teach it in history books because it didn’t happen – it’s complete cr@p. The claim was first made in a book written by a novelist with no historical training, and has been dismissed out of hand by all serious historians who have examined his claims. A panel of historians set up specifically to review the claims made in the book concluded that:
“Bacque is wrong on nearly every major and nearly all his minor charges seem to us to be overwhelmingly obvious. To sum up: Eisenhower was not a Hitler, he did not run death camps, German prisoners did not die by the hundreds of thousands, there was indeed a severe world food shortage in 1945, there was nothing sinister or secret about DEF designation or about the Other Losses column. Bacque’s “Missing Million” were old and young boys in the militia dismissed early from the American camps; they were escapees from camps and POWs/DEFs transferred from camp to camp in Germany and Europe for various reasons.”
The little things you fail to mention in your comments…..
People like Derek just like to believe all sorts of nonsense. No point in arguing with a fool that does not understand the difference between a fact and an opinion. You all know that opinions are like a$$hole’s and everyone has one. All a$$holes have highly dubious opinions that are not based on any facts.
Mick Jordan
Not exactly true,
http://www.weeklyuniverse.com/2003/poland.htm
Poland has always been an imperial power, it has at one time or another invaded and tried to occupy every country around it, in Ireland we are only informed of the story that suits the corporate states.
Any historian worth his salt blames Józef Beck for instigating the events that led to the war, at the behest of Britain and France.
So Gerard are you claiming the Soviets didn’t have a pact with the Nazi’s? Are you now trying to re-write history?
Stalin was more than happy to let Germany and the Western Powers slug it out and only began screaming for Western assistance when they were invaded. But yet did nothing to assist Britain, France the Benelux Countries, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark and Norway. But what they did do was invade the Baltic countries Finland and Eastern Poland. That is historical fact.
Brian Ward
Its also worth reading this article http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v10/v10p161_Brech.html
More German women and boys were raped by the Allies than by the Russians, it went on for years with the allies, it also happened in Italy and France, why are we misled about this.
@ Alvina :
MUST, MUST WATCH.
I don’t know about you, but I had NO knowledge of the deaths of 12 (twelve!) Million German Prisoners of War and Civilians, Farmers, Working Men, Women and children, exterminated by Eisenhower and American forces by DELIBERATE starvation, hyperthermia and other methods. This happened AFTER (!) the war, AND DESPITE (!!) US signing up to the Hague Warfare convention which required the prisoners of war are treated not only humanly, but equally to the troops … …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbp61fOVFaE&feature=player_embedded
Surprising that the makers of a youtube video and a novelist found all the ‘evidence’ of this when no reputable historian from either side of the fence has…..
Mick Jordan
Everyone had a pact with everyone, jockeying for the best position when SHTF, are you trying to claim Poland had no pact with Britain and France ? Are you claiming the Poles did not invade Czechoslovakia ?
Get your thinking cap on, why would the Russians interfere in France the Benelux Countries, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark and Norway when they were playing for time to fight a war, apart from the fact that they had a pact with Britain and France not to do so.
and that winter in Stalingrad,they didn’t expect to get bogged down there.
They didn’t have any winter clothing,then couldn’t get supplies in with snow,
planes missed their drops. All said it was a logistical disaster brought on by a call from hitler…..just like napoleon bit off more then he could chew
Gerard. Britain and France while far from perfect at the time were much much better than either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. And what you are failing to say is that the Poles and Slovaks were arguing over the areas the Poles eventually annexed since 1919, this area was divided up by the Allies after WW I
Even the Russians admitted Stalin was responsible for 20 million deaths. The estimated number of deaths is about equal to the number of Soviet soldiers and civilians believed killed in World War II.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/04/world/major-soviet-paper-says-20-million-died-as-victims-of-stalin.html
@ Alvina :
Typical reaction . Shoot the messenger.
You have obviously never heard of Dr Udo Uflkotte Who claimed that ALL media today is completely controlled and directed by the CIA. We are free ?? I laugh . Today we live in a controlled and from ABOVE spied on people that the Nazis or the Stasi would have being envious of.
Pat, the family of my other half have first hand experience of what living under the Stasi was like – you have absolutely no idea pal, none whatsoever.
@ Alvina : For you :
Is Merkel an asset for American intelligence, serving the geopolitical interests of Washington rather than the good of her own nation, or the wider good of Europe?
Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, the editor of Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest newspaper
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2015/05/06/518028the-choice-before-europe-paul-craig-roberts/
Mick Jordan
No, they were no better, France, Britain and Belgium were in the empire business. The Belgium’s killed more than 10 Million people in a few years in the Congo, https://youtu.be/cfvPFt-v_vw
The Brits and French were no better. more people than that died in British famines in India.
Get back to me when you learn a bit of history, I don’t like time wasters, especially the ones that pretend to be intelligent and learned.
Mick Jordan
Please jog my memory as to where I said Russia and Germany had no pact, I must admit to finding your inventive lying very amusing.
That’s what I meant I was being sarcastic, who in the west would have liked living in eastern Europe after the war?
I really can’t understand why western style governance which we live in is so often said as being unworkable.
I do know that it’s not perfect, but it is the best way of life, and we get to change every 5 years.
Long live western democracy.
Using a vile organisation like the IHR says a lot.
Gerard in your statement.. ” Mick Jordan
Not exactly true” to my statement “That the Soviets did a deal with the Nazis to carve up Poland”
In July 1944 there were 69 German divisions in France and 27 in Italy a total of 96 in total. There were 124 divisions on the Eastern Front.
http://www.axishistory.com/
Wrong again Derek
Mick
That does not even broach on the question of weather there was a pact or not. You seem to be finding it difficult to understand that politicians make pacts of connivance all the time.
Mick, you just want to believe the lies your told, because then you don’t have to think for yourself.
Hitler offered an anti communist pact to the Western Allies but was rebuffed. He then offered a non aggression pact to the Soviets which was jumped on. What is hard to understand Gerard?
Mick
You are not thinking, just before the invasion of Poland, the poles had massacred and raped thousands of German civilians in and around Danzig, the Germans had offered Poland peace if they would protect these people, Britain and France made sure the poles would unleash their hate on them.
This was a part of Germany seeded to Poland at the end of WW2.
” And what you are failing to say is that the Poles and Slovaks were arguing over the areas the Poles eventually annexed since 1919, this area was divided up by the Allies after WW I ”
Poland was only independent from the Russian empire since 1917, it had no right to claim anything.
It is you that is failing to say anything about the truth, Mick, if you are going to persist in rabbiting on about history, learn something about it beforehand.
Ahh. This would be History according to one Rodney Martin if I am not mistaken. An American Nazi apolgist. And which no historian takes seriously.
Christ Mick, he needs slow exposure to reality. Inch him in, don’t be expecting him to be able to absorb these bombshells.
German journalist exposes CIA total control over media.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-09/german-journalist-blows-whistle-how-cia-controls-media
Or
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/10/leading-german-journalist-admits-cia-bribed-leaders-western-press.html
What a spectacular parade
Is it giving you ideas Antrim?
Give it a rest for one day Brian for Christ sake
Yep, it sure was a spectacular parade. Only dissapointment was the cowardly absence of any western representatives. Oops, I almost forgot that we’re in a US proxy war with Russia over eh, Edward Snowden I think?
Martin. When you look who did attend. Robert Mugabe etc it doesn’t say much for Putin’s friends. And of course lest we forget Russia’s invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
Every country that finished on the winning side celebrated it in their own way, there’s no real need to travel to Russia.
A battalion of Chinese and Indian troops also took part in the parade, also some modern weaponry on show. Take America out of the equation Antrim that leaves Britain and France looking quite puny in comparison.
Why would the west travel to a country that started the war on the Nazi side?
a lads those Russians didn’t invade, they went there on holidays!!
@Colin
Get your history straight, the Soviet Union entered the war with Nazi Germany carrying out Operation Barbarossa, and from that point on fought against Nazi Germany and with the Western Allies.
To say Soviet Russia started the war is idiotic.
Do you think Russia will attack Britain Mr Phil, they’ve a fair trek across Europe first before they get here. You said that there as if Britain doesn’t have modern weaponry, nearly everything they have is cutting edge. They didn’t fair too bad in 1940 when they stopped the Germans (probably the strongest military power in the world at that time) from coming across the channel.
Never gonna happen anyway, the stuff of Hollywood movies.
Morons… Give the former USSR the respect it’s due.
Mr Phil would love Britain in flames and everybody in it either dead or living as slaves, it would mean a united Ireland you see. Europe laying in flames but it’s OK just as long as the 6 counties are back.
Exactly, the UK celebrated VE yesterday with the laying of wreaths at the London Cenotaph
No Larissa, the war started in 1939 with Russia and Germany invading Poland. The Russians like to ignore the bit before Barbarossa.
No Antrim you took me up wrong, the allies must take the tape measure out now or else they look weak. And my views are very far from your last post, I’m a supporter of the peace process, the ONLY way to achieve an inclusive united Ireland is through political process. If England was burning I’d be a good neighbour and volunteer to be in the fire brigade because 99% of Brits are actually sound. The EU also a good idea just woefully managed but I wouldn’t want to see war on the continent to achieve a UI that’s just stupid.
OK I apologise if I misinterpreted your comments. I’d say Britain never puts the tape measure away going by the amount of wars they involve themselves in, has there even been a 5 year period since the end of WW2 when they wernt stuck in the middle of something, I don’t think there has.
And as far as the United Ireland is concerned, I don’t want it and I don’t believe it’ll ever happen but if NI vote for it I’ll accept it.
Antrim I think the island as a whole would be better off together, it’s inevitable when the economic possibilities of a UI start to drive policy making decisions. But as you say if the demographic decision is to remain with the status quo then I will accept that.
Ahh Mick I’m sure you shed a tear or two for the tragic death of a Saudi monarch that pratically every western govt. paid their respects to by lowering their flags to half mast.
A Saudi regime that’s caused chaos on a scale Mugabe could only dream of.
It’s important to remember that around 80% of Hitler’s armies were committed to the Eastern Front. It’s important to remember the sacrifice of the millions of Russians and other Soviet peoples who fought to remove the Nazis from their country. It’s important to remember the civilians and innocent people who were killed by both the Nazis, Soviets and the Allies.
However, the glorious narrative of World War II is sullied by the actions of the USSR in the lead up to the Second World War. Stalin allied to Hitler, annexed the Baltic States and partitioned Poland. He invaded Finland and conquered Bessarabia from Romania. He organised the liquidation of the Polish officer class, teachers and intellectuals. He deported millions of Polish from Eastern Ukraine and Belarus back into Poland where many starved. Desperate for capital, Stalin supplied huge portions of coal and materiél to Nazi Germany.
Post war, Stalin organised the largest population exchange in the history of mankind as he deported entire countries West in order to make room for his new Russian colonies and enclaves. Inheriting huge numbers of Jews and other minorities, he personally organised their emigration to the Holy Land in the hope they would become someone else’s problem (Britain at that time). He furthermore enslaved Eastern Europe into a nightmare that they wouldn’t emerge from until the 1990s.
The Russians should be proud of the great sacrifices of their ancestors. However the greatest irony in Russia is that the man presiding over this parade, is himself a dictator in the some cloth as Mr. Hitler. The rhetoric and actions of Putin mimic the man who’s defeat defines their nation. It’s depressing.
It’s important to remember the Russians who met Hitler’s armies with open arms half way across Poland in 1939.
What has this to do with Russia’s embrace of the Nazis in 1939?
Colin C
What has a a couple of officers shaking hands got to do with the war between Germany and Russia ?
Your reading of history is infantile, but it suits you.
That whooshing sound is something going over your head, Gerard.
When I see row after row of goose stepping soldiers, I have to dig out Red Alert again.
Calm down its only a parade .
What a spectacular parade.
Amazing scenes from some of the last remaining veterans of the war.
Today is a day to remember the millions who fought to defeat the Nazis, including many thousands from Ireland.
We should never take for granted the ultimate price paid by so many around the entire world.
The price paid by the Soviet people in particular was so dreadfully high as to be almost unimaginable.
It is fitting that 70 years on, Russia holds the memory very dearly. Indeed there is not a family in the country which did not lose members during that war.
For the victory day, we shall not forget.
John, do they commemorate via a memorial the millions of their own people that uncle Joe butchered?
The memory is so dear? So dear that they cowardly attacked weak Ukraine which lost 7mln people or around 20% of population in WW2. Russia annexed Crimea (just like Sudets), Putin gives interviews about “historic order”, just like Hitler did and his party invites all the Nazi’s from Europe for conference in Saint Petersburg.
I particularly love their murder of thousands of Polish intelligentsia in Katyn and their subsequent cover up of that.
Jason , “love”?
I wonder was Vlad senior in the red army in 1939 when Russia was fighting alongside the Nazis in Poland. Lest we forget.
Stalin was officially condemned by the Soviets in 1953 and a process of destalinisation was begun. The soviet people triumphed in the great patriotic war despite him. Ukraine, then a vital part of the societ union, played an enormous role in liberating the world from the Nazis, as Olek has correctly pointed out. I hope someday Ukraine will be fully at peace and properous and that all Ukrainians will be able to share their common heritage and respect their differences. Russia has never attacked Ukraine. Regarding Poland, 600k Soviets laid down their lives liberating the country from the Nazis who considered Polish people subhumans. In doing so Soviet soldiers first came upon the Nazi death camps and liberated the suffering and innocent Jewish people from their awful fate. Today is a day of joy and remembrance in what the people of a country, which no longer exists, went through to preserve themselves as a race amongst the peoples of the Earth, saving them from Hitler’s “total annihilation” By doing so they rid the world of the most odious and disgusting ideology which ever rose to power.. The call at the outset of the great patriotic war was “The motherland calls”. At the end of the war, victory assured, a nation and people safe, the bittersweet refrain arose in a popular song of the time “Put on your coat, we’re going home”. Some days the hating must stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD4eIYbzC58
What’s your view of Russia’s collaboration with Nazi Germany in 1939, six years before they “liberated” it by executing all military, intelligentsia and political Poles that were not Soviet puppets?
Olek Savitskyy
The war was won despite the cowardly actions of Bandera and those in Ukraine that slaughtered civilians for the Nazis.
Historically Crimea has been Russian for centuries and, once again some Nazi Ukrainians are siding with genocide.
Colin what’s your view of the munich agreement in 1938? The molotov-ribbentrop pact came after that. I suspect Stalin took quite a dim view of western appeasement of Hitler. The soviets were demanding an anti-fascist front and they knew full well they were going to the inevitable subject of a fascist attack at some stage. When your “allies” do a deal with the devil it’s every man for himself no? Once the war started in the west Stalin genuiinely thought the danger had gone as the Germans famously try to avoid a war on two fronts. Anyway, it’s very easy to cherry pick things from history out of context my friend.
Are you aware of any British or French troops in the Sudetenland in 1938? No, thought not. The policy of appeasement was naive but stupid. Fortunately it never crossed the line of military collaboration with the most evil regime in the history of this planet.
Learn history. Otherwise it is very hard to speak to person who say Crimea was Russian for centuries. Once more if you did not see those numbers UKRAINE LOST 7MLN PEOPLE IN WW2 fighting nazi’s. 1.7mln soldiers and 5.5mln civilians. Any reports about genocide by Ukraine from UN, OSCE or any other reputable organization or this is just excuses of Putin’s propaganda?
@gerard devany BTW talking about Bandera and people who slaughter civilians for Nazi’s. Bandera’s saboteur army was around 20000. Have you heard about Russian Liberation Army which was at some stage around 1000000 strong and fought along the fascists? They used current Russian flag. Russian cossacks who’s “volunteer battalions” are present now in parts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions were fighting on Nazi’s side as well.
Colin C
If you learn to put your brain in gear while reading and read the article again, you will see that he was but, that’s asking too much of you, it would remove your excuse to be stupid.
They do love their medals!
Medals are a very cheap way of getting someone to do something incredibly stupid.
Avina
Yep, isn’t that just so true.
http://space4peace.blogspot.ie/2015/01/us-general-awards-medals-in-ukraine.html
That wasn’t a medal. It’s a “challenge coin”. If you don’t know what that is then look it up
Stephen O’Sullivan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin
A challenge coin is a small coin or medallion (usually military), bearing an organization’s insignia or emblem and carried by the organization’s members.
Take note of the word medallion, and it was awarded by the US military, so it is a military award.
A challenge coin is a small coin or medallion (usually military), bearing an organization’s insignia or emblem and carried by the organization’s members.
Gerard, it is not awarded in an official capacity it is given as a show of respect, in the case you alluded to it was one soldier offering his regiments challenge coin to another soldier. There are lots of challenge coins floating about I have a collection myself.
No they would not have had it easy even if they steamed through Russia full force as it was the harsh Russian winter that killed most of the ill equipped Nazi army as the Russians just retreated deeper into there own countrynthe nazies died stupidly following them.
Actually Vincent, Hitlet wasted the opportunity by insisting army group South be diverted to the caucuses to capture oil fields. A decision that may have been very costly to their campaign
I always considered that it was his obsession with capturing leningrad and stalingrad that was his downfall. He could have bypassed
I wish I was as smart as you:)
World War II ends on the 7th of May in the West and on the 8th in Russia. This is because, initially the Germans surrendered unconditionally to the Allies at Reims on the 7th. The Russian representative at this was considered too lowly by the Soviets so they hastily reorganised another ceremony in Berlin on the night of the 8th of May.
Therefore, there was one more day of fighting because the Russians didn’t accept the first surrender. Although, I imagine it was a ploy so that Stalin could fully capture Vienna before the end of the war to improve his bargaining position.
No mention of the violence and mass rape of german girls and women by Russian savages after the invasion
Well David, what would you expect? A good ‘telling off’ after the Nazi’s had invaded their country which resulted in the deaths of many million of it’s own people!
And now we have someone justifying rape of civilians. i have seen it all on the journal now.
There were rapes on all sides, but huge differences in how common it was. There are vast numbers of Ostlanders with a Russian ancestor from that time. Judaism changed its blood rules to say that it passes down the female line, in order to avoid excluding the children of rapists, mostly Nazis.
Yes and only for the Soviet people every jewish person on this continent would have perished and we would not have an Israel today.
David Craddock
No mention about the approx. 5 Million Germans that died in Allied concretion camps after the war was over.
http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v10/v10p161_Brech.html
Stalin put a stop to the rapes and fed the German people after just a few days of wars end, the rape and murder by the allies went on for a few years after the war.
Allied concentration camps. You really are a muppet.
The IHR is a vile organisation of liars and racists that should be treated with contempt. Anyone that uses material from such a site as evidence of anything is either woefully ignorant or a supporter of the vile views expressed by that organisation.
Colin C, No, its just that your too thick to even know about such things, I never accused you of being smart.
There is no doubt that the conditions that German POWs were kept in were not good however this has to be seen in the context of a war torn country where the conditions for everyone were far from ideal, millions of displaced people, ruined infrastructure, millions of mouths to feed and in need of medical attention etc. Simply put German military POWs were given a low priority in the scheme of things they were not targeted for death as claimed, that is pure neo nasty fan-boy fantasy. The only prisoners that were targeted specifically for mistreatment and death were those of the Red Army with approx 3.5 million deaths because of mistreatment. http://www.historynet.com/soviet-prisoners-of-war-forgotten-nazi-victims-of-world-war-ii.htm
If you want to quote works use reputable ones based on solid facts and figures and compiled by people who are experts in their field and whose work is peer reviewed. The following table totally debunks the myths claimed by some posters. NOTE second last line on the following list.
Percentage of
POWs who died
Russian POWs held by Germans 57.5%
German POWs held by Russians 35.8%
American POWs held by Japanese 33.0%
German POWs held by Eastern Europeans 32.9%
British POWs held by Japanese 24.8%
British POWs held by Germans 3.5%
German POWs held by French 2.58%
German POWs held by Americans 0.15%
German POWs held by British 0.03%
Source
Ferguson, Niall (2004), “Prisoner Taking and Prisoner Killing in the Age of Total War: Towards a Political Economy of Military Defeat”, War in History
What steo says. That is all.
Martin, your comment justified mass rape! You need to think about what you just wrote.
Thoroughly enjoyed RT’s coverage today, what an amazing spectacle
Any mention of Molotov-Ribbentrop? Thought not.
Thought this was a bought a bunch of psychotic Munster fans for minute.
With tanks ?
Comparable in size to the Irish water protests if you ask me. According to government estimates a few hundred in attendance :)
My god there’s one in every comment section.
Imagine if the protestors turned up with their guns (unloaded) and put on a marching Parade…’twas a pastime 1 hundred years ago .
Just as a gesture to 1916 of course – not any threat t Enda now – He’s doing good enough a job of hiding too be never looked for again …
He was praised for reading out that speech against the church in the dail and now not a peep on one of the most political and rreligous referendums in our history ..
That was the point of my comment Ciaran.
I even put a smilie face to reinforce. Sorry if it was above (or below) your humour
It was said that the whole war on the western front was equivalent to a bad week on the eastern front
War could not be won without the sacrifice of the soviets albeit agreed by a despot who was as bad as Hitler
Maybe the war would have been a bit shorter if the Russians hadn’t allied themselves with The Nazis while they carved up Poland between them, and allowed Blitzkrieg in the west to cause the fall of France, Holland, Denmark, Luxembourg and Belgium?
Thank you Russia for defeating the Nazis , we all know that the allies could never of defeated the Nazis on their own , shame on Obama for not attending the parade , total disrespect
The “allies” without Russia were left to deal with Japan in the Pacific without any help from Russia. Russia started the war on the Nazi side with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that sliced Poland in two. Russia’s war against the Nazis was a war of inconvenience only. Nothing honorable.
The Pacific war was a “convenient” war that allowed them to justify using a new bomb , the atomic bomb , Japan was a testing ground and its people were an experiment to see what damage this new bomb could do …. Nothing honourable there either !
Well Captain,
What is honorable? The Americans already had a taste of the casualties they could suffer as they invaded islands occupied by the Japanese.
There were many estimates of the casualties they could suffer by invading the Japanese mainland.
Personnel at the Navy Department estimated that the total losses to America would be between 1.7 and 4 million with 400,000 to 800,000 deaths. The same department estimated that there would be up to 10 million Japanese casualties. The ‘Los Angeles Times’ estimated that America would suffer up to 1 million casualties.
Now you try to explain to the American mothers and fathers why so many of their sons should be sacrificed when a weapon to stop the war was sitting in a storage box doing nothing.
Was the dropping of the bomb a horror…indeed, without a doubt a great crime…but so would sending young men to their deaths by the hundreds of thousands.
There is no easy answer…damned if you do and damned if you don’t. There is no honor in war.
But the dropping of the bomb made the Japanese victims and helped to shroud their deplorable activities in China and during WW2 for many years.
Remember, so fanatical were the soldiers that some fought on up until the 1970′s.
I believe in this instance there was no good way to end this.
Wow al ca , you actually believe that rubbish that America dropped 2 nuclear bombs to save lives hooo ha ; ok here’s one for u , the enola gay carried the bombs , now explain to me why an aircraft called necessary evil flew over the bomb site with scientists on board ??
Coli C
Please Colin, try stick with the facts, the Soviet Army liberated Manchuria and Northern Korea, after this the Japanese wanted to surrender, there was no need for the Atomic bombing of Japan.
Most likely for the same reason that the Russians sent scientists to inspect the battlefield after the ‘Battle Of Kursk’.
Do you agree it’s to assess the atomic bomb , they never realised it would not just only kill but give thousands incurable cancer . It was an evil horrible cowardly act committed by the USA
Al Ca
Have to disagree on this one, the Japanese had already tried to surrender, the Allies needed a civilian population to act as guinea pigs for the effects of a nuclear war, there was no doubt that there would be no invasion.
Now Gerard, you know that’s not true at all. Russia didn’t even declare war or fire a bullet at the Japanese until after the A-bombs. Stop making up history.
The Japanese had not offered to surrender. Nobody but a buffoon thinks otherwise.
The Japanese had suffered bigger death tolls and greater destruction of their cities by conventional bombings prior to the dropping of the atomic bombs and those did not make them surrender…….so why did the dropping of the two atomic bombs make a difference?
Possibly the greatest analysis of events and what went on before and after the dropping of the atomic bombs….. http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/?wp_login_redirect=0
You can read the link once or sign up for a free account which will let you read eight articles a month.
Colin C
On August 9 1945 Russia invaded Manchuria, as had been demanded by the allies, the fact that the bomb was dropped on August 6 is immaterial as the allies were aware of the Russian declaration of war and invasion, it had been at their request.
At 11pm Trans-Baikal time on August 8, 1945, Soviet foreign minister Molotov informed Japanese ambassador Satō that the Soviet Union had declared war on the Empire of Japan, and that from August 9 the Soviet Government would consider itself to be at war with Japan.[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_War_(1945)
You stand corrected
Colin, Get your $hit together.
Thank you for proving my point. The Pacific war was basically over before the Russians fired a bullet.
The untold story of WW 2. Americas position was very unclear and undecided, up until near the end of the war. Russia had then already lost over 20 million souls defeating the Nazis.
Missouri senator Harry Truman declared on the floor of the Senate in 1941:
“HARRY TRUMAN, U.S. SENATOR: If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible.”
Profits über Alles! American Corporations and Hitle:
“American Aid to the Soviets and to the Nazis ( Today also the US military industrial complex. which earns billions of dollars from war sell arms to both sides in any given conflict )
After the war, it would become customary in the West to claim that the unexpected Soviet success against Nazi Germany had been made possible because of massive American assistance, provided under the terms of a Lend-Lease agreement between Washington and Moscow, and that without this aid the Soviet Union would not have survived the Nazi attack. This claim is doubtful.”
“First, American material assistance did not become meaningful before 1942, that is, long after the Soviets had single-handedly put an end to the progress made by the Wehrmacht and had launched their first counteroffensive. Second, American aid never represented more than four to five per cent of total Soviet wartime production, although it must be admitted that even such a slim margin may possibly prove crucial in a crisis situation. Third, the Soviets themselves cranked out all of the light and heavy high-quality weapons — such as the T-34 tank, probably the best tank of World War II — that made their success against the Wehrmacht possible. 34 Finally, the much-publicized Lend-Lease aid to the USSR was to a large extent neutralized — and arguably dwarfed — by the unofficial, discreet, but very important assistance provided by American corporate sources to the German enemies of the Soviets. In 1940 and 1941 American oil trusts increased the lucrative oil exports to Germany; large amounts delivered to Nazi Germany via neutral states.”
Precocious Hitler-admirers were press lord Randolph Hearst and Irénée Du Pont, head of the Du Pont trust, who according to Charles Higham, had already “keenly followed the career of the future Führer in the 1920s” and supported him financially.
When considering this evidence, Americas part in WW2 is highly exaggerated, to say the least, especially when we take into consideration their open support of Nazi elements in Ukraine today.
Read more :
http://www.globalresearch.ca/profits-ber-alles-american-corporations-and-hitler/4607
Nazi elements in Ukraine? So did Ukraine annexed part of Russia or what?
Here is special for you.Highly decorated Ukrainian WW2 97 years old veteran talks about his grandson who lost his life for Ukraine defending his country against Russists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRcsPW4lpx0
Pat the soviets had a fair share of help from Hitlers incompetent orders and Mother Nature. Also british Navy restricting the movement of German shipping provided great assistance to Russia
Did The Bush Family Help Hitler Into Power?
This is highly likely. Short film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBKMN-pdp6M&feature=player_detailpage#t=0
Wayne O’Fathaigh
The ” Red Orchestra ” played a more important part in Russian victory than the allies, mave you ever heard of them ?
Oleksanr, Are you denying the Western Ukrainian Nationalists led by Bandera fought alongside the Nazi’s under the commands of the SS? This is a historical fact and no amount of commenting is going to change it. It’s documented, researchable, and accepted by all historical scholars or note. The fact that LVIV City in Western Ukraine erected a statue in Banderas honour speaks volumes about the Nazi elements in Ukraine.
Asov Battalion? are you blind? All Ukrainian ” Volunteers” are Neo Nazi’s. THese people are currently being trained by the US Military and armed by Ukraine who is backed by the EU. All of this in broad daylight, and people still swallow the media’s line of – Russia Evil – Ukraine victim. Maybe if Ukrainian protesters didn’t throw molotovs at police and shoot at them in maidan, paint anti Russian and anti semetic slogans on captured government buildings. Hang Bandera portraits in them FFS! How do you expect the East Ukrainians and the Russians to Respond?? With open arms?
Revisionist nazi sympatizers like you are the worst types of humans.
Show of strength more than a parade
They haven’t gone away you know!
Didn’t Putin attend the War Memorial in France in fairness – the no-show is a bit disrespectful to all the dead of World War 2 in a way .
If I remember rightly, good old Russia did a nasty deal with Hitler! Also the Allies in the west declared war on Germany, while the motherland stood by. At the end of the day, mother Russia where backed into a corner and only then declared war, otherwise Russia would just stood by and done nothing.
Great pride though today in Moscow, nicely done.
Mark what constituted the allies at the outset in 1939 were soundly routed all through western Europe to the French coast by mid 1940. Only for Hitler ordering a halt to the panzers in an attempt to placate the UK into bowing out of the war it would have been all over at Dunkirk. For 10 days the Wehrmacht sat waiting until the evacuation as per Hitler’s disastrous (for Nazi Germany) order.
Hitler only wanted a war in the east as that’s where all the land and resources were, and indeed still are. You should also remember that the US had no intention of joining the war until pearl harbour, otherwise, to quote yourself, it would have “just stood by and done nothing”.
Meanwhile Ireland is still trying to come to terms with its own WW1 war dead, heroes every one of them. But not everyone here sees it that way.
Here’s an actual photo of the first Russian engagement of German troops on the way to “liberating” Poland. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Spotkanie_Sojuszników.jpg
Colon C
No $hit Sherlock, it is an actual photo !
Did you figure that out all by yourself ?
Ah now, calm down Gerard. The old Russia-won-the-war myth is crumbling down. Your understanding of basic history is, shall we say, unique.
Journal could you not just report the news without the anti Russian slant?
How about this headline – ” Russians remember their 30 Million dead from WW2 in Victory day Parade”.
In other words Journal, Show some fricken respect FFS.
Ah now Isaak, there will be plenty of kowtowing on RT. We don’t need to import Putin’s policies on media freedom.
Regardless of the governments and politics involved, The Russian people rose up and bled fighting the Nazi’s. 30 million people died to defeat the Nazi war machine, they didn’t do it alone but they did the lions share. Thank you to the ordinary Russian heroes of WW2 and the families that still grieve the dead.
Politics aside, respect where respect is due. Great Parade and a shame the Western leaders couldn’t get over their prejudice to pay their respects.
They raped and plundered their way to an assisted victory and then killed their own or sent them to Siberia. Sham show of force by a dysfunctional country
So did the Germans but they killed most of their victims so it isn’t recorded – very efficient the Third Reich !
It’s amazing what people will put up with when the State have all the guns !
It’s a good excuse for Putin to say to the west “we’ve still got a load of nukes”
Polyushka Poyle
Ironically if they hadn’t been total idiots and made a pact with the Nazis they might not have been invades
184 comments and counting..on a topic that wouldnt really attract that much interest (unfortunately) in Ireland. Looks like the ‘bots and shills from both sides are out in force and arguing with themselves.
have your say