{"id":1587,"date":"2011-09-26T11:45:44","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T16:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/?p=1587"},"modified":"2012-09-12T05:54:26","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T10:54:26","slug":"red-army-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/26\/red-army-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle of Kiev 1941 – The Red Army in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Battle of Kiev 1941<\/h1>\n
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Painting in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Featured on Real Clear History<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Sixty years ago today, on September 26th, 1941, nearly a million Soviet troops lost the First Battle of Kiev to the combined German Army Group South and Army Group Center.\u00a0 They outnumbered the Germans nearly two to one, but Soviet defense tactics were still extremely primitive and no match against German armor.<\/p>\n
Battle of Kiev: Encirclement<\/span><\/p>\n
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Painting in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Soviet forces knew they were in danger of being encircled, but Stalin refused to allow them to retreat.\u00a0 Poorly trained and badly equipped, the soldiers stood fast and waited for the Germans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did have rifles, but only one rifle among five men, and about 100 cartridges.\u00a0\u00a0 We thought this would only be whilst on the way to the front or while training.\u00a0 When we came to fight, we thought we would be given new weapons.\u00a0 But that never happened to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> Viktor Stravdoski, Soviet Veteran, 18^{th<\/sup> Rifle Division<\/p>\n}
The siege began in July, 1941, and ended in late September.\u00a0 In the final days, The Germans broke through the last lines and killed Soviet Commander Mikhail Kirponos.\u00a0 Without leadership or instructions, confusion swelled in the defenders\u2019 ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were given no instructions. We knew we were doomed.\u201c\u00a0<\/em>Viktor Stravdoski, Soviet Veteran, 18^{th<\/sup> Rifle Division<\/p>\n}
Desperate to escape the Soviet soldiers even attacked the German lines without weapons.\u00a0 \u201cWe saw that the first line had rifles, but the second line had no rifles.\u00a0 They took the rifles from the dead.\u00a0 No German would attack without a weapon.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> Wolfgang Horn, German Veteran, 10^{th<\/sup> Panzer Division<\/p>\n}
Battle of Kiev: Prisoners of War<\/h2>\n $\"\"$ <\/a>
Soviet POW Uniform Used in Concentration Camps – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The result was 650,000 Soviet soldiers captured.\u00a0 It is the largest encirclement in military history, and represented nearly one fourth of all Soviet POWs Germany took in during the war.<\/p>\n
The fate of the captured Soviet soldiers both foreshadowed and reflected the depth of the German and Soviet atrocities that became the norm for the next four years.\u00a0 Considered sub-human by the Germans, the captured soldiers were rarely fed, put to hard labor, and left to die of exposure.<\/p>\n
Their hair became stuffing for mattresses.\u00a0 Skin became gloves.<\/p>\n
Battle of Kiev: Cannibalism<\/h2>\n
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Gloves Made of Human Skin – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cThings are out of control in the camps.\u00a0 The prisoners even seized a guard and ate him,<\/em>\u201d is how Goering cruelly referred to the situation among prisoners.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, cannibalism was not infrequent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt night we would cut bits of flesh, and then secretly try to boil it or fry it.\u00a0 No one took the guts, of course.\u00a0 Other parts of the body might be infected with something.\u00a0 Skin, for example.\u00a0 But the liver might be edible.\u00a0 Lungs were sometimes cut out too.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Georgy Semenyak, Soviet Prisoner of War.<\/p>\n
The atrocities against the Soviets, Jews and other persecuted minorities at the hands of the Nazi\u2019s are well known.\u00a0 Less known and nearly equally tragic, is how the Soviets treated their own kin after liberating them from the camps in 1945.<\/p>\n
Battle of Kiev: Stalin\u2019s Atrocities<\/strong><\/h2>\n $\"\"$ <\/a>
Alley of Heroes – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In early 1945 the The Red Army liberated many camps, often singing songs as they marched in.\u00a0 What was initially a joy for the surviving Soviet prisoners quickly turned bitter.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo Soviet officers approached, and one asked,\u00a0 \u2018So how did you live it up here, you whore?\u2019 He didn\u2019t even ask us how we survived.\u00a0 He grabbed a pistol and signaled me to get out.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Tatiana Nanieva, Soviet Prisoner of War.<\/p>\n
Officially, the USSR did not recognize it had any captured soldiers in German hands.\u00a0 In the eyes of the Soviet regime, a prisoner was both a coward and a traitor. Paranoia and shame motivated Stalin to order all two million Soviet POWs\u00a0 liberated in Germany to be tried.\u00a0 They were accused under article 58B: \u201cBetrayal to the Motherland\u201d, and sent to the Gulags in Siberia. \u00a0An estimated half of them died.<\/p>\n
Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev<\/h2>\n $\"\"$ <\/a>
Kiev Motherland Statue – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The museum is actually part of a large memorial complex in Pechersk\u00a0Kiev, near the Arsenalia Metro station.\u00a0 It is located on a hill overlooking the Dnieper River, and under the famous 62-meter tall Motherland statue. \u00a0Next to the museum is an outdoor exhibit of old Soviet military equipment, and a smaller hall telling the history of the Afghan intervention.<\/p>\n
The promenade up to the museum, known as \u201cAlley of the Heroes\u201d is full of statutes that visually narrate the war. First they show the shock and horror of the invasion; then the partisan struggle, and finally the re-invented Red Army crossing the Dnieper in 1943\u2014liberating Kiev.\u00a0 The statues are unique among Soviet monuments for actually having a suffering beauty in them.<\/p>\n
The museum itself is an impressive collection of artifacts and art that gives tribute to the Soviet victory, and unforgivingly damns the Germans. Translations are lacking. More significantly, considering Ukraine\u2019s independence, a revisionist view would be expected.\u00a0 As it stands, there is no mention of the horrors Stalin subjected Ukraine to.\u00a0 A full three or four hours are needed to visit the museum and the surrounding grounds.<\/p>\n
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Nearly 1 million Soviet Women Fought in WWII – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Quotes in this article are thanks to exhibits in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, and to the BBC Documentary: “War of the Century”<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n
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Alley of Heroes – Jan Smith 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Battle of Kiev 1941 Sixty years ago today, on September 26th, 1941, nearly a million Soviet troops lost the First Battle of Kiev to the combined German Army Group South and Army Group Center.\u00a0 They outnumbered the Germans nearly two to one, but Soviet defense tactics were still extremely primitive and no match against … <\/p>\n
Read More “Battle of Kiev 1941 – The Red Army in Ukraine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477],"tags":[467,49,65,468],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1587"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}