re: Do Russian history students learn about WWII the other way around?

quote:

---

Allies were spying on each other while WW2 was ongoing. The were already trying to carve up the best parts of Europe and the Middle east before the end of the war,,,

so..

---

You're basically arguing semantics. It was a Cold War so it's hard to assign a single event that was the beginning, however I don't think that you can claim a Cold War was ongoing when our troops were meeting with handshakes and hugs in Germany and Patton and Zhukov were having joint parades and banquets to celebrate a common victory.

start a thread chris


any subject

quote:

---

Edgy post of the day: Would we have been better off had Germany won WWI? WWII likely wouldn't have happened, at least not in the capacity of how it kicked off.

WWII began as a direct result of the Treaty of Versailles.

---

It wasn't so much who "won", it was the conditions of the treaty.
Nobody really won the actual war, it was stalemated, and everyone got tired of fighting and dying. Germany lost the diplomatic end of it, and got stuck with a huge bill that completely destroyed their economy and emasculated their military (big blow to their national pride). Conditions were ripe for an angry uprising.

I don't doubt that the Russians teach WW2 differently; Germany took all of the European nations, and slaughtered the Russians by the millions. Imagine Canada brutally pushing down to the Mason Dixon line- they were hanging on by a thread against what seemed like the Apocalypse.
I doubt they cared any about the Pacific theater, so long as the Japs didn't come hit them from the Southeast.

quote:

---

We were also taught that Indian soldiers fought on front lines for British. As usual British did not keep the promises made to India. Don't see how they believed Brits when they been lying to you for 40 years

---

Interestingly enough, the Germans formed an Indian volunteer legion amongst Indian nationalists who shared a common enemy in the British.

quote:

---

The Indian Legion (German: Indische Legion), officially the Free India Legion (German: Legion Freies Indien) or Infantry Regiment 950 (Indian) (German: Infanterie-Regiment 950 (indisches), I.R. 950) and later the Indian Volunteer Legion of the Waffen-SS (German: Indische Freiwilligen Legion der Waffen-SS), was a military unit raised during the Second World War in Nazi Germany. Intended to serve as a liberation force for British-ruled India, it was made up of Indian prisoners of war and expatriates in Europe. Because of its origins in the Indian independence movement, it was known also as the "Tiger Legion", and the "Azad Hind Fauj". Initially raised as part of the German Army, it was part of the Waffen-SS from August 1944. Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose initiated the legion's formation, as part of his efforts to win India's independence by waging war against Britain, when he came to Berlin in 1941 seeking German aid. The initial recruits in 1941 were volunteers from the Indian students resident in Germany at the time, and a handful of the Indian prisoners of war who had been captured during the North Africa Campaign. It would later draw a larger number of Indian prisoners of war as volunteers. Though it was initially raised as an assault group that would form a pathfinder to a German-Indian joint invasion of the western frontiers of British India, only a small contingent was ever put to its original intended purpose. A hundred legionnaires were parachuted into eastern Iran under Operation Bajadere and infiltrated into Baluchistan Province to undertake sabotage operations, which they reportedly did successfully, but with insignificant effect. A small contingent, including much of the Indian officer corps and enlisted leadership, was transferred to the Indian National Army in South-East Asia. The majority of the troops of the Indian Legion were only ever stationed in Europe in non-combat duties, in the Netherlands and in France until the Allied invasion. They saw action in the retreat from the Allied advance across France, fighting mostly against the French Resistance. One company was sent to Italy in 1944, where it saw action against British and Polish troops and undertook anti-partisan operations. At the time of the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, the remaining men of the Indian Legion made efforts to march to neutral Switzerland over the Alps, but these efforts proved futile as they were captured by American and French troops and eventually shipped back to India to face charges of treason. Because of the uproar the trials of Indians who served with the Axis caused among civilians and the military of British India, the legion members' trials were not completed.

---

Here's another interesting image--Koreans captured by the Allies while fighting for the Nazi's on the Atlantic Wall.

These poor bastards were captured by the Japanese when they invaded Korea/Manchuria, put into service in the Japanese Imperial Army as prisoners, then captured by the Russians during the border skirmishes, shipped across Russia to the Eastern Front where they fought for the Soviets and were captured, then put into service on the Atlantic Wall in a spot where the Nazis thought the invasion probably wouldn't happen...

They should've shot them all and killed anyone who cried out against the treasonous bastards. People who don't believe this method works need look no further than the American indians.

I still don't think he would be OK with the nazis had he known the extent of the concentration camps

Yes they think Stalingrad was turning point.

Wish we had a history board

quote:

---

makes you wonder about the truth in what we were taught.

---

all personal opinion i guess. patton wasnt really big on the denazification process because he HATED the soviet union and saw a strong germany as an important partner to fight communism