Eastern Front - What's the attraction?

[Guest Kinch]

Yes, the average American has no knowledge of history at all. The Eastern front sounds like a weather pattern to them. However, American wargamers like those who visit the forum are keenly aware of the significance of the German-Russian war. Others said that WW2 was decided there. I will take it a step further. The fate of the second half of the 20th Century and thus the type of world we now live in was determined in the East.

[PzKpfw 1]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jeff Duquette:

To further muddy the waters regarding Soviet Combat Casulties suffered during WWII, one source of descrepency lies in the incidence of multiple wounds being suffered by the same soldier. Incidence of multiple wounds could potentially skew our perception of over all combat casualty statistics. From: Colonel-General G.F. Krivosheev’s ”Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses In the 20th Century” (pg 88, 89)

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Its good to see Grif finanaly got published in english. Thats one area of disagreement between Krivosheev’s group, & Sokolov, Volkogonov etc.

Regards, John Waters

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"We've got the finest tanks in the world. We just love to see the

German Royal Tiger come up on the field".

Lt.Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. February 1945.

[Los]

"Yes, the average American has no knowledge of history at all..."

Geez we have to sit here and listen to this tripe over and over again. And the average European has a doctorate in WW2 history? My wife's side of the family is all French and guess what? On the average they know maybe a vaguley more about WW2 than US kids their age do. Was in Normandy last year and observed bus loads of kids going through the museum at Caen. They had about as much interest in being there as any US kid normally has about seeing the Liberty Bell.

Even amongst those that have an interest in WW2 right here in this newsgroup, there's no significant difference in the level of understanding between those on both sides of the big pond so climb down off your high horses. It's just that everyone has their own little national spin on things.

Los

[This message has been edited by Los (edited 10-29-2000).]

[Maxx]

Well frankly, I am aghast at the 'average' Europeans lack of knowledge of the American Civil War. My goodness.. kids nowadays!

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The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know - HS Truman

[Jeff Duquette]

John:

Have you received any kind of feedback from Zaloga on the T34 destroyed relative to range table he had included in Red Army Handbook?

[PzKpfw 1]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jeff Duquette:

John:

Have you received any kind of feedback from Zaloga on the T34 destroyed relative to range table he had included in Red Army Handbook?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not to date Jeff, my guess is he's busy traveling somewhere for his work. When & if he responds to the particulars & says its ok to post it, I'll post any relevant stuff on the KwK.36 thread.

Regards, John Waters

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"We've got the finest tanks in the world. We just love to see the

German Royal Tiger come up on the field".

Lt.Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. February 1945.

[Maj. Bosco]

I think it's been amply proven here that either the English and Americans or the Russians would have beaten Germany regardless of the other's involvment. It's also been speculated as to how much longer and bloodier the war would have been.

However, to say that the fate of Europe or the rest of the 20th century was decided in the East is ignoring the rest of the 20th century. Without D-Day what would Europe have looked like in 1945 or 48 or whenever the war would have ended? How many more would have died under Stalin?

On the other hand what if there had been no Ostfront? If the Soviets had simply stayed out I doubt that anyone here would argue that Moscow, now Berlin, would have been the final destination. Millions upon millions more might have been lost.

You cannot just isolate one incident in the war and then try and guess the outcome. World War II was a total war. If England hadn't been against Germany then they may well have been with it. The same goes for America. That's a scenario with no D-Day but do you still think Russia would have won? Or switch it. Had Germany been fully allied with Russia how would the western front have looked then?

Every country gave of itself, every country lost it's children and every country bled. Russia bled most and worst, and should be accounted all the respect that sacrafice garners, but it did not bleed alone.