Bismarck said that the Franco-Prussian war was won by a German teacher. It was he who raised the future German soldier, instilled in him love for the fatherland, devotion to his state, sublime faith and honor.
The Great Patriotic War was won by a Soviet teacher. It was he who, in huge cities and tiny villages, in mountain villages and villages, taught children not only mathematics, spelling and the laws of physics, he taught them to love their Motherland, raised in them a future writer, pilot or explorer. He taught me to help my comrades and love them, to be brave, selfless and sincere. It was Soviet teachers who raised the heroic Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, the fearless Alexander Matrosov, the brave pilots Gastello and Talalikhin, the unforgettable Young Guards, the unyielding Panfilovites who threw themselves with grenades under the tracks of fascist tanks.
The Soviet state, already at its conception, when the grueling Civil War was still going on, opened universities and scientific centers, gave knowledge and science the status state religion. The state saw its great creative goals and directed young people towards these goals. And they created the mighty Soviet factories, turned into a generation of engineers who built the world's best ships, planes and tanks. It was these young people who mastered the Arctic, Siberia and Far East. They carried out a grandiose atomic project, created the space industry, and made the Soviet Union a superpower.
The young man was being prepared to become a creator, a hero, a winner. They taught him to sacrifice his own for the sake of the universal, to sacrifice even his life for the sake of his great Motherland and his great people. At the center of Soviet ideology was a man-creator, a creator, striving for the future.
When the Soviet Union fell, everything fell with it: the technosphere, sovereign foreign and domestic policy, the army, defense and education. Education has fallen. The first generation of post-perestroika children was called the “Pepsi generation.” It was bad and meaningless. He was interested in music, sex and drugs. It did not despise society and the state - it simply did not notice them. It lived in a spiritless space. His religious paraphernalia included sour jeans, a beer-slurping stomach, hallucinogenic music and veins punctured with syringes.
The next generation of young people was different. It sought to realize itself in a career, in finance. It wanted to become the richest, to overtake others in the race for success, to surpass the inept and weak. The idols of this generation were rich people, businessmen, and show business stars. The ideals of these young people were in California's Silicon Valley, in Hollywood or Las Vegas - their idols lived overseas. But here, in impoverished Russia, filled with chaos and nonsense, there was no place for success. These young people loved America, loved sleek Europe and despised their homeland. They were raised to despise native history, which was interpreted as a dead-end path for humanity, to domestic leaders and chiefs, who were portrayed as executioners and paranoids. To one's own people - unprofitable and unnecessary. And all the upbringing, all the education pushed young people outside of Russia, gave their minds and knowledge to the service of another civilization.
However, as the Russian state rose from the ashes and the state began to need active diplomats, managers, engineers, and military personnel, it became obvious that there were almost no such citizens in Russia. And the state began to pay more and more attention to their reproduction. It was necessary to build defense factories, and for this we needed engineers. It was necessary to build diplomacy amid the painful conflicts of the world, and this required experienced humanists, experts in history and religion. It was necessary to fight the proliferation of theft and corruption. It was necessary to contrast service to the Motherland with its plunder, love for the Motherland with hatred of it.
The level of knowledge in Russia has fallen sharply. Young people were cut off from the sublime Russian classics, from the deep foundations of history. They no longer knew who Princess Olga and Saint Prince Vladimir were. Who are Karamzin and Klyuchevsky? They didn’t know how Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” ended and who wrote “The Tale of a Real Man.” This degradation was associated with the educational process, which previous ministers either could not or did not want to improve.
The appointment as Minister of Education of Olga Yuryevna Vasilyeva, a Russian historian, an expert on religions, who has a keen sense of the multinational character of our great power, who owns the codes Russian history, Russian destiny, Russian statehood, this appointment was received with joy by all patriotic circles of Russia. In connection with her appointment, we expect profound changes in the very approaches to the education and education of Russian youth.
Not only Russian historians, theologians or writers are happy about this appointment. We are happy about the military, who are in dire need of a patriotically minded officer and soldier. Scientists rejoice, reviving domestic science engineering. The whole society, tired of corruption and depravity, rejoices.
The entire liberal army rebelled against her appointment. Her persecution began in newspapers and radio stations. They insult, humiliate, and almost call her a fascist. Enclosed in a cocoon of hatred. In the nineties, I experienced this persecution myself, I know how much strength it takes. How hard it is to resist her, how difficult it is to maintain dignity, will, honor. Olga Vasilyeva, I have no doubt, will withstand this formidable test, because not only she, but our entire country is going through this test.
Let the young man who graduated from our high school know who Princess Olga and Saint Prince Vladimir are. Who are Pushkin and Chaadaev? Zhukov and Karbyshev. Let them not be afraid to pronounce the name Stalin or Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. Let them mourn the execution of Nicholas II and celebrate the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops.
History breathes not only in the past, but also in the present. And today, mother history feeds the Russian state. It is not subject to blasphemy and shame.
Bismarck said that the Franco-Prussian war was won by a German teacher. It was he who raised the future German soldier, instilled in him love for the fatherland, devotion to his state, sublime faith and honor.
The Great Patriotic War was won by a Soviet teacher. It was he who, in huge cities and tiny villages, in mountain villages and villages, taught children not only mathematics, spelling and the laws of physics, he taught them to love their Motherland, raised in them a future writer, pilot or explorer. He taught me to help my comrades and love them, to be brave, selfless and sincere. It was Soviet teachers who raised the heroic Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, the fearless Alexander Matrosov, the brave pilots Gastello and Talalikhin, the unforgettable Young Guards, the unyielding Panfilovites who threw themselves with grenades under the tracks of fascist tanks.
The Soviet state, already at its conception, when the grueling Civil War was still going on, opened universities and scientific centers, gave knowledge and science the status of a state religion. The state saw its great creative goals and directed young people towards these goals. And they created the mighty Soviet factories, turned into a generation of engineers who built the world's best ships, planes and tanks. It was these young people who explored the Arctic, Siberia and the Far East. They carried out a grandiose atomic project, created the space industry, and made the Soviet Union a superpower.
The young man was being prepared to become a creator, a hero, a winner. They taught him to sacrifice his own for the sake of the universal, to sacrifice even his life for the sake of his great Motherland and his great people. At the center of Soviet ideology was a man-creator, a creator, striving for the future.
When the Soviet Union fell, everything fell with it: the technosphere, sovereign foreign and domestic policy, the army, defense and education. Education has fallen. The first generation of post-perestroika children was called the “Pepsi generation.” It was bad and meaningless. He was interested in music, sex and drugs. It did not despise society and the state - it simply did not notice them. It lived in a spiritless space. His religious paraphernalia included sour jeans, a beer-slurping stomach, hallucinogenic music and veins punctured with syringes.
The next generation of young people was different. It sought to realize itself in a career, in finance. It wanted to become the richest, to overtake others in the race for success, to surpass the inept and weak. The idols of this generation were rich people, businessmen, and show business stars. The ideals of these young people were in California's Silicon Valley, in Hollywood or Las Vegas - their idols lived overseas. But here, in impoverished Russia, filled with chaos and nonsense, there was no place for success. These young people loved America, loved sleek Europe and despised their homeland. They were brought up with contempt for their native history, which was interpreted as a dead-end path for humanity, and for domestic leaders and chiefs, who were portrayed as executioners and paranoids. To one’s own people—unprofitable and unnecessary. And all the upbringing, all the education pushed young people outside of Russia, gave their minds and knowledge to the service of another civilization.
However, as the Russian state rose from the ashes and the state began to need active diplomats, managers, engineers, and military personnel, it became obvious that there were almost no such citizens in Russia. And the state began to pay more and more attention to their reproduction. It was necessary to build defense factories, and for this we needed engineers. It was necessary to build diplomacy amid the painful conflicts of the world, and this required experienced humanists, experts in history and religion. It was necessary to fight the proliferation of theft and corruption. It was necessary to contrast service to the Motherland with its plunder, love for the Motherland with hatred of it.
The level of knowledge in Russia has fallen sharply. Young people were cut off from the sublime Russian classics, from the deep foundations of history. They no longer knew who Princess Olga and Saint Prince Vladimir were. Who are Karamzin and Klyuchevsky? They didn’t know how Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” ended and who wrote “The Tale of a Real Man.” This degradation was associated with the educational process, which previous ministers either could not or did not want to improve.
The appointment as Minister of Education of Olga Yurievna Vasilyeva, a Russian historian, an expert on religions, who has a keen sense of the multinational character of our great power, who owns the codes of Russian history, Russian destiny, Russian statehood, this appointment was received with joy by all patriotic circles of Russia. In connection with her appointment, we expect profound changes in the very approaches to the education and education of Russian youth. Not only Russian historians, theologians or writers are happy about this appointment. We are happy about the military, who are in dire need of a patriotically minded officer and soldier. Scientists who are reviving domestic science and engineering rejoice. The whole society, tired of corruption and depravity, rejoices.
The entire liberal army rebelled against her appointment. Her persecution began in newspapers and radio stations. They insult, humiliate, and almost call her a fascist. Enclosed in a cocoon of hatred.
In the nineties, I experienced this persecution myself, I know how much strength it takes. How hard it is to resist her, how difficult it is to maintain dignity, will, honor.
Olga Vasilyeva, I have no doubt, will withstand this formidable test, because not only she, but our entire country is going through this test.
Let the young man who graduated from our high school know who Princess Olga and Saint Prince Vladimir are. Who are Pushkin and Chaadaev? Zhukov and Karbyshev.
Let them not be afraid to pronounce the name Stalin or Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible.
Let them mourn the execution of Nicholas II and celebrate the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops.
History breathes not only in the past, but also in the present. And today, mother history feeds the Russian state. It is not subject to blasphemy and shame.
There is one wonderful legend.It sounds like this. At the beginning of 1871, after the victorious end of the Franco-Prussian War, one of the representatives of the Prussian leadership, a certain Bismarck :), made a very interesting statement. He stated that the country owed its victory not to anyone, but... to the Prussian teacher. This is a legend. In fact, the apology for the Prussian teacher did not come from the lips of Bismarck and not about the victory over France. In July 1866, after the victory at Sadovaya, won by the Prussian army during the Austro-Prussian War, a professor of geography from Leipzig, Oskar Peschel, wrote in the newspaper Zagranitsa he edited: “...Public education plays decisive role in the war... when the Prussians beat the Austrians, it was a victory of the Prussian teacher over the Austrian schoolteacher.” But who is Peschel? And what is the Austro-Prussian war compared to the catastrophe of France, which changed the political situation in Europe for a long time? After all, it was as a result of Prussia’s brilliant victory in this war that the German Empire arose. That is why it was firmly established in the public consciousness: “After the victory over France, Bismarck said: the Prussian won this war.” school teacher" However, it is quite possible that Bismarck actually said something similar, with reference, for example, to the same Peschel. But this is not documented in any way. In fact, it is not so important for us exactly who expressed this idea and about what exactly. The important thing is that soon after this, many, many countries, primarily England, France and Russia, for some reason began to intensively introduce the Prussian, and by that time already German, gymnasium system. In Russia, however, unlike Germany, gymnasiums for a long time remained elite educational institutions in which only children of very wealthy parents could study, but “rushki” (real schools) were organized, in principle, on the same principles. Another thing is that no more than 20% of Russian children studied in gymnasiums and “rushkas” together, but this is already a question of social structure then Russian society, which, even having embarked on the path of capitalist development, in many ways, and, above all, in the mentality of the ruling elite, continued to remain a feudal empire. But let's return to Bismarck-Pechel. And not even to them, but to Moltke. It was he who, having sharply opposed Peschel’s thesis, actually confirmed it. So, the word to the field marshal general of both empires - German and Russian (it seems this is the only such case recorded in history, there were no others): “They say that the school teacher won our battles. Knowledge alone, however, does not yet bring a person to that height when he is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of an idea, in the name of fulfilling his duty, honor and homeland; this goal is achieved through his upbringing.” “It was not the scientist who won our battles, but the educator...” Good field marshal! Well, it's good, isn't it? And the most interesting thing is that Moltke is right! In the same way, however, that Peschel is right (or, if you prefer, Bismarck:). For the Prussian gymnasium system was different in that, regardless of the level of knowledge, and in general, regardless of any knowledge, it formed in its graduates (and formed, as they say, in full) quite certain qualities. Something like: discipline, accuracy, respect for elders (not by age, but by position), “patriotism” (in the sense of absolute trust in the government and complete acceptance of its external and domestic policy). Exactly social mission The German gymnasium system (which organically included the “Realschule” - the prototype of the Russian “Rushki”) was the most significant from this point of view, because it made it possible to form such a “citizen”, from whom it could then easily be made into an ideal soldier of the industrial era. This is what Germany used during the two subsequent world wars. And now about what Moltke was wrong about. However, it's not his fault. To understand this, one would have to look at the situation from the middle of the 20th century, or at least from the time after World War I. In addition to the social-educational task, the Prussian gymnasium system, of course, also solved educational, or rather social-educational, tasks. But the meaning of these tasks was not quite the same as it is usually presented. The educational meaning of the Prussian gymnasium system objectively (that is, regardless of what its creators thought about it) was not to give its graduates an excellent education. All the talk about the fact that “the amount of knowledge possessed by a graduate of a classical gymnasium (in Russia) exceeded that possessed by a graduate of the current high school“These are idle inventions of people who are not familiar with the real state of affairs. I will only point out that in this case the elite educational institutions, what classical gymnasiums were, are compared with the entire set of secondary educational institutions modern society. I'm not talking about anything else. The social meaning of such a system was to give the entire population the necessary basic level of culture, without which normal, and even more so, accelerated scientific and technological development is impossible. In Russia this did not happen precisely because the system covered too small number children. What are we talking about? Yes, it’s all about the same pattern that manifests itself in all spheres of human activity. If you want your football players to become world champions, get millions of boys to play football. If you want your film studios to create a dozen masterpieces every year, ensure the production of 300-400 films per year. Yes, two or three hundred of them will be “so-so,” but they, along with a hundred good films will create the soil on which only ten masterpieces can grow. It was precisely this kind of intellectual, cultural soil, on which the intellectual, scientific and technical elite in turn sprouted, that the Prussian gymnasium system created. Thus, the second effect of Prussian gymnasium education was the creation of the foundation of an educational system that allowed Germany not only to quickly take leading positions in world science and global technological progress, but also to maintain them for almost a century. And this despite the fact that Germany twice during this time suffered crushing military defeats, which reduced its scientific and technical potential to a seemingly zero value. So the German schoolteacher, although he did not win these wars for his country, but, in any case, gave it the opportunity to wage them!
Misha, I respect your opinion and understand that you, as a representative of a people who especially suffered from Nazism, hate the acquittal of Nazi criminals, no matter what form it takes. The fact that in Ukraine there are speeches of praise addressed to Bandera’s supporters and others (without taking into account their crimes) cannot but be indignant. That's it.
But I cannot agree with the fact that Russia “still has to catch up and catch up” with Ukraine.
What part of the population in “Nazi” Ukraine supported the extreme nationalist Yarosh in the elections? You know, probably 3%. And this is in the context of anti-Ukrainian propaganda already unleashed in Russia, i.e. when many could vote for the radicals simply to spite the “Muscovites”. Didn't vote.
So the cries of “Bandera is a hero!” come from the depths of a small group of limited people. True, the group is very shrill and therefore you can hear them well.
It is also true that the ranks of Ukrainian nationalists are now growing. We ourselves breed them with our gross interference in the affairs of a sovereign country.
But nationalism is not Nazism.
But here in the Russian Federation... In our country, Stalin has actually been rehabilitated. If elections happened now and this “effective manager” miraculously became one of the candidates, he would gain ten times more votes than Yarosh in Ukraine. But the evil that this ghoul caused to our country is incomparable to Bandera’s crimes.
And they are officially defaming us, calling them “national traitors” and actually outlawing almost everyone famous people daring to speak out against the supreme
Misha:
I continue:
All decent, well-known figures who dared to maintain the honor and courage to oppose the supreme power have been declared illegal. They are openly defamed on all TV channels.
By the way, it just so happens that most of them are of Jewish nationality.
You will say - this is not Nazism. But this is the first step towards it. And this - stupid aggression and hatred - does not cover 3% of the population. Most of it is already sick.
So in this regard, WE WILL NOT CAPTURE UP.
misha_iz_izraila September 02, 2014 | 09:37
So the cries of “Bandera is a hero!” come from the depths of a small group of limited people.
Name at least one political party or at least one political figure in Ukraine who would condemn the crimes of Bandera’s followers. You won’t name them, because there aren’t any. So it’s not a matter of 3%; the revival, glorification and glorification of Bandera’s followers is a universal phenomenon in Ukraine.
Nationalism is not Nazism.
Absolutely right. But the mass extermination of people based on their ethnicity is precisely Nazism, and this is what Bandera’s followers did. And those who glorify them today glorify Nazism.
But here in the Russian Federation... In our country, Stalin has actually been rehabilitated.
This is, of course, sad, but how does this justify the crimes of Bandera’s followers?
The rehabilitation of Stalinism, of course, cannot in any way justify the crimes of Bandera’s followers.
But it shows the vector of the country’s development. And (together with other phenomena) it makes our future threatening, and us into mankurts who do not remember our kinship.
For us, they are quietly forging a new fu...sorry - leader. And it seems that people are very happy about this. And it seems that all those “not happy” will soon be left alone. With the mark of “a friend of the Kyiv junta.”
And I believe that the wave of “universal” glorification of Bandera that has risen in Ukraine, as you write, and our pseudo-patriotism against the backdrop of violation of international law and the whitewashing of all black pages Soviet history, are phenomena of the same order.
And who will not catch up with whom here... I think that for now we are giving a head start.
Not to justify Ukrainian radicals, but for the sake of fairness - I repeat once again: this new wave extreme nationalism in Ukraine was provoked by us, the Russians, in the person of our insane rulers, committing actions that humiliated Ukraine and its people.
This is not so much a vote “for” Bandera as “against” Muscovites.
History is now twisting and accelerating. Soon we will find out whose society - ours or the Ukrainian one - will be more affected by the infection of Nazism.
The Russian teacher won the war?! Truth and lies about our losses in WWII
In modern historical science, there are a number of persistent myths associated with the Great Patriotic War. One of them tells that the Soviet military leadership allegedly did not spare the lives of its soldiers and achieved victory only at the expense of incalculable losses. Indeed, victory in the war was achieved Soviet Union at a high price. However, we must not forget: the exceptionally strong enemy also suffered colossal losses. The top generals of Nazi Germany were so self-confident and decisive, and the German army was so well trained and armed, that even developed England and France, with their powerful industrial potential, jointly failed to provide Germany with worthy resistance in a land war. The combined French-British army was completely defeated in 1940 in little more than a month.
The fascists themselves believed that they owed all their success to their supposedly advanced ideology. But the point is different. Germany is a country of great culture and science, which has enriched the world with outstanding discoveries in various fields. In the 20-30s of the last century, Germany occupied leading positions in all areas of science and technology, including fundamental, applied, and engineering. The Nazis also inherited the education system that our famous compatriot P. A. Stolypin spoke about in his time: “The school in Germany is magnificent. A school teacher there is not only a teacher of children, but also an adviser to the people on important issues his life. The school develops high patriotism there, best sides spirit and mind" (P. A. Stolypin. Life and death for the Tsar. Rurik Publishing House. M., 1991, p. 27). German educational institutions produced specialists in all fields of knowledge. The country has fully preserved the officer corps of the former Kaiser's army, the army that almost won the First World War. Thanks to this, Nazi Germany was able to as soon as possible deploy highly trained armed forces, supported by advanced industry and the latest achievements in military science and technology. The Nazis simply appropriated all these undoubted achievements of the centuries-old culture of their country. The very ideology of German fascism is fundamentally aggressive, monstrous, inhuman and destructive. “The stunning success of the war in the West led Hitler to the conviction that the same success would be ensured for him in the war against the Soviet Union. “It is to be expected,” Hitler said in a conversation with army commanders on December 5, 1940, “that the Russian army, at the very first blow of the German troops, will suffer an even greater defeat than the French army in 1940.” In another conversation with army commanders on January 9, 1941, he expanded on this statement by declaring that “the Russian armed forces are a clay colossus without a head. They don’t have good commanders, and they are poorly equipped.” (Kurt von Tippelskirch. Operational decisions of the command. Results of the Second World War. Foreign Literature Publishing House. M., 1957, p. 73)
But we are stronger...
It is interesting to note that the most difficult conditions of the armed struggle had a diametrically opposite effect on the German and Soviet commands: the German was unable to rebuild itself, and the level of its strategic art sharply decreased, while the Soviet command hardened and grew immeasurably in terms of quality. In order for a person, no matter what he does, to be able to rebuild and change, he must want and be able to see his mistakes. However, representatives of the German command were clearly deprived of this ability. Despite the lessons taught by the Red Army and the complete defeat of the Wehrmacht, the surviving German generals never got rid of the feeling of their imaginary Prussian superiority. For example, Colonel General Lothar Rendulic wrote: “And if, in the end, the war was lost, then the German armed forces are truly innocent of this” ( World War. Publishing house of foreign literature. M., 1957, p. 503). And one of the best commanders of the Wehrmacht, Field Marshal General Erich von Manstein, gave his memoirs the eloquent title “Lost Victories.” But a lost victory is just a defeat. To win a victory, it must be snatched from the enemy, and for this you need to be smarter, more skillful, and braver than him.
Hitler's generals explained their defeats, for example, by the Fuhrer's incompetence, by the fact that he interfered in the solution of strategic issues and only prevented them from correctly leading the troops. Indeed, a number of serious failures by the German troops undermined the authority of the German generals in Hitler’s eyes, and subsequently he took full responsibility for decision-making upon himself. But in the initial period of the war, professional soldiers were entirely responsible for the successes and failures of operations. And it was they who boasted of their high professionalism, underestimated the strength of the Soviet army in a number of the most important battles, for example in the battle of Moscow. “The fact that Russian troops could launch a decisive offensive near Moscow was considered unlikely. The pilots' reports about the concentration of large forces on the flanks and east of Moscow were considered by the German High Command as “nonsense” and “women’s fears.” The Germans could not comprehend that the Russians could concentrate some new significant forces here after their seemingly final collapse.” (Lieutenant Colonel Greffrath. War in the air. In the book “World War”. Foreign Literature Publishing House. M., 1957, p. 475).
“All this led to the fact that the combat and tactical advantage, which until now had been on the side of the German troops, was lost. Now it more and more clearly passed to the Russians, who were not only accustomed to the harsh climate, but also had equipment and weapons appropriate for winter conditions. The Russian command, it seemed, was just waiting for the moment when the offensive capabilities of the Germans would dry up, and the tactical situation and climatic conditions would allow them to use their last trump card. When this happened, the Russians immediately launched a counteroffensive in the most dangerous sector of the front, Army Group Center, using forces pulled up from the depths of the country. These were the days of greatest trials for the Germans. There was a danger that the exhausted German troops would not be able to withstand either the physically or morally harsh climatic conditions and would not be able to withstand the counterattacks of the enemy troops.” (Major General von Buttlar in the book “World War.” Foreign Literature Publishing House. M., 1957, pp. 153, 180.)
Not in numbers, but in skill.
So, German generals also explain the defeats of their troops climatic conditions. By the way, similar complaints were heard before, back in the era of Suvorov. Our great commander was completely intolerant of this. When General Melas attributed the lagging behind of the Austrian infantry to bad weather during the Italian campaign, Alexander Vasilyevich sent him a letter with the following content: “Complaints have come to my attention that the infantry got their feet wet. The weather is to blame. The transition was made in the service of a powerful monarch. Women, dandies and sloths are chasing good weather. A big talker who complains about the service will, as an egoist, be removed from office... Italy must be freed from the yoke of the atheists and the French; every honest officer must sacrifice himself for this purpose. In no army can one tolerate people who are clever. Eye, speed, pressure! - that will be enough! Suvorov taught his miracle heroes not to give in to difficult circumstances, but to overcome and subjugate them. The same applies to Marshal G.K. Zhukov. Georgy Konstantinovich wrote about the influence of life’s difficulties on the development of his character in a letter to his daughter Margarita Georgievna, who kindly provided it to us. We present this letter in full: “Operating army, 1.9.44. Margarita! I received your letter. From the letter I see that you are a good and smart girl. Don't let your hard life get you down. On the contrary, a hard life is the best school of life. He who endures a hard and unspoiled life will always be the master of his position, and not a slave. In childhood, adolescence, and even in middle age, I suffered a lot of grief and hardship and very rarely saw joyful days, but such a life taught me a lot and strengthened me as a soldier of our Motherland. Without this, it is unlikely that I would have been a staunch soldier and an experienced commander. Thank you for the card, I've been looking at it for a very long time. As for your path after school, we’ll discuss it after 9th grade, but now, baby, study hard. I hug you tightly. Your dad. G. Zhukov." I would like to draw attention to the energetic military style of Marshal Zhukov and his rare ability to express deep thoughts laconically and in an aphoristic manner. For example, the weighty-sounding statement “a hard life is the best school in life” can be included in the folk wisdom.
By the way, not only amateurs in military affairs, such as Hitler and Goebbels, but also German professionals highly appreciated the Soviet military command. Largest German military leader Field Marshal Rundstedt spoke of Marshal Zhukov as “a very good commander.” Other German generals also considered Zhukov “an outstanding military leader” (From Munich to Tokyo Bay. Political Literature Publishing House, M., 1992, p. 237). General Melentin spoke of Marshal Zhukov’s “deep strategic insight.” (F. Melentin. Tank battles. Publishing house "Polygon AST". St. Petersburg-M., 2000, p. 240).
Let us cite the point of view of another authoritative military man - Russian General Anton Ivanovich Denikin: “Be that as it may, no tricks could diminish the significance of the fact that the Red Army has been fighting skillfully for some time now, and the Russian soldier selflessly. The successes of the Red Army could not be explained by numerical superiority alone. In our eyes, this phenomenon had a simple and natural explanation. From time immemorial, Russian people were smart, talented and loved their homeland from the inside. From time immemorial, the Russian soldier was immensely resilient and selflessly brave. These human and military qualities could not drown out the twenty-five Soviet years suppression of thought and conscience, collective farm slavery, Stakhanovite exhaustion and substitution national identity international dogma. And, when it became obvious to everyone that there was an invasion and conquest, and not liberation, that only the replacement of one yoke with another was foreseen, the people, postponing accounts with communism until a more opportune time, rose for the Russian land as their ancestors rose during the times of invasion Swedish, Polish and Napoleonic... Under the sign of the international, the inglorious Finnish campaign and the defeat of the Red Army by the Germans on the roads to Moscow took place; under the slogan of defending the Motherland, the German armies were defeated!” (D. Lekhovich. Whites against Reds. Publishing house "Resurrection". M., 1992, p. 335).
General Denikin’s opinion is especially important for us because he received a diverse education in Russian Academy General Staff, had a wealth of combat experience acquired in the Russo-Japanese, World War I and Civil wars. His views are also important because, being an ardent patriot of Russia, Denikin remained a consistent enemy of Bolshevism until the end of his life, and he cannot in any way be accused of having a benevolent attitude towards the Soviet Union and the Red Army. Therefore, the general’s words “The Red Army has been fighting skillfully for some time, and the Russian soldier selflessly” is the result of an impartial and competent analysis of military operations, and the idea that “it was impossible to explain the successes of the Red Army by numerical superiority alone” completely refutes the tricks, with with the help of which fascist ideologists and military leaders tried to justify the reasons for the defeat of the German army. By the way, such a deceitful attitude is still in use in foreign and, more recently, in domestic media, but what’s worse is that, unfortunately, it has already been accepted in wide circles our society.
British Prime Minister W. Churchill after the war, establishing an iron curtain between the Western world and the USSR, actively supported this lie and contributed to the distortion of historical truth. However, during the years of battles against fascism, he thought differently. In congratulations to I.V. Stalin on the Day Soviet Army On 23 February 1945, Churchill wrote: “The Red Army celebrates its twenty-seventh anniversary with a triumph that has won the boundless admiration of its allies and which has sealed the fate of German militarism. Future generations will recognize their debt to the Red Army as unconditionally as we do, who lived to witness these magnificent victories" (Correspondence of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR with US Presidents and British Prime Ministers during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945 M., 1957, vol. 1, p. 310).
German generals, on personal experience who experienced the strength of Soviet soldiers and officers, recognized that “the soldierly qualities of the Russian warrior, especially his discipline, the ability to act without paying attention to enemy fire and his own losses, his perseverance in enduring the hardships and hardships of war, were, without a doubt, very high "(Major General von Buttlar in the book "World War". Foreign Literature Publishing House. M., 1957, p. 153).
Talking numbers
At the beginning of the war, key positions in the Red Army, with rare exceptions, were occupied by untrained people. And the commanders who later became famous, such as K.K. Rokossovsky, K.A. Meretskov, A.V. Gorbatov and others, were arrested even before the war and, therefore, were deprived of the opportunity to keep abreast of the latest achievements of military art. It was only by a happy coincidence that they escaped death. Those who remained free experienced constant moral pressure; in case of failure, terrible reprisals awaited them.
For example, Marshal I. S. Konev showed himself to be one of the most talented Soviet military leaders during the war, but experience did not come to him right away. In October 1941, the Western Front, which he commanded, was surrounded. Stalin intended to put Konev on trial before a military tribunal, but this decision was opposed by G.K. Zhukov, who “told Stalin that such actions would not correct anything and would not revive anyone. And that this will only make a bad impression in the army. I reminded him that the commander was shot at the beginning of the war Western Front Pavlova, what did this give? It didn't give anything. It was well known in advance what Pavlov was like, that he had the potential to be a division commander. Everyone knew this. Nevertheless, he commanded the front and failed to cope with what he could not cope with. And Konev is not Pavlov, he is a smart man. He will still come in handy” (Marshal Zhukov. As we remember him. Publishing house of political literature. M., 1988, p. 111). Only Zhukov’s intercession saved Konev from imminent execution. And how many military men were shot, died in camps and prisons...
All this led to enormous human casualties, especially in the first period of the war - in the summer and autumn of 1941. In conditions where the army suffers heavy defeats, its losses are many times greater than those of the opposite side. But starting with the counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the situation changed radically.
The table shows the irretrievable losses of Red Army personnel in the Great Patriotic War by year. This includes killed, missing, captured and those who died in captivity. Data on annual losses are taken from the book “The Classification of Secrecy Has Been Removed.” Voenizdat. M., 1993, p. 143.
| Years | Length of period (days) | Losses (thousands) | Daily losses |
| 1941 | 193 | 3138 | 16300 |
| 1942 | 365 | 3258 | 8900 |
| 1943 | 365 | 2312 | 6400 |
| 1944 | 366 | 1764 | 4800 |
| 1945 | 129 | 801 | 6200 |
| Total for the Great Patriotic War | 1418 | 11273 | 8000 |
The last column of the table shows daily losses. In 1941, this figure was the highest, since the troops had to retreat in extremely difficult conditions, and large units were surrounded, in the so-called cauldrons. In 1942, this figure was significantly lower: although our army was still retreating, troops were surrounded less often. In 1943, there were stubborn battles, especially on the Kursk Bulge, but from that year until the end of the war, the troops of Nazi Germany retreated. In 1944, the Supreme High Command of the USSR planned and carried out a series of brilliant strategic operations to defeat and encircle entire groups of German armies, so the losses of the Soviet Army decreased that year. But in 1945, this figure increased again: the tenacity of the German army increased, since it was fighting on its own territory and German soldiers courageously and selflessly defended their homeland.
On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the armed forces of Germany lost 6920 thousand people, the armed forces of its allies - 1730 thousand people, in total - 8650 thousand. In the first two years of the war, losses fascist bloc amounted to about 1,700 thousand, therefore, over the subsequent period, respectively, about 7 million people. During the same period, as can be seen from the table presented, the losses of the Red Army amounted to approximately 4.9 million people. Thus, in 1943-1945, for every 10 Red Army soldiers who died, there were 14 dead soldiers of the fascist army. These simple statistics clearly and objectively characterize the quality of troop command and the degree careful attitude to the soldiers.
At the beginning of the article we cited P. A. Stolypin’s statement about the German school. I would like to acquaint readers with the opinion of another of our compatriots, a major specialist in the field of philology, Professor V.K. Zhuravlev, about domestic school. He went through the entire war, began to fight under the command of G.K. Zhukov with the Japanese at Khalkin Gol. According to his admittedly somewhat unexpected point of view, the Russian teacher won the war, because it was thanks to him that our soldiers, commanders, generals, scientists, engineers, workers, naturally talented, intelligent and proactive, turned out to be, in comparison with the Germans, better prepared to overcome challenges.
Unfortunately, today not everyone is familiar with the high assessments given by prominent foreign military experts to the Red Army in general and to Soviet military leaders in particular outstanding commander Marshal Zhukov. Many of our compatriots have a negative attitude towards Georgy Konstantinovich and our other famous military leaders. However, this attitude is based on incorrect information and contradicts historical truth. Let us remember the words of A.S. Pushkin: “It is not only possible, but also necessary, to be proud of the glory of your ancestors; not to respect it is shameful cowardice, it is the first sign of savagery and immorality.”
Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko
source - http://www.world-war.ru