CAS HI 284 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Van Stephenson, Red Army
Document Summary
Russians lied to by stalin, unready for invasion and combat. By pearl harbor, russia had already lost 5 million soldiers. By the end of the war, russia would lose 31 million soldiers over four years of combat. Russia survived, recovered, and won the war. Not only russians in the red army - dozens of other ethnic groups. Both germany and russia was devoted to the barbarization of their own people. Fighting made everything vastly worse - brutal officers, nkvd, ready to shoot anyone who ran or retreated. Red army executed 300,000 of its own men. Germans also fought savagely - driven by hitler. 1941 -1945 - 40 million died on the eastern front, soldiers and civilians. German and russian boys were taught to kill without pity, and take revenge by beating, mutilating, and torturing, raping and killing women and girls. Most soldiers were poorly educated, 3/4 russians were peasants. Most had difficulty speaking due to being uneducated.