Quote:
Originally Posted by kermitology
I'm sure you've read the books by Antony Beevor. He's hugely criticized by Russian historians because of his description of the raping and pillaging of the Red Army on their path to Berlin. But I find it hard to deny honestly. Look at who made up the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts.. hordes of men from the Eastern reaches of the Soviet Union.. hardly civilized.
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the reality as usual i'm sure is somewhere in the gray gray middle.
it was hyped up for propoganda purposes but there were whole towns in germany raped, all the men were long since kidnapped by homeland security (oops reich security...) and they were easy prey.
it's important to remember that in the context of the times, driving an unstoppable force - the reborn and very motivated red army - against an immovable object - the remains of the wehrmacht that had standing orders to die to the last man - all the while tripping over the mass graves and massacres that the nazi social engineers had inflicted on eastern europe, would be quite a life-altering experience.
raping towns full of women would be a footnote, a denouement, on the charge to berlin, however civilized the troops were. revenge was on their minds. doesn't excuse any behaviour but judgement is sure easy from our ivory tower.
this phenomenon was reported by hans von luck in his book 'panzer commander', a source i trust more than most.