It is a well-known fact, deeply rooted in the memory of many of us, that Germany’s attack on the Soviets in the summer of 1941 is called by the latter “The Great War for the Defense of the Fatherland.”

This was then the official Kremlin narrative, and it continued to be so for decades, until the collapse of the USSR. Even after that, this is what children are taught in Russian schools.

At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union sat at the victors’ table and shared a map of Europe. But were the Russians simply innocent victims of Nazi tyranny? Were they fighting a purely defensive war with the sole purpose of protecting national territory?

Of course, everything was wrong, but in 1945 no one wanted to say otherwise, and after the fall of the Iron Curtain it became forbidden history.

Putin’s recent interview with Tucker Carlson reopened those old wounds when Putin claimed that Poland was guilty of starting World War II by provoking Germany to attack by not accepting Hitler’s absurd terms.

Putin glossed over the fact that two weeks after Germany attacked Poland from the west, the USSR cowardly attacked from the east, greatly contributing to a quick German victory.

This was not the only act of unprovoked aggression by the Soviets, they also attacked Finland in the winter of 1939. To understand exactly what happened, we will analyze two events, which of course should be placed in the context of the moment. .

Germany’s attack on Poland and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe

At dawn on September 1, 1939, German troops crossed the border with Poland, despite the fact that it had territorial guarantees from France and Great Britain. Polish troops had too long a defensive line, so they had to retreat. Two days later, the Anglo-French declare war on Germany, effectively marking the beginning of World War II in Europe.

The reason for the attack was the so-called Gleiwitz incident, actually a German staging, an alleged Polish attack on the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz, located in Silesia. In fact, no Polish troops were involved, an SS unit attacked the radio station, operating under a false flag.

Contrary to popular belief, the Polish army was not incapable of defending itself, although it had an outdated organization and outdated equipment. However, the fact that they were attacked from three sides, west, north and south, made it impossible to hold the front line.

Aid to Romania Poland

Together with the Germans, the troops of Slovakia, a puppet state previously created by the Germans, entered Poland. Polish strategy was also based on the fact that in the extreme south they bordered Romania, a country with which they had an old alliance since 1921.

However, Poland never called for the activation of this agreement on mutual assistance, believing that it was more important to preserve access to the Black Sea through Romanian territory, where the alleged Anglo-French aid would go.

On September 17, two weeks later, the Red Army invaded eastern Poland. According to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed between the two countries on August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union wanted to secure the eastern parts of Poland, which was written in a secret supplementary act.

The Soviet attack came unexpectedly, and the Polish troops, which were already retreating to the west, could not cope with it.

• Battle of Wizna or “Polish Thermopylae”

The Polish government realizes that the defense plan around Warsaw and the “Romanian bridgehead” has failed and demands the evacuation of the state treasury, officials and part of the army through Romania, which has happened.

Thus, Poland was forced to ask Germany for peace.

The Soviet authorities captured a large number of Polish troops and resorted to unprecedented barbarism at the time when they later executed approximately 12,000 Polish officers captured in the Katyn Forest. This act, which violated all the laws of war, would be discovered much later when the Germans occupied the region.

It should also be noted that at that time the Red Army was far from the level of the German army, for which Stalin asked for and received German help, which consisted of equipment and military advisers, which definitely proves that the Russians started World War II in the camp of the aggressor.

• Witold Pilecki, a Polish hero whose memory the Russians want to erase

Winter War, the USSR attacks Finland

Soviet fears centered on the fact that Germany would attack through Finnish territory, so Stalin tried to create a buffer zone around Leningrad, which was close to the Finnish border.

Earlier, back in 1938, the Soviet authorities asked Finland to cede territories on the Karelian Peninsula, wanting to exchange other territories, but in a much less developed region.

The Finns refuse, so on November 30, 1939, a huge Soviet invasion force of almost half a million people crosses the border. Note that we are talking about Finland, a country with a small population – almost 3.5 million inhabitants.

With a modest army and an almost complete absence of aviation and armored vehicles, Finland could only hope for a defensive war around the Mannerheim Line.

We find similarities with the current conflict in Ukraine, so the West, like all world public opinion (except China), strongly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and took decisive financial measures, but not enough to influence the leadership from the Kremlin.

But the same thing happened in 1939, but without affecting Russian aggressive tendencies, according to the principle of a dog barking, the bear passes.

To everyone’s surprise, the Finnish army not only held out, but also put the Russian military leaders in an awkward position, causing serious losses.

In the Winter War, the Soviet government suffered terrible losses – every fourth soldier never returned home. Thus, of the 500,000 Soviet soldiers who attacked Finland, approximately 125,000 died on the battlefield, many historians consider this figure to be small, generated by Moscow propaganda.

The Finns used partisan tactics, setting up ambushes for Soviet columns. They took advantage of the fact that their troops were acclimatized to the extremely harsh winter in this area. Poorly trained and poorly equipped, the Russians suffer catastrophic losses.

However, Finland’s resources were limited and ultimately they were unable to cope with the sheer numbers of troops that the Soviets used. Thus, after about five months of hostilities, the prevailing balance of power tipped the scales in favor of the USSR, and the Finns were forced to cede 11% of the territory.

Again, the attack on Finland was an act of unprovoked aggression, which clearly puts the USSR in the camp of countries that started the Second World War.

The mystification of history and who used it?

Why did the Kremlin try to change the historical narrative in such a way, and what does it gain? The answer is relatively simple and should be given in the perspective of subsequent Soviet actions.

In 1945, the Red Army won and occupied almost half of Europe. Of course, the Anglo-Americans, despite the fact that they significantly supported them, were not very happy with such a situation, even then there were voices that the real enemy was the USSR

After the war, the Soviet government needed to paint its image as rosy as possible. They did not want to be perceived as an aggressor state. Soviet propaganda proclaimed the “Red Liberation Army, which is going to liberate friendly peoples from the Nazi yoke.”

In addition, in the first years of the war, the Russians seriously faltered under the pressure of Germany, many military experts believe that without the American lend-lease they would have lost.

To raise the morale of the army, Soviet propaganda created a positive myth about “good Russians” who only defend their country. For decades, this is a story taught to children in schools, based on the idea of ​​repeating a lie enough times until it becomes the truth. (photo: Fmua | Dreamstime.com)

Sources:

– Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War

– William R. Trotter, The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish War 1939–40 – Stanislav Belkovsky, Putin. Prohibited biography

– Michael Alfred Peschke, The Polish Underground Army, the Western Allies, and the Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II,

– Jan T. The Great Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Polish Western Ukraine and Western Belarus

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