WWII The Eastern Front (pictures)

[MA-Caver]

For study/consideration.

The war on the Eastern Front, known to Russians as the "Great Patriotic War", was the scene of the largest military confrontation in history. More than 400 Red Army and German divisions clashed in a series of military operations over four years, along a front that extended more than 1,000 miles. Some 27 million Soviet soldiers and civilians and nearly 4 million German troops lost their lives along the Eastern Front during those years of brutality. The warfare there was total and ferocious -- the largest armored clashes in history (Battle of Kursk), the most costly siege on a modern city (nearly 900 days in Leningrad), scorched earth policies, utter devastation of thousands of villages, mass deportations, mass executions, and countless atrocities attributed to both sides. To make things even more complex, forces within the Soviet Union were often fractured among themselves -- early in the war, some groups had even welcomed the Germans as liberators from their mistreatment under Stalin, and fought against the Red Army. Later, as battles became desperate, Stalin issued Order No. 227, "Not a Step Back!", which forbid Soviet forces from retreating without direct orders -- commanders would face a tribunal, and foot soldiers faced "blocking detachments" from their own army, ready to gun down any who fled. The photos gathered here cover much of the years of 1942-1943, from the siege of Leningrad to the decisive Soviet victories in Stalingrad and Kursk. The vastness of the scale of the warfare is nearly unimaginable, and nearly impossible to capture in a handful of images, so take these as a mere glimpse of the horrors of the Eastern Front. (This entry is Part 14 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II) [45 photos]
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/world-war-ii-the-eastern-front/100150/

Some amazing photography considering the circumstances. Photos from both sides of the conflict. The unimaginable losses on both sides in probably one of the worse battle conditions conceived. The final photo of this essay shows the aftermath of the city once known as Stalingrad.

 

[Cyriacus]

Quite Intriguing.

Not so much from the Russian Perspective - Ive seen more than plenty of those.
But Imagery of German Formations moving about arent too Common.

Salutations

 

[MA-Caver]

Quite Intriguing.

Not so much from the Russian Perspective - Ive seen more than plenty of those.
But Imagery of German Formations moving about arent too Common.

Salutations

I admit that I have scant knowledge of details of events around the European part of WWII, only of major battles and the holocaust and the atrocities committed by the Nazi's during their reign, including starving out the city of Stalingrad in an effort to break that front and weaken the will of the Soviets enough to turn the tide. The details are scant in my own memory/studies of that particular portion of the war as well, except that a majority of the Russian soldiers had no choice but to fight or die anyway and not because the Germans said so but their own high command. Still they put up a helluva good fight against what was then a superior force and broke them down to where they screwed up the German's plan to take over that portion of the country. The pictures bring the more minute details into better focus.
Such a terrible waste of life all the way around for every participating country in that war and non-participants as well.

 

[Cyriacus]

I admit that I have scant knowledge of details of events around the European part of WWII, only of major battles and the holocaust and the atrocities committed by the Nazi's during their reign, including starving out the city of Stalingrad in an effort to break that front and weaken the will of the Soviets enough to turn the tide. The details are scant in my own memory/studies of that particular portion of the war as well, except that a majority of the Russian soldiers had no choice but to fight or die anyway and not because the Germans said so but their own high command. Still they put up a helluva good fight against what was then a superior force and broke them down to where they screwed up the German's plan to take over that portion of the country. The pictures bring the more minute details into better focus.
Such a terrible waste of life all the way around for every participating country in that war and non-participants as well.

Indeed - If the Russians had anything, it was sheer Force of Numbers.
If Germany did anything Wrong (Besides the whole Holocaust thing ), it was Splitting their Forces out in too many Directions.
But Despite everything they did, the Nazis need Credit for one thing: How many Superpowers it took to Supress them.
Russia put up a good Offense, but if they werent so Spread Out, it may not have ended as Swell.

But Yes - Pictures Speak a Thousand Words.

 

[granfire]

Superior force?
Maybe.
But even at the time it was a joke that 'the Luftwaffe under extreme circumstance perservered and delivered one pack of bread to the Eastern front'

In essence the war machine in Stalingrad ran on pure grit, since the supply lines had completely collapsed.

As the story goes, though much was collected from the civilian population to support the war effort, much (if not most never reached the German troops at the front.
Upon retreat it was set on fire to keep it out of enemy hand.

I always find it hard to tell the difference between the russian and german soldiers on those image...all have been put through hell, and I suspect a great deal of scavenging had been going down.

basically those saps were in the same boat: Die honorably or get shot for treason. retreat is not an option (and as it turned out surrender didn't do much to better the situation either...)

 

[Monroe]

I have the same problem Granfire. I have difficulty much of the time telling the difference between the German and Russian soldiers. A lot of lives and nothing won.

 

[Sukerkin]

A wonderful historical resource of the most important series of battles in modern world history. An excellent 'find', Caver and one I shall delve deeper into. Such imagery brings to mind much more clearly the horrendous conditions and the sheer brutality of the combat that took place on the Eastern Front, particularly Stalingrad.

For me, one image, neither horrific nor full of action, is iconic of the campaign. That is shot #10 showing a German soldier, slender from lack of food (I assume) and using a scavenged Soviet PPSh-41 (which proved superior to the MP-40 in the savage environment of Russian winters (plus you had a chance of getting ammo for it)). It is a stark picture and speaks volumes of what the Sixth Army endured at the hands of the Russian landscape and military (leaving aside the mistakes of the German seniors in charge of command and supply).

 

[mmartist]

Thank you. The pictures are really interesting.