Infantry Against Tanks 1941

[captainkije]

Critical to understanding the state of the Russian Army in 1941 is the profound effect of the Great Purge of the 1930's. Stalin decapitated his own army. From 1936 through 1941, tens of thousands of officers were shot, sent to labor camps, or simply dismissed. This included generals of great genius and experience like Tukhachevsky and went right down to lieutenants. Too often, these were replaced by incompetent flunkies loyal to the regime.

In my view, the what is amazing about the Russian soldier's performance in 1941 is how well they did in spite of Stalin. If memory serves me, the Axis (or was it just the Germans?) suffered a million casualties (KIA, WIA, MIA) in Russia in 1941 alone. Mass surrenders by encircled Russian troops stand side by side with heroic break-out attempts, stands to the death and suicidal counterattacks.

The German success with Hiwis and the Vlasov army are directly attributable to the practices of the Stalin regime.

When equipped and well-led, the Russian soldier of WWII was a match for the German. The Russian soldier was willing enough.

One final note on Molotovs. The Finns may have invented the expression during the 39-40 Winter War, where they used gasoline bombs with some effect. Molotov was Stalin's foreign minister at the time and these cocktails were a sort of toast to him. They were also used during the Spanish Civil War and the 1956 uprising in Hungary. Read somewhere that after WWII the big nations started improving the protection on their tanks' rear engine decks to make them proof against this weapon, a design change acknowledging it posed some threat. On the other hand, I imagine the Spanish miners' dynamite in their Civil War was much more effective.

Back to CMBB, did the Russians have an AT grenade in 1941?