Victory Day in Moscow

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for posting these.

It’s good to see the Czarist like flag in the first photo rather than the red star.

The Russians lost an estimated 26 million in World War II, massive!

What’s often forgotten is that the number of Russians that fought against the Soviets. There was the “Russian Liberation Army” that actually turned against the Germans and aided the Czech rebels during the Prague uprising.

Then there was Kaminsky who commanded 20,000 men fighting alongside the Germans in his “Russian National Liberation Army”.

The “Russian Corps” in Serbia had 17,000 men (10,000 of whom died fighting Tito’s Partisans).

The “Russian National People’s Army” & the Druzhina Brigade had 8,000 troops each.

There was the “1st Russian National Army” that took refuge in Liechtenstein, whose princely ruler refused to extradite them back to the Soviet Union for mass execution.

Kaminski sent over a thousand of his men to help the Nazis put down the Warsaw uprising and they behaved appallingly. (Kaminsky gave them specific permission to rape and loot). His men behaved so bad that Himmler (Himmler!) had Kaminsky court-martialled and shot.

If you include look beyond the Russians to include other Soviet people, its been estimated that over a million people living in the Soviet Union took up arms to fight with the Germans.

The Ukrainian Liberation Army provided about 80,000 soldiers for the Germans at its peak, and at the end of the war the Allied Polish general Wladyslaw Anders (like the Prince of Liechtenstein) helped save them from mass execution at the hands of the Soviets.

“at the end of the war the Allied Polish general Wladyslaw Anders (like the Prince of Liechtenstein) helped save them from mass execution at the hands of the Soviets.”

An example of Christian solidarity and forgiveness of one’s enemies that deserves to be remembered.

Andrew,

It is called a “Pass in Review” for the ground
troops and a “Fly Over” for the Air Forces.
At least that is what it is at the Brigade or Division level here. Not sure what it might be at the “Army” level.

Matt

I am glad you held off on the “reactionary tendency” headline–it would be more suitable for The Onion.

Genuinely gorgeous!

Saakashvili, tie-eating graduate of Columbia Law, is the autocrat, while Putin, graduate of KGB academies and former NKVD agent, is the enlightened statesman? Andrew, I can see that South Africa has done you no good so far.
Cheers from NYC.

My dear Dino, you will by now have no doubt re-read what I have written and seen that nowhere have I referred to Mr. Putin as an enlightened statesman!

I merely pointed out Mr. Saakashvili’s poorer points. Whatever one might think of Putin & co., fatuous and incompetent they are not.