What did soldiers on the eastern front usually eat? How often did they eat? Did Russians and Germans eat the same amount and the same kind of food or not?

Enemy at the Gates is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me despite inaccuracies.

Can you describe the influence of snipers on the Eastern Front, specifically their role in the Battle of Stalingrad? Also, in the film the propaganda machine throws its full support behind one prolific sniper. Were successful snipers so lauded throughout the war?

Thanks a bunch.

I once read somewhere that during the earlier stages of the Allies the Soviets made decorative gold braid a high priority import item from the US. The implication was that the Soviet officer corps has been decimated pre-war and decorative trim had been removed from their uniforms, but now that there was a live fighting war, some additional recognition of the officers was needed. Can anyone comment on this? I really hope it's true, because it adds a human-scale element to the larger picture!

Hi! I don't know if I'm doing this right but here is my question: What was the difference between Russian and German military strategies. How did each side normally fight?

Was there any racism in the Russian Army? i.e tensions between ethnic groups etc.

Why did the russians not employ a large strategic bomber force the way the western allies did?

Ok, so the WWII is very interesting to me, and the Eastern front is perhaps the most interesting part of it. So tons of questions time!

1. How significant would the capture of Moscow have been? I know this is counter-factual history and thus hard to answer, but it seems to be a much debated question, and I've heard a thousand different opinions. Psychologically devastating? Command and logistically crucial? Just another illusionally all-important dream of an end-point? Napoleon all over again or the place where the war was decided? Could the Soviets have just moved their command-infrastructure to the Urals as they did so much of their industry?

2. Can anyone comment on the historicity of some of the many videogames concerning the Eastern front? I know it's unlikely to be very high due to abstractions, adaptations for gameplay and balance reasons and the inherent ahistoric goals of them, but how does, say, the C.O.R.E mod for Arsenal of Democracy or Unity of Command: Red Turn fare in very general terms?

3. Can you recommend one good book (on a students budget) to give an overview of the Eastern front in it's entirety? Is such a book possible?

4. How big of an influence did Stalin's alcoholism (if indeed he was an alcoholic?) have on the performance of the Soviet Union? As a corollary to that, to what degree was the Soviet bureaucracy and institutions able to function without input from the very top? Did their capacity to do so change during the war?

5. I've read that the Soviet state in the 80's functioned as a three-legged foot-stool, with the party, secret police, and army/military keeping eachother to some degree in check and none of them being able to completely overpower the two other, if united. Was this true in 1939? In 1941? In 1945? Even in 1985 (can I ask about 1985?)? If it was, did the war change their "balance of power?"

Edited for gooder spellinations

1. I'm afraid this is a thing I heard and never checked out myself, but is it true that the Soviets burned their own cities before the Germans arrived when they retreated? I've heard it particularly about Stalingrad. If so, how did this affect the post-war situation of refugees?

2. Given the harsh winter (again, going off what I've heard, wasn't it one of the harshest in memory?) were the Soviets at any point struggling to feed their people/army? How did they handle supplies from the home front (how well, I mean, and what type of home front initiatives were used to help the cause)?

3. I've seen talk that Hitler and the Soviets greatly disliked each other, but are there any confirmed pieces of evidence that show Stalin would've swept down on a weakened Europe if the Nazis had won, for example? Was Stalin definitively planning to attack Hitler at any point?

4. One of the most prominent atrocities attributed to the Soviets before they fought Hitler that I know of relates to some sort of purge of Polish officers and men. Am I misremembering? If so, how did the Soviets treat areas they took over pre-Barbarossa, and was there variation? If I am right about that atrocity, what evidence is there that it was the Soviets and what exactly was the rationale/result?

Thanks guys! Sorry, I'd have more educated questions but I'm on mobile so I can't check backgrounds to ask for details more precisely :(.

What is the 'truth' about Hitlers decision regarding Kiev in the opening stages? On lists of biggest mistakes this usually tops it, with the writer claiming that stalling the assault on Moscow was what eventually lost them the war. Defendants of Hitlers decision point to how you can't leave 600,000 troops on a flank and army group center was necessary in order to encircle them. Counters to that are often that those troops were unorganized blob that had no ability to execute threatening attack since they were also not mobile.

Anything you can tell me about the whole situation would be awesome. I've heard that a lot of generals fought against this, who were they and what were there arguments. Anything at all, thank you so much.

Hey guys, I've got thousands of question about the eastern front but if I has to narrow it down to one it would be this: How important was lend-lease? I've seen people say that no major shipments arrived until it was too late, others saying the Soviets were absolutely dependent on some shipments, and everything in between. Thanks!

Soviet POWs who returned to the USSR were treated with suspicion of being exposed to Nazi "propaganda," with many even being sent to labor camps after the war. Were civilians in German occupied territories in the USSR treated likewise after the Red army reconquered them? And did circumstances differ depending on what territory it was, such as Ukraine, Baltic States, or Russia?

I've heard conflicting reports that once Germany invaded, Stalin was completely absent from leadership decision and essentially disappeared for the first little bit; any truth to this?

I often hear the concept that the Soviets went to war in 1941 with an untrained, inexperienced, barely equipped conscript army and came out in 1945 with a well trained, well equipped professional army. How true is this, and are we able to pin down exactly when this transition occurred or was noticeable?

Just thought of another question: How did women's service in the military in the Soviet Union affect the production of masculinity?

Lend-Lease: just how much of an effect did it have, especially in the early months of the war? Or to be more precise how did the stream of supplies align with the development of the conflict in the east.

I recall reading somewhere (on here maybe?) that its actual impact during the first two years or thereabouts would have been not that great, since the supplies kept coming throughout the war and the Soviets had managed to turn the tide before most of the war material was received. I might be remembering it wrong though.

I just recently read about Erich Hartmann a Luftwaffe pilot and the most successful fighter Ace in aviation history. I read that when he surrendered he was turned over to the Soviets by the Americans who had captured him in accordance with the Yalta agreements and he was treated extremely poorly by the soviets even after the war had long ended.

This comes in conflict with how I read about enemy treatment of flying aces during World War I, particularly in regards to The Red Baron who was given a state burial and his funeral was handled by British officers.

So my questions are: Why did the Yalta agreements stipulate that captured enemy airmen be given over to the Soviets?

Why was his treatment so rough at the hands of the Soviets and how was he kept as a prisoner of war so long, and was it uncommon to keep German POW's through 1955?

Did the Germans overstretch their supply lines?

Was there a main push towards Moscow and why did it fail?

What did the average soldier think of their western allies? Did they dislike them because they were capitalist and kept not opening the second front, or did they appreciate the help. I realize the massive amount of soldiers makes this difficult to comment on, but any insight at all would be appreciated.

How true is the myth that the Russians used human wave tactics in the Eastern Front?

How badly were the Luftwaffe's victory claims inflated?

Thoughts on the Panther tank?

/u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Is your name actually Zhukov, like the Russian General? If so, do you have any relation to him, and is that what encouraged you to study this area?

How accurate is Guy Sajer's the Forgotten Soldier, in describing the German experience on the Eastern Front?

How big of a factor was the weather, both the cold winters and the spring and autumn rains? I always hated the term "Gen. Winter", because it suggests that it was the climate more than the Red Army that won. As one Soviet general put it "it was cold for the Russians too".

Nevertheless the Red Army's better preparedness for cold weather may have been an advantage, including everything from the humble valenki to vehicles and lubricants designed for the weather. How big of a factor was this? Did the Red Army mount any offensives to utilize this advantage?

Similarly for the rains that turned the dirt roads into quagmires. Unfortunately I can't find the reference now, but I recall a Red Army offensive in Ukraine during the rains, which stopped all vehicles save T-34 tanks and Studebaker 2-1/2 ton trucks.

The age-old lend-lease question.

Could the Soviet Union have won on the Eastern Front with no or at least partial lend-lease? Obviously Germany had almost no chance to win after the Battle of Moscow, but how would the war proceed from now with no lend-lease? Would it turn into a WW1-stalemate with neither side being able to progress any further, or would Germany indeed be able to seize the oil fields in the Caucasus and eventually form a new offense?

Now something that is heavily influenced by personal opinion: which one of was worse for one's own army, Hitler or Stalin?

1. The early stages of the war saw a large number of Soviet armies capitulating and being taken prisoner. Were most of these POWs sent to concentration camps or other camps specific to POWs? How many actually made it home by war's end?

2. This is more specific to a Western/US perspective but how come the Eastern Front is glossed over in American schools? I understand that the Western and Pacific Fronts were the main theaters for the United States, but I didn't even realize the scale and ferocity of the Eastern Front until long after I took any history classes that involved WWII.

Hullo!

I recall hearing somewhere that the Russian Winter was so extremely potent that it immobilized German vehicles and even jammed some Soviet weapons from firing. Did this essentially end battles for the day or were weapons/vehicles eventually refined to fare better in inclement weather?

In addition to that, I also heard that there was an antidote utilized by the Soviets to treat cold-related diseases that was largely unavailable to the German armies. Could you please validate this?

Thank you!

How many first hand accounts of the Eastern Front have been written? Are these accounts usually written by Russian or Germans?

How often were Wehrmacht rank-and-file punished for rape and/or consensual sex with "untermenschen" on the Ostfront? Did the enforcement of military discipline in this regard vary greatly throughout the war?

And finally, how were the illegitimate children resulting from such relations typically handled after the war on both sides of the Iron Curtain?

Is the series: "Soviet Storm: World War 2 in the East" an Accurate Series Regarding the Eastern front of world war 2?

How much better was the Average Eastern front German soldier compared to the Averrage Soviet Soldier during the war?

Note: May i have a list like this

1941:

Germans:

Soviets:

1942 1943 1944 1945 Etc

How effective was the T-34, given that the Soviets were still using obsolete lendlease tanks until at least the end of Bagration?