Australia
I would like to know what is this historical Truth about the Red Army that is known only in Russia?
The whole story of the Red Army is mired in post-Communism hold over as well as these days there being a lucrative business in commemoration, so it's got a lot of people interested in portraying Red Army in a good light.
Attitudes vary wildly. One website I've run across claims that the Great Patriotic War (as 1941-45 is thought of in Russia) was won solely through the heroism of the Red Army. (I might have a great fascination with the Red Army, but I'd be the first to admit that this is patently false). On the other hand you've got people who will admit to bad things happening. The Academic's view of this also varies, some will completely deny bad things happening (in particular referring to War Crimes in Germany during the Red Army's advance there), others will admit it freely.
Here's one quote from a book called: "Through the Maelstrom" which is the memoir of Boris Gorbachevsky, a veteran of the war and who actually took part in a genuine human wave assault in late 1942:
"Unfortunately the Russian Press has been concealing the truth about the Red Army for more than 60 years
...
In 2005, a 2005 video conference of Russian and German historians on topical questions of the Second World War took place in Moscow and Berlin. A Russian Historian from the state Humanitarian University, Elena Siniavskaya... acknowledged only isolated cases of inhumane treatment on the part of Soviet servicemen toward the local population and maintained that they have been fully prosecuted all the way up to military tribunals. I won't argue with Elena Siniavskaia or make accusations against her. It's a pointless venture. I'll assume she doesn't know the real facts."
The Documentary Soviet Storm, a very interesting doco if it does some what get overly dramatic, plays the whole problem of Soviet War Crimes rather interestingly, in that it acknowledges it, but instead of going into detail, instead harps on how the Germans had it coming because of what they had done in Russia. Fair enough, that's part of why the Red Army soldiers did it, but don't use it to excuse the red army's crimes.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I believe the interest in promoting the good side of the Red Army is part of Mr Putin's plan to restore Russian pride or whatever. That use of history just strikes me as a leading to dangerous areas. In Australia we have the same problem, where we're fed nonsense about this "Anzac Spirit" which is meant to make us better soldiers than anyone else. Thus making us feel special or something. Given this is a forum dedicated to World War II, I don't think it'll take too long to realise how preposterous an idea it is.
I've only seen part of Bad Comedian's video, it was too painful to watch. What I did see was pure sophistry. I do remember one line where he said that the line where the Soviet soldier in the first mission didn't have a weapon was nonsense. In fact he's wrong on that score and quotes some statistic totally unrelated to Stalingrad to prove it. Whilst in films like Enemy at the Gates, the problems of weapons shortages is exaggerated, there were shortages. When the 13th Guards Rifle Division crossed the Volga early on in the Stalingrad campaign (though actually attacked in the exact place where the first campaign mission starts, right up through Fallen Fighters square towards the train station), only 9 in 10 men had a weapon. The rest, as above, was sophistry.
I can imagine him getting into quite a tizzy about the execution of the partisans. That was basically nonsense, but it does kinda represent how the Armia Krajowa was screwed over by the Red Army during the Warsaw Uprising. None the less, rather badly judged by Relic.
The campaign itself, could have been done way better, but it didn't go into a tenth of the bad stuff the Soviets did in World War II. The Russians got off relatively lightly in that campaign. (Rapes, Katyn massacre anyone?)
This post might rub a few egos. Guys, the evidence for the Red Army's crimes is strong and conclusive. Denying it is nonsense and an insult to the German and Axis countries who suffered under it.
Further addendum for our German fanboys. The Soviet Warcrimes weren't a tenth of what the Germans did and intended to do in Russia. The historical revisionism relating to the Nazis and the Wehrmacht is creepy and concerning. You can't explain away the planned deaths of 40 million people. Neither was the Wehrmacht at all innocent.
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