by Edward Keazor

Created on: March 12, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Whats your image of the 2nd World War Soviet Soldier. Mine is that of an uncompromising, tough, determined, proud, ruthless, courageous and often simple individual, with a fondness for a wee drop of Vodka and an ironic sense of humour. A stereotype maybe, but one held by the Soviets themselves.

One man in particular embodies this ethos for me, I'm referring to Vasily Chuikov. Do read this quote "On the 12th of September Chuikov was appointed commander of 62nd Army by Khrushchev, at his HQ in Yamy. Krushchev informed him that the Germans were prepared to take the city at any cost, there could be no surrender and there was nowhere to retreat to. Then he asked 'Comrade Chuikov, how do you interpret you're task?' Chuikov answered 'We will defend the city, or die in the attempt!' On hearing his answer, Krushchev informed him that he had interpreted his task correctly"

Some may define his response as mere bluster, that may be the case for non-students of Soviet Military history, however those who have taken time to study this genre will find that this was a mindset that was deeply embedded in the psyche of the Soviet soldier both by nature and training and more in particular by the consequences of weakness or failure in Stalin's USSR, retreat was never an option. Retreat was treason, for the simple reason that you were expected to fight and die and if you didn't die, then you were a traitor of spy- the consequences were the same. To put a fine point on it, he said it and he meant it.

There is an often used modern colloquial term "hard bastard" often used when defining some thuggish football hooligan or underworld figure, well whatever, but the truth is that if any man/woman deserved this title, then it would have to be Vasily Chuikov.

A summary of his credentials would be thus: the defence of Stalingrad against the overwhelming force of the German invasion, with limited resources and in the face of mind-boggling odds both logistical and personal. The battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in human history and involved close quarter combat of the most extreme quality, and almost daily house-to-house combat, in almost unimaginably difficult conditions i.e the hunger, insanitary conditions, disease and lest I forget..the Russian winter. Temperatures of -25 degrees centigrade. To put the conditions into perspective, here'a an extract from the accounts of a soldier who died in the course of the battle.."my hands are done for and have been since the beginning of December.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>