
Nazis Killed Her Husband, She Bought and Drove a T-34 and Then Went on a Rampage - pinewurst
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/amazing-nazis-killed-her-husband-she-bought-drove-a-t34-then-went-on-a-rampage-m.html
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oper8or
Let's be clear, there was no private property at the time in the Soviet Union.
Moreover, what was called "personal" property, was very limited. For instance,
the ownership of pretty much any gun was prohibited (maybe with the exception
of hunting rifles). Therefore, the word "bought" is highly misleading. Even if
she could buy a tank, let's do the numbers. Based on the following page
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34) the
tank cost would be at least 135,000 1943 rubbles. Making a comparison to M4
Sherman, which was about $45,000 1941 dollars, we will come to about 3 rubles
to 1 dollar hypothetical exchange rate. Therefore the donation to mother-
Russia of 50,000 1943-rubles is an equivalent of about $17,000 1945-dollars,
or about $214,000 in 2017-dollars.

Now we finally can understand what piece of KGB-knitted propaganda this
article is. I lived during the soviet times, and the median salary was barely
covering food and clothing. Even today, the median income in Russia is less
than $1000 per month. Did she work all her adult life without spending
anything? Please keep in mind that productivity today is much higher.

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avodonosov
> Let's be clear, there was no private property at the time in the Soviet
> Union

You don't know what you are talking about.

The same about the rest of your post.

Do a 5 minutes research to verify the Oktyabrskaya's story.

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thrw_pa1
> You don't know what you are talking about.

Yes, he does. There was no way to buy a tank for a Soviet citizen. There was a
way for a citizen to "buy" (massive quotes) a tank for a government, but that
would be a pure propaganda feat.

> Do a 5 minutes research to verify the Oktyabrskaya's story.

And let me guess: I need to use Soviet sources which are absolutely biased in
describing WW2?

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owebmaster
> And let me guess: I need to use Soviet sources which are absolutely biased
> in describing WW2?

Talk about propaganda to me, please. Do you recommend me to watch some
Hollywood movies to get the "real" picture?

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thrw_pa1
Yes, please. They will hold more truth than Soviet sources.

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Areading314
How do we know this isn't just propaganda?

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otp124
Ideally from historical sources, such as battlefield reports, diaries of her
contemporaries, etc.

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make3
I think the question is, do the potential proof you speak of exist in this
specific case

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old-gregg
> She was then put through a five-month tank training program – unlike male
> recruits who were given far less time before being sent to the war front
> (often still unprepared)

I was recently reading an interview with an old Russian tanker who fought on
the eastern front in WW2 and indeed, the training was almost symbolic. One
thing he said they didn't have proper cannon rounds for training (early 1942)
and had to practice using regular rifles inserted into a tank's gun barrel.

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Blackthorn
I do wonder how many of the (massive) number of plane crashes the Allied
nations experienced were not due to manufacturing without much concern to
safety, but instead the relative lack of training.

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rsynnott
Basically symptoms of the same problem; everything was being done in a huge
rush. You’d expect both, really.

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eadmund
Great story, but she wouldn't have been born a serf in 1905: it was abolished
44 years before:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia)

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gumby
Interesting I suppose, but I didn't see that she _purchased_ the tank. It was
assigned to her.

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dfcowell
> For this purpose, I’ve deposited all my personal savings – 50,000 rubles –
> to the National Bank in order to build a tank. I kindly ask to name the tank
> ‘Fighting Girlfriend’ and to send me to the frontline as a driver of said
> tank.

Not that I have any idea how close 50,000 rubles would get you to a tank back
then, but it seems she at least contributed to the cost of building it.

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danielvf
New cost for a T-34 mid war would be 150,000 to 200,000 rubles.

A US Sherman tank from the same time would be around $46,000 then, or about a
half million in today’s dollars.

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senectus1
that would make an awesome movie.

