

Spades and Men - wallflower
http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov6/01.html

======
DCoder
Some background: This was written by a defected Soviet military intelligence
officer Victor Suvorov: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Suvorov> .

Suvorov wrote a lot of books exploring WWII and demonstrating large amounts of
evidence for his "Icebreaker" theory, claiming that Stalin intentionally led
Hitler to power, planning to occupy Europe after Nazis and the Western
countries were both weary and weakened. The theory has a lot of vocal
opponents, but Suvorov never misses a chance to point out that most of them
are (paid by) Soviet political/military figures, who are obviously biased and
would never admit such a plan. It's a shame that these books are not all
translated to English.

He also wrote two memoir books, (Tales of a) "Liberator", describing his
service in the Soviet regular forces, and "Aquarium", covering the period
after he got noticed by and accepted into the intelligence forces. The first
one contains some rather fascinating stories of everyday Soviet life and
dogma, well worth a read if you can find it. The second one is also good, even
though it lacks those everyday stories.

Summa summarum, the book OP linked to is an interesting view into the old
Soviet thinking. Might be an eye opener for those who believe the Soviets were
anywhere near as humane as the Western countries.

~~~
lionhearted
"Operation Barbarossa Saved the World" is one of the strangest and most
interesting articles I've read about WWII. I don't buy the whole theory, per
se, but it's methodical in listing German and Russian armaments, soldiers,
aircraft, and positioning. It draws heavily from Suvorov and argues that the
the Nazi pre-emptive invasion of the Soviet Union saved all of Western Europe
from Soviet conquest.

The basic premise is that Stalin was geared up for a very fast sweep through
German territory and following through immediately into Western Europe, but
all plans had been made with first strike in mind. It was all first strike
aircraft, shock troops, paratroopers, and offensive battleplans without
defense or contingency. By violating the Molotov-Ribbontrop Pact first,
Germany overran the forward positions of the Soviets quickly, destroying their
first strike capability, many aircrafts, logistical details, depots, fuel
supplies, and other things which the Soviets weren't prepared for. The author
argues that if Germany didn't do that, Russia might've conquered all of
Europe, and with the combined might of a Soviet Europe, conquered the world.

Interesting idea. I'm not sure I buy it, but it was a fascinating article.

~~~
philwelch
Oddly, the _conventional_ argument--that the Soviets destroyed the bulk of the
German army and hence saved Europe from German domination--shares with this
theory the odd consequence that liberal democracy in the West was saved from
brutal, absolute dictatorship by another brutal, absolute dictatorship.

~~~
lionhearted
> Oddly, the conventional argument--that the Soviets destroyed the bulk of the
> German army and hence saved Europe from German domination--shares with this
> theory the odd consequence that liberal democracy in the West was saved from
> brutal, absolute dictatorship by another brutal, absolute dictatorship.

If you're interested in this sort of thing, definitely look up "Perpetual War
for Perpetual Peace," or at the very least go read a summary. Also fascinating
stuff.

Basically, PWFPP's argument is that Nazi Germany would've been very weak and
able to overthrow easily by resisting the Nazi conquest of Czechoslovakia -
the Czech army was a decent fighting force, and with allied support could've
dismantled Nazi Germany right there.

France and England do nothing there, but then declare war on Germany after
Germany and the Soviet Union sign a peace treaty and jointly invade and divide
Poland, _and then inexplicably France and England don't attack_. That was the
stupidest possible way to declare war. You could've backed the Czechs, but
declaring war without an invasion while giving Hitler nine months to plan and
let him have first strike/blitzkrieg against France? Totally stupid.

The Western front of WWII was _gravely_ mismanaged until Winston Churchill
took over in England. Like, ridiculously so. They had quite a few
opportunities to smash Hitler before he became a problem. When they finally
did declare war, they just kind of skirmished a little while letting him build
and prepare more, and letting him determine the time and place of battle (they
overran the totally ineffective Maginot Line in one spot, spread quickly, and
conquered France in three days).

Anyway, I do buy that theory. Germany wasn't so strong when they invaded
Czech, and the Czechs are strong, tough, proud people. Declare war there and
WWII basically doesn't happen. As an added bonus, the Soviet Union couldn't
have absorbed Poland, East Germany, and the Baltics as a result. Man oh man
WWII was grossly mismanaged in the start of it...

~~~
philwelch
Obviously, France and Britain could have just launched straight across the
border into Germany then and there, but then wouldn't _they_ have to face the
entire Soviet army? Having just taken out Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and half
of Poland, the Soviets were as clear a threat as the Germans. I guess the
question then becomes what would have happened if western Europe stopped
Hitler at the soonest possible point of advantage and WWII was against the
Soviets.

------
tlack
Buy a fairly serious recreation of the Spetznas spade here:
<http://www.coldsteel.com/spshovel.html> Be sure to bring it to your local
startup party to impress your investors and mutilate your opponents.

------
zeteo
This reminds me of a scene in "All Quiet on the Western Front", where the
young recruits are told by a veteran to sharpen their shovels' edges and use
them instead of bayonets. The strike he preferred was, IIRC, between the neck
and the shoulders.

------
zyang
Here is a live demo, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b60OZhrTB6o>

~~~
gaius
Article specifically says the Soviet spade was NOT folding.

~~~
DannoHung
That's not a folding shovel. It has a rotatable spade head.

------
VladRussian
spades were very effective when "unarmed" soldiers were used to pacify civil
uprisings, for example in 87-89. It worked like Rome soldiers' short swords in
the crowd of the battle.

------
c00ki3s
Holt sh!t I read it all. Do I get a cookie?

On a more serious note, seeing that the author is not exceptionally
trustworthy (apparently), how much of it is real and how much isn't? Seems
plausible to me at least, but I wouldn't know for what to look out.

