The Russian General Staff defeated the French and German Allied Armies and their General Staffs.
Moscow Exile writes:
That General Winter myth was first churned out by Napoleon’s generals in their memoirs and, following their defeat in the great Patriotic War1941-1945, by Nazi German generals in theirs.
The West simply cannot face up to the fact that its military was roundly beaten by those whom they consider to be a lesser, degenerate breed, so it seeks excuses for its failures.
When Napoleon decided to retreat from Moscow on 19 October 1812, it was not cold. In fact, the Corsican’s armies left Moscow in fine weather on 19 October 1812. It only started snowing almost two weeks later on 6 November. And by Russian standards, the winter of 1812/13 was not an exceptionally cold one.
The campaign was over by mid-December and so-called Generals January and February, the coldest months in a Russian winter, took no part in Buonaparte’s defeat. In fact, the winter of 1812 was so mild that the Berezina River did not freeze over, which was bad news for Napoleon’s retreating forces: they had expected to walk across the ice. Napoleon ditched his vanquished army on the banks of the Berezina in December 1812.
General Typhus killed far more invaders than did this much vaunted Russian General Winter.
There were 4 winters during the course of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945: the first, during which the Battle of Moscow took place, was the coldest Moscow winter on record, or so many maintain. However, meteorological archives here show that was not the case: below the seasonal average were the temperatures, but they weren’t as in Siberia. During the Battle of Moscow, minus 40°C [minus 40°F] and lower is often claimed to have been the temperature along the whole front throughout the battle. Such a low temperature did, in fact occur at localized points, but not constantly, everywhere along the line.
The Battle of Moscow resulted in the first land defeat of Nazi German armed forces during WWII and the Great Patriotic War. However, the cold of December/January 1941/42 wasn’t the fundamental reason why the Nazis were halted that winter at the Battle of Moscow: the Nazis had run out of steam by the time the “rasputitsa” had started, when Russian roads turn to a morass before winter sets in.
The Nazis were stretched to the limit by December 1941 and had still not annihilated the opposition. The Red Army struck back with a vengeance that month. However, though the Nazis were forced to withdraw, the Soviets could not follow through on their victory.
Then there was winter 1942/43 and the Battle of Stalingrad, followed by the Battle of Kursk, in which the Nazis were roundly beaten by the Red Amy and after which defeat they were in continuous retreat to Berlin.
And what about the winters ’43/’44 and ’44/45?
Which of these winters defeated the Nazis?
Furthermore, the Battle of Kursk, 1943, took place when the weather was not unduly cold.
Hardly surprising really: it was fought in the months of July and August. In fact, it often gets quite hot during those summer months in western Russia.
So how come, then, the Soviets won at Kursk when there was no General Winter to help them?
Because by that time Red Army soldiers were well nourished with supplies of Spam from the USA?
During the 30 years that I have been living in Moscow, the coldest temperatures that I have experienced here have been minus 32/35C [minus 25.6/31F]. The last ime that happened for a lengthy period of time was during the Orthodox Christmas season of about 4 years ago. Orthodox Christmas Day is on 7 January. Another time that I recall such a lengthy cold period was in February 2006. (I clearly recall those times because of photos of me and my wife and children tobogganing under bright blue skies in a “Winter Wonderland.) However, temperatures here in winter often do fall lower than minus 20C, sometimes much lower than that, in localized areas, one of which being where our family dacha is located some 60 miles southwest of Moscow, in a village through which the frontline of December 1941 ran.
Principle I
Principle II
Principle III
By Artists M and F Graham
At Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, India
