Panama
Posts: 1362
Joined: 10/30/2009 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653 Any manpower numbers on what the Soviets gained by retaking particular areas? Example quoted from Scorched Earth by Paul Carell. Part five "To the Dnieper: Fighting on the Mius" page 321: "In the reconquered areas behind the front, throughout towns and villages, he (Stalin) mobilized anybody able to carry a rifle. Young boys and old men were enlisted into depot battalions. They were clothed and trained on the way to the front. They drew a rifle, a tunic or uniform trousers, a pair of boots, and perhaps a steel helmet. They were taught to load and to fire. No more. And then they attacked. In this way the Soviet Southern Frount recruited 80,000 men in the regions along the Sea of Azov within a mere three weeks. This was total war." This was Soviet doctrine in the reconquered lands. This is why, where possible, the Germans attempted to strip everything from the land in their retreat across the Soviet Union. People, animals, crops, anything not fastened down that they could take with them. What they couldn't take they destroyed. What they couldn't destroy they booby trapped if they had the time. Of course this wasn't always possible since, st times, the retreats were long and disorganized. Sounds like the Soviet retreats in 41 and 42, eh? This book is a good read as well as "Hitler Moves East".
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