Here are some photos of WWII Vets who are normally ignored in America..
[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20020509/capt.1020943783.russia_victory_day_mosb110.jpg[/img]
[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20020509/capt.1020943029.russia_victory_day_mosb109.jpg[/img]
[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20020509/capt.1020938648.ukraine_victory_day_kiv102.jpg[/img]
[img]http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20020509/capt.1020938438.russia_victory_day_mosb106.jpg[/img]

Sad is the country who has no heroes.

Every Nazi bastid they killed was one less for a US soldier to face.

The good news is, we never had to go to war with these folks.

[b]We won[/b], with very few shots being fired!

Remember what Lincoln said, 'If I make my enemy my friend, have I not utterly destroyed my enemy?'

Eric The(Yeah,EvenLincolnSometimesMakesSense)Hun[>]:)]

It was fortunate that they fought along side other nations against the Nazis. But our nation has somewhat different memories about the Russian army.

Yes, [b]Tuukka[/b], but those memories must be very sweet indeed, since it was [u]your[/u]countrymen who were kicking [u]their[/u] asses!

What was the final casualty count for the Russkis in The Winter War? 400,000 dead? 600,000 dead?

I do know that their armies had to be completely refigured to cover their losses.

Eric The(NeverForget!)Hun[>]:)]

Yes, fortunately we had enough guys with balls made of titanium holding the line.

It is sad that the time for the young generation to hear from the veterans directly is almost over, the next generation will only read about them or hear from others.

I watched the movie "Stalingrad" Tuesday night. It's told from the point of view of a platoon of Wehrmacht soldiers pretty fresh to the Eastern Front.
[img]images.amazon.com/images/P/6305037280.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]

It's the same sort of lighthearted look at the German side of WWII as "Das Boot."

And, [b]Tuukka[/b], if my Finnish history is correct, there were never more than [b]160,000[/b] Finns who were available for the defense at any time in that war!

Those guys' balls may have been made of titanium, but they were hung in kevlar bags!

From Virtual Finland website:

In the winter dawn of 30 November four Soviet Armies with 23 divisions - some 460,000 men with over 2,000 tanks - began advancing across the length of Finland's 1,200 km long eastern border. Their objective was to occupy the entire territory of Finland by the end of the year, installing Moscow's puppet 'Terijoki Government' in Helsinki, and establishing a new 'Democratic Republic of Finland'. Their troops were issued with detailed written warnings not to cross into Sweden once they had reached Finland's western border, and the 7. Army included a military band for the victory parade in Helsinki.

On December 3, 1939, three days after the Red Army’s unprovoked attack on Finland, the newly appointed foreign minister, Väinö Tanner, spoke to American radio listeners in a live broadcast from Helsinki.  

Few at the time expected the tiny Finnish nation of 3.6 million to survive. But despite the odds Finland reacted with desperate determination. On the one hand the country was determined to fight, and the full field army of some [b]160,000[/b] men had been mobilized and sent eastwards into position along the front during the fall. [b]On the other hand Finland also was grimly prepared for the worst, and began sending her national treasure - her children - to safety in Sweden, to cover the possibility of a Soviet victory and Stalin's national extermination programmes. Leaving at night from blacked out harbours along Finland's western coast, in the gaps between wailing sirens warning of Soviet bombers, none of the thousands of departing children or their parents remaining behind knew whether they would see each other again.[/b]

Four months later, after the hardest fighting seen in Europe since the first World War and massive Soviet reinforcements, Finland's lines remained unbroken, while the Red Army had lost up to 400,000 soldiers in casualties. [b]Finland's soldiers were now down to their last bullets, [u]but Stalin did not know that[/u], and he was running out of time[/b]. With the spring thaws approaching, his forces risked becoming bogged down in the extensive wetland forests along the front, while politically every week lost increased his humiliation and vulnerability vis a vis a vengeful Japan in the Far East, an ambitious Hitler in the west, and a Britain and France that were considering intervention on Finland's side.

Not bad, eh?

I'd sure like to think that in my Hun family's extensive travels they picked up some Finnish blood in their veins.

It would be noble blood, indeed.

Eric The(Nordic)Hun[>]:)]

"Light-hearted"??? Is there a "all audiences" version of the movie you might have watched? I found both "Stalingrad" and "Das Boot" blood-curdling and heart-rending...and way more realistic than say Saving Ryan's Privates.

Nice, post, Hun.

Don't F**k with Finland. Masters of Winter Warfare. Relaxed in their saunas after mowing down hordes of Soviet soldiers. The Russians only annexed enough territory to bury their dead.

I should have put some kind of sarcasm alert in that post, I guess. Of course we saw the same version of both movies and they are both nearly punishing to watch. War at its ugliest, soul-crushing worst.

When the squad had to shoot the Russian "saboteurs," including the boy Kolya, at the behest of that red-striped political officer or whatever he was...Ugh.

Although I do not have a picture of him, his medal will suffice.

[img]http://members.telocity.com/~avalon01/polish_cross.jpg[/img]

This medal was awarded to my great-uncle after WW2. He was a Polish citizen who joined the Polish resistance after the Nazis invaded Poland.

He was captured near the end of the war, and sent to a concentration camp, eventually liberated by the Soviets.

He was awarded this medal for being a concentration camp survivor.

Veterans from many nations during WW2, both enlisted or not, deserve our praise!

Av.

I wouldn't want to get crosswise with any of those old broads in the 3rd pic.  Either the Soviets handed out ribbons/medals willy nilly or those old ladies were some tough cookies in their day.

My Grandfather, the one from the good side of the family...

[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0MAAAAPQO92GuUW8iGaF1d86*C18PM4bBk*Dr*Av8AgRdJoFmlQmojYfVJSGns1xud8p9RtvWWGpMDd1KczrlrA/cc01.JPG[/img]

THe Finnish ski troops were called Bielaya Smert(white death)by the Russians.  Their greatest triumph was when they ambushed the 163rd and 44th Russian divisions at Suomussalmi and wiped them out.
In the war the Russians lost 200,000 men, 700 aircraft, and 1600 tanks while the Finns lost 25,000 men.
The Russians poor performance gave the German advisors who witnessed it more encouragement that they would have no trouble when Germany invaded Russia.

It must be noted that Stalin had purged his officer core earlier with the effect that the army had 10,000 less trained officers

Let's not forget this guy:
[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20020509/i/1020949969.3020030036.jpg[/img]
An elderly Russian woman holds the portrait of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin as she walks in Moscow, May 9, 2002. Russia and other former Soviet republics celebrated on Thursday the 57th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in the World War Two. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020509/170/1ij28.html[/url]

Any surprise I have it on tape?

I always have a problem calling all the German soldiers in World War II Nazis. Most were just plain soldiers doing their duty for their country even though their leaders and government were Nazis. It's funny how people call every German Soldier a Nazi which is false, but the same people rarely call all the Russians Commies or Communists.

The Russian Government in those years was just as harse on it's people even worse in some areas than the Germans. You don't hear people refering to American Soldiers Capitalist's. Just to call all the German Soldier's Nazis is wrong in my judgement. A lot of good people died both Russian and German and countless other countries  controlled by a small group of evil men.

I will say I'm glad like the rest of us that Germany and its Nazi leaders were defeated. I just hate to generalize all German soldiers as Nazis.

The Finns did kick arse during WWII. The Germans also helped take the pressure off of the Finns at Leningrad and by supplying weapons and supplies.

From Herr Hitler
"I expect that every soldier, mindful of the great traditions of eternal German soldiery, will ever remain conscious that he is a representative of the National-Socialist Greater Germany."
The Army was so afraid of the SA that they helped contribute to Hitlers power by swearing their oath to him.  Were they all members of the National-Socialist party, not likely.  But by serving under that political machine I feel comfortable calling them all Nazis.  Yes, I would also have called all the soldiers in the USSR commie ba$tards.

In case anyone wants the URLs for (some of) the Yahoo photos, here they are:
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020509/168/1ijp2.html[/url]
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020509/168/1iiep.html[/url]
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020509/168/1iig6.html[/url]
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020509/168/1ii3d.html[/url]
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020507/168/1i50l.html[/url]