Note: The Russians usually refer to their own part of World War II as the “Great Patriotic War.” Some Eastern European countries use this same term. But in Germany (and in most other Western countries), it is known as the “Eastern front” – or, more informally, the “Russian front.”
They call it the “War of the Century” here – the massive conflict between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. To me, World War II as a whole is better-deserving of this title than any one of its parts, even this part. Nonetheless, I should acknowledge that the Russian front really was quite massive, and was cataclysmic for both sides. It is a war between two of the cruelest superpowers of the twentieth century. There were innocent victims on both sides, and there were cold-blooded murderers on both sides – with both sides having plenty of each. To me, this documentary seems to cover them in the right proportions, by painting both sides in a negative light. The war was a vicious and brutal conflict which lasted for nearly four years. Thus, it seems to make for great television, particularly with the moving way that the BBC covers it here. They show the human drama of the story, and tell it with a flourish.
Episode 1: “High Hopes” (with some nitpicking about their coverage of how the war began)
But first of all, some nitpicking: My main criticism of this documentary is that it spends insufficient time on how the war began. There are a few things that I would have advised them to mention as context here. First, they could have mentioned how Germany and Russia fought each other in the First World War (among other conflicts). There are allusions to the even-earlier invasion of Russia by Napoleon’s France in 1812 – which actually involved some conscripted German soldiers fighting for Napoleon, something that they do not mention here. But there is no mention of the First World War – not even to mention the Russian Revolution of 1917. Indeed, this revolution is what made Russia communist, and it was a major period for Joseph Stalin’s rise to power. The communist revolution is what caused Russia to exit the First World War early, and descend into its own civil war instead. (More about that here.) They do mention the Soviet purges in the 1920s and 1930s – as well they should have. They also mention the Non-Aggression Pact between the Nazis and the Soviets. But they don’t mention that, starting in 1932, the Russians had border conflicts with the Japanese in Mongolia. Nor do they mention how the Spanish Civil War foreshadowed Russia’s later conflicts with the Germans. That is, in the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union supported the Republican side, while the Nazis and the Italian Fascists both supported the Nationalist side. Some have even described the Spanish Civil War as a sort of “dress rehearsal” for the Second World War. They also leave out how the Nazis and the Soviets agreed to divide Poland between them in 1939. That is, the Germans would invade Poland from the west, and the Russians would invade it simultaneously from the east. This, as it turned out, is exactly what happened. People often mark the (Nazi) invasion of Poland as the beginning of the European war, but it was also a Soviet invasion of Poland, with a border between their respective spheres. They also fail to mention how, in 1939, the Russians had further border conflicts with the Japanese in Mongolia. This caused the Russians to station some troops in the East, to guard against a possible Japanese invasion. Thus, relatively few troops were in the right position to deal with the even greater threat from Germany.
Finnish children killed by Soviet partisans at Seitajärvi in Finnish Lapland, 1942
This documentary was made in 1999, long after “The World at War” …
However, this documentary instead begins with the “Winter War,” an infamous conflict between Russia and Finland. It began when the Soviets invaded Finland in 1939, earlier than the joint German-Russian invasion of Poland. But they begin with some anecdotes from that war’s end in 1940. They also talk about how the Russians were unprepared for the war. Stalin did not expect that the Germans would attack while they (the Germans) were busy fighting the British in the west. He was presumably projecting his own cold rationality onto Hitler, and noting how the timing of that German attack would be entirely illogical from their own point of view. But although Hitler shared the “coldness” of Stalin’s cold rationality, he did not share the rationality part. Thus, Hitler invaded Soviet territory in 1941, despite being busy with his war against the British to the west. The Russians were caught completely off-guard in the east. This is territory that was well-covered by the British documentary “The World at War,” made in the 1970s. But this BBC film was made in 1999, some eight years after the Soviet Union had collapsed. Thus, there is access to some declassified files from the time, which reveal some hitherto-unknown details.
The Germans attack the Soviet Union – Operation Barbarossa, 1941
… giving the BBC greater access to declassified documents and Russian eyewitnesses
For example, the first episode shows how the Russians made multiple attempts to negotiate – ostensibly to sue for peace. It is (at least) possible that getting a peace really was the purpose of the mission, but it may have been meant to buy the Russians some time instead. No one really knows for sure. What is clear is that, long after the war, the victorious Soviet government was embarrassed about these negotiations, and tried to sweep all evidence of them under the rug. One of the negotiators served 15 years in the gulag for obeying his government’s orders in this regard. Thus, the fact that the BBC uncovered this evidence anyway is a testament to the filmmakers’ gift for research. Evidence is also given of extensive atrocities on both sides, from very early on in the war. There are even some on-camera admissions from a few of the perpetrators, both German and Russian. Unlike “The World at War,” this documentary has extensive interviews with Russians, which help to paint a more detailed picture of both sides. By contrast, the Russian front episodes of “The World at War” focus almost entirely on the German side, since it was hard to interview people behind the Iron Curtain when they made that series in the 1970s. (Again, this BBC series was made in 1999.) Its first episode, which covers all of this, is simply entitled “High Hopes.” It is focused mainly on the (relatively early) German invasion of the Soviet Union. Some German soldiers mention how they saw the Russian Slavs as “racially inferior.” This seemed to “justify” the invasion in their own minds. The film also mentions the related concept of “Lebensraum” (or “living space”), another convenient pretext used to rationalize their waging of this war.
Soviet partisans hanged by German forces in January 1943
Episode 2: “Spiral of Terror” (with a focus on atrocities committed by both sides)
The second episode, by contrast, is called “Spiral of Terror.” It focuses mainly on the atrocities that were committed by both sides, particularly those committed against civilians. Again, there are interviews with both German and Russian eyewitnesses here. The filmmakers asked many of them some pointed questions about how they could have committed these actions, and how they saw these actions at the time. Some are unapologetic, while others use what I call the “Nuremberg defense.” That is to say, they were “just following orders” (or so they said). Even the Nuremberg trials would sometimes allow this defense to be used in mitigation of sentence. Thus, ordinary soldiers were seldom prosecuted in these tribunals for their actions. Some actions on both sides are in a kind of gray area, while others could only be actual war crimes. I leave it to the viewer to make the determination, although I would advise them to reserve their judgment until after they’ve seen the respective interview clips. There are parts of this episode that talk about what the soldiers did to retreating (or surrendering) enemy combatants. But most of the episode talks about the actions by both sides against civilians. Both sides were brutal against those who had collaborated with the other side, or were even suspected of doing so. Many were killed who had never collaborated with anyone, and entire villages were burned to the ground when they were suspected of being enemy bases. Neither side made much of a distinction between actual enemies and merely-suspected ones. Thus, both sides made a lot of actual enemies in the process, albeit terrified ones. The most sympathetic interviews in this episode are with ordinary Eastern Europeans, particularly Ukrainians. These are the ones who were caught in the crossfire. Some of these innocent victims are men, while others are women. Some of them are Jews, while others are Gentiles. Viewers will remember pictures of mutilated bodies (some of them nude), or the footage of a dead civilian woman hanging from a tree. They will appreciate the true depth of the depravity involved.
Mass grave of Soviet POWs, killed by Germans in a prisoner-of-war camp in Poland
Episode 3: “Learning to Win” (with a focus on the Battle of Stalingrad)
The third episode is called “Learning to Win.” It basically focuses on how the Soviets turned the tide of the war. A number of battles are mentioned here as context, but the primary focus is on the Battle of Stalingrad. There was an episode about this in “The World at War” as well. It was a great episode, but that episode did not have a single interview in it – on either side. By contrast, the BBC interviews a number of participants, both German and Russian. During this battle, there was trench warfare reminiscent of the Somme, or other First World War battles. There was also some notable street fighting as well. The weapons involved were sometimes more medieval than modern, as men killed each other with things like spades and shovels. During this battle, the Germans were eventually encircled and surrounded, and forced to surrender. But 95% of the captured Germans died in captivity. This episode interviews some of the 5% that survived this ordeal. It does not mention whether they were ever returned to Germany – or, if so, whether they got to West Germany or East Germany. But many of these German soldiers had been ordered by Hitler to kill themselves, rather than surrender. Whether the actual suicides were done to follow orders, or just to avoid Soviet captivity, is not clear. I suspect that there was a fair measure of both motives here. There are also interviews with Russian eyewitnesses, including a woman who conducted cruel interrogations of German prisoners. She talks of how she hated the Nazis for trying to kill her relatives and invade her country. She proclaims that she would have “cut them up,” if she had been ordered to do so. Other Russian eyewitnesses are a little more sympathetic. One of them is a woman who had been a little girl in Stalingrad, interviewed in her old age in the 1990s. More than 50 years later, these experiences still bring out the tears in her. Civilians had been forbidden to leave Stalingrad, because Stalin believed that the soldiers would fight even better with women and children there. Thus, the local women and children suffered through the ordeal of Stalingrad along with the soldiers, because of the “warm and caring” heart of Joseph Stalin.
Soviets preparing to ward off a German assault in Stalingrad’s suburbs
Episode 4: “Vengeance” (the Russians strike back, making it into the streets of Berlin)
The fourth and final episode is called “Vengeance.” As its title suggests, it is about the Russian vengeance against Germany. Again, there is mention of atrocities on both sides. On the German side, they mention the murder of Jews, and sending them to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp (located in Poland). One of them is a Hungarian Jewish guy, who somehow managed to survive the ordeal. Eventually, Auschwitz would be “liberated” by the Red Army – although it wasn’t much of a “liberation,” I am sad to say. On the Russian side, they mention lesser-known atrocities against ethnic minorities, including some of the local Buddhist groups. Many of them were deported to Siberia for no reason besides their ethnic minority status. Some of them are interviewed on camera here. A number of German women testify that they were themselves raped by Russian soldiers. One of them even testifies that she was raped by a group of these Russians, 15 times in a single night. The film estimates that some two million German women were thus raped by Russian soldiers. To me, this seems like an accurate estimate. Soviet apologists (and other critics of America) often respond that American soldiers did the same thing, but it was a fairly rare occurrence in the American military. Thus, to me, these comparisons seem to be grossly misleading, if not outright lies. But let me move on to other subjects. “The World at War” spends a bit more time on this later period. In particular, they spend an extra amount of time on the events leading up to Adolf Hitler’s suicide, interviewing German (and even Russian) eyewitnesses to show what happened there. Ironic, since “The World at War” interviewed relatively few Russians in its runtime. But the BBC is better at showing what happened on the Russian side, including shortly after the war. Some of the Soviet military leaders were so popular with their people that Stalin feared competition from them in the political realm. Thus, many were demoted or even tortured – their “thanks” for helping Stalin to defeat the Nazi invaders, and turn the war around for him. They also mention Hitler’s comment that if the German people lost, they would be “unworthy” of their Führer – evidence of the extent of his massive ego. Understandably, many Germans tried to head west, to avoid the wrath of the hated Russians. If there was one thing worse than British and American vengeance, it was that of the Russians whom they had conquered and maltreated. Suffice it to say that the Russians were in a particularly nasty mood at that time.
German refugees from East Prussia, February 1945
Conclusion: Great (albeit somewhat grim) coverage of an oft-forgotten part of the war
This film ends by saying that the Russian front shows what people are capable of. Furthermore, it shows what terrible things happened in the twentieth century. This seems like a good note to end on. One might add here that the Soviet Union lost 20 million people in World War II. In absolute numbers, they lost more than any other country. As a percentage of their population, the Soviets actually lost 13%. This puts them in the top 5 countries for World War II death rates. Latvia had a death rate of 13%, and Lithuania had a death rate of 14%. The worst death rate for one country is that of Poland, which was 16%. Some particular parts of the Soviet Union had comparable numbers. These included Kazakhstan with 10%, Russia itself with 12%, Armenia with 13%, Ukraine with 16%, and Belarus with 25%. In World War II, this was surpassed only by the death rate of Australian Nauru, which was 29%. (see source) The film thus makes for grim viewing, and paints both sides in a somewhat negative light. They show some innocent victims on both sides, and they also show some war criminals on both sides. They even show how the seeds of the Cold War were sown, with Berlin being well into Germany’s “Russian sector.” As they put it here, most of Eastern Europe “exchanged one tyrant for another.” I will only add that Europe was divided at what would later be called the “Iron Curtain.” To talk much about the Cold War here would be tangential, so I will refer readers to another blog post for a discussion of the early part of it. Suffice it to say here that the Russian front lives on as one of history’s most notorious (and brutal) conflicts, and was one of the most fateful (and important) parts of World War Two. The BBC gives excellent coverage of it here, which seems to be neck-and-neck with the corresponding episodes in “The World at War.”
Footnote to this blog post:
I link below to a DVD that has this program about the Russian front. But this program is also sold as part of the “BBC History of World War II.” If viewers are interested in the other documentaries in this series, I presume that it’s probably cheaper to get them all at once. However, I link to both versions below, so that viewers may be presented with multiple options. Viewers may do as they please.
DVD at Amazon
I link below to a DVD that has this program about the Russian front. But this program is also sold as part of the “BBC History of World War II.” If viewers are interested in the other documentaries in this series, I presume that it’s probably cheaper to get them all at once. However, I link to both versions below, so that viewers may be presented with multiple options. Viewers may do as they please.
DVD at Amazon
Also available as part of the “BBC History of World War II”
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