Soviet Union military songs in WW2

Mainly because of the Cold War and stealing merits, the West belittled the effort and sacrifice made by USSR during WW2: 34 million Soviets were in services.

Further, 12 million Soviet servicemen and 15 million Soviet citizens (all included 1/3 of its male population) died, fighting against 200 German divisions.
Hitler started Operation Barbarossa (see illustration) with 5.5M servicemen, 5000 aircrafts, and 4300 tanks.
The stubborn and high-casualty resistance in Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad had bogged down and severely damaged the Nazi German corps.
The Allies' landing (125,000) in Normandy faced much less resistance. The Allies found themselves fighting against 10 German divisions, sometimes with older men and teenage boys (Hitler Youngun).

Four out of five Germans killed in the war were killed on the Eastern Front.

The Sacred War (or the Great Patriotic War ) against the Nazi invasion was bitter and passionate:

Motherland
Calling!

'Arise, Great Country'
* from the 'Captain of the Lucky Pike' (1972 movie)
* from the 'Battle for Moscow' (1985 movie)

* from a recent 'Songs of the War Years' concert - note the audience standing
(c.f. Chinese version)

It was said that before its invasion of USSR, Nazi Germany leaked a long list of 'pro-Germany' Soviet commanders, for the highly-suspicious Stalin to finish them off. In addition, to make Stalin think that the main German force was still preparing to invade the British Isles, messages were broadcast asking for English speakers, and lots of handbooks were published about the British way of life.

When the invasion (Operation Barbarossa) then broke out by surprise, Stalin was unprepared and had not many good commanders at his disposal. The Nazi armies rapidly got close to Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad.

Excerpts from 'Stalingrad' (2013 movie) and 'Enemy at the Gates' (2001 movie) (highly recommended):

Battle of Stalingead

Zhukov escaped that political persecution, because he was away fighting the Japanese over Mongolia.

Zhukov documentary

Now, whenever any one of the three defending cities was about to collapse, Stalin dispatched Zhukov to turn the situation around. Zhukov built faith and fame among the servicemen and the civilians, all to Stalin’s love and envy.

At Tokyo, Soviet agent Richard Sorge (with Germany background) became a trusted friend of the Germany ambassador to Japan. Sorge provided Stalin with the crucial information about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Dec 1941. This enabled Stalin to move troops (34 Siberian regiments and around 100 Far East regiments) from the East to the West. (About 45,000 Korean refugees were recruited to the Red Army in the East to monitor any Japanese movements inside south-eastern Siberia.)

* My Army (Армия моя)
* March of the Defenders of Moscow

The Great Depression crippled USA and rippled to Germany (by recalling US debts which Germany needed to recover from WW-I) and other countries. Many unemployed engineers and technicians moved from USA and Germany to USSR to build and run steel mills, and factories for tractors and airplanes. The latter were transformed to roll out tanks and warplanes when the war broke out.

During the war, the US was shipping thousands of tons of food to Great Britain and to the Soviet Union, along with military supplies.

* Katyusha - c.f. Chinese version - Katyusha Rocket Launcher

* Poljushko Polje / Steppe-O Steppe / Meadowlands - (Cossack Patrol) - c.f. Chinese version

* "Farewell ... Remember us ... Not all of us will come back..."

(L) Shostakovich's Symphony No.8 - Mvt.3 of 5 - Allegro non troppo

(R) The Nazi invasion spurred Prokofiev to compose his operatic version of Tolstoy's War and Peace.

The famous Red Russian Army Choir singing the famous:

* Kalinka with the Leningrad Cowboys

* Those were the days with the Cowboys.
(This song has Russian origin!)

(c.f. Mary Hopkin in the late 60’s)

(c.f. the huge 'banjo' / 'balalaika')

The Leningrad Cowboys are from Finland! Most Finns speak the Mongolian language, just as those Russians living next to the Ural Mountains that divide Europe and Asia.

From Aug 1943, the Soviets changed from defense to attack, and started to push the German invaders back. Famous for their bravery, the Cossacks inflicted fatal damages to the retreating Napoleonic Armêe then, and the Nazi-deutschen Korps now:

(L) The Cossacks Ride over Duna (River) --- far flung!

(R) The Cossacks -- Swell!

* Dovator's Cossacks

-- with tens of paintings on the tough war in USSR

Conquest of Berlin

In 1945, Stalin ordered Marshal Zhukov to take Berlin before May 1 at all costs, so that victory could be celebrated in the Labor Day parade in the Moscow Red Square.
In Berlin, the Soviet soldiers fought toughly and roughly, alleys by alleys, whilst the Allies stood by in the outskirts in attempt to capture any fleeing Nazis. 200,000 Russians died taking Berlin. The Soviets spotted Hitler's dead body and smuggled it home, so that the Am GIs could not see it.
- Berlin surrendered to USSR on May 2, 1945
- Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies at Reims of France on May 7, to the Allies and USSR at Berlin on May 8.

蘇聯打敗德國的根本原因

Finally, the Soviet Victory Parade on Jun 24, 1945:

* Zhukov appeared on a white stallion, to be cheered. (Initially, Stalin planned to do it himself; but during rehearsal he fell from the horse and got hurt.)
* Captured Nazi German standards were thrown at the feet of Zhukov, not Stalin!.

Zhukov songs

So, Zhukov got the greatest honor then, but a humble life afterwards.

Despite the Cold War, top generals from the Allies insisted on visiting him in person, in hope to ensure their highly respected counterpart lived in reasonable shape.

朱可夫