Ruchkin B. A. The Year 1941: The Myth That the Army Was Not Fighting (A Historical Survey)

(Moscow University for the Humanities)

Abstract ♦ The article presents a brief review of works by competent contemporary historians who issue a denial of the myths about the Great Patriotic War, in particular, of the myth that the main reason of the failures of the Red Army in summer 1941 was “the Army’s unwillingness to fight”, “die for the Soviet order, for Stalinist socialism”. The author shows that such assertions in publications by G. Kh. Popov, B. V. Sokolov, M. S. Solonin are in contrary to the facts. The Army and people had been fighting fascists since the first days of the war. The following heroic battles testify this fact: the defense of Brest Fortress, the battles near Grodno, Smolensk, Yelnya, where the fascists’ plans of Blitzkrieg, “a lightning war” in Russia, were upset. The survey presents records and evidence of the executive officer of the 4th German army General G. Blumentritt, the chief of the General Staff of the German army Colonel-General F. Halder, admiral W. Canaris about the persistence and heroic stand of the Soviet troops in the first months of the war. The article shows comparative data about the stout-heartedness of the Red Army in comparison with Polish, French and German forces.

Keywords: demythologization of history, the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, the price of victory, mass heroism.

Ruchkin Boris Aleksandrovich, Doctor of History, Professor, Director, Center for History Research, Institute of Fundamental and Applied Studies, Moscow University for the Humanities. Postal address: B. 6, 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-58-07. E-mail: bruchkin@mosgu.ru

Citation: Ruchkin, B. A. (2014) 1941-i. Mif «Armiia ne voevala» (istoricheskoe obozrenie) [The year 1941: The myth that the army was not fighting (A historical survey)]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 2, pp. 125–131. (In Russ.).

Submission date: 20.04.2014.

RUSSIAN VERSION

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