Why were WWII Soviet casualties extremely high? (generals, state, peasants)

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by noetsi

The russian army that overran the Japanese in 1945 may have been the best equiped, trained, and led Russian force in history. They were fighting Japanese units that had been drained of their best men and most of their equipent to fight the Allies in the 2nd world war. The troops that fought at Iwa Jima for example came from China (I believe the Manchurian garrison although I am not sure(.

Yep, this ties into the use of the A-bombs discussions where the apologists talk about the Japanese trying to negotiate peace with the US via Russia.

LOL. Stalin wasn't about to allow any sort of peace agreement before he got some land back from the Japanese.

I heard that only about 10% of the Japanese in Manchuria ever got home with the rest being annihilated by the Russians. (Something like a million guys)

[noetsi]

I have not heard numbers for the Japanese prisoners, but when you consider the fate of the Sixth Army its believable. Most were not released until 1953, only 6,000 of 250,000 who surrendered ever returned to Germany.

[alexkiev3]

The price of human life in former Soviet Union, espesially durind WW2 was quite low. At the beginning of war, Soviet soldiers were equipped with 1 rifle per 3 persons, poor organized and trained. At the end of war, during attacking of well-fortified German positions, casualties must be very high by definition.

[Tom Lennox 70]

I wonder how many Russian POWs were killed in Nazi camps percentage wise compared to Americans captured by the Japanese, or how brutal the fighting war on the Eastern Front compared to the Pacific. Did many Russians fight to the death rather than surrender like Japanese forces did?

[MrMarbles]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

I wonder how many Russian POWs were killed in Nazi camps percentage wise compared to Americans captured by the Japanese, or how brutal the fighting war on the Eastern Front compared to the Pacific. Did many Russians fight to the death rather than surrender like Japanese forces did?

From Wikipedia:

The official Russian figure for total POW held by the Germans is 4,059,000; the number of Soviet POW who survived the war was 2,016,000, including 180,000 who most likely emigrated to other countries, and an additional 939,700 POW and MIA who were redrafted as territory was liberated. This leaves 1,103,000 POW dead. However, western historians put the number of POW held by the Germans at 5.7 million and about 3 million as dead in captivity (in the official Russian figures 1.1 million are military POW and remaining balance of about 2 million are included with civilian war dead).

[Fontucky]

Repatriated Russian POWs weren't exactly treated with love and kisses by Stalin and his evil minions. I'll bet those deaths aren't included.

[WIHS2006]

If that's how the Soviets treated the German POWs then I can't even imagine what they did to the Cossacks and Kalmuks who sided with the Germans in significant numbers.

Dident Stalin deport practically the entire Kalmuk population to Siberia where they remained until Khrushchev allowed them to return to their homeland after Stalin's death?

[odanny]

This book by G.F. Krivosheev, a Colonel General, is the definitive source for Soviet Red Army losses in WWII. It covers a larger period than just WWII, but 3/4 of the book is devoted to the Great Patriotic War. If you were seeking specific information on combat losses in a particular theater of the war during a certain time you could probably find it here.

[MrMarbles]

Yep, that is what I use.

[Torrachris]

The reason Russian casulties were so high is because Stalin kept ordering his troops to attack fixed front positions and the Germans kept performing double pincer movements and encircled and destroyed whole Soviet armies. The Germans were clearly the better fighting force. Stalin won on the piles of millions of dead troops he sacraficed.