Soviet Union Archives

Soviet Union

Hero of Verdun: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain

By Blaine Taylor

“I’ve been old in all my ranks,” said Henri Philippe Pétain, created Marshal of France on December 8, 1918, at age 62. Read more

Soviet Union

‘Raising a flag over the Reichstag’ Photographer Yevgeni Khaldei

By Michael E. Haskew

The image of Red Army soldiers hoisting their hammer and sickle emblazoned banner atop the Reichstag, the seat of the German parliament, is a classic photo of World War II, an image that told the world Nazi Germany was at last finished. Read more

Naval mines were used extensively in WWII's Baltic Sea campaigns. And with their high effectiveness and ease of deployment, it was no wonder.

Soviet Union

Naval Mines: Why They Were the Great Military Equalizer

by Victor J. Kamenir

During World War II, naval mines were used extensively in the Baltic Sea. Their low cost provided weaker German and Finnish fleets with an effective force multiplier in negating Soviet numerical and qualitative advantages. Read more

Soviet Union

George S. Patton’s End Run: The Story of His Final Days

By Major General Michael Reynolds

By early 1945, less than a year before General George S. Patton’s mysterious death, Adolf Hitler’s armies were almost exhausted. Read more

Soviet Union

Night Jump into Tragedy

By Victor Kamenir

In August 1943, immediately after the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army launched a series of follow up operations, resulting in the liberation of a large swath of Nazi-occupied Soviet territory. Read more

The Red Army pioneered airborne operations but often failed to execute missions successfully.

Soviet Union

Red Army Airborne

By Victor Kamenir

The official history of Russian and Soviet airborne forces began on August 2, 1930, when 12 parachutists were dropped during maneuvers in the Moscow Military District. Read more

Soviet Union

Fleeing to Fight

By John Osborn Jr.

“They had lost their country but kept their honor,” future British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan said of General Wladyslaw Anders and the Polish II Corps, men in the strange position of trying to win the liberation of their homeland by fighting in Italy. Read more

Soviet Union

A Warning Against Appeasement

By Jon Diamond

The “Mythology of Munich” and “What Would Winston Do?” These were the feature story and the cover headline, respectively, for the June 23, 2008, issue of Newsweek magazine. Read more

Soviet Union

How the Cossacks Were Betrayed by Britain in World War II

By Blaine Taylor

An estimated four million Red Army soldiers were captured by the Germans during the six months after the launching of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941. Read more

Soviet Union

Dream of the Polish Eagle

By Blaine Taylor

”The subject of Poland is by far the most complex of all the problems to be considered,” the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles was told in 1919, as it was preparing to sort out the incredible mess in European affairs following the end of World War I. Read more

Soviet Union

The Deadly Defector from the USSR

By Todd Avery Raffensperger

“I’ve come to you from Moscow. The Central Committee of the Communist Party has ordered your liquidation.” Read more

Christened by its inventors the Thompson Gun—and colloquially referred to as "Tommy guns"—General Thompson contracted with the Colt Patent Firearms Company to produce 15,000, at cost of $38.25 per gun.

Soviet Union

The Thompson Gun’s Curious History, from World War I to World War II

By Arnold Blumberg

In 1917, when America entered the First World War, the United States Army tasked Brigadier General John T. Read more

Soviet Union

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Moral Dilemma

By Sam McGowan

During the more than 60 years since the detonation of the first atomic bombs—and the only time nuclear weapons have ever been used operationally—a major debate has erupted over the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Read more

Israeli tanks led the lightning-fast thrust across the Sinai Peninsula to a point only 18 miles from the Suez Canal.

Soviet Union

Misadventure in the Sinai

By Eric Hammel

Many historians consider the Suez-Sinai campaign in the autumn of 1956 the last hurrah for British and French colonialist efforts in the Middle East. Read more

Soviet Union

Einsatzgruppen in Germany: The Nazi Killing Squad

By Blaine Taylor

The wide-scale murder of Jews by Nazi Germany’s Einsatzgruppen began in Poland in September 1939, protested only by German Army Generals Johannes Blaskowitz and Georg Kuchler. Read more

On orders from Premier Josef Stalin, Red Army Marshals Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Konev raced to capture the Nazi capital of Berlin.

Soviet Union

Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev: The Race to Berlin

by Michael Haskew

On orders from Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, the offensive that resulted in the capture of the Nazi capital of Berlin in April 1945, developed into a race between the army groups of two Soviet commanders, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev. Read more

Soviet Union

Operation Silver Fox: An Opportunity Lost at Murmansk

By Pat McTaggart

As Adolf Hitler began to formulate his grandiose plans for the conquest of the Soviet Union, he considered the far northern operation area little more than a sideshow. Read more

The Eastern Front exacted a terrible toll on the German Army and Hitler’s refusal to abandon the Crimea needlessly cost Germany countless troops.

Soviet Union

The Eastern Front: Germany’s Futile Battle For Crimea

By Pat McTaggart

On July 4, 1942, the men of newly promoted Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s Eleventh Army celebrated the capture of the last Soviet bastion in the Crimea. Read more