Serov.

This is coolbert:

Previously I have blogged on the sadistically cruel Soviet General Serov.

It was generally UNCLEAR as to what became of the General after his dismissal from Soviet military intelligence [GRU].

Suvorov suggests he was "liquidated" [killed].

Internet sites suggest he lived a long life.

Dzhirkvelov in his book, "Secret Servant" maintains that Serov was a suicide:

"They say that every malicious act is ultimately avenged. So it was with Serov, the head of the KGB, whose hands were red with the blood of Soviet people [others too!!]. A specialist in the business of mass deportations, a man without honor or conscience, sadistic and unprincipled . . . After a heavy drinking bout, he shot himself and was found dead in the doorway of a greengrocer's shop on the Arbat."

"Finding himself [Serov] in disfavour and, indeed, at least getting a taste of his own medicine, Serov took to drink and, in a state of drunkenness, shot himself in the back alley on the Arbat near a greengrocer's shop where an old friend of his worked. Such was the inglorious end of the cruel general. He did not even merit an obituary notice apart from the announcement of his death, signed by an anonymous group of comrades."

A PERSON NOT MISSED!

coolbert.

Penal.

This is coolbert:

“to redeem their guilt with blood.”

Found this by accident. A review of an eleven part mini-series as shown on Russian television. A story based upon the Soviet Army penal battalion system as used in World War Two.

A subject I have mentioned in a number of previous blog entries.

A subject that during the communist era, would have been absolutely forbidden to talk about, much less make a mini-series about.

A subject that deals with material that is NOT pleasant.

"Nikolai Dostal's critically acclaimed 11-part television serial Penal Battalion redefines Russia's last Soviet myth the heroic myth of the Great Patriotic War. While challenging some received truths about the cost of the victory and soldiers motivation to fight for the Soviet fatherland, the serial never questions the war's mythological status in Russians popular consciousness. The myth of the great victory is the last myth that unifies Russia as a community. To the question, for what kind of a community did Russians fight, the serial gives an answer that many contemporary Russians believe to be the truth about the war. For the filmmaker and his scriptwriter, Eduard Volodarskii, Russians fought and suffered for the Russian Orthodox spiritual community."

NOT, in my opinion, necessarily only a religious motivation as such. A cultural and nationalist phenomenon also. As exemplified by the Russian Orthodox Church, which was both a religious AND cultural institution of great importance. The Cossacks, for instance, will allow anyone into a Cossack grouping as long as you accept the tenets of Russian Orthodoxy.

The defenders of the fortress of Brest-Litvosk, in 1941, carved the slogan into the walls of the fortress before they were overwhelmed, "we die, but we do not surrender, farewell MOTHERLAND!!"

"The last days of the defence are covered with legends. During those days the inscriptions were made by the last defenders.

They said: 'We'll die but we'll not leave the fortress'. 'I'm dying but I won't surrender. Farewell, Motherland. 20.VII.41.'"

The Russian soldier fought, died, and stood fast as they did for "Mother Russia". The famous free-standing statue on Mamayev Hill near Stalingrad shows Mother Russia calling her sons to her defense. NOT a communist monument, regardless of what some say.

The key to the defense of Stalingrad was Mamayev Hill. A kurgan. An ancient burial mount of enormous proportions. Possibly a burial site for the Scythians. A warrior people that ruled the steppe for thousands of years ago. Mamayev Hill was a center of the Soviet defense. Captured and recaptured by both sides numerous times. Finally captured by the Soviets, employing A DIVISION SIZE UNIT OF PENAL TROOPS!!!

THESE MEN DIED IN ANONYMITY!! NO MONUMENT TO THEM OR STATUES. NOT EVEN A BRIEF MENTION ANYWHERE IN SOVIET ANNALS!!

Such was the harsh fate of many Russians in World War Two [WW2].

coolbert.

Penal.

This is coolbert:

The old Soviet army, and perhaps the current Russian army as well, has a reputation for severe and unremitting harsh discipline. During the communist era in particular.

For trivial violations in war time, such as during World War Two [WW2], a soldier could receive a ten year sentence. As I have said before, a ten year sentence in a Soviet style penal institution normally meant the same thing as a death sentence. You were worked to death or sent in war time to a penal battalion and given impossibly dangerous duty. Duty from which almost NO ONE would survive.

Such an example was the tail gunner duty aboard the IL-2. Mentioned in the writings of Suvorov. There have been a lot of folks that have been very skeptical of Suvorov and his pronouncements.

"While Suvorov's allegations may have some veracity, it is important to note his strong anti-Stalin bias as a GRU defector and other controversial claims about Soviet role in WWII which were highly dubious and rejected by the respectable scholarship."

However:

"That said, it does appear the Soviet Air Force did use "Penal squadrons" in some situations."

NO ONE, INCLUDING SUVOROV, CLAIMED THAT THIS WAS STANDARD PROCEDURE. BUT THAT IT WAS USED, THE USE OF DOOMED TAIL GUNNERS, SEEMS TO BE FACT!

Severe and unremitting discipline and insanely harsh punishment was also the rule in the Soviet army EVEN DURING PEACETIME!!

This anecdotal, even humorous [??] description from Suvorov bears this out:

"Suddenly, he appears - - quiet, downtrodden, submissive. He talks to no one and carries out all orders or instructions uncomplainingly. It is impossible to get him to say a single word about where he has been or what he has seen. His answers are monosyllabic and expressionless - - ! 'Yes' and 'No' seem to be the only words left in his vocabulary. Then suddenly one of the longer-serving soldiers remembers - - this was Kol'ka, the trouble-maker, the wit, a live-wire, forever suggesting risky escapades, who sang and played the guitar and was adored by all the local girls. Eighteen months ago he was sent to a disciplinary battalion for some trifling offense. The younger soldiers, gazing at this silent, gloomy new arrival, can only half-believe what they hear. The regiment quiets down, discipline improves, more respect is shown to it's officers."

What is done in the disciplinary battalion is not mentioned. But it must've been bad!! No doubt about that!!

coolbert.

IL-2

This is coolbert:

"YOU HAVE LET DOWN OUR COUNTRY AND OUR RED ARMY. YOU HAVE NOT MANUFACTURED IL-2S UNTIL NOW. THE IL-2 AIRCRAFT ARE NECESSARY FOR OUR RED ARMY NOW, LIKE AIR, LIKE BREAD . . . IT IS A MOCKERY OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE RED ARMY. I ASK YOU NOT TO TRY THE GOVERNMENT'S PATIENCE, AND DEMAND THAT YOU MANUFACTURE MORE ILS. I WARN YOU FOR THE LAST TIME. STALIN."

"I WARN YOU FOR THE LAST TIME!!!!"

Surprisingly, the Soviet IL-2 [Ilyushin-2] was the most widely manufactured aircraft during World War Two. About 36,000 of these ground attack aircraft saw service during the war.

This number of 36,000 is astounding considering the number of aircraft of different types manufactured in the U.S. during the same period. More IL-2's were made than say P-51 Mustangs, ME-109 [Germany], B-17's, etc.

The Soviets during WW2 DID NOT have a strategic air force that conducted a bombing campaign against Germany as say did the US Army Air Corps or the British RAF. The Soviet concentrated on military aircraft that could support the ground forces. In this manner the Soviets shared the same basic doctrine as the Germans. An Air Force was primarily to support the ground forces.

The IL-2, nicknamed the "Shturmovik" [meaning unknown], was a most robust aircraft. Possessing a large engine, an armored cockpit, a tail gunner, having bombs, rockets, machineguns, and cannon for armament. Was a formidable GROUND ATTACK low flying aircraft.

The IL-2 was up to a "M" version by the end of the war. Each version an improvement upon the prior design.

Widely respected and feared by the Germans for it's ability to take a lot of damage and keep on flying and DOING damage.

"The armored tub [surrounding the engine and cockpit] ranging from 5 to 12 mm (0.2 to 0.5 in) in thickness and enveloping the engine and the cockpit could deflect all small-arms fire and glancing blows from larger-calibre ammunition. There are reports of the armored windscreen surviving direct hits from 20 mm rounds."

Resembled a flying TANK in some regards.

The concept for modern low flying ground attack aircraft, such as the American A-10 "warthog", is based upon the "Shturmovik".

Interestingly enough, NOT ONE of these famous flying machines survived the war. All were scrapped. Every last one. NOT EVEN ONE museum piece remains. It is reputed that at the bottom of some lake in Russia is a downed or crashed IL-2. Waiting rebirth. ONLY TIME will tell.

"In recent years several Il-2 wrecks have been located and recovered from Lake Balaton, a large, shallow lake in Hungary, which is located near the historic site of a large WWII tank battle."

[those tail gunners were quite often Soviet troops sentenced to penal battalions with a ten year sentence. Often forced to work off the sentence as a tail gunner of an IL-2. For each flight the convict would have one year taken off his sentence!! Ten successful missions and the sentence of death [a ten year sentence in a Soviet penal institution was equivalent to a sentence of death!!] would be expunged!!!]

"it does appear the Soviet Air Force did use "Penal squadrons" in some situations."

coolbert.

Kalashnikov.

This is coolbert:

"All power flows out of the barrel of a gun" - - Chairman Mao.

The Chicago Sun-Times newspaper carries today an interview with Mikhail Kalashnikov. The inventor of the AK-47 [Avtomat Kalashnikov].

" Kalashnikov sorry his rifle is terrorists' No. 1"

Mikhail Kalashnikov says he designed the assault rifle that bears his name to fend off the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

But six decades later, he laments its transformation in the world wide weapon of choice for terrorists and gangsters.

[recall the previous blog entry with the images and graphics of the jihadi terrorists. Recall the many times the AK was pictured!!]

"'When ever I look at TV and I see the weapon I invented to defend my motherland in the hands of these bin Ladens, I ask myself the same question: How did it get into their hands??' The 86 year old Russian gunmaker said. . . . the world's estimate 100 million Kalashnikovs account for up to 80 percent of all assault rifles. It sells for as little as $15."

[I had originally read the price on the international arms market was around $60. That is probably for a quality model. That 100 million was manufactured over a period of sixty years. For those that care about such things, 15 million M-16' have been made in a period of forty years!!]

"but was standard issue in the Soviet army and was exported to arm Third World allies and insurgents."

"It's seen in Osama bin Laden's videotapes and on the flags of Mozambique and the Hezbollah fighters of Lebanon."

"We sold the weapons to some countries for a symbolic price or even for nothing, with the aim of assisting national liberation struggles."

I have commented many times about the way that the AK has changed wars around the world. Folks not far removed the bow and arrow stage of development, can now, if they can provide the cash [and almost always they can somehow], supply their "troops" with an up-to-date weapon that provides devastating firepower.

The biggest objection I would have is how the AK is used around the world. By these various African militias and the Arab fighters. To oppress their own folks and create mayhem on a grand scale. These guys don't even bother to aim their AK when firing. They just put a full thirty round magazine in the rifle, point in the general direction of the "enemy" and spray the entire thirty rounds toward the "target", again, NOT even aiming. They must and probably do cause a LOT of unnecessary casualties. And seem to have an abundance of ammo that wastage is not even a consideration??!!

Kalashnikov is an apparently robust man at 86 years of age. An honored figure in his homeland. Ended up with the rank of Lieutenant General [not bad for a man who was a member of a tank crew and a mere sergeant]. Also was a member of the Supreme Soviet at one time.




Kalashnikov himself never profited in the slightest way from his invention. "NOT EVEN ONE LOUSY RED KOPECK!!" Well, it was all for socialist good!

coolbert.

Serov.

This is coolbert:

"A short, stocky man with dynamic energy and ice-cold grey-blue eyes"

"I was very surprised to see how Serov kissed his wife and his daughter good-by with genuine affection." - - Oleg Penkovskiy.

In a previous blog entry concerning deportations of the mass variety as was seen during and after World War Two [WW2], I suggest that those commanding the troops carrying out "movements" need to be cold, callous, hard, but not cruel.

I take that back.

It seems that in particular, the Soviets possessed commanders who WERE cold, callous, hard, and cruel, even to the point of being SADISTIC. Persons who not only carried out "movements", but did so with a relish and a panache. Men who enjoyed the task at hand and went about their work with abandon.

We of course are familiar with Adolf Eichmann. German SS officer who was policy maker, director, administrator of Jewish liquidation during WW2. Was NOT, however, a hands on man. Directed from a distance, issued orders to subordinates who carried out the dirty deeds. Eichmann seems to have preferred the role of commander-from-afar. NOT enjoying the sight of blood, rather being revolted by the sight of same.

NOT so with the Soviet General Ivan Serov.

A man who was an "expert" in carrying out mass deportations.

Also a man who was responsible for implementing some heinous atrocities. NOT only was the man in charge, but AN AVID AND ENTHUSIASTIC PARTICIPANT. A HANDS ON MAN!!

This man should be held in the same league as Himmler, Eichmann, etc. But his name to most folks is a "nothing". Does not even register.

If the famous/infamous Japanese Colonel Tsuji exemplifies the behavior of the Japanese in the years prior to, during, and after WW2, Serov is the same for the Soviet Stalinist era. A venal man of the worst possible sort. Possessed only what can be called a depraved and sadistic mentality.

I am not sure if Serov was instrumental in sending the Crimean Tartars on their "merry" way [not so merry way!!]. This is not clear. His methods however, would be a model others would have followed.

Those that have written about him are unanimous in their derisive language and contempt for the man.

Dzhirkvelov:

"General Ivan Serov, notorious for having carried out the deportation of whole peoples (the Ingushi and Chechens and other peoples of the North Caucusus) and other large-scale military operations. He was short in stature and limited in outlook, a cruel man with little education, with little understanding of the finer points of operational and intelligence work"

Suvorov:

"On 12 June 1937 he appeared in the capacity of executioner of Marshal Tukhachveski and other leading figures of the Red Army. Amongst all the protagonists of the terror he distinguished himself as the most fervent exponent of 'scenes on a massive scale'. He took part in the pursuit and liquidation of the inhabitants of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuanian in 1940 and in 1944-47. Data exists as to his personal involvement in the murder of the Polish officers in Katyn. During the war Serov was one of the leaders of Smersh, and in August 1946 he personally took part in the execution of the command of the Russian Liberation Army under Lieut-General Vlasov. Subsequently he betrayed his leaders in Smersh and the NKGB, going over in time to the camp of the victorious groups . . . together with Ambassador Andropov he seized the leaders of the Hungarian revolution by deceit and took part in the torture and execution. . . In 1962 he was dismissed and quietly liquidated. Serov's was the dirtiest career in the history of the GRU. He displayed a high degree of personal sadism."

[I am not sure what is meant by liquidation. Apparently not death as would be the normal definition of the word in the Soviet world. More than likely it meant being "put to pasture".]

Penkovskiy: [this is the famous Colonel Penkovskiy, who spied for western intelligence in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Was on good terms with Serov. Penkovskiy did favors for the General!!]

"When Khrushchev visited England in 1956, he brought Serov with him on the ship, with a large group of Serov's people."

[another blog entry on this later!!]

"Serov is not most brilliant of men. He knows how to interrogate people, imprison them, and shoot them."

"In 1956 Serov visited England to make security arrangement for Khrushchev's visit. The pressed raised such a hue and cry about the 'butcher' that he was not a part of the official party when Khrushchev finally arrived."

[more on this later too!!]

Among the further "exploits" of Serov:

"Serov had liquidated hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian peasants."

"he had supervised the deportation of 1,500,000 Poles and issued the infamous Order No. 001223, which outlined the proper procedures for executions and deportations from the Baltic states."

"NKVD Gen. Ivan Serov was one of the main directors of Stalin's policy in Poland. He was involved in Polish affairs in 1940 in Lvov, where among other acts he prepared the arrest of Col. Leopold Okulicki, who was later sentenced in the trial of the 16-a show trial of the leaders of the Polish anti-communist underground held in Moscow. In 1944 Serov established apparently peaceful cooperation with AK [Polish Home Army] troops in the Vilnius region, which several weeks later resulted in the imprisonment of these same troops. At the end of 1944, Serov operated from an office in Lublin, where a Soviet military court sentenced dozens of AK soldiers to death. Serov also appeared in the Warsaw area around this time, providing his personnel with lists of prisoners in whom he was particularly interested."

"Mass Deportation 14 June 1941

Instructions on how to carry out mass deportations were prepared in the autumn of 1939 for the newly-annexed regions of western Ukraine by the head of the Ukrainian SSR NKVD, General Ivan Serov. They were approved in Moscow and later used in the Baltic States as well. As the USSR Commissar for State Security, Serov signed the orders on 21 January 1941.

"In the night between 13 and 14 June, about 15,500 Latvian residents; among them 2400 children younger than ten; were arrested without a court order to be deported to distant regions in the Soviet Union. Targeted were mainly families who had members in leading positions in state and local governments, economy and culture."

"End September 1939. Thousands of Polish POWs are force marched, under Soviet NKVD cavalry guard, into the Soviet interior.

23 December 1939 At the end of a reception Stalin calls Beria aside. In his laconic style, Stalin passes an order:

'We don't have food to feed the Polish prisoners. Look after it.'

Next day, Beria appoints Kombrig Ivan Serov to supervise the liquidation."

[Read the above link carefully. OH MY GOD!!]

'Lets go." - Serov says.
The captain opens the mouth, like to say something... the NKVD officer's clear blue eyes stop on his. He closes a mouth; reaches for a voice tub and yells to the machine room.

'Full ahead!':

"Serov reflected about the guards left on barges. 'We train them well, orphan boys. Poor bastards.'"

[Serov is reflecting here on the guards left behind on the barges full of Polish prisoners sunk. His OWN MEN!!]

In a nutshell:

* "carried out the deportation of whole peoples"

* executioner of Marshal Tukhachveski and other leading figures of the Red Army"

* "the most fervent exponent of 'scenes on a massive scale'"

* "pursuit and liquidation of the inhabitants of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuanian in 1940 and in 1944-47."

* "Data exists as to his personal involvement in the murder of the Polish officers in Katyn."

* "one of the leaders of Smersh"

* "he personally took part in the execution of the command of the Russian Liberation Army under Lieut-General Vlasov."

* "he betrayed his leaders in Smersh and the NKGB"

* "he seized the leaders of the Hungarian revolution by deceit and took part in the torture and execution."

* "liquidated hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian peasants"

* "executions and deportations from the Baltic states"

* "supervised the deportation of 1,500,000 Poles"

* "one of the main directors of Stalin's policy in Poland"

You could go on and on about Serov.

A piece of work.

Surprisingly, even after being dismissed and liquidated [not killed!!??], Serov probably led a long contented life. Died in 1990??!! NO hiding in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, etc.

Who says there is justice in this world!!?? Hopefully in the next, if there is one, Serov will have a lot to answer for. But NOT HERE in this one!!

coolbert.

Deportations

This is coolbert:

Warning - - Top Secret [well, at least in 1944 it was!!]

From the memoirs of the Soviet defector, Ilya Dzhirkvelov, a first hand description of how the SOVIETS carried out mass deportations of whole GROUPS of persons [the Crimean Tartars in this instance]. A deportation where RAILROAD troop cars were the means of conveyance.

"then we learnt that units of KGB special troops and some detachment from the Orenburg division had arrived in the Crimea. I was then a junior lieutenant and was put in charge of a platoon of the Orenburg division . . . Under wartime regulations we were not allowed to put questions to our superiors, so that we had idea of the real reason for our presence in the Crimea until the day before the operation was to take place. Late one afternoon in the middle of May 1 I was summoned to headquarters in Balaklava together with many other officers. The tension in the air was soon dispelled by the appearance of Colonel Shavgulidze of the Georgian KGB. He warned us that what were about to hear was top secret [read the entire top secret document for yourself] and he then read out a decree announcing the deportation of all the Crimean Tartars as a punishment for the collaboration with the enemy . . . The deportation was to begin at six o'clock next morning; we were to tell the Tartars to leave their houses with only the bare essentials that they could carry . . . formed up into columns and marched to the nearest railway stations, where teplushki (goods wagons [boxcars] used in wartime for transporting troops) would be waiting for them . . . We would not be dealing with an armed opponent but with the peaceful inhabitants of the region, and mainly women, children and old people . . . . At half past seven in the morning my platoon blocked all exists from Komari. The soldiers took up positions about a hundred meters from each other, so that nobody could leave unnoticed. We had gained our experience of such procedures when we were surrounding groups of enemy troops in the mountains and villages of the Crimea, and it presented no problem in a peaceful village. I started calling at each house, with the platoon sergeant, telling the occupants to pack their things in preparation for a long journey . . . They all wanted an explanation, but I was under orders to tell them nothing . . . According to our instructions, the Tartars had to be drawn up along the roadside to wait for another group or deportees from the village of Alsu . . . that was where my responsibilities ended . . . We were to remain behind to check all the houses and the surrounding countryside for any Tartars who might be still be hiding."

NOT a pretty sight, even if you did not see it.

Women, children, old people. They did not have men present as they all were in the Soviet army or had run off to fight with the Germans.

These sort of "operations" tend to be hard on both the ones being deporting and the ones doing the deporting. A special type of leader [callous and obedient to orders. Hard but not necessarily cruel!!] is needed for such " operations" The Soviet General Serov was in charge of this deportation and made a name for himself as an "expert" in such "operations".

[Serov became head of the KGB and then the GRU. All writers that have had a familiarity with the man tend to have a very poor and negative opinion of him. Made his career in a way that was not positive. Did it on the backs of those that could not fight back!!]

To this day, even decades after deportation, the dispersed population of the Tartars are reputedly making their way slowly but surely back to the Crimea. sort of like the Jews returning to Israel.

coolbert.

Agencies.

This is coolbert: Here is a title from an article in Strategy Page that instantly caught my eye:

"Who Has the Best Intelligence Agency
by Harold C. Hutchison
September 28, 2005"

This author has obviously informed opinions about the subject. And offers strong evidence as to WHO HAS the best intelligence agency in the world.

"For instance, the CIA has had a few successes despite having a lot of its dirty laundry aired in the press."

[well, we cannot be totally sure about this. The CIA, like most all other intellignce agencies, does NOT celebrate and tell when it has a success. It keeps quiet about successes!!]

One cannot discuss the CIA without discussing the Russians – and this would include the SVR and its forerunner, the KGB. [also known as the FIS [Foreign Intelligence Service]].

The British have had a long public perception of an effective intelligence agency

[This is the Secret Intelligence Service [SIS], also known as MI6.]

The DGSE, France’s intelligence agency, has an even lower profile

Finally, there is the Mossad [Israel].

The author concludes:

Which of these is the best? It is arguably a tie between MI6 and Mossad. Both agencies have had lengthy track records of success. The CIA has not done poorly, but it has been handicapped by a nearly unrestrained press which has often harmed the agency.

And that is that.

Arguably a tie between MI6 and the Mossad??

Well, the author seems to have made a major mistake here.

An intelligence agency has been ommited from consideration from the list of prospects. This is the Soviet, and now Russian GRU [Military Intelligence.]

This is Russian military intelligence. The counter-weight and competition for the former KGB and now the competitor as well for the FIS. A totally separate intelligence agency.

[GRU = Glavnoeye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye. Good luck with that one!!]

The Soviet defector, Suvorov, of course would have some pertinent comments on the subject: [from the Introduction to his book "Inside Soviet Military Intelligence".]

"There is but one opinion as to which country in the world possesses the most powerful secret inelligence sercvice. Without the slightest doubt that country is the Soviet Union, and the name of the monstrous secret organisation without precendent in the history of mankind is the KGB. But on the question as to which country possesses the second most powerful secret organisation, the opinions of the specialists differ. Strange as it may seem, the country to which this organisation belongs is also the Soviet Union, and the organisation istself is called the Chief Intelligence Directorate for the General Staff [GRU]."

[Suvorov pays particular attention to the fact that 2nd most powerful intelligence agency in theworld was ALSO a Soviet agency. And one that is more or less UNKNOWN to even the specialists ["experts"].

A counter-weight and competition. This concept served the Soviets and now the Russians well.

[the concept being that competition of itself is good. NOT a communist ideal, a capitalist ideal, but one nevertheless adopted and used by the Soviets!!]

Competition stimulates production to a greater degree. A counter-weight was found to be necessary in the totalitarian society of the Soviets to prevent any one entity from becoming TOO STRONG and having TOO MUCH influence!!

Also, remember that the former KGB had the responsibility as well for domestic espionage against it's OWN people as well as the responsibility for external espionage against enemies of the Soviet state.

This role of the GRU has been underestimated by MANY experts.

The famous author of books on the subject of intelligence John Barron said of the GRU:

"in the field, the GRU and KGB often work together harmoniously, especially if good personal relations exist between the local GRU and KGB Residents. However, if there is a policy clash, the KGB invariabhly prevails. The KBG in Moscow remains aware of and reaps the benefits of All GRU operations. . . . Thus it seems to this writer [Barron] that for practical purposes, the GRU must be regarded as a subsidiary of the KGB . . ."

I am sure Suvorov would vigorously disagree with that assessment.

For instance:

"Our neighbors, the Friends of the People [KGB], were having a big celebration. Some years previously an officer had defected from a Soviet naval vessel, and many KGB residencies had been hunting him down . . . Well, good luck to them. They had certainly leanred how to kidnap epeople. But why did they not succeed in stealing any American atomic secrets, and why had they never provided Soviet industry with the plans of French anti-tank missiles, or of British torpedoes, or of German tank engines?"

[what Suvorov is saying is that GRU concentrates on and gets their hands on plans, documents, etc., that are of real value, not kidnapping and such!!]

AND.

[when describing the recruitment of a U.S. naval officer]

"Are you really Russian?"

"Yes, I am."

"And are you really a spy?"

"Yes, I am."

"And you are out to recruit me?"

"Yes, It's you I'm after."

"Do you know all about me?"

"Not everything. But something."

"Your service is the KGB?"

"No, The GRU."

"I never heard of it."

"So much the better."

What are we talking about here??

Maintaining a low profile. NOT advertising your self to the whole world. NOT being conspicuous. Working to get military secrets GERMANE to your mission.

And doing so without a whole lot of fanfare. TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.

As IS with the perceptions of Harold C. Hutchison

coolbert.

WW3 VII.

This is coolbert:

Conclusion.

We are familiar with the end of World War Three [WW3].

The United states was the winner, the Soviet Union the loser.

In the end, the Soviet went out with a whimper, not a bang. To the betterment of the world, the end was not shadowed by a nuclear holocaust or a mushroom cloud [s]!!

Light prevailed, darkness was held at bay.

And the reasons for this?

In a nutshell, both the United States and the Soviet Union were MILITARILY strong, but the United States was societal very strong, the Soviet very societal weak.

[I would state that the Soviets WERE militarily strong. The western governments were correct in their appraisal of Soviet military might. The Soviet military was a definite threat to the survival of the west in case of all-out war. This cannot be denied!!]

I am sure such an appreciation would surprise some, and infuriate others.

"Surely the Soviets WERE NOT societal weak?", many would say.

Consider the rate of defection to the west, however, of the elite from the old Soviet Union alone

In my opinion this one indicator alone tells us something very significant.

The rate of defection of elites from the United States and the west in general to the Soviet Union was considerably less than the rate of defection from the Soviet side to the west. Elites from the west by and large JUST DID NOT defect to the Soviets.

Elites from the Soviet system DID defect to the west. During some periods, in considerable numbers at that!!

Elites in the old Soviet Union DID enjoy privileges that set them markedly apart from the rest of the population.

These privileges included a general exemption from the stifling, overbearing, draconian and repressive governmental watchdog systems most epitomized in the Soviet Union by the internal security apparatus of the KGB [and it's many forebears.]

Soviet elites also enjoyed an access to consumer goods that was totally absent among the average-run-of-the-mill Soviet citizen. A markedly better standard of living for the elites was obtainable that WAS NOT even dreamed of being possible for the average Soviet citizen.

And yet the elite Soviet citizenry on many occasions did defect to the west, again, from time to time, in numbers.

This should have told the western governments, the intelligence services in the west, and the average western man-in-the-street that something was very wrong with the Soviet system. Elites should NOT BE motivated to defect!! As simple as that!!

Consider the life of the child of privilege Vladimir Sakharov. A child of a Soviet elite [the father was a diplomatic courier]. According to Sakharov, after his defection:

"virtually everything in the commodious Sakharov apartment near the American embassy came from abroad. Most of the furniture was Scandinavian; the refrigerator Finnish, the vacuum cleaner a Hoover, the stereo a Philips, the television from RCA, the short-wave radio a Grundig, the shower head from Sears, Roebuck. The first coffee Sakharov ever tasted was Nescafe'; his first cigarette was a Winston and his first whiskey White Horse. His best suit came from Brooks Brothers and his favorite tweed jacket from the English Shop in Copenhagen. He boasted a collection of nearly five hundred American records."

Such were the Soviet elites enamored with American and western goods and the "western way of life" in a big way. Period!!

Also consider the comments of that other Soviet defector who I quote in blog entries on a pretty regular basis. The man who writes under the nom de plume' of Victor Suvorov. Writing of Soviet science and technology, Suvorov says:

"But what sort of science is it, if the Soviet Union can produce the first automatic satellite destroyer in the world, but cannot produce an ordinary compact small-engineered car? The Soviet Union has to buy all it's technology for the production of small cars from Italy. What are Soviet scientists up to if the Soviet Union has first-class military poisons but has to buy fertilizer technology from the United States? What are the sixty billion roubles spent on if the USSR constructs gigantic trans-horizontal radars, ultra-high frequency transmitters for communications with submarines whose underground aerials amount to thousands of kilometers in length - - but has to buy technology for the production of ordinary household television sets from France?"

[Not only auto production was purchased from Italy. Truck manufacture as well. This was the Kama river works. Highly touted in it's day. A city called Togliatti [an Italian communist] was built just to accommodate the workers for the factories to manufacture autos and trucks for the Soviet "market". Never heard how successful this project was, but at the time it was considered to be very major!!]

[military poisons are of course poison gas of the most sophisticated variety!!]

[trans-horizontal radars are of the over-the-horizon type. As was most exemplified by the "Russian Woodpecker" that bedeviled the high-frequency bands in the 1970's. This stuff disappeared too as did the Soviet Union!!]

Visitors from the west to the Moscow often commented on how the Soviets were not "at a par" materially with the west, but "did not have it that bad!!". This was an observation made by many observers. Alexander Solzhenitsyn even wrote a book entitled, "Moscow Is Not Russia!!" Meaning that in the whole of the country, things were not as they seemed in Moscow. Moscow was the showcase. Outside of Moscow, watch out!!

[not so long ago there was a series of television programs called, "Fifty Miles Outside of Moscow". An American television journalist would randomly travel fifty miles outside of Moscow to see what the rest of Russia was like. What was found was a standard of living and a way of life considerably less than what was found in Moscow. American and other western "observers" just had a view of the Soviets obtained from Moscow that was vastly and incorrectly skewed.]

It should also be appreciated that the Twentieth Century is deservedly called the "American Century". Meaning that the U.S. was dominant in the world in a military, economic, and intellectual sense as was say Britain in the nineteenth century. A dominance that was of course challenged by the Soviets.

How pervasive was the American dominance? And how serious was the Soviet challenge, not only in the military sense, but also in say the intellectual sense?

The awarding to Nobel prizes could well be an excellent indicator of how competitive the two nations were. In the arena beyond the military sphere.

With regard to Nobel prizes, the U.S. had no peer.

In this regard the Soviets were far outclassed.

That is NOT to say that the Soviet did NOT have excellent scientists and intellectual thinkers. Far from it. They had those types of persons and in significant numbers. But it is very clear that the REAL innovative intellectual ferment existed in the U.S. So much so that it is not even a contest.

For instance, during the period of 1945-1990.

In the awarding of Nobel Prizes in the field of medicine, Soviet doctors won NONE . Nada, nil, zilch, nechovo [Russian for nothing!!]. U.S. researchers won thirty three during the same period.

In the awarding of Nobel prizes in the field of economics, Soviet economists won ONE! That is ONE [1]!! Of course, one can reason that with Marxist/Leninist thought explaining the world and economics in particular to begin with, why would the soviets even NEED to study economics. U.S. citizens won the Economics prize eleven during the same period.

In the awarding of Nobel Prizes for peace, the Soviets had TWO awards given. American citizens won the Peace prize eleven times during the same period!!

One was to Andrei Sakharov, the esteemed Soviet physicist. And WHY did Andrei win his Nobel Prize for peace? FOR BEING A DISSIDENT AGAINST THE COMMUNIST SYSTEM OF HIS HOMELAND. A HOMELAND THAT HE WAS A FERVENT PATRIOT OF!! A MAN YOU WOULD HARDLY THINK WOULD EVEN CONSIDER DISSIDENCE AGAINST THE SYSTEM THAT SO HANDSOMELY REWARDED HIM!!




The other Soviet citizen awarded the Nobel Peace prize was Gorbachev. This I consider to be a joke in the extreme. Gorbachev was a man just ALONG FOR THE RIDE!! A caretaker who just was there at the shutdown and nothing more. NOTHING he did influenced things to the degree that it has been thought. He did NOT deserve this award!!

In the awarding of Nobel Prizes for literature, the Soviets did pretty good during the period 1945-1990.

Four Soviet citizens won the prize for literature during this period. American writers won five times during this period.

In three of those cases, however, the awards were tainted. And possibly the fourth award too!!

Tainted??!! How so!!??

Joseph Brodsky the poet was a political prisoner and an exile. Told to go!



In the case of Boris Pasternak [Dr. Zhivago], Pasternak was told if he left the country to accept his award, DON'T BOTHER TO RETURN!!



In the case of Alexander Solzhenitsyn [First Circle], Solzhenitsyn was actually stripped of his Soviet citizenship and tossed out of the country for good. Expelled for his writings.



Brodsky, Pasternak, and Solzhenitsyn all were dissidents that in a very mild way, protested the Soviet regime and all it's trappings. For this they became pariahs and exiles, not tolerated!!

In the case of Mikhail Sholokhov [Quiet Flows the Don], it is questioned as to whether Sholokhov EVEN WROTE THE BOOK IN THE FIRST PLACE. The rumor is that Quiet Flows the Don is based upon a manuscript taken off a White Army officer during the Russian Civil war!!



Consider this regarding Mikhail Sholokhov:

"The story of Mikhail Sholokhov's rise to his reign as king of Soviet literary officialdom is none other than a supreme farce. Decade after decade his pen failed to create anything worth reading. Meanwhile, his mouth created nothing but propagandistic banalities." (Vassily Aksyonov, an exiled Russian novelist in the New York Times, March 10, 1985)

Quiet Flows the Don is Sholokhov most controversial work and it has been alleged by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn among others, that much of the novel was plagarized from the writer Fyodor Kryukov, a Cossak and anti-Bolshevik, who died in 1920 of typhoid fever. Several studies has been published on this subject: R.A. Medvedev's Problems in the Literary Biography of Mikhail Sholokhov (1977) was criticized in Slavic and East European Journal in 1976 by Herman Ermolaev. Additional information is in A Brian Murphy's studies of Tikhiy Don in the New Zealand Slavonic Journal (1975-77) and the Journal of Russian Studies, no. 34 (1977). Sholokhov's other works are not on his masterwork's level, but the accusations remain largely unproven. Critics have argued, that he could not have written all or part of the novel because of his young age and because Quiet Flows the Don described atrocities on both sides impartially. In 1984 Geir Kjetsaa and others published their study The Authorship of the Quiet Don, where computer study supported the authorship of Sholokhov. Most of the manuscripts were lost when the Germans occupied Veshenskaya , but in 1987 some two thousand pages were discovered and authenticated.V.P. Fomenko and T.G. Fomenko have applied quantitative analysis to the works of Sholokhov, concluding that parts of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, as well as a large section of the part 6 of the novel were not written by Sholokhov. (see History: Fiction or Science. Chronology 2, by Anatoly T. Fomenko, 2005)"

NOW I WANT TO MAKE THIS CLEAR SO THAT EVEN THOSE WITH A BACCALAUREATE DEGREE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS. THE MAN IS REPUTED TO HAVE WON THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE FOR A WORK OF FICTION HE DID NOT WRITE. HE STOLE THE MANUSCRIPT FROM A PERSON WHO WAS IN THE OPPOSITE POLITICAL CAMP AND CLAIMED THAT HE WROTE THE BOOK!!!!

In the area of chemistry, one Soviet citizen was awarded a Nobel prize during he period 1945-1990. American chemists won the Chemistry prize twenty four times during the same period.

In the area of physics, the Soviets did pretty good. Four awards for physics during the period 1945-1990. During the same period American physicists won the prize twenty eight times.

From this indicator, the awarding of Nobel Prizes, we can see that American citizens were WAY OUT in front of their Soviet counterparts in the intellectual sphere. You had persons from all over the world immigrating to the U.S. to further their academic and research careers. YOU DID NOT HAVE such persons going to the Soviet Union!!

Militarily the Soviets presented a threat to the U.S. and the western world in general. From an overall societal standpoint, this threat was mostly a MIRAGE!!

With the dissolution of the old Soviet Union, the most serious threat to the ideals of the western world became a shell that was for the most part hollow to begin with.

The Russians are said to have a saying, "in struggle, truth is found!!". This is true, is it not!!??

coolbert.

Yastreb.

This is coolbert:

Here is an item for which the Soviet defector Suvorov seems to have exaggerated in a big way.
[this seems to me to be an anomaly with regard to Suvorov. Suvorov WAS an intelligence officer and would presumably have an intimate knowledge of Soviet capabilities in the reconnaissance field.]

Yastreb.

An unmanned reconnaissance "rocket" plane capable of the most incredible performance, according to Suvorov.

Was supposed to have intercontinental range, fly at speeds of 4000 MPH [???] and be used over areas of the world normally denied to the Soviets, such as the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic.

Suvorov seems to have exaggerated the capability of this "place" to a marked degree. Surprisingly so, as he has had a pretty good track record in other areas.

This is not to say that the "Yastreb" did not exist. It did exist. Was originally developed by the Tupelov design bureau as an intercontinental [4000 km range] cruise missile [TU-123] to deliver an atomic warhead. Had a rocket assist take off and then became an air breathing jet powered cruise missile operating in the high atmosphere [25,000 meters altitude].




[it seems that Suvorov has confused the range with the speed of the Yastreb. To describe the Yastreb as a "rocket" plane would be the only way to account for the incredible speed the Yastreb supposedly possessed!!]

Was first developed in the late 1950's. Project was cancelled along with all other "winged missiles" when it became apparent that ICBM's [intercontinental ballistic missiles] operating in outer space beyond the atmosphere of the earth were the best way to deliver atomic weaponry to distant targets.

From the TU-123 the Yastreb [TU-139] was developed. DID have cameras and radio intercept equipment on-board that gave it a reconnaissance capability. DID fly in prototypes and possibly flew on ONE mission. I say again, ONE mission. This was not a recon vehicle that WAS ever used as intended.



"Works on large-range unmanned strike aircraft which started in 1958 were stopped in 1960 defining a basis for activities on unmanned reconnaissance aircraft "Yastreb-DBR-1". Said works were successfully completed in 1964. From 1965 DBR-1 complex entered serial production. The aircraft had unique characteristics for that time. It was completely autonomous for combat missions and data acquisition and processing.

"Yastreb" reconnaissance aircraft had flight speed of 2700 km/h [1670 MPH], flight range about 4000 km [2500 miles] and flight altitude [19-22] km [62,000-72,000 ft.]."

The formidable capability attributed to the Yastreb by Suvorov just did NOT exist.

[this is not to say that the Yastreb was NOT formidable. It was, but NOT as Suvorov maintains.]

Those prototypes and mission capable "plane" probably were relegated to the scrap heap. Better and cheaper way of doing the recon existed and the Yastreb just did not have a mission. That is that.

coolbert.

Reds.

This is coolbert:

During the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, a war that lasted from 1945-1990, there was the real constant fear of a the "cold war" becoming a "hot war". And U.S. military planners did see and were dismayed by the Soviet "threat". On paper, the Soviets DID possess more submarines, more tanks, more ICBM's [intercontinental ballistic missiles] with more and more potent nuclear warheads than did the U.S. military forces. The Soviet military WAS a huge and potentially very grave threat to U.S. military forces all over the world.

Of most primary significance to the "western democracies", NATO in particular [led by U.S. commanders and significantly manned by U.S. troops] was the threat of a massive Soviet attack on western Europe [Big Red moves west!!].

All sorts of scenarios were conjured by NATO planners that saw the Soviets launching a conventional attack on western Europe that would have been unstoppable. The preponderance of the Soviet military consisted of ground forces, the Soviet Army. Once again, on paper, the Soviets DID possess a significant and very threatening quantitative edge on the potential battlefield. More tanks, more artillery, more rocket launchers, just more of everything that counted in modern warfare. Some experts commented that all this ground force equipment was to a degree inferior to U.S. equipment. However, in the eyes of most observers, NOT that much inferior to make a marked difference in actual combat.

This threat of a massive Soviet ground attack on western Europe was further exacerbated by some observations made by U.S. planners in the 1970's. Soviet units that would have spearheaded any attack upon NATO were moved into permanent forward bases close to the border between West and East Germany. These units, furthermore, were then equipped with a full thirty day supply of fuel and ammunition at all times. There would not have been any need to prepare these units for combat. The order could have been given to go and these spearhead units would have been able to move and conduct a thirty day campaign without any resupply. This was all very alarming and significant to NATO commanders and planners.

As part of this assessment of the Soviet "threat", manpower considerations were also taken into account. And the Soviet military was seen as being manned by competent, and in some cases very able troops.

Was this true??

From a variety of defectors prior to 1990, and from post-Soviet-era research of independent observers, it can be see that some questions surely should have been raised as to the competency and ability of the Soviet troops of the ground forces. [I am not talking about the troops of the other military branches here. I am talking here strictly about ground force troops. As this was by far the bulk of the Soviet military, this would obviously been of paramount concern to NATO planners].

Accounts of the various defectors seem to suggest that the troops of the Soviet military from top to bottom could be categorized into three groupings.

At the top was a very small, very elite, very powerful number of the top Marshals [commanders of armies, called a front in Soviet parlance] and Soviet Generals. These men indulged themselves in what only be called a sybaritic [pleasure and luxury] lifestyle. A lifestyle that almost no one else in the old Soviet Union could ever hope to achieve. Numbers of private villas [called dachas], private hunting preserves of immense size, accompanied by an entourage of fawning "yes" men [lickspittles], cooks, gardeners, valets, chauffeurs, guards, and young female "entertainers". It was if the nobility of Tsarist Russian was replaced by the most senior officers of the "army of the people". The princes and Grand Dukes of the Tsarist era were now called Marshals and Generals. And this from an army that professed itself to be the savior of "oppressed" people all over the world!

At the bottom would be found the draftees of the Soviet Army.

As one might expect, the conditions endured by the Soviet ground force draftee was in extreme marked contrast to the lifestyle of the Marshals and Generals. The life of a Soviet Army draftee, serving a two year term of enlistment, can best be equated to that of a stockyard animal. Kept in cramped quarters, with little chance to wash and clean oneself, fed a coarse, bland, diet that was barely minimum to ensure sound health, these troops led a life of spartan austere privation.

And the quality of the Soviet Army draftee led much to be desired also, according to the various defectors. We are speaking here about men that had in many cases only a very rudimentary knowledge of the Russian language [Russian was the lingua fraca of the Soviet Army]. In some cases troops could not speak any Russian at all! [Soviet troops needed to know and were taught ten basic commands in Russian.] Educationally the bulk of the troops in the ground forces left much to be desired also. Illiteracy and semi-illiteracy was abundant, instruction in soldiering tasks being carried out at a very basic and low level.

Ethnic tension and hatred did exist among the low ranking draftees. This hatred and tension did from time to time boil over into real pitched battles between ethnic groups [quite often between "Christians" and "Muslims". I am speaking ethnically here]. These battles would often involve thousands of troops on each side, using bare hands, clubs, knives, hatchets, shovels, etc.

These draftees were in most cases ill-disciplined, order having to be maintained by a system of military law that was very harsh, cruel, even sadistic in nature.

Also, among the draftees there existed within the barracks an informal but potent system of what was called "grandfather rule". Troops that had completed their first year of draftee service had instituted an informal system by which they dominated and abused those draftees that were just beginning their two term of service. The American General Odom, a fluent Russian speaker, and former head of the National Security Agency [NSA], describes "grandfather" rule as being akin to fraternity house initiations. I would disagree with this whole heartedly. Descriptions from defectors seem to suggest that it is way too mild to compare the rule of the more senior soldiers over the raw recruits as "frat house hijinks". Again, this "grandfather rule" was very harsh, cruel, even sadistic in nature.

Sandwiched in between these two polar opposite groups were the junior officers of the Soviet Army. Those lieutenants, captains, majors, and colonels who would have led the combat troops into battle. The men that would led the spearhead units to what the Soviets would have expected to be "the victory for world proletariat". These junior officers are said to have been competent, able, dedicated and for the most part professional. Soldiers that knew their tasks. Soldiers also abused by a system that was venal at the top and of low quality at the bottom. Soldiers that after years of experience developed an attitude that can be best described as "jaded".

So, how would the Soviet Army have performed against NATO forces if "Big Red" had moved west?? Surprisingly, those junior officers previously mentioned did feel the Soviet Army would have given a good account of itself. Even with all the personnel drawbacks inherent in the Soviet system, the Soviet Army, due to sheer mass primarily, would have posed a serious problem for NATO to contain.

[One has to wonder about this self-appraisal of the Soviet Army. The Soviet performance in Afghanistan left MUCH to be desired. Especially among the draftee ground force units. Soviet units such as airborne units, air assault, and special purpose [Spetsnaz], did acquit themselves well. Run-of-the-mill ground force units, however, not so well. One thing the Afghan guerilla fighters came to notice was that when ambushing Soviet units, the officers of the ambushed unit tended to bunch together in one group, the draftee private soldiers in another group. This demonstrates a serious lack of confidence on the part of both officers and enlisted and a total absence of unit cohesion. When Custer and his men were annihilated at the Little Bighorn, the officers were found laying in one group, the remaining enlisted troops in another group, demonstrating that in that instance too, unit cohesion had broken down under severe stress].

[The performance of the Russian Army in both Chechen Wars also leaves much to be desired. Frustration with an inability to bring to grips the Chechen fighters has been a source of great embarrassment to the Russians. Many atrocities are purported to have been committed by undisciplined troops, officers and enlisted both].

coolbert.

Elite.

This is coolbert:

In my last post, I gave my opinions regarding the creation of jock elite military units.

Felt the thing would not fly.

Now, in the old Soviet Union, the concept of jock elite military units did fly. And in a big way too.

According to the defector Suvorov, the Soviet elite athletes were also for the most part members of the killer elite units of the Red Army. The "spetsnaz" were units for "special purposes".

Designed primarily to destroy U.S. nuclear weapons assets prior to the outbreak of a global conflict. Also to destroy the nuclear C cubed assets [command/control/communications] assets of the U.S.

Kill the President and all those in the chain-of-command that can release the use of nuclear weapons.

Suvorov writes, "According to Colonel-General Shatilov, the athlete is more energetic and braver in battle, has more confidence in his strength, is difficult to catch unawares, reacts quickly to change of circumstances and is less likely to tire."

Well, this is the Soviet experience. Not the experience in the U.S. One can think of persons such as Jack Dempsey, the boxer, riveting ships together while wearing patent leather shoes (a posed picture). For some reason, the U.S. response to jock elite military units is far different from the Soviet one.

coolbert.