The Mosin 44 Arrives Tomorrow!

[Pistolenschutze]

Actually, it came today but the wife and I were down at Home Depot buying a new BBQ at the time. Fortunately, it's supposed to be redelivered tomorrow.

Now, I was just thinking . . . if I rebuild that Mosin, do y'all think I should change my screenname to . . . "Pistolenschutzski" in honor of our resident expert on Mosins????

[polishshooter]

No that's not necessary, PS. MANY Germans discarded their K98s for the better Russian stuff in WWII, in the winter at least..you see, the Russian bolts WORKED at -40 degrees....just like their Tanks

[Pistolenschutze]

Originally Posted by polishshooter

. . . just like their Tanks

The ones that didn't have nice, neat 88mm holes in them from German Tigers.

[polishshooter]

Think "interleaved road wheels." Then think "frozen Russian Mud" in the morning after a LONG cold night...





Then think about German boots.....












...and whether they would hold up on the long march to Siberia...

[Pistolenschutze]

Think about Russian surrender of nearly a half million men in the fall of 1942, and Stalin's order to shoot anyone who retreated. I still say, if Hitler had not been an idiot and had equipped his troops with proper winter clothing, the Russians would have been drinking schwartz bier und Deutche weiss wein instead of vodka by 1943.

[polishshooter]

As much as I HATE it when people say it..."We'll have to agree to disagree" on that!

We now know that Hitler and the Nazis had NO CHANCE of EVER defeating the Russians, and the war in the East was NEVER as close or "touch and go" as it looked....EVER...

Ya gotta stay up with CURRENT research , PS!



Remember "Stalin's Secret Reserves..."


We are STILL learning about them, and will know MORE when the millions of pages of Soviet records STILL being released get read and evaluated

Hitler didn't know about them, (or he would NEVER have invaded!)Roosevelt didn't know about them, Churchill didn't know about them, (if they did, they would NOT have worried about the "Second front," OR Lend Lease, which Stalin wanted, and he REALLY needed those trucks, but not much else!) Hell, ZHUKOV didn't know about them! But Stalin knew, and committed only what he NEEDED to get the job done...and he NEVER showed his entire hand to ANYONE...

For example, haven't you EVER felt a LITTLE uneasy with the "official" histories' explanations of the Russian buildup prior to the counter offensive at Stalingrad that trapped the 6th Army? The numbers NEVER added up before, but NOW they DO!

[Pistolenschutze]

Originally Posted by polishshooter

We now know that Hitler and the Nazis had NO CHANCE of EVER defeating the Russians, and the war in the East was NEVER as close or "touch and go" as it looked....EVER...

OK, on that I believe you are quite correct, and believe it or not, I do keep up with the research . . . it's what I do for a living. Yes, Stalin did have vast hidden reserves, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of troops he had on the Siberian coast waiting for a possible invasion from Japan, later released against the Germans when he signed a secret non-aggression pact with the Japanese. I must agree also, that Germany could not have won all the marbles against the Soviets in the end, though it is also true that even Stalin was worried when the Germans reached the outskirts of Moscow. I still think that with proper leadership, i.e., if Hitler had sayed out of the decision making loop and not split his armies when he ordered the attack toward the oil fields of the Caucasus, the Germans would have taken Moscow. I agree though, they would not have been able to hold it in the final analysis once Stalin marshalled his reserves. Remember, Stalin almost bugged out and headed east of the Urals to save his own hide. The really key issue, I think, was the ENORMOUS manufacturing capacity of Soviet industry after the initial shock of the German invasion in 1942. Most do not know this, but the Reds actually out-produced the U.S. during the war. Also, Germany made the same mistake it had during the First World War, they created a two-front war without a sufficient population and industrial base to support that effort unless they could win very, very quickly. Against the Soviets, that was simply not possible; there was simply too much Russian territory to trade for time.