Free Republic

Vladimir Putin once confessed to the American filmmaker Oliver Stone that “Stalin was a product of his time.” The Soviet dictator was, in the eyes of the Russian president, a historical figure victim of “excessive demonization.” Now, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities are pressing to rename the city of Volgograd and call it Stalingrad, as it was known until 1961.. The glories of the past, even those attributed to Stalin, have become a very valuable political asset for Putin as he seeks to justify his actions in Ukraine. ...This renewed exaltation of Stalin is also evidenced by the...

Russian forces were on the verge of a major military defeat Friday as Kyiv’s Armed Forces closed in on the occupied Ukrainian city of Lyman and appeared hours away from trapping thousands of Russian troops in an encirclement. “Even if the city isn’t already enveloped, all the routes or roads out of the city are under Ukrainian artillery fire,” said military analyst Konrad Muzyka at Poland-based Rochan Consulting. “Without Russian reinforcements, the city and the entire area is going to fall to Ukraine,” he told The Moscow Times. A key supply hub for Russian forces, the stronghold of Lyman, which...

A later Twitter thread from King's College war expert Mike Martin demonstrated the likely strategy Ukrainian troops were using: driving the battle flanks northeast of Lyman and forcing Moscow to defend a critical railroad junction. "Then drive a much bigger encircling movement to trap the whole lot," he said, later adding that it was "causing the Russian Air Force to fly desperate missions to keep hard-to-defend pockets in business."

The biggest World War Two bomb ever found in Poland exploded under water on Tuesday as navy divers tried to defuse it. More than 750 people had been evacuated from the area near the Piast Canal outside the town of Swinoujscie where the Tallboy bomb used by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) was found. It weighed nearly 5,400 kg, including 2,400 kg of explosive.

German Field Marshal Fredrick Paulus surrenders to Soviet forces in Stalingrad. Two days later, the last remnants of the German 6th Army would also surrender to the Soviets. The 6 month Battle of Stalingrad was over. The cost of the Soviet victory was staggering. Over 1,129,000 Soviet soldiers killed missing or wounded. Also lost, 2,700 aircraft, 4,300 tanks and 15,000 artillery pieces. The Germans and their allies lost 868,000 men, 900 aircraft, 3,100 tanks and 5,700 artillery pieces. Of the 91,000 German prisoners captured by the Soviets, fewer than 6,000 would live to return to Germany. The Wikipedia article on...

Wow, what a week. First, some background. I have a source on the judiciary/courts whom I call "Zen Master" because in two years he hasn't been wrong. He has given me heads up on all the circuit court judges, was right on Gorsuch, and very early said Judge K would be the selection (he favored another) and that Judge K would get confirmed. He predicted the confirmation would be September 28 by 53-47. Ok, the date was a tad off because of the extra week demanded by Flakey, and the final will be two votes short because of MurCowSki's betrayal...

Seventy-five years ago this month, the Soviet Red Army surrounded --and would soon destroy -- a huge invading German army at Stalingrad on the Volga River. Nearly 300,000 of Germany's best soldiers would never return home. The epic 1942-43 battle for the city saw the complete annihilation of the attacking German 6th Army. It marked the turning point of World War II. Before Stalingrad, Adolf Hitler regularly boasted on German radio as his victorious forces pressed their offensives worldwide. After Stalingrad, Hitler went quiet, brooding in his various bunkers for the rest of the war. During the horrific Battle of...

It is now fashionable to demonize Russia, but most Americans have forgotten key aspects of 20th-century history, including the Russians’ fight to stop the march of Nazi Germany. Seventy-five years ago this month, the Soviet Red Army surrounded — and would soon destroy — a huge invading German army at Stalingrad on the Volga River. Nearly 300,000 of Germany’s best soldiers would never return home. The epic 1942–43 battle for the city saw the complete annihilation of the attacking German 6th Army. It marked the turning point of World War II.

Since July 2012, the world has watched in horror as the once-beautiful and vibrant Syrian city of Aleppo has been transformed into a perpetual battlefield. Those killed in Aleppo, as well as throughout the rest of Syria during the civil war, are reported to be approximately 300,000. During the U.S.-led war in Iraq from 2003–11, one study reported that 405,000 Iraqis were killed directly and indirectly as a result of the war, and from 2001–15, an additional 91,991 people were killed due to war in Afghanistan, for a three-country total, over a 15-year period, of 796,991. As staggering as the...

Volgograd may become Stalingrad once again after Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated he was in in favour of a referendum to change the name back in honour of the battle which precipitated the end of WWII. Putin offered his support for the referendum idea from a group of Russian WWII veterans he met during a D-Day anniversary event in France on Sunday. The idea is not new but never proved popular enough to be adopted. However, with a wave of patriotism washing over Russia that may be changing.

A handful of soldiers, beleaguered by a Nazi host in a wrecked city apartment building, prepare to sell their lives dearly on celluloid. Does the scenario sound familiar? It should. For 70 years, the British and Americans have been making heroic movies about World War II, some of which are etched in our culture. But now for something different: Russian film-makers have got in on the act. They have created a 3D epic set for the film Stalingrad, about the most famous battle in their history, and the movie has become one of the biggest domestic box office hits of...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has carefully cultivated a tough-guy image, but the reality, at least in terms of his response to Jihad has been something different. Many in the US assume that Putin will act forcefully to punish those who were behind the two Islamikaze bombings in Volgograd this week, but history tells us that he won’t. Many in the West assume simple-mindedly that the Jihadist assault on Russia is tied to separatist “rebels” in Chechnya. But Jihad goes way beyond localized disputes and the Jihadists don’t just have their sights set on Chechnya; they see the site of the...

The suicide bomber who set off a 10kg TNT charge today in the southern Russian city of Volgograd had officially been identified as Oksana Aslanova, a 26-year-old Tabasaran national from Turkmenistan, the Voice of Russia's source reports. An explosion rocked the railway station in Volgograd at 12:45 Moscow Time on Sunday, December 29th . According to the latest reports, 14 people were killed and dozens injured. One of the current version of events, the terrorist attack was carried out by Oksana Aslanova from Daghestan but that information needs to be confirmed,” the source said. The woman was married to a...

SNIPPET: "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say Russian sports officials said they will beef up security at forthcoming sports events and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the wake of deadly explosions at Boston's marathon that killed three people, and injured over 140 others." "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say" SNIPPET: "The World Athletics Championship takes place in Moscow on Aug 10-18, and the event is seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort...

A suspected "Black Widow" female suicide bomber attacked a bus in the southern Russia city of Volgograd today, not far from Sochi, the site of the February 2014 Winter Olympics. The attack is the first such incident in the region in over a year. According to Russia's Federal Investigative Committee, a 30-year-old Dagestani woman named Naida Asiyalova boarded the bus at a stop, then detonated shortly afterward in an explosion that killed at least six people and wounded 32 others. There are thought to have been about 40 people on the bus. Identity documents found near the blast site indicated...

VOLGOGRAD, Russia - An aged T-34 tank clattered into the centre of the southern Russian city once known as Stalingrad and soldiers dressed in World War II-era uniforms marched solemnly as Russia marked the 70th anniversary of the end of one of modern warfare's bloodiest battles. President Vladimir Putin came to the city later Saturday to take part in the commemorations, including a visit to the famous hilltop memorial complex surmounted by a towering 87-meter (280-foot) statue of a sword-wielding woman representing the motherland. "Stalingrad will forever remain a symbol of unity and invincibility of our people, a symbol of...

19th of November, 1942. 7:30 a.m. The air over Stalingrad started shaking. Volleys of thousands of artillery shells marked the beginning of the “Uranus” operation – a counter-offensive one, which became a radical turn in the Second World War. Seventy years have passed and last Sunday there was held a reconstruction in Volgograd devoted to that battle.

Shooting the Life And Fate movie took place at a tank range Alabino. Welcome to the movie set with a lot of tanks, snow and other interesting things.

It goes without saying the Obama-loving media will be in full damage control mode this weekend trying to spin Friday's announcement that Chicago will not be the host of the 2016 Olympics, but this one has to take the cake: Losing the Olympics Bid Is Good for Obama

German Officers observing battlefield with personal body guards and German medic attending to wounded German SS squads attacking through destroyed buildings with many casualties as a German Panzerfaust moves in to take out Russian T-34 Hand to hand combat on the battlefield - Germans attacking Soviets Soviet M-19 heavy machine gun crew firing rapidly on advancing Germans German motorcycle team and paratroopers planning a right side flank on the Russians Russian infantry and a female sniper have Germans in their gunsights as their Comrades lay dead from gunfire Destroyed Church and buildings and fallen telephone as Germans advance through Stalingad...