The Red Army 1942 to 1944 - Prit Buttar

[@HG_NL]

Eastern front and Pritt Buttar both always +1. I like his way of storytelling, really calm but not boring at all.

[@stevej8005]

Always educational and very interesting to listen to Prit Buttar and his appraisals of WW2 actions and decisions by the military leaders.

[@philbosworth3789]

For some reason this excellent talk from Prit has only just showed up in my suggestions. Glad I watched it.

[@morningstar9233]

Dr.Buttar knows his subject and has the gift of being able to communicate concisely and engagingly. A pleasure to listen and a wealth of information gained. Thank you gentlemen.

[@scorcher67]

Superb .

[@nielshenkemans]

Brilliant show. Mr. Buttar certainly knows how to explain something massive in a simple and compelling way.

[@WW2TV]

Yep, it was a masterclass

[@Chiller01]

Dr. Buttar certainly knows his subject. It’s even more impressive in that history is not his primary professional endeavour being a working or recently retired physician (accounts varied). He apparently is not just a physician but also influential in the politics of health care. He displays deep knowledge of first hand Soviet accounts of the Great Patriotic War either being fluent in written and spoken Russian or possessing first rate translation support. Thanks for bringing him on as your guest.

[@spidrespidre]

Great presentation and thank you for getting Prit on for this. Hugely informative. On the Soviet fuel front, it's my understanding that about 80% of petrol, 90% of its naphtha and 96% of lubricants came from Baku's refineries. The Caspian was effectively a Soviet lake and virtually all the oil was shipped across it. Outside of the Stalingrad campaign, most of this was taken up to Astrakhan and then up the Volga. When that route was no longer available, it was taken across the shortest route to Krasnovodsk, now in Turkmenistan. We know the Germans were aiming for Baku but it has to be borne in mind that Baku was so much further than Maikop or Grozny. As the crow flies, it's farther to go from Rostov to Baku than it is from Kiev to Rostov. It's about 700 miles and it was ridiculously overambitious to think they could achieve it when Fall Blau ran into such problems from its outset, including the greatest traffic jams of the war. Of secondary importance was Saratov (on the Volga) but when facilities there were effectively destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the prelude to the Battle of Kursk, this placed huge pressure on Baku to further diversify production, particularly for aviation fuel. I think it's also true that production was developed during the war in the Urals/western Siberia but I have no figures or detail on this. Regardless, these new deposits would have been dwarfed by Baku in importance.

[@basslaats8889]

His "between giants" book is one of the best I have ever read. Fascinating to hear him actually speaking about these topics.

[@JamieWatkins-ic8ld]

Have read several of Pritt's books about the Eastern Front in WW2 ... they are excellent ! Really looking forward to " Bagration " when it comes out !

[@abrahamoyevaar2226]

Thank you thank thank you Pritt and Woody. Im really interested in the Eastern Front so this was amazing. Thank you both again so very much. Am excellent A++ presentation.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Thanks. Great talk.

[@scottgrimwood8868]

A fantastic show. One of the best discussion I have heard on the Red Army during the war. Once again Paul brings us fantastic presenters on amazing topics!

[@WW2TV]

I hope you are noticing the improvement in presentation too. I've learned a lot since last June

[@scottgrimwood8868]

@@WW2TV Yes, I have. WW2TV is one of my two favorite KZbin channels. I will be boosting my Patreon support for your continued work. (Bald Eagle)

[@davidsabillon5182]

​@@scottgrimwood8868what's your other favorite channel?

[@scottgrimwood8868]

@@davidsabillon5182 OTD Military History.

[@gmdyt1]

Thank you. A superb insightful talk

[@timsampson7336]

Outstanding talk. Great to talk about logistics and tear down some myths of WW2.

[@adamwarne1807]

Absolutely fascinating video, Prit Buttar is incredibly knowledgeable and so well able to share his information in an intelligent and interesting way.

[@WW2TV]

Thanks Adam, I hope you'll stick with WW2TV

[@adamwarne1807]

@@WW2TV the videos I've had chance to watch so far have been extremely well researched and very informative.... Consider me hooked!

[@Ccccccccccsssssssssss]

Thank you for the excellent video!

[@nigeh5326]

Paul you say at 44’28” ‘from my experience, of my limited reading of the Eastern Front I haven’t read enough’. I think that applies to all of us, whether one of the great historians or an amateur historian such as myself. When you take into account the fact that the Soviet archives hold massive amounts of information not just from the Soviet side but also the Germans and their allies. Until the archives are opened fully in Moscow the Eastern Front will remain a mystery in many aspects. It’s the same but to a lesser extent on other fronts and areas. In the UK for example my gut feeling re the issue of Nazi sympathisers in the UK and Hess’ flight to Scotland is that there is a lot we don’t know and never will as the proof is withheld under the Official Secrets Act. Any really damaging evidence either has been ‘lost’ or will be ‘lost’ before it reaches the public domain. Great show as always 👍

[@chiznoids]

Paul, that was phenomenal. Would love to see Prit back soon. I have a feeling this channel is on a roll currently and is gaining some buzz.

[@marks_sparks1]

Excellent presentation by Mr Buttar. Really learned a lot from him and seen how many myths he has discarded.

[@dermotrooney9584]

"Its one thing to go around burning villages claiming they're full of partisans, it quite another to stand up to fighting the Red Army in the snow." Good man!

[@steveg3981]

Awesome presentation. I'm going to obtain Prit's books and enjoy them all. ( hard cover and audio books)

[@edsteadham4085]

Give the doctor his own channel!

[@jimwatts5192]

Howdy folks. Everybody learns a lot when Dr Buttar talks about the Eastern Front. This is one of his best. One of Woody’s best. Outstanding.

[@markb8468]

Hey our amazing KZbin algorithm just united us yesterday. Very good !

[@Piper44LMF]

I have been reading about eastern front battles for a long time now from German accounts, diaries and David Glantz work but never can get anything from the Soviet perspective that is accurate. There are so many myths and propaganda meshed into it that the waters have been muddied. Taking Prit's work and your previous guest on the Artillery into account does shed more light. I can never thank you enough for what you have done here Paul. I hope I can get these in E-Books as I have no room

[@pyatig]

I’d suggest a younger Russian historian Alexei Isaev. I think he’s been translated into English

[@vonwillful]

thats interesting an old Prussian lady occasioned his Easter Front scholarship. Wow! Much respect for his work and the show. thank you.

[@lynnmcculloch-m4h]

This guy rates up there with Cintino! Super great history lesson!!!

[@reiniergroeneveld7801]

Great presentation.

[@georgepress1261]

Prit buttar is a amazing author. I read his entire ww1 books on the eastern front. Would love to see a video on those books.

[@giuseppeboemi927]

Discovered your channel recently, awesome guests, awesome host, awesome channel. Looking forward to read some of doc. Buttar's books. Please, keep up with this honourable commitment to all the history minded. Blessings.

[@WW2TV]

Thanks for the nice comment Giuseppe, and if you haven't already, please make sure you subscribe to WW2TV and perhaps consider becoming a member? kzbin.info/door/UC1nmJGHmiKtlkpA6SJMeAjoin

[@tonyodonnell973]

Wonderful stuff .Thank you.

[@davidsabillon5182]

More eastern front please!

[@philipryan25]

Thank you very interesting.

[@daddust]

Thx

[@arabulbulian2315]

I love Prit Buttar's books and him as a guest on WW2TV. If you are a WW2 east front enthusiastic and haven't read any of his books on this front, you are really missing out. Several on Audible too if you don't have the time to sit down and read.

[@redsquirrel1917]

Lyudmila Pavlichenko mentions reading a book on the Finnish War in her memoirs. If the Lenin Library is ever accessible again, I'd like to track down the book.

[@michealohaodha9351]

Interesting to hear about your potential Winter War episodes. I'd love to hear them too. Personally I cannot recommend anyone. However there is a Finnish company which makes items for reenactors - Tiera Reproductions. One of its owners is a gent called Petri Peltola....who has extensive knowledge of Finland in WW2. He would be best placed to recommend someone, should the topic still be of relevance 👍

[@darrellwhitman1962]

Three years on, this interview explains the Russian way of war and you can trace it to their tactical and strategic choices. Many thanks.

[@juan6273]

Nice show, you should get Buttar back for another video!

[@WW2TV]

That's the plan!. Although he has come back already kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4G0Zmmplt2ee9U

[@juan6273]

@@WW2TV Great! I'm a little bit delayed with the videos

[@billd.iniowa2263]

So much good info here. Much of it confirms things I have gathered from other sources and it's nice to know they were accurate, as well as is my understanding of the conflict. One thing to remember is that tanks are actually somewhat delicate. They surely cant go everywhere nor do anything they want. The Germans lost half of their armor just getting to Moscow. And much of that loss was mechanical. It was the near-impossible logistics that doomed the Germans so far from their rail lines. Panzer IV parts cant fix a Panther. So many different models of tanks, too little logistics.

[@diedertspijkerboer]

The simple fact with repairing tanks over getting new ones is that the spares take much less space than the new ones, which makes supply so much cheaper.

[@redsquirrel1917]

Excellent overview. I would point out that the Yezhovshchina wasn't the only thing affecting the Red Army pre-1941. Roger Reese argued that the massive expansion also spread the depleted ranks of lower office much too thinly. Despite tremendous efforts to increase basic educational levels from Imperial Russian levels, through a Civil War, the Red Army still had to spend time on basic education during officer training. On the issue of logistics, in 1932, Sediakin started to work out the practical implications of deep battle. He was latter purged and executed. There's some great details in Habeck's 'Storm of Steel', be warned, it's not a light read...

[@nigeh5326]

Not the first time I have heard praise for Vasilevsky from historians. Unlike others he didn’t push his own achievements or take credit for others work

[@ThePrader]

Is it true that the German tankers were formally trained to attack Russian tanks with radio antenna first because they knew the other tanks without antenna had no radios, or is this just something that a few German tankers picked up out of their own experience?

[@WW2TV]

A bit of both I think

[@bozo5632]

The Red Army held together despite everything. I wonder whether it would have without the purges.

[@WW2TV]

To me the purges weakened the organisation and structure. As Ian Ona Johnson explained on his show with me, so many of the Soviet officers that had learned from the Germans on the exchanges in the 20s and 30s were victims

[@executivedirector7467]

One possible answer: look at the performance of the heavily-purged units in the Finnish war compared to the largely unpurged units in the far east at Khalkin-Gol. I suspect the purges hurt very badly indeed.

[@bozo5632]

@@executivedirector7467 There's a lot of BS out there about the purges. Most of the purged officers kept their jobs. Many of the Red Army commanders had no military background or experience except fighting in the civil war. Many were corrupt. Many were incompetent. It was probably a good idea to purge those. Some of the commanders were disloyal to the new, improved Soviet workers' paradise. Should you keep disloyal generals? There we're many reasons for faster success in Khalkin Gol and slower success in Finland (USSR did win both) besides just officers. You'd have to dive deep into biographies and individual battlefield orders if you wanted to make that case.

[@PalleRasmussen]

Pritt is a very nice chap. Balck has nothing good to say about the Hungarians, but much praise for the Romanians. That surprised me.

[@peterthomson4632]

One figure worth mentioning that demonstrates the ability of the Red Army to learn is comparative casualties. The usual cite is 6 million German (not all on the Eastern Front) vs 12 million Soviet. But 3 million of those Soviet dead were murdered POWs - and the Soviets also fought the Finns, Romanians, Italians and Hungarians (together a little over a million). So combat losses over the 4 years were roughly 9 million to 7 million. By 43 to Red Army was doing as much damage to the Germans as they took, by 44 and 45 much more.

[@uic505050]

5 million Germans and remember that a lot of those dead were at the very end or post-war as well. Same with Axis allied states like the Romanians, Hungarians, Finns, and Italians. If you want to point out the PoW deaths for the Soviets then you need to factor that in for the Axis casualties as well. Plus remove non-Eastern Front casualties. And what of Soviet partisan casualties? How are those counted? As you can see things start to get complicated quickly if you try to compare like to like.

[@rockin3404]

Did the Red Army ever become as effective/professional or as capable as the Germans were in 1941? Perhaps in June 1944?

[@WW2TV]

Yes I would agree with that

[@Дмитрий-х9з4г]

Естественно. Раз оказались в Берлине.

[@scottkrater2131]

I can't understand why Germany couldn't or wouldn't let the allied countries license and produce German designed weapons and vehicles. I'm guessing German industry couldn't supply both their needs and their allies.

[@executivedirector7467]

It's a good idea, but, most of their allies didn't have the industrial base to support much manufacturing. Romania, for example, tried to build French UE tractors just before the war and simply couldn't make them. The UE is a very simple vehicle, simpler than a Panzer I, but they just couldn't pull it off. The big exception of course is France, and I join you in wondering why Germany didn't simply force the French to either build a few german designs or, alternatively, pick a few French designs they liked (the French had some excellent artillery and decent trucks) and tell them to start churning them out or else. They certainly had adequate tools of coercion to make it happen.

[@daddust]

Couple of points - Tuchaczewski was a strategic moron. He is directly personally responsible for the failure of the Battle of Warsaw. He thought tactical and strategic reserves were useless. He also demanded to change the Red Army into a Mongol like horde of light, very bad interwar tanks, not even the quality of T26 and BT-7s. He wanted twenty thousand of terrible tankettes and the army to be built around them.

[@WW2TV]

Thanks for the observation. Good points

[@viz12345]

german military losses against all allies: 4millions. russian military losses against germany alone: almost 9 millions... 'nuff said

[@secularist1]

Eastern Front: Germans: 4 million dead, 10 million casualties (+1 million Axis allies) Soviets: 8-9 million dead, 14 million casualties Not the huge disparity many like to make it out as. Considering the Soviets lost 3-4 million in the first few months, the rest of the war was essentially equal casualties.

[@jamesgornall5731]

Not including civilians, very sad

[@Дмитрий-х9з4г]

Если учесть, что пленные красноармейцы попавшие в начале войны 3-4миллона были специально уиершалины в концлагерях. А фрицев содержали достойно в полне.