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Originally Posted by Subwolf
But yes the nazis tried to, and had to pay for it. That failed operation was the beginning of the end for Hitler.
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Not the whole of it, certainly. But the parts that were experienced the most brutal occupation seen anywhere. Certainly don't try to tell my grandfather the USSR wasn't occupied - Germans lived in his house, Germans killed his livestock, Germans took away his brother to a concentration camp, Germans left a 'present' in the barn when they were driven out, which was unfortunately discovered by my unwitting grandfather and friend, when they opened the door and the charge behind it detonated, killing one of the boys instantaneously and seriously wounding the other.
But these same Germans survived the battle of Demyansk pocket while they were there, being completely cut off from their own lines for weeks in the dead of winter under constant Russian counter-attacks, with an unfriendly Russian population around them taking revenge when opportunity arose. I can admire at least some of them for their persistence in a battle against all odds, can't I? As irony would have it, I'm sure some of these Germans were likely distant relatives of mine. All the more likely if any of them had last names like Mueller or von Koestner (my german roots). And, to think, aren't all people sort of related somewhere down the line?
That's quite off-topic, sorry. It's personal to me too as you can see. But I don't hold the same bitterness.