22nd June 1941

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Hottentot

Edit: By the way, CCIP, have you seen these films? From what I've understood, they are still pretty famous in Russia? I watched them a while ago and liked them as films, despite of some historical inaccuracies. For anyone else interested, I think you can find at least the first two parts for free in Mosfilm's website.

Yeah, they are - and I agree, even if Soviet filmography sanitizes the history in some aspects, the movies are just epic. I think that will be on my to-watch list today
(btw, the Mosfilm youtube is a brilliant thing - so many classic stuff on there in general)

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Another thought:
Everyone always immediately thinks Russia/Russians on this event, but spare a thought also for others, especially Ukraine and Belarus. They were/are big countries in their own right (their combined population approaching that of Germany) and unlike Russia, they were completely overrun, were the sites of some of the worst atrocities and biggest battles, and next to Poland probably lost the most in that war as far as single nations go.