On June 15, 2016, in the Syrian province of Homs, an ordinary event by the standards of this war took place - a suicide attack was carried out on the position of Syrian forces in the desert area.
As part of the widespread scheme and due to complications in breaking through positions, the militants used a typical technique for themselves - a mined armored vehicle was sent to the location of the mobile group of the SAR army.
The reason for the difficulties for the militants in breaking through their positions, as you might have guessed, was the presence among the Syrians of a Russian instructor from the Special Operations Forces - a special forces soldier. It was the presence of the Russian sergeant that did not allow the Syrian troops, in a manner no less typical for themselves, to abandon their position at the very first outline of a car bomb.
However, the closer the car filled with explosives approached the soldiers’ position, the more Syrians threw down their weapons and fled into the desert, abandoning their own. As a result, only one Russian fighter remained to defend the point - Andrey Timoshenkov and continued to shoot at the terrorist until the suicide bomber’s nerves could not stand it and he blew himself up ahead of schedule.
For the Russian fighter, unlike the Syrians, there was no question of whether to hold the position or not, because behind him there was provincial humanitarian aid distribution point and a mass of civilians. The heroic actions of Andrei Timoshenkov saved many civilians, but unfortunately, for this feat, he was forced to pay with his own life.
The behavior of the Russian soldier and his courage clearly showed who actually turned the tide of this war, who broke the back of terrorism, who is now protecting us all on the distant borders and approaches, who was at the forefront of key offensives, and who closed the militants’ breakthrough lines in the most critical moments.
Honor and praise to them for this.
The terrorists wanted to use this video as personal propaganda, but once on the Internet it brought completely different ideological results. Foreigners only admired the courage and will of the Russian soldier, were impressed by his courage and hated terror even more.
Translation of comments:
- “A truly brave man! I love and respect Russians precisely for this! I always wanted my country and Russia to have much better relations than they do today, because it’s an honor to call such people brothers!”
Patrick Green
- “Russia, without exaggeration, is the bravest nation in the world.”
Dusit theh toe
- “One Russian soldier did more than an entire Syrian tank! All the Syrians, as always, ran away, but the Russians, as always, stood to the end. Respect".
Lime
- “Russia is a great country and no amount of propaganda from Western media in the world will change this opinion. Best regards from the UK."
Dodger
- “Like all other Indians, I love and respect Russians immensely... Perhaps now you will understand why”...
സയത്സേവ് വസീലി
- “An amazing story... Although on the other hand, the Russian soldier remained rebellious in battle at all times and in any world event. This is their history - this people fought for most of their past and apparently already genetically hates retreating. To continue to fight in any situation is very Russian."
jackson mike
Lately, Americans have been faced with the fact that far from the most educated soldiers are increasingly serving in the US Army. In addition, exposé articles appear in the press describing poor discipline, corruption and theft. But the American leadership is trying to ignore this.
One of the problems with the United States military is cowardice.
On October 11 last year, Washington introduced a special rule for American pilots in Syria. Pilots were prohibited from approaching Russian aircraft at a distance closer than 32 kilometers. The thing is that, due to stress, the American military often behaves too strangely. It turns out that overseas soldiers are so easily demoralized that sometimes it is not at all clear how they can fight?
For example, one day a Russian TU-95 bomber flew 40 miles off the California coast and wished its colleagues good morning on the emergency frequency, congratulating them on Independence Day.
The American command protested about this, since both the pilots and air traffic controllers experienced enormous stress when the Russian plane appeared at their borders!
Moreover, fear is experienced not only by fighters in the conflict zone, but also by Pentagon staffers. They raised the alarm after noticing that a Russian military apparatus, Luch, was located 5 km from the American secret satellite. He did nothing wrong to the American facility, but panic began in the American mission control center. The military said the Russians' behavior was provocative and abnormal.
However, such fear sometimes benefits military personnel overseas, because it makes them remember at least some kind of discipline. For example, a scandal recently broke out in the United States. A truck belonging to the Safe Transportation Authority (an organization that transports nuclear waste) suddenly went missing. After several hours of searching, the police found the car on the side of the road, and the drivers so drunk that they could not stand on their feet.
And at the American Air Force Base Malstrom, in Montana, the military personnel had even more fun. While guarding intercontinental ballistic missiles, the guards of this base began to use drugs. So much so that they began to hallucinate. It’s not hard to imagine how it all would have ended if one of the officers had not found the soldiers in a narcotic dope right at the control panel of a nuclear facility. It turned out that the servicemen took fungous substances for a couple of months, right on combat duty.
American soldiers in general are increasingly behaving rather strangely while on duty. For example, at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, Sergeant First Class Gregory McQueen founded a brothel. The soldier met girls who lived in the surrounding villages and offered them round sums for intimate relations with officers. At the same time, he gave each new beauty a test. The girl had to please him, and for free. After the sergeant was detained, he fully confessed to everything, telling investigators which of the officers went to the left and how many times.
Another characteristic feature of the American army is theft.
The soldiers steal everything they can. Related scandals overseas arise regularly, and recently the US armed forces found themselves at the center of another trouble. After another audit, it turned out that the American group in Afghanistan had a shortage of as much as 420 million dollars!
Allegedly, the military lost a huge number of cars and high-tech equipment. Although, in fact, they sold this equipment. Where is unknown. The scam has not yet been uncovered. The fact is that all suspects and witnesses mysteriously suddenly developed amnesia during interrogation.
However, it is better to understand the extent to which chaos took hold of the American army using the example of the scandal at Arlington Cemetery. Relatives have been contacting its management for many months with complaints that they cannot find the graves of their loved ones. As a result, the scandal reached the Pentagon leadership. The audit showed that cemetery workers mixed up more than 6 thousand graves when installing signs, and the remains of many soldiers were buried incorrectly.
Hundreds of graves were completely missing from the cemetery map, and unknown remains appeared in supposedly empty plots. In general, the cemetery workers had no respect for the deceased. And so it is everywhere: in cemeteries there is confusion, among personnel there is decay. And even the generals behave rather strangely: in their speeches they now refer to data from Twitter or Facebook.
American generals can be understood. Washington quite often forces them not to fight, but only to imitate war, as is happening in Syria. Moreover, complete chaos also quite often reigns in the rear of the armed forces. It even got to the point where gaps appeared in the United States nuclear shield. Recently, the Pentagon started checking strategic troops. It turned out that things were very bad there, and not only with equipment and communications.
At three nuclear missile bases in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, only one kit for attaching warheads to ballistic missiles was found to be operational. Workers had to line up behind him to carry out work. And transport tools from base to base using a courier service.
Today, the American army can safely boast of only one commander in chief, who was recognized as the best among dancing presidents, according to the Washington Post. And it seems that Obama really knows a lot about this. In plasticity and a sense of rhythm, the President of the United States will give odds to any world leader.
They also speak impartially. Well, if it were the Germans or the French... Their fear would be more or less understandable. Considering not so distant events from the past. But Americans?!
They are armed from toe to toe. They are so concerned about their safety that they will never let a soldier onto the battlefield with only a pistol. I'm not even talking about their stockpiles of weapons, their unshakable belief in the inaccessibility of the borders of their state. The United States considers itself the founders and defenders of democracy. And people with democratic views should have faith in other people and confidence in their own safety. Citizens of a democratic country do not have to constantly bow their heads. Why then are they afraid of the Russians?
Formation of the American state
Americans are strange and contradictory people. Their history began with wars of conquest. They had to go quite a long way towards independence. We received it. There would be no way to live and be happy. So they constantly enter into massive conflicts between other countries, even inciting these conflicts themselves.
And now, when Ukraine has become restless. It is increasingly said that Ukraine is just a victim. It's all about another confrontation between America and Russia. It all started with an easy pitch from the Americans. To understand why America perceives Russian soil as its most important enemy, let us first look at to the history of the American state.
1. And it all started with violence, extermination of Indian tribes, burning of their lands. In general, it was standard for those times, and wild from a modern point of view. Who knows: America would have existed if Europe had not come to their lands.
2. Then everything is as usual: the lands were inhabited by colonialists, a motley variety of people, often runaway criminals. Conflicts arose on commercial grounds (between North and South), and slavery appeared.
3. When England began to infringe on the colonists’ rights (they considered themselves English and demanded everything that the British had), the newly-minted Americans demanded independence. The first US Constitution was adopted in 1777(“Articles of Confederation”).
4. Europe has become America's enemy. Free Americans could not accept the conservative values of Catholicism. Even then (19th century), American citizens considered themselves God's chosen nation. What about the slave trade? This is a given. Blacks are “subhumans,” good for nothing, lower class. And so on until the beginning of the twentieth century.
5. World War II. The Americans had to fight both Germany and Japan. The enmity with the latter nation ended with Pearl Harbor and the nuclear attack of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands of lives and terrible consequences. America, as the winner, severely punished Japan. American sanctions have had a negative impact on the Japanese economy.
6. World War II is over. America has found a new enemy - the USSR. The rivalry between the two superpowers began. The Iron Curtain, military arms races, the development of espionage, physical, chemical and biological developments, space flights. Plus mutual agitation against each other.
Until a certain point, the USSR did not concede in anything. The confrontation between the two powers gave the world great discoveries. But the Union gave in. His desire to control everything and everyone has led the country to a dead end. And America continued the path of a developing state.
Bottom line: Throughout history, America has been the aggressor. And it is naive to believe that she does not understand this. Not long ago, this understanding came to the whole world.
The military power of Russia and the spirit of its soldier
Opinions on Americans' fear of Russians:
1. Russia has so many nuclear warheads that it would be enough to blow up the entire planet several times.
This is a far-fetched fear of Americans, absolutely groundless. Most likely, America does not like the fact that anyone other than them owns nuclear weapons. You need to control it somehow.
Therefore, the Pentagon and Moscow entered into an agreement on the reduction of offensive weapons in 2011. That is, both sides must destroy a certain number of nuclear warheads and launch vehicles for their movement by 2018.
Let's go through the numbers:
according to the agreement, by 2018 the number of launch vehicles should not exceed 800;
Russia has 473, America has 809 (information for 2013).
Who should be afraid of whom? Although Russian military ministers claim that these weapons are enough for them to protect national security.
Another food for thought: news has emerged that the Pentagon has suspended implementation of its part of the agreement. Just when all this commotion arose in Ukraine. And America agreed to part with nuclear warheads, because their importance for the country had decreased. The United States has precision weapons that can perfectly replace nuclear weapons.
And for Russia it is important to have nuclear weapons. This is the only way the country can protect itself (Korotchenko’s words). Therefore, the Russians are parting with old weapons and modernizing their nuclear forces. But the American fear of our soldier remains.
2. American soldiers do not understand Russian behavior. What does not lend itself to their American logic causes fear.
Suffice it to recall any of the military operations where an American could observe a Russian.
How can a soldier go into hand-to-hand combat, without weapons, without body armor and other reasonable means of personal safety?
How could Soviet soldiers sit in the forests for months on starvation rations, and after that also carry out sabotage?!
How does a soldier of the Russian army, who sits on a barley bed, sleeps on an iron bed, wears the same overcoat both summer and winter, have so much courage and fearlessness?!
How could Russian soldiers go into battle, knowing for sure that they would leave their heads there?!
Now the country is different. There is no blind faith in justice, no confidence in the future. There is no strong ideology. And another question arises: will the country be able to take up arms when someone approaches its borders with machine guns at the ready?
Do you want to know what Americans think about the Russian army?
I came across a rather interesting one, I read it avidly :) I would really like to discuss with you everything listed below. This is something :)))
The exceptional combat capability of the Russian army has always been a mystery to us. This combat effectiveness would be logical if the Russian soldier was fed, dressed, shod and armed better than a soldier in the Western army, but he was always hungry, always dressed in an uncomfortable long overcoat, which is cold in winter and hot in summer, shod in summer bast shoes, and in winter, boots soaked from the winter rains in which it is even impossible to move your feet. The Russian soldier is armed with a weapon that is simple to the point of primitiveness, and can be aimed only with the help of a medieval device - a rear sight and a front sight. Moreover, the Russian soldier is not even taught to shoot, so that, firstly, he does not waste ammunition during his training, and secondly, so that he does not accidentally or intentionally shoot his colleagues.
The soldiers are kept in a prison building with two-story beds, and one hundred people live in one room.
During the entire service, the soldiers are kept in a prison building. The Russians sleep on two-story bunks, and there are a hundred people in one room. This prison doesn't even have proper toilets - instead of toilets, there are just holes made in sweat. They are located in a row and are not separated from each other by booths. Russian soldiers are allowed to relieve themselves only twice a day: at the command of an officer, all one hundred people squat over these holes and do both No. 1 and No. 2 in front of everyone (No. 1 means small for the Americans, and No. 2 - in a big way - Ed.).
In the toilet for Russian soldiers there are not only toilets, but even cubicles. Both men and women relieve themselves into a hole in the floor and use old newspapers instead of toilet paper.
And yet, in all the wars for 300 years in a row, the Russian soldier has emerged victorious. First, in the early 18th century, the Russians, led by Tsar Peter the Terrible, defeated the Swedes and Ukrainians in the Northern War near Poltava, which lasted for 20 years. Sweden then became a second-rate power, and Ukraine came under the rule of the Russian Tsar. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russians defeated Napoleon himself, who tried to bring civilization to Russia and free the Russians from slavery.
Then the Russians did not believe Napoleon - their orthodox priests declared Napoleon the Antichrist, and the Russians believed that they were fighting for the triumph of their form of religion throughout the world. Oddly enough, the Russians managed to win. They reached Paris, and only when England threatened the new Russian Tsar (old Peter had died by then) with a naval blockade, they left Europe, leaving, however, Poland behind them for a whole hundred years.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Russian troops with spears and arrows defeated Napoleon's army, the strongest in the world at that time. (In fact, the picture shows reenactors in the uniform of the 1st Bashkir Regiment - Ed.)
The last Russian Tsar, Nicholas the Bloody, made a fatal mistake - he decided to ease the conditions of detention of Russian soldiers. The troops were issued rifles and even machine guns, but the soldiers turned these weapons against the officers, and a revolution took place, in which the communists won, promising to send the soldiers home.
But the next year the Communists created the Red Army, in which they restored brutal discipline. If tsarist soldiers were beaten with ramrods for the slightest offense, then the Red Army soldiers were simply shot in front of the formation as a warning to others.
And a miracle happened - the Red Army men defeated the old army, which consisted entirely of officers and sergeants.
In the mid-20th century, the Russians again faced the most powerful army in the world - Hitler's army. Initially, Hitler won victory after victory - but the defeats of the Russians were feigned - the Russians fielded troops consisting of Asian backgammon against the Germans, reserving the ethnic Russians, called the White Guard, for a decisive blow and then lured the Germans to Moscow and, waiting for winter, surrounded their best forces in the area of the Moscow region town of Stalingrad-on-Volga (Stalingrad-upon-Volga).
When the Germans ran out of fuel, which they used to heat their dugouts, the Germans were forced to surrender. The captured Germans were placed in the same barracks where Russian soldiers were kept before the war, and they began to feed them the same food that they fed the Red Army soldiers, but the Germans began to die one after another, and few lived to see the end of the war.
After the defeat at Stalingrad, only old men and teenagers remained in the German army, and the Russians were soon able to take Berlin and establish their dominance throughout Eastern Europe. Only the occupation of Western Europe by Anglo-American troops saved it from Russian enslavement. The Russians did not dare to go to war with us then, because we already had an atomic bomb, and the Russians did not yet have one.
But immediately after the war, Stalin turned to the Jews: “I saved you from Hitler, and in gratitude you should get me the drawings of the atomic bomb.” The Jews put forward a condition: to create a Jewish state in Crimea. Stalin agreed for the sake of appearance, but when the Jews stole the drawings from us and brought them to Stalin, instead of Crimea, he allocated them an autonomous district not in Crimea, but in... Siberia. At this time, we took a wise step - we forced the British to leave Palestine and created a Jewish state in the historical homeland of all Jews. However, Stalin did not release Jews into the newly formed Israel. Then the Jewish doctors stopped treating him and began to give him those medications that made him feel worse and worse. Realizing this, Stalin put all these doctors in prison, but the new doctors turned out to be half Jewish. Having Jewish mothers, they hid their nationality under the Russian surnames of their fathers and continued the course of harmful treatment, from which Stalin eventually died.
In the 1950s - 1970s, Russian troops, instead of combat training, plowed fields with the help of tanks, and Russian collective farmers fed them for this.
After Stalin's death, the military became bolder, and their leader, Field Marshal Zhukov, even wanted to stage a coup. But Nikita Khrushchev outwitted everyone - through behind-the-scenes intrigue, it was he who came to power. Fearing the military, he greatly weakened the Red Army. All weapons were locked up, which was supposed to be opened only in the event of the outbreak of war, and instead of training, soldiers began to build cowsheds and plant potatoes on collective farms. Since then, the army was viewed by the Russians not so much as a military force, but as a labor force.
Only elite units that suppressed anti-Russian uprisings in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland were intensively trained.
The castle had to be opened only in 1979, when the Russians decided to take control of Afghanistan.
At that time, almost all of Central Asia belonged to the Russians, and opium smoking was widespread in this region before the establishment of Russian rule. The Russians introduced a ban on this, and also destroyed all opium plantations. By agreement with the Russians, the Afghan king did the same, to whom, in exchange for this measure, the Russians provided weapons and helped in the fight against the British. While kings ruled in Afghanistan, the Russians were calm - there were no drug addicts in Russia. But when the king was overthrown, the Afghans began to grow poppies again and make heroin from it.
Drugs began to spread not only throughout Central Asia, but had already reached Moscow, and when even the famous Russian poet Vysotsky became a drug addict, the Russians’ patience ran out, and they decided to enter Afghanistan with troops and destroy Vespiary with their own hands. The Russians called Afghanistan a vespiary - a nest of wasps. The Russians called wasps drug dealers who, like insects, flew across the Russian border on hang gliders and, under the guise of local Uzbeks and Tajiks, sold heroin not only at the bazaar in Tashkent, but also at the Central Market on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow. Moscow was then preparing for the 1980 Olympics, and the Russians were afraid that athletes coming from all over the world would see drug addicts lying around on the streets of Moscow.
Russians in Afghanistan: look. how lightly the Afghan soldiers are dressed, and what sheepskin coats the Russians are wrapped in.
The entry of troops into Afghanistan forced the Russians to open their arsenals. But in hot Afghanistan, the Russians in overcoats and felt boots felt uncomfortable, which is why they were never able to cope with the partisan movement. In the end, they were forced to leave Afghanistan, but the troops came out with weapons. At that time, oil prices had fallen greatly, and the Russians did not have money to feed a huge army - only the KGB troops and internal troops guarding prisoners were fed.
After the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe, Russian soldiers ate whatever they could find. They ran through the forests with machine guns and hunted wild animals, but when they destroyed all the fauna, they had to sell their weapons.
And then, in order to feed themselves, the military began to sell weapons to bandits and separatists. Revolts broke out on Russia's national outskirts and the Soviet Union collapsed. In Russia itself, the Russian mafia, consisting mainly of Chechens - a warlike people living in the mountains, almost reigned supreme. These people were conquered back in the 19th century, but dreamed not only of taking revenge on the Russians, but also of taking control of all of Russia.
In Soviet times, they did not have weapons, and when the military began to sell them, they got them, and their dream was close to coming true. Seeing that power was gradually passing to the Chechens, then-President Yeltsin declared war on them, but since he continued to pay the military poorly, the Russians did not fight the Chechens at full strength and just as in European football they arrange match-fixing, where one team loses for money another, Russian generals lost battles for money. As a result, Yeltsin was forced to sign a rather humiliating peace with the Chechens. However, the KGB was unhappy with this. It overthrew Yeltsin and installed its former leader, Putin, at the head of Russia. By this time, oil prices began to rise, and Putin was able to pay the military real money. Then the military got down to business thoroughly, and very quickly defeated the Chechens.
During the 13 years that Putin has been in power, the Russian army has become much stronger, but many problems remain unresolved. So, Gorbachev also ordered not to take students into the army. As a result, only those who do not have access to higher education end up in the army. They are afraid to trust new equipment to such soldiers with a low level of education, because they will break it. Therefore, Putin did something that had never happened before in Russia - they began to take hired soldiers into the army. If previously they were taken into the army only by force, taken to the unit under escort and during the entire peace period the soldiers were kept in prison with toilets without toilets and even without toilet paper (the Russians use old newspapers instead), now there are more and more mercenaries in the army. There are especially many of them on the southern borders, where mountain peoples live, ready to revolt at any moment, but recently mercenaries have appeared even in the Moscow region. How this will end, time will tell, but we must not lose our vigilance: history teaches us that Russia will recover even after the most severe devastation, and, having recovered, it, as a rule, regains its lost positions.
What is the reason for such exceptional combat effectiveness of Russian soldiers? As it turned out, in genetics. Recent studies have established that Russians descend not from harmless plowmen, but from warlike Scythians. Distinguished by their natural ferocity, this barbarian tribe also knew how to show military cunning - the Scythians always lured enemies deep into their territory and then destroyed them. This is what the Russians subsequently did to the Swedes, to Napoleon and to Hitler, and this is what they will do to us if we succumb to their tricks. You cannot fight with the Russians on their territory. They are a priori stronger there.
We must not forget that among the Russians there are also so-called Cossacks. They are taught to fight from childhood, and they always have weapons at home. Recently, the Cossacks have been reviving, and the Cossacks are ready to form the basis of a new professional army.
PS: To be honest, I never found proof of the American source, most likely there is none, since the article is so enchanting that there are not even words. However, it’s worth reading, this masterpiece lifts your spirits :)
On February 28, 1915, the rearguard 20th Corps of the 10th Russian Army died in the German ring in the Augustow forests of East Prussia. The soldiers and officers, having used up their ammunition, launched a bayonet attack and were shot almost point-blank by German artillery and machine guns. More than 7 thousand of those surrounded died, the rest were captured. The courage of the Russians delighted the Germans. German war correspondent Brandt wrote: “The attempt to break through was complete madness, but this holy madness is heroism, which showed the Russian warrior as we have known him since the days of Skobeleva, the storming of Plevna, the battles in the Caucasus and the storming of Warsaw! The Russian soldier knows how to fight very well, he endures all sorts of hardships and is able to be persistent, even if he inevitably faces certain death!
We have compiled a selection of characteristics of the fighting qualities of our soldiers and officers by their opponents.
1. Robert Wilson, English officer, Patriotic War of 1812:
“The bayonet is the true weapon of the Russians. Some Englishmen can argue with them about the exclusive right to these weapons. But since the Russian soldier is selected from a large number of people with great attention to his physical qualities, then their regiments should have much greater superiority.
The bravery of the Russians in the field is unparalleled. The most difficult task for the human mind (in 1807) was to control the Russians during the retreat. When the general Bennigsen, trying to avoid an attack by the enemy, retreated from Yankov, during the dark nights of the Polish winter, then, despite the superiority of the French forces, which stretched to 90 thousand people, the indignation of the Russian soldiers was so bold, the demand for battle was so strong and persistent, and the resulting chaos became so great that the general Bennigsen was forced to promise to fulfill their demand."
2. Tadeuchi Sakurai, Japanese lieutenant, participant in the assault on Port Arthur:
“...Despite all our bitterness against the Russians, we still recognize their courage and bravery, and their stubborn defense for 58 hours deserves deep respect and praise...
Among those killed in the trenches, we found one Russian soldier with a bandaged head: apparently already wounded in the head, after bandaging he again joined the ranks of his comrades and continued to fight until a new bullet killed him..."
3. French naval officer, witness to the battle between the Varyag and the Korean:
“The battle of the Varyag and the Korean, which met shells from six large Japanese ships and mines from eight destroyers, will remain an unforgettable event of the current century. The heroism of the Russian sailors not only did not give the Japanese the opportunity to capture both ships, but prompted the Russians to leave The battle was fought only after the enemy squadron had suffered severe defeats. One of the Japanese destroyers sank. The Japanese wanted to hide this and sent their men to saw off the masts and pipes that were sticking out from under the water the next day after the battle, but the officers of the foreign ships were there. witnesses of this fact, and therefore the Japanese cannot deny it. From foreign ships they saw, in addition, that the battleship Assam suffered very serious damage: fire appeared between its pipes, and after that the ship tilted heavily, not wanting to leave anything to the Japanese, the crew. The Russian merchant ship "Sungari" started a fire on it and asked for shelter on the "Pascal" (French ship), which accepted this crew."
4. Steiner, eyewitness to the death of the 20th Corps of the 10th Russian Army, World War I:
“He, a Russian soldier, endures losses and holds on even when death is inevitable for him.”
5. Von Poseck, General, World War I:
“The Russian cavalry was a worthy opponent. The personnel were magnificent... The Russian cavalry never shied away from battle on horseback or on foot. The Russians often attacked our machine guns and artillery, even when their attack was doomed to failure. They paid no attention either to the strength of our fire or to their losses."
6. German participant in the battles on the Eastern Front, World War I:
“...for several hours the entire Russian front line was under fire from our heavy artillery. The trenches were simply plowed up and leveled to the ground; it seemed that there were no survivors left there. But our infantry went on the attack. And suddenly the Russian positions come to life: here and there the characteristic shots of Russian rifles are heard. And now figures in gray greatcoats are appearing everywhere - the Russians have launched a swift counterattack... Our infantry, indecisively, slows down the pace of the advance... The signal to retreat is heard..."
7. Military columnist for the Austrian newspaper Pester Loyd, World War I:
“It would be funny to talk about Russian pilots with disrespect. Russian pilots are more dangerous enemies than French ones. Russian pilots are cold-blooded. The Russian attacks may lack systematicity, just like the French, but in the air, Russian pilots are unshakable and can endure heavy losses without any panic; the Russian pilot is and remains a terrible adversary.”
8. Franz Halder, Colonel General, Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, World War II:
“Information from the front confirms that the Russians are fighting everywhere to the last man... It is striking that when artillery batteries are captured, etc., few surrender. Some Russians fight until they are killed, others flee, throw off their uniforms and try to get out of the encirclement under the guise of peasants.”
“It should be noted the tenacity of individual Russian formations in battle. There have been cases when garrisons of pillboxes blew themselves up along with the pillboxes, not wanting to surrender.”
9. Ludwig von Kleist, Field Marshal, World War II:
“The Russians showed themselves to be first-class warriors from the very beginning, and our successes in the first months of the war were simply due to better training. Having gained combat experience, they became first-class soldiers. They fought with exceptional tenacity and had amazing endurance... "
10. Erich von Manstein, Field Marshal, World War II:
“It often happened that Soviet soldiers raised their hands to show that they were surrendering to us, and after our infantrymen approached them, they again resorted to weapons; or the wounded man feigned death, and then shot at our soldiers from the rear.”
11. Gunther Blumentritt, General, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army, World War II:
“The Russian soldier prefers hand-to-hand combat. His ability to endure hardship without flinching is truly amazing. This is the Russian soldier whom we came to know and respect a quarter of a century ago.”
“The behavior of the Russian troops, even in the first battles, was in striking contrast with the behavior of the Poles and Western allies in defeat. Even surrounded, the Russians continued stubborn fighting. Where there were no roads, the Russians remained inaccessible in most cases. They always tried to break through to the east... Our encirclement of the Russians was rarely successful.”
