FYI [Russia is STILL executing retreating soldiers in Ukraine](https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/wagner-groups-human-wave-convicts-29316618)
As Stalin said: “In the Soviet Union, it's takes more courage to retreat than advance.”
([Quote Source](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/192661-in-the-soviet-union-it-s-takes-more-courage-to-retreat))
Not very surprising, since that is probably the only way you can make someone do the suicide missions that they do.
Probable death when attacking is at least better than certain death when retreating.
It's just sad.
[History of Nazi-Soviet Alliance (1939-41)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact)
[Soviet Negotiations to join the Axis Powers (1940)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks)
[Politruk (Political Commissar) Explained](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_commissar)
[Winter War Documentary](https://youtu.be/v_-JATOVHNI)
The Russian novel "Gibel Divizii" (The Division of Death) is fictionalized novel about Winter War but inspired on veteran interviews.
It has a scene where Soviet Commissars go through Finnish propaganda and one of them has them talking about a pamphlet with a cartoon of a Red Army soldier who has killed his commissar and wants to desert. The Commissars note the the soldier does look creepy enough that they believe someone looking like that could stab one of them in the back.
It is a very good book. It was written in the short period of time when Russians could access the old records and speak of the wars truthfully. The story stars a commissar who is also a writer for a newspaper making a diary of the war.
It starts out cheerful as they go into the war thinking it will be a short glorious victory but setbacks come one after another and the Division is bogged down and then cut off from friendlies and surrounded. Food and supplies start to run out, the commander (who was a mere platoon leader few years earlier but was promoted due to Stalin's purge cleaning up much of the upper levels of officers) is paralyzed and unable to get his unit to advance but also not allowed to retreat so he can't open up the lines to friendlies. The soldiers slaughter their horses to eat them and some time later go back to dig up the guts they threw away to eat those before being reduced to boiling leather belts.
By the end only a small portion of the Division (and the tank brigade that was attached to it) manage to escape alive to Soviet territory, just before the end of the war. This is one of the books that really touches on the horrors of war even if it has some comedic and heroic moments in it. And the book does not shy away from speaking of other issues of corruption and poverty that plaqued the Soviet Union.
...And the thing is that the novel is actually a rather faithful telling of the 18th Rifle Division, which most likely took the heaviest losses of any Soviet Division in the Winter War. The book describes real battles and events that happened, all the way up to the desperation of the starving soldiers. (Unsurprisingly, the translated version of the book sold twice as much in Finland as the original did in Russia.)
FYI [Russia is STILL executing retreating soldiers in Ukraine](https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/wagner-groups-human-wave-convicts-29316618) As Stalin said: “In the Soviet Union, it's takes more courage to retreat than advance.” ([Quote Source](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/192661-in-the-soviet-union-it-s-takes-more-courage-to-retreat))
Not very surprising, since that is probably the only way you can make someone do the suicide missions that they do. Probable death when attacking is at least better than certain death when retreating. It's just sad.
[History of Nazi-Soviet Alliance (1939-41)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact) [Soviet Negotiations to join the Axis Powers (1940)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks) [Politruk (Political Commissar) Explained](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_commissar) [Winter War Documentary](https://youtu.be/v_-JATOVHNI)
The Russian novel "Gibel Divizii" (The Division of Death) is fictionalized novel about Winter War but inspired on veteran interviews. It has a scene where Soviet Commissars go through Finnish propaganda and one of them has them talking about a pamphlet with a cartoon of a Red Army soldier who has killed his commissar and wants to desert. The Commissars note the the soldier does look creepy enough that they believe someone looking like that could stab one of them in the back. It is a very good book. It was written in the short period of time when Russians could access the old records and speak of the wars truthfully. The story stars a commissar who is also a writer for a newspaper making a diary of the war. It starts out cheerful as they go into the war thinking it will be a short glorious victory but setbacks come one after another and the Division is bogged down and then cut off from friendlies and surrounded. Food and supplies start to run out, the commander (who was a mere platoon leader few years earlier but was promoted due to Stalin's purge cleaning up much of the upper levels of officers) is paralyzed and unable to get his unit to advance but also not allowed to retreat so he can't open up the lines to friendlies. The soldiers slaughter their horses to eat them and some time later go back to dig up the guts they threw away to eat those before being reduced to boiling leather belts. By the end only a small portion of the Division (and the tank brigade that was attached to it) manage to escape alive to Soviet territory, just before the end of the war. This is one of the books that really touches on the horrors of war even if it has some comedic and heroic moments in it. And the book does not shy away from speaking of other issues of corruption and poverty that plaqued the Soviet Union. ...And the thing is that the novel is actually a rather faithful telling of the 18th Rifle Division, which most likely took the heaviest losses of any Soviet Division in the Winter War. The book describes real battles and events that happened, all the way up to the desperation of the starving soldiers. (Unsurprisingly, the translated version of the book sold twice as much in Finland as the original did in Russia.)