Who Murdered the Russian Terror?

Public display of Stalin's funeral



 What happened between late night of February 28 to the early hours of March 1 remains highly speculative for many, and so it would prove in theory that the security savvy Stalin was acting not in proportion during the activities that preceded the night before. Did he die of natural cause as what many were led to believe? Or did he die in the hands of the men in his political circle? Just a couple of years after the end of second world war, Russia suffered one of the greatest devastation it had ever witnessed with millions killed, wounded or missing. On record, roughly 20,000,000 Russian civilians were killed or have died as a result of Stalin's iron fisted rule in the years that he was in power.  Russia was decimated, its population cowed into fear and submission with a majority of whom, including many members of the central committees, inkling for a chance to escape from the clutches of a murdering mad man. Likewise, many of Russia's political leaders under Stalin were yet wary for another conflict during the emergence of the cold war in the early 1950's. There would be a day of reckoning, and so they thought. On February 28, Stalin, accompanied by his ministers Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin, Nikita Khrushchev and Livrentiy Beria, dig in for a dinner meeting and after a casual drink of white Russian vodka. Beria was the highest ranking official in the group next to Stalin. Soon afterward, they retired for the night. In an unprecedented move, the guards assigned to Stalin were caught off guard as they were whisked away by the Russian strongman. Unusual for a man who'd always have a detailed security posted at his main bedroom door. The guards knew that with Stalin as the leader, disobedience would be the last thing on their mind.  Had it occur to Stalin's immediate circle the prospect of another catastrophic war remains a plausible fact that has yet to be considered. By dawn the next day, the two privates just a few meters from the door of Stalin's room became uneasy; it was already 10:00 a.m. and the leader has not made a stir. There were strict orders the night before that he'd be left undisturbed. The orders were given by his interior minister - - on the pretext that he needed much rest. Later in the evening, Peter Lozgachev, the deputy commandant of the Kuntsevo residence, was worried and called knocked repeatedly at the door. Hearing muffled sounds, obviously from Stalin, they barged the door open. The sight surprised them; Stalin was lying on the floor, head first and covered with his own urine. Apparently, the room was disoriented, suggesting that there was a struggle of one man. The once powerful and fearful Stalin was helpless, writhing in mumbled tones as if ordering them with every means possible to restore back his condition. His lips were pale, saliva spurting from his mouth, hair disheveled and his eyes contorted. Initially, the guards did not inform any doctors but instead called the members of the Politburo and the interior minister - - Beria. There were no skilled doctor left, they were purged the year before in an apparent attempt to assassinate Jews and party members suspected of harboring ill-will with the leadership. Stalin knew better. He had an uncanny ability to pry the soul and and measure his oppositionists. This time - - its the day of reckoning. It took three more hours for the member of the party to arrive at the residence and another four hours to fetch the only available doctors. Between those hours, Beria was the first to arrive, tending to Stalin and ensuring that the public will not know of the incident until further notice. Stalin died three days later, without any attempt at surgery. The doctor in charge tagged Stalin's death to 'cerebral hemorrhage'.  How and why the delay in the administration of immediate and surgical help remains a question in history. Only 30 years later was there ever a mention of an assassination plot - - by his own interior minister - - Beria. There was no autopsy report suggesting that a poison maimed the Russian strongman, but all facts bear witness that there was a conspiracy, or perhaps an institutional plot, to weaken the leadership's power. Had it been timely during the morning of March 1 in bringing Stalin to the hospital, he would have survived. His diagnosis at the time of death 'cerebral haemorrhage' . An unlikely assumption for a man who never had any serious ailment before.

Russian commissars take charge of an execution

          













    













     

German Juggernaut

The Kriegsmarine grew formidably but its surface ships remained mostly at their ports throughout the war

The Hetzer was a silent tank killer armed with a modified Pak 39

The German 88 mm anti-aircraft packed a powerful punch and was heavily favored as an anti-tank weapon

Standard MG42 was issued to almost every military unit in the German Army

A German grenadier helps position a Panzerfaust

Stuka dive bomber formation

Stuka dive bombers over French territory

German infantry with a standard issue Sturmgehr 44 assault rifle

Tiger-I tank 

The Tiger was most feared by Allied tank crews

Jagdpanther

The German war machine was a formidable adversary. Equipped with the most advanced weapons of the period, the German war architects kept innovating weapons of war that can deliver with the most destructive punch. The Tiger I and Hetzer tanks were fearsome predators that outgunned and outmaneuvered their Allied counterparts. Although the Tiger was a heavier piece of machinery, its 88 mm main turret was capable of blasting a tore in almost every Allied tank thrown in the field. The Hetzer was used in surprise anti-tank operations and was fitted with an improvised Pak 39. Later modifications would be put into place with the arrival of the Jagdpanther. The Sturgewehr 44 automatic rifle is the predecessor of modern day assault automatic rifle. 425,977 were issued at the end of the war. The German Navy had its own array of weapons including the heaviest battleship ever constructed in the Atlantic, the Tirpitz. Although Germany's surface warships were not much of a threat during the Atlantic campaign, its feared U-boats were loathed. Eventually, with the development of advanced radar systems, the Allies were able to arrest the total domination of Germany's U-boats in the Atlantic.   

German Soldaten

A Wermacht soldaten. Majority of German troops were young adolescents drafted for action

An Afrika Korps rider pose before the camera

Note the Iron Cross. He belongs to an elite combat group.

German storm troopers survey an area before an initial attack. File photo above was taken in Russia

"Blitzkrieg"

A mechanized light armored unit spearheads the advance into Poland during the early morning hours of September 1, 1939

Vicious struggle for villages, towns, farms and cities preceded the German war machine across vast swathes of Russian territory.

German military police sets up a checkpoint inside Polish territory

Not far from the east would rise the vast Klooga concentration camp complex. This is present-day Estonia.

Goosestepping in the beautiful avenues of Paris.

"The people in the houses were rudely awoken by the din of our tanks, the clatter and roar of tracks and engines. Troops lay bivouacked beside the road, military vehicles stood parked in farmyards and in some places on the road itself. Civilians and French troops, their faces distorted with terror, lay huddled in the ditches, alongside hedges and in every hollow beside the road. We passed refugee columns, the carts abandoned by their owners, who had fled in panic into the fields. On we went, at a steady speed, towards our objective. Every so often a quick glance at the map by a shaded light and a short wireless message to Divisional H.Q. to report the position and thus the success of 25th Panzer Regiment. Every so often a look out of the hatch to assure myself that there was still no resistance and that contact was being maintained to the rear. The flat countryside lay spread out around us under the cold light of the moon. We were through the Maginot Line! It was hardly conceivable. Twenty-two years before we had stood for four and a half long years before this self-same enemy and had won victory after victory and yet finally lost the war. And now we had broken through the renowned Maginot Line and were driving deep into enemy territory. It was not just a beautiful dream. It was reality."

                                                                                                    -- Erwin Rommel 

                                          

Adolf Hitler: The Master of Fear

Seemingly no one can understand the concept of the "superhuman" better than Hitler. Barely after a year of being installed as chancellor of Germany in 1933, he mechanized the rise of the Nazi Party backed by thousands of loyal storm troopers. Germany saw the prelude of the horrors to come. 

Herr Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering was one of the staunchest supporters of Hitler. Unknown to the fact, he was responsible for the extermination of several party opponents during the early purges of the Nazification of Germany.