Question about Soviet Historiography

[The Minsky Moment]

So, there are lots of goofy Soviet decisions that only make sense when you understand that the Soviet Union was completely under the control of a severely imbalanced character.  The decision to back the Germans against the West is just one of a long string.

This.
Stalin had a talent for factional infighting and the creative deployment of political terror.  But as a strategist . . . he just wasn't very bright.  He made bad decisions, lots of them.  And the Soviet system didn't have much in the ways of checks.

What bailed him out was the fact that he was opposed by an egomaniac also operating in a system with limited checks and whose strategic acumen was dubious as well.  Plus a lot of human beings to throw into the meat-grinders.  Plus massive amounts of money, supplies and equipment from the West.

[derspiess]

Um their plan was to cut off and destroy half the French Army (along with the Dutch, Belgians, and the BEF).  If this plan was achieved, and it was, what exactly did Hitler think the French were going to defend Paris with?

Hitler overestimated the French army.  He actually lost his nerve a few times during Fall Gelb and issued orders to slow down.  Also the operation as planned was a little less ambitious than what was actually executed by Rommel, Guderian, etc.

[Valmy]

Um their plan was to cut off and destroy half the French Army (along with the Dutch, Belgians, and the BEF).  If this plan was achieved, and it was, what exactly did Hitler think the French were going to defend Paris with?

Hitler overestimated the French army.  He actually lost his nerve a few times during Fall Gelb and issued orders to slow down.  Also the operation as planned was a little less ambitious than what was actually executed by Rommel, Guderian, etc.

While things did not go exactly as planned, and Hitler did freak out at the speed of it fearing his troops would get overstretched, this was the plan as drawn up by Manstein and it did achieve the things it was designed to do.

The French Army might not have been as bad as the battle showed because its best units barely got to fight.  The offensive was launched against second rank reserve formations, and Gamelin had already sent all his reserves into the low countries to be cut off. 

If the Germans had just attacked head on it could have been tough going...or not.  The big problem the French had, and the reason they lost their nerve in 1938, was the fact their air force was so subpar.  Control of the skies along with armor in an era without effective anti-tank weaponry was a pretty big hurdle to overcome.  Maybe they were screwed either way but we will never know.  The German strategy was perfectly executed and the French Army had no chance after about ten days.

[derspiess]

While things did not go exactly as planned, and Hitler did freak out at the speed of it fearing his troops would get overstretched, this was the plan as drawn up by Manstein and it did achieve the things it was designed to do.

But Manstein's plan was not quite the final plan.  The final plan was toned down a bit.  Fortunately for the Germans, Guderian improvised the daring elements back into the actual execution, which apparently gave Hitler palpitations.

[Razgovory]

Oh, that.  Yeah, well I think we ought to acknowledge what happened to German POWs shortly after the war.  Obviously it wasn't as bad as what happened to Soviet-captured Germans, and wasn't quite as intentional.

I assumed he was talking about all of Germany (civilians, etc.).

Acknowledge how?  Anyway, we let way to many off the hook as it was.  Peiper should have hung.

[DGuller]

Oh, that.  Yeah, well I think we ought to acknowledge what happened to German POWs shortly after the war.  Obviously it wasn't as bad as what happened to Soviet-captured Germans, and wasn't quite as intentional.

I assumed he was talking about all of Germany (civilians, etc.).

Acknowledge how?  Anyway, we let way to many off the hook as it was.  Peiper should have hung.

That's something I don't get.  The guy slaughters 100+ of your own soldiers after they surrendered, and he gets 15 minutes of community service?  In a perverse way, I can understand Americans not taking crimes against Soviet POWs seriously, but you can't just forget the mass murder of your own.

[Razgovory]

You can thank Joseph McCarthy.

[derspiess]

Acknowledge how? 

It'd be nice to figure out exactly what happened, i.e., how many German POWs died in Western Allied captivity.  I know the claimed 1,000,000 figure is way overblown, but we do know some died from disease and/or malnutrition.

[derspiess]

Oh, that.  Yeah, well I think we ought to acknowledge what happened to German POWs shortly after the war.  Obviously it wasn't as bad as what happened to Soviet-captured Germans, and wasn't quite as intentional.

I assumed he was talking about all of Germany (civilians, etc.).

Acknowledge how?  Anyway, we let way to many off the hook as it was.  Peiper should have hung.

That's something I don't get.  The guy slaughters 100+ of your own soldiers after they surrendered, and he gets 15 minutes of community service?  In a perverse way, I can understand Americans not taking crimes against Soviet POWs seriously, but you can't just forget the mass murder of your own.

Someone eventually took care of him.

[DGuller]

Oh, that.  Yeah, well I think we ought to acknowledge what happened to German POWs shortly after the war.  Obviously it wasn't as bad as what happened to Soviet-captured Germans, and wasn't quite as intentional.

I assumed he was talking about all of Germany (civilians, etc.).

Acknowledge how?  Anyway, we let way to many off the hook as it was.  Peiper should have hung.

That's something I don't get.  The guy slaughters 100+ of your own soldiers after they surrendered, and he gets 15 minutes of community service?  In a perverse way, I can understand Americans not taking crimes against Soviet POWs seriously, but you can't just forget the mass murder of your own.

Someone eventually took care of him.

Leave it to the French to do the hard work.  Shouldn't have taken 3 decades, though.

[Razgovory]

Acknowledge how? 

It'd be nice to figure out exactly what happened, i.e., how many German POWs died in Western Allied captivity.  I know the claimed 1,000,000 figure is way overblown, but we do know some died from disease and/or malnutrition.

I wasn't aware this number was kept secret.

[Valmy]

That's something I don't get.  The guy slaughters 100+ of your own soldiers after they surrendered, and he gets 15 minutes of community service?  In a perverse way, I can understand Americans not taking crimes against Soviet POWs seriously, but you can't just forget the mass murder of your own.

Consistency was not really something we were awesome at after WWII.  Like how Albert Speer got jail time while his immediate lieutenants got death.

[dps]

Oh, that.  Yeah, well I think we ought to acknowledge what happened to German POWs shortly after the war.  Obviously it wasn't as bad as what happened to Soviet-captured Germans, and wasn't quite as intentional.

I assumed he was talking about all of Germany (civilians, etc.).

Acknowledge how?  Anyway, we let way to many off the hook as it was.  Peiper should have hung.

That's something I don't get.  The guy slaughters 100+ of your own soldiers after they surrendered, and he gets 15 minutes of community service?  In a perverse way, I can understand Americans not taking crimes against Soviet POWs seriously, but you can't just forget the mass murder of your own.

Someone eventually took care of him.

Leave it to the French to do the hard work.  Shouldn't have taken 3 decades, though.

Wasn't it like a jealous husband, though, instead of retribution for war crimes?  Or am I confusing him with another Nazi war criminal?

[DGuller]

From what I remember, the crime was unsolved, so let's just pretend it was retribution to feel better.

[grumbler]

That's something I don't get.  The guy slaughters 100+ of your own soldiers after they surrendered, and he gets 15 minutes of community service?  In a perverse way, I can understand Americans not taking crimes against Soviet POWs seriously, but you can't just forget the mass murder of your own.

Pieper was sentenced to death at his trial.  The problem was that the testimony used to convict him was gained by illegal meqans, and he had several eyewitnesses (Americans who were treated properly by him) to set against the tainted affidavits.  His execution was thus delayed, and when the shitstorm broke about the use of torture to get the affidavits, his sentence was commuted to life.  Eventually, like most of the lifers, he was released.  He served something like 12 years in prison, so it wasn't just "community service."

That said, he should probably have been executed, but its an imperfect world.  He didn't "get away" with anything, he just benefited from some over-zealous prosecutors.