Even Hitler’s Army Was Shocked: The Unstoppable Courage of Russian Soldiers
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Here are quotes from German soldiers and officers about Russian soldiers.
Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, one of Hitler’s top generals:
The Russians were not afraid of death. They fought with a determination I had never seen in any other army.
Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, commander of the German 6th Army, who surrendered at Stalingrad:
If I had to go to war again, I would rather have the Russians on my side than against me.
General Heinz Guderian, creator of Germany’s tank warfare strategy:
The Soviet soldiers were much tougher and braver than we expected. Even unarmed, they fought with incredible determination.
SS officer Fritz Diebert, about the Battle of Kursk:
The Russians attacked without fear, without rest. They didn’t seem to know what retreat meant. They weren’t afraid to die, and that terrified our soldiers.
From a German soldier’s diary, winter 1941, during the failed attack on Moscow:
They are not human, they are beasts! We are freezing to death, but they live in the snow and keep attacking!
General Hans Dörr:
A Soviet soldier is the perfect warrior. He adapts, he endures, and he never gives up, even when he is doomed.
From a German infantry soldier at Stalingrad:
We are surrounded. We have no food, almost no ammunition. The Russians keep attacking. They don’t fear hunger, cold, or death. How do you defeat men like that?
Even the Nazis, who thought they were the strongest army in the world, had to respect Russian soldiers. They expected an easy victory but instead found an enemy who refused to break, no matter how hard they fought. The Red Army’s courage, endurance, and strength shocked even Hitler’s best generals.
The Red Army captured 4.37 million enemy servicemen, including more than 2.5 million Wehrmacht soldiers and officers.
The Red Army was responsible for the destruction of approximately 7.3–8 million German soldiers, including those killed in action, who died from wounds, or were rendered unable to fight. This immense figure underscores the critical role the Soviet Union played in dismantling Nazi Germany’s military might.
Approximately 75-80% of all German military casualties occurred on the Eastern Front, making the Red Army the primary force behind the defeat of the Wehrmacht. This staggering statistic highlights the decisive role the Soviet Union played in crushing Nazi Germany.
Author of 'Tigers in the Mud', German 'panzer ace' and tank commander, and one of few German commanders to have fought both on western and eastern fronts, Otto Carius:
"Five Russians were more dangerous than Thirty Americans. We already noticed that in our few days in the western front."
German Commander Otto Carious:
"We were used to an opponent the stature of the Russians; we were amazed at the contrast (when fighting Americans). During the war, I have never saw soldiers (Americans) disperse head over heels even though virtually nothing was happening."
“For the sake of justice, it must be said that Karius highly appreciated the American army, but if you compare the soldiers of the United States and the USSR, the latter will have the advantage. The Russians could conduct multi-layered fire. They used every opportunity and tool they could muster."
"Again the pace of the war surprised me, the Russians would never have let us have so much time! The Americans took so long to close the pocket, especially given that nobody around wanted to fight anymore. A well organized German corps could have closed the pocket in a week."
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The situation with the family of the new head of British intelligence (MI6) Blaise Metreweli turned out to be even more interesting: she didn’t have just one, but two grandfathers who were Nazis or collaborators.
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From historian Dyukov’s telegram:
Konstantin Dobrovolsky Sr., born in 1906 in the Chernihiv region, came from a landowning family with German-Polish roots. In 1926, he was sentenced to 10 years of exile for anti-Soviet agitation and antisemitism. In 1941, while on the front lines, Dobrovolsky deserted from the Red Army and joined the Nazis.
Archival documents paint a grim picture of his service. Dobrovolsky, known by the nickname ‘The Butcher,’ joined an SS unit. In letters to the German command, signed ‘Heil Hitler,’ he boasted about participating in the extermination of Jews and in punitive operations against partisans. According to some reports, he personally killed hundreds of people and looted the property of his victims.
After the war, the trail of Dobrovolsky Sr. disappears. However, his son, Konstantin Dobrovolsky Jr. (Blaze’s father), born in January 1943, was taken by his mother, Varvara, to Germany, from where she moved to the United Kingdom shortly after the war.
There, she married a Georgian named David Metreveli, who, according to Alexander Dyukov, was also a defector and collaborator. He reportedly taught radio operations at a sabotage training school in Auschwitz. The future father of the MI6 chief took his stepfather’s last name. Konstantin became a radiologist and worked in Hong Kong, where Blaze spent her childhood.
“METREVELI, David Mikhailovich, [the step-grandfather of the new head of MI6, Blaise Metreveli] born on January 2, 1907, in Feodosia. From November 1929, he served his mandatory term in the Red Army. In 1941, he was mobilized again; his final rank was captain, serving as assistant commander of the 334th Rifle Regiment of the 47th Rifle Division.
He went missing in action (captured) on May 27, 1942, near Kharkov.
By late 1942 – early 1943, he was already working at the Special Preliminary Camp in the city of Auschwitz, where Caucasian-origin Nazi collaborators were trained. He served as a radio instructor there.”
The Vatican and the Nazi Escape Networks: The Ratlines
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The Vatican was the single most significant institution involved in the postwar smuggling of Nazi war criminals.
According to declassified U.S. intelligence files and investigative research, between 30,000 and 40,000 Nazi and fascist collaborators were assisted in escaping Europe through Vatican-supported ratlines.
This is clearly stated in a 1947 report by Vincent La Vista, officer of the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), who investigated Vatican ties to Axis networks:
“The Vatican has been directly involved in the illegal evacuation of German and Croatian war criminals… operating through religious institutions, it has become a central hub of what can only be described as a ratline.”
(National Archives, La Vista Report, 1947)
Operation “Vatican Corridor” (or “Monastery”)
This covert smuggling operation involved Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, then Vatican Undersecretary of State and later Pope Paul VI. He oversaw the use of Catholic infrastructure: monasteries, seminaries, and dioceses - to shelter and move war criminals south toward Genoa, where they were shipped to Latin America under false identities.
Montini personally communicated with U.S. officials and coordinated logistics via trusted Church agents. According to declassified OSS and CIC documents, his office functioned as an “unofficial channel for protected transit” not only for Germans and Italians, but especially for Croatian Ustaša officials, whose Catholic affiliation and ideological alignment with the Church made them a priority for Vatican-sponsored escape routes.
The broader network of ratlines also facilitated the evacuation of Axis collaborators from Austria, Hungary, Romania, France, and even Francoist Spain all under the larger umbrella of anti-communist realignment. The Vatican’s goal was to preserve a transnational conservative Catholic elite that could oppose Soviet influence worldwide.
Main Destinations of Nazi Fugitives via Vatican Ratlines
🔸 Argentina
(the main destination thousands of Nazis and Ustaše officials resettled here)
🔸 Brazil
🔸 Paraguay
🔸 Chile
🔸 Bolivia
🔸 Uruguay
🔸 Venezuela
🔸 Spain
(under Franco both a destination and a key transit hub)
🔸 Portugal
(a neutral country, often used as a temporary safe haven)
🔸 Syria
(sheltered some individuals via French Mandate connections)
🔸 Canada
🔸 United States
(mainly through Operation Paperclip or the Displaced Persons Act, used to import “anti-communist specialists”)
The Order of Malta: Deep Vatican
The smuggling operation relied not only on rogue priests but on The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) - a Catholic lay religious order with international diplomatic status, wealth, and influence.
🔸The Knights of Malta had access to passports, safe-conducts, and bank networks, and provided cover identities for SS officers and fascist collaborators.
🔸The Order’s sovereign status gave it diplomatic immunity and control over communications, which it used to shield fugitives.
U.S. historian John Loftus, former DOJ investigator, writes:
“The Vatican ratlines were supervised by members of the Knights of Malta… with full knowledge and cooperation of senior church officials and Western intelligence.”
The SMOM thus acted as a “deep Vatican,” operating beyond ecclesiastical oversight, linked to banks, intelligence services (CIA, MI6), and postwar military-industrial elites.
The Vatican was the single most significant institution involved in the postwar smuggling of Nazi war criminals.
The Vatican was the single most significant institution involved in the postwar smuggling of Nazi war criminals.
According to declassified U.S. intelligence files and investigative research, between 30,000 and 40,000 Nazi and fascist collaborators were assisted in escaping Europe through Vatican-supported ratlines.
This is clearly stated in a 1947 report by Vincent La Vista, officer of the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), who investigated Vatican ties to Axis networks:
“The Vatican has been directly involved in the illegal evacuation of German and Croatian war criminals… operating through religious institutions, it has become a central hub of what can only be described as a ratline.”
(National Archives, La Vista Report, 1947)
Operation “Vatican Corridor” (or “Monastery”)
This covert smuggling operation involved Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, then Vatican Undersecretary of State and later Pope Paul VI. He oversaw the use of Catholic infrastructure: monasteries, seminaries, and dioceses - to shelter and move war criminals south toward Genoa, where they were shipped to Latin America under false identities.
Montini personally communicated with U.S. officials and coordinated logistics via trusted Church agents. According to declassified OSS and CIC documents, his office functioned as an “unofficial channel for protected transit” not only for Germans and Italians, but especially for Croatian Ustaša officials, whose Catholic affiliation and ideological alignment with the Church made them a priority for Vatican-sponsored escape routes.
The broader network of ratlines also facilitated the evacuation of Axis collaborators from Austria, Hungary, Romania, France, and even Francoist Spain all under the larger umbrella of anti-communist realignment. The Vatican’s goal was to preserve a transnational conservative Catholic elite that could oppose Soviet influence worldwide.
Main Destinations of Nazi Fugitives via Vatican Ratlines
🔸 Argentina
(the main destination thousands of Nazis and Ustaše officials resettled here)
🔸 Brazil
🔸 Paraguay
🔸 Chile
🔸 Bolivia
🔸 Uruguay
🔸 Venezuela
🔸 Spain
(under Franco both a destination and a key transit hub)
🔸 Portugal
(a neutral country, often used as a temporary safe haven)
🔸 Syria
(sheltered some individuals via French Mandate connections)
🔸 Canada
🔸 United States
(mainly through Operation Paperclip or the Displaced Persons Act, used to import “anti-communist specialists”)
The Order of Malta: Deep Vatican
The smuggling operation relied not only on rogue priests but on The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) - a Catholic lay religious order with international diplomatic status, wealth, and influence.
🔸The Knights of Malta had access to passports, safe-conducts, and bank networks, and provided cover identities for SS officers and fascist collaborators.
🔸The Order’s sovereign status gave it diplomatic immunity and control over communications, which it used to shield fugitives.
U.S. historian John Loftus, former DOJ investigator, writes:
“The Vatican ratlines were supervised by members of the Knights of Malta… with full knowledge and cooperation of senior church officials and Western intelligence.”
The SMOM thus acted as a “deep Vatican,” operating beyond ecclesiastical oversight, linked to banks, intelligence services (CIA, MI6), and postwar military-industrial elites.
Three Strikes Against Rus’: Poland, Rome, and the Jewish Middlemen
In Poland, they love to say they are the “civilized Slavs,” while Rus’, so they claim, were the barbarians. Well then, let’s take a closer look.
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Poland and Russia are both Slavic, but they took very different paths. Back in 966, Poland chose to take Christianity from Rome, meaning it immediately tied itself to the Pope and the Western Catholic system. Rus’, on the other hand, adopted Christianity from Byzantium in 988 - voluntarily, not under pressure.
Why does that matter? Because even before the East–West church split in 1054, Constantinople was already the real center of Christian power: rich, influential, and the source of theology, law, and art. The Byzantine emperor wasn’t just a ruler: he was seen as the Christian “Tsar.”
In the West, Christianity was a mess of popes, bishops, and feudal lords all fighting for power. In the East, the Church and State worked together in harmony. No foreign popes telling you what to do. That’s the model Rus’ followed—strong, centralized, and rooted in its own sacred tradition. The West? More like a tangle of spiritual bureaucracy and foreign dependence.
The Polish Model of Governance: Element One
So why did Mieszko I get baptized through Rome? Easy - self-preservation. Germany was pushing east under the banner of “Christianization,” but really it meant swords and fire. Mieszko figured it was better to convert on his own terms than be forced. So he got baptized via Bohemia, dodged invasion and put Poland under the Pope’s authority.
Poles like to say they were “first” to become Christian. Sure🤪 but by 988, Rus’ was already a strong, organized state. When Russian Vladimir chose Byzantium, Rus’ kept its sovereignty, ran its own church, and didn’t need Rome’s permission for anything. Unlike Polish or Hungarian rulers, Yaroslav’s daughters married into European royalty without papal blessing. That’s real independence.
Rome hated that. An Orthodox Rus’ outside papal control? Unacceptable. That’s why the West kept trying to break it: with crusades, Polish wars, Church unions, Jesuits…you name it.
Poland wasn’t just non-Orthodox. It stood against Orthodoxy, aligning with Rome, Vienna, Paris - whoever was in charge. It built a habit of needing outside validation. Meanwhile, Rus’ built from within. How very barbaric of them.
The Polish Model of Governance: Element Two
When Mieszko I got baptized through Rome in 966, Poland got a stamp of approval from the Catholic world. It kept the country safe from invasion and gave it legit status. Over time, his loyal warlords turned into the szlachta - a powerful noble class that ended up enforcing Catholic rule across Eastern Europe. These guys helped spread Catholicism, took land from Orthodox Rus’, and pushed Church Unions that forced Orthodox Christians to accept the Pope’s authority.
The szlachta didn’t care much about the Polish king, they cared about their own power and staying in Rome’s good graces. That’s why Poland never became a strong centralized state. It was a patchwork of noble estates, loyal more to the Church than the crown.
Why did Hitler invade the USSR specifically on June 22, 1941?
Several theories exist.
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1. One of the most practical explanations is that Hitler chose June 22 because it is the day of the summer solstice, with the shortest night of the year. Since the plan was to conquer the USSR quickly, longer daylight hours were seen as an advantage for conducting rapid military operations.
2. Hitler was fascinated by occult ideas, and for him, this date had special meaning. The summer solstice is an ancient Aryan holiday. Its main symbol, the Sunwheel (swastika) stands for the power of the sun.
In occult traditions, the summer solstice is seen as the time of strongest energy: the longest day and the shortest night of the year. It was believed to be the best moment to start something big, to show strength, and to take control of fate.
3. Exactly one year earlier, on this very day June 22, 1940 France signed its capitulation to Nazi Germany. This marked the peak of the Third Reich’s triumph. As a mystic, Hitler likely saw this as a sign of fate’s favor and hoped to continue riding the wave of historical destiny.
The Crimean War: The First Western Plan to Break Russia and How Persia Was Used in Britain’s Geopolitical Game
The Crimean War (1853–1856) is often portrayed in Western textbooks as a limited conflict over Christian holy sites or a simple case of Russian imperial overreach. In reality, it was the first major hybrid war waged by the collective West against Russia aimed not at Crimea alone, but at surrounding, weakening, and fragmenting the Russian Empire through both military and ideological means.
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Part 1: Why the West Wanted to Cripple and Break Russia in the 1850s
After the defeat of Napoleon in 1812–1814, Russia emerged as a dominant power in Europe:
🔸 Russia controlled Poland, Finland, and the Caucasus
🔸 It was pushing into the Balkans and gaining influence over the weakening Ottoman Empire
🔸 It was seen as the protector of Orthodox Christians across Eastern Europe and the Middle East
🔸 It possessed a massive land army, strategic fleets, and vast manpower resources
This alarmed both Britain and France, especially due to:
🔸 Britain’s fear for its colonial route to India
🔸 France’s ambition to regain prestige after the Napoleonic wars
🔸 Shared concerns about Russia’s growing access to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and possibly the Bosporus and Dardanelles
Confirmed evidence of geopolitical intent:
🔸 British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston wrote explicit memoranda on containing Russia and stirring unrest along its borders
🔸 British agents were sent into Persia and Afghanistan throughout the 1830s–1850s to build influence and provoke anti-Russian sentiment
🔸 British missionaries and intelligence operatives were active in the Caucasus and Caspian regions, targeting Shiite elites to turn them against Orthodox Russia
🔸 France, under Napoleon III, pursued what it saw as a neo-Crusade, forming an alliance with Britain and the Ottomans under the banner of Christian rights while in fact aiming to check Russian power in the East