Their is a strong logic behind Putin's idea of overwhelming the Ukrainians with numbers simply because it worked that way on the Germans in WWII. But in WWII, the Russian success that way was in no small part due to the massive help with logistics they received from the West. This time, that help is on the side of the Ukrainians.

I am German and when I was 6 at 1970 my father told me that our neighbour had been sent to Stalingrad at the age of 18 and JUST about been saved on the last flight out. He was "strange" ALWAYS. Later I understood that He was suffering completely under PTSD. His house was like a coffin even in 1985, so 40 years later. He died and NEVER overcame the horrors of his young life. War is horrible for the victims AND the soldiers. When I see the young Russians being drafted today, I always think of my former neighbour. These guys will never recover.

In the Battle of Stalingrad the Russians were defending their homeland against a foreign invader. The battle was taking place in their territory. They have more or less a home-court advantage. In today's Ukraine-Russo war, battles are being fought inside Ukraine and Ukraine is the one fighting for their survival with Russia now the aggressor. Sure Stalingrad 2.0 can happen again, except that Ukraine now takes the role of the former Soviet Union, and the Russia today takes the role of the Nazis.

Field marshal Paulus, who was captured by the Soviets at Stalingrad, said with the benefit of hindsight, something that resonates today. "Even the best army is doomed to fail when it is required to perform impossible tasks, that is, when it is ordered to campaign against the national existence of other peoples."

Putin's re-enacting Stalingrad alright. Except Russia plays Germany's role this time.

One of the most moving R3 programmes I ever heard was a reading of censored and undelivered letters from German soldiers at Stalingrad. Total resignation to death, total realisation that patriotic warfare was insane and that they had been fooled. The most touching, unread farewells. This interview drew parallels with the Russian dupes heading out to be cannon-fodder.

Please be careful with the use of "Russian" when speaking of WWII. The losses were not strictly Russian, because the majority were men taken from Soviet Republics such as Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania etc. The sacrifices were not just Russian. This is a modern myth used to propagandize "Russia's" contribution in defeating Germany. Just like today, Russia takes men captured from occupied territories and throws them to the front line - without training and proper equipment! The Red Army brigade that captures Berlin was Ukrainian. USA provided the Soviet Union with over 40% of its equipment including tanks and planes. So who actually defeated Germany?

How lovely seeing Michael Portillo in Times Radio! 😀

My wifes grandfather lost his right arm at Stalingrad. He was Ukranian, he came from Kiev.

USSR is not equal to Russia. Why is is so hard to remember? The guy is supposed to know the subject but he misses the point that only one half of the victims on the USSR side were Russian, with a quarter being Ukrainian. That means that Ukraine suffered more casualties per capita in WWII than Russia!

Putin is just a nostalgic historian he wants to reenact Stalingrad so he equipped his army with the same weapons… 😂

Strangely enough, I read “Stalingrad” by Antony Beevor last year. As the Ukrainian war moved on and I saw Ukraine retaking all of those cities I immediately thought about the battle of Stalingrad.

In order to pull a stalingrad you kinda need to be a defender...

As a student of military history, I'm frequently horrified at the way people seem determined to learn the wrong lessons from the past. The US military famously drew the wrong conclusions from its outstanding performance during WWII in its application to conflicts such as Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The British people similarly make false equivalences between the heroism and military competence exhibited during the Battle of Britain and Arnhem bridge and the issues of 21st Century geopolitics. None more so than present-day Russia. The Soviet army defeated Hitler's legions. But a significant fraction of Stalin's armies and military power came from Ukraine. Stalingrad itself was an example of an army with dangerously overextended flanks and woefully inadequate logistics attempting the conquest of a city garrisoned by men defending their nation and their freedom. That description seems more aptly applied to the Russian troops occupying Mariopol and Kherson, Svatove and Sevastopol than that of the Ukrainian army in Kharkiv or Odessa. There may well be a Stalingrad 2.0. But it seems more than likely that Russia 2022 will be on the losing side of that battle. Not Ukraine.

The main difference is that Stalingrad was defended by patriots that where willing to suffer and die to defend this city. Russians in this current conflict do not have this level at moral, in fact their moral is fragile at best.

The obvious difference is that Russia was the defender in Stalingrad and it was Germany that had overstretched. The complete opposite is true here

2 weeks training ? the 1st 16k or so got virtually nohing and were in Luhansk as soon as the russians could get a train down there .

With his illegal war on sovereign Ukraine 🇺🇦, Mad Vlad disturbed a hornets' nest and is now facing a humiliating defeat on the battlefield. Glory to 🇺🇦

Komrade Kommissar #1: [repeating through megaphone] The one with the rifle shoots! Komrade Kommissar #2: [handing out rifles] One out of two gets rifle. Komrade Kommissar #1: The one without, follows him! When the one with the rifle gets killed, the one who is following picks up the rifle and shoots!

well his weapons are from the same era

The Germans fought the whole USSR. Russia alone would have stood no chance. Russia is not the USSR and has two times less population, and several times less industriel capacity. Russia alone is weak, to the point where Ukraine is able to stand up to them. Of course they have nukes but that's pretty much it.

History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme

Unfortunately Russia might have to loose over 200,000 troops and be kicked out of Ukraine before the Russian population turns on their leader. The other problem, is that if Ukraine were ever conquered by Russia and then absorbed into the Russian empire, then Ukraine becomes an adversary to Poland, perhaps 10 years down the road and hence a threat to other EU and Western European countries. Thus failure is simply not an option for the rest of Europe, in terms of supporting Ukraine. It's simply not a viable option. At the same time, an off ramp must be eventually found, one way or another.

This whole war has been russia trying german tactics from ww2.. so yeah stalingrad..

Excellent discussion. Thank you.

It wasn't "3 million Russians" in the first year of the campaign, it was 3 million Soviets from various countries. Not a trivial distinction when it comes to the present discourse on history, particularly by Russians.

To put the fighting in Stalingrad in perspective the battle for Pavlov's House lasted 60 days and each room was fought over time and time again.... the Battle of France 45 days.... That kind of fighting and dedication is noteworthy because its uncommon, normally poorly trained and simply rolled over, Russia or indeed the USSR has no divine right to expect that level of dedication

"Russia" is used far too often when referring to the Soviet Union.

Stalingrad was a defense war. This is not. Attackers lose in winter, defenders have the upper hand

Back in WW2 each country controlled their own industries and means of production. Self-sufficient. In our modern global integrated economies there's no way to bring about mass production to meet war needs. A good thing and a bad thing (if you're predisposed to resort to nukes as a backup)

Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦

Stalingrad 2.0 will be 25,000 orcs trapped and taken prisoners in Kerson.

Putin doing a Paulus? yes he can!

Very interest I video. I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you.

It was not really about Stalingrad but about what would happen if they lost the city. The Germans would have had access to the oil fields of the Caspian sea. We cannot overstate the stakes at the time.

Human wave! Chinese used that tactic during the Korean War!

A great deal of Russian tactics are based on history. 'If it worked so well once before' . . . And so on. It is very slow to adapt. One historical fact is the Russians are great winter warriors. And if given the right gear & motivation, they could possibly prove that again in this conflict. But while their officers sell their winter gear on eBay, many still are in summer uniforms. It is unlikely many will get what they need for winter. Just the first 6 weeks of this war they suffered frost bite much more often than Ukraine. I think the legend of the mighty Russian winter warrior will be broken as they freeze to death in place. Others will have to loot to get the supplies they need.

Thanks

well said. i bookmarked his book

In 1942 USSR had home advantage. I don't mean some sports-psychology woo-woo. I mean the same dynamic as between predator and prey: the prey is fighting for their life, the predator for a meal. Right now Ukraine is the better fighter by most objective measures AS WELL as having greater motivation to win.

not that it worth comparing but surely the bloodiest battles in modern human history occurred between China and Japan in the interwar period/WW2

Don't forget the weather had a lot to do with it.

Today totalitarian aggressive chauvinistic Russia has plenty of similarities with totalitarian aggressive chauvinistic WWII Germany. Beside of that the world still remembers the Ribbentrop-Molotov pakt in August 1939 and the joint German-Russian invasion of Poland in September 1939

Excellent!

I don't think Putin intends to defend Kherson. He will try to extricate his army out of it. My guess is that they will use the civilian population as human shield to evacuate the Kherson army with its equipment, and evacuate the humiliation of a rout.

I think Russia lost the war on October 8, 2022. Because it could take months to get the bridge fully functional. And even if Russia's logistics can catch up, I think it will be too late.

This clip should’ve been an hour! Fascinating..

0:44 - Well, he looks mighty pleased with that plug :-)

The Germans suffered a few losses before Stalingrad. Narvik, Tobruk and the Battle of Britain.

Can Putin pull off a Stalingrad? Yes. He can very much pull off getting an army trapped in a pocket well beyond the new frontline and getting destroyed. The Russian Army is perfectly capable of doing that. The big difference is that the losses would be massively skewed against the Russians trapped in the city rather than the Ukrainians doing the trapping in the city.

Great WW2 review!

Michael Portillo is an excellent addition to Times Radio.

Volgograd is same lattitude as Zaphorizhzhia and temperatures there can plunge to -20 centigrade in the depths of Winter. January 2023 is 80 years since Stalingrad. In My Opinion>>>> Putins Orc Army will be rounded up by end of January and the rest will be History ....not repeating...but rythming

In Stalingrad the ussr had access to 40 million troops and they won mostly due to hitlers bad tactics.

Hope to read the book

War is pointless! Wake up humanity!

Ukraine pulled a Stalingrad on Russia already

Why it won't be like Stalingrad; Stalingrad is not in Ukraine Stalingrad was a Russian war of defense, Ukraine is a Russian war of aggression/offense. Russia doesn't have the public support. Russians didn't want to fight in WW2 either, and were conscripted, but they lacked the internet of today to learn truth and to be influenced by outsiders, and mobility is easier today than then. Russia has no manufacturing today. Russia has no airpower or artillery of consequence in Ukraine Ways it will be like Stalingrad; Russian soldiers are going to starve (no logistics). Russian soldiers are going to freeze (no logistics, lack of equipment, winter). Russian conscripts are being sent into battle against their will without training, equipment or weapons. Russians are going to die in large numbers. (1.2mil Russian casualties in 6moths at Stalingrad). Russians will be defending due to lack of offensive capability, lack of artillery, lack of airpower, lack of rifles, lack of ammo....

Ian Mac Gregor uses the analogy of the Alamo. What about Thermopalye.

Putin is forgetting which side is fighting for servival this time.

And they also had NKVD troops who shot anyone who didn't advance and reinforcement without weapons who were expected to pick up weapons from their dead comrades.

Putin situation reminds more of the precursor to the October revolution in St Petersburg 1918.

Is the author referring to Pavlov's house?

That war was more than those names and across the collaborate world. Not to mention that the gain of several directions was the result to increase the dramatic affect and baseline a real term of reason for others loss. So it's now current which some don't want to look back.

It was a German army~ the sixth army

puthler is a joke - dangerous joke. Go Chechen, Belarusian, Georgian and other volunteer fighters, UAF, russian separatists, and all supporters, GO, - finish russian mafia troops! 💪 Hats off to every single volunteer workers 🙏 GLORY TO UKRAINE! 🥇💖🇺🇦🙏 🇺🇦💖🥇SLAVA UKRAINI!👏🇫🇮🇨🇭

Another thing to remember was the Land Lease Act that the Soviet Union hugely benefited from provided by the US. Millions of tons of ammos, trucks, planes and war making machinery. Now it’s the Ukrainians receiving the Land Lease and Russia being choked off materials needed to sustain the war (such as chips)

“Stalingrad” by Antony Beevor is also a very informative read.

Ways it will be like Stalingrad; Russian soldiers are going to starve (no logistics) Russian soldiers are going to freeze (no logistics, lack of equipment, winter) Russian conscripts are being sent into battle against their will without training, equipment or weapons. Russians are going to die in large numbers. (1.2mil Russian casualties in 6moths at Stalingrad) Russians will be defending due to lack of offensive capability, lack of artillery, lack of airpower, lack of rifles, lack of ammo....

We all love Michael Portillo! If you're unfamiliar with his railroad adventures, I highly recommend you watch them here on KZfaq.

Churchill knew Germany was going to invade Russia (British were reading German intel). Tried to tell Stalin but Stalin thought Britain was trying to draw Russia into WW2.

The symmetry is a false one. I empathize with your discomfort.

3 million Russians or 3 million Soviets? These are very different things. The interviewer needs to be more careful with his terms, particularly at the beginning.

The comments about Stalingrad are fair in some ways, but Leningrad inflicted even more suffering and its people also showed incredible courage. The Germans lost that battle too, and lost hundreds of thousands of troops.

11:20 translated: "...no."

Putin seems like another Stalin..

That's a lie. They didn't stay because they "cared", they stayed because Stalin refused to allow them to evacuate. HE FORCED THEM TO STAY, reasoning Soviet troops would fight harder if there were civilians to defend.

Strangely enough a friend and I were comparing WW2 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine only a week ago

"Life and Fate" by Vassily Grossman remains the number 1 novel about that war. Gruesome reading, but oh so worth the pain. It's also about many other things, like the concentration camps, and Stalin's insanity. Recommended, with tears.

Great History lesson, Where was the 2.0 putyn ?

Is it just the camera angle or has Michael Portillo's nose grown to epic proportions?

It's often overlooked that just over half of the Axis casualties in the wider Stalingrad sector were not Wehrmacht units

It's funny how you frame that they couldn't surrender they couldn't retreat otherwise they would have been shot... Nothing to do with Heroism.

The sound quality of your videos is always quite poor, Times Radio

Well hes doing in not to Ukraine but to EU, EU is in such a fragile state they would never withstand what Russians can in any economical way.

Also remember that as Georgy Zhukov gained influence and sort of became the top general within the Red Army following his various successes such as holding the Germans at Leningrad and later Moscow the Red Army seemed to gain power.

Michael Portillo says that Russia cared about their City of Stalingrad, yes but, no mention of the reason for Hitler's push - which was to access oil at Baku.

Was the Lighthouse what the Russians called Pavlov's house??

I don't agree that the Siege of the Ukraine can be said to have equivalency to the Siege of Stalingrad. For one thing there's the matter of motivation; the people of Stalingrad knew that they were fighting for their very survival whereas the attack on Ukraine was entirely unprovoked and is a personal war at the pleasure of the President. Therefore it does not attract the same degree of motivation evidenced at Stalingrad.

Dishes state how many Soviets died or casualties this battle ?

I’ve wondered how Stalingrad would have gone if the soldiers had had the modern thermal clothing available today.

Peter Ziehan (of Geonow) says that Russia doesn't have the population to establish a military capable of a war time force.

The only reason his troops had bullets, cloths, or food to fight was the allies pouring supplies into Russia...no one is doing that today...

Very interesting topics but you guys are abusing w the BASS. Who is the video editor? You can do better, sounds muffled

The very idea that "Russia" is the Soviet Union is a non-starter in terms of demographics. In 1941 the population of the USSR was around 200 million... to put that in perspective the world population was 2.3 billion - or the USSR had about 8% of the world population - a big country not only in size but in population. Today the population of the Russian Federation is 140 million or so, the world population around 8 billion, or less than 2% of the world population. And its military age demographics is terrible. 43% of the population is over age 45, 23% under the age of 18... it is a shrinking population, much faster than most countries in the west (with the exception of the USA and a few others which are growing due to immigration). That said, Russia cannot afford to lose tens of thousands of dead and wounded, or the hundreds of thousands of military age men 18-45 that are fleeing the country. It's a demographic catastrophe. Russia will not survive this as a nation if the war goes on much longer. It will simply become an old people's home on a grand scale that has some nukes to prevent it from being robbed and looted. But regardless, it will eventually die... Putin is a total idiot if he has not figured this out.

Of course, Putin likes to forget the enormous aid in tanks and aircraft Stalin was getting from the US. How many convoys were sunk to get there!

Makes far more sense to interview Anthony Beevor on Stalingrad...

In Stalin's view: 3 million fewer mouths to feed! Bumper crop this year, comrades! Glory to our 5-year plan!

Mr portillo great guy

As Friedrich Paulus maybe