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The Second World War endures as an important influence for Russian society and culture. Despite eight million Soviet military personnel having died, and almost every front-line soldier having been wounded - often more than once - a patriotic nostalgia for the Red Army remains while bleaker memories appear to have vanished from popular memory. 

This study, led by the University of London, considers responses to war and in particular seeks to trace Soviet politics and patriotism as it emerged from this period. 

Key findings

The Red Army and German invasion

• Archival research reveals that during the last years of peace, prior to World War Two, the Red Army was a disaffected, poorly-trained and ill-equipped force. Its conscripts were often cynical - even hostile - towards the State.
  
• According to letters, diaries and secret police reports, the German invasion of 1941 appears to have confirmed the worst fears of cynics, and was accompanied by a widespread loss of faith in the Soviet State, even among Communist Party members.
  
• Within six months of the invasion the first cohorts of the Red Army were all but destroyed; most soldiers were either dead, wounded or among the three million incarcerated in German concentration camps.   

The recovery of the Red Army

• One important shift that occurred as the Red Army was reforming itself was the replacing of an older generation of soldiers with a younger one. Moral improved despite appalling conditions and a high rate of loss. 
  
• An unexpected explanation for this change in attitudes was discovered through diaries and interviews: Soviet soldiers began to compare army life with alternative occupations such as wartime construction and labour battalions and saw soldiering as preferable. 
  
• It was also at this point - around the autumn of 1942 - that regime training improved and political interference in military affairs was reduced, giving soldiers increased confidence and greater pride. 
  
• The victory in Stalingrad confirmed the force’s sense of professional worth and also saw former waverers beginning to ally themselves with the Soviet cause. 
  
• Soviet troops interpreted the war as a vindication of Communism. They were emboldened by what they saw as the triumph of Soviet technology in the shape of mortars, tanks and planes.  

Social relationships within the Red Army

• The commonly held perception that war brought Soviet people together is disputed by this research. Rates of mortality were high, preventing the formation of lasting friendships amongst troops. But it was inter-ethnic rivalries, mistrust between recruits drawn from different locations, and distain for troops in positions other than a soldier’s own, all of which are all clearly represented in the data, that caused the greatest problems. In addition, crime, misogyny, family break-up, black-marketeering and desertion were all common. 
  
• This culture of mistrust, illegality and hatred brought about atrocities in Prussia in 1945. A sexualised culture in the Red Army, alongside hate propaganda and tensions between male soldiers, resulted in mass rapes. Other factors may have included the army’s neglect of stress, disdain for home leave and soldiers fear that shock and injury could make them impotent or without courage.   

About the Study

Research was led by Professor Merridale, Department of History, Queen Mary, University of London. This study is the first to make systematic use of newly-declassified Soviet archives, including soldiers' letters and diaries as well as military court records and the first to use oral history gathered from veterans and their families. 

Key words

Red Army, World War Two, moral, war crimes

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