Reason for concern over Russia and Ukraine

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, December 8, 2021

David Ignatius’ recent column in The Herald reports Russia has 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. They sneaked there at night. I am reading about Operation Barbarossa, a World War II invasion by Axis powers of the Soviet Union. Germany sent 150 army divisions at the Russians in the year 1941. That’s more than faced U.S., English, French and Canadian troops on the Western Front and the Normandy invasion in the year 1944. Hitler threw 12 divisions at the allies in The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45.

Operation Barbarossa had no logistic plans. The Germans would live off the Russian land. This meant starvation for the invaded population. The German army ate everything. Hitler had earlier made peace with Stalin. They both invaded Poland in 1939. In 1941 Germany turned on Russia.

Ignatius is concerned about 100,000 troops. That landscape has seen millions of soldiers clash.

I’ve just started reading the book “Operation Barbarossa 1941.” I’m usually wrong. I’ve been surprised by the Russian technology they had. Be ready to convert metrics and learn a little German and Russian language.

Guy F. Boehner

Everett