German actions while invading Russia were particularly interesting to try to grasp and understand. I had not heard that Germans feared that changing conditions at home to provide for troops (through methods such as rationing) would have damaged the German war effort. The only justification I could see for that is that patriotism/nationalism could be damaged, and the morale on the home front could be weakened. But whether this justified the deliberate neglect of troops is certainly up in the air. The German hopes that troops could live off the land could perhaps be understandable, but was clearly countered by the Soviet “scorched-earth” policy.
This certainly provides a new perspective to the German campaign into Russia. Usually the campaign is part of a one sentence joke (never invade Russia in the winter). It’s intriguing to me that high school history de-emphasizes this aspect of World War II. The western front of the war is taught over the Russian front, and the tragedies suffered by millions under Soviet rule is neglected in favor of the Holocaust. This is not to say that this emphasis should be reversed. But I do believe that each story has merit and deserves to be told, jointly, to provide a more complete picture of early 20th century history.
I was also compelled by the amount of collaboration observed as Germans took over the Western portion of the Soviet Union (Ukraine, etc.). It’s an interesting psychological phenomenon, which I believe is linked to the brutality these areas felt in relation to their rule under the Soviet Union. Perhaps some wished to view the Germans as liberators. Perhaps others preferred to believe the Nazi narrative that blamed the Jews for their misfortunes. And perhaps still others saw collaboration as a path to survival. After all, “it’s them, not me.”