French block airlift of British troops to Basra

"Rostyslaw J. Lewyckyj" wrote in message
...
Keith Willshaw wrote:



At no point did I defend either Stalin or the Soviets

That's how I interpreted your sentiments in writing
" I doubt that the handful of British citizens in German
uniform were too happy to be sent home either, their
leader was hanged and they all received lengthy prison
sentences." since I am sure that you knew the historical
facts of what went on.


Your interpretation was in error, I was pointing out
that not only Soviets in German uniform were treated
harshly after the war but that soldiers of other nationalities
go short shrift too.

Stalin was a grade 'A' psycho running a corrupt vicious
regime but that said no country in history was ever going
to let people off with a caution when they had joined an enemy
in attacking them, especially when that enemy was intent on genocide.

Even in Denmark, as pacific and easy going a nation as you
will ever find, Danish citizens who had joined the Waffen SS
were tried and many executed after the war. The last of
the surviving prisoners of Danmark Freikorp were released in the 1950's

The treatment of returning Soviet POW's on the other
hand was truly barbaric and unprecedented.


1) Stalin demanded the repatriation of the thousands of
soviet subjects in German prison camps. These were NOT
persons who had put on the German uniform. Many of them
did not want to be shipped back to Stalins' tender mercy.


Re-read the message to which I replied, it specifies
Soviet Citizens in German unforms

"at war's end, thousands of Russians in German
prison camps ..." certainly does not!


2) There were a handful of British citizens in German uniform
versus thousands of soviet subjects who chose to serve with
the Germans against the soviet Russian regime.

Quite so

And you chose to disregard the implications as regards the
moral stand of the individuals in both groups.

Not at all, I can quite see why some Ukranians and others initially
welcomed the Germans as liberators in 1941 BUT those
captured in 1945 must have been well aware of the nature
of the Nazi regime by the wars end and its a simple fact of life
that joining the enemy during wartime attracts retribution if they
lose. It always has and always will, as we can see in the case of
those US, UK and Australians captured in Afghanistan and
Iraq who are currently in detention. Treason is never treated
lightly.

Keith