2 soldiers 1 rifle

[deleted]

If you want to learn something, take a class. If you want to be entertained, watch a movie.

It probably wasn't that bad for the raw conscripts of the Red Army. But it wasn't as if they were given much to fight the Germans with, at least initially.

Sure- Yes, that Actually Occurred according to what I read in a Soviet? History book. Also saw it portrayed in History Channel documentary and Nat'l Geographic Channel. Not 100% sure, but 99% sure it happened that way- Not sure how Long or often- but at one point it was reported that they gave guns to every other soldiers due to supply probs...

I don't know about the accuracy of the 2 soldiers 1 rifle in this story but can tell you that my wife's father was a soldier in the Chinese Army during the Korean War and there was not enough weaponry to go around. He and many others had to wait for a comrade to die in order to be issued a rifle.

He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.

Btw, the main guy, the sniper, was not an illiterate. He was from a poor family from the Urals, but, luckily for him, the october revolution happened, so he got an education in Magnotogorsk and became an engineer. After he graduated he enrolled in the army and, when the germans got to Stalingraad, he asked to be sent to the frontline. KIlled a lot of enemy soldiers in a little more than one month, then got blinded by a srappnel, but was cured.

How would Hollywood and the Director/Writers of Enemy at the Gates(EATG) show the story of the Shumov brothers? A 6 man crew of a Soviet 120mm Heavy Mortar Artillery piece during WW2.

The Shumov brothers:

http://tinyurl.com/gl38jj5
http://tinyurl.com/zaw33px

All 6 brothers/cousins volunteered to serve(at the same time) in the Soviet Military in January 1942. They asked to serve in 1 unit, and were assigned to the Artillery of the 11th Rifle[Infantry] Division in March 1942. After 1 year in combat between April 1942 and April 1943 they all were decorated for their service, some were wounded. This was during the same time as the battle of Stalingrad(different location). 3 of the brothers were killed during battle in 1944(at different times). 1 returned home in 1944 after being wounded and 2 more when WW2 ended in 1945(one[Alexander Shumov] lived to be 100 years old in 2013). So they were in combat between 1942 and 1945 - longer than most soldiers from the USA. Some left wives and children at home on farms for years(and never returned).

1. Hollywood would never want to show Russians volunteering to fight for their country. They already showed Russian[Soviet] soldiers in EATG as a mob of prisoners.
2. The Shumov brothers were not massacred on the 1st day of arriving on the battlefield like the "Russian" soldiers in EATG.

Between 1942 and 1944 the Shumov brothers used the same 120mm Mortar they were issued in 1942. They were always the crew of the weapon. They alone fired 13,980 mortar shells at the enemy during a time period of about 3 months(December 1942 to March 1943), destroying or damaging: 20+ bunkers and other defensive structures, 13 machinegun nests, and 11 enemy artillery pieces. They were part of a Mortar Battery in an Infantry Regiment - they were considered the best(fastest firing) mortar crew in their Division.

Russian[Soviet] 120mm Mortar firing position/trench(WW2):
http://tinyurl.com/zc34sec

Russian[Soviet] 120mm Mortar crew asleep in firing position(WW2-color added):
http://tinyurl.com/gro6rmy

After experience in the Spanish Civil War, short war with Japan(1939), and the beginning of WW2 the Ministry of Defense of the USSR began planning for what it expected to be a relatively long war with the Axis Forces. Significant losses were expected - similar to those in WW1. That is why all emphasis was given to developing and producing weapons that would be - simple to use, simple to manufacture, easy to train with, and cheap to produce(in large numbers). Specialized Siege Howitzers(German sIG-33 issued to Infantry units), complicated towed Multi-barrel Rocket Mortar Launchers(German Nebelwerfer), heavy complex "Super Tanks"(German Pzkpfw-VI "Tiger") - like those used by Nazi Germany were rejected because it would be difficult to produce enough to replace losses and maintain a numerical advantage.

The 120mm Mortars designed in 1938 and introduced into Soviet Military service in 1939 were seen as such a "cheap but effective" weapon. An Infantry(Rifle) Division would not need large numbers of (expensive to manufacture) Howitzers and Field Guns(like in the British Army of WW2 - the many batteries of QF 25 Pounder Gun ­­Howitzers) to have enough Artillery to support itself, the explosive power of the shells was comparable to light howitzer shells. These mortars were later copied by Germany in 1943.

3. The Shumov brothers were in the 11th [Infantry] Division Artillery in the 2nd Soviet Army. EATG does not show any kind of Artillery supporting the Infantry on the "Russian" side. Even the German movie Downfall shows Soviet Artillery shelling German positions - but Hollywood wants to pretend this did not exist(I don't know why).
4. Their mortar crew had to fire no less than 150 mortar shells a day(to achieve 14 thousand in 3 months). In EATG soldiers were not even being issued a minimum of rifle ammunition that would be needed in a day.


..((Godless Communist against Religious Kleptocracy))..