Charge! by Steve Israel

Author:Steve Israel [Israel, Congressman Steve]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612514222
Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Josef Stalin

DEFEND EVERY INCH, JULY 3, 1941

The Red Army, Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union

must defend every inch of Soviet soil, must fight to the last drop of blood

for our towns and villages, must display the daring initiative

and intelligence that are inherent in our people.

Soviet propaganda photo.

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS after Germany’s June 22nd invasion of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin was compelled to explain to his people how the stunning attack occurred and to mobilize them to recover from the invasion and resist even greater threats.

Stalin’s radio address begins by acknowledging the enormity of the situation: “How could it have happened that our glorious Red Army surrendered a number of our cities and districts to fascist armies? Is it really true that German fascist troops are invincible, as is ceaselessly trumpeted by the boastful fascist propagandists?”

His response draws from the rich heritage of the Russian people to inspire them against a clear and present danger: “Of course not! History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoléon’s army was considered invincible but it was beaten successively by Russian, English and German armies. Kaiser Wilhelm’s German Army in the period of the first imperialist war was also considered invincible, but it was beaten several times by the Russian and Anglo-French forces and was finally smashed by the Anglo-French forces. The same must be said of Hitler’s German fascist army today.”

However, Stalin acknowledges the Russian people cannot rely on history alone to defeat an implacable enemy. He asks: “What is required to put an end to the danger hovering over our country, and what measures must be taken to smash the enemy? Above all, it is essential that our people, the Soviet people, should understand the full immensity of the danger that threatens our country and should abandon all complacency, all heedlessness, all those moods of peaceful constructive work which were so natural before the war, but which are fatal today when war has fundamentally changed everything.”

Here, as reprinted in Soviet Russia Today in August 1941, is Josef Stalin’s appeal to the Russian people to defend every inch of Soviet soil.

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