Yakov Dzhugashvili, the oldest child of Josef Stalin, could never be said to have enjoyed an easy life. After his mother died when he was less than one year old, his father dumped him off to be reared by her family while he went off to be Stalin, doing Stalinesque things as only he couldContinueContinue reading “Stalin’s Eldest Son: Captured, Interrogated, Killed”
Tag Archives: war
On This Date: 1942 Message on Red Army Cowardice on the Stalingrad Front
In a 1942 message written to the Military Councils of the Armies of the Stalingrad Front, Commander of Troops General-Lieutenant Vasiliy Gordov voiced his frustrations over the fact that individual soldiers, and sometimes even entire units, were known to retreat from battle without authorization, only to face no punishment from higher headquarters. Pointing out thatContinueContinue reading “On This Date: 1942 Message on Red Army Cowardice on the Stalingrad Front”
On This Date: 1944 Report from Beria on Security Operations to Destroy Armed Ukrainian Partisan Formations
Special Folder Top Secret Copy No. 1 5 August 1944 According to the NKVD-NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR, recently, in connection with the advance of the Red Army units to the West and the departure of individual units of the NKVD troops stationed in the areas of the Rivne region, the OUN (Organization ofContinueContinue reading “On This Date: 1944 Report from Beria on Security Operations to Destroy Armed Ukrainian Partisan Formations”
Korean War: Kicking Off the Soviet Propaganda Program
Translating History winds down its look at Korean War with four new translations, the last of our documents from this batch. Today’s post features evidence that most of the world was siding with the United Nations version of events, that the North Koreans invaded South Korea as puppets of the USSR. The Soviets, seeing theContinueContinue reading “Korean War: Kicking Off the Soviet Propaganda Program”
Korean War, 1951: The North is Hesitant to Continue, but Stalin Finds the Conflict Too Useful to Allow it to End
Translating History continues its look at the early days of the Korean War with a new translation of a declassified Top Secret document from 1951, Document 5 in our series. Stalin’s position, as well as that of his entourage, regarding the Korean issue in the winter of 1951 is revealed by secret instructions from theContinueContinue reading “Korean War, 1951: The North is Hesitant to Continue, but Stalin Finds the Conflict Too Useful to Allow it to End”
June 2025 Russian Ministry of Defense Report Reveals Drone-Defense Measures for Storage Depots
A report published by the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense in June 2025 provides a look at the latest modifications to its counter-drone measures employed as a response to Ukraine’s propensity to expand combat drone operations deep into Russian territory. The report, unclassified but not intended for broadest distribution, covered a number of different (mostlyContinueContinue reading “June 2025 Russian Ministry of Defense Report Reveals Drone-Defense Measures for Storage Depots”
30 May 1945: Soviet Intel Report on Life in the American and British Zones of Occupation
Until we can get our hands on more material, this ends our collection of post-war Berlin reporting from a well-placed Soviet intelligence officer. In this, his final report (which was written almost concurrently with our previous post), he and his unnamed (redacted) colleagues wandered across the German countryside to see how life for the GermansContinueContinue reading “30 May 1945: Soviet Intel Report on Life in the American and British Zones of Occupation”
“Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945
As the Red Army approached the outskirts of Berlin, local Soviet spies on the ground reported on the surprising number of individuals springing forward to proclaim their membership in the Communist Party. The author of a 30 April 1945 Top Secret report, recently declassified by the Russian SVR, clearly had no wool pulled over hisContinueContinue reading ““Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945″
Secrecy Vs. Control: What’s Going On with the Classification of Russian Statistics – Carnegie Politika
Another in our series of translations of the latest Carnegie Politika articles. Secrecy Vs. Control: What’s Going On with the Classification of Russian Statistics Openness is no longer declared by the Russian authorities as an instrument of transparency and accountability. But it still partially persists, primarily as a by-product of the desire to control theContinueContinue reading “Secrecy Vs. Control: What’s Going On with the Classification of Russian Statistics – Carnegie Politika”
Minerals for Weapons: Ukraine Declassifies Geological Data on Strategic Minerals
The following translation is cobbled together from Ukrainian- and Russian-language reports from a number of Ukrainian news organizations. Ukraine has declassified a limited list of minerals, including critical minerals, which was a relic from Soviet times, according to Svitlana Hrynchuk, Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. “The classification has been removed, and weContinueContinue reading “Minerals for Weapons: Ukraine Declassifies Geological Data on Strategic Minerals”
Translating History 