[quote="Fluffy_Bunny":f895d]Thats very interesting, it's not often you get to hear of the german/russian viewpoint of the war through peoples family relatives. I suppose that was after the commies took power?[/quote:f895d]

Commies took power around 1912 in the baltic states. i mean absolute power. people were only allowed to real Russian Literature, broadcast russian news, speak only russian, and be loyal to the tsar. The communists came to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, so the Lithuanians moved the capital to Kaunas, where i was born many years later. Anyone caught speaking Lithuanian was imprisoned for treason. Soldiers came and told that every man in the house, 18 and over has to join the military. Refusal will cause you to be jailed. Some families were even shipped off to Siberia. My Grandfather told me he was like 15 at the time, and their family packed their things and waited for the train for Siberia, but luckily it never came, but after a few months, his father, my great grandfather was drafted into the Red Army. There he earned great respect because he was a brave man, he earned many great symbols of honour that i cannot pronounce (because i cant speak russian), and he fought in stalingrad where he was wounded. He heard of Vassili but never saw him in person. Then after the war he was promoted to Field Marshall, and retired to Lithuania, then simply known as Baltic U.S.S.R. He saw me once before his death in 1988. My mom tells me he held me in his arms and said i was a strong baby. About 6-7 months later (i was born in May), he died.