Victory on the ground is achieved only by victory in the war of minds. For in the year 1940, the Second World War is at its height, and "Hitler" signs off on a plan called "Plan Otto".

And on 22 June, 1941, "Hitler" commits the mistake of a lifetime, so he pulls "Otto" out of the drawers and sets off to carry it out.. under the code name "Operation Barbarossa".

He unifies all the army's forces under what was known as the "Wehrmacht".. and he falls upon the Soviet Union, which had been neutral in the war, and which had a non-aggression treaty with Germany, with close to five million soldiers.

And along a front some three thousand kilometres long.. "Hitler" drives forward the army and navy and air force.. and even men of the armed elite forces called the "Waffen-SS".

And because it was a surprise betrayal of the Soviet Union.. the blows were painful, and the Soviet forces withdraw, and "Hitler" occupies highly sensitive areas, of economic importance.. such as Ukraine.. and the Axis states' attack on the Soviet Union succeeds with overwhelming success.

But this landed "Hitler" with one of the cleverest minds and one of the most brilliant military leaders in history.

"Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin".. the one in this picture.

This picture, by the way, is from a very important article in an Egyptian newspaper.. which skipped this entire era.. and the whole history of "Stalin".. and spoke about "moustaches that history stands on".. that is the article's title verbatim.. they even wrote the title grammatically wrong.. "stands on" instead of "stands by".

Never mind.. may God encompass us with His mercy.. the important thing is that this "Stalin" was an ordinary man.. he began his life as a worker in an oil refinery.. and he took the path of politics little by little, until he became an editor at the newspaper "Pravda".. until he reached the position of secretary of the Communist Party.. and from there to the leadership of the Party.. to the leadership of the entire Soviet Union.

And Europe used to nickname "Stalin" "the man of steel".. he was a political activist in his youth.. and he demonstrated and opposed the regime.. so he knew the effect of that on the state at a time of construction.. and consequently he used to execute anyone who opposed the regime or stood against the state.. and some estimates say that he executed more than 20 million people.

Despite that, "Stalin" today in Russia is a national hero.. and is regarded among them as the equivalent of "Mohammed Ali" among us.. the man who founded modern Russia.

The important thing is that "Hitler", with "Barbarossa", put all the Axis forces face to face with "Joseph Stalin".

And the German "Wehrmacht" was the strongest armed force in the world at the time in numbers and equipment and materiel.. but "Stalin" moves and mobilizes the army and gathers his forces.. he was fully aware that it was hard for him to attack because he was defeated and parts of his land were already occupied.. and his opponent was very strong.. but at least he should try to excel in the situation that had been forced upon him.. the situation of defence.

But "Stalin" is taken by surprise that the Axis forces kept advancing.. and the Soviet Union's forces are being defeated and surrendering and at times being counted without a fight.

And "Stalin" reviews the whole situation.. and it becomes clear that he had committed a major mistake, back when he reached the leadership of the Party, which he had not reckoned with and had not known would have all this impact.

When "Stalin" reached the Communist Party.. he declared his atheism publicly.. and dismissed the revealed religions and attacked them.. and because the Soviet Union was majority Christian with a Muslim minority.. neither of them liked this attack.. they began to answer him back.. so he began to arrest and execute and shut down churches and mosques.

The truth is that this affected the morale of the Russian soldiers.. the idea that there is a "higher power" protecting them and blessing them.. the idea that there is "paradise" and "immortality" no longer existed.. and consequently they lost a very large part of their incentive to fight. Why should I die?

As for the soldiers who kept their faith in their hearts.. because Stalin was extreme in his atheism.. he consequently created an opposing extremism.. which made them religiously hardline.. and forgetful of the idea of the homeland.. and all that was deep inside them was that Stalin was an infidel.. it was not acceptable to fight on his side.. and perhaps God sent the Nazis as a punishment for the Soviet Union.. because they allowed His books and messengers and teachings to be insulted.

A catastrophe in wartime.. it wasted a great deal of Soviet land.. and nearly tore the armed forces apart.

And because victory is never for the herds of donkeys who insist on the mistake.. "Stalin" decides to make up for his mistake.. and he praises the religions.. and he reopens the churches and brings the clergy out of the prisons and asks them for help.. and he sets about reviving religious discourse in people's minds.

But by the time this began to have an effect.. Germany had advanced very far inside the land of the Soviet Union.. and had inflicted grievous losses on "Stalin".

"Stalin" knew that victory is not for the strongest.. because it is not a butting of horns between a pair of bulls in a pen.. victory always goes to whoever wins in the war of minds.

And because he was cultured and a good student of history.. "Stalin" begins to fight the Nazi forces with an old method.. which Russia had followed against Napoleon Bonaparte himself, when he tried to invade it in 1812.

And because that alone would not work.. "Stalin" blends it with an innovative method.. devised by the ancient Egyptians in their war against the Persians, and picked up from them by the Greeks in the year 513 BC.

And this amazing blend we will talk about later.. and there remains more to say.

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