Russia released a group of women from a prison in late May to join the fighting in Ukraine, according to two former inmates who maintain contact with those still there, potentially signaling a new phase in the Kremlin’s use of criminals in its war effort.

  • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    How many months away from collapse was the Third Reich when they started putting women on the front lines?

    • tal@lemmy.today
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      5 months ago

      I don’t think that the Reich ever did. I’m not sure that anyone other than the Soviet Union used women in a front-line combat role in WW2.

      kagis

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_World_War_II

      Apparently Germany did have women’s auxiliaries, and some of those operated flak weapons against bombing raids, and there were some nurses near the front lines, albeit not in a combat role directly.

      From a quick skim of that article, it sounds like the only time that women in states other than the Soviet Union were in combat is if they were serving in some sort of auxiliary unit (e.g. nurses) that were near the front lines, serving in an anti-aircraft role, as kind of a last-ditch move when a country was being overrun (e.g. Poland) and women’s auxiliaries assigned to secondary defenses wound up in combat. I remember that we (the US) had female pilots, but those were doing cargo runs rather than using weapons.

  • mindlight@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    This is yet another sign of the Russian economy booming!

    Since everything is going so well, Putin continues his glorious fight for equality! Now women will have the same rights as men to serve in the meat grinder.

    There’s absolutely no desperation here… Nothing to see… Move along.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPM
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    5 months ago

    I wonder if it will reach a certain point that the Russian people tire of being used as fodder for Putin’s meat grinder.

      • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        I mean, by that point, the entire lower class is gone. Which makes middle class the new lower class. Things won’t change until he starts targeting oligarchs or their families.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    “Released”

    Riiiiight. Totally of their own volition and with full knowledge of the shit they were about to be thrown into, right….?

    • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 months ago

      full knowledge of the shit they were about to be thrown into

      I mostly agree with you, but is there a single military in history that didn’t mostly rely on naive kids with zero knowledge of what they were getting themselves into?

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m sure this will end well.

    Wasn’t I just reading some article about a male Russian prisoner forced into clear who shot an officer before deserting? Keep an eye on these ladies.