Soviet cartoons of the Second World War, part 2

Soviet propaganda of the 1930s was depicting the mighty Red Army that would win any war “with a little blood and on the enemy’s territory”. March of the Soviet Tankmen, a popular song composed in 1939 proclaimed:

The armor is hard and our tanks are fast

And our men are full of courage

The Soviet tankmen are ready for action—

Sons of their Great Motherland.

Refrain:

Thundering with fire, glinting with steel,

The tanks will begin a harsh campaign

When we’re called to battle by Comrade Stalin

And the First Marshal [K. Voroshilov] will lead us in this battle!

                     Stalin and Voroshilov on the 1935 poster by Gustav Klutsis.

This song was also used in the Ivanov-Vano’s Не топтать фашисткому сапогу нашей Родины (Fascist Boots Shall Not Trample Our Motherland), 1941. Like some other propaganda cartoons, it emphasizes the beastly nature of the German invaders and portrays an overwhelming military response by the Red Army forces, including both brave cavalry, the iconography of the Russian Civil War, and modern tanks and aircraft. It also features notion of the unexpected nature German invasion that would be later extensively used to explain heavy losses during the early stages of the Great Patriotic War.

Russian, with English subtitles

Soviet cartoons of the Second World War, part 1

Хищники (Vultures), 1941 by Panteleimon Sazonov is a short propaganda cartoon about “Stalin’s falcons” – inculcated term for the Soviet aviation. Propaganda of aviation as the most modern and advanced mean of warfare was extremely popular during the 1930-1940s.

Hail to Stalin’s Falcons, 1941 – one of many aviation-themed Soviet posters

The Nazi vulture-looking bombers are being destroyed by the Soviet planes (inspired by famous I-16). In reality, during the early stages of the war, the losses of the Red Army and Soviet Air Force were extremely heavy.

Russian, with English subtitles