7 Though Stalin was unquestionably out of line in his actions, one must consider the importance of Poland to the Soviet mind. Poland was unquestionably of the greatest concern to the Soviets, as it had been used as a launching pad for the invasion of Russia during both World Wars. Stalin was extremely dedicated to ensuring that the new Polish government would be friendly towards the Soviets, and he was prepared to use any means necessary to ensure that this would become a reality. .
In order to completely understand Stalins seemingly fanatic desire for increased security, one must understand the degree of destruction the Soviet Union endured at the hands of the German forces and their allies during the Second World War. During their invasion of the USSR, the Nazis had completely or partially destroyed 15 large cities, 1,710 towns and 70,000 villages, burning and demolishing 6,000,000 buildings. This resulted in 25,000,000 citizens being deprived of shelter during the harsh Russian winter. The Germans demolished 31,850 industrial enterprises. The Soviet railway system was totally crippled as 65,000 kilometers of railway track and 4,100 railway stations were destroyed. Transportation was made even more difficult by the fact that the Germans had destroyed 56,000 miles of main highway and 90,000 bridges. Communication was made all but impossible, as 36,000 postal, telegraph and telephone offices were demolished. The Soviet power industry was also severely wounded, as the Germans destroyed 10,000 power stations and ruined 1,135 coal mines and 3,000 oil wells, carrying back to Germany 14,000 steam boilers, 1,400 turbines and 11,300 electric generators. The Russian population was left starving, as an immense amount of damage was done to the Soviet Unions agricultural capabilities: 98,000 collective farms and 2,890 machine and tractor stations were sacked. In addition, a monumental number of livestock were slaughtered or stolen by the Germans: 7,000,000 horses, 17,000,000 cattle, 20,000,000 hogs, 27,000,000 sheep and goats and 110,000,000 poultry.
