World History

who say the first Russian troops they encountered--the front line combat soldiers--were professional and even polite.

For instance, one woman whose interview is featured in the BBC documentary series "World at War" (which is excellent, by the way) said basically, "The first soldiers who came to the door asked if there were any German soldiers in the house, and if we had any weapons. We said 'no' and they went away. The next soldiers were not so nice. One of them raped me."

I've seen this repeated several times. The soldiers you describe, who had been "in a long and bloody fight" were better behaved than the more rear echelon troops that followed behind. (The same, by the way, seemed also to be true for looting. The troops doing the actual fighting did far less looting than the rear echelon administrative types who followed).

Combat doesn't justify rape. I don't think it even explains rape, except inasmuch as it gives an excuse and opportunity to those inclined to take that kind of advantage.