I find this line of reasoning strange. The USSR was invaded by evil Nazis who wanted to enslave them for a thousand years. Somehow we spin this into "Stalin didn't care".

And the idea that Russians had to be forced at gunpoint to defend their country is so ludicrous and offensive I have no words.

That's not just an idea. Order No. 270 ordered to shoot any deserters (or anybody who's not 'organizing resistance') on the spot and promised imprisonment for families of those who surrendered to the Germans. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._270

On the other hand the USSR allied itself with the evil Nazis so they would both invade Poland. The USSR was clearly an expansionist and imperalist power and given the gulag system reached it's peak well before the start of the war, we know Stalin did not care at all about human life.

A lot of the Russian people didn't have much love for the Russian regime (ie. Stalin). The Nazi's were in a lot of places in Russia initially greeted as liberators. If the Nazi's hadn't turned out to be even more brutal then Stalin history might have taken a different path.

See for example sources like: https://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/english/research/news-and-events/...

I’m really sorry that sounds offensive to you but that’s probably just cognitive dissonance.

Stalin purged as many of his experienced officers as possible during the 1930s because he saw them as a threat.

Many show trials were filmed and you can watch them if you wish.

The yes men Stalin replaced them with made a lot of stupid decisions.

As a consequence a lot of people died unnecessarily.

If they’d have refused to follow stupid orders the alternative were death or gulag if the were lucky.

Sheer numbers and simple bravery are what got the Russian people through the war.