>>10187542Germany certainly gave the Russians an option to fight. They enlisted over 2 million to serve in the german army. It is estimated that nearly 25% of all german soldiers fighting at Stalingrad were Russians.
As for your question why so many russian POW perished compared to germany; german racial ideology dictated that they were to die. Soviets, while treating their POW very harshly, did not have that same motivation.
>Source: I study history. 