The Great Patriotic War began on June 22, 1941 - the day when the Nazi invaders and their allies invaded the territory of the USSR. It lasted four years and became the final stage of the Second World War. In total, about 34,000,000 Soviet soldiers took part in it, more than half of whom died.
Causes of the Great Patriotic War
The main reason for the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War was Adolf Hitler's desire to lead Germany to world domination by capturing other countries and establishing a racially pure state. Therefore, on September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, then Czechoslovakia, starting World War II and conquering more and more territories. The successes and victories of Nazi Germany forced Hitler to violate the non-aggression pact concluded on August 23, 1939 between Germany and the USSR. He developed a special operation called "Barbarossa", which implied the capture of the Soviet Union in a short time. This is how the Great Patriotic War began. It took place in three stages
Stages of the Great Patriotic War
Stage 1: June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942
The Germans captured Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, Belarus and Moldova. The troops advanced into the country to capture Leningrad, Rostov-on-Don and Novgorod, but the main goal of the Nazis was Moscow. At this time, the USSR suffered great losses, thousands of people were taken prisoner. On September 8, 1941, the military blockade of Leningrad began, which lasted 872 days. As a result, USSR troops were able to stop the German offensive. Plan Barbarossa failed.
Stage 2: 1942-1943
During this period, the USSR continued to build up its military power, industry and defense grew. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the Soviet troops, the front line was pushed back to the west. The central event of this period was the greatest in history Battle of Stalingrad(July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943). The Germans' goal was to capture Stalingrad, the Great Bend of the Don and the Volgodonsk Isthmus. During the battle, more than 50 armies, corps and divisions of enemies were destroyed, about 2 thousand tanks, 3 thousand aircraft and 70 thousand cars were destroyed, and German aviation was significantly weakened. The USSR's victory in this battle had a significant impact on the course of further military events.
Stage 3: 1943-1945
From defense, the Red Army gradually goes on the offensive, moving towards Berlin. Several campaigns were carried out aimed at destroying the enemy. A guerrilla war breaks out, during which 6,200 partisan detachments are formed, trying to independently fight the enemy. The partisans used all available means, including clubs and boiling water, and set up ambushes and traps. At this time, battles for Right Bank Ukraine and Berlin take place. The Belarusian, Baltic, and Budapest operations were developed and put into action. As a result, on May 8, 1945, Germany officially recognized defeat.
Thus, the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War was actually the end of the Second World War. The defeat of the German army put an end to Hitler's desires to gain dominance over the world and to universal slavery. However, victory in the war came at a heavy price. In the struggle for the Motherland, millions of people died, cities, towns and villages were destroyed. All the last funds went to the front, so people lived in poverty and hunger. Every year on May 9, we celebrate the day of the Great Victory over fascism, we are proud of our soldiers for giving life to future generations and ensuring a bright future. At the same time, the victory was able to consolidate the influence of the USSR on the world stage and turn it into a superpower.
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The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) is the most terrible and bloody war in the entire USSR. This war was between two powers, the mighty power of the USSR and Germany. In a fierce battle over the course of five years, the USSR still won a worthy victory over its opponent. Germany, when attacking the union, hoped to quickly capture the entire country, but they did not expect how powerful and rural the Slavic people were. What did this war lead to? First, let's look at a number of reasons, why did it all start?
After the First World War, Germany was greatly weakened, and a severe crisis overwhelmed the country. But at this time, Hitler came to rule and introduced a large number of reforms and changes, thanks to which the country began to prosper and people showed their trust in him. When he became a ruler, he pursued a policy in which he conveyed to the people that the German nation was the most superior in the world. Hitler was fired up with the idea of getting even for the First World War, for that terrible loss, he had the idea of subjugating the whole world. He started with the Czech Republic and Poland, which later developed into World War II
We all remember very well from history textbooks that before 1941, an agreement was signed on non-attack by the two countries of Germany and the USSR. But Hitler still attacked. The Germans developed a plan called Barbarossa. It clearly stated that Germany must capture the USSR in 2 months. He believed that if he had all the strength and power of the country at his disposal, he would be able to enter into a war with the United States with fearlessness.
The war began so quickly, the USSR was not ready, but Hitler did not get what he wanted and expected. Our army put up great resistance; the Germans did not expect to see such a strong opponent in front of them. And the war dragged on for 5 long years.
Now let's look at the main periods during the entire war.
The initial stage of the war is June 22, 1941 to November 18, 1942. During this time, the Germans captured most of the country, including Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. Next, the Germans already had Moscow and Leningrad before their eyes. And they almost succeeded, but the Russian soldiers turned out to be stronger than them and did not allow them to capture this city.
Unfortunately, they captured Leningrad, but what is most surprising is that the people living there did not allow the invaders into the city itself. There were battles for these cities until the end of 1942.
The end of 1943, the beginning of 1943, was very difficult for the German army and at the same time happy for the Russians. The Soviet army launched a counteroffensive, the Russians began to slowly but surely retake their territory, and the occupiers and their allies slowly retreated to the west. Some allies were killed on the spot.
Everyone remembers very well how the entire industry of the Soviet Union switched to the production of military supplies, thanks to this they were able to repel their enemies. The army turned from retreating into attacking.
The final. 1943 to 1945. Soviet soldiers gathered all their forces and began to recapture their territory at a rapid pace. All forces were directed towards the occupiers, namely Berlin. At this time, Leningrad was liberated and other previously captured countries were reconquered. The Russians decisively marched towards Germany.
The last stage (1943-1945). At this time, the USSR began to take back its lands piece by piece and move towards the invaders. Russian soldiers conquered Leningrad and other cities, then they proceeded to the very heart of Germany - Berlin.
On May 8, 1945, the USSR entered Berlin, the Germans announced surrender. Their ruler could not stand it and died on his own.
And now the worst thing about the war. How many people died so that we could now live in the world and enjoy every day.
In fact, history is silent about these terrible figures. The USSR hid for a long time the number of people. The government hid data from the people. And people understood how many died, how many were captured, and how many people were missing to this day. But after a while, the data still surfaced. According to official sources, up to 10 million soldiers died in this war, and about 3 million more were in German captivity. These are scary numbers. And how many children, old people, women died. The Germans mercilessly shot everyone.
It was a terrible war, unfortunately it brought a lot of tears to families, there was still devastation in the country for a long time, but slowly the USSR got back on its feet, post-war actions subsided, but did not subside in the hearts of people. In the hearts of mothers who did not wait for their sons to return from the front. Wives who remained widows with children. But how strong the Slavic people are, even after such a war they rose from their knees. Then the whole world knew how strong the state was and how strong in spirit the people lived there.
Thanks to the veterans who protected us when they were very young. Unfortunately, at the moment there are only a few of them left, but we will never forget their feat.
Report on the topic of the Great Patriotic War
On June 22, 1941, at 4 a.m., Germany attacked the USSR without first declaring war. Such an unexpected event briefly put Soviet troops out of action. The Soviet army met the enemy with dignity, although the enemy was very strong and had an advantage over the Red Army. Germany had a lot of weapons, tanks, planes, when the Soviet army was just moving from cavalry protection to weapons.
The USSR was not ready for such a large-scale war; many of the commanders at that moment were inexperienced and young. Of the five marshals, three were shot and declared enemies of the people. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was in power during the Great Patriotic War and did everything possible for the victory of the Soviet troops.
The war was cruel and bloody, the whole country came to the defense of the Motherland. Anyone could join the ranks of the Soviet army, young people created partisan detachments and tried to help in every possible way. Everyone, both men and women, fought to protect their native land.
The struggle for Leningrad lasted 900 days for residents who were under siege. Many soldiers were killed and captured. The Nazis created concentration camps where they tortured and starved people. The fascist troops expected that the war would end within 2-3 months, but the patriotism of the Russian people turned out to be stronger, and the war dragged on for 4 long years.
In August 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began, lasting six months. The Soviet army won and captured more than 330 thousand Nazis. The Nazis could not accept their defeat and launched an attack on Kursk. 1,200 vehicles took part in the Battle of Kursk - it was a massive battle of tanks.
In 1944, Red Army troops were able to liberate Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Moldova. Also, Soviet troops received support from Siberia, the Urals and the Caucasus and were able to drive away enemy troops from their native lands. Many times the Nazis wanted to lure the Soviet army into a trap by cunning, but they failed. Thanks to the competent Soviet command, the Nazis’ plans were destroyed and then they used heavy artillery. The Nazis launched heavy tanks such as the Tiger and Panther into battle, but despite this the Red Army gave a worthy rebuff.
At the very beginning of 1945, the Soviet army broke into German territory and forced the Nazis to admit defeat. From May 8 to 9, 1945, the Act of Surrender of the Forces of Nazi Germany was signed. Officially, May 9 is considered Victory Day, and is celebrated to this day.
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The Great Patriotic War- the war of the USSR with Germany and its allies in – years and with Japan in 1945; component Second World War .
From a management perspective Nazi Germany, war with the USSR was inevitable. The communist regime was seen by them as alien, and at the same time capable of striking at any moment. Only the rapid defeat of the USSR gave the Germans the opportunity to ensure dominance on the European continent. In addition, it gave them access to the rich industrial and agricultural regions of Eastern Europe.
At the same time, according to some historians, Stalin himself, at the end of 1939, decided on a preemptive attack on Germany in the summer of 1941. On June 15, Soviet troops began their strategic deployment and advance to the western border. According to one version, this was done with the aim of striking Romania and German-occupied Poland, according to another, to frighten Hitler and force him to abandon plans to attack the USSR.
First period of the war (June 22, 1941 – November 18, 1942)
The first stage of the German offensive (June 22 – July 10, 1941)
On June 22, the USSR carried out the mobilization of those liable for military service born in 1905–1918; from the first days of the war, a massive registration of volunteers began. On June 23, an emergency body of the highest military command was created in the USSR to direct military operations - the Headquarters of the Main Command, and there was also maximum centralization of military and political power in the hands of Stalin.
On June 22, British Prime Minister William Churchill made a radio statement about support for the USSR in its fight against Hitlerism. On June 23, the US State Department welcomed the efforts of the Soviet people to repel the German invasion, and on June 24, US President F. Roosevelt promised to provide the USSR with all possible assistance.
On July 18, the Soviet leadership decided to organize the partisan movement in the occupied and front-line areas, which became widespread in the second half of the year.
In the summer and autumn of 1941, about 10 million people were evacuated to the east. and more than 1350 large enterprises. The militarization of the economy began to be carried out with harsh and energetic measures; All the country's material resources were mobilized for military needs.
The main reason for the defeats of the Red Army, despite its quantitative and often qualitative (T-34 and KV tanks) technical superiority, was the poor training of privates and officers, the low level of operation of military equipment and the troops’ lack of experience in conducting large military operations in modern warfare. Repressions against the high command in 1937–1940 also played a significant role.
Second stage of the German offensive (July 10 – September 30, 1941)
On July 10, Finnish troops launched an offensive and on September 1, the 23rd Soviet Army on the Karelian Isthmus retreated to the line of the old state border, occupied before the Finnish War of 1939–1940. By October 10, the front had stabilized along the line Kestenga - Ukhta - Rugozero - Medvezhyegorsk - Lake Onega. - R. Svir. The enemy was unable to cut off the communication routes between European Russia and the northern ports.
On July 10, Army Group North launched an offensive in the Leningrad and Tallinn directions. Novgorod fell on August 15, Gatchina on August 21. On August 30, the Germans reached the Neva, cutting off the railway connection with the city, and on September 8 they took Shlisselburg and closed the blockade ring around Leningrad. Only the tough measures of the new commander of the Leningrad Front, G.K. Zhukov, made it possible to stop the enemy by September 26.
On July 16, the Romanian 4th Army took Chisinau; The defense of Odessa lasted about two months. Soviet troops left the city only in the first half of October. At the beginning of September, Guderian crossed the Desna and on September 7 captured Konotop (“Konotop breakthrough”). Five Soviet armies were surrounded; the number of prisoners was 665 thousand. Left Bank Ukraine was in the hands of the Germans; the path to Donbass was open; Soviet troops in Crimea found themselves cut off from the main forces.
Defeats on the fronts prompted Headquarters to issue order No. 270 on August 16, which qualified all soldiers and officers who surrendered as traitors and deserters; their families were deprived state support and were subject to exile.
Third stage of the German offensive (September 30 – December 5, 1941)
On September 30, Army Group Center launched an operation to capture Moscow (“Typhoon”). On October 3, Guderian's tanks broke into Oryol and reached the road to Moscow. On October 6–8, all three armies of the Bryansk Front were surrounded south of Bryansk, and the main forces of the Reserve (19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies) were surrounded west of Vyazma; the Germans captured 664 thousand prisoners and more than 1200 tanks. But the advance of the 2nd Wehrmacht tank group to Tula was thwarted by the stubborn resistance of M.E. Katukov’s brigade near Mtsensk; The 4th Tank Group occupied Yukhnov and rushed to Maloyaroslavets, but was delayed at Medyn by Podolsk cadets (6–10 October); The autumn thaw also slowed down the pace of the German advance.
On October 10, the Germans attacked the right wing of the Reserve Front (renamed the Western Front); On October 12, the 9th Army captured Staritsa, and on October 14, Rzhev. On October 19, a state of siege was declared in Moscow. On October 29, Guderian tried to take Tula, but was repulsed with heavy losses. In early November, the new commander of the Western Front, Zhukov, with an incredible effort of all his forces and constant counterattacks, managed, despite huge losses in manpower and equipment, to stop the Germans in other directions.
On September 27, the Germans broke through the defense line of the Southern Front. Most of Donbass fell into German hands. During the successful counter-offensive of the troops of the Southern Front on November 29, Rostov was liberated, and the Germans were driven back to the Mius River.
In the second half of October, the 11th German Army broke through into Crimea and by mid-November captured almost the entire peninsula. Soviet troops managed to hold only Sevastopol.
Counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow (December 5, 1941 – January 7, 1942)
On December 5–6, the Kalinin, Western and Southwestern fronts switched to offensive operations in the northwestern and southwestern directions. The successful advance of the Soviet troops forced Hitler on December 8 to issue a directive to go on the defensive along the entire front line. On December 18, the troops of the Western Front began an offensive in the central direction. As a result, by the beginning of the year the Germans were thrown back 100–250 km to the west. There was a threat of envelopment of Army Group Center from the north and south. The strategic initiative passed to the Red Army.
The success of the operation near Moscow prompted Headquarters to decide to launch a general offensive along the entire front from Lake Ladoga to the Crimea. The offensive operations of the Soviet troops in December 1941 - April 1942 led to a significant change in the military-strategic situation on the Soviet-German front: the Germans were driven back from Moscow, the Moscow, part of the Kalinin, Oryol and Smolensk regions were liberated. There was also a psychological turning point among soldiers and civilians: faith in victory strengthened, the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht was destroyed. The collapse of the plan for a lightning war raised doubts about the successful outcome of the war among both the German military-political leadership and ordinary Germans.
Lyuban operation (January 13 – June 25)
The Lyuban operation was aimed at breaking the blockade of Leningrad. On January 13, the forces of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts began an offensive in several directions, planning to unite at Lyuban and encircle the enemy’s Chudov group. On March 19, the Germans launched a counterattack, cutting off the 2nd Shock Army from the rest of the forces of the Volkhov Front. Soviet troops repeatedly tried to unblock it and resume the offensive. On May 21, Headquarters decided to withdraw it, but on June 6, the Germans completely closed the encirclement. On June 20, soldiers and officers received orders to leave the encirclement on their own, but only a few managed to do this (according to various estimates, from 6 to 16 thousand people); Army commander A.A. Vlasov surrendered.
Military operations in May-November 1942
Having defeated the Crimean Front (almost 200 thousand people were captured), the Germans occupied Kerch on May 16, and Sevastopol in early July. On May 12, troops of the Southwestern Front and Southern Front launched an attack on Kharkov. For several days it developed successfully, but on May 19 the Germans defeated the 9th Army, throwing it back beyond the Seversky Donets, went to the rear of the advancing Soviet troops and captured them in a pincer movement on May 23; the number of prisoners reached 240 thousand. On June 28–30, the German offensive began against the left wing of the Bryansk and the right wing of the Southwestern Front. On July 8, the Germans captured Voronezh and reached the Middle Don. By July 22, the 1st and 4th Tank Armies reached the Southern Don. On July 24, Rostov-on-Don was captured.
In the context of a military catastrophe in the south, on July 28, Stalin issued order No. 227 “Not a step back,” which provided for severe punishments for retreating without instructions from above, barrier detachments to combat those who left their positions without permission, and penal units for operations in the most dangerous sectors of the front. On the basis of this order, about 1 million military personnel were convicted during the war years, 160 thousand of them were shot, and 400 thousand were sent to penal companies.
On July 25, the Germans crossed the Don and rushed south. In mid-August, the Germans established control over almost all the passes of the central part of the Main Caucasus Range. In the Grozny direction, the Germans occupied Nalchik on October 29, they failed to take Ordzhonikidze and Grozny, and in mid-November their further advance was stopped.
On August 16, German troops launched an offensive towards Stalingrad. On September 13, fighting began in Stalingrad itself. In the second half of October - the first half of November, the Germans captured a significant part of the city, but were unable to break the resistance of the defenders.
By mid-November, the Germans had established control over the Right Bank of the Don and most of the North Caucasus, but did not achieve their strategic goals - to break through to the Volga region and Transcaucasia. This was prevented by counterattacks of the Red Army in other directions (“Rzhev meat grinder”, tank battle between Zubtsov and Karmanovo, etc.), which, although they were not successful, nevertheless did not allow the Wehrmacht command to transfer reserves to the south.
Second period of the war (November 19, 1942 – December 31, 1943): a radical turning point
Victory at Stalingrad (November 19, 1942 – February 2, 1943)
On November 19, units of the Southwestern Front broke through the defenses of the 3rd Romanian Army and on November 21 captured five Romanian divisions in a pincer movement (Operation Saturn). On November 23, units of the two fronts united at Sovetsky and surrounded the enemy’s Stalingrad group.
On December 16, troops of the Voronezh and Southwestern Fronts launched Operation Little Saturn in the Middle Don, defeated the 8th Italian Army, and on January 26, the 6th Army was cut into two parts. On January 31, the southern group led by F. Paulus capitulated, on February 2 – the northern; 91 thousand people were captured. The Battle of Stalingrad, despite the heavy losses of Soviet troops, was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War. The Wehrmacht suffered a major defeat and lost its strategic initiative. Japan and Türkiye abandoned their intention to enter the war on the side of Germany.
Economic recovery and transition to the offensive in the central direction
By this time, a turning point had also occurred in the sphere of the Soviet military economy. Already in the winter of 1941/1942 it was possible to stop the decline in mechanical engineering. The rise of ferrous metallurgy began in March, and the energy and fuel industry began in the second half of 1942. By the beginning, the USSR had a clear economic superiority over Germany.
In November 1942 - January 1943, the Red Army went on the offensive in the central direction.
Operation Mars (Rzhevsko-Sychevskaya) was carried out with the aim of eliminating the Rzhevsko-Vyazma bridgehead. Formations of the Western Front made their way through the Rzhev-Sychevka railway and carried out a raid on enemy rear lines, but significant losses and a lack of tanks, guns and ammunition forced them to stop, but this operation did not allow the Germans to transfer part of their forces from the central direction to Stalingrad.
Liberation of the North Caucasus (January 1 – February 12, 1943)
On January 1–3, the operation to liberate the North Caucasus and the Don bend began. Mozdok was liberated on January 3, Kislovodsk, Mineralnye Vody, Essentuki and Pyatigorsk were liberated on January 10–11, Stavropol was liberated on January 21. On January 24, the Germans surrendered Armavir, and on January 30, Tikhoretsk. On February 4, the Black Sea Fleet landed troops in the Myskhako area south of Novorossiysk. On February 12, Krasnodar was captured. However, the lack of forces prevented Soviet troops from encircling the enemy’s North Caucasian group.
Breaking the siege of Leningrad (January 12–30, 1943)
Fearing encirclement of the main forces of Army Group Center on the Rzhev-Vyazma bridgehead, the German command began their systematic withdrawal on March 1. On March 2, units of the Kalinin and Western Fronts began pursuing the enemy. On March 3, Rzhev was liberated, on March 6, Gzhatsk, and on March 12, Vyazma.
The January-March 1943 campaign, despite a number of setbacks, led to the liberation of a vast territory (North Caucasus, lower reaches of the Don, Voroshilovgrad, Voronezh, Kursk regions, part of the Belgorod, Smolensk and Kalinin regions). The blockade of Leningrad was broken, the Demyansky and Rzhev-Vyazemsky ledges were eliminated. Control over the Volga and Don was restored. The Wehrmacht suffered huge losses (approx. 1.2 million people). The depletion of human resources forced the Nazi leadership to carry out a total mobilization of elders (over 46 years old) and younger ages(16–17 years old).
Since the winter of 1942/1943, the partisan movement in the German rear became an important military factor. The partisans caused serious damage to the German army, destroying manpower, blowing up warehouses and trains, and disrupting the communications system. The largest operations were raids by the M.I. detachment. Naumov in Kursk, Sumy, Poltava, Kirovograd, Odessa, Vinnitsa, Kyiv and Zhitomir (February-March 1943) and detachment S.A. Kovpak in the Rivne, Zhitomir and Kyiv regions (February-May 1943).
Defensive Battle of Kursk (July 5–23, 1943)
The Wehrmacht command developed Operation Citadel to encircle a strong group of the Red Army on the Kursk ledge through counter tank attacks from the north and south; If successful, it was planned to carry out Operation Panther to defeat the Southwestern Front. However, Soviet intelligence unraveled the Germans' plans, and in April-June a powerful defensive system of eight lines was created on the Kursk salient.
On July 5, the German 9th Army launched an attack on Kursk from the north, and the 4th Panzer Army from the south. On the northern flank, already on July 10, the Germans went on the defensive. On the southern wing, Wehrmacht tank columns reached Prokhorovka on July 12, but were stopped, and by July 23, the troops of the Voronezh and Steppe Front drove them back to their original lines. Operation Citadel failed.
The general offensive of the Red Army in the second half of 1943 (July 12 - December 24, 1943). Liberation of Left Bank Ukraine
On July 12, units of the Western and Bryansk fronts broke through the German defenses at Zhilkovo and Novosil, and by August 18, Soviet troops cleared the Oryol ledge of the enemy.
By September 22, units of the Southwestern Front pushed the Germans back beyond the Dnieper and reached the approaches to Dnepropetrovsk (now the Dnieper) and Zaporozhye; formations of the Southern Front occupied Taganrog, on September 8 Stalino (now Donetsk), on September 10 - Mariupol; The result of the operation was the liberation of Donbass.
On August 3, troops of the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts broke through the defenses of Army Group South in several places and captured Belgorod on August 5. On August 23, Kharkov was captured.
On September 25, through flank attacks from the south and north, the troops of the Western Front captured Smolensk and by the beginning of October entered the territory of Belarus.
On August 26, the Central, Voronezh and Steppe Fronts began the Chernigov-Poltava operation. The troops of the Central Front broke through the enemy defenses south of Sevsk and occupied the city on August 27; On September 13, we reached the Dnieper on the Loev-Kyiv section. Units of the Voronezh Front reached the Dnieper in the Kyiv-Cherkassy section. Units of the Steppe Front approached the Dnieper in the Cherkassy-Verkhnedneprovsk section. As a result, the Germans lost almost all of Left Bank Ukraine. At the end of September, Soviet troops crossed the Dnieper in several places and captured 23 bridgeheads on its right bank.
On September 1, the troops of the Bryansk Front overcame the Wehrmacht Hagen defense line and occupied Bryansk; by October 3, the Red Army reached the line of the Sozh River in Eastern Belarus.
On September 9, the North Caucasus Front, in cooperation with the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Military Flotilla, launched an offensive on the Taman Peninsula. Having broken through the Blue Line, Soviet troops took Novorossiysk on September 16, and by October 9 they had completely cleared the peninsula of Germans.
On October 10, the Southwestern Front began an operation to liquidate the Zaporozhye bridgehead and captured Zaporozhye on October 14.
On October 11, the Voronezh (from October 20 - 1st Ukrainian) Front began the Kyiv operation. After two unsuccessful attempts to take the capital of Ukraine with an attack from the south (from the Bukrin bridgehead), it was decided to launch the main blow from the north (from the Lyutezh bridgehead). On November 1, in order to divert the enemy's attention, the 27th and 40th armies moved towards Kiev from the Bukrinsky bridgehead, and on November 3, the strike group of the 1st Ukrainian Front suddenly attacked it from the Lyutezhsky bridgehead and broke through the German defenses. On November 6, Kyiv was liberated.
On November 13, the Germans, having brought up reserves, launched a counter-offensive in the Zhitomir direction against the 1st Ukrainian Front in order to recapture Kyiv and restore defenses along the Dnieper. But the Red Army retained a vast strategic Kiev bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper.
During the period of hostilities from June 1 to December 31, the Wehrmacht suffered huge losses (1 million 413 thousand people), which it was no longer able to fully compensate. A significant part of the USSR territory occupied in 1941–1942 was liberated. The plans of the German command to gain a foothold on the Dnieper lines failed. Conditions were created for the expulsion of the Germans from Right Bank Ukraine.
Third period of the war (December 24, 1943 – May 11, 1945): defeat of Germany
After a series of failures throughout 1943, the German command abandoned attempts to seize the strategic initiative and switched to a tough defense. The main task of the Wehrmacht in the north was to prevent the Red Army from breaking through into the Baltic states and East Prussia, in the center to the border with Poland, and in the south to the Dniester and the Carpathians. Soviet military leadership set the goal of the winter-spring campaign to defeat German troops on the extreme flanks - on the Right Bank of Ukraine and near Leningrad.
Liberation of Right Bank Ukraine and Crimea
On December 24, 1943, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched an offensive in the western and southwestern directions (Zhitomir-Berdichev operation). Only at the cost of great effort and significant losses did the Germans manage to stop the Soviet troops on the line Sarny - Polonnaya - Kazatin - Zhashkov. On January 5–6, units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front attacked in the Kirovograd direction and captured Kirovograd on January 8, but were forced to stop the offensive on January 10. The Germans did not allow the troops of both fronts to unite and were able to hold the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky ledge, which posed a threat to Kyiv from the south.
On January 24, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts launched a joint operation to defeat the Korsun-Shevchenskovsky enemy group. On January 28, the 6th and 5th Guards Tank Armies united at Zvenigorodka and closed the encirclement ring. On January 30, Kanev was taken, on February 14, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky. On February 17, the liquidation of the “boiler” was completed; More than 18 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers were captured.
On January 27, units of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched an attack from the Sarn region in the Lutsk-Rivne direction. On January 30, the offensive of the troops of the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts began on the Nikopol bridgehead. Having overcome fierce enemy resistance, on February 8 they captured Nikopol, on February 22 - Krivoy Rog, and by February 29 they reached the river. Ingulets.
As a result of the winter campaign of 1943/1944, the Germans were finally driven back from the Dnieper. In an effort to make a strategic breakthrough to the borders of Romania and prevent the Wehrmacht from gaining a foothold on the Southern Bug, Dniester and Prut rivers, the Headquarters developed a plan to encircle and defeat Army Group South in Right Bank Ukraine through a coordinated attack by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts .
The final chord of the spring operation in the south was the expulsion of the Germans from Crimea. On May 7–9, troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, with the support of the Black Sea Fleet, took Sevastopol by storm, and by May 12 they defeated the remnants of the 17th Army that fled to Chersonesus.
Leningrad-Novgorod operation of the Red Army (January 14 – March 1, 1944)
On January 14, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts launched an offensive south of Leningrad and near Novgorod. After defeating the German 18th Army and pushing it back to Luga, they liberated Novgorod on January 20. In early February, units of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts reached the approaches to Narva, Gdov and Luga; On February 4 they took Gdov, on February 12 - Luga. The threat of encirclement forced the 18th Army to hastily retreat to the southwest. On February 17, the 2nd Baltic Front carried out a series of attacks against the 16th German Army on the Lovat River. At the beginning of March, the Red Army reached the Panther defensive line (Narva - Lake Peipus - Pskov - Ostrov); Most of the Leningrad and Kalinin regions were liberated.
Military operations in the central direction in December 1943 - April 1944
As the tasks of the winter offensive of the 1st Baltic, Western and Belorussian fronts, the Headquarters set the troops to reach the line Polotsk - Lepel - Mogilev - Ptich and the liberation of Eastern Belarus.
In December 1943 - February 1944, the 1st PribF made three attempts to capture Vitebsk, which did not lead to the capture of the city, but completely depleted the enemy forces. The offensive actions of the Polar Front in the Orsha direction on February 22–25 and March 5–9, 1944 were also unsuccessful.
In the Mozyr direction, the Belorussian Front (BelF) on January 8 dealt a strong blow to the flanks of the 2nd German Army, but thanks to a hasty retreat it managed to avoid encirclement. Lack of forces prevented Soviet troops from encircling and destroying the enemy’s Bobruisk group, and on February 26 the offensive was stopped. Formed on February 17 at the junction of the 1st Ukrainian and Belorussian (from February 24, 1st Belorussian) fronts, the 2nd Belorussian Front began the Polesie operation on March 15 with the goal of capturing Kovel and breaking through to Brest. Soviet troops surrounded Kovel, but on March 23 the Germans launched a counterattack and on April 4 released the Kovel group.
Thus, in the central direction during the winter-spring campaign of 1944, the Red Army was unable to achieve its goals; On April 15, she went on the defensive.
Offensive in Karelia (June 10 – August 9, 1944). Finland's withdrawal from the war
After the loss of most of the occupied territory of the USSR, the main task of the Wehrmacht was to prevent the Red Army from entering Europe and not to lose its allies. That is why the Soviet military-political leadership, having failed in attempts to reach a peace agreement with Finland in February-April 1944, decided to begin the summer campaign of the year with a strike in the north.
On June 10, 1944, LenF troops, with the support of the Baltic Fleet, launched an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus, as a result, control over the White Sea-Baltic Canal and the strategically important Kirov Railway connecting Murmansk with European Russia was restored. By early August, Soviet troops had liberated all of the occupied territory east of Ladoga; in the Kuolisma area they reached the Finnish border. Having suffered defeat, Finland entered into negotiations with the USSR on August 25. On September 4, she broke off relations with Berlin and ceased hostilities, on September 15 declared war on Germany, and on September 19 concluded a truce with the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The length of the Soviet-German front was reduced by a third. This allowed the Red Army to free up significant forces for operations in other directions.
Liberation of Belarus (June 23 – early August 1944)
Successes in Karelia prompted the Headquarters to carry out a large-scale operation to defeat the enemy in the central direction with the forces of three Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts (Operation Bagration), which became the main event of the summer-autumn campaign of 1944.
The general offensive of the Soviet troops began on June 23–24. A coordinated attack by the 1st PribF and the right wing of the 3rd BF ended on June 26–27 with the liberation of Vitebsk and the encirclement of five German divisions. On June 26, units of the 1st BF took Zhlobin, on June 27–29 they surrounded and destroyed the enemy’s Bobruisk group, and on June 29 they liberated Bobruisk. As a result of the rapid offensive of the three Belarusian fronts, the German command’s attempt to organize a defense line along the Berezina was thwarted; On July 3, troops of the 1st and 3rd BF broke into Minsk and captured the 4th German Army south of Borisov (liquidated by July 11).
The German front began to collapse. Units of the 1st PribF occupied Polotsk on July 4 and, moving down the Western Dvina, entered the territory of Latvia and Lithuania, reached the coast of the Gulf of Riga, cutting off Army Group North stationed in the Baltic States from the rest of the Wehrmacht forces. Units of the right wing of the 3rd BF, having taken Lepel on June 28, broke through into the valley of the river in early July. Viliya (Nyaris), on August 17 they reached the border of East Prussia.
The troops of the left wing of the 3rd BF, having made a rapid push from Minsk, took Lida on July 3, on July 16, together with the 2nd BF, they took Grodno and at the end of July approached the north-eastern protrusion of the Polish border. The 2nd BF, advancing to the southwest, captured Bialystok on July 27 and drove the Germans beyond the Narev River. Parts of the right wing of the 1st BF, having liberated Baranovichi on July 8, and Pinsk on July 14, at the end of July they reached the Western Bug and reached the central section of the Soviet-Polish border; On July 28, Brest was captured.
As a result of Operation Bagration, Belarus, most of Lithuania and part of Latvia were liberated. The possibility of an offensive in East Prussia and Poland opened up.
Liberation of Western Ukraine and the offensive in Eastern Poland (July 13 – August 29, 1944)
Trying to stop the advance of Soviet troops in Belarus, the Wehrmacht command was forced to transfer units there from other sectors of the Soviet-German front. This facilitated the operations of the Red Army in other directions. On July 13–14, the offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front began in Western Ukraine. Already on July 17, they crossed the state border of the USSR and entered South-Eastern Poland.
On July 18, the left wing of the 1st BF launched an offensive near Kovel. At the end of July they approached Prague (the right bank suburb of Warsaw), which they managed to take only on September 14. At the beginning of August, German resistance increased sharply, and the advance of the Red Army was stopped. Because of this, the Soviet command was unable to provide the necessary assistance to the uprising that broke out on August 1 in the Polish capital under the leadership of the Home Army, and by the beginning of October it was brutally suppressed by the Wehrmacht.
Offensive in the Eastern Carpathians (September 8 – October 28, 1944)
After the occupation of Estonia in the summer of 1941, Metropolitan of Tallinn. Alexander (Paulus) announced the separation of Estonian parishes from the Russian Orthodox Church (the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church was created on the initiative of Alexander (Paulus) in 1923, in 1941 the bishop repented of the sin of schism). In October 1941, at the insistence of the German General Commissioner of Belarus, the Belarusian Church was created. However, Panteleimon (Rozhnovsky), who headed it in the rank of Metropolitan of Minsk and Belarus, maintained canonical communication with the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky). After the forced retirement of Metropolitan Panteleimon in June 1942, his successor was Archbishop Philotheus (Narco), who also refused to arbitrarily proclaim a national autocephalous Church.
Considering the patriotic position of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky), German authorities initially hindered the activities of those priests and parishes that declared their affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate. Over time, the German authorities began to be more tolerant of the communities of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to the occupiers, these communities only verbally declared their loyalty to the Moscow center, but in reality they were ready to assist the German army in the destruction of the atheistic Soviet state.
In the occupied territory, thousands of churches, churches, and houses of worship of various Protestant movements (primarily Lutherans and Pentecostals) resumed their activities. This process was especially active in the Baltic states, in the Vitebsk, Gomel, Mogilev regions of Belarus, in the Dnepropetrovsk, Zhitomir, Zaporozhye, Kiev, Voroshilovgrad, Poltava regions of Ukraine, in the Rostov, Smolensk regions of the RSFSR.
The religious factor was taken into account when planning domestic policy in areas where Islam traditionally spread, primarily in the Crimea and the Caucasus. German propaganda declared respect for the values of Islam, presented the occupation as the liberation of peoples from the “Bolshevik godless yoke,” and guaranteed the creation of conditions for the revival of Islam. The occupiers willingly opened mosques in almost every settlement of the “Muslim regions” and provided the Muslim clergy with the opportunity to address believers through radio and print. Throughout the occupied territory where Muslims lived, the positions of mullahs and senior mullahs were restored, whose rights and privileges were equal to the heads of administrations of cities and towns.
When forming special units from among prisoners of war of the Red Army, much attention was paid to religious affiliation: if representatives of peoples who traditionally professed Christianity were mainly sent to the “army of General Vlasov”, then to such formations as the “Turkestan Legion”, “Idel-Ural” representatives of “Islamic” peoples.
The “liberalism” of the German authorities did not apply to all religions. Many communities found themselves on the verge of destruction, for example, in Dvinsk alone, almost all of the 35 synagogues operating before the war were destroyed, and up to 14 thousand Jews were shot. Most of the Evangelical Christian Baptist communities that found themselves in the occupied territory were also destroyed or dispersed by the authorities.
Forced to leave the occupied territories under the pressure of Soviet troops, the Nazi invaders took away liturgical objects, icons, paintings, books, and items made of precious metals from prayer buildings.
According to far from complete data from the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders, 1,670 Orthodox churches, 69 chapels, 237 churches, 532 synagogues, 4 mosques and 254 other prayer buildings were completely destroyed, looted or desecrated in the occupied territory. Among those destroyed or desecrated by the Nazis were priceless monuments of history, culture and architecture, incl. dating back to the 11th-17th centuries, in Novgorod, Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Kyiv, Pskov. Many prayer buildings were converted by the occupiers into prisons, barracks, stables, and garages.
Position and patriotic activities of the Russian Orthodox Church during the war
June 22, 1941 Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky) compiled the “Message to the Pastors and Flock of Christ’s Orthodox Church,” in which he revealed the anti-Christian essence of fascism and called on believers to defend themselves. In their letters to the Patriarchate, believers reported on the widespread voluntary collection of donations for the needs of the front and defense of the country.
After the death of Patriarch Sergius, according to his will, Metropolitan took over as locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. Alexy (Simansky), unanimously elected at the last meeting of the Local Council on January 31-February 2, 1945, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The Council was attended by Patriarchs Christopher II of Alexandria, Alexander III of Antioch and Kallistratus of Georgia (Tsintsadze), representatives of the Constantinople, Jerusalem, Serbian and Romanian patriarchs.
In 1945, the so-called Estonian schism was overcome, and the Orthodox parishes and clergy of Estonia were accepted into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Patriotic activities of communities of other faiths and religions
Immediately after the start of the war, the leaders of almost all religious associations of the USSR supported the liberation struggle of the peoples of the country against the Nazi aggressor. Addressing believers with patriotic messages, they called upon them to honorably fulfill their religious and civil duty to protect the Fatherland, to provide all possible financial assistance the needs of the front and rear. The leaders of most religious associations of the USSR condemned those representatives of the clergy who deliberately went over to the side of the enemy and helped to instill " new order"in the occupied territory.
The head of the Russian Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy, Archbishop. Irinarch (Parfyonov), in his Christmas message of 1942, called on the Old Believers, a considerable number of whom fought on the fronts, to serve valiantly in the Red Army and resist the enemy in the occupied territory in the ranks of the partisans. In May 1942, the leaders of the Unions of Baptists and Evangelical Christians addressed a letter of appeal to believers; the appeal spoke of the danger of fascism “for the cause of the Gospel” and called on “brothers and sisters in Christ” to fulfill “their duty to God and to the Motherland” by being “the best warriors at the front and the best workers in the rear.” Baptist communities were engaged in sewing linen, collecting clothes and other things for soldiers and families of the dead, helped in caring for the wounded and sick in hospitals, and looked after orphans in orphanages. Using funds raised in Baptist communities, the Good Samaritan ambulance plane was built to transport seriously wounded soldiers to the rear. The leader of renovationism, A. I. Vvedensky, repeatedly made patriotic appeals.
In relation to a number of other religious associations, state policy during the war years remained invariably tough. First of all, this concerned “anti-state, anti-Soviet and fanatical sects,” which included the Doukhobors
- http://www.pravenc.ru/text/150063.html
When, on the western border of the USSR, the sun's rays were just about to illuminate the earth, the first soldiers of Hitler's Germany set foot on Soviet soil. The Great Patriotic War (WWII) had been going on for almost two years, but now a heroic war had begun, and it would not be for resources, not for the dominance of one nation over another, and not for the establishment of a new order, now the war would become sacred, popular, and its price would be life, real and life of future generations.
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. The beginning of the Second World War
On June 22, 1941, the countdown began to four years of inhuman efforts, during which the future of each of us hung practically by a thread.
War is always a disgusting business, but The Great Patriotic War (WWII) was too popular for only professional soldiers to participate in it. The entire people, young and old, stood up to defend the Motherland.
From the first day Great Patriotic War (WWII) the heroism of an ordinary Soviet soldier became a role model. What is often called in literature “to stand to death” was fully demonstrated already in the battles for the Brest Fortress. The vaunted Wehrmacht soldiers, who conquered France in 40 days and forced England to cower cowardly on their island, faced such resistance that they simply could not believe that ordinary people were fighting against them. As if these were warriors from epic tales, they stood up with their chests to defend every inch of their native land. For almost a month, the fortress garrison repelled one German attack after another. And this, just think about it, is 4,000 people who were cut off from the main forces and who did not have a single chance of salvation. They were all doomed, but they never succumbed to weakness and did not lay down their arms.
When the advanced units of the Wehrmacht reach Kyiv, Smolensk, Leningrad, fighting is still ongoing in the Brest Fortress. 
Great Patriotic War are always characterized by manifestations of heroism and resilience. No matter what happened on the territory of the USSR, no matter how terrible the repressions of tyranny were, the war equalized everyone.
A striking example of a change in attitude within society, Stalin’s famous address, which was made on July 3, 1941, contained the words “Brothers and Sisters.” There were no more citizens, there were no high ranks and comrades, it was a huge family consisting of all the peoples and nationalities of the country. The family demanded salvation, demanded support.
And on the eastern front the fighting continued. The German generals encountered an anomaly for the first time; there is no other way to describe it. Developed by the best minds of Hitler's General Staff, lightning war, built on quick breakthroughs of tank formations, followed by the encirclement of large enemy units, no longer worked like a clock mechanism. When surrounded, Soviet units fought their way through rather than lay down their arms. To a serious extent, the heroism of the soldiers and commanders thwarted the plans of the German offensive, slowed down the advance of enemy units and became a turning point in the war. Yes, yes, it was then, in the summer of 1941, that the German army’s offensive plans were completely thwarted. Then there were Stalingrad, Kursk, the Battle of Moscow, but all of them became possible thanks to the unparalleled courage of an ordinary Soviet soldier, who stopped the German invaders at the cost of his own life.
Of course, there were excesses in the leadership of military operations. It must be admitted that the command of the Red Army was not ready for WWII. The USSR doctrine assumed a victorious war on enemy territory, but not on its own soil. And in technical terms, the Soviet troops were seriously inferior to the Germans. So they went into cavalry attacks on tanks, flew and shot down German aces in old planes, burned in the tanks, and retreated, not giving up a single piece of land without a fight.
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Battle for Moscow
The plan for the lightning capture of Moscow by the Germans finally collapsed in the winter of 1941. Much has been written about the Moscow battle and films have been made. However, every page of what was written, every frame of what was filmed is imbued with the unparalleled heroism of the defenders of Moscow. We all know about the parade on November 7, which took place across Red Square, while German tanks were approaching the capital. Yes, this was also an example of how the Soviet people are going to defend their country. The troops left for the front line immediately after the parade, immediately entering the battle. And the Germans could not stand it. The iron conquerors of Europe stopped. It seemed that nature itself came to the aid of the defenders, severe frosts struck, and this was the beginning of the end of the German offensive. Hundreds of thousands of lives, widespread manifestations of patriotism and devotion to the Motherland of soldiers surrounded, soldiers near Moscow, residents who held weapons in their hands for the first time in their lives, all this became an insurmountable obstacle to the enemy’s path to the very heart of the USSR.
But after that the legendary offensive began. German troops were driven back from Moscow, and for the first time experienced the bitterness of retreat and defeat. We can say that it was here, in the snowy areas near the capital, that the fate of the whole world, and not just the war, was predetermined. The brown plague, which until that time had been consuming country after country, nation after nation, found itself face to face with people who did not want, could not, bow their heads.
The 41st was coming to an end, the western part of the USSR lay in ruins, the occupation forces were fierce, but nothing could break those who found themselves in the occupied territories. There were also traitors, needless to say, those who went over to the enemy’s side and forever branded themselves with shame and the rank of “policeman.” And who are they now, where are they? The Holy War does not forgive traitors on its land.
Speaking of “Holy War”. The legendary song very accurately reflected the state of society in those years. The People's and Holy War did not tolerate the subjunctive and weakness. The price for victory or defeat was life itself.
g. allowed the relationship between the authorities and the church to change. Exposed long years persecution, during WWII The Russian Orthodox Church helped the front with all its might. And this is another example of heroism and patriotism. After all, we all know that in the West the Pope simply bowed to the iron fists of Hitler.
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Guerrilla warfare
Separately, it is worth mentioning the guerrilla war during WWII. For the first time, the Germans encountered such fierce resistance from the population. Regardless of where the front line was, fighting was constantly taking place behind enemy lines. The invaders on Soviet soil could not get a moment of peace. Whether it was the swamps of Belarus or the forests of the Smolensk region, the steppes of Ukraine, death awaited the occupiers everywhere! Entire villages joined the partisans, together with their families and relatives, and from there, from the hidden, ancient forests, they struck at the fascists.
How many heroes did the partisan movement give birth to? Both old and very young. Young boys and girls who went to school just yesterday have grown up today and performed feats that will remain in our memory for centuries.
While the fighting was going on on the ground, the air, in the first months of the war, belonged entirely to the Germans. A huge number of Soviet army aircraft were destroyed immediately after the start of the fascist offensive, and those who managed to take to the air could not fight on equal terms with German aviation. However, heroism in WWII manifests itself not only on the battlefield. All of us living today pay our deepest respects to those in the rear. In the most severe conditions, under constant shelling and bombing, plants and factories were transported to the east. Immediately upon arrival, outside, in the cold, the workers stood at their machines. The army continued to receive ammunition. Talented designers created new models of weapons. They worked 18-20 hours a day in the rear, but the army did not need anything. Victory was forged at the cost of enormous efforts of every person.
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Rear
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Siege Leningrad.
Siege Leningrad. Are there people who have not heard this phrase? 872 days of unparalleled heroism covered this city with eternal glory. German troops and allies were unable to break the resistance of the besieged city. The city lived, defended itself and struck back. The road of life that connected the besieged city with the mainland became the last for many, and there was not a single person who would refuse, who would chicken out and not carry food and ammunition along this ice ribbon to the Leningraders. Hope never died. And the credit for this goes entirely to ordinary people who valued the freedom of their country above all else!
All history of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 written with unprecedented feats. Only real sons and daughters of their people, heroes, could close the embrasure of an enemy pillbox with their body, throw themselves under a tank with grenades, or go for a ram in an air battle.
And they were rewarded! And even though the sky over the village of Prokhorovka became black from soot and smoke, even though the waters of the northern seas received dead heroes every day, nothing could stop the liberation of the Motherland.
And there was the first fireworks, on August 5, 1943. It was then that the fireworks countdown began in honor of the new victory, the new liberation of the city.
The peoples of Europe today no longer know their history, the true history of the Second World War. It is thanks to the Soviet people that they live, build their lives, give birth and raise children. Bucharest, Warsaw, Budapest, Sofia, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, all these capitals were liberated at the cost of blood Soviet heroes. And the last shots in Berlin mark the end of the worst nightmare of the 20th century.
On the radio July 2, 1941. In this speech I.V. Stalin also used the terms “Patriotic War of Liberation”, “National Patriotic War”, “Patriotic War against German Fascism”.
Another official approval of this name was the introduction of the Order of the Patriotic War on May 2, 1942.
1941
On September 8, 1941, the siege of Leningrad began. For 872 days the city heroically resisted the German invaders. He not only resisted, but also worked. It should be noted that during the siege, Leningrad provided weapons and ammunition to the troops of the Leningrad Front, and also supplied military products to neighboring fronts.
On September 30, 1941, the Battle of Moscow began. The first major battle of the Great Patriotic War in which German troops suffered a serious defeat. The battle began as the German offensive Operation Typhoon.
On December 5, the Red Army's counteroffensive began near Moscow. The troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts pushed the enemy back in places more than 100 kilometers from Moscow.
Despite the victorious offensive of the Red Army near Moscow, this was only the beginning. The beginning of the great battle against fascism, which will last another 3 long years.
1942
The most difficult year of the Great Patriotic War. This year the Red Army suffered very heavy defeats.
The offensive near Rzhev resulted in huge losses. More than 250,000 were lost in the Kharkov cauldron. Attempts to break the blockade of Leningrad ended in failure. The 2nd Shock Army died in the Novgorod swamps.
Key dates of the second year of the Great Patriotic War
From January 8 to March 3, the Rzhev-Vyazma operation took place. The final stage of the Battle of Moscow.
From January 9 to February 6, 1942 - Toropetsko-Kholm offensive operation. The Red Army troops advanced almost 300 kilometers, liberating many settlements.
On January 7, the Demyansk offensive operation began, as a result of which the so-called Demyansk cauldron was formed. Wehrmacht troops totaling more than 100,000 people were surrounded. Including the elite SS division “Totenkopf”.
After some time, the encirclement was broken, but all the miscalculations of the Demyansk operation were taken into account when eliminating the encircled group at Stalingrad. This particularly concerned the interruption of air supplies and the strengthening of the defense of the outer ring of encirclement.
On March 17, as a result of the unsuccessful Lyuban offensive operation near Novgorod, the 2nd Shock Army was surrounded.
On November 18, after heavy defensive battles, the Red Army troops went on the offensive and surrounded the German group in the Stalingrad area.
1943 - the year of turning point during the fighting of the Great Patriotic War
In 1943, the Red Army managed to wrest the initiative from the hands of the Wehrmacht and begin a victorious march to the borders of the USSR. In some places, our units have advanced more than 1000-1200 kilometers in a year. The experience accumulated by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War made itself felt.
On January 12, Operation Iskra began, as a result of which the blockade of Leningrad was broken. Narrow corridor up to 11 kilometers wide, it connected the city with the “Mainland”.
On July 5, 1943, the Battle of Kursk began. A turning point battle during the Great Patriotic War, after which the strategic initiative completely passed to the side of the Soviet Union and the Red Army.
Already during the Great Patriotic War, contemporaries appreciated the significance of this battle. Wehrmacht General Guderian said after the Battle of Kursk: “...more on Eastern Front there were no quiet days..."
August - December 1943. Battle of the Dnieper - left-bank Ukraine is completely liberated, Kyiv is taken.
1944 is the year of the liberation of our country from fascist invaders
In 1944, the Red Army almost completely cleared the territory of the USSR from the Nazi invaders. As a result of a series of strategic operations, Soviet troops came close to the borders of Germany. More than 70 German divisions were destroyed.
This year, Red Army troops entered the territory of Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Norway, Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Finland emerged from the war with the USSR.
January - April 1944. Liberation of right-bank Ukraine. Exit to the state border of the Soviet Union.
On June 23, one of the largest operations of the Great Patriotic War began - the offensive Operation Bagration. Belarus, part of Poland and almost the entire Baltic region were completely liberated. Army Group Center was defeated.
On July 17, 1944, for the first time during the war, a column of almost 60,000 German prisoners captured in Belarus was marched through the streets of Moscow.
1945 - the year of victory in the Great Patriotic War
The years of the Great Patriotic War, spent by Soviet troops in the trenches, made their presence felt. The year 1945 began with the Vistula-Oder offensive operation, which would later be called the most rapid offensive in human history.
In just 2 weeks, the Red Army troops covered 400 kilometers, liberating Poland and defeating more than 50 German divisions.
On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Reich Chancellor, Fuhrer and Supreme Commander of Germany, committed suicide.
On May 9, 1945, at 0:43 a.m. Moscow time, the unconditional surrender of Germany was signed.
On the Soviet side, the surrender was accepted by Marshal of the Soviet Union, Commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.
4 years, 1418 days of the most difficult and bloody war in the history of Russia have ended.
At 22:00 on May 9, to commemorate the complete victory over Germany, Moscow saluted with 30 artillery salvoes from a thousand guns.
On June 24, 1945, the Victory Parade took place in Moscow. This solemn event marked the end of the Great Patriotic War.
It should be noted that on May 9, the Great Patriotic War ended, but the 2nd World War did not end. In accordance with allied agreements, on August 8, the USSR entered the war with Japan. In just two weeks, Red Army troops defeated Japan's largest and most powerful army, the Kwantung Army, in Manchuria.
Having almost completely lost its ground forces and the ability to wage war on the Asian continent, Japan capitulated on September 2. September 2, 1945 is the official date of the end of World War II.
Interesting fact. Formally, the Soviet Union was at war with Germany until January 25, 1955. The fact is that after Germany surrendered, a peace treaty was not signed. Legally, the Great Patriotic War ended when the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a decree. This happened on January 25, 1955.
By the way, the United States ended the state of war with Germany on October 19, 1951, and France and Great Britain on July 9, 1951.
Photographers: Georgy Zelma, Yakov Ryumkin, Evgeny Khaldey, Anatoly Morozov.USSR, Eastern and Central Europe |
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German aggression |
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Victory of the USSR, unconditional surrender of the German Armed Forces |
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Territorial changes: |
Collapse of the Third Reich. Formation of the socialist camp in Eastern Europe. Division of Germany. |
Opponents |
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Italy (until October 1943) |
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Romania (after September 1944) |
Finland (until September 1944) |
Bulgaria (after October 1944) |
Romania (until September 1944) |
Blue Division (Spain) (volunteers, until 1943) |
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Commanders |
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Joseph Stalin |
Adolf Gitler † |
Georgy Zhukov |
Feodor von Bock † |
Boris Shaposhnikov † |
Ernst Busch |
Alexander Vasilevsky |
Heinz Guderian |
Konstantin Rokossovsky |
Hermann Goering † |
Ivan Konev |
Ewald von Kleist |
Alexey Antonov |
Gunther von Kluge † |
Ivan Bagramyan |
Georg von Küchler |
Semyon Budyonny |
Wilhelm von Leeb |
Kliment Voroshilov |
Wilhelm Liszt |
Leonid Govorov |
Erich von Manstein |
Andrey Eremenko |
Walter Model† |
Mikhail Kirponos † |
Friedrich Paulus |
Rodion Malinovsky |
Walter von Reichenau † |
Kirill Meretskov |
Gerd von Rundstedt |
Ivan Petrov |
Ferdinand Schörner |
Markian Popov |
Erhard Routh |
Semyon Timoshenko |
Benito Mussolini † |
Ivan Tyulenev |
Giovanni Messe |
Fedor Tolbukhin |
Italo Gariboldi |
Ivan Chernyakhovsky † |
Petre Dimitrescu |
Michal Zymierski |
Constantin Constantinescu |
Constantin Vasiliu-Raşcanu |
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim |
Emmanuel Ionescu |
Karl Lennart Ash |
Nicolae Cambria |
Gustav Jani |
Damyan Velchev |
Ferenc Szombatey |
Vladimir Stoychev |
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Josip Broz Tito |
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GreatPatriotic War (1941-1945)- the war of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics against Nazi Germany and its European allies (Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain); a decisive part of World War II.
Name
In circulation, the words “great” and “patriotic” are used separately. For the first time, this phrase in its familiar form was applied to this war in articles of the Pravda newspaper dated June 23 and 24, 1941, and at first it was perceived not as a term, but as one of the newspaper cliches, along with other similar phrases: “sacred people’s war” , “sacred patriotic people’s war”, “victorious patriotic war”. The term " Patriotic War"was consolidated by the introduction of the Military Order of the Patriotic War, established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 20, 1942. The name is retained in post-Soviet states (Ukrainian. Great Victic War, white VyalikayaAichynaya vine, abh. Ayynџt?ylat?iYeibashradu and etc.). IN foreign countries, which were not part of the USSR, where Russian is not the main language of communication, the name “” is practically not used. In English-speaking countries it is replaced by the term - EasternFront World War II(English) (Eastern Front of the Second World War), in German historiography - Deutsch-SowjetischerKrieg, Russlandfeldzug, Ostfeldzug(German) ( German-Soviet War, Russian Campaign, Eastern Campaign).
Recently in Russia the term has begun to be periodically used to refer to the Great Patriotic War « Great War» , which is not entirely historically correct - in the late 1910s this term was applied to the First World War.
Situation by June 22, 1941
By June 22, 1941, three army groups (a total of 181 divisions, including 19 tank and 14 motorized, and 18 brigades), supported by three air fleets, were concentrated and deployed near the borders of the USSR. In the zone from Goldap to Memel on a 230 km front, Army Group North (29 German divisions with the support of the 1st Air Fleet) was located under the command of Field Marshal W. Leeb. Its divisions were united into the 16th and 18th armies, as well as the 4th tank group. The directive of January 31, 1941 set her the task of “ destroy enemy forces operating in the Baltic states and capture ports on the Baltic Sea, including Leningrad and Kronstadt, deprive the Russian fleet of its support bases.“In the Baltic, to support Army Group North and actions against the Baltic Fleet, the German command allocated about 100 ships, including 28 torpedo boats, 10 minelayers, 5 submarines, patrol ships and minesweepers.
To the south, in the zone from Gołdap to Włodawa on a 500 km front, Army Group Center (50 German divisions and 2 German brigades supported by the 2nd Air Fleet) was located under the command of Field Marshal F. Bock. The divisions and brigades were united into the 9th and 4th field armies, as well as the 2nd and 3rd tank groups. The task of the group was - “ Advancing with large forces on the flanks, defeat the enemy troops in Belarus. Then, by concentrating mobile formations advancing south and north of Minsk, it is possible to quickly reach the Smolensk region and thereby create the preconditions for the interaction of large tank and motorized forces with Army Group North in order to destroy enemy troops operating in the Baltic states and the Leningrad region.»
In the zone from Polesie to the Black Sea, on a front length of 1300 km, Army Group “South” was deployed (44 German, 13 Romanian divisions, 9 Romanian and 4 Hungarian brigades, which were supported by the 4th Air Fleet and Romanian aviation) under the command of G. Rundstedt. The group was divided into the 1st Panzer Group, the 6th, 11th and 17th German armies, the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies and the Hungarian corps. According to the Barbarossa plan, the troops of the South group were instructed - having tank and motorized formations in front and delivering the main blow to Kiev with the left wing, to destroy Soviet troops in Galicia and the western part of Ukraine, to timely capture crossings on the Dnieper in the Kyiv area and to the south to ensure a further offensive east of the Dnieper. The 1st Tank Group was ordered, in cooperation with the 6th and 17th armies, to break through between Rava-Russkaya and Kovel and through Berdichev, Zhitomir to reach the Dnieper in the Kyiv region. Further, moving along the Dnieper in a southeastern direction, it was supposed to prevent the withdrawal of the defending Soviet units in Right Bank Ukraine and destroy them with a blow from the rear.
In addition to these forces, a separate Wehrmacht army “Norway” under the command of General N. Falkenhorst was deployed in the territory of occupied Norway and in Northern Finland - from the Varangerfjord to Suomussalmi. It was directly subordinate to the High Command of the German Armed Forces (OKW). Army “Norway” was given the task of capturing Murmansk, the main naval base of the Northern Fleet Polyarny, the Rybachy Peninsula, as well as the Kirov Railway north of Belomorsk. Each of its three corps was deployed in an independent direction: the 3rd Finnish Corps - in Kestenga and Ukhta, the 36th German Corps - in Kandalaksha and the German mountain rifle corps "Norway" - in Murmansk.
There were 24 divisions in the OKH reserve. In total, over 5.5 million people, 3,712 tanks, 47,260 field guns and mortars, and 4,950 combat aircraft were concentrated to attack the USSR.
On June 22, 1941, in the border districts and fleets of the USSR there were 3,289,850 soldiers and officers, 59,787 guns and mortars, 12,782 tanks, of which 1,475 T-34 and KV tanks, 10,743 aircraft. The three fleets included about 220 thousand personnel, 182 ships of the main classes (3 battleships, 7 cruisers, 45 leaders and destroyers and 127 submarines). Direct protection of the state border was carried out by border units (land and sea) of eight border districts. Together with operational units and units of internal troops, they numbered about 100 thousand people. Reflecting a possible attack from the west was entrusted to the troops of five border districts: Leningrad, Baltic special, Western special, Kyiv special and Odessa. From the sea, their actions were to be supported by three fleets: the Northern, Red Banner Baltic and Black Sea.
The troops of the Baltic Military District under the command of General F.I. Kuznetsov included the 8th and 11th armies, the 27th army was in formation west of Pskov. These units defended against Baltic Sea to the southern border of Lithuania, on a front length of 300 km.
Troops of the Western Special Military District under the command of General D. G. Pavlov covered the Minsk-Smolensk direction from the southern border of Lithuania to the Pripyat River on a front length of 470 km. This district included the 3rd 4th and 10th armies. In addition, formations and units of the 13th Army were formed in the area of Mogilev, Minsk, Slutsk.
The troops of the Kyiv Special Military District under the command of General M.P. Kirponos, consisting of the 5th, 6th, 12th and 26th armies and formations of district subordination, occupied positions on a front stretching 860 km from Pripyat to Lipkan.
Troops of the Odessa Military District under the command of General Ya. T. Cherevichenko covered the border in the area from Lipkan to the mouth of the Danube, 480 km long.
The troops of the Leningrad Military District under the command of General M. M. Popov were supposed to defend the borders of the northwestern regions of the country (Murmansk region, Karelo-Finnish SSR and the Karelian Isthmus), as well as the northern coast of the Estonian SSR and the Hanko Peninsula. The length of the land border in this section reached 1300 km, and the sea border - 380 km. The 7th, 14th, 23rd armies and the Northern Fleet were located here.
It should be noted that, according to modern historians, the Wehrmacht did not have a clear qualitative superiority in technology. Thus, all tanks in German service were lighter than 23 tons, while the Red Army had medium tanks T-34 and T-28 weighing over 25 tons, as well as heavy tanks KV and T-35 weighing over 45 tons.
Nazi plans for the USSR
The following documents testify to the military-political and ideological goals of Operation Barbarossa:
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The chief of staff of the operational leadership of the OKW, after appropriate corrections, returned the draft document “Instructions regarding the special problems of Directive No. 21 (variant of the Barbarossa plan)” presented to him on December 18, 1940 by the “National Defense” department,” making a note that this project could be reported to the Fuhrer after revision in accordance with the following provisions: The upcoming war will be not only an armed struggle, but also at the same time a struggle between two worldviews. To win this war in conditions where the enemy has a huge territory, it is not enough to defeat his armed forces, this territory should be divided into several states, headed by their own governments, with which we could conclude peace treaties. The creation of such governments requires great political skill and the development of well-thought-out general principles. Every large-scale revolution brings to life phenomena that cannot simply be cast aside. It is no longer possible to eradicate socialist ideas in today's Russia. These ideas can serve as an internal political basis for the creation of new states and governments. The Jewish-Bolshevik intelligentsia, which represents the oppressor of the people, must be removed from the scene. The former bourgeois-aristocratic intelligentsia, if it still exists, primarily among emigrants, should also not be allowed to come to power. It will not be accepted by the Russian people and, moreover, it is hostile towards the German nation. This is especially noticeable in the former Baltic states. Moreover, we must under no circumstances allow the Bolshevik state to be replaced by a nationalist Russia, which will ultimately (as history shows) once again confront Germany. Our task is to, as quickly as possible, at the lowest cost military efforts to create these socialist states dependent on us. This task is so difficult that one army cannot solve it. Entry dated March 3, 1941 in the diary of the Operational Headquarters of the Wehrmacht High Command (OKW) |
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30.3.1941 ... 11.00. Big meeting with the Fuhrer. Almost 2.5 hour speech... The struggle of two ideologies... The huge danger of communism for the future. We must proceed from the principle of soldierly camaraderie. The communist has never been and will never be our comrade. We are talking about a struggle to destroy. If we don't look at it this way, then even though we defeat the enemy, in 30 years the communist danger will arise again. We are not waging war in order to mothball our enemy. Future political map of Russia: Northern Russia belongs to Finland, protectorates in the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus. The fight against Russia: the destruction of the Bolshevik commissars and communist intelligentsia. The new states must be socialist, but without their own intelligentsia. A new intelligentsia should not be allowed to form. Here only the primitive socialist intelligentsia will be sufficient. The fight must be waged against the poison of demoralization. This is far from a military judicial issue. Commanders of units and subunits are required to know the goals of the war. They must lead in the struggle..., keep the troops firmly in their hands. The commander must give his orders taking into account the mood of the troops. The war will be very different from the war in the West. In the East, cruelty is a blessing for the future. Commanders must make sacrifices and overcome their hesitations... Diary of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces F. Halder |
Forces that fought on the German side
The Wehrmacht and SS troops were replenished by over 1.8 million people from among citizens of other states and nationalities. Of these, 59 divisions, 23 brigades, several separate regiments, legions and battalions were formed during the war. Many of them bore names based on state and nationality: “Wallonia”, “Galicia”, “Bohemia and Moravia”, “Viking”, “Denemark”, “Gembez”, “Langemark”, “Nordland”, “Nederland”, “ Charlemagne" and others.
The armies of Germany's allies - Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Slovakia, and Croatia - took part in the war against the Soviet Union. The Bulgarian army was involved in the occupation of Greece and Yugoslavia, but the Bulgarian ground units did not fight on the Eastern Front.
The Russian Liberation Army (ROA), under the command of General Vlasov A.A., also acted on the side of Nazi Germany, although it was not part of the Wehrmacht.
A huge number of South Caucasian and North Caucasian detachments in the service of the Third Reich. The largest of which is Sonderverband Bergmann (Battalion Bergmann). Also the Georgian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the Azerbaijani Legion, the North Caucasus SS detachment, etc.
The 15th Cossack SS Cavalry Corps under General von Panwitz fought as part of the army of Nazi Germany. In order to justify the use of Cossacks in armed struggle on the side of Germany, a “theory” was developed, according to which the Cossacks were declared descendants of the Ostrogoths.
Also operating on the German side were the Russian Corps of General Shteifon, the corps of Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov, and a number of individual units formed from citizens of the USSR.
Territories of military operations
USSR
Byelorussian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Estonian SSR, Karelo-Finnish SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, as well as a number of territories of other republics: Leningrad, Murmansk, Pskov, Novgorod, Vologda, Kalinin, Moscow, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk , Oryol, Bryansk, Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Rostov, Ryazan, Stalingrad regions, Krasnodar, Stavropol territories, Kabardino-Balkarian, Crimean, Ossetian, Chechen-Ingush Republics, Krasnodar region (combat operations at sea), Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (air attack) , Astrakhan (air strikes), Arkhangelsk (air strikes), Gorky (air strikes), Saratov (air strikes), Tambov (air strikes), Yaroslavl (air strikes) regions of the RSFSR, Kazakh SSR (air strike on the city of Guryev), Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (GSSR).
Other countries
The Great Patriotic War does not separate the military operations of the Soviet armed forces on the territory of other occupied countries and states of the fascist bloc - Germany, Poland, Finland, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, as well as Austria, which was part of Germany, created by the Hitler regime Croatia and Slovakia.
Initial period of the war (22 June 1941 - 18 November 1942)
On June 18, 1941, some formations of the border military districts of the USSR were put on combat readiness. On June 13-15, 1941, Directives from the NKO and General Staff (“To increase combat readiness...”) were sent to the western districts to begin moving units of the first and second echelons to the border, under the guise of “exercises.” Rifle units of the first echelon districts, according to these directives, were supposed to take up defensive positions 5-10 km from the border, units of the second echelon, rifle and mechanized corps, were supposed to take up defensive positions 30-40 km from the border. These Directives were published in a collection of documents under the general leadership of A. Yakovlev “Russia. XX century. 1941 Documents” book 2.
On June 18, an additional command and order was issued to bring all units of the western districts to full combat readiness. This telegram-order is mentioned in the interrogation protocols of the ZapOVO command, which did not fulfill either the orders of June 13-15, or subsequent orders to bring their units to full combat readiness dated June 18. Marshal I. Kh. Bagramyan describes these directives in more detail in his memoirs back in 1971, describes how they were communicated to the district commands and how these directives were actually implemented. Some parts of the western districts, the same mechanized corps of K.K. Rokossovsky in KOVO, were not notified at all about these orders and directives, and entered the war, having learned about the attack only on June 22, 1941.
The military-political leadership of the state at 23:30 on June 21 made a decision aimed at partially bringing the five border military districts to combat readiness. The directive prescribed the implementation of only part of the measures to bring them to full combat readiness, which were determined by operational and mobilization plans. The directive, in essence, did not give permission to put the cover-up plan into effect in full, since it ordered “not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.” These restrictions caused bewilderment, and requests were made to Moscow, while only a few minutes remained before the start of the war.
However, in essence this “Directive No. 1 of June 21, 1941” in reality it only (and above all) reported the probable date of the German attack - “…. 1. During June 22-23, 1941, a surprise attack by the Germans on the fronts of the LVO, Prib. OVO, Zap. OVO, KOVO, Od. OVO...." Also, this directive ordered the units to BE in full combat readiness, and not to BRING the units to full combat readiness. Thus, Directive No. 1 of 06/21/41 confirms that before it, in parts of the western districts, orders and directives on bringing units to combat readiness had already gone out - directives from the NKO and General Staff of June 12-13, and telegrams from the General Staff on bringing them to full combat readiness ready on June 18. Directive No. 1 by its very content suggests that it does not at all give a command to bring parts of the western districts into combat readiness. The purpose of this directive is simply to communicate a fairly precise date and remind the district commands to “be in full combat readiness to meet a possible surprise attack by the Germans or their allies.”
The miscalculation in time aggravated the existing shortcomings in the combat readiness of the army and thereby sharply increased the objectively existing advantages of the aggressor. The time available to the troops, who had not received orders from their command in the districts of June 15-18, was clearly not enough to bring them to full combat readiness after receiving Directive No. 1 of June 21. Instead of 25-30 minutes, it took an average of 2 hours and 30 minutes to notify the troops to put them on alert. The fact is that instead of the signal “Proceed with the implementation of the cover plan of 1941.” associations and connections received an encrypted directive with restrictions on entering a cover plan. However, the same Bagramyan quite rightly writes that the General Staff could not give a direct order to put into effect the “cover plan” in that situation of June 1941. Thus, bringing parts of the western districts to combat readiness had to take place in stages, starting within a few days from June 13-15, when the districts received directives from the NGOs and the General Staff, signed on June 12-13, to begin “exercises” for parts of these districts and move them to the defense lines in accordance with cover plans. However, it was the open and hidden failure of the command of the western districts (especially in Belarus) to comply with the directives of June 12-13 that led to the failure to bring these districts into combat readiness.
Under these conditions, even formations and units of the first echelon of the covering armies, which had constant combat readiness within 6-9 hours (2-3 hours for alarm and assembly, 4-6 hours for advancement and organization of defense), did not receive this time. Instead of the specified period, they had no more than 30 minutes, and some formations were not notified at all, even about Directive No. 1 of June 21, 1941. The delay, and in some cases the failure to transmit the command, was also due to the fact that the enemy succeeded to a large extent disrupt wire communications with troops in border areas. As a result, district and army headquarters were unable to quickly transmit their orders.
Zhukov states that the commands of the western (Western Special, Kiev Special, Baltic Special and Odessa) border military districts at that time were moving to field command posts, which were supposed to arrive on June 22. G.K. Zhukov also points out in his “Memoirs and Reflections” that a few days before the attack, parts of the western districts actually received orders to begin moving to the defense lines (under the guise of “exercises”) to the border. These orders (Zhukov called them “recommendations”) came from the People’s Commissar of Defense S.K. Timoshenko to the commanders of the western districts.
However, the command of these districts in a strange way began to sabotage these orders and “recommendations”. This sabotage occurred especially openly in Belarus, in the ZapOVO, where Army General D. Pavlov was in command. In the indictment in the Pavlov case, it was ultimately written down - “weakened the mobilization readiness of the troops.”
Summer-autumn campaign 1941
On June 22, 1941 at 4:00 am, Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop presented Soviet ambassador in Berlin to Dekanozov a note declaring war and three annexes to it: “Report of the German Minister of the Interior, Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police to the German government on the sabotage work of the USSR directed against Germany and National Socialism”, “Report of the German Foreign Ministry on propaganda and political agitation of the Soviet government,” “Report of the High Command of the German Army to the German Government on the concentration of Soviet troops against Germany.” In the early morning of June 22, 1941, after artillery and air preparation, German troops crossed the border of the USSR. After this, at 5:30 in the morning, the German Ambassador to the USSR V. Schulenburg appeared before the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov and made a statement, the content of which boiled down to the fact that the Soviet government was pursuing a subversive policy in Germany and in those occupied by it countries, pursued a foreign policy directed against Germany, and “concentrated all its troops on the German border in full combat readiness.” The statement ended with the following words: “The Fuehrer has therefore ordered the German armed forces to counter this threat with all means at their disposal.” Along with the note, he handed over a set of documents identical to those that Ribbentrop handed to Dekanozov.
In the northern Baltic, Plan Barbarossa began on the evening of June 21, when German minelayers based in Finnish ports laid two large minefields in the Gulf of Finland. These minefields were eventually able to trap the Soviet Baltic Fleet in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
On June 22, Romanian and German troops crossed the Prut and also tried to cross the Danube, but Soviet troops did not allow them to do this and even captured bridgeheads on Romanian territory. However, in July-September 1941, Romanian troops, with the support of German troops, occupied all of Bessarabia, Bukovina and the area between the Dniester and Southern Bug rivers (for more details, see the articles Defensive operation in Moldova, Romania in World War II).
At 12 noon on June 22, 1941, Molotov spoke on the radio with an official address to the citizens of the USSR, reporting the German attack on the USSR and announcing the beginning of the Patriotic War.
In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 22, 1941, from June 23, the mobilization of military personnel of 14 ages (born in 1905-1918) was announced in 14 out of 17 military districts. In the other three districts - Transbaikal, Central Asian and Far Eastern - The mobilization was announced a month later by a special government decision in a secretive manner as “large training camps.”
On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command was created (from August 8, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command) headed by I.V. Stalin, who from August 8 also became the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. On June 30, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was created. Since June, a people's militia began to form.
Finland did not allow the Germans to launch a direct attack from their territory, and German units in Petsamo and Salla were forced to refrain from crossing the border. There were occasional skirmishes between Soviet and Finnish border guards, but in general a calm situation remained on the Soviet-Finnish border. However, starting on June 22, German Luftwaffe bombers began using Finnish airfields as a refueling base before returning to Germany. On June 23, Molotov summoned the Finnish ambassador. Molotov demanded that Finland clearly define its position towards the USSR, but the Finnish ambassador refrained from commenting on Finland’s actions. On June 24, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Ground Forces sent an instruction to the representative of the German command at the headquarters of the Finnish Army, which stated that Finland should prepare for the start of an operation east of Lake Ladoga. Early in the morning of June 25, the Soviet command decided to launch a massive air strike on 18 airfields in Finland using about 460 aircraft. On June 25, in response to large-scale Soviet air raids on cities in Southern and Central Finland, including Helsinki and Turku, as well as Soviet infantry and artillery fire on the state border, Finland declared that it was again at war with the USSR. During July - August 1941, the Finnish army, in the course of a series of operations, occupied all the territories that were transferred to the USSR as a result of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940.
Hungary did not immediately take part in the attack on the USSR, and Hitler did not demand direct help from Hungary. However, the Hungarian ruling circles urged the need for Hungary to enter the war in order to prevent Hitler from resolving the territorial dispute over Transylvania in favor of Romania. On June 26, 1941, the bombing of Kosice by the Soviet Air Force allegedly took place, but there is an opinion that this was a German provocation that gave Hungary casebelli(formal reason) for entering the war. Hungary declared war on the USSR on June 27, 1941. On July 1, 1941, at the direction of Germany, the Hungarian Carpathian Group of Forces attacked the Soviet 12th Army. Attached to the German 17th Army, the Carpathian Group advanced far into the southern part of the USSR. In the fall of 1941, the so-called Blue Division of Spanish volunteers also began fighting on the side of Germany.
On August 10, the State Defense Committee issued a decree on the mobilization of those liable for military service born in 1904-1890 and conscripts born in 1922-1923 on the territory of the Kirovograd, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk regions and areas west of Lyudinovo - Bryansk - Sevsk, Oryol region. On August 15, this mobilization was extended to the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, on August 20 - to the Zaporozhye region, on September 8 - to a number of districts of the Oryol and Kursk regions, on October 16 - to Moscow and the Moscow region. In total, by the end of 1941, over 14 million people were mobilized.
Meanwhile, German troops seized strategic initiative and air supremacy and defeated Soviet troops in border battles. Which lost 850 thousand people killed and wounded and about 1 million people captured.
Main events of the summer-autumn campaign of 1941:
- Battle of Bialystok-Minsk (June 22 - July 8, 1941),
- Battle of Dubno - Lutsk - Brody (1941) (June 24 - June 30, 1941),
- Defensive operation in Moldova
- Battle of Smolensk (July 10 - September 10),
- Battle of Uman (end of July - August 8, 1941),
- Battle of Kyiv (August 7 - September 26, 1941),
- Defense of Leningrad and the beginning of its blockade (September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944),
- Defense of Odessa (5 August - 16 October 1941),
- Beginning of the defense of Sevastopol (October 4, 1941 - July 4, 1942),
- Defensive period of the Battle of Moscow (September 30 - December 4, 1941),
- Encirclement of the 18th Army of the Southern Front (October 5-10, 1941).
- Tula defensive operation (October 24 - December 5, 1941)
- Battles for Rostov (November 21-27, 1941),
- Kerch landing (December 26, 1941 - May 20, 1942).
Results of the initial period of the war
By December 1, 1941, the losses of the Red Army in prisoners alone amounted to 3.5 million military personnel. German troops captured Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, a significant part of the RSFSR, Ukraine, advanced inland to 850-1200 km, losing 740 thousand people (of which 230 thousand were killed).
The USSR lost its most important raw materials and industrial centers: Donbass, Krivoy Rog ore basin. Minsk, Kyiv, Kharkov, Smolensk, Odessa, and Dnepropetrovsk were abandoned. Leningrad found itself under siege. The most important sources of food in Ukraine and southern Russia fell into the hands of the enemy or were cut off from the center. Millions of Soviet citizens ended up in the occupied territories. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died or were taken into slavery in Germany. The German army, however, was stopped at Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov-on-Don; The strategic goals outlined by the Barbarossa plan could not be achieved.
Winter campaign 1941-1942
On November 16, the Germans began the second stage of their attack on Moscow, planning to encircle it from the north-west and south-west. In the Dmitrov direction they reached the Moscow-Volga canal and crossed to its eastern bank near Yakhroma, in the Khimki direction they captured Klin, crossed the Istra reservoir, occupied Solnechnogorsk and Krasnaya Polyana, in the Krasnogorsk direction they took Istra. In the southwest, Guderian approached Kashira. However, as a result of fierce resistance from the Polar Front armies, the Germans were stopped in all directions at the end of November - beginning of December. The attempt to take Moscow failed.
During the winter campaign of 1941-1942, a counteroffensive was carried out near Moscow. The threat to Moscow was lifted. Soviet troops pushed back the enemy in the western direction by 80-250 km, completed the liberation of the Moscow and Tula regions, and liberated many areas of the Kalinin and Smolensk regions. On the southern front, Soviet troops defended the strategically important Crimea.
On January 5, 1942, an extended meeting was held at the Supreme Command Headquarters to discuss strategic plans for the near future. The main report was made by the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal B. M. Shaposhnikov. He outlined not only a plan for further pushing the enemy back from Moscow, but also plans for a large-scale strategic offensive on other fronts: breaking the blockade of Leningrad and defeating the enemy in Ukraine and Crimea. G.K. Zhukov spoke out against the strategic offensive plan. He pointed out that, due to a lack of tanks and artillery, it was not possible to break through the German defenses, and that the proposed strategy would only lead to unnecessary losses in manpower. Zhukov was supported by the head of the USSR State Planning Committee N.A. Voznesensky, who pointed out the impossibility of providing the proposed plan with a sufficient amount of equipment and weapons. Beria and Malenkov spoke in support of the plan. Summing up the discussion, Stalin approved the plan, saying: “We must quickly defeat the Germans so that they cannot advance when spring comes.”.
In accordance with the adopted plan, offensive operations were undertaken at the beginning of 1942: the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation, the Kerch-Feodosiya landing operation and others. The enemy managed to repulse all these attacks with heavy losses for the Soviet troops. On January 18, 1942, the Barvenkovo-Lozovsky operation began. Fierce fighting continued for two weeks, as a result of which Soviet troops managed to break through German defenses on a 100 km front, advance 90-100 km in the western and southwestern directions and seize a bridgehead on the right bank of the Northern Donets.
Summer - autumn 1942
Based on incorrect data on Wehrmacht losses during the winter offensive of the Red Army, the Supreme Command of the USSR in the summer-autumn campaign of 1942 gave the troops an impossible task: to completely defeat the enemy and liberate the entire territory of the country. The main military events took place in the southwestern direction: the defeat of the Crimean Front, the disaster in the Kharkov operation (12-25.05), the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad strategic defensive operation (28.06-24.07), the Stalingrad strategic defensive operation (17.07-18.11), the North Caucasus strategic defensive operation (25.07-31.12). The enemy advanced 500-650 km, reached the Volga, and captured part of the passes of the Main Caucasus Range.
A number of major operations took place in the central direction: the Rzhev-Sychevsky operation (30.7-23.8), which merged with the counterattack of the troops of the Western Front in the Sukhinichi region, Kozelsk (22-29.8), a total of 228,232 casualties); as well as in the northwestern direction: the Lyuban offensive operation (7.1-30.4), which merged with the operation to withdraw the 2nd Shock Army from encirclement (13.5-10.7), which was surrounded as a result of the first operation; total losses - 403,118 people.
For the German army, the situation also began to take a threatening turn: although its losses continued to be significantly lower than the Soviet ones, the weaker German military economy did not allow it to replace lost aircraft and tanks at the same speed as the other side did, and the extremely inefficient use of human resources in the army did not allow the divisions operating in the East to be replenished to the required extent, which led to the transition of a number of divisions to a six-battalion staff (from a nine-battalion one); the personnel of the combat companies in the Stalingrad direction was reduced to 27 people (out of 180 in the state). In addition, as a result of operations in the South of Russia, the already very long eastern front of the Germans lengthened significantly; the German units themselves were no longer enough to create the necessary defensive densities. Significant sections of the front were occupied by troops of Germany's allies - the Romanian 3rd and emerging 4th armies, the 8th Italian and 2nd Hungarian armies. It was these armies that turned out to be the Wehrmacht's Achilles heel in the autumn-winter campaign that soon followed.
On July 3, 1941, Stalin addressed the people with the slogan “Everything for the front!” Everything for victory!“; By the summer of 1942 (in less than 1 year), the transfer of the USSR economy to a war footing was completed.
With the outbreak of war in the USSR, mass evacuation of the population, productive forces, institutions and material resources began. A significant number of enterprises were evacuated to the eastern regions of the country (about 2,600 in the second half of 1941 alone), and 2.3 million heads of livestock were exported. In the first half of 1942, 10 thousand aircraft, 11 thousand tanks, and 54 thousand guns were produced. In the 2nd half of the year their output increased by more than 1.5 times. In total, in 1942, the USSR produced 5.91 million units of small arms of all types (excluding revolvers and pistols), guns and mortars of all types and calibers (excluding aircraft, naval and tank/self-propelled guns) 287.0 thousand units, tanks and self-propelled guns of all types 24.5 thousand units, aircraft of all types 25.4 thousand units, including combat aircraft 21.7 thousand units. A significant amount of military equipment was also received under Lend-Lease.
As a result of agreements between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA in 1941-1942. The core of the anti-Hitler coalition was formed.
Occupation regime
Hitler viewed his attack on the USSR as a “Crusade” that should be waged using terrorist methods. Already on May 13, 1941, he freed the military personnel from any responsibility for their actions in carrying out the Barbarossa plan:
On this occasion Guderian remarked:
During the war, the territories of the Belarusian, Ukrainian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian SSR, and 13 regions of the RSFSR were subjected to German occupation.
The Moldavian SSR and some areas of the south of the Ukrainian SSR (Transnistria) were under the control of Romania, part of the Karelo-Finnish SSR was occupied by Finnish troops.
The regions began to be called provinces, counties (since January 1943 - districts) and volosts were established, and population registration was carried out. Along with the German military and administrative authorities (military commandant's offices, district and regional departments, agricultural departments, Gestapo, etc.), there were institutions of local government with the police. At the head of cities and counties, burgomasters were appointed, volost administrations were headed by volost elders, and elders were appointed in villages. Magistrates' courts operated to deal with criminal and civil cases that did not affect the interests of the German army. The activities of local institutions were aimed at executing the orders and instructions of the German command, implementing Hitler's policies and plans regarding the occupied population.
The entire working population was obliged to work in enterprises opened by the Germans, in the construction of fortifications for the German army, in the repair of highways and railways, in clearing them of snow and rubble, in agriculture etc. In accordance with the “new order of land use,” collective farms were liquidated and communal farms were formed, instead of state farms, “state farms” were formed - state farms of the German government. The population was ordered to unquestioningly comply with the predatory standards established by the Germans for the supply of meat, milk, grain, fodder, etc. for the German army. German soldiers robbed and destroyed state and public property, and drove civilians out of their homes. People were forced to live in unsuitable premises, dugouts, and their warm clothes, food, and livestock were taken away from them.
The Germans organized political schools - a special institution for propaganda and agitation. Public lectures on political topics were held compulsorily at enterprises and organizations of the city and in rural areas. Lectures and reports were given through local radio broadcasting. D. Malyavin also reports on propaganda calendars.
Since December 1941, the German newspaper “Rech” began to be published in Orel three times a week in Russian with clearly anti-Soviet publications. Illustrated brochures, leaflets, and posters were distributed among the population: “Who is Adolf Hitler,” “Is this a patriotic war for the peoples of Russia,” “The new land order is the basis of well-being,” “Now get to work restoring your homeland,” and others about German politics in occupied countries, about the “happy life” of Soviet prisoners of war and citizens sent to work in Germany, etc.
The Germans opened churches, schools and other cultural and educational institutions. The repertoire of theaters was also determined by German propagandists; the overwhelming majority of cinemas showed only German films with Russian translations.
Compulsory schooling was introduced using Soviet textbooks, from which everything that did not correspond to Nazi ideology was removed. Parents who did not send their children to school were forced to do so by imposing fines. Teachers were interviewed by the Gestapo and two-week political courses were organized. From April 1943, the teaching of history was prohibited and so-called “lessons on current events” were introduced, which required the use of German newspapers and special German political brochures. Children's groups were organized in church schools to teach the Law of God. At the same time, the occupiers destroyed a huge number of books in libraries.
For most places subject to occupation, this period lasted two to three years. The invaders introduced here strict labor conscription for Soviet citizens aged 18 to 45 years (for Jews from 18 to 60 years old). Moreover, the working day, even in hazardous industries, lasted 14-16 hours a day. For refusal and evasion of work, failure to follow orders, the slightest disobedience, resistance to robbery and violence, assistance to partisans, membership in the Communist Party and Komsomol, belonging to Jewish nationality and simply for no reason, executions, hangings, beatings and fatal torture followed. Fines were applied, imprisonment in concentration camps, requisition of livestock, etc. Primarily Slavs, Jews and Gypsies, as well as all the rest, according to the fascists, “subhumans” were subjected to repression by the fascist invaders. Thus, in Belarus every third inhabitant was destroyed.
Death camps were created in the occupied territories, where, according to general estimates, about 5 million people died.
In total, more than 7.4 million people were deliberately exterminated in the occupied territory. civilian population.
Great damage to the Soviet population under occupation was caused by the forcible deportation of the most able-bodied part of it for forced labor in Germany and occupied industrialized countries. Soviet slaves were called there “ostarbeiters” (eastern workers).
Of the total number of Soviet citizens forcibly taken to work in Germany (5,269,513 people), after the end of the war, 2,654,100 people were repatriated to their homeland. They did not return for various reasons and became emigrants - 451,100 people. The remaining 2,164,313 people. died or died in captivity.
Period of radical change (November 19, 1942-1943)
Winter campaign 1942-1943
On November 19, 1942, a counteroffensive of Soviet troops began; on November 23, units of the Stalingrad and Southwestern fronts united near the city of Kalach-on-Don and surrounded 22 enemy divisions. During Operation Little Saturn, which began on December 16, Army Group Don under the command of Manstein suffered a serious defeat. And although the offensive operations undertaken on the central sector of the Soviet-German front (Operation Mars) ended unsuccessfully, success in the southern direction ensured the success of the winter campaign of the Soviet troops as a whole - one German and four armies of Germany’s allies were destroyed.
Others important events The winter campaign was the North Caucasus offensive operation (in fact, the pursuit of forces withdrawing from the Caucasus in order to avoid encirclement of the Germans) and the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad (January 18, 1943). The Red Army advanced 600-700 km to the West in some directions and defeated five enemy armies.
On February 19, 1943, the troops of Army Group South under the command of Manstein launched a counteroffensive in the southern direction, which made it possible to temporarily wrest the initiative from the hands of the Soviet troops and throw them back to the east (in some directions by 150-200 km). A relatively small number of Soviet units were surrounded (on the Voronezh front, due to the mistakes of the front commander F.I. Golikov, who was removed after the battle). However, measures taken by the Soviet command already at the end of March 1943 made it possible to stop the advance of German troops and stabilize the front.
In the winter of 1943, the German 9th Army of V. Model abandoned the Rzhev-Vyazma ledge (see Operation Buffel). Soviet troops of the Kalinin (A. M. Purkaev) and Western (V. D. Sokolovsky) fronts began pursuing the enemy. As a result, Soviet troops moved the front line away from Moscow by another 130-160 km. Soon the headquarters of the German 9th Army led the troops on the northern front of the Kursk salient.
Summer-autumn campaign 1943
The decisive events of the summer-autumn campaign of 1943 were the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of the Dnieper. The Red Army advanced 500-1300 km, and although its losses were greater than those of the enemy (in 1943, the losses of the Soviet armies in killed reached the maximum for the entire war), the German side could not, due to the less efficient military industry and the less effective system of use human resources for military purposes, to make up for their at least smaller losses as quickly as the USSR could do it. This ensured that the Red Army as a whole had a stable dynamic in its advance to the West during the third and fourth quarters of 1943.
On November 28 - December 1, the Tehran Conference of I. Stalin, W. Churchill and F. Roosevelt took place. The main issue of the conference was the opening of a second front.
Third period of the war (1944 - 9 May 1945)
The third period of the war was characterized by a significant quantitative growth of the German armed forces, especially in technical terms. For example, the number of tanks and self-propelled guns in the Wehrmacht by January 1, 1945 was 12,990 units, while by January 1, 1944 - 9,149, and by January 1, 1943 - only 7,927 units. This was the result of the activities of Speer, Milch and others within the framework of the program of war mobilization of German industry, which began in January 1942, but began to produce serious results only in 1943-1944. However, the quantitative increase due to huge losses on the Eastern Front and the lack of fuel for training tank crews and pilots was accompanied by a decrease in the quality level of the German armed forces. Therefore, the strategic initiative remained with the USSR and its allies, and German losses increased significantly (there is an opinion that the reason for the increase in losses was, among other things, the increase in the technical equipment of the Wehrmacht - there was more equipment that could be lost).
Winter-spring campaign of 1944
Winter campaign of 1943-1944. The Red Army made a grand start offensive on the right bank of Ukraine(December 24, 1943 – April 17, 1944). This offensive included several front-line operations, such as the Zhitomir-Berdichev, Kirovograd, Korsun-Shevchenko, Lutsk-Rivne, Nikopol-Krivoy Rog, Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Uman-Botoshan, Bereznegovato-Snigirev and Odessa.
As a result of the 4-month offensive, Army Group “South” under the command of Field Marshal E. Manstein and Army Group “A”, commanded by Field Marshal E. Kleist, were defeated. Soviet troops liberated Right Bank Ukraine, the western regions, reached the state border in the south of the USSR, in the foothills of the Carpathians (during the Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation) and on March 28, crossing the Prut River, entered Romania. Also included in the offensive on the right bank of Ukraine is the Polesie operation of the 2nd Belorussian Front, which operated north of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
The offensive was attended by troops of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Ukrainian Fronts, the 2nd Belorussian Front, ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Military Flotilla, and a large number of partisans in the occupied territories. As a result of the offensive, the front was moved away from its original positions at the end of December 1943 to a depth of 250-450 km. The human losses of the Soviet troops are estimated at 1.1 million people, of which irrevocable - just over 270 thousand.
Simultaneously with the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine, Leningradsko-Novgorodskayaoperation(January 14 - March 1, 1944). As part of this operation, the following frontal offensive operations were carried out: Krasnoselsko-Ropshinskaya, Novgorod-Luga, Kingisepp-Gdovskaya and Starorussko-Novorzhevskaya. One of the main goals was to lift the siege of Leningrad.
As a result of the offensive, Soviet troops defeated Army Group North, under the command of Field Marshal G. Küchler. Also, the almost 900-day blockade of Leningrad was lifted, almost the entire territory of the Leningrad and Novgorod regions, most of the Kalinin region was liberated, Soviet troops entered the territory of Estonia. This offensive of the Soviet troops deprived the German command of the opportunity to transfer the forces of Army Group North to the Right-Bank Ukraine, where they attacked main blow Soviet troops in the winter of 1944
The operation involved troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, part of the forces of the 2nd Baltic Front, the Baltic Fleet, long-range aviation and partisans. As a result of the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, the troops advanced 220-280 km. The losses of Soviet troops were more than 300 thousand people, of which more than 75 thousand were irrevocable.
April-May was marked Crimean offensive operation(April 8 - May 12). During it, 2 front-line operations were carried out: Perekop-Sevastopol and Kerch-Sevastopol; The goal of the operation is the liberation of Crimea. Soviet troops liberated Crimea and defeated the 17th German field army. The Black Sea Fleet regained its main base - Sevastopol, which significantly improved the conditions for basing and combat operations both for the fleet itself and for the Azov military flotilla (on the basis of which the Danube military flotilla was formed). The threat to the rear of the fronts liberating Right Bank Ukraine was eliminated.
The liberation of Crimea involved troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the Separate Primorsky Army under the command of A.I. Eremenko, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Azov Military Flotilla (later renamed the Danube Military Flotilla). The losses of Soviet troops amounted to just under 85 thousand people, of which more than 17 thousand were irrevocable. Soviet troops liberated Crimea in just over a month, while the Germans took almost 10 months just to capture Sevastopol.
Summer-autumn campaign of 1944
In June 1944, the Allies opened a second front, which slightly worsened Germany's military position. During the summer-autumn campaign of 1944, the Red Army carried out a number of major operations, including the Belarusian, Lvov-Sandomierz, Yassy-Kishinev, Baltic; completed the liberation of Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states (except for some areas of Latvia) and partially Czechoslovakia; liberated the northern Arctic and northern regions of Norway. Romania and Bulgaria were forced to capitulate and enter the war against Germany (Bulgaria was at war with Great Britain and the USA, but not with the USSR; on September 5, 1944, the USSR declared war on Bulgaria and occupied it; Bulgarian troops offered no resistance).
In the summer of 1944, Soviet troops entered Polish territory. Even before this, on the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, as well as Lithuania, Soviet troops met with the formations of the Polish partisan Home Army (AK), which was subordinate to the Polish government in exile. It was given the task, as the Germans retreated, to take possession of the liberated areas both in Western Belarus, Western Ukraine and Lithuania, and in Poland itself, so that the entering Soviet troops would already find there a formed apparatus of power, supported by armed detachments subordinate to the emigrant government.
Soviet troops first carried out joint operations with AK against the Germans, and then AK officers were arrested, and the soldiers were disarmed and mobilized into the pro-Soviet Polish Army under General Berling. On the liberated lands, that is, directly in the rear of the Red Army, attempts continued to disarm the AK units, which went underground. This happened from July 1944 and on the territory of Poland itself. Already on August 23, 1944, the first stage of interned AK soldiers was sent from Lublin to a camp near Ryazan. Before being sent, they were held in the former Nazi concentration camp Majdanek. On July 21, 1944, in Chelm, Polish communists and their allies created the Polish Committee of National Liberation - the provisional pro-Soviet government of Poland, despite the fact that Poland had a legal government - the Polish Government in Exile.
On August 1, 1944, when the advanced forces of the Red Army were approaching the Polish capital of Warsaw, the Home Army launched an uprising in the city. The rebels fought for two months against superior German forces, but on October 2, 1944 they were forced to capitulate. The 1st Belorussian Front did not provide significant assistance to the rebels - having overcome up to 600 km in the Belarusian operation, it met stubborn enemy resistance near Warsaw and went on the defensive.
On August 30, 1944, the Slovak National Uprising began against the pro-German regime of the Slovak Republic led by Joseph Tissot. To help the rebels, Soviet troops launched the Carpathian-Dukel operation on September 8. But in early November 1944, German troops crushed the uprising even before Soviet troops could provide assistance to the rebels.
In October 1944, Soviet troops successfully carried out the Debrecen operation and began the Budapest operation with the goal of defeating German troops on the territory of Hungary and withdrawing it from the war. However, German troops in Budapest capitulated only on February 13, 1945. On December 28, 1944, a provisional government of Hungary was created, which concluded a truce with the USSR on January 20, 1945.
On October 25, 1944, the State Defense Committee announced a call for military service for conscripts born in 1927. 1 million 156 thousand 727 people were drafted - the last military draft.
Winter-spring campaign of 1945
Military front
Offensive actions of Soviet troops in the western direction resumed only in January 1945. January 13th began ( East Prussian operation). In the Malawian direction, the goal was to defeat the Malawian enemy group and cut off Army Group Center, which was defending in East Prussia, from the rest of the forces of the Nazi armies. As a result of the battles, Soviet troops occupied part of East Prussia, liberated the territory of Northern Poland and, blocking the East Prussian enemy group from the West and South-West, created favorable conditions for its subsequent defeat (see. Mlavsko-Elbingskayaoperation). In the Kaliningrad direction they began an offensive operation against the Tilsit-Insterburg group of Nazi troops. As a result, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front advanced to a depth of 130 km and defeated the main forces of the Germans, creating conditions for the completion of the joint East Prussian operation with the 2nd Belorussian Front (see Insterburg-Koenigsberg operation). In another direction in Poland, on January 12, ( Vistula-Oderoperation), during which, by February 3, the territory of Poland west of the Vistula was cleared of German troops and a bridgehead on the right bank of the Oder was captured, which was subsequently used in the attack on Berlin. In southern Poland and Czechoslovakia, troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front overcame most of the Western Carpathians, and by February 18 reached the upper Vistula region, which contributed to the advance of the 1st Ukrainian Front in Silesia.
March 16th starts Vienna offensive operation to take possession of the city of Vienna. On the way to the capital of the Austrian part of the Third Reich, the 6th SS Panzer Army was defeated. In early April, on the territory of Czechoslovakia, Soviet troops moved further west with fierce battles, liberating settlements from the Germans. On April 7, they approached the suburbs of Vienna where they met stubborn resistance from the Germans. Heavy fighting begins for Vienna, which was taken on April 13.
At the same time, battles for Königsberg begin in East Prussia (see. Königsberg operation). At a slow pace, Soviet troops are recapturing kilometer by kilometer, and they begin street fighting. As a result of the Königsberg operation, the main forces of the East Prussian German group were defeated. In the Polish direction, by March 1945, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts reached the line of the Oder and Neisse rivers. The shortest distance from the Küstrin bridgehead to Berlin was 60 km. Anglo-American troops completed the liquidation of the Ruhr group of German troops and by mid-April advanced units reached the Elbe. The loss of the most important raw material areas caused the decline industrial production Germany. Difficulties in replacing the casualties suffered in the winter of 1944/45 increased. Nevertheless, the German armed forces still represented an impressive force. According to the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Red Army, by mid-April they included 223 divisions and brigades. On April 16, 1945, the Berlin offensive operation of the Soviet troops began. On April 25, 1945, Soviet troops on the Elbe River met for the first time with American troops advancing from the West. On May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison capitulated. After the capture of Berlin, Soviet troops carried out the Prague operation - the last strategic operation of the war.
Political front
On January 19, 1945, the last commander of the AK, Leopold Okulicki, issued an order for its dissolution. In February 1945, representatives of the emigrant Polish government who were in Poland, the majority of delegates of the Council of National Unity (temporary underground parliament) and the leaders of the AK were invited by NKGB General I. A. Serov to a conference regarding the possible entry of representatives of non-communist groups into the Provisional Government, which was supported Soviet Union. The Poles were given security guarantees, but they were arrested in Pruszkow on March 27 and taken to Moscow, where they were put on trial. On February 4-11, 1945, the Yalta Conference of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt took place. The basic principles of post-war politics were discussed there.
End of the war
At midnight on May 8, the war in Europe ended with the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces. The fighting lasted 1418 days. However, having accepted the surrender, the Soviet Union did not sign peace with Germany, that is, it formally remained at war with Germany. The war with Germany was formally ended on January 25, 1955 by the publication by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the decree “On ending the state of war between the Soviet Union and Germany.”
On June 24, the Victory Parade took place in Moscow. At the Potsdam Conference of the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA, held in July - August 1945, an agreement was reached on issues of the post-war structure of Europe.
The war of the Soviet Union against Japan (August 9 - September 2, 1945) was a direct continuation and an important component of the Great Patriotic War.
Battles, operations and battles
The largest battles of the Great Patriotic War:
- Defense of the Arctic (June 29, 1941 - November 1, 1944)
- Battle of Moscow (September 30, 1941 - April 20, 1942)
- Siege of Leningrad (September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944)
- Battle of Rzhev (January 8, 1942 - March 31, 1943)
- Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943)
- Battle for the Caucasus (July 25, 1942 - October 9, 1943)
- Battle of Kursk (July 5 - August 23, 1943)
- Battle for Right Bank Ukraine (December 24, 1943 - April 17, 1944)
- Belarusian operation (June 23 - August 29, 1944)
- Baltic operation (September 14 - November 24, 1944)
- Budapest operation (October 29, 1944 - February 13, 1945)
- Vistula-Oder operation (January 12 - February 3, 1945)
- East Prussian operation (January 13 - April 25, 1945)
- Battle of Berlin (April 16 – May 8, 1945)
Losses
There are different estimates of the losses of the Soviet Union and Germany during the war of 1941-1945. The differences are associated both with the methods of obtaining initial quantitative data for different groups of losses, and with the methods of calculation.
In Russia, official data on losses (of the army) in the Great Patriotic War are considered to be those published by a group of researchers led by Grigory Krivosheev, a consultant at the Military Memorial Center of the Russian Armed Forces, in 1993. According to updated data (2001), the losses were as follows:
- Human losses of the USSR - 6.8 million military personnel “killed, died from wounds, in captivity, from diseases, accidents, executed by sentences of tribunals” and 4.4 million captured and missing. Total demographic losses (including civilian deaths) - 26.6 million Human;
- German casualties - 4.047 million military personnel killed and deceased (including 3.605 million dead, died from wounds and missing at the front; 442 thousand died in captivity), more 2.91 million
- Human losses of Germany's allied countries - 806 thousand military personnel killed (including 137.8 thousand died in captivity), also 662.2 thousand returned from captivity after the war.
- Irreversible losses of the armies of the USSR and Germany with satellites (including prisoners of war) - 11.5 million And 8.6 million people respectively. The ratio of irretrievable losses of the armies of Germany with its satellites and the USSR is: 1: 1.3.
USSR and the anti-Hitler coalition
After Germany attacked the USSR, the latter became an ally of Great Britain. On June 22, 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated:
On July 12, the USSR signed an agreement with Great Britain on joint actions in the war against Germany. On July 18, a similar agreement was signed with the emigrant government of Czechoslovakia, and on July 30 - with the Polish emigrant government.
On August 14, an agreement was reached with the Polish emigrant government on the formation in the USSR of an army from Polish citizens who were captured by the Soviets as a result of the Polish campaign of the Red Army in 1939, as well as Polish citizens who were deported or imprisoned (a decree was adopted in relation to them on August 12 about amnesty).
On September 24, 1941, the USSR acceded to the Atlantic Charter, expressing its dissenting opinion on certain issues. On September 29 - October 1, 1941, a meeting of representatives of the USSR, USA and Great Britain was held in Moscow, which ended with the signing of a protocol on mutual supplies. The first British Arctic convoy “Dervish” with military cargo for the USSR arrived in Arkhangelsk even before this, on August 31, 1941. To ensure the supply of military cargo to the USSR along the southern route, in August 1941, Soviet and British troops were sent to Iran.
Stalin's position in the war
On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the “formation of the Red Army,” Joseph Stalin, in his order No. 55, hurled the following reproach to the National Socialist press, which allegedly claims that the Soviet Union is seeking the destruction of the German people:
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We can say with all confidence that this war will lead either to fragmentation or to the complete destruction of the Hitler clique. Attempts to identify the entire German people and the German state with this clique are ridiculous. The experience of history says that Hitlers come and go, but the German people and the German state remain. The strength of the Red Army lies in the fact that it does not know racial hatred, which is the source of Germany's weakness... All freedom-loving peoples oppose National Socialist Germany... We are fighting the German soldier not because he is a German, but because he is carrying out an order to enslave our people" - Stalin I.V. Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated February 23, 1942 No. 55 // Works. - M.: Writer, 1997. - T. 15. - P. 93-98. |
Opinions and ratings
It is noted that the losses of the USSR many times exceeded the losses of the other countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, while the overall contribution to the victory was largely made by the struggle of the Soviet people. Here is what the famous Soviet publicist Strelnikov writes about this:
Paying tribute to all fighters against fascism, it is necessary to emphasize that the contribution to the overall victory was different. Main merit in the defeat of Nazi Germany undoubtedly belongs to the Soviet Union. Throughout the Second World War Soviet-German front remained the main one: it was here that 507 divisions of the Wehrmacht and 100 divisions of Germany’s allies were defeated... |
The main result of the Great Patriotic War was the elimination of mortal danger, the threat of enslavement and genocide of the Russian and other peoples of the USSR. The powerful, inhumane enemy reached Moscow in just 4 months, and retained offensive capabilities right up to the Kursk Bulge. The turning point in the war and victory were the result of an incredible effort and mass heroism of the people, which amazed both enemies and allies. The idea that inspired the workers of the front and rear, uniting and multiplying their strength, putting up with the cruelty of the emergency measures of their own leadership, with unjustified sacrifices, was the idea of defending their Fatherland as a matter of right and righteousness. The victory inspired a sense of national pride and self-confidence among the people. |
