The beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Years of the Great Patriotic War of the USSR and the anti-Hitler coalition

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 then 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. Subjected to persecution for many years, 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 entirely belongs 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 the blood of Soviet heroes. And the last shots in Berlin mark the end of the worst nightmare of the 20th century.

	USSR, Eastern and Central Europe
	German aggression
	Victory of the USSR, unconditional surrender of the German Armed Forces
Territorial changes:	Collapse of the Third Reich. Formation of the socialist camp in Eastern Europe. Division of Germany.
Opponents
	Italy (until October 1943)
Romania (after September 1944)	Finland (until September 1944)
Bulgaria (after October 1944)	Romania (until September 1944)
	Blue Division (Spain) (volunteers, until 1943)
Commanders
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
Josip Broz Tito

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 that 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 held defenses from the 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:

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 create these socialist states dependent on us as quickly as possible with the least amount of military effort. 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)

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 SS Cossack 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 alert 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, the Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop handed the Soviet Ambassador in Berlin Dekanozov a note declaring war and three appendices to it: “Report of the German Minister of the Interior, the Reichsführer SS and the 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 Communal farms were liquidated and 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 mandatory at enterprises and organizations in the city and in rural areas. Lectures and reports were given through local radio broadcasts. 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.

Other important events of the winter campaign were the North Caucasus offensive operation (in fact, the pursuit of forces withdrawing from the Caucasus 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 populated areas 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 retaking kilometer after kilometer, and street fighting begins. 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 a decline in industrial production in 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 engagements

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:

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. The main merit in the defeat of Nazi Germany undoubtedly belongs to the Soviet Union. Throughout the Second World War, the Soviet-German front remained the main one: it was here that 507 Wehrmacht divisions and 100 divisions of Germany’s allies were defeated... The Soviet people paid a huge price for these gains. During the years of the Great Patriotic War, about 27 million of our compatriots died and died, of which 8,668,400 people were losses of the army, navy, border and internal troops... Two-thirds of the casualties occurred among the civilian population. This testifies to the Nazis’ policy of genocide against innocent people, the inhumane occupation regime, and the violation of all generally accepted international norms regarding Soviet people.

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.

Chronology

• 1941, June 22 - 1945, May 9 Great Patriotic War
• 1941, October - December Battle of Moscow
• 1942, November - 1943, February Battle of Stalingrad
• 1943, July - August Battle of Kursk
• 1944, January Liquidation of the siege of Leningrad
• 1944 Liberation of the territory of the USSR from fascist invaders
• 1945, April - May Battle of Berlin
• 1945, May 9 Victory Day of the Soviet Union over Germany
• 1945, August - September Defeat of Japan

Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1945)

Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941 - 1945. as an integral and decisive part of the Second World War 1939 - 1945. has three periods:

June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942. It is characterized by measures to transform the country into a single military camp, the collapse of Hitler’s “blitzkrieg” strategy and the creation of conditions for a radical change in the war.

Beginning of 1944 - May 9, 1945. Complete expulsion of fascist invaders from Soviet soil; liberation by the Soviet Army of the peoples of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe; the final defeat of Nazi Germany.

By 1941, Nazi Germany and its allies captured virtually all of Europe: Poland was defeated, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg were occupied. The French army resisted for only 40 days. The British expeditionary army suffered a major defeat, whose units were evacuated to the British Isles. Fascist troops entered the territory of the Balkan countries. In Europe, essentially, there was no force that could stop the aggressor. The Soviet Union became such a force. The Soviet people accomplished a great feat, saving world civilization from fascism.

In 1940, the fascist leadership developed a plan “ Barbarossa”, the goal of which was the lightning defeat of the Soviet Armed Forces and the occupation of the European part of the Soviet Union. Further plans included the complete destruction of the USSR. The ultimate goal of the Nazi troops was to reach the Volga-Arkhangelsk line, and the Urals were planned to be paralyzed with the help of aviation. To do this, 153 German divisions and 37 divisions of its allies (Finland, Romania and Hungary) were concentrated in the eastern direction. They had to strike in three directions: central(Minsk - Smolensk - Moscow), northwest(Baltics - Leningrad) and southern(Ukraine with access to the Black Sea coast). A lightning campaign was planned to capture the European part of the USSR before the fall of 1941.

The first period of the Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1942)

Beginning of the war

Implementation of the plan “ Barbarossa” started at dawn June 22, 1941. extensive air bombing of the largest industrial and strategic centers, as well as the offensive of the ground forces of Germany and its allies along the entire European border of the USSR (over 4.5 thousand km).

Fascist planes drop bombs on peaceful Soviet cities. June 22, 1941

In the first few days, German troops advanced tens and hundreds of kilometers. On central direction at the beginning of July 1941, all of Belarus was captured, and German troops reached the approaches to Smolensk. On northwest- the Baltic states are occupied, Leningrad is blocked on September 9. On south Hitler's troops occupied Moldova and Right Bank Ukraine. Thus, by the autumn of 1941, Hitler’s plan to seize the vast territory of the European part of the USSR was carried out.

153 fascist German divisions (3,300 thousand people) and 37 divisions (300 thousand people) of the satellite states of Hitler Germany were thrown against the Soviet state. They were armed with 3,700 tanks, 4,950 aircraft and 48 thousand guns and mortars.

By the beginning of the war against the USSR, 180 Czechoslovak, French, English, Belgian, Dutch and Norwegian divisions received weapons, ammunition and equipment at the disposal of Nazi Germany as a result of the occupation of Western European countries. This not only made it possible to equip the fascist troops with sufficient quantities of military equipment and equipment, but also to ensure superiority in military potential over the Soviet troops.

In our western districts there were 2.9 million people, armed with 1,540 new types of aircraft, 1,475 modern T-34 and KV tanks and 34,695 guns and mortars. The Nazi army had great superiority in strength.

Characterizing the reasons for the failures of the Soviet Armed Forces in the first months of the war, many historians today see them in serious mistakes made by the Soviet leadership in the pre-war years. In 1939, large mechanized corps, so necessary in modern warfare, were disbanded, production of 45 and 76 mm anti-tank guns was discontinued, fortifications on the old Western border were dismantled, and much more.

The weakening of the command staff caused by pre-war repressions also played a negative role. All this led to an almost complete change in the command and political composition of the Red Army. By the beginning of the war, about 75% of commanders and 70% of political workers had been in their positions for less than one year. Even the chief of the general staff of the ground forces of Nazi Germany, General F. Halder, noted in his diary in May 1941: “The Russian officer corps is exceptionally bad. It makes a worse impression than in 1933. It will take Russia 20 years until it reaches its previous heights.” The officer corps of our country had to be recreated already in the conditions of the outbreak of war.

Among the serious mistakes of the Soviet leadership is a miscalculation in determining the time of a possible attack by Nazi Germany on the USSR.

Stalin and his entourage believed that Hitler’s leadership would not dare in the near future to violate the non-aggression treaty concluded with the USSR. All information received through various channels, including military and political intelligence, about the upcoming German attack was considered by Stalin as provocative, aimed at aggravating relations with Germany. This can also explain the government’s assessment conveyed in a TASS statement on June 14, 1941, in which rumors about an impending German attack were declared provocative. This also explained the fact that the directive to bring the troops of the western military districts into combat readiness and occupy combat lines was given too late. Essentially, the directive was received by the troops when the war had already begun. Therefore, the consequences of this were extremely severe.

At the end of June - the first half of July 1941, large defensive border battles unfolded (defense of the Brest Fortress, etc.).

Defenders of the Brest Fortress. Hood. P. Krivonogov. 1951

From July 16 to August 15, the defense of Smolensk continued in the central direction. In the northwestern direction, the German plan to capture Leningrad failed. In the south, the defense of Kyiv was carried out until September 1941, and Odessa until October. The stubborn resistance of the Red Army in the summer and autumn of 1941 thwarted Hitler's plan for a lightning war. At the same time, the capture by the fascist command by the fall of 1941 of the vast territory of the USSR with its most important industrial centers and grain regions was a serious loss for the Soviet government. (Reader T11 No. 3)

Restructuring the country's life on a war footing

Immediately after the German attack, the Soviet government carried out major military-political and economic measures to repel aggression. On June 23, the Headquarters of the Main Command was formed. July 10 it was converted into Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. It included I.V. Stalin (appointed commander-in-chief and soon became people's commissar of defense), V.M. Molotov, S.K. Timoshenko, S.M. Budyonny, K.E. Voroshilov, B.M. Shaposhnikov and G.K. Zhukov. By a directive of June 29, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks set the entire country the task of mobilizing all forces and means to fight the enemy. On June 30, the State Defense Committee was created(GKO), which concentrated all power in the country. The military doctrine was radically revised, the task was put forward to organize strategic defense, wear down and stop the advance of the fascist troops. Large-scale events were carried out to transfer industry to a military footing, mobilize the population into the army and build defensive lines.

Page of the newspaper "Moscow Bolshevik" dated July 3, 1941 with the text of a speech by J.V. Stalin. Fragment

One of the main tasks, which had to be resolved from the first days of the war, was the fastest restructuring of the national economy, the entire economy of the country on military rails. The main line of this restructuring was defined in the Directive of June 29, 1941. Specific measures to restructure the national economy began to be implemented from the very beginning of the war. On the second day of the war, a mobilization plan for the production of ammunition and cartridges was introduced. And on June 30, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR approved the mobilization national economic plan for the third quarter of 1941. However, events at the front developed so unfavorably for us that this plan was not fulfilled. Taking into account the current situation, on July 4, 1941, a decision was made to urgently develop a new plan for the development of military production. The GKO resolution on July 4, 1941 noted: “To instruct the commission of Comrade Voznesensky, with the involvement of the People's Commissar of Arms, Ammunition, Aviation Industry, Non-ferrous Metallurgy and other People's Commissars develop a military-economic plan for ensuring the country's defense, referring to the use of resources and enterprises located on the Volga, Western Siberia and the Urals.” In two weeks, this commission developed a new plan for the fourth quarter of 1941 and for 1942 for the regions of the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

For the speedy deployment of a production base in the regions of the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, it was decided to bring industrial enterprises of the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, the People's Commissariat of Armaments, the People's Commissariat of Aviation Industry and others to these areas.

Members of the Politburo, who were at the same time members of the State Defense Committee, exercised general management of the main branches of the military economy. Issues of production of weapons and ammunition were dealt with by N.A. Voznesensky, aircraft and aircraft engines - G.M. Malenkov, tanks - V.M. Molotov, food, fuel and clothing - A.I. Mikoyan and others. Industrial People's Commissariat was headed by: A.L. Shakhurin - aviation industry, V.L. Vannikov - ammunition, I.F. Tevosyan - ferrous metallurgy, A.I. Efremov - machine tool industry, V.V. Vakhrushev - coal, I.I. Sedin is an oil worker.

The main link in the restructuring of the national economy on a war footing became industrial restructuring. Almost all mechanical engineering was transferred to military production.

In November 1941, the People's Commissariat of General Engineering was transformed into the People's Commissariat of the Mortar Industry. In addition to the People's Commissariat of the aviation industry, shipbuilding, weapons and ammunition created before the war, two People's Commissariat of the tank and mortar industry were formed at the beginning of the war. Thanks to this, all major branches of the military industry received specialized centralized control. The production of rocket launchers began, which existed before the war only in prototypes. Their production is organized at the Moscow Kompressor plant. The first missile combat installation was given the name “Katyusha” by front-line soldiers.

At the same time, the process was actively carried out training of workers through the labor reserve system. In just two years, about 1,100 thousand people were trained to work in industry through this area.

For the same purposes, in February 1942, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the mobilization of the able-bodied urban population to work in production and construction during wartime” was adopted.

During the restructuring of the national economy, the main center of the military economy of the USSR became eastern industrial base, which was significantly expanded and strengthened with the outbreak of the war. Already in 1942, the share of the eastern regions in all-Union production increased.

As a result, the eastern industrial base bore the brunt of supplying the army with weapons and equipment. In 1942, military production increased in the Urals by more than 6 times compared to 1940, in Western Siberia by 27 times, and in the Volga region by 9 times. In general, during the war, industrial production in these areas increased more than threefold. This was a great military-economic victory achieved by the Soviet people during these years. It laid solid foundations for the final victory over Nazi Germany.

Progress of military operations in 1942

In the summer of 1942, the fascist leadership relied on capturing the oil regions of the Caucasus, the fertile regions of southern Russia and the industrial Donbass. Kerch and Sevastopol were lost.

At the end of June 1942, a general German offensive unfolded in two directions: on Caucasus and to the east - to Volga.

Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union (22.VI. 1941 - 9.V. 1945)

On Caucasian direction at the end of July 1942, a strong Nazi group crossed the Don. As a result, Rostov, Stavropol and Novorossiysk were captured. Stubborn fighting took place in the central part of the Main Caucasus Range, where specially trained enemy alpine riflemen operated in the mountains. Despite the successes achieved in the Caucasus, the fascist command was never able to solve its main task - to break into the Transcaucasus to seize the oil reserves of Baku. By the end of September, the offensive of fascist troops in the Caucasus was stopped.

An equally difficult situation for the Soviet command arose in east direction. It was created to cover it Stalingrad Front under the command of Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko. In connection with the current critical situation, Order No. 227 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was issued, which stated: “To retreat further means to ruin ourselves and at the same time our Motherland.” At the end July 1942. enemy under command General von Paulus dealt a powerful blow to Stalingrad front. However, despite the significant superiority in forces, within a month the fascist troops managed to advance only 60 - 80 km.

From the first days of September began heroic defense of Stalingrad, which actually continued until the end of 1942. Its significance during the Great Patriotic War is enormous. Thousands of Soviet patriots showed themselves heroically in the battles for the city.

Street fighting in Stalingrad. 1942

As a result, enemy troops suffered colossal losses in the battles for Stalingrad. Every month of the battle, about 250 thousand new Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, the bulk of military equipment, were sent here. By mid-November 1942, the Nazi troops, having lost more than 180 thousand people killed and 500 thousand wounded, were forced to stop the offensive.

During the summer-autumn campaign of 1942, the Nazis managed to occupy a huge part of the European part of the USSR, but the enemy was stopped.

Second period of the Great Patriotic War (1942 - 1943)

The final stage of the war (1944 - 1945)

Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union (22.VI. 1941 - 9.V. 1945)

In the winter of 1944, the offensive of Soviet troops began near Leningrad and Novgorod.

900 day blockade heroic Leningrad, broken through in 1943, was completely removed.

United! Breaking the blockade of Leningrad. January 1943

Summer 1944. The Red Army carried out one of the largest operations of the Great Patriotic War (“ Bagration”). Belarus was completely released. This victory opened the way for advances into Poland, the Baltic states and East Prussia. In mid-August 1944. Soviet troops in the western direction reached border with Germany.

At the end of August, Moldova was liberated.

These largest operations of 1944 were accompanied by the liberation of other territories of the Soviet Union - Transcarpathian Ukraine, the Baltic states, the Karelian Isthmus and the Arctic.

The victories of Russian troops in 1944 helped the peoples of Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia in their struggle against fascism. In these countries, pro-German regimes were overthrown, and patriotic forces came to power. The Polish Army, created back in 1943 on the territory of the USSR, took the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Main results offensive operations carried out in 1944, consisted in the fact that the liberation of Soviet land was completely completed, the state border of the USSR was completely restored, military operations were transferred beyond the borders of our Motherland.

Front commanders at the final stage of the war

A further offensive of the Red Army against Hitler's troops was launched on the territory of Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. The Soviet command, developing the offensive, carried out a number of operations outside the USSR (Budapest, Belgrade, etc.). They were caused by the need to destroy large enemy groups in these territories in order to prevent the possibility of their transfer to the defense of Germany. At the same time, the introduction of Soviet troops into the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe strengthened the left and communist parties in them and, in general, the influence of the Soviet Union in this region.

T-34-85 in the mountains of Transylvania

IN January 1945. Soviet troops began broad offensive operations in order to complete the defeat of Nazi Germany. The offensive took place on a huge 1,200 km front from the Baltic to the Carpathians. Polish, Czechoslovak, Romanian and Bulgarian troops operated together with the Red Army. The French aviation regiment “Normandie - Neman” also fought as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front.

By the end of the winter of 1945, the Soviet Army had completely liberated Poland and Hungary, a significant part of Czechoslovakia and Austria. In the spring of 1945, the Red Army reached the approaches to Berlin.

Berlin offensive operation (16.IV - 8.V 1945)

Victory Banner over the Reichstag

It was a difficult battle in a burning, dilapidated city. On May 8, representatives of the Wehrmacht signed an act of unconditional surrender.

Signing of the act of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany

On May 9, Soviet troops completed their last operation - they defeated the Nazi army group surrounding the capital of Czechoslovakia, Prague, and entered the city.

The long-awaited Victory Day has arrived, which has become a great holiday. The decisive role in achieving this victory, in achieving the defeat of Nazi Germany and ending the Second World War belongs to the Soviet Union.

Defeated fascist standards