17.12.202327.05.2017

“On June 21 at 21.00, a soldier who fled from the German army, Alfred Liskov, was detained at the Sokal commandant’s office. Since there was no translator at the commandant’s office, I ordered the commandant of the site, Captain Bershadsky, to deliver the soldier to the detachment headquarters in Vladimir by truck.

At 0.30 on June 22, 1941, the soldier arrived in Vladimir-Volynsk. Through an interpreter, at approximately 1 o'clock in the morning, soldier Liskov indicated that on June 22 at dawn the Germans were to cross the border. I immediately reported this to the person on duty at the military headquarters, Brigade Commissar Maslovsky. At the same time, I personally informed the commander of the 5th Army, Major General Potapov, by telephone, who was suspicious of my message and did not take it into account.

I personally was also not firmly convinced of the veracity of soldier Liskov’s message, but nevertheless I called the commandants of the sections and ordered to strengthen the security of the state border, to post special listeners to the river. Bug and in the event of the Germans crossing the river, destroy them with fire. At the same time, he ordered that if anything suspicious is noticed (any movement on the adjacent side), immediately report to me personally. I was at headquarters all the time.

At 1.00 on June 22, the commandants of the sites reported to me that nothing suspicious had been noticed on the adjacent side, everything was calm..."(“Mechanisms of War” with reference to RGVA, f. 32880, on. 5, d. 279, l. 2. Copy).

Despite doubts about the reliability of the information transmitted by the German soldier, and the skepticism towards it on the part of the commander of the 5th Army, it was promptly transferred “to the top”.

From a telephone message from the UNKGB in the Lvov region to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR.

" On June 22, 1941, at 3:10 a.m., the NKGB for the Lviv region sent the following message by telephone to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR: “The German corporal who crossed the border in the Sokal region revealed the following: his name is Liskov Alfred Germanovich, 30 years old, worker, carpenter of a furniture factory in Kolberg (Bavaria), where he left his wife, child, mother and father.

The corporal served in the 221st Engineer Regiment of the 15th Division. The regiment is located in the village of Tselenzha, 5 km north of Sokal. He was drafted into the army from the reserves in 1939.

He considers himself a communist, is a member of the Union of Red Front Soldiers, and says that life in Germany is very difficult for soldiers and workers.

Before the evening, his company commander, Lieutenant Schultz, gave the order and stated that tonight, after artillery preparation, their unit would begin crossing the Bug on rafts, boats and pontoons. As a supporter of Soviet power, having learned about this, he decided to run to us and inform us.”(“History in documents” with reference to “1941. Documents”. Soviet archives. “Izvestia of the CPSU Central Committee”, 1990, No. 4.”).

G.K. Zhukov recalls: “At about 24 hours on June 21, the commander of the Kyiv district M.P. Kirponos, who was at his command post in Ternopil, reported on the HF [...] another German soldier appeared in our units - 222- th infantry regiment of the 74th Infantry Division. He swam across the river, appeared to the border guards and reported that at 4 o'clock the German troops would go on the offensive. M. P. Kirponos was ordered to quickly transmit the directive to the troops to put them on combat readiness... ".

However, there was no time left. The above-mentioned chief of the 90th border detachment, M.S. Bychkovsky, continues his testimony as follows:

“...Due to the fact that the translators in the detachment are weak, I called a German language teacher from the city, who speaks excellent German, and Liskov again repeated the same thing, that is, that the Germans were preparing to attack the USSR at dawn on June 22, 1941. Named himself a communist and stated that he had come specifically to warn on his own initiative.

Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, I heard heavy artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant’s office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken..."(cit. source) The Great Patriotic War began.

03:00 - 13:00, General Staff - Kremlin. The first hours of the war

Was Germany's attack on the USSR completely unexpected? What did the generals, the General Staff and the People's Commissariat of Defense do in the first hours of the war? There is a version that they simply slept through the beginning of the war - both in the border units and in Moscow. With the news of the bombing of Soviet cities and the fascist troops going on the offensive, confusion and panic arose in the capital.

This is how G.K. Zhukov recalls the events of that night: “On the night of June 22, 1941, all employees of the General Staff and the People’s Commissariat of Defense were ordered to remain in their places. It was necessary to transmit to the districts as quickly as possible a directive to bring border troops to combat readiness. At this time, the People's Commissar of Defense and I were in continuous negotiations with district commanders and chiefs of staff, who reported to us about the increasing noise on the other side of the border. They received this information from border guards and forward covering units. Everything indicated that German troops were moving closer to the border."

The first message about the start of the war arrived at the General Staff at 3:07 a.m. on June 22, 1941.

Zhukov writes: “At 3:07 a.m. the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, F.S. Oktyabrsky, called me on HF and said: “The fleet’s VNOS [air surveillance, warning and communications] system reports that a large number of unknown aircraft are approaching from the sea; the fleet is in full combat readiness. I ask for instructions" [...]

“At 4 o’clock I spoke with F.S. again. Oktyabrsky. He reported in a calm tone: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike the ships was foiled. But there is destruction in the city."

As can be seen from these lines, the start of the war did not take the Black Sea Fleet by surprise. The air raid was repulsed.

03.30: Chief of Staff of the Western District, General Klimovskikh, reported on an enemy air raid on the cities of Belarus.

03:33 The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reported on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine.

03:40: The commander of the Baltic district, General Kuznetsov, reported on the raid on Kaunas and other cities.

03:40: People's Commissar of Defense S.K. Timoshenko ordered Chief of the General Staff G.K. Zhukov to call Stalin at the “Near Dacha” and report on the start of hostilities. After listening to Zhukov, Stalin ordered:

Come with Tymoshenko to the Kremlin. Tell Poskrebyshev to call all members of the Politburo.

04.10: Western and Baltic special districts reported the beginning of hostilities of German troops on land sectors.

At 4:30 a.m., members of the Politburo, People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko and Chief of the General Staff Zhukov gathered in the Kremlin. Stalin asked to urgently contact the German embassy.

The embassy reported that Ambassador Count von Schulenburg requests to be received for an urgent message. Molotov went to meet with Schulenberg. Returning to the office he said:

The German government declared war on us.

At 7:15 a.m., J.V. Stalin signed a directive to the Armed Forces of the USSR on repelling Hitler’s aggression.

At 9:30 a.m., J.V. Stalin, in the presence of S.K. Timoshenko and G.K. Zhukov, edited and signed a decree on mobilization and the introduction of martial law in the European part of the country, as well as on the formation of the High Command Headquarters and a number of other documents .

On the morning of June 22, it was decided that at 12 o’clock V. M. Molotov would address the people of the Soviet Union by radio with a Statement of the Soviet Government.

“J.V. Stalin,” recalls Zhukov, “being seriously ill, of course, could not make an appeal to the Soviet people. He and Molotov drew up a statement.”

“At about 13 o’clock I.V. Stalin called me,” Zhukov writes in his memoirs, “and said:

Our front commanders do not have sufficient experience in directing the combat operations of troops and, apparently, are somewhat at a loss. The Politburo decided to send you to the Southwestern Front as a representative of the High Command Headquarters. We will send Shaposhnikov and Kulik to the Western Front. I called them to my place and gave appropriate instructions. You need to fly immediately to Kyiv and from there, together with Khrushchev, go to the front headquarters in Ternopil.

I asked:

And who will lead the General Staff in such a difficult situation?
J.V. Stalin replied:

Leave Vatutin in charge.

Don't waste time, we'll get by somehow.

I called home so that they wouldn’t wait for me, and 40 minutes later I was already in the air. Then I just remembered that I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. The pilots helped me out by treating me to strong tea and sandwiches." (chronology compiled from the memoirs of G.K. Zhukov).

05:30. Hitler announces the start of war with the USSR

On June 22, 1941, at 5:30 a.m., Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels, in a special broadcast of Greater German Radio, read out Adolf Hitler’s appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union.

“...Today there are 160 Russian divisions on our border,” the address said, in particular. “In recent weeks, there have been continuous violations of this border, not only ours, but also in the far north and in Romania. Russian pilots are amused by this that they carelessly fly over this border, as if they want to show us that they already feel like the masters of this territory. On the night of June 17-18, Russian patrols again invaded the territory of the Reich and were driven out only after a long firefight. But now the hour has come when it is necessary to oppose this conspiracy of the Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also the Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow.

German people! At the moment, the greatest troop movement in terms of length and volume that the world has ever seen is taking place. In alliance with their Finnish comrades are the victorious fighters at Narvik near the Arctic Ocean. German divisions under the command of the conqueror of Norway defend Finnish soil together with Finnish heroes of the struggle for freedom under the command of their marshal. Formations of the German Eastern Front were deployed from East Prussia to the Carpathians. On the banks of the Prut and in the lower reaches of the Danube to the Black Sea coast, Romanian and German soldiers unite under the command of the head of state Antonescu.

The task of this front is no longer to protect individual countries, but to ensure the security of Europe and thereby save everyone.

Therefore, today I have decided to once again place the fate and future of the German Reich and our people in the hands of our soldiers. May the Lord help us in this struggle!"

Battles along the entire front

Fascist troops went on the offensive along the entire front. Not everywhere the attack developed according to the scenario conceived by the German General Staff. The Black Sea Fleet repelled the air raid. In the south and north, the Wehrmacht failed to gain an overwhelming advantage. Here heavy positional battles ensued.

Army Group North came across fierce resistance from Soviet tankers near the city of Alytus. Capturing the crossing of the Neman was critical for the advancing German forces. Here, units of the 3rd Tank Group of the Nazis stumbled upon organized resistance from the 5th Tank Division.

Only dive bombers managed to break the resistance of Soviet tankers. The 5th Panzer Division did not have air cover and, under the threat of destruction of manpower and materiel, began to retreat.

Bombers dived at Soviet tanks before noon on June 23. The division lost almost all its armored vehicles and, in fact, ceased to exist. However, on the first day of the war, the tankers did not leave the line and stopped the advance of fascist troops deeper into the country.

The main blow of the German troops fell on Belarus. Here the Brest Fortress stood in the way of the Nazis. In the first seconds of the war, a hail of bombs fell on the city, followed by heavy artillery fire. After which units of the 45th Infantry Division went on the attack.

The hurricane fire of the Nazis took the defenders of the fortress by surprise. However, the garrison, numbering 7-8 thousand people, offered fierce resistance to the advancing German units.

By mid-day on June 22, the Brest Fortress was completely surrounded. Part of the garrison managed to escape from the “cauldron”; part was blocked and continued to resist.

By the evening of the first day of the war, the Nazis managed to capture the southwestern part of the fortress city, the northeast was under the control of Soviet troops. Foci of resistance remained in fascist-controlled territories.

Despite complete encirclement and overwhelming superiority in men and equipment, the Nazis were unable to break the resistance of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. Skirmishes continued here until November 1941.

The battle for air supremacy

From the first minutes of the war, the USSR Air Force entered into a fierce battle with enemy aircraft. The attack was sudden; some of the planes did not have time to take off from the airfields and were destroyed on the ground. The Belarusian Military District took the greatest blow. The 74th attack air regiment, which was based in Pruzhany, was attacked at about 4 a.m. by Messerschmitts. The regiment did not have air defense systems, the planes were not dispersed, as a result of which enemy aircraft destroyed the equipment as if at a training ground.

A completely different situation arose in the 33rd Fighter Aviation Regiment. Here the pilots entered the battle at 3.30 in the morning, when Lieutenant Mochalov’s flight shot down a German plane over Brest. This is how the Aviation Encyclopedia “Corner of the Sky” website describes the battle of the 33rd IAP (article by A. Gulyas):

“Soon about 20 He-111s flew into the regiment’s airfield under the cover of a small group of Bf-109s. At that time there was only one squadron there, which took off and entered into battle. Soon it was joined by the other three squadrons, returning from patrolling the Brest-Kobrin area . In the battle, the enemy lost 5 aircraft. Two He-111s were destroyed by Lieutenant Gudimov. He won his last victory at 5.20 am, by ramming a German bomber. Twice more, the regiment successfully intercepted large groups of Heinkels on the far approaches to the airfield. After another interception, those returning Already on the last liters of fuel, the regiment's I-16s were attacked by Messerschmitts. No one could take off to help. The airfield was subjected to continuous attack for almost an hour. By 10 o'clock in the morning there was not a single aircraft left in the regiment capable of taking off..."

The 123rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, whose airfield was located near the town of Imenin, just like the 74th Attack Aviation Regiment, did not have anti-aircraft cover. However, its pilots were in the air from the first minutes of the war:

“By 5.00 in the morning, B.N. Surin already had a personal victory - he shot down a Bf-109. On the fourth combat flight, being seriously wounded, he brought his Seagull to the airfield, but was unable to land. Apparently, he died in the cockpit during leveling ... Boris Nikolaevich Surin fought 4 battles, personally shot down 3 German planes. But this did not become a record. The best sniper of the day was the young pilot Ivan Kalabushkin: at dawn he destroyed two Ju-88s, closer to noon - a He-111, and At sunset, two Bf-109s fell victims to his nimble Seagulls!..” - reports the Aviation Encyclopedia.

“About eight in the morning, four fighters, piloted by Mr. M.P. Mozhaev, Lt. G.N. Zhidov, P.S. Ryabtsev and Nazarov, took off against eight Messerschmitt-109s. Taking Zhidov’s car in pincers , the Germans knocked it out. Helping out a comrade, Mozhaev shot down one fascist. Zhidov set fire to the second. Having used up the ammunition, Ryabtsev rammed the third enemy. Thus, in this battle the enemy lost 3 vehicles, and we lost one. For 10 hours, the pilots of the 123rd IAP fought "Heavy battles, performing 10 -14 and even 17 sorties. The technicians, working under enemy fire, ensured the readiness of the aircraft. During the day, the regiment shot down about 30 (according to other sources, more than 20) enemy aircraft, losing 9 of its own in the air."

Unfortunately, in the conditions of lack of communication and reigning confusion, the timely delivery of ammunition and fuel was not organized. The fighting vehicles fought until the last drop of gasoline and the last cartridge. After which they froze dead on the airfield and became easy prey for the Nazis.

The total losses of Soviet aircraft on the first day of the war amounted to 1,160 aircraft.

12:00. Radio speech by V.M. Molotov

At noon on June 22, 1941, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov read out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union:

"CITIZENS AND CITIZENS OF THE SOVIET UNION!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities from their planes - Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

This unheard of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized nations. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the terms of this treaty in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire duration of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the Soviet Union regarding the implementation of the treaty. All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

Already after the attack, the German Ambassador in Moscow Schulenburg at 5:30 a.m. made me, as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, a statement on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the Soviet Union in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near eastern German border.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not make any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany carried out an attack on the Soviet Union, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany is the attacking party .

On behalf of the government of the Soviet Union, I must also state that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by Romanian radio this morning that Soviet aviation allegedly fired at Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. The entire today’s declaration by Hitler, who is trying to retroactively concoct incriminating material about the Soviet Union’s non-compliance with the Soviet-German Pact, is the same lie and provocation.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repel the bandit attack and expel German troops from the territory of our homeland.

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intellectuals, whose suffering we well understand, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples .

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to the Soviet people, and will deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.
This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon’s campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War and Napoleon was defeated and came to his collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for their homeland, for honor, for freedom.

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm confidence that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intellectuals, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due consciousness. Our entire people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and from others discipline, organization, and dedication worthy of a true Soviet patriot in order to provide all the needs of the Red Army, Navy and Air Force to ensure victory over the enemy.

The government calls on you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks even more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader, Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

The first atrocities of the Nazis

The first case of atrocities by the German army on the territory of the Soviet Union occurred on the first day of the war. On June 22, 1941, the Nazis, advancing, broke into the village of Albinga, Klaipeda region of Lithuania.

The soldiers robbed and burned all the houses. The residents - 42 people - were herded into a barn and locked. During the day of June 22, the Nazis killed several people - beaten to death or shot.

The very next morning, the systematic extermination of people began. Groups of peasants were taken out of the barn and shot in cold blood. First, all the men, then the turn came to women and children. Those who tried to escape into the forest were shot in the back.

In 1972, a memorial ensemble to the victims of fascism was created near Ablinga.

The first summary of the Great Patriotic War

SUMMARY OF THE RED ARMY CHIEF COMMAND
for 22.VI. - 1941

At dawn on June 22, 1941, regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the BALTIC to the BLACK Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the GRODNO and KRISTYNOPOLE directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of KALVARIYA, STOYANOW and TSEKHANOWEC (the first two are 15 km and the last 10 km from the border).

Enemy aircraft attacked a number of our airfields and populated areas, but everywhere they met decisive resistance from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy aircraft. from RIA Novosti funds

23:00 (GMT). Winston Churchill's speech on BBC radio

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a statement on June 22 at 23:00 GMT in connection with the aggression of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.

“...The Nazi regime has the worst features of communism,” in particular, he said on BBC radio. “It has no foundations or principles other than greed and the desire for racial domination. In its cruelty and furious aggressiveness, it surpasses all forms of humankind.” depravity. Over the past 25 years, no one has been a more consistent opponent of communism than I. I will not take back a single word that I said about it. But all this pales before the spectacle that is now unfolding. The past with its crimes, follies and tragedies is disappearing.

I see Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields that their fathers have cultivated since time immemorial.

I see them guarding their homes, where their mothers and wives pray - yes, for there are times when everyone prays - for the safety of their loved ones, for the return of their breadwinner, their protector and support.

I see tens of thousands of Russian villages, where livelihoods are torn from the ground with such difficulty, but where primordial human joys exist, where girls laugh and children play.

I see the vile Nazi war machine approaching all this with its dapper, spur-clanging Prussian officers, with its skilled agents who have just pacified and tied a dozen countries hand and foot.

I also see a gray, trained, obedient mass of fierce Hun soldiers, advancing like clouds of crawling locusts.

I see in the sky German bombers and fighters with still unhealed scars from the wounds inflicted on them by the British, rejoicing that they have found, as it seems to them, easier and more certain prey.

Behind all this noise and thunder, I see a bunch of villains who are planning, organizing and bringing this avalanche of disasters upon humanity... I must declare the decision of His Majesty's Government, and I am sure that the great dominions will agree with this decision in due time, for we must speak out immediately, without a single day of delay. I must make a statement, but can you doubt what our policy will be?

We have only one unchanging goal. We are determined to destroy Hitler and all traces of the Nazi regime. Nothing can turn us away from this, nothing. We will never come to an agreement, we will never enter into negotiations with Hitler or with anyone from his gang. We will fight him on land, we will fight him by sea, we will fight him in the air, until, with God's help, we have rid the earth of his very shadow and freed the nations from his yoke. Any person or state that fights against Nazism will receive our help. Any person or state that goes with Hitler is our enemy...

This is our policy, this is our statement. It follows that we will provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can..."

On December 18, 1940, Hitler, in Directive No. 21, approved the final plan for the war against the USSR under the code name “Barbarossa”. To implement it, Germany and its allies in Europe - Finland, Romania and Hungary - created an invasion army unprecedented in history: 182 divisions and 20 brigades (up to 5 million people), 47.2 thousand guns and mortars, about 4.4 thousand ... combat aircraft, 4.4 thousand tanks and assault guns, and 250 ships. The group of Soviet troops resisting the aggressors included 186 divisions (3 million people), about 39.4 guns and mortars, 11 thousand tanks and more than 9.1 thousand aircraft. These forces were not put on alert in advance. The directive of the Red Army General Staff on a possible German attack on June 22-23 was received in the western border districts only on the night of June 22, and already at dawn on June 22 the invasion began. After lengthy artillery preparation, at 4.00 in the morning, German troops, treacherously violating the non-aggression pact concluded with the USSR, attacked the Soviet-German border along its entire length from the Barents to the Black Sea. Soviet troops were taken by surprise. The organization of powerful counterattacks against the enemy was hampered by the fact that they were relatively evenly distributed along the entire front along the entire border and dispersed to a great depth. With such a formation it was difficult to resist the enemy.

On June 22, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. addressed the citizens of the Soviet Union on the radio. Molotov. He said, in particular: “This unheard-of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany.”

On June 23, 1941, the highest body of strategic leadership of the armed forces was created in Moscow - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. All power in the country was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee (GKO), formed on June 30. He was appointed Chairman of the State Defense Committee and Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The country began to implement a program of emergency measures under the motto: “Everything for the front! Everything for victory! The Red Army, however, continued to retreat. By mid-July 1941, German troops advanced 300-600 km deep into Soviet territory, capturing Lithuania, Latvia, almost all of Belarus, a significant part of Estonia, Ukraine and Moldova, creating a threat to Leningrad, Smolensk and Kyiv. A mortal danger loomed over the USSR.

OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 1 OF THE CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RKKA ARMY GENERAL G.K. ZHUKOVA. 10.00, June 22, 1941

At 4.00 on June 22, 1941, the Germans, without any reason, raided our airfields and cities and crossed the border with ground troops...

1. Northern Front: the enemy, with a flight of bomber-type aircraft, violated the border and entered the region of Leningrad and Kronstadt...

2. Northwestern Front. At 4.00 the enemy opened artillery fire and at the same time began to bomb airfields and cities: Vindava, Libava, Kovno, Vilno and Shulyai...

W. Western Front. At 4.20, up to 60 enemy aircraft bombed Grodno and Brest. At the same time, the enemy opened artillery fire along the entire border of the Western Front... With ground forces, the enemy is developing an attack from the Suwalki area in the direction of Golynka, Dąbrowa and from the Stokołów area along the railway to Wolkowysk. The advancing enemy forces are being clarified. ...

4. Southwestern Front. At 4.20 the enemy began shelling our borders with machine-gun fire. From 4.30, enemy planes bombed the cities of Lyuboml, Kovel, Lutsk, Vladimir-Volynsky... At 4.35, after artillery fire in the Vladimir-Volynsky, Lyuboml area, enemy ground forces crossed the border developing an attack in the direction of Vladimir-Volynsky, Lyuboml and Krystynopol...

The front commanders have put into effect a cover plan and, through the active actions of mobile troops, are trying to destroy the enemy units that have crossed the border...

The enemy, having forestalled our troops in deployment, forced units of the Red Army to take battle in the process of occupying their initial position according to the cover plan. Using this advantage, the enemy managed to achieve partial success in certain areas.

Signature: Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army G.K. Zhukov

The Great Patriotic War - day after day: based on materials from declassified operational reports of the General Staff of the Red Army. M., 2008 .

RADIO SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF THE USSR and PEOPLE'S COMMISSAR FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE USSR V.M. MOLOTOV June 22, 1941

Citizens and women of the Soviet Union!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims to the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities from their planes - Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, and more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy air raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territories.

This unheard of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized nations. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the terms of this treaty in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire duration of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the implementation of the treaty. All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers (...)

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

Foreign policy documents. T.24. M., 2000.

J. STALIN'S SPEECH ON RADIO, July 3, 1941

Comrades! Citizens!

Brothers and sisters!

Soldiers of our army and navy!

I am addressing you, my friends!

The treacherous military attack of Nazi Germany on our Motherland, which began on June 22, continues. Despite the heroic resistance of the Red Army, despite the fact that the enemy’s best divisions and the best units of his aviation have already been defeated and found their grave on the battlefield, the enemy continues to push forward, throwing new forces to the front (...)

History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible, but it was defeated alternately by Russian, English, and German troops. Wilhelm's German army during the first imperialist war was also considered an invincible army, but it was defeated several times by Russian and Anglo-French troops and was finally defeated by Anglo-French troops. The same needs to be said about the current Nazi German army of Hitler. This army has not yet encountered serious resistance on the continent of Europe. Only on our territory did it encounter serious resistance (...)

It may be asked: how could it happen that the Soviet government agreed to conclude a non-aggression pact with such treacherous people and monsters as Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was there a mistake made here by the Soviet government? Of course not! A non-aggression pact is a peace pact between two states. This is exactly the kind of pact Germany offered us in 1939. Could the Soviet government refuse such a proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state can refuse a peace agreement with a neighboring power, if at the head of this power are even such monsters and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. And this, of course, is subject to one indispensable condition - if the peace agreement does not affect either directly or indirectly the territorial integrity, independence and honor of the peace-loving state. As you know, the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR is just such a pact(...)

In the event of a forced withdrawal of units of the Red Army, it is necessary to hijack all rolling stock, not to leave the enemy a single locomotive, not a single carriage, not to leave the enemy a kilogram of bread or a liter of fuel (...) In areas occupied by the enemy, it is necessary to create partisan detachments, horse and foot, create sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan warfare anywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, set fire to forests, warehouses, and carts. In occupied areas, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them at every step, disrupt all their activities (...)

In this great war, we will have faithful allies in the people of Europe and America, including the German people, enslaved by Hitler’s bosses. Our war for the freedom of our Fatherland will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms (...)

In order to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the USSR, to repel the enemy who treacherously attacked our Motherland, the State Defense Committee was created, in whose hands all power in the state is now concentrated. The State Defense Committee has begun its work and calls on all the people to rally around the party of Lenin - Stalin, around the Soviet government for selfless support of the Red Army and Red Navy, for the defeat of the enemy, for victory.

All our strength is in support of our heroic Red Army, our glorious Red Navy!

All the forces of the people are to defeat the enemy!

Forward, for our victory!

Stalin I. About the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. M., 1947.

June 21, 1941, 13:00. German troops receive the code signal "Dortmund", confirming that the invasion will begin the next day.

Commander of the 2nd Tank Group of Army Group Center Heinz Guderian writes in his diary: “Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything about our intentions. In the courtyard of the Brest fortress, which was visible from our observation points, they were changing the guards to the sounds of an orchestra. The coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops."

21:00. Soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant's office detained a German serviceman who crossed the border Bug River by swimming. The defector was sent to the detachment headquarters in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky.

23:00. German minelayers stationed in Finnish ports began to mine the exit from the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, Finnish submarines began laying mines off the coast of Estonia.

June 22, 1941, 0:30. The defector was taken to Vladimir-Volynsky. During interrogation, the soldier identified himself Alfred Liskov, soldiers of the 221st Regiment of the 15th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht. He said that at dawn on June 22, the German army would go on the offensive along the entire length of the Soviet-German border. The information was transferred to higher command.

At the same time, the transmission of Directive No. 1 of the People's Commissariat of Defense for parts of the western military districts began from Moscow. “During June 22 - 23, 1941, a surprise attack by the Germans on the fronts of LVO, PribOVO, ZAPOVO, KOVO, OdVO is possible. An attack may begin with provocative actions,” the directive said. “The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.”

The units were ordered to be put on combat readiness, to secretly occupy firing points of fortified areas on the state border, and to disperse aircraft to field airfields.

It is not possible to convey the directive to military units before the start of hostilities, as a result of which the measures specified in it are not carried out.

“I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory”

1:00. The commandants of the sections of the 90th border detachment report to the head of the detachment, Major Bychkovsky: “nothing suspicious was noticed on the adjacent side, everything is calm.”

3:05 . A group of 14 German Ju-88 bombers drops 28 magnetic mines near the Kronstadt roadstead.

3:07. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to the Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov: “The fleet's air surveillance, warning and communications system reports the approach of a large number of unknown aircraft from the sea; The fleet is in full combat readiness."

3:10. The NKGB for the Lviv region transmits by telephone message to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR the information obtained during the interrogation of the defector Alfred Liskov.

Mobilization. Columns of fighters are moving to the front. Moscow, June 23, 1941. Anatoly Garanin/RIA Novosti

From the memoirs of the chief of the 90th border detachment, Major Bychkovsky: “Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, I heard strong artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant’s office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken..."

3:30. Chief of Staff of the Western District General Klimovsky reports on enemy air raids on the cities of Belarus: Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovichi and others.

3:33. The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reports on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv.

3:40. Commander of the Baltic Military District General Kuznetsov reports on enemy air raids on Riga, Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas and other cities.

“The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships was foiled."

3:42. Chief of the General Staff Zhukov is calling Stalin and reports the start of hostilities by Germany. Stalin orders Tymoshenko and Zhukov arrive at the Kremlin, where an emergency meeting of the Politburo is convened.

3:45. The 1st border outpost of the 86th August border detachment was attacked by an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group. Outpost personnel under command Alexandra Sivacheva, having entered into battle, destroys the attackers.

4:00. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to Zhukov: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships was foiled. But there is destruction in Sevastopol.”

4:05. The outposts of the 86th August Border Detachment, including the 1st Border Outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev, come under heavy artillery fire, after which the German offensive begins. Border guards, deprived of communication with the command, engage in battle with superior enemy forces.

4:10. The Western and Baltic special military districts report the beginning of hostilities by German troops on the ground.

4:15. The Nazis open massive artillery fire on the Brest Fortress. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, communications were disrupted, and there were a large number of dead and wounded.

4:25. The 45th Wehrmacht Infantry Division begins an attack on the Brest Fortress.

The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Residents of the capital on June 22, 1941, during the radio announcement of a government message about the treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union. Evgeniy Khaldey/RIA Novosti

“Protecting not individual countries, but ensuring the security of Europe”

4:30. A meeting of Politburo members begins in the Kremlin. Stalin expresses doubt that what happened is the beginning of a war and does not exclude the possibility of a German provocation. People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko and Zhukov insist: this is war.

4:55. In the Brest Fortress, the Nazis manage to capture almost half of the territory. Further progress was stopped by a sudden counterattack by the Red Army.

5:00. German Ambassador to the USSR Count von Schulenburg presented to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov“Note from the German Foreign Office to the Soviet Government,” which states: “The German Government cannot remain indifferent to the serious threat on the eastern border, therefore the Fuehrer has ordered the German Armed Forces to ward off this threat by all means.” An hour after the actual start of hostilities, Germany de jure declares war on the Soviet Union.

5:30. On German radio, the Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels reads out the appeal Adolf Hitler to the German people in connection with the start of the war against the Soviet Union: “Now the hour has come when it is necessary to speak out against this conspiracy of the Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also the Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow... At the moment, a military action of the greatest extent and volume is taking place, what the world has ever seen... The task of this front is no longer to protect individual countries, but to ensure the security of Europe and thereby save everyone.”

7:00. Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Ribbentrop begins a press conference at which he announces the beginning of hostilities against the USSR: “The German army has invaded the territory of Bolshevik Russia!”

“The city is burning, why aren’t you broadcasting anything on the radio?”

7:15. Stalin approves a directive to repel the attack of Nazi Germany: “The troops with all their might and means attack enemy forces and destroy them in areas where they violated the Soviet border.” Transfer of “directive No. 2” due to saboteurs’ disruption of communication lines in the western districts. Moscow does not have a clear picture of what is happening in the combat zone.

9:30. It was decided that at noon, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov would address the Soviet people in connection with the outbreak of war.

10:00. From the speaker's memories Yuri Levitan: “They’re calling from Minsk: “Enemy planes are over the city,” they’re calling from Kaunas: “The city is burning, why aren’t you broadcasting anything on the radio?” “Enemy planes are over Kiev.” A woman’s crying, excitement: “Is it really war?..” However, no official messages are transmitted until 12:00 Moscow time on June 22.

10:30. From a report from the headquarters of the 45th German division about the battles on the territory of the Brest Fortress: “The Russians are resisting fiercely, especially behind our attacking companies. In the citadel, the enemy organized a defense with infantry units supported by 35–40 tanks and armored vehicles. Enemy sniper fire resulted in heavy casualties among officers and non-commissioned officers."

11:00. The Baltic, Western and Kiev special military districts were transformed into the North-Western, Western and South-Western fronts.

“The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours"

12:00. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov reads out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union: “Today at 4 o’clock in the morning, without making any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed us with our cities - Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others - with their planes, and more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Raids by enemy planes and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory... Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repel the bandit attack and expel German troops from the territory of our homeland... The government calls on you, citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally our ranks even more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader, Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

12:30. Advanced German units break into the Belarusian city of Grodno.

13:00. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree “On the mobilization of those liable for military service...”
“Based on Article 49, paragraph “o” of the USSR Constitution, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announces mobilization on the territory of the military districts - Leningrad, Baltic special, Western special, Kyiv special, Odessa, Kharkov, Oryol, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Ural, Siberian, Volga, North -Caucasian and Transcaucasian.

Those liable for military service who were born from 1905 to 1918 inclusive are subject to mobilization. The first day of mobilization is June 23, 1941.” Despite the fact that the first day of mobilization is June 23, recruiting stations at military registration and enlistment offices begin to operate by the middle of the day on June 22.

13:30. Chief of the General Staff General Zhukov flies to Kyiv as a representative of the newly created Headquarters of the Main Command on the Southwestern Front.

June 22, 1945 meeting of the Normandy-Niemen regiment at Le Bourget airfield (France). From left to right: engineer-captain Nikolai Filippov, major Pierre Matras, engineer-major Sergei Agavelyan, captain De Saint-Marceau Gaston and others. Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. RIA Novosti/RIA Novosti

14:00. The Brest Fortress is completely surrounded by German troops. Soviet units blocked in the citadel continue to offer fierce resistance.

14:05. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano states: “In view of the current situation, due to the fact that Germany declared war on the USSR, Italy, as an ally of Germany and as a member of the Tripartite Pact, also declares war on the Soviet Union from the moment German troops entered Soviet territory.”

14:10. The 1st border outpost of Alexander Sivachev has been fighting for more than 10 hours. The border guards, who had only small arms and grenades, destroyed up to 60 Nazis and burned three tanks. The wounded commander of the outpost continued to command the battle.

15:00. From the notes of the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal von Bock: “The question of whether the Russians are carrying out a systematic withdrawal remains open. There is now plenty of evidence both for and against this.

What is surprising is that nowhere is any significant work of their artillery visible. Heavy artillery fire is conducted only in the northwest of Grodno, where the VIII Army Corps is advancing. Apparently, our air force has an overwhelming superiority over Russian aviation."

Of the 485 border posts attacked, not a single one withdrew without orders.

16:00. After a 12-hour battle, the Nazis took the positions of the 1st border outpost. This became possible only after all the border guards who defended it died. The head of the outpost, Alexander Sivachev, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

The feat of the outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev was one of hundreds committed by border guards in the first hours and days of the war. On June 22, 1941, the state border of the USSR from the Barents to the Black Sea was guarded by 666 border outposts, 485 of which were attacked on the very first day of the war. Not one of the 485 outposts attacked on June 22 withdrew without orders.

Hitler's command allotted 20 minutes to break the resistance of the border guards. 257 Soviet border posts held their defense from several hours to one day. More than one day - 20, more than two days - 16, more than three days - 20, more than four and five days - 43, from seven to nine days - 4, more than eleven days - 51, more than twelve days - 55, more than 15 days - 51 outpost. Forty-five outposts fought for up to two months.

06/22/1941 Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The workers of Leningrad listen to a message about the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union. Boris Losin/RIA Novosti

Of the 19,600 border guards who met the Nazis on June 22 in the direction of the main attack of Army Group Center, more than 16,000 died in the first days of the war.

17:00. Hitler's units manage to occupy the southwestern part of the Brest Fortress, the northeast remained under the control of Soviet troops. Stubborn battles for the fortress will continue for weeks.

“The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox Christians for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland”

18:00. The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow and Kolomna, addresses the believers with a message: “Fascist robbers attacked our homeland. Trampling all kinds of agreements and promises, they suddenly fell upon us, and now the blood of peaceful citizens is already irrigating our native land... Our Orthodox Church has always shared the fate of the people. She endured trials with him and was consoled by his successes. She will not abandon her people even now... The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox Christians for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland.”

19:00. From the notes of the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, Colonel General Franz Halder: “All armies, except the 11th Army of Army Group South in Romania, went on the offensive according to plan. The offensive of our troops, apparently, came as a complete tactical surprise to the enemy along the entire front. Border bridges across the Bug and other rivers were everywhere captured by our troops without a fight and in complete safety. The complete surprise of our offensive for the enemy is evidenced by the fact that the units were taken by surprise in a barracks arrangement, the planes were parked at airfields, covered with tarpaulins, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command about what to do... The Air Force command reported, that today 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken off without fighter cover, were attacked by our fighters and destroyed.”

20:00. Directive No. 3 of the People's Commissariat of Defense was approved, ordering Soviet troops to launch a counteroffensive with the task of defeating Hitler's troops on the territory of the USSR with further advance into enemy territory. The directive ordered the capture of the Polish city of Lublin by the end of June 24.

06/22/1941 Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. June 22, 1941 Nurses provide assistance to the first wounded after a Nazi air raid near Chisinau. Georgy Zelma/RIA Novosti

“We must provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can.”

21:00. Summary of the Red Army High Command for June 22: “At dawn on June 22, 1941, regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the Grodno and Kristinopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of Kalwaria, Stoyanuv and Tsekhanovets (the first two are 15 km and the last 10 km from the border).

23:00. Message from the Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill to the British people in connection with the German attack on the USSR: “At 4 o'clock this morning Hitler attacked Russia. All his usual formalities of treachery were observed with scrupulous precision... suddenly, without a declaration of war, even without an ultimatum, German bombs fell from the sky on Russian cities, German troops violated Russian borders, and an hour later the German ambassador, who just the day before had generously lavished his assurances on the Russians in friendship and almost an alliance, paid a visit to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and declared that Russia and Germany were at war...

No one has been more staunchly opposed to communism over the past 25 years than I have been. I will not take back a single word that was said about him. But all this pales in comparison to the spectacle unfolding now.

The past, with its crimes, follies and tragedies, recedes. I see Russian soldiers as they stand on the border of their native land and guard the fields that their fathers have plowed since time immemorial. I see them guarding their homes; their mothers and wives pray - oh, yes, because at such a time everyone prays for the preservation of their loved ones, for the return of their breadwinner, patron, their protectors...

We must provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can. We must call on all our friends and allies in all parts of the world to pursue a similar course and pursue it as steadfastly and steadily as we will, to the very end.”

June 22 came to an end. There were still 1,417 days ahead of the worst war in human history.

The first 4 hours of the Great Patriotic War.

For the first time, the events of the first day of the war are told directly at the sites of the main hostilities. The film contains a lot of new information unknown to the viewer. For example, that the first Soviet city was recaptured from the Germans on June 23, 1941! About the fierce battles in the Vladimir-Volynsky region, about the feat of the garrisons of Soviet fortified areas, about the fact that the Soviet Air Force was not destroyed, as the almost official myth says, as well as about other little-known pages of the war.

Beginning of the Great Patriotic War

Get up, huge country,
Stand up for mortal combat
With fascist dark power,
With the damned horde!

On the fifth day of the war, the whole country sang this song with lyrics by Lebedev-Kumach and music by Aleksandrov.

And the war began at dawn on June 22, 1941. Fascist Germany treacherously, without declaring war, attacked the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Its aircraft carried out massive attacks on airfields, railway junctions, naval bases, military bases and many cities to a depth of 250-300 km from the border.

Here it is necessary to remember that in 1941 the Soviet Union was going to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the Great October Revolution.

Over these 24 years, our country has achieved a lot. Automobile factories were built in Moscow, Gorky, and Yaroslavl. Tractor factories appeared in Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kharkov, and Chelyabinsk. All of them could make tanks. Our aviation set world records for flight range. The Soviet state could resist any other state, but it was difficult for us to fight with all of Europe.

Nazi Germany and its satellites concentrated large contingents of troops against the Soviet Union - 190 divisions (including 19 tank and 14 motorized) and a large amount of military equipment: about 4,300 tanks and assault guns, 47.2 thousand guns and mortars, 4,980 combat aircraft and over 190 warships. And all this force was thrown at our country. From the ice of the Arctic to the Black Sea, the war burned with fire, destroyed cities and burned villages, and killed civilians.

Under Plan Barbarossa, Germany wanted to defeat the Soviet Union in six weeks. At the same time, the main forces of the Red Army were supposed to be destroyed, preventing their withdrawal into the depths of the country. But the plans of the fascist command from the very beginning of the war were thwarted by the courage and heroism of our army and the entire people.

First hit

The first to receive the enemy's blow were the border troops and divisions located near the border. We had more than 500 border outposts along our western border. Hitler's command allocated no more than 30 minutes to destroy the outpost. But the outposts fought for days and weeks, and the Brest Fortress, located on the border at the confluence of the Mukhavets River and the Bug River, fought with the enemies for more than a month. All this time, the defenders of the Brest Fortress pinned down an entire fascist German division. Most of the defenders of the fortress fell in battle, some made their way to the partisans, and some of the seriously wounded and exhausted were captured. The defense of the Brest Fortress is a vivid example of the patriotism and mass heroism of Soviet soldiers. Representatives of 30 nations and nationalities of the Soviet Union fought among the defenders of the Brest Fortress.

But, despite heroic resistance, the covering troops were unable to detain the enemy in the border zone. In order to preserve strength, Soviet troops were forced to retreat to new lines.

Nazi troops quickly advanced 400-450 km to the north-west, 450-600 km to the west, 300-350 km to the south-west, captured the territory of Lithuania, Latvia, part of Estonia, a significant part of Ukraine, almost all of Belarus, Moldova, invaded the western regions of the Russian Federation, reached the distant approaches to Leningrad, and threatened Smolensk and Kyiv. A mortal danger loomed over the Soviet Union.

Based on the current situation, the Soviet command at the end of June decided to switch to strategic defense on the entire Soviet-German front. The troops of the first strategic echelon were given the task of preparing a system of echeloned defensive stripes and lines in the directions of the enemy’s main attacks, relying on which, through persistent and active counteraction, to undermine the offensive power of the enemy, stop him and gain time to prepare a counter-offensive.

Feat of the army and people

The treacherous attack of Nazi Germany aroused the anger and indignation of the Soviet people. In a single impulse, he rose to defend his homeland. At rallies that spread throughout the country, Soviet people branded the fascist barbarians with shame and vowed to brutally punish the invaders who broke in. Military registration and enlistment offices were stormed by thousands of boys and girls, men and women - communists, Komsomol members and non-party members. They demanded immediate dispatch to the front, submitted an application with a request to be sent behind enemy lines, to partisan detachments.

The misfortune that befell the Fatherland united the entire people like never before. The entire people, the entire huge country rose up to fight to the death for a holy and just cause. Each day passed, both at the front and in the rear, was measured by the answer to the question: What did you do for the front, for victory? The efforts of the entire people - soldiers, workers, collective farmers, intelligentsia, were subordinated to one goal - to defend the Motherland from the fascist barbarians. And for this he spared neither his strength nor his life.

The word patriotism has acquired a special meaning and significance. It required no translations or explanations. Love for the Motherland knocked in the heart of every Soviet person: whether he was standing in a workshop for five days at a machine or going to ram an enemy plane, whether he was donating his personal savings to the defense fund or blood for wounded soldiers.

Already in the first days and weeks of the war, thousands of exploits and boundless self-sacrifice of the bravest Soviet soldiers were written in its chronicles. At that time, the names of most of these courageous people who fought to the last bullet, to the last drop of blood were not yet known.

The results of these days and weeks, the most difficult for the Soviet people and their soldiers, already testified to the first failures in the implementation of Hitler’s plans for a “lightning war.”

The enemy failed to destroy the main forces of the Soviet Army in border battles, as he had hoped. The resistance of our troops grew every day. And deep in the rear, reserves for the front were being prepared at an accelerated pace. It was incredibly difficult to form, arm and train new regiments and divisions of the Soviet Army, but every day an increasingly powerful stream of fresh reserves went to the front. It significantly outnumbered the enemy's reserves, which were sent to the front to make up for the losses they had suffered.

Hundreds of industrial enterprises were on wheels at that time - they were relocated from threatened areas to the deep rear of the country. It took time to install equipment and put it into operation at new locations. The most active part of the working class and specialists of operating enterprises joined the ranks of the Soviet Army. Only a small part of qualified workers and specialists remained at the enterprises, without whom it was impossible to begin mass production of military products. Hundreds of thousands of women and teenagers replaced those who went to the front.

But these difficulties were overcome in the shortest possible time. The production of weapons, military equipment, ammunition and various equipment for the defenders of the Motherland increased every day.

Socialist agricultural workers also showed massive labor heroism. Collective and state farms donated a huge number of tractors and vehicles to equip troop reserves. There are even fewer men left in this sector of the economy than in industry and transport. And in the countryside, women and teenagers became the decisive force. It was they who had to harvest the crops from the vast sown areas. Mostly removed by hand. In front-line areas, harvesting was often carried out under enemy fire. And, nevertheless, with the help of hundreds of thousands of townspeople, students and schoolchildren, agricultural workers also coped with the most important task for the front and the whole country - they put into state bins such an amount of food, without which there would have been a successful war.

Throughout its course, the war showed that the courage and heroism of the Soviet people turned out to be an invincible force that was able to prevent a grave crime against humanity.

June 22, 1941 is one of the saddest dates in the history of Russia - the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, which is an integral part of the Second World War. At dawn on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war.

The Great Patriotic War began...

"...Citizens and women of the Soviet Union!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade. Stalin instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims to the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities from their planes - Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

This unheard of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized nations. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany, and the Soviet government fulfilled all the terms of this treaty in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire duration of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the implementation of the treaty. All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

After the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 a.m. made me, as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, a statement on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the USSR in connection with the concentration of Red Army units in the eastern German border.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not make any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany attacked the USSR, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany was the attacking party.

On behalf of the Government of the Soviet Union, I must also state that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by Romanian radio this morning that Soviet aviation allegedly fired at Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. The entire today’s declaration by Hitler, who is trying to retroactively concoct incriminating material about the Soviet Union’s non-compliance with the Soviet-German Pact, is the same lie and provocation.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the bandit attack and expel German troops from the territory of our homeland.

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon’s campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War and Napoleon was defeated and came to his collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will once again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours."