At 4 o'clock in the morning on June 22, 1941, the troops of Nazi Germany (5.5 million people) crossed the borders Soviet Union, German aircraft (5 thousand) began to bomb Soviet cities, military units and airfields. By this time, World War II had been going on in Europe for almost two years. At the first stage of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1942), the Red Army suffered one defeat after another, moving further and further into the interior of the country. About two million Soviet soldiers was captured or killed. The reasons for the defeats were the unpreparedness of the army for war, serious miscalculations by the top leadership, the crimes of the Stalinist regime, and the suddenness of the attack. But even in these difficult months, Soviet soldiers fought heroically against the enemy. The defenders of the Brest Fortress held out for a whole month after the front line moved far to the east. At the end of 1941, the enemy stood a few dozen kilometers from Moscow, and Leningrad was completely surrounded. But the German plan to end the war in the fall was thwarted. As a result of the counteroffensive of the Red Army near Moscow in December 1941, the Germans were driven back. Leningrad, which was under blockade, courageously held out - despite the fact that the most terrible blockade winter of 1941-42. Hundreds of thousands of Leningrad civilians perished from hunger and cold. In the summer of 1942, the German offensive against Stalingrad began. For several months, selected units of the Wehrmacht stormed the city. Stalingrad was reduced to ruins, but the Soviet soldiers who fought for every house survived and went on the offensive. In the winter of 1942-1943, 22 German divisions were surrounded. There was a turning point in the war. In the summer of 1943, the largest tank battle of the Second World War took place near Kursk, in which the Nazis lost about 350 tanks and 3.5 thousand killed. Under the blows of the Red Army, the German units began to retreat to the borders of the Soviet Union. And in the German rear flared up guerrilla war. Enemy echelons flew downhill, detachments of punishers and traitor policemen were destroyed. The Nazis responded to the actions of the partisans with terror against the civilian population, but the outcome of the war was already a foregone conclusion. By the summer of 1944, the Red Army liberated the territory of the Soviet Union and began to liberate the European states captured by the Nazis. Simultaneously with the Soviet Union, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition - England, the USA and France - waged a war against the Germans. In the summer of 1944, the long-awaited second front was opened, which eased the position of the Red Army. In the spring of 1945, Soviet and allied troops entered German territory. The final Berlin operation began, in which Marshal G.K. Zhukov commanded the Soviet troops. On May 9, 1945, Zhukov, together with the Allied commanders, accepted the surrender of Germany. The country paid a huge price for its victory: about 27 million people died, millions were left crippled and disabled, a third of the national heritage was destroyed. The victory in the Great Patriotic War is one of the brightest pages in the history of our country.
The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) - the war of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics against Nazi Germany and its European allies (Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Croatia)
The history of the Great Patriotic War is divided into three stages:
1) June 22, 1941 - November 19, 1942, i.e. from the German attack on the USSR to the start of the counteroffensive Soviet troops near Stalingrad - disruption of the blitzkrieg, creating conditions for a radical change in the war;
2) November 17, 1942 - December 1943 - a radical turning point in the course of the Second World War and the Second World War, the transition of the strategic initiative to the Soviet Army ended with the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kyiv;
3) 1944 - May 9, 1945, the complete expulsion of the invaders from the territory of the USSR, the liberation of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe by the Soviet Army, the final defeat and surrender of Nazi Germany.
treacherous ATTACK OF GERMANY on the USSR
Preparation for war - from the end of the 20s.
BUT by 1941 the USSR was not ready for war.
The Nazis have the military potential of all of Europe;
Repression of command personnel in the USSR
The element of surprise is also connected with Stalin's gullibility to Hitler's promises after 08/23/1939
Germany occupied: France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Greece, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland.
Pro-German regimes: Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania.
Allies of Germany: Italy, Japan. Turkey.
Plan "Barbarossa"
Lightning war and the defeat of the USSR army in the summer campaign of 1941
Directions: "North" - to Leningrad (commanded by General von Leeba), "Center" - to Moscow (von Brauchitsch) and "South" - to Odessa and Kyiv, in addition - the Norway Group was supposed to control the situation in the North Sea . The main direction - "Center" - to Moscow
By the summer of 1941, on the border of the USSR from the Barents to the Black Seas - 5.5 million soldiers (Germany + allies + satellites).
USSR: 4 military districts. 2.9 million people
Far East, South - 1.5 million people. (an invasion by Turkey and Japan is expected).
RETREATS OF THE SOVIET TROOPS (June-September 1941)
First days of the war
On the eve of the war, Stalin repeatedly received intelligence about the impending attack, but refused to believe it. It was only at midnight on June 21 that a number of orders were issued to put the troops on alert - and this is not enough to deploy a defense in many layers.
June 22, 1941. - powerful strikes of the air and mechanized armies of Germany. “June 22, exactly at 4 o’clock, Kyiv was bombed, they announced to us that the war had begun…”
66 airfields were bombed. 1200 aircraft destroyed -> German air supremacy until summer 1943
June 23, 1941. - Headquarters of the High Command (Stavka Supreme High Command). Head - Stalin.
June 30, 1941. - State Defense Committee (GKO). Chairman - Stalin. All the fullness of state, party, military power.
Retreats of the Red Army in the first month of the war
In the first month of the war left: the Baltic States, Belarus, Moldova, most of Ukraine. Losses - 1,000,000 fighters, 724 thousand prisoners.
3 main failures of the first months of the war:
1) Smolensk defeat
The Nazis: to take possession of the "gates of Moscow" - Smolensk.
-> destroyed almost all the armies of the Western Front.
USSR command: accused a large group of generals of treason, the head - the commander of the Western Front, Colonel General D.G. Pavlov. Judgment, execution.
Plan "Barbarossa" gave a crack: the capital is not captured in mid-July.
2) Southwest Russia and Kyiv
500,000 dead, along with the commander of the Southwestern Front, Lieutenant General M.D. Cypros.
Kyiv is taken -\u003e strengthening the positions of the Nazis -\u003e breaking through the defense in the Moscow direction.
August 1941- the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad.
August 16, 1941. –order number 270. All those who are in captivity are traitors and traitors. The families of captured commanders and political workers are repressed, the families of soldiers are deprived of benefits.
3) in the Moscow direction to October-November 1941. 5 armies were surrounded and thus opened the way for the Nazis to Moscow
BATTLE FOR MOSCOW
The plan for the capture of Moscow from Hitler - "Typhoon". On September 30, he spoke on the radio (“Not a single Moscow resident, be it a woman, an old man or a child, should leave the city ...”)
According to the plan:
Army Group Center sweeps away the Soviet defenses and captures the capital before the onset of winter. In the convoy there is pink granite for the monument to the victorious German soldier on the site of the destroyed Moscow (later it was used on Gorky Street - now Tverskaya - for facing buildings, including the Post Office).
Start October I am the approach of the Nazis to Moscow. Stalin urgently summoned Zhukov from Leningrad
October 16- a day of general panic in Moscow, they take out valuables, including the State Tretyakov Gallery (paintings)
November 6- Meeting of the Moscow City Council at the Mayakovskaya metro station. Stalin spoke. "Victory will be ours!" It was decided - the parade on November 7 - to be!
November 7- a parade, from Red Square, soldiers and militia (25 divisions) - went straight to the front along the street. Gorky and to Voykovskaya, there is a front line
By the end of November 1941. - Germans at a distance of 25-30 km. from Moscow.
The Dubosekovo junction - 28 Panfilov heroes (Panfilov commanded), political instructor Klochkov: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind!”
3 fronts:
United Western - the direct defense of Moscow (G.M. Zhukov);
Kalininsky (I.S. Konev);
Southwestern (S.K. Timoshenko).
5 armies of the Western and Reserve fronts - in the "boiler".
600.000 people – surrounded (every 2nd).
Moscow, Tula, a significant part of the Kalinin region were liberated.
Losses during the counteroffensive:
USSR - 600.000 people.
Germany: 100.000-150.000 people
Near Moscow - the first major defeat since 1939.
The Blitzkrieg plan failed.
With the victory in the Battle of Moscow - a radical turn (but not yet a turning point!) In the course of the war in favor of the USSR.
The enemy - to the strategy of a protracted war.
By the winter of 1941: losses - 5,000,000 people.
2 million - killed, 3 million - in captivity.
Counteroffensive - until April 1942
Successes are fragile, soon - major losses.
Unsuccessful attempt to break the blockade of Leningrad (established in August 1941)
The 2nd shock army of the Volkhov Front was defeated, the command and head - A.A. Vlasov - were captured.
Fascists: defeat in the Battle of Moscow -> you can not launch an offensive along the entire Eastern Front -> strikes in the south.
Stalin: waiting for a second attack on Moscow, despite intelligence reports. Near Moscow - the main forces.
Decree to inflict a number of distracting blows in the south (Crimea, Kharkov). Against - the head of the General Staff BM Shaposhnikov -> a complete failure.
Dispersion of forces -> failure.
May 1942. - in the Kharkov direction, the Germans surrounded 3 armies of the Southwestern Front. 240 thousand prisoners.
May 1942. - the defeat of the Kerch operation. »150 thousand prisoners in the Crimea. After 250 days of siege, Sevastopol was surrendered.
June 1942- Nazi advance to Stalingrad
July 28, 1942–"Order No. 227"- Stalin - "Not a step back, Under no circumstances should the city be surrendered"
Retreat without an order from the command is a betrayal of the Motherland.
Penal battalions (for commanders and political workers)
Penalties (for sergeants and privates).
Barrage detachments behind the belligerents. They have the right to shoot those retreating on the spot.
end of August- occupied Abgonerovo (the last locality at Stalingrad)
Simultaneously: August 1942- a group of fascists in the Caucasus.
Beginning of September - they occupied the embankment, the square in front of the department store ... Fights for every street, for every house
End of September - battles for 102 heights ("Mamaev Kurgan" - now there is a monument to the motherland)
Autumn 1942 - 80 million people in the occupied territory.
->country lost
human resources;
The largest industrial areas;
Giant agricultural territories.
The main burden of the siege was on the 62nd Army under the command of General Chuikov. The capture of Stalingrad = the cutting of the Volga transport artery, through which bread and oil are delivered.
period of radical change.
Radical change = transition from defense to strategic offensive.
Battle of Stalingrad
Frontier - Battle of Stalingrad.
November 19, 1942- Southwestern Front (N.F. Vatutin), Don Front (K.K. Rokossovsky), Stalingrad Front (A.I. Eremenko).
Surrounded by 22 enemy divisions, 330 thousand people.
December 1942 - an attempt to break through the encirclement from the Middle Don (Italian-German troops). Failure.
The final stage of the counteroffensive:
troops of the Don Front carried out an operation to eliminate the encircled enemy grouping.
The command of the 6th German Army surrendered. F. Paulus (came over to our side and later began to live in the GDR, was Chairman of the German Peace Committee).
During the Battle of Stalingrad:
The losses of the Nazis - 1.5 million people, ¼ of all forces.
Losses of the Red Army - 2 million people.
The final stage of the Battle of Stalingrad ® general offensive of the Soviet troops.
January 1943- a successful breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad south of Lake Ladoga. Corridor 8-11 km. "Road of Life" on the ice of Lake Ladoga. Communication with the whole country.
The Battle of Kursk (Orel-Belgorod) is the final stage of the turning point.
Germany: planned to conduct a major offensive operation ("Citadel") in the summer of 1943 in the Kursk region. In our Headquarters, the operation was called “Suvorov \ Kutuzov”, since its goal was to liberate 2 cities (Orel and Kursk) “The war brought us to Kursk and Orel, to the very enemy gates, such, brother, things ...”
They wanted to destroy the entire southern wing.
50 divisions, 16 armored and motorized. "Tiger", "Panther".
THE USSR: 40% of combined arms formations. Slight superiority in troops.
Central Front (K.K. Rokossovsky);
Voronezh Front (N.F. Vatutin);
Steppe Front (I.S. Konev) and other fronts.
First stage
The Germans are on the offensive. Up to 35 km inland.
The largest oncoming tank battle of the 2nd World War.
1200 tanks on both sides. Russian victory
Second phase
The main groupings of the enemy were broken.
August 5, 1943- Belgorod and Oryol were liberated -> the first artillery salute in Moscow.
Liberation of Kharkov = completion of the Battle of Kursk.
Defeated 30 enemy divisions, the loss of 500,000 people.
->Hitler could not transfer a single division from the Eastern Front to Italy, where a political coup took place;
-> activation of the resistance movement in Europe.
-> the collapse of the theory of "General Frost" - that is, the weather conditions (winter, terrible frosts that were har-ny for 1941-1942), which allegedly contributed to the hardy Russians. Battle of Kursk - the first summer battle
Counteroffensive near Kursk ® strategic offensive of the spacecraft along the entire front.
Soviet troops - to the West, 300-600 km.
Left-bank Ukraine, Donbass were liberated, bridgeheads in the Crimea were captured.
Forcing the Dnieper.
->end of the battle for the Dnieper.
Hitler's Germany - to strategic defense.
The period of the liberation of the USSR and the defeat of Nazi Germany
Successful Actions Soviet army in 1944, in the "Stalinist" historiography, this "father of nations" was associated with the "military genius". Hence the term - "10 Stalinist strikes in 1944." Indeed, the SA offensive in 1944 is characterized by 10 major operations, and the overall strategy is a constant change in the direction of the main attack (which did not allow the Germans to concentrate forces in any one direction)
Leningrad (L.A. Govorov) and Volkhov (K.A. Meretskov) fronts. Liberation of the Leningrad and Novgorod regions.
The 1st Ukrainian (N.F. Vatutin) and 2nd Ukrainian (I.S. Konev) Fronts surrounded the Korsun-Shevchenko group. The central event of this "strike" was the restoration of the Soviet border: March 26, 1944- troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front - on the border with Romania.
3. Early May 1944– liberation of Crimea = completion of the autumn-winter offensive.
4. June-August 1944- liberation of Karelia. Finland withdrew from the war and broke off relations with Germany
5. Operation "Bagration" = liberation of Belarus., general direction - Minsk-Warsaw-Berlin. June 23 - August 17, 1944 Three Ukrainian Fronts (Rokossovsky, G.F. Zakharov, I.D. Chernyakhovsky), 1st Baltic Front (I.Kh. Bagramyan).
6. July-August 1944- liberation of Western Ukraine. Lvov-Sandomierz operation End of August 1944- offensive Stopped in the foothills of the Carpathians by the reinforced and fierce resistance of the Nazis.
7. August 1944- Iasi-Chisinau operation. 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts. Moldova and Romania were liberated, 22 divisions of the Southern Ukraine Army Group were destroyed. Romania, Bulgaria - the overthrow of the pro-fascist governments. These countries declared war on Germany.
8. September 1944- from Moldova and Romania - to help the Yugoslav partisans. Josip Broz Tito
10. October 1944– Northern Fleet+ Northern front: the liberation of the Soviet Arctic, the expulsion of the enemy from the Murmansk region. The northeastern regions of Norway have been cleared of the enemy.
LIBERATION CAMPAIGN OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE USSR
Romania ® Bulgaria ® part of Poland ® part of Norway
® Part of Hungary ® Yugoslavia ® Rest of Poland ® Rest of Hungary ® Austria ® Czech Republic
The end of September 1944 - at the request of I. Broz Tito (commander in chief), the Soviet troops carried out the Belgrade operation to liberate the capital of Yugoslavia
October 1944 Belgrade has been liberated.
BERLIN LIBERATION
February 1945- Vistula-Oder operation. = continuation of the operation "Bagration"
600,000 soldiers died in Poland during its liberation.
The Vistula-Oder operation = saving the Allied operation in the Ardennes (there were American losses - 40,000 people).
Early April 1945 - complete release Hungary and Austria.
250.000 people died.
1st, 2nd Belorussian fronts (Zhukov, Rokossovsky), 1st Ukrainian (Konev).
Hitler committed suicide
8 May 1945, in Karlshorst (near Berlin)- Representatives of the USSR, USA, England, France and Germany signed an act on the complete and unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
From the USSR - G.K. Zhukov. From Germany - Keitel (this general studied in the USSR in the late 30s on an exchange (!) After the non-aggression pact)
9 May 1945- Soviet troops entered Prague, the Prague garrison resisted until May 12, not recognizing the act of surrender
Result of the Second World War: the unconditional victory of the Soviet people. June 24, 1945 there was a parade on Red Square (they threw Nazi banners to the Mausoleum, but - this is not shown in the chronicle - ordinary Muscovites felt sorry for the captured Germans, who were led along Moscow streets as a sign of victory, they brought them bread)
17. WWII
Great Patriotic War 1941
Reasons for the failures of the USSR at the beginning of the war and the reasons for the failure of the blitzkrieg.
Mein Kampf: Hitler declared that the destruction of the USSR as a socialist The state is the meaning of his whole life. The purpose for which the National Socialist movement exists. Based on this, one of the directives of the Wehrmacht read: "many millions of people will become redundant in this territory, they will either have to die or move to Siberia"
In December 1940, Hitler approves the barabarossa plan: 2-3 months after the start of the war, German troops should reach the line Arkhangelsk - Astrakhan. The war began on June 22, 1941 at 4 am. It lasted 1418 days and nights.
There are 4 periods.
Until December 1, 1941, the USSR lost 7 million people. Several tens of thousands of tanks and aircraft. Reason: objective:
A) superiority in material means of warfare
B) in human resources 400 million German. 197 million ussr.
C) more experience in modern warfare.
D) the suddenness of the attack.
Subjective:
A) Stalin's underestimation of the diplomatic means of waging war. On June 14, 1941, a TASS statement is published in the newspapers, stating that Germany's preparations for war with the Soviet Union have no basis.
B) the transfer of troops to a pre-war position was not carried out.
C) repression in the army: 85% of the command staff held their posts for less than one year. Of the 733 former commanders of the Comprites, 579 were repressed before marshals. It takes 20 years to train an army commander.
D) distortions in ideological work.
First period of the war.
June 30, 1941 the creation of the state. Defense Committee: Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Malinkov, Bulganin, Beria, Voznesensky, Kaganovich, Mikoyan.
It was done: introduced, on the model of the civil war, the institution of military commissars. AT as soon as possible was the transfer of the military economy on a war footing. By the winter of 1941, 10 million people and 1.5 thousand large industrial enterprises were sent to the east. The formation of new formations in the rear was accelerated. 36 divisions of the people's militia were formed. As a result - the defeat of the Germans near Moscow. On November 6, a meeting was held at Mayakovskaya station in honor of the great October Revolution. November 7 parade.
The defeat of the Germans near Moscow. The first serious defeat of Germany. July August 1941, the governments of England and the United States announced their support for the USSR. Contacts were established with France, Slovakia, etc. An anti-Hitler coalition was formed. Formed on January 1, 1942. After the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands. In autumn, the coalition already had 34 states with a population of 1.5 billion people. Activation of the resistance movement in all 12 countries occupied by Germany.
2 period of the war. Events and facts. Battle for Stalingrad. Changes in the totalitarian democratic system: the cessation of repression, the elimination of the institution of military commissars. The growth of the Comintern. Revival of the traditions of the Russian army. The introduction of military ranks. Guards, the shift in the ideology of emphasis on the defense of the fatherland. Strengthening the role of the church. Spring 1943. The general offensive of the Soviet troops. Breaking the blockade of Leningrad.
July 5, 1943 - the battle on the Kursk Bulge began. For the first time in the war, the balance of power changed in favor of the Red Army, the isolation of Germany in the international arena, the landing of Anglo-American troops in Italy, the overthrow of the Mussolini regime in Italy began. The USSR for the first time outstripped Germany in the production of various types of military products. There is a development of positive personnel changes in the country. Voroshilov and Budyonny are on the sidelines.
Gross violations of national policy continue. Mass resettlement of Germans in the Volga region, the destruction of their autonomies. 1943 - the eviction of the Kalmyks. 1944 - the eviction of the Balkars, Chechens and Ingush, more than 1 million Tatars were evicted from the Crimea and the Caucasus.
Third period of the war. The liberation mission of the Soviet troops. The year 1944 began with major offensive operations of the Soviet troops in the northern and southern directions: the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad, the liberation of the Novgorod region, Estonia, the right-bank Ukraine and Crimea. On June 6, 1944, a second front was opened in Europe. July 1944 - the liberation of Belarus, operation "Bagration". By the end of 1944, the entire Soviet territory was liberated. By the beginning of 1945, 11 European countries were liberated. During the liberation of the countries of Eastern Europe, more than 1 million Soviet soldiers and officers died. April 16, 1945 - the beginning Berlin operation. On May 8, an act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed.
Fourth period of the war. The question of the participation of the USSR in the war against Japan was resolved in February 1945 at the Yalta Conference. Hostilities began on 9 August and ended on 2 September. August 6 and 8 - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Kwantung Army was defeated in August 1945; on September 2, Japan's surrender was signed on the American battleship Missouri.
Results of the Second World War.
Churchill: "It was the Russian army that let the guts out of the German war machine." In total, about 60 million people died in World War II. Of these, the USSR lost 27 million, Germany - 13, Poland - 6, China - 5 million. Japan - 2.5 million, Yugoslavia - 1.7 million, France, England and the USA - 1 million 300 thousand people. Of the 18 million imprisoned in concentration camps, 11 million died.
The international prestige of the USSR increased sharply. The USSR received the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin. East Prussia with the city of Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad) went to us. Changes in the totalitarian system. GULAG, repressions, the formation of Stalin-style regimes in the countries of Eastern Europe and the resettlement of repressed peoples.
With the beginning of September 1939, the short period of peace between the two great wars of the 20th century ended. Two years later, under the rule of fascist Germany, there was a large part of Europe with a huge production and raw material potential.
A powerful blow was brought down on the Soviet Union, for which the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) began. A summary of this period in the history of the USSR cannot express the scale of the transferred Soviet people suffering and heroism.
On the eve of military trials
The revival of the power of Germany, dissatisfied with the results of the First World War (1914-1918), against the background of the aggressiveness of the party that came to power there, led by the possessed Adolf Hitler, with its ideology of racial superiority, made a threat new war for the USSR more and more real. By the end of the 1930s, these sentiments more and more penetrated the people, and the all-powerful leader of a vast country, Stalin, understood this more and more clearly.
The country was getting ready. People went to construction sites eastern part countries, in Siberia and the Urals, military factories were built - understudies of industries located near the western borders. Significantly more financial, human and scientific resources were invested in the defense industry than in the civilian one. To increase the results of labor in cities and in agriculture ideological and harsh administrative means were used (repressive laws on discipline in factories and collective farms).
The reform in the army was the adoption of the law on universal conscription (1939), a widespread military training. It was in shooting, parachute circles, in flying clubs at OSOAVIAKhIM that future soldiers-heroes of the Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began to study military science. New military schools were opened, developed newest species weapons, combat formations of a progressive type were formed: armored and airborne. But there was not enough time, the combat readiness of the Soviet troops was in many respects lower than that of the Wehrmacht - the army of Nazi Germany.
Stalin's suspicion of the power ambitions of the highest command staff did great harm. It resulted in monstrous repressions that wiped out up to two-thirds officer corps. There is a version of a planned provocation by the German military intelligence, which jeopardized many heroes civil war victims of the purges.
Foreign policy factors
Stalin and the leaders of countries that wanted to limit Hitler's European hegemony (England, France, the USA) were unable to create a united anti-fascist front before the start of the war. The Soviet leader, in an effort to delay the war, tried to contact Hitler. This led to the signing in 1939 of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (agreement), which also did not contribute to the rapprochement of the anti-Hitler forces.
As it turned out, the country's leadership was mistaken about the value of a peace agreement with Hitler. On June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe, without declaring war, attacked the western borders of the USSR throughout. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet troops and a strong shock for Stalin.
tragic experience
In 1940, Hitler approved the Barbarossa plan. According to this plan, three summer months were allotted for the defeat of the USSR, the capture of its capital. And at first the plan was carried out with precision. All participants in the war recall the almost hopeless mood of the middle of the summer of 1941. 5.5 million German soldiers against 2.9 million Russians, total superiority in armaments - and in a month Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, almost all of Ukraine were captured. Losses of Soviet troops - 1 million killed, 700 thousand prisoners.
The superiority of the Germans in the skill of command and control was noticeable - the combat experience of the army, which had already passed half of Europe, had an effect. Skillful maneuvers surround and destroy entire groups near Smolensk, Kyiv, in the Moscow direction, and the blockade of Leningrad begins. Stalin is dissatisfied with the actions of his commanders and resorts to the usual repression - the commander of the Western Front was shot for treason.
people's war
Still, Hitler's plans fell apart. The USSR quickly embarked on a war footing. The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command was created to control the armies and a single governing body for the entire country - the State Defense Committee, headed by the all-powerful leader Stalin.
Hitler believed that Stalin's methods of governing the country, illegal repressions against the intelligentsia, the military, wealthy peasants and entire nationalities would cause the collapse of the state, the emergence of a "fifth column" - as he was used to in Europe. But he miscalculated.
The invaders were hated by men in the trenches, women at the machines, old people and small children. Wars of this magnitude affect the fate of every person, and victory requires a universal effort. Sacrifices for the sake of a common victory were made not only because of ideological motives, but also because of innate patriotism, which had roots in pre-revolutionary history.
Battle of Moscow
The invasion received its first serious rebuff near Smolensk. By heroic efforts, the attack on the capital was delayed there until the beginning of September.
By October, tanks with crosses on their armor come out to Moscow, with the goal of capturing the Soviet capital before the onset of cold weather. The most hard time during the years of the Great Patriotic War. A state of siege is declared in Moscow (10/19/1941).
The military parade on the anniversary will forever remain in history October revolution(11/07/1941) as a symbol of confidence that Moscow will be able to defend. The troops left Red Square directly to the front, which was located 20 kilometers to the west.
An example of the resilience of Soviet soldiers was the feat of 28 Red Army soldiers from the division of General Panfilov. For 4 hours they delayed a breakthrough group of 50 tanks at the Dubosekovo junction and died, destroying 18 combat vehicles. These heroes of the Patriotic War (1941-1945) are only a small part of the Immortal Regiment of the Russian army. Such self-sacrifice gave the enemy doubts about victory, strengthening the courage of the defenders.
Remembering the events of the war, Marshal Zhukov, who commanded the Western Front near Moscow, whom Stalin began to put forward in the first roles, always noted crucial defense of the capital to achieve victory in May 1945. Any delay of the enemy army made it possible to accumulate forces for a counterattack: fresh parts of the Siberian garrisons were transferred to Moscow. Hitler did not plan to wage war in winter conditions, the Germans began to have problems with the supply of troops. By the beginning of December, there was a turning point in the battle for the Russian capital.
Root turn
The offensive of the Red Army (December 5, 1941), unexpected for Hitler, threw the Germans back a hundred and fifty miles to the west. The fascist army suffered its first defeat in its history, and the plan for a victorious war failed.
The offensive continued until April 1942, but it was far from irreversible changes in the course of the war: major defeats followed near Leningrad, Kharkov, in the Crimea, the Nazis reached the Volga near Stalingrad.
When historians of any country mention the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), summary its events are not complete without the Battle of Stalingrad. It was at the walls of the city, which bore the name of Hitler's sworn enemy, that he received the blow that eventually led him to collapse.
The defense of the city was often carried out hand-to-hand, for every piece of territory. Participants in the war note an unprecedented number of human and technical means, attracted from both sides and burned in the fire of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Germans lost a quarter of the troops - one and a half million bayonets, 2 million - our losses.
The unprecedented resilience of the Soviet soldiers on the defensive and the irrepressible fury on the offensive, together with the increased tactical skill of the command, ensured the encirclement and capture of 22 divisions of the 6th Army of Field Marshal Paulus. The results of the second military winter shocked Germany and the whole world. The history of the war of 1941-1945 changed the course, it became clear that the USSR not only withstood the first blow, but would inevitably strike the enemy with a powerful retaliatory strike.
The final stage of the turning point in the war
The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) contains several examples of the military talent of the Soviet command. A summary of the events of 1943 is a series of impressive Russian victories.
The spring of 1943 began with a Soviet offensive in all directions. The configuration of the front line jeopardized the encirclement of the Soviet Army in the Kursk region. The German offensive operation called "Citadel" had precisely this strategic goal, but the Red Army command provided for reinforced defenses in the places of the alleged breakthrough, while simultaneously preparing reserves for a counteroffensive.
The German offensive in early July managed to break through the Soviet defenses only in sections to a depth of 35 km. The history of the war (1941-1945) knows the date of the start of the largest oncoming battle of self-propelled combat vehicles. On a sultry July day, on the 12th, in the steppe near the village of Prokhorovka, the crews of 1200 tanks began the battle. The Germans have the latest "Tiger" and "Panther", the Russians have the T-34 with a new, more powerful gun. The defeat inflicted on the Germans knocked out the offensive weapons of the motorized corps from Hitler's hands, and the fascist army went over to the strategic defense.
By the end of August 1943, Belgorod and Orel were recaptured, and Kharkov was also liberated. For the first time in years, the Red Army seized the initiative. Now the German generals had to guess where she would start. fighting.
In the penultimate military year, historians single out 10 decisive operations that led to the liberation of the territory occupied by the enemy. Until 1953 they were called "10 Stalin's blows».
The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945): a summary of the military operations of 1944
- Lifting of the Leningrad blockade (January 1944).
- January-April 1944: Korsun-Shevchenko operation, successful battles in the Right-Bank Ukraine, March 26 - access to the border with Romania.
- Liberation of the Crimea (May 1944).
- The defeat of Finland in Karelia, its exit from the war (June-August 1944).
- The offensive of four fronts in Belarus (Operation Bagration).
- July-August - fighting in Western Ukraine, the Lvov-Sandomierz operation.
- Iasi-Kishinev operation, the defeat of 22 divisions, the withdrawal of Romania and Bulgaria from the war (August 1944).
- Help to the Yugoslav partisans I.B. Tito (September 1944).
- Liberation of the Baltic states (July-October of the same year).
- October - the liberation of the Soviet Arctic and the north-east of Norway.
End of enemy occupation
By the beginning of November, the territory of the USSR within the pre-war borders was liberated. The period of occupation for the peoples of Belarus and Ukraine has ended. The current political situation forces some "figures" to present the German occupation almost as a boon. It is worth asking Belarusians about this, who have lost every fourth person from the actions of “civilized Europeans”.
It is not for nothing that partisans began to operate in the occupied territories from the first days of the foreign invasion. The war of 1941-1945 in this sense became an echo of the year when other European invaders did not know peace on our territory.
Liberation of Europe
European liberation campaign demanded unthinkable expenditures of human and military resources from the USSR. Hitler, who did not even allow the thought that a Soviet soldier would enter German soil, threw all possible forces into battle, put old men and children under arms.
move final stage war can be traced by the name of the awards established by the Soviet government. Soviet soldiers-liberators received such medals of the war of 1941-1945: for (10/20/1944), Warsaw (01/07/1945), Prague (May 9), for the capture of Budapest (February 13), Koenigsberg (April 10), Vienna (13 April). And finally, military personnel were awarded for the storming of Berlin (May 2).
... And May came. The victory was marked by the signing on May 8 of the Act of unconditional surrender of the German troops, and on June 24 a parade was held with the participation of representatives of all fronts, types and branches of troops.
a great victory
Hitler's adventure cost mankind very dearly. The exact number of human losses is still debated. The restoration of the destroyed cities, the establishment of the economy required many years of hard work, hunger and deprivation.
The results of the war are now being assessed differently. The geopolitical changes that took place after 1945 had different consequences. Territorial acquisitions of the Soviet Union, emergence socialist camp, the strengthening of the political weight of the USSR to the status of a superpower soon led to confrontation and increased tension between the allied countries in World War II.
But the main results are not subject to any revision, do not depend on the opinion of politicians who are looking for immediate benefits. In the Great Patriotic War, our country defended freedom and independence, a terrible enemy was defeated - the bearer of a monstrous ideology that threatened to destroy entire nations, the peoples of Europe were delivered from him.
The participants in the battles go down in history, the children of the war are already elderly people, but the memory of that war will live on as long as people are able to appreciate freedom, honesty and courage.
Looking back, it seems that these events are several centuries old. Life is in full swing around, everyone is fussing, in a hurry, and sometimes even the events of a year ago have no meaning and are ingloriously covered in dust in memory. But mankind has no moral right to forget 1418 days of the Great Patriotic War. Chronicles of the war 1941-1945. - this is just a small echo of that time, a good reminder modern generation that the war never brought anything good to anyone.
Causes of the war
Like any armed confrontation, the reasons for the start of the war were very banal. In the chronicle of the Great 1941-1945) it is indicated that the battle began because Adolf Hitler wanted to lead Germany to world domination: to seize all countries and create a state with pure races.
For a year he invades Poland, then goes to Czechoslovakia, conquers more new territories, and then violates the peace treaty concluded on August 23, 1939 with the USSR. Intoxicated by the first successes and victories, he developed the Barbarossa plan, according to which he was supposed to capture the Soviet Union in a short time. But it was not there. From this moment begins a four-year chronicle of the events of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).
1941st. Start
In June the war began. During this month, five defensive fronts were formed, each of which was responsible for its own territory:
- northern front. He defended Hanko (from 22.06 to 02.12) and the Arctic (from 29.07 to 10.10).
- Northwestern Front. Immediately after the attack, he began to conduct the Baltic strategic defensive operation (22.06-09.07).
- Western front. Here the Bialystok-Minsk battle unfolded (22.06-09.07).
- Southwestern front. Launched the Lvov-Chernivtsi defensive operation (22.06-06.07).
- Southern front. Founded on 25.07.
In July, defensive operations continued on the Northern Front. On the Northwestern Front, the Leningrad defensive operation began (from 10.07 to 30.09). At the same time on Western front The Battle of Smolensk begins (10.07-10.09). July 24 founded the Central Front, he took part in the battle of Smolensk. On the 30th, the Reserve Front was formed. In the South-West, the Kyiv defensive operation began (07.07-26.09). On the Southern Front, the Tiraspol-Melitopol defensive operation begins (27.07-28.09).
In August, the battle continues. To Smolensk battle the forces of the Reserve Front join. On the 14th, the Bryansk Front was founded, the defense of the city was carried out in the Odessa defensive region (05.08-16.10). On August 23, the Transcaucasian Front is formed, two days later the Iranian operation begins.
The entries for September in the documentary chronicles of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) indicate that most of the defensive battles have ended. The forces of the Soviet Union changed their place of deployment and began new offensive operations: Sumy-Kharkov and Donbass.
In October, the Sinyavskaya and Strelna-Peterhof operations are carried out on the Leningrad Front, and the Tikhvin defensive operation begins (from October 16 to November 18). On the 17th, the Kalinin Defensive Front was formed, and the defensive operation of the same name began. On the 10th, the Reserve Front ceased to exist. The Tula defensive operation began on the Bryansk Front (24.10-05.12). The Crimean troops began a defensive operation and entered the battle for Sevastopol (10/10/1941-07/09/1942).
In November, the Tikhvin offensive which ended by the end of the year. The battles went on with varying success. On December 5, the Kalinin offensive operation began, and on the 6th, the Klin-Solnechnaya and Tula offensive operations began. On December 17, the Volkhov Front was formed. The Bryansk Front was formed again, and the Kerch Front began in the Transcaucasus. landing operation(26.12). The defense of Sevastopol continued.
1942 - a brief military chronicle of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
On January 1, 1942, an anti-German bloc was formed, which included 226 countries. Meanwhile, on January 2, the city of Maloyaroslavets was liberated, on the 3rd, near the city of Sukhinichi, the Russian army defeated the Germans, on January 7, shock troops were defeated German groups near Moscow.
New offensive operations begin. On January 20, Mozhaisk was completely liberated. In early February, the entire Moscow region was liberated from the Germans. Soviet troops advanced 250 km in the direction of Vitebsk. On March 5, long-range aviation is created. May 8 starts German offensive in Crimea. Battles are underway near Kharkov, on June 28 a large-scale offensive begins German troops. Forces were mainly directed to the Volga and the Caucasus.
On July 17, the legendary Battle of Stalingrad begins, which is mentioned in all the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (photos of the confrontation are attached). On August 25, a state of siege was introduced in Stalingrad. On September 13, fighting begins at Mamaev Kurgan. On November 19, the Red Army begins an offensive operation near Stalingrad. On December 3, a group of German troops was defeated in the Shiripin area. On December 31, the troops of the Stalingrad Front liberate the city of Elista.
1943
This year has been a turning point. On January 1, the Rostov offensive operation began. The cities of Mozdok, Malgobek, Nalchik were liberated; on January 12, Operation Iskra began. The military who took part in it must have been Leningrad. Five days later, the city of Velikiye Luki was liberated. January 18 managed to establish contact with Leningrad. On January 19, an offensive operation began on the Voronezh Front, and a large military grouping of the enemy was defeated. On January 20, in the area of the city of Velikoluksk, enemy troops were defeated. On January 21, Stavropol was liberated.
On January 31, German troops capitulate at Stalingrad. On February 2, it was possible to liquidate the army near Stalingrad (nearly 300 thousand fascists). On February 8, Kursk was liberated, and on the 9th - Belgorod. The Soviet army advanced towards Minsk.
Krasnodar liberated; 14th - Rostov-on-Don, Voroshilovgrad and Krasnodon; On February 16, Kharkov was liberated. On March 3, they liberated Rzhevsk, on the 6th - Gzhatsk, on March 12, the Germans left their positions in Vyazma. On March 29, the Soviet flotilla inflicted significant damage on the German fleet off the coast of Norway.
On May 3, the Soviet army won the battle in the air, and on July 5, the legendary Battle of Kursk began. It ended on August 22, during the battle 30 German divisions were defeated. By the end of the year, successful offensive operations are being carried out, one by one the cities of the Soviet Union are being liberated from the invaders. suffers defeat.
1944
According to the chronicle (1941-1945), the war took a favorable turn for the USSR. Offensive operations began on all fronts. Ten so-called Stalinist strikes helped to completely liberate the territory of the USSR, the fighting was now carried out on the territory of Europe.
Way to victory
The German command understands that it cannot seize the strategic initiative and begins to take up defensive positions in order to preserve at least those territories that they managed to capture. But every day they had to retreat further and further.
April 16, 1945 Soviet troops surround Berlin. The Nazi army is defeated. April 30 Hitler commits suicide. On May 7, Germany announced its surrender to the Western Allied Forces, and on May 9, it surrendered to the Soviet Union.
In the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the war is presented to the reader as a list of dates and events. But we must not forget that human destinies are hidden behind each date: unfulfilled hopes, broken promises and unlived lives.
It is generally accepted that the Great Patriotic War ended on May 9, 1945. However, for example, the Prague offensive operation took place from May 6 to May 11, and the Red Army fought with detachments of collaborators for several more years. Military establishment The USSR continued to perform feats after two official surrenders of Germany. Thousands of Soviet soldiers became victims of the Nazis and their accomplices during this period. Why the war did not end with the capture of Berlin.
Disputes continue between Russian and foreign historians about when the war with Nazi Germany ended de jure and de facto. On May 2, 1945, Soviet troops took Berlin. This was a major success in military and ideological terms, but the fall of the German capital did not mean the final destruction of the Nazis and their accomplices.
Achieve surrender
In early May, the leadership of the USSR set out to achieve the adoption of the act of surrender of Germany. To do this, it was necessary to negotiate with the Anglo-American command and deliver an ultimatum to the representatives of the Nazi government, which from April 30, 1945 (after the suicide of Adolf Hitler) was headed by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.
The positions of Moscow and the West diverged quite strongly. Stalin insisted on the unconditional surrender of all German troops and pro-Nazi formations. The Soviet leader was aware of the desire of the allies to keep part of the Wehrmacht military machine in a combat-ready state. Such a scenario was absolutely unacceptable for the USSR.
In the spring of 1945, the Nazis and collaborators massively left their positions on Eastern Front to surrender to Anglo-American troops. The war criminals were counting on leniency, and the allies were considering using the Nazis in a potential confrontation with the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). The USSR made concessions, but in the end achieved its goal.
On May 7, in the French Reims, where the headquarters of General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower was located, the first act of surrender was concluded. Alfred Jodl, chief of the operational headquarters of the Wehrmacht, put his signature under the document. Moscow's representative was Major General Ivan Susloparov. The document came into force on May 8 at 23:01 (May 9 at 01:01 Moscow time).
The act was drawn up on English language and assumed the unconditional surrender of only the German armies. On May 7, Susloparov, without receiving instructions from the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, signed a document with the proviso that any ally country could demand another similar act.
After signing the act, Karl Dönitz ordered all German formations to break through to the west with a fight. Moscow took advantage of this and demanded an immediate conclusion new act about total surrender.
On the night of May 8-9, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the second act of surrender was signed in a solemn atmosphere. The signatories agreed that the Reims document was preliminary, while the Berlin document was final. The representative of the USSR in Karlshorst was Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal Georgy Zhukov.
Act proactively
Some historians consider the liberation of Europe by the Soviet troops from the Nazi occupiers to be a "light walk" compared to the battles that were fought on the territory of the USSR.
In 1943, the Soviet Union solved all the main problems in the field of the military-industrial complex, received thousands of modern tanks, aircraft and artillery pieces. The command staff of the army gained the necessary experience and already knew how to outmaneuver the Nazi generals.
In mid-1944, the Red Army, which was part of Europe, was perhaps the most effective land military vehicle in the world. However, politics began to actively interfere in the campaign for the liberation of the European peoples.
The Anglo-American troops that landed in Normandy sought not so much to help the USSR defeat Nazism as to prevent the "communist occupation" of the Old World. Moscow could no longer trust its allies with its plans and therefore acted ahead of schedule.
In the summer of 1944, the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief determined two strategic directions attacks on the Nazis: northern (Warsaw - Berlin) and southern (Bucharest - Budapest - Vienna). The regions between the main wedges remained under Nazi control until mid-May 1945.
In particular, Czechoslovakia turned out to be such a territory. The liberation of the eastern part of the country - Slovakia - began with the Red Army crossing the Carpathians in September 1944 and ended only eight months later.
In Moravia (the historical part of the Czech Republic), Soviet soldiers appeared on May 2-3, 1945, and on May 6, the Prague strategic operation began, as a result of which the capital of the state and almost the entire territory of Czechoslovakia was liberated. Large-scale hostilities continued until May 11-12.
Rush to Prague
Prague was liberated later than Budapest (February 13), Vienna (April 13) and Berlin. The Soviet command was in a hurry to capture the key cities of Eastern Europe and the German capital and thus move as deep as possible to the west, realizing that the current allies could soon turn into ill-wishers.
The advance in Czechoslovakia was of no strategic importance until May 1945. In addition, the offensive of the Red Army was hampered by two factors. The first is mountainous terrain, which sometimes nullified the effect of the use of artillery, aircraft and tanks. The second is that partisan movement in the republic was less massive than, for example, in neighboring Poland.
At the end of April 1945, the Red Army needed to finish off the Nazis in the Czech Republic as soon as possible. Near Prague, the Germans took care of the Army Groups "Center" and "Austria" in the amount of 62 divisions (more than 900 thousand people, 9700 guns and mortars, over 2200 tanks).
The German government, headed by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, hoped to save the "Center" and "Austria" by surrendering to the Anglo-American troops. In Moscow, they were aware of the preparation by the allies of a secret plan for a war with the USSR in the summer of 1945 called "Unthinkable".
To this end, Britain and the United States hoped to spare as many Nazi formations as possible. Naturally, in the interests of the Soviet Union was the lightning defeat of the enemy grouping. After the regrouping of forces and means, which was not without difficulty, the Red Army launched several massive attacks on the "Center" and "Austria".
In the early morning of May 9, the 10th Guards tank corps The 4th Guards Tank Army was the first to enter Prague. On May 10-11, Soviet troops completed the destruction of the main centers of resistance. In total, for almost a year of fighting in Czechoslovakia, 858 thousand enemy soldiers surrendered to the Red Army. The losses of the USSR amounted to 144 thousand people.
"Defense against the Russians"
Czechoslovakia was not the only country where hostilities continued after 9 May. In April 1945, Soviet and Yugoslav troops were able to clear most the territory of Yugoslavia from the Nazis and collaborators. However, the remnants of Army Group E (part of the Wehrmacht) managed to escape from the Balkan Peninsula.
The liquidation of Nazi formations on the territory of Slovenia and Austria was carried out by the Red Army from May 8 to 15. In Yugoslavia itself, battles with Hitler's accomplices took place until about the end of May. The scattered resistance of the Germans and collaborators in the liberated Eastern Europe lasted about a month after the surrender.
The Nazis put up stubborn resistance to the Red Army on the Danish island of Bornholm, where infantrymen of the 2nd Belorussian Front landed on May 9 with fire support from the Baltic Fleet. The garrison, which, according to various sources, numbered from 15 thousand to 25 thousand people, hoped to hold out and surrender to the Allies.
The commandant of the garrison, Captain 1st Rank Gerhard von Kampz, sent a letter to the British command, which was stationed in Hamburg, with a request to land on Bornholm. Von Kampz emphasized that "until that time he is ready to hold the line against the Russians."
On May 11, almost all Germans capitulated, but 4,000 people fought with the Red Army until May 19. The exact number of dead Soviet soldiers on the Danish island is unknown. You can find data on tens and hundreds of those killed. Some historians say that the British nevertheless landed on the island and fought with the Red Army.
This was not the first time the Allies had joint operations with the Nazis. On May 9, 1945, the German units stationed in Greece, under the leadership of Major General Georg Bentak, surrendered to the 28th Infantry Brigade of General Preston, without waiting for the main British forces to approach.
The British were stuck in battles with the Greek communists, who united in the people's liberation army ELAS. On May 12, the Nazis and the British launched an offensive against the positions of the partisans. It is known that German soldiers participated in the battles until June 28, 1945.
Pockets of resistance
Thus, Moscow had every reason to doubt that the allies would not support the Wehrmacht fighters, who ended up both on the front line and in the rear of the Red Army.
Military publicist, historian Yuri Melkonov noted that powerful Nazi groups in May 1945 were concentrated not only in the Prague region. A certain danger was posed by 300,000-strong German troops in Courland (western Latvia and part of East Prussia).
“Groups of Germans were scattered throughout Eastern Europe. In particular, large formations were located in Pomerania, Königsberg, Courland. They tried to unite, taking advantage of the fact that the USSR sent the main forces to Berlin. However, despite the difficulties in supply, the Soviet troops defeated them one by one, ”said RT Melkonov.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in the period from May 9 to May 17, the Red Army captured about 1.5 million enemy soldiers and officers and 101 generals.
Of these, 200 thousand people were Hitler's accomplices - mainly Cossack formations and soldiers of the Russian liberation army(ROA) former Soviet military leader Andrei Vlasov. However, not all collaborators were captured or destroyed in May 1945.
Sufficiently intense fighting in the Baltic States went on until 1948. The resistance of the Red Army was not provided by the Nazis, but by the Forest Brothers, an anti-Soviet partisan movement that arose in 1940.
Another large-scale center of resistance was Western Ukraine, where anti-Soviet sentiments were strong. From February 1944, when the liberation of Ukraine was completed, and until the end of 1945, the nationalists carried out about 7,000 attacks and sabotage against the Red Army.
The combat experience gained while serving in various German formations allowed the Ukrainian militants to actively resist the Soviet troops until 1953.
Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War
Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war
Despite the heroism and self-sacrifice of soldiers and officers, it was not possible to repel the treacherous attack. In the first weeks of the war, the Soviet army and navy suffered catastrophic losses: from June 22 to July 9, 1941, more than 500,000 servicemen died.
Divisions 6th and 42nd rifle divisions, 17th border detachment and 132nd separate battalion troops of the NKVD, with a total number of 3,500 people, met the enemy among the first. Despite the enormous numerical superiority of the Germans, the defenders of the fortress resisted for a whole month.
The German Army Group "North" under the command of Field Marshal von Leeb captured the city of Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost), taking control of the source of the Neva and blockading Leningrad from land. Thus began the 900-day blockade of Leningrad, which claimed the lives of about a million people.
According to the plan of Operation Typhoon, approved by Hitler in September, Moscow was to be completely destroyed along with the entire population. But the plans of the Nazis were not destined to come true. The words of political instructor Vasily Klochkov flew around the whole country: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat: behind is Moscow!”
The troops of the 11th German Army, which broke through to the Crimea in October 1941, tried to capture the city on the move. Despite the enemy's twofold superiority in manpower and tenfold superiority in tanks and aircraft, the defense of Sevastopol lasted 250 days. This episode of the war went down in history as an example of mass heroism and self-sacrifice of the city's defenders.
This military parade was of particular importance - it was necessary to tell the world that Moscow stands and will stand firm. Straight from the parade main square countries, the soldiers of the Red Army went to the front, to which it was only a few kilometers from the center of Moscow.
The victory of the Soviet army in Battle of Stalingrad became turning point in the war. The USSR snatched the strategic initiative from the enemy and did not let it go again. In honor of the feat of the heroes of Stalingrad on Mamaev Kurgan in the 1960s, a memorial Complex"The motherland is calling!".
Battle of Kursk, which lasted 49 days, fixed a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War. Having won, the Red Army pushed the enemy back 140-150 kilometers to the west and liberated Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov.
July 12, 1943
Battle of Prokhorovka - the largest tank battle of World War II
In the battle, 1.5 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns met on both sides. The Nazis lost over 350 tanks and over 10,000 men. On the same day, our troops launched an offensive and in less than a week defeated the Oryol grouping of the enemy.
January 27, 1944
The final liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade
The strategic operation to lift the blockade, called "January Thunder", involved three fronts: Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic. Particularly successful were the actions of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, which pushed the enemy back 70-100 kilometers from the city.
April 9, 1945
Soviet troops occupied the fortress city of Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad)
The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, after stubborn street fighting, completed the defeat of the Koenigsberg group of German troops and stormed the fortress and the main city of East Prussia, Koenigsberg, a strategically important German defense center on the Baltic Sea.
Berlin offensive operation of the 2nd Belarusian, 1st Belarusian and 1st Ukrainian fronts- one of the last strategic operations Soviet troops, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously completed the Great Patriotic War and the Second world war in Europe.
May 8, 1945
Signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany
At 22:43 local time (May 9 at 0:43 Moscow time) in the building of the military engineering school in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the final act of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and its armed forces was signed. The Great Patriotic War is over.