Which states were allies of the USSR in World War II? Help from the steppes

When asked who were the USSR's allies in the war, Russians most often named the USA and Great Britain. The majority of respondents (41%) believe that the USSR would have won at about the same time and with approximately the same losses and without the help of the allies. A third believe that without the allies the war would have dragged on and there would have been even more losses. 13% of Russians believe that the USSR would not have won without the help of its allies.

TeleFOM is a representative survey of the population aged 18 years and older. 1000 respondents participated in the survey. Telephone interviews using a random sample of mobile and landline phone numbers. 320 cities, 160 villages. The statistical error does not exceed 3.8%.

Many countries took part in the war against Nazi Germany. Do you know or don’t know which countries were allies of the Soviet Union in this war?

DATA IN % OF GROUPS

DATA IN % OF RESPONDENTS

Open question. Asked by those who know which countries were allies of the Soviet Union, answered 74% of respondents

Do you know or don’t know which countries were on the side of Nazi Germany in this war?

DATA IN % OF GROUPS

Which countries were on the side of Nazi Germany in this war?

DATA IN % OF RESPONDENTS

Open question. Asked by those who know which countries were on the side fascist Germany, answered 58% of respondents

How do you assess the contribution of the USSR allies to the victory over Germany?

DATA IN % OF GROUPS

Card, one answer

Data source: TeleFOM - a telephone survey of Russian citizens 18 years of age and older using a random sample of mobile and landline phone numbers. April 19, 2015. 320 cities, 160 villages. 1000 respondents. The statistical error does not exceed 3.8%.

Commissioned by inFOM LLC

materials

33% of Russians reported that their ancestors took part in the First World War. Related letters, documents, photographs, relics, and memorable items are kept in the families of 11% of our fellow citizens, or a third of those whose ancestors fought

Two thirds of respondents (among young people - three quarters) believe that such a holiday as the Day national unity, needed in Russia. 20% of our fellow citizens hold the opposite opinion. Since last year, those who are confident in the necessity of this holiday have become 9 points less, and those who are confident in its uselessness – 6 points more.

The main striking force that attacked the USSR was Hitler's Germany. By the time of the attack on the Soviet Union, it controlled the economic, military and human resources of almost all countries of continental Europe with a population of over 330 million people. England alone resisted German aggression, protected by the sea straits and the will of the people to defend their country.

Germany's direct allies in the war against the Soviet Union were:
- Italy (since July 10, 1941, an expeditionary force, then transformed into an army, numbering up to 200 thousand people);
- , (from June 25, two armies, security units, the Air Force and the Navy, the total number of troops up to 450 thousand people);
- Slovakia (from June 22, the number of troops is up to 90 thousand people);
- , (from June 27, three field armies and an expeditionary force, number of troops over 500 thousand people);
- , (from June 22, two armies, security units, an air squadron, the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube Military Flotilla, total strength up to 200 thousand people);
- which signed the Berlin Pact, did not declare war on the USSR. Her interests extended to the Balkans.
- Croatia, (security division of up to 10 thousand people), used in Yugoslavia.

It entered Germany even earlier Austria, the Sudetenland, torn away from Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic became a protectorate, Bohemia and Moravia. The last bloodless annexation to Germany was Memel (Klaipeda) with its surroundings, torn away from Lithuania with the tacit consent of the Western “guarantors” of the territorial affiliation of this land.

But there were other accomplices of the war against the Soviet Union. They did not declare war, although they were no less interested in victory over the USSR than Hitler and hoped to get their victorious bribe.

These were, firstly, countries occupied by Germany. They found themselves in Hitler's power almost without resistance, as a result of the “lightning wars.” Let's call them: Albania, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia, Greece.

The second group of Germany’s accomplices in the war against the Soviet Union were “neutral” countries. Neutral status excluded the declaration of war on anyone and official participation in it, but it provided Hitler and Nazi Germany with a strong rear, supplying the Wehrmacht with everything that “neutral”, that is, officially “non-belligerent” countries, were able to supply. "Neutral" were considered: Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Türkiye.
Only Ireland (Republic of Eire) remained truly neutral.

Europe united under the standards of the German Fuhrer on June 22, 1941 was a single whole. Serious discrepancies between her components Hitler didn't find it.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were only five states left on the European continent (not counting the dwarf ones) that were not occupied by Germany and Italy. These are Türkiye, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal.

Türkiye was the traditional enemy of Russia - the USSR. After Germany’s attack on the USSR, it announced partial mobilization, strengthened the work of the defense industry, concluded a trade agreement with Germany and intensified the subversive activities of anti-Soviet organizations located on its territory (“Coordination Council of the Peoples of the Caucasus”, “Union Crimean Tatars", etc.).

Spain, being a member of the “Berlin Pact”, although it did not declare war on the USSR, it stimulated the formation on its territory of the fascist “Blue Division”, intended to conduct combat operations against the USSR.

Sweden secretly supplied Germany with non-ferrous metals and steel necessary for its defense industry.

Switzerland secretly bought “Jewish gold” from Germany on favorable terms, thus supplying it with hard currency, and supplied precision instruments.

Portugal, on favorable terms, provided Germany with territory for the secret deployment of naval bases and training grounds.

According to the assumptions of the Barbarossa plan, the “lightning war” against the USSR was designed for four to five months, and should end before the onset of cold weather. To achieve victory, a limited mobilization of resources from the countries of continental Europe will be sufficient. Hotheads even called this war the “Eastern Campaign.” True, it soon became clear that the Soviet Union could not be defeated in a short-lived war; it would take not only years, but also the maximum mobilization of the economic, human and military resources of all countries of continental Europe, without any exceptions for “neutrality.”

For the war against the Soviet Union, the aggressor required enormous human resources. To win the previous blitzkrieg wars, Hitler only needed the strength of the German Wehrmacht. The German Wehrmacht crushed the troops of England, France, Belgium and Holland during one campaign - in just 44 days (from May 10 to June 22, 1940). France then had the most powerful army in Europe.

To defeat the Soviet Union, Hitler attracted, first of all, the troops of his allies, and not all of them at first. But already in the first days of the war it became clear that their forces were not enough. Therefore, following Finland, Romania and Hungary, the troops of other countries allied with Germany are involved in the war - Italy, Bulgaria(its troops operated in the Balkans, where they replaced German troops). When it turned out that these forces were not enough, Hitler demanded that the Allies sharply increase the number of their troops. The Fuhrer's demand was fulfilled, and in the days when Battle of Stalingrad(07/17/42-02/02/43), over one million people fought on the Soviet-German front in the troops of countries allied to Germany.

As it turned out, these forces were not enough to crush the Soviet Union. The Red Army refuted the enemy's calculations. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, mass attraction foreigners into the German army and into auxiliary paramilitary organizations in Germany. These were so-called volunteers from countries whose governments officially refrained from participating in the war against the USSR, preferring to remain neutral. In an effort to create the appearance of a “pan-European” war against the USSR, Germany began to form voluntary national legions from the fascist elements of the occupied countries, which were then transformed into SS divisions, which were used as field units and had catchy names: "Viking", "Danemark", "Nordland", "Valonia", "Langemarck", "Charlemagne", "Bohemia and Moravia", "Muslim" etc.
The so-called neutral countries also actively assisted the aggressor. They weren't really neutral. Their neutrality served Hitler and, by the way, with great mutual benefit. Such was the neutrality of the same Switzerland, or, for example, Sweden, supplier of quality iron ore. If Sweden had not been “neutral,” how many air strikes would have been unleashed on its enterprises by Germany’s opponents. Neutral Spain also sent a volunteer division to the Soviet-German front.

The Soviet Union had three main allies during the Great Patriotic War England, France and USA who assisted the USSR in the fight against fascism. In July 1941, the USSR signed an agreement to fight a common enemy with the governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland, who were in exile in London. In September of the first year of the war, at a conference in London, the Soviet leadership established contacts with Belgium, Holland, Norway, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg and the National Committee of Free France.

And only in May 1942 In London, a Soviet-British treaty was signed on an alliance in the war against Nazi Germany and its accomplices in Europe and on cooperation and mutual assistance after the end of the war. Following this, on June 11, 1942, a Soviet-American agreement was concluded in Washington on the principles of mutual assistance and the conduct of war against fascist aggression. These agreements formed the core of the anti-Hitler coalition.

However, the alliance between the USSR, the USA and England was not bound by a tripartite alliance treaty. Only bilateral agreements existed and were in force. Relations within the coalition did not fit into the parameters of the bloc and rather corresponded to the concept of a temporary alliance.

But there were also states that themselves were the first to offer assistance to the Soviet Union, without demanding anything in return.

June 22, 1941 The presidium of the Small State Khural, the Council of Ministers of the Mongolian People's Republic and the presidium of the central committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) declared their support for the Soviet Union. Economic assistance from the MPR consisted of the transfer cash, warm clothes, food, livestock, acquisition of a tank column and squadron.

During the four years of the Great Patriotic War Mongolian People's Republic supplied the USSR with about 500 thousand horses at a conditional price, mainly to pay off previous debts to the USSR. 32 thousand horses were transferred to the armed forces of the USSR as gifts from Mongolian Arat peasants. Also, during the war years, the MPR supplied 64 thousand tons of wool and almost 500 thousand tons of meat to the USSR.

June 22, 1941, when it became known about the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union, an urgent meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party was convened, which decided on the evening of the same day to begin the work of the X Great Khural Tuvan People's Republic. The Great Khural, having heard the statement of the government of the People's Republic of China on the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the Nazi invaders, unanimously, “...without sparing life,...with all our strength and means to participate in the struggle Soviet people against the fascist aggressor until the final victory over him."

For three years, the Soviet Union actually waged a one-on-one war with Europe united by Hitler. Only in March 1943 he had comrades in arms. At first it was 1st separate Czechoslovak battalion. After the first battle, it was reorganized into a separate brigade, on the basis of which it was created, which fought together with the Red Army for the liberation of Czechoslovakia. IN October 1943 The 1st Polish Infantry Division named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko, formed in the USSR, took the first battle. On its basis, the 1st Corps of Polish troops was formed in August of the following year, and then 1st Army of the Polish Army, which took part in battles with the German-European invaders.

The victories of the Red Army forced Germany's former allies to turn their weapons against Hitler in 1944-1945. First in 1944 was withdrawn from the fascist bloc Romania. Its ruling circles, having rejected the humane terms of the truce presented on April 12, 1944 by the Soviet government, entered into negotiations with representatives of the United States and England in Cairo in the summer. Romanian diplomats asked them to send Anglo-American troops into Romania, which would serve as a guarantor of the preservation of the existing political regime in the country.

TO summer 1944 German-Finnish relations were seriously undermined. as a result of the offensive Soviet troops in Karelia found itself in a critical situation. At the same time, doubts arose in the country's ruling circles about the advisability of continuing the war.

Meanwhile, the military-political situation in Finland continued to deteriorate. Her troops suffered one defeat after another. The country's foreign policy isolation grew. Under these conditions, the ruling circles decided to change the leadership of the state.

The new President K. Mannerheim, in response to Hitler’s congratulatory telegram, assured that Finnish army together with the Wehrmacht will continue military operations. However, the course of events on the Soviet-German front and the further deterioration of the internal political situation in the country forced the Finnish government to change this decision and try to withdraw from the war. It made an official proposal to the Soviet government to begin negotiations on a truce, and a few days later announced the end of the war against the USSR. WITH September 15, 1944 Finland was at war with Germany.

Of the German troops concentrated on June 22, 1941 on the German-Soviet border, 20% were troops of Hitler’s European allies

Seventy years ago the Great Patriotic War began. The date is as tragic as it is majestic. For all peoples of the former Soviet Union. But for Europe, excuse me, it is shameful. And I am not blasphemous at all. Judge for yourself.

In July 2009, in Vilnius, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution “Reuniting a Divided Europe: Promoting Human Rights and Civil Liberties in the OSCE Region in the 21st Century.” There are words in this document, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, that are stunning in their cynicism: “... in the twentieth century, European countries experienced two powerful totalitarian regimes, Nazi and Stalin...” If you follow this logic of European deputies, it turns out that Hitler and Stalin together attacked Europe. Apparently, gentlemen, they forgot that there was also the Anschluss of 1938 - the annexation of Austria to Germany, after which Austria disappeared, and Ostmark appeared in its place. Dear gentlemen, they also do not remember that with the treacherous Munich Agreement (conspiracy) of 1938, Europe handed Czechoslovakia over to Hitler to be torn to pieces. Apparently, the fact that Poland was defeated in 18 days, and only then Soviet troops were brought into its eastern regions, France fell after 14 days (capitulated, pay attention to this) has completely disappeared from the mass consciousness of Europeans strange coincidence, 22 June 1940), and Hitler's entire European campaign took six weeks.

And by that time the Third Reich represented not only Germany. It also officially included Austria, the Sudetenland, captured from Poland by the “Baltic corridor”, Poznan and Upper Silesia, as well as Luxembourg, Lorraine and Alsace, and Upper Corinthia cut off from Yugoslavia. Norway, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Spain considered themselves allies of Germany, which allowed Hitler to form an additional 59 divisions during the war years, including 20 SS, 23 separate brigades, several separate regiments, legions and battalions.

The Fuhrer believed that on August 25 his troops would march victoriously through Moscow, as planned by the Barbarossa plan. (Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, note, was a participant in the Third Crusade, during which he drowned in the river. Symbolically, however!)

It also started in June 1941 crusade, the last and decisive one, designed to finally crown the triumph of Western civilization. The dream of Pope Pius XI came true, who back in February 1930 called for a united campaign against the USSR, and in 1933 concluded a concordat (agreement) with Nazi Germany. The era of a thousand years of struggle was to be replaced by an era of thousand years of European domination. Hitler's defeat turned out to be the collapse of the West's centuries-old strategy. And the West to this day cannot forgive itself for the largest civilizational failure in history. This is evidenced, first of all, by the very fact of the adoption of the OSCE PA resolution, by which Europe, equating the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany, places equal responsibility for the outbreak of World War II on both states. With open cynicism, thus trying to remove, first of all, responsibility for the Great European War. Even despite the fact that on September 1, 2009 in Gdansk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared to the whole world: “We recognize that Germany attacked Poland, unleashed the Second World War and caused incredible suffering,” the beating of drums and frightening sounded: “Die Russen kommen” (“The Russians are coming”).

Yes, calm down, finally, no one is coming to you with a sword, and no one is going to come. It was you who came to us as uninvited guests 70 years ago, almost completely European composition. Finland allocated 16 divisions and 3 brigades for the war with the USSR, Romania - 13 divisions and 9 brigades, Hungary - 4 brigades. In total - 29 divisions and 16 brigades of allied forces.

And when, a little later, Italian and Slovak contingents joined the Germans, by the end of July 41, the troops of Germany’s allied countries made up almost 30% of the fascist forces.

Even in the victorious April of 1945, formations allied to the Red Army - Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, French - accounted for only 12% of the number of Soviet troops operating at the front.

In total, 5.5 million people, 47.2 thousand guns and mortars, 4.3 thousand tanks and about 5 thousand combat aircraft were concentrated in the eastern group of forces of Nazi Germany and its allies. The Wehrmacht also had captured tanks from Czechoslovakia and France. The armies of Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Slovakia, and Croatia participated in the war against the Soviet Union. The Bulgarian army was involved in the occupation of Greece and Yugoslavia; there were no ground units on the Eastern Front. Large military contingents from France, Poland, Belgium, Albania and other countries fought against the USSR. The anti-Hitler coalition was also opposed by collaborator states - Vichy France (capital of Vichy, puppet regime of Pétain), Norway (Quisling regime), the Netherlands (Mussert regime), Slovakia (pro-fascist Tiso regime). Thus, participation in the “march to the East” was practically institutionalized.

Together, so to speak, with the official allies of Germany, citizens of those countries that did not officially fight with the USSR and even, strange as it may seem, were also our allies, took part in the war against the USSR. The above-mentioned “Legion of French Volunteers”, numbering over six thousand people, went to the Eastern Front already in August 1941.

In addition to the French, they fought with the Red Army as part of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front separate battalions Dutch, Norwegians, Danes. Although Spain was not officially at war with the Soviet Union, nevertheless, from October 1941 to the end of 1943, there was a Spanish “Blue Division” on the Eastern Front. 47 thousand people passed through the division by rotation, four thousand of them died, more than one and a half thousand were captured. The Blue Division was located mainly under besieged Leningrad.

The issue of besieged Leningrad should have long been raised separately, and at a level no lower than the UN. In its odious resolution, the OSCE noted the “uniqueness of the Holocaust.” But an act of genocide was actually committed against the Leningraders.

In Leningrad, 700,000 people died from hunger alone. The city was blocked by troops from Germany, Spain, Italy, and Finland. Their crime is that they did not provide the population with humanitarian corridors for the supply of food and for civilians to leave the besieged city, which resulted in colossal casualties.

Europe, obviously, is impressed exclusively by the Katyn graves of Polish officers, but not by the Leningrad graves of old people, women and children.

And if we continue the conversation about “crimes against humanity,” which is emphasized in the European resolution, then we must also talk about the attitude towards prisoners of war. In addition to the Germans, 1.1 million citizens were captured in Soviet captivity European countries, among them - 500 thousand Hungarians, almost 157 thousand Austrians, 70 thousand Czechs and Slovaks, 60 thousand Poles, about 50 thousand Italians, 23 thousand French, 50 thousand Spaniards. There were also Dutch, Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Belgians and others. 14.9% of all captured Nazis died in our camps. In the Germans - 58% of the captured Red Army soldiers, 2.6% of the French and 4% of the Americans and British.

There is an opinion that millions Soviet soldiers died in captivity because Stalin did not sign the Geneva Convention regulating the humane treatment of prisoners. But Germany signed it and was obliged to comply. The USSR signature did not matter. The Nazis simply did not consider Russians to be people. The conclusion is clearly not in favor of Europe. Especially considering that, say, France lost more than 600 thousand military personnel killed and wounded in the war (Arthur Banks, World Atlas military history"(A World Atlas of Military History), B.Ts. Urlanis, "Wars and Population of Europe",

“History of the Second World War 1939-1945”, vol. 3.): 84 thousand fell in combat while defending national territory, 20 thousand - in the Resistance. And where did the remaining 500 thousand French citizens die and were wounded, on which German fronts? The question is purely rhetorical. The situation is very similar with Poland, Belgium and other “active fighters against fascism.” By the way, the weapons that Germany captured in the occupied countries were enough to form 200 divisions. Why is it that the Europeans, who today put the Stalinist and Hitlerite regimes on the same level, did not arm themselves and act against both dictators at once? Or - at least against one? Instead, European countries silently shouldered the costs of maintaining German occupation forces on their territories. France, for example, has allocated 20 million daily since the summer of 1940. German marks, and from the fall of 1942 - 25 million each. These funds were more than enough not only to provide the German troops with everything they needed, but also for the war against the USSR. European countries supplied Nazi Germany with more than 80 billion marks, of which France gave 35 billion.

And, I emphasize, it was not in the Wehrmacht that the most ideological non-German participants in the war were concentrated. Much more of them were in the SS.

In 1943-1944. seven new SS divisions appeared: an Albanian mountain rifle division, a Hungarian cavalry division and two infantry divisions, two Croatian mountain rifle divisions and one formed in Western Ukraine 14th Grenadier Division of the SS troops "Galicia". The Germans also considered the Dutch, Belgians, Danes and British to be peoples of Germanic origin. The so-called German SS formations consisted in the second half of 1943 of the divisions “Netherlands”, “Landstorm Netherlands”, “Nordland”, “Langermak”, “Wallonia”. The 29th SS Infantry Division (Italian), the 31st SS Infantry Division "Bohemia and Moravia" (from Czech volunteers, mainly Volksdeutsch), the 33rd SS Infantry Division "Charlemagne" (from French volunteers). The following data (people) are available on the number and nationality of “German” volunteers in the SS troops as of January 31, 1944: Norwegians - 5,878, Danes - 7,006, Dutch - 18,473, Flemings - 6,033, Walloons - 2,812, Swedes - 601, Swiss - 1,584, French - 3,480, British - 432, Irish - 115, Scots - 107. Total: 46,521 people, that is, a full-blooded army corps. The last soldier to receive the Knight's Cross for bravery on April 29, 1945 in the Reich Chancellery was the French SS volunteer Eugene Valot, and the French SS battalion from the Charlemagne division defended the Reichstag when the Germans had already fled from there (Russian Special Forces, N 07 (58) , July 2001). During the war years, the German Wehrmacht and SS troops recruited over 1.8 million people from among the citizens of European states and nationalities.

Let us remind those who today, while restoring the “national memory,” have suddenly lost their historical memory, of one curious detail. The criminal nature of the SS organization as a whole was recognized by the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal: “The SS was used for purposes that are criminal and include the persecution and extermination of Jews, atrocities and murders in concentration camps, excesses committed in the administration of occupied territories, the implementation of the slave program labor, ill-treatment with prisoners of war and their murders..." The Tribunal included members of the Waffen-SS and members of any kind of police services in the SS, emphasizing that "it is impossible to single out any part of the SS that did not take part in this criminal activity." And today, in front of the eyes of the whole of Europe, the fascists and their modern descendants are being glorified in the Baltics and Ukraine. There is, obviously, for what and for what reason.

The entire European economy, from Norway to France and Czechoslovakia, worked for the fascist war machine. Even neutral countries, such as Sweden and Switzerland, provided assistance to Nazi Germany, some with iron ore, steel, others with money, precision instruments, etc. The Swedes also supplied bearings and rare earth elements to Germany. German military orders were carried out by all large, technically advanced enterprises in Europe. Suffice it to say that only the Czech Skoda factories in the year before the attack on Poland produced as much military products as the entire British military industry. The entire European potential was thrown into the war against the USSR, whose potential, by formal economic standards, was approximately four times smaller (and decreased by approximately half in the first six months of the war).

One English historian correctly wrote that it was then that “Europe became an economic whole.” So shouldn't she today recognize, as in fact, Hitler as the first president of the European Union (posthumously)?

But that's not all. Germany received through intermediaries significant assistance from the United States and Latin America. The Rockefeller oil corporation Standard Oil, for example, sold $20 million worth of gasoline and lubricants to Hitler through the German concern I.G. Farbenindustry alone. One Venezuelan branch of Standard Oil sent 13 thousand tons of oil monthly to Germany, which the powerful chemical industry Reich immediately processed into gasoline. Until the middle of 1944, the tanker fleet of “neutral” Spain worked almost exclusively for the needs of the Wehrmacht, supplying it with American “black gold”, formally intended for Madrid. It got to the point that German submarines, refueling with American fuel directly from Spanish tankers, immediately set out to sink American transports transporting weapons for the USSR.

The matter was not limited to fuel. The Germans received tungsten, synthetic rubber, parts and spare parts for the automobile industry from overseas, with which the Fuhrer was supplied by his great friend Mr. Henry Ford Sr. It is known that 30% of tires manufactured at Ford factories went to the Wehrmacht, and only in the fall of 1942, the Ford branch in Switzerland repaired two thousand German trucks. As for the total volume of Ford-Rockefeller supplies to Germany, there is still no complete information: a commercial secret, they say. But the information leaked out is quite enough to understand: trade with Berlin was no less intense than with Moscow. The profits that the Americans received are truly astronomical in numbers. However, as practice has shown, sworn friends also helped the Soviet Union, not at a loss to their own pockets.

Lend-Lease was not free. We paid for everything in gold, caviar, and fur. In addition, already in the 70s, the USSR undertook to gradually pay the United States $722 million. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia assumed the Lend-Lease debt, transferring the last installment in 2001.

According to State Duma deputy and MGIMO professor Vladimir Medinsky, in 1940 there were eight million unemployed in America, and in 1942 there were none. Medinsky also quotes a very interesting statement from Wilson, a history professor at the University of Kansas: “The spread of overeating was one of the signs of a noticeable increase in the standard of living of Americans during the war.” And in a brief commentary he aptly notes: since then, Americans have been the fattest nation on the planet, and as soon as they start losing weight, a war begins somewhere. Is it not in North Africa and the Middle East now?

The blitzkrieg, however, did not work out. It was also not possible to defeat the Soviet Union. Moreover, during different periods of the war, from 190 to 266 of the most combat-ready divisions of the fascist bloc operated against the Red Army. Note that the Anglo-American troops in North Africa opposed from 9 to 20 divisions, in Italy up to 26, in Western Europe after June 1944 - from 56 to 75 divisions. On the Soviet-German front, the German armed forces suffered more than 73% losses.

The Red Army defeated 507 Nazi and 100 allied divisions, almost 3.5 times more than the allies on all fronts of World War II.

The bulk of them were destroyed here military equipment Wehrmacht: more than 75% of aircraft (over 70 thousand), up to 75% of tanks and assault guns(about 50 thousand), 74% of artillery pieces (167 thousand), etc. On the eastern front fighting carried out with the greatest intensity. Of the 1,418 days of the war, active battles took place 1,320. On the North African front, respectively, out of 1,068 - 309; Italian out of 663 - 49. The spatial scope was: along the front 4 - 6 thousand km, which is four times more than the North African, Italian and Western European fronts combined. In terms of its scale and strategic significance, the four-year battle on the Soviet-German front became the main component of the Second World War, since the main brunt of the fight against Nazi aggression fell on our country.

The Soviet people made the greatest sacrifice on the altar of Victory. The USSR lost 26.6 million people, tens of millions were wounded and maimed, the birth rate fell sharply, and the standard of living of the population dropped significantly. Enormous damage was caused to the national economy. The cost of damage amounted to 679 billion rubles. 1,710 cities and towns, more than 70 thousand villages, more than six million buildings, 32 thousand enterprises, 65 thousand km were destroyed and burned railways. The war devastated the treasury and led to a number of negative consequences in economics, demography, psychology, morality, which together amounted to incredibly large indirect costs of the war.

The given figure - 679 billion rubles, unfortunately, does not exhaust all the losses of the USSR. Only during the Patriotic War was it underproduced and therefore lost national economy in the occupied areas of the USSR: 307 million tons coal, 72 billion kWh of electricity, 38 million tons of steel, 136 thousand tons of aluminum, 58 thousand tractors, 90 thousand metal-cutting machines, 63 million quintals of sugar, 11 billion poods of grain, 1,922 million quintals of potatoes, 68 million quintals of meat and 567 million quintals of milk. These colossal quantities of goods would have been produced even if production had remained at 1940 levels. But the growth rate was constantly increasing.

No country in its entire history has had such losses. By May 1945, a huge territory in the western USSR lay in ruins. The enemy deprived 25 million people of their homes. The material damage caused to the country by the war was equal to almost 30% of the national wealth. For comparison: in the UK - 0.9%, in the USA - 0.4%.

When were we going to build that very democracy, the absence of which Europe constantly reproaches us for, and even according to the model strictly set by it? I wish I could live here!

Europe seems to have begun to see the light little by little. For some time now, there has been a debate in Austrian society about who Austria was during the war - the first victim or the first collaborator. And recently, the authorities of the Austrian capital announced plans to create a memorial in honor of the soldiers who deserted from Hitler’s army. Well, what a war they had - these are the heroes they have today. Over one and a half million Austrians - every fourth! - served in Hitler's army. Of the 35 divisions formed in Ostmark, 17 acted against the USSR. And after this, the Austrians still dare to argue: shouldn’t they declare themselves victims of fascism? What refined hypocrisy! Very typical, by the way, for the current European “fighters” against totalitarianism. However, even such crafty discussions do not take place in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Finland, which were allies of Germany, or in the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Baltic countries, which produced weapons for the Third Reich and supplied it with their workers and soldiers. The heirs of those who chickened out before Hitler, apparently, also lack courage.

On May 1, 2011, the Simon Wiesenthal Center released a list of nine countries in which the acts of World War II Nazi criminals are not being investigated due to statute of limitations or “ideological restrictions.” In addition to Austria, which gave the world Adolf Hitler, it also includes Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Norway, neutral Sweden and even Canada, which fought on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. Ukraine should also be included in this list, where veterans of the SS Galicia division and Bandera OUN-UPA soldiers are honored.

It is noteworthy that as many Baltic states fought on the side of Germany as on the side of the USSR, in other words, for these republics the Soviet-German war was, among other things, also a civil war.

IN German army, mainly in the SS troops, about 100 thousand Latvians, 36 thousand Lithuanians and 10 thousand Estonians served. Therefore, today it is difficult to escape the thought that among the representatives of the current ruling layer of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia there are many political heirs of that part of the elite of their countries that in the early 40s of the last century advocated switching to the side of Germany. In the end, the Germans repressed mainly Jews, Poles and Russians, while the ethnic Balts, loyal to the New Order, eked out a relatively quiet existence. The Nazis were in no hurry to initiate them into their plans, according to which, according to one of the SS “Fuhers” Konrad Mayer, from among the Baltic population in their places of current residence, over 50% of Estonians, up to 50% of Latvians and up to 15% of Lithuanians could be left and Germanized . The rest of the Balts, like 80-85% of the Poles, were to be evicted “to a certain area Western Siberia" The Poles, by the way, lost six out of the country's 35 million population. If it were not for the Red Army, many who are now demanding compensation from Russia for the “Soviet occupation” would have experienced the Nazi slogans: “To each his own” and “Work makes you free,” as was written on the gates of the concentration camps.

In 1944-1945 The Soviet Union fulfilled its liberation mission, eliminating fascist domination in Europe. About seven million Soviet soldiers participated in the liberation of 10 European countries. Almost a million people gave their lives for their freedom. Without the Red Army and its immeasurable sacrifices, the liberation of Europe from the cruel yoke of Nazism would have been impossible. But Europe demands repentance from Russia. Allegedly, following the example of the Germans, although no one has heard German repentance and is unlikely to ever hear it. And what should the post-war generations repent of before the world? Everyone must atone for their sins themselves, otherwise it doesn’t work like a Christian. Europe, after all, was founded and grew precisely on the Christian faith, however, it has forgotten this, its main value. Only she and, above all, she herself is to blame for unleashing the most destructive and bloody war in the history of mankind. And the Soviet Union is the only force in the world that in 1941 stopped the victorious march of Nazi Germany. Europe, terribly democratic and civilized, would fall to its knees before Russia in deep repentance. But it is Russia that she wants to see kneeling. And today it is quite legitimate to pose the question this way: maybe Europe did not want liberation at all?

History has repeatedly taught us that we should not have any illusions about “grateful humanity.” Today, what is most clearly visible is not so much the ideological as the geopolitical focus of the OSCE resolution. The international status of the Russian Federation still rests on legal succession from the USSR. It is based on two still unshakable substances - a place in the world club nuclear powers and the position of one of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council. And this status is a consequence of the Victory of the USSR in World War II. It is precisely to undermine the legitimacy of Russia's status in the world that the resolution is aimed at. Western anti-communism was replaced by openly herd Russophobia.

And with good reason, I allow myself to call the resolution “Reuniting a Divided Europe: Promoting Human Rights and Civil Liberties in the OSCE Region in the 21st Century” the Vilnius Agreement.

It does not unite in any way, but, on the contrary, divides the reunited Europe, just as the continent and the Munich Agreement once divided: on the one hand the West again, and on the other side Russia again. In such an incredible way, two sad 70th anniversaries are now intertwined. Seemingly rushing into the future, Europe is actually descending into the past, into the post-Versailles world order, which gave birth to both Hitler and the Second World War. And who are you going to fight against this time, gentlemen of the Europeans?

Valery Panov

Special for the Centenary

Everyone knows that during the Great Patriotic War the Soviet Union had three main allies: England, France and the USA, which assisted the USSR in the fight against fascism. But the Soviet Union also had other allies.
Back in July 1941, the USSR signed an agreement on the fight against a common enemy with the governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland, who were in exile in London. In September of the first year of the war, a conference in London, the Soviet leadership established contacts with Belgium, Holland, Norway, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg and the National Committee of Free France. And only in May 1942, a Soviet-British agreement on an alliance in the war against Nazi Germany and its accomplices in Europe and on cooperation and mutual assistance after the end of the war was signed in London. Following this, on June 11, 1942, a Soviet-American agreement was concluded in Washington on the principles of mutual assistance and the conduct of war against fascist aggression. These agreements formed the core of the anti-Hitler coalition.
However, the alliance between the USSR, the USA and England was not bound by a tripartite alliance treaty. Only bilateral agreements existed and were in force. Relations within the coalition did not fit into the parameters of the bloc and rather corresponded to the concept of a temporary alliance.
But there were also states that themselves were the first to offer assistance to the Soviet Union, without demanding anything in return. One of such states is the Tuvan People's Republic. This small state previously belonged to the Chinese Qing Empire under the name “Tianu-Uriankhai”. In 1912, during the Xinghai Revolution in China, the Tuvans asked to become a Russian protectorate. And in April 1914, by decree of Nicholas II, Tuva received a Russian protectorate and was annexed to Yenisei province. After the revolution and civil war in Russia in 1922 Tuva became independent state Tuvan People's Republic (TPR), under the auspices of the USSR. But only the USSR and Mongolia recognized the new state, and until 1945, on all maps except Soviet ones, this territory was depicted as Chinese.
In 1941, the Tuvans, having learned about the German attack on the USSR, immediately (June 23, 1941) declared war on the Third Reich and all its allies.
The People's Khural of Tuva declared: “The Tuvan people are ready, without sparing their lives, to participate with all their might and means in the struggle of the Soviet Union against the fascist aggressor until the final victory over him.”
Tuva immediately handed over its gold reserves (worth 35 million rubles, a huge amount of money at that time), and offered to mobilize its troops and send them to the Soviet-German front. But Moscow abandoned the Tuvan soldiers due to the small number of people. In addition, aggressive Japanese troops stood on the eastern borders of the USSR, ready to open a “second front” against the USSR, and Tuvan troops could turn out to be a deterrent to the Japanese army.
Thus, Tuva became the first allies of the USSR in World War II.
Tuva helped the fighter Soviet Union than I could. With voluntary donations from Tuvan citizens, two tank brigades were created and fully equipped. The republic's funds were used to purchase and transfer Soviet army 10 Yak-7B fighters. The Tuvans transferred 50 thousand horses and 750 thousand heads of cattle to the USSR.
The Tuvans supplied 52 thousand pairs of skis, 10 thousand sheepskin coats, 400 thousand tons of meat, ghee, wool, leather, canned fruit and berries, barley, flour, wax, and resin to the front. And all the help of the Tuvan people to the Red Army was free of charge. The Tuvans sincerely did not understand how to take money from a fighting ally.
By 1943, when it became clear that Japan would no longer dare to go to war with the USSR, Tuvan volunteers were allowed to fight the Nazis. A Tuvan tank brigade was formed, which fought as part of the 52nd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and several cavalry divisions, which immediately showed high fighting qualities. Skillfully camouflaging themselves, they carried out raids on the enemy's rear, fortunately the steppe horses are extremely hardy and unpretentious, they unexpectedly attacked the Germans, sometimes, catching the infantry on the march, they attacked "at a swoop", not allowing them to lie down and organize a defense. Soon the Germans began to be panicky afraid of the Tuvan cavalrymen, who in the war did not take prisoners on principle, and if they caught someone alive, then in the evening, by the fire, secretly from the political instructor, they slowly sent them “as a messenger to the Upper Sky” to tell their “ancestors” about their victory and good spirits."
The surviving German army officer, G. Remke, left the following memories: “their attacks were terrible and had an extremely demoralizing effect on the Wehrmacht soldiers.” “Hordes of barbarians were galloping towards us, from whom there was no escape.”
However, victories were achieved at great cost. Out of 10,000 Tuvan volunteers, only 300 people returned home. They did not spare their enemies, despised cowardice, and were not afraid of death.
In 1944, the Tuvan People's Republic became part of the USSR with autonomy rights. And the national military units were transformed into the Separate 7th Cavalry Division of the Red Banner Siberian Military District.
Also during the war years, large supplies of food, uniforms and other goods were from the Mongolian People's Republic.
According to historians, supplies from Tuva and Mongolia were only a third less in volume than all total supplies from the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries.
Few people know that Tuva is still at war with Germany. Declaring war on Germany in 1941, the Tuvan People's Republic was a separate state, and in 1944, having become part of the USSR, it could no longer sign the surrender of Germany and the subsequent peace treaty of 1955 since it was no longer a separate state.
These are the allies of the USSR.

THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR of 1941-1945 is the liberation war of the peoples of the USSR against Nazi Germany and its allies, the most important and decisive part of the Second World War of 1939-1945.

About-sta-nov-ka-on-ka-well-not-war

The situation in the world in the spring of 1941 was ha-rak-te-ri-zo-va-lo-by the complexity of inter-su-dar-st-ven-tions -she-niy, ta-iv-shih danger of expansion of the massive headquarters that began in September 1939 of the Second World War. The aggressive bloc of Germany, Italy and Japan (see) expanded, and Rus-m-nia joined it , Bulgaria, Slovakia. Even before the start of the Second World War, the USSR proposed to create a system of collective security in Europe , however, the Western powers did not support him. In the created conditions of the USSR, you were in 1939, who allowed him to do so It will take almost 2 more years to gain the ability to do so. At one time, with the do-go-vo-rum, there was a under-pi-san “secret-to-full-of-tel-ny pro-to-count”, which de-gra-ni-chil "spheres of mutual in-te-re-s" of the USSR and Germany and in fact lived on the last the obligation not to spread your military and political activity across the state and territory , which the USSR considered its “sphere of in-te-re-sovs.”