In what year did the 2nd Patriotic War begin? The beginning of the Great Patriotic War

Celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory. Unfortunately, preparations for the celebrations dedicated to this anniversary are taking place in a situation where some states are trying to downplay the role of the Soviet people in the destruction of fascism. Therefore, today is the time to study those events in order to argue with arguments against attempts to rewrite history and even present our country as an aggressor who carried out an “invasion of Germany.” In particular, it is worth finding out why the beginning of the Second World War became a time of catastrophic losses for the USSR. And how our country managed not only to expel the invaders from its territory, but also to end the war by hoisting the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.

Name

First of all, let’s understand what is meant by the Second World War. The fact is that such a name is present only in Soviet sources, and for the whole world, the events that occurred between the end of June 1941 and May 1945 are only part of the military actions of the Second World War, localized in the Eastern European region of the planet. The term Great Patriotic War itself first appeared on the pages of the Pravda newspaper the day after the start of the invasion of the Third Reich troops into the territory of the USSR. As for German historiography, the expressions “Eastern Campaign” and “Russian Campaign” are used instead.

Background

Adolf Hitler announced his desire to conquer Russia and the “outlying states that are subordinate to it” back in 1925. Eight years later, having become Reich Chancellor, he began to pursue policies aimed at preparing for war with the goal of expanding “living space for the German people.” At the same time, the “Führer of the German nation” constantly and very successfully played out diplomatic multi-move combinations in order to lull the vigilance of alleged opponents and further embroil the USSR and Western countries.

Military actions in Europe that preceded the Second World War

In 1936, Germany sent its troops into the Rhineland, which was a kind of protective barrier for France, to which there was no serious reaction from the international community. A year and a half later, the German government, as a result of a plebiscite, annexed Austria to German territory, and then occupied the Sudetenland, inhabited by Germans, but belonging to Czechoslovakia. Feeling intoxicated by these virtually bloodless victories, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland, and then went “blitzkrieg” throughout Western Europe, encountering serious resistance almost nowhere. The only country that continued to resist the troops of the Third Reich in the year the Second World War began was Great Britain. However, in this war, ground military units from any of the conflicting sides were not involved, so the Wehrmacht was able to concentrate all its main forces near the borders with the USSR.

Annexation of Bessarabia, the Baltic countries and Northern Bukovina to the USSR

Talking briefly about the beginning of the Second World War, one cannot fail to mention the annexation of the Baltic states that preceded this event, in which government coups took place in 1940 with the support of Moscow. In addition, the USSR demanded from Romania the return of Bessarabia and the transfer of Northern Bukovina to it, and as a result of the war with Finland, a part of the Karelian Isthmus controlled by the Soviet Union was added. Thus, the country’s borders were moved to the west, but it included territories where part of the population did not accept the loss of independence of their states and were hostile to the new authorities.

Despite the prevailing opinion that the Soviet Union was not preparing for war, preparations, and very serious ones, were still carried out. In particular, from the beginning of 1940, significant funds were allocated to the development of the economic sector focused on the production of military equipment and serving the needs of the Red Army. As a result, at the time of Germany’s attack on the USSR, the Red Army had more than 59.7 thousand guns and mortars, 12,782 tanks and 10,743 aircraft.

At the same time, according to historians, the beginning of the Second World War could have been completely different if the repressions of the second half of the 30s had not deprived the country’s Armed Forces of thousands of experienced military personnel, who simply had no one to replace. But be that as it may, back in 1939 it was decided to increase the length of time for citizens to perform active service in the army and lower the conscription age, which made it possible to have more than 3.2 million soldiers and officers in the ranks of the Red Army at the start of the war.

WWII: reasons for its beginning

As already mentioned, among the Nazis’ priorities initially was the desire to seize “lands in the East.” Moreover, Hitler even directly indicated that main mistake German foreign policy for the previous 6 centuries had been to look south and west instead of to the east. In addition, in one of his speeches at a meeting with the Wehrmacht high command, Hitler stated that if Russia was defeated, then England would be forced to capitulate, and Germany would become “the ruler of Europe and the Balkans.”

The Second World War, and more specifically, the Second World War, also had an ideological background, since Hitler and his closest associates fanatically hated the communists and considered representatives of the peoples inhabiting the USSR to be subhumans who should become “fertilizer” in the field of prosperity of the German nation.

When did WWII start?

Historians still continue to debate about why Germany chose June 22, 1941 to attack the Soviet Union.

Although there are many who are trying to find a mystical justification for this, most likely, the German command proceeded from the fact that the summer solstice is the shortest night of the year. This meant that by about 4 o’clock in the morning, when most residents of the European part of the USSR would be sleeping, it would be twilight outside, and an hour later it would be completely light. In addition, this date fell on a Sunday, which means that many officers could be absent from their units, having gone to visit their relatives on Saturday morning. The Germans were also aware of the “Russian” habit of allowing themselves a fair amount of strong alcohol on weekends.

As you can see, the start date of the Second World War was not chosen by chance, and the pedantic Germans foresaw almost everything. Moreover, they managed to keep their intentions secret, and the Soviet command learned about their plans only a few hours before the attack on the USSR from a defector. A corresponding directive was immediately sent to the troops, but it was too late.

Directive number 1

Half an hour before the onset of June 22, an order was received in 5 border districts of the USSR to put them on combat readiness. However, the same directive instructed not to succumb to provocations and contained not entirely clear wording. The result was that the local command began to send requests to Moscow with a request to specify the order instead of taking decisive action. Thus, precious minutes were lost, and the warning about the impending attack played no role.

Events of the first days of the war

At 4.00 in Berlin, the German Foreign Minister presented Soviet ambassador note by which the imperial government declared war on the USSR. At the same time, after air and artillery training, the troops of the Third Reich crossed the border of the Soviet Union. On the same day, at noon, Molotov spoke on the radio, and many citizens of the USSR heard about the beginning of the war from him. In the first days after the invasion of German troops, the Second World War was perceived by the Soviet people as an adventure on the part of the Germans, since they were confident in the defense capability of their country and believed in a quick victory over the enemy. However, the leadership of the USSR understood the seriousness of the situation and did not share the optimism of the people. In this regard, on June 23, the State Defense Committee and the Supreme Command Headquarters were formed.

Since Finnish airfields were actively used by the German Luftwaffe, on June 25, Soviet planes carried out an air raid aimed at destroying them. Helsinki and Turku were also bombed. As a result, the beginning of the Second World War was also marked by the thawing of the conflict with Finland, which also declared war on the USSR and in a few days regained all the territories lost during the Winter Campaign of 1939-1940.

Reaction of England and the USA

The beginning of the Second World War was perceived by government circles in the United States and England as a gift of providence. The fact is that they hoped to prepare for the defense of the British Isles while “Hitler was freeing his feet from the Russian swamp.” However, already on June 24, President Roosevelt announced that his country would provide assistance to the USSR, since he believed that the main threat to the world came from the Nazis. Unfortunately, at that time these were just words that did not mean that the United States was ready to open a Second Front, since the start of the war (WWII) was beneficial to this country. As for Great Britain, on the eve of the invasion, Prime Minister Churchill stated that his goal was to destroy Hitler, and he was ready to help the USSR, since, “having finished with Russia,” the Germans would invade the British Isles.

Now you know what the history of the beginning of the Second World War was, which ended with the victory of the Soviet people.

The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) is one of the most important events in the history of the Russian people, leaving an indelible mark on the soul of every person. In a seemingly short four years, almost 100 million human lives were lost, more than one and a half thousand cities and towns were destroyed, more than 30 thousand industrial enterprises and at least 60 thousand kilometers of roads were disabled. Our state was experiencing a severe shock, which is difficult to comprehend even now, in Peaceful time. What was the war of 1941-1945 like? What stages can be distinguished during combat operations? And what are the consequences of this terrible event? In this article we will try to find answers to all these questions.

The Second World War

The Soviet Union was not the first to be attacked by fascist troops. Everyone knows that the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began only 1.5 years after the start of the world war. So what events started this terrible war, and what military actions were organized by Nazi Germany?

First of all, it is worth mentioning the fact that on August 23, 1939, a non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and the USSR. Along with it, some secret protocols were signed regarding the interests of the USSR and Germany, including the division of Polish territories. Thus, Germany, which had the goal of attacking Poland, protected itself from retaliatory steps by the Soviet leadership and actually made the USSR an accomplice in the division of Poland.

So, on September 1, 39 of the 20th century, fascist invaders attacked Poland. Polish troops did not provide adequate resistance, and already on September 17, the troops of the Soviet Union entered the lands of Eastern Poland. As a result of this, the territories of Western Ukraine and Belarus were annexed to the territory of the Soviet state. On September 28 of the same year, Ribbentrop and V.M. Molotov concluded a treaty of friendship and borders.

Germany failed to achieve the planned blitzkrieg, or lightning-fast outcome of the war. Military operations on the Western Front until May 10, 1940 are called the “strange war”, since no events occurred during this period of time.

Only in the spring of 1940 did Hitler resume his offensive and capture Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The operation to capture England " Sea lion"turned out to be unsuccessful, and then the Barbarossa plan for the USSR was adopted - a plan for the start of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

Preparing the USSR for war

Despite the non-aggression pact concluded in 1939, Stalin understood that the USSR would in any case be drawn into a world war. Therefore, the Soviet Union adopted a five-year plan to prepare for it, implemented in the period from 1938 to 1942.

The primary task in preparation for the war of 1941-1945 was the strengthening of the military-industrial complex and the development of heavy industry. Therefore, during this period, numerous thermal and hydroelectric power stations were built (including on the Volga and Kama), coal mines and mines were developed, and oil production increased. Also, great importance was given to the construction of railways and transport hubs.

The construction of backup enterprises was carried out in the eastern part of the country. And costs for the defense industry have increased several times. At this time, new models of military equipment and weapons were also released.

An equally important task was preparing the population for war. Work week now consisted of seven eight-hour days. The size of the Red Army was significantly increased due to the introduction of compulsory military service from the age of 18. It was mandatory for workers to receive special education; Criminal liability was introduced for violations of discipline.

However, the actual results did not correspond to those planned by the management, and only in the spring of 1941 an 11-12-hour working day was introduced for workers. And on June 21, 1941 I.V. Stalin gave the order to put the troops on combat readiness, but the order reached the border guards too late.

USSR entry into the war

At dawn on June 22, 1941, fascist troops attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war, and from that moment the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began.

At noon of the same day, Vyacheslav Molotov spoke on the radio, announcing to Soviet citizens the beginning of the war and the need to resist the enemy. The next day the Top Headquarters was created. High Command, and on June 30 - State. The Defense Committee, which actually received all the power. I.V. became the Chairman of the Committee and Commander-in-Chief. Stalin.

Now let's move on to a brief description of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Plan Barbarossa

Hitler's Barbarossa plan was as follows: it envisioned the rapid defeat of the Soviet Union with the help of three groups of the German army. The first of them (northern) would attack Leningrad, the second (central) would attack Moscow, and the third (southern) would attack Kyiv. Hitler planned to complete the entire offensive in 6 weeks and reach the Volga strip of Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan. However, the confident rebuff of the Soviet troops did not allow him to carry out a “lightning war.”

Considering the forces of the parties in the war of 1941-1945, we can say that the USSR, although slightly, was inferior to the German army. Germany and its allies had 190 divisions, while the Soviet Union had only 170. 48 thousand German artillery were fielded against 47 thousand Soviet artillery. The size of the opposing armies in both cases was approximately 6 million people. But in terms of the number of tanks and aircraft, the USSR significantly exceeded Germany (in total 17.7 thousand versus 9.3 thousand).

In the early stages of the war, the USSR suffered setbacks due to incorrectly chosen war tactics. Initially, the Soviet leadership planned to wage war on foreign territory, not allowing fascist troops into the territory of the Soviet Union. However, such plans were not successful. Already in July 1941, six Soviet republics were occupied, and the Red Army lost more than 100 of its divisions. However, Germany also suffered considerable losses: in the first weeks of the war, the enemy lost 100 thousand people and 40% of tanks.

The dynamic resistance of the troops of the Soviet Union led to the breakdown of Hitler's plan for a lightning war. During the Battle of Smolensk (10.07 - 10.09 1945), German troops needed to go on the defensive. In September 1941, the heroic defense of the city of Sevastopol began. But the enemy's main attention was concentrated on the capital of the Soviet Union. Then preparations began for an attack on Moscow and a plan to capture it - Operation Typhoon.

The Battle of Moscow is considered one of the most important events of the Russian war of 1941-1945. Only stubborn resistance and courage of Soviet soldiers allowed the USSR to survive this difficult battle.

On September 30, 1941, German troops launched Operation Typhoon and began an attack on Moscow. The offensive started successfully for them. The fascist invaders managed to break through the defenses of the USSR, as a result of which, encircling the armies near Vyazma and Bryansk, they captured more than 650 thousand Soviet soldiers. The Red Army suffered significant losses. In October-November 1941, battles took place only 70-100 km from Moscow, which was extremely dangerous for the capital. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

From the beginning of the battle for the capital, G.K. was appointed commander-in-chief on the Western Front. Zhukov, however, he managed to stop the German advance only by the beginning of November. On November 7, a parade was held on the capital's Red Square, from which the soldiers immediately went to the front.

In mid-November the German offensive began again. During the defense of the capital, the 316th Infantry Division of General I.V. Panfilov, who at the beginning of the offensive repelled several tank attacks from the aggressor.

On December 5-6, the troops of the Soviet Union, having received reinforcements from the Eastern Front, launched a counteroffensive, which marked the transition to a new stage of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. During the counteroffensive, the troops of the Soviet Union defeated almost 40 German divisions. Now the fascist troops were “thrown back” 100-250 km from the capital.

The victory of the USSR significantly influenced the spirit of the soldiers and the entire Russian people. The defeat of Germany made it possible for other countries to begin forming an anti-Hitler coalition of states.

The successes of the Soviet troops made a deep impression on the state leaders. I.V. Stalin began to count on a speedy end to the war of 1941-1945. He believed that in the spring of 1942 Germany would repeat an attempt to attack Moscow, so he ordered the main forces of the army to be concentrated on the Western Front. However, Hitler thought differently and was preparing a large-scale offensive in the southern direction.

But before the start of the offensive, Germany planned to capture Crimea and some cities of the Ukrainian Republic. Thus, Soviet troops were defeated on the Kerch Peninsula, and on July 4, 1942 the city of Sevastopol had to be abandoned. Then Kharkov, Donbass and Rostov-on-Don fell; a direct threat to Stalingrad was created. Stalin, who realized his miscalculations too late, issued the order “Not a step back!” on July 28, which formed barrage detachments for unstable divisions.

Until November 18, 1942, the residents of Stalingrad heroically defended their city. Only on November 19 did the USSR troops launch a counteroffensive.

Soviet troops organized three operations: “Uranus” (11/19/1942 - 02/2/1943), “Saturn” (12/16/30/1942) and “Ring” (11/10/1942 - 02/2/1943). What was each of them?

The Uranus plan envisaged the encirclement of fascist troops from three fronts: the Stalingrad front (commander - Eremenko), the Don Front (Rokossovsky) and the Southwestern Front (Vatutin). Soviet troops planned to meet on November 23 in the city of Kalach-on-Don and give the Germans an organized battle.

Operation Little Saturn was aimed at protecting oil fields located in the Caucasus. Operation Ring in February 1943 was the final plan of the Soviet command. Soviet troops were supposed to close a “ring” around the enemy army and defeat his forces.

As a result, on February 2, 1943, the enemy group surrounded by USSR troops surrendered. The commander-in-chief of the German army, Friedrich Paulus, was also captured. The victory at Stalingrad led to a radical change in the history of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Now the strategic initiative was in the hands of the Red Army.

The next most important stage of the war was the Battle of Kursk Bulge, which lasted from July 5 to August 23, 1943. The German command adopted the “Citadel” plan, aimed at encircling and defeating the Soviet army on the Kursk Bulge.

In response to the enemy’s plan, the Soviet command planned two operations, and it was supposed to begin with active defense, and then bring down all the forces of the main and reserve troops on the Germans.

Operation Kutuzov was a plan to attack German troops from the north (the city of Orel). Sokolovsky was appointed commander of the Western Front, Rokossovsky of the Central Front, and Popov of the Bryansk Front. Already on July 5, Rokossovsky struck the first blow against the enemy army, beating his attack by only a few minutes.

On July 12, the troops of the Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive, marking a turning point in the Battle of Kursk. On August 5, Belgorod and Orel were liberated by the Red Army. From August 3 to 23, Soviet troops carried out an operation to completely defeat the enemy - “Commander Rumyantsev” (commanders - Konev and Vatutin). It represented a Soviet offensive in the Belgorod and Kharkov area. The enemy suffered another defeat, losing more than 500 thousand soldiers.

The Red Army troops managed to liberate Kharkov, Donbass, Bryansk and Smolensk in a short period of time. In November 1943, the siege of Kyiv was lifted. The war of 1941-1945 was nearing its end.

Defense of Leningrad

One of the most terrible and heroic pages of the Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and our entire history is the selfless defense of Leningrad.

The siege of Leningrad began in September 1941, when the city was cut off from food sources. Its most terrible period was the very cold winter of 1941-1942. The only way to salvation was the Road of Life, which was laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga. At the initial stage of the blockade (until May 1942), under constant enemy bombing, Soviet troops managed to deliver more than 250 thousand tons of food to Leningrad and evacuate about 1 million people.

For a better understanding of the hardships the residents of Leningrad suffered, we recommend watching this video.

Only in January 1943 the enemy blockade was partially broken, and the supply of food, medicine, and weapons to the city began. A year later, in January 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted.

Plan "Bagration"

From June 23 to August 29, 1944, USSR troops carried out the main operation on the Belarusian front. It was one of the largest in the entire Great Patriotic War (WWII) of 1941-1945.

The goal of Operation Bagration was the final destruction of the enemy army and the liberation of Soviet territories from fascist invaders. Fascist troops in the areas of individual cities were defeated. Belarus, Lithuania and part of Poland were liberated from the enemy.

The Soviet command planned to begin liberating the peoples of European states from German troops.

Conferences

On November 28, 1943, a conference was held in Tehran, which brought together the leaders of the Big Three countries - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. The conference set dates for the opening of the Second Front in Normandy and confirmed the Soviet Union's commitment to enter the war with Japan after the final liberation of Europe and defeat the Japanese army.

The next conference was held on February 4-11, 1944 in Yalta (Crimea). The leaders of the three states discussed the conditions of occupation and demilitarization of Germany, held negotiations on the convening of the founding UN conference and the adoption of the Declaration of a Liberated Europe.

The Potsdam Conference took place on July 17, 1945. The leader of the USA was Truman, and K. Attlee spoke on behalf of Great Britain (from July 28). At the conference, new borders in Europe were discussed, and a decision was made on the size of reparations from Germany in favor of the USSR. At the same time, already at the Potsdam Conference, prerequisites were outlined Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union.

End of World War II

According to the requirements discussed at conferences with representatives of the Big Three countries, on August 8, 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan. The USSR Army dealt a powerful blow to the Kwantung Army.

In less than three weeks, Soviet troops under the leadership of Marshal Vasilevsky managed to defeat the main forces of the Japanese army. September 2, 1945 on American ship The Missouri signed the Instrument of Surrender of Japan. The Second World War has ended.

Consequences

The consequences of the war of 1941-1945 are extremely diverse. Firstly, the military forces of the aggressors were defeated. The defeat of Germany and its allies meant the collapse of dictatorial regimes in Europe.

The Soviet Union ended the war as one of the two superpowers (along with the United States), and the Soviet army was recognized as the most powerful in the entire world.

In addition to the positive results, there were also incredible losses. The Soviet Union lost approximately 70 million people in the war. The state's economy was at a very low level. Major cities of the USSR suffered terrible losses, taking the strongest blows from the enemy. The USSR was faced with the task of restoring and confirming its status as the world's greatest superpower.

It is difficult to give a definite answer to the question: “What was the war of 1941-1945?” The main task of the Russian people is to never forget about the greatest exploits of our ancestors and to celebrate with pride and “with tears in our eyes” the main holiday for Russia - Victory Day.

By June 1941, the Second World War, having drawn about 30 states into its orbit, came close to the borders of the Soviet Union. There was no force in the West that could stop the army of Nazi Germany, which by that time had already occupied 12 European states. The next military-political goal - the main one in its significance - was the defeat of the Soviet Union for Germany.

Deciding to start a war with the USSR and relying on “lightning speed,” the German leadership intended to complete it by the winter of 1941. In accordance with the Barbarossa plan, a gigantic armada of selected, well-trained and armed troops was deployed at the borders of the USSR. The German General Staff placed its main bet on the crushing power of a sudden first strike, the rapid rush of concentrated forces of aviation, tanks and infantry to the vital political and economic centers of the country.

Having completed the concentration of troops, Germany attacked our country early in the morning of June 22, without declaring war, unleashing a barrage of fire and metal. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the Nazi invaders began.

For 1418 long days and nights, the peoples of the USSR walked towards victory. This path was incredibly difficult. Our Motherland has fully experienced both the bitterness of defeat and the joy of victory. The initial period was especially difficult.

Invasion of German troops on Soviet territory

While a new day was breaking in the east - June 22, 1941, the shortest night of the year was still ongoing on the western border of the Soviet Union. And no one could even imagine that this day would be the beginning of the bloodiest war that would last four long years. The headquarters of the German army groups concentrated on the border with the USSR received the pre-arranged signal “Dortmund”, which meant to begin the invasion.

Soviet intelligence discovered the preparations the day before, which the headquarters of the border military districts immediately reported to the General Staff of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). Thus, the chief of staff of the Baltic Special Military District, General P.S. Klenov reported at 22:00 on June 21 that the Germans had completed the construction of bridges across the Neman, and civilian population ordered to evacuate at least 20 km from the border, “there is talk that the troops have received orders to take their starting position for the offensive.” Chief of Staff of the Western Special Military District, Major General V.E. Klimovskikh reported that the German wire fences that had stood along the border during the day had been removed by evening, and the noise of engines could be heard in the forest located not far from the border.

In the evening, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov invited the German Ambassador Schulenburg and told him that Germany, without any reason, was worsening relations with the USSR every day. Despite repeated protests from the Soviet side, German planes continue to invade its airspace. There are persistent rumors about an impending war between our countries. The Soviet government has every reason to believe this, because the German leadership did not react in any way to the TASS report of June 14. Schulenburg promised to immediately report the claims he had heard to his government. However, on his part this was just an ordinary diplomatic excuse, because the German ambassador was well aware that the Wehrmacht troops were on full alert and were just waiting for a signal to move east.

At dusk on June 21, the chief General Staff Army General G.K. Zhukov received a call from the Chief of Staff of the Kyiv Special Military District, General M.A. Purkaev and reported about a German defector who said that at dawn the next day the German army would start a war against the USSR. G.K. Zhukov immediately reported this to I.V. Stalin and People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko. Stalin summoned Timoshenko and Zhukov to the Kremlin and, after an exchange of views, ordered a report on the draft directive prepared by the General Staff on bringing the troops of the western border districts to combat readiness. Only late in the evening, after receiving an encrypted message from one of the residents of Soviet intelligence, who reported that the coming night there would be a decision, this decision is war, adding another point to the draft directive read to him that the troops should in no case succumb to possible provocations, Stalin allowed it to be sent to the districts.

The main meaning of this document was that it warned the Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kiev and Odessa military districts about a possible attack by the aggressor on June 22-23 and demanded “to be in full combat readiness to meet a sudden attack by the Germans or their allies.” On the night of June 22, the districts were ordered to secretly occupy fortified areas on the border, by dawn to disperse all aviation to field airfields and camouflage it, to keep troops dispersed, to bring air defense to combat readiness without additionally raising assigned personnel, and to prepare cities and objects for darkening . Directive No. 1 categorically prohibited holding any other events without special permission.
The transmission of this document ended only at half past one in the morning, and the entire long journey from the General Staff to the districts, and then to the armies, corps and divisions as a whole took more than four hours of precious time.

Order of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 1 of June 22, 1941 TsAMO.F. 208.Op. 2513.D.71.L.69.

At dawn on June 22, at 3:15 a.m. (Moscow time), thousands of guns and mortars of the German army opened fire on border outposts and the location of Soviet troops. German planes rushed to bomb important targets along the entire border strip - from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. Many cities were subjected to air raids. To achieve surprise, the bombers flew over the Soviet border in all sectors simultaneously. The first strikes fell precisely on the bases of the latest types of Soviet aircraft, control posts, ports, warehouses, and railway junctions. Massive enemy air strikes disrupted the organized exit of the first echelon of border districts to the state border. Aviation, concentrated at permanent airfields, suffered irreparable losses: on the first day of the war, 1,200 Soviet aircraft were destroyed, most of them not even having time to take off. However, contrary to this, in the first 24 hours the Soviet Air Force flew about 6 thousand sorties and destroyed over 200 German aircraft in air battles.

The first reports of the invasion of German troops into Soviet territory came from border guards. In Moscow, at the General Staff, information about the flight of enemy aircraft across the western border of the USSR was received at 3:07 am. At about 4 o'clock in the morning, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army G.K. Zhukov called I.V. Stalin and reported what had happened. At the same time, already in open text, the General Staff informed the headquarters of military districts, armies and formations about the German attack.

Upon learning of the attack, I.V. Stalin convened a meeting of the highest military, party and statesmen. At 5:45 a.m. S.K. arrived in his office. Timoshenko, G.K. Zhukov, V.M. Molotov, L.P. Beria and L.Z. Mehlis. By 7:15 a.m., Directive No. 2 was developed, which, on behalf of the People's Commissar of Defense, demanded:

"1. The troops are to attack enemy forces with all their might and means and destroy them in areas where they have violated the Soviet border. Do not cross the border until further notice.

2. Using reconnaissance and combat aircraft to establish the concentration areas of enemy aircraft and the grouping of their ground forces. Using powerful strikes from bomber and attack aircraft, destroy aircraft at enemy airfields and bomb the main groupings of his ground forces. Air strikes should be carried out to a depth of 100-150 km on German territory. Bomb Koenigsberg and Memel. Do not carry out raids on the territory of Finland and Romania until special instructions are given.”

The prohibition to cross the border, in addition to limiting the depth of air strikes, indicates that Stalin still did not believe that a “big war” had begun. Only by noon, members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks - Molotov, Malenkov, Voroshilov, Beria - prepared the text of a statement by the Soviet government, which Molotov made on the radio at 12:15 p.m.

Radio speech by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
and People's Commissioner for Foreign Affairs
Molotova V.M. dated June 22, 1941 TsAMO. F. 135, Op. 12798. D. 1. L.1.

At the meeting in the Kremlin, the most important decisions were made, which marked the beginning of turning the entire country into a single military camp. They were formalized as decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: on the mobilization of those liable for military service in all military districts, with the exception of Central Asian and Transbaikal, as well as the Far East, where the Far Eastern Front existed since 1938; on the introduction of martial law in most of the European territory of the USSR - from the Arkhangelsk region to the Krasnodar region.

Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on martial law
and on approval of the Regulations on Military Tribunals
dated June 22, 1941 TsAMO. F. 135, Op. 12798. D. 1. L.2.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on mobilization by military districts.
Reports of the Main Command of the Red Army for June 22-23, 1941.
TsAMO. F. 135, Op. 12798. D. 1. L.3.

On the morning of the same day, First Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the USSR N.A. Voznesensky, having gathered the people's commissars responsible for the main industries, gave orders provided for by the mobilization plans. Then no one even thought that the outbreak of war would very soon ruin everything planned, that it would be necessary to urgently evacuate industrial enterprises to the east and create there, essentially anew, a military industry.

The majority of the population learned about the beginning of the war from Molotov’s speech on the radio. This unexpected news deeply shocked people and caused concern for the fate of the Motherland. The normal course of life was suddenly disrupted, not only were plans for the future upset, but there was a real danger to the lives of family and friends. At the direction of Soviet and party bodies, rallies and meetings were held at enterprises, institutions, and collective farms. The speakers condemned Germany's attack on the USSR and expressed their readiness to defend the Fatherland. Many immediately applied for voluntary enlistment in the army and asked to be immediately sent to the front.

The German attack on the USSR was not only a new stage in the life of the Soviet people, to one degree or another it affected the peoples of other countries, especially those who were soon to become its main allies or opponents.

The government and people of Great Britain immediately breathed a sigh of relief: the war in the east would, at least for some time, delay the German invasion of the British Isles. So, Germany has another, and quite serious, enemy; this would inevitably weaken it, and therefore, the British reasoned, the USSR should immediately be considered as its ally in the fight against the aggressor. This is precisely what Prime Minister Churchill expressed when he spoke on the radio on the evening of June 22 regarding another German attack. “Any person or state that fights against Nazism,” he said, “will receive our help... This is our policy, this is our statement. It follows that we will provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can... Hitler wants to destroy the Russian state because, if successful, he hopes to recall the main forces of his army and air force from the east and throw them at our island.”

The US leadership made an official statement on June 23. On behalf of the government, it was read by Acting Secretary of State S. Welles. The statement emphasized that any rallying of forces against Hitlerism, regardless of their origin, would hasten the fall of the German leaders, and Hitler’s army now represented the main danger to the American continent. The next day, President Roosevelt said at a press conference that the United States was pleased to welcome another opponent of Nazism and intended to provide assistance to the Soviet Union.

The population of Germany learned about the beginning of a new war from the Fuhrer’s address to the people, which on June 22 at 5:30 a.m. was read on the radio by Propaganda Minister J. Goebbels. Following him, Foreign Minister Ribbentrop spoke with a special memorandum, which listed the accusations against the Soviet Union. It goes without saying that Germany, as in its previous aggressive actions, placed all the blame for starting the war on the USSR. In his address to the people, Hitler did not forget to mention the “conspiracy of Jews and democrats, Bolsheviks and reactionaries” against the Reich, the concentration on the borders of 160 Soviet divisions, which allegedly threatened not only Germany, but also Finland and Romania for many weeks. All this, they say, forced the Fuhrer to undertake an “act of self-defense” in order to secure the country and “save European civilization and culture.”

The extreme complexity of the rapidly changing situation, the high mobility and maneuverability of military operations, and the stunning power of the first strikes of the Wehrmacht showed that the Soviet military-political leadership did not have an effective system of command and control. As previously planned, the leadership of the troops was carried out by the People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal Timoshenko. However, without Stalin he could not solve practically any issue.

On June 23, 1941, the Headquarters of the Main Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR was created, consisting of: People's Commissar of Defense Marshal Timoshenko (chairman), Chief of the General Staff Zhukov, Stalin, Molotov, Marshal Voroshilov, Marshal Budyonny and People's Commissar of the Navy Admiral Kuznetsov.

At Headquarters, an institute of permanent advisers to Headquarters was organized consisting of Marshal Kulik, Marshal Shaposhnikov, Meretskov, Chief of the Air Force Zhigarev, Vatutin, Chief air defense(Air Defense) Voronov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Beria, Voznesensky, Zhdanov, Malenkov, Mehlis.

This composition allowed the Headquarters to quickly solve all tasks related to the leadership of the armed struggle. However, there were two commanders-in-chief: Timoshenko - the legal one, who, without Stalin’s sanction, did not have the right to give orders to the army in the field, and Stalin - the actual one. This not only complicated command and control of troops, but also led to belated decisions in the rapidly changing situation at the front.

Events on the Western Front

From the first day of the war, the most alarming situation arose in Belarus, where the Wehrmacht delivered the main blow with its most powerful formation - the troops of Army Group Center under the command of Field Marshal Bock. But the Western Front that opposed it (commander General D.G. Pavlov, member of the Military Council, corps commissar A.F. Fominykh, chief of staff, General V.E. Klimovskikh) had considerable forces (Table 1).

Table 1
The balance of forces in the Western Front at the beginning of the war

Strengths and means	Western Front*	Army Group "Center" (without 3 tgr)**	Ratio
Personnel, thousand people
Tanks, units
Combat aircraft, units

*Only working equipment is taken into account.
** Until June 25, the 3rd Tank Group (tgr) operated in the North-Western Front.

In general, the Western Front was slightly inferior to the enemy in guns and combat aircraft, but significantly superior to it in tanks. Unfortunately, the first echelon of the covering armies was planned to have only 13 rifle divisions, while the enemy in the first echelon concentrated 28 divisions, including 4 tank divisions.
Events in the Western Front unfolded in the most tragic way. Even during the artillery preparation, the Germans captured bridges across the Western Bug, including in the Brest area. The assault groups were the first to cross the border with the task of literally capturing the border outposts within half an hour. However, the enemy miscalculated: there was not a single border outpost that would not offer him stubborn resistance. The border guards fought to the death. The Germans had to bring the main forces of the divisions into battle.

Fierce fighting broke out in the skies over the border areas. The front pilots fought a fierce battle, trying to wrest the initiative from the enemy and prevent him from seizing air superiority. However, this task turned out to be impossible. Indeed, on the very first day of the war, the Western Front lost 738 combat vehicles, which amounted to almost 40% of the aircraft fleet. In addition, the enemy pilots had a clear advantage in both skill and quality of equipment.

The belated exit to meet the advancing enemy forced the Soviet troops to enter the battle on the move, in parts. They failed to reach the prepared lines in the directions of the aggressor’s attacks, which means they did not succeed in creating a continuous defense front. Having encountered resistance, the enemy quickly bypassed the Soviet units, attacked them from the flanks and rear, and tried to advance their tank divisions as far in depth as possible. The situation was aggravated by sabotage groups dropped by parachute, as well as machine gunners on motorcycles who rushed to the rear, knocking out communication lines, capturing bridges, airfields, and other military installations. Small groups of motorcyclists fired indiscriminately from machine guns to create the appearance of encirclement among the defenders. With ignorance of the general situation and loss of control, their actions disrupted the stability of the defense of the Soviet troops, causing panic.

Many rifle divisions of the first echelon of armies were dismembered from the very first hours, some found themselves surrounded. Communication with them was interrupted. By 7 o'clock in the morning, the headquarters of the Western Front had no wire communication even with the armies.

When the front headquarters received the directive of People's Commissar No. 2, the rifle divisions were already drawn into battle. Although the mechanized corps began to advance to the border, but due to their great distance from the enemy’s breakthrough areas, communication breakdowns, and German air supremacy, they “attacked the enemy with all their might” and destroyed his strike forces, as required by the order of the People’s Commissar, Soviet troops, Naturally, they couldn't.

A serious threat arose on the northern front of the Bialystok ledge, where the 3rd Army of General V.I. operated. Kuznetsova. Continuously bombarding the army headquarters located in Grodno, the enemy disabled all communications centers by mid-day. It was not possible to contact either the front headquarters or the neighbors for the whole day. Meanwhile, the infantry divisions of the 9th German Army had already managed to push back Kuznetsov’s right-flank formations to the southeast.

On the southern face of the ledge, where the 4th Army led by General A.A. took the battle. Korobkov, the enemy had three to four times superiority. Management was broken here too. Not having time to occupy the planned defense lines, the army’s rifle formations began to retreat under the attacks of Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Group.

Their withdrawal put the formations of the 10th Army, located in the center of the Bialystok bulge, in a difficult position. From the very beginning of the invasion, the front headquarters had no contact with her. Pavlov had no choice but to send his deputy General I.V. by plane to Bialystok, to the headquarters of the 10th Army. Boldin with the task of establishing the position of the troops and organizing a counterattack in the Grodno direction, which was provided for in the wartime plan. During the entire first day of the war, the command of the Western Front did not receive a single report from the armies.

And Moscow did not receive objective information about the situation at the fronts throughout the entire day, although it sent its representatives there in the afternoon. To clarify the situation and help General Pavlov, Stalin sent the largest group to the Western Front. It included Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Marshals B.M. Shaposhnikov and G.I. Kulik, as well as Deputy Chief of the General Staff General V.D. Sokolovsky and the head of the operational department, General G.K. Malandin. However, it was not possible to identify the actual situation both on this front and on others, and to understand the situation. This is evidenced by the operational report of the General Staff for 22 hours. “German regular troops,” it stated, “during June 22, fought with the USSR border units, having little success in certain directions. In the afternoon, with the approach of the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army, attacks by German troops along the predominant length of our border were repulsed with losses to the enemy.”

Based on reports from the fronts, the People's Commissar of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff concluded that most of the fighting was taking place near the border, and the most large groups the enemy is Suwalki and Lublin, and the further course of the battles will depend on their actions. The powerful German group that was striking from the Brest area was clearly underestimated by the Soviet High Command because of the disorienting reports of the Western Front headquarters; however, it was also not aware of the general air situation.

Believing that there were quite enough forces for a retaliatory strike, and guided by the pre-war plan in case of war with Germany, the People's Commissar of Defense signed Directive No. 3 at 21:15. The troops of the Western Front were ordered to cooperate with the North-Western Front, restraining the enemy in the Warsaw direction, with powerful counterattacks to the flank and rear, destroy his Suwalki group and, by the end of June 24, capture the Suwalki area. The next day, together with the troops of other fronts, it was necessary to go on the offensive and defeat the strike force of Army Group Center. Such a plan not only did not correspond to the true situation, but also prevented the troops of the Western Front from creating a defense. Pavlov and his headquarters, having received Directive No. 3 late at night, began preparations for its implementation, although it was simply unthinkable to do this in the hours remaining before dawn, and even in the absence of communication with the armies.

On the morning of June 23, the commander decided to launch a counterattack in the direction of Grodno, Suwalki with the forces of the 6th and 11th mechanized corps, as well as the 36th cavalry division, uniting them into a group under the command of his deputy, General Boldin. Units of the 3rd Army were also to participate in the planned counterattack. Note that this decision was absolutely unrealistic: the formations of the 3rd Army operating in the direction of the counterattack continued to retreat, the 11th mechanized corps fought intense battles on a wide front, the 6th mechanized corps was too far from the counterattack area - 60-70 km, and further from Grodno there was the 36th Cavalry Division.

General Boldin had at his disposal only part of the forces of the 6th Mechanized Corps of General M.G. Khatskilevich and then only by noon on June 23. Considered rightfully the most equipped in the Red Army, this corps had 1022 tanks, including 352 KB and T-34. However, during the advance, being under constant attacks from enemy aircraft, he suffered significant losses.

Fierce fighting broke out near Grodno. After the capture of Grodno by the enemy, the 11th mechanized corps of General D.K. was introduced into the battle. Mostovenko. Before the war, it consisted of only 243 tanks. In addition, in the first two days of fighting, the corps suffered significant losses. However, on June 24, formations of Boldin’s group, with the support of front-line aviation and the 3rd Long-Range Bomber Corps of Colonel N.S. The Skripkos managed to achieve some success.

Field Marshal Bock sent the main forces of the 2nd Air Fleet against the Soviet troops launching a counterattack. German planes continuously hovered over the battlefield, depriving units of the 3rd Army and the Boldin group of the possibility of any maneuver. Heavy fighting near Grodno continued the next day, but the strength of the tankers quickly dried up. The enemy brought up anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, as well as an infantry division. Nevertheless, Boldin’s group managed to pin down significant enemy forces to the Grodno region for two days and inflict significant damage on them. The counterattack eased, although not for long, the position of the 3rd Army. But they failed to wrest the initiative from the enemy, and the mechanized corps suffered huge losses.

Hoth's Panzer Group deeply enveloped Kuznetsov's 3rd Army from the north, and formations of General Strauss's 9th Army attacked it from the front. Already on June 23, the 3rd Army had to retreat beyond the Neman to avoid encirclement.

The 4th Army of General A.A. found itself in extremely difficult conditions. Korobkova. Guderian's tank group and the main forces of the 4th Army, advancing from Brest in the northeast direction, cut the troops of this army into two unequal parts. Fulfilling the front directive, Korobkov was also preparing a counterattack. However, he managed to assemble only parts of the tank divisions of the 14th mechanized corps of General S.I. Oborin, and the remnants of the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions. And they were opposed by almost two tank and two infantry divisions of the enemy. The forces turned out to be too unequal. The 14th Mechanized Corps suffered heavy losses. The rifle divisions were also bled dry. The oncoming battle ended in favor of the enemy.

The gap with the troops of the North-Western Front on the right wing, where the Hoth tank group rushed, and the difficult situation on the left wing, where the 4th Army was retreating, created a threat of deep coverage of the entire Bialystok group from both the north and the south.

General Pavlov decided to strengthen the 4th Army with the 47th Rifle Corps. At the same time, the 17th Mechanized Corps (63 tanks in total, divisions with 20-25 guns and 4 anti-aircraft guns each) was transferred from the front reserve to the river. Sharu to create a defense there. However, they failed to create a strong defense along the river. Enemy tank divisions crossed it and on June 25 approached Baranovichi.

The position of the troops on the Western Front became increasingly critical. Of particular concern was the northern wing, where an unprotected gap of 130 km had formed. The Hoth tank group, rushing into this gap, was removed from the command of the commander of the 9th Army by Field Marshal Bock. Having received freedom of action, Hoth sent one of his corps to Vilnius, and the other two to Minsk and bypassing the city from the north, in order to connect with the 2nd Panzer Group. The main forces of the 9th Army were turned to the south, and the 4th - to the north, in the direction of the confluence of the Shchara and Neman rivers, to dissect the surrounded group. The threat of complete disaster loomed over the troops of the Western Front.

General Pavlov saw a way out of the situation by delaying the advance of the 3rd Panzer Group of Hoth with reserve formations united by the command of the 13th Army; three divisions, the 21st Rifle Corps, the 50th Rifle Division and the retreating troops were transferred to the army ; and at the same time, with the forces of Boldin’s group, continue to launch a counterattack on Gotha’s flank.

Before the 13th Army of General P.M. Filatov to concentrate his forces, and most importantly, to put in order the troops retreating from the border, including the 5th Tank Division of the North-Western Front, as enemy tanks burst into the army headquarters. The Germans captured most of the vehicles, including those with encryption documents. The army command returned to its troops only on June 26.

The position of the troops on the Western Front continued to deteriorate. Marshal B.M. Shaposhnikov, who was at the front headquarters in Mogilev, turned to Headquarters with a request to immediately withdraw the troops. Moscow allowed the withdrawal. However, it is already too late.

For the withdrawal of the 3rd and 10th armies, deeply bypassed by the tank groups of Hoth and Guderian from the north and south, a corridor no more than 60 km wide remained. Advancing off-road (all roads were occupied by German troops), under continuous attacks from enemy aircraft, with an almost complete absence of vehicles, and in dire need of ammunition and fuel, the formations could not tear themselves away from the advancing enemy.

On June 25, Headquarters formed a group of reserve armies of the High Command, led by Marshal S.M. Budyonny as part of the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd armies. Their formations, which began advancing on May 13, arrived from the North Caucasus, Oryol, Kharkov, Volga, Ural and Moscow military districts and concentrated in the rear of the Western Front. Marshal Budyonny received the task of starting to prepare a defensive line along the line Nevel, Mogilev and further along the Desna and Dnieper rivers to Kremenchug; at the same time “to be ready, on the special instructions of the High Command, to launch a counteroffensive.” However, on June 27, the Headquarters abandoned the idea of ​​a counteroffensive and ordered Budyonny to urgently occupy and firmly defend the line along the Western Dvina and Dnieper rivers, from Kraslava to Loev, preventing the enemy from breaking through to Moscow. At the same time, the troops of the 16th Army, and from July 1, the 19th Army, which had arrived in Ukraine before the war, were rapidly transferred to the Smolensk region. All this meant that the Soviet command finally abandoned offensive plans and decided to switch to strategic defense, shifting the main efforts to the western direction.

On June 26, Hoth's tank divisions approached the Minsk fortified area. The next day, Guderian's advanced units reached the approaches to the capital of Belarus. Units of the 13th Army defended here. Fierce fighting began. At the same time, the city was bombed by German aircraft; fires started, water supply, sewerage, power lines, telephone communications failed, but most importantly, thousands of civilians died. However, the defenders of Minsk continued to resist.

The defense of Minsk is one of the brightest pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War. The forces were too unequal. The Soviet troops were in dire need of ammunition, and to transport them there was not enough transport or fuel; moreover, some of the warehouses had to be blown up, the rest were captured by the enemy. The enemy stubbornly rushed towards Minsk from the north and south. At 16:00 on June 28, units of the 20th Panzer Division of the Gotha Group, having broken the resistance of the 2nd Rifle Corps of General A.N. Ermakov, burst into Minsk from the north, and the next day the 18th Panzer Division from Guderian’s group rushed towards from the south. By evening, the German divisions united and closed the encirclement. Only the main forces of the 13th Army managed to retreat to the east. A day earlier, the infantry divisions of the 9th and 4th German armies linked up east of Bialystok, cutting off the retreat routes of the 3rd and 10th Soviet armies. The surrounded group of troops of the Western Front was cut into several parts.

Almost three dozen divisions fell into the cauldron. Deprived of centralized control and supplies, they, however, fought until July 8. On the internal front of the encirclement, Bock had to hold first 21 and then 25 divisions, which amounted to almost half of all the troops of Army Group Center. On the external front, only eight of its divisions continued to advance towards the Berezina, and even the 53rd Army Corps acted against the 75th Soviet Rifle Division.

Exhausted by continuous battles, difficult treks through forests and swamps, without food and rest, those surrounded were losing their last strength. The reports of Army Group Center reported that as of July 2, in the area of ​​Bialystok and Volkovysk alone, 116 thousand people were captured, 1,505 guns, 1,964 tanks and armored vehicles, and 327 aircraft were destroyed or captured as trophies. The prisoners of war were kept in appalling conditions. They were housed in rooms unequipped for living, often directly under open air. Every day, hundreds of people died from exhaustion and epidemics. Those who were weakened were mercilessly destroyed.

Until September, the soldiers of the Western Front emerged from encirclement. At the end of the month towards the river. The remnants of the 13th Mechanized Corps, led by their commander, General P.N., left Sozh. Akhlyustin. 1,667 people, of which 103 were wounded, were brought out by the deputy front commander, General Boldin. Many who were unable to escape the encirclement began to fight the enemy in the ranks of partisans and underground fighters.

From the first days of the occupation, in areas where the enemy appeared, resistance from the masses began to arise. However, it developed slowly, especially in western regions countries, including Western Belarus, whose population was merged into the USSR only a year before the start of the war. At first, mainly sabotage and reconnaissance groups sent from behind the front line, many military personnel who were surrounded, and partly local residents began to operate here.

On June 29, on the 8th day of the war, a directive was adopted by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions, which, along with other measures to transform the country into a single military camp to provide nationwide resistance to the enemy, contained instructions on the deployment of the underground And partisan movement, were determined organizational forms, goals and objectives of the struggle.

Of great importance for organizing partisan warfare behind enemy lines was the appeal of the Chief political management Red Army dated July 15, 1941 “To servicemen fighting behind enemy lines,” issued in the form of a leaflet and scattered from aircraft over the occupied territory. In it, the activities of Soviet soldiers behind the front line were assessed as a continuation of their combat mission. The military personnel were encouraged to switch to guerrilla warfare methods. This leaflet-appeal helped many surrounding people find their place in common struggle against invaders.

The fighting was already far from the border, and the garrison of the Brest Fortress was still fighting. After the withdrawal of the main forces, part of the units of the 42nd and 6th Infantry Divisions, the 33rd Engineer Regiment and the border outpost remained here. Advancing units of the 45th and 31st infantry divisions supported by siege artillery fire. Having barely recovered from the first stunning blow, the garrison took up the defense of the citadel with the intention of fighting to the end. The heroic defense of Brest began. After the war, Guderian recalled: “The garrison of the important Brest fortress defended itself especially fiercely, holding out for several days, blocking railway track and highways leading through the Western Bug to Mukhavets.” True, for some reason the general forgot that the garrison held out not for several days, but for about a month - until July 20.

By the end of June 1941, the enemy had advanced to a depth of 400 km. The troops of the Western Front suffered heavy losses in men, equipment and weapons. The front air forces lost 1,483 aircraft. The formations that remained outside the encirclement fought in a zone over 400 km wide. The front was in dire need of replenishment, but it could not even get what it was supposed to be fully equipped according to the pre-war plan in case of mobilization. It was disrupted as a result of the rapid advance of the enemy, the extremely limited number of vehicles, disruption of railway transport and general organizational confusion.

By the end of June, the Soviet military-political leadership realized that to repel aggression it was necessary to mobilize all the country's forces. For this purpose, on June 30, an emergency body was created - the State Defense Committee (GKO), headed by Stalin. All power in the state was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee. His decisions and orders, which had the force of wartime laws, were subject to unquestioning implementation by all citizens, party, Soviet, Komsomol and military bodies. Each GKO member was responsible for a specific area (ammunition, aircraft, tanks, food, transport, etc.).

The country continued to mobilize military personnel from 1905 to 1918. birth into the army and navy. In the first eight days of the war, 5.3 million people were drafted into the armed forces. 234 thousand cars and 31.5 thousand tractors were sent from the national economy to the front.

Headquarters continued to take emergency measures to restore the strategic front in Belarus. Army General D.G. Pavlov was removed from command of the Western Front and tried by a military tribunal. Marshal S.K. was appointed the new commander. Tymoshenko. On July 1, the Headquarters transferred the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd armies to the Western Front. Essentially, a new defense front was being formed. The 16th Army was concentrated in the rear of the front, in the Smolensk region. The transformed Western Front now consisted of 48 divisions and 4 mechanized corps, but by July 1, the defense on the line of the Western Dvina and the Dnieper was occupied by only 10 divisions.

The resistance of Soviet troops encircled near Minsk forced the command of Army Group Center to disperse its formations to a depth of 400 km, with the field armies falling far behind the tank groups. In order to more clearly coordinate the efforts of the 2nd and 3rd tank groups to capture the Smolensk region and with the further attack on Moscow, Field Marshal Bock on July 3 united both groups into the 4th tank army led by Kluge's 4th Field Army. The infantry formations of the former 4th Army were united by the control of the 2nd Army (it was in the reserve of the High Command of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces - OKH), under the command of General Weichs, to eliminate the Soviet units surrounded west of Minsk.

Meanwhile, fierce battles took place between the Berezina, Western Dvina and Dnieper rivers. By July 10, enemy troops crossed the Western Dvina and reached Vitebsk and the Dnieper south and north of Mogilev.

One of the first strategic defensive operations of the Red Army, which later received the name Belarusian, was completed. In 18 days, the troops of the Western Front suffered a crushing defeat. Of the 44 divisions that were originally part of the front, 24 were completely lost, the remaining 20 lost from 30 to 90% of their strength. Total losses - 417,790 people, including irrecoverable - 341,073 people, 4,799 tanks, 9,427 guns and mortars and 1,777 combat aircraft. Leaving almost all of Belarus, the troops retreated to a depth of 600 km.

Defense of the Northwestern Front and the Baltic Fleet

With the outbreak of the war, the Baltic states also became the scene of dramatic events. The Northwestern Front defending here under the command of General F.I. Kuznetsov was significantly weaker than the fronts operating in Belarus and Ukraine, since it had only three armies and two mechanized corps. Meanwhile, the aggressor concentrated large forces in this direction (Table 2). In the first strike against the North-Western Front, not only Army Group North under the command of Field Marshal W. Leeb took part, but also the 3rd Panzer Group from the neighboring Army Group Center, i.e. Kuznetsov’s troops were opposed by two German tank groups out of four.

table 2
The balance of forces in the Northwestern Front at the beginning of the war

Strengths and means	Northwestern	Army Group	Ratio
		"North" and 3 Tgr
Personnel, thousand people
Guns and mortars (without 50 mm), units.
Tanks,** units
Combat aircraft**, units

* Without Baltic Fleet forces
**Only serviceable ones are taken into account

Already on the first day of the war, the defenses of the Northwestern Front were split. Tank wedges made significant holes in it.

Due to the systematic disruption of communications, the front and army commanders were unable to organize command and control of the troops. The troops suffered heavy losses, but could not stop the advance of the tank groups. In the zone of the 11th Army, the 3rd Tank Group rushed to the bridges across the Neman. And although specially designated demolition teams were on duty here, enemy tanks also slipped across the bridges along with the retreating army units. “For the 3rd Panzer Group,” wrote its commander, General Hoth, “it was a great surprise that all three bridges across the Neman, the capture of which was part of the group’s task, were captured intact.”

Having crossed the Neman, Hoth's tanks rushed towards Vilnius, but encountered desperate resistance. By the end of the day, the formations of the 11th Army were dismembered into pieces. A large gap opened up between the North-Western and Western fronts, and there was nothing to close it.

During the first day, German formations penetrated to a depth of 60 km. While the enemy's deep penetration required vigorous response measures, both the front command and the army command showed obvious passivity.

Order of the Military Council of the Baltic Special Military District No. 05 of June 22, 1941
TsAMO. F. 221. Op. 1362. D. 5, volume 1. L. 2.

On the evening of June 22, General Kuznetsov received directive from People's Commissar No. 3, in which the front was ordered: “While firmly holding the Baltic Sea coast, launch a powerful counterattack from the Kaunas area to the flank and rear of the Suwalki enemy group, destroy it in cooperation with the Western Front and capture the area by the end of June 24 Suwalki."

However, even before receiving the directive, at 10 o’clock in the morning, General Kuznetsov gave the order to the armies and mechanized corps to launch a counterattack against the Tilsit enemy group. Therefore, the troops carried out his order, and the commander decided not to change tasks, essentially failing to fulfill the requirements of Directive No. 3.

Six divisions were to attack Gepner's tank group and restore the situation along the border. Against 123 thousand soldiers and officers, 1800 guns and mortars, more than 600 enemy tanks, Kuznetsov planned to field about 56 thousand people, 980 guns and mortars, 950 tanks (mostly light ones).

However, a simultaneous strike did not work: after a long march, the formations entered the battle on the move, most often in scattered groups. With an acute shortage of ammunition, artillery did not provide reliable support to the tanks. The task remained unfinished. The divisions, having lost a significant part of their tanks, withdrew from the battle on the night of June 24.

At dawn on June 24, the fighting flared up with renewed vigor. On both sides, more than 1 thousand tanks, about 2,700 guns and mortars, and more than 175 thousand soldiers and officers took part in them. Parts of the right flank of Reinhardt's 41st Motorized Corps were forced to go on the defensive.

An attempt to resume the counterattack the next day came down to hasty, poorly coordinated actions, moreover, on a wide front, with poor management organization. Instead of launching concentrated attacks, corps commanders were ordered to act in “small columns in order to disperse enemy aircraft.” The tank formations suffered huge losses: only 35 tanks remained in both divisions of the 12th Mechanized Corps.

If, as a result of the counterattack, it was possible to delay for some time the advance of Reinhardt’s 41st motorized corps in the Siauliai direction, then Manstein’s 56th corps, bypassing the counterattacking formations from the south, was able to make a swift rush to Daugavpils.

The position of the 11th Army was tragic: it found itself squeezed between the 3rd and 4th tank groups. The main forces of the 8th Army were more fortunate: they remained aloof from the enemy's armored fist and retreated north in a relatively orderly manner. Cooperation between the armies was weak. The supply of ammunition and fuel has almost completely stopped. The situation required decisive measures to eliminate the enemy breakthrough. However, having no reserves and having lost control, the front command could not prevent the retreat and restore the situation.

Commander-in-Chief ground forces Wehrmacht Field Marshal Brauchitsch ordered the 3rd Panzer Group Hoth to turn southeast, towards Minsk, as provided for by the Barbarossa plan, so from June 25 it acted against the Western Front. Taking advantage of the gap between the 8th and 11th Armies, the 56th Motorized Corps of the 4th Tank Group rushed to the Western Dvina, cutting off the rear communications of the 11th Army.

The Military Council of the Northwestern Front considered it expedient to withdraw formations of the 8th and 11th armies to the line along the Venta, Shushva, and Viliya rivers. However, on the night of June 25, he made a new decision: to launch a counterattack with the 16th Rifle Corps of General M.M. Ivanov to return Kaunas, although the logic of events required the withdrawal of units beyond the river. Vilia. Initially, General Ivanov's corps had partial success, but he was unable to complete the task, and the divisions retreated to their original position.

In general, the front troops did not complete the main task - to detain the aggressor in the border zone. Attempts to eliminate deep penetrations of German tanks in the most important directions also failed. The troops of the Northwestern Front were unable to hold on to intermediate lines and rolled back further and further to the northeast.

Military operations in the northwestern direction unfolded not only on land, but also at sea, where the Baltic Fleet was subjected to attacks from enemy aircraft from the very first days of the war. By order of the fleet commander, Vice Admiral V.F. Tributa, on the night of June 23, the installation of minefields began at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, and the next day the same barriers began to be created in the Irben Strait. Increased mining of fairways and approaches to bases, as well as the dominance of enemy aviation and the threat to bases from land, fettered the forces of the Baltic Fleet. Dominance at sea passed to the enemy for a long time.

At general waste The troops of the North-Western Front met stubborn resistance from the enemy at the walls of Liepaja. The German command planned to capture this city no later than the second day of the war. Against a small garrison consisting of units of the 67th Infantry Division of General N.A. Dedayev and the naval base of Captain 1st Rank M.S. Klevensky, the 291st Infantry Division operated with the support of tanks, artillery and marines. Only on June 24 did the Germans blockade the city from land and sea. The residents of Liepaja, led by the defense headquarters, fought alongside the troops. Only by order of the command of the North-Western Front on the night of June 27 and 28, the defenders left Liepaja and began to make their way to the east.

On June 25, the Northwestern Front received the task of withdrawing troops and organizing defense along the Western Dvina, where the 21st was moving forward from the Headquarters reserve. mechanized corps General D.D. Lelyushenko. During the withdrawal, the troops found themselves in a difficult situation: after an unsuccessful counterattack, the command of the 3rd Mechanized Corps, led by General A.V. Kurkin and the 2nd Tank Division, left without fuel, found themselves surrounded. According to the enemy, over 200 tanks, more than 150 guns, as well as several hundred trucks and cars were captured and destroyed here. From the 3rd Mechanized Corps, only one 84th Motorized Division remained, and the 12th Mechanized Corps, out of 750 tanks, lost 600.

The 11th Army found itself in a difficult position. Moving beyond the river Viliy was hampered by enemy aircraft, which were destroying the crossings. There was a threat of encirclement, and the transfer of troops to the other side progressed very slowly. Having not received help, General Morozov decided to retreat to the northeast, but only on June 27 it became clear that the enemy, who had captured Daugavpils the day before, had cut off this route as well. Only the eastern direction remained free, through forests and swamps to Polotsk, where, on June 30, the remnants of the army entered the strip of the neighboring Western Front.

Field Marshal Leeb's troops quickly advanced deep into the Baltic territory. Organized resistance was provided to them by the army of General P.P. Sobennikova. The 11th Army’s defense line remained uncovered, which Manstein immediately took advantage of, sending his 56th Motorized Corps along the shortest route to the Western Dvina.

In order to stabilize the situation, the troops of the Northwestern Front needed to gain a foothold on the line of the Western Dvina. Unfortunately, the 21st Mechanized Corps, which was supposed to defend here, had not yet reached the river. The formations of the 27th Army also failed to take up defensive positions in a timely manner. And the main goal of Army Group North at that moment was precisely the breakthrough to the Western Dvina with the direction of the main attack on Daugavpils and to the north.

On the morning of June 26, the German 8th Panzer Division approached Daugavpils and captured the bridge over the Western Dvina. The division rushed into the city, creating a very important bridgehead for the development of the offensive on Leningrad.

Southeast of Riga, on the night of June 29, the advance detachment of General Reinhardt's 41st Motorized Corps crossed the Western Dvina at Jekabpils on the move. And the next day, the advanced units of the 1st and 26th Army Corps of the 18th German Army broke into Riga and captured bridges across the river. However, a decisive counterattack by the 10th Rifle Corps of General I.I. Fadeev, the enemy was knocked out, which ensured the systematic withdrawal of the 8th Army through the city. On July 1, the Germans recaptured Riga.

Back on June 29, the Headquarters ordered the commander of the Northwestern Front, simultaneously with the organization of defense along the Western Dvina, to prepare and occupy the line along the river. Great, while relying on the fortified areas that existed there in Pskov and Ostrov. The 41st Rifle and 1st Mechanized Corps, as well as the 234th Rifle Division, moved there from the reserves of the Headquarters and the Northern Front.

Instead of generals F.I. Kuznetsov and P.M. Klenov, on July 4, generals P.P. were appointed. Sobennikov and N.F. Vatutin.

On the morning of July 2, the enemy struck at the junction of the 8th and 27th armies and broke through in the direction of Ostrov and Pskov. The threat of an enemy breakthrough to Leningrad forced the command of the Northern Front to create the Luga Task Force to cover the southwestern approaches to the city on the Neva.

By the end of July 3, the enemy captured Gulbene in the rear of the 8th Army, depriving it of the opportunity to retreat to the river. Great. The army, which General F.S. had just taken command of. Ivanov, was forced to retreat north to Estonia. A gap opened between the 8th and 27th armies, where formations of the enemy's 4th Tank Group rushed. The next morning, the 1st Panzer Division reached the southern outskirts of the Island and crossed the river on the move. Great. Attempts to throw it away were unsuccessful. On July 6, the Germans completely captured Ostrov and rushed north to Pskov. Three days later, the Germans broke into the city. There was a real threat of a German breakthrough to Leningrad.

In general, the first defensive operation of the North-Western Front ended in failure. During three weeks of fighting, his troops retreated to a depth of 450 km, leaving almost the entire Baltic region. The front lost over 90 thousand people, more than 1 thousand tanks, 4 thousand guns and mortars and more than 1 thousand aircraft. His command failed to create a defense capable of repelling the attack of the aggressor. The troops were unable to gain a foothold even on such barriers as advantageous for defense as pp. Neman, Western Dvina, Velikaya.

The situation at sea was also difficult. With the loss of bases in Liepaja and Riga, the ships moved to Tallinn, where they were subjected to constant severe bombing by German aircraft. And at the beginning of July, the fleet had to come to grips with organizing the defense of Leningrad from the sea.

Border battles in the area of ​​the Southwestern and Southern fronts. Actions of the Black Sea Fleet

Southwestern Front, commanded by General M.P. Kirponos was the most powerful group of Soviet troops concentrated near the borders of the USSR. The German Army Group South, under the command of Field Marshal K. Rundstedt, was tasked with destroying Soviet troops in Right Bank Ukraine, preventing them from retreating beyond the Dnieper.

The Southwestern Front had enough strength to give the aggressor a worthy rebuff (Table 3). However, the very first day of the war showed that these opportunities could not be realized. From the first minute, formations, headquarters, and airfields were subjected to powerful air strikes, and the air force was never able to provide adequate counteraction.

General M.P. Kirponos decided to launch two strikes on the flanks of the main enemy group - from the north and south, each with the help of three mechanized corps, which had a total of 3.7 thousand tanks. General Zhukov, who arrived at front headquarters on the evening of June 22, approved his decision. Organizing a frontal counterattack took three days, and before that only part of the forces of the 15th and 22nd mechanized corps managed to advance and attack the enemy, and the only forward detachment of the 10th tank division operated in the 15th mechanized corps. An oncoming battle broke out east of Vladimir-Volynsky. The enemy was detained, but soon he rushed forward again, forcing the counterattackers to retreat beyond the river. Styr, in the Lutsk region.

The 4th and 8th mechanized corps could play a decisive role in defeating the enemy. They had over 1.7 thousand tanks. The 4th Mechanized Corps was considered especially strong: it had 414 vehicles at its disposal only with new KB and T-34 tanks. However, the mechanized corps was fragmented into parts. His divisions operated in different directions. By the morning of June 26, the 8th Mechanized Corps of General D.I. Ryabysheva went to Brody. Of the 858 tanks, barely half remained; the other half fell behind on the almost 500-kilometer route due to various breakdowns.

At the same time, mechanized corps were being concentrated to launch a counterattack from the north. The 41st Tank Division, the strongest in the 22nd Mechanized Corps, was partly assigned to rifle divisions and did not take part in the frontal counterattack. The 9th and 19th mechanized corps, which advanced from the east, had to cover 200-250 km. Both of them numbered only 564 tanks, and even those were of old types.

And at this time, rifle formations fought stubborn battles, trying to detain the enemy. On June 24, in the 5th Army zone, the enemy managed to encircle two rifle divisions. A 70-kilometer gap was formed in the defense, using which German tank divisions rushed to Lutsk and Berestechko. The surrounded Soviet troops defended stubbornly. For six days the units fought their way to their own. Only about 200 people remained from the division's two rifle regiments that were surrounded. Exhausted from continuous fighting, they retained their battle flags.

The soldiers of the 6th Army also defended themselves staunchly in the Rava-Russian direction. Field Marshal Rundstedt assumed that after the capture of Rava-Russkaya, the 14th Motorized Corps would be introduced into the battle. According to his calculations, this should have happened by the morning of June 23. But all of Rundstedt’s plans were thwarted by the 41st Division. Despite the fierce fire of German artillery and massive bomber strikes, the division's regiments, together with the battalions of the Rava-Russian fortified area and the 91st border detachment, held back the advance of the 4th Army Corps of the 17th Army for five days. The division left its positions only on the orders of the army commander. On the night of June 27, she retreated to the line east of Rava-Russkaya.

The 12th Army of General P.G. defended on the left wing of the Southwestern Front. Monday. After the transfer of the 17th Rifle and 16th Mechanized Corps to the newly created Southern Front, the only rifle corps left was the 13th. It covered a 300-kilometer section of the border with Hungary. For now there was silence here.

Intense battles took place not only on the ground, but also in the air. True, the front’s fighter aircraft were unable to reliably cover the airfields. In the first three days of the war alone, the enemy destroyed 234 aircraft on the ground. Bomber aircraft were also used ineffectively. With 587 bombers, front-line aviation made only 463 sorties during this time. The reason is unstable communications, lack of proper interaction between combined arms and aviation headquarters, and remoteness of airfields.

On the evening of June 25, the 6th Army of Field Marshal W. Reichenau crossed the river on the 70-kilometer stretch from Lutsk to Berestechko. Styr, and the 11th Panzer Division, having broken away from the main forces by almost 40 km, captured Dubno.

On June 26, the 8th mechanized corps entered the battle from the south, and the 9th and 19th from the northeast. General Ryabyshev's corps advanced from Broda to Berestechko by 10-12 km. However, his success could not be supported by other connections. The main reason for the uncoordinated actions of the mechanized corps was the lack of unified leadership of this powerful tank group on the part of the front command.

The actions of the 9th and 19th mechanized corps turned out to be more successful, despite the smaller forces. They were included in the 5th Army. There was also an operational group headed by the first deputy front commander, General F.S. Ivanov, who coordinated the actions of the formations.

On the afternoon of June 26, the corps finally attacked the enemy. Overcoming enemy resistance, the corps, commanded by General N.V. Feklenko, together with the rifle division, reached Dubno by the end of the day. Operating to the right was the 9th Mechanized Corps of General K.K. Rokossovsky turned around along the Rovno-Lutsk road and entered into battle with the enemy’s 14th Tank Division. He stopped her, but could not advance a single step.

An oncoming tank battle unfolded near Berestechko, Lutsk and Dubno - the largest since the beginning of World War II in terms of the number of forces participating in it. About 2 thousand tanks collided on both sides in an area up to 70 km wide. Hundreds of planes were fighting fiercely in the sky.

The counterattack of the Southwestern Front delayed the advance of Kleist’s group for some time. In general, Kirponos himself believed that the border battle was lost. The deep penetration of German tanks in the Dubno area created the danger of a strike to the rear of the armies that continued to fight in the Lvov salient. The front's Military Council decided to withdraw the troops to a new defensive line, which it reported to Headquarters, and, without waiting for Moscow's consent, gave the armies the appropriate orders. However, the Headquarters did not approve of Kirponos' decision and demanded that counterattacks be resumed. The commander had to cancel his own orders that had just been given, which the troops had already begun to carry out.

The 8th and 15th mechanized corps barely had time to leave the battle, and then a new order came: stop the retreat and strike in a northeast direction, to the rear of the divisions of the enemy’s 1st tank group. There was not enough time to organize the strike.

Despite all these difficulties, the battle flared up with renewed vigor. The troops in stubborn battles in the Dubno area, near Lutsk and Rivne until June 30 pinned down the 6th Army and the enemy tank group. German troops were forced to maneuver in search of weak points. The 11th Tank Division, covering itself with part of its forces from the attack of the 19th Mechanized Corps, turned to the southeast and captured Ostrog. But it was still stopped by a group of troops created on the initiative of the commander of the 16th Army, General M.F. Lukina. These were mainly army units that did not have time to embark on trains to be sent to Smolensk, as well as the 213th motorized division of Colonel V.M. Osminsky from the 19th Mechanized Corps, whose infantry, lacking transport, lagged behind the tanks.

The soldiers of the 8th Mechanized Corps tried with all their might to break out of the encirclement, first through Dubno, and then in a northern direction. The lack of communication did not allow us to coordinate our own actions with neighboring connections. The mechanized corps suffered heavy losses: many soldiers died, including the commander of the 12th Tank Division, General T.A. Mishanin.

The command of the Southwestern Front, fearing encirclement of the armies defending in the Lviv ledge, decided on the night of June 27 to begin a systematic retreat. By the end of June 30, Soviet troops, leaving Lvov, occupied a new line of defense, 30-40 km east of the city. On the same day, the vanguard battalions of the mobile corps of Hungary went on the offensive, which declared war on the USSR on June 27.

On June 30, Kirponos received the task: by July 9, using fortified areas on the state border of 1939, “to organize a stubborn defense with field troops, highlighting primarily artillery anti-tank weapons.”

Korostensky, Novograd-Volynsky and Letichevsky fortified areas, built back in the 1930s 50-100 km east of the old state border, were put on combat readiness with the beginning of the war and, reinforced with rifle units, could become a serious obstacle to the enemy. True, in the system of fortified areas there were gaps reaching 30-40 km.

In eight days, the front troops had to withdraw 200 km into the interior of the territory. Particular difficulties befell the 26th and 12th armies, which faced the longest journey, and with the constant threat of an enemy attack in the rear, from the north, by formations of the 17th Army and the 1st Tank Group.

To prevent the advance of the Kleist group and gain time to withdraw its troops, the 5th Army launched a counterattack on its flank from the north with the forces of two corps, which in previous battles had exhausted their forces to the limit: in the divisions of the 27th Rifle Corps there were about 1.5 thousand people, and the 22nd mechanized corps had only 153 tanks. There was not enough ammunition. The counterattack was prepared hastily, the attack was carried out on a hundred-kilometer front and at different times. However, the fact that the attack fell on the rear of the tank group gave a significant advantage. Mackensen's corps was delayed for two days, which made it easier for Kirponos' troops to exit the battle.

The troops retreated with heavy losses. A significant part of the equipment had to be destroyed, since even a minor malfunction could not be eliminated due to the lack of repair tools. In the 22nd Mechanized Corps alone, 58 faulty tanks were blown up.

On July 6 and 7, enemy tank divisions reached the Novograd-Volyn fortified area, the defense of which was to be strengthened by the retreating formations of the 6th Army. Instead, some units of the 5th Army were able to get here. Here, Colonel Blank’s group, which had escaped from the encirclement, went on the defensive, created from the remnants of two divisions - a total of 2.5 thousand people. For two days the units of the fortified area and this group held back the enemy onslaught. On July 7, Kleist's tank divisions captured Berdichev, and a day later - Novograd-Volynsk. Following the tank group on July 10, the infantry divisions of the 6th Army of Reichenau bypassed the fortified area from the north and south. It was not possible to stop the enemy at the old state border either.

The breakthrough in the Berdichev direction caused particular concern, as it created a threat to the rear of the main forces of the Southwestern Front. Through joint efforts, formations of the 6th Army, 16th and 15th Mechanized Corps held back the enemy's onslaught until July 15.

To the north, the enemy's 13th Tank Division captured Zhitomir on July 9. Although the 5th Army tried to delay the rapid rush of enemy tanks, the approaching infantry divisions repelled all its attacks. In two days, German tank formations advanced 110 km and on July 11 approached the Kyiv fortified area. Only here, on the defensive line created by the garrison troops and the population of the capital of Ukraine, was the enemy finally stopped.

The people's militia played a major role in repelling the enemy's attack. Already on July 8, 19 detachments with a total number of about 30 thousand people were formed in Kyiv, and in the Kyiv region as a whole, over 90 thousand people joined the ranks of the militia. An 85,000-strong volunteer corps was created in Kharkov, and a corps of five divisions with a total of 50,000 militiamen was created in Dnepropetrovsk.

Not as dramatic as in Ukraine, the war began in Moldova, where the border with Romania along the Prut and Danube was covered by the 9th Army. Opposed to it were the 11th German, 3rd and 4th Romanian armies, which had the task of pinning down the Soviet troops and, under favorable conditions, going on the offensive. In the meantime, Romanian formations sought to seize bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Prut. Fierce fighting broke out here in the first two days. Not without difficulty, the bridgeheads, except for one in the Skulyan area, were liquidated by Soviet troops.

Military actions also flared up in the Black Sea. At 3 hours 15 minutes on June 22, enemy aircraft carried out raids on Sevastopol and Izmail, and artillery shelled settlements and ships on the Danube. Already on the night of June 23, fleet aviation took retaliatory measures by raiding the military installations of Constanta and Sulina. And on June 26, a strike on this port of Constanta was carried out by a specially created strike group of the Black Sea Fleet, consisting of the leaders “Kharkov” and “Moscow”. They were supported by the cruiser Voroshilov and the destroyers Soobrazitelny and Smyshleny. The ships fired 350 130 mm caliber shells. However, the 280-mm German battery returned fire from the leader “Moskva”, which, while retreating, hit a mine and sank. At this time, enemy aircraft damaged the leader of the Kharkov.

On June 25, the Southern Front was created from the troops operating on the border with Romania. In addition to the 9th, it included the 18th Army, formed from troops transferred from the Southwestern Front. The directorate of the new front was created on the basis of the headquarters of the Moscow Military District, headed by its commander, General I.V. Tyulenev and Chief of Staff General G.D. Shishenin. The commander and his staff in the new place faced enormous difficulties, primarily due to the fact that they were completely unfamiliar with the theater of military operations. In his first directive, Tyulenev set the task for the front troops: “Defend the state border with Romania. If the enemy crosses and flies into our territory, destroy him with active actions of ground troops and aviation and be ready for decisive offensive actions.”

Considering the success of the offensive in Ukraine and the fact that Soviet troops in Moldova held their positions, Field Marshal Rundstedt decided to encircle and destroy the main forces of the Southern and Southern Western fronts.

The offensive of German-Romanian troops against the Southern Front began on July 2. In the morning, shock groups attacked formations of the 9th Army in two narrow sectors. The main blow from the Iasi area was delivered by four infantry divisions at the junction of the rifle divisions. Another attack by two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade hit one rifle regiment. Having achieved decisive superiority, the enemy broke through the poorly prepared defenses on the river on the first day. The rod is to a depth of 8-10 km.

Without waiting for a decision from Headquarters, Tyulenev ordered the troops to begin withdrawing. However, the High Command not only canceled it, on July 7 Tyulenev received an order to push the enemy back beyond the Prut with a counterattack. Only the 18th Army, which was adjacent to the Southwestern Front, was allowed to withdraw.

The undertaken counterattack managed to delay the advance of the 11th German and 4th Romanian armies operating in the Chisinau direction.

The situation on the Southern Front was temporarily stabilized. The enemy's delay allowed the 18th Army to withdraw and occupy the Mogilev-Podolsk fortified area, and the 9th Army managed to gain a foothold west of the Dniester. On July 6, its left-flank formations remaining in the lower reaches of the Prut and Danube were united into the Primorsky Group of Forces under the command of General N.E. Chibisova. Together with the Danube military flotilla, they repelled all attempts by Romanian troops to cross the border of the USSR.

The defensive operation in Western Ukraine (later it became known as the Lvov-Chernivtsi strategic defensive operation) ended in the defeat of the Soviet troops. The depth of their retreat ranged from 60-80 to 300-350 km. Northern Bukovina and Western Ukraine were abandoned, the enemy reached Kyiv. Although the defense in Ukraine and Moldova, unlike the Baltic states and Belarus, still retained some stability, the fronts of the South-Western strategic direction were unable to use their numerical superiority to repel the attacks of the aggressor and were ultimately defeated. By July 6, the casualties of the Southwestern Front and the 18th Army of the Southern Front amounted to 241,594 people, including irrevocable losses - 172,323 people. They lost 4,381 tanks, 1,218 combat aircraft, 5,806 guns and mortars. The balance of forces changed in favor of the enemy. Possessing the initiative and retaining offensive capabilities, Army Group South was preparing a strike from the area west of Kyiv to the south to the rear of the Southwestern and Southern fronts.

The tragic outcome of the initial period of the war and the transition to strategic defense

The initial period of the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from June 22 to mid-July, was associated with serious failures of the Soviet Armed Forces. The enemy achieved major operational and strategic results. His troops advanced 300-600 km deep into Soviet territory. Under enemy pressure, the Red Army was forced to retreat almost everywhere. Latvia, Lithuania, almost all of Belarus, a significant part of Estonia, Ukraine and Moldova found themselves under occupation. About 23 million Soviet people fell into fascist captivity. The country lost many industrial enterprises and acreage with ripening harvests. A threat was created to Leningrad, Smolensk, and Kyiv. Only in the Arctic, Karelia and Moldova the enemy’s advance was insignificant.

In the first three weeks of the war, of the 170 Soviet divisions that took the first blow from the German military machine, 28 were completely defeated, and 70 lost more than half of their personnel and military equipment. Only three fronts - Northwestern, Western and Southwestern - irretrievably lost about 600 thousand people, or almost a third of their strength. The Red Army lost about 4 thousand combat aircraft, over 11.7 thousand tanks, about 18.8 thousand guns and mortars. Even at sea, despite the limited nature of the fighting, the Soviet fleet lost its leader, 3 destroyers, 11 submarines, 5 minesweepers, 5 torpedo boats and a number of other combat ships and transports. More than half of the reserves of the border military districts remained in the occupied territory. The losses suffered had a heavy impact on the combat effectiveness of the troops, who were in dire need of everything: ammunition, fuel, weapons, and transport. It took Soviet industry more than a year to replenish them. At the beginning of July, the German General Staff concluded that the campaign in Russia had already been won, although not yet completed. It seemed to Hitler that the Red Army was no longer able to create a continuous front of defense even in the most important directions. At a meeting on July 8, he only clarified further tasks for the troops.

Despite the losses, the Red Army troops, fighting from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, had 212 divisions and 3 rifle brigades by mid-July. And although only 90 of them were full-fledged formations, and the rest had only half, or even less, of the regular strength, it was clearly premature to consider the Red Army defeated. The Northern, Southwestern and Southern fronts retained their ability to resist, and the troops of the Western and Northwestern fronts quickly restored their combat effectiveness.

At the start of the campaign, the Wehrmacht also suffered losses unmatched in the previous years of World War II. According to Halder, as of July 13, over 92 thousand people were killed, wounded or missing in the ground forces alone, and the damage in tanks averaged 50%. Approximately the same data is given in post-war studies by West German historians, who believe that from the beginning of the war until July 10, 1941, the Wehrmacht lost 77,313 people on the eastern front. The Luftwaffe lost 950 aircraft. In the Baltic Sea, the German fleet lost 4 minelayers, 2 torpedo boats and 1 hunter. However, the losses of personnel did not exceed the number of field reserve battalions available in each division, due to which they were replenished, so the combat effectiveness of the formations was basically preserved. Since mid-July, the offensive capabilities of the aggressor remained large: 183 combat-ready divisions and 21 brigades.

One of the reasons for the tragic outcome of the initial period of the war was the gross miscalculation of the political and military leadership of the Soviet Union regarding the timing of the aggression. As a result, the troops of the first operational echelon found themselves in an extremely difficult situation. The enemy crushed the Soviet troops in parts: first, the formations of the first echelon of the covering armies located along the border and not brought into combat readiness, then with counter blows - their second echelons, and then, developing the offensive, he forestalled the Soviet troops in occupying advantageous lines in the depths, on the move mastering them. As a result, the Soviet troops found themselves dismembered and surrounded.

The attempts of the Soviet command to carry out retaliatory strikes with the transfer of military operations to the territory of the aggressor, which they made on the second day of the war, no longer corresponded to the capabilities of the troops and, in fact, were one of the reasons for the unsuccessful outcome of the border battles. The decision to switch to strategic defense, made only on the eighth day of the war, also turned out to be belated. Moreover, this transition took place too hesitantly and at different times. He demanded that the main efforts be transferred from the southwestern direction to the western, where the enemy delivered his main blow. As a result, a significant part of the Soviet troops did not so much fight as move from one direction to another. This gave the enemy the opportunity to destroy the formations piece by piece as they approached the concentration area.

The war revealed significant shortcomings in troop management. The main reason is the poor professional training of the command personnel of the Red Army. Among the reasons that led to shortcomings in troop command and control was an excessive reliance on wired communications. After the first strikes by enemy aircraft and the actions of his sabotage groups, permanent wire communication lines were put out of action, and the extremely limited number of radio stations and the lack of necessary skills in their use did not allow establishing stable communications. The commanders were afraid of radio direction finding by the enemy, and therefore avoided using the radio, preferring wired and other means. And the strategic leadership bodies did not have pre-prepared control points. Headquarters, the General Staff, the commanders of the armed forces and branches of the armed forces had to lead the troops from peacetime offices that were absolutely unsuited for this.

The forced withdrawal of Soviet troops extremely complicated and significantly disrupted mobilization in the western border districts. The headquarters and rear of divisions, armies, and fronts were forced to conduct combat operations as part of peacetime.

The initial period of the Great Patriotic War ended with the defeat of the Soviet Armed Forces. The military-political leadership of Germany did not hide its jubilation over the expected imminent victory. Back on July 4, Hitler, intoxicated by his first successes at the front, declared: “I always try to put myself in the position of the enemy. In fact, he has already lost the war. It's good that we defeated the Russian tank and air force at the very beginning. The Russians will no longer be able to restore them.” And here is what the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, General F. Halder, wrote in his diary: “... it would not be an exaggeration to say that the campaign against Russia was won within 14 days.”

However, they cruelly miscalculated. Already on July 30, during the battles for Smolensk, for the first time in two years of World War II, fascist German troops were forced to go on the defensive. And the same German general F. Halder was forced to admit: “It became completely obvious that the enemy’s method of conducting combat operations and the fighting spirit, as well as geographical conditions of this country were completely different from those that the Germans encountered in previous “lightning wars” that led to successes that amazed the whole world.” During the bloody Battle of Smolensk, heroic Soviet soldiers thwarted the plans of the German command for a “lightning war” in Russia, and the most powerful army group “Center” was forced to go on the defensive, postponing the non-stop offensive on Moscow for more than two months.

But our country had to make up for the losses suffered, rebuild industry and agriculture on a war footing. This required time and enormous effort from all the peoples of the Soviet Union. Stop the enemy at all costs, not allow yourself to be enslaved - for this, the Soviet people lived, fought, and died. The result of this massive feat of the Soviet people was the Victory won over the hated enemy in May 1945.

The material was prepared by the Research Institute (military history) of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Photo from the archive of the Voeninform Agency of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Documents reflecting the activities of the leadership of the Red Army on the eve and in the first days of the Great Patriotic War were provided by the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Everyone knows that this terrible period left an indelible mark on world history. Today we will look at the most amazing historical facts about the Great Patriotic War, which are rarely mentioned in conventional sources.

Victory Day

It’s hard to imagine, but there was a 17-year period in the history of the USSR when Victory Day was not celebrated. Since 1948, May 9 was a simple working day, and January 1 (since 1930 this day was a working day) was made a day off. In 1965, the holiday was returned to its place again and marked with a wide celebration of the 20th anniversary Soviet victory. Since then, May 9 is again a day off. Many historians attribute such a strange decision of the Soviet government to the fact that it was afraid of active independent veterans on this significant day off. The official order said that people needed to forget about the war and devote all their strength to rebuilding the country.

Imagine, 80 thousand officers of the Red Army during the Second World War were women. Overall in different periods During the war, there were from 0.6 to 1 million women at the front. Of the fairer sex who voluntarily came to the front, the following were formed: rifle brigade, 3 aviation regiments and a reserve rifle regiment. In addition, a women's sniper school was organized, the students of which went down in the history of Soviet military achievements more than once. A separate company of female sailors was also organized.

It is worth noting that women at war carried out combat missions no worse than men, as evidenced by the 87 titles of Hero of the Soviet Union awarded to them during the Second World War. In world history, this was the first case of such a massive struggle of women for the Motherland. In the ranks Great Patriotic War soldier representatives of the fairer sex have mastered almost all military specialties. Many of them served shoulder to shoulder with their husbands, brothers and fathers.

"Crusade"

Hitler viewed his attack on the Soviet Union as Crusade, in which you can resort to terrorist methods. Already in May 1941, when implementing the Barbarossa plan, Hitler relieved his military personnel of any responsibility for their actions. Thus, his charges could do whatever they wanted towards civilians.

Four-legged friends

During the Second World War, more than 60 thousand dogs served on different fronts. Thanks to four-legged saboteurs, dozens of Nazi trains were derailed. Tank destroyer dogs destroyed more than 300 enemy armored vehicles. Signal dogs obtained about two hundred reports for the USSR. On ambulance carts, dogs carried at least 700 thousand wounded soldiers and officers of the Red Army from the battlefield. Thanks to sapper dogs, 303 settlements were cleared of mines. In total, four-legged sappers examined more than 15 thousand km 2 of land. They discovered more than 4 million units of German mines and landmines.

Kremlin disguise

As we look, we will more than once encounter the ingenuity of the Soviet military. During the first month of the war, the Moscow Kremlin literally disappeared from the face of the earth. At least that's what it seemed from the sky. Flying over Moscow, the fascist pilots were in complete despair, since their maps did not coincide with reality. The thing is that the Kremlin was carefully camouflaged: the stars of the towers and the crosses of the cathedrals were covered with covers, and the domes were repainted black. In addition, three-dimensional models of residential buildings were built along the perimeter of the Kremlin wall, behind which even the battlements were not visible. Manezhnaya Square and the Alexander Garden were partially decorated with plywood decorations for the buildings, the Mausoleum received two additional floors, and a sandy road appeared between the Borovitsky and Spassky Gates. The facades of the Kremlin buildings changed their color to gray, and the roofs to red-brown. Never before during its existence has the palace ensemble looked so democratic. By the way, V.I. Lenin’s body was evacuated to Tyumen during the war.

Feat of Dmitry Ovcharenko

Soviet exploits in the Great Patriotic War repeatedly illustrated the triumph of courage over weaponry. On July 13, 1941, Dmitry Ovcharenko, returning with ammunition to his company, was surrounded by five dozen enemy soldiers. The rifle was taken away from him, but the man did not lose heart. Snatching an ax from his wagon, he cut off the head of the officer who was interrogating him. Dmitry then threw three grenades at the enemy soldiers, which killed 21 soldiers. The rest of the Germans fled, with the exception of the officer, whom Ovcharenko caught up with and also beheaded. For his bravery, the soldier was awarded the title

Hitler's main enemy

History of the Second World War He doesn’t always talk about this, but the Nazi leader considered his main enemy in the Soviet Union not Stalin, but Yuri Levitan. Hitler offered 250 thousand marks for the announcer's head. In this regard, the Soviet authorities guarded Levitan very carefully, misinforming the press regarding his appearance.

Tanks made from tractors

Considering Interesting Facts about the Great Patriotic War, we cannot ignore the fact that due to an acute shortage of tanks, in emergency cases, the USSR Armed Forces made them from simple tractors. During the Odessa defensive operation, 20 tractors covered with armor sheets were thrown into battle. Naturally, the main effect of such a decision is psychological. By attacking the Romanians at night with sirens and lights on, the Russians forced them to flee. As for weapons, many of these “tanks” were equipped with dummies heavy guns. Soviet soldiers of the Great Patriotic War These cars were jokingly called NI-1, which means “For fright.”

Son of Stalin

Stalin's son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, was captured during the war. The Nazis offered Stalin to exchange his son for Field Marshal Paulus, who was being held captive by Soviet troops. The Soviet commander-in-chief refused, saying that a soldier could not be exchanged for a field marshal. Shortly before the arrival of the Soviet army, Yakov was shot. After the war, his family was exiled as a prisoner of war family. When Stalin was informed about this, he said that he would not make exceptions for relatives and break the law.

The fate of prisoners of war

There are historical facts that make things especially unpleasant. Here's one of them. About 5.27 million Soviet soldiers were captured by the Germans and kept in terrible conditions. This fact is confirmed by the fact that less than two million Red Army soldiers returned to their homeland. The reason for the cruel treatment of prisoners by the Germans was the USSR’s refusal to sign the Geneva and Hague Prisoner of War Conventions. The German authorities decided that if the other side did not sign the documents, then they may not regulate the conditions of detention of prisoners by international standards. In fact, the Geneva Convention regulates the treatment of prisoners regardless of whether countries have signed the agreement.

The Soviet Union treated enemy prisoners of war much more humanely, as evidenced at least by the fact that died in the Great Patriotic War 350 thousand German prisoners, and the remaining 2 million returned home safely.

The feat of Matvey Kuzmin

During times Great Patriotic War, interesting facts about which we are considering, 83-year-old peasant Matvey Kuzmin repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin, who in 1613 led the Poles into an impassable swamp.

In February 1942, a German mountain rifle battalion was stationed in the village of Kurakino, which was tasked with breaking through to the rear of Soviet troops planning a counteroffensive in the Malkin Heights area. Matvey Kuzmin lived in Kurakino. The Germans asked the old man to act as a guide for them, offering food and a gun in return. Kuzmin agreed to the proposal and, having notified the nearest part of the Red Army through his 11-year-old grandson, set off with the Germans. Having led the Nazis along roundabout roads, the old man led them to the village of Malkino, where an ambush awaited them. Soviet soldiers met the enemy with machine gun fire, and Matvey Kuzmin was killed by one of the German commanders.

Air ram

On June 22, 1941, Soviet pilot I. Ivanov decided on an aerial ram. This was the first military feat marked by the title

Best tanker

The most qualified tank ace of the Second World War was rightfully recognized as having served in the 40th tank brigade. During three months of battles (September - November 1941), he took part in 28 tank battles and personally destroyed 52 German tanks. In November 1941, the brave tanker died near Moscow.

Losses during the Battle of Kursk

USSR losses in the war- a difficult topic that people always try not to touch upon. Thus, official data on the losses of Soviet troops during the Battle of Kursk were published only in 1993. According to researcher B.V. Sokolov, German losses in Kursk amounted to approximately 360 thousand killed, wounded and captured soldiers. Soviet losses exceeded the Nazi losses seven times.

The feat of Yakov Studennikov

July 7, 1943, at the height of Battle of Kursk Yakov Studennikov, a machine gunner of the 1019th regiment, independently fought for two days. The rest of the soldiers from his crew were killed. Despite being wounded, Studennikov repelled 10 enemy attacks and killed more than three hundred Nazis. For this feat he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Feat of the 1378th Regiment of the 87th Division

On December 17, 1942, near the village of Verkhne-Kumskoye, soldiers of the company of Senior Lieutenant Naumov defended a height of 1372 m with two crews of anti-tank rifles. They managed to repel three enemy tank and infantry attacks on the first day and several more attacks on the second. During this time, 24 soldiers neutralized 18 tanks and about a hundred infantrymen. As a result, the Soviet braves died, but went down in history as heroes.

Shiny Tanks

During the battles at Lake Khasan, Japanese soldiers decided that the Soviet Union, trying to outwit them, was using tanks made of plywood. As a result, the Japanese fired at Soviet equipment with ordinary bullets in the hope that this would be enough. Returning from the battlefield, the tanks of the Red Army were so densely covered with lead bullets melted from the impact on the armor that they literally sparkled. Well, their armor remained unharmed.

Camel help

This is rarely mentioned in the history of the Second World War, but the 28 reserve Soviet army, formed in Astrakhan during the battles of Stalingrad, used camels as draft force to transport guns. Soviet soldiers had to catch wild camels and tame them due to an acute shortage of automobile equipment and horses. Most of the 350 tamed animals died in various battles, and the survivors were transferred to farm units or zoos. One of the camels, who was given the name Yashka, reached Berlin with the soldiers.

Removal of children

Many little-known facts about the Great Patriotic War cause sincere sorrow. During World War II, the Nazis took thousands of children of “Nordic appearance” from Poland and the Soviet Union. The Nazis took children from two months to six years old and took them to a concentration camp called Kinder KC, where the “racial value” of the children was determined. Those children who passed the selection were subjected to “initial Germanization.” They were called and taught German. The child’s new citizenship was confirmed by forged documents. Germanized children were sent to local orphanages. Thus, many German families did not even realize that the children they adopted were of Slavic origin. At the end of the war, no more than 3% of such children were returned to their homeland. The remaining 97% grew up and aged, considering themselves full-fledged Germans. Most likely, their descendants will never know about their true origins.

Underage Heroes

Finishing by looking at interesting facts about The Great Patriotic War, it should be said about child heroes. Thus, the title of Hero was awarded to 14-year-old Lenya Golikov and Sasha Chekalin, as well as 15-year-old Marat Kazei, Valya Kotik and Zina Portnova.

Battle of Stalingrad

In August 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops heading to Stalingrad to “leave no stone unturned.” In fact, the Germans succeeded. When the brutal battle was over, the Soviet government concluded that rebuilding the city from scratch would be cheaper than rebuilding what was left. Nevertheless, Stalin unconditionally ordered the city to be rebuilt literally from the ashes. During the clearing of Stalingrad, so many shells were thrown at Mamayev Kurgan that for the next two years even weeds did not grow there.

For some unknown reason, it was in Stalingrad that the opponents changed their methods of fighting. From the very beginning of the war, the Soviet command adhered to flexible defense tactics, retreating in critical situations. Well, the Germans, in turn, tried to avoid mass bloodshed and bypassed large fortified areas. In Stalingrad, both sides seemed to have forgotten their principles and tripled the fierce battle.

It all started on August 23, 1942, when the Germans launched a massive air attack on the city. As a result of the bombing, 40 thousand people died, which is 15 thousand more than during the Soviet raid on Dresden in early 1945. The Soviet side in Stalingrad used methods of psychological influence on the enemy. Popular German music sounded from loudspeakers installed right on the front line, which was interrupted by reports of the latest successes of the Red Army at the fronts. But the most effective means of psychological pressure on the Nazis was the sound of a metronome, which after 7 beats was interrupted by the message: “Every seven seconds, one Nazi soldier dies at the front.” After 10-20 such messages they started tango.

Considering interesting facts about the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and, in particular, about Battle of Stalingrad, one cannot ignore the feat of Sergeant Nuradilov. On September 1, 1942, the machine gunner independently destroyed 920 enemy soldiers.

Memory of the Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad is remembered not only in the post-Soviet space. In many European countries (France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, and others) streets, squares and gardens were named in honor of the Battle of Stalingrad. In Paris, “Stalingrad” is the name given to a metro station, square and boulevard. And in Italy, one of the central streets of Bologna is named after this battle.

Victory Banner

The original Victory Banner is kept in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces as a sacred relic and one of the most striking memories of the war. Due to the fact that the flag is made of fragile satin, it can only be stored horizontally. The original banner is shown only on special occasions and in the presence of a guard. In other cases, it is replaced with a duplicate, which is 100% identical to the original and even ages the same way.

Much has been written about the war in the Soviet Union. Memoirs of commanders, notes of officers and soldiers, prose, poetry, historical research. There are also memories of home front workers (both ordinary workers and managers, plant directors, people's commissars, aircraft designers). All this makes up an impressive library, from which it would seem possible to reconstruct historical facts with complete reliability. In addition, films were shot - feature and documentary, short and serial. In schools, technical schools and institutes, students discussed in detail with teachers all the stages of the great battle, which claimed tens of millions of lives. And with all this, it turned out that our people know surprisingly little about what happened during the Great Patriotic War.

Two calendar dates - black and red

Two main dates are firmly entrenched in the consciousness of the masses - June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945. Unfortunately, not everyone knows about what exactly happened during these days. In the early summer morning, “Kyiv was bombed, they declared to us...”, and the general summary is that the Germans attacked suddenly, they did not declare war. This is all about the first date. The information is not entirely true. The declaration of war was German Ambassador Schulenburg handed the note to Molotov. True, this did not matter; at that moment the Junkers and Henkels were already gaining altitude above the border, and there was no time left to prepare to repel the attack. But that’s what war is for, so as not to warn about an attack in advance. Why they didn’t prepare for defense is a different matter.

At first glance, more is known about what year the Great Patriotic War ended and on what day. But not everything is clear here either.

Start

On June 22, something happened for which the USSR had been preparing for a long time. An unprecedented modernization of industrial potential took place, called industrialization. Peasant life was radically restructured, and the basis for private initiative in the village was eliminated. This led to a sharp decline in the well-being of the entire people. Large-scale efforts, since they did not lead to an increase in living standards, could be aimed at only one thing - defense. Propaganda persistently instilled the idea of ​​the inevitability of war and at the same time the peacefulness of the world's first state of workers and peasants. The scenario of future fateful events was described in a feature film with the eloquent title “If there is war tomorrow.” The insidious enemy attacked, and he was immediately overtaken by retribution of terrible force. He was completely destroyed, and real freedom came to his land, like in the USSR. Why did things turn out a little differently in June 1941?

Almost the entire military power of the Red Army as of mid-June 1941 was concentrated near the western borders of the USSR. There were also reserves of weapons, fuel, ammunition, medicines, food and everything necessary for waging war on foreign territory with little loss of life. The airfields were also pushed as far as possible into the border strips. The equipment was not completed; the delivery of military cargo and trains with equipment continued. All this was covered in works of art, and in many memoirs.

We can conclude that Stalin did not plan the Patriotic War to defend his country.

What did Hitler count on?

The German Fuhrer was hoping mainly, apparently, for the dissatisfaction of the population with the Soviet regime. The agents reported on the terrible consequences of more than twenty years of communist rule, the repressions that had decapitated the Red Army, millions of starving peasants on collective farms, a frightened working class and suppressed intelligentsia. The Fuhrer had virtually no doubt that when the Wehrmacht approached the borders of the USSR, the population would come out to joyfully greet the “liberators.” Similar situations, by the way, took place in some western regions, but in general, hopes did not come true.

How Germany prepared for war

If it were not for the hope of the speedy destruction of the “colossus with feet of clay,” Adolf Hitler would hardly have decided to attack. The situation in Germany at the beginning of the summer of 1941 could not be called brilliant. Against the backdrop of successful actions in Europe, not very pleasant processes took place. Half of France remained “under-occupied”, one hundred percent control over Yugoslavia was never established, in North Africa things were going badly, naval operations also had varying success. America did not enter the war, but in fact already participated in it, helping Britain with its practically inexhaustible material resources.

Germany's allies - Romania, Italy and Japan - were more trouble than they were worth. against the USSR in such conditions could be considered a crazy step. Practically no preparation was carried out; the Wehrmacht soldiers did not even have warm clothes and shoes (they never appeared), frost-resistant fuel and lubricant. Soviet intelligence knew about this and reported to the Kremlin.

However, the war began for the USSR in a completely unexpected way and in an extremely unfavorable situation for us. The Germans quickly advanced deeper into the territory, the situation became more and more threatening. It became clear that without the participation of the entire people in the defense it would be impossible to win. And the war became Patriotic.

Patriotic War

Almost immediately after Hitler's attack, the war was declared Patriotic. This happened for the second time in Russian history. A threat arose not just to some social system, but to the very existence of the country and the Eurasian civilization. How was it the first time, under the Tsar-Liberator?

The Patriotic War with France took place in 1812 until Napoleonic hordes were expelled from Russian soil. They drove Bonaparte all the way to Paris, reached it, and, having captured it in 1814, did not find the usurper emperor there. We spent a little time “visiting” and then returned home to brave songs. But after crossing the Berezina, all this was just a campaign. Only the first year, while battles were raging along Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, and partisans were advancing on the invaders from the forests, was the war considered Patriotic.

Version one: 1944

If we draw historical analogies, then the question of what year the Great Patriotic War ended should be answered: in 1944, in the fall. It was then that the last armed German, Romanian, Spaniard, Italian, Hungarian and any other soldier who fought on the side of Nazi Germany left the territory of the USSR. Prisoners and dead don't count. The war itself continued, but it had ceased to be domestic; it entered the phase of finishing off the enemy in his lair while simultaneously liberating the peoples he had enslaved. The threat to the existence of the USSR had passed; the only question was the timing of the final defeat of the enemy and the conditions of the subsequent peace.

Version two - May 8, 1945

True, this version also has opponents, and their arguments deserve respect. The end of the Second World War, in their opinion, chronologically coincides with the moment of signing the surrender in Karlshorst, a suburban district of Berlin. On our side, Marshal G.K. Zhukov and other military leaders took part in the ceremony, on the German side - Keitel with officers and generals of the German General Staff. Hitler had been dead for eight days. The date of the historical event is May 8, 1945. A day earlier, there was another signing of surrender, but the high Soviet command was not present at it, so J.V. Stalin did not recognize it and did not give an order to stop hostilities. The victorious end of the Great Patriotic War on May 9 became a national holiday; all radio stations of the Soviet Union announced it. The people rejoiced, people laughed and cried. And someone else had to fight...

Fights on May 9, after the Victory

The signing of the act of surrender of Germany did not yet mean the end of the war. Soviet soldiers also died on May 9. In Prague, the German garrison, consisting of selected SS men, refused to lay down their arms. The situation became acute; the townspeople tried to resist the Nazi fanatics, who understood that their days were numbered, and they had nothing to lose. The rapid rush of Soviet troops saved the Czech capital from a bloodbath. The outcome of the battles was a foregone conclusion, but there were losses. On the ninth of May it all ended. It was a shame to die on the last day of the war, but such is a soldier’s lot...

There was also a little-known war on Far East. Quickly and decisively, the Soviet Army defeated the Kwantung group of Japanese armed forces, reaching Korea. There were also losses, although they were incomparably smaller than during the war with Germany.

Patriotic War front and rear

The ninth of May is the day of the end because, although it was carried out since the fall of 1944 not on our territory, in fact the efforts of the entire country were aimed at overcoming the enemy’s resistance. The entire economic potential of the USSR worked according to the principle “everything for the front, everything for victory.” The fighting took place to the west of the Soviet borders, but in the rear there was a battle of its own. Tanks, planes, guns, ships that were destined to crush the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine - everything was built in the rear.

The workers, including many women and teenagers, spared no effort to supply their native Red Army with everything necessary; they fought their war, crying a lot over the funeral and not eating enough. Victory in the Great Patriotic War was the result of the efforts not only of soldiers, officers, generals, admirals and sailors, but also of the rest of the Soviet people. In this sense, the war was domestic from the first to the last day.

Version three - 1955

The signing of Germany's surrender took place in a difficult and nervous environment. The defeated enemy tried to maintain the appearance of some kind of dignity, Keitel even saluted the victors. The allies added tension, they tried to maintain their own geopolitical interests, which, in general, is quite natural. Mutual wariness interfered with the celebration of the expected great holiday. It is not surprising that in this situation they forgot about very important document, namely the peace treaty. Wars end, but what comes next? That's right, peace. But not some abstract one, but one that the winners will agree on. The vanquished can only accept the conditions offered to them. The end of the Great Patriotic War in May 1945 was de facto, but there was no legal formalization; it was simply forgotten.

Legal snag

They realized it almost ten years later. On January 25, 1955, by a Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet signed by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR K. Voroshilov and the Secretary of the Presidium N. Pegov, the state of war with Germany was ended. Of course this one legislative act was symbolic, and even the defeated state itself did not exist in its previous form at that time - it was divided into two parts, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, but teachers for history students had a question to fill out: “In what year did the Great Patriotic War end in the legal sense ? And the correct answer, which not everyone knew, is: in 1955!

Legal subtleties no longer matter today of great importance, they are important only for those who consider themselves experts and want to show off their erudition to others. Today, when not every high school graduate knows in what year the Great Patriotic War ended, this is not so difficult. A couple of decades ago, everyone knew this. The events of history are becoming more and more distant from us, and fewer and fewer eyewitnesses can tell about them. The date of the end of the Great Patriotic War is written in textbooks, but it is also on the pedestals of monuments.

There is a well-known saying of one of the great commanders that until at least one dead soldier is buried, the war cannot be considered over. Unfortunately, our country has lost so many sons and daughters that to this day search teams find their remains in places of past battles. They are seen off on their last journey with military honors, relatives learn about the fate of their fathers and grandfathers, fireworks roar... Will we ever be able to say that all the soldiers who gave their lives for their Motherland found a worthy rest? This is unlikely, but you should strive for it.