A Brief History of World War II. General history

According to the official version, the war for the USSR began on June 22, 1941. In a speech on the radio on June 3, 1941, and then in a report on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the October Revolution (October 6, 1941), Stalin named two factors that , in his opinion, led to our failures in the early stages of the war:

1) The Soviet Union lived a peaceful life, maintaining neutrality, and the mobilized and heavily armed German army treacherously attacked a peace-loving country on June 22;

2) our tanks, guns and planes are better than the German ones, but we had very few of them, much less than the enemy.

These theses are cynical and impudent lies, which does not prevent them from moving from one political and "historical" work to another. In one of the last Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionaries published in the USSR in 1986, we read: “The Second World War (1939-1945) was prepared by the forces of international imperialist reaction and began as a war between two coalitions of imperialist powers. In the future, it began to accept from all states that fought against the countries of the fascist bloc, the nature of a just, anti-fascist war, which was finally determined after the entry into the war of the USSR(see Great Patriotic War 1941-1945)”. The thesis about the peaceful Soviet people, the gullible and naive Comrade Stalin, who was first “thrown” by the British and French imperialists, and then vilely and treacherously deceived by the villain Hitler, remained almost unchanged in the minds of many inhabitants and the writings of post-Soviet “ scientists" of Russia.

Throughout its, fortunately, relatively short history, the Soviet Union has never been a peace-loving country in which "children slept peacefully." Having failed in their attempt to fan the fire of the world revolution, the Bolsheviks made a conscious bet on the war as the main instrument for solving their political and social tasks both within the country and abroad. They intervened in most major international conflicts (in China, Spain, Vietnam, Korea, Angola, Afghanistan...), helping the organizers of the national liberation struggle and the communist movement with money, weapons and so-called volunteers. The main goal of the industrialization carried out in the country since the 1930s was the creation of a powerful military-industrial complex and a well-armed Red Army. And it must be admitted that this goal is perhaps the only one that the Bolshevik government managed to achieve. It is no coincidence that, speaking at the May Day parade, which, according to the "peace-loving" tradition, opened with a military parade, People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov said: "The Soviet people not only know how, but also love to fight!"

By June 22, 1941, the “peace-loving and neutral” USSR had been participating in World War II for almost two years, and participated as aggressor country.


Having signed the Molotov-va-Ribbentrop pact on August 23, which divided most of Europe between Hitler and Stalin, the Soviet Union launched an invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939. At the end of September 1939, 51% of the Polish territory was "reunited" with the USSR. At the same time, a lot of crimes were committed against the servicemen of the Polish army, which was debilitated by the German invasion and practically did not resist parts of the Red Army - Katyn alone cost the Poles almost 30 thousand officers' lives. Even more crimes were committed by the Soviet invaders against civilians, especially Polish and Ukrainian nationalities. Before the start of the war, the Soviet authorities in the reunified territories tried to drive almost the entire peasant population (and this is the vast majority of the inhabitants of Western Ukraine and Belarus) into collective farms and state farms, offering a “voluntary” alternative: “ collective farm or Siberia". Already in 1940, numerous echelons with deported Poles, Ukrainians and somewhat later Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians moved to Siberia. The Ukrainian population of Western Ukraine and Bukovina, which at first (in 1939-40) massively greeted Soviet soldiers with flowers, hoping for liberation from national oppression (by the Poles and Romanians, respectively), experienced all the delights of the Soviet authorities. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that in 1941 the Germans were already met with flowers here.

On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union started a war with Finland, for which it was recognized as an aggressor and expelled from the League of Nations. This "unknown war", hushed up in every possible way by Soviet propaganda, lays down an indelible shame on the reputation of the Land of Soviets. Under the far-fetched pretext of a mythical military danger, Soviet troops invaded Finnish territory. “Sweep the Finnish adventurers off the face of the earth! The time has come to destroy the vile booger that dares to threaten the Soviet Union!”- this is how journalists wrote on the eve of this invasion in the main party newspaper Pravda. I wonder what kind of military threat to the USSR could this "boat" with a population of 3.65 million people and a poorly armed army of 130 thousand people.

When the Red Army crossed the Finnish border, the ratio of forces of the warring parties, according to official data, was as follows: 6.5:1 in personnel, 14:1 in artillery, 20:1 in aviation and 13:1 in tanks in favor of the USSR. And then the “Finnish miracle” happened - instead of a quick victorious war, the Soviet troops in this “winter war” suffered one defeat after another. According to the calculations of Russian military historians (“The stamp is classified and removed. Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and conflicts”, edited by G. Kri-vosheev, M .: Voen-izdat, 1993), minimum losses The Red Army during the Finnish campaign amounted to 200 thousand people. Everything in the world is known in comparison. The ground troops of the Soviet allies (England, the USA and Canada) in the battles for the liberation of Western Europe - from the landing in Normandy to the exit to El-bu - lost 156 thousand people. The occupation of Norway in 1940 cost Germany 3.7 thousand dead and missing soldiers, and the defeat of the army of France, Belgium and Holland cost 49 thousand people. Against this background, the horrendous losses of the Red Army in the Finnish war look eloquent.
Consideration of the "peace-loving and neutral" policy of the USSR in 1939-1940. raises another serious question. Who studied from whom in those days the methods of agitation and propaganda - Stalin and Molotov from Hitler and Goebbels, or vice versa? The political and ideological closeness of these methods is striking. Hitler's Germany carried out the Ansch-Lus of Austria and the occupation, first of the Sudetenland, and then of the entire Czech Republic, reuniting the lands with the German population into a single Reich, and the USSR occupied half of the territory of Poland under the pretext of reuniting into a single state "fraternal Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. Germany seized Norway and Denmark in order to protect itself from the attack of the "English aggressors" and ensure an uninterrupted supply of Swedish iron ore, and the Soviet Union, under a similar pretext of border security, occupied the Baltic countries and tried to capture Finland. This is how the peaceful policy of the USSR looked in general terms in 1939-1940, when Nazi Germany was preparing to attack the “neutral” Soviet Union.

Now about one more thesis of Stalin: "History did not give us enough time, and we did not have time to mobilize and prepare technically for a treacherous attack." It's a lie.

Documents declassified in the 1990s after the collapse of the USSR convincingly show the true picture of the country's "unpreparedness" for war. At the beginning of October 1939, according to official Soviet data, the fleet of the Soviet Air Force was 12677 aircraft and exceeded the total number of military aviation of all participants in the outbreak of the world war. By the number of tanks ( 14544 ) The Red Army at that moment was almost twice the size of the armies of Germany (3419), France (3286) and England (547) combined. The Soviet Union significantly outnumbered the warring countries not only in quantity, but also in quality of weapons. In the USSR, by the beginning of 1941, the world's best fighter-interceptor MIG-3, the best guns and tanks (T-34 and KV), and already from June 21, the world's first multiple launch rocket launchers (the famous " Katyusha").

Nor is the assertion that by June 1941 Germany secretly pulled troops and military equipment to the borders of the USSR, providing a significant advantage in military equipment, preparing a perfidious surprise attack on a peaceful country, is also not true. According to German data, confirmed by European military historians ( see World War II, ed. R. Holmes, 2010, London), June 22, 1941, a three million army of German, Hungarian and Romanian soldiers prepared for an attack on the Soviet Union, which had four tank groups with 3266 tanks and 22 fighter air groups (66 squadrons), which included 1036 aircraft.

According to declassified Soviet data, on June 22, 1941, on the western borders, the aggressor was opposed by the three and a half millionth Red Army with seven tank corps, which included 11029 tanks(more than 2000 tanks in the first two weeks were additionally brought into battle near Shepetovka, Lepel and Daugavpils) and with 64 fighter regiments (320 squadrons) armed with 4200 aircraft, to which on the fourth day of the war they transferred 400 aircraft, and by July 9 - more 452 aircraft. Outnumbering the enemy by 17%, the Red Army on the border had overwhelming superiority in military equipment - almost four times in tanks and five times in combat aircraft! The opinion that the Soviet mechanized units were equipped with obsolete equipment, and the Germans with new and effective ones, does not correspond to reality. Yes, in the Soviet tank units at the beginning of the war there were really a lot of tanks of outdated designs BT-2 and BT-5, as well as light tankettes T-37 and T-38, but almost 15% (1600 tanks) accounted for on the most modern medium and heavy tanks - T-34 and KV, which the Germans had no equal at that time. Out of 3266 tanks, the Nazis had 895 tankettes and 1039 light tanks. Only 1146 tanks could be categorized as medium. Both tankettes and light German tanks (PZ-II of Czech production and PZ-III E) were significantly inferior in their technical and tactical characteristics to even obsolete Soviet tanks, and the best German medium tank PZ-III J at that time did not go into what a comparison with the T-34 (it’s pointless to talk about comparison with the heavy KV tank).

The version about the surprise attack of the Wehrmacht does not look convincing. Even if we agree with the stupidity and naivety of the Soviet party and military leadership and Stalin personally, who categorically ignored intelligence data and Western intelligence services and overlooked the deployment of a three-million enemy army on the borders, even then, with the military equipment available to the opponents, the surprise of the first strike could ensure success in within 1-2 days and a breakthrough to a distance of no more than 40-50 km. Further, according to all the laws of hostilities, the temporarily retreating Soviet troops, using their overwhelming advantage in military equipment, they had to literally crush the aggressor. But events on the Eastern Front developed according to a completely different, tragic scenario ...

Catastrophe

Soviet historical science divided the history of the war into three periods. Least of all attention was paid to the first period of the war, especially the summer campaign of 1941. It was sparingly explained that the successes of the Germans were due to the suddenness of the attack and the unpreparedness of the USSR for war. In addition, as Comrade Stalin put it in his report (October 1941): “The Wehrmacht paid for every step deep into Soviet territory with gigantic irreparable losses” (a figure of 4.5 million killed and wounded was given, two weeks later in editorial of the Pravda newspaper, this figure of German losses increased to 6 million people). What actually happened at the beginning of the war?

From the dawn of June 22, Wehrmacht troops poured across the border along almost its entire length - 3000 km from the Baltic to the Black Seas. Armed to the teeth, the Red Army was defeated in a few weeks and thrown back hundreds of kilometers from the western borders. By mid-July, the Germans occupied the whole of Belarus, capturing 330 thousand Soviet troops, capturing 3332 tanks and 1809 guns and numerous other war trophies. In almost two weeks, the entire Baltic was captured. In August-September 1941, most of Ukraine was in the hands of the Germans - in the Kiev pocket, the Germans surrounded and captured 665 thousand people, captured 884 tanks and 3718 guns. By the beginning of October, the German Army Group Center had almost reached the outskirts of Moscow. In the cauldron near Vyazma, the Germans captured another 663,000 prisoners.

According to German data, scrupulously filtered and refined after the war, for 1941 (the first 6 months of the war), the Germans captured 3806865 Soviet soldiers, captured or destroyed 21 thousand tanks, 17 thousand aircraft, 33 thousand guns and 6.5 million small arms.

The military archives declassified in the post-Soviet period generally confirm the volumes of military equipment abandoned and captured by the enemy. As for human losses, it is very difficult to calculate them in wartime, moreover, for obvious reasons, in modern Russia this topic is almost taboo. And yet, a comparison of data from military archives and other documents of that era allowed some Russian historians striving for the truth (G. Kri-vo-sheev, M. Solonin, etc.) to determine with a sufficient degree of accuracy what for 1941 except for surrender 3.8 million people, the Red Army suffered direct combat losses (killed and died from wounds in hospitals) - 567 thousand people, the wounded and sick - 1314 thousand people, deserters (who evaded captivity and the front) - from 1 to 1.5 million people and missing or wounded, abandoned in a stampede - about 1 million people The last two figures are determined from a comparison of the personnel of Soviet military units on June 22 and December 31, 1941, taking into account accurate data on the personnel replenishment of units for this period.

On January 1, 1942, according to Soviet data, 9147 German soldiers and officers were captured ( 415 times less than Soviet prisoners of war!). German, Romanian and Hungarian losses in manpower (killed, missing, wounded, sick) for 1941 amounted to 918 thousand people. - most of them were at the end of 1941 ( five times less than Comrade Stalin announced in his report).

Thus, the first months of the war on the Eastern Front led to the defeat of the Red Army and the almost complete collapse of the political and economic system created by the Bolsheviks. As the numbers of casualties, abandoned military equipment and vast territories captured by the enemy show, the dimensions of this catastrophe are unprecedented and completely dispel the myths about the wisdom of the Soviet party leadership, the high professionalism of the officer corps of the Red Army, the courage and stamina of Soviet soldiers and, most importantly, the -givenness and love for the Motherland of ordinary Soviet people. The army practically crumbled after the very first powerful blows of the German units, the top party and military leadership became confused and showed their complete incompetence, the officer corps was not ready for serious battles and the vast majority, having abandoned their units and military equipment, fled from the battlefield or surrendered to the Germans ; abandoned by officers, demoralized Soviet soldiers surrendered to the Nazis or hid from the enemy.

Direct confirmation of the painted gloomy picture are the decrees of Stalin, issued by him in the first weeks of the war, immediately after he managed to cope with the shock of a terrible catastrophe. Already on June 27, 1941, a decree was signed on the creation in the army units of the notorious barrage detachments (ZO). In addition to existing special detachments of the NKVD, ZO existed in the Red Army until the autumn of 1944. The barrage detachments that were in each rifle division were located behind the regular units and detained or shot on the spot the soldiers who had fled from the front line. In October 1941, the 1st Deputy Head of the Department of Special Departments of the NKVD, Solomon Milshtein, reported to the Minister of the NKVD, Lavrenty Beria: “... from the beginning of the war to October 10, 1941, 657,364 servicemen who had fallen behind and fled from the front were detained by the special departments of the NKVD and the ZO” . In total, during the war years, according to Soviet official data, military tribunals condemned 994 thousand military personnel, of them 157593 - shot(7810 soldiers were shot in the Wehrmacht - 20 times less than in the Red Army). For voluntary surrender and cooperation with the invaders, they were shot or hanged 23 former Soviet generals(not counting dozens of generals who received camp terms).

Somewhat later, decrees were signed on the creation penal divisions, through which, according to official data, 427910 military personnel(penal units existed until June 6, 1945).

Based real figures and facts preserved in Soviet and German documents(decrees, secret reports, notes, etc.), one can draw a bitter conclusion: in no country that became a victim of Hitler's aggression, there was such moral decay, mass desertion and cooperation with the invaders, as in the USSR. For example, by the middle of 1944, the number of personnel of the military formations of “voluntary assistants” (the so-called Khivs), police and military units from Soviet military personnel and civilians exceeded 800 thousand people(only in the SS served more than 150 thousand former Soviet citizens).

The scale of the catastrophe that befell the Soviet Union in the first months of the war came as a surprise not only to the Soviet elite, but also to the leadership of Western countries and, to some extent, even to the Nazis. In particular, the Germans were not ready to "digest" such a number of Soviet prisoners of war - by mid-July 1941, the flow of prisoners of war exceeded the Wehrmacht's ability to protect and maintain them. On July 25, 1941, the command of the German army issues an order for the mass release of prisoners of a number of nationalities. Until November 13, by this order, 318770 Soviet prisoners of war (mainly Ukrainians, Belarusians and Balts).

The catastrophic extent of the defeats of the Soviet troops, accompanied by mass surrender, desertion and cooperation with the enemy in the occupied territories, raises the question of the causes of these shameful phenomena. Liberal-democratic historians and political scientists often note the abundance of similarities in the two totalitarian regimes - Soviet and Nazi. But at the same time, one should not forget about their fundamental differences in attitude towards one's own people. Hitler, who came to power democratically, led Germany out of devastation and post-war humiliation, eliminated unemployment, built excellent roads, and conquered a new living space. Yes, in Germany they began to exterminate Jews and Gypsies, persecute dissidents, introduce the most severe control over the public and even private lives of citizens, but no one expropriated private property, did not massively shoot and imprison aristocrats, the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia, did not drive them into collective farms and did not dispossess the peasants - the standard of living of the overwhelming majority of Germans was rising. And, most importantly, with their military, political and economic successes, the Nazis managed to inspire the majority of Germans with faith in the greatness and invincibility of their country and their people.

The Bolsheviks who seized power in Tsarist Russia destroyed the best part of society and, having deceived almost all sectors of society, brought their peoples famines and deportations, and for ordinary citizens - forced collectivization and industrialization, which grossly broke the habitual way of life and lowered the standard of living of most ordinary people.

In 1937-1938. arrested by the NKVD 1345 thousand people, of which 681 thousand - shot. On the eve of the war, in January 1941, according to official Soviet statistics, 1930 thousand convicts were kept in the camps of the Gulag, another 462 thousand people. were in prisons, and 1200 thousand - in "special settlements" (total 3 million 600 thousand people). Therefore, the rhetorical question: “Could the Soviet people living in such conditions, with such orders and such power, massively show courage and heroism in battles with the Germans, defending with their breasts“ the socialist fatherland, their own communist party and the wise comrade Stalin? - hangs in the air, and a significant difference in the number of those who surrendered, deserters and military equipment abandoned on the battlefield between the Soviet and German armies in the first months of the war is convincingly explained by the different attitudes towards their citizens, soldiers and officers in the USSR and Nazi Germany.

Fracture.
We do not stand up for the price

In October 1941, Hitler, anticipating the final defeat of the Soviet Union, was preparing to receive the parade of German troops in the citadel of Bolshevism - on Red Square. However, events at the front and in the rear already at the end of 1941 began to develop not according to his scenario.

German losses in battles began to grow, logistical and food assistance from the allies (mainly the United States) to the Soviet army increased every month, military factories evacuated to the East began mass production of weapons. First, the autumn thaw, and then the severe frosts of the winter of 1941-1942, helped to slow down the offensive impulse of the fascist units. But most importantly, a radical change was gradually taking place in the attitude towards the enemy on the part of the people - soldiers, home front workers and ordinary citizens who found themselves in the occupied territories.

In November 1941, Stalin, in his report on the occasion of the next anniversary of the October Revolution, said a significant and this time absolutely truthful phrase: “ Hitler's stupid policy turned the peoples of the USSR into sworn enemies of today's Germany". These words formulate one of the most important reasons for the transformation of the Second World War, in which the Soviet Union participated from September 1939, in the Great Patriotic War, in which the leading role passed to the people. Obsessed with delusional racial ideas, narcissistic paranoid Hitler, not listening to the numerous warnings of his generals, declared the Slavs "subhuman", who should free up living space for the "Aryan race", and at first serve the representatives of the "master race". Millions of captured Soviet prisoners of war were driven like cattle to huge open areas, entangled with barbed wire, and starved and cold there. By the beginning of the winter of 1941, out of 3.8 million people. more than 2 million from such conditions and treatment were destroyed. The previously mentioned release of prisoners of a number of nationalities, initiated by the army command on November 13, 1941, was personally forbidden by Hitler. All attempts by anti-Soviet national or civil structures that collaborated with the Germans at the beginning of the war (Ukrainian nationalists, Cossacks, Balts, white émigrés) to create at least semi-independent state, military, public or regional structures were nipped in the bud. S. Bandera with part of the leadership of the OUN was sent to a concentration camp. The collective farm system was practically preserved; the civilian population was forcibly driven to work in Germany, massively taken hostage and shot on any suspicion. The terrible scenes of the genocide of Jews, the mass death of prisoners of war, the execution of hostages, public executions - all this in front of the eyes of the population - shocked the inhabitants of the occupied territories. During the first six months of the war, according to the most conservative estimates, 5-6 million Soviet civilians perished at the hands of the invaders (including about 2.5 million Soviet Jews). Not so much Soviet propaganda as news from the front, the stories of those who escaped from the occupied territories and other methods of “wireless telephone” of people's rumors convinced the people that the new enemy was waging an inhuman war of complete annihilation. An increasing number of ordinary Soviet people - soldiers, partisans, residents of the occupied territories and home front workers began to realize that in this war the question was posed unequivocally - to die or win. This is what transformed the Second World War into the Great Patriotic (People's) War in the USSR.

The enemy was strong. The German army was distinguished by the stamina and courage of the soldiers, good weapons and a highly qualified general and officer corps. For another long three and a half years, stubborn battles continued, in which at first the Germans won local victories. But an increasing number of Germans began to understand that they would not be able to contain this impulse of almost universal popular fury. The rout at Stalingrad, the bloody battle on the Kursk Bulge, the growth of the partisan movement in the occupied territories, which, from a thin stream organized by the NKVD, turned into mass popular resistance. All this produced a radical change in the war on the Eastern Front.

Victories were given to the Red Army at a high price. This was facilitated not only by the bitterness of the resistance offered by the Nazis, but also by the "military skills" of the Soviet commanders. Brought up in the spirit of the glorious Bolshevik traditions, according to which the life of an individual, and even more so of a simple soldier, was worth nothing, many marshals and generals in their careerist rage (get ahead of a neighbor and be the first to report on the quick capture of another fortress, height or city) did not spare their lives soldier. Until now, it has not been calculated how many hundreds of thousands of lives of Soviet soldiers were worth the "rivalry" of Marshals Zhukov and Konev for the right to be the first to report to Stalin about the capture of Berlin.

From the end of 1941, the nature of the war began to change. The terrible ratio of human and military-technical losses of the Soviet and German armies have sunk into oblivion. For example, if in the first months of the war there were 415 Soviet prisoners of war per captured German, then since 1942 this ratio has approached one (out of 6.3 million captured Soviet soldiers, 2.5 million surrendered in the period from 1942 . to May 1945; during the same time, 2.2 million German soldiers surrendered). The people paid a terrible price for this Great Victory - the total human losses of the Soviet Union (10.7 million combat losses and 12.4 million civilians) in World War II amount to almost 40% of the losses of other participating countries this war (including China, which lost only 20 million people). Germany lost only 7 million 260 thousand people (of which 1.76 million were civilians).

The Soviet government did not calculate military losses - it was unprofitable for it, because the true dimensions, first of all, of human losses, convincingly illustrated the "wisdom and professionalism" of Comrade Stalin personally and his party and military nomenklatura.

The last, rather gloomy and poorly clarified chord of the Second World War (still hushed up not only by post-Soviet, but also by Western historians) was the issue of repatriates. By the end of the war, about 5 million Soviet citizens remained alive outside the homeland (3 million people in the zone of action of the allies and 2 million people in the zone of the Red Army). Of these, about 3.3 million are Ostarbeiters. out of 4.3 million driven by the Germans for forced labor. However, about 1.7 million people survived. prisoners of war, including those who entered the military or police service with the enemy and voluntary refugees.

The return of repatriates to their homeland was not easy, and often tragic. About 500 thousand people remained in the West. (every tenth), many were returned by force. The allies, who did not want to spoil relations with the USSR and were bound by the need to take care of their subjects who found themselves in the zone of action of the Red Army, were often forced to yield to the Soviets in this matter, realizing that many of the forcibly returned repatriates would be shot or end their lives in the Gulag. On the whole, the Western allies tried to adhere to the principle of returning to the Soviet authorities repatriates who had Soviet citizenship or who had committed war crimes against the Soviet state or its citizens.

The topic of the “Ukrainian account” of the Second World War deserves special discussion. Neither in Soviet nor post-Soviet times was this topic seriously analyzed, with the exception of ideological swearing between supporters of the pro-Soviet "unrecorded history" and adherents of the national-democratic trend. Western European historians (at least, English ones in the previously mentioned book “The Second World War”) determine the loss of the civilian population of Ukraine at 7 million people. If we add here about 2 million more combat losses (in proportion to the part of the population of the Ukrainian SSR in the total population of the USSR), then we get a terrible figure of military losses of 9 million people. - this is about 20% of the total population of Ukraine at that time. None of the countries participating in the Second World War suffered such terrible losses.

In Ukraine, disputes between politicians and historians about the attitude towards the soldiers of the UPA do not stop. Numerous "admirers of the red flag" proclaim them traitors to the Motherland and accomplices of the Nazis, regardless of facts, documents, or the opinion of European jurisprudence. These fighters for "historical justice" stubbornly do not want to know that the vast majority of the inhabitants of Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and the Baltic states, who found themselves outside the zone of the Red Army in 1945, were not handed over to the Soviets by the Western allies because, according to international laws, they were not citizens of the USSR and did not commit crimes against a foreign homeland. So out of 10 thousand SS Galicia fighters taken prisoner by the Allies in 1945, the Soviets were given only 112 people, despite the unprecedented, almost ultimatum, pressure from representatives of the USSR Council of People's Commissars for repatriation. As for the ordinary soldiers of the UPA, they courageously fought against the German and Soviet invaders for their lands and independent Ukraine.

In conclusion, I would like to return once again to the problem of historical truth. Is it worth disturbing the memory of the fallen heroes and searching for the ambiguous truth in the tragic events of World War II? The point is not only and not so much in historical truth, but in the system of “Soviet values” that has been preserved in the post-Soviet space, including Ukraine. Lies, like rust, corrode not only history, but all aspects of life. "Unrewritten history", inflated heroes, "red flags", pompous military parades, renewed Leninist subbotniks, envious aggressive hostility towards the West lead directly to the preservation of wretched unreformed "Soviet" industry, unproductive "kolkhoz" agriculture, "the most just", legal proceedings that are no different from Soviet times, the essentially Soviet ("thieves") system for the selection of leadership personnel, the valiant "people's" police and the "soviet" education and healthcare systems. The preserved system of perverted values ​​is largely to blame for the unique post-Soviet syndrome, which is characterized by the complete failure of political, economic and social reforms in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR of 1939-45, the largest war in the history of mankind between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan and the countries of the anti-fascist coalition that unleashed it. 61 states were involved in the war, over 80% of the world's population, military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states, as well as in sea and ocean theaters.

Causes, preparation and outbreak of war. The Second World War arose as a result of a sharp aggravation of economic and ideological contradictions between the leading world powers. The main reason for its emergence was the course of Germany, supported by its allies, for revenge for the defeat in the First World War of 1914-18 and the forcible redivision of the world. In the 1930s, 2 centers of war were formed - in the Far East and in Europe. The exorbitant reparations and restrictions imposed by the victors on Germany contributed to the development of a strong nationalist movement in it, in which extremely radical currents took over. With the advent of A. Hitler to power in 1933, Germany turned into a militaristic force dangerous for the whole world. This was evidenced by the scale and growth rate of its military economy and armed forces (AF). If in 1934 Germany produced 840 aircraft, then in 1936 - 4733. The volume of military production from 1934 to 1940 increased 22 times. In 1935, there were 29 divisions in Germany, and by the autumn of 1939 there were already 102. The German leadership placed special emphasis on training attack offensive forces - armored and motorized troops, and bomber aircraft. The Nazi program for world domination included plans for the restoration and expansion of the German colonial empire, the defeat of Great Britain, France and posed a threat to the United States, the most important goal of the Nazis was to destroy the USSR. The ruling circles of the Western countries, hoping to evade war, sought to direct German aggression to the East. They contributed to the revival of the military-industrial base of German militarism (US financial assistance to Germany under the Dawes Plan, the British-German naval agreement of 1935, etc.) and, in essence, encouraged the Nazi aggressors. The desire to redistribute the world was also characteristic of the fascist regime in Italy and militaristic Japan.

Having created a solid military-economic base and continuing to develop it, Germany, Japan, and also, despite certain economic difficulties, Italy (in 1929-38, gross industrial output increased by 0.6%) began to implement their aggressive plans. Japan in the early 1930s occupied the territory of Northeast China, creating a springboard for attacking the USSR, Mongolia, and others. The Italian fascists invaded Ethiopia in 1935 (see Italo-Ethiopian wars). In the spring of 1935, Germany, in violation of the military articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, introduced universal military service. As a result of the plebiscite, the Saarland was added to it. In March 1936, Germany unilaterally terminated the Locarno Treaty (see the Locarno Treaties of 1925) and sent its troops into the Rhine demilitarized zone, in March 1938 - into Austria (see Anschluss), liquidating an independent European state (of the great powers, only the USSR protested) . In September 1938, Great Britain and France betrayed their ally, Czechoslovakia, by agreeing to Germany's seizure of the Sudetenland (see the Munich Agreement of 1938). Having an agreement on mutual assistance with Czechoslovakia and France, the USSR repeatedly offered military assistance to Czechoslovakia, but the government of E. Beneš refused it. In the autumn of 1938, Germany occupied part of Czechoslovakia, and in the spring of 1939 - the entire Czech Republic (Slovakia was declared an "independent state"), seized the Klaipeda region from Lithuania. Italy annexed Albania in April 1939. Having caused the so-called Danzig crisis at the end of 1938 and having secured itself from the east after the conclusion of a non-aggression pact with the USSR in August 1939 (see the Soviet-German treaties of 1939), Germany prepared to invade Poland, which received guarantees of military support from Great Britain on August 25, 1939 and France.

The first period of the war (1.9.1939 - 21.6.1941). World War II began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. By September 1, 1939, the strength of the German Armed Forces reached over 4 million people, there were about 3.2 thousand tanks, over 26 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 4 thousand aircraft, 100 warships of the main classes. Poland had an armed forces of about 1 million people, armed with 220 light tanks and 650 tankettes, 4.3 thousand artillery pieces, 824 aircraft. Great Britain in the metropolis had an armed force of 1.3 million people, a strong navy (328 warships of the main classes and over 1.2 thousand aircraft, of which 490 were in reserve) and an air force (3.9 thousand aircraft, of which 2 thousand were in reserve) . By the end of August 1939, the French Armed Forces numbered about 2.7 million people, about 3.1 thousand tanks, over 26 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 3.3 thousand aircraft, 174 warships of the main classes. On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, but they did not provide practical assistance to Poland. The German troops, possessing an overwhelming superiority in forces and equipment, despite the courageous resistance of the Polish army, defeated it in 32 days and occupied most of Poland (see German-Polish War of 1939). Having lost the ability to govern the country, on September 17, the Polish government fled to Romania. On September 17, the Soviet government sent its troops into the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine (see the Campaign of the Red Army 1939), which were part of Russia until 1917, in order to protect the Belarusian and Ukrainian population in connection with the collapse of the Polish state and prevent the further advance of the German armies to the east (these lands were assigned to the Soviet "sphere of interest" according to the Soviet-German secret protocols of 1939). Important political consequences in the initial period of the Second World War were the reunification of Bessarabia with the USSR and the entry of Northern Bukovina into it, the conclusion of agreements in September - October 1939 on mutual assistance with the Baltic states and the subsequent entry of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union in August 1940. As a result of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40, although at the cost of great sacrifices, the main strategic goal pursued by the Soviet leadership was achieved - to secure the northwestern border. However, there was no full guarantee that the territory of Finland would not be used for aggression against the USSR, because. the set political goal - the creation of a pro-Soviet regime in Finland - was not achieved, and the hostile attitude towards the USSR intensified in it. This war led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the USA, Great Britain and France with the USSR (12/14/1939 the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations for attacking Finland). Great Britain and France even planned a military invasion of the territory of the USSR from Finland, as well as the bombing of oil fields in Baku. The course of the Soviet-Finnish war strengthened doubts about the combat capability of the Red Army, which arose in the Western ruling circles in connection with the repressions of 1937-38 against its commanding staff, and gave A. Hitler confidence in his calculations for a quick defeat of the Soviet Union.

In Western Europe, until May 1940, there was a “strange war”. The British-French troops were inactive, and the German armed forces, using the strategic pause after the defeat of Poland, were actively preparing for an offensive against the Western European states. On April 9, 1940, German troops occupied Denmark without declaring war and on the same day launched an invasion of Norway (see the Norwegian operation of 1940). The British and French troops that landed in Norway captured Narvik, but were unable to resist the aggressor and were evacuated from the country in June. On May 10, units of the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and delivered a blow to France through their territories (see the French campaign of 1940) bypassing the French Maginot Line. Having broken through the defenses in the Sedan area, the tank formations of the German troops reached the English Channel on May 20. On May 14, the Dutch army capitulated, on May 28 - the Belgian. The British Expeditionary Force and part of the French troops, blockaded in the Dunkirk area (see the Dunkirk operation of 1940), managed to evacuate to Great Britain, abandoning almost all military equipment. On June 14, German troops occupied Paris without a fight, and on June 22, France capitulated. Under the terms of the Compiegne armistice, most of France was occupied by German troops, the southern part remained under the rule of the pro-fascist government of Marshal A. Pétain (Vichy government). At the end of June 1940, a French patriotic organization headed by General Charles de Gaulle, the "Free France" (since July 1942, "Fighting France"), was formed in London.

On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany (in 1939, its armed forces numbered over 1.7 million people, about 400 tanks, about 13 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 3 thousand aircraft, 154 warships of the main classes and 105 submarines) . Italian troops captured British Somalia, part of Kenya and Sudan in August, invaded Egypt from Libya in September, where they were stopped and defeated by British troops in December. An attempt by Italian troops in October to develop an offensive from Albania occupied by them in 1939 to Greece was repulsed by the Greek army. In the Far East, Japan (by 1939, its armed forces included over 1.5 million people, over 2 thousand tanks, about 4.2 thousand artillery pieces, about 1 thousand aircraft, 172 warships of the main classes, including 6 aircraft carriers with 396 aircraft, and 56 submarines) occupied the southern regions of China and occupied the northern part of French Indochina. Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Berlin (Triple) Pact on September 27 (see Three Power Pact 1940).

In August 1940, aerial bombardments of Great Britain by German aircraft began (see the Battle of England 1940-41), the intensity of which sharply decreased in May 1941 due to the transfer of the main forces of the German Air Force to the east to attack the USSR. In the spring of 1941, the United States, which had not yet participated in the war, landed troops in Greenland, and then in Iceland, setting up military bases there. German U-boat operations intensified (see Battle of the Atlantic 1939-45). In January - May 1941, British troops, with the support of the rebellious population, expelled the Italians from East Africa. In February, German troops arrived in North Africa, forming the so-called African Corps, headed by Lieutenant General E. Rommel. Going on the offensive on March 31, the Italo-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the second half of April (see North African campaign of 1940-43). Preparing an attack on the Soviet Union, the countries of the fascist (Nazi) bloc carried out aggression in the Balkans in the spring of 1941 (see the Balkan Campaign of 1941). On March 1-2, German troops entered Bulgaria, which had joined the Tripartite Pact, and on April 6, German troops (later Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops) invaded Yugoslavia (surrendered on April 18) and Greece (occupied on April 30). In May

the island of Crete was captured (see the Cretan airborne operation of 1941).

The military successes of Germany in the first period of the war were largely due to the fact that its opponents were unable to combine their efforts, create a unified system of military leadership, and develop effective plans for the joint conduct of the war. The economy and resources of the occupied countries of Europe were used to prepare the war against the USSR.

The second period of the war (22.6.1941 - November 1942). 22/6/1941 Germany, violating the non-aggression pact, suddenly attacked the USSR. Together with Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and Italy came out against the USSR. The Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 began. Since the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union has been taking measures to increase the country's defense capability and repel possible aggression. The development of industry proceeded at an accelerated pace, the scale of production of military products increased, new types of tanks, aircraft, artillery systems, and the like were introduced into production and adopted for service. In 1939, a new Law on universal conscription was adopted, aimed at creating a mass cadre army (by mid-1941, the number of Soviet Armed Forces had increased by more than 2.8 times compared to 1939 and amounted to about 5.7 million people). The experience of military operations in the West, as well as the Soviet-Finnish war, was actively studied. However, the mass repressions unleashed by the Stalinist leadership in the late 1930s, which hit the Armed Forces especially hard, reduced the effectiveness of preparations for war and affected the development of the military-political situation at the beginning of Hitler's aggression.

The entry of the USSR into the war determined the content of its new stage and had a tremendous impact on the policy of the leading world powers. The governments of Great Britain and the USA 22-24.6.1941 declared their support for the USSR; in July-October, agreements were signed on joint actions and military-economic cooperation between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. In August - September, the USSR and Great Britain sent their troops into Iran to prevent the possibility of creating fascist strongholds in the Middle East. These joint military-political actions laid the foundation for the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. On September 24, at the London International Conference in 1941, the USSR joined the Atlantic Charter of 1941.

The Soviet-German front became the main front of the Second World War, where the armed struggle acquired an exceptionally fierce character. 70% of the personnel of the German Ground Forces and SS units, 86% of tank units, 100% of motorized formations, and up to 75% of artillery acted against the USSR. Despite major successes at the beginning of the war, Germany failed to achieve the strategic goal envisaged by the Barbarossa plan. The Red Army, suffering heavy losses, in fierce battles in the summer of 1941, thwarted the plan for a "blitzkrieg". Soviet troops in heavy battles exhausted and bled the advancing enemy groups. The German troops failed to capture Leningrad, they were for a long time pinned down by the defense of Odessa in 1941 and the Sevastopol defense of 1941-42, stopped near Moscow. As a result of the defeat of the German troops in the Battle of Moscow in 1941-1942, the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht was dispelled. This victory forced Germany into a protracted war, inspired the peoples of the occupied countries to fight for liberation against fascist oppression, and gave impetus to the Resistance Movement.

By attacking the US military base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States. On December 8, the United States, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan; on December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The entry of the United States and Japan into the war affected the balance of power and increased the scale of the armed struggle. An important role in the development of allied relations was played by the Moscow meetings of 1941-43 of representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain on the issue of military supplies to the Soviet Union (see Lend-Lease). In Washington on January 1, 1942, the Declaration of 26 States of 1942 was signed, to which other states later joined.

In North Africa, in November 1941, British troops, taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Wehrmacht were pinned down near Moscow, launched an offensive, occupied Cyrenaica and lifted the blockade from Tobruk, besieged by the Italo-German troops, but in January - June, the Italo-German troops, having launched a counteroffensive , advanced 1.2 thousand km, captured Tobruk and part of the territory of Egypt. After that, there was a lull on the African front until the autumn of 1942. In the Atlantic Ocean, German submarines continued to inflict great damage on the Allied fleets (by the autumn of 1942, the tonnage of ships sunk, mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, amounted to over 14 million tons). Japan in early 1942 occupied Malaya, the most important islands of Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, inflicted a major defeat on the British fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, the British-American-Dutch fleet in the Java operation and seized dominance at sea. The American Navy and Air Force, significantly reinforced by the summer of 1942, defeated the Japanese fleet in naval battles in the Coral Sea (May 7-8) and at Midway Island (June). In northern China, the Japanese invaders launched punitive operations in the areas liberated by the partisans.

On May 26, 1942, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Germany and its satellites; On June 11, the USSR and the USA concluded an agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in the conduct of war. These acts completed the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. On June 12, the United States and Great Britain made a promise to open a second front in Western Europe in 1942, but did not keep it. Taking advantage of the absence of a second front and the defeats of the Red Army in the Crimea, and especially in the Kharkov operation of 1942, the German command launched a new strategic offensive on the Soviet-German front in the summer of 1942. In July-November, Soviet troops pinned down enemy strike groups and prepared the conditions for a counteroffensive. The failure of the German offensive on the Soviet-German front in 1942 and the failure of the Japanese Armed Forces in the Pacific Ocean forced Japan to refrain from the planned attack on the USSR and switch to defense in the Pacific Ocean at the end of 1942. At the same time, the USSR, while remaining neutral, refused to allow the United States to use air bases in the Soviet Far East, from where they could strike at Japan.

The entry into the war of the two largest countries in the world - the USSR, and then the USA - led to a gigantic expansion of the scale of hostilities in the 2nd period of World War II, an increase in the number of armed forces participating in the struggle. In opposition to the fascist bloc, an anti-fascist coalition of states was formed, which had enormous economic and military potentials. By the end of 1941, on the Soviet-German front, the fascist bloc was faced with the need to wage a long, protracted war. The armed struggle in the Pacific Ocean, in Southeast Asia and in other theaters of war also assumed a similar character. By the autumn of 1942, the adventurism of the aggressive plans of the leadership of Germany and its allies, calculated to win world domination, became completely obvious. Attempts to crush the USSR were unsuccessful. On all theaters of operations, the offensive of the aggressors' armed forces was stopped. However, the fascist coalition continued to be a powerful military-political organization capable of active action.

The third period of the war (November 1942 - December 1943). The main events of the Second World War in 1942-1943 developed on the Soviet-German front. By November 1942, 192 divisions and 3 brigades of the Wehrmacht (71% of all Ground Forces) and 66 divisions and 13 brigades of Germany's allies were operating here. On November 19, the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad began (see the Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43), which ended with the encirclement and defeat of the 330,000-strong group of German troops. An attempt by the German Army Group Don (commanded by Field Marshal E. von Manstein) to release the encircled grouping of Field Marshal F. von Paulus was thwarted. Having fettered the main forces of the Wehrmacht in the Moscow direction (40% of the German divisions), the Soviet command did not allow the transfer of the reserves needed by Manstein to the south. The victory of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and had a great influence on the further course of the entire Second World War. It undermined the prestige of Germany in the eyes of its allies, gave rise to doubt among the Germans themselves about the possibility of winning the war. The Red Army, seizing the strategic initiative, launched a general offensive on the Soviet-German front. The mass expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the Soviet Union began. The Battle of Kursk in 1943 and the access to the Dnieper ended a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. The battle for the Dnieper in 1943 overturned the enemy's calculations for a transition to a protracted positional defensive war.

In the autumn of 1942, when fierce battles on the Soviet-German front fettered the main forces of the Wehrmacht, British-American troops intensified military operations in North Africa. They won in October - November in the El Alamein operation of 1942 and carried out the North African landing operation of 1942. As a result of the Tunisian operation in 1943, the Italo-German troops in North Africa capitulated. British-American troops, taking advantage of the favorable situation (the main enemy forces participated in the Battle of Kursk), landed on the island of Sicily on 10/7/1943 and captured it by mid-August (see Sicilian landing operation of 1943). On July 25, the fascist regime in Italy fell; on September 3, the new government of P. Badoglio concluded a truce with the Allies. The withdrawal of Italy from the war marked the beginning of the disintegration of the fascist bloc.

On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany, in response, German troops occupied northern Italy. In September, the allied troops landed in southern Italy, but could not break the resistance of the German troops on the defensive line created north of Naples, and in December they suspended active operations. During this period, secret negotiations between representatives of the United States and Great Britain with German emissaries became more active (see Anglo-American-German contacts 1943-45). In the Pacific Ocean and in Asia, Japan, turning to strategic defense, sought to hold the territories captured in 1941-42. The Allies, having launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean in August 1942, captured the island of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands; February 1943), landed on the island of New Guinea, ousted the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands, and inflicted a number of defeats on the Japanese fleet.

The 3rd period of the Second World War went down in history as a period of a radical turning point. Of decisive importance for changing the strategic situation were the historical victories of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and the Battle of the Dnieper, as well as the victories of the Allies in North Africa and the landing of their troops in Sicily and in the south of the Apennine Peninsula. However, the Soviet Union still bore the brunt of the fight against Germany and its European allies. At the Tehran Conference in 1943, at the request of the Soviet delegation, a decision was made to open a second front no later than May 1944. The armies of the Nazi bloc in the 3rd period of the Second World War could not win a single major victory and were forced to take a course to prolong hostilities and switch to strategic defense. Having passed the turning point, the Second World War in Europe entered the final stage.

It began with a new offensive of the Red Army. Soviet troops in 1944 on the entire Soviet-German front brought crushing blows to the enemy and expelled the invaders from the borders of the Soviet Union. During the subsequent offensive, the USSR Armed Forces played a decisive role in the liberation of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, the northern regions of Norway, in the withdrawal of Finland from the war, and created the conditions for the liberation of Albania and Greece. Together with the Red Army, the troops of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia took part in the fight against Nazi Germany, and after the armistice with Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the military units of these countries also took part. The allied troops, having carried out the "Overlord" operation, opened a second front and launched an offensive in Germany. Having landed on 15/8/1944 in the south of France, the British-American troops, with the active support of the French Resistance Movement, by mid-September joined the troops advancing from Normandy, but the German troops managed to leave France. After the opening of the second front, the main front of the Second World War continued to be the Soviet-German front, where there were 1.8-2.8 times more troops of the countries of the fascist bloc than on other fronts.

In February 1945, the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945 was held by the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, during which plans for the final defeat of the German Armed Forces were agreed upon, the basic principles of a common policy regarding the post-war world order were outlined, decisions were made to create zones of occupation in Germany and the all-German control body, on the recovery of reparations from Germany, on the creation of the UN, etc. The USSR agreed to enter the war against Japan 3 months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe.

During the Ardennes operation of 1944-1945, German troops defeated the Allied forces. To alleviate the position of the allies in the Ardennes, at their request, the Red Army launched its winter offensive ahead of schedule (see the Vistula-Oder operation of 1945 and the East Prussian operation of 1945). Having restored the situation by the end of January 1945, British-American troops crossed the Rhine at the end of March and carried out the Ruhr operation in April, which ended with the encirclement and capture of a large enemy grouping. During the North Italian operation of 1945, the allied forces, with the help of Italian partisans, completely captured Italy in April - early May. In the Pacific theater of operations, the Allies conducted operations to defeat the Japanese fleet, liberated a number of islands, approached Japan directly (on April 1, American troops landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa) and cut off its communications with the countries of Southeast Asia.

In April - May, Red Army units defeated the last groupings of German troops in the Berlin operation of 1945 and the Prague operation of 1945 and met with the Allied troops. The war in Europe is over. The unconditional surrender of Germany was accepted late in the evening on May 8 (at 00:43 on May 9, Moscow time) by representatives of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and France.

In the 4th period of the Second World War, the struggle reached its highest scope and tension. It was attended by the largest number of states, personnel of the Armed Forces, military equipment and weapons. The military-economic potential of Germany fell sharply, while in the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition it reached the highest level during the war years. The hostilities took place in conditions when Germany faced the armies of the allied powers advancing from the east and west. From the end of 1944, Japan remained the only ally of Germany, which testified to the collapse of the fascist bloc and the bankruptcy of Germany's foreign policy. The USSR victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War, unprecedented in its fierceness.

At the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference of 1945, the USSR confirmed its readiness to enter the war with Japan, and at the San Francisco Conference of 1945, together with representatives of 50 states, they developed the UN Charter. In order to demoralize the enemy and demonstrate their military power to the allies (primarily to the USSR), the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, respectively). Fulfilling its allied duty, the USSR declared war on Japan and on August 9 began hostilities. During the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945, Soviet troops, having defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army (see the Manchurian operation of 1945), liquidated the center of aggression in the Far East, liberated Northeast China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, thereby hastening the end of the war. On September 2, Japan capitulated, World War II ended.

Main results of the Second World War. The Second World War was the largest military clash in the history of mankind. It lasted 6 years, the population of the participating states amounted to 1.7 billion people, 110 million people were in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Military operations were conducted in Europe, Asia, Africa, in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans. It was the most destructive and bloody of wars. More than 55 million people died in it. The damage from the destruction and destruction of material assets on the territory of the USSR amounted to about 41% of the losses of all countries participating in the war. The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war, suffered the greatest human casualties (about 27 million people died). Poland (about 6 million people), China (over 5 million people), Yugoslavia (about 1.7 million people) and other states suffered great losses. The Soviet-German front was the main front of World War II. It was here that the military power of the fascist bloc was crushed. In different periods, from 190 to 270 divisions of Germany and its allies operated on the Soviet-German front. British-American troops in North Africa in 1941-43 were opposed by 9 to 20 divisions, in Italy in 1943-1945 - from 7 to 26 divisions, in Western Europe after the opening of the second front - from 56 to 75 divisions. The Soviet Armed Forces defeated and captured 607 enemy divisions, the Allies - 176 divisions. Germany and its allies lost about 9 million people on the Soviet-German front (total losses - about 14 million people) and about 75% of military equipment and weapons. The length of the Soviet-German front during the war years ranged from 2 thousand km to 6.2 thousand km, the North African - up to 350 km, the Italian - up to 300 km, the Western European 800-1000 km. Active operations on the Soviet-German front were carried out for 1320 days out of 1418 (93%), on the Allied fronts out of 2069 days - 1094 (53%). The irretrievable losses of the allies (killed, dead from wounds, missing) amounted to about 1.5 million soldiers and officers, including the USA - 405 thousand, Great Britain - 375 thousand, France - 600 thousand, Canada - 37 thousand, Australia - 35 thousand, New Zealand - 12 thousand, the Union of South Africa - 7 thousand people. The most important outcome of the war was the defeat of the most aggressive reactionary forces, which radically changed the alignment of political forces in the world and determined its entire post-war development. Many peoples of “non-Aryan” origin were saved from physical destruction, who were destined to perish in Nazi concentration camps or become slaves. The defeat of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan contributed to the rise of the national liberation movement and the collapse of the colonial system of imperialism. For the first time, a legal assessment was given to the ideologues and executors of misanthropic plans for the conquest of world domination (see the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-49 and the Tokyo Trial of 1946-48). The Second World War had a comprehensive influence on the further development of military art, the construction of the Armed Forces. It was distinguished by the massive use of tanks, a high degree of motorization, and the widespread introduction of new combat and technical means. During the Second World War, radars and other means of radio electronics, rocket artillery, jet aircraft, projectiles and ballistic missiles were used for the first time, and at the final stage, nuclear weapons. The Second World War clearly showed the dependence of war on the economy and scientific and technological progress, the closest interconnection of economic, scientific, military and other potentials on the path to victory.

Lit.: History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. M., 1973-1982. T. 1-12; Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Munch., 1979-2005. Bd 1-9; World War II: Results and Lessons. M., 1985; Nuremberg Trials: Sat. materials. M., 1987-1999. T. 1-8; 1939: The Lessons of History. M., 1990; Resistance Movement in Western Europe. 1939-1945. M., 1990-1991. T. 1-2; World War II: Actual Problems. M., 1995; Allies at War, 1941-1945. M., 1995; Resistance movement in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, 1939-1945. M., 1995; Another war, 1939-1945. M., 1996; The Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945: Military Historical Essays. M., 1998-1999. T. 1-4; Churchill W. World War II. M., 1998. T. 1-6; Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. 13th ed. M., 2002. T. 1-2; World Wars of the XX century. M., 2002. Book. 3: World War II: A Historical Outline. Book. 4: World War II: Documents and Materials.

	Europe, East and Southeast Asia, North, Northeast and West Africa, Middle East, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, Mediterranean.
	Politics of many states; the consequences of the Versailles-Washington system; world economic crisis.
	Russian victory
Territorial changes:	The victory of the anti-Hitler coalition. Creation of the UN. Prohibition and condemnation of the ideologies of fascism and Nazism. The USSR and the USA become superpowers. Reducing the role of Great Britain and France in global politics. The world is splitting into two camps with different socio-political systems: socialist and capitalist. The Cold War begins. Decolonization of vast colonial empires.
Opponents
	Italian Republic (1943-1945)
France (1939-1940)
Belgium (1940)	Kingdom of Italy (1940-1943)
Netherlands (1940-1942)
Luxembourg (1940)
	Finland (1941-1944)
	Romania (Under Antonescu)
Denmark (1940)	French State (1940-1944)
Greece (1940-1941)	Bulgaria (1941-1944)
States that emerged from the Nazi bloc:	States that supported the Axis:
Romania (Under Antonescu)
Bulgaria (1941-1944)
Finland (1941-1944)
Declaring war on Germany, but not participating in hostilities:
Russian empire
Commanders
Joseph Stalin	Adolf Gitler †
Winston Churchill	Empire of Japan Tojo Hideki
Franklin Roosevelt †	Benito Mussolini †
Maurice Gustave Gamelin	Henri Philippe Pétain
Maxim Weigan	Miklos Horthy
Leopold III	Risto Ryti
Chiang Kai-shek	Ion Victor Antonescu
John Curtin	Boris III †
William Lyon Mackenzie King	Josef Tiso
Michael Joseph Savage †	Ante Pavelic
Josip Broz Tito	Ananda Mahidol

(September 1, 1939 - September 2, 1945) - an armed conflict between two world military-political coalitions, which became the largest war in the history of mankind. 62 of the 73 states that existed at that time participated in the war. The fighting took place on the territory of three continents and in the waters of four oceans.

Members

The number of countries involved varied over the course of the war. Some of them were active in the war, others helped their allies with food supplies, and many participated in the war only nominally.

The anti-Hitler coalition included: Poland, Great Britain, France (since 1939), the USSR (since 1941), the USA (since 1941), China, Australia, Canada, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Greece, Ethiopia, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico, Mongolia, Luxembourg, Nepal, Panama, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Albania, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Paraguay , Ecuador, San Marino, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, Liberia, Bolivia. During the war, some states that left the Nazi bloc joined them: Iran (since 1941), Iraq (since 1943), Italy (since 1943), Romania (since 1944), Bulgaria (since 1944), Hungary (in 1945), Finland (in 1945).

On the other hand, the countries of the Nazi bloc participated in the war: Germany, Italy (until 1943), the Empire of Japan, Finland (until 1944), Bulgaria (until 1944), Romania (until 1944), Hungary (until 1945), Slovakia, Thailand (Siam ), Iraq (until 1941), Iran (until 1941), Manchukuo, Croatia. On the territory of the occupied countries, puppet states were created that were not, in fact, participants in the Second World War and joined the fascist coalition: Vichy France, the Italian Social Republic, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Inner Mongolia, Burma, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. On the side of Germany and Japan, many collaborationist troops also fought, created from citizens of the opposing side: ROA, RONA, foreign SS divisions (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Estonian, 2 Latvian, Norwegian-Danish, 2 Dutch, 2 Belgian, 2 Bosnian, French , Albanian), "Free India". Also in the armed forces of the countries of the Nazi bloc fought the volunteer forces of states that formally remained neutral: Spain (Blue Division), Sweden and Portugal.

Who declared war	To whom war was declared
United Kingdom	Third Reich
	Third Reich
	Third Reich
	Third Reich
	Third Ray
	Third Reich
	Third Reich
	United Kingdom
Third Reich

Territories

All hostilities can be divided into 5 theaters of war:

• Western European: West Germany, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France, Great Britain (air bombing), Atlantic.
• Eastern European theater: USSR (western part), Poland, Finland, Northern Norway, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria (eastern part), East Germany, Barents Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea.
• Mediterranean theater: Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, Italy, the Mediterranean islands (Malta, Cyprus, etc.), Egypt, Libya, French North Africa, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, the Mediterranean Sea.
• African Theatre: Ethiopia, Italian Somali, British Somali, Kenya, Sudan, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Madagascar.
• Pacific theater: China (eastern and northeastern), Japan (Korea, South Sakhalin, Kuril Islands), USSR (Far East), Aleutian Islands, Mongolia, Hong Kong, French Indochina, Burma, Andaman Islands, Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak , Dutch East Indies, Sabah, Brunei, New Guinea, Papua, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Wake, Midway, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, many small Pacific islands, large part of the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean.

Background of the war

Background of the war in Europe

The Treaty of Versailles severely limited Germany's military capabilities. In April-May 1922, the Genoese Conference was held in the northern Italian port city of Rappalo. Representatives of Soviet Russia were also invited: Georgy Chicherin (chairman), Leonid Krasin, Adolf Ioffe and others. Germany (the Weimar Republic) was represented by Walter Rathenau. The main theme of the conference was the mutual refusal to put forward claims for compensation for damage caused during the fighting in the First World War. The result of the conference was the conclusion of the Treaty of Rapallo on April 16, 1922 between the RSFSR and the Weimar Republic. The agreement provided for the immediate restoration in full of diplomatic relations between the RSFSR and Germany. For Soviet Russia, this was the first international treaty in its history. For Germany, which until now has been outside the law in the field of international politics, this agreement was of fundamental importance, since in this way it began to return to the ranks of states recognized by the international community.

Of no less importance for Germany were the secret agreements signed on August 11, 1922, according to which Soviet Russia guaranteed the supply of strategic materials to Germany and, moreover, provided its territory for testing new types of military equipment prohibited for development by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. year.

On July 27, 1928, the Briand-Kellogg Pact was signed in Paris, an agreement to renounce war as an instrument of national policy. The pact was to come into force on July 24, 1929. On February 9, 1929, even before the official entry into force of the pact, the so-called Litvinov Protocol was signed in Moscow - the Moscow Protocol on the early entry into force of the obligations of the Briand-Kellogg Pact between the USSR, Poland, Romania, Estonia and Latvia. Turkey joined on April 1, 1929, and Lithuania on April 5.

On July 25, 1932, the Soviet Union and Poland conclude a non-aggression pact. Thus, Poland is to some extent freed from the threat from the East.

With the advent of the National Socialist Workers' Party led by Adolf Hitler in 1933, Germany begins to ignore all the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles - in particular, it restores conscription into the army and rapidly increases the production of weapons and military equipment. October 14, 1933 Germany withdraws from the League of Nations and refuses to participate in the Geneva Disarmament Conference. On January 26, 1934, a non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and Poland. On July 24, 1934, Germany attempts to carry out the Anschluss of Austria, inspiring an anti-government coup in Vienna, but is forced to abandon its plans due to the sharply negative position of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who advanced four divisions to the Austrian border.

In the 1930s, Italy pursued an equally aggressive foreign policy. On October 3, 1935, she invades Ethiopia and captures it by May 1936 (see: Italo-Ethiopian War). In 1936, the Italian Empire was proclaimed. The Mediterranean Sea is declared "Our Sea" (lat. Mare Nostrum). An act of unjustified aggression causes discontent among the Western powers and the League of Nations. The deterioration of relations with the Western powers is pushing Italy towards rapprochement with Germany. In January 1936, Mussolini agreed in principle to the annexation of Austria by the Germans on the condition that they refuse to expand in the Adriatic. March 7, 1936 German troops occupy the Rhine demilitarized zone. Great Britain and France do not offer effective resistance to this, limiting themselves to a formal protest. On November 25, 1936, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact on the joint fight against communism. November 6, 1937 Italy joins the pact.

On September 30, 1938, the British Prime Minister Chamberlain and Hitler signed a declaration of non-aggression and a peaceful settlement of disputes between Great Britain and Germany. In 1938, Chamberlain met Hitler three times, and after the meeting in Munich he returned home with his famous statement "I have brought you peace!"

In March 1938, Germany freely annexed Austria (see: Anschluss).

Georges Bonnet, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, and Joachim Ribbentrop, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the German Reich, December 6, 1938, sign the Franco-German Declaration.

In October 1938, as a result of the Munich Agreement, Germany annexed the Sudetenland that belonged to Czechoslovakia. England and France give consent to this act, and the opinion of Czechoslovakia itself is not taken into account. On March 15, 1939, Germany, in violation of the agreement, occupies the Czech Republic (see German occupation of the Czech Republic). A German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is created on Czech territory. Hungary and Poland participate in the division of Czechoslovakia. Slovakia is declared an independent pro-Nazi state. On February 24, 1939, Hungary joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, and on March 27, Spain, where Francisco Franco came to power after the end of the civil war.

Until now, the aggressive actions of Germany have not met with serious resistance from Great Britain and France, who do not dare to start a war and are trying to save the system of the Versailles Treaty with reasonable, from their point of view, concessions (the so-called "appeasement policy"). However, after the violation of the Munich Treaty by Hitler in both countries, the need for a tougher policy is becoming increasingly recognized, and in the event of further German aggression, Great Britain and France give military guarantees to Poland. After the capture of Albania by Italy on April 7-12, 1939, Romania and Greece received the same guarantees.

According to M. I. Meltyukhov, objective conditions also made the Soviet Union an opponent of the Versailles system. Due to the internal crisis caused by the events of the First World War, the October Revolution and the Civil War, the level of the country's influence on European and world politics has decreased significantly. At the same time, the strengthening of the Soviet state and the results of industrialization stimulated the leadership of the USSR to take measures to restore the status of a world power. The Soviet government skillfully used official diplomatic channels, the illegal possibilities of the Comintern, social propaganda, pacifist ideas, anti-fascism, and assistance to some of the victims of the aggressors to create the image of the main fighter for peace and social progress. The struggle for "collective security" became Moscow's foreign policy tactic, aimed at strengthening the weight of the USSR in international affairs and at preventing the consolidation of other great powers without its participation. However, the Munich Agreement clearly showed that the USSR is still far from becoming an equal subject of European politics.

After the military alarm of 1927, the USSR began to actively prepare for war. The possibility of an attack by a coalition of capitalist countries was replicated by official propaganda. In order to have a trained mobilization reserve, the military began to actively and everywhere train the urban population in military specialties, training in parachuting, aircraft modeling, etc., became widespread (see OSOAVIAKHIM). It was honorable and prestigious to pass the TRP standards (ready for work and defense), to earn the title and badge of the “Voroshilovsky shooter” for marksmanship, and, along with the new title “order bearer”, the prestigious title of “badge officer” also appeared.

As a result of the Rapallo agreements reached and subsequent secret agreements, an aviation training center was established in Lipetsk in 1925, in which German instructors trained German and Soviet cadets. Near Kazan in 1929, a training center for commanders of tank formations (the secret training center "Kama") was established, in which German instructors also trained German and Soviet cadets. Many graduates of the Kama tank school became outstanding Soviet commanders, including the Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of the Tank Forces S. M. Krivoshein. For the German side, 30 Reichswehr officers were trained during the operation of the school. In 1926-1933, German tanks were also tested in Kazan (the Germans called them "tractors" for secrecy). In Volsk, a center was established for training in handling chemical weapons (the "Tomka" facility). In 1933, after Hitler came to power, all these schools were closed.

On January 11, 1939, the People's Commissariat of Ammunition and the People's Commissariat of Armaments were created. Trucks were painted exclusively in camouflage green.

In 1940, the USSR began to tighten the labor regime and increase the length of the working day of workers and employees. All state, cooperative and public enterprises and institutions were transferred from a six-day week to a seven-day week, counting the seventh day of the week - Sunday - as a day of rest. Tougher liability for absenteeism. Under pain of imprisonment, dismissal and transfer to another organization without the permission of the director were prohibited (see “Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of 06/26/1940”).

The army hastily adopts and begins mass production of a new Yak fighter, without even finishing state tests. 1940 is the year of mastering the production of the latest T-34 and KV, refining the SVT and adopting submachine guns.

During the political crisis of 1939, two military-political blocs emerged in Europe: Anglo-French and German-Italian, each of which was interested in an agreement with the USSR.

Poland, having concluded allied treaties with Great Britain and France, which are obliged to help it in the event of German aggression, refuses to make concessions in negotiations with Germany (in particular, on the issue of the Polish Corridor).

On August 19, 1939, Molotov agreed to receive Ribbentrop in Moscow to sign the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany. On the same day, an order was sent to the Red Army to increase the number of rifle divisions from 96 to 186.

Under these conditions, on August 23, 1939, in Moscow, the USSR signs a non-aggression pact with Germany. The secret protocol provided for the division of spheres of interest in Eastern Europe, including the Baltic states and Poland.

The USSR, Germany, France, Great Britain and other countries begin preparations for war.

Background of the war in Asia

The occupation of Manchuria and Northern China by Japan began in 1931. July 7, 1937 Japan launches an offensive deep into China (see Sino-Japanese War).

The expansion of Japan met with active opposition from the great powers. The United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands imposed economic sanctions against Japan. The USSR also did not remain indifferent to the events in the Far East, especially since the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts of 1938-1939 (of which the battles near Lake Khasan and the undeclared war at Khalkhin Gol were the most famous) threatened to escalate into a full-scale war.

In the end, Japan faced a serious choice in which direction to continue its further expansion: to the north against the USSR or to the south. The choice was made in favor of the "southern option". On April 13, 1941, an agreement was signed in Moscow between Japan and the USSR on neutrality for a period of 5 years. Japan began preparations for a war against the United States and its allies in the Pacific region (Great Britain, the Netherlands).

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacks the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Since December 1941, the Sino-Japanese War has been considered part of World War II.

First period of the war (September 1939 - June 1941)

Invasion of Poland

On May 23, 1939, a meeting was held in Hitler's office in the presence of a number of senior officers. It was noted that “the Polish problem is closely connected with the inevitable conflict with England and France, a quick victory over which is problematic. At the same time, Poland is unlikely to be able to play the role of a barrier against Bolshevism. At present, the task of German foreign policy is to expand living space to the East, ensure a guaranteed supply of food and eliminate the threat from the East. Poland must be captured at the first opportunity."

On August 31, the German press reported: "... on Thursday at about 20 o'clock the radio station in Gleiwitz was seized by the Poles."

On September 1, at 04:45, a German training ship, the obsolete battleship Schleswig-Holstein, arrived in Danzig on a friendly visit and enthusiastically met by the local population, opens fire on the Polish fortifications on Westerplatte. The German armed forces invade Poland. Slovak troops are taking part in the fighting on the side of Germany.

On September 1, Hitler in military uniform speaks in the Reichstag. In justifying the attack on Poland, Hitler refers to the incident at Gleiwitz. At the same time, he carefully avoids the term "war", fearing the entry into the conflict of England and France, which gave Poland the appropriate guarantees. The order he issued spoke only of "active defense" against Polish aggression.

On the same day, England and France, under the threat of a declaration of war, demanded the immediate withdrawal of German troops from Polish territory. Mussolini proposed to convene a conference for a peaceful solution of the Polish question, which met with support from the Western powers, but Hitler refused, stating that it was unsuitable to represent what was gained by diplomacy that was conquered by weapons.

On September 1, compulsory military service was introduced in the Soviet Union. At the same time, the draft age has been reduced from 21 to 19 years, and for some categories - up to 18 years. The law immediately took effect and in a short time the size of the army reached 5 million people, which amounted to about 3% of the population.

September 3 at 9 o'clock England, at 12:20 France, as well as Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal join within days. World War II has begun.

On September 3, in Bromberg, the city of East Prussia, which passed under the Treaty of Versailles to Poland, the first ethnic massacre in the outbreak of the war took place. In the city, whose population was 3/4 Germans, at least 1,100 of them were killed by the Poles, which was the last of the pogroms that had lasted for a month.

The offensive of the German troops developed according to plan. The Polish troops turned out to be a weak military force compared to the coordinated tank formations and the Luftwaffe. However, on the Western Front, the allied Anglo-French troops do not take any active action (see Strange War). Only at sea, the war began immediately: already on September 3, the German U-30 submarine attacked the English passenger liner Athenia without warning.

In Poland, during the first week of fighting, German troops cut through the Polish front in several places and occupy part of Mazovia, western Prussia, the Upper Silesian industrial region and western Galicia. By September 9, the Germans managed to break the Polish resistance along the entire front line and approach Warsaw.

On September 10, the Polish commander-in-chief Edward Rydz-Smigly orders a general retreat to southeastern Poland, but the main part of his troops, unable to retreat beyond the Vistula, is surrounded. By mid-September, having not received support from the West, the armed forces of Poland cease to exist as a whole; only local centers of resistance remain.

September 14, Guderian's 19th Panzer Corps captures Brest from East Prussia. Polish troops under the command of General Plisovsky defend the Brest Fortress for several more days. On the night of September 17, its defenders leave the forts in an organized manner and withdraw beyond the Bug.

On September 16, the Polish ambassador to the USSR was told that since the Polish state and its government had ceased to exist, the Soviet Union took under its protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

On September 17, at 6 o'clock in the morning, Soviet troops crossed the state border in two military groups. On the same day, Molotov sent congratulations to the German Ambassador to the USSR Schulenburg on the "brilliant success of the German Wehrmacht." In the evening of the same day, the Polish government and the high command fled to Romania.

On September 28, the Germans occupy Warsaw. On the same day, the Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany was signed in Moscow, which established the line of demarcation between German and Soviet troops on the territory of former Poland approximately along the "Curzon Line".

Part of the western Polish lands becomes part of the Third Reich. These lands are subject to the so-called "Germanization". The Polish and Jewish population is deported from here to the central regions of Poland, where a general government is being created. Massive repressions are being carried out against the Polish people. The most difficult is the situation of the Jews driven into the ghetto.

The territories that fell into the zone of influence of the USSR were included in the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and independent Lithuania at that time. In the territories included in the USSR, Soviet power is established, socialist transformations are carried out (nationalization of industry, collectivization of the peasantry), which is accompanied by deportation and repression against the former ruling classes - representatives of the bourgeoisie, landowners, wealthy peasants, part of the intelligentsia.

On October 6, 1939, after the end of all hostilities, Hitler proposes to convene a peace conference with the participation of all major powers to resolve the existing contradictions. France and Great Britain declare that they will agree to a conference only if the Germans immediately withdraw their troops from Poland and the Czech Republic and restore independence to these countries. Germany rejects these terms, and as a result, the peace conference never took place.

Battle of the Atlantic

Despite the rejection of the peace conference, Great Britain and France from September 1939 to April 1940 continue to wage a passive war and do not make any offensive attempts. Active combat operations are carried out only on sea lanes. Even before the war, the German command sent 2 battleships and 18 submarines to the Atlantic Ocean, which, with the opening of hostilities, began attacks on merchant ships of Great Britain and its allied countries. From September to December 1939, Great Britain loses 114 ships from German submarine attacks, and in 1940 - 471 ships, while the Germans in 1939 lost only 9 submarines. Attacks on the sea lanes of Great Britain led to the loss of 1/3 of the tonnage of the British merchant fleet by the summer of 1941 and created a serious threat to the country's economy.

During the Soviet-Finnish negotiations of 1938-1939, the USSR is trying to get Finland to cede part of the Karelian Isthmus. The transfer of these territories tore the Mannerheim Line in the most important, Vyborg direction, as well as the lease of several islands and part of the Khanko (Gangut) peninsula for military bases. Finland, not wanting to cede territory and assume obligations of a military nature, insists on the conclusion of a trade agreement and consent to the remilitarization of the Åland Islands. On November 30, 1939, the USSR invades Finland. On December 14, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations for starting a war. When the USSR began to be expelled from the League of Nations, 12 of the 52 states that were members of the League did not send their representatives to the conference at all, and 11 did not vote for the exclusion. And among these 11 are Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

From December to February, Soviet troops, consisting of 15 Soviet rifle divisions, make many attempts to break through the Mannerheim Line, defended by 15 Finnish infantry divisions, but do not achieve great success in this. In the future, there was a continuous build-up of the Red Army in all directions (in particular, at least 13 divisions were additionally transferred to the Ladoga and North Karelia). The average monthly strength of the entire group of troops reached 849,000.

Great Britain and France decide to prepare a landing on the Scandinavian Peninsula in order to prevent the capture of Swedish iron ore deposits by Germany and at the same time provide ways for the future transfer of their troops to help Finland; in the same way, the transfer of long-range bomber aircraft to the Middle East begins to bombard and seize the oil fields of Baku, in the event that England enters the war on the side of Finland. However, Sweden and Norway, striving to maintain neutrality, categorically refuse to accept Anglo-French troops on their territory. On February 16, 1940, British destroyers attack the German ship Altmark in Norwegian territorial waters. On March 1, Hitler, previously interested in maintaining the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries, signs a directive to capture Denmark and Norway (Operation Weserubung) in order to prevent a possible Allied landing.

In early March 1940, Soviet troops break through the Mannerheim Line and capture Vyborg. On March 13, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow between Finland and the USSR, according to which Soviet demands were met: the border on the Karelian Isthmus in the Leningrad region was moved to the north-west from 32 to 150 km, a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland went to the USSR.

Despite the end of the war, the Anglo-French command continues to develop a plan for a military operation in Norway, but the Germans manage to get ahead of them.

During the Soviet-Finnish war, the Finns invented the Molotov Cocktail and the Belka mines were invented.

European blitzkrieg

In Denmark, the Germans freely occupy all the most important cities with sea and air assault forces and destroy Danish aviation in a few hours. Threatened by bombing of the civilian population, Danish King Christian X is forced to sign a surrender and orders the army to lay down their arms.

In Norway, on April 9-10, the Germans capture the main Norwegian ports of Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Narvik. April 14 Anglo-French landing near Narvik, April 16 - in Namsus, April 17 - in Ondalsnes. On April 19, the Allies launch an offensive against Trondheim, but fail and are forced to withdraw their forces from central Norway in early May. After a series of battles for Narvik, the Allies also evacuated from the northern part of the country in early June. On June 10, 1940, the last units of the Norwegian army surrender. Norway is under the control of the German occupation administration (Reichskommissariat); Denmark, declared a German protectorate, was able to maintain partial independence in internal affairs.

Simultaneously with Germany, British and American troops hit Denmark in the back and occupied its overseas territories - the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.

May 10, 1940 Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg with 135 divisions. The 1st Allied Army Group advances into Belgian territory, but does not have time to help the Dutch, since the German Army Group "B" makes a swift throw into southern Holland and captures Rotterdam on May 12th. On May 15, the Netherlands capitulates. It was believed that in retaliation for the stubborn resistance of the Dutch, which was unexpected for the Germans, Hitler, after the signing of the act of surrender, ordered Rotterdam to be subjected to massive bombing (eng. bombingofRotterdam), which was not caused by military necessity and led to huge destruction and casualties among the civilian population. At the Nuremberg trials, it turned out that the bombing of Rotterdam took place on May 14, and the Dutch government capitulated only after the bombing of Rotterdam and the threat of bombing of Amsterdam and The Hague.

In Belgium, on May 10, German paratroopers capture bridges across the Albert Canal, which makes it possible for large German tank forces to force it before the Allies approach and enter the Belgian plain. Brussels fell on 17 May.

But the main blow is delivered by Army Group A. Having occupied Luxembourg on May 10, Guderian's three panzer divisions crossed the southern Ardennes and on May 14 crossed the river Meuse west of Sedan. At the same time, Gotha's tank corps breaks through the northern Ardennes, which are difficult for heavy equipment, and on May 13 crosses the Meuse River north of Dinant. The German tank armada rushes to the west. The belated attacks of the French, for whom the German strike through the Ardennes is a complete surprise, are unable to contain it. On May 16 Guderian's units reach the Oise; On May 20 they reach the coast of the Pas de Calais near Abbeville and turn north to the rear of the allied armies. 28 Anglo-French-Belgian divisions are surrounded.

An attempt by the French command to organize a counterattack at Arras on May 21-23 could have been successful, but Guderian stops it at the cost of an almost completely destroyed tank battalion. On May 22, Guderian cuts off the allies' retreat to Boulogne, on May 23 - to Calais and goes to Gravelin, 10 km from Dunkirk, the last port through which the Anglo-French troops could evacuate, but on May 24 he was forced to stop the offensive for two days due to an inexplicable personal Hitler’s order (“The Miracle at Dunkirk”) (according to another version, the reason for the stop was not Hitler’s order, but the entry of tanks into the range of naval artillery of the English fleet, which could shoot them with virtually impunity). The respite allows the Allies to reinforce the Dunkirk defenses and launch Operation Dynamo to evacuate their forces by sea. On May 26, German troops break through the Belgian front in West Flanders, and on May 28, Belgium surrenders despite the demands of the Allies. On the same day, in the Lille region, the Germans surround a large French grouping, which surrenders on May 31. Part of the French troops (114 thousand) and almost the entire British army (224 thousand) were taken out on British ships through Dunkirk. The Germans capture all British and French artillery and armored vehicles, vehicles abandoned by the Allies during the retreat. After Dunkirk, Great Britain found itself practically unarmed, although it retained the personnel of the army.

On June 5, German troops begin an offensive in the Lahn-Abbeville sector. Attempts by the French command to hastily patch up the gap in the defense with unprepared divisions were unsuccessful. The French lose one battle after another. The defense of the French disintegrates, and the command hastily withdraws troops to the south.

June 10 Italy declares war on Britain and France. Italian troops invade the southern regions of France, but they cannot advance far. On the same day, the French government is evacuated from Paris. On June 11, the Germans cross the Marne at Château-Thierry. On June 14, they enter Paris without a fight, and two days later they leave for the Rhone Valley. On June 16, Marshal Pétain forms a new French government, which, on the night of June 17, turns to Germany with a request for a truce. On June 18, French General Charles de Gaulle, who fled to London, urges the French to continue resistance. On June 21, the Germans, no longer encountering practically any resistance, reach the Loire in the Nantes-Tour section, on the same day their tanks occupy Lyon.

On June 22, in Compiègne, in the same car in which Germany's surrender was signed in 1918, the Franco-German armistice was signed, according to which France agrees to the occupation of most of its territory, the demobilization of almost the entire land army and the internment of the navy and aviation. In the free zone, as a result of a coup d'état on July 10, the authoritarian regime of Pétain (Vichy Regime) is established, which has taken a course towards close cooperation with Germany (collaborationism). Despite the military weakness of France, the defeat of this country was so sudden and complete that it defied any rational explanation.

The commander-in-chief of the Vichy troops, Francois Darlan, orders the withdrawal of the entire French fleet to the shores of French North Africa. Because of the fear that the entire French fleet could fall under the control of Germany and Italy, on July 3, 1940, British naval forces and aircraft, as part of Operation Catapult, strike French ships at Mers-el-Kebir. By the end of July, the British have destroyed or neutralized almost the entire French fleet.

Accession of the Baltic States, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR

Back in the autumn of 1939, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed mutual assistance agreements with the USSR, also known as agreements on bases, according to which Soviet military bases were placed on the territory of these countries. On June 17, 1940, the USSR presents an ultimatum to the Baltic states, demanding the resignation of governments, the formation of people's governments in their place, the dissolution of parliaments, the holding of early elections and consent to the introduction of an additional contingent of Soviet troops. In the current situation, the Baltic governments were forced to accept these demands.

After the introduction of additional units of the Red Army into the territory of the Baltic States, in mid-July 1940 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in the conditions of a significant Soviet military presence, elections to the supreme authorities are held. According to a number of modern researchers, these elections were accompanied by violations. In parallel, mass arrests of Baltic politicians by the NKVD are being carried out. On July 21, 1940, the newly elected parliaments, which included a pro-Soviet majority, proclaim the creation of Soviet socialist republics and send petitions to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for entry into the Soviet Union. On August 3, the Lithuanian SSR, on August 5, the Latvian SSR, and on August 6, the Estonian SSR were admitted to the USSR.

On June 27, 1940, the government of the USSR sends two ultimatum notes to the Romanian government, demanding the return of Bessarabia (annexed to the Russian Empire in 1812 after the victory over Turkey in the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812; in 1918, taking advantage of the weakness of Soviet Russia, Romania sent troops to the territory of Bessarabia, and then included it in its composition) and the transfer of the USSR of Northern Bukovina (never part of the Russian Empire, but inhabited mainly by Ukrainians) as “compensation for the enormous damage that was inflicted on the Soviet Union and the population of Bessarabia by 22-year-old domination of Romania in Bessarabia. Romania, not counting on support from other states in the event of a war with the USSR, is forced to agree to the satisfaction of these demands. On June 28, Romania withdraws its troops and administration from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, after which Soviet troops are introduced there. On August 2, the Moldavian SSR was formed on the territory of Bessarabia and part of the territory of the former Moldavian ASSR. Northern Bukovina is organizationally included in the Ukrainian SSR.

Battle of Britain

After the capitulation of France, Germany offers Britain to make peace, but is refused. On July 16, 1940, Hitler issues a directive for the invasion of Great Britain (Operation Sea Lion). However, the command of the German Navy and ground forces, referring to the power of the British fleet and the Wehrmacht's lack of experience in landing operations, requires the Air Force to first ensure air supremacy. Since August, the Germans have been bombing Great Britain in order to undermine its military and economic potential, demoralize the population, prepare for an invasion, and ultimately force it to surrender. The German Air Force and Navy carry out systematic attacks on British ships and convoys in the English Channel. From September 4, German aviation begins massive bombing of English cities in the south of the country: London, Rochester, Birmingham, Manchester.

Despite the fact that the British suffered heavy losses among the civilian population during the bombing, they essentially manage to win the Battle of Britain - Germany is forced to abandon the landing operation. Since December, the activity of the German Air Force has been significantly reduced due to deteriorating weather conditions. The Germans failed to achieve their main goal - to withdraw Great Britain from the war.

Battles in Africa, the Mediterranean and the Balkans

After Italy's entry into the war, Italian troops begin fighting for control of the Mediterranean, North and East Africa. On June 11, Italian aircraft strike the British naval base in Malta. 13 June Italians bombard British bases in Kenya. In early July, Italian troops invade the British colonies of Kenya and Sudan from Ethiopia and Somalia, but due to indecisive actions, they fail to advance far. August 3, 1940 Italian troops invade British Somalia. Using their numerical superiority, they manage to push the British and South African troops across the strait into the British colony of Aden.

After the capitulation of France, the administrations of some colonies refused to recognize the Vichy government. In London, General De Gaulle formed the "Fighting France" movement, which did not recognize the shameful surrender. The British armed forces, together with the units of the Fighting France, begin to fight the Vichy troops for control of the colonies. By September, they manage to peacefully establish control over almost all of French Equatorial Africa. On October 27, in Brazzaville, the supreme governing body of the French territories occupied by De Gaulle's troops, the Empire's Defense Council, was formed. September 24 British-French troops are defeated by fascist troops in Senegal (Dakar operation). However, in November they manage to capture Gabon (Gabon operation).

On September 13, the Italians invade British Egypt from Libya. Having occupied Sidi Barrani on September 16, the Italians stop, and the British retreat to Mersa Matruh. To improve their position in Africa and the Mediterranean, the Italians decide to capture Greece. After the refusal of the Greek government to let Italian troops into its territory, on October 28, 1940, Italy begins an offensive. The Italians manage to capture part of the Greek territory, but by November 8 they were stopped, and on November 14 the Greek army goes on the counteroffensive, completely liberates the country's territory and enters Albania.

In November 1940, British aviation strikes at the Italian fleet in Taranto, which makes it extremely difficult for the Italian troops to transport cargo by sea to North Africa. Taking advantage of this, on December 9, 1940, British troops went on the offensive in Egypt, in January they occupied the whole of Cyrenaica, and by February 1941 they reached the El Agheila region.

In early January, the British also launched an offensive in East Africa. Having recaptured Kassala from the Italians on January 21, they invade Eritrea from Sudan, capture Karen (March 27), Asmara (April 1) and the port of Massawa (April 8). In February, British troops from Kenya penetrate Italian Somalia; On February 25, they occupy the port of Mogadishu, and then turn north and enter Ethiopia. On March 16, an English landing force landed in British Somalia and soon defeated the Italians there. Together with British troops, Emperor Haile Selassie, deposed by the Italians in 1936, arrives in Ethiopia. Numerous detachments of Ethiopian partisans join the British. March 17, British and Ethiopian troops occupy Jijiga, March 29 - Harar, April 6 - the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. The Italian colonial empire in East Africa ceases to exist. The remnants of the Italian troops continue to resist in Ethiopia and Somalia until November 27, 1941.

In March 1941, in a naval battle near the island of Crete, the British inflicted another defeat on the Italian fleet. On March 2, British and Australian troops begin to land in Greece. On March 9, Italian troops launch a new offensive against the Greeks, however, during six days of fierce fighting, they are completely defeated and by March 26 they are forced to retreat to their original positions.

Having suffered a complete defeat on all fronts, Mussolini is forced to ask for help from Hitler. In February 1941, the German expeditionary force under the command of General Rommel arrives in Libya. On March 31, 1941, the Italian-German troops go on the offensive, recapture Cyrenaica from the British and reach the borders of Egypt, after which the front in North Africa stabilizes until November 1941.

Expansion of the bloc of fascist states. Battles in the Balkans and the Middle East

Gradually, the US government begins to revise its foreign policy course. It is increasingly supporting Great Britain, becoming its "non-belligerent ally" (see Atlantic Charter). In May 1940, the US Congress approves an amount of 3 billion dollars for the needs of the army and navy, and in the summer - 6.5 billion, including 4 billion for the construction of the "two oceans fleet". The supply of arms and equipment for the UK is increasing. September 2, 1940 The United States transfers 50 destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for the lease of 8 military bases in the British colonies in the Western Hemisphere. According to the law adopted by the US Congress on March 11, 1941 on the transfer of military materials to warring countries on loan or lease (see Lend-Lease), the UK has been allocated $7 billion. Later lend-lease extends to China, Greece and Yugoslavia. The North Atlantic has been declared a "patrol zone" by the US Navy, which simultaneously begins to escort merchant ships bound for the UK.

On September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact: the delimitation of zones of influence in the establishment of a new order and mutual military assistance. At the Soviet-German negotiations held in November 1940, German diplomats offer the USSR to join this pact. The Soviet government refuses. Hitler approves the plan of attack on the USSR. For these purposes, Germany begins to look for allies in Eastern Europe. On November 20, Hungary joins the Triple Alliance, on November 23 - Romania, on November 24 - Slovakia, in 1941 - Bulgaria, Finland and Spain. On March 25, 1941, Yugoslavia joins the pact, but on March 27, a military coup takes place in Belgrade, and the Simovic government comes to power, declaring young Peter II king and proclaiming the neutrality of Yugoslavia. April 5 Yugoslavia concludes a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with the USSR. In view of the development of events undesirable for Germany, Hitler decides to conduct a military operation against Yugoslavia and help Italian troops in Greece.

April 6, 1941, after a massive bombardment of major cities, railway junctions and airfields, Germany and Hungary invade Yugoslavia. At the same time, Italian troops, supported by the Germans, are conducting another offensive in Greece. By April 8, the armed forces of Yugoslavia are divided into several parts and in fact cease to exist as a whole. On April 9, German troops, having passed through Yugoslav territory, enter Greece and capture Thessaloniki, forcing the capitulation of the Greek East Macedonian army. On April 10, the Germans capture Zagreb. On April 11, the leader of the Croatian Nazis, Ante Pavelic, proclaims the independence of Croatia and calls on the Croats to leave the ranks of the Yugoslav army, which further undermines its combat effectiveness. On April 13, the Germans capture Belgrade. On April 15, the Yugoslav government flees the country. April 16 German troops enter Sarajevo. On April 16, the Italians occupy Bar and the island of Krk, and on April 17, Dubrovnik. On the same day, the Yugoslav army surrenders, and 344 thousand of its soldiers and officers are captured.

After the defeat of Yugoslavia, the Germans and Italians throw all their forces into Greece. On April 20, the Epirus army capitulates. An attempt by the Anglo-Australian command to create a defensive line at Thermopylae in order to close the Wehrmacht's path to central Greece was unsuccessful, and on April 20 the command of the allied forces decides to evacuate its forces. On April 21 Yanina was taken. April 23 Tsolakoglou signs the act of general surrender of the Greek armed forces. On April 24, King George II fled to Crete with the government. On the same day, the Germans capture the islands of Lemnos, Pharos and Samothrace. On April 27, Athens was captured.

On May 20, the Germans land troops on Crete, which is in the hands of the British. Although the British fleet frustrates the German attempt to bring in reinforcements by sea, on May 21, paratroopers seize the airfield at Maleme and provide reinforcements by air. Despite stubborn defense, British troops are forced to leave Crete by May 31. By June 2, the island is completely occupied. But in view of the heavy losses of German paratroopers, Hitler abandons plans for further landing operations to seize Cyprus and the Suez Canal.

As a result of the invasion, Yugoslavia was divided into parts. Germany annexes northern Slovenia, Hungary - western Vojvodina, Bulgaria - Vardar Macedonia, Italy - southern Slovenia, part of the coast of Dalmatia, Montenegro and Kosovo. Croatia is declared an independent state under the Italo-German protectorate. In Serbia, the collaborationist government of Nedić was created.

After the defeat of Greece, Bulgaria annexes eastern Macedonia and western Thrace; the rest of the country is divided into Italian (western) and German (eastern) occupation zones.

On April 1, 1941, as a result of a coup in Iraq, the pro-German nationalist group Rashid Ali Gailani seized power. By agreement with the Vichy regime, on May 12, Germany will begin transporting military equipment through Syria, under French mandate, to Iraq. But the Germans, busy preparing for a war with the USSR, are not able to provide significant assistance to the Iraqi nationalists. British troops invade Iraq and overthrow Ali Gailani's government. On June 8, the British, together with units of the Fighting France, invade Syria and Lebanon and by mid-July force the Vichy troops to capitulate.

According to the estimates of the leadership of Great Britain and the USSR, there was a threat of involvement in 1941 on the side of Germany as an active ally of Iran. Therefore, from August 25, 1941 to September 17, 1941, a joint Anglo-Soviet operation was carried out to occupy Iran. Its goal was to protect Iranian oil fields from a possible capture by German troops and to protect the transport corridor ( southern corridor), according to which the allies carried out Lend-Lease deliveries for the Soviet Union. During the operation, the Allied forces invaded Iran and established their control over the railways and oil fields of Iran. At the same time, British troops occupied southern Iran. Soviet troops occupied northern Iran.

Asia

In China, the Japanese captured the southeastern part of the country in 1939-1941. China, due to the difficult internal political situation in the country, could not put up a serious rebuff (see: The Civil War in China). After the surrender of France, the administration of French Indochina recognized the Vichy government. Thailand, taking advantage of the weakening of France, made territorial claims to part of French Indochina. In October 1940, Thai troops invaded French Indochina. Thailand managed to inflict a number of defeats on the Vichy army. On May 9, 1941, under pressure from Japan, the Vichy regime was forced to sign a peace treaty, according to which Laos and part of Cambodia were ceded to Thailand. After the loss of a number of colonies in Africa by the Vichy regime, there was also a threat of the capture of Indochina by the British and de Gaulle. To prevent this, in June 1941 the Nazi government agreed to the entry of Japanese troops into the colony.

Second period of the war (June 1941 - November 1942)

Background to the invasion of the USSR

In June 1940, Hitler orders preparations for an attack on the USSR, and on July 22, the OKH begins developing a plan of attack, code-named Operation Barbarossa. On July 31, 1940, at a meeting with the high military command at the Berghof, Hitler stated:

[…] The hope of England is Russia and America. If hope in Russia falls away, America will also fall away, because Russia's falling away will increase Japan's importance in East Asia in an unpleasant way, Russia is the East Asian sword of England and America against Japan. […] Russia is the factor on which England puts most of all. Something happened in London after all! The English were already completely down*, and now they are up again. From listening to conversations, it is clear that Russia is unpleasantly surprised by the rapid pace of developments in Western Europe. […] But if Russia is defeated, England's last hope will be extinguished. Germany will then become the ruler of Europe and the Balkans. Solution: During this clash with Russia, it must be finished. In the spring of the 41st. […] * Downstairs

On December 18, 1940, the Barbarossa plan was approved by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht by Directive No. 21. The approximate date for completing military preparations is May 15, 1941. From the end of 1940, a gradual transfer of German troops to the borders of the USSR began, the intensity of which increased sharply after May 22. The German command tried to create the impression that this was a diversionary maneuver and "the main task for the summer period remains the operation to invade the islands, and measures against the East are only defensive in nature and their volume depends only on Russian threats and military preparations." A disinformation campaign began against Soviet intelligence, which received numerous conflicting messages about the timing (late April - early May, April 15, May 15 - early June, May 14, late May, May 20, early June, etc.) and conditions of war ( after and before the start of the war with England, various demands on the USSR before the start of the war, etc.).

In January 1941, headquarters games were held in the USSR under the general title “Offensive operation of the front with a breakthrough of the SD”, in which the actions of a large strike group of Soviet troops from the state border of the USSR in the direction (respectively) Poland - East Prussia and Hungary - Romania were considered. Development of defense plans until June 22 was not carried out.

On March 27, a coup takes place in Yugoslavia and anti-German forces come to power. Hitler decides to conduct an operation against Yugoslavia and help the Italian troops in Greece, postponing the spring attack on the USSR until June 1941.

In late May - early June, the USSR conducts training camps, according to which 975,870 conscripts were to be called up for a period of 30 to 90 days. Some historians consider this as an element of covert mobilization in a difficult political situation - thanks to them, rifle divisions in the border and internal districts received 1900-6000 people each, and the number of about 20 divisions practically reached the wartime staffing table. Other historians do not connect the fees with the political situation and explain them by the retraining of the staff "in the spirit of modern requirements." Some historians find in the collections signs of the preparation of the USSR for an attack on Germany.

On June 10, 1941, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Ground Forces, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch, issued an order on the date for the start of the war against the USSR - June 22.

On June 13, directives (“To increase combat readiness ...”) were sent to the western districts about the beginning of the advancement of units of the first and second echelons to the border, at night and under the guise of exercises. On June 14, 1941, TASS reports that there are no grounds for a war with Germany and that the rumors that the USSR is preparing for a war with Germany are false and provocative. Simultaneously with the TASS report, a massive covert transfer of Soviet troops to the western borders of the USSR begins. On June 18, an order was issued to bring some parts of the western districts to full combat readiness. On June 21, after receiving several reports of tomorrow's attack, at 23:30 Directive No. 1 was sent to the troops, containing the probable date of the German attack and the order to be on alert. By June 22, Soviet troops were not deployed and began the war divided into three operationally unrelated echelons.

Some historians (Viktor Suvorov, Mikhail Meltyukhov, Mark Solonin) consider the movement of Soviet troops to the border not as a defensive measure, but as a preparation for an attack on Germany, naming various dates for the attack: July 1941, 1942. They also put forward the thesis of Germany's preventive war against the USSR. Their opponents argue that there is no evidence of preparation for an attack, and all signs of preparation for an alleged attack are preparation for war as such, regardless of an attack or repulse of aggression.

Invasion of the USSR

On June 22, 1941, Germany, with the support of its allies - Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Slovakia - invaded the USSR. The Soviet-German war began, in Soviet and Russian historiography called the Great Patriotic War.

German troops deliver a powerful surprise blow along the entire western Soviet border with three large army groups: "North", "Center" and "South". On the very first day, a significant part of Soviet ammunition, fuel and military equipment was destroyed or captured; destroyed about 1200 aircraft. On June 23-25, the Soviet fronts are trying to launch counterattacks, but fail.

By the end of the first decade of July, German troops captured Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine and Moldova. The main forces of the Soviet Western Front were defeated in the Battle of Belostok-Minsk.

The Soviet Northwestern Front was defeated in a border battle and driven back. However, the Soviet counterattack near Soltsy on July 14-18 led to the suspension of the German offensive on Leningrad for almost 3 weeks.

On June 25, Soviet planes bomb Finnish airfields. On June 26, Finnish troops go on a counteroffensive and soon regain the Karelian Isthmus, previously captured by the Soviet Union, without crossing the old historical Russian-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus (to the north of Lake Ladoga, the old border was crossed to a great depth). On June 29, the German-Finnish troops launched an offensive in the Arctic, but the advance deep into Soviet territory was stopped.

In Ukraine, the Soviet Southwestern Front is also defeated and driven back from the border, but the counterattack of the Soviet mechanized corps does not allow the German troops to make a deep breakthrough and capture Kyiv.

In a new offensive on the central sector of the Soviet-German front, undertaken on July 10, Army Group Center captured Smolensk on July 16 and surrounded the main forces of the recreated Soviet Western Front. In the wake of this success, and also given the need to support the attack on Leningrad and Kyiv, on July 19, Hitler, despite the objections of the army command, gives the order to shift the direction of the main attack from the Moscow direction to the south (Kyiv, Donbass) and north (Leningrad). In accordance with this decision, the tank groups advancing on Moscow were withdrawn from the Center group and directed to the south (2nd tank group) and north (3rd tank group). The attack on Moscow should be continued by the infantry divisions of Army Group Center, but the battle in the Smolensk region continued, and on July 30 Army Group Center received an order to go on the defensive. Thus, the attack on Moscow was postponed.

On August 8-9, Army Group North resumed its offensive against Leningrad. The front of the Soviet troops is cut, they are forced to withdraw in divergent directions to Tallinn and Leningrad. The defense of Tallinn pinned down part of the German forces, but on August 28, the Soviet troops were forced to begin evacuation. On September 8, with the capture of Shlisselburg, German troops encircle Leningrad.

However, a new German offensive to capture Leningrad, undertaken on September 9, did not lead to success. In addition, the main strike formations of Army Group North were soon to be released for a new offensive against Moscow.

Having failed to take Leningrad, on October 16 Army Group North launched an offensive in the Tikhvin direction, intending to join the Finnish troops east of Leningrad. However, the counterattack of the Soviet troops near Tikhvin stops the enemy.

In Ukraine, in early August, the troops of the Army Group "South" cut off from the Dnieper and surround two Soviet armies near Uman. However, they failed to capture Kyiv again. Only after the troops of the southern flank of Army Group Center (2nd Army and 2nd Panzer Group) turned to the south did the situation of the Soviet Southwestern Front deteriorate sharply. The German 2nd Panzer Group, having repulsed the counterattack of the Bryansk Front, crosses the Desna and on September 15 unites with the 1st Panzer Group, advancing from the Kremenchug bridgehead. As a result of the battle for Kyiv, the Soviet Southwestern Front was completely defeated.

The catastrophe near Kyiv opened the way for the Germans to the south. On October 5, the 1st Panzer Group reached the Sea of ​​Azov near Melitopol, cutting off the troops of the Southern Front. In October 1941, German troops captured almost the entire Crimea, except for Sevastopol.

The defeat in the south opened the way for the Germans to the Donbass and Rostov. Kharkov fell on October 24, by the end of October the main cities of Donbass were occupied. On October 17, Taganrog fell. On November 21, the 1st Panzer Army entered Rostov-on-Don, thus achieving the goals of the Barbarossa plan in the south. However, on November 29, Soviet troops drive the Germans out of Rostov (See Rostov operation (1941)). Until the summer of 1942, the front line in the south was established at the turn of the river. Mius.

September 30, 1941 German troops begin an offensive against Moscow. As a result of deep penetrations by German tank formations, the main forces of the Soviet Western, Reserve and Bryansk Fronts were surrounded in the area of ​​Vyazma and Bryansk. In total, more than 660 thousand people were captured.

The remnants of the Western and Reserve Fronts on October 10 are united into a single Western Front under the command of General of the Army G.K. Zhukov.

On November 15-18, German troops resume their offensive against Moscow, but by the end of November they were stopped in all directions.

On December 5, 1941, the Kalinin, Western and Southwestern fronts go over to the counteroffensive. The successful advance of the Soviet troops forces the enemy to go on the defensive along the entire front line. In December, as a result of the offensive, the troops of the Western Front liberate Yakhroma, Klin, Volokolamsk, Kaluga; Kalinin Front liberates Kalinin; Southwestern Front - Efremov and Yelets. As a result, by the beginning of 1942, the Germans were thrown back 100-250 km to the west. The defeat near Moscow was the first major defeat of the Wehrmacht in this war.

The success of the Soviet troops near Moscow induces the Soviet command to launch a large-scale offensive. On January 8, 1942, the forces of the Kalinin, Western and North-Western Fronts go on the offensive against the German Army Group Center. They fail to complete the task, and after several attempts, by mid-April, they have to stop the offensive, having suffered heavy losses. The Germans retain the Rzhev-Vyazemsky bridgehead, which is a danger to Moscow. Attempts by the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts to unblock Leningrad were also unsuccessful and led to the encirclement in March 1942 of part of the forces of the Volkhov Front.

Japanese offensive in the Pacific

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacks the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. During the attack, which involved 441 aircraft based on six Japanese aircraft carriers, 8 battleships, 6 cruisers and more than 300 US aircraft were sunk and seriously damaged. Thus, most of the battleships of the US Pacific Fleet were destroyed in one day. In addition to the United States, the next day the United Kingdom, the Netherlands (government-in-exile), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Cuba, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela also declare war on Japan. December 11 Germany and Italy, and December 13 - Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria - declare war on the United States.

On December 8, the Japanese blockade the British military base in Hong Kong and begin an invasion of Thailand, British Malaya and the American Philippines. The British squadron that came out to intercept is subjected to air strikes, and two battleships - the striking force of the British in this region of the Pacific Ocean - go to the bottom.

Thailand, after a short resistance, agrees to conclude a military alliance with Japan and declares war on the United States and Great Britain. Japanese aviation from the territory of Thailand begins the bombing of Burma.

On December 10, the Japanese capture the American base on the island of Guam, on December 23 - on Wake Island, on December 25, Hong Kong fell. On December 8, the Japanese break through the British defenses in Malaya and, advancing rapidly, push the British troops back to Singapore. Singapore, which until then the British considered an "impregnable fortress", fell on February 15, 1942, after a 6-day siege. About 70 thousand British and Australian soldiers are captured.

In the Philippines, at the end of December 1941, the Japanese captured the islands of Mindanao and Luzon. The remnants of American troops manage to gain a foothold on the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor.

January 11, 1942 Japanese troops invade the Dutch East Indies and soon capture the islands of Borneo and Celebs. On January 28, the Japanese fleet defeats the Anglo-Dutch squadron in the Java Sea. The allies are trying to create a powerful defense on the island of Java, but by March 2 they capitulate.

On January 23, 1942, the Japanese capture the Bismarck Archipelago, including the island of New Britain, and then take possession of the western part of the Solomon Islands, in February - the Gilbert Islands, and in early March invade New Guinea.

March 8, advancing in Burma, the Japanese capture Rangoon, at the end of April - Mandalay, and by May they have captured almost all of Burma, inflicting defeats on British and Chinese troops and cutting off southern China from India. However, the beginning of the rainy season and the lack of forces do not allow the Japanese to build on their success and invade India.

On May 6, the last grouping of American and Philippine troops in the Philippines surrenders. By the end of May 1942, Japan, at the cost of minor losses, manages to establish control over Southeast Asia and Northwestern Oceania. American, British, Dutch and Australian troops are suffering a crushing defeat, having lost all their main forces in this region.

Second stage of the Battle of the Atlantic

Since the summer of 1941, the main goal of the actions of the German and Italian fleets in the Atlantic has been the destruction of merchant ships in order to complicate the delivery of weapons, strategic raw materials and food to Great Britain. The German and Italian command uses mainly submarines in the Atlantic, which operate on communications linking Great Britain with North America, the African colonies, the Union of South Africa, Australia, India and the USSR.

From the end of August 1941, in accordance with an agreement between the governments of Great Britain and the USSR, mutual military supplies began through Soviet northern ports, after which a significant part of German submarines began to operate in the North Atlantic. In the autumn of 1941, even before the US entered the war, attacks by German submarines on American ships were noted. In response, on November 13, 1941, the US Congress passed two amendments to the Neutrality Act, according to which the ban on the entry of American ships into war zones was lifted and it was allowed to arm merchant ships.

With the strengthening of anti-submarine defense on communications in July - November, the losses of the merchant fleet of Great Britain, its allies and neutral countries are significantly reduced. In the second half of 1941 they amounted to 172,100 gross tons, which is 2.8 times less than in the first half of the year.

However, the German fleet soon seized the initiative for a short time. After the United States entered the war, a significant part of German submarines began to operate in the coastal waters of the Atlantic coast of America. In the first half of 1942, the losses of Anglo-American ships in the Atlantic increase again. But the improvement of anti-submarine defense methods allows the Anglo-American command from the summer of 1942 to improve the situation on the Atlantic sea lanes, deliver a series of retaliatory strikes to the German submarine fleet and push it back to the central regions of the Atlantic.

German submarines operate almost throughout the entire Atlantic Ocean: off the coast of Africa, South America, and in the Caribbean. August 22, 1942, after the Germans sank a number of Brazilian ships, Brazil declares war on Germany. After that, fearing an undesirable reaction from other countries in South America, German submarines reduce their activity in this region.

In general, despite a number of successes, Germany was never able to disrupt the Anglo-American maritime traffic. In addition, from March 1942, British aviation began strategic bombing of important economic centers and cities in Germany, allied and occupied countries.

Mediterranean-African campaigns

In the summer of 1941, all German aviation operating in the Mediterranean was transferred to the Soviet-German front. This facilitates the tasks of the British, who, taking advantage of the passivity of the Italian fleet, seize the initiative in the Mediterranean. By the middle of 1942, the British, despite a series of setbacks, completely disrupted maritime communications between Italy and Italian troops in Libya and Egypt.

By the summer of 1941, the position of the British forces in North Africa was significantly improving. This is largely facilitated by the complete defeat of the Italians in Ethiopia. The British command is now able to transfer forces from East Africa to North.

Using the favorable situation, on November 18, 1941, the British troops went on the offensive. November 24, the Germans are trying to launch a counterattack, but it ends in failure. The British unblock Tobruk and, developing the offensive, occupy El-Ghazal, Derna and Benghazi. By January, the British again take possession of Cyrenaica, but their troops are dispersed over a vast area, which Rommel took advantage of. January 21 Italo-German troops go on the offensive, break through the British defenses and rush to the northeast. At El Ghazal, however, they were stopped, and the front would again stabilize for 4 months.

May 26, 1942 Germany and Italy resume their offensive in Libya. The British suffer heavy losses and are again forced to retreat. June 21 capitulates the English garrison in Tobruk. The Italo-German troops continue to successfully advance and on July 1 they approach the English defensive line at El Alamein, 60 km from Alexandria, where they are forced to stop due to heavy losses. In August, the British command in North Africa is replaced. On August 30, the Italo-German troops again try to break through the British defenses near El Halfa, but fail completely, which becomes the turning point of the entire campaign.

On October 23, 1942, the British go on the offensive, break through the enemy's defenses, and by the end of November liberate the entire territory of Egypt, enter Libya and occupy Cyrenaica.

Meanwhile, in Africa, fighting continues for the French colony of Madagascar, which was under Vichy control. The reason for the conduct of hostilities against the colony of the former ally for Great Britain was the potential threat of the use of Madagascar by German submarines as a base for operations in the Indian Ocean. On May 5, 1942, British and South African troops landed on the island. The French troops put up stubborn resistance, but by November they were forced to capitulate. Madagascar comes under the control of the Free French.

On November 8, 1942, the American-British landing begins in French North Africa. The next day, Vichy commander-in-chief François Darlan negotiates an alliance and a ceasefire with the Americans and assumes full power in French North Africa. In response, the Germans, with the consent of the Vichy government, occupy the southern part of France and begin the transfer of troops to Tunisia. On November 13, the allied troops begin an offensive in Tunisia from Algeria, on the same day Tobruk is taken by the British. The Allies reached western Tunisia and by 17 November encountered German forces, where by that time the Germans had succeeded in occupying the eastern part of Tunisia. By November 30, due to bad weather, the front line had stabilized until February 1943.

Creation of the Anti-Hitler Coalition

Immediately after the German invasion of the USSR, representatives of Great Britain and the United States declared their support for the Soviet Union and began to provide it with economic assistance. On January 1, 1942, in Washington, representatives of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and China signed the Declaration of the United Nations, thereby laying the foundations for the Anti-Fascist Coalition. Later, 22 more countries joined it.

Eastern Front: Second German Large-Scale Offensive

Both the Soviet and German sides expected the implementation of their offensive plans from the summer of 1942. Hitler aimed the main efforts of the Wehrmacht at the southern sector of the front, pursuing primarily economic goals.

The strategic plan of the Soviet command for 1942 was to " consistently carry out a number of strategic operations in different directions in order to force the enemy to disperse his reserves, to prevent him from creating a strong grouping to repel an offensive in any of the points».

The main efforts of the Red Army, according to the plans of the Supreme Command Headquarters, were supposed to be concentrated on the central sector of the Soviet-German front. It was also planned to carry out an offensive near Kharkov, in the Crimea and break the blockade of Leningrad.

However, the offensive undertaken by the Soviet troops in May 1942 near Kharkov ended in failure. The German troops managed to parry the blow, defeated the Soviet troops and went on the offensive themselves. The Soviet troops also suffered a crushing defeat in the Crimea. For 9 months, Soviet sailors held Sevastopol, and by July 4, 1942, the remnants of the Soviet troops were evacuated to Novorossiysk. As a result, the defense of the Soviet troops in the southern sector was weakened. Taking advantage of this, the German command launched a strategic offensive in two directions: towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus.

After fierce fighting near Voronezh and in the Donbass, the German troops of Army Group B managed to break through into the large bend of the Don. In mid-July, the Battle of Stalingrad began, in which the Soviet troops, at the cost of heavy losses, managed to tie down the enemy strike force.

Army Group A, advancing on the Caucasus, took Rostov-on-Don on July 23 and continued its offensive on the Kuban. On August 12, Krasnodar was taken. However, in the battles in the foothills of the Caucasus and near Novorossiysk, Soviet troops managed to stop the enemy.

Meanwhile, in the central sector, the Soviet command undertook a major offensive operation to defeat the enemy’s Rzhev-Sychev grouping (the 9th Army of Army Group Center). However, the Rzhev-Sychev operation, carried out from July 30 to the end of September, was unsuccessful.

It also failed to break through the blockade of Leningrad, although the Soviet offensive forced the German command to abandon the assault on the city.

Third period of the war (November 1942 - June 1944)

Fracture on the Eastern Front

On November 19, 1942, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive near Stalingrad, as a result of which it was possible to encircle and defeat two German, two Romanian and one Italian armies.

Even the failure of the Soviet offensive on the central sector of the Soviet-German front (Operation Mars) does not lead to an improvement in Germany's strategic position.

At the beginning of 1943, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive along the entire front. The blockade of Leningrad was broken, Kursk and many other cities were liberated. In February-March, Field Marshal Manstein once again seizes the initiative from the Soviet troops and throws them back in some areas of the southern direction, but he fails to develop success.

In July 1943, the German command for the last time tries to regain the strategic initiative in the battle of Kursk, but it ends in a serious defeat for the German troops. The retreat of German troops begins along the entire front line - they have to leave Orel, Belgorod, Novorossiysk. The battles for Belarus and Ukraine begin. In the battle for the Dnieper, the Red Army inflicts another defeat on Germany, liberating the Left-Bank Ukraine and Crimea.

At the end of 1943 - the first half of 1944, the main hostilities took place on the southern sector of the front. The Germans leave the territory of Ukraine. The Red Army in the south reaches the border of 1941 and enters the territory of Romania.

Anglo-American landing in Africa and Italy

On November 8, 1942, a large Anglo-American landing force landed in Morocco. Having overcome the weak resistance of the troops controlled by the Vichy government, by the end of November, having overcome 900 km, they enter Tunisia, where by this time the Germans had transferred part of their troops from Western Europe.

Meanwhile, the British army goes on the offensive in Libya. The Italian-German troops stationed here could not hold out at El Alamein, and by February 1943, having suffered heavy losses, they were retreating to Tunisia. On March 20, the combined Anglo-American troops go on the offensive deep into the territory of Tunisia. The Italo-German command is trying to evacuate its troops to Italy, but by that time the British fleet completely owned the Mediterranean and cut off all escape routes. On May 13, the Italo-German troops capitulate.

On July 10, 1943, the Allies landed in Sicily. The Italian troops stationed here surrender almost without a fight, and the German 14th Panzer Corps put up resistance to the Allies. On July 22, American troops captured the city of Palermo, and the Germans retreated to the northeast of the island to the Strait of Messina. By August 17, the German units, having lost all armored vehicles and heavy weapons, crossed to the Apennine Peninsula. Simultaneously with the landing in Sicily, the Free French forces landed in Corsica (Operation Vesuvius). The defeat of the Italian army sharply worsens the situation in the country. Growing dissatisfaction with the Mussolini regime. King Victor Emmanuel III decides to arrest Mussolini and puts the government of Marshal Badoglio at the head of the country.

In September 1943, Anglo-American troops landed in the south of the Apennine Peninsula. Badoglio signs a truce with them and announces Italy's withdrawal from the war. However, taking advantage of the confusion of the allies, Hitler frees Mussolini, and a puppet state of the Republic of Salo is created in the north of the country.

US and British troops advance north in autumn 1943. On October 1, Naples was liberated by the Allies and Italian partisans; by November 15, the Allies broke through the German defenses on the Volturno River and forced it. By January 1944, the Allies had reached the German Winter Line fortifications around Monte Cassino and the Garigliano River. In January, February and March 1944, they attacked German positions three times in order to break through the enemy defenses on the Garigliano River and enter Rome, but due to worsening weather, heavy rains, they failed and the front line stabilized until May. At the same time, on January 22, the Allies land troops at Anzio, south of Rome. In Anzio, the Germans launched unsuccessful counterattacks. By May, the weather improved. On May 11, the Allies launched an offensive (Battle of Monte Cassino), they broke through the defenses of the German troops at Monte Cassino and on May 25 joined with the earlier landing at Anzio. On June 4, 1944, the Allies liberated Rome.

In January 1943, at the Casablanca Conference, it was decided to begin strategic bombing of Germany by joint Anglo-American forces. The targets of the bombing were to be both objects of the military industry and the cities of Germany. The operation was codenamed Point Blank.

In July-August 1943, Hamburg was subjected to a massive bombardment. The first massive raid on targets deep in Germany was the double raid on Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17, 1943. The unguarded bomber units were unable to defend themselves against German fighter attacks, and losses were significant (about 20%). Such losses were deemed unacceptable and the 8th Air Force halted air operations over Germany until the arrival of P-51 Mustang fighters with sufficient range to fly to Berlin and back.

Guadalcanal. Asia

From August 1942 to February 1943, Japanese and American forces battled for control of the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. In this battle of attrition, the United States eventually wins. The need to send reinforcements to Guadalcanal weakens the Japanese forces in New Guinea, which contributes to the liberation of the island from Japanese troops, which is completed in early 1943.

At the end of 1942 and during 1943, British troops made several unsuccessful counter-offensives in Burma.

In November 1943, the Allies managed to capture the Japanese island of Tarawa.

Conferences in the third period of the war

The rapid development of events on all fronts, especially on the Soviet-German front, required the Allies to clarify and agree on plans for the conduct of the war for the next year. This was done at the November 1943 conference in Cairo and the Tehran conference.

Fourth period of the war (June 1944 - May 1945)

Western Front of Germany

On June 6, 1944, the allied forces of the United States, Great Britain and Canada, after two months of distraction maneuvers, conduct the largest landing operation in history and land in Normandy.

In August, American and French troops landed in southern France and liberated the cities of Toulon and Marseille. On August 25, the allies enter Paris and liberate it along with French resistance units.

In September, the allied offensive into Belgian territory begins. By the end of 1944, the Germans with great difficulty manage to stabilize the front line in the west. On December 16, the Germans go on a counteroffensive in the Ardennes, and the Allied command sends reinforcements from other sectors of the front and reserves to the Ardennes. The Germans manage to advance 100 km deep into Belgium, but by December 25, 1944, the German offensive bogged down, and the Allies launched a counteroffensive. By December 27, the Germans could not hold their captured positions in the Ardennes and began to retreat. The strategic initiative irrevocably passes to the Allies; in January 1945, German troops launch local distracting counterattacks in Alsace, which also ended unsuccessfully. After that, American and French troops surrounded parts of the 19th German army near the city of Colmar in Alsace and defeated them by February 9 ("Colmar cauldron"). The Allies broke through the German fortifications ("Siegfried Line", or "Western Wall") and began the invasion of Germany.

In February-March 1945, during the Meuse-Rhine operation, the Allies captured the entire territory of Germany west of the Rhine and crossed the Rhine. German troops, having suffered heavy defeats in the Ardennes and Meuse-Rhine operations, retreated to the right bank of the Rhine. In April 1945, the Allies surrounded the German Army Group "B" in the Ruhr and defeated it by April 17, and the Wehrmacht lost the Ruhr industrial region - the most important industrial region of Germany.

The Allies continued their offensive deep into Germany, and on April 25 they met with Soviet troops on the Elbe. On May 2, British and Canadian troops (21st Army Group) captured the entire north-west of Germany and reached the borders of Denmark.

After the completion of the Ruhr operation, the released American units were transferred to the southern flank in the 6th Army Group, to capture the southern regions of Germany and Austria.

On the southern flank, the American and French troops, advancing, captured the south of Germany, Austria, and parts of the 7th American Army, crossed the Alps along the Brenner Pass and on May 4 met with the troops of the 15th Allied Army Group advancing in Northern Italy.

In Italy, the Allied offensive progressed very slowly. Despite all attempts, they failed at the end of 1944 to break through the front line and force the Po River. In April 1945, their offensive resumed, they overcame the German fortifications ("Gothic Line"), and broke through into the Po Valley.

April 28, 1945 Italian partisans capture and execute Mussolini. Completely Northern Italy was cleared of the Germans only in May 1945.

In the summer of 1944, the offensive of the Red Army began along the entire front line. By autumn, almost all of Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states were cleared of German troops. Only in the west of Latvia was the encircled grouping of German troops able to hold out until the end of the war.

As a result of the offensive of the Soviet troops in the north, Finland announced its withdrawal from the war. However, German troops refuse to leave Finnish territory. As a result, the former "brothers in arms" are forced to fight against each other. In August, as a result of the offensive of the Red Army, Romania withdraws from the war, in September - Bulgaria. The Germans begin to evacuate troops from the territory of Yugoslavia and Greece, where people's liberation movements take power into their own hands.

In February 1945, the Budapest operation was carried out, after which the last European ally of Germany - Hungary - was forced to capitulate. The offensive begins in Poland, the Red Army occupies East Prussia.

At the end of April 1945, the battle for Berlin begins. Realizing their complete defeat, Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide. On May 8, after stubborn two-week battles for the German capital, the German command signs an act of unconditional surrender. Germany is divided into four occupation zones: Soviet, American, British and French.

On May 14-15, the last battle of World War II in Europe took place in northern Slovenia, during which the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia defeated German troops and numerous collaborator forces.

Strategic bombing of Germany

When Operation Pointblank CombinedBomberOffensive) was officially completed on 1 April 1944, the Allied Air Forces were on their way to gaining air superiority over all of Europe. While some degree of strategic bombing continued, the Allied Air Force switched to tactical bombing as part of securing the Normandy landings. Only in mid-September 1944 did the strategic bombing of Germany again become a priority for the Allied Air Force.

Large-scale round-the-clock bombardments - by the US Air Force during the day, by the British Air Force - at night - were subjected to many industrial areas of Germany, mainly the Ruhr, followed by attacks directly on cities such as Kassel (eng. bombingofKasselinWorldWarII), Pforzheim, Mainz and the often criticized Dresden raid.

Pacific Theater of Operations

In the Pacific, the fighting was also quite successful for the allies. In June 1944, the Americans captured the Marianas. In October 1944, a major battle took place in Leyte Gulf, in which the US forces won a tactical victory. In land battles, the Japanese army was more successful and they managed to capture all of South China, and link up with their troops, who were operating in Indochina at that time.

Conferences of the fourth period of the war

By the end of the fourth period of the war, the Allied victory was no longer in doubt. However, they had to agree on the post-war structure of the world and, first of all, Europe. The discussion of these questions by the heads of the three allied powers took place in February 1945 in Yalta. The decisions taken at the Yalta Conference determined the course of post-war history for many years to come.

Fifth period of the war (May 1945 - September 1945)

End of the war with Japan

After the end of the war in Europe, Japan remained the last opponent of the countries of the anti-fascist coalition. By that time, about 60 countries had declared war on Japan. However, despite the prevailing situation, the Japanese were not going to capitulate and announced the conduct of the war to a victorious end. In June 1945, the Japanese lost Indonesia and were forced to leave Indochina. On July 26, 1945, the United States, Great Britain and China issued an ultimatum to the Japanese, but it was rejected. On August 6, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki, and as a result, the two cities were almost wiped off the face of the earth. On August 8, the USSR declared war on Japan, and on August 9, launched an offensive and within 2 weeks inflicted a crushing defeat on the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria. On September 2, the act of unconditional surrender of Japan was signed. The biggest war in human history is over.

Opinions and ratings

Extremely ambiguous, which is caused by a high saturation of events in a relatively short historical period and a huge number of actors. Often, leaders led their countries against the opinion of the majority of the population, maneuvering and duplicity were in the order of things.

• The future Reich Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, announced the need for the Germans to conquer “living space in the East” back in 1925 in his book “Mein Kampf”.

• British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, being Minister of War, in 1918 was one of the main supporters and main initiators of military intervention in Russia, declaring the need to "strangle Bolshevism in the cradle." Since that time, Great Britain and France with their satellites have consistently sought the international isolation of the USSR, as a result of which, in September 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed, directly called the “Munich Pact” in the USSR, which actually freed Hitler for aggression in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, after the failures of Great Britain and the allies in almost all theaters of military operations and the German attack on the USSR in June 1941, Churchill declared that “to fight the Huns (i.e. Germans) he is ready for an alliance with anyone, even with the Bolsheviks” .

• Already after the German attack on the USSR, Churchill, irritated by the Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky, who demanded more help than Great Britain could provide, and unambiguously hinted at the possible loss of the USSR in case of refusal, said:

Here Churchill was cunning: after the war, he admitted that 150,000 soldiers would have been enough for Hitler to capture Great Britain. However, Hitler's "Continental Policy" required first the capture of most of the largest continent - Eurasia.

• Regarding the beginning of the war and the success of Germany in its initial phase, the head of the Operations Department of the German General Staff, Colonel General Jodl, Alfred noted:

The results of the war

The Second World War had a huge impact on the fate of mankind. It was attended by 62 states (80% of the world's population). Military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states. 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces. The total human losses reached 50-55 million people, of which 27 million people were killed on the fronts. The greatest human losses were suffered by the USSR, China, Germany, Japan and Poland.

Military spending and military losses totaled $4 trillion. Material costs reached 60-70% of the national income of the warring states. Only the industry of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and Germany produced 652.7 thousand aircraft (combat and transport), 286.7 thousand tanks, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles, over 1 million artillery pieces, over 4.8 million machine guns (excluding Germany) , 53 million rifles, carbines and machine guns and a huge amount of other weapons and equipment. The war was accompanied by colossal destruction, destruction of tens of thousands of towns and villages, incalculable disasters of tens of millions of people.

As a result of the war, the role of Western Europe in world politics was weakened. The main powers in the world were the USSR and the USA. Great Britain and France, despite the victory, were significantly weakened. The war showed the inability of them and other Western European countries to maintain huge colonial empires. In the countries of Africa and Asia, the anti-colonial movement intensified. As a result of the war, some countries were able to achieve independence: Ethiopia, Iceland, Syria, Lebanon, Vietnam, Indonesia. In Eastern Europe, occupied by Soviet troops, socialist regimes were established. One of the main outcomes of the Second World War was the creation of the United Nations on the basis of the Anti-Fascist Coalition formed during the war, to prevent world wars in the future.

In some countries, the guerrilla movements formed during the war tried to continue their activities after the end of the war. In Greece, the conflict between the communists and the pre-war government escalated into a civil war. For some time after the end of the war, anti-communist armed detachments operated in Western Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Poland. In China, the civil war continued, lasting there since 1927.

Fascist and Nazi ideologies were declared criminal at the Nuremberg trials and banned. Support for the communist parties grew in many Western countries, thanks to their active participation in the anti-fascist struggle during the war.

Europe was divided into two camps: Western capitalist and Eastern socialist. Relations between the two blocs deteriorated sharply. A couple of years after the end of the war, the Cold War began.

The first major defeat of the Wehrmacht was the defeat of the Nazi troops in the Battle of Moscow (1941-1942), during which the Nazi "blitzkrieg" was finally thwarted, and the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht was dispelled.

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States with the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 8, the United States, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The entry of the United States and Japan into the war affected the balance of power and increased the scale of the armed struggle.

In North Africa, in November 1941 and in January-June 1942, hostilities were conducted with varying success, then until the autumn of 1942 there was a lull. In the Atlantic, German submarines continued to inflict great damage on the Allied fleets (by the autumn of 1942, the tonnage of ships sunk, mainly in the Atlantic, amounted to over 14 million tons). At the beginning of 1942, Japan occupied Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma in the Pacific Ocean, inflicted a major defeat on the British fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, the Anglo-American-Dutch fleet in the Java operation and established dominance at sea. The American Navy and Air Force, significantly reinforced by the summer of 1942, defeated the Japanese fleet in naval battles in the Coral Sea (May 7-8) and at Midway Island (June).

Third period of the war (November 19, 1942 - December 31, 1943) began with a counteroffensive of the Soviet troops, culminating in the defeat of the 330,000th German group during the Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943), which marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and had a great influence on the further course of the entire Second World War. The mass expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the USSR began. The Battle of Kursk (1943) and access to the Dnieper completed a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. The battle for the Dnieper (1943) overturned the enemy's plans for a protracted war.

At the end of October 1942, when the Wehrmacht was fighting fierce battles on the Soviet-German front, the Anglo-American troops intensified military operations in North Africa, conducting the El Alamein operation (1942) and the North African landing operation (1942). In the spring of 1943 they carried out the Tunisian operation. In July-August 1943, the Anglo-American troops, using the favorable situation (the main forces of the German troops participated in the Battle of Kursk), landed on the island of Sicily and captured it.

On July 25, 1943, the fascist regime in Italy collapsed; on September 3, it concluded a truce with the Allies. The withdrawal of Italy from the war marked the beginning of the disintegration of the fascist bloc. On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany. Nazi troops occupied its territory. In September, the Allies landed in Italy, but could not break the defense of the German troops and in December they suspended active operations. In the Pacific Ocean and in Asia, Japan sought to hold on to the territories captured in 1941-1942 without weakening the groupings near the borders of the USSR. The Allies, having launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean in the autumn of 1942, captured the island of Guadalcanal (February 1943), landed on New Guinea, and liberated the Aleutian Islands.

Fourth period of the war (January 1, 1944 - May 9, 1945) began with a new offensive of the Red Army. As a result of the crushing blows of the Soviet troops, the Nazi invaders were expelled from the borders of the Soviet Union. During the subsequent offensive, the USSR Armed Forces carried out a liberation mission against the countries of Europe, played a decisive role with the support of their peoples in the liberation of Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and other states. Anglo-American troops landed on June 6, 1944 in Normandy, opening a second front, and launched an offensive in Germany. In February, the Crimean (Yalta) Conference (1945) was held by the leaders of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, which considered the issues of the post-war structure of the world and the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.

In the winter of 1944-1945, on the Western Front, the Nazi troops inflicted a defeat on the Allied forces during the Ardennes operation. To alleviate the position of the allies in the Ardennes, at their request, the Red Army began its winter offensive ahead of schedule. Having restored the situation by the end of January, the Allied forces crossed the Rhine River during the Meuse-Rhine operation (1945), and in April they carried out the Ruhr operation (1945), which ended with the encirclement and capture of a large enemy grouping. During the North Italian operation (1945), the Allied forces, slowly moving north, with the help of Italian partisans, completely captured Italy in early May 1945. In the Pacific theater of operations, the allies carried out operations to defeat the Japanese fleet, liberated a number of islands occupied by Japan, approached Japan directly and cut off its communications with the countries of Southeast Asia.

In April-May 1945, the Soviet Armed Forces defeated the last groupings of Nazi troops in the Berlin operation (1945) and the Prague operation (1945) and met with the Allied forces. The war in Europe is over. On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally. May 9, 1945 became Victory Day over Nazi Germany.

At the Berlin (Potsdam) conference (1945), the USSR confirmed its consent to enter the war with Japan. On August 6 and 9, 1945, for political purposes, the United States carried out atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 8, the USSR declared war on Japan and on August 9 began hostilities. During the Soviet-Japanese War (1945), Soviet troops, having defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army, eliminated the center of aggression in the Far East, liberated Northeast China, North Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, thereby hastening the end of World War II. On September 2, Japan surrendered. World War II is over.

The Second World War was the largest military clash in the history of mankind. It lasted 6 years, there were 110 million people in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Over 55 million people died in World War II. The greatest victims were the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people. The damage from the direct destruction and destruction of material assets on the territory of the USSR amounted to almost 41% of all countries participating in the war.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The Second World War was the bloodiest and most brutal military conflict in the history of mankind and the only one in which nuclear weapons were used. 61 states took part in it. The dates of the beginning and end of this war, September 1, 1939 - 1945, September 2, are among the most significant for the entire civilized world.

The causes of the Second World War were the imbalance of power in the world and the problems provoked by the results of the First World War, in particular territorial disputes. The United States, England, and France, who won the First World War, concluded the Treaty of Versailles on the most unfavorable and humiliating conditions for the losing countries, Turkey and Germany, which provoked an increase in tension in the world. At the same time, adopted in the late 1930s by Britain and France, the policy of appeasing the aggressor made it possible for Germany to sharply increase its military potential, which accelerated the transition of the Nazis to active military operations.

The members of the anti-Hitler bloc were the USSR, the USA, France, England, China (Chiang Kai-shek), Greece, Yugoslavia, Mexico, etc. On the part of Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, China (Wang Jingwei), Thailand, Finland, Iraq, etc. participated in World War II. Many states - participants in the Second World War, did not conduct operations on the fronts, but helped by supplying food, medicines and other necessary resources.

Researchers identify the following main stages of the Second World War.

The first stage from September 1, 1939 to June 21, 1941. The period of the European Blitzkrieg of Germany and the Allies.

The second stage June 22, 1941 - approximately the middle of November 1942. The attack on the USSR and the subsequent failure of the Barbarossa plan.

The third stage the second half of November 1942 - the end of 1943 A radical turning point in the war and the loss of Germany's strategic initiative. At the end of 1943, at the Tehran Conference, in which Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill took part, a decision was made to open a second front.

The fourth stage lasted from the end of 1943 to May 9, 1945. It was marked by the capture of Berlin and the unconditional surrender of Germany.

Fifth stage May 10, 1945 - September 2, 1945. At this time, the battles are fought only in Southeast Asia and the Far East. The United States used nuclear weapons for the first time.

The beginning of World War II fell on September 1, 1939. On this day, the Wehrmacht suddenly began aggression against Poland. Despite the retaliatory declaration of war by France, Great Britain and some other countries, no real assistance was provided to Poland. Already on September 28, Poland was captured. The peace treaty between Germany and the USSR was concluded on the same day. Having thus received a reliable rear, Germany begins active preparations for war with France, which capitulated as early as 1940, on June 22. Nazi Germany begins large-scale preparations for war on the eastern front with the USSR. The Barbarossa plan was approved already in 1940, on December 18th. The Soviet top leadership received reports of the impending attack, but fearing to provoke Germany, and believing that the attack would be carried out at a later date, they deliberately did not put the border units on alert.

In the chronology of the Second World War, the period of June 22, 1941-1945, May 9, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, is of the utmost importance. The USSR on the eve of World War II was an actively developing state. Since the threat of a conflict with Germany increased over time, defense and heavy industry and science developed first of all in the country. Closed design bureaus were created, whose activities were aimed at developing the latest weapons. Discipline was tightened to the maximum at all enterprises and collective farms. In the 30s, more than 80% of the officers of the Red Army were repressed. In order to make up for the losses, a network of military schools and academies has been created. But for the full-fledged training of personnel, time was not enough.

The main battles of the Second World War, which were of great importance for the history of the USSR, are:

The battle for Moscow on September 30, 1941 - April 20, 1942, which became the first victory of the Red Army;

The Battle of Stalingrad July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943, which marked a radical turning point in the war;

Battle of Kursk July 5 - August 23, 1943, during which the largest tank battle of World War II took place - near the village of Prokhorovka;

The Battle of Berlin - which led to the surrender of Germany.

But events important for the course of World War II took place not only on the fronts of the USSR. Among the operations carried out by the allies, it is worth noting in particular: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused the United States to enter World War II; the opening of a second front and the landing of troops in Normandy on June 6, 1944; the use of nuclear weapons on August 6 and 9, 1945 to strike at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The date of the end of the Second World War was September 2, 1945. Japan signed the act of surrender only after the defeat of the Kwantung Army by the Soviet troops. The battles of the Second World War, according to the most rough estimates, claimed, on both sides, 65 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the greatest losses in World War II - 27 million citizens of the country were killed. It was he who took the brunt. This figure is also approximate and, according to some researchers, underestimated. It was the stubborn resistance of the Red Army that became the main reason for the defeat of the Reich.

The results of World War II horrified everyone. Military operations have put the very existence of civilization on the brink. During the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, fascist ideology was condemned, and many war criminals were punished. In order to prevent such a possibility of a new world war in the future, at the Yalta Conference in 1945 it was decided to create the United Nations (UN), which still exists today. The results of the nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the signing of pacts on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, a ban on their production and use. It must be said that the consequences of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are felt today.

The economic consequences of the Second World War were also serious. For Western European countries, it turned into a genuine economic disaster. The influence of Western European countries has significantly decreased. At the same time, the United States managed to maintain and strengthen its position.

The significance of the Second World War for the Soviet Union is enormous. The defeat of the Nazis determined the future history of the country. According to the results of the conclusion of the peace treaties that followed the defeat of Germany, the USSR significantly expanded its borders. At the same time, the totalitarian system was strengthened in the Union. In some European countries, communist regimes were established. Victory in the war did not save the USSR from the mass repressions that followed in the 1950s.