The beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The main periods of the Great Patriotic War

Looking back, it seems that these events are several centuries old. Life is in full swing around, everyone is fussing, in a hurry, and sometimes even the events of a year ago have no meaning and are ingloriously covered in dust in memory. But mankind has no moral right to forget 1418 days of the Great Patriotic War. Chronicles of the war 1941-1945. - this is just a small echo of that time, a good reminder to the modern generation that the war never brought anything good to anyone.

Causes of the war

Like any armed confrontation, the reasons for the start of the war were very banal. In the chronicle of the Great 1941-1945) it is indicated that the battle began because Adolf Hitler wanted to lead Germany to world domination: to seize all countries and create a state with pure races.

For a year he invades Poland, then goes to Czechoslovakia, conquers more new territories, and then violates the peace treaty concluded on August 23, 1939 with the USSR. Intoxicated by the first successes and victories, he developed the Barbarossa plan, according to which he was supposed to capture the Soviet Union in a short time. But it was not there. From this moment begins a four-year chronicle of the events of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

1941st. Start

In June the war began. During this month, five defensive fronts were formed, each of which was responsible for its own territory:

• northern front. He defended Hanko (from 22.06 to 02.12) and the Arctic (from 29.07 to 10.10).
• Northwestern Front. Immediately after the attack, he began to conduct the Baltic strategic defensive operation (22.06-09.07).
• Western front. Here the Bialystok-Minsk battle unfolded (22.06-09.07).
• Southwestern front. Launched the Lvov-Chernivtsi defensive operation (22.06-06.07).
• Southern front. Founded on 25.07.

In July, defensive operations continued on the Northern Front. On the Northwestern Front, the Leningrad defensive operation began (from 10.07 to 30.09). At the same time, the Battle of Smolensk begins on the Western Front (10.07-10.09). July 24 founded the Central Front, he took part in the battle of Smolensk. On the 30th, the Reserve Front was formed. In the South-West, the Kyiv defensive operation began (07.07-26.09). On the Southern Front, the Tiraspol-Melitopol defensive operation begins (27.07-28.09).

In August, the battle continues. The forces of the Reserve Front join the battle of Smolensk. On the 14th, the Bryansk Front was founded, the defense of the city was carried out in the Odessa defensive region (05.08-16.10). On August 23, the Transcaucasian Front is formed, two days later the Iranian operation begins.

The entries for September in the documentary chronicles of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) indicate that most of the defensive battles have ended. The forces of the Soviet Union changed their place of deployment and began new offensive operations: Sumy-Kharkov and Donbass.

In October, the Sinyavskaya and Strelna-Peterhof operations are carried out on the Leningrad Front, and the Tikhvin defensive operation begins (from October 16 to November 18). On the 17th, the Kalinin Defensive Front was formed, and the defensive operation of the same name began. On the 10th, the Reserve Front ceased to exist. The Tula defensive operation began on the Bryansk Front (24.10-05.12). The Crimean troops began a defensive operation and entered the battle for Sevastopol (10/10/1941-07/09/1942).

In November, the Tikhvin offensive operation began, which ended by the end of the year. The battles went on with varying success. On December 5, the Kalinin offensive operation began, and on the 6th, the Klin-Solnechnaya and Tula offensive operations began. On December 17, the Volkhov Front was formed. The Bryansk front was formed again, and the Kerch landing operation began in the Transcaucasus (26.12). The defense of Sevastopol continued.

1942 - a brief military chronicle of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

On January 1, 1942, an anti-German bloc was formed, which included 226 countries. Meanwhile, on January 2, the city of Maloyaroslavets was liberated, on the 3rd, near the city of Sukhinichi, the Russian army defeated the Germans, and on January 7, German shock groups near Moscow were defeated.

New offensive operations begin. On January 20, Mozhaisk was completely liberated. In early February, the entire Moscow region was liberated from the Germans. Soviet troops advanced 250 km in the direction of Vitebsk. On March 5, long-range aviation is created. On May 8, the German offensive begins in the Crimea. Battles are underway near Kharkov, on June 28, a large-scale offensive by German troops begins. Forces were mainly directed to the Volga and the Caucasus.

On July 17, the legendary Battle of Stalingrad begins, which is mentioned in all the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (photos of the confrontation are attached). On August 25, a state of siege was introduced in Stalingrad. On September 13, fighting begins at Mamaev Kurgan. On November 19, the Red Army begins an offensive operation near Stalingrad. On December 3, a group of German troops was defeated in the Shiripin area. On December 31, the troops of the Stalingrad Front liberate the city of Elista.

1943

This year has been a turning point. On January 1, the Rostov offensive operation began. The cities of Mozdok, Malgobek, Nalchik were liberated; on January 12, Operation Iskra began. The military who took part in it must have been Leningrad. Five days later, the city of Velikiye Luki was liberated. January 18 managed to establish contact with Leningrad. On January 19, an offensive operation began on the Voronezh Front, and a large military grouping of the enemy was defeated. On January 20, in the area of ​​​​the city of Velikoluksk, enemy troops were defeated. On January 21, Stavropol was liberated.

On January 31, German troops capitulate at Stalingrad. On February 2, it was possible to liquidate the army near Stalingrad (nearly 300 thousand fascists). On February 8, Kursk was liberated, and on the 9th - Belgorod. The Soviet army advanced towards Minsk.

Krasnodar liberated; 14th - Rostov-on-Don, Voroshilovgrad and Krasnodon; On February 16, Kharkov was liberated. On March 3, they liberated Rzhevsk, on the 6th - Gzhatsk, on March 12, the Germans left their positions in Vyazma. On March 29, the Soviet flotilla inflicted significant damage on the German fleet off the coast of Norway.

On May 3, the Soviet army won the battle in the air, and on July 5, the legendary Battle of Kursk began. It ended on August 22, during the battle 30 German divisions were defeated. By the end of the year, successful offensive operations are being carried out, one by one the cities of the Soviet Union are being liberated from the invaders. suffers defeat.

1944

According to the chronicle (1941-1945), the war took a favorable turn for the USSR. Offensive operations began on all fronts. Ten so-called Stalinist strikes helped to completely liberate the territory of the USSR, the fighting was now carried out on the territory of Europe.

Way to victory

The German command understands that it cannot seize the strategic initiative and begins to take up defensive positions in order to preserve at least those territories that they managed to capture. But every day they had to retreat further and further.

April 16, 1945 Soviet troops surround Berlin. The Nazi army is defeated. April 30 Hitler commits suicide. On May 7, Germany announced its surrender to the Western Allied Forces, and on May 9, it surrendered to the Soviet Union.

In the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the war is presented to the reader as a list of dates and events. But we must not forget that human destinies are hidden behind each date: unfulfilled hopes, unfulfilled promises and unlived lives.

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

Name

First of all, let's deal with what is meant by the Second World War. The fact is that such a name is present only in Soviet sources, and for the whole world the events that took place in the period from the end of June 1941 to May 1945 are only part of the hostilities of the Second World War, localized in the Eastern European region of the planet. The term Great Patriotic War itself first appeared on the pages of the Pravda newspaper the day after the start of the invasion of the Third Reich troops into the territory of the USSR. As for German historiography, the expressions "Eastern campaign" and "Russian campaign" are used instead.

background

Adolf Hitler declared his desire to conquer Russia and "the outlying states that are subordinate to it" back in 1925. Eight years later, after becoming Reich Chancellor, he began to pursue a policy aimed at preparing for war in order to expand "living space for the German people." At the same time, the “Führer of the German nation” constantly and very successfully played diplomatic multi-way combinations in order to lull the vigilance of the alleged opponents and further quarrel the USSR and the countries of the West.

Military operations in Europe preceding the Second World War

In 1936, Germany sent its troops into the Rhine zone, which was a kind of protective barrier for France, to which there was no serious reaction from the international community. A year and a half later, the German government, as a result of a plebiscite, annexed Austria to Germany, and then occupied the Sudetenland, inhabited by Germans, but belonging to Czechoslovakia. Feeling intoxicated by these almost bloodless victories, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland, and then went through the "blitzkrieg" throughout Western Europe, almost never meeting serious resistance. The only country that continued to resist the troops of the Third Reich in the year the Second World War began was Great Britain. However, in this war, ground military units from none of the conflicting parties were involved, so the Wehrmacht was able to concentrate all its main forces near the borders with the USSR.

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

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

Despite the prevailing opinion that the Soviet Union was not preparing for war, preparations, and very serious ones, were nevertheless carried out. In particular, from the beginning of 1940, significant funds were directed to the development of the sector of the economy, focused on the production of military equipment and servicing the needs of the Red Army. As a result, at the time of the German attack on the USSR, the Red Army was armed with more than 59, 7 thousand guns and mortars, 12,782 tanks and 10,743 aircraft.

At the same time, according to historians, the beginning of the Second World War could have been completely different if the repressions of the second half of the 1930s had not deprived the Armed Forces of the country of thousands of experienced military personnel, who simply had no one to replace. But be that as it may, back in 1939 it was decided to increase the terms of active service in the army and reduce the draft age, which made it possible to have more than 3.2 million soldiers and officers in the ranks of the Red Army at the start of the war.

WWII: reasons for the start

As already mentioned, among the priority tasks of the Nazis initially there was a desire to seize "lands in the East." Moreover, Hitler even directly pointed out that the main mistake of German foreign policy over the previous 6 centuries was to strive to the south and to the west, instead of striving to the east. In addition, in one of his speeches at a meeting with the high command of the Wehrmacht, Hitler stated that if Russia was defeated, then England would be forced to capitulate, and Germany would become "the ruler of Europe and the Balkans."

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

When did WWII start

Until now, historians have not subsided disputes related to why Germany chose June 22, 1941 to attack the Soviet Union.

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

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

Directive number 1

Half an hour before the onset of June 22, an order was received in 5 border districts of the USSR to bring them to combat readiness. However, the same directive prescribed not to succumb to provocations and contained not entirely clear wording. The result was that the local command began to send requests to Moscow with a request to specify the order instead of taking decisive action. So precious minutes were lost, and the warning about the impending attack did not play any role.

Events of the first days of the war

At 0400 in Berlin, the German Foreign Minister presented the Soviet ambassador with a note by which the imperial government declared war on the USSR. At the same time, after aviation and artillery preparation, the troops of the Third Reich crossed the border of the Soviet Union. On the same day, at noon, Molotov spoke on the radio, and it was from him that many citizens of the USSR heard about the beginning of the war. In the first days after the invasion of the German troops, the Second World War was perceived by the Soviet people as an adventure on the part of the Germans, since they were confident in the defense capability of their country and believed in a quick victory over the enemy. However, the leadership of the USSR understood the seriousness of the situation and did not share the optimism of the people. In this regard, already on June 23, the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command were formed.

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

The reaction of England and the USA

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

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

The Great Patriotic War- the war of the USSR with Germany and its allies in - years and with Japan in 1945; an integral part of World War II.

From the point of view of the leadership of Nazi Germany, the war with the USSR was inevitable. The communist regime was regarded by him as alien, and at the same time capable of striking at any moment. Only the rapid defeat of the USSR gave the Germans the opportunity to ensure dominance on the European continent. In addition, he gave them access to the rich industrial and agricultural regions of Eastern Europe.

At the same time, according to some historians, Stalin himself, at the end of 1939, decided on a preemptive attack on Germany in the summer of 1941. On June 15, Soviet troops began strategic deployment and advance to the western border. According to one version, this was done in order to strike at Romania and German-occupied Poland, according to another, to frighten Hitler and force him to abandon plans to attack the USSR.

The first period of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942)

The first stage of the German offensive (June 22 - July 10, 1941)

On June 22, Germany began a war against the USSR; Italy and Romania joined on the same day, Slovakia on June 23, Finland on June 26, and Hungary on June 27. The German invasion took the Soviet forces by surprise; on the very first day, a significant part of ammunition, fuel and military equipment was destroyed; The Germans managed to achieve complete air supremacy. During the fighting on June 23–25, the main forces of the Western Front were defeated. The Brest Fortress held out until July 20. On June 28, the Germans took the capital of Belarus and closed the encirclement ring, which included eleven divisions. On June 29, the German-Finnish troops launched an offensive in the Arctic to Murmansk, Kandalaksha and Loukhi, but failed to advance deep into Soviet territory.

On June 22, the mobilization of those liable for military service born in 1905-1918 was carried out in the USSR, and from the first days of the war, a mass registration of volunteers began. On June 23, in the USSR, an emergency body of the highest military administration, the Headquarters of the High Command, was created to direct military operations, and there was also a maximum centralization of military and political power in the hands of Stalin.

On June 22, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a radio statement supporting the USSR in its struggle against Hitlerism. On June 23, the US State Department welcomed the efforts of the Soviet people to repel the German invasion, and on June 24, US President Franklin Roosevelt promised to provide the USSR with all possible assistance.

On July 18, the Soviet leadership decided to organize a partisan movement in the occupied and frontline regions, which gained momentum in the second half of the year.

In the summer-autumn of 1941, about 10 million people were evacuated to the east. and more than 1350 large enterprises. The militarization of the economy began to be carried out with harsh and energetic measures; all the material resources of the country were mobilized for military needs.

The main reason for the defeats of the Red Army, despite its quantitative and often qualitative (T-34 and KV tanks) technical superiority, was the poor training of privates and officers, the low level of operation of military equipment and the lack of experience among the troops in conducting major military operations in modern warfare. . The repressions against the high command in 1937-1940 also played a significant role.

The second stage of the German offensive (July 10 - September 30, 1941)

On July 10, Finnish troops launched an offensive and on September 1, the 23rd Soviet Army on the Karelian Isthmus withdrew to the line of the old state border, occupied before the Finnish war of 1939–1940. By October 10, the front had stabilized along the line Kestenga - Ukhta - Rugozero - Medvezhyegorsk - Lake Onega. - river Svir. The enemy was unable to cut off the communication lines of European Russia with the northern ports.

On July 10, the Army Group "North" launched an offensive in the Leningrad and Tallinn directions. August 15 fell Novgorod, August 21 - Gatchina. On August 30, the Germans reached the Neva, cutting off the railway communication with the city, and on September 8 they took Shlisselburg and closed the blockade ring around Leningrad. Only the tough measures of the new commander of the Leningrad Front, G.K. Zhukov, made it possible to stop the enemy by September 26.

On July 16, the Romanian 4th Army took Kishinev; the defense of Odessa lasted about two months. Soviet troops left the city only in the first half of October. In early September, Guderian crossed the Desna and on September 7 captured Konotop ("Konotop breakthrough"). Five Soviet armies were surrounded; the number of prisoners was 665 thousand. Left-bank Ukraine was in the hands of the Germans; the way to the Donbass was open; Soviet troops in the Crimea were cut off from the main forces.

The defeats on the fronts prompted the Headquarters to issue order No. 270 on August 16, qualifying all soldiers and officers who surrendered as traitors and deserters; their families were deprived of state support and were subject to exile.

The third stage of the German offensive (September 30 - December 5, 1941)

On September 30, Army Group Center launched an operation to capture Moscow (Typhoon). On October 3, Guderian's tanks broke into Orel and took to the road to Moscow. On October 6-8, all three armies of the Bryansk Front were surrounded south of Bryansk, and the main forces of the Reserve (19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies) were surrounded west of Vyazma; the Germans captured 664,000 prisoners and more than 1,200 tanks. But the advance of the 2nd tank group of the Wehrmacht to Tula was thwarted by the stubborn resistance of the brigade of M.E. Katukov near Mtsensk; The 4th Panzer Group occupied Yukhnov and rushed towards Maloyaroslavets, but was held up near Medyn by Podolsk cadets (October 6–10); the autumn thaw also slowed down the pace of the German offensive.

On October 10, the Germans attacked the right wing of the Reserve Front (renamed the Western Front); On October 12, the 9th Army captured Staritsa, and on October 14 - Rzhev. On October 19, a state of siege was declared in Moscow. On October 29, Guderian tried to take Tula, but was repulsed with heavy losses for himself. In early November, the new commander of the Western Front, Zhukov, with an incredible effort of all forces and constant counterattacks, managed, despite huge losses in manpower and equipment, to stop the Germans in other directions.

On September 27, the Germans broke through the defense line of the Southern Front. Most of the Donbass was in the hands of the Germans. During the successful counter-offensive of the troops of the Southern Front, Rostov was liberated on November 29, and the Germans were driven back to the Mius River.

In the second half of October, the 11th German Army broke into the Crimea and by mid-November captured almost the entire peninsula. Soviet troops managed to hold only Sevastopol.

Counteroffensive of the Red Army near Moscow (December 5, 1941 - January 7, 1942)

On December 5-6, the Kalinin, Western and Southwestern fronts switched to offensive operations in the northwestern and southwestern directions. The successful advance of the Soviet troops forced Hitler on December 8 to issue a directive on the transition to defense along the entire front line. On December 18, the troops of the Western Front launched an offensive in the central direction. As a result, by the beginning of the year, the Germans were pushed back 100–250 km to the west. There was a threat of coverage of the army group "Center" from the north and south. The strategic initiative passed to the Red Army.

The success of the operation near Moscow prompted the Headquarters to decide on the transition to a general offensive along the entire front from Lake Ladoga to the Crimea. The offensive operations of the Soviet troops in December 1941 - April 1942 led to a significant change in the military-strategic situation on the Soviet-German front: the Germans were driven back from Moscow, Moscow, part of the Kalinin, Oryol and Smolensk regions were liberated. There was also a psychological turning point among the soldiers and the civilian population: faith in victory was strengthened, the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht was destroyed. The collapse of the lightning war plan gave rise to doubts about the successful outcome of the war, both among the German military-political leadership and among ordinary Germans.

Luban operation (January 13 - June 25)

The Lyuban operation was aimed at breaking through the blockade of Leningrad. On January 13, the forces of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts launched an offensive in several directions, planning to link up at Lyuban and encircle the enemy's Chudov grouping. On March 19, the Germans launched a counterattack, cutting off the 2nd shock army from the rest of the forces of the Volkhov Front. Soviet troops repeatedly tried to release it and resume the offensive. On May 21, the Stavka decided to withdraw it, but on June 6 the Germans completely closed the encirclement. On June 20, soldiers and officers were ordered to leave the encirclement on their own, but only a few managed to do this (according to various estimates, from 6 to 16 thousand people); commander A.A. Vlasov surrendered.

Military operations in May-November 1942

Having defeated the Crimean Front (almost 200 thousand people were taken prisoner), the Germans occupied Kerch on May 16, and Sevastopol in early July. On May 12, the troops of the Southwestern Front and the Southern Front launched an offensive against Kharkov. For several days it developed successfully, but on May 19 the Germans defeated the 9th Army, throwing it behind the Seversky Donets, went to the rear of the advancing Soviet troops and on May 23 took them into pincers; the number of prisoners reached 240 thousand. On June 28-30, the German offensive began against the left wing of the Bryansk and the right wing of the Southwestern Front. On July 8, the Germans captured Voronezh and reached the Middle Don. By July 22, the 1st and 4th tank armies had reached the Southern Don. On July 24, Rostov-on-Don was taken.

In the conditions of a military catastrophe in the south, on July 28, Stalin issued order No. 227 “Not a step back”, which provided for severe punishments for retreating without instructions from above, detachments to deal with unauthorized leaving positions, penal units for operations on the most dangerous sectors of the front. On the basis of this order, during the war years, about 1 million military personnel were convicted, of which 160 thousand were shot, and 400 thousand were sent to penal companies.

On July 25, the Germans crossed the Don and rushed south. In mid-August, the Germans established control over almost all the passes in the central part of the Main Caucasian Range. In the Grozny direction, the Germans occupied Nalchik on October 29, they failed to take Ordzhonikidze and Grozny, and in mid-November their further advance was stopped.

On August 16, German troops launched an offensive against Stalingrad. On September 13, fighting began in Stalingrad itself. In the second half of October - the first half of November, the Germans captured a significant part of the city, but could not break the resistance of the defenders.

By mid-November, the Germans established control over the Right Bank of the Don and most of the North Caucasus, but did not achieve their strategic goals - to break into the Volga region and Transcaucasia. This was prevented by the counterattacks of the Red Army in other directions (the Rzhev meat grinder, the tank battle between Zubtsov and Karmanovo, etc.), which, although unsuccessful, nevertheless did not allow the Wehrmacht command to transfer reserves to the south.

The second period of the war (November 19, 1942 - December 31, 1943): a radical change

Victory at Stalingrad (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943)

On November 19, units of the Southwestern Front broke through the defenses of the 3rd Romanian Army and on November 21 took five Romanian divisions in pincers (Operation Saturn). On November 23, units of the two fronts joined at the Soviet and surrounded the Stalingrad enemy grouping.

On December 16, the troops of the Voronezh and South-Western Fronts launched Operation Little Saturn on the Middle Don, defeated the 8th Italian Army, and on January 26, the 6th Army was cut into two parts. On January 31, the southern grouping led by F. Paulus capitulated, on February 2 - the northern one; 91 thousand people were captured. The Battle of Stalingrad, despite the heavy losses of the Soviet troops, was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War. The Wehrmacht suffered a major defeat and lost the strategic initiative. Japan and Turkey abandoned their intention to enter the war on the side of Germany.

Economic recovery and transition to the offensive in the central direction

By this time, a turning point had also occurred in the sphere of the Soviet military economy. Already in the winter of 1941/1942 it was possible to stop the decline in engineering. In March, ferrous metallurgy began to rise, and in the second half of 1942, energy and the fuel industry began to rise. By the beginning there was a clear economic superiority of the USSR over Germany.

In November 1942 - January 1943, the Red Army launched an offensive in the central direction.

Operation "Mars" (Rzhev-Sychevskaya) was carried out in order to eliminate the Rzhev-Vyazma bridgehead. The formations of the Western Front made their way through the Rzhev-Sychevka railway and raided the enemy rear, however, significant losses and a lack of tanks, guns and ammunition forced them to stop, but this operation did not allow the Germans to transfer part of their forces from the central direction to Stalingrad.

Liberation of the North Caucasus (January 1 - February 12, 1943)

On January 1–3, an operation began to liberate the North Caucasus and the Don bend. On January 3, Mozdok was liberated, on January 10-11 - Kislovodsk, Mineralnye Vody, Essentuki and Pyatigorsk, on January 21 - Stavropol. On January 24, the Germans surrendered Armavir, on January 30 - Tikhoretsk. On February 4, the Black Sea Fleet landed troops in the Myskhako area south of Novorossiysk. On February 12, Krasnodar was taken. However, the lack of forces prevented the Soviet troops from encircling the enemy's North Caucasian grouping.

Breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad (January 12–30, 1943)

Fearing the encirclement of the main forces of Army Group Center on the Rzhev-Vyazma bridgehead, the German command began on March 1 their systematic withdrawal. On March 2, units of the Kalinin and Western fronts began pursuing the enemy. On March 3, Rzhev was liberated, on March 6 - Gzhatsk, on March 12 - Vyazma.

The January-March 1943 campaign, despite a series of setbacks, led to the liberation of a huge territory (the North Caucasus, the lower reaches of the Don, the Voroshilovgrad, Voronezh, Kursk regions, and part of the Belgorod, Smolensk, and Kalinin regions). The blockade of Leningrad was broken, the Demyansky and Rzhev-Vyazemsky ledges were liquidated. Control over the Volga and Don was restored. The Wehrmacht suffered huge losses (about 1.2 million people). The depletion of human resources forced the Nazi leadership to conduct a total mobilization of older (over 46 years old) and younger ages (16-17 years old).

Since the winter of 1942/1943, the partisan movement in the German rear has become an important military factor. The partisans caused serious damage to the German army, destroying manpower, blowing up warehouses and trains, disrupting the communications system. The largest operations were the raids of the detachment of M.I. Naumov in Kursk, Sumy, Poltava, Kirovograd, Odessa, Vinnitsa, Kyiv and Zhytomyr (February-March 1943) and S.A. Kovpak in Rivne, Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions (February-May 1943).

Defensive battle on the Kursk Bulge (July 5–23, 1943)

The Wehrmacht command developed Operation Citadel to encircle a strong group of the Red Army on the Kursk ledge through counter tank strikes from the north and south; if successful, it was planned to carry out Operation Panther to defeat the Southwestern Front. However, Soviet intelligence unraveled the plans of the Germans, and in April-June a powerful defensive system of eight lines was created on the Kursk ledge.

On July 5, the German 9th Army launched an attack on Kursk from the north, and the 4th Panzer Army from the south. On the northern flank, already on July 10, the Germans went on the defensive. On the southern wing, Wehrmacht tank columns reached Prokhorovka on July 12, but were stopped, and by July 23, the troops of the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts pushed them back to their original lines. Operation Citadel failed.

The general offensive of the Red Army in the second half of 1943 (July 12 - December 24, 1943). Liberation of Left-Bank Ukraine

On July 12, units of the Western and Bryansk fronts broke through the German defenses at Zhilkovo and Novosil, by August 18, Soviet troops cleared the Orlovsky ledge from the enemy.

By September 22, units of the Southwestern Front pushed the Germans back beyond the Dnieper and reached the approaches to Dnepropetrovsk (now the Dnieper) and Zaporozhye; formations of the Southern Front occupied Taganrog, on September 8, Stalino (now Donetsk), on September 10 - Mariupol; the result of the operation was the liberation of Donbass.

On August 3, the troops of the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts broke through the defenses of Army Group South in several places and captured Belgorod on August 5. On August 23 Kharkov was taken.

On September 25, by means of flank attacks from the south and north, the troops of the Western Front captured Smolensk and by the beginning of October entered the territory of Belarus.

On August 26, the Central, Voronezh and Steppe Fronts launched the Chernigov-Poltava operation. The troops of the Central Front broke through the enemy defenses south of Sevsk and occupied the city on August 27; On September 13, they reached the Dnieper at the Loev–Kyiv section. Parts of the Voronezh Front reached the Dnieper in the Kyiv-Cherkassy section. The formations of the Steppe Front approached the Dnieper in the Cherkasy-Verkhnedneprovsk section. As a result, the Germans lost almost all of Left-Bank Ukraine. At the end of September, Soviet troops crossed the Dnieper in several places and captured 23 bridgeheads on its right bank.

On September 1, the troops of the Bryansk Front overcame the Wehrmacht's defense line "Hagen" and occupied Bryansk, by October 3, the Red Army reached the line of the Sozh River in Eastern Belarus.

On September 9, the North Caucasian Front, in cooperation with the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov military flotilla, launched an offensive on the Taman Peninsula. Having broken through the Blue Line, Soviet troops took Novorossiysk on September 16, and by October 9 they completely cleared the peninsula of the Germans.

On October 10, the Southwestern Front launched an operation to eliminate the Zaporozhye bridgehead and on October 14 captured Zaporozhye.

On October 11, the Voronezh (since October 20 - 1st Ukrainian) Front began the Kyiv operation. After two unsuccessful attempts to take the capital of Ukraine with an attack from the south (from the Bukrinsky bridgehead), it was decided to launch the main attack from the north (from the Lyutezhsky bridgehead). On November 1, in order to divert the attention of the enemy, the 27th and 40th armies moved to Kyiv from the Bukrinsky bridgehead, and on November 3rd, the shock group of the 1st Ukrainian Front suddenly attacked him from the Lyutezhsky bridgehead and broke through the German defenses. On November 6, Kyiv was liberated.

On November 13, the Germans, having pulled up their reserves, launched a counteroffensive against the 1st Ukrainian Front in the Zhytomyr direction in order to recapture Kyiv and restore the defense along the Dnieper. But the Red Army held the vast strategic Kyiv bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper.

During the period of hostilities from June 1 to December 31, the Wehrmacht suffered huge losses (1 million 413 thousand people), which it was no longer able to fully compensate for. A significant part of the territory of the USSR occupied in 1941–1942 was liberated. The plans of the German command to gain a foothold on the Dnieper lines failed. Conditions were created for the expulsion of the Germans from the Right-Bank Ukraine.

Third period of the war (December 24, 1943 - May 11, 1945): defeat of Germany

After a series of failures throughout 1943, the German command abandoned attempts to seize the strategic initiative and switched to a tough defense. The main task of the Wehrmacht in the north was to prevent the breakthrough of the Red Army into the Baltic states and East Prussia, in the center to the border with Poland, and in the south to the Dniester and the Carpathians. The Soviet military leadership set the goal of the winter-spring campaign to defeat the German troops on the extreme flanks - in the Right-Bank Ukraine and near Leningrad.

Liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine and Crimea

On December 24, 1943, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched an offensive in the western and southwestern directions (Zhytomyr-Berdichev operation). Only at the cost of great effort and significant losses did the Germans manage to stop the Soviet troops on the Sarny-Polonnaya-Kazatin-Zhashkov line. On January 5–6, units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front struck in the Kirovograd direction and captured Kirovograd on January 8, but on January 10 they were forced to stop the offensive. The Germans did not allow the connection of the troops of both fronts and were able to keep the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky ledge, which posed a threat to Kyiv from the south.

On January 24, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts launched a joint operation to defeat the enemy's Korsun-Shevchensk grouping. On January 28, the 6th and 5th Guards Tank Armies joined at Zvenigorodka and closed the encirclement. Kanev was taken on January 30, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky on February 14. On February 17, the liquidation of the "cauldron" was completed; more than 18 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers were taken prisoner.

On January 27, units of the 1st Ukrainian Front struck from the Sarn region in the Lutsk-Rivne direction. On January 30, the offensive of the troops of the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian fronts began on the Nikopol bridgehead. Having overcome the fierce resistance of the enemy, on February 8 they captured Nikopol, on February 22 - Krivoy Rog, and by February 29 they reached the river. Ingulets.

As a result of the winter campaign of 1943/1944, the Germans were finally driven back from the Dnieper. In an effort to make a strategic breakthrough to the borders of Romania and prevent the Wehrmacht from gaining a foothold on the Southern Bug, Dniester and Prut rivers, the Headquarters developed a plan to encircle and defeat Army Group South in Right-Bank Ukraine through a coordinated strike of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts .

The final chord of the spring operation in the south was the expulsion of the Germans from the Crimea. On May 7–9, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, with the support of the Black Sea Fleet, stormed Sevastopol, and by May 12 they defeated the remnants of the 17th Army that had fled to Chersonese.

Leningrad-Novgorod operation of the Red Army (January 14 - March 1, 1944)

On January 14, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts launched an offensive south of Leningrad and near Novgorod. Having inflicted a defeat on the German 18th Army and pushed it back to Luga, they liberated Novgorod on January 20. In early February, units of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts reached the approaches to Narva, Gdov and Luga; On February 4 they took Gdov, on February 12 - Luga. The threat of encirclement forced the 18th Army to hastily retreat to the southwest. On February 17, the 2nd Baltic Front carried out a series of attacks against the 16th German Army on the Lovat River. In early March, the Red Army reached the defensive line "Panther" (Narva - Lake Peipsi - Pskov - Ostrov); most of the Leningrad and Kalinin regions were liberated.

Military operations in the central direction in December 1943 - April 1944

As the tasks of the winter offensive of the 1st Baltic, Western and Belorussian fronts, the Stavka set the troops to reach the Polotsk-Lepel-Mogilev-Ptich line and liberate Eastern Belarus.

In December 1943 - February 1944, the 1st PribF made three attempts to capture Vitebsk, which did not lead to the capture of the city, but exhausted the enemy's forces to the limit. The offensive actions of the Polar Front in the Orsha direction on February 22-25 and March 5-9, 1944 were not successful either.

On the Mozyr direction, the Belorussian Front (BelF) on January 8 dealt a strong blow to the flanks of the 2nd German Army, but thanks to a hasty retreat, it managed to avoid encirclement. The lack of forces prevented the Soviet troops from encircling and destroying the Bobruisk enemy grouping, and on February 26 the offensive was stopped. Formed on February 17 at the junction of the 1st Ukrainian and Belorussian (since February 24, the 1st Belorussian) fronts, the 2nd Belorussian Front began the Polessky operation on March 15 with the aim of capturing Kovel and breaking through to Brest. Soviet troops surrounded Kovel, but on March 23 the Germans launched a counterattack and on April 4 released the Kovel group.

Thus, in the central direction during the winter-spring campaign of 1944, the Red Army was unable to achieve its goals; On April 15, she went on the defensive.

Offensive in Karelia (June 10 - August 9, 1944). Finland's exit from the war

After the loss of most of the occupied territory of the USSR, the main task of the Wehrmacht was to prevent the Red Army from entering Europe and not to lose its allies. That is why the Soviet military-political leadership, having failed in their attempts to reach a peace agreement with Finland in February-April 1944, decided to start the summer campaign of the year with a strike in the north.

On June 10, 1944, LenF troops, with the support of the Baltic Fleet, launched an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus, as a result, control was restored over the White Sea-Baltic Canal and the strategically important Kirov Railway connecting Murmansk with European Russia. By early August, Soviet troops had liberated all of the occupied territory east of Ladoga; in the Kuolisma area, they reached the Finnish border. Having suffered a defeat, Finland on August 25 entered into negotiations with the USSR. On September 4, she broke off relations with Berlin and ceased hostilities, on September 15 she declared war on Germany, and on September 19 she concluded a truce with the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The length of the Soviet-German front was reduced by a third. This allowed the Red Army to free up significant forces for operations in other directions.

Liberation of Belarus (June 23 - early August 1944)

Successes in Karelia prompted the Headquarters to conduct a large-scale operation to defeat the enemy in the central direction with the forces of three Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts (Operation Bagration), which became the main event of the summer-autumn campaign of 1944.

The general offensive of the Soviet troops began on June 23–24. The coordinated strike of the 1st PribF and the right wing of the 3rd BF ended on June 26–27 with the liberation of Vitebsk and the encirclement of five German divisions. On June 26, units of the 1st BF took Zhlobin, on June 27–29 they surrounded and destroyed the Bobruisk grouping of the enemy, and on June 29 they liberated Bobruisk. As a result of the rapid offensive of the three Belorussian fronts, an attempt by the German command to organize a line of defense along the Berezina was thwarted; On July 3, the troops of the 1st and 3rd BF broke into Minsk and took the 4th German army in pincers south of Borisov (liquidated by July 11).

The German front began to crumble. Formations of the 1st PribF occupied Polotsk on July 4 and, moving downstream of the Western Dvina, entered the territory of Latvia and Lithuania, reached the coast of the Gulf of Riga, cutting off Army Group North stationed in the Baltic states from the rest of the Wehrmacht forces. Parts of the right wing of the 3rd BF, having taken Lepel on June 28, broke through into the valley of the river in early July. Viliya (Nyaris), on August 17 they reached the border of East Prussia.

The troops of the left wing of the 3rd BF, having made a swift throw from Minsk, took Lida on July 3, on July 16, together with the 2nd BF - Grodno, and at the end of July approached the northeastern ledge of the Polish border. The 2nd BF, advancing to the southwest, captured Bialystok on July 27 and drove the Germans across the Narew River. Parts of the right wing of the 1st BF, having liberated Baranovichi on July 8, and Pinsk on July 14, at the end of July they reached the Western Bug and reached the central section of the Soviet-Polish border; On July 28 Brest was taken.

As a result of Operation Bagration, Belarus, most of Lithuania and part of Latvia were liberated. The possibility of an offensive in East Prussia and Poland opened up.

Liberation of Western Ukraine and offensive in Eastern Poland (July 13 - August 29, 1944)

Trying to stop the advance of Soviet troops in Belarus, the Wehrmacht command was forced to transfer formations there from the rest of the sectors of the Soviet-German front. This facilitated the operations of the Red Army in other areas. On July 13–14, the offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front began in Western Ukraine. Already on July 17, they crossed the state border of the USSR and entered South-Eastern Poland.

On July 18, the left wing of the 1st BF launched an offensive near Kovel. At the end of July, they approached Prague (the right-bank suburb of Warsaw), which they managed to take only on September 14th. In early August, the resistance of the Germans intensified sharply, and the advance of the Red Army was stopped. Because of this, the Soviet command was unable to provide the necessary assistance to the uprising that broke out on August 1 in the Polish capital under the leadership of the Home Army, and by the beginning of October it was brutally suppressed by the Wehrmacht.

Offensive in the Eastern Carpathians (September 8 - October 28, 1944)

After the occupation of Estonia in the summer of 1941, the Tallinn Metropolitan. Alexander (Paulus) announced the separation of the Estonian parishes from the Russian Orthodox Church (the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church was established on the initiative of Alexander (Paulus) in 1923, in 1941 the bishop repented of the sin of schism). In October 1941, at the insistence of the German General Commissar of Belarus, the Belarusian Church was established. However, Panteleimon (Rozhnovsky), who headed it in the rank of Metropolitan of Minsk and Belarus, retained canonical communion with the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky). After Metropolitan Panteleimon was forcibly retired in June 1942, Archbishop Filofei (Narko), who also refused to arbitrarily proclaim a national autocephalous Church, became his successor.

Given the patriotic position of the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky), the German authorities initially hindered the activities of those priests and parishes who claimed to belong to the Moscow Patriarchate. Over time, the German authorities became more tolerant of the communities of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to the invaders, these communities only verbally declared their loyalty to the Moscow center, but in reality they were ready to assist the German army in the destruction of the atheistic Soviet state.

In the occupied territory, thousands of churches, churches, prayer houses of various Protestant denominations (primarily Lutherans and Pentecostals) have resumed their activities. This process was especially active on the territory of the Baltic States, in the Vitebsk, Gomel, Mogilev regions of Belarus, in the Dnepropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporozhye, Kyiv, Voroshilovgrad, Poltava regions of Ukraine, in the Rostov, Smolensk regions of the RSFSR.

The religious factor was taken into account when planning domestic policy in areas where Islam was traditionally spread, primarily in the Crimea and the Caucasus. German propaganda declared respect for the values ​​of Islam, presented the occupation as the liberation of peoples from the "Bolshevik godless yoke", guaranteed the creation of conditions for the revival of Islam. The invaders willingly went to the opening of mosques in almost every settlement of the "Muslim regions", provided the Muslim clergy with the opportunity to contact believers through radio and print. Throughout the occupied territory where Muslims lived, the positions of mullahs and senior mullahs were restored, whose rights and privileges were equated with the heads of administrations of cities and settlements.

When forming special units from among the prisoners of war of the Red Army, much attention was paid to confessional affiliation: if representatives of the peoples who traditionally professed Christianity were mainly sent to the "army of General Vlasov", then to such formations as the "Turkestan Legion", "Idel-Ural", they sent representatives of the "Islamic" peoples.

The "liberalism" of the German authorities did not extend to all religions. Many communities were on the verge of destruction, for example, in Dvinsk alone, almost all of the 35 synagogues that operated before the war were destroyed, up to 14 thousand Jews were shot. Most of the Evangelical Christian Baptist communities that found themselves in the occupied territory were also destroyed or dispersed by the authorities.

Forced to leave the occupied territories under the onslaught of Soviet troops, the Nazi invaders took out liturgical objects, icons, paintings, books, items made of precious metals from prayer buildings.

According to the far from complete data of the Extraordinary State Commission for Establishing and Investigating the Atrocities of the Nazi Invaders, 1670 Orthodox churches, 69 chapels, 237 churches, 532 synagogues, 4 mosques and 254 other prayer buildings were completely destroyed, looted or desecrated in the occupied territory. Among those destroyed or desecrated by the Nazis were priceless monuments of history, culture and architecture, incl. relating to the XI-XVII centuries, in Novgorod, Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Kyiv, Pskov. Many prayer buildings were converted by the invaders into prisons, barracks, stables, and garages.

The position and patriotic activities of the Russian Orthodox Church during the war

On June 22, 1941, the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky) compiled a "Message to the Shepherds and Flocks of the Orthodox Church of Christ", in which he revealed the anti-Christian essence of fascism and called on the faithful to defend themselves. In their letters to the Patriarchate, believers reported that voluntary collections of donations for the needs of the front and the defense of the country had begun everywhere.

After the death of Patriarch Sergius, according to his will, Met. Alexy (Simansky), unanimously elected at the last meeting of the Local Council on January 31-February 2, 1945, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The Council was attended by Patriarchs Christopher II of Alexandria, Alexander III of Antioch and Kallistratus (Tsintsadze) of Georgia, representatives of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Serbia and Romania.

In 1945, the so-called Estonian schism was overcome, and Orthodox parishes and the clergy of Estonia were accepted into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Patriotic activities of communities of other faiths and religions

Immediately after the start of the war, the leaders of almost all religious associations of the USSR supported the liberation struggle of the peoples of the country against the Nazi aggressor. Addressing the faithful with patriotic messages, they called for worthy fulfillment of their religious and civic duty to defend the Fatherland, to provide all possible material assistance to the needs of the front and rear. The leaders of most of the religious associations of the USSR condemned those representatives of the clergy who consciously went over to the side of the enemy and helped to impose a "new order" on the occupied territory.

The head of the Russian Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy, Archbishop. Irinarkh (Parfyonov), in his Christmas message of 1942, called on the Old Believers, a considerable number of whom fought on the fronts, to serve valiantly in the Red Army and to resist the enemy in the occupied territory in the ranks of the partisans. In May 1942, the leaders of the Unions of Baptists and Evangelical Christians addressed the believers with a letter of appeal; the appeal spoke of the danger of fascism "for the cause of the Gospel" and called for "brothers and sisters in Christ" to fulfill "their duty to God and to the Motherland", being "the best soldiers at the front and the best workers in the rear." Baptist communities were engaged in tailoring, collecting clothes and other things for the soldiers and families of the dead, helped in the care of the wounded and sick in hospitals, and took care of orphans in orphanages. Funds raised in the Baptist congregations were used to build a Merciful Samaritan ambulance to transport seriously wounded soldiers to the rear. The leader of Renovationism, A. I. Vvedensky, repeatedly made patriotic appeals.

With regard to a number of other religious associations, the policy of the state during the war years remained invariably tough. First of all, this concerned “anti-state, anti-Soviet and savage sects”, which included the Dukhobors.

M. I. Odintsov. Religious organizations in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War// Orthodox Encyclopedia, vol. 7, p. 407-415

• http://www.pravenc.ru/text/150063.html

143,000,000 Soviet citizens killed, 1,800,000 dead in captivity or immigrated - the Great Patriotic War broke into every house on June 22, 1941. For 4 terrible years on the fronts, fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers and wives remained “lying with bones”. The Second World War is called "a terrible lesson of the past", "a political miscalculation", "a bloody massacre". Why did the terrible war begin, what is its course, what are the results?

Background of World War II. Where "legs grow"

The prerequisites are hidden in the Versailles-Washington system established after the First World War. Germany with her ambitions was humiliated and brought to her knees. In the 1920s, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which promoted ultra-right views, entered the political lease. Supporters of the party proclaimed the ideas of "revenge for the defeat in the First World War", establishing the world domination of the German nation. European politicians looked at a "rising Germany" and thought they could manage it. France and Great Britain "pushed" the country to the borders of the Union, pursuing their own benefits. But they could not think that on September 1, 1939, German troops would invade Poland (the Second World War would begin).

ATTENTION! The Second World War lasted more than 6 years (September 1, 1939 - September 2, 1945). WWII - June 22, 1941 - May 9, 1945.

Why did the Great Patriotic War start? 3 reasons

Historians talk about dozens of factors that influenced the start of the war. To be honest, the war began with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. "Behind Europe's back" Germany and the Soviet Union agree that they will be "on the same side." After the start of World War II, the USSR invaded Poland on September 17, 1939. On September 22, 1939, the parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army is solemnly held in Brest.

Joseph Stalin did not believe that Hitler would "stab a knife in the back" and attack the USSR. Moreover, when Minsk fell on June 28, 1941, the leader was in a panic (and even thought that he would be arrested for a crime against the people). The first days of the Second World War, the Red Army retreated, and the Germans easily took one city after another.

Let's not forget that repressions were widespread in the USSR: during the last "purge" in June 1941, experienced military leaders were destroyed (shot, expelled).

The causes of WWII lie in:

1. Hitler's desire for "domination of the whole world" ("Germany from sea to sea"). Resources were needed for the conquests, and the territory of the USSR with its natural wealth seemed to be a "tidbit".
2. The desire of the Soviet authorities to "crush" Eastern Europe.
3. Contradictions between the socialist system and capitalism.

What plans did Germany have?

German tacticians and strategists had several plans on the territory of the Soviet Union.

1. Military plan "Barbarossa". In the summer of 1940, a “blitzkrieg” plan was developed: in 10 weeks (i.e., 2.5 months), German troops were to paralyze the industry of the Urals, crush the European part of the country and reach the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line. On June 17, 1941, Hitler signed the very order that launched the offensive.
2. "Ost". Jews and Gypsies were completely annihilated; Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians turned into "slaves" who served the German invaders. Up to 140,000,000 people were to be destroyed. Mass genocide, violence, murders, concentration camps, torture, medical "experiments" - all this awaited those who live today in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine.
3. "Oldenburg" and "Goering's Green Folder". Cultural and historical values ​​were to be taken to Germany. Soviet museums were simply robbed, and gold, precious stones, art and antiques were sent to the West by carriages.

By the summer of 1941, 5,500,000 soldiers trained to kill were stationed near the borders of the USSR against 2,900,000 Soviet soldiers (this is exactly the number of military men who were concentrated in the border districts). It’s not worth talking about weapons: one rifle for three, a limited number of bullets, “rusty iron” - all this “surfaced” more than once in the memoirs of veterans.

The Soviet Union was not ready for war:

1. Stalin ignored memos about "pulling up" the German armies to the frontiers. It seemed to the leader that Germany would not invade and fight on 2 fronts.
2. Lack of talented military leaders. The "War of Little Blood" technique proved to be a failure. The opinion that the Red Army would move to the West, and the workers of the whole world would join its ranks, also turned out to be untenable.
3. Problems with the supply of the army. According to some reports, the Wehrmacht had 16 times more rifles (not to mention tanks and aircraft). The warehouses were close to the borders, so they were quickly captured by the enemy.

Despite all the miscalculations and problems, the Soviet soldiers wrested victory with sweat and blood. In the rear, women, children, the elderly, and the disabled produced weapons day and night; partisans risked their lives trying to collect as much information as possible about enemy groups. The Soviet people rose to the defense of the Motherland with their breasts.

How did events develop?

Historians talk about 3 main stages. Each of them is divided into dozens of small stages, and behind every success of the Red Army are the shadows of dead soldiers.

Strategic defense. June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942

At this time, the Barbarossa plan collapsed. At the first stages, the enemy troops took Ukraine, the Baltic States and Belarus without any problems. Ahead was Moscow - an important geopolitical and economic goal. The capture of Moscow would automatically mean the fragmentation of the Red Army and the loss of control.

September 30, 1941 - January 7, 1942, i.e. for almost 4 months there were heavy battles with varying success, but the Soviet troops were able to push the enemy back.

The Battle of Moscow was Hitler's first failure. It became clear that the "blitzkrieg" had failed; the Western world saw that the "invincible Adolf" could lose; the morale and fighting spirit of the people rose.

But ahead were Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The victory near Moscow gave a "respite". A partisan struggle gradually unfolds, an anti-Hitler coalition is formed. The USSR is transferring the economy to a military footing, so the supply of the army is improving (KV-1 and T-34 tanks, Katyusha rocket launcher, IL-2 attack aircraft).

Root fracture. November 19, 1942 - end of 1943

Until the autumn of 1942, victories were either on the side of the USSR or on the side of Germany. At this stage, the strategic initiative passes into the hands of the Soviet Union: 26 strategic operations (23 of them offensive), allied assistance and lend-lease, the “first news” of the collapse of the Nazi coalition, strengthening the authority of the USSR.

All results were given in sweat and blood. At this stage, a number of major battles are distinguished, which “turned the tide” of the war.

• Battle of Stalingrad and the defeat of the German troops;
• the battle for the Dnieper;
• Kursk Bulge.

The stage ends at the end of 1943 with the liberation of Kyiv and the “forcing of the Dnieper”.

Europe liberated from Nazism. January 1944 - May 9, 1945

Recall that World War II ended on September 2, 1945. But Europe was freed from the shackles of Nazism in the spring.

In the autumn of 1944, the Soviet command carried out a number of operations to liberate the country's territory from enemy armies: Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya, Lvov-Sandomierz, Iasi-Kishinevskaya. The besieged Leningrad was liberated, which turned out to be “cut off” from food and security. Thanks to the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, West Carpathian operations, it was possible to create all the conditions to "go to Berlin."

On May 1, 1945, Adolf Hitler takes poison and leaves the people "to their fate." The provisional government, which "by chance" was headed by K. Doenitz, in "death convulsions" is trying to bargain for a separate peace with Great Britain and France, but fails. Ahead of the tribunals, high-profile scandals, trials and sentences. On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender is signed in Karlshorst (a suburb of Berlin). Germany is defeated.

May 9, 1945 becomes Victory Day, a symbol of endless courage, unity and ability to repulse the enemy.

The Great Patriotic War is a terrible lesson in history, for which the Soviet Union paid too high a price. The exact number of dead is impossible to calculate (figures vary from source to source). But the Soviet people also faced another task - to raise the ruined economy from its knees.

The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) is one of the most important events in the history of the Russian people, which left an indelible mark on the soul of every person. In a seemingly short four years, almost 100 million human lives were lost, more than 1,500 cities and towns were destroyed, more than 30,000 industrial enterprises and at least 60,000 kilometers of roads were disabled. Our state was going through a severe shock, which is hard to comprehend even now, in peacetime. What was the war like 1941-1945? What stages can be identified in the course of hostilities? And what are the consequences of this terrible event? In this article we will try to find answers to all these questions.

The Second World War

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

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

So, on September 1, 1939, the fascist invaders attacked Poland. The Polish troops did not put up adequate resistance, and already on September 17, the troops of the Soviet Union entered the lands of Eastern Poland. As a result, the territories of the West of Ukraine and Belarus joined the territory of the Soviet state. On September 28 of the same year, Ribbentrop and V.M. Molotov signed an agreement on friendship and borders.

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

Only in the spring of 1940, Hitler resumed the offensive and captured Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The operation to capture England "Sea Lion" was unsuccessful, and then the plan "Barbarossa" for the USSR was adopted - the plan for the start of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

Soviet preparation for war

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

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

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

Equally important was the preparation of the population for war. The workweek now consisted of seven eight-hour days. The size of the Red Army was significantly increased due to the introduction of compulsory military service from the age of 18. It was mandatory for workers to receive special education; criminal liability was introduced for violations of discipline.

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

USSR entry into the war

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

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

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

Plan "Barbarossa"

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

Considering the forces of the parties in the war of 1941-1945, we can say that the USSR, although slightly, was inferior to the German army. Germany and its allies had 190 divisions, while the Soviet Union had only 170. 48,000 German artillery were fielded against 47,000 Soviet artillery. The number of enemy armies in both cases was approximately 6 million people. But in terms of the number of tanks and aircraft, the USSR significantly surpassed Germany (in the amount of 17.7 thousand against 9.3 thousand).

At the first stages of the war, the USSR suffered setbacks due to incorrectly chosen tactics of warfare. Initially, the Soviet leadership planned to wage war on foreign territory, not letting fascist troops into the territory of the Soviet Union. However, such plans were not successful. Already in July 1941, six Soviet republics were occupied, the Red Army lost more than 100 of its divisions. However, Germany also suffered considerable losses: in the first weeks of the war, the enemy lost 100,000 men and 40% of its tanks.

The dynamic resistance of the troops of the Soviet Union led to the disruption of Hitler's plan for a blitzkrieg. During the Battle of Smolensk (July 10 - September 10, 1945), the German troops needed to go on the defensive. In September 1941, the heroic defense of the city of Sevastopol began. But the main attention of the enemy was concentrated on the capital of the Soviet Union. Then preparations began for an attack on Moscow and a plan to capture it - Operation Typhoon.

Battle for Moscow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Battle of Stalingrad

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

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

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

Three operations were organized by the Soviet troops: "Uranus" (11/19/1942 - 02/2/1943), "Saturn" (12/16-30/1942) and "Ring" (11/10/1942 - 02/2/1943). What was each of them?

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

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

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

Battle of Kursk

The next most important stage of the war was the battle on the Kursk Bulge, which lasted from July 5 to 08/23/1943. The German command adopted the Citadel plan, aimed at encircling and defeating the Soviet army on the Kursk Bulge.

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

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

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

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

Defense of Leningrad

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

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

For a better understanding of what hardships the inhabitants of Leningrad endured, we recommend watching this video.

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

Plan "Bagration"

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

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

The Soviet command planned to proceed with the liberation of the peoples of European states from the German troops.

Conferences

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

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

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

End of World War II

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

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

Effects

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

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

In addition to the positive results, there were incredible losses. The Soviet Union lost approximately 70 million people in the war. The economy of the state was at a very low level. Terrible losses were suffered by the major cities of the USSR, which took upon themselves the strongest blows of the enemy. The USSR was faced with the task of restoring and confirming the status of the world's greatest superpower.

It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to the question: "What is the war of 1941-1945?" The main task of the Russian people is to never forget about the greatest feats of our ancestors and proudly and "with tears in our eyes" celebrate the main holiday for Russia - Victory Day.