Interesting facts about the Great Patriotic War. History of the Second World War

All of Europe fought against us

The very first strategic counter-offensive of Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War revealed a very unpleasant circumstance for the USSR. Among the enemy troops captured near Moscow were many military units France, Poland, Holland, Finland, Austria, Norway and other countries. The output data of almost all major European companies was found on captured military equipment and shells. In general, as one could assume and as they thought in the Soviet Union, the European proletarians would never take up arms against the state of workers and peasants, that they would sabotage the production of weapons for Hitler.

But exactly the opposite happened. Our soldiers made a very characteristic discovery after the liberation of the Moscow region in the area of the historical Borodino Field - next to the French cemetery of 1812, they discovered fresh graves of Napoleon’s descendants. The Soviet 32nd Red Banner Rifle Division, Colonel V.I., fought here. Polosukhin, whose fighters could not even imagine that they were opposed "French allies".

A more or less complete picture of this battle was revealed only after the Victory. Chief of Staff of the German 4th Army G. Blumentritt published memoirs in which he wrote:

“The four battalions of French volunteers operating as part of the 4th Army turned out to be less resilient. At Borodin, Field Marshal von Kluge addressed them with a speech, recalling how, during the time of Napoleon, the French and Germans fought here side by side against a common enemy - Russia. The next day, the French boldly went into battle, but, unfortunately, they could not withstand either the powerful attack of the enemy or the severe frost and blizzard. They had never had to endure such trials before. The French legion was defeated, suffering heavy losses from enemy fire. A few days later he was taken to the rear and sent to the West..."

Here is an interesting archival document - a list of prisoners of war who surrendered to Soviet troops during the war. Let us remember that a prisoner of war is someone who fights in uniform with a weapon in his hands.

Hitler accepts the Wehrmacht parade, 1940 (megabook.ru)

So, Germans – 2 389 560, Hungarians – 513 767, Romanians – 187 370, Austrians – 156 682, Czechs And Slovaks – 69 977, Poles – 60 280, Italians – 48 957, French people – 23 136, Croats – 21 822, Moldovans – 14 129, Jews – 10 173, Dutch – 4 729, Finns – 2 377, Belgians – 2 010, Luxembourgers – 1652, Danes – 457, Spaniards – 452, gypsies – 383, Norse – 101, Swedes – 72.

And these are only those who survived and were captured. In reality, significantly more Europeans fought against us.

The ancient Roman senator Cato the Elder went down in history for always ending any of his public speeches on any topic with the words: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam", which literally means: “Otherwise, I believe that Carthage should be destroyed.” (Carthage is a city-state hostile to Rome.) I am not ready to completely become like Senator Cato, but I will use any occasion to once again mention: in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the USSR, with its initial strength 190 million. man, did not fight with the 80 million Germans of that time. The Soviet Union practically fought from all over Europe, the number of which (with the exception of our allied England and partisan Serbia, which did not surrender to the Germans) was about 400 million. Human.

During the Great Patriotic War, 34,476.7 thousand people wore overcoats in the USSR, i.e. 17,8% population. And Germany mobilized as many as 21% from the population. It would seem that the Germans were more tense in their military efforts than the USSR. But women served in the Red Army in large numbers, both voluntarily and by conscription. There were a lot of purely female units and units (anti-aircraft, aviation, etc.). During a period of desperate situation, the State Defense Committee made a decision (remaining, however, on paper) to create women's rifle formations, in which only those loading heavy artillery guns would be men.

And among the Germans, even at the moment of their agony, women not only did not serve in the army, but there were very few of them in production. Why is that? Because in the USSR there was one man for every three women, and in Germany it was the other way around? No, that's not the point. In order to fight, you need not only soldiers, but also weapons and food. And their production also requires men, who cannot be replaced by women or teenagers. That's why the USSR was forced send women to the front instead of men.

The Germans did not have such a problem: all of Europe provided them with weapons and food. The French not only handed over all their tanks to the Germans, but also produced a huge amount of military equipment for them - from cars to optical rangefinders.

Czechs who have only one company "Skoda" produced more weapons than the entire pre-war Great Britain, built the entire fleet of German armored personnel carriers, a huge number of tanks, aircraft, small arms, artillery and ammunition.

The Poles built airplanes Polish Jews in Auschwitz they produced explosives, synthetic gasoline and rubber to kill Soviet citizens; the Swedes mined ore and supplied the Germans with components for military equipment (for example, bearings), the Norwegians supplied the Nazis with seafood, the Danes with oil... In short, all of Europe tried its best.

And she tried not only on the labor front. Only the elite troops of Nazi Germany - the SS troops - accepted into their ranks 400 thousand. “blond beasts” from other countries, but in total they joined Hitler’s army from all over Europe 1800 thousand. volunteers, forming 59 divisions, 23 brigades and several national regiments and legions.

The most elite of these divisions had not numbers, but proper names indicating national origin: “Valonia”, “Galicia”, “Bohemia and Moravia”, “Viking”, “Denemark”, “Gembez”, “Langemarck”, “Nordland” ", "Netherlands", "Charlemagne", etc.

Europeans served as volunteers not only in national, but also in German divisions. So, let's say, an elite German division "Greater Germany". It would seem that, at least because of the name, it should have been staffed only by Germans. However, the Frenchman who served in it Guy Sayer recalls that on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, there were 9 Germans in his infantry squad of 11 people, and besides him, a Czech also poorly understood the German language. And all this in addition to the official allies of Germany, whose armies burned and plundered the Soviet Union shoulder to shoulder - Italians, Romanian, Hungarians, Finns, Croats, Slovaks, besides Bulgarians, who at that time burned and plundered partisan Serbia. Even officially neutral Spaniards sent their “Blue Division” to Leningrad!

In order to evaluate the national composition of all the European bastards who, in the hope of easy prey, came to us to kill Soviet and Russian people, I will give a table of that part of the foreign volunteers who guessed in time to surrender to us:

Germans – 2 389 560, Hungarians – 513 767, Romanians – 187 370, Austrians – 156 682, Czechs And Slovaks – 69 977, Poles – 60 280, Italians – 48 957, French people – 23 136, Croats – 21 822, Moldovans – 14 129, Jews – 10 173, Dutch – 4 729, Finns – 2 377, Belgians – 2 010, Luxembourgers – 1652, Danes – 457, Spaniards – 452, gypsies – 383, Norse – 101, Swedes – 72.

This table, first published at the end of 1990, should be repeated for the following reasons. After the reign of “democracy” on the territory of the USSR, the table was continuously “improved” in terms of “enlarging the rows”. As a result, in “serious” books by “professional historians” on the topic of war, say, in the statistical collection “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century” or in the reference book “The World of Russian History”, the data in this table are distorted. Some nationalities have disappeared from it.

The Jews disappeared first, which, as you can see from the original table, served Hitler as many as the Finns and the Dutch combined. But I, for example, don’t see why we should throw out the Jewish verses from this Hitler song.

By the way, the Poles today are trying to push Jews away from the position of “the main sufferers of the Second World War,” and there are more of them on the lists of prisoners than there are officially and actually Italians who fought with us.

But the presented table does not reflect the true quantitative and national composition of prisoners. First of all, it does not represent our domestic scum at all, who, either due to acquired idiocy, or because of cowardice and cowardice, served the Germans - from Bandera to Vlasov.

By the way, they were punished offensively easily. It would be good if a Vlasovite fell prisoner into the hands of front-line soldiers. Then, more often than not, he got what he deserved. But the traitors contrived to surrender to the rear units, dressed in civilian clothes, pretended to be Germans when surrendering, etc. In this case, the Soviet court literally almost patted them on the head.

At one time, domestic anti-Soviet activists published collections of their memoirs abroad. One of them describes the judicial “sufferings” of a Vlasovite who defended Berlin: he changed clothes... to the Soviet soldiers who captured him... he introduced himself as a Frenchman and thus got to the military tribunal. And then to read his boasting is insulting: “They gave me five years in distant camps - and that was lucky. In a hurry - they considered them to be small workers and peasants. Soldiers captured with weapons and officers were given a ten.” While being escorted to the camp, he fled to the West.

Five years for killing Soviet people and treason! What kind of punishment is this?! Well, at least 20, so that widows and orphans’ mental wounds will heal and it won’t be so offensive to look at these vile hari...

For the same reason they are not included in the lists of prisoners of war Crimean Tatars who stormed Sevastopol for Manstein, Kalmyks and so on.

Not listed Estonians, Latvians And Lithuanians, who had their own national divisions as part of Hitler’s troops, but were considered Soviet citizens and therefore served their meager terms in Gulag camps, and not in GUPVI camps. (GULAG - the main directorate of camps - was responsible for keeping criminals, and GUPVI - the main directorate for prisoners of war and internees - prisoners.) Meanwhile, not all prisoners ended up in GUPVI, since this department counted only those who ended up in its rear camps from front-line transfer points.

Estonian legionnaires of the Wehrmacht fought against the USSR with particular fury (ookaboo.com)

But since 1943, national divisions of Poles, Czechs, and Romanians began to be formed in the USSR to fight the Germans. And the prisoners of these nationalities were not sent to the GUPVI, but immediately to the recruitment points of such formations - they fought together with the Germans, let them fight against them too! By the way, there were such 600 thousand. Even de Gaulle was sent to his army 1500 French.

Before the start of the war with the USSR Hitler appealed to Europeans to crusade against Bolshevism. Here's how they responded to it (data for June - October 1941, which does not take into account huge military contingents Italy, Hungary, Romania and other allies of Hitler). From Spanish volunteers ( 18000 people) the 250th Infantry Division was formed in the Wehrmacht. In July, the personnel took the oath to Hitler and left for the Soviet-German front. During September-October 1941, from French volunteers (approx. 3000 people) the 638th Infantry Regiment was formed. In October, the regiment was sent to Smolensk and then to Moscow. From Belgians in July 1941 the 373rd Valonian battalion was formed (approximately 850 people), transferred to the subordination of the 97th Infantry Division of the 17th Army of the Wehrmacht.

From Croatian Volunteers were formed by the 369th Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment and the Croatian Legion as part of the Italian troops. Approximately 2000 Swedes signed up to volunteer in Finland. Of these, approximately 850 people took part in the fighting near Hanko, as part of a Swedish volunteer battalion.

By the end of June 1941 294 Norwegians already served in the SS regiment "Nordland". After the start of the war with the USSR, the volunteer legion “Norway” was created in Norway ( 1200 Human). After taking the oath to Hitler, he was sent to Leningrad. By the end of June 1941, the SS Viking division had 216 Danes. After the start of the war with the USSR, the Danish Volunteer Corps began to form.

Ours stand apart in aiding fascism Polish comrades. Immediately after the end of the German-Polish war, the Polish nationalist Wladyslaw Gisbert-Studnicki came up with the idea of creating a Polish army fighting on the side of Germany. He developed a project for building a Polish 12-15 million pro-German state. Gisbert-Studnicki proposed a plan to send Polish troops to the eastern front. Later the idea of a Polish-German alliance and 35 thousand Polish army supported by the Sword and Plow organization, associated with the Home Army.

In the first months of the war against the USSR, Polish soldiers in the fascist army had the so-called status HiWi (volunteer helpers). Later, Hitler gave special permission for Poles to serve in the Wehrmacht. After this, it was categorically forbidden to use the name in relation to Poles HiWi because the Nazis treated them as full-fledged soldiers. Every Pole between the ages of 16 and 50 could become a volunteer; they only had to undergo a preliminary medical examination.

Poles were called upon, along with other European nations, to stand “in defense of Western civilization from Soviet barbarism.” Here is a quote from a fascist leaflet in Polish: “The German armed forces are leading the decisive struggle to protect Europe from Bolshevism. Any honest helper in this fight will be greeted as an ally..."

The text of the oath of the Polish soldiers read: “I swear before God with this sacred oath that in the fight for the future of Europe in the ranks of the German Wehrmacht I will be absolutely obedient to the Supreme Commander Adolf Hitler, and as a brave soldier I am ready at any time to devote my strength to fulfill this oath...”

It is amazing that even the strictest guardian of the Aryan gene pool Himmler allowed to form units from Poles SS. The first sign was the Goral Legion of the Waffen-SS. The Gorals are an ethnic group within the Polish nation. In 1942, the Nazis convened the Goral Committee in Zakopane. Was appointed "Goralenführer" Vaclav Krzeptovsky.

He and his inner circle made a series of trips to cities and villages, urging them to fight the worst enemy of civilization - Judeo-Bolshevism. It was decided to create a Goral volunteer legion of the Waffen-SS, adapted for operations in mountainous terrain. Krzeptovsky managed to collect 410 Highlanders But after a medical examination in the SS organs there remained 300 Human.

Another Polish SS Legion was formed in mid-July 1944. They joined it 1500 volunteers of Polish nationality. In October the legion was based in Rzechow, in December near Tomaszow. In January 1945, the legion was divided into two groups (1st Lieutenant Machnik, 2nd Lieutenant Errling) and sent to participate in anti-partisan operations in the Tuchola forests. In February, both groups were destroyed by the Soviet army.

President of the Academy of Military Sciences, Army General Mahmut Gareev gave the following assessment of the participation of a number of European countries in the fight against fascism: During the war, all of Europe fought against us. Three hundred and fifty million people, regardless of whether they fought with weapons in their hands, or stood at the machine, producing weapons for the Wehrmacht, did one thing.

During World War II, 20 thousand members of the French Resistance died. And 200 thousand French fought against us. We also captured 60 thousand Poles. 2 million European volunteers fought for Hitler against the USSR.

In this regard, the invitation of military personnel from a number of countries looks at least strange NATO to take part in the parade on Red Square in honor of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, says Colonel Yuri Rubtsov, member of the International Association of Historians of the Second World War, professor at the Military Humanitarian Academy. – This insults the memory of our defenders of the Fatherland, who died at the hands of numerous "European friends of Hitler".

Useful conclusion

During the Second World War against the Soviet Union, which had an initial population of just over 190 million. people, a European coalition of more than 400 million. people, and when we were not Russians, but Soviet citizens, we defeated this coalition.

All of Europe fought against us A

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The confrontation of the Russian people with the aggression of Germany and other countries that sought to establish a “new world order.” This war became a clash between two opposing civilizations, in which the Western world set as its goal the complete destruction of Russia - the USSR as a state and nation, the seizure of a significant part of its territories and the formation of puppet regimes subject to Germany in the remaining parts. Germany was pushed to war against Russia by the Judeo-Masonic regimes of the USA and England, which saw in Hitler an instrument for carrying out their plans for world domination and the destruction of Russia.

On June 22, 1941, German armed forces consisting of 103 divisions, including 10 tank divisions, invaded Russian territory. Their total number numbered five and a half million people, of which more than 900 thousand were military personnel of Germany's Western allies - Italians, Spaniards, French, Dutch, Finns, Romanians, Hungarians, etc. 4,300 tanks and assault guns were assigned to this treacherous Western international , 4980 combat aircraft, 47200 guns and mortars.

The Russian armed forces of the five western border military districts and three fleets opposing the aggressor were twice as inferior to the enemy in manpower, and in the first echelon of our armies there were only 56 rifle and cavalry divisions, which found it difficult to compete with the German tank corps. The aggressor also had a great advantage in artillery, tanks and aircraft of the latest designs.

By nationality, more than 90% of the Soviet army opposing Germany were Russians (Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians), which is why, without exaggeration, it can be called the Russian army, which in no way detracts from the feasible contribution of other peoples of Russia in confronting the common enemy.

Treacherously, without declaring war, concentrating overwhelming superiority on the direction of attacks, the aggressor broke through the defenses of Russian troops, seized strategic initiative and air supremacy. The enemy occupied a significant part of the country and advanced inland to 300 - 600 km.

On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command was created (from August 6 - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command). All power was concentrated in the State Defense Committee (GKO), created on June 30. From August 8 I.V. Stalin became the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He gathered around him outstanding Russian commanders G.K. Zhukov, S.K. Timoshenko, B.M. Shaposhnikov, A.M. Vasilevsky, K.K. Rokossovsky, N.F. Vatutin, A.I. Eremenko, K. A. Meretskov, I. S. Konev, I. D. Chernyakhovsky and many others. In his public speeches, Stalin relies on the sense of patriotism of the Russian people and calls on them to follow the example of their heroic ancestors. The main military events of the summer-autumn campaign of 1941 were the Battle of Smolensk, the defense of Leningrad and the beginning of its blockade, the military disaster of Soviet troops in Ukraine, the defense of Odessa, the beginning of the defense of Sevastopol, the loss of Donbass, the defensive period of the Battle of Moscow. The Russian army retreated 850-1200 km, but the enemy was stopped in the main directions near Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov and went on the defensive.

The winter campaign of 1941-42 began with a counter-offensive of Russian troops in the western strategic direction. During it, a counteroffensive near Moscow, the Lyuban, Rzhevsko-Vyazemskaya, Barvenkovsko-Lozovskaya and Kerch-Feodosia landing operations were carried out. Russian troops removed the threat to Moscow and the North Caucasus, eased the situation in Leningrad, and completely or partially liberated the territory of 10 regions, as well as over 60 cities. The blitzkrieg strategy collapsed. About 50 enemy divisions were defeated. The patriotism of the Russian people, which was widely manifested from the first days of the war, played a major role in the defeat of the enemy. Thousands of national heroes like A. Matrosov and Z. Kosmodemyanskaya, hundreds of thousands of partisans behind enemy lines in the first months greatly shook the morale of the aggressor.

In the summer-autumn campaign of 1942, the main military events unfolded in the southwestern direction: the defeat of the Crimean Front, the military disaster of Soviet troops in the Kharkov operation, the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad, Donbass, Stalingrad defensive operations, the battle in the North Caucasus. In the northwestern direction, the Russian army carried out the Demyansk and Rzhev-Sychevsk offensive operations. The enemy advanced 500 - 650 km, reached the Volga, and captured part of the passes of the Main Caucasus Range. The territory was occupied, where before the war 42% of the population lived, a third of the gross output was produced, and more than 45% of the sown areas were located. The economy was put on a war footing. A large number of enterprises were relocated to the eastern regions of the country (2,593 in the second half of 1941 alone, including 1,523 large ones), and 2.3 million heads of livestock were exported. In the first half of 1942, 10 thousand aircraft, 11 thousand tanks, approx. 54 thousand guns. In the 2nd half of the year, their production increased by more than 1.5 times.

In the winter campaign of 1942-43, the main military events were the Stalingrad and North Caucasus offensive operations and the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad. The Russian army advanced 600 - 700 km westward, liberating a territory of over 480 thousand square meters. km, defeated 100 divisions (40% of the enemy forces on the Soviet-German front). In the summer-autumn campaign of 1943, the decisive event was the Battle of Kursk. The partisans played an important role (Operation Rail War). During the battle for the Dnieper, 38 thousand settlements were liberated, including 160 cities; With the capture of strategic bridgeheads on the Dnieper, conditions were created for an offensive in Belarus. In the Battle of the Dnieper, the partisans carried out Operation Concert to destroy enemy communications. In other directions, the Smolensk and Bryansk offensive operations were carried out. The Russian army fought up to 500 - 1300 km and defeated 218 divisions.

During the winter campaign of 1943-44, the Russian army carried out an offensive in Ukraine (10 simultaneous and sequential front-line operations, united by a common plan). Completed the defeat of Army Group South, crossed the border with Romania and transferred the fighting to its territory. Almost simultaneously, the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive operation unfolded; Leningrad was finally released. As a result of the Crimean operation, Crimea was liberated. Russian troops advanced westward 250 - 450 km, liberating approx. 300 thousand sq. km of territory, reached the state border with Czechoslovakia.

In June 1944, when the USA and England realized that Russia could win the war without their participation, they opened a 2nd front in France. This worsened the military-political situation in Germany. During the summer-autumn campaign of 1944, Russian troops carried out the Belarusian, Lvov-Sandomierz, East Carpathian, Iasi-Kishinev, Baltic, Debrecen, East Carpathian, Belgrade, partially Budapest and Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operations. The liberation of Belarus, Little Russia and the Baltic states (except for some regions of Latvia), partially of Czechoslovakia was completed, Romania and Hungary were forced to capitulate and entered the war against Germany, the Soviet Arctic and the northern regions of Norway were liberated from the occupiers.

The 1945 campaign in Europe included the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, completion of Budapest, East Pomeranian, Lower Silesian, Upper Silesian, Western Carpathian, Vienna and Berlin operations, which ended with the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the Berlin operation, Russian troops, together with the 2nd army of the Polish Army, the 1st and 4th Romanian armies and the 1st Czechoslovak corps, carried out the Prague operation.

Victory in the war greatly raised the spirit of the Russian people and contributed to the growth of their national self-awareness and self-confidence. As a result of the victory, Russia regained most of what was taken from it as a result of the revolution (except for Finland and Poland). The historical Russian lands in Galicia, Bukovina, Bessarabia, etc. returned to its composition. Most of the Russian people (including Little Russians and Belarusians) again became a single entity in one state, which created the preconditions for their unification in a single Church. The fulfillment of this historical task was the main positive outcome of the war. The victory of Russian weapons created favorable conditions for Slavic unity. At some stage, the Slavic countries united with Russia in something like a fraternal federation. For a period of time, the peoples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia realized how important it was for the Slavic world to stick together in the fight against Western encroachment on Slavic lands.

On Russia's initiative, Poland received Silesia and a significant part of East Prussia, from which the city of Königsberg with its surrounding territory came into the possession of the Russian state, and Czechoslovakia regained the Sudetenland previously captured by Germany.

The great mission to save humanity from the “new world order” was given to Russia at a huge price: the Russian people and the brotherly peoples of our Fatherland paid for this with the lives of 47 million people (including direct and indirect losses), of which approximately 37 million people were Russians themselves (including Little Russians and Belarusians).

Most of the deaths were not of the military directly involved in the hostilities, but of civilians, the civilian population of our country. The irretrievable losses of the Russian army (killed, died from wounds, missing in action, died in captivity) amount to 8 million 668 thousand 400 people. The remaining 35 million are the lives of civilians. During the war years, about 25 million people were evacuated to the East. Approximately 80 million people, or about 40% of the population of our country, ended up in the territory occupied by Germany. All these people became “objects” of the implementation of the misanthropic Ost program, were subjected to brutal repressions, and died from famine organized by the Germans. About 6 million people were driven into German slavery, many of them died from unbearable living conditions.

As a result of the war, the genetic fund of the most active and viable part of the population was significantly undermined, because in it, first of all, the strongest and most energetic members of society, capable of producing the most valuable offspring, died. In addition, due to the falling birth rate, the country is missing tens of millions of future citizens.

The huge price of victory fell most heavily on the shoulders of the Russian people (including Little Russians and Belarusians), because the main hostilities were carried out on their ethnic territories and it was towards them that the enemy was especially cruel and merciless.

In addition to the enormous human losses, our country suffered colossal material damage. Not a single country in its entire history and in the Second World War had such losses and barbaric destruction from aggressors as befell Great Russia. Russia's total material losses in world prices amounted to more than a trillion dollars (US national income for several years).

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

Background of the Second World War. Where do “legs grow” from?

The prerequisites are hidden in the Versailles-Washington system established after the First World War. Germany and its ambitions were humiliated and brought to its knees. In the 1920s, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, promoting far-right views, entered the political arena. Party supporters proclaimed the ideas of “revenge for defeat in the First World War” and the establishment of world domination of the German nation. European politicians looked at a "rising Germany" and thought they could govern it. France and Great Britain “pushed” the country towards 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 begin? 3 reasons

Historians talk about dozens of factors that influenced the outbreak of the war. Let's face it, 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 outbreak of World War II, the USSR invaded Poland on September 17, 1939. On September 22, 1939, a parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army solemnly took place in Brest.

Joseph Stalin did not believe that Hitler would “stab him 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 there were massive repressions in the USSR: during the last “purge” in June 1941, experienced military leaders were killed (shot, expelled).

The causes of the Second World War lie in:

Hitler's desire for “domination of the whole world” (“Germany from sea to sea”). Resources were needed for conquest, and the territory of the USSR with its natural resources seemed like a “tidbit.”
The desire of the Soviet authorities to “crush” Eastern Europe.
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.

War plan "Barbarossa". In the summer of 1940, a “blitzkrieg” plan was developed: in 10 weeks (i.e., 2.5 months), German troops were supposed 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.
"Ost." Jews and Gypsies were completely destroyed; 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, murder, concentration camps, torture, medical “experiments” - all this awaited those who live today in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
"Oldenburg" and "Goering's Green Folder". Cultural and historical values were to be exported to Germany. Soviet museums were simply robbed, and gold, precious stones, art and antiques were sent to the West by the trainload.

By the summer of 1941, there were 5,500,000 soldiers trained to kill at the borders of the USSR, versus 2,900,000 Soviet (this is the number of military personnel 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 “came up” more than once in the memories of veterans.

The Soviet Union was not ready for war:

Stalin ignored the memos about “pulling up” the German armies to the lines. It seemed to the leader that Germany would not invade and fight on 2 fronts.
Lack of talented military leaders. The “Little Blood War” technique turned out to be a failure. The idea 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 unfounded.
Problems with army supplies. According to some information, the Wehrmacht had 16 times more rifles (not to mention tanks and aircraft). The warehouses were located close to the borders, so they were quickly captured by the enemy.

Despite all the miscalculations and problems, Soviet soldiers snatched victory with sweat and blood. In the rear, women, children, old people, and disabled people produced weapons day and night; partisans risked their lives trying to collect as much information as possible about enemy groups. The Soviet people stood up to defend their Motherland.

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 there are shadows of dead soldiers.

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

At this time, the Barbarossa plan collapsed. In the first stages, enemy troops took Ukraine, the Baltic states and Belarus without any problems. Moscow was ahead - 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 Soviet troops were able to push back the enemy.

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 provided a “respite.” The partisan struggle gradually unfolds, and 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).

Radical fracture. November 19, 1942 – end of 1943

Until the fall 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), assistance from allies and Lend-Lease, “first news” of the collapse of the Hitler coalition, strengthening the authority of the USSR.

All results were given with sweat and blood. At this stage, there are a number of major battles that “turned” the course of the war.

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

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

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

Let us remember that World War II ended on September 2, 1945. But Europe freed itself from the shackles of Nazism in the spring.

In the fall of 1944, the Soviet command carried out a series of operations to liberate the country from enemy armies: Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya, Lvov-Sandomierz, Yassko-Kishinevskaya. Siege Leningrad, which found itself “cut off” from food and security, was liberated. Thanks to the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, and 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 its “death convulsions”, tries to negotiate a separate peace with Great Britain and France, but fails. There are tribunals, high-profile scandals, trials and verdicts ahead. On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender was signed in Karlshorst (a suburb of Berlin). Germany is defeated.

May 9, 1945 becomes Victory Day, a symbol of endless courage, unity and the ability to repel 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 deaths is impossible to calculate (figures vary from source to source). But the Soviet people were faced with another task - to raise the destroyed economy from its knees.

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

Name

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

Background

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

Military actions in Europe that preceded the Second World War

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

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

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

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

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

WWII: reasons for its beginning

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

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

When did WWII start?

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

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

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

Directive number 1

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

Events of the first days of the war

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

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

Reaction of England and the USA

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

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

On June 22, 1941, at 4 o’clock in the morning, Nazi Germany treacherously invaded the USSR without declaring war. This attack ended the chain of aggressive actions of Nazi Germany, which, thanks to the connivance and incitement of the Western powers, grossly violated the elementary norms of international law, resorted to predatory seizures and monstrous atrocities in the occupied countries.

In accordance with the Barbarossa plan, the fascist offensive began on a wide front by several groups in different directions. An army was stationed in the north "Norway", advancing on Murmansk and Kandalaksha; an army group was advancing from East Prussia to the Baltic states and Leningrad "North"; the most powerful army group "Center" had the goal of defeating the Red Army units in Belarus, capturing Vitebsk-Smolensk and taking Moscow on the move; army group "South" was concentrated from Lublin to the mouth of the Danube and led an attack on Kyiv - Donbass. The Nazis' plans boiled down to delivering a surprise attack in these directions, destroying border and military units, breaking through deep into the rear, and capturing Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and the most important industrial centers in the southern regions of the country.

The command of the German army expected to end the war in 6-8 weeks.

190 enemy divisions, about 5.5 million soldiers, up to 50 thousand guns and mortars, 4,300 tanks, almost 5 thousand aircraft and about 200 warships were thrown into the offensive against the Soviet Union.

The war began in extremely favorable conditions for Germany. Before the attack on the USSR, Germany captured almost all of Western Europe, whose economy worked for the Nazis. Therefore, Germany had a powerful material and technical base.

Germany's military products were supplied by 6,500 of the largest enterprises in Western Europe. More than 3 million foreign workers were involved in the war industry. In Western European countries, the Nazis looted a lot of weapons, military equipment, trucks, carriages and locomotives. The military-economic resources of Germany and its allies significantly exceeded those of the USSR. Germany fully mobilized its army, as well as the armies of its allies. Most of the German army was concentrated near the borders of the Soviet Union. In addition, imperialist Japan threatened an attack from the East, which diverted a significant part of the Soviet Armed Forces to defend the country's eastern borders. In theses of the CPSU Central Committee "50 years of the Great October Socialist Revolution" An analysis of the reasons for the temporary failures of the Red Army in the initial period of the war is given. They are due to the fact that the Nazis used temporary advantages:

militarization of the economy and all life in Germany;
long preparation for a war of conquest and more than two years of experience in conducting military operations in the West;
superiority in weapons and numbers of troops concentrated in advance in border zones.

They had the economic and military resources of almost all of Western Europe at their disposal. Miscalculations in determining the possible timing of Hitler Germany’s attack on our country and the associated omissions in preparation for repelling the first blows played a role. There was reliable information about the concentration of German troops near the borders of the USSR and Germany’s preparations for an attack on our country. However, the troops of the western military districts were not brought to a state of full combat readiness.

All these reasons put the Soviet country in a difficult situation. However, the enormous difficulties of the initial period of the war did not break the fighting spirit of the Red Army or shake the fortitude of the Soviet people. From the first days of the attack, it became clear that the plan for a lightning war had collapsed. Accustomed to easy victories over Western countries, whose governments treacherously surrendered their people to be torn to pieces by the occupiers, the Nazis met stubborn resistance from the Soviet Armed Forces, border guards and the entire Soviet people. The war lasted 1418 days. Groups of border guards fought bravely at the border. The garrison of the Brest Fortress covered itself with unfading glory. The defense of the fortress was led by Captain I. N. Zubachev, regimental commissar E. M. Fomin, Major P. M. Gavrilov and others. On June 22, 1941, at 4:25 a.m., fighter pilot I. I. Ivanov made the first ram. (In total, about 200 rams were carried out during the war). On June 26, the crew of Captain N.F. Gastello (A.A. Burdenyuk, G.N. Skorobogatiy, A.A. Kalinin) crashed into a column of enemy troops on a burning plane. From the first days of the war, hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers showed examples of courage and heroism.

lasted two months Battle of Smolensk. Born here near Smolensk soviet guard. The battle in the Smolensk region delayed the enemy's advance until mid-September 1941.
During the Battle of Smolensk, the Red Army thwarted the enemy's plans. The delay of the enemy offensive in the central direction was the first strategic success of the Soviet troops.

The Communist Party became the leading and directing force for the country's defense and preparation for the destruction of Hitler's troops. From the first days of the war, the party took emergency measures to organize resistance to the aggressor; a huge amount of work was carried out to reorganize all work on a military basis, turning the country into a single military camp.

“To wage a war for real,” wrote V.I. Lenin, “a strong, organized rear is needed. The best army, the people most devoted to the cause of the revolution will be immediately exterminated by the enemy if they are not sufficiently armed, supplied with food, and trained” (Lenin V.I. Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 35, p. 408).

These Leninist instructions formed the basis for organizing the fight against the enemy. On June 22, 1941, on behalf of the Soviet government, V. M. Molotov, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, spoke on the radio with a message about the “robbery” attack of Nazi Germany and a call to fight the enemy. On the same day, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was adopted on the introduction of martial law on the European territory of the USSR, as well as a Decree on the mobilization of a number of ages in 14 military districts. On June 23, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution on the tasks of party and Soviet organizations in war conditions. On June 24, the Evacuation Council was formed, and on June 27, the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR “On the procedure for the removal and placement of human contingents and valuable property” determined the procedure for the evacuation of productive forces and the population to the eastern regions. In the directive of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated June 29, 1941, the most important tasks for mobilizing all forces and means to defeat the enemy were outlined to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions.

“...In the war imposed on us with fascist Germany,” this document said, “the question of life and death of the Soviet state is being decided, whether the peoples of the Soviet Union should be free or fall into enslavement.” The Central Committee and the Soviet government called for realizing the full depth of the danger, reorganizing all work on a war footing, organizing comprehensive assistance to the front, increasing the production of weapons, ammunition, tanks, aircraft in every possible way, and in the event of a forced withdrawal of the Red Army, removing all valuable property, and destroying what cannot be removed. , in enemy-occupied areas to organize partisan detachments. On July 3, the main provisions of the directive were outlined in a speech by J.V. Stalin on the radio. The directive determined the nature of the war, the degree of threat and danger, set the tasks of transforming the country into a single combat camp, comprehensively strengthening the Armed Forces, restructuring the work of the rear on a military scale, and mobilizing all forces to repel the enemy. On June 30, 1941, an emergency body was created to quickly mobilize all the country’s forces and resources to repel and defeat the enemy - State Defense Committee (GKO) led by I.V. Stalin. All power in the country, state, military and economic leadership was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee. It united the activities of all state and military institutions, party, trade union and Komsomol organizations.

In war conditions, the restructuring of the entire economy on a war footing was of paramount importance. At the end of June it was approved “Mobilization national economic plan for the third quarter of 1941.”, and on August 16 “Military-economic plan for the IV quarter of 1941 and 1942 for the regions of the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia" In just five months of 1941, over 1,360 large military enterprises were relocated and about 10 million people were evacuated. Even according to the admission of bourgeois experts evacuation of industry in the second half of 1941 and early 1942 and its deployment in the East should be considered among the most amazing feats of the peoples of the Soviet Union during the war. The evacuated Kramatorsk plant was launched 12 days after arriving at the site, Zaporozhye - after 20. By the end of 1941, the Urals were producing 62% of cast iron and 50% of steel. In scope and significance this was equal to the largest battles of wartime. The restructuring of the national economy on a war footing was completed by mid-1942.

The party carried out a lot of organizational work in the army. In accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree on July 16, 1941 “On the reorganization of political propaganda bodies and the introduction of the institution of military commissars”. From July 16 in the Army, and from July 20 in the Navy, the institution of military commissars was introduced. During the second half of 1941, up to 1.5 million communists and more than 2 million Komsomol members were mobilized into the army (up to 40% of the total strength of the party was sent to the active army). Prominent party leaders L. I. Brezhnev, A. A. Zhdanov, A. S. Shcherbakov, M. A. Suslov and others were sent to party work in the active army.

On August 8, 1941, J.V. Stalin was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the USSR. In order to concentrate all the functions of managing military operations, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was formed. Hundreds of thousands of communists and Komsomol members went to the front. About 300 thousand of the best representatives of the working class and intelligentsia of Moscow and Leningrad joined the ranks of the people's militia.

Meanwhile, the enemy stubbornly rushed towards Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol and other important industrial centers of the country. An important place in the plans of fascist Germany was occupied by the calculation of the international isolation of the USSR. However, from the first days of the war, an anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape. Already on June 22, 1941, the British government announced its support for the USSR in the fight against fascism, and on July 12 it signed an agreement on joint actions against fascist Germany. On August 2, 1941, US President F. Roosevelt announced economic support for the Soviet Union. On September 29, 1941, the conference of representatives of the three powers(USSR, USA and England), at which a plan for Anglo-American assistance in the fight against the enemy was developed. Hitler's plan to isolate the USSR internationally failed. On January 1, 1942, a declaration of 26 states was signed in Washington anti-Hitler coalition about using all the resources of these countries to fight against the German bloc. However, the Allies were in no hurry to provide effective assistance aimed at defeating fascism, trying to weaken the warring parties.

By October, the Nazi invaders, despite the heroic resistance of our troops, managed to approach Moscow from three sides, while simultaneously launching an offensive on the Don, in the Crimea, near Leningrad. Odessa and Sevastopol defended themselves heroically. On September 30, 1941, the German command launched the first, and in November - the second general offensive against Moscow. The Nazis managed to occupy Klin, Yakhroma, Naro-Fominsk, Istra and other cities in the Moscow region. Soviet troops conducted a heroic defense of the capital, showing examples of courage and heroism. The 316th Infantry Division of General Panfilov fought to the death in fierce battles. A partisan movement developed behind enemy lines. About 10 thousand partisans fought near Moscow alone. On December 5-6, 1941, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive near Moscow. At the same time, offensive operations were launched on the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts. The powerful offensive of Soviet troops in the winter of 1941/42 drove the Nazis back in a number of places to a distance of up to 400 km from the capital and was their first major defeat in the Second World War.

Main result Moscow battle was that the strategic initiative had been wrested from the hands of the enemy and the plan for a lightning war had failed. The defeat of the Germans near Moscow was a decisive turn in the military operations of the Red Army and had a great influence on the entire further course of the war.

By the spring of 1942, military production had been established in the eastern regions of the country. By the middle of the year, most of the evacuated enterprises were set up in new locations. The transition of the country's economy to a war footing was basically completed. In the deep rear - in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Siberia, and the Urals - there were over 10 thousand industrial construction projects.

Instead of the men who went to the front, women and youth came to the machines. Despite very difficult living conditions, Soviet people worked selflessly to ensure victory at the front. We worked one and a half to two shifts to restore industry and supply the front with everything necessary. The All-Union Socialist Competition developed widely, the winners of which were awarded a challenge Red Banner of the State Defense Committee. Agricultural workers organized above-plan plantings for the defense fund in 1942. The collective farm peasantry supplied the front and rear with food and industrial raw materials.

The situation in the temporarily occupied areas of the country was extremely difficult. The Nazis plundered cities and villages and abused the civilian population. German officials were appointed at the enterprises to supervise the work. The best lands were selected for farms for German soldiers. In all occupied settlements, German garrisons were maintained at the expense of the population. However, the economic and social policies of the fascists, which they tried to implement in the occupied territories, immediately failed. Soviet people, brought up on the ideas of the Communist Party, believed in the victory of the Soviet country and did not succumb to Hitler’s provocations and demagoguery.

Winter offensive of the Red Army in 1941/42 dealt a powerful blow to Nazi Germany and its military machine, but Hitler’s army was still strong. Soviet troops fought stubborn defensive battles.

In this situation, the nationwide struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines, especially partisan movement.

Thousands of Soviet people joined partisan detachments. Guerrilla warfare developed widely in Ukraine, Belarus and the Smolensk region, Crimea and a number of other places. In cities and villages temporarily occupied by the enemy, underground party and Komsomol organizations operated. In accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated July 18, 1941. “On the organization of the fight in the rear of German troops” 3,500 partisan detachments and groups, 32 underground regional committees, 805 city and district party committees, 5,429 primary party organizations, 10 regional, 210 inter-district city and 45 thousand primary Komsomol organizations were created. To coordinate the actions of partisan detachments and underground groups with units of the Red Army, by decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on May 30, 1942, a central headquarters of the partisan movement. Headquarters for the leadership of the partisan movement were formed in Belarus, Ukraine and other republics and regions occupied by the enemy.

After the defeat near Moscow and the winter offensive of our troops, the Nazi command was preparing a new major offensive with the goal of capturing all the southern regions of the country (Crimea, North Caucasus, Don) right up to the Volga, capturing Stalingrad and separating Transcaucasia from the center of the country. This posed an extremely serious threat to our country.

By the summer of 1942, the international situation had changed, characterized by the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition. In May - June 1942, agreements were concluded between the USSR, England and the USA on an alliance in the war against Germany and on post-war cooperation. In particular, an agreement was reached on the opening in 1942 in Europe second front against Germany, which would significantly speed up the defeat of fascism. But the Allies delayed its opening in every possible way. Taking advantage of this, the fascist command transferred divisions from the Western Front to the Eastern Front. By the spring of 1942, Hitler's army had 237 divisions, massive aviation, tanks, artillery and other types of equipment for a new offensive.

Intensified Leningrad blockade, exposed to artillery fire almost daily. In May, the Kerch Strait was captured. On July 3, the Supreme Command gave the order to the heroic defenders of Sevastopol to leave the city after a 250-day defense, since it was not possible to hold Crimea. As a result of the defeat of Soviet troops in the region of Kharkov and the Don, the enemy reached the Volga. The Stalingrad Front, created in July, took on powerful enemy attacks. Retreating with heavy fighting, our troops inflicted enormous damage on the enemy. In parallel, there was a fascist offensive in the North Caucasus, where Stavropol, Krasnodar, and Maykop were occupied. In the Mozdok area, the Nazi offensive was suspended.

The main battles took place on the Volga. The enemy sought to capture Stalingrad at any cost. The heroic defense of the city was one of the brightest pages of the Patriotic War. The working class, women, old people, teenagers - the entire population rose to defend Stalingrad. Despite the mortal danger, workers at the tractor factory sent tanks to the front lines every day. In September, battles broke out in the city for every street, for every house.

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