We all know very well that the beginning of World War II refers to the hostilities against Poland, organized by German intelligence agencies, which began on September 1, 1939. Already after two days, England and France declared war on Germany. States supported were Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India and the countries of South Africa. Thus, these three days turned into a world-wide war.
It took the German army only two weeks to completely occupy the territory of Poland. Unfortunately, the heroism of Polish soldiers was not enough to defend the country, but no real help was received from other states. The western and eastern front of World War II underwent many victories and defeats. Read about the significant events in the article.
The role of the Eastern Front in World War II
As already noted, after the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, there was no response from the West. On September 8, the Germans fought back the resistance and captured Warsaw. As early as September 17, the Soviet Union was leaving for Poland from the East, through Western Ukraine and Belarus.
The government saw only one way out - flight from Poland. In fact, the army remains destined for itself, without command. These events entailed the burning of Warsaw on September 28th.
By October 5, the Soviet Union and Germany divided Poland among themselves. With these events, active operations began on the Eastern Front of World War II.
Attack on the USSR
We will analyze the main events of the Second World War on the eastern front. On June 22, 1941, German troops attacked the Soviet Union without announcing hostilities. Germany had Italy, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia as allies.
The surprise attack, of course, played into the hands of the Germans. That is why already in the first weeks of the war Germany penetrated as deeply as possible into the USSR. In just ten days, German troops occupied Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a large part of Ukraine and Moldova. For the Soviet Union, this was a big blow, because all counterattacks ended in complete failure, many soldiers and officers of the Red Army were captured.
In late October, Germany sent a course to Moscow. Initially, German troops were successful, however, already in December 1941 the Red Army managed to defend the capital, the Germans suffered a serious defeat.
Summer campaign
Another important period for the Eastern Front. Both sides, both Soviet and German, were expecting the beginning of the summer of 1942 to carry out their offensive plans. Germany had a summer goal - the Caucasus and Leningrad, to also establish ties with Finland. That is, the initial plans on the eastern front remained in force.
But the Soviet Union suffered another failure. In May 1942, an offensive near Kharkov was carried out, but it was unsuccessful. The Germans repulsed the strike without any problems, defeated the Red Army and went on the offensive.
An important event on the Eastern Front is the Battle of Stalingrad, which began in mid-July 1942. Here the Soviet army managed to stop the advance of the enemy, only this entailed enormous losses.
The turning point of the Eastern Front of World War II
A significant event on the Eastern Front was the period from November 1942 to December 1943. It was November 19th that was the beginning of the counterattack of the USSR army near Stalingrad. For four days, the troops managed to unite in the city of Kalach-on-Don and surround twenty-two enemy divisions. The victory in the south was the first significant defeat of German troops in the world war. This battle was a fundamental turning point on the Eastern Front.
In July of the 43rd, Germany decided to strike the Soviet troops in the Kursk, however, the Red Army managed to restrain and literally exhaust the German troops. The result - the victory in this battle remained with the USSR.
By the autumn of 1943, Soviet troops managed to free part of Ukraine and Belarus from the Nazi invaders.
Important events of 1944-1945
These major battles of World War II on the Eastern Front became decisive. The Soviet Union managed to liberate Crimea, release Leningrad, go to the Carpathians and enter Romanian territory. And also defeat large groups and break through the German front for 600 kilometers.
During operations "Iskra", "Bagration", "Baltic", "Lviv-Sandomirskaya" 26 enemy divisions were destroyed, and 82 German-fascist groups suffered serious losses.
During the Karelian campaign, the Lapland war, the Iasi-Kishinev and Budapest operations, the governments of Romania and Bulgaria were overthrown, and Finland broke off the agreement with Germany.
Already in January 1945, Hungary capitulated. The war ended with the Vistula-Oder, East Prussian operation, as well as the battle for Berlin. In Karlhorst, on the night of May 8 to 9, an act of surrender was signed.
Bialystok-Minsk and Smolensk battles in the West
This battle lasted from June 22 to July 8, and the troops of the Western Front suffered a serious defeat. These numbers are terrifying. Before the start of the battle, the front consisted of about 625,000 people, and about 420,000 souls were lost.
Disappointing for the Western Front was the Smolensk battle, which suffered a new defeat. However, due to the fact that the troops of the front of the Reserve armies were in the rear, the enemy was not able to enter the operational space. By July 30, the 41st Western Front had expanded from four to six armies. All the summer until September, heavy battles were fought, after which the Western Front was ordered to go over to the defense.
Moscow battle
October 2, 1941 a group of German army "Center" launched an attack on the Western Front. And it was very successful for Germany. Then it was decided to combine the Western and Moscow Reserve Front. All this happened under the leadership of General Zhukov and Colonel General Konev. The army focused on the Mozhaisk line of defense.
On November 15, German troops launched an offensive on Moscow, and on December 6, the Western Front launched a counterattack, as a result of which Army Center groups suffered a crushing defeat.
Already in 1942, the Western Front again launched an offensive, the purpose of which was to destroy the main forces of the German troops, namely the Army Group Center. The Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation was led by General Zhukov, only now it was unsuccessful.
1943-1944 years
Active actions on the part of the Red Army forced Germany to begin to withdraw its troops from the Rzhev-Vyazma bridgehead. An important event was the Battle of Kursk, where the troops of the Western and Bryansk fronts launched a counterattack. However, only the liberation of Smolensk ended with success.
The western front found failure in eleven operations. On April 24, 1944, the front was renamed the Third Belorussian. Immediately preparations began for the Belarusian strategic offensive operation.
It is worth noting that the war greatly affected the economic situation of European countries. Now, the USA was the leader in the world arena in this sector. The creation of the UN gave hope that in the future all conflicts could be resolved through agreements, excluding military clashes.