With the beginning of September 1939, a short peace period ended between the two great wars of the twentieth century. Two years later, fascist Germany ruled over a large part of Europe with huge production and raw material potential.
A powerful blow was struck on the Soviet Union, for which the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) began. The summary of this period in the history of the USSR cannot express the scale of the suffering suffered by the Soviet people and the heroism displayed by them.
On the eve of military trials
The revival of the power of Germany, dissatisfied with the results of the First World War (1914-1918), against the backdrop of the aggressiveness of the party that came to power there, led by the possessed Adolf Hitler, with its ideology of racial superiority, made the threat of a new war more real for the USSR. By the end of the 30s, these moods penetrated the people more and more, the all-powerful leader of the vast country Stalin understood this more clearly.
The country was getting ready. People left for construction sites in the eastern part of the country, military factories were built in Siberia and the Urals - backups of production facilities located on the western borders. Significantly more financial, human and scientific resources were invested in the defense industry than in the civilian. To increase the results of labor in cities and in agriculture, ideological (Stakhanov movement) and tough administrative means (repressive laws on discipline in factories and collective farms) were used.
The reform in the army was the adoption of the law on universal military duty (1939), widespread military training was introduced. It was in rifle, parachute circles, in flying clubs at OSOAVIAHIM that future soldiers-heroes of the Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began to study military affairs. New military schools were opened, the latest types of weapons were developed, and progressive-type combat formations were formed: armored and airborne assault forces. But there was not enough time, the combat readiness of the Soviet troops was in many respects lower than that of the Wehrmacht, the army of Nazi Germany.
Great damage was caused by Stalin's suspicion of power ambitions of the high command. It resulted in monstrous repressions that mowed down to two-thirds of the officer corps. There is a version of the planned provocation of German military intelligence, which exposed many civil war heroes who became victims of purges.
Foreign policy factors
Stalin and the leaders of countries that wanted to limit Hitler’s European hegemony (England, France, the USA) were not able to create a united anti-fascist front before the war. The Soviet leader, in an effort to postpone the war, tried to contact Hitler. This led to the signing in 1939 of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (agreement), which also did not contribute to the convergence of anti-Hitler forces.
As it turned out, the country's leadership was mistaken about the value of a peace agreement with Hitler. June 22, 1941 the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe without declaring war attacked the western borders of the USSR throughout. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet troops and a great shock for Stalin.
Tragic experience
In 1940, Hitler approved the Barbarossa plan. According to this plan, three summer months were allotted for the defeat of the USSR, the seizure of its capital. And at first the plan was carried out with precision. All war veterans recall the almost hopeless mood of mid-summer 1941. 5.5 million German soldiers versus 2.9 million Russians, total superiority in armaments - and Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, almost all of Ukraine were captured in a month. Losses of Soviet troops - 1 million dead, 700 thousand prisoners.
The Germans' superiority in command and control was noticeable - the combat experience of the army, which had already passed half of Europe, affected. With skillful maneuvers, whole groups are surrounded and destroyed near Smolensk, Kiev, in the Moscow direction, the blockade of Leningrad begins. Stalin is dissatisfied with the actions of his commanders and resorts to the usual repression - General Pavlov, who commanded the Western Front, was shot for treason.
War of the people
Still, Hitler's plans were crumbling. The USSR quickly embarked on a war footing. The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command for commanding the armies and a single governing body of the whole country - the State Committee of Defense, headed by the all-powerful leader Stalin.
Hitler believed that the Stalinist methods of governing the country, illegal repressions against the intelligentsia, military, prosperous peasants and entire nationalities would cause the collapse of the state, the emergence of the "fifth column" - as he used to in Europe. But he miscalculated.
Men and women in trenches, women at machine tools, old men and small children hated the invaders. Wars of this magnitude affect the fate of every person, and victory requires a general effort. Victims for the sake of a common victory were brought not only because of ideological motives, but also because of innate patriotism, which had roots in pre-revolutionary history.
Battle of Moscow
The invasion received its first serious rebuff near Smolensk. With heroic efforts, the attack on the capital was delayed there until early September.
By October, tanks with crosses on armor go to Moscow, with the goal of capturing the Soviet capital before the onset of cold weather. The most difficult time came during the years of World War II. A state of siege is declared in Moscow (10.19.1941).
The military parade on the anniversary of the October Revolution (11/07/1941) will forever remain in history as a symbol of confidence that Moscow will be able to defend. The troops and the militia left Red Square directly to the front, which was 20 kilometers west.
An example of the stamina of Soviet soldiers was the feat of 28 Red Army men from the division of General Panfilov. They detained a breakthrough group of 50 tanks at the Dubosekovo junction for 4 hours and died, destroying 18 combat vehicles. These heroes of World War II (1941-1945) are only a small part of the Immortal regiment of the Russian army. Such self-sacrifice gave the enemy doubts about victory, strengthening the courage of the defenders.
Recalling the events of the war, Marshal Zhukov, commander of the Western Front near Moscow, whom Stalin began to advance to the first roles, always noted the crucial importance of the defense of the capital to achieve victory in May 1945. Any delay in the enemy army made it possible to accumulate strength for a counterattack: fresh units of Siberian garrisons were being transferred to Moscow. Hitler did not plan to wage war in winter, the Germans began problems with the supply of troops. By early December there was a turning point in the battle for the Russian capital.
Radical turn
The offensive of the Red Army (5.12.1941), unexpected for Hitler, threw the Germans one and a half hundred miles to the west. The fascist army suffered the first defeat in its history, the plan of a victorious war failed.
The offensive continued until April 1942, but it was far from irreversible changes during the war: major defeats followed near Leningrad, Kharkov, and the Crimea, the Nazis reached the Volga near Stalingrad.
When historians of any country mention the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), a brief summary of its events does not do without the Battle of Stalingrad. It was at the walls of the city, which bore the name of Hitler’s sworn enemy, that he received a blow that eventually led him to collapse.
The defense of the city was often carried out hand-to-hand, for every piece of territory. The participants in the war note an unprecedented amount of human and technical means attracted from both sides and burnt in the fire of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Germans lost a quarter of the troops - one and a half million bayonets, 2 million - our losses.
The unprecedented stamina of Soviet soldiers in defense and uncontrollable rage in the offensive, together with the increased tactical skill of the command, ensured the encirclement and capture of 22 divisions of the 6th army of Field Marshal Paulus. The results of the second military winter shocked Germany and the whole world. The history of the war of 1941-1945 changed its course, it became clear that the USSR not only withstood the first strike, but also inevitably inflicted a powerful retaliatory strike.
The final stage of the turning point in the war
Some examples of the military talent of the Soviet command contains the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). A summary of the events of 1943 is a series of impressive Russian victories.
The spring of 1943 began with the Soviet offensive in all directions. The configuration of the front line threatened to encircle the Soviet Army in the Kursk region. The German offensive called the Citadel had precisely this strategic goal, but the Red Army command provided for enhanced defense in the areas of the alleged breakthrough, while preparing reserves for a counteroffensive.
The German offensive in early July was able to break through the Soviet defense only in sections to a depth of 35 km. The history of the war (1941-1945) knows the start date of the largest oncoming battle of self-propelled combat vehicles. On a sultry July day, on the 12th, in the steppe near the village of Prokhorovka, crews of 1200 tanks began the battle. The Germans have the latest Tiger and Panther, the Russians have the T-34 with a new, more powerful gun. The defeat inflicted on the Germans knocked out the offensive weapons of the motorized corps from Hitler's hands, and the fascist army switched to strategic defense.
By the end of August 1943, Belgorod and Oryol were recaptured; Kharkov was also liberated. For the first time in the years of World War II, the Red Army seized the initiative. Now the German generals had to guess where she would start the fighting.
In the penultimate war year, historians distinguish 10 crucial operations that led to the liberation of the territory captured by the enemy. Until 1953 they were called "10 Stalinist strikes."
The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945): a summary of the military operations of 1944
- The lifting of the Leningrad blockade (January 1944).
- January-April 1944: Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya operation, successful battles in Right-Bank Ukraine, March 26 - access to the border with Romania.
- Liberation of the Crimea (May 1944).
- The defeat of Finland in Karelia, its exit from the war (June-August 1944).
- The offensive of the four fronts in Belarus (Operation Bagration).
- July-August - battles in Western Ukraine, Lviv-Sandomierz operation.
- Iasi-Chisinau operation, the defeat of 22 divisions, the withdrawal from the war of Romania and Bulgaria (August 1944).
- Help to the Yugoslav partisans IB Tito (September 1944).
- The liberation of the Baltic states (July-October of the same year).
- October - the liberation of the Soviet Subpolar region and north-east of Norway.
The end of the enemy occupation
By early November, the territory of the USSR in the pre-war borders was liberated. The period of occupation for the peoples of Belarus and Ukraine has ended. Today's political situation is forcing some “leaders” to present the German occupation almost as a blessing. It is worth asking about this from Belarusians, who lost one in four from the actions of “civilized Europeans”.
Not for nothing that from the first days of the foreign invasion, partisans began to operate in the occupied territories. The war of 1941-1945 in this sense became an echo of the Patriotic War of 1812 , when other European invaders did not know peace in our territory.
Liberation of Europe
The European liberation campaign demanded that the USSR inconceivable costs of human and military resources. Hitler, who did not even allow the thought that a Soviet soldier would enter German soil, threw all possible forces into battle, and put old men and children under arms.
The course of the final stage of the war can be traced by the name of the awards established by the Soviet government. Soviet soldiers-liberators received such medals of the war of 1941-1945: for the liberation of Belgrade (10/20/1944), Warsaw (7/01/1945), Prague (May 9), for the capture of Budapest (February 13), Koenigsberg (April 10), Vienna (April 13th). And finally, servicemen were awarded for the assault on Berlin (May 2).
... And May came. The victory was marked by the signing on May 8 of the Act of unconditional surrender of German troops, and on June 24 a parade was held with the participation of representatives of all fronts, types and arms of service.
a great victory
Hitler's adventure cost mankind very dearly. The exact number of human losses is still debated. The restoration of the destroyed cities, the establishment of the economy required many years of hard work, hunger and deprivation.
The results of the war are now being evaluated differently. The geopolitical changes that occurred after 1945 had different consequences. The territorial acquisitions of the Soviet Union, the emergence of a socialist camp, the strengthening of the political weight of the USSR to the status of a superpower, soon led to confrontation and increased tension between the allied countries in World War II.
But the main results are not subject to any revision, do not depend on the opinions of politicians seeking immediate benefits. In the Great Patriotic War, our country defended freedom and independence, a terrible enemy was defeated - the bearer of a monstrous ideology that threatened to destroy entire nations, the peoples of Europe were delivered from it.
Participants in the battles go down in history, the children of war are already old people, but the memory of that war will live as long as people are able to value freedom, honesty and courage.