Indeed, a huge contribution to the victory over the German military machine was made by the Soviet rear during the war years. In the presentations of schoolchildren, usually only a few names of the leaders of the underground movement and a huge number of nameless workers are mentioned, but the role of the rear is actually much larger.
The rear workers took no less part in the struggle against the German invaders than the soldiers on the front line. Women and adolescents (after all, most of the men were mobilized) provided the warriors with everything necessary: ammunition, clothes and shoes, food. The entire national economy of the USSR was in a short time reoriented to the needs of the front.
Soviet society at the beginning of the war
The treacherous attack of the invaders the day after graduation parties took place in schools was a great shock to the Soviet people. In the first months of the war, the people still believed in the slogans of the government to eliminate the aggressor as soon as possible, but the occupied territory was expanding, and citizens understood that liberation from the Nazis depends not only on the actions of the authorities, but also on them.
As the German invaders advanced inland, they became more visible than any agitation, the atrocities committed by the Nazis in the occupied territories. Before the threat of mortal danger, the Soviet people quickly united into a single army, which in every possible way fought against the Nazis not only on the front line, but also in the rear.
The transition of the economy on a military track
At the end of June 1941, the government adopted the first military plan, which was an attempt to reorient the economy to war. The program for the production of equipment, when compared with the pre-war plan, was increased by a quarter. The list of shock constructions includes enterprises of the chemical and metallurgical industries, power plants and railways, factories producing military products.
The most important economic areas of the country at that time were already captured by the enemy. Before the invasion of the German army, 40% of the population lived in the occupied territory, a third of gross output was produced, 38% of grain was grown. During the years of World War II, hundreds of industrial enterprises were urgently evacuated to the eastern regions, that is, to the Soviet rear.
By the winter of 1941, more than 1,500 enterprises and ten million people were relocated to the Urals, Siberia and Central Asia. In a new place, production was often unfolded directly in the open. The workers of the Soviet rear during the war (briefly described below) worked for the needs of the country, without waiting for a roof to be erected over their heads.
Was Lend Lease So Important?
In 1941-1942, US assistance played an important role. Lend-lease supplies of equipment, medical supplies and food were not critical, but in a certain way helped the Soviet rear during the war years. Brief information: Lend-Lease is a state program for the United States to supply its allies with equipment, ammunition, raw materials, medicines and other strategic goods.
The heroism of the rear workers
All the achievements of the economy during the war years were based on the dedicated work of the Soviet people. Women and adolescents worked in difficult conditions, showed extraordinary stamina and perseverance, did not spare strength and health. Soviet people enlisted in large numbers in the militia, donated blood, donated money and material wealth to the needs of the defense industry. Girls under the age of majority hid their age to go to the front as nurses.
Everything for the front, everything for the victory over the enemy! In those years, it was not just a slogan invented by the authorities, but the real law of life for most workers and office workers. The Soviet rear during the years of World War II was represented mainly by women and adolescents, who were becoming men instead of men, and in 1943 the youth movement for fulfilling and overfulfilling the plan was widely deployed.
Social and National Policy
Millions of Soviet citizens were subject to mobilization, and large-scale military and medical training unfolded in the rear. All enterprises were transferred to martial law. An eleven-hour work day was established, a six-day work week, vacations were canceled, and overtime work became mandatory.
During the war years, arrests and repressions continued. Soldiers and officers who were captured were declared traitors, and their families were deprived of state. allowances and material or food assistance. At the very beginning of the German offensive, suspects in counter-revolutionary activities or convicts were to be shot on the spot.
With the outbreak of war, national movements, which sought independence of the republics, also revived. Such anti-Soviet activities of some citizens led to a tightening of national policies. Germans of the Volga region, Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Balkars, Pontic Greeks were repressed. More than 50 thousand inhabitants of the Baltic countries were exiled to Siberia.
Partisan and underground movement
The role of the Soviet rear during the war is not limited to providing the front with everything necessary. In the first weeks of the German offensive, an underground movement arose, and illegal units of the Communist Party and anti-fascist organizations functioned in the occupied territories, an active partisan movement began.
The Soviet rear during the war was supported by underground organizations, for example, Young Guard in the Luhansk region. The members of this association carried out sabotage, organized the arson of the labor exchange, which kept lists of people whom the Germans planned to take to Germany. The invaders seized the Young Guard and threw them into the mine.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to L. Chaikina, who took an active part in the main operations of the detachment in the territory of the Kalinin and Velikoluksky regions. In the Oryol, Mogilev, Smolensk regions, and later in Western Ukraine, the Victors detachment, which conducted more than 120 large-scale operations, helped on the way to victory.
Culture for the fortitude of the Russian people
If we talk about the main aspects briefly, the Soviet rear during the war and front-line soldiers were supported not only by Soviet forces and partisans, but also by cultural figures. Writers glorified the heroism of the people in their works and in practice proved their love for the motherland, joining the ranks of the Red Army. On the fronts fought A. Gaidar, M. Sholokhov, A. Twardowski, A. Fadeev, K. Simonov and others.
Nor did Russian cinema. All films that were released during the war raised the spirit of the Soviet people, were saturated with the spirit of patriotism, which led Soviet society to victory over fascism, and heroism.
Church in the war years
The church was in an extremely difficult situation until 1941. However, with the onset of the German offensive, priests began to urge believers to repulse the enemy and defend their homeland at the cost of their lives. Such a position surprised Stalin so much that the atheistic leader even started a dialogue with the clergy and stopped putting pressure on them, but the relief was brief. The Soviet rear during the war years became religious, but after the end of hostilities the church was again banned.
For the help of the priests, which consisted in the spiritual instructions of the Soviet soldiers, Joseph Stalin freed some of the clergy from the Gulag, personally opened several seminaries and allowed to elect the Patriarch. The case is well known when Moscow, on the approaches to which the Germans were already standing, flew around in a helicopter with an icon. After that, the fascist invaders were driven back from the capital.