Nobody can say the exact reasons why Adolf Hitler decided to unleash a war with the Soviet Union, because there are no documentary memories of him left. It remains to rely on the memoirs of the Fuhrer's contemporaries, as well as indirect documents. There are several main versions that are most often found in the literature:

• territorial ambitions;
• ideological considerations;
• the need for resources;
• ahead of Stalin.

Territorial ambitions

A large territory has attracted the rulers of different countries at all times. According to Hitler's plan, only part of the territory of the Soviet Union, the most suitable for agriculture, was to go to Germany. The border was planned to be laid along the banks of the Volga, while the power of the Soviets was planned to be destroyed and a loyal government created. This hypothesis is the main one among most domestic historians.

Ideological reasons

In part, Germany attacked the Soviet Union for ideological reasons. All ideological views are described by Hitler in his work Mein Kampf. According to this book, the Germans were considered the Higher, "Aryan race", while the Slavs were considered a race of lower status. After the war, the Slavic peoples were supposed to be partially exterminated, and partially turned into poorly educated slaves serving the Germans. This version was popular with historians of the first post-war years. But over time, it was modified into a territorial one.

Resource requirement

In connection with the operation in Romania, as a result of which Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were ceded to the Soviet Union. So, as Romania supplied important resources to Germany, concern began to grow among the German leadership in supplying the "Third Reich" necessary for the conduct of hostilities.

Plus, the USSR allowed supplies of materials from Asia through its territory, through its territory, and could at any moment block all flows. The Russian land was rich in useful resources that would be useful to Hitler for further military operations.

ahead of Stalin

Popular among Western historians, especially German, is the theory that Stalin was preparing a plan for the complete destruction of European culture and the widespread planting of communist ideas. Many historians believe that this is what forced Hitler to attack the USSR in 1941. Modern research shows that there were such ideas, and even proposed a specific plan for a preventive strike against Nazi Germany, however, Stalin rejected it, uninhabited to provoke rivals to aggression.

The celebration of Victory Day has ended, but another, mourning date this time is ahead - June 22, 1941. On the eve of the next anniversary of the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union, it would be useful to recall the circumstances in which Adolf Hitler made this decision. This article was written by me in continuation of the article by A.V. Ognev - a front-line soldier, professor, honored scientist - "Exposing the falsifiers. The Barbarossa plan is signed", in which the author proves that "Germany began to prepare for aggression against the USSR immediately after the surrender of France." In my opinion, this conclusion of A.V. Ogneva requires clarification - Hitler decided to attack the USSR not immediately AFTER the surrender of France, but immediately after the start of the evacuation of the allies from Dunkirk, almost a month BEFORE the surrender of France.

My constructions are based on the opinion of the former Major General of the Wehrmacht B. Müller-Gillebrand, who in his fundamental work "The Land Army of Germany 1933-1945." says, literally: "the second stage of the Western campaign had not yet begun, when Hitler on May 28, 1940 began to discuss with the commanders in chief of the ground forces the future organization of the peacetime army .... In addition, Hitler had already ordered on June 15 to reduce the size of the peacetime army up to 120 divisions, including 30 mobile formations envisaged for peacetime.

It would seem that a completely logical picture is obtained - Hitler attacked France on May 10, 1940 with 156 divisions, and for peacetime he decided on June 15, 1940 to reduce the wartime army to 120 divisions. To carry out Operation Sea Lion on July 13, 1940, instead of liquidating 35 divisions, it was decided to disband 17 divisions, and to dismiss the personnel of 18 divisions "on long-term leave so that at any time it would be easy to restore these formations in their previous form ... On July 31, 1940, Hitler declared his determination to carry out a campaign against the Soviet Union in the spring of 1941 with the aim of defeating it. To do this, he said, it was necessary to bring the strength of the land army to 180 divisions by the scheduled date. On the eve of the defeat of Greece and Yugoslavia, the Wehrmacht was reinforced with divisions intended to carry out occupational service in these countries, as a result of which the German land army before the attack on the USSR, and this is both the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, consisted of 209 divisions, including the battle group "Nord ".

The harmony of this picture is violated by the composition of the peacetime army - "120 divisions, which included 30 mobile formations." After all, an increase in 10 tank divisions, 4 motorized divisions, 2 motorized SS divisions and 1 motorized rifle brigade of the wartime army to 20 tank and 10 motorized divisions of the peacetime army was necessary for Germany, according to Müller-Hillebrand, for a war exclusively in the vast regions of the Soviet Union. "The accumulated experience, as well as the fundamental change in the military-political situation, which occurred as a result of the acquisition of new vast territories in the East and as a result of the fact that the Soviet Union became Germany's immediate neighbor, spoke of the need for a significant increase in the future number of motorized rifle troops, and especially armored forces. ". It turns out illogical - they created a peacetime army, but they were preparing for war with the Soviet Union, and not in the distant future, but literally in the fall of 1940.

The seeming paradox of the situation is easily eliminated by acquaintance with the diary entry of the Chief of the General Staff of the German Land Forces, Colonel-General F. Halder for July 31, 1940, which shows the distribution of a grouping of 180 divisions:

"7 divisions - Norway (make independent)
50 divisions - France
3 divisions - Holland and Belgium
Total: 60 divisions
120 divisions - to the East
Total: 180 divisions."

It turns out that 120 divisions is the army of the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler needed an additional 60 divisions to carry out occupational service in the West only after England refused peace with Germany. 120 divisions are, on the one hand, a peacetime army for England and France, and on the other, a wartime army for the Soviet Union. In the light of new circumstances, the generally accepted picture of A. Hitler's decision to attack the Soviet Union is changing dramatically.

May 10, 1940, the day of the resignation of N. Chamberlain, Germany attacked France, Holland and Belgium. Relying on the conclusion of peace with England after the defeat of France and the organization of a joint campaign against the USSR, on May 24, 1940, Hitler stopped the tank offensive of his troops against the allies defending Dunkirk. Thus, he made it possible for the British troops to evacuate from the northern "sack", and for his own - to avoid a frontal collision with a cornered, doomed and desperately resisting enemy, thus saving the lives of both British and German soldiers for the upcoming campaign against the USSR. The "stop order" caused surprise not only among the German generals, to whom Hitler "explained the stoppage of tank units ... by the desire to save tanks for the war in Russia." Even Hitler's closest associate, R. Hess, convinced him that the defeat of British troops in France would speed up peace with England.

However, Hitler did not succumb to anyone's persuasion and remained adamant - the defeat of the 200 thousandth British group undoubtedly increased the chances of peace between England and Germany, but at the same time reduced the potential of England in the fight against the Soviet Union, which was completely unacceptable for Hitler. On May 27, the number of evacuees was small - only 7669 people, but later the pace of evacuation increased sharply, and a total of 338 thousand people were evacuated from Dunkirk, including 110 thousand French. A large amount of military equipment and heavy weapons were thrown by the British Expeditionary Force. Meanwhile, "at 04:00 on May 28, the Belgian troops were ordered to lay down, as Belgium had agreed to an unconditional surrender."

On May 28, 1940, making sure that the British were evacuated from Dunkirk, Hitler began discussing an invasion army in the USSR, provided that England did not interfere in the German-Soviet conflict. On June 2, during the attack on Dunkirk, he expressed "the hope that now England will be ready to agree to a 'reasonable peace' and then his hands will be free to carry out his 'great and immediate task of confronting Bolshevism', and on 15 June, he ordered the creation of an invasion army in the Soviet Union consisting of 120 divisions with a simultaneous increase in the number of mobile formations to 30. An increase in the number of mobile formations, according to B. Müller-Hillebrand, was necessary for Hitler for the war in the vast expanses of Russia.

On June 16, 1940, the French government refused to conclude the Anglo-French alliance proposed by W. Churchill with the provision of dual citizenship to all British and French, the creation of a single government in London and the unification of the armed forces. By the night of June 16, 1940, having led a defeatist group, "Marshal Petain ... formed a government with the main goal of obtaining an immediate truce from Germany." On June 22, 1940, France capitulated. E. Halifax, had he come to power on May 10, 1940, undoubtedly, following France, he would have made peace with Germany, but events took a completely different turn.

The very next day, W. Churchill refused to recognize the Vichy government and began active cooperation with the Free French organization of General de Gaulle, and on June 27, 1940, he declared that if Hitler failed to defeat the British on the Island, he would "probably rush to East. As a matter of fact, he will probably do this without even trying to carry out an invasion." Fearing that the Nazis would use the French fleet against England, Churchill gave the order to destroy it. During Operation Catapult, from 3 to 8 July 1940, the English fleet sank, damaged and captured 7 battleships, 4 cruisers, 14 destroyers, 8 submarines and a number of other ships and vessels.

In order to put pressure on Churchill, on July 13, 1940, Hitler gave the order to prepare a landing operation against England by early September, in connection with which he decided to disband only 17 of the planned 35 divisions, with the dismissal of the personnel of the remaining 18 divisions on long-term leave. On July 19, 1940, Hitler offered peace to England for the sake of either participation or neutrality in the struggle of Germany against the Soviet Union, and "on July 21, ... demanded that von Brauchitsch begin" preparations "for war with Russia and, in the victorious frenzy of those days, even thought about carrying out this campaign already in the autumn of 1940.

On July 22, 1940, Churchill refused peace with Germany, and on July 24, 1940, he agreed to the transfer of old American destroyers to England to counter German submarines in exchange for the right to organize US naval bases in a number of English points, which completely confused Hitler all his plans. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide, Hitler urged Edward to return to England. However, on July 28, Edward, who fled to Spain in May 1940 from the headquarters of the Allied Command from the advancing German divisions, told Hess in Lisbon that "at the moment he is not ready to risk a civil war in Britain for the sake of the throne, but the bombing can reason with Britain and may prepare the country for his imminent return from the Bahamas, which he then took over at Churchill's suggestion."

Thus Churchill kept his post. Since Germany's action against the Soviet Union was now under threat from British and French troops, Hitler decided to increase the army to 180 divisions. It was planned to leave 7 divisions in Norway, 50 divisions in France and 3 divisions in Holland and Belgium. Total: 60 divisions. As before, 120 divisions were allocated for operations in the East. Total: 180 divisions. Since the Wehrmacht was faced with the need to increase its numbers, on July 31, 1940, Hitler announced his intention to defeat the USSR no earlier than the spring of 1941. "On August 1, 1940, the Windsors boarded a liner in Lisbon bound for the Caribbean Sea, and finally left the political scene."

As we can see, Hitler thought about an attack on the Soviet Union on May 24-28, 1940, even during the hostilities in France, directly linking it to the decision to allow British troops to evacuate from the "sack" near Dunkirk. The final decision to attack the Soviet Union was made by Hitler no later than June 15, 1940, when he ordered the creation of an invasion army into the Soviet Union consisting of 120 divisions with a simultaneous increase in the number of mobile formations to 30. The attack on the USSR was supposed to be subject to non-intervention in the German -Soviet conflict between England and Vichy France.

Meanwhile, this plan was thwarted by Winston Churchill, who undertook to force Germany to attack the Soviet Union without any assistance from England. Hitler's attempt, either by intimidating England with the invasion of the Wehrmacht, or by returning Edward to the throne, to achieve the neutrality of England in the German-Soviet conflict did not bring success. Hitler was compelled obediently, in addition to the 120 divisions of the group for the invasion of the Soviet Union, to create 60 divisions for the occupation of Western Europe and its cover from the threat from England. The attack on the Soviet Union was postponed from the autumn of 1940 to the spring of 1941.

It is generally accepted that in December 1941, when the German army rushed to Moscow, its Siberian divisions saved it. These were fully equipped formations that arrived from the east along the Siberian highway. Therefore, they were called Siberian. But it's not. In fact, these were Far Eastern divisions, and they arrived from the farthest borders of the Soviet Union and entered the battle straight from the wheels.

An extra straw breaks a camel's back. The whole art of war is based on this postulate. At the right moment, you need to have this straw and put it on the appropriate ridge. Stalin had such a straw, and subsequently many, many more straws appeared. This points to the inexhaustible reserves of a vast country. But Germany did not have such straws. So why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union if he did not have the appropriate resources and capabilities?

The protracted war with the USSR was fatal for Germany. But Hitler did not intend to wage a protracted war: he counted on a blitzkrieg. But was it possible under those conditions? The Germans defeated France, but they did not have the strength to capture it entirely. And even more so there was no force to seize the French colonies. Germany did not even have the strength to completely occupy tiny Holland. This required two divisions, and Hitler allocated only one.

In 1941, the Germans could no longer fully control what they managed to capture. And then there's the war with Britain, behind which stood "neutral" America. German troops were scattered from Northern Norway to North Africa, and the fleet fought from Greenland to the Cape of Good Hope. And in such a difficult situation, Hitler launched a blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union.

And what is the Soviet Union? This is a huge country in which only four months are favorable for hostilities - from mid-May to mid-September. The rest of the time is rain, impassable mud, and then snow and frost. Hitler started the war on June 22, that is, by and large, he had only three normal months left. And for this insignificant period he was going to reach the Urals?

A full-scale war on two fronts is a mortal danger for any country, no matter how powerful militarily and industrially it is. And Germany found itself in just such a situation. On the one hand, Britain, and on the other hand, the USSR. In addition, a liberation movement began in the occupied territories, which only aggravated the position of the aggressor.

Back in January 1941, Colonel General Halder, Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, wrote in his diary: “The meaning of Operation Barbarossa is unclear. It does not affect England in any way. Our economic base will not improve at all from this. If our troops are pinned down in Russia, the situation will become even more difficult. The operation is very risky and does not provide any strategic benefits to Germany.

However, the true state of affairs was fully outlined only after June 22, 1941. The same Halder recorded on July 12 that tank losses amounted to 50%, and the troops were very exhausted. And on August 7, he reported that the situation with fuel was catastrophic. The Germans planned to defeat the USSR in three months, and by August 7 they had already run out of fuel. And how were they going to get to the Urals? On carts and wagons.

As early as December 2, 1941, Halder believed that Stalin had no reserves. But already on December 5, fresh divisions appeared, and a grandiose counteroffensive near Moscow began. Subsequently, Halder admitted that the level of equipment of the German soldiers and the motorization of the army did not correspond to the Russian winter. There was no frost-resistant fuel, winter clothing, which had a devastating effect on the general course of military battles in the winter of 1941-1942.

Yes, the Germans carried out blitzkriegs in Poland, France, they captured almost all of Europe, but with their apparent power they deceived only the faint of heart journalists. That is why the blitzkrieg did not happen in Russia. Only individual military operations were lightning fast, and the whole war took on a protracted character. Therefore, it became fatal for Germany, which did not have inexhaustible human reserves and corresponding industrial capacities. So why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union? What did he miss? Maybe living space or mind?

As for territories, before Germany lay the defenseless and unoccupied south of France with vineyards, fine wines and beautiful women. In front of Germany lay French and Dutch colonies with heavenly climates and luxurious beaches. Take it all and enjoy. But no, for some reason the Germans dreamed of Astrakhan reeds and Arkhangelsk swamps. These dreams, absolutely incomprehensible to anyone, ruined Germany.

As for human resources, in the Soviet Union they were indeed inexhaustible. By July 1, 1941, 5.3 million people were mobilized into the Red Army. At the same time, mobilization continued in July, and in August, and in September, etc. The total mobilization resource of the USSR was 10% of the population. All of it was used during the war. The Soviet country lost 35 million people in four nightmarish years, but this did not affect its combat capability. In August 1945, the Soviet army defeated the millionth Japanese army in just two weeks and liberated China.

And what about the Germans? Their mobilization resource was an order of magnitude lower. In 1945, teenagers and the elderly began to be drafted into the army. They fought on a par with mature men and died in the same way. But this did not save Nazi Germany from complete collapse and disgrace. So why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union, to whom and what was he trying to prove?

In politics, it is of great importance who you are considered in the world - a villain or an innocent victim and a defender of the oppressed. The whole planet considered Hitler a villain and wished him death. And everyone considered Stalin a victim of aggression. On his side were the sympathies of all countries, all peoples, all governments. Both the proletarians and the bourgeois wished Stalin success. He was assisted by the richest countries in the world. And who sincerely helped Hitler? Nobody.

Here is what Winston Churchill wrote about Stalin: This man made an indelible impression on us. When he entered the hall of the Yalta conference, all of us, as if on command, got up and for some reason kept our hands at our sides. He possessed deep wisdom and logic alien to any panic. Stalin was an unsurpassed master of finding the right way out of hopeless situations. He was always reserved and never succumbed to illusions. It was a complex personality, the greatest, unparalleled».

And Hitler decided to attack such a person, who was at the head of a huge country with inexhaustible resources. But Stalin until June 22, 1941 did not believe that the Third Reich would decide to commit suicide. But what happened happened. Hitler and his entourage doomed themselves to death on the specified date. It does not matter that the war lasted four years, it was already initially lost at the very moment when German planes dropped the first bombs on Soviet territory. Everything else can be called the slow death throes of the fascist regime.

And therefore, answering the question why Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, you can go through many options. But as a result, only one rational answer arises: the Fuhrer wanted to die beautifully in an underground bunker with a pistol in his hand. Nothing else comes to mind.

The German attack on the USSR can be safely considered insanity. It resulted in a terrible and absolutely senseless massacre that claimed tens of millions of lives. And the only one who is sincerely sorry for is the people who died at the behest of a stupid and absolutely short-sighted dictator.

Every year on the eve of a terrible and tragic date for our people - June 22, again and again I ask myself how could this happen? As a country preparing for war and having perhaps the strongest army at that time, it suffered a crushing defeat, 4 million Red Army soldiers surrendered and were taken prisoner, and the people were on the verge of extermination. Who is to blame for this? Stalin? It is perfectly acceptable, but is he the only one? Maybe someone else is involved in this, maybe someone's wrong actions hide another white spot in the history of World War II? Let's try to figure it out. One year before the war 1940 Summer. World War II has been raging for almost a year. Hitler and Germany led by him reach hitherto unseen heights. France is defeated, and with this victory, almost all of continental Europe is at the feet of the Nazis. The Wehrmacht begins to prepare for war with England. On July 16, 1940, Hitler signed Directive No. 16 on the preparation of an operation to land troops in the UK, codenamed "Sea Lion". Not a word about the war with the USSR. Hitler does not need a war with the Soviet Union. Hitler is not suicidal. And he read the great strategists of Germany's past: Clausewitz and Bismarck. They bequeathed to the Germans that they would never fight with Russia. The war with Russia is suicide: this is a vast territory that cannot be occupied by any armies, these are impenetrable swamps and forests, a cruel winter with wild frosts. And this is an army of many millions; plus Stalin's industrialization gives this army the latest tanks, aircraft and artillery. This is a nation that has never recognized foreign invaders, its own - yes, foreign ones - no. To decide on a war with Russia, you must either have a huge strong, professional army with a militarized economy subordinate to it, or be a suicide with a guarantee of failure. As for the first, the total number of troops of Germany and the USSR has long been no secret. These figures are even given in the history books. Before the attack on the USSR, Hitler had about 3,500 tanks, about 4,000 aircraft, 190 divisions, and this number includes all divisions (both motorized, and tank, and infantry). And what about the other side? Comparing the German Wehrmacht and the USSR before the war, in all reference books, textbooks and books, I always observed one detail, perhaps unnoticed by other researchers. Bringing the German forces, the researchers give all the troops concentrated near the border with the USSR. This is the overwhelming number of the entire Wehrmacht, in addition, Germany has only occupying forces in the occupied countries of Europe. When referring to the Soviet forces, only the ZapVO, KOVO and PribVO (western, Kiev and Baltic military districts) are given. But this is not the entire Soviet army. But it still turns out that Germany is many times inferior in number even to these districts. And if you compare the Wehrmacht with the entire Red Army? Only a madman could attack such a colossus as the USSR. Or someone who had no choice but a doomed attack. This is exactly what happened on June 22, 1941. Who, and with what unjustified actions, forced Hitler to take this step, which eventually ruined him and the Third Reich? Unjustified appetites of the aggressor The USSR, acting as a real aggressor, seized foreign territories and occupied independent states. There is nothing strange in this, any aggressors of both the past and the present have acted and are acting in this way. In 1940, the Baltic countries were subjected to aggression: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina - two primordially historical regions of Romania. What is changing, what happens after these seizures on the political map of the world? First. The borders of the Reich and the USSR are in contact, that is, now "only a spark is needed for fire." And this spark is struck by one of our military figures - Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. Second. The oil fields of Romania are within easy reach - 180 kilometers. This is a direct threat to the Reich. Without oil, the Wehrmacht war machine will stop. Third. With the occupation of the Baltic states, there was a direct threat to the most important supply artery of the Reich - the transport of iron ore from Luleå (Sweden) across the Baltic Sea. And without iron ore, Germany, of course, would not have been able to fight successfully either - this is the most important resource. The aspect of "Romanian oil" is especially important. After the Stalin step and the execution of this step, G.K. Zhukov, among other things, the USSR had the following problems: Romania, having become an ally of Hitler, spoiled relations with the USSR (and how else, when territory is taken from you?), The front with Germany increased by 800 kilometers, plus another foothold from Hitler to attack THE USSR. The worst thing is that Stalin scared Hitler. It was Zhukov's capture of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina that excited the Fuhrer and the German military command. There was a direct threat to the oil fields of Romania. From that moment on, a strike against the USSR began to be developed. June 22 Alternatives Although history does not like the subjunctive mood, but still “what would happen if?” Germany is going to fight the British Empire and is preparing for the most difficult landing on foggy Albion. All this is known, but could Zhukov change something? It is quite possible that Stalin could listen to the voice of Georgy Konstantinovich and resolve military issues with him. In the summer of 1940, there were several alternatives. Let's consider them. First. With a strike on Bessarabia, do not stop, but go further and capture the whole of Romania. Hitler, who concentrated his army along the Atlantic coast, would not have been able to successfully prevent Zhukov. Ten divisions in Poland and Slovakia do not count. With the capture of the whole of Romania, the oil fields of Ploiesti are leaving the hands of Germany - and this puts the Reich in a dependent position. Synthetic fuel is not a solution: it is not enough, it is of poor quality and very expensive. Second. Zhukov could have advised Stalin to wait a bit until the Reich got bogged down in a war with England. After all, landing on Albion Island is a very risky and complicated business, and even if everything goes well, then even then Stalin and Zhukov will have a moment that is very favorable for an attack - the very moment when the German army is on this island - and for a successful operation it would take about 80-85% of the Wehrmacht. But what happened happened. The Red Army, having captured Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, stopped. Yes, you will say that Stalin did not set the task for Zhukov to crush Romania in the summer of 1940. But Zhukov could have tried, if he were a strategist, as our directors and writers portray him, to suggest to Stalin an almost win-win option. Didn't suggest. Afraid or did not understand the strategy of warfare. “As a result of the successful development of offensive operations on the Central, Southern and Southwestern Fronts, the Red Army occupied the cities of Brussels, Amsterdam, Bruges and others during the liberation campaign. In the direction of Vienna, Salzburg, Strasbourg, enemy troops were surrounded and surrendered in quantity ... ”The words of military reports from the front could sound like this or almost like that when the Red Army would subjugate Europe. But do we need it?***** EDITORIAL COMMENT What was the reason for the defeats of the Red Army in the initial period of the war? In Soviet times, they usually looked for an explanation in the suddenness of the attack, in Germany's superiority in military force (which actually did not exist), in the incompleteness of the country's transition to a military footing (which also did not exist). A brief mention was made of the “partial loss of command and control”, which is a delusion, since in this case it is necessary to talk about the partial preservation of command and control. Well-known Russian historians Yu.T. Temirov and A.S. Donets in the book "War" (M., "EKSMO", 2005). They call the main reason for the defeats of 1941 the completely mediocre command and control of the troops by the Chief of the General Staff G.K. Zhukov, as well as the general inability of the command staff of the Red Army to fight. The mediocrity of Zhukov and the commanders of the Red Army was caused by the authoritarianism of the System itself, which deprived the commanders of the initiative and forced them to follow the stupid orders of the communists, and repressions in the army in the pre-war period, and the extremely weak and poor-quality training of command personnel. The authors of the book compare the terms for training specialists and commanders in the German army and in the Soviet army: the Germans, on average, spent 5-10 times more time on this training, and in some cases 30 times more. But the decisive role in the defeat of the Red Army was played precisely by Zhukov’s mediocrity as a commander, he fought “not with skill, but with numbers”, made completely ridiculous tactical decisions, ruined thousands of tanks and millions of soldiers. As a result, Zhukov was punished and dismissed, Stalin was going to shoot him for his mistakes, but he was hardly dissuaded (Zhukov himself hid this in his memoirs, explaining the removal from the post of the Chief of the General Staff by the fact that he allegedly quarreled with Stalin - this is another lie of the narcissist "commander"). But even today, Russian historians cannot tell the whole truth about the war. The glaring fact is that the 3.5 million German army surrendered in just six months of the war, 4 million Soviet soldiers, and about a million more were repressed during this period for their unwillingness to fight (in total, in the Red Army on June 21, 1941 there were 5.5 million . Human). The most important reason for the defeats is the unwillingness of the army to fight for Stalin, for the hateful power of the commissars. It has never happened before in history that entire units of the Red Army surrendered to the enemy, tying up their commissars. Moreover, out of 4 million surrendered soldiers and officers, about 1.5 million began to fight on the side of the enemy (including the millionth Russian Liberation People's Army of General Vlasov). There may be ten, one hundred traitors. But not half a million! These are no longer traitors, this is the Civil War. The people, tired of the bloody communist junta, were waiting for liberation. But the tragedy was that Hitler was not a "liberator" at all, he was a conqueror. And when the people understood this, the whole course of the war immediately changed. Therefore, after all, the main reason for the defeats of the beginning of the war was the pre-war Bolshevik yoke, which did not allow people to understand at all the meaning of protecting such an ugly and rotten state as the USSR from the enemy. It is curious that today at all events in connection with the events of 1941 (on the "Stalin Line", etc.), the idea is given that "they died, but did not give up." The historians of the “Soviet hardening” say the same thing in their articles. But what about the fact that during the 6 months of the war, out of 5.5 million personnel army, 4 million surrendered to the Germans, about a million more were repressed for unwillingness to fight (600 more than a thousand for the month of October in Beria’s certificate, of which about 30 thousand were shot in October), and only about 500 thousand soldiers and officers died or were wounded in hostilities from the pre-war composition of the Red Army? Naked statistics show that they just SURRENDED, and did not die - EVERYONE SURDERED: about 80% of the pre-war composition of the Red Army surrendered to the Germans! Let the Red Army surrender for political reasons, and many historians call this an “Act of the Civil War”, and not a betrayal. But there was the crappy power of the USSR - and there was its own people: things are different. The Red Army actually betrayed its people, which it was supposed to protect, who fed and clothed it, who trained it, who gave it the best military equipment in the world - while living from hand to mouth . It seems ridiculous even the very fact that 4 million Soviet prisoners of war were in the rear of the advancing 3.5 million enemy army: they could well disperse the frail guards and seize power in the rear of the Germans, thereby carrying out the ENROUND operation of the entire advancing German army. Instead, for weeks they marched in an endless column to the West in front of the windows of the Belarusians - dreaming of the imminent victory of Hitler and a new life without the Bolsheviks. That is, not so much in German captivity, but in captivity of their own illusions. This is precisely the tragedy, and it is hushed up in every possible way even today, because the behavior of 4 million surrendered Red Army soldiers must somehow be explained - but it is difficult to explain. It is much easier to call them "heroes", although Stalin considered them traitors (80% of his army!). And it’s even easier to continue to lie odiously about the fact that “they died, but did not give up.” And the truth is that in the Land of Slaves, which was Stalin's USSR, the army can only consist of slaves. And such an Army of slaves cannot fight, even having the best equipment in the world, because they do not understand the purpose of this: a slave will never be a patriot of his slavery. As a result, Hitler simply took advantage of this situation. Including a huge gift awaited him: he started the war with 3.5 thousand antediluvian tanks, and in the first weeks of the war, surrendered units of the Red Army handed him another 6.5 thousand of the latest tanks, among which a significant part were KV and T-34. They became the striking force of the Wehrmacht in the attack on Smolensk, Moscow and Leningrad, having acquired the indices "KV (r)" and "T-34 (r)". Another paradox of the initial stage of the war is that all conquered Europe gave Hitler only 3.5 thousand tanks to attack the USSR, and the surrendered Red Army added another 6.5 thousand to him, bringing the number of tanks in Hitler's army in July 1941 to 10 thousand! And this is hushed up (the number of tanks the Germans had in July-October 1941 is concealed), although without this fact it is difficult to understand how an army with 27 thousand tanks, including the invincible KV and T-34, can be defeated with 3.5 thousand tanks ... Sergei GRIGORIEV, Vitebsk "Secret Research"

Topics about the myths of 1941 - on the occasion of the recent black anniversary.

In a very extensive and diverse black mythology about 1941, a special place is occupied by myths revolving around the causes and prerequisites of the Great Patriotic War, and the Second World War as a whole. Unlike fictions about the dominance of cavalry or a decapitated army, these myths are not the product of popular reflection, they are purposefully created and introduced into the minds of our layman by a geopolitical enemy. The goal is to shift, in whole or in part, the blame for unleashing the world slaughter on the USSR and thereby achieve the exclusion of Russia from the ranks of the victorious powers. And then, if possible, raise the issue of territorial compensation and reparations to "victims of Russian aggression." This idea is now actively promoted by the self-proclaimed leadership of Ukraine, blocking any international resolutions condemning the Nazis. But even before the 2014 coup in Kyiv, this idea was very popular in the West. Moreover, you should be careful.

All these arguments about the "equal responsibility" of the two tyrants, it feels like they are hanging in the void, in no way correlated with reality. Their authors - if they are not idiots and not schizophrenics - must surely feel the falsity of their own statements, completely ignoring the indisputable fact that it was the USSR, and not Germany, that was subjected to aggression and was forced to wage stubborn battles on their own territory for several years simply for the sake of preserving their state independence. And in order to somehow retouch this indisputable fact, they have to resort to considerable resourcefulness. Unfortunately, many peck at this resourcefulness. Well, let's try again to mentally plunge into "that endless summer day" and comprehend what happened then, and what could not happen under any circumstances.

So, myth number 1. And perhaps the meanest. This is a myth that the USSR itself planned to strike Germany first. But Hitler got ahead of the aggressor in time. The motives of the USSR within the framework of this mythologeme vary depending on whose interests are voiced by a particular myth-maker - from the Bolsheviks' desire for "world revolution and the domination of the Third International" to Stalin's desire to "divert the attention of the world community from the problem of the Holodomor." But in any case, Hitler's Germany acts in the noble role of the defender of "century-old European values" from the invasion of "bloodthirsty Asian (option: Bolshevik) hordes." As evidence, Soviet propaganda of the pre-war years is usually cited, which depicted a future war without fail "with little bloodshed and on enemy territory." "And on the enemy's land we will defeat the enemy with little blood, with a mighty blow," - rushed before the war from all the speakers almost more often than the famous "Three tankmen, three cheerful friends." As well as numerous gossip (as a rule, without specifying specific names and places): someone somewhere saw how on June 22 they burned posters calling the Red Army on a campaign for the liberation of the world proletariat, some anonymous grandfather in 1968, seeing a soldier sporting new chrome boots muttered ominously, "It was the same in 1941!" - exactly like a raging false fool from a movie about Peter the Great.

That's just no documentary evidence of this myth is not acquired. Nowhere - except for the official speeches of Dr. Goebbels and the memoirs of Nazi war criminals, which, of course, will justify their own atrocities. The military and political leadership of the USSR did not issue any orders to prepare for an aggressive war.

I will say more: the army remained unmobilized until June 22, 1941. The mobilization order was issued only on the 23rd, the next day. The blow of the Nazi hordes was met by divisions and corps, staffed according to peacetime states. Starting a war against the strongest army in Europe, which brought the entire continent to its knees for several months, having an unmobilized army, would be tantamount to suicide, and Stalin is anyone but not a suicide. Let us recall the beginning of the First World War, what a cry was raised by German diplomacy because of the order of Nicholas II about partial army mobilization. And why? Yes, because mobilization means preparing for war, and everyone understands this very well. Stalin also understood this - and therefore, even being confident in the imminent attack of the Germans, he did not give the order to mobilize, so as not to provoke this attack ahead of time.

Soviet border guards on patrol. Western border, 20 June 1941

Stalin did not need a war. Just at the turn of 1939 - 1940, the Red Army started a large-scale technical re-equipment following the results of the Civil War in Spain and the Winter War against Finland. These conflicts revealed many shortcomings in the military equipment in service with the Red Army, these shortcomings had to be urgently eliminated - just in anticipation of a big conflict with Germany. By June 1941, rearmament had not yet been completed. The T-34 tanks were just beginning to enter the army, and the heavy KV tank, despite the fact that the Germans were terrified by the sight of this fortress on caterpillars, had many technical flaws. Aviation units continued to be equipped with obsolete aircraft such as I-16, TB-3 and SB-2 - easy prey for the German "Messerschmitts" and Focke-Wulfs. The fortifications on the line of the old state border of the USSR were not occupied by the troops, and the construction of fortifications along the new state border was still underway. In order for the Red Army to be able to oppose the Nazi Wehrmacht on equal terms, it was necessary to try to delay the war until 1942, and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the unfinished war between the Germans and England gave hope that this could be done. And simply, unlike Trotsky, Stalin was not a supporter of the idea of ​​an immediate "world revolution", professing the slogans of "building socialism in one single country" and "peaceful coexistence of two political systems." Stalin was a pragmatist who, unlike his opponents within the party, understood that an attempt to export the revolution in conditions of unfinished industrialization could not end in anything but a crushing defeat. And then all socialism will have to be forgotten for a long time.

Hitler blesses his warriors for the invasion of the USSR

On the contrary, Hitler drove an invading army of unprecedented numbers to the borders of the USSR. It consisted of 190 divisions of all types of troops (153 German divisions, the rest - satellite countries), over 5 million people. The invading army was perfectly mobilized, had experience of military operations in Europe (and, by the way, everywhere and everywhere the war was of an aggressive nature from the side of the Nazi Reich). And equipped with a large number of tanks, aircraft and artillery. That is - it was perfectly prepared for the attack. If this army was going to defend, why was not a single tank dug into the ground (as was the case in 1945 during the defense of Berlin and Prague)? If Hitler only "prevented Russian (or Bolshevik - in this case, it does not matter) aggression" - where are the traces of preparations to repel this aggression? Where did the German strategists get such confidence that "aggression" could be "preempted"?

Finally, the propaganda myth about "Soviet aggression" and "preemptive strike" is refuted by the testimony of Field Marshal Paulus, who ended up in Soviet captivity after the Battle of Stalingrad. This Paulus, by the way, was developer Plan Barbarossa. Yes, and other captured German officers and generals are unanimous that the Wehrmacht strategists expected exclusively defensive actions from the USSR in 1941.

But what about Soviet propaganda? someone will ask. - How about "with little blood and on foreign territory"? Here, Stalin and his propagandists became hostages of their own "most progressive in the world" ideology. It was assumed that in the event of an attack by aggressive Europe on "the world's first country of workers and peasants," the situation of Russia in 1917 would be repeated in the enemy camp: soldiers from among the working people would rise up against their oppressors and would not shed the blood of their own working brothers. And the Red Army will only have to march victoriously through the cities of the recent enemy, asserting Soviet power to the delight of local workers and peasants. "“A harmful prejudice is deeply rooted that, in the event of war, the population of the countries at war with us will necessarily and almost without exception rise up against their bourgeoisie, and the Red Army will only have to walk through the enemy’s country in a triumphal march and establish Soviet power,” he wrote.about this I. Zaporozhets, referring to Marshal Timoshenko on the eve of the war. The ability of the Nazi propaganda machine to subjugate the minds, speculating on the basest instincts of the crowd, Stalinist propaganda, alas, did not take into account. As a result, the German "brothers in class" marched on a victorious march almost to Moscow itself, without experiencing the slightest discomfort from the need to rob and exterminate the civilian population - for this population was promised to them as slaves and guaranteed their personal pass to the caste of masters.

Myth #2. In fact, it is a softened version of the previous one. They say that two equally bloodthirsty and equally greedy tyrants in 1939 agreed to divide the world and unleashed the Second World War together. But then they didn’t share something, and as a result, Hitler invaded the USSR, and Stalin from the category of war criminals (where he, they say, the very place) managed to crawl into the winners. These theories are very popular in modern Ukraine and Poland and ultimately aim at the same thing as the first myth - to make the USSR responsible for the war and demand compensation from modern Russia. However, they do not correlate well with reality and are easily refuted with the help of ... a geographical map. Let's see where he directed his offensive actions in 1939-1940. Hitler, and where - Stalin. And we will see that Hitler acted as a classic conqueror, adding to his empire countries that had never before entered the orbit of German influence - such as Greece, Yugoslavia or Denmark. Stalin's actions were aimed at returning to the USSR territories that until 1914 belonged to the Russian Empire and lost by Russia during the First World War and the subsequent revolution. Taking advantage of the revolutionary chaos and the collapse of the front, the same Germany imposed the humiliating and predatory Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on Russia, tearing away the territories of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine in its favor. Even earlier, Finland, having declared its independence, disappeared, "taking" with it the Russian Vyborg and the place of our military glory - the Gangut peninsula. Under the guise of the Civil War, Romania "privatized" our Bessarabian province, including those territories where the Romance-speaking population never lived. In the throes of civil war, led by the cosmopolitan government of Lenin, Russia was unable to prevent this carving out of its own territories. The speech in 1939 was, therefore, not about aggression, but about the liberation of the previously occupied Russian lands. The USSR did not lay claim to anything beyond this.

Molotov signs the Non-Aggression Pact between the USSR and Germany.
Behind him stands Ribbentrop

The West is comfortable. Periodically initiating unrest in Russia, over and over again he gnawed off large pieces of territory from us (with a Russian population, by the way). And then he bristled with the "norms of international law" in order not to allow the strengthened Russian state to return the stolen goods and free suffering fellow citizens from occupation. I apologize for the pathos, but indeed, on the lands torn away from Russia, the new owners with enviable constancy staged the genocide of the Russian population. And so it was not only during the dismemberment of the USSR, but also during the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917-1918. The beginning of the Second World War in the West and the non-participation of the USSR in this war (on the basis of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) allowed Stalin to at least partially restore historical justice - to return Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, the Baltic States, Vyborg to the orbit of Russian influence, and also to ensure that the USSR had military base on Gangut. Who knows - if it were not for the heroic defense of this very military base, perhaps the Germans in 1941 would have broken into Leningrad on the shoulders of the retreating Soviet troops, and there would have been in our history instead of the Leningrad blockade - the Leningrad massacre ...

Munich agreement. In "one line" with Hitler (in the center) and Mussolini (to the right of Hitler)
standing "pillars of Western democracy" Chamberlain and Daladier (to the left of Hitler)

And those who dare to reproach us with the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact", accusing us of unleashing the Second World War, should be firmly reminded of the Munich Pact, which gave Czechoslovakia to the Nazis to be torn to pieces. The fact that this same Munich conspiracy, which actually unleashed the hands of Nazi aggression, was signed by England and France a year (!!!) before the negotiated pact. The fact that the USSR honestly tried to conclude a collective security treaty with England and France. And only faced with outright sabotage by Western democracies, the Soviet government went to rapprochement with Germany. There was a non-aggression pact with Germany and Poland (which, by the way, willingly participated in the division of Czechoslovakia with the Nazis), which formally became the first victim of World War II. So, I strongly recommend that Western leaders who accuse the USSR of jointly unleashing the World War together with Nazi Germany look in the mirror with each such statement. Dot. Topic is over.

Myth 3. Today he is very much loved both in ultranationalist circles and among some of the "Orthodox" radicals - "professional spiritual children" of the late Fr. Daniil Sysoev. This myth, without disputing the aggressive nature of the war on the part of Germany, at the same time insists that Hitler's aggression was nothing more than a crusade of Christian Europe against godless Bolshevism, that the German invasion had as its goal the liberation of the Russian people from the yoke of the "Kids and Khachis" (sysoids talk about "godless Bolsheviks"). Well, Goebbels propaganda, trying to attract as many allies and volunteers as possible to the side of Nazi Germany, really shouted about a "crusade against Bolshevism", but I already spoke about the "honesty" of Goebbels propaganda - it is at zero. If we take the texts "for internal consumption", not propaganda, then the picture there emerges exactly the opposite of Sysoev-Prosvirninsky clichés. I already had the honor of what were Hitler's true plans for Russia and the Russians. I'll add a few more juicy touches.

The Liberators have arrived

From the words of Hitler: “We must develop the technique of depopulation. If you ask me what I mean by depopulation, I will say that I mean the elimination of entire racial units. And this is what I intend to carry out.... If I can send the flower of the German nation into the heat of war without the slightest regret for the shedding of valuable German blood, then of course I have the right to eliminate millions of the lower race who multiply like worms!

From Himmler’s speech at Wewelsburg Castle, March 1941: “Our task is not to Germanize the East in the old sense of the word, that is, to instill in the population the German language and German laws, but to ensure that only people of truly German blood live in the East ... For this it is necessary eliminate a significant part of the subhumans inhabiting the eastern lands. The number of Slavs must be reduced by thirty million; the fewer there are, the better."

From a conversation between Goering and the Italian Minister of the Interior: “20 to 30 million people will die of starvation in Russia this year. It may even be good that this happens; because some peoples need to be reduced.

From the diary of Chief Corporal Johannes Herder: “In one village, we grabbed the first twelve inhabitants that came across and took them to the cemetery. They forced them to dig a spacious and deep grave for themselves. The Slavs do not and cannot have any mercy. Damn humanity is alien to us.”

From the diary of Corporal Paul Fogg: “We tied these girls up, and then they were slightly ironed with our caterpillars, so it was fun to look at.”

The Liberators have arrived. Only now the look of the "liberated" is not some kind of joyful
This is not how liberators are met. Not with such frightened faces

Russian children shot by the German invaders in Rostov.
Well, neither give nor take, the bloody Bolshevik executioners who personally participated
in persecution of the Church. Or is it the "liberated Russian people"?

"Valiant liberators" pose against the backdrop of a "liberated" Russian girl

Punishers hang the girl. Who knows why? Perhaps - a partisan or an underground worker.
Possibly a Komsomol member. Or maybe they hang them just like that, for intimidation.

Now I wonder how the sysoids will interpret this frame, depicting
large-scale, with a truly German scope, the robbery of civilians?
"The valiant German army returns the poultry looted by the Bolsheviks
its rightful owners?
Or maybe "Russian peasants, full of gratitude
their liberators, ready to give their last for the needs of the Christ-loving German army"?

The rape of Russian women by Nazi soldiers was not considered the last crime.
I wonder what the sysoids think about this? "They raped Komsomol whores
and collective farm activists, so rape is justified "? Or completely in Hitler's
spirit: "Improvement of the breed"?

Hitler's soldiery poses against the background of a newly hanged nurse.
In fact, according to all the norms of international law that existed even then,
the medical staff of the warring armies is inviolable.

And the most eloquent, perhaps, photo. This is not a montage and not a Bolshevik fake -
people love to flaunt this photo in neo-Nazi publics on VKontakte, mocking
by a hanged woman and her child, whom the "Christ-loving German army"
"liberated" from the mother.

Agree, a very high-quality "liberation". Russians were liberated forever from the "Kids", and from the "Khachi", and from the Bolshevik yoke ... and from life at the same time. And from the territory. And from resources. Those who like to argue that the German occupiers, they say, cracked down only on communists, Komsomol members and collective farm activists - that is, with those who directly took part in the persecution of the Church, it is worth harshly recalling only one name: Tanya Savicheva. In what kind of "persecution of the Church" did this Leningrad baby manage to participate? And here is a far from complete list of the children of Khatyn, burned alive by punishers:

Misha Zhidovich (5 years old)
- Slava Zhidovich (7 years old)
- Kolya Baranovsky (6 years old)
- Anton Novitsky (4 years old)
- Misha Novitsky (2 years old)
- Kostya Novitsky (5 years old)
- Lena Baranovskaya (7 years old)
- Yuzya Kaminskaya (5 years old)
- Lenya Zhelobkovich (4 years old)
- Misha Zhelobkovich (2 years old)
- Anya Yaskevich (4 years old)

In what kind of "persecution of the Church" did these crumbs manage to take part? So no need here about "liberators" and about "Christian Europe". Leave these stories for those who can't read. By the way, the Waffen-SS included Armenian, Azerbaijani, North Caucasian, and Crimean Tatar legions. The Germans attached particular importance to inciting national separatism among non-Russian peoples. So it does not come out with "the liberation of the Russian nation from the yoke of the Jews and Khachis." Doesn't come out at all.

Uniform of the Caucasian legions of the SS

I'm not talking about the fact that war is an extremely costly business (one artillery shell costs as much as an average passenger car). And that in the war, oddly enough, they die. One can only imagine Hitler sacrificing "pure" German blood for the sake of liberating some Slavs, whom he unashamedly honored as "Huns" and "wild Asian hordes" only while in a madhouse. Yes, Hitler would have destroyed Bolshevism, rooted out the communist infection. But only to seize our lands and our resources. The Russians were destined, at best, for the fate of the Papuans.

_____________________________

Notes
E These soldiers were preparing to be sent to Czechoslovakia, to suppress the "Euromaidan" there. Usually the soldiers were supposed to have tarpaulin boots, but on the eve of the hostilities they decided to "pamper" them.
Even if we keep in mind the plan of a preventive strike developed by G.K. Zhukov as chief of the General Staff, it should be noted that a) this plan did not become the basis for any orders; b) it was about preventive strike, that is, about an attempt to preempt the impending aggression, but no more.
Let me remind you: this is a man who made lying his profession, the author of the famous formula: "The more monstrous the lie, the sooner they will believe in it"
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter was one of the best fighters in the world at the start of World War II.
If Hitler, attacking the USSR, only "protected the traditional values ​​of European civilization from the wild Asian hordes", then what kind of "wild Asian hordes" did he imagine in France? And in Sweden? And in Greece?
Strictly speaking, the Red Army before the war had a numerical superiority in tanks and aircraft. However, the vast majority of Soviet tanks that were in service at that time were good only for scrap metal. Modern combat vehicles T-34 and KV (far superior, by the way, in terms of their tactical and technical characteristics of their German counterparts) were available only in the amount of 1475 units - against 4300 tanks of the Wehrmacht. Aircraft, capable of competing on equal terms with German ones, began to appear in the USSR only during the course of the war.
That's how he took it and crawled through, brazenly, like a soapy one, after the "forces of good" in the person of England, France and America ripped apart the Nazi reptile. And the millions of Soviet citizens who died in the name of Victory are, they say, "nonsense of Putin's propaganda."
I foresee objections: Galicia at the time of 1914 was not part of Russia. The Russian Empire took possession of its territory for a short time during the First World War, but then was forced to leave it under the blows of superior Austro-German forces. It's right. But it is also true that the Galicia-Volyn principality is one of the oldest in Rus', that Lviv was founded by the Russian prince Daniel and named after his son, Prince Leo. It is also true that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, taking advantage of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus', "pocketed" Galicia, which as a result turned out to be part of Poland first, and then, after the collapse of the latter, part of Austria-Hungary. It is also true that during the First World War the vast majority of Galicians greeted the Russian Army with bread and salt (for which these people were subjected to repression in 1915-1916 by the returning Austrian invaders).
Belarusians and Poles. The Germans cleared the Jewish population immediately, in 1941, Khatyn died in March 1943.

Books used in writing this article:
1) A.I. Balashov, G.P. Rudakov. "History of the Great Patriotic War"
2) V. Medinsky. "War. Myths of the USSR"
3) I. Pykhalov. "Great Blasted War"
4) N. Narochnitskaya. "For what and with whom did we fight?"
5) G. Picker. "Hitler's Table Talk".