The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) is one of the most important events in the history of the Russian people, which left an indelible mark on the soul of every person. In a seemingly short four years, almost 100 million human lives were lost, more than 1,500 cities and towns were destroyed, more than 30,000 industrial enterprises and at least 60,000 kilometers of roads were disabled. Our state was going through a severe shock, which is hard to comprehend even now, in peacetime. What was the war like 1941-1945? What stages can be identified in the course of hostilities? And what are the consequences of this terrible event? In this article we will try to find answers to all these questions.

The Second World War

The Soviet Union was not the first to be attacked by fascist troops. Everyone knows that the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began only 1.5 years after the start of the World War. So what events started this terrible war, and what kind of hostilities were organized by fascist Germany?

First of all, it is worth mentioning the fact that on August 23, 1939, a non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and the USSR. Along with it, some secret protocols were signed regarding the interests of the USSR and Germany, including the division of Polish territories. Thus, Germany, which had the goal of attacking Poland, secured itself against retaliatory steps on the part of the Soviet leadership and, in fact, made the USSR an accomplice in the partition of Poland.

So, on September 1, 1939, the fascist invaders attacked Poland. The Polish troops did not put up adequate resistance, and already on September 17, the troops of the Soviet Union entered the lands of Eastern Poland. As a result, the territories of the West of Ukraine and Belarus joined the territory of the Soviet state. On September 28 of the same year, Ribbentrop and V.M. Molotov signed an agreement on friendship and borders.

Germany failed to carry out the planned blitzkrieg, or lightning-fast outcome of the war. Military operations on the Western Front until May 10, 1940 are called the "strange war", since no events occurred during this period of time.

Only in the spring of 1940, Hitler resumed the offensive and captured Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The operation to capture England "Sea Lion" was unsuccessful, and then the plan "Barbarossa" for the USSR was adopted - the plan for the start of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

Soviet preparation for war

Despite the non-aggression pact concluded in 1939, Stalin understood that the USSR would in any case be drawn into a world war. Therefore, the Soviet Union adopted a five-year plan to prepare for it, carried out in the period from 1938 to 1942.

The primary task in preparing for the war of 1941-1945 was the strengthening of the military-industrial complex and the development of heavy industry. Therefore, during this period, numerous thermal and hydroelectric power stations were built (including those on the Volga and Kama), coal mines and mines were developed, and oil production increased. Also, great importance was given to the construction of railways and transport hubs.

The construction of backup enterprises in the eastern part of the country was carried out. And the costs of the defense industry have increased several times. At this time, new models of military equipment and weapons were also released.

Equally important was the preparation of the population for war. The workweek now consisted of seven eight-hour days. The size of the Red Army was significantly increased due to the introduction of compulsory military service from the age of 18. It was mandatory for workers to receive special education; criminal liability was introduced for violations of discipline.

However, the real results did not correspond to the planned management, and only in the spring of 1941, an 11-12-hour working day was introduced for workers. And on June 21, 1941, I.V. Stalin gave the order to put the troops on alert, but the order reached the border guards too late.

USSR entry into the war

At dawn on June 22, 1941, fascist troops attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war, from that moment the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began.

At noon of the same day, Vyacheslav Molotov spoke on the radio, announcing the beginning of the war to Soviet citizens and the need to resist the enemy. The next day, the Top Bet was created. high command, and on June 30 - State. The Defense Committee, in fact, received all the power. I.V. became the Chairman of the Committee and the Commander-in-Chief. Stalin.

Now let's move on to a brief description of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Plan "Barbarossa"

Hitler's plan "Barbarossa" was as follows: he assumed the rapid defeat of the Soviet Union with the help of three groups of the German army. The first of them (northern) would make an attack on Leningrad, the second (central) - on Moscow and the third (southern) - on Kyiv. Hitler planned to complete the entire offensive in 6 weeks and reach the Volga strip Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan. However, the confident rebuff of the Soviet troops did not allow him to carry out a "blitzkrieg".

Considering the forces of the parties in the war of 1941-1945, we can say that the USSR, although slightly, was inferior to the German army. Germany and its allies had 190 divisions, while the Soviet Union had only 170. 48,000 German artillery were fielded against 47,000 Soviet artillery. The number of enemy armies in both cases was approximately 6 million people. But in terms of the number of tanks and aircraft, the USSR significantly surpassed Germany (in the amount of 17.7 thousand against 9.3 thousand).

At the first stages of the war, the USSR suffered setbacks due to incorrectly chosen tactics of warfare. Initially, the Soviet leadership planned to wage war on foreign territory, not letting fascist troops into the territory of the Soviet Union. However, such plans were not successful. Already in July 1941, six Soviet republics were occupied, the Red Army lost more than 100 of its divisions. However, Germany also suffered considerable losses: in the first weeks of the war, the enemy lost 100,000 men and 40% of its tanks.

The dynamic resistance of the troops of the Soviet Union led to the disruption of Hitler's plan for a blitzkrieg. During the Battle of Smolensk (July 10 - September 10, 1945), the German troops needed to go on the defensive. In September 1941, the heroic defense of the city of Sevastopol began. But the main attention of the enemy was concentrated on the capital of the Soviet Union. Then preparations began for an attack on Moscow and a plan to capture it - Operation Typhoon.

Battle for Moscow

The battle for Moscow is considered one of the most important events of the Russian war of 1941-1945. Only the stubborn resistance and courage of the Soviet soldiers allowed the USSR to survive in this difficult battle.

On September 30, 1941, German troops launched Operation Typhoon and launched an offensive against Moscow. The offensive began successfully for them. The fascist invaders managed to break through the defenses of the USSR, as a result of which, having surrounded the armies near Vyazma and Bryansk, they captured more than 650 thousand Soviet soldiers. The Red Army suffered significant losses. In October-November 1941, battles were fought only 70-100 km from Moscow, which was extremely dangerous for the capital. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

From the beginning of the battle for the capital, G.K. was appointed commander-in-chief on the Western Front. Zhukov, however, he managed to stop the German offensive only by the beginning of November. On November 7, a parade was held on the capital's Red Square, from which the soldiers immediately went to the front.

In mid-November, the German offensive began again. When defending the capital, the 316th Infantry Division of General I.V. Panfilov, who at the beginning of the offensive repulsed several tank attacks of the aggressor.

On December 5-6, the troops of the Soviet Union, having received reinforcements from the Eastern Front, launched a counteroffensive, which marked the transition to a new stage in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. During the counteroffensive, the troops of the Soviet Union defeated almost 40 German divisions. Now the fascist troops were "thrown back" from the capital by 100-250 km.

The victory of the USSR significantly influenced the spirit of the soldiers and the entire Russian people. The defeat of Germany made it possible for other countries to begin the formation of an anti-Hitler coalition of states.

Battle of Stalingrad

The successes of the Soviet troops made a deep impression on the leaders of the state. I.V. Stalin began to count on a speedy end to the war of 1941-1945. He believed that in the spring of 1942, Germany would repeat the attack on Moscow, so he ordered the main forces of the army to be concentrated precisely on the Western Front. However, Hitler thought differently and prepared a large-scale offensive in the south.

But before the start of the offensive, Germany planned to capture the Crimea and some cities of the Ukrainian Republic. Thus, the Soviet troops on the Kerch Peninsula were defeated, and on July 4, 1942, the city of Sevastopol had to be abandoned. Then Kharkov, Donbass and Rostov-on-Don fell; created a direct threat to Stalingrad. Stalin, who realized his miscalculations too late, on July 28 issued the order "Not a step back!", Forming barrage detachments for unstable divisions.

Until November 18, 1942, the inhabitants of Stalingrad heroically defended their city. Only on November 19, the troops of the USSR launched a counteroffensive.

Three operations were organized by the Soviet troops: "Uranus" (11/19/1942 - 02/2/1943), "Saturn" (12/16-30/1942) and "Ring" (11/10/1942 - 02/2/1943). What was each of them?

The plan "Uranus" assumed the encirclement of fascist troops from three fronts: the front of Stalingrad (commander - Eremenko), the Don Front (Rokossovsky) and the South-Western Front (Vatutin). Soviet troops planned to meet on November 23 in the city of Kalach-on-Don and give the Germans an organized battle.

Operation "Small Saturn" was aimed at protecting oil fields located in the Caucasus. Operation "Ring" in February 1943 was the final plan of the Soviet command. The Soviet troops were supposed to close the "ring" around the enemy army and defeat his forces.

As a result, on February 2, 1943, the enemy group surrounded by Soviet troops surrendered. The commander-in-chief of the German army, Friedrich Paulus, was also captured. The victory at Stalingrad led to a radical turning point in the history of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Now the strategic initiative was in the hands of the Red Army.

Battle of Kursk

The next most important stage of the war was the battle on the Kursk Bulge, which lasted from July 5 to 08/23/1943. The German command adopted the Citadel plan, aimed at encircling and defeating the Soviet army on the Kursk Bulge.

In response to the enemy's plan, the Soviet command planned two operations, and it was supposed to start with active defense, and then bring down all the forces of the main and reserve troops on the Germans.

Operation Kutuzov was a plan to attack German troops from the north (the city of Orel). Sokolovsky was appointed commander of the western front, Rokossovsky was appointed commander of the Central, and Popov was appointed commander of the Bryansk. Already on July 5, Rokossovsky delivered the first blow to the enemy army, ahead of his attack by only a few minutes.

On July 12, the troops of the Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive, marking a turning point in the course of the Battle of Kursk. On August 5, Belgorod and Orel were liberated by the Red Army. From August 3 to 23, the Soviet troops carried out an operation to finally defeat the enemy - "Commander Rumyantsev" (commanders - Konev and Vatutin). It was a Soviet offensive in the area of ​​Belgorod and Kharkov. The enemy suffered another defeat, while losing more than 500 thousand soldiers.

The troops of the Red Army managed to liberate Kharkov, Donbass, Bryansk and Smolensk in a short period of time. In November 1943, the siege of Kyiv was lifted. The war of 1941-1945 was drawing to a close.

Defense of Leningrad

One of the most terrible and heroic pages of the Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and of our entire history is the selfless defense of Leningrad.

The blockade of Leningrad began in September 1941, when the city was cut off from food sources. The most terrible period was the very cold winter of 1941-1942. The only way to salvation was the Road of Life, which was laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga. At the initial stage of the blockade (until May 1942), under constant enemy bombing, Soviet troops managed to deliver more than 250 thousand tons of food to Leningrad and evacuate about 1 million people.

For a better understanding of what hardships the inhabitants of Leningrad endured, we recommend watching this video.

Only in January 1943, the blockade of the enemy was partially broken, and the supply of the city with food, medicine, and weapons began. A year later, in January 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted.

Plan "Bagration"

From June 23 to August 29, 1944, the USSR troops carried out the main operation on the Belarusian front. It was one of the largest in the entire Great Patriotic War (WWII) 1941-1945.

The goal of Operation Bagration was the final crushing of the enemy army and the liberation of Soviet territories from the fascist invaders. Fascist troops in the areas of individual cities were defeated. Belarus, Lithuania and part of Poland were liberated from the enemy.

The Soviet command planned to proceed with the liberation of the peoples of European states from the German troops.

Conferences

On November 28, 1943, a conference was held in Tehran, which brought together the leaders of the "Big Three" countries - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. The conference set the dates for the opening of the Second Front in Normandy and confirmed the commitment of the Soviet Union to enter the war with Japan after the final liberation of Europe and defeat the Japanese army.

The next conference was held on February 4-11, 1944 in Yalta (Crimea). The leaders of the three states discussed the conditions for the occupation and demilitarization of Germany, held talks on convening a founding conference of the United Nations and adopting a Declaration on a Liberated Europe.

The Potsdam Conference took place on July 17, 1945. Truman was the leader of the United States, and K. Attlee spoke on behalf of Great Britain (since July 28). At the conference, new borders in Europe were discussed, a decision was made on the size of reparations from Germany in favor of the USSR. At the same time, already at the Potsdam Conference, the prerequisites for a Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union were outlined.

End of World War II

According to the requirements discussed at conferences with representatives of the Big Three countries, on August 8, 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan. The USSR army dealt a powerful blow to the Kwantung Army.

In less than three weeks, Soviet troops under the leadership of Marshal Vasilevsky managed to defeat the main forces of the Japanese army. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Surrender Act was signed on the USS Missouri. The Second World War has ended.

Effects

The consequences of the war of 1941-1945 are extremely diverse. First, the military forces of the aggressors were defeated. The defeat of Germany and its allies meant the collapse of dictatorial regimes in Europe.

The Soviet Union ended the war as one of the two superpowers (along with the United States), and the Soviet army was recognized as the most powerful in the world.

In addition to the positive results, there were incredible losses. The Soviet Union lost approximately 70 million people in the war. The economy of the state was at a very low level. Terrible losses were suffered by the major cities of the USSR, which took upon themselves the strongest blows of the enemy. The USSR was faced with the task of restoring and confirming the status of the world's greatest superpower.

It is difficult to give an unambiguous answer to the question: "What is the war of 1941-1945?" The main task of the Russian people is to never forget about the greatest feats of our ancestors and proudly and "with tears in our eyes" celebrate the main holiday for Russia - Victory Day.

• Causes and preconditions of the war
• Nazism in Germany
• The beginning of the war
• Stages of war
• in the rear
• Soldiers of the invisible front

Addendum to the article:

Great Patriotic War - June 22, 1941 Great Patriotic War - May 9, 1945 Great Patriotic War - Battle for Moscow Great Patriotic War - Battle of Stalingrad Great Patriotic War - Battle of Kursk Great Patriotic War - Battle of Smolensk Great Patriotic War - Plan Barbarossa

• The Great Patriotic War, in short, is the last major military conflict in which the USSR participated. The war was waged against Germany, which treacherously attacked the territory of the Soviet Union and violated the peace treaty.

• Speaking briefly about the Great Patriotic War, it is worth noting that at the same time it is one of the main stages of World War II.

Causes and preconditions of the war

• The fact is that the countries that lost the war found themselves in an extremely humiliated state, and did not agree with the conditions Treaty of Versailles. Germany, the instigator of the war, found itself in a particularly difficult situation, which was obliged to pay an indemnity that was beyond her strength, and did not have the right to have her own armed forces. In addition, she was excluded from participation in international affairs.

Nazism in Germany

• Not surprisingly, the population grew increasingly sympathetic to the National Socialist Party and its leader, Adolf Hitler. He refused to accept the results of the First World War and called on Germany for revenge and world domination. The humiliated country accepted these calls. With the advent of Hitler to power in 1933, Germany began to increase its military-industrial turnover at a gigantic pace.

The beginning of the war

• In 1939, Germany occupies Czechoslovakia and begins to make claims against Poland. The USSR proposes to create an alliance between England and France, but they do not dare to take this step. Churchill later admitted that this proposal should have been accepted.

• September 1, 1939, after the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland, the Second World War begins. The allies of the Polish state, England and France, also enter the war.

• By 1941, all of Europe, with the exception of Great Britain, is in the hands of Germany. After that, Hitler, in violation of all treaties, starts a war with the Soviet Union.

Stages of war

• The Great Patriotic War, in short, lasted 4 long years. As you know, the Soviet Union was practically not ready for war, because Stalin refused to believe the reports of counterintelligence about the exact date of the attack by the Nazi troops. He was offered a plan for a pre-emptive strike against Germany, but he rejected it. Germany itself was fully prepared to strike at the USSR (Blitzkrieg plan, Barbarossa plan), and preparations for war had been in full swing since 1940. In relation to the USSR, many plans were created.

• Near Leningrad, the enemy got stuck, unable to capture the city. started Leningrad blockade.
• By December 1941, German troops captured the territory of the Baltic republics, Belarus, part of Ukraine and advanced deep into the USSR by about 1200 km.
• The biggest and most significant battle of the Great Patriotic War, in short, this period, was battle for Moscow.

• For Hitler, this was the main event of his operation to seize the USSR. The battle for Moscow is divided into two stages - defense and offensive. Until December 1941, Soviet troops held the enemy on the outskirts of the capital. On December 5, a counteroffensive began, which developed into a general offensive of all troops. The German troops lost the battle for Moscow. It showed that the German army was not invincible.

• Stage 2 is associated with a radical change in the war in favor of the USSR. During this period from 1942 to 1943, two hardest battles took place, won by the Soviet troops at a very high price - Stalingrad and Kursk.

• On the night of May 8-9, 1945, Germany signed the act of surrender.

• The history of the Great Patriotic War, briefly outlined, can describe the severity of this time extremely sparingly. In numbers, it looks like this: the total loss of life among the military and civilian population of the USSR amounted to almost 27 million people.

Major battles and combat operations

• Defense of the Brest Fortress

According to the plan developed by Hitler, to capture the first Soviet strategic object of the Brest
the fortress was given only a few hours. The defenders of the fortress held out, despite the numerical superiority of the fascist invaders, for several days. Only after a week of incessant attacks and bombardments did the Nazis manage to capture part of the fortification. But even after the German units entered the territory of the fortress, they had to fight for almost a month with separate groups of soldiers of the Soviet army in order to gain a foothold in it.

• Smolensk battle

Twice as many people and 4 times as many tanks. The Nazis had such superiority when they launched an offensive on the Western Front, hoping to divide it in a short time and gain unhindered access to the country's capital.

But here, too, they miscalculated. Smolensk battle, which was supposed to open the way to Moscow for enemy invaders, lasted two months.
Having suffered huge losses, the Soviet defenders, however, knocked down the arrogance of the enemy and significantly exhausted him.

• Fights for Ukraine

The capture of the largest industrial and agricultural Ukrainian region was one of the
priority tasks of the Nazi army.

But even here the plans of the Fuhrer were violated. Fierce battles claimed hundreds of lives of the defenders of Ukraine.

But when they died, they took with them a lot of fascists.

As a result, the allied forces were forced to retreat, pushed back by superior enemy troops.

But the forces of the invaders were significantly undermined.

• Leningrad blockade

On the outskirts of Leningrad, the fascist army also met a completely unexpected obstacle. For about a month, despite all their efforts, they could not capture the city. Realizing the futility of their attempts, they decided to change tactics.

A long siege began, accompanied by almost incessant artillery strikes.
But the Nazis did not have to march in a victorious march along the Leningrad streets.

Steadfastly enduring all the hardships, the besieged continued to fight, and did not surrender the city.
The powerful ring of the blockade was broken only after almost a year and a half, and finally lifted a year later.

• Battle for the capital

After a long, exhausting and bloody 4 months (instead of the planned few days), the German
the invaders were on the outskirts of Moscow. Fierce battles began to pave the way to this coveted goal.
At the end of October, the capital goes into a state of siege. A number of institutions were evacuated, many valuables were taken out. The defenders prepared to defend the heart of the Motherland to the last breath, to the last drop of blood.
Having begun the second stage of the offensive in November, the Nazis realized after a few weeks that they did not have enough strength to carry out their plan, and began to retreat. The myth of the invincibility of the Nazi army was finally debunked.

• Crimean direction. Sevastopol

At the end of October of the first year of the war, battles for Sevastopol began. Unable to enter the city immediately, the invaders decided to besiege it. The siege lasted 9 months.

In May 1942, several units of the Wehrmacht army concentrated on the approaches to the Crimean peninsula. Using aviation, they broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops, capturing Kerch, and then the entire peninsula.
After that, the defense of Sevastopol became even more complicated, and the Soviet troops were forced to retreat.

• Stalingrad

Deciding to take revenge for the failure at the approaches to the capital, the German invaders decided to isolate the south of the country, and
cut it off from the central region and capture the largest waterway - the Volga.
In order to prevent these plans from being realized, Soviet troops begin preparations for defense in the Stalingrad direction.
Two major operations, lasting a total of 125 days, led to the fact that the invaders' troops were encircled by Soviet troops.

As a result, almost a hundred thousand Germans were captured.

There were a few fewer killed.

It was the most crushing defeat of the army of the Third Reich.

• Caucasian direction

More than a year there were battles in the North Caucasus direction.

Retreating at first, and leaving more and more cities to the enemy, the Soviet troops at the beginning of 1943 launched a counteroffensive.

It's time for the fascists to retreat.

Despite losses and difficulties, units of the allied army pressed the enemy until 10 months later they completed the liberation of the region.

• Fight for Kursk

Hitler's next plan of conquest, concerning the capture of Kursk, also ended in failure.

As part of
defensive-offensive operations on the outskirts of the city, one of the largest tank battles in the history of this war took place (the battle of Prokhorovka).

Here the Germans used their new tanks "Tiger" and "Panther", but due to the numerical superiority of both people and equipment, the Soviet troops managed to win.

As a result, starting in July 1943 with a large-scale offensive by the invaders, the operation ended 10 months later with an equally large retreat.

This defeat hastened the collapse of the Nazi coalition.

• Operation to liberate Smolensk

After a radical change, the army of the Soviet Union moved from defensive actions to an active offensive.

One of the first offensive operations was the Smolensk campaign.

Carefully thought out, it consisted of three stages, the consistent and systematic implementation of which led to the liberation of the city and the advance of the Red Army several hundred kilometers to the west.

• Left bank of Ukraine

The Nazis attached great importance to the Donbass, and after the Soviet troops went on the offensive, they all they tried to keep this city for themselves.

But, when the risk of a new encirclement and a repetition of the events near Stalingrad arose, the German troops began to retreat.

At the same time, they tried to devastate the territories they left as much as possible. Destroying industrial enterprises and all infrastructure, they exterminated the population or drove it to Germany.

Only the too rapid advance of the Soviet army prevented them from completely destroying the region.

Donbass, Bransk, Sumy - cities one after another were freed from the fascist yoke.

Having completely liberated the left-bank Ukraine, the formations of the USSR army reached the Dnieper.

• Crossing the Dnieper

Hitler was sure to the last that the Soviet troops would not be able to cross the Dnieper.

However, here, too, he miscalculated.

Not giving the German units a solid foothold on the opposite bank, the allied army began forcing the water barrier.
On September 21, under heavy Nazi fire, the forward detachments, having crossed the river, entered into fierce battles, thereby allowing the rest of the troops and equipment to freely pass the river barrier.
The crossing continued for several days, and following its results, more than 2 thousand of its participants were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

• Crimean liberation

From the beginning of April 1944, a number of Soviet military formations began the systematic implementation of the plan for
liberation of Sevastopol and the entire Crimean peninsula.

Reclaiming one settlement after another, they moved towards the goal.
As a result of the assault, Sevastopol was liberated (May 9, 1944).

The Nazis tried to hide from the victors at Cape Khersones, but were finally defeated.

More than 20 thousand people, as well as hundreds of pieces of military equipment and weapons, ended up in the hands of Soviet soldiers.

• Liberation of Europe

After the lifting of the Leningrad blockade and the liberation of Russian territories everywhere from the Nazi invaders, the Soviet army continued its march through the territory of neighboring and then other foreign countries occupied by the Nazis.
Among the largest liberation-offensive operations of the military units of the Soviet Union, Minsk and Polotsk (carried out simultaneously), Vilnius, Narva, Yassko-Chisinau, East Carpathian, Baltic and others are noted.
The East Prussian operation was of particular importance, since the territory of this country served not only as a springboard for an attack on the USSR, but also reliably blocked access to the center of Germany.
One of the main points that the Nazis held on to was Koenigsberg. It was considered the best German fortress and impregnable bastion.
But as a result of a three-day assault, both this stronghold and Hitler's hope threw out the white flag.

• Final (Berlin) operation

The apogee of the entire offensive campaign of the Soviet army was the battle for Berlin, on which, in fact, depended
final outcome of the war.

Fights were fought for every house, for every street, the shots did not stop day or night, until the complete surrender of the Nazis.

in the rear

The victory of the Soviet army in the Great Patriotic War would have been impossible without a reliable rear. "Everything for the front!" This idea was lived by millions of Soviet people in regions that were not directly affected by hostilities.
One of the priority tasks from the first days of the war was the restructuring of the entire national economy and industry in a new direction.

Many enterprises hurriedly evacuated from hot battlefields to calmer regions of the country: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, the Urals and Western Siberia.

At the new location, the enterprises were assembled in a short time and began to issue products for the front. Sometimes
machine tools and machines began to work long before factory walls and roofs were erected around them. In parallel, the training of new specialists in the operation of equipment from among the local population was going on.
Wives, sisters, children replaced their husbands, fathers and brothers, leaving for the front, at the machines.

12-13-year-old teenagers who did not reach the working part of the equipment made footrests for themselves and worked on an equal basis with adults. After intense shifts, many of them stayed in the workshop and went to bed here, so that in a few hours they would start the next work shift again.

Most of the engineering enterprises during the war produced various types of weapons.
By the middle of the second year of the war, it was possible to fully adapt the economy to the realities of wartime. By this time, more than 1,000 evacuated enterprises have resumed their work in a new place. In addition, another 850 new facilities were created (factories, power plants, mines, etc.)

According to the results of the second half of the year, 1.1 times more weapons were produced in the country than in the first half of the same year. The production of mortars increased 1.3 times, the production of mines and shells almost doubled, and the production of aircraft increased 1.6 times. Significant progress was also made in the assembly of tanks.

An equally important area of ​​rear work was the preparation of reserves for the front. Therefore, from the first days of
military training included not only professional educational institutions, but also volunteer organizations that trained shooters, machine gunners and other specialists. At the same time, medical and sanitary personnel were trained.

The agricultural complex also faced a difficult task. Despite the reduction in the number of collective farms and the deterioration of their material and technical base, it was necessary to supply the population and the front with food, and industry with raw materials. At the cost of incredible efforts, sown agricultural areas were increased in areas remote from the front line. And here, women who replaced men who had gone to war mastered new professions of combine operators, tractor drivers, drivers, etc. And together with their children, without sleep and rest, they worked in the fields and farms in order to give the front and industry everything they needed.

Soldiers of the invisible front

The partisans made a great contribution to the common victory in the Great Patriotic War. These invisible fighters did not give the Nazis any sleep or rest, constantly carrying out sabotage activities in their rear.
At times, the population of entire villages adjoined the partisan detachments. Hiding in hard-to-reach forests and swamps, they constantly dealt tangible blows to the invaders.
The armament of the partisans consisted, most often, of light rifles, grenades, carbines. However, large groups sometimes even had mortars and artillery pieces. In general, the equipment depended on the region where the detachment was stationed, and on its purpose.

Men, women, old people and children - in total on the territory of the Union, captured by the Nazi occupiers
more than 6,000 units were active. And the total number of partisans was 1 million people. Many of them, following the results of the war, were awarded various orders and medals, and 248 received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Partisan detachments during the Second World War were not scattered, spontaneously created groups of discontented population. On the contrary, they were part of one large, well-organized and well-functioning structure. She had her own command, she existed quite legally and obeyed the leadership of the country.
All activities of the movement were controlled by special bodies, and were regulated by a number of legislative acts.

The main goals of the guerrilla war included causing the greatest damage to the military infrastructure of the Nazis, disrupting the frequency of food supplies, etc. - everything that could destabilize the work of the Nazi well-established system.
In addition to sabotage activities, the partisans also participated in reconnaissance operations. They made every effort and invented hundreds of ways to get papers and documents with plans for the Wehrmacht leadership to deploy military operations.

At the same time, partisan formations carried out their subversive activities not only in the occupied territory of the Union, but also in Germany. All obtained documents were forwarded to the headquarters so that the Soviet command was aware of when and where to expect an attack, and the troops could be redeployed and prepared in a timely manner.

At the beginning of the war, the average size of a partisan detachment could be 10-15 people. Later this number
increased to 100 or more. Sometimes several detachments were combined into brigades. Therefore, if necessary, the partisans could also accept an open battle. Although very few such cases are known.

In addition, the participants in the partisan movement were active in propaganda and agitation among the population, especially those living under occupation. The country's leadership was well aware that in order to win the war, it is necessary that the population unconditionally believe and trust the state. Members of partisan detachments even tried to organize uprisings of the population against the hated fascist invaders.
In fairness, it should be noted that not all partisan formations supported the Soviet regime. There were also those who fought for the independence of their region from both the Nazis and the USSR.

MBOU "Sosnovo-Ozerskaya secondary school No. 2"

MESSAGE

The Great Patriotic War

1941-1945

Completed by: Kozhevnikov Roma

Student 3 "b" class

Teacher: Chebunina N.I.

2014

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR without declaring war. Romania and Finland also entered the war against the USSR, and later Italy, Hungary and a number of other countries. The invading army numbered 5.5 million people. In the troops of the first echelon, 3.5 million people, 4 thousand aircraft, 3.5 thousand tanks, 31 thousand guns and mortars were concentrated. The number of Soviet troops in the western military districts was about 3 million people.

Already on the first day, German aviation bombed about 70 airfields and destroyed 1200 aircraft. On June 29, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was formed, which concentrated all the fullness of state and party power. On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command was created (later reorganized into the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command). Both bodies were headed by Stalin. For the first months of the war, the Red Army left the Baltic states, Belarus, Moldova, most of Ukraine, and the western regions of the RSFSR.

At the same time, as a result of the two-month battle of Smolensk, the German plan for a lightning war was thwarted. In early September, the enemy closed the blockade around Leningrad. At the end of September, the Battle of Moscow began. During the summer-autumn campaign of 1941, Soviet troops lost about 5 million of them (2 million were killed, 3 million were captured). In August, the order of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 270 was issued, declaring everyone who was captured as traitors and traitors.

On October 20, Moscow was declared under a state of siege. In some areas, the German units approached Moscow at a distance of 25-30 km. On December 5-6, having commissioned fresh troops, partially redeployed from Siberia, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive on the front from Kalinin (Tver) to Yelets. Moscow, Tula and a significant part of the Kalinin region were liberated. Germany suffered its first major defeat in World War II. There was a radical turn in the course of the war.

In the spring and summer of 1942, German troops, taking advantage of the miscalculations of the Soviet command, achieved major success in the Kharkov region, surrounding 3 armies of the Southwestern Front and capturing 240 thousand people. The Kerch operation ended with the defeat of the Soviet troops; about 150 thousand people were taken prisoner in the Crimea. In August, the enemy reached the banks of the Volga near Stalingrad and occupied most of the North Caucasus.

In July 1942, the People's Commissar of Defense issued Order No. 227 ("Not a Step Back!"), declaring any retreat without an order from the command as a betrayal; barrage detachments were created, which had the right to shoot the retreating on the spot. On August 25, the Battle of Stalingrad began, the outcome of which largely depended on the further course of the war.

After a long period of defensive battles, on November 19, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive, surrounded and destroyed a large grouping of enemy troops; in total, during the Battle of Stalingrad, the enemy lost a fourth of his forces operating on the Eastern Front. The victory at Stalingrad (February 2) was reinforced by the general offensive of the Soviet troops. In January, the blockade of Leningrad was broken. The radical turning point in the course of the war, begun at Stalingrad, was completed as a result of the victory in the Battle of Kursk (July - August 1943) and the battle for the Dnieper, which ended on November 6, 1943. A number of regions of the RSFSR, Left-Bank Ukraine, Donbass were liberated, bridgeheads in the Crimea were captured.

In January 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted, in January-April the Right-Bank Ukraine was liberated, and in May the Crimea was liberated. In March, Soviet troops reached the state border of the USSR with Romania. As a result of the operation "Bagration" (June - August 1944), Belarus and part of the Baltic states were liberated. In June - August, Karelia was liberated and Finland was withdrawn from the war.

In July - September, Western Ukraine, Moldova, part of Romania and Bulgaria were liberated. In October, the liberation of the Baltic and Arctic regions was completed, the Red Army units entered the territory of Norway. In November 1944, the troops of Germany and its allies were completely expelled from the territory of the USSR. At the end of 1944 and the first months of 1945, Yugoslavia (jointly by units of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia), Hungary, Poland, part of Austria, and Czechoslovakia were liberated. On April 13, 1945, the center of East Prussia, Königsberg, was taken. The final battle of the Great Patriotic War was the battle for Berlin. On May 2, the capital of Germany capitulated. On May 8, an act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed.

The Great Patriotic War ended with the victory of the Soviet Union. Victory in the war was ensured by the exertion of all the forces of the peoples of the USSR, the heroism and courage of the soldiers and home front workers. Despite the temporary loss of the most economically developed territories, it was possible to rebuild the economy on a military footing and from the autumn of 1942 to ensure the growing production of weapons, military equipment and ammunition. Hundreds of new industrial enterprises were created in the eastern regions of the country on the basis of equipment evacuated from the western regions. A tragic page in the history of the Great Patriotic War was the deportation to Kazakhstan, Siberia and other eastern regions of a number of peoples accused by the Stalinist regime of complicity with the invaders (Germans, Karachays, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, etc.).

When the sun's rays were just about to illuminate the earth on the western border of the USSR, the first soldiers of Nazi Germany set foot on Soviet soil. The Great Patriotic War (WWII) has been going on for almost two years, but now a heroic war has begun, and it will go not for resources, not for the domination of one nation over another, and not for the establishment of a new order, now the war will become sacred, popular and its price will be life, real and life of future generations.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. The beginning of the Second World War

On June 22, 1941, four years of inhuman efforts began to count down, during which the future of each of us hung practically in the balance.
War is always a disgusting business, but The Great Patriotic War (WWII) was too popular for only professional soldiers to participate. All the people, from young to old, stood up to defend the Motherland.
From the first day Great Patriotic War (WWII) the heroism of a simple Soviet soldier became a role model. What in the literature is often called "to stand to death" was fully demonstrated already in the battles for the Brest Fortress. The vaunted soldiers of the Wehrmacht, who conquered France in 40 days and forced England to cowardly huddle on their island, faced such resistance that they simply could not believe that ordinary people were fighting against them. As if they were warriors from epic tales, they stood up with their breasts to protect every inch of their native land. For almost a month, the garrison of the fortress fought off one German attack after another. And this, just think, 4,000 people who were cut off from the main forces, and who did not have a single chance of salvation. They were all doomed, but they did not succumb to weakness, did not lay down their arms.
When the advanced units of the Wehrmacht go to Kyiv, Smolensk, Leningrad, fighting is still going on in the Brest Fortress.
Great Patriotic War always characterize manifestations of heroism and perseverance. Whatever happened on the territory of the USSR, no matter how terrible the repressions of tyranny would be, the war equalized everyone.
A striking example of changing attitudes within society, Stalin's famous address, which was made on July 3, 1941, contained the words - "Brothers and Sisters." There were no more citizens, there were no high ranks and comrades, it was a huge family, consisting of all the peoples and nationalities of the country. The family demanded salvation, demanded support.
Fighting continued on the eastern front. German generals first encountered an anomaly, there is no other way to call it. Developed by the best minds of the Nazi General Staff, blitzkrieg, built on rapid breakthroughs of tank formations, followed by the encirclement of large parts of the enemy, no longer worked like a clock mechanism. Getting into the environment, the Soviet units fought their way through, and did not lay down their arms. To a serious extent, the heroism of soldiers and commanders thwarted the plans of the German offensive, slowed down the advance of enemy units and became a turning point in the war. Yes, yes, it was then, in the summer of 1941, that the plans for the offensive of the German army were completely thwarted. Then there were Stalingrad, Kursk, the Battle of Moscow, but all of them became possible thanks to the unparalleled courage of a simple Soviet soldier who, at the cost of his own life, stopped the German invaders.
Of course, there were excesses in the leadership of military operations. It must be admitted that the command of the Red Army was not ready for WWII. The doctrine of the USSR assumed a victorious war on the territory of the enemy, but not on its own soil. And in technical terms, the Soviet troops were seriously inferior to the Germans. So they went into cavalry attacks on tanks, flew and shot down German aces on old planes, burned in tanks, and retreated without giving up a shred without a fight.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Battle for Moscow

The plan for the lightning-fast capture of Moscow by the Germans finally collapsed in the winter of 1941. A lot has been written about the Moscow battle, films have been made. However, every page of what was written, every frame of footage is imbued with the unparalleled heroism of the defenders of Moscow. We all know about the parade on November 7, which passed through Red Square, while German tanks were moving towards the capital. Yes, this was also an example of how the Soviet people are going to defend their country. The troops went to the front line immediately from the parade, immediately entering the battle. And the Germans could not resist. The iron conquerors of Europe stopped. It seemed that nature itself came to the aid of the defenders, severe frosts hit, and this was the beginning of the end of the German offensive. Hundreds of thousands of lives, widespread manifestations of patriotism and devotion to the Motherland of soldiers in encirclement, soldiers near Moscow, residents who for the first time in their lives held weapons in their hands, all this stood up as an insurmountable obstacle on the enemy’s path to the very heart of the USSR.
But then the legendary offensive began. German troops were thrown back from Moscow, and for the first time they knew the bitterness of retreat and defeat. We can say that it was here, in the snowy areas under the capital, that the fate of the whole world, and not just the war, was predetermined. The brown plague, which up to that time had engulfed country after country, people after people, found itself face to face with people who did not want to, could not bow their heads.
The 41st was coming to an end, the western part of the USSR lay in ruins, the occupying troops were fierce, but nothing could break those who ended up in the occupied territories. There were also traitors, what can we hide, those who went over to the side of the enemy, and forever stigmatized themselves with the rank of “policeman”. And who are they now, where are they? The Holy War does not forgive traitors in their own land.
Speaking of Holy War. The legendary song very accurately reflected the state of society in those years. The People's and Holy War did not tolerate the subjunctive declension, and weakness. The price of victory or defeat was life itself.
d. allowed to change the relationship between the authorities and the church. Subjected to long years of persecution, during WWII The Russian Orthodox Church helped the front with all its might. And this is another example of heroism and patriotism. After all, we all know that in the west, the Pope simply bowed to the iron fists of Hitler.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. guerrilla war

Separately, it is worth mentioning the guerrilla war during WWII. The Germans first met with such fierce resistance from the population. Regardless of where the front line passed, military operations were constantly taking place behind enemy lines. The invaders on Soviet soil could not get a moment of peace. Whether it was the swamps of Belarus or the forests of the Smolensk region, the steppes of Ukraine, death awaited the invaders everywhere! Whole villages went to the partisans, together with their families, with relatives, and from there, from the hidden, ancient forests, they attacked the Nazis.
How many heroes spawned the partisan movement. Both old and very young. Young boys and girls who went to school yesterday have matured today and performed feats that will remain in our memory for centuries.
While fighting was going on on the ground, the air, in the first months of the war, completely belonged to the Germans. A huge number of aircraft of the Soviet army were destroyed immediately after the start of the fascist offensive, and those who managed to take to the air could not fight German aircraft on an equal footing. However, the heroism WWII manifests itself not only on the battlefield. A low bow, all of us living today, give to the rear. In the most severe conditions, under constant shelling and bombardment, plants and factories were exported to the east. Immediately upon arrival, on the street, in the cold, workers stood at the machines. The army continued to receive ammunition. Talented designers created new models of weapons. They worked 18-20 hours a day in the rear, but the army did not need anything. Victory was forged at the cost of the enormous efforts of each person.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Rear

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Blockade Leningrad.

Blockade Leningrad. Are there people who would not hear this phrase? 872 days of unparalleled heroism covered this city with eternal glory. German troops and allies could not break the resistance of the besieged city. The city lived, defended and struck back. The road of life, connecting the besieged city with the mainland, became the last for many, and there was not a single person who would refuse, who would chicken out and not take food and ammunition to Leningraders along this ice ribbon. Hope never really died. And the credit for this entirely belongs to ordinary people who valued the freedom of their country above all else!
All history of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 written by unprecedented feats. Only real sons and daughters of their people, heroes, could close the embrasure of an enemy pillbox with their bodies, throw grenades under a tank, go to ram in an air battle.
And they were rewarded! And let the sky over the village of Prokhorovka turn black from soot and smoke, let the waters of the northern seas receive dead heroes every day, but nothing could stop the liberation of the Motherland.
And there was the first salute, August 5, 1943. It was then that the fireworks began counting in honor of a new victory, a new liberation of the city.
The peoples of Europe today no longer know their history, the true history of the Second World War. It is thanks to the Soviet people that they live, build their lives, give birth and raise children. Bucharest, Warsaw, Budapest, Sofia, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, all these capitals were liberated at the cost of the blood of Soviet heroes. And the last shots in Berlin mark the end of the worst nightmare of the 20th century.

By June 1941, the Second World War, having drawn into its orbit about 30 states, came close to the borders of the Soviet Union. There was no force in the West that could stop the army of Nazi Germany, which by that time had already occupied 12 European states. The next military-political goal - the main one in its significance - was the defeat of the Soviet Union for Germany.

Deciding to unleash a war with the USSR and relying on "lightning speed", the German leadership intended to complete it by the winter of 1941. In accordance with the "Barbarossa" plan, a giant armada of selected, well-trained and armed troops was deployed near the borders of the USSR. The German General Staff placed its main bet on the crushing power of a surprise first strike, the swiftness of the rush of concentrated aviation, tank and infantry forces to the vital political and economic centers of the country.

Having completed the concentration of troops, Germany attacked our country early in the morning of June 22 without declaring war, bringing down a flurry of fire and metal. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the Nazi invaders began.

For 1418 long days and nights, the peoples of the USSR marched towards victory. This path was incredibly difficult. Our Motherland fully knew both the bitterness of defeats and the joy of victories. The initial period was especially difficult.

German invasion of Soviet territory

While a new day, June 22, 1941, was breaking in the east, the shortest night of the year was still going on on the western border of the Soviet Union. And no one could even imagine that this day would be the beginning of the most bloody war that would last four long years. The headquarters of the German army groups, concentrated on the border with the USSR, received the prearranged signal "Dortmund", which meant - to start the invasion.

Soviet intelligence revealed the preparations the day before, about which the headquarters of the border military districts immediately reported to the General Staff of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA). So, the chief of staff of the Baltic Special Military District, General P.S. Klenov at 10 pm on June 21 reported that the Germans had completed the construction of bridges across the Neman, and the civilian population was ordered to evacuate at least 20 km from the border, “there is talk that the troops were ordered to take their starting position for the offensive.” Chief of Staff of the Western Special Military District, Major General V.E. Klimovskikh reported that the wire fences of the Germans, which still stood along the border during the day, were removed by evening, and in the forest, located not far from the border, the noise of motors was heard.

In the evening, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov invited the German ambassador Schulenburg and told him that Germany, without any reason, was deteriorating relations with the USSR every day. Despite repeated protests from the Soviet side, German planes continue to intrude into its airspace. There are persistent rumors about the upcoming war between our countries. The Soviet government has every reason to believe this, because the German leadership did not react in any way to the TASS report of June 14. Schulenburg promised to immediately report the complaints he had heard to his government. However, this was just a simple diplomatic excuse on his part, because the German ambassador was well aware that the Wehrmacht troops were on full alert and were just waiting for a signal to move east.

With the onset of dusk on June 21, the Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov received a phone call from the Chief of Staff of the Kyiv Special Military District, General M.A. Purkaev and reported on a German defector, who said that at dawn the next day the German army would start a war against the USSR. G.K. Zhukov immediately reported this to I.V. Stalin and People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Timoshenko. Stalin summoned Timoshenko and Zhukov to the Kremlin and, after an exchange of opinions, ordered to report on the draft directive prepared by the General Staff on bringing the troops of the western border districts to combat readiness. Only late in the evening, after receiving a cipher from one of the residents of Soviet intelligence, who reported that there would be a decision that night, this decision was war, adding another point to the draft directive read to him that the troops should in no case succumb to possible provocations, Stalin allowed to send it to the districts.

The main meaning of this document boiled down to the fact that he warned the Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kyiv and Odessa military districts about a possible attack by the aggressor during June 22-23 and demanded "to be in full combat readiness to meet a sudden attack by the Germans or their allies." On the night of June 22, the districts were ordered to covertly occupy fortified areas on the border, by dawn to disperse all aviation over field airfields and camouflage it, keep the troops dispersed, put the air defense on alert without additional lifting of assigned personnel, and prepare cities and objects for blackout . Directive No. 1 categorically forbade the holding of any other events without special permission.
The transmission of this document was completed only at half past one in the morning, and the entire long journey from the General Staff to the districts, and then to the armies, corps and divisions as a whole, took more than four hours of precious time.

Order of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 1 of June 22, 1941 TsAMO.F. 208.Op. 2513.D.71.L.69.

At dawn on June 22, at 3:15 am (Moscow time), thousands of guns and mortars of the German army opened fire on the border outposts and the location of the Soviet troops. German planes rushed to bombard important targets in the entire border strip - from the Barents Sea to the Black. Many cities were subjected to air raids. In order to achieve surprise, the bombers flew over the Soviet border in all sectors at the same time. The first strikes hit precisely the bases of the latest types of Soviet aircraft, command posts, ports, warehouses, and railway junctions. Massed enemy air strikes thwarted the organized exit of the first echelon of border districts to the state border. Aviation, concentrated on permanent airfields, suffered irreparable losses: on the first day of the war, 1,200 Soviet aircraft were destroyed, and most of them did not even have time to take to the air. However, despite this, in the first day the Soviet Air Force made about 6 thousand sorties and destroyed over 200 German aircraft in air battles.

The first reports of the invasion of German troops into Soviet territory came from the border guards. In Moscow, at the General Staff, information about the flight of enemy aircraft across the western border of the USSR was received at 03:07. At about 4 o'clock in the morning, the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army G.K. Zhukov called I.V. Stalin and reported the incident. At the same time, already in plain text, the General Staff informed the headquarters of the military districts, armies and formations about the German attack.

Upon learning of the attack, I.V. Stalin called for a meeting of senior military, party and government officials. At 5:45 a.m., S.K. arrived at his office. Timoshenko, G.K. Zhukov, V.M. Molotov, L.P. Beria and L.Z. Mehlis. By 7:15 a.m., Directive No. 2 was drawn up, which, on behalf of the People's Commissar of Defense, demanded:

"one. Troops to attack the enemy forces with all their strength and means and destroy them in areas where they violated the Soviet border. Do not cross the border until further notice.

2. Reconnaissance and combat aviation to establish the places of concentration of enemy aviation and the grouping of its ground forces. Destroy aircraft at enemy airfields and bomb the main groupings of his ground forces with powerful strikes by bomber and ground attack aircraft. Air strikes should be carried out to the depth of German territory up to 100-150 km. Bomb Koenigsberg and Memel. Do not make raids on the territory of Finland and Romania until special instructions.

The prohibition to cross the border, besides the limitation of the depth of air strikes, indicates that Stalin still did not believe that a “big war” had begun. Only by noon, members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks - Molotov, Malenkov, Voroshilov, Beria - prepared the text of the statement of the Soviet government, which Molotov spoke on the radio at 12:15.

Speech on the radio by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
and People's commissioner for foreign affairs
Molotova V.M. dated June 22, 1941 TsAMO. F. 135, Op. 12798. D. 1. L.1.

At a meeting in the Kremlin, the most important decisions were made, which laid the foundation for turning the whole country into a single military camp. They were issued as decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: on the mobilization of those liable for military service in all military districts, with the exception of the Central Asian and Trans-Baikal, as well as the Far East, where the Far Eastern Front had existed since 1938; on the introduction of martial law in most of the European territory of the USSR - from the Arkhangelsk region to the Krasnodar Territory.

Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on martial law
and on the approval of the Regulations on Military Tribunals
dated June 22, 1941 TsAMO. F. 135, Op. 12798. D. 1. L.2.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on mobilization by military districts.
Reports of the High Command of the Red Army for June 22-23, 1941
TsAMO. F. 135, Op. 12798. D. 1. L. 3.

On the morning of the same day, the first deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the USSR N.A. Voznesensky, having gathered people's commissars responsible for the main industries, gave the orders provided for by the mobilization plans. Then no one even thought that the outbreak of war would soon break everything planned, that it would be necessary to urgently evacuate industrial enterprises to the east and create there, essentially anew, the military industry.

Most of the population learned about the beginning of the war from Molotov's speech on the radio. This unexpected news deeply shocked the people, aroused alarm for the fate of the Motherland. At once, the normal course of life was disrupted, not only plans for the future were upset, there was a real danger to the lives of relatives and friends. At the direction of the Soviet and party organs, rallies and meetings were held at enterprises, institutions, and collective farms. The speakers condemned the German attack on the USSR and expressed their readiness to defend the Fatherland. Many immediately applied for voluntary enlistment in the army and asked to be immediately sent to the front.

Germany's attack on the USSR was not only a new stage in the life of the Soviet people, to one degree or another it affected the peoples of other countries, especially those who were soon to become its main allies or opponents.

The government and people of Great Britain immediately breathed a sigh of relief: a war in the east, at least for a while, would push back the German invasion of the British Isles. So, Germany has one more, besides quite a serious opponent; this would inevitably weaken it, and therefore, the British reasoned, the USSR should immediately be considered as its ally in the struggle against the aggressor. This is exactly what Prime Minister Churchill expressed, who on the evening of June 22 spoke on the radio about another German attack. “Any person or state that fights against Nazism,” he said, “will receive our help ... This is our policy, this is our statement. It follows from this that we will give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can ... Hitler wants to destroy the Russian state because, if successful, he hopes to withdraw the main forces of his army and aviation from the east and throw them on our island.

The US leadership made an official statement on June 23. Acting Secretary of State S. Welles read it on behalf of the government. The statement emphasized that any rallying of forces against Hitlerism, regardless of their origin, would hasten the downfall of the German leaders, and that the Hitlerite army was now the main danger to the American continent. The next day, President Roosevelt told a press conference that the United States was pleased to welcome another opponent of Nazism and intended to provide assistance to the Soviet Union.

The population of Germany learned about the beginning of a new war from the Fuhrer's appeal to the people, which was read on the radio by the Minister of Propaganda I. Goebbels on June 22 at 5:30. He was followed by Foreign Minister Ribbentrop with a special memorandum listing accusations against the Soviet Union. It goes without saying that Germany, as in her previous aggressive actions, placed all the blame for unleashing the war on the USSR. In his address to the people, Hitler did not forget to mention the "conspiracy of Jews and democrats, Bolsheviks and reactionaries" against the Reich, the concentration of 160 Soviet divisions on the borders, which allegedly threatened not only Germany, but also Finland and Romania for many weeks. All this, they say, forced the Fuhrer to undertake an "act of self-defense" in order to secure the country, "to save European civilization and culture."

The extreme complexity of the rapidly changing situation, the high mobility and maneuverability of military operations, the stunning power of the first strikes of the Wehrmacht showed that the Soviet military-political leadership did not have an effective system of command and control. As planned earlier, the leadership of the troops was carried out by the people's commissar for defense, Marshal Timoshenko. However, without Stalin, he could not solve almost a single issue.

On June 23, 1941, the Headquarters of the High Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR was created, consisting of: People's Commissar of Defense Marshal Timoshenko (chairman), Chief of the General Staff Zhukov, Stalin, Molotov, Marshal Voroshilov, Marshal Budyonny and People's Commissar of the Navy Admiral Kuznetsov.

At the Stavka, an institute of permanent advisers to the Stavka was organized, consisting of Marshal Kulik, Marshal Shaposhnikov, Meretskov, Chief of the Air Force Zhigarev, Vatutin, Chief of Air Defense (Air Defense) Voronov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Beria, Voznesensky, Zhdanov, Malenkov, Mekhlis.

Such a composition allowed the Headquarters to quickly solve all the tasks of leading the armed struggle. However, it turned out two commanders-in-chief: Timoshenko - legal, who, without Stalin's sanction, did not have the right to give orders to the army in the field, and Stalin - actual. This not only complicated command and control, but also led to belated decisions in the rapidly changing situation at the front.

Events on the Western Front

From the first day of the war, the most alarming situation developed in Belarus, where the Wehrmacht dealt the main blow with the most powerful formation - the troops of Army Group Center under the command of Field Marshal Bock. But the Western Front that opposed it (commander General D.G. Pavlov, member of the Military Council Corps Commissar A.F. Fominykh, chief of staff General V.E. Klimovskikh) had considerable forces (Table 1).

Table 1
The balance of forces in the Western Front at the beginning of the war

Forces and means	Western front *	Army Group "Center" (without 3 mgr) **	Ratio
Personnel, thousand people
Tanks, units
Combat aircraft, units

* Only serviceable equipment is taken into account.
** Until June 25, the 3rd Panzer Group (TG) operated in the zone of the North-Western Front.

On the whole, the Western Front was slightly inferior to the enemy in terms of guns and combat aircraft, but significantly outnumbered him in terms of tanks. Unfortunately, it was planned to have only 13 rifle divisions in the first echelon of the covering armies, while the enemy concentrated 28 divisions in the first echelon, including 4 tank divisions.
Events on the Western Front unfolded in the most tragic way. Even in the course of artillery preparation, the Germans captured bridges across the Western Bug, including in the Brest region. Assault groups were the first to cross the border with the task of capturing border outposts literally within half an hour. However, the enemy miscalculated: there was not a single frontier post that would not offer him stubborn resistance. The border guards fought to the death. The Germans had to bring the main forces of the divisions into battle.

Fierce fighting broke out in the skies over the border regions. The pilots of the front waged a fierce struggle, trying to wrest the initiative from the enemy and prevent him from seizing air supremacy. However, this task turned out to be impossible. Indeed, on the very first day of the war, the Western Front lost 738 combat vehicles, which accounted for almost 40% of the aircraft fleet. In addition, on the side of the enemy pilots there was a clear advantage in both skill and quality of equipment.

The belated exit to meet the advancing enemy forced the Soviet troops to engage in battle on the move, in parts. On the directions of the aggressor's strikes, they failed to reach the prepared lines, which means that they did not succeed in a continuous front of defense. Having met resistance, the enemy quickly bypassed the Soviet units, attacked them from the flanks and rear, sought to advance their tank divisions as far as possible in depth. The situation was aggravated by sabotage groups thrown out on parachutes, as well as submachine gunners on motorcycles rushing to the rear, who disabled communication lines, captured bridges, airfields, and other military facilities. Small groups of motorcyclists fired indiscriminately from machine guns in order to give the defenders the appearance of being surrounded. With ignorance of the general situation and loss of control, their actions violated the stability of the defense of the Soviet troops, causing panic.

Many rifle divisions of the first echelon of the armies were dismembered from the very first hours, some were surrounded. Communication with them was interrupted. By 7 o'clock in the morning the headquarters of the Western Front had no wired connection even with the armies.

When the front headquarters received the directive of the People's Commissar No. 2, the rifle divisions were already drawn into the fighting. Although the mechanized corps began advancing to the border, but due to their great distance from the areas of the enemy’s breakthrough, communications disruption, the dominance of German aviation in the air, “fall on the enemy with all their might” and destroy his strike groups, as required by the order of the People's Commissar, Soviet troops, naturally they couldn't.

A serious threat arose on the northern face of the Bialystok ledge, where the 3rd Army of General V.I. Kuznetsova. Constantly bombarding the army headquarters located in Grodno, the enemy put out of action all communication centers by the middle of the day. Neither the headquarters of the front, nor the neighbors could not be contacted for a whole day. Meanwhile, the infantry divisions of the 9th German Army had already managed to push Kuznetsov's right-flank formations to the southeast.

On the southern face of the ledge, where the 4th Army, led by General A.A. Korobkov, the enemy had a three-four-fold superiority. Management was broken here as well. Not having time to take the planned lines of defense, the rifle formations of the army under the blows of the 2nd Panzer Group of Guderian began to retreat.

Their retreat put the formations of the 10th Army, which was in the center of the Bialystok ledge, in a difficult position. From the very beginning of the invasion, the front headquarters had no connection with it. Pavlov had no choice but to send by plane to Bialystok, to the headquarters of the 10th Army, his deputy General I.V. Boldin with the task of establishing the position of the troops and organizing a counterattack in the Grodno direction, which was envisaged by the wartime plan. The command of the Western Front for the entire first day of the war did not receive a single report from the armies.

Yes, and Moscow throughout the day did not receive objective information about the situation on the fronts, although in the afternoon it sent its representatives there. To clarify the situation and help General Pavlov, Stalin sent the largest group to the Western Front. It included the deputies of the people's commissar of defense marshals B.M. Shaposhnikov and G.I. Kulik, as well as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General V.D. Sokolovsky and the head of the operational department, General G.K. Malandin. However, it was not possible to reveal the actual situation both on this front and on others, to understand the situation. This is evidenced by the operational report of the General Staff for 22 hours. “German regular troops,” it stated, “during June 22 fought with the border units of the USSR, having little success in certain areas. In the afternoon, with the approach of the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army, the attacks of the German troops on the predominant stretch of our border were repulsed with losses for the enemy.

Based on the reports of the fronts, the People's Commissar of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff concluded that the battles were mainly fought near the border, and the largest enemy groupings are the Suwalki and Lublin, and the further course of the battles will depend on their actions. Due to the misleading reports of the headquarters of the Western Front, the Soviet High Command clearly underestimated the powerful German grouping that struck from the Brest region, however, it was not oriented in the general air situation either.

Believing that there were enough forces for a retaliatory strike, and guided by the pre-war plan in case of a war with Germany, the People's Commissar of Defense signed Directive No. 3 at 21:15. The troops of the Western Front were ordered to cooperate with the North-Western Front, holding back the enemy in the Warsaw direction with powerful counterattacks to the flank and rear, destroy his Suwalki grouping and, by the end of June 24, capture the Suwalki area. The next day, together with the troops of other fronts, it was necessary to go on the offensive and defeat the strike force of Army Group Center. Such a plan not only did not correspond to the true situation, but also prevented the troops of the Western Front from creating a defense. Pavlov and his staff, having received Directive No. 3 late at night, began preparations for its implementation, although it was simply unthinkable to do this in the hours remaining before dawn, and even in the absence of communication with the armies.

On the morning of June 23, the commander decided to launch a counterattack in the direction of Grodno, Suwalki with the forces of the 6th and 11th mechanized corps, as well as the 36th cavalry division, uniting them into a group under the command of his deputy General Boldin. Formations of the 3rd Army were also to take part in the planned counterattack. It should be noted that this decision was absolutely unrealistic: the formations of the 3rd Army operating in the direction of the counterattack continued to retreat, the 11th mechanized corps fought intense battles on a wide front, the 6th mechanized corps was too far from the counterattack area - 60-70 km, yet further from Grodno was the 36th cavalry division.

At the disposal of General Boldin was only part of the forces of the 6th mechanized corps of General M.G. Khatskilevich, and then only by noon on June 23. Considered by right the most complete in the Red Army, this corps had 1022 tanks, including 352 KB and T-34. However, during the advance, being under the incessant attacks of enemy aircraft, he suffered significant losses.

Fierce battles unfolded near Grodno. After the capture of Grodno by the enemy, the 11th mechanized corps of General D.K. Mostovenko. Before the war, he had only 243 tanks. In addition, in the first two days of fighting, the corps suffered significant losses. However, on June 24, the formations of the Boldin group, with the support of front-line aviation and the 3rd long-range bomber corps of Colonel N.S. Skripko managed to achieve some success.

Field Marshal Bock sent the main forces of the 2nd Air Fleet against the Soviet troops, which launched a counterattack. German planes hovered continuously over the battlefield, depriving parts of the 3rd Army and Boldin's group of the possibility of any maneuver. Heavy fighting near Grodno continued the next day, but the forces of the tankers quickly dried up. The enemy pulled up anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, as well as an infantry division. Nevertheless, Boldin's group managed to chain significant enemy forces to the Grodno region for two days and inflict significant damage on him. The counterattack eased, albeit not for long, the position of the 3rd Army. But it was not possible to wrest the initiative from the enemy, and the mechanized corps suffered huge losses.

Panzer Group Hoth deeply embraced Kuznetsov's 3rd Army from the north, while General Strauss' 9th Army formations attacked it from the front. Already on June 23, the 3rd Army had to withdraw beyond the Neman in order to avoid encirclement.

The 4th Army of General A.A. found itself in extremely difficult conditions. Korobkov. Guderian's tank group and the main forces of the 4th Army, advancing from Brest in the northeast direction, cut the troops of this army into two unequal parts. Fulfilling the directive of the front, Korobkov was also preparing a counterattack. However, he managed to collect only parts of the tank divisions of the 14th mechanized corps of General S.I. Oborina, and the remnants of the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions. And they were opposed by almost two tank and two infantry divisions of the enemy. The forces were too unequal. The 14th mechanized corps suffered heavy losses. Rifle divisions were also bled. The oncoming battle ended in favor of the enemy.

The gap with the troops of the North-Western Front on the right wing, where the tank group Gotha rushed, and the difficult situation on the left wing, where the 4th Army was withdrawing, created a threat of deep coverage of the entire Bialystok grouping both from the north and from the south.

General Pavlov decided to reinforce the 4th Army with the 47th Rifle Corps. At the same time, the 17th mechanized corps (a total of 63 tanks, in divisions of 20-25 guns and 4 anti-aircraft guns) was transferred from the front reserve to the river. Sharu to create a defense there. However, they failed to create a solid defense along the river. The enemy tank divisions crossed it and on June 25 approached Baranovichi.

The position of the troops of the Western Front became more and more critical. Of particular concern was the northern wing, where an uncovered gap of 130 km was formed. Field Marshal Bock removed the Goth tank group, which rushed into this gap, from subordination to the commander of the 9th Army. Having received freedom of action, Goth sent one of his corps to Vilnius, and the other two to Minsk and bypassing the city from the north, in order to connect with the 2nd Panzer Group. The main forces of the 9th Army were turned to the south, and the 4th - to the north, in the direction of the confluence of the Shchara and Neman rivers, to cut the encircled grouping. The threat of complete catastrophe loomed over the troops of the Western Front.

General Pavlov saw a way out of the situation in delaying the advance of the 3rd Panzer Group Gotha with reserve formations united by the command of the 13th Army, three divisions, the 21st Rifle Corps, the 50th Rifle Division and the retreating troops were transferred to the army ; and at the same time, the forces of the Boldin group continue to deliver a counterattack on Gotu's flank.

The 13th army of General P.M. did not have time yet. Filatov to concentrate his forces, and most importantly, to put in order the troops moving away from the border, including the 5th Panzer Division of the North-Western Front, as enemy tanks broke into the location of the army headquarters. The Germans seized most of the vehicles, including those with encryption documents. The command of the army came to its own only on June 26th.

The position of the troops of the Western Front continued to deteriorate. Marshal B.M. Shaposhnikov, who was at the headquarters of the front in Mogilev, turned to the General Headquarters with a request to immediately withdraw the troops. Moscow allowed the withdrawal. However, it is already too late.

For the withdrawal of the 3rd and 10th armies, deeply bypassed by the tank groups of Hoth and Guderian from the north and south, there was a corridor no more than 60 km wide. Moving off-road (all roads were occupied by German troops), under continuous attacks by enemy aircraft, with an almost complete absence of vehicles, in dire need of ammunition and fuel, the formations could not break away from the pressing enemy.

On June 25, the Stavka formed a group of armies of the reserve of the High Command, headed by Marshal S.M. Budyonny as part of the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd armies. Their formations, which began advancing as early as May 13, arrived from the North Caucasian, Orel, Kharkov, Volga, Ural and Moscow military districts and concentrated in the rear of the Western Front. Marshal Budyonny was given the task of starting to prepare a defensive line along the Nevel, Mogilev line and further along the Desna and Dnieper rivers to Kremenchug; at the same time "to be ready, on special instructions from the High Command, to launch a counteroffensive." However, on June 27, the Headquarters abandoned the idea of ​​​​a counteroffensive and ordered Budyonny to urgently occupy and firmly defend the line along the Western Dvina and Dnieper rivers, from Kraslava to Loev, preventing the enemy from breaking through to Moscow. At the same time, the troops of the 16th Army, which had arrived in Ukraine before the war, and from July 1, the 19th Army, were also rapidly transferred to the Smolensk region. All this meant that the Soviet command finally abandoned offensive plans and decided to switch to strategic defense, transferring the main efforts to the western direction.

On June 26, Hoth's tank divisions approached the Minsk fortified area. The next day, the advanced units of Guderian entered the approaches to the capital of Belarus. The formations of the 13th Army were defending here. Fierce fighting began. At the same time, the city was bombarded by German aircraft; fires broke out, water supply, sewerage, power lines, telephone communications failed, but most importantly, thousands of civilians died. Nevertheless, the defenders of Minsk continued to resist.

The defense of Minsk is one of the brightest pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War. The forces were too unequal. The Soviet troops were in dire need of ammunition, and to bring them up, there was not enough transport or fuel, besides, part of the warehouses had to be blown up, the rest were captured by the enemy. The enemy stubbornly rushed to Minsk from the north and south. At 4 pm on June 28, units of the 20th Panzer Division of the Gota group, breaking the resistance of the 2nd Rifle Corps of General A.N. Ermakov, broke into Minsk from the north, and the next day the 18th Panzer Division from the Guderian group rushed towards them from the south. By evening, the German divisions connected and closed the encirclement. Only the main forces of the 13th Army managed to withdraw to the east. A day earlier, the infantry divisions of the 9th and 4th German armies connected east of Bialystok, cutting off the escape routes of the 3rd and 10th Soviet armies. The encircled grouping of troops on the Western Front was divided into several parts.

Almost three dozen divisions fell into the cauldron. Deprived of centralized control and supply, they, however, fought until July 8. On the inner front of the encirclement, Bock had to keep first 21 and then 25 divisions, which accounted for almost half of all the troops of Army Group Center. On the outer front, only eight of its divisions continued their offensive towards the Berezina, and even the 53rd Army Corps was operating against the 75th Soviet Rifle Division.

Exhausted by continuous battles, difficult transitions through forests and swamps, without food and rest, the encircled were losing their last strength. The reports of Army Group Center reported that as of July 2, 116 thousand people were taken prisoner in the area of ​​Bialystok and Volkovysk alone, 1505 guns, 1964 tanks and armored vehicles, 327 aircraft were destroyed or captured as trophies. The prisoners of war were kept in appalling conditions. They were housed in rooms not equipped for living, often right under the open sky. Hundreds of people died every day from exhaustion and epidemics. The weak were ruthlessly destroyed.

Until September, the soldiers of the Western Front left the encirclement. At the end of the month to the river. Sozh left the remnants of the 13th mechanized corps, led by their commander, General P.N. Akhlyustin. 1667 people, of which 103 were wounded, were brought out by the deputy commander of the front, General Boldin. Many who did not manage to get out of the encirclement began to fight the enemy in the ranks of partisans and underground fighters.

From the first days of the occupation, in areas where the enemy appeared, resistance from the masses began to arise. However, it developed slowly, especially in the western regions of the country, including Western Belarus, whose population was merged into the USSR only a year before the start of the war. At first, mainly sabotage and reconnaissance groups sent from behind the front line, many military personnel who were surrounded, and partly local residents began to operate here.

On June 29, on the 8th day of the war, a directive was adopted by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to the party and Soviet organizations of the front-line regions, which, along with other measures to turn the country into a single military camp to provide a nationwide rebuff to the enemy, contained instructions on the deployment of the underground and the partisan movement, the organizational forms, goals and objectives of the struggle were determined.

Of great importance for the organization of partisan struggle behind enemy lines was the appeal of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army of July 15, 1941 “To the military personnel fighting behind enemy lines”, issued in the form of a leaflet and scattered from aircraft over the occupied territory. In it, the activity of Soviet soldiers behind the front line was assessed as a continuation of their combat mission. The military personnel were asked to switch to the methods of guerrilla warfare. This leaflet-appeal helped many encircled people find their place in the common struggle against the invaders.

The fighting was already far from the border, and the garrison of the Brest Fortress was still fighting. After the withdrawal of the main forces, part of the units of the 42nd and 6th rifle divisions, the 33rd engineer regiment and the border outpost remained here. The advancing units of the 45th and 31st Infantry Divisions were supported by siege artillery. Barely recovering from the first stunning blow, the garrison took up the defense of the citadel with the intention of fighting to the end. The heroic defense of Brest began. Guderian recalled after the war: "The garrison of the important Brest fortress, which held out for several days, blocked the railway and highways leading through the Western Bug to Mukhavets, defended itself especially fiercely." True, the general for some reason forgot that the garrison held out not for several days, but for about a month - until July 20.

By the end of June 1941, the enemy had advanced to a depth of 400 km. The troops of the Western Front suffered heavy losses in men, equipment and weapons. The air force of the front lost 1483 aircraft. The formations remaining outside the encirclement fought in a strip over 400 km wide. The front was in dire need of replenishment, but he could not even get what he was supposed to be fully staffed according to the pre-war plan in case of mobilization. It was disrupted as a result of the rapid advance of the enemy, an extremely limited number of vehicles, disruption of the railway transport and general organizational confusion.

By the end of June, the Soviet military-political leadership realized that in order to repel aggression, it was necessary to mobilize all the forces of the country. To this end, on June 30, an emergency body was created - the State Defense Committee (GKO), headed by Stalin. All power in the state was concentrated in the hands of the GKO. His decisions and orders, which had the force of wartime laws, were subject to unquestioning implementation by all citizens, party, Soviet, Komsomol and military bodies. Each member of the GKO was responsible for a specific area (ammunition, aircraft, tanks, food, transport, etc.).

In the country, the mobilization of those liable for military service continued in 1905-1918. birth in the army and navy. During the first eight days of the war, 5.3 million people were drafted into the armed forces. From the national economy, 234 thousand motor vehicles and 31.5 thousand tractors were sent to the front.

The headquarters continued to take emergency measures to restore the strategic front in Belarus. Army General D.G. Pavlov was removed from command of the Western Front and put on trial by a military tribunal. Marshal S.K. was appointed the new commander. Timoshenko. On July 1, the Stavka transferred the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd armies to the Western Front. In essence, a new front of defense was being formed. In the rear of the front, in the Smolensk region, the 16th Army was concentrated. The transformed Western Front now consisted of 48 divisions and 4 mechanized corps, but by July 1, the defense at the turn of the Western Dvina and the Dnieper was occupied by only 10 divisions.

The resistance of the Soviet troops, surrounded near Minsk, forced the command of Army Group Center to disperse their formations to a depth of 400 km, and the field armies fell far behind the tank groups. In order to more clearly coordinate the efforts of the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups to capture the Smolensk region and during the further attack on Moscow, Field Marshal Bock on July 3 combined both groups into the 4th Panzer Army, headed by the command of the 4th Field Army Kluge. The infantry formations of the former 4th Army were united by the 2nd Army (it was in the reserve of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces Command - OKH), under the command of General Weichs, to eliminate the Soviet units surrounded west of Minsk.

In the meantime, fierce battles were going on in the interfluve of the Berezina, the Western Dvina and the Dnieper. By July 10, enemy troops crossed the Western Dvina, reached Vitebsk and the Dnieper south and north of Mogilev.

One of the first strategic defensive operations of the Red Army, later called the Belorussian one, ended. For 18 days, the troops of the Western Front suffered a crushing defeat. Of the 44 divisions that were originally part of the front, 24 were completely lost, the remaining 20 lost from 30 to 90% of their composition. Total losses - 417,790 people, including irretrievable - 341,073 people, 4,799 tanks, 9,427 guns and mortars and 1,777 combat aircraft. Leaving almost all of Belarus, the troops retreated to a depth of 600 km.

Defense of the North-Western Front and the Baltic Fleet

The Baltics also became the arena of dramatic events with the beginning of the war. The North-Western Front, which was defending here under the command of General F.I. Kuznetsova was much weaker than the fronts operating in Belarus and Ukraine, since he had only three armies and two mechanized corps. Meanwhile, the aggressor concentrated large forces in this direction (Table 2). Not only Army Group North under the command of Field Marshal W. Leeb took part in the first strike against the Northwestern Front, but also the 3rd Panzer Group from the neighboring Army Group Center, i.e. Kuznetsov's troops were opposed by two of four German tank groups.

table 2
The balance of forces in the strip of the North-Western Front at the beginning of the war

Forces and means	Northwestern	army group	Ratio
		"North" and 3 tgr
Personnel, thousand people
Guns and mortars (without 50 mm), units
Tanks,** units
Combat aircraft**, units

* Without the forces of the Baltic Fleet
**Only serviceable

Already on the first day of the war, the defense of the North-Western Front was split. Tank wedges punched deep holes in it.

Due to the systematic disruption of communications, the commanders of the front and the armies were unable to organize command and control of the troops. The troops suffered heavy losses, but they could not stop the advance of the tank groups. In the zone of the 11th Army, the 3rd Panzer Group rushed to the bridges across the Neman. And although specially dedicated demolition teams were on duty here, along with the retreating units of the army, enemy tanks also slipped over the bridges. “For the 3rd tank group,” wrote its commander, General Goth, “it was a big surprise that all three bridges across the Neman, the capture of which was part of the group’s task, were captured intact.”

Having crossed the Neman, Hoth's tanks rushed to Vilnius, but ran into desperate resistance. By the end of the day, the formations of the 11th Army were dismembered into parts. Between the North-Western and Western fronts, a large gap was formed, which turned out to be nothing to close.

During the first day, German formations wedged to a depth of 60 km. While a deep penetration of the enemy required vigorous response measures, both the front command and the army command showed obvious passivity.

Order of the Military Council of the Baltic Special Military District No. 05 dated June 22, 1941
TsAMO. F. 221. Op. 1362. D. 5, volume 1. L. 2.

On the evening of June 22, General Kuznetsov received Directive No. 3 of the People's Commissar, in which the front was ordered: "Holding firmly the coast of the Baltic Sea, deliver a powerful counterattack from the Kaunas area to the flank and rear of the enemy's Suwalki grouping, destroy it in cooperation with the Western Front, and by the end of 24.6, capture the area Suwalki.

However, even before receiving the directive, at 10 o'clock in the morning, General Kuznetsov ordered the armies and mechanized corps to launch a counterattack on the enemy's Tilsit grouping. Therefore, the troops carried out his order, and the commander decided not to change tasks, essentially not fulfilling the requirements of Directive No. 3.

Six divisions were to attack the Gepner Panzer Group and restore the position along the border. Against 123 thousand soldiers and officers, 1800 guns and mortars, more than 600 enemy tanks, Kuznetsov planned to put up about 56 thousand people, 980 guns and mortars, 950 tanks (mostly light).

However, a simultaneous strike did not work out: after a long march, the formations entered the battle on the move, most often in scattered groups. Artillery, with an acute shortage of ammunition, did not provide reliable support to the tanks. The task remained unfulfilled. The divisions, having lost a significant part of their tanks, withdrew from the battle on the night of June 24th.

At dawn on June 24, the fighting flared up with renewed vigor. More than 1,000 tanks, about 2,700 guns and mortars, and more than 175,000 soldiers and officers took part in them on both sides. Parts of the right flank of the 41st motorized corps of Reinhardt were forced to go on the defensive.

An attempt to resume the counterattack the next day was reduced to hasty, poorly coordinated actions, moreover, on a wide front, with a low organization of control. Instead of delivering concentrated strikes, the corps commanders were ordered to operate "in small columns in order to disperse enemy aircraft." Tank formations suffered huge losses: only 35 tanks remained in both divisions of the 12th mechanized corps.

If as a result of the counterattack it was possible for some time to delay the advance of the 41st motorized corps of Reinhardt in the Siauliai direction, then the 56th corps of Manstein, bypassing the counterattacking formations from the south, was able to make a swift throw to Daugavpils.

The position of the 11th Army was tragic: it was squeezed in pincers between the 3rd and 4th tank groups. The main forces of the 8th Army were more fortunate: they stayed away from the armored fist of the enemy and retreated to the north in a relatively organized manner. The interaction between the armies was weak. Almost completely stopped the supply of ammunition and fuel. The situation required decisive measures to eliminate the enemy's breakthrough. However, having no reserves and having lost control, the front command could not prevent the retreat and restore the situation.

Field Marshal Brauchitsch, Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, ordered the 3rd Panzer Group Goth to be turned southeast, towards Minsk, as envisaged by the Barbarossa plan, so from June 25 it was already operating against the Western Front. Using the gap between the 8th and 11th armies, the 56th motorized corps of the 4th tank group rushed to the Western Dvina, cutting the rear communications of the 11th army.

The Military Council of the North-Western Front considered it expedient to withdraw the formations of the 8th and 11th armies to the line along the rivers Venta, Shushva, Viliya. However, on the night of June 25, he made a new decision: to launch a counterattack by the 16th Rifle Corps of General M.M. Ivanov to return Kaunas, although the logic of events required the withdrawal of units beyond the river. Viliya. Initially, the corps of General Ivanov had a partial success, but he could not complete the task, and the divisions retreated to their original position.

In general, the front troops did not fulfill the main task - to detain the aggressor in the border zone. Attempts to eliminate the deep breakthroughs of German tanks in the most important directions also failed. The troops of the North-Western Front could not hold on to intermediate lines and rolled back further and further to the northeast.

Military operations in the northwestern direction unfolded not only on land, but also at sea, where the Baltic Fleet was subjected to enemy air strikes from the very first days of the war. By order of the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral V.F. Tributs on the night of June 23, the installation of minefields at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland began, and the next day, the same barriers began to be created in the Irben Strait. The increased mining of fairways and approaches to bases, as well as the dominance of enemy aircraft and the threat to bases from land, fettered the forces of the Baltic Fleet. Dominance at sea for a long time passed to the enemy.

During the general withdrawal of the troops of the North-Western Front, the enemy met stubborn resistance at the walls of Liepaja. The German command planned to capture this city no later than the second day of the war. Against the small garrison, which consisted of parts of the 67th Infantry Division of General N.A. Dedayev and the naval base of Captain 1st Rank M.S. Klevensky, the 291st Infantry Division operated with the support of tanks, artillery and marines. Only on June 24, the Germans blocked the city from land and sea. The inhabitants of Liepaja, led by the defense headquarters, fought together with the troops. Only on the orders of the command of the North-Western Front on the night of June 27 and 28, the defenders left Liepaja and began to make their way to the east.

On June 25, the North-Western Front received the task of withdrawing troops and organizing defense along the Western Dvina, where the 21st mechanized corps of General D.D. was advanced from the Stavka reserve. Lelyushenko. During the withdrawal, the troops found themselves in a difficult situation: after an unsuccessful counterattack, the management of the 3rd mechanized corps, led by General A.V. Kurkin and the 2nd Panzer Division, left without fuel, were surrounded. According to the enemy, more than 200 tanks, more than 150 guns, as well as several hundred trucks and cars were captured and destroyed here. Of the 3rd mechanized corps, only one 84th motorized division remained, and the 12th mechanized corps lost 600 out of 750 tanks.

The 11th Army found itself in a difficult position. I'm leaving for the river. Viliya was hindered by enemy aircraft, which destroyed the crossings. A threat of encirclement was created, and the transfer of troops to the other side moved very slowly. Having received no help, General Morozov decided to withdraw to the northeast, but only on June 27 did it become clear that the enemy, who had captured Daugavpils the day before, cut this path as well. Only the eastern direction remained free, through forests and swamps to Polotsk, where, on June 30, the remnants of the army entered the strip of the neighboring Western Front.

Field Marshal Leeb's troops were rapidly advancing deep into the territory of the Baltic states. Organized resistance was provided by the army of General P.P. Sobennikov. The line of defense of the 11th Army remained uncovered, which Manstein immediately took advantage of, sending his 56th motorized corps along the shortest path to the Western Dvina.

To stabilize the situation, the troops of the North-Western Front needed to gain a foothold on the line of the Western Dvina. Unfortunately, the 21st mechanized corps, which was to defend itself here, had not yet reached the river. Failed to timely take up the defense and formations of the 27th Army. And the main goal of Army Group "North" at that moment was precisely a breakthrough to the Western Dvina with the direction of the main attack on Daugavpils and to the north.

On the morning of June 26, the German 8th Panzer Division approached Daugavpils and captured the bridge across the Western Dvina. The division rushed to the city, creating a very important bridgehead for the development of the offensive on Leningrad.

South-east of Riga, on the night of June 29, the advance detachment of the 41st motorized corps of General Reinhardt crossed the Western Dvina near Jekabpils on the move. And the next day, the advanced units of the 1st and 26th army corps of the 18th German army broke into Riga and captured the bridges across the river. However, a decisive counterattack of the 10th Rifle Corps of General I.I. Fadeev, the enemy was driven out, which ensured the systematic withdrawal of the 8th Army through the city. On July 1, the Germans recaptured Riga.

As early as June 29, the Headquarters ordered the commander of the North-Western Front, simultaneously with the organization of defense along the Western Dvina, to prepare and occupy the line along the river. Great, while relying on the fortified areas there in Pskov and Ostrov. From the reserve of the Stavka and the Northern Front, the 41st Rifle and 1st Mechanized Corps, as well as the 234th Rifle Division, advanced there.

Instead of generals F.I. Kuznetsova and P.M. Klenov on July 4, generals P.P. Sobennikov and N.F. Vatutin.

On the morning of July 2, the enemy struck at the junction of the 8th and 27th armies and broke through in the direction of Ostrov and Pskov. The threat of an enemy breakthrough to Leningrad forced the command of the Northern Front to create the Luga task force in order to cover the southwestern approaches to the city on the Neva.

By the end of July 3, the enemy captured Gulbene in the rear of the 8th Army, depriving it of the opportunity to retreat to the river. Great. The army, commanded by General F.S. Ivanov, was forced to retreat north to Estonia. A gap formed between the 8th and 27th armies, where the formations of the 4th tank group of the enemy rushed. On the morning of the next day, the 1st Panzer Division reached the southern outskirts of the Island and immediately crossed the river. Great. Attempts to discard it were unsuccessful. On July 6, the Germans completely captured the Island and rushed north to Pskov. Three days later, the Germans broke into the city. There was a real threat of a German breakthrough to Leningrad.

In general, the first defensive operation of the North-Western Front ended in failure. For three weeks of hostilities, his troops retreated to a depth of 450 km, leaving almost the entire Baltic. The front lost over 90 thousand people, more than 1 thousand tanks, 4 thousand guns and mortars and more than 1 thousand aircraft. His command failed to create a defense capable of repelling the attack of the aggressor. The troops were not able to gain a foothold even on such barriers that were advantageous for defense, such as pp. Neman, Western Dvina, Velikaya.

A difficult situation developed at sea. With the loss of bases in Liepaja and Riga, the ships moved to Tallinn, where they were subjected to constant fierce bombing by German aircraft. And in early July, the fleet had to come to grips with organizing the defense of Leningrad from the sea.

Border battles in the area of ​​the Southwestern and Southern fronts. Actions of the Black Sea Fleet

The Southwestern Front, commanded by General M.P. Kirponos, was the most powerful grouping of Soviet troops concentrated near the borders of the USSR. The German Army Group "South" under the command of Field Marshal K. Rundstedt was tasked with destroying Soviet troops in the Right-Bank Ukraine, preventing them from retreating beyond the Dnieper.

The Southwestern Front had enough strength to give a worthy rebuff to the aggressor (Table 3). However, the very first day of the war showed that these possibilities could not be realized. From the first minute of the connection, headquarters, airfields were subjected to powerful air strikes, and the air force was unable to provide proper opposition.

General M.P. Kirponos decided to inflict two blows on the flanks of the main enemy grouping - from the north and south, each with the forces of three mechanized corps, in which there were a total of 3.7 thousand tanks. General Zhukov, who arrived at the front headquarters on the evening of June 22, approved his decision. The organization of a front-line counterattack took three days, and before that only part of the forces of the 15th and 22nd mechanized corps managed to advance and attack the enemy, and in the 15th mechanized corps there was only one forward detachment of the 10th Panzer Division. To the east of Vladimir-Volynsky a counter battle broke out. The enemy was detained, but soon he again rushed forward, forcing the counterattacks to retreat beyond the river. Styr, in the region of Lutsk.

The decisive role in defeating the enemy could be played by the 4th and 8th mechanized corps. They included over 1.7 thousand tanks. The 4th mechanized corps was considered especially strong: it only had 414 vehicles at its disposal for the new KB and T-34 tanks. However, the mechanized corps was fragmented into parts. His divisions operated in different directions. By the morning of June 26, the 8th mechanized corps of General D.I. Ryabysheva went out to Brody. Of the 858 tanks, barely half remained, the other half, due to all kinds of breakdowns, lagged behind almost on a 500-kilometer route.

At the same time, mechanized corps were being concentrated to deliver a counterattack from the north. The strongest in the 22nd mechanized corps, the 41st tank division, was attached in parts to rifle divisions and did not take part in the frontal counterattack. The 9th and 19th mechanized corps, which advanced from the east, had to overcome 200-250 km. Both of them totaled only 564 tanks, and even then of the old types.

Meanwhile, rifle formations fought stubborn battles, trying to delay the enemy. On June 24, in the zone of the 5th Army, the enemy managed to encircle two rifle divisions. A 70-kilometer gap was formed in the defense, using which the German tank divisions rushed to Lutsk and Berestechko. The surrounded Soviet troops defended stubbornly. For six days, units made their way to their own. Of the two infantry regiments of the division that were surrounded, only about 200 people remained. Exhausted in continuous battles, they retained their battle banners.

The soldiers of the 6th Army also staunchly defended themselves in the Rava-Russian direction. Field Marshal Rundstedt assumed that after the capture of Rava-Russkaya, the 14th motorized corps would be introduced into the battle. According to his calculations, this should have happened by the morning of June 23. But all Rundstedt's plans were thwarted by the 41st division. Despite the fierce fire of German artillery, massive bomber strikes, the regiments of the division, together with the battalions of the Rava-Russky fortified area and the 91st border detachment, held back the advance of the 4th Army Corps of the 17th Army for five days. The division left its positions only by order of the army commander. On the night of June 27, she withdrew to the line east of Rava-Russkaya.

On the left wing of the Southwestern Front, the 12th Army of General P.G. was defending. Monday. After the transfer of the 17th Rifle and 16th Mechanized Corps to the newly created Southern Front, the only rifle corps remained in it - the 13th. He covered the 300-kilometer section of the border with Hungary. For now, there was silence.

Intense battles unfolded not only on the ground, but also in the air. True, the fighter aircraft of the front could not reliably cover the airfields. In the first three days of the war alone, the enemy destroyed 234 aircraft on the ground. Bomber aircraft were also used inefficiently. In the presence of 587 bombers, front-line aviation during this time made only 463 sorties. The reason is unstable communications, the lack of proper interaction between combined arms and aviation headquarters, and the remoteness of airfields.

On the evening of June 25, the 6th Army of Field Marshal V. Reichenau crossed the river on the 70-kilometer stretch from Lutsk to Berestechko. Styr, and the 11th Panzer Division, almost 40 km away from the main forces, captured Dubno.

On June 26, the 8th mechanized corps entered the battle from the south, the 9th and 19th from the northeast. The corps of General Ryabyshev advanced from Brody to Berestechko by 10-12 km. However, other connections could not support his success. The main reason for the uncoordinated actions of the mechanized corps was the lack of a unified leadership of this powerful tank grouping from the front command.

More successful, despite the smaller forces, were the actions of the 9th and 19th mechanized corps. They were included in the 5th Army. There was also a task force headed by the first deputy front commander, General F.S. Ivanov, who coordinated the actions of the formations.

On the afternoon of June 26, the corps finally attacked the enemy. Overcoming enemy resistance, the corps commanded by General N.V. Feklenko, together with the infantry division, reached Dubno by the end of the day. Operating to the right of the 9th mechanized corps of General K.K. Rokossovsky turned around along the Rivne-Lutsk road and entered into battle with the 14th Panzer Division of the enemy. He stopped her, but he couldn't move a single step further.

Near Berestechko, Lutsk and Dubno, an oncoming tank battle unfolded - the largest since the beginning of World War II in terms of the number of forces participating in it. About 2 thousand tanks collided on both sides in a section up to 70 km wide. Hundreds of aircraft fought fiercely in the sky.

The counterattack of the Southwestern Front delayed for some time the advance of the Kleist group. In general, Kirponos himself believed that the border battle was lost. The deep penetration of German tanks in the Dubno area created the danger of a blow to the rear of the armies, which continued to fight in the Lvov salient. The military council of the front decided to withdraw the troops to a new defensive line, about which it reported to the Headquarters, and, without waiting for the consent of Moscow, gave the armies the appropriate orders. However, the Headquarters did not approve the decision of Kirponos and demanded that counterattacks be resumed. The commander had to cancel his own orders that had just been given, which had already begun to be carried out by the troops.

The 8th and 15th mechanized corps barely managed to get out of the battle, and then a new order: stop the withdrawal and strike in a northeast direction, in the rear of the divisions of the 1st tank group of the enemy. There was not enough time to organize the strike.

Despite all these difficulties, the battle flared up with renewed vigor. Troops in stubborn battles in the Dubno region, near Lutsk and Rivne, until June 30, fettered the 6th army and the enemy tank group. German troops were forced to maneuver in search of weak spots. The 11th Panzer Division, having covered itself with part of its forces from the attack of the 19th Mechanized Corps, turned to the southeast and captured Ostrog. But it was nevertheless stopped by a group of troops created on the initiative of the commander of the 16th Army, General M.F. Lukin. Basically, these were units of the army that did not have time to sink into trains to be sent to Smolensk, as well as the 213th motorized division of Colonel V.M. Osminsky from the 19th mechanized corps, whose infantry, having no transport, lagged behind the tanks.

The soldiers of the 8th mechanized corps tried with all their might to break out of the encirclement, first through Dubno, and then in a northerly direction. The lack of communication did not allow coordinating their own actions with neighboring connections. The mechanized corps suffered heavy losses: many soldiers died, including the commander of the 12th Panzer Division, General T.A. Mishanin.

The command of the Southwestern Front, fearing the encirclement of the armies defending in the Lvov ledge, decided on the night of June 27 to begin a systematic withdrawal. By the end of June 30, Soviet troops, leaving Lvov, occupied a new line of defense, which is 30-40 km east of the city. On the same day, the vanguard battalions of the mobile corps of Hungary went on the offensive, which on June 27 declared war on the USSR.

On June 30, Kirponos received the task: by July 9, using the fortified areas on the state border of 1939, "to organize a stubborn defense by field troops, with the allocation of anti-tank artillery weapons in the first place."

Korostensky, Novograd-Volynsky and Letichevsky fortified regions, built in the 1930s 50-100 km east of the old state border, were put on alert with the outbreak of war and, reinforced by rifle units, could become a serious obstacle to the enemy. True, there were gaps in the system of fortified areas, reaching 30-40 km.

The troops of the front had to retreat 200 km deep into the territory in eight days. Particular difficulties fell on the lot of the 26th and 12th armies, which had the longest path ahead, and with the constant threat of an enemy strike to the rear, from the north, by formations of the 17th army and the 1st tank group.

In order to impede the advance of the Kleist group and gain time to withdraw its troops, the 5th Army launched a counterattack on its flank from the north with the forces of two corps, which had exhausted their forces to the limit in previous battles: in the divisions of the 27th Rifle Corps, there were about 1.5 thousand people, and the 22nd mechanized corps had only 153 tanks. There was not enough ammunition. The counterattack was hastily prepared, the attack was carried out on a hundred-kilometer front and at different times. However, the fact that the blow fell in the rear of the tank group gave a significant advantage. Mackensen's corps was detained for two days, which made it easier for the Kirponos troops to get out of the battle.

The troops retreated with heavy losses. A significant part of the equipment had to be destroyed, since even a minor malfunction could not be eliminated due to the lack of repair facilities. In the 22nd mechanized corps alone, 58 out-of-service tanks were blown up.

On July 6 and 7, enemy tank divisions reached the Novograd-Volynsky fortified area, the defense of which was to be strengthened by the retreating formations of the 6th Army. Instead, some parts of the 5th Army were able to come out here. Here, the group of Colonel Blank, which got out of the encirclement, went on the defensive, created from the remnants of two divisions - a total of 2.5 thousand people. For two days, the subdivisions of the fortified area and this group held back the onslaught of the enemy. On July 7, Kleist's tank divisions captured Berdichev, and a day later, Novograd-Volynsk. Following the tank group on July 10, the infantry divisions of the 6th Army of Reichenau bypassed the fortified area from the north and south. It was not possible to stop the enemy even on the old state border.

A breakthrough in the Berdichevsky direction was of particular concern, because it created a threat to the rear of the main forces of the Southwestern Front. By joint efforts, formations of the 6th Army, the 16th and 15th mechanized corps held back the onslaught of the enemy until July 15.

To the north, the enemy's 13th Panzer Division captured Zhitomir on July 9. Although the 5th Army tried to delay the rapid advance of enemy tanks, the approaching infantry divisions repelled all of its attacks. In two days, German tank formations advanced 110 km and on July 11 approached the Kyiv fortified area. Only here, on the defensive line created by the troops of the garrison and the population of the capital of Ukraine, the enemy was finally stopped.

The militia played an important role in repulsing the enemy's attack. Already on July 8, 19 detachments with a total number of about 30 thousand people were formed in Kyiv, and in general, over 90 thousand people joined the ranks of the militia in the Kyiv region. An 85,000-strong corps of volunteers was created in Kharkov, a corps of five divisions with a total of 50,000 volunteers was created in Dnepropetrovsk.

Not as dramatic as in Ukraine, the war began in Moldova, where the border with Romania along the Prut and the Danube was covered by the 9th Army. It was opposed by the 11th German, 3rd and 4th Romanian armies, which had the task of pinning down the Soviet troops and, under favorable conditions, going on the offensive. In the meantime, the Romanian formations sought to capture bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Prut. In the first two days, fierce battles broke out here. It was not without difficulty that the bridgeheads, except for one in the Skulyan region, were liquidated by Soviet troops.

Hostilities also flared up in the Black Sea. At 03:15 on June 22, enemy aircraft raided Sevastopol and Izmail, and artillery fired on settlements and ships on the Danube. Already on the night of June 23, fleet aviation took retaliatory measures by raiding military installations in Constanta and Sulina. And on June 26, a special strike group of the Black Sea Fleet, consisting of the leaders "Kharkov" and "Moscow", struck at this port of Constanta. They were supported by the cruiser "Voroshilov" and the destroyers "Savvy" and "Smyslivy". The ships fired 350 130mm shells. However, the 280-mm German battery covered the Moskva leader with return fire, which hit a mine while retreating and sank. At this time, enemy aircraft damaged the leader "Kharkov".

On June 25, the Southern Front was created from the troops operating on the border with Romania. In addition to the 9th, it included the 18th Army, formed from troops transferred from the Southwestern Front. The management of the new front was created on the basis of the headquarters of the Moscow Military District, headed by its commander, General I.V. Tyulenev and the chief of staff, General G.D. Shishenin. The commander and his headquarters in the new location faced enormous difficulties, primarily due to the fact that they were completely unfamiliar with the theater of operations. In his first directive, Tyulenev set the front troops the task: “To defend the state border with Romania. In the event of an enemy crossing and overflying into our territory, destroy him with active actions by ground troops and aviation and be ready for decisive offensive operations.

Taking into account the success of the offensive in Ukraine and the fact that the Soviet troops in Moldova were holding their positions, Field Marshal Rundstedt decided to surround and destroy the main forces of the Southern and South- Western fronts.

The offensive of the German-Romanian troops against the Southern Front began on July 2. In the morning, strike groups attacked the formations of the 9th Army in two narrow sections. The main blow from the Iasi region was delivered by four infantry divisions at the junction of rifle divisions. Another blow by the forces of two infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade hit one rifle regiment. Having achieved decisive superiority, the enemy already on the first day broke through the poorly prepared defenses on the river. Prut to a depth of 8-10 km.

Without waiting for the decision of the Headquarters, Tyulenev ordered the troops to begin a retreat. However, the High Command not only canceled it, on July 7 Tyulenev received an order to throw the enemy behind the Prut with a counterattack. Only the 18th Army adjoining the Southwestern Front was allowed to withdraw.

The undertaken counterattack managed to delay the offensive of the 11th German and 4th Romanian armies operating in the Chisinau direction.

The situation on the Southern Front was temporarily stabilized. The delay of the enemy allowed the 18th Army to withdraw and occupy the Mogilev-Podolsky fortified area, and the 9th Army managed to gain a foothold west of the Dniester. On July 6, its left-flank formations that remained in the lower reaches of the Prut and Danube were united into the Primorsky Group of Forces under the control of General N.E. Chibisov. Together with the Danube military flotilla, they repelled all attempts by the Romanian troops to cross the border of the USSR.

The defensive operation in Western Ukraine (later it was called the Lvov-Chernivtsi strategic defensive operation) ended in the defeat of the Soviet troops. The depth of their retreat ranged from 60-80 to 300-350 km. Northern Bukovina and Western Ukraine were left, the enemy went to Kyiv. Although the defenses in Ukraine and Moldova, in contrast to the Baltics and Belarus, still retained some stability, the fronts of the Southwestern strategic direction were unable to use their numerical superiority to repel the attacks of the aggressor and, as a result, were defeated. By July 6, the casualties of the Southwestern Front and the 18th Army of the Southern Front amounted to 241,594 people, including 172,323 irretrievable people. They lost 4381 tanks, 1218 combat aircraft, 5806 guns and mortars. The balance of power changed in favor of the enemy. Possessing the initiative and retaining offensive capabilities, Army Group South was preparing a strike from the area west of Kyiv to the south in the rear of the Southwestern and Southern fronts.

The tragic outcome of the initial period of the war and the transition to strategic defense

The initial period of the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from June 22 to mid-July, was associated with serious setbacks by the Soviet Armed Forces. The enemy has achieved major operational and strategic results. His troops advanced 300-600 km deep into Soviet territory. Under the onslaught of the enemy, the Red Army was forced to retreat almost everywhere. Latvia, Lithuania, almost all of Belarus, a significant part of Estonia, Ukraine and Moldova were under occupation. About 23 million Soviet people fell into fascist captivity. The country has lost many industrial enterprises and sown areas with ripening crops. A threat was created to Leningrad, Smolensk, Kyiv. Only in the Arctic, Karelia and Moldavia was the enemy advance insignificant.

During the first three weeks of the war, out of 170 Soviet divisions that took the first blow from the German military machine, 28 were completely defeated, and 70 lost more than half of their personnel and military equipment. Only three fronts - the North-Western, Western and South-Western - irretrievably lost about 600 thousand people, or almost a third of their strength. The Red Army lost about 4 thousand combat aircraft, over 11.7 thousand tanks, about 18.8 thousand guns and mortars. Even at sea, despite the limited nature of hostilities, the Soviet Navy lost its leader, 3 destroyers, 11 submarines, 5 minesweepers, 5 torpedo boats, and a number of other warships and transports. More than half of the reserves of the border military districts remained in the occupied territory. The losses suffered had a heavy impact on the combat readiness of the troops, who were in dire need of everything: ammunition, fuel, weapons, transport. It took the Soviet industry more than a year to replenish them. Back in early July, the German General Staff concluded that the campaign in Russia had already been won, although not yet completed. It seemed to Hitler that the Red Army was no longer able to create a continuous front of defense even in the most important areas. At a meeting on July 8, he only specified further tasks for the troops.

Despite losses, the Red Army troops, fighting from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, by mid-July had 212 divisions and 3 rifle brigades. And although only 90 of them were full-blooded formations, and the rest had only half, or even less than the regular staff, it was clearly premature to consider the Red Army defeated. The Northern, Southwestern and Southern Fronts retained their ability to resist, and the troops of the Western and Northwestern Fronts were hastily restoring their combat capability.

At the beginning of the campaign, the Wehrmacht also suffered losses that it did not know from the previous years of the Second World War. According to Halder, on July 13, over 92 thousand people were killed, wounded and missing in the ground forces alone, and the damage in tanks averaged 50%. Approximately the same data are already given in post-war studies by West German historians who believe that from the beginning of the war until July 10, 1941, the Wehrmacht lost 77,313 people on the eastern front. The Luftwaffe lost 950 aircraft. In the Baltic Sea, the German fleet lost 4 minelayers, 2 torpedo boats and 1 hunter. However, the losses of personnel did not exceed the number of field reserve battalions available in each division, due to which they were replenished, so the combat effectiveness of the formations was basically preserved. Since mid-July, the offensive capabilities of the aggressor remained large: 183 combat-ready divisions and 21 brigades.

One of the reasons for the tragic outcome of the initial period of the war is the gross miscalculation of the political and military leadership of the Soviet Union regarding the timing of aggression. As a result, the troops of the first operational echelon found themselves in an exceptionally difficult situation. The enemy smashed the Soviet troops in parts: first, the formations of the first echelon of the covering armies, located along the border and not put on alert, then with counter strikes, their second echelons, and then, developing the offensive, he preempted the Soviet troops in occupying advantageous lines in depth, on the move mastering them. As a result, the Soviet troops were dismembered and surrounded.

The attempts of the Soviet command to strike back with the transfer of hostilities to the territory of the aggressor, undertaken by him on the second day of the war, no longer corresponded to the capabilities of the troops and, in fact, were one of the reasons for the unsuccessful outcome of the border battles. The decision to switch over to strategic defense, adopted only on the eighth day of the war, turned out to be belated. In addition, this transition took place too hesitantly and at different times. He demanded the transfer of the main efforts from the southwestern direction to the western one, where the enemy delivered his main blow. As a result, a significant part of the Soviet troops did not fight as much as moved from one direction to another. This gave the enemy the opportunity to destroy formations in parts, as they approached the area of ​​concentration.

The war revealed significant shortcomings in command and control. The main reason is the poor professional training of the command personnel of the Red Army. Among the reasons for the shortcomings in command and control was excessive attachment to wired communications. After the very first strikes by enemy aircraft and the actions of his sabotage groups, permanent wire communication lines were disabled, and an extremely limited number of radio stations, the lack of the necessary skills in their use, did not allow establishing stable communications. The commanders were afraid of radio direction finding by the enemy, and therefore avoided using the radio, preferring wire and other means. And the bodies of strategic leadership did not have pre-prepared command posts. The Headquarters, the General Staff, the commanders of the branches of the armed forces and the branches of the armed forces had to lead the troops from offices in peacetime that were absolutely unsuitable for this.

The forced withdrawal of Soviet troops made mobilization in the western border districts extremely difficult and to a large extent disrupted. The headquarters and rear of divisions, armies, fronts were forced to conduct combat operations as part of peacetime.

The initial period of the Great Patriotic War ended with the defeat of the Soviet Armed Forces. The military-political leadership of Germany did not hide its glee at the expected close victory. As early as July 4, Hitler, intoxicated by the first successes at the front, declared: “I always try to put myself in the position of the enemy. In fact, he already lost the war. It's good that we defeated the Russian tank and air forces at the very beginning. The Russians won't be able to restore them anymore." And here is what the chief of the general staff of the Wehrmacht ground forces, General F. Halder, wrote in his diary: "... it would not be an exaggeration to say that the campaign against Russia was won within 14 days."

However, they miscalculated badly. Already on July 30, during the battles for Smolensk, for the first time in two years of the Second World War, the Nazi troops were forced to go on the defensive. And the same German General F. Halder was forced to admit: “It became quite obvious that the method of conducting hostilities and the fighting spirit of the enemy, as well as the geographical conditions of this country, were completely different from those that the Germans met in the previous“ lightning wars, which led to successes that astonished the whole world. During the bloody battle of Smolensk, the heroic Soviet soldiers thwarted the plans of the German command for a "lightning war" in Russia, and the most powerful army grouping "Center" was forced to go on the defensive, postponing the non-stop attack on Moscow for more than two months.

But our country had to make up for the losses incurred, to rebuild industry and agriculture on a war footing. This required time and a colossal exertion of the forces of all the peoples of the Soviet Union. To stop the enemy at all costs, not to let yourself be enslaved - for this, Soviet people lived, fought, and died. The result of this massive feat of the Soviet people was the Victory won over the hated enemy in May 1945.

The material was prepared by the Research Institute (Military History) of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Photo from the archive of the Voeninform Agency of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Documents reflecting the activities of the leadership of the Red Army on the eve and in the first days of the Great Patriotic War, provided by the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation