The victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the course of the war. The Red Army seized the strategic initiative and held it until complete victory over the enemy.

concept turning point in the war includes such strategic and political changes in the course of hostilities as:

- the transfer of the strategic initiative to the USSR (26 major operations were carried out, 23 of them were offensive in nature:

- ensuring a reliable superiority of the defense industry and the rear economy as a whole. (The restructuring of the rear on a war footing was completed, the build-up of military production began):

- achieving military-technical superiority in supplying the army with the latest types of weapons;

- strengthening and expanding the partisan movement, which began to coordinate its actions with the command of the Armed Forces of the USSR (for example, a rail war before the Battle of Kursk).

-qualitative changes in the balance of forces in the international arena. Consistency in the actions of allies on anti-Hitler coalitions that provided the Soviet Union with significant assistance in lend-lease. Tehran conference.

– crisis and the beginning of the collapse of the fascist bloc. Exit from the war in Italy.

The decisive events of the Second World War, which provided a radical change in favor of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, took place on the Soviet-German front. It means that the radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War was at the same time a turning point in the course of the Second World War.

The beginning of a radical fracture- offensive operation "Uranus" near Stalingrad (the second stage of the Battle of Stalingrad - offensive - November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943).

The military-strategic plan of the operation, developed under the leadership of the generals

G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky, assumed the forces of three fronts - the South-Western, Stalingrad and Don - to surround the Stalingrad grouping of the enemy, create two reliable encirclement rings and either force him to surrender or defeat him. On November 19, the Southwestern and Don Fronts went on the offensive, and on November 20, the Stalingrad Front. By November 23, the German 6th and 4th tank armies were surrounded. The enemy failed to break through the outer and inner ring by the forces of Army Group Don. On February 2, the Battle of Stalingrad ended victoriously; a total of 300 thousand German soldiers, officers and generals were taken prisoner.

All the signs of a radical fracture that had begun were evident:

The strategic initiative passed to the Red Army,

For the first time, military-technical superiority over the enemy was ensured, achieved thanks to a qualitatively higher level of organization of the rear economy.

The victory at Stalingrad was of great international importance:

For the first time in the entire war, three days of mourning was declared in Germany,

The European resistance movement intensified.

In the winter-spring of 1943, the Red Army developed success by breaking through the blockade of Leningrad, launching an offensive in the North Caucasus and in the upper reaches of the Don.

Final root fracture during the war became after battles on the Kursk Bulge (July 5 to August 23, 1943)

The German command, having achieved in the summer of 1943. some successes in the southwestern direction, planned a major offensive operation on the Kursk ledge (Operation "Citadel"). Particular hopes were placed on the latest tanks "Tiger" and "Panther", assault guns "Ferdinand".

For the first time, the Soviet command used the tactics of deliberate defense followed by an offensive: it created a powerful grouping of troops that outnumbered the enemy in quantitative and qualitative terms.

On July 12, the largest tank battle in the years of the war took place near the village of Prokhorovka., which ended with the victory of our tankers. As a result of the battle, Belgorod, Orel, Kharkov were liberated, 500 thousand enemy soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks, 3.7 thousand aircraft were destroyed.

The radical change in the course of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War was completed. Since that time, the strategic initiative has not even temporarily passed into the hands of the German command.

The Soviet state, having overcome all difficulties, completed the restructuring of the economy on a war footing, created a well-coordinated military economy, which made it possible to strengthen the Red Army organizationally and technically. During this period, the Soviet Armed Forces inflicted a number of major defeats on the Nazi army, finally wrested the strategic initiative from the hands of the enemy and provided a radical turning point in the course of not only the Great Patriotic War, but the entire Second World War.

The actions of the allies at this time were also characterized by the conquest of the strategic initiative and the deployment of the offensive in both land (North Africa and Italy) and sea (Atlantic, Mediterranean, central and southwestern parts of the Pacific) theaters of war.

The appearance in the troops of a large number of military equipment and weapons, the accumulation of combat experience, as well as the transition to broad offensive operations, required the strengthening of the state's economy and the implementation of a number of new measures to improve the Armed Forces.

THE BEGINNING OF THE GENERAL OFFENSIVE ON THE SOVIET-GERMAN FRONT.

BATTLE OF KURSK

Fifty days, from July 5 to August 23, 1943, the Battle of Kursk continued, which included three major strategic operations of the Soviet troops: Kursk defensive (July 5-23); Oryol (July 12-August 18) and Belgorod-Kharkovskaya (August 3-23) offensive. The Battle of Kursk is one of the largest battles of the Second World War in terms of its scope, involved forces and means, tension, results and military-political consequences.

A fierce clash that unfolded over a rather limited area involved huge masses of troops and military equipment on both sides - more than 4 million people, almost 70 thousand guns and mortars, up to 13 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, over 11 thousand combat aircraft.

The ledge in the Kursk region was formed as a result of stubborn battles in the winter and early spring of 1943. Here the right wing of the German

which Army Group "Center" hung over the troops of the Central Front from the north, and the left flank of Army Group "South" covered the troops of the Voronezh Front from the south. During the three-month strategic pause that began at the end of March, the warring parties consolidated their positions on the achieved lines, replenished their troops with people, military equipment and weapons, accumulated reserves and developed plans for further actions.

Considering the importance of the Kursk ledge, the German command decided in the summer to carry out an operation to eliminate it and defeat the Soviet troops occupying the defense here, hoping to regain the lost strategic initiative, to change the course of the war in their favor. He developed a plan for an offensive operation, code-named "Citadel". The plan of the operation was to encircle and destroy the Soviet troops located in the ledge with converging strikes from the north and south in the general direction of Kursk, and then, if successful, carry out Operation Panther to defeat the troops of the Southwestern Front. Subsequently, it was planned to develop a blow to the deep rear of the central grouping of Soviet troops and create a threat to Moscow.

To implement these plans, the enemy concentrated 50 divisions (including 16 tank and motorized), attracted more than 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, over 3.7 thousand tanks and assault guns (including 360 obsolete tanks ) and over 2 thousand aircraft. The German command had high hopes for the use of new heavy tanks "Tiger" and "Panther", assault guns "Ferdinand", fighter "Focke-Wulf-190A" and attack aircraft "Heinkel-129".

On the Kursk ledge, which had a length of about 550 km, the troops of the Central (commander General of the Army K.K. Rokossovsky) and Voronezh (commander General of the Army N.F. Vatutin) fronts, which had 1336 thousand people, more than 19 thousand guns and mortars, over 3.4 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns (including over 900 light tanks), 2.9 thousand aircraft (including 728 long-range aircraft and Po-2 night bombers).

To the east of Kursk, the Steppe Military District, which was in the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, was concentrated, renamed on July 9 into the Steppe Front (commanded by Colonel-General I.S. Konev), which had 573 thousand people, 8 thousand guns and mortars, about 1.4 thousand people. tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 400 combat aircraft.

The headquarters of the Supreme High Command, having timely and correctly determined the enemy’s plan, decided to switch to a deliberate defense on pre-prepared lines, during which to bleed the shock groups of the German troops, and then go on a counteroffensive and complete their defeat. There was a rare case in the history of the war when the strongest side, which had everything necessary for the offensive, chose from several possible the most optimal variant of its actions. During April - June, 8 defensive lines with a total depth of up to 300 km were equipped in the area of ​​the Kursk salient. The first 6 lines were occupied by the Central and Voronezh fronts. The troops of the Steppe District prepared the 7th line, and the 8th, state line was equipped along the left bank of the river. Don.

The length of the defensive zones and lines of the Central and Voronezh fronts (km)

The troops and the local population dug about 10,000 km of trenches and communication passages, 700 km of barbed wire were installed in the most dangerous directions, 2,000 km of additional and parallel roads were built, 686 bridges were restored and rebuilt. Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Kursk, Orel, Voronezh and Kharkov regions participated in the construction of defensive lines. The troops were delivered 313 thousand wagons with military equipment, reserves and supplies.

The forthcoming defensive and offensive actions of the Soviet troops in the area of ​​the Kursk Bulge were united by a single plan and represented an organic system of operations that made it possible to ensure not only the firm retention of the strategic initiative, but also its development and the transition to the general offensive of the Red Army in the most important directions of the Soviet-German front . The actions of the fronts were coordinated by the Marshals of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky.

Having data on the time of the start of the German offensive, the Soviet command carried out a pre-planned ar-

Tillerian counter-training in areas of concentration of enemy strike groups. The enemy suffered tangible losses, his hopes for a surprise offensive were frustrated. On the morning of July 5, on the northern face of the Kursk ledge, German troops went on the offensive, delivering the main blow in the direction of Olkhovatka.

Having met stubborn resistance from the defenders, the enemy was forced to bring all the forces of the shock group into battle, but did not achieve success. Having transferred the blow in the direction of Ponyri, he was unable to break through the defenses of the Central Front here either. He managed to advance only 10-12 km, after which, on July 10, the offensive capabilities of the German troops dried up. Having lost up to 2/3 tanks, they were forced to go on the defensive.

At the same time, on the southern front, the enemy sought to break through in the direction of Oboyan and Korocha. But he didn't succeed. Then the enemy suffered the main blow in the direction of Prokhorovka. At the cost of huge losses, he managed to advance only 35 km. But the Soviet troops, reinforced by strategic reserves, launched a powerful counterattack here against the enemy grouping that had penetrated their defenses. On July 12, the largest oncoming tank battle in World War II took place in the Prokhorovka area, in which up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns participated on both sides. During the day of the battle, the opposing sides lost from 30 to 60% of tanks and self-propelled guns each. On July 12, a turning point occurred in the Battle of Kursk, the enemy stopped the offensive, and on July 18 he began to withdraw all his forces to their original position. The troops of the Voronezh, and from July 19 and the Steppe Front, began to pursue and by July 23 they threw the enemy back to the line that he had occupied on the eve of his offensive. "Citadel" failed, the enemy failed to turn the tide of the war in their favor. On this day, the Kursk defensive operation of the Soviet troops ended. According to the plan of operation "Kutuzov" on July 12, the troops of the Western (commanded by Colonel-General V.D. Sokolovsky) and Bryansk (commanded by Colonel-General M.M. Popov) fronts launched an offensive in the Oryol direction. On July 15, the Central Front launched a counteroffensive.

On January 30, 1943, the 6th German Army under the command of Field Marshal Paulus capitulated in Stalingrad. Four days later, on February 2, the battle, later called Stalingrad, was over. After the victory in Stalingrad, the course of the Great Patriotic War changed. A rather long period, which lasted almost a whole year, from January 1943 to January 1944, and ended with the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad, became a radical turning point. Stalingrad was his "first sign", a conditional turning point. Today "RG" tells why the victory in Stalingrad became possible.

10 reasons for a radical change in the Great Patriotic War

1. By the summer of 1942, it became clear to the Soviet command that the Allies were in no hurry to open a second front. The countries of the anti-Hitler coalition took a wait-and-see attitude. In addition, lend-lease deliveries were not carried out in full. The Soviet Union had to rely only on itself. But this also meant that it was possible to "not disperse" and concentrate all forces to prepare a decisive blow on the eastern front.

2. The creation of a reserve of troops and equipment required the transfer of the economy to a military footing. The evacuation of industry from the frontline areas was unprecedented in history. The Evacuation Council was established in June 1941. But it was in the summer and autumn of 1942 that the second stage of the evacuation was completed, which became a separate page in the history of the Great Patriotic War. For example, to transport the Zaporizhstal plant from Zaporozhye to Magnitogorsk, eight thousand wagons were required. Leningrad plant them. Kirov and the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant were merged into a single one for the production of tanks. Hundreds of businesses and 11 million people were relocated to the east. A full-fledged military industry was created beyond the Urals. But in general, the economic power of the Soviet Union exceeded the potential of Germany. Despite the sharp decline in civilian production, the gross product of the USSR in 1942 compared with 1940 increased from 39 billion rubles to 48 billion. In 1942, the tank industry of the USSR produced almost 25,000 tanks. Hitler simply did not believe these figures.

3. All this made it possible to reorganize and re-equip the troops in the summer and autumn of 1942, to create a reserve of military equipment and human resources. However, in order to complete this process and collect all the forces, the Soviet troops were forced to remain in a temporary strategic defense. From the spring to the summer of 1942, neither the German army nor the Soviet did not conduct active operations and did not start important military operations.

4. Strategic mistakes and successes. Mistakes were made by both Soviet military leaders and German ones. The main miscalculation of the Soviet command was the concentration of most of the troops in the Moscow direction. Stalin did not expect a German offensive in the southwestern direction. At the same time, Hitler's mistake was the division of the group of troops "South" into groups "A" and "B". The idea was to go to the Volga, block the artery through which oil and food were delivered to the central regions of the country, and at the same time seize the oil-bearing regions in the Caucasus. The battle of Stalingrad is strategically inextricably linked with the battle for the Caucasus. But in the end, one group of German troops was unable to conquer the Caucasus, and the other - Stalingrad.

5. The plan for an offensive operation near Stalingrad was already discussed at the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in September. "At this time," wrote Marshal Vasilevsky, "the formation and training of strategic reserves, which largely consisted of tank and mechanized units and formations, armed mostly with medium and heavy tanks, were being completed; stocks of other military equipment and ammunition were created." By the fall of 1942, the Soviet command had developed a plan for Operation Uranus, a counteroffensive near Stalingrad. By November, huge forces of troops and equipment were drawn to the city, the superiority of the Red Army units in the direction of the main attacks was two to three times. By the start of the counteroffensive, 160,000 soldiers, 10,000 horses, 430 tanks, 6,000 guns and 14,000 other combat vehicles had been transported. In total, more than a million soldiers, 1.5 thousand tanks, 11.5 thousand mortars, 1400 Katyushas and other equipment participated in the offensive operation.

6. The entire transfer of goods and equipment was carried out in secrecy, only at night. As a result, the massive deployment of Soviet troops went unnoticed by the enemy. German intelligence did not know about the impending operation. The Wehrmacht command did not expect a counteroffensive, and these reassuring forecasts were confirmed by incorrect intelligence data.

7. In contrast to the Soviet troops, who pulled up reserves to Stalingrad, the German army by November was experiencing very big supply problems. It was planned that the main supply channel would be air. However, in order to ensure the combat capability of the 300,000-strong army, 350 tons of cargo had to be delivered to Stalingrad daily. This was impossible for many reasons: German airfields were bombed by Soviet aircraft. The weather was unfavorable. The resistance of the local population played its role. In addition, the transport group included unsuitable for these purposes aircraft - training "Junkers".

8. The main blow of the Soviet troops was directed against the third and fourth Romanian armies and the eighth Italian. These armies were armed worse than the German units. There was a shortage of weapons and equipment. The units were commanded by Luftwaffe officers who were poorly versed in ground combat tactics. In addition, each had to defend a huge (about 200 kilometers) and poorly fortified section of the front. But most importantly, the morale was broken: the Romanian and Italian soldiers did not understand why they were fighting and why they were dying in a foreign steppe. Their retreat was more like a flight.

9. Fierce winter. As during the Patriotic War of 1812, the frosts completed the defeat of Napoleon's army, so in the Battle of Stalingrad they helped to defeat the Germans.

10. The courage of the defenders and residents of the city. Despite the fact that the Germans captured the city center, Stalingrad was never completely subdued. Fights were going on in the streets of the city. All this time, life continued in the ruins - civilians remained in the city. Now among the "children of Stalingrad" and "the blockade of Leningrad" disputes sometimes arise - which of them had a harder time in the war. Some say that the Battle of Stalingrad was shorter. Others that the city was razed to the ground. There was no evacuation or supply of the civilian population in Stalingrad. Both the Battle of Stalingrad and the blockade of Leningrad are two pages of the Great Patriotic War, in which ordinary residents of both cities played a huge, heroic and tragic role.

The overall outcome of the World War largely depended on the outcome of the 1942 campaign. By this time, all the leading countries of the world and their allies were involved in active hostilities. The opposing coalitions have finally taken shape. The Hitlerite bloc gradually began to lose its strategic initiative. Its resource base was also limited. In an effort to make a turning point in the development of events, the Nazi regime undertook unprecedented mobilization efforts - the introduction of a general regulation of production, labor service for the entire adult population, and a consumption card system. All this made it possible by the spring of 1942 to concentrate 6.2 million people, 57,000 guns, more than 3,000 tanks, and about 4,000 aircraft on the eastern front alone. Methods of total resource mobilization were also used in the USSR. Despite the dire consequences of the occupation of almost the entire European part of the country, by 1942 the Soviet government managed to recreate the military-industrial complex and establish the production of modern weapons. Allied Lend-Lease deliveries became regular*. By the beginning of the campaign, the Red Army had 5.1 million people, almost 4 thousand tanks, 45 thousand guns, more than 2 thousand aircraft. Thus, two most powerful armies were concentrated on the Soviet-German front, the confrontation of which determined the fate of the world.

Attempts by the Soviet command to launch offensive operations in May 1942 to unblock Leningrad and Sevastopol and liberate Crimea and Donbass were unsuccessful. The Red Army suffered heavy losses, especially during the Kharkov operation. By June, the Wehrmacht launched a strategic offensive in the direction of Rostov-on-Don, Stalingrad and the Caucasus, from the end of July - in the Krasnodar and Maikop direction. August 5, Stavropol was captured, August 12 - Krasnodar. By the end of August, Kleist's tank army crossed the Terek, but on the approaches to Grozny and Ordzhonikidze, Soviet troops created a dense defense. Trying to break into the Transcaucasus bypassing the Caucasus Range, the Germans developed an offensive on the Taman Peninsula. Having occupied Novorossiysk on September 10, the German units began to advance along the coast towards Tuapse. To meet them through the northwestern spurs of the Caucasus Range, mountain arrows made their way. However, these troops failed to connect at Tuapse.

After the failure of the Wehrmacht's strategic offensive in the Caucasus, the Stalingrad direction became the key one. Already in mid-July, Paulus' army managed to break through to the right bank of the Don. The retreat of the Soviet troops took on an uncontrollable character. In this situation, the Soviet Supreme Headquarters issued Order No. 227, the essence of which was two phrases: “Not a step back!” and "Alarmists and cowards must be exterminated on the spot." At the front, "barrage detachments" of the NKVD appeared, which received orders to open fire on the retreating units. At the cost of enormous sacrifices and the colossal exertion of all forces, the German offensive was slowed down. In the first half of August, battles took place on the left bank of the Don, in the second half of the month - on the distant approaches to the Volga, and from the beginning of September they unfolded directly in the city of Stalingrad. Holding a narrow strip of land in front of the Volga, the Soviet troops managed to pull the entire enemy strike force to the city. At the same time, beyond the Volga, a powerful grouping was being formed to carry out a counteroffensive.

The counteroffensive near Stalingrad began on November 19 and by November 30 ended with the encirclement of the entire army of Paulus. It was the largest defeat of the Wehrmacht during the past period of the Second World War. During the 200 days of the Battle of Stalingrad, the German troops and their allies lost up to 1.5 million people killed, wounded and captured. The severity of the defeat was aggravated by the successes of the Red Army in other areas. In January-February 1943, the troops of the Transcaucasian Front went on the offensive. After the liberation of Salsk on January 22, a single line of strategic offensive was formed in the Rostov and Stavropol regions. In the central sector of the front, an offensive was launched against the enemy's Oryol grouping, Kursk, Belgorod, and Kharkov were liberated. But there was no longer enough strength to consolidate on this frontier. The Germans managed to retake Kharkov and Belgorod during the counteroffensive. A ledge formed on the central sector of the front - the "Kursk Bulge", occupied by Soviet troops, but surrounded on three sides by the Germans. On the eve of the summer campaign of 1943, it was here that the concentration of shock groups of both sides began.

Assuming the possibility of an enemy strategic operation in the area of ​​the Kursk Bulge, the Soviet command consciously gave up the initiative and prepared for a retaliatory offensive. The Battle of Kursk began on 5 July. For six days of continuous attacks, losing 42 thousand people. and 800 tanks, the Germans only managed to wedge into the defense in a strip of up to 10 km, and in depth - up to 12 km. Having exhausted their forces, they were forced to stop the offensive and go on the defensive. The last effort was the breakthrough of Goth's tank army, reinforced by the latest heavy tanks "Tiger". A colossal mass of tanks was concentrated in the Prokhorovka area - about 1200 on both sides. On July 12, a grandiose oncoming battle took place, which has no analogues in military history. Both sides suffered huge losses - up to 400 tanks each. On July 13, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive. The Oryol operation ended by 18 August. On August 23, Kharkov was liberated. Developing success, the Soviet troops in the second half of September launched a general offensive and reached the Dnieper along a 700-kilometer section. After careful preparation, an operation was carried out to force this large river and liberate Kyiv. On October 25, Dnepropetrovsk was liberated. The offensive on the southernmost wing of the front made it possible on September 16 to liberate Novorossiysk, and then to defeat the entire enemy Taman grouping.

Despite the defeats on the eastern front, the German command tried not to lose the initiative in other theaters of operations. In order to completely stop the supply of arms and food to the British Isles, from January 1942 the Germans switched to the tactics of "total submarine warfare" in the Atlantic. The submariners were tasked with destroying more ships than the enemy's shipyards could build. For almost a year, Atlantic communications were shackled by their actions. The use of "cash cows" (large tanker submarines) made it possible to transfer hostilities to the shores of America. But since the spring of 1943, the technical improvement of anti-submarine defense and the strengthening of the military escort made it possible to drastically reduce the losses of American and British merchant ships. The Germans began to lose more and more boats. The Battle of the Atlantic is over.

The activity of German submarines in the Mediterranean made it possible by the beginning of 1942.

Restore the supply of the Italo-German troops in Tripolitania. On January 21, Rommel's corps launched an offensive bypassing the enemy's coastal fortifications and forced the British to begin a retreat to the border of Egypt. On June 20-21, the Germans managed to capture the fortress of Tobruk "on the move". Only in July they were stopped on a fortified line near El Alamein, 100 km from Alexandria. By the autumn of 1942, the balance of power in the African theater had changed. The British strengthened their grouping in Egypt, led by General Montgomery. On October 23, these troops went on the offensive in the El Alamein area. Suffering heavy losses, they forced the enemy to retreat and systematically began to move along the coastal zone. On November 8, the landing operation of the Anglo-American troops under the command of General Eisenhower began in Algiers. They were opposed by a 200,000-strong group of French troops loyal to the Pétain government. These troops did not put up any serious resistance. German and Italian formations began to retreat to the territory of Tunisia and occupied the fortified line "Maret". Realizing that the enemy was accumulating strength for a decisive blow, Rommel made in February 1943 the last attempt to turn the tide of events. Its tank units broke through the battle formations of the Americans and smashed their rear for 10 days. However, the balance of power was too unequal. In March, the last German attacks were repulsed, and then within a month and a half, their Tunisian group was completely destroyed. The fighting ended on May 12, 1943.

Turning events also occurred in the Pacific Ocean. By the spring of 1942, the Japanese army took control of almost the entire western zone of the Pacific Ocean, coming close to the Australian outer defense line. This made it possible to launch the second phase of the strategic offensive, focusing on three main areas - in the Indian Ocean, on the Australian defense line and in the central Pacific Ocean. In April 1942, an air strike was launched on the British base on the island of Ceylon and steps were taken to disrupt sea communications in the western Indian Ocean. However, here the Japanese fleet encountered large formations of the British Navy, which had strengthened after the capture of French Madagascar. It was not possible to ensure the interaction of the Japanese and German-Italian fleets in the zone of the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Japanese offensive also stopped in the south. In May 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, they failed to overcome the resistance of the American fleet. The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first battle in which aircraft carriers played the main role. Since that time, naval battles have finally turned into a duel of carrier-based aircraft. Trying to keep the initiative, the Japanese fleet tried to strike at the American military base on Midway Atoll in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands. However, even before approaching the archipelago, Japanese aircraft carriers were destroyed by the US Air Force. The Japanese attempts to gain a foothold in the archipelago of the Solomon Islands on the outskirts of Australia ended just as unsuccessfully. The main battles unfolded from August 1942 near the island of Gaudalcanal. Both sides suffered huge losses here. From that time on, Japan could no longer restore parity in armaments and was forced to switch to strategic defense along the radius of the Kuril Islands, the region of the South Seas. New Guinea and Burma. With the departure in [February 1943 of the Japanese fleet from the Solomon Islands archipelago, "a radical turning point in the war in the Pacific ended.

Against the background of a radical change in all theaters of military operations, cooperation between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition has significantly intensified. In May-June 1942, treaties were signed by the USSR with Great Britain and the USA on the provision of military and material assistance to the Soviet Union. In general, allied deliveries under Lend-Lease amounted to about 4% of the total industrial output produced in the USSR during the war years, including 13% for aircraft, 7% for tanks, 200% for cars. With the support of Great Britain and the United States, the French Resistance under the leadership of General de Gaulle regained control over the African colonies of France. The emigration governments of Poland were formed in London. Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The issue of opening a "second front" in Europe by the Allied forces began to be discussed. At a meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill in Casablanca in January 1943, the British leader proposed a landing operation in Italy and Heretsia. This could hasten Italy's exit from the war, and in the long run prevent the spread of Soviet influence in Europe.

The Allied invasion of Sicily began on July 10, 1943, and soon the island was liberated - the low morale of the Italian units and the strong support of the local residents, including the mafia criminal syndicate, which suffered from the persecution of the fascist regime, affected. A political crisis was growing in Italian government circles. July 25, 1943 Mussolini was removed from the post of prime minister by the decision of the Grand Fascist Council. His successor Marshal Badoglio began separate negotiations with the Anglo-American command. On September 3, an armistice agreement was signed, according to which the Anglo-American troops were able to freely occupy the entire territory of Italy. Mussolini was arrested, but soon released by the German paratroopers. In the city of Salo, he formed a puppet pro-German government. German troops were brought into northern Italy, and the British and Americans landed in the south of the country. On October 13, the Badoglio government announced its entry into the war on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. But it has not yet been possible to inflict a final defeat on the German group. The front stabilized south of Rome.

On June 22, 1941, German troops invaded the territory of the USSR. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people began. This radically changed the global political balance of power. On the same day, the head of the British government, W. Churchill, and US President F. Roosevelt declared that they were ready to provide all possible assistance to the USSR in repelling German aggression. On July 12, an agreement was concluded between England and the USSR on mutual assistance and support . Thus, the beginning of the anti-Hitler coalition was laid, which played a large role in the defeat of the armies of Nazi Germany and its allies. At the end of 1941, a conference of the USSR, the USA and England was held in Moscow, at which a protocol on military supplies of CIIIA and England to the USSR was signed. In January 1942, 26 countries signed the Declaration of the United Nations in Washington. They pledged to use all their resources to fight against the fascist bloc, to cooperate with each other.

The strategic defeat of the Red Army in the first months of the war did not lead to the defeat of the USSR. The German rampart was stopped at the approaches to Leningrad and Moscow. The balance of power began to slowly level off. The German army, focused on blitzkrieg - one breakthrough and one decisive victory, was in dire need of reinforcements, regrouping, establishing a network of rear services, and revising tactics. Using this advantageous moment, the Soviet command, at the cost of incredible exertion of forces, managed to organize in December 1941, a successful counteroffensive near Moscow. The following year, having exhausted the enemy in fierce battles for Stalingrad, the Red Army launched a decisive counteroffensive - a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War began. The victory in the Battle of Kyiv in 1943 completed this landmark stage. The strategic initiative finally passed to the Red Army.

The turning point occurred not only due to brilliant victories, but also due to the growing advantage of the entire economic potential of the USSR over the possibilities of the Reich economy. From that moment on, any changes in the tactical situation at the front could only delay the collapse of Nazi Germany. A war waged by the forces of entire nations, a war of social systems and economic models, left no room for chance and military luck.

It is highly symbolic that it was during that period that in the second half of 1942r. - the first half of 1943, there was a radical change in hostilities on other fronts of the Second World War . And although the scale of events on them was not as great as on the Soviet-German front, the role of the allies in the geopolitical and moral defeat of the Nazi bloc was exceptionally great.

The African theater of operations was formed in the summer of 1940. For several months, the main opposing forces were the 50,000-strong British corps, which controls Egypt and part of Somalia, and more than 200,000-strong Italian army stationed in Libya, Cyrenaica, Abyssinia, Eritrea. A clear superiority in forces allowed the Italians to develop active operations to drive the enemy to the Egyptian border. However, after the fall of Greece and Crete, significant forces of the British ground forces, fleet and aviation were evacuated to North Africa. Already in February 1941, the British developed a successful offensive in Northeast Africa . The situation was changed by the landing in Libya of the German tank corps under the command of General Rommel. He not only managed to stop the enemy, but also went on a swift offensive. Only by May did the front stabilize on the Egyptian border. In the summer of 1941, the British army concentrated its efforts on suppressing the uprising of the Iraqi army, supported by German aircraft. Then the French protectorate of Syria was also captured, and an invasion of Iran was carried out jointly with the USSR. Attempts to attack the positions of the German-Italian troops in Africa were not successful.

In the spring of 1942, Rommel managed to achieve considerable success on the African front. Using the tactics of mobile warfare in desert conditions, inflicting unexpected blows with small tank formations, he deprived the enemy of the initiative. At the end of May, the German corps launched a decisive offensive, invading Egyptian territory. Only in July, the Germans were stopped on a fortified line near El Alamein, 100 km from Alexandria. Here, in the autumn of 1942, the battle took place, which made the final turning point in the course of hostilities in Africa. In November, British troops under the command of General Montgomery went on the offensive. Simultaneously Anglo-American General Eisenhower's troops landed in Algiers. German and Italian formations retreated to the territory of Tunisia, occupying the fortified line "Maret". In March 1943, the last German attacks were repulsed, and then within a month and a half, their Tunisian group was completely destroyed. The Allies eliminated the African front and received full strategic initiative in the Mediterranean region.

Events of a turning point took place during these months in the Pacific theater of operations as well. The war in the Pacific began only at the end of 1941. On December 7, Japanese aviation suddenly, without official declaration of war, subjected to a fierce bombardment of a large American naval base in the Hawaiian Islands at Pearl Harbor. As a result, the Americans suffered heavy losses. On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan, and on December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on CIIIA.

After the defeat of the combined Anglo-Dutch-American fleet in the battle in the Java Sea in February 1942, the Japanese armed forces took control of almost the entire central zone of the Pacific Ocean, coming close to the Australian outer defense line. The offensive also developed on the mainland - in Burma. In April, an attack was made on the British base on the island of Ceylon. But the Japanese failed to develop success further in the direction of the Red Sea. Their offensive to the south also stopped - in May 1942, in the battle in the Coral Sea, their fleet could not push back the American formations.

The battle in the Coral Sea was the first where aircraft carriers played the main role - since that time, naval battles have turned into a duel of carrier-based aircraft of the opposing fleets . From June 1942 to February 1943, decisive events took place in the Pacific that determined the outcome of the campaign. The Japanese fleet tried to strike at a military base on Midway Atoll in the direction of the Hawaiian Islands. The success of this operation could move the line of hostilities much closer to the United States. However, the attack was much worse prepared than the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not only repulsed, but also led to significant losses of the Japanese fleet from American air strikes. . From August 1942, the Japanese fleet also made unsuccessful attempts to gain a foothold in the Solomon Islands archipelago on the outskirts of Australia. The main battles, which brought colossal losses to both sides, unfolded near the island of Gaudalcanal. But if the power of American industry made it possible by this time to steadily increase the power of the fleet, then Japan could no longer make up for the growing losses. In February 1943, the Japanese fleet leaves the archipelago to the north. In fact, recognizing a strategic defeat, the Japanese headquarters changes the plan of military operations and goes on the defensive along the radius of the Kuril Islands, the area of ​​the South Seas, New Guinea and Burma.

In addition to the Pacific Ocean, military operations were also actively conducted on the sea lanes of the Atlantic. The main strategic goal of the German naval forces was to blockade the British Isles. However, it was difficult to implement it after the heavy losses of the Norwegian campaign. Great hopes were placed on the largest warship of that time battleship Bismarck. Bismarck undertook his only campaign in April-May 1941. Left without the support of other ships, he was forced to engage in single combat with almost half of the British Atlantic fleet. At the cost of heavy losses, the British managed to destroy this sea fortress. From January 1942r. the German command is finally reoriented to submarine warfare. Admiral Doenitz, who made great efforts to develop the Reich submarine fleet as an elite branch of the armed forces, achieved the transformation of the construction of submarines into one of the priorities in the activities of German industry. But already at the beginning of 1943, technical innovations and the strengthening of the military escort of merchant ships made it possible to significantly increase the effectiveness of anti-submarine defense and secure sea communications. German submarines were forced to move to single actions. In April 1943, Doenitz, in his report, acknowledged the failure of plans for total submarine warfare: the enemy put into operation more ships every month than his crews could sink.

Thus, with the external isolation of the main theaters of military operations in almost all of them at the end of 1942. - at the beginning of 1943, a radical change occurs, the strategic initiative passes to the opponents of the German bloc. At this time, the consolidation of the anti-Hitler coalition itself is also taking place. The impetus for this was the signing in May-June 1942 of the Soviet-British treaty, according to which Great Britain assumed obligations to provide the USSR with "military and other assistance of any kind", as well as the Soviet-American agreement on supplying the USSR with military materials. In June 1942 in Washington, a general Soviet-American agreement was concluded on the principles of mutual assistance and waging war against aggression. The agreement provided for the extension to the USSR of the law on lend-lease (loan or lease of weapons and military materials), adopted by the CIIIA Congress in March 1941. The signing of these agreements actually completed the formation of the main core of the anti-Hitler coalition. In August 1943, the USSR also established diplomatic relations with the committee of General Charles de Gaulle, who led the French Resistance forces.

The radical change in the course of the war had a different effect on the situation in the Hitlerite bloc. In Germany itself and the satellite countries, an internal political crisis was growing, the economy was working at its limit. The government circles of Romania, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary began attempts to establish unofficial diplomatic contacts with representatives of the anti-Hitler coalition to ensure the possibility of a separate peace and an exit from the war. . In these countries and in the occupied territories, the resistance movement was expanding, turning into a serious military and political force.

The radical change caused a change in the strategy of the participants in the war. Germany and its allies are switching to strategic defense, trying to wear down and bleed the enemy in fierce battles, and also hoping to deepen internal contradictions in the anti-Hitler coalition. The USSR, IIIA, Great Britain, on the contrary, are striving to use their clear superiority and impose on the enemy a fight on several fronts until he is completely destroyed. From this point of view, it is of fundamental importance opening a second front in Europe by the Anglo-American army. The Soviet command insisted on a speedy resolution of this issue. However, the complexity of the upcoming large-scale landing operation forced the Allies to postpone its dates several times and, as a first step, choose a landing far from the main theater of operations. Sicily. This invasion took place on the night of July 10, 1943. Despite the numerical superiority of the Italo-German troops, the island was liberated in the shortest possible time - the low morale and disorganization of the Italian units, as well as the strong support of the local residents, including the famous mafia crime syndicate, which suffered greatly from the persecution of the fascist regime of Mussolini, affected.

A deep crisis was growing in government circles in Italy itself. His denouement has come July 25, when Mussolini was removed from the post of prime minister by the decision of the Great Fascist Council - the highest authority of the state. His successor was Marshal Badoglio, hoping to start negotiations with the Anglo-American command.

In this situation, German formations began to enter northern Italy, and Anglo-American troops landed in the south of the country. The Badoglio government announced its surrender and retained power in the territory occupied by the allies. In the north, in the city of Salo, a new Mussolini government was formed. The country was split. Nonetheless, Italy actually pulled out of the war and the fighting on the Apennine Peninsula was subsequently carried out mainly by German and Anglo-American troops.

The opening of the second front and the end of the war.

The transition to the control of the allies of the Mediterranean region made it possible to return to the question of opening a second front in the most important direction - in Western Europe. A political decision on this matter was made by the Tehran Conference, which took place from November 28 to December 1, 1943. It was the first personal meeting of the leaders of the USSR, USA and Great Britain - I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill. An agreement was reached on the landing of Anglo-American troops in France by the beginning of the summer of 1944. The Allied command developed the Overlord plan, the largest landing operation in the history of wars. The area of ​​the English Channel was chosen as the place for its implementation.

On June 6, 1944, the landing of Anglo-American troops led by American General D. Eisenhower began in Normandy. On July 25, a general offensive began from the captured bridgeheads. His pace was slow. The resistance of the German units turned out to be stronger than expected, and the allied command was unable to ensure effective interaction of the troops at this stage. At this crucial moment, the French Resistance Movement played a huge role.

Almost the entire country was engulfed in outbreaks of armed uprisings. On August 18, an uprising began in Paris. At the last stage, he was supported by the tank troops of General Leclerc, who arrived in time - part of those French formations that took part in the landing of the allies. Thus, Paris was liberated by the French themselves. Realizing the futility of further holding France, the German command began to withdraw its troops to the north. Anglo-American formations almost unhindered pursued the enemy to the borders of France. However, an attempt to break through the old fortifications of the "Siegfried Line" on the move failed. In September, the front line stabilized along the southern border of the Netherlands, at the western border of Germany to Luxembourg and south to the borders of neutral Switzerland. In total, during this time, the Wehrmacht lost about 460 thousand people on the Western Front. killed and wounded, the allies - 226 thousand people.

The strategy for further actions caused disagreement among the allied command. General Eisenhower insisted on carrying out the offensive on a broad front, with the main thrust at the mouth of the Scheldt. The British generals put forward the idea of ​​a concentrated strike north of the Ardennes with a breakthrough into German territory. At the Quebec Conference of US and British leaders in September 1944, it was decided to support Eisenhower's proposal. Since September 17, offensive operations have been launched along the entire northern border of France and in the Saar . However, they did not have much effect. Despite the heavy losses and the numerical superiority of the enemy, the German units steadily held all strategic positions on the Siegfried Line. Moreover, having formed a strike force from 21 divisions, including 7 tank divisions, the German command launched a strong counterattack on December 16 in the Ardennes region . As in 1940, the tank wedge overcame the hard-to-reach mountainous terrain and rushed to the rear of the American troops. The position of the allies became critical. Only an acute shortage of reserves did not allow to build on this success. Nonetheless by the beginning of 1945, the situation on the Western Front remained quite difficult for the Allies. The final defeat of Germany was predetermined by the success of the strategic offensive of the Red Army in 1944.

By the beginning of 1945, the Soviet command was preparing a plan for a new strategic offensive with the aim of finally defeating Germany. Despite the doom of Hitler's regime, the Wehrmacht still had enough strength to resist, there were still more than 9 million people in the German army. over 110 thousand guns, 7 thousand aircraft, 13 thousand tanks. Hitler counted on the fact that stubborn battles in Germany would accelerate the collapse of the Allied coalition and the withdrawal from the war of Great Britain and the United States. However, with all the growing political contradictions between the Soviet and Anglo-American leadership, the primary need for military defeat and the complete elimination of Nazism was obvious to both sides. Moreover, the difficult situation on the western front forced the Soviet command to even speed up the offensive. It started January 12 in the central sector of the front. The success of the Vistula-Oder operation made it possible to liberate the territory of Poland and block the East Prussian grouping of the enemy. By mid-April, she was defeated . At the same time, a large-scale offensive was developed in the direction of Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. The final liberation of Hungary, most of Czechoslovakia and Austria created the conditions for the decisive blow of the Red Army in the Berlin direction, as well as the activation of the Anglo-American troops on the western borders Germany. In February - March, having overcome the fortifications of the "Siegfried Line", the Allies reached the Rhine and completed the encirclement of the enemy's Ruhr grouping "In the first half of April, the Anglo-American formations began to reach the Elbe, meeting with the Soviet units moving towards them.

The final blow to Nazi Germany was delivered during Berlin operation - which began on April 16 . The assault on Berlin and the suppression of the last pockets of resistance in Germany as a whole were completed by May 2. The day before, General Krebs, on behalf of Goebbels and Bormann, who led the regime after Hitler's suicide on April 30, turned to the Soviet command with a request for a truce. On May 8, Germany signed the act of unconditional surrender.

The defeat of Germany raised the question of a post-war settlement. Of particular importance in this respect were The Crimean (February 1945) and Potsdam (July-August 1945) conferences of the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, dedicated to "working out the solid foundations of the future world." The main issue at both conferences was the question of the future of Germany itself. According to the decisions of the conferences, it was planned to divide this country into four occupation zones - Soviet, American, British and French. Berlin, accordingly, was also divided into four sectors, in which the responsibility for administration was assigned to the four allied powers. The dissolution of all armed forces and the dismantling of the German military industry, the outlawing of German fascism and militarism, the punishment of war criminals, etc. were envisaged. A special International Tribunal was created, which organized Nuremberg trials in the case of major war criminals, held November 20, 1945 - October 1, 1946

The war in Asia and the Pacific was coming to an end. Here the main contribution to the defeat of militaristic Japan was made by the United States. Already in the summer of 1943, a strike group under the command of General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz began the liberation of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The Japanese army and navy lost the strategic initiative, but put up fierce resistance. The Japanese leadership was preparing for the defense of the mother country and at the same time stepped up measures to put together a coalition of Southeast Asian states. For this purpose, Burma and the Philippines were granted independence, a provisional government of Free India was created, and an agreement was concluded with Thailand on the return of a number of island territories to it. However it was not possible to create a pro-Japanese coalition.

The growing National Liberation Movement in this region was directed against both the former colonizers and the Japanese invaders. In January 1944, American forces began to liberate the Marshall Islands and attacked the fortress on Truk Island, the key to the Caroline Islands archipelago. Fierce fighting continued until August 1944. In particular, in June, the largest naval battle of the Pacific campaign took place here, in which carrier-based aviation played the main role - more than one and a half thousand aircraft on both sides. By the end of the summer, the most important Japanese strongholds in the archipelagos were eliminated. The American fleet firmly controlled the central zone of the Pacific Ocean. In the autumn of 1944, the Japanese command tried for the last time to make a turning point in the course of the war - in accordance with the Katz plan, a counterattack was prepared in the area of ​​​​the Philippine Islands with the widespread use of kamikaze (suicide pilots) and sea swimmers-saboteurs. The Americans really suffered serious losses in these battles, but for the Japanese fleet the struggle for the initiative ended catastrophically - it ceased to exist as a maneuverable formation.

From the beginning of 1945, the Japanese army focused only on the defense of the metropolis and the nearest approaches to it.. Japan seemed to be on the brink of collapse. However, in reality the situation was quite different. Sprawling lines of communication made effective offensive operations by American forces difficult. The US Navy had an overwhelming advantage, but Japan had a huge, almost 7 million ground army. The metropolitan aviation was twice the carrier-based aviation of the US Navy. The Japanese army was distinguished by high morale . For the first time, the American command felt a change in the nature of hostilities during the battle for the island of Okinawa on the distant approaches to Japan. With a colossal advantage in forces, the American fleet spent almost three months capturing the island, suffering significant losses. After the end of these battles in May 1945, the activity of both sides decreased markedly. The American command tried to force Japan to surrender by using new weapons of mass destruction. On August 6, for the first time, American aviation, having dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, used atomic weapons against the hostile side. In just a few minutes, the huge city was turned into ruins, 250 thousand people. died, and tens of thousands of people were either maimed or then died a painful death. On August 9, the second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. However, these measures had no military effect.

It was possible to accelerate the defeat of Japan only with the entry of the USSR into the war in the Pacific on August 9. The Red Army liberated the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin from Japanese troops, defeated the million-strong Kwantung Army of Japan in Manchuria, and made a significant contribution to the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japanese occupation. On September 2, 1945, realizing the inevitability of their defeat, the Japanese command signed an act of surrender aboard the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

This marked the end of World War II. One of the most important results of the war was the military defeat of the most aggressive bloc of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan, which aspired to world domination. Fascism was destroyed as a social system alternative to democracy and communism . During and as a result of the war, the weight and influence of the USSR increased immeasurably and turned into one of the two military-political superpowers. In the capitalist world, the CIIIA came to the fore, becoming the most powerful economic and military-political power. The war became a kind of prelude to the collapse of colonial empires and the formation of many new independent states.

World War II was the most destructive and devastating war in world history. More than 50 million people were killed, tens of millions were injured and maimed, tens of thousands of cities and villages lay in ruins, and the economy of many countries was in a catastrophic situation.