Map of the USSR in 1941 Western borders. The day the war started
Declassified documents about the first days of the war: directives of the People's Commissariat of Defense (NPO) of the USSR (including a copy of directive No. 1 of June 22, 1941), orders and reports from commanders of military units and formations, orders for awards, trophy maps and decrees of the country's leadership.
On June 22, 1941, a directive from the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Semyon Timoshenko was handed over from Moscow. A few hours earlier, soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant's office detained a German soldier of the 221st regiment of the 15th Wehrmacht infantry division, Alfred Liskov, who had swum across the border river Bug. He was taken to the city of Vladimir-Volynsky, where during interrogation he said that at dawn on June 22 the German army would go on the offensive along the entire length of the Soviet-German border. The information was passed on to the higher command.
Directive text:
“To the commanders of the 3rd, 4th, 10th armies I convey the order of the people's commissar of defense for immediate execution:
- During June 22-23, 1941, a sudden attack by the Germans on the fronts of the LVO is possible (Leningrad military district. - RBC), PribOVO (Baltic Special Military District, transformed into the North-Western Front. - RBC), ZapOVO (Western Special Military District, transformed into the Western Front. - RBC), KOVO (Kyiv Special Military District, transformed into the South-Western Front - RBC), OdVO (Odessa Military District - RBC). The attack may start with provocative actions.
- The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.
- I order:
- during the night of June 22, 1941, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border;
- before dawn on June 22, 1941, disperse all aviation, including military aviation, over field airfields, carefully disguise it;
- put all units on combat readiness without additional lifting of assigned staff. Prepare all measures to darken cities and objects.
Do not conduct any other activities without special orders.
The directive was signed by Dmitry Pavlov, Commander of the Western Front, Vladimir Klimovskikh, Chief of Staff of the Western Front, Alexander Fominykh, member of the Military Council of the Western Front.
In July, Pavlov, Klimovskikh, the chief of communications of the Western Front, Major General Andrei Grigoryev, and the commander of the 4th Army, Major General Alexander Korobkov, were accused of inaction and the collapse of command and control, which led to a breakthrough in the front, and were sentenced by the Supreme Court of the USSR to death. The sentence was put into effect in July 1941. After Stalin's death they were rehabilitated.
Order text:
“To the military councils of the LVO, PribOVO, ZapOVO, KOVO, OdVO.
On June 22, 1941, at 4 o'clock in the morning, German aviation, without any reason, raided our airfields along the western border and bombarded them. At the same time, German troops opened artillery fire in different places and crossed our border.
In connection with the unheard-of arrogance of the German attack on the Soviet Union, I order ... "<...>
<...>“The troops must use all their strength and means to fall upon the enemy forces and destroy them in areas where they have violated the Soviet border.
From now on, until further notice by the ground forces, do not cross the border.
Reconnaissance and combat aviation to establish the places of concentration of enemy aviation and the grouping of its ground forces.<...>
<...>“With powerful strikes by bomber and attack aircraft, destroy aircraft at enemy airfields and bomb the main groupings of his ground forces. Air strikes should be carried out to the depth of German territory up to 100-150 km.
Bomb Koenigsberg (today Kaliningrad. - RBC) and Memel (naval base and port in Lithuania. — RBC).
Do not make raids on the territory of Finland and Romania until special instructions.
Signatures: Timoshenko, Malenkov (Georgy Malenkov - member of the Main Military Council of the Red Army. - RBC), Zhukov (Georgy Zhukov - Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR. - RBC).
"Tov. Vatutin (Nikolai Vatutin - Zhukov's first deputy. - RBC). Bomb Romania.
Trophy card "Plan Barbarossa"
In 1940-1941. Germany developed a plan of attack on the USSR, involving a "blitzkrieg". The plan and operation were named after King Frederick I of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor "Barbarossa".
From a brief combat history of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment with a description of the exploits of junior lieutenants Kharitonov and Zdorovtsev
Pilots Pyotr Kharitonov and Stepan Zdorovtsev were the first soldiers to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war. On June 28, on their I-16 fighters, for the first time during the defense of Leningrad, they used ramming strikes against German aircraft. On July 8, they were awarded the title.
Kharitonov's schemes of action
After the war, Pyotr Kharitonov continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1953 he graduated from the Air Force Academy, in 1955 he retired. He lived in Donetsk, where he worked at the headquarters of the city's Civil Defense.
Scheme of Zdorovtsev's action
After receiving the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on July 8, 1941, Zdorovtsev flew out on reconnaissance on July 9. On the way back in the Pskov region, he entered into battle with German fighters. His plane was shot down, Zdorovtsev died.
Western Special Military District. Intelligence Brief #2
On June 22, 1941, the 99th Infantry Division stood in the Polish city of Przemysl, which was one of the first to be captured by German troops. On June 23, units of the division managed to recapture part of the city and restore the border.
“Reconnaissance report No. 2 shtadiv (division headquarters. — RBC) 99 forest Boratyche (a village in the Lviv region. — RBC) 19:30 June 22, 1941
The enemy is forcing the San River (a tributary of the Vistula, flows through the territory of Ukraine and Poland. — RBC) in the Baric region, occupied Stubenko (a settlement in Poland. - RBC) to an infantry battalion. Up to the infantry battalion, it occupies Gurechko (a village on the territory of Ukraine. — RBC), small equestrian groups at 16:00 appeared in Kruvniki (a settlement in Poland. - RBC). At 13:20, the Przemysl hospital was occupied by an unidentified enemy.
Accumulation up to an infantry regiment on the opposite bank of the San River in the Vyshatse area. Accumulation of infantry / small groups / 1 km south of Gurechko.
16:00 to the artillery division fired from the Dusovce region (a village in Poland. — RBC). Up to three battalions of large-caliber artillery at 19:30 fired at Medyka m. (a village in Poland. — RBC) from Maykovce, Dunkovychky, Vypattse districts.
Conclusions: on the Grabovets-Przemysl front, more than one PD (infantry division. - RBC), reinforced by artillery / unspecified number.
Presumably the main enemy grouping on the right flank of the division.
Need to establish: enemy action in front of the right [inaudible] division.
Printed in 5 copies.
Signatures: Colonel Gorokhov, Chief of Staff of the 99th Infantry Division, Captain Didkovsky, Head of the Intelligence Department.
June, 22. Ordinary Sunday. More than 200 million citizens are planning how to spend their day off: go on a visit, take their children to the zoo, someone is in a hurry to play football, someone is on a date. Soon they will become heroes and victims of the war, killed and wounded, soldiers and refugees, blockade runners and prisoners of concentration camps, partisans, prisoners of war, orphans, and invalids. Winners and veterans of the Great Patriotic War. But none of them know about it yet.
In 1941 The Soviet Union stood quite firmly on its feet - industrialization and collectivization bore fruit, industry developed - out of ten tractors produced in the world, four were Soviet-made. Dneproges and Magnitogorsk have been built, the army is being re-equipped - the famous T-34 tank, Yak-1, MIG-3 fighters, Il-2 attack aircraft, Pe-2 bomber have already entered service with the Red Army. The situation in the world is turbulent, but the Soviet people are sure that "the armor is strong and our tanks are fast." In addition, two years ago, after three-hour talks in Moscow, USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov and German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop signed a 10-year non-aggression pact.
After the abnormally cold winter of 1940-1941. A rather warm summer has come to Moscow. Amusements operate in the Gorky Park, football matches are held at the Dynamo stadium. The Mosfilm film studio is preparing the main premiere of the summer of 1941 - the editing of the lyrical comedy Hearts of Four, which will be released only in 1945, has just been completed here. Starring the favorite of Joseph Stalin and all Soviet moviegoers, actress Valentina Serova.
June, 1941 Astrakhan. Near the village of Liney
1941 Astrakhan. On the Caspian Sea
July 1, 1940 A scene from the film "My Love" directed by Vladimir Korsh-Sablin. In the center, actress Lidia Smirnova as Shurochka
April, 1941 Peasant greets the first Soviet tractor
July 12, 1940 Residents of Uzbekistan work on the construction of a section of the Great Fergana Canal
August 9, 1940 Byelorussian SSR. Collective farmers of the village of Tonezh, Turovsky district, Polesye region, for a walk after a hard day's work
May 05, 1941 Kliment Voroshilov, Mikhail Kalinin, Anastas Mikoyan, Andrey Andreev, Alexander Shcherbakov, Georgy Malenkov, Semyon Timoshenko, Georgy Zhukov, Andrey Eremenko, Semyon Budyonny, Nikolai Bulganin, Lazar Kaganovich and others in the presidium of the ceremonial meeting dedicated to graduation commanders who graduated from military academies. Joseph Stalin speaking
June 1, 1940. Classes in civil defense in the village of Dikanka. Ukraine, Poltava region
In the spring and summer of 1941, exercises of the Soviet military began to be carried out more and more often on the western borders of the USSR. War is already in full swing in Europe. Rumors reach the Soviet leadership that Germany could attack at any moment. But such messages are often ignored, since a non-aggression pact was signed just recently.
August 20, 1940 Villagers talking to tankmen during military exercises
"Higher, higher and higher
We strive for the flight of our birds,
And breathes in every propeller
The tranquility of our borders."
Soviet song, better known as "March of the Aviators"
June 1, 1941. An I-16 fighter is suspended under the wing of a TB-3 aircraft, under the wing of which a high-explosive bomb weighing 250 kg
September 28, 1939 People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop shake hands after the signing of the joint Soviet-German treaty "On Friendship and Borders"
Field Marshal V. Keitel, Colonel General V. von Brauchitsch, A. Hitler, Colonel General F. Halder (left to right in the foreground) near the table with a map during a meeting of the General Staff. In 1940, Adolf Hitler signed the main directive number 21, codenamed "Barbarossa"
On June 17, 1941, V. N. Merkulov sent to I. V. Stalin and V. M. Molotov an undercover message received by the NKGB of the USSR from Berlin:
“A source working at the headquarters of the German aviation reports:
1. All German military measures to prepare for an armed uprising against the USSR have been completely completed, and a strike can be expected at any time.
2. In the circles of the aviation headquarters, the TASS message of June 6 was perceived very ironically. They emphasize that this statement cannot have any meaning ... "
There is a resolution (regarding 2 points): “To Comrade Merkulov. You can send your "source" from the headquarters of the German aviation to the fucking mother. This is not a "source", but a disinformer. I. Stalin»
July 1, 1940. Marshal Semyon Timoshenko (right), General of the Army Georgy Zhukov (left) and General of the Army Kirill Meretskov (2nd from left) during an exercise in the 99th Rifle Division of the Kiev Special Military District
June 21, 21:00
At the site of the Sokal commandant's office, a German soldier, Corporal Alfred Liskof, was detained after swimming across the Bug River.
From the testimony of the head of the 90th border detachment, Major Bychkovsky:“Due to the fact that the translators in the detachment are weak, I called a German teacher from the city ... and Liskof repeated the same thing again, that is, that the Germans were preparing to attack the USSR at dawn on June 22, 1941 ... Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, he heard in the direction Ustilug (first commandant's office) strong artillery fire. I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken.
21:30
In Moscow, a conversation took place between People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov and German Ambassador Schulenburg. Molotov protested in connection with the numerous violations of the borders of the USSR by German aircraft. Schulenburg evaded answering.
From the memoirs of Corporal Hans Teuchler:“At 22 o’clock we were lined up and the order of the Fuhrer was read out. Finally, they told us directly why we are here. Not at all for a rush to Persia to punish the British with the permission of the Russians. And not in order to lull the vigilance of the British, and then quickly transfer troops to the English Channel and land in England. No. We - soldiers of the Great Reich - are waiting for a war with the Soviet Union itself. But there is no such force that could hold back the movement of our armies. For the Russians it will be a real war, for us it will be just a victory. We will pray for her."
June 22, 00:30
Directive No. 1 was sent to the districts, containing an order to covertly occupy firing points on the border, not to succumb to provocations and put the troops on alert.
From the memoirs of the German General Heinz Guderian:“On the fateful day of June 22 at 2:10 in the morning, I went to the command post of the group ...
At 03:15 our artillery preparation began.
At 0340 hours - the first raid of our dive bombers.
At 4:15 a.m., the crossing over the Bug began.
03:07
The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Oktyabrsky, called the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Georgy Zhukov and said that a large number of unknown aircraft were approaching from the sea; The fleet is in full combat readiness. The admiral offered to meet them with fleet air defense fire. He was instructed: "Act and report to your people's commissar."
03:30
Chief of Staff of the Western District, Major General Vladimir Klimovskikh, reported on a German air raid on the cities of Belarus. Three minutes later, the chief of staff of the Kiev district, General Purkaev, reported on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine. At 03:40, the commander of the Baltic District, General Kuznetsov, reported a raid on Kaunas and other cities.
From the memoirs of I. I. Geibo, deputy regiment commander of the 46th IAP, ZapVO:“... My chest went cold. In front of me are four twin-engine bombers with black crosses on their wings. I even bit my lip. Why, these are Junkers! German Ju-88 bombers! What to do? .. Another thought arose: "Today is Sunday, and on Sundays the Germans do not have training flights." So it's a war? Yes, war!
03:40
People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko asks Zhukov to report to Stalin about the start of hostilities. Stalin responded by ordering all members of the Politburo to gather in the Kremlin. At that moment, Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovich, Bobruisk, Volkovysk, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sevastopol, Riga, Vindava, Libava, Siauliai, Kaunas, Vilnius and many other cities were bombed.
From the memoirs of Alevtina Kotik, born in 1925 (Lithuania):“I woke up from the fact that I hit my head on the bed - the ground shook from falling bombs. I ran to my parents. Dad said: “The war has begun. We have to get out of here!” We did not know with whom the war started, we did not think about it, it was just very scary. Dad was a military man, and therefore he was able to call a car for us, which took us to the railway station. They took only clothes with them. All furniture and household utensils remained. At first we rode on a freight train. I remember how my mother covered me and my brother with her body, then they transferred to a passenger train. The fact that the war with Germany, they learned somewhere around 12 noon from people they met. Near the city of Siauliai, we saw a large number of wounded, stretchers, doctors.
At the same time, the Belostok-Minsk battle began, as a result of which the main forces of the Soviet Western Front were surrounded and defeated. German troops captured a significant part of Belarus and advanced to a depth of over 300 km. On the part of the Soviet Union in the Bialystok and Minsk “boilers”, 11 rifle, 2 cavalry, 6 tank and 4 motorized divisions were destroyed, 3 commanders and 2 commanders were killed, 2 commanders and 6 division commanders were captured, another 1 corps commander and 2 commanders divisions were missing.
04:10
The Western and Baltic Special Districts reported on the start of hostilities by German troops on land.
04:12
German bombers appeared over Sevastopol. The enemy raid was repulsed, and an attempt to strike at the ships was thwarted, but residential buildings and warehouses were damaged in the city.
From the memoirs of Sevastopol Anatoly Marsanov:“I was then only five years old ... The only thing that remains in my memory: on the night of June 22, parachutes appeared in the sky. It became light, I remember, the whole city was illuminated, everyone was running, so joyful ... They shouted: “Paratroopers! Paratroopers!”… They don't know that these are mines. And they both gasped - one in the bay, the other - down the street below us, they killed so many people!
04:15
The defense of the Brest Fortress began. By the first attack, by 04:55, the Germans occupied almost half of the fortress.
From the memoirs of the defender of the Brest Fortress Pyotr Kotelnikov, born in 1929:“In the morning we were awakened by a strong blow. Broke the roof. I was stunned. I saw the wounded and the dead, I realized: this is no longer an exercise, but a war. Most of the soldiers of our barracks died in the first seconds. Following the adults, I rushed to the weapon, but they did not give me rifles. Then I, with one of the Red Army soldiers, rushed to extinguish the clothing warehouse. Then he moved with the soldiers to the cellars of the barracks of the neighboring 333rd Infantry Regiment ... We helped the wounded, brought them ammunition, food, water. Through the western wing at night they made their way to the river to draw water, and returned back.
05:00
Moscow time, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop summoned Soviet diplomats to his office. When they arrived, he informed them of the start of the war. The last thing he said to the ambassadors was: "Tell Moscow that I was against the attack." After that, telephones did not work in the embassy, and the building itself was surrounded by SS detachments.
5:30
Schulenburg officially informed Molotov about the beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR, reading out a note: “Bolshevik Moscow is ready to stab in the back of National Socialist Germany, which is fighting for existence. The German government cannot be indifferent to the serious threat on the eastern border. Therefore, the Fuhrer gave the order to the German armed forces to ward off this threat with all their might and means ... "
From the memoirs of Molotov:"The adviser to the German ambassador Hilger, when he handed the note, shed a tear."
From Hilger's memoirs:“He gave vent to his indignation by declaring that Germany had attacked a country with which it had a non-aggression pact. This has no precedent in history. The reason given by the German side is an empty pretext ... Molotov concluded his angry speech with the words: “We did not give any grounds for this.”
07:15
Directive No. 2 was issued, ordering the troops of the USSR to destroy enemy forces in areas of violation of the border, destroy enemy aircraft, and also “bomb Koenigsberg and Memel” (modern Kaliningrad and Klaipeda). The USSR Air Force was allowed to go "to the depth of German territory up to 100-150 km." At the same time, the first counterattack of the Soviet troops took place near the Lithuanian town of Alytus.
09:00
At 7:00 Berlin time, Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels read out on the radio Adolf Hitler's appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union: “... Today I decided to once again put the fate and future of the German Reich and our people into the hands of our soldier. May the Lord help us in this struggle!
09:30
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Kalinin signed a number of decrees, including the decree on the introduction of martial law, on the formation of the Headquarters of the High Command, on military tribunals and on general mobilization, to which all those liable for military service from 1905 to 1918 were born.
10:00
German bombers raided Kyiv and its suburbs. The railway station, the Bolshevik plant, an aircraft plant, power plants, military airfields, and residential buildings were bombed. According to official data, 25 people died as a result of the bombing, according to unofficial data, there were many more victims. However, peaceful life continued in the capital of Ukraine for several more days. Only the opening of the stadium, scheduled for June 22, was canceled; on this day, the football match Dynamo (Kyiv) - CSKA was supposed to take place here.
12:15
Molotov made a speech on the radio about the beginning of the war, where he first called it patriotic. Also in this speech, for the first time, the phrase that became the main slogan of the war is heard: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".
From Molotov's appeal:“This unprecedented attack on our country is an unparalleled perfidy in the history of civilized peoples... This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose suffering we understand well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs , Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples ... This is not the first time our people have to deal with an attacking arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.
The working people of Leningrad listen to the message about the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union
From the memoirs of Dmitry Savelyev, Novokuznetsk: “We gathered at the poles with loudspeakers. We listened carefully to Molotov's speech. For many, there was a feeling of some kind of wariness. After that, the streets began to empty, after a while food disappeared from the stores. They weren’t bought up – just the supply was reduced… People weren’t scared, but rather focused, doing everything the government told them to do.”
After some time, the text of Molotov's speech was repeated by the famous announcer Yuri Levitan. Thanks to his soulful voice and the fact that Levitan read the front-line reports of the Soviet Information Bureau throughout the war, it is believed that he was the first to read the message about the beginning of the war on the radio. Even marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky thought so, as they wrote about in their memoirs.
Moscow. Announcer Yuri Levitan during filming in the studio
From the memoirs of announcer Yuri Levitan:“When we, the announcers, were called to the radio early in the morning, the calls had already begun to ring out. They call from Minsk: “Enemy planes over the city”, they call from Kaunas: “The city is on fire, why are you not transmitting anything on the radio?”, “Enemy planes are over Kiev.” Women's crying, excitement - "is it really a war"? .. And now I remember - I turned on the microphone. In all cases, I remember myself that I only worried internally, only experienced internally. But here, when I uttered the word “Moscow is speaking”, I feel that I can’t continue to speak - a lump stuck in my throat. They are already knocking from the control room - “Why are you silent? Go on! He clenched his fists and continued: "Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union ..."
Stalin delivered a speech to the Soviet people only on July 3, 12 days after the start of the war. Historians are still arguing why he was silent for so long. Here is how Vyacheslav Molotov explained this fact:“Why me and not Stalin? He didn't want to go first. It is necessary that there be a clearer picture, what tone and what approach ... He said that he would wait a few days and speak when the situation on the fronts cleared up.
And here is what Marshal Zhukov wrote about this:"AND. V. Stalin was a strong-willed man and, as they say, "not from a cowardly dozen." Confused, I saw him only once. It was at dawn on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked our country. During the first day, he could not really pull himself together and firmly direct events. The shock produced on I. V. Stalin by the attack of the enemy was so strong that his voice even dropped, and his orders for organizing armed struggle did not always correspond to the situation.
From a speech by Stalin on the radio on July 3, 1941:“The war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war... Our war for the freedom of our Fatherland will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms.”
12:30
At the same time, German troops entered Grodno. A few minutes later, the bombardment of Minsk, Kyiv, Sevastopol and other cities began again.
From the memoirs of Ninel Karpova, born in 1931 (Kharovsk, Vologda region):“We listened to the message about the beginning of the war from the loudspeaker at the House of Defense. There were a lot of people there. I was not upset, on the contrary, I became proud: my father will defend the Motherland ... In general, people were not afraid. Yes, women, of course, were upset, crying. But there was no panic. Everyone was sure that we would quickly defeat the Germans. The men said: "Yes, the Germans will drape from us!"
Recruiting stations were opened in the military registration and enlistment offices. Queues lined up in Moscow, Leningrad and other cities.
From the memoirs of Dina Belykh, born in 1936 (Kushva, Sverdlovsk region):“All men immediately began to call, including my dad. Dad hugged mom, they both cried, kissed ... I remember how I grabbed him by the tarpaulin boots and shouted: “Daddy, don’t go! They'll kill you there, they'll kill you!" When he got on the train, my mother took me in her arms, we both sobbed, she whispered through her tears: “Wave to dad ...” What is there, I sobbed so much, I could not move my hand. We never saw him again, our breadwinner."
Calculations and experience of the mobilization carried out showed that in order to transfer the army and navy to wartime, 4.9 million people were required to be called up. However, when mobilization was announced, 14 ages of conscripts were called up, the total number of which was about 10 million people, that is, almost 5.1 million people more than what was required.
The first day of mobilization in the Red Army. Volunteers in the Oktyabrsky military registration and enlistment office
The conscription of such a mass of people was not caused by military necessity and introduced disorganization into the national economy and anxiety among the masses. Without realizing this, Marshal of the Soviet Union G. I. Kulik suggested that the government additionally call on older ages (1895 - 1904), the total number of which was 6.8 million people.
13:15
To capture the Brest Fortress, the Germans brought into action new forces of the 133rd Infantry Regiment on the Southern and Western Islands, but this "did not bring changes in the situation." The Brest Fortress continued to hold the line. Fritz Schlieper's 45th Infantry Division was thrown into this sector of the front. It was decided that only infantry would take the Brest Fortress - without tanks. No more than eight hours were allotted for the capture of the fortress.
From a report to the headquarters of the 45th Infantry Division Fritz Schlieper:“The Russians are fiercely resisting, especially behind our attacking companies. In the Citadel, the enemy organized defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of Russian snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers.
14:30
Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano told the Soviet ambassador in Rome, Gorelkin, that Italy had declared war on the USSR "from the moment German troops entered Soviet territory."
From Ciano's diaries:“He perceives my message with rather great indifference, but this is in his nature. The message is very short, without unnecessary words. The conversation lasted two minutes.
15:00
The pilots of the German bombers reported that they had nothing more to bomb, all airfields, barracks and accumulations of armored vehicles were destroyed.
From the memoirs of Air Marshal, Hero of the Soviet Union G.V. Zimina:“On June 22, 1941, large groups of fascist bombers attacked 66 of our airfields, on which the main aviation forces of the western border districts were based. First of all, airfields were subjected to air strikes, on which aviation regiments were based, armed with aircraft of new designs ... As a result of attacks on airfields and in fierce air battles, the enemy managed to destroy up to 1,200 aircraft, including 800 at airfields.
16:30
Stalin left the Kremlin for the Near Dacha. Until the end of the day, even members of the Politburo are not allowed to see the leader.
From the memoirs of Politburo member Nikita Khrushchev:
“Beria told the following: when the war began, members of the Politburo gathered at Stalin's. I don’t know, all or only a certain group, which most often met with Stalin. Stalin was morally completely depressed and made the following statement: “The war has begun, it is developing catastrophically. Lenin left us the proletarian Soviet state, and we pissed it off.” Literally said so.
“I,” he says, “refuse leadership,” and left. He left, got into the car and drove to a nearby dacha.
Some historians, referring to the memories of other participants in the events, argue that this conversation took place a day later. But the fact that in the first days of the war Stalin was confused and did not know how to act is confirmed by many witnesses.
18:30
The commander of the 4th Army, Ludwig Kubler, gives the order to "pull his own forces" at the Brest Fortress. This is one of the first orders for the retreat of German troops.
19:00
The commander of Army Group Center, General Fedor von Bock, gives the order to stop the execution of Soviet prisoners of war. After that, they were kept in hastily fenced fields with barbed wire. This is how the first camps for prisoners of war appeared.
From the notes of SS Brigadeführer G. Keppler, commander of the "Der Fuhrer" regiment from the SS division "Das Reich":“In the hands of our regiment were rich trophies and a large number of prisoners, among whom were many civilians, even women and girls, the Russians forced them to defend themselves with weapons in their hands, and they bravely fought along with the Red Army.”
23:00
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a radio address in which he stated that England "will give Russia and the Russian people all the help it can."
Winston Churchill's speech on the air of the BBC radio station:“Over the past 25 years, no one has been a more consistent opponent of communism than me. I won't take back a single word I said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle now unfolding. The past with its crimes, follies and tragedies is disappearing... I see Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields that their fathers have cultivated since time immemorial... I see how the vile Nazi war machine is approaching all this.
23:50
The Main Military Council of the Red Army sent out Directive No. 3, ordering June 23 to launch counterattacks against enemy groups.
Text: Information Center of the Kommersant Publishing House, Tatiana Mishanina, Artem Galustyan
Video: Dmitry Shelkovnikov, Alexey Koshel
A photo: TASS, RIA Novosti, Ogonyok, Dmitry Kuchev
Design, programming and layout: Anton Zhukov, Alexey Shabrov
Kim Voronin
Commissioning Editor: Artem Galustyan
Article 1. Border of the Soviet Union
Article 2. How the Minister of the Third Reich declared war on the USSR
Article 4. Russian spirit
Article 6. Opinion of a Russian citizen. Memo on June 22
Article 7. Opinion of an American Citizen. Russians are best at making friends and at war.
Article 8. Treacherous West
Article 1. BORDER OF THE SOVIET UNION
http://www.sologubovskiy.ru/articles/6307/
On this early morning in 1941, the enemy dealt a terrible, unexpected blow to the USSR. From the first minutes, the border guards were the first to enter into a deadly battle with the fascist invaders and courageously defended our Motherland, defending every inch of Soviet land.
At 04:00 on June 22, 1941, after a powerful artillery preparation, the forward detachments of the fascist troops attacked the border outposts from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Despite the huge superiority of the enemy in manpower and equipment, the border guards fought stubbornly, died heroically, but did not leave the defended lines without an order.
For many hours (and in some areas for several days), the outposts in stubborn battles held back the fascist units on the border line, preventing them from seizing bridges and crossings over the border rivers. With unprecedented stamina and courage, at the cost of their lives, the border guards sought to delay the advance of the advanced units of the Nazi troops. Each outpost was a small fortress, the enemy could not capture it as long as at least one border guard was alive.
Thirty minutes took the Nazi General Staff to destroy the Soviet border outposts. But this calculation turned out to be untenable.
None of the almost 2,000 outposts that took the unexpected blow of superior enemy forces faltered, did not give up, not a single one!
The frontier fighters were the first to repulse the onslaught of the fascist conquerors. They were the first to come under fire from the tank and motorized hordes of the enemy. Before anyone else, they stood up for the honor, freedom and independence of their homeland. The first victims of the war and its first heroes were Soviet border guards.
The most powerful attacks were made on the border outposts located in the direction of the main attacks of the Nazi troops. In the offensive zone of the Army Group "Center" in the sector of the Augustow border detachment, two divisions of the Nazis crossed the border. The enemy expected to destroy the border outposts in 20 minutes.
1st border outpost of senior lieutenant A.N. Sivacheva defended for 12 hours, completely perished.
3rd outpost of Lieutenant V.M. Usova fought for 10 hours, 36 border guards repulsed seven attacks of the Nazis, and when the cartridges ran out, they launched a bayonet attack.
Courage and heroism were shown by the border guards of the Lomzhinsky border detachment.
4th outpost lieutenant V.G. Malieva fought until 12 noon on June 23, 13 people survived.
The 17th frontier outpost fought with the enemy infantry battalion until 07:00 on June 23, and the 2nd and 13th outposts held the line until 12:00 on June 22, and only by order did the surviving border guards withdraw from their lines.
The border guards of the 2nd and 8th outposts of the Chizhevsky border detachment bravely fought the enemy.
The border guards of the Brest border detachment covered themselves with unfading glory. The 2nd and 3rd outposts held out until 6 p.m. on June 22. 4th outpost of senior lieutenant I.G. Tikhonova, located by the river, for several hours did not allow the enemy to cross to the eastern bank. At the same time, over 100 invaders, 5 tanks, 4 guns were destroyed and three enemy attacks were repulsed.
In their memoirs, German officers and generals noted that only wounded border guards were captured, none of them raised their hands, did not lay down their arms.
Having marched solemnly across Europe, the Nazis from the first minutes were faced with unprecedented perseverance and heroism of fighters in green caps, although the superiority of the Germans in manpower was 10-30 times, artillery, tanks, planes were involved, but the border guards fought to the death.
The former commander of the German 3rd Panzer Group, Colonel-General G. Goth, was subsequently forced to admit: “both divisions of the 5th Army Corps, immediately after crossing the border, ran into the enemy’s dug-in guards, which, despite the lack of artillery support, held their positions until the latter."
This is largely due to the selection and staffing of border outposts.
Manning was carried out from all the republics of the USSR. The junior commanding staff and the Red Army were called up at the age of 20 for 3 years (they served in naval units for 4 years). Commanding personnel for the Border Troops were trained by ten border schools (schools), the Leningrad Naval School, the Higher School of the NKVD, as well as the Frunze Military Academy and the Military-Political Academy named after
V. I. Lenin.
The junior commanding staff was trained in the district and detachment schools of the MNS, the Red Army soldiers were trained at temporary training posts at each border detachment or a separate border unit, and naval specialists were trained in two training border naval detachments.
In 1939 - 1941, when staffing the border units and subunits on the western section of the border, the leadership of the Border Troops sought to appoint to command positions in the border detachments and commandant's offices persons of middle and senior commanding staff with service experience, especially participants in the hostilities at Khalkhin Gol and on the border with Finland. It was more difficult to staff border and reserve outposts with commanding staff.
By the beginning of 1941, the number of border outposts had doubled, and the border schools could not immediately meet the sharply increased need for middle commanding staff, so in the fall of 1939, accelerated training courses for the command of outposts from junior commanding staff and Red Army soldiers of the third year of service were organized, and the advantage was given to persons with combat experience. All this made it possible by January 1, 1941 to fully equip all border and reserve outposts in the state.
In order to prepare to repel the aggression of fascist Germany, the Government of the USSR increased the density of protection of the western section of the state border of the country: from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. This section was guarded by 8 border districts, including 49 border detachments, 7 detachments of border ships, 10 separate border commandant's offices and three separate air squadrons.
The total number of people was 87,459, of which 80% of the personnel were located directly on the state border, including 40,963 Soviet border guards on the Soviet-German border. Of the 1747 frontier outposts guarding the state border of the USSR, 715 are located on the western border of the country.
Organizationally, the border detachments consisted of 4 border commandant's offices (each with 4 linear outposts and one reserve outpost), a maneuver group (a detachment reserve of four outposts, with a total strength of 200 - 250 people), a school for junior commanding staff - 100 people, headquarters, intelligence department, political agency and rear. In total, the detachment had up to 2000 border guards. The border detachment guarded the land section of the border with a length of up to 180 kilometers, on the sea coast - up to 450 kilometers.
Border outposts in June 1941 were staffed by 42 and 64 people, depending on the specific conditions of the terrain and other conditions of the situation. At the outpost numbering 42 people were the head of the outpost and his deputy, the foreman of the outpost and 4 squad commanders.
Its armament consisted of one Maxim heavy machine gun, three Degtyarev light machine guns and 37 five-shot rifles of the 1891/30 model. pieces for an easel machine gun, RGD hand grenades - 4 pieces for each border guard and 10 anti-tank grenades for the entire outpost.
The effective firing range of rifles is up to 400 meters, machine guns - up to 600 meters.
At the border post of 64 people were the head of the outpost and his two deputies, the foreman and 7 squad commanders. Its armament: two Maxim heavy machine guns, four light machine guns and 56 rifles. Accordingly, the amount of ammunition was more. By decision of the chief of the border detachment to the outposts, where the most threatened situation developed, the number of cartridges was increased by one and a half times, but the subsequent development of events showed that this stock was enough for only 1-2 days of defensive operations. The only technical means of communication for the outpost was a field telephone. The vehicle was two horse carts.
Since the Border Troops during their service constantly met various violators on the border, including armed ones and as part of groups with whom they often had to fight, the degree of preparedness of all categories of border guards was good, and the combat readiness of such units as a border outpost and a border post , the ship, was actually constantly full.
At 04:00 Moscow time on June 22, 1941, German aviation and artillery simultaneously, along the entire length of the USSR state border from the Baltic to the Black Seas, launched massive fire strikes on military and industrial facilities, railway junctions, airfields and seaports on the territory of the USSR to a depth of 250 300 kilometers from the state border. Armadas of fascist planes dropped bombs on the peaceful cities of the Baltic republics, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Crimea. Border ships and boats, together with other ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, with their anti-aircraft weapons, entered the fight against enemy aircraft.
Among the objects on which the enemy launched fire strikes were the positions of the covering troops and the places of deployment of the Red Army, as well as the military camps of the border detachments and commandant's offices. As a result of the artillery preparation of the enemy, which lasted from one to one and a half hours in various sectors, subunits and units of the covering troops and subunits of the border detachments suffered losses in manpower and equipment.
A short-term but powerful artillery strike was carried out by the enemy on the towns of the frontier outposts, as a result of which all the wooden buildings were destroyed or engulfed in fire, the fortifications built near the towns of the frontier outposts were largely destroyed, the first wounded and killed frontier guards appeared.
On the night of June 22, German saboteurs damaged almost all wire communication lines, which disrupted the control of border units and Red Army troops.
Following air and artillery strikes, the German high command moved its invasion troops along a front of 1,500 kilometers from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains, having in the first echelon 14 tank, 10 mechanized and 75 infantry divisions with a total strength of 1,900,000 troops equipped with 2,500 tanks , 33 thousand guns and mortars, supported by 1200 bombers and 700 fighters.
By the time of the enemy attack, only border outposts were located on the state border, and behind them, 3-5 kilometers away, were separate rifle companies and rifle battalions of troops that performed the task of operational cover, as well as defensive structures of fortified areas.
The divisions of the first echelons of the covering armies were located in areas remote from their designated deployment lines of 8-20 kilometers, which did not allow them to deploy in battle formation in a timely manner and forced them to engage in battle with the aggressor separately, in parts, disorganized and with heavy losses in personnel and military equipment.
The course of military operations of the frontier outposts and their results varied. When analyzing the actions of the border guards, it is imperative to take into account the specific conditions in which each outpost found itself on June 22, 1941. They depended to a large extent on the composition of the advanced enemy units that attacked the outpost, as well as on the nature of the terrain along which the border passed and the directions of action of the strike groups of the German army.
So, for example, a section of the state border with East Prussia ran along a plain with a large number of roads, without river barriers. It was in this area that the powerful German Army Group North deployed and struck. And on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front, where the Carpathian Mountains rose and the San, Dniester, Prut, and Danube rivers flowed, the actions of large groupings of enemy troops were difficult, and the conditions for the defense of border outposts were favorable.
In addition, if the outpost was located in a brick building, and not in a wooden one, then its defensive capabilities increased significantly. It must be borne in mind that in densely populated areas with well-developed agricultural land, building a platoon stronghold for an outpost was a great organizational difficulty, and therefore it was necessary to adapt premises for defense and build covered firing points near the outpost.
On the last night before the war, the border units of the western border districts carried out enhanced protection of the state border. Part of the personnel of the frontier outposts was on the border section in frontier detachments, the main part was in platoon strongholds, several border guards remained in the premises of the outposts for their protection. The personnel of the reserve units of the border commandant's offices and detachments were in the premises at the place of their permanent deployment.
For the commanders and Red Army men, who saw the concentration of enemy troops, it was not the attack itself that was unexpected, but the power and cruelty of the air raid and artillery strikes, as well as the mass character of the moving and firing armored vehicles. There was no panic, fuss or aimless shooting among the border guards. What happened for a whole month. Of course, there were losses, but not from panic and cowardice.
Ahead of the main forces of each German regiment, strike groups with a force of up to a platoon with sappers and reconnaissance groups on armored personnel carriers and motorcycles moved with the tasks of eliminating border detachments, capturing bridges, establishing the positions of the Red Army covering troops, and completing the destruction of border outposts.
In order to ensure surprise, these enemy units began advancing in some sections of the border even during the period of artillery and aviation preparation. To complete the destruction of the personnel of the frontier outposts, tanks were used, which, being at a distance of 500-600 meters, fired at the strongholds of the outposts, remaining out of reach of the outpost's weapons.
The first to discover the reconnaissance units of the Nazi troops crossing the state border were the border guards who were on duty. Using pre-prepared trenches, as well as terrain folds and vegetation, as a shelter, they entered into battle with the enemy and thereby gave a signal of danger. Many border guards died in battle, and the survivors withdrew to the strongholds of the outposts and joined the defensive operations.
On the river border areas, the advanced enemy units sought to capture the bridges. Border detachments for the protection of bridges were sent as part of 5-10 people with a light, and sometimes with an easel machine gun. In most cases, the border guards prevented the advance groups of the enemy from capturing the bridges.
The enemy attracted armored vehicles to capture bridges, carried out the crossing of his advanced units on boats and pontoons, surrounded and destroyed border guards. Unfortunately, the border guards did not have the opportunity to blow up the bridges across the border river and they were delivered to the enemy in good order. The rest of the personnel of the outpost also took part in the battles to hold bridges on the border rivers, inflicting serious losses on enemy infantry, but being powerless against enemy tanks and armored vehicles.
So, while protecting the bridges across the Western Bug River, the personnel of the 4th, 6th, 12th and 14th border outposts of the Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment died in full force. The 7th and 9th border outposts of the Przemysl border detachment also perished in unequal battles with the enemy, protecting bridges across the San River.
In the zone where the shock groups of the Nazi troops were advancing, the advanced enemy units were stronger in number and weapons than the border outpost, and, moreover, they had tanks and armored personnel carriers. In these areas, border outposts could only hold back the enemy for up to one or two hours. The border guards fired from machine guns and rifles repulsed the attack of the enemy infantry, but the enemy tanks, after the destruction of the defensive structures by fire from the cannons, burst into the stronghold of the outpost and completed their destruction.
In some cases, the border guards managed to knock out one tank, but in most cases they were powerless against armored vehicles. In the unequal struggle with the enemy, the personnel of the outpost almost all perished. The border guards, who were in the basements of the brick buildings of the outposts, held out the longest, and, continuing to fight, they died, blown up by German land mines.
But the personnel of many outposts continued to fight with the enemy from the strongholds of the outposts to the last man. These battles continued throughout June 22, and individual outposts fought in encirclement for several days.
For example, the 13th outpost of the Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment, relying on strong defensive structures and favorable terrain, fought in encirclement for eleven days. The defense of this outpost was facilitated by the heroic actions of the garrisons of the pillboxes of the fortified area of the Red Army, which, during the period of artillery and aviation preparation of the enemy, prepared for defense and met him with powerful fire from guns and machine guns. In these pillboxes, commanders and Red Army soldiers defended themselves for many days, and in some places for more than a month. German troops were forced to bypass the area, and then, using poisonous fumes, flamethrowers and explosives, destroy the heroic garrisons.
Having joined the ranks of the Red Army, along with it, the border guards bore the brunt of the fight against the German invaders, fought against its intelligence agents, reliably guarded the rear of the Fronts and Armies from attacks by saboteurs, destroyed the breakout groups and the remnants of the encircled enemy groups, everywhere showing heroism and Chekist ingenuity , fortitude, courage and selfless devotion to the Soviet Motherland.
Summing up, it must be said that on June 22, 1941, the fascist German command set off a monstrous war machine against the USSR, which fell upon the Soviet people with particular cruelty, which there was no measure or name. But in this difficult situation, the Soviet border guards did not flinch. In the very first battles, they showed boundless devotion to the Fatherland, unshakable will, the ability to maintain stamina and courage, even in moments of mortal danger.
Many details of the battles of several dozen border outposts are still unknown, as well as the fate of many defenders of the border. Among the irretrievable losses of border guards in the battles in June 1941, more than 90% were “missing”.
Not intended to repulse an armed invasion by regular enemy troops, the border outposts steadfastly held out under the onslaught of the superior forces of the German army and its satellites. The death of the border guards was justified by the fact that, dying in whole units, they provided access to the defensive lines of the Red Army cover units, which, in turn, ensured the deployment of the main forces of the Armies and Fronts and ultimately created the conditions for the defeat of the German armed forces and the liberation of the peoples of the USSR and Europe from fascism.
For courage and heroism shown in the first battles with the Nazi invaders on the state border, 826 border guards were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. 11 border guards were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, five of them posthumously. The names of sixteen border guards were assigned to the outposts where they served on the day the war began.
Here are just a few episodes of the fighting on that first day of the war and the names of the heroes:
Platon Mikhailovich Kubov
The name of the small Lithuanian village of Kybartai became widely known to many Soviet people on the very first day of the Great Patriotic War - a border outpost was located nearby, selflessly entering into an unequal battle with a superior enemy.
On that memorable night, no one slept at the outpost. Border guards continually reported on the appearance near the border of the Nazi troops. With the first explosions of enemy shells, the fighters took up all-round defense, and the head of the outpost, Lieutenant Kubov, with a small group of border guards, went to the site of the firefight. Three columns of the Nazis were heading towards the outpost. If he and his group accept the battle here, try to delay the enemy as much as possible, they will have time to prepare well at the outpost for a meeting with the invaders ...
A handful of fighters under the command of 27-year-old Lieutenant Platon Kubov, carefully disguised, repelled enemy attacks for several hours. One by one, all the soldiers died, but Kubov continued to fire from a machine gun. Out of ammo. Then the lieutenant jumped on his horse and rushed to the outpost.
The small garrison became one of the many outposts-fortresses that blocked, if only for a few hours, the path of the enemy. The border guards of the outpost fought to the last bullet, to the last grenade...
In the evening, local residents came to the smoking ruins of the border outpost. Among the piles of dead enemy soldiers, they found the mutilated bodies of the border guards and buried them in a mass grave.
A few years ago, the ashes of the Kubov heroes were transferred to the territory of the newly built outpost, which on August 17, 1963 was named after P. M. Kubov, a communist, a native of the village of Revolutionary Kursk region.
Alexey Vasilievich Lopatin
In the early morning of June 22, 1941, shells exploded in the courtyard of the 13th outpost of the Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment. And then planes with a fascist swastika flew over the outpost. War! For 25-year-old Alexei Lopatin, a native of the village of Dyukov, Ivanovo Region, it began literally from the first minute. The lieutenant, who had graduated from a military school two years earlier, commanded the outpost.
The Nazis hoped to crush the small unit on the move. But they miscalculated. Lopatin organized a strong defense. The group sent to the bridge over the Bug did not allow the enemy to cross the river for more than an hour. The heroes died one by one. The Nazis attacked the defense at the outpost for more than a day, and failed to break the resistance of the Soviet soldiers. Then the enemies surrounded the outpost, deciding that the border guards would surrender themselves. But the machine guns still hindered the advance of the Nazi columns. On the second day, a company of SS men was scattered, thrown at a small garrison. On the third day, the Nazis sent a fresh unit with artillery to the outpost. By this time, Lopatin hid his fighters and the families of the command staff in a secure basement of the barracks and continued to fight.
On June 26, the Nazi guns rained down fire on the ground part of the barracks. However, new attacks by the Nazis were again repulsed. On June 27, thermite shells rained down on the outpost. The SS men hoped to force the Soviet soldiers out of the basement with fire and smoke. But again the wave of the Nazis rolled back, met with well-aimed shots from the Lopatins. On June 29, women and children were sent from the ruins, and the border guards, including the wounded, remained to fight to the end.
And the battle continued for another three days, until the ruins of the barracks collapsed under heavy artillery fire ...
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded by the Motherland to a brave warrior, a candidate member of the party, Alexei Vasilyevich Lopatin. On February 20, 1954, his name was given to one of the outposts on the western border of the country.
Fedor Vasilievich Morin
A birch near the third blockhouse stood like a wounded soldier with a crutch, leaning on a dangling bough, broken by a shell fragment. The ground trembled all around, black smoke rising from the ruins of the outpost. The howl had been going on for more than seven hours.
In the morning, the outpost had no telephone connection with the headquarters. There was an order from the head of the detachment to withdraw to the rear lines, but the messenger sent from the commandant's office did not reach the outpost, struck by a stray bullet. And Lieutenant Fedor Marin did not even think about retreating without an order.
Rus, give up! - shouted the Nazis.
Marin gathered the seven fighters remaining in the ranks in the blockhouse, hugged and kissed each of them.
Better death than captivity, the commander said to the border guards.
We will die, but we will not surrender, - he heard in response.
Put on caps! Let's go in full force.
They loaded their rifles with the last rounds of ammunition, embraced once more, and charged at the enemy. Marin sang "The Internationale", the soldiers picked up, and it rang over the conflagration: "This is our last and decisive battle ..."
Two days later, a fascist sergeant major, taken prisoner by soldiers of a Red Army battalion, told how the Nazis were dumbfounded when they heard the revolutionary anthem through the roar.
Lieutenant Fyodor Vasilyevich Morin, who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, is still in the line of sentries of the border today. On September 3, 1965, his name was given to the outpost, which he commanded.
Ivan Ivanovich Parkhomenko
Awakened at dawn on June 22, 1941 by the roar of artillery cannonade, the head of the outpost, Senior Lieutenant Maksimov, jumped on his horse and rushed to the outpost, but before reaching it, he was seriously wounded. The defense was headed by political instructor Kiyan, but he soon died in a fight with the Nazis. The command of the outpost was taken over by Sergeant Major Ivan Parkhomenko. Fulfilling his instructions, machine gunners and arrows fired accurately at the Nazis crossing the Bug, trying not to let them come to our shore. But the superiority of the enemy was too great ...
The fearlessness of the foreman gave the border guards strength. Parkhomenko invariably appeared where the battle was in full swing, where his courage and commanding will were needed. A fragment of an enemy shell did not pass Ivan. But even with a broken collarbone, Parkhomenko continued to lead the fight.
The sun was already at its zenith when the trench, in which the last defenders of the outpost had concentrated, was surrounded. Only three could shoot, including the foreman. Parkhomenko had the last grenade left. The Nazis were approaching the trench. The foreman, gathering his strength, threw a grenade at the approaching car, killing three officers. Bleeding, Parkhomenko slid down to the bottom of the trench...
Before a company of the Nazis, the fighters of the border outpost under the command of Ivan Parkhomenko were exterminated, at the cost of their lives they delayed the advance of the enemy for eight hours.
On October 21, 1967, the name of the Komsomol member I. I. Parkhomenko was given to one of the willows of the border outposts.
Eternal glory and memory to the Heroes!!! We remember you!!!
http://gidepark.ru/community/832/content/1387276
The tragedy of June 1941 has been studied up and down. And the more it is studied, the more questions remain.
Today I would like to give the floor to an eyewitness of those events.
His name is Valentin Berezhkov. He worked as a translator. Translated to Stalin. Left a book of magnificent memoirs.
On June 22, 1941, Valentin Mikhailovich Berezhkov met ... in Berlin.
His memories are truly priceless.
After all, as they tell us, Stalin was afraid of Hitler. He was afraid of everything and therefore did nothing to prepare for the war. And they lie that everyone, including Stalin, was confused and scared when the war began.
And here's how it really happened.
As Foreign Minister of the Third Reich, Joachim von Ribbentrop declared war on the USSR.
“Suddenly at 3 am, or 5 am Moscow time (it was already Sunday June 22), the phone rang. An unfamiliar voice announced that Reich Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was waiting for Soviet representatives in his office at the Foreign Office on Wilhelmstrasse. Already from this barking unfamiliar voice, from the extremely official phraseology, something ominous wafted.
On reaching the Wilhelmstrasse, we saw from a distance a crowd in front of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although it was already dawn, the cast-iron canopy entrance was brightly lit by spotlights. Photojournalists, cameramen, and journalists fussed around. The official jumped out of the car first and opened the door wide. We left, blinded by the light of Jupiters and the flashes of magnesium lamps. A disturbing thought flashed through my head - is this really a war? There was no other way to explain such a pandemonium on the Wilhelmstrasse, and even at night. Photojournalists and cameramen relentlessly accompanied us. They now and then ran ahead, clicked the shutters. A long corridor led to the Minister's apartments. Along it, stretched out, were some people in uniform. When we appeared, they clicked their heels loudly, raising their hands in a fascist salute. Finally, we ended up in the minister's office.
At the back of the room was a desk, behind which sat Ribbentrop in his everyday grey-green ministerial uniform.
When we came close to the writing table, Ribbentrop stood up, silently nodded his head, extended his hand and invited him to follow him to the opposite corner of the hall at the round table. Ribbentrop had a swollen face of a crimson color and cloudy, as if stopped, inflamed eyes. He walked ahead of us with his head down and staggering a little. "Is he drunk?" - flashed through my head. After we sat down and Ribbentrop began to speak, my assumption was confirmed. He must have been drinking really hard.
The Soviet ambassador was never able to state our statement, the text of which we took with us. Ribbentrop, raising his voice, said that now we would talk about something completely different. Stumbling over almost every word, he began to explain, rather confusedly, that the German government had data on the increased concentration of Soviet troops on the German border. Ignoring the fact that in recent weeks the Soviet embassy, on behalf of Moscow, has repeatedly drawn the attention of the German side to egregious cases of violations of the borders of the Soviet Union by German soldiers and aircraft, Ribbentrop stated that Soviet military personnel violated the German border and invaded German territory, although there are no such facts in there was no reality.
Ribbentrop went on to explain that he was summarizing the content of Hitler's memorandum, the text of which he immediately handed over to us. Then Ribbentrop said that the German government considered the situation as a threat to Germany at a time when she was waging a life-and-death war with the Anglo-Saxons. All this, Ribbentrop declared, is regarded by the German government and personally by the Fuhrer as the intention of the Soviet Union to stab the German people in the back. The Führer could not bear such a threat and decided to take measures to protect the life and safety of the German nation. The Fuhrer's decision is final. An hour ago, German troops crossed the border of the Soviet Union.
Then Ribbentrop began to assure that these actions of Germany were not aggression, but only defensive measures. After that, Ribbentrop stood up and drew himself up to his full height, trying to give himself a solemn air. But his voice clearly lacked firmness and confidence when he uttered the last phrase:
- The Führer instructed me to officially announce these defensive measures ...
We also got up. The conversation was over. Now we knew that shells were already exploding on our land. After the completed robbery attack, the war was officially declared ... Nothing could be changed here. Before leaving, the Soviet ambassador said:
“This is brazen, unprovoked aggression. You will regret that you have made a predatory attack on the Soviet Union. You will pay dearly for this…”
And now the end of the scene. Scenes of declaring war on the Soviet Union. Berlin. June 22, 1941. Office of Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop.
“We turned around and headed towards the exit. And then the unexpected happened. Ribbentrop, semenya, hurried after us. He began to say in a whisper, as if he personally was against this decision of the Fuhrer. He even allegedly talked Hitler out of attacking the Soviet Union. Personally, he, Ribbentrop, considers this madness. But he couldn't help it. Hitler made this decision, he did not want to listen to anyone ...
“Tell in Moscow that I was against the attack,” we heard the last words of the Reich Minister when we were already going out into the corridor ... ".
Source: Berezhkov V. M. “Pages of Diplomatic History”, “International Relations”; Moscow; 1987; http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/berezhkov_vm2/01.html
My comment: Drunken Ribbentrop and Soviet Ambassador Dekanozov, who not only "is not afraid", but also speaks directly with a completely undiplomatic directness. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that the German "official version" of the start of the war completely coincides with the version of Rezun-Suvorov. More precisely, the London inmate writer, traitor defector Rezun rewrote the version of Nazi propaganda in his books.
Like, poor defenseless Hitler defended himself in June 1941. And this is what the West believes? They believe. And they want to instill this faith in the population of Russia. At the same time, Western historians and politicians believe Hitler only once: June 22, 1941. Neither before nor after do they believe him. After all, Hitler said that he attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, exclusively defending himself from Polish aggression. Western historians believe the Fuhrer only when it is necessary to discredit the USSR-Russia. The conclusion is simple: who believes Rezun, he believes Hitler.
I hope you begin to understand a little better why Stalin considered the German attack to be impossible stupidity.
P.S. The fate of the characters in this scene is different.
Joachim von Ribbentrop was hanged by the Nuremberg Tribunal. Because he knew too much about behind-the-scenes politics on the eve and during the World War.
Vladimir Georgievich Dekanozov, the then Soviet ambassador to Germany, was shot by the Khrushchevites in December 1953. After the murder of Stalin, and then the murder of Beria, the traitors did the same thing that was happening in 1991: they smashed the security agencies. They cleared out everyone who knew and who knew how to make politics at the “world level”. And Dekanozov knew a lot (read his biography).
Valentin Mikhailovich Berezhkov lived a complex and interesting life. I recommend reading his book of memoirs to everyone.
http://nstarikov.ru/blog/18802
Article 3. Why was the German attack on the USSR called "treacherous"?
Today, on the 71st anniversary of the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, I would like to write about an issue that, in my memory, has not become a subject of discussion, although it lies right on the surface.
On July 3, 1941, addressing the Soviet people, Stalin called the attack of the Nazis "treacherous."
Below is the full text of that speech, including the audio recording. But it is worth starting with the search for an answer to the question, why did Stalin call the attack "treacherous"? Why already on June 22 in Molotov's speech, when the country learned about the beginning of the war, Vyacheslav Molotov said: "This unheard-of attack on our country is an unparalleled treachery in the history of civilized peoples."
What is "perfidy"? It means "broken faith". In other words, both Stalin and Molotov characterized Hitler's aggression as an act of "broken faith." But faith in what? So, Stalin believed Hitler, and Hitler broke this belief?
How else to take this word? At the head of the USSR was a world-class politician, and he knew how to call a spade a spade.
I offer one answer to this question. I found it in an article by our famous historian Yuri Rubtsov. He is a doctor of historical sciences, professor at the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Yuri Rubtsov writes:
“For all 70 years that have passed since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, public consciousness has been looking for an answer to an outwardly very simple question: how did it happen that the Soviet leadership, having seemingly irrefutable evidence that Germany was preparing aggression against the USSR, Opportunity was not believed, and was taken by surprise?
This outwardly simple question is one of those to which people are looking for an answer endlessly. One of the answers is that the leader became the victim of a large-scale disinformation operation carried out by the German special services.
The Hitlerite command understood that the surprise and maximum force of a strike against the troops of the Red Army could be ensured only when attacking from a position of direct contact with them.
Tactical surprise in the delivery of the first blow was achieved only on the condition that the date of the attack was kept secret until the last moment.
On May 22, 1941, as part of the final stage of the operational deployment of the Wehrmacht, the transfer of 47 divisions to the border with the USSR began, including 28 tank and motorized divisions.
Summarized, all versions of the purpose for which such a mass of troops is concentrated near the Soviet border boiled down to two main ones:
- to prepare for the invasion of the British Isles, in order to protect them here, in the distance, from British air strikes;
- to ensure by force a favorable course of negotiations with the Soviet Union, which, according to hints from Berlin, were about to begin.
As expected, a special disinformation operation against the USSR began long before the first German military echelons moved east on May 22, 1941.
A. Hitler took a personal and far from formal part in it.
Let's talk about the personal letter that the Fuhrer sent on May 14 to the leader of the Soviet people. In it, Hitler explained the presence of about 80 German divisions near the borders of the Soviet Union by the need to "organize troops away from English eyes and in connection with recent operations in the Balkans." “Perhaps this gives rise to rumors about the possibility of a military conflict between us,” he wrote, switching to a confidential tone. “I want to assure you – and I give you my word of honor that this is not true…”
The Fuhrer promised, starting from June 15-20, to begin a massive withdrawal of troops from the Soviet borders to the west, and before that he conjured Stalin not to succumb to provocations that those German generals allegedly could go to, who, out of sympathy for England, “forgot about their duty” . “I look forward to seeing you in July. Sincerely yours, Adolf Hitler" - on such a "high" note
He completed his letter.
It was one of the peaks of the disinformation operation.
Alas, the Soviet leadership took the Germans' explanations at face value. In an effort to avoid war at all costs and not to give the slightest reason to attack, Stalin until the last day forbade bringing the troops of the border districts into combat readiness. As if the reason for the attack still somehow worried the Nazi leadership ...
On the last day before the war, Goebbels wrote in his diary: “The question of Russia is becoming more acute with every hour. Molotov asked for a visit to Berlin, but was resolutely refused. Naive assumption. This should have been done six months ago…”
Yes, if Moscow really got alarmed at least not half a year, but half a month before the hour "X"! However, Stalin was so possessed by the magic of confidence that a clash with Germany could be avoided that, even after receiving confirmation from Molotov that Germany had declared war, in a directive issued on June 22 at 7 o'clock. 15 minutes. Red Army to repulse the invading enemy, he forbade our troops, with the exception of aviation, to cross the line of the German border.
Here is a document cited by Yuri Rubtsov.
Of course, if Stalin believed Hitler's letter, in which he wrote “I look forward to seeing you in July. Sincerely yours, Adolf Hitler”, then it becomes possible to correctly understand why both Stalin and Molotov called the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union with the word “treacherous”.
Hitler "broke Stalin's faith"...
Here it is necessary, perhaps, to dwell on two episodes of the first days of the war.
In recent years, a lot of dirt has been poured on Stalin. Khrushchev lied that Stalin, they say, hid in the country and was in shock. Documents don't lie.
Here is the "JOURNAL OF VISITS TO JV STALIN IN HIS KREMLIN OFFICE" in June 1941.
Since this historical material was prepared for publication by employees working under the leadership of Alexander Yakovlev, who had a certain hatred for Stalin, there can be no doubt about the authenticity of the documents cited. They have been published in:
- 1941: In 2 books. Book 1 / Comp. L. E. Reshin and others. M.: International. Fund "Democracy", 1998. - 832 p. - (“Russia. XX century. Documents” / Under the editorship of Academician A.N. Yakovlev) ISBN 5-89511-0009-6;
- The State Defense Committee decides (1941-1945). Figures, Documents. - M.: OLMA-PRESS, 2002. - 575 p. ISBN 5-224-03313-6.
Below you will find the entries "Journal of visits to I.V. Stalin in his Kremlin office" from June 22 to June 28, 1941. The publishers note:
“The dates of the reception of visitors, which took place outside Stalin's office, are marked with an asterisk. The journal entries sometimes contain the following errors: the day of the visit is indicated twice; there are no entry and exit dates for visitors; the sequence numbering of visitors is violated; names are misspelled."
So, before you are the real worries of Stalin in the first days of the war. Notice, no dacha, no shock. From the first minutes of the meeting and meeting to make decisions and issue instructions. In the very first hours, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was created.
June 22, 1941
1. Molotov NPO, deputy. Previous SNK 5.45-12.05
2. Beria NKVD 5.45-9.20
3. Tymoshenko NGO 5.45-8.30
4. Mehlis Nach. GlavPUR KA 5.45-8.30
5. Zhukov NGSH KA 5.45-8.30
6. Malenkov Secret. Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks 7.30-9.20
7. Mikoyan Deputy Previous SNK 7.55-9.30
8. Kaganovich NKPS 8.00-9.35
9. Voroshilov Deputy Previous SNK 8.00-10.15
10. Vyshinsky et al. MFA 7.30-10.40
11. Kuznetsov 8.15-8.30
12. Dimitrov member Comintern 8.40-10.40
13. Manuilsky 8.40-10.40
14. Kuznetsov 9.40-10.20
15. Mikoyan 9.50-10.30
16. Molotov 12.25-16.45
17. Voroshilov 10.40-12.05
18. Beria 11.30-12.00
19. Malenkov 11.30-12.00
20. Voroshilov 12.30-16.45
21. Mikoyan 12.30-14.30
22. Vyshinsky 13.05-15.25
23. Shaposhnikov Deputy NPO for SD 13.15-16.00
24. Tymoshenko 14.00-16.00
25. Zhukov 14.00-16.00
26. Vatutin 14.00-16.00
27. Kuznetsov 15.20-15.45
28. Kulik Deputy NPO 15.30-16.00
29. Beria 16.25-16.45
Last left 16.45
June 23, 1941
1. Molotov member GK rates 3.20-6.25
2. Voroshilov member GK rates 3.20-6.25
3. Beria member. TC rates 3.25-6.25
4. Timoshenko member GK rates 3.30-6.10
5. Vatutin 1st Deputy NGSH 3.30-6.10
6. Kuznetsov 3.45-5.25
7. Kaganovich NKPS 4.30-5.20
8. Zhigarev teams. VVS KA 4.35-6.10
Last released 6.25
June 23, 1941
1. Molotov 18.45-01.25
2. Zhigarev 18.25-20.45
3. Timoshenko NPO USSR 18.59-20.45
4. Merkulov NKVD 19.10-19.25
5. Voroshilov 20.00-01.25
6. Voznesensky Pred. Mr., Deputy Previous SNK 20.50-01.25
7. Mehlis 20.55-22.40
8. Kaganovich NKPS 23.15-01.10
9. Vatutin 23.55-00.55
10. Tymoshenko 23.55-00.55
11. Kuznetsov 23.55-00.50
12. Beria 24.00-01.25
13. Vlasik early. personal protection
Last released 01.25 24/VI 41
June 24, 1941
1. Malyshev 16.20-17.00
2. Voznesensky 16.20-17.05
3. Kuznetsov 16.20-17.05
4. Kizakov (Len.) 16.20-17.05
5. Salzman 16.20-17.05
6. Popov 16.20-17.05
7. Kuznetsov (Kr. m. fl.) 16.45-17.00
8. Beria 16.50-20.25
9. Molotov 17.05-21.30
10. Voroshilov 17.30-21.10
11. Tymoshenko 17.30-20.55
12. Vatutin 17.30-20.55
13. Shakhurin 20.00-21.15
14. Petrov 20.00-21.15
15. Zhigarev 20.00-21.15
16. Golikov 20.00-21.20
17. Shcherbakov secretary of the 1st CIM 18.45-20.55
18. Kaganovich 19.00-20.35
19. Suprun test pilot. 20.15-20.35
20. Zhdanov member p / bureau, secret. 20.55-21.30
Last left 21.30
June 25, 1941
1. Molotov 01.00-05.50
2. Shcherbakov 01.05-04.30
3. Peresypkin NKS, deputy. NCO 01.07-01.40
4. Kaganovich 01.10-02.30
5. Beria 01.15-05.25
6. Merkulov 01.35-01.40
7. Tymoshenko 01.40-05.50
8. Kuznetsov NK VMF 01.40-05.50
9. Vatutin 01.40-05.50
10. Mikoyan 02.20-05.30
11. Mehlis 01.20-05.20
Last left 05.50
June 25, 1941
1. Molotov 19.40-01.15
2. Voroshilov 19.40-01.15
3. Malyshev NK tank industry 20.05-21.10
4. Beria 20.05-21.10
5. Sokolov 20.10-20.55
6. Timoshenko Rev. GK rates 20.20-24.00
7. Vatutin 20.20-21.10
8. Voznesensky 20.25-21.10
9. Kuznetsov 20.30-21.40
10. Fedorenko teams. ABTV 21.15-24.00
11. Kaganovich 21.45-24.00
12. Kuznetsov 21.05.-24.00
13. Vatutin 22.10-24.00
14. Shcherbakov 23.00-23.50
15. Mehlis 20.10-24.00
16. Beria 00.25-01.15
17. Voznesensky 00.25-01.00
18. Vyshinsky et al. MFA 00.35-01.00
Last left 01.00
June 26, 1941
1. Kaganovich 12.10-16.45
2. Malenkov 12.40-16.10
3. Budyonny 12.40-16.10
4. Zhigarev 12.40-16.10
5. Voroshilov 12.40-16.30
6. Molotov 12.50-16.50
7. Vatutin 13.00-16.10
8. Petrov 13.15-16.10
9. Kovalev 14.00-14.10
10. Fedorenko 14.10-15.30
11. Kuznetsov 14.50-16.10
12. Zhukov NGSH 15.00-16.10
13. Beria 15.10-16.20
14. Yakovlev early. GAU 15.15-16.00
15. Tymoshenko 13.00-16.10
16. Voroshilov 17.45-18.25
17. Beria 17.45-19.20
18. Mikoyan Deputy Previous SNK 17.50-18.20
19. Vyshinsky 18.00-18.10
20. Molotov 19.00-23.20
21. Zhukov 21.00-22.00
22. Vatutin 1st Deputy NGSH 21.00-22.00
23. Tymoshenko 21.00-22.00
24. Voroshilov 21.00-22.10
25. Beria 21.00-22.30
26. Kaganovich 21.05-22.45
27. Shcherbakov 1st sec. MGK 22.00-22.10
28. Kuznetsov 22.00-22.20
Last released 23.20
June 27, 1941
1. Voznesensky 16.30-16.40
2. Molotov 17.30-18.00
3. Mikoyan 17.45-18.00
4. Molotov 19.35-19.45
5. Mikoyan 19.35-19.45
6. Molotov 21.25-24.00
7. Mikoyan 21.25-02.35
8. Beria 21.25-23.10
9. Malenkov 21.30-00.47
10. Tymoshenko 21.30-23.00
11. Zhukov 21.30-23.00
12. Vatutin 21.30-22.50
13. Kuznetsov 21.30-23.30
14. Zhigarev 22.05-00.45
15. Petrov 22.05-00.45
16. Sokokoverov 22.05-00.45
17. Zharov 22.05-00.45
18. Nikitin VVS KA 22.05-00.45
19. Titov 22.05-00.45
20. Voznesensky 22.15-23.40
21. Shakhurin NKAP 22.30-23.10
22. Dementiev Deputy NKAP 22.30-23.10
23. Shcherbakov 23.25-24.00
24. Shakhurin 00.40-00.50
25. Merkulov Deputy NKVD 01.00-01.30
26. Kaganovich 01.10-01.35
27. Tymoshenko 01.30-02.35
28. Golikov 01.30-02.35
29. Beria 01.30-02.35
30. Kuznetsov 01.30-02.35
Last left 02.40
June 28, 1941
1. Molotov 19.35-00.50
2. Malenkov 19.35-23.10
3. Budyonny deputy. NPO 19.35-19.50
4. Merkulov 19.45-20.05
5. Bulganin Deputy Previous SNK 20.15-20.20
6. Zhigarev 20.20-22.10
7. Petrov Gl. feature art. 20.20-22.10
8. Bulganin 20.40-20.45
9. Tymoshenko 21.30-23.10
10. Zhukov 21.30-23.10
11. Golikov 21.30-22.55
12. Kuznetsov 21.50-23.10
13. Kabanov 22.00-22.10
14. Stefanovsky test pilot. 22.00-22.10
15. Suprun test pilot. 22.00-22.10
16. Beria 22.40-00.50
17. Ustinov NK Voor. 22.55-23.10
18. Yakovlev GAUNKO 22.55-23.10
19. Shcherbakov 22.10-23.30
20. Mikoyan 23.30-00.50
21. Merkulov 24.00-00.15
Last left 00.50
And one more thing. Much has been written about the fact that on June 22 Molotov spoke on the radio, announcing the attack of the Nazis and the beginning of the war. Where was Stalin? Why didn't he do it himself?
The answer to the first question is in the lines of the "Journal of Visits".
The answer to the second question, apparently, lies in the fact that Stalin, as the political leader of the country, should have understood that in his speech all the people were waiting to hear the answer to the question "What to do?"
Therefore, Stalin took a break for ten days, received information about what was happening, thought about how to organize resistance to the aggressor, and only after that he spoke on July 3 not just with an appeal to the people, but with a detailed program of warfare!
Here is the text of that speech. Read and listen to the audio recording of Stalin's speech. You will find in the text a detailed program, up to the organization of partisan actions in the occupied territories, the hijacking of steam locomotives and much more. And this is just 10 days after the invasion.
That's strategic thinking!
The strength of the falsifiers of history lies in the fact that they juggle with their own invented clichés that have a given ideological orientation.
Read better documents. They contain the true Truth and Power...
July 3 marks the 71st anniversary of I.V. Stalin on the radio. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov in his last interview called this speech one of the three "symbols" of the Great Patriotic War.
Here is the text of this speech:
“Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters!
Soldiers of our army and navy!
I turn to you, my friends!
The perfidious military attack of Hitler Germany on our Motherland, launched on June 22, continues, despite the heroic resistance of the Red Army, despite the fact that the best divisions of the enemy and the best units of his aviation have already been defeated and have found their grave on the battlefields, the enemy continues to climb forward, throwing new forces to the front. Hitler's troops managed to capture Lithuania, a significant part of Latvia, the western part of Belarus, and part of Western Ukraine. Fascist aviation is expanding the areas of operation of its bombers, bombarding Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilev, Smolensk, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol. Our country is in serious danger.
How could it happen that our glorious Red Army surrendered a number of our cities and regions to the fascist troops? Are the German fascist troops really invincible troops, as the boastful fascist propagandists tirelessly trumpet about it?
Of course not! History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible, but it was defeated alternately by Russian, English, German troops. Wilhelm's German army during the first imperialist war was also considered an invincible army, but it was defeated several times by Russian and Anglo-French troops and was finally defeated by Anglo-French troops. The same must be said about Hitler's present German fascist army. This army has not yet encountered serious resistance on the European continent. Only on our territory did it meet with serious resistance. And if, as a result of this resistance, the best divisions of the fascist German army were defeated by our Red Army, then this means that the Nazi fascist army can be defeated and will be defeated just as the armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm were defeated.
As for the fact that part of our territory nevertheless turned out to be captured by fascist German troops, this is mainly due to the fact that the war of fascist Germany against the USSR began under favorable conditions for the German troops and unfavorable for the Soviet troops. The fact is that the troops of Germany, as a country waging war, were already fully mobilized and 170 divisions abandoned by Germany against the USSR and moved to the borders of the USSR were in a state of complete readiness, waiting only for a signal to march, while the Soviet troops needed more mobilize and advance to the borders. Of no small importance here was the fact that fascist Germany unexpectedly and treacherously violated the non-aggression pact concluded in 1939 between it and the USSR, regardless of the fact that it would be recognized by the whole world as the attacking side. It is clear that our peace-loving country, not wanting to take the initiative to violate the pact, could not take the path of treachery.
It may be asked: how could it happen that the Soviet government agreed to conclude a non-aggression pact with such treacherous people and monsters as Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was there a mistake on the part of the Soviet government here? Of course not! A non-aggression pact is a peace pact between two states. It was this pact that Germany proposed to us in 1939. Could the Soviet government refuse such a proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state can refuse a peace agreement with a neighboring power, if at the head of this power there are even such monsters and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. And this, of course, on one indispensable condition - if the peace agreement does not affect either directly or indirectly the territorial integrity, independence and honor of a peace-loving state. As you know, the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR is just such a pact. What have we gained by signing a non-aggression pact with Germany? We ensured peace for our country for a year and a half and the possibility of preparing our forces to repulse if fascist Germany dared to attack our country in defiance of the pact. This is a definite gain for us and a loss for fascist Germany.
What did fascist Germany gain and lose by treacherously breaking the pact and attacking the USSR? She achieved by this some advantageous position for her troops in a short time, but she lost politically, exposing herself in the eyes of the whole world as a bloody aggressor. There can be no doubt that this short-lived military gain for Germany is only an episode, while the enormous political gain for the USSR is a serious and lasting factor on the basis of which the decisive military successes of the Red Army in the war against fascist Germany should unfold.
That is why our entire valiant army, our entire valiant navy, all our falcon pilots, all the peoples of our country, all the best people of Europe, America and Asia, and finally, all the best people of Germany stigmatize the perfidious actions of the German fascists and sympathize with To the Soviet government, they approve of the behavior of the Soviet government and see that our cause is just, that the enemy will be defeated, that we must win.
By virtue of the war imposed on us, our country entered into a mortal battle with its worst and treacherous enemy - German fascism. Our troops are fighting heroically against the enemy, armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft. The Red Army and Red Navy, overcoming numerous difficulties, are selflessly fighting for every inch of Soviet land. The main forces of the Red Army, armed with thousands of tanks and aircraft, enter the battle. The courage of the soldiers of the Red Army is unparalleled. Our resistance to the enemy is growing stronger and stronger. Together with the Red Army, the entire Soviet people rises to defend the Motherland. What is required in order to eliminate the danger looming over our Motherland, and what measures must be taken in order to defeat the enemy?
First of all, it is necessary that our people, the Soviet people, understand the full depth of the danger that threatens our country, and renounce complacency, carelessness, and moods of peaceful construction, which were quite understandable in pre-war times, but pernicious at the present time, when the war is fundamentally changed position. The enemy is cruel and relentless. He sets as his goal the seizure of our lands, watered with our sweat, the seizure of our bread and our oil, extracted by our labor. It sets as its goal the restoration of the power of the landowners, the restoration of tsarism, the destruction of the national culture and national statehood of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and other free peoples of the Soviet Union, their Germanization, their transformation into slaves of German princes and barons. Thus, it is a question of life and death of the Soviet state, of life and death of the peoples of the USSR, of whether the peoples of the Soviet Union should be free or fall into enslavement. It is necessary that the Soviet people understand this and stop being carefree, that they mobilize themselves and reorganize all their work on a new, military basis, which knows no mercy for the enemy.
It is necessary, furthermore, that there be no place in our ranks for whiners and cowards, alarmists and deserters, that our people do not know fear in the struggle and selflessly go to our Patriotic War of Liberation against the fascist enslavers. The great Lenin, who created our state, said that the main quality of the Soviet people should be courage, courage, ignorance of fear in the struggle, readiness to fight together with the people against the enemies of our Motherland. It is essential that this magnificent quality of a Bolshevik become the property of millions and millions of the Red Army, our Red Navy and all the peoples of the Soviet Union. We must immediately reorganize all our work on a military footing, subordinating everything to the interests of the front and to the tasks of organizing the defeat of the enemy. The peoples of the Soviet Union now see that German fascism is indomitable in its furious malice and hatred of our Motherland, which has ensured free labor and well-being for all working people. The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise up to defend their rights, their land against the enemy.
The Red Army, the Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of the Soviet land, fight to the last drop of blood for our cities and villages, show the courage, initiative and ingenuity inherent in our people.
We must organize all-round assistance to the Red Army, ensure an intensified replenishment of its ranks, ensure its supply with everything necessary, organize the rapid advance of transports with troops and military cargo, and provide extensive assistance to the wounded.
We must strengthen the rear of the Red Army, subordinating all our work to the interests of this cause, ensure the intensified work of all enterprises, produce more rifles, machine guns, guns, cartridges, shells, aircraft, organize the protection of factories, power plants, telephone and telegraph communications, establish local air defense .
We must organize a ruthless struggle against all sorts of rear disorganizers, deserters, alarmists, spreaders of rumors, destroy spies, saboteurs, enemy paratroopers, rendering prompt assistance to our destruction battalions in all this. It must be borne in mind that the enemy is cunning, cunning, experienced in deception and spreading false rumors. It is necessary to take into account all this and not succumb to provocations. All those who, by their alarmism and cowardice, interfere with the cause of defense, regardless of their faces, must immediately be brought to trial by a military tribunal.
With the forced withdrawal of Red Army units, it is necessary to steal the entire rolling stock, not to leave the enemy a single locomotive, not a single wagon, not to leave the enemy a single kilogram of bread, not a liter of fuel. The collective farmers must steal all the livestock, hand over the grain for safekeeping to state bodies for its removal to the rear areas. All valuable property, including non-ferrous metals, grain and fuel, which cannot be taken out must be unconditionally destroyed.
In areas occupied by the enemy, it is necessary to create partisan detachments, mounted and on foot, to create sabotage groups to fight against parts of the enemy army, to kindle guerrilla warfare everywhere and everywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, set fire to forests, warehouses, convoys. In the occupied areas, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them at every turn, disrupt all their activities.
The war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war. It is not only a war between two armies. It is at the same time a great war of the entire Soviet people against the German fascist troops. The goal of this nationwide Patriotic War against the fascist oppressors is not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our country, but also to help all the peoples of Europe, groaning under the yoke of German fascism. In this war of liberation, we will not be alone. In this great war we will have true allies in the peoples of Europe and America, including the German people, enslaved by the Hitlerite rulers. Our war for the freedom of our Fatherland will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms. It will be a united front of the peoples standing for freedom against enslavement and the threat of enslavement from Hitler's fascist armies. In this regard, the historic speech by British Prime Minister Mr. Churchill on helping the Soviet Union and the US government's declaration of readiness to help our country, which can only arouse a feeling of gratitude in the hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are quite understandable and revealing.
Comrades! Our strength is incalculable. An arrogant enemy will soon be convinced of this. Together with the Red Army, many thousands of workers, collective farmers, and intellectuals are rising to war against the attacking enemy. Millions of our people will rise up. The working people of Moscow and Leningrad have already begun to create a multi-thousand people's militia to support the Red Army. In every city that is in danger of being invaded by the enemy, we must create such a people's militia, raise all the working people to fight in order to defend our freedom, our honor, our homeland with our breasts in our Patriotic War against German fascism.
In order to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the USSR, to repulse the enemy who treacherously attacked our Motherland, the State Defense Committee was created, in whose hands all power in the state is now concentrated. The State Defense Committee has begun its work and calls on all the people to rally around the party of Lenin-Stalin, around the Soviet government for the selfless support of the Red Army and the Red Navy, for the defeat of the enemy, for victory.
All our strength is to support our heroic Red Army, our glorious Red Fleet!
All the forces of the people - to defeat the enemy!
Forward, for our victory!
Speech of I.V. Stalin on July 3, 1941
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr3ldvaW4e8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pD5gf2OSZA&feature=related
Another speech of Stalin at the beginning of the War
Stalin's speech at the end of the war
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrIPg3TRbno&feature=related
Sergey Filatov
http://serfilatov.livejournal.com/89269.html#cutid1
Article 4. Russian spirit
Nikolay Biyata
http://gidepark.ru/community/129/content/1387287
www.ruska-pravda.org
The fury of Russian resistance reflects the new Russian spirit, backed by newfound industrial and agricultural power.
Last June, most Democrats agreed with Adolf Hitler - in three months the Nazi armies would enter Moscow and the Russian case would be similar to the Norwegian, French and Greek ones. Even the American Communists trembled in their Russian boots, believing less in Marshal Timoshenko, Voroshilov and Budyonny than in Generals Frost, Mud and Slush. When the Germans got stuck, the disillusioned fellow travelers returned to their former convictions, a monument to Lenin was opened in London, and almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief: the impossible had happened.
The purpose of Maurice Hindus' book is to show that the impossible was inevitable. According to him, the fury of Russian resistance reflects the new Russian spirit, behind which is the newfound industrial and agricultural power.
Few observers of post-revolutionary Russia can talk about it more competently. Among American journalists, Maurice Gershon Hindus is the only professional Russian peasant (he arrived in the United States as a child).
After four years at Colgate University and a graduate student at Harvard, he managed to maintain a slight Russian accent and close ties to the good Russian land. “I,” he sometimes says, spreading his arms in Slavonic, “is a peasant.”
Fufu, smells like Russian spirit
When the Bolsheviks began to "eliminate the kulaks [successful farmers] as a class," the journalist Hindus traveled to Russia to see what was happening to his fellow peasants. The fruit of his observations was the book Humanity Uprooted, a bestseller whose main thesis is that forced collectivization is hard, deportation to the Far North for forced labor is even harder, but collectivization is the greatest economic restructuring in human history ; it changes the face of the Russian land. She is the future. The Soviet planners were of the same opinion, and as a result, the journalist Hindus had unusual opportunities to observe how the new Russian spirit was born.
In Russia and Japan, he, relying on his direct knowledge, answers a question that may well decide the fate of the Second World War. What is this new Russian spirit? It's not that new. “Fu-fu, it smells like a Russian spirit! Previously, the Russian spirit had not been heard of, the view had not seen. Today, the Russian is rolling around the world, it catches your eye, it hits you in the face. These words are not taken from Stalin's speech. Their old witch named Baba Yaga always pronounces them in the most ancient Russian fairy tales.
Grandmothers whispered them to their grandchildren when the Mongols burned the surrounding villages in 1410.
They repeated them when the Russian spirit expelled the last Mongol from Muscovy twenty years before Columbus discovered the New World. They probably repeat them today.
three forces
By "the power of an idea" Hindu means that in Russia the possession of private property has become a social crime. "Deep in the minds of people - especially, of course, young people, that is, those who are twenty-nine and younger, and there are one hundred and seven million of them in Russia - the concept of the deep depravity of private entrepreneurship has penetrated."
By "strength of organization" the Hindu author understands the state's total control over industry and agriculture, so that every peacetime function actually becomes a military function. “Of course, the Russians never hinted at the military aspects of collectivization, and therefore foreign observers remained completely unaware of this element of a massive and brutal agricultural revolution. They emphasized only those consequences that concerned agriculture and society ... However, without collectivization, they would not have been able to wage war as effectively as they are waging it.
"Machine power" is an idea in the name of which an entire generation of Russians denied themselves food, clothing, cleanliness, and even the most basic comforts. "Like the strength of a new idea and a new organization, it saves the Soviet Union from being dismembered and destroyed by Germany." "In the same way," the author Hindus believes, "she will save him from the encroachments of Japan."
His arguments are less interesting than his analysis of Russian power in the Far East.
Russia's Wild East, stretching three thousand miles from Vladivostok, is fast becoming one of the largest industrial belts in the world. Among the most fascinating sections about Russia and Japan are those that debunk the legend that Siberia is an Asian glacier or a purely penal servitude. In fact, Siberia produces both polar bears and cotton, has large modern cities such as Novosibirsk (the "Siberian Chicago") and Magnitogorsk (steel), and is the center of Russia's gigantic arms industry. Hindus believe that even if the Nazis reach the Ural Mountains and the Japanese reach Lake Baikal, Russia will still remain a powerful industrial state.
No to a separate world
In addition, he believes that the Russians will not, under any circumstances, agree to a separate peace. After all, they are not just waging a war for liberation. In the form of a war of liberation, they continue the revolution. “Too alive to be forgotten, the memories of the sacrifices that people made for the sake of every machine tool, every locomotive, every brick for the construction of new factories ... Butter, cheese, eggs, white bread, caviar, fish, which should have been there are they and their children; textiles and leather, from which clothes and shoes were to be made for them and their children, were sent abroad ... to receive the currency that was paid for foreign cars and foreign services ... Indeed, Russia is waging a nationalist war; the peasant, as always, is fighting for his house and his land. But today's Russian nationalism rests on the idea and practice of Soviet or collectivized control over the "means of production and distribution" while Japanese nationalism rests on the idea of honoring the Emperor.
Directory
The somewhat emotional judgments of the author Hindus are surprisingly confirmed by the book of the author Yugov "The Russian Economic Front in Peace and Wartime." Not such a friend of the Russian revolution as the author Hindus, the economist Yugov, a former employee of the USSR State Planning Committee, who now prefers to live in the USA. His book on Russia is much more difficult to read than the book of the Hindu author and contains more facts. It does not justify the suffering, death and oppression of people that Russia had to pay for its new economic and military power.
He hopes that one of the outcomes of the war for Russia will be a turn towards democracy, the only system in which he believes economic planning can really work. But the author Yugov agrees with the author Hindus in his assessment of why the Russians fight so fiercely, and it's not about the "geographical, everyday variety" of patriotism.
“The workers of Russia,” he says, “are fighting against a return to a private economy, against a return to the very bottom of the social pyramid ... The peasants are stubbornly and actively fighting Hitler, because Hitler would return the old landowners or create new ones according to the Prussian model. Numerous peoples of the Soviet Union are fighting because they know that Hitler is destroying all opportunities for their development ... "
“And finally, all citizens of the Soviet Union go to the front to fight resolutely until victory, because they want to defend those undoubtedly majestic - albeit inadequately and insufficiently implemented - revolutionary achievements in the field of labor, culture, science and art .. The workers, peasants, various nationalities and all citizens of the Soviet Union have many claims and demands against the dictatorial regime of Stalin, and the struggle for these demands will not stop for a day. But at present, for the people, the task of defending their country from the enemy, personifying the social, political and national reaction, is above all else.
"Time", USA
Article 5. Russians come for their own. Sevastopol - the prototype of the Victory
Author - Oleg Bibikov
Miraculously, the day of the liberation of Sevastopol coincides with the day of the Great Victory. In the May waters of the Sevastopol bays, even today we can see the reflection of the fiery Berlin sky and the Banner of Victory in it.
Undoubtedly, in the solar ripples of those waters one can also guess the reflection of other victories to come.
“Not a single name in Russia is pronounced with more reverence than Sevastopol” - these words belong not to a patriot of Russia, but to a fierce enemy, and they are not uttered with the intonation that we like.
Colonel-General Karl Almendinger, appointed commander of the 17th German Army on May 1, 1944, which repelled the offensive operation of the Soviet troops, said to the army: “I received an order to defend every inch of the Sevastopol bridgehead. You understand its meaning. Not a single name in Russia is pronounced with more reverence than Sevastopol ... I demand that everyone defends in the full sense of the word, that no one retreats, that every trench, every funnel, every trench ... relation, and the enemy, wherever he appears, will become entangled in the network of our defenses. But none of us should even think of withdrawing to these positions, located in the depths. The 17th Army in Sevastopol is supported by powerful air and naval forces. The Führer is giving us enough ammunition, planes, armaments and reinforcements. The honor of the army depends on every meter of the entrusted territory. Germany expects us to do our duty."
Hitler ordered to keep Sevastopol at any cost. In fact, this is an order - not a step back.
In a sense, history repeated itself in a mirror image.
Two and a half years earlier, on November 10, 1941, an order was issued by the commander of the Black Sea Fleet F.S. Oktyabrsky, addressed to the troops of the Sevastopol defensive region: “The glorious Black Sea Fleet and the combat Primorsky Army are entrusted with the protection of the famous historical Sevastopol ... We are obliged to turn Sevastopol into an impregnable fortress and, on the outskirts of the city, exterminate more than one division of presumptuous fascist scoundrels ... We have thousands of wonderful fighters, powerful Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol coastal defense, glorious aviation. Together with us, the Primorsky Army, hardened in battles ... All this gives us complete confidence that the enemy will not pass, will break his skull against our strength, our power ... "
Our army is back.
Then, in May 1944, Bismarck's old observation was again confirmed: do not hope that once you take advantage of Russia's weakness, you will receive dividends forever.
Russians always return their...
In November 1943, Soviet troops successfully carried out the Nizhnedneprovsk operation and blocked the Crimea. The 17th Army was then commanded by Colonel General Erwin Gustav Jeneke. The liberation of Crimea became possible in the spring of 1944. The start of the operation was scheduled for 8 April.
It was the eve of Holy Week...
For most contemporaries, the names of fronts, armies, unit numbers, the names of generals, and even marshals, say nothing or almost nothing.
It happened - like in a song. Victory is one for all. But let's remember.
The liberation of Crimea was entrusted to the 4th Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General F.I. Tolbukhin, a separate Primorsky Army under the command of General of the Army A.I. Eremenko, to the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky and Azov military flotilla under the command of Rear Admiral S.G. Gorshkov.
Recall that the 4th Ukrainian Front included: the 51st Army (commanded by Lieutenant General Ya.G. Kreizer), the 2nd Guards Army (commanded by Lieutenant General G.F. Zakharov), the 19th Tank Corps ( Commander Lieutenant General I.D. Vasiliev, he will be seriously wounded and on April 11 he will be replaced by Colonel I.A. Potseluev), 8th Air Army (commander Colonel General of Aviation, the famous ace T.T. Khryukin).
Every name is a significant name. Everyone has years of war behind them. Others began their battle with the Germans as early as 1914-1918. Others fought in Spain, in China, Khryukin had a sunken Japanese battleship on his account ...
From the Soviet side, 470 thousand people, about 6 thousand guns and mortars, 559 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1250 aircraft were involved in the Crimean operation.
The 17th Army included 5 German and 7 Romanian divisions - a total of about 200 thousand people, 3600 guns and mortars, 215 tanks and assault guns, 148 aircraft.
On the side of the Germans were a powerful network of defensive structures, which had to be torn to shreds.
Big wins are made up of tiny wins.
The chronicles of the war contain the names of privates, officers and generals. The chronicles of the war allow us to see the Crimea of that spring with cinematic clarity. It was a blissful spring, everything that could bloom, everything else sparkled with greenery, everything dreamed of living forever. The Russian tanks of the 19th tank corps had to bring the infantry into the operational space, crack the defense. Someone had to go first, lead the first tank, the first tank battalion into the attack, and almost certainly die.
The chronicles tell about the day of April 11, 1944: “The main forces of the 19th Corps were introduced into the breakthrough by the head tank battalion of Major I.N. Mashkarina from the 101st Tank Brigade. Leading the attackers, I.N. Mashkarin not only controlled the battle of his units. He personally destroyed six cannons, four machine-gun points, two mortars, dozens of Nazi soldiers and officers ... "
The brave battalion commander died that day.
He was 22 years old, he had already participated in 140 battles, defended Ukraine, fought near Rzhev and Orel ... After the Victory, he would be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). The battalion commander, who broke into the defense of the Crimea in the Dzhankoy direction, was buried in Simferopol in the Victory Square, in a mass grave ...
The armada of Soviet tanks broke into operational space. On the same day, Dzhankoy was also released.
Simultaneously with the actions of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the Separate Primorsky Army also went on the offensive in the Kerch direction. Its actions were supported by aviation of the 4th Air Army and the Black Sea Fleet.
On the same day, the partisans captured the city of Stary Krym. In response, the Germans, retreating from Kerch, carried out an army punitive operation, killing 584 people, shooting everyone who caught their eye.
Simferopol was cleared of the enemy on Thursday 13 April. Moscow saluted the troops that liberated the capital of Crimea.
On the same day, our fathers and grandfathers liberated the famous resort towns - Feodosia in the east, Evpatoria in the west. On April 14, on Good Friday, Bakhchisaray was liberated, and hence the Assumption Monastery, where many of the defenders of Sevastopol, who died in the Crimean War of 1854-1856, are buried. On the same day, Sudak and Alushta were liberated.
Our troops swept like hurricanes through Yalta and Alupka. On April 15, Soviet tankers reached the outer defensive line of Sevastopol. On the same day, the Primorsky Army also approached Sevastopol from Yalta ...
And this situation was like a mirror image of the autumn of 1941. Our troops, preparing for the assault on Sevastopol, stood in the same positions that the Germans and Romanians were in at the end of October 1941. The Germans could not take Sevastopol for 8 months and, as Admiral Oktyabrsky foretold, they smashed their skull on Sevastopol.
Russian troops liberated their holy city in less than a month. The entire Crimean operation took 35 days. Directly storming the Sevastopol fortified area - 8 days, and the city itself was taken in 58 hours.
For the capture of Sevastopol, which could not be liberated immediately, all our armies were united under one command. On April 16, the Primorsky Army became part of the 4th Ukrainian Front. General K.S. was appointed the new commander of the Primorsky Army. Miller. (Eremenko was transferred to the commander of the 2nd Baltic Front.)
There have also been changes in the enemy camp.
General Jeneke was dismissed on the eve of the decisive assault. It seemed to him expedient to leave Sevastopol without a fight. Jeneke had already survived the Stalingrad cauldron. Recall that in the army of F. Paulus he commanded an army corps. In the Stalingrad cauldron, Yeneke survived only thanks to dexterity: he imitated a serious wound from shrapnel and was evacuated. Jeneke also managed to evade the Sevastopol cauldron. He did not see any point in the defense of the Crimea in the conditions of the blockade. Hitler thought otherwise. The next unifier of Europe believed that after the loss of the Crimea, Romania and Bulgaria would like to leave the Nazi bloc. On May 1, Hitler deposed Jeneke. General K. Almendinger was appointed commander-in-chief of the 17th Army.
From Sunday, April 16 to April 30, Soviet troops repeatedly made attempts to break into the defense; achieved only partial success.
The general assault on Sevastopol began on May 5 at noon. After a powerful two-hour artillery and aviation training, the 2nd Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant General G.F. Zakharov collapsed from the Mekenziev Mountains to the area of the North Side. Zakharov's army was to enter Sevastopol, crossing the Northern Bay.
The troops of the Primorsky and 51st armies, after an hour and a half of artillery and aviation preparation, went on the offensive on May 7 at 10:30. On the main direction of Sapun-gora - Karan (village of Flotskoye), the Primorsky Army operated. To the east of Inkerman and Fedyukhin Heights, the 51st Army led the attack on Sapun Mountain (this is the key to the city) ... Soviet soldiers had to break through a multi-tiered fortification system ...
Hundreds of bombers of the Hero of the Soviet Union General Timofey Timofeevich Khryukin were irreplaceable.
By the end of May 7, Sapun Mountain became ours. Assault red flags were raised to the top by privates G.I. Evglevsky, I.K. Yatsunenko, Corporal V.I. Drobyazko, Sergeant A.A. Kurbatov ... Sapun Mountain - the forerunner of the Reichstag.
The remnants of the 17th Army, these are several tens of thousands of Germans, Romanians and traitors to the motherland, accumulated on Cape Chersonese, hoping for evacuation.
In a certain sense, the situation of 1941 was repeated, mirrored.
On May 12, the entire Chersonese peninsula was liberated. The Crimean operation is completed. The peninsula was a monstrous picture: the skeletons of hundreds of houses, ruins, conflagrations, mountains of human corpses, mangled equipment - tanks, planes, guns ...
A captured German officer testifies: “... replenishment was constantly coming to us. However, the Russians broke through the defenses and occupied Sevastopol. Then the command gave a clearly belated order - to hold strong positions on Chersonese, and in the meantime try to evacuate the remnants of the defeated troops from the Crimea. Up to 30,000 soldiers have accumulated in our sector. Of these, it was hardly possible to take out more than one thousand. On May 10, I saw four ships enter Kamysheva Bay, but only two left. Two other transports were sunk by Russian aircraft. Since then, I have not seen any more ships. Meanwhile, the situation was becoming more and more critical... the soldiers were already demoralized. Everyone fled to the sea in the hope that, perhaps, at the last minute, some ships would appear ... Everything was mixed up, and chaos reigned all around ... It was a complete disaster for the German troops in the Crimea.
On May 10, at one in the morning (at one in the morning!) Moscow saluted the liberators of the city with 24 volleys of 342 guns.
It was a victory.
This was a harbinger of the Great Victory.
The Pravda newspaper wrote: "Hello, dear Sevastopol! Beloved city of the Soviet people, hero city, hero city! The whole country joyfully greets you!" "Hello, dear Sevastopol!" - repeated then indeed the whole country.
"Strategic Culture Foundation"
S A M A R Y N K A
http://gidepark.ru/user/kler16/content/1387278
www.odnako.org
http://www.odnako.org/blogs/show_19226/
Author: Boris Yulin
I think everyone knows that on June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began.
But when reminded of this event on TV, you usually hear about the “preemptive strike”, “Stalin is no less guilty of the war than Hitler”, “why did we get involved in this unnecessary war for us”, “Stalin was an ally of Hitler” and other vile nonsense.
Therefore, I consider it necessary to once again briefly recall the facts - for the flow of Artistic Truth, that is, vile nonsense, does not stop.
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked us without declaring war. Attacked deliberately, after a long and thorough preparation. Attacked with overwhelming force.
That is, it was brazen, undisguised and unmotivated aggression. Hitler made no demands or claims. He did not urgently try to scrape troops from anywhere for a "preemptive strike" - he just attacked. That is, he staged an act of obvious aggression.
On the contrary, we were not going to attack. In our country, mobilization was not carried out and did not even begin, orders were not given for an offensive or preparation for it. We fulfilled the terms of the non-aggression pact.
That is, we are a victim of aggression, without any options.
A non-aggression pact is not an alliance treaty. So the USSR has never (!) been an ally of Nazi Germany.
The Non-Aggression Pact is precisely the Non-Aggression Pact, no less, but no more. It did not give Germany the opportunity to use our territory for military operations, did not lead to the use of our armed forces in combat operations with Germany's opponents.
So all the talk about the alliance between Stalin and Hitler is either a lie or nonsense.
Stalin fulfilled the terms of the agreement and did not attack - Hitler violated the terms of the agreement and attacked.
Hitler attacked without putting forward claims or conditions, without giving the opportunity to resolve everything peacefully, so the USSR had no choice whether to enter the war or not. The war was imposed on the USSR without asking for consent. And Stalin had no choice but to fight.
And it was impossible to resolve the "contradictions" between the USSR and Germany. After all, the Germans did not seek to seize the disputed territory or change the terms of the peace agreements in their favor.
The goal of the Nazis was the destruction of the USSR and the genocide of the Soviet people. It just so happened that the communist ideology, in principle, did not suit the Nazis. And it just so happened that in the place that represented the “necessary living space” and intended for the harmonious settlement of the German nation, some Slavs brazenly lived. And all this was clearly voiced by Hitler.
That is, the war was not for redrawing treaties and border lands, but for the destruction of the Soviet people. And the choice was simple - to die, disappear from the map of the Earth, or fight and survive.
Did Stalin try to avoid this day and this choice? Yes! Was trying.
The USSR made every effort to prevent a war. He tried to stop the division of Czechoslovakia, he tried to create a system of collective security. But the contractual process is complicated by the fact that it requires the consent of all the contracting parties, and not just one of them. And when it turned out to be impossible to stop the aggressor at the beginning of the journey and save the whole of Europe from the war, Stalin began to try to save his country from the war. To keep from war at least until readiness for defense is reached. But he managed to win only two years.
So on June 22, 1941, the power of the strongest army and one of the strongest economies in the world fell upon us without declaring war. And this power was intended to destroy our country and our people. No one was going to negotiate with us - only to destroy.
On June 22, our country and our people took the fight, which they did not want, although they were preparing for it. And they endured this terrible, hardest battle, broke the back of the Nazi creature. And they got the right to live and the right to be themselves.
Everyone remembers what the result of the negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama looked like. The leaders of the two countries could not look each other in the eyes. The moment of truth has come. The details of the meeting between the leaders of the two countries are beginning to leak out, and many still obscure things are becoming clear. Why didn't both presidents have a face. Today it is safe to say that today the two powers are closer than ever to fatal actions.
Everything turned out to be very simple. Understanding the impossibility of getting through the UN Security Council resolution necessary for the war on Syria, Washington is relying on exerting pressure or striking at Iran. After all, it is not Syria that interests Washington, but Iran. The United States is moving troops to Kuwait, from here to the border with Iran is only 80 kilometers. The very troops that Obama promised to withdraw from Afghanistan will now be redeployed specifically to Kuwait. The first 15,000 servicemen have already received orders for redeployment.
Travel moods reign in the editorial offices of the Western media. Everything is moving towards a serious deterioration of the situation.
President Vladimir Putin said quite a lot in his own words, saying that he would not go on reconnaissance with anyone, joking that he had “been out of service for a long time.”
The world did not understand his joke, but was wary.
In this joke, as well as in all others, there is some truth, sometimes a very large share. But in general, it was necessary to carefully listen to what the Russian president says.
It looks like the US Marines are going to take a serious stand against the Russian paratroopers.
At the mere thought of what might happen, a cold sweat breaks out on the body. This position of ground forces, too dangerous in its proximity, is almost guaranteed to end in a collision.
This first step, the redeployment of 15,000 Marines to Kuwait, may not be the most obvious intention, because in the end you won’t start a war with such forces, but if this batch of military personnel is followed by the next one, it will be possible to speak with confidence about the impending threat.
So far, in fact, this redeployment plays into the hands of Russia more than America. Of course, now oil will creep up, the risks become higher. Russia will turn out to be the main beneficiary in this show, because it is always good to be a seller when the price of your product is high, and, of course, it is not profitable to buy oil when you yourself “raised” the price for it.
In this case, the US budget will bear the additional burden.
Another truth in this story is that neither president can back down in this confrontation. If Obama backs down, he will bury his election because Americans don't like wimps (who loves them?).
So Obama will have to come up with something to stay with a "beautiful face."
Putin can't back down either. In addition to geopolitical interests, there is an expectation among the citizens of Russia that their president will not surrender this time, as he has never surrendered before. No wonder they voted for him and entrusted him with building a strong Russia.
Putin cannot deceive the expectations of his citizens, he really never deceived those who voted for him, and it seems that this time he is also going to demonstrate his very advanced qualities of a leader, perhaps even a crisis manager.
The matter, perhaps, could be resolved peacefully if the presidents of the two countries announced some new idea, program, joint project of the two states. In this case, no one would dare to reproach their president, because two countries would benefit from this, and the whole world would become safer.
Both presidents would win here. But such a project still needs to be devised. Judging by the faces of Obama and Putin, there is no such project.
But there are growing disagreements.
In this case, Obama's career is a big question mark; nothing threatens Putin's career. Putin has already passed the elections, and Obama is still ahead.
However, as always in such cases, you need to look at the details. They are sometimes very eloquent.
Nuclear-powered ships make the first moves
According to some reports, nuclear-powered ships of the two most powerful fleets - the Northern and Pacific, in the coming days may receive a combat mission to take up a strike position in neutral waters off the US mainland. This has happened before, when in 2009 two nuclear-powered missile carriers surfaced in different places off the east coast of the United States. This was done quite deliberately, in order to indicate their presence.
The report of an American journalist, a military specialist, looks strange. Then he said that these boats are not terrible, because they do not have intercontinental missiles. It remains only to understand why a boat, which is located 200 nautical miles from the coast, needs intercontinental ballistic missiles if its regular R-39s cover a distance of up to 1,500 nautical miles.
The R-39 rockets, solid propellant with three-stage sustainer engines used by the D-19 complex, are the largest submarine-launched missiles with 10 multiple nuclear warheads of 100 kilograms each. Even one such missile can lead to a global catastrophe for the whole country, on board the Project 941 Akula submarine that surfaced in 2009, 20 units are regularly located. Given that there were two boats, the optimistic mood of the American commentator on this event is simply incomprehensible.
Where is Georgia, and where is Georgia
The question may arise why now talk about what happened in 2009. I think there are parallels here. On August 5, 2009, when the military events of the 08.08.08 war were still fresh in the memory, serious pressure was put on Russia. Orders of the Russian authorities to withdraw from Abkhazia and South Ossetia were dictated almost by order. Then all the events revolved around Georgia. On July 14, 2009, the US Navy destroyer Stout entered Georgian territorial waters. Of course, this is putting pressure on the Russians. It was then, after half a month, that two boats surfaced off the coast of North America.
If one of them was near Greenland, then the second surfaced under the very nose of the largest naval base. The Norfolk Naval Base is only 250 miles northwest of the surfacing site, but it may be indicative that the boat surfaced closer to the coastline of the state of Georgia (this is the name of the former Georgian SSR, now Georgia, in the English manner.) That is, in some special way, these two events may intersect. You sent a ship to us in Georgia (Georgia), so get our submarine from your Georgia.
It looks like some kind of hellish joke, from which it would never occur to anyone to laugh. By this comparison of events, the author wants to show that one should not think that Putin has no way out and that he must give in in Syria, where the US Navy grouping is dozens of times more representative than the Russian Navy in Tartus, even after the arrival of Russian paratroopers there.
Today, the war can be such that having defeated Russia in Syria, one can again be surprised off the coast of Georgia. This is well understood in the Pentagon. Americans are good at understanding the meaning of what is said, and even better they understand the meaning of what is shown.
Thus, one should not expect Putin to back down from his plans in Syria. The only thing that can make Putin take a step back is truly normal human relations.
Naive Russians still believe in friendship. The author of these lines is already tired of repeating to his American colleagues and writing in his articles: Russians in general are best able to make friends and fight. Whichever of these the American president in Russian execution prefers to choose, it will always be done "from the heart and on a grand scale."
http://gidepark.ru/community/8/content/1387294
"Democratic" America surpassed Nazi Germany...
Olga Olgina, with whom I am constantly in contact in Hydepark, published an article by Sergei Chernyakhovsky, whom I know from honest, up-to-date publications.
I read it and thought...
June 22, 1941. I just published on my blogs an article by my friend Sergei Filatov “Why was the German attack on the USSR called “treacherous”?” And in one comment, an anonymous blogger, no data, I looked into his PM - he writes to me (I save his spelling):
“On June 22, 1941, at 4:00 am, the Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop presented the Soviet Ambassador in Berlin Dekanozov with a note declaring war. Officially, the formalities were observed."
This anonymous person is not happy that we Russians call the German attack on our Motherland treacherous.
And then I caught myself on the fact that ...
June 22, 1941, my parents survived. Father, a colonel, a former cavalryman, was then in Monino. At the aviation school. As they said then, from “horse to motor!” Prepared personnel for aviation .... Dad and mom experienced the first bombings ... and then .... Four terrible years of war!
I experienced another - March 19, 2011. When the NATO alliance began to bomb the Libyan Jamahiriya.
Why am I doing this?
“Foreign Minister Ribbentrop presented the Soviet Ambassador in Berlin Dekanozov with a note declaring war. Officially, the formalities were observed."
And was a note handed to the Ambassador of the Libyan Jamahiriya in some capital of some democratic country of the NATO alliance?
Were the formalities followed?
There is only one answer - no!
There were no notes, memorandums, letters, there were no formalities.
It turns out that this was a new, humane, democratic war of the humane, democratic West against a sovereign, Arab, African state.
To anyone who starts hinting at UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which allegedly gave the NATO alliance the right to this war, I will say - and all international lawyers who still have a conscience will support me: make a tube out of the paper of this resolution and insert it into one place . This resolution did not give anyone any right by any of its letters. Everything is invented, composed, distributed, and therefore cast in bronze! Unshakable as the Statue of Liberty!
I really like one image of her that I found on the Internet: the statue, unable to withstand the bullying of America and its partners over freedom and human rights, covers its face with its hands. She's ashamed!
Why are you ashamed?
Because there was no declaration of war. And no one can say about the perfidy of the West in relation to the Jamahiriya and personally to its leader, with whom every Western politician - and thousands of photographs confirm this - sought to kiss personally.
Kiss Judas!
Now each of us knows what it is!
Kissed - and now everything is possible!
Without notes and formalities!
And so I came to the most important thing: if the West is talking on every corner that it is ready to strike at Syria, then, forgive me, will the formalities be observed? Will notes declaring war be handed out IN ADVANCE to Syrian ambassadors in Western capitals?
Ah, no more ambassadors?
And no one to give?
What a shame!
It turns out that the smart, cunning West outdid Hitler. Now you can attack, bomb, kill, do any atrocities WITHOUT DECLARATION OF WAR!
And no perfidy!
Now read Chernyakhovsky's article, which Olgina published.
"Democratic" America surpassed Nazi Germany...
Olga Olgina:
Sergei Chernyakhovsky:
Sergey Filatov:
http://gidepark.ru/community/2042/content/1386870
Anonymous blogger:
http://gidepark.ru/user/4007776763/info
The situation in the world is now worse than it was in 1938-1939. Only Russia can stop the war
On June 22, we remember the tragedy. We mourn the dead. We are proud of those who took the blow and responded to it, as well as the fact that, having received this terrible blow, the people gathered their strength and crushed the one who dealt it. But all of this is in the past. And society has not remembered for a long time the thesis that for 50 years kept the world from war - "The forty-first year should not be repeated", and kept it not by repetition, but by practical implementation.
Sometimes even completely pro-Soviet oriented people and political figures (not to mention those who think themselves citizens of other countries) are skeptical about overloading the USSR economy with military spending, ironically about the “Ustinov Doctrine” - “The USSR must be ready to conduct a simultaneous war with any two other powers” (meaning the US and China) and assure that it was the adherence to this doctrine that undermined the economy of the USSR.
Whether it hurt or not is a big question, because until 1991, in the vast majority of industries, output grew. But why, at the same time, the shelves of the stores turned out to be empty, but at the same time they were filled with products for some two weeks after they were allowed to arbitrarily raise prices for them - this is another question for other people.
Ustinov really advocated this approach. But he did not formulate it: in world politics, the status of a great country has long been determined through the ability to wage a simultaneous war with any two other countries. And Ustinov knew why he defended it: because on June 9, 1941, he accepted the post of People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR and knew what it takes to arm the army when it is already forced to wage war underarmed. And with all the changes in the name of the post, he remained in it until he became Minister of Defense, until 1976.
Then, at the end of the 1980s, it was announced that the arms of the USSR were no longer needed, that the Cold War was over, and that now no one threatens us. The cold war has a very important advantage: it is not "hot". But as soon as it ended, it was the "hot" wars that began in the world, and now in Europe as well.
True, so far no one has attacked Russia - from among independent countries and directly. But, firstly, it has been repeatedly attacked by "small military entities" - on the instructions and with the support of large countries. Secondly, the big ones did not attack mainly because Russia still had the weapons that were created in the USSR, and, with all the decay of the army, state and economy, these weapons were enough to repeatedly destroy any of them individually and all together. But after the creation of the American missile defense system, this situation will no longer exist.
Moreover, the current situation in the world is not much better, or rather, no better than the situation that prevailed both before 1914 and before 1939-41. The talk that if the USSR (Russia) ceases to oppose the West, disarms and abandons its socio-economic system, then the threat of a world war will disappear and everyone will live in peace and friendship cannot even be considered as bewilderment. This is an outright lie aimed at the moral capitulation of the USSR, in particular, because most of the wars in history were wars not between countries with different socio-political systems, but between countries with a homogeneous system. In 1914, England and France were not much different from Germany and Austria-Hungary, and monarchist Russia fought on the side not of the last monarchies, but of the British and French democracies.
In the 1930s, one of the first to call for the creation of a European collective security system to repel possible Hitlerite aggression was the leader of fascist Italy, Benito Mussolini, and he agreed to an alliance with the Reich only when he saw that England and France were refusing to create such a system. And World War II began not with a war between capitalist countries and the socialist USSR, but with conflicts and wars between capitalist countries. And the immediate cause was the war between two not just capitalist, but fascist countries - Germany and Poland.
To believe that there can be no war between the United States and Russia because both of them today, let's say carefully, are "non-socialist", is simply to be a prisoner of the aberrations of consciousness. By 1939, Hitler had conflicts not so much with the USSR as with countries socially homogeneous to him, and there were fewer of these conflicts than those into which the United States has already become involved today.
Hitler then sent troops into the demilitarized Rhine zone, which, however, was located on the territory of Germany itself. He carried out the Anschluss of Austria, formally - peacefully on the basis of the will of Austria itself. With the consent of the Western powers, they seized the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and then captured Czechoslovakia itself. He fought on Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War. There are four conflicts in total, of which one is actually armed. And everyone recognized him as an aggressor and said that the war was on the threshold.
USA and NATO today:
1. Twice they carried out aggression against Yugoslavia, dismembered it into parts, seized part of its territory and destroyed it as a single state.
2. They invaded Iraq, overthrew the national government and occupied the country, setting up a puppet regime there.
3. They did the same in Afghanistan.
4. They prepared, organized and unleashed the war of the Saakashvili regime against Russia and took it under open protection after a military defeat.
5. They carried out aggression against Libya, subjected it to barbaric bombardments, overthrew the national government, killed the leader of the country, and brought a barbaric regime to power in general.
6. They unleashed a civil war in Syria, they practically participate in it on the side of their satellites, they are preparing military aggression against the country.
7. They threaten war on sovereign Iran.
8. They overthrew the national governments in Tunisia and Egypt.
9. They overthrew the national government in Georgia and installed a puppet dictatorial regime there, but in fact occupied the country. Up to the deprivation of her right to speak her native language: now the main requirement in Georgia when applying for a civil service and obtaining a diploma of higher education is fluency in the US language.
10. Partially implemented the same or tried to implement it in Serbia and Ukraine.
A total of 13 acts of aggression, 6 of which are direct military interventions. Against four, including one armed, with Hitler by 1941. Words are pronounced differently - actions are similar. Yes, the US can say that in Afghanistan they acted in self-defence, but Hitler could also say that in the Rhineland he acted in defense of German sovereignty.
As if it would be absurd to compare the democratic United States with fascist Germany, but the Libyans, Iraqis, Serbs and Syrians killed by the Americans do not feel any better. In terms of the scale and number of acts of aggression, the United States has long and far surpassed Hitler's Germany of the pre-war period. Only Hitler, paradoxically, was much more honest: he sent his soldiers into battle, sacrificing their lives for him. The United States, on the other hand, mainly sends its mercenaries, while they themselves strike almost from around the corner, killing the enemy from aircraft from a safe position.
The United States, as a result of its geopolitical offensive, committed three times more acts of aggression and unleashed six times more military acts of aggression than Hitler did in the pre-war period. And the point in this case is not which of them is worse (although Hitler looks almost like a moderate politician against the backdrop of non-stop US wars in recent years), but that the situation in the world is worse than it was in 1938-39 . A leading and hegemonic country carried out more aggression than a similar country by 1939. Acts of Nazi aggression were relatively local and concerned mainly the adjacent territories. US acts of aggression are spread all over the world.
In the 1930s, there were several relatively equal centers of power in the world and Europe, which, with a good combination of circumstances, could prevent aggression and stop Hitler. Today there is one center of power, striving for hegemony and many times superior in its military potential to almost all other participants in world political life.
The danger of a new world war is greater today than in the second half of the 1930s. The only factor that makes it unrealistic so far is Russia's deterrent capabilities. Not other nuclear powers (their potential is insufficient for this), but Russia. And this factor will disappear in a few years, when the American missile defense system is created.
Maybe war is inevitable. Maybe she won't be. But it will not happen only if Russia is ready for it. The whole situation is developing too similar to the beginning of the twentieth century and the 1930s. The number of military conflicts involving the leading countries of the world is growing. The world is going to war.
Russia has no other choice: it must prepare for it. Transfer the economy to war footing. Look for allies. Re-equip the army. Destroy agents and the fifth column of the enemy.
June 22, 1941 really should not happen again.
Here is an article by Sergei Chernyakhovsky. I will add: of course, it should not happen again. But if it happens again, then the first blows, vile, treacherous, and you can’t call them otherwise, will fall on peaceful Syrian cities and villages ...
As it happened with the cities and villages of the Soviet Union.
June 22, 1941...
http://gidepark.ru/community/8/content/1386964
70 years ago the Great Patriotic War began. Before dawn, when sleep is at its strongest, Nazi Germany began bombing and crossed the border into Western Ukraine. Stalin was warned repeatedly, but the mustachioed ogre refused to believe. Even after Hitler attacked, he was in a trance for several days, not believing that this had happened. The incapacity of the Soviet army before the start of the war, the re-equipment started at the wrong time and the miscalculations of the high command cost 26 million human lives. These photographs, taken on the first day of the war, show how easily and practically without resistance the Wehrmacht soldiers began to implement their plan "Barbarossa". And the blitzkrieg was almost a success... it was possible to stop it at the cost of huge human losses only near Moscow itself.
These photographs have one thing in common: they were taken in the first hours and days of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
German soldiers cross the state border of the USSR.
Shooting time: 06/22/1941
Soviet border guards on patrol. The photograph is interesting because it was taken for a newspaper at one of the outposts on the western border of the USSR on June 20, 1941, that is, two days before the war.
Shooting time: 06/20/1941
The first day of the war in Przemysl (today - the Polish city of Przemysl) and the first dead invaders on Soviet soil (soldiers of the 101st light infantry division). The city was occupied by German troops on June 22, but the next morning it was liberated by the Red Army and border guards and held until June 27.
Shooting time: 06/22/1941
June 22, 1941 near the bridge over the San River near the city of Yaroslav. At that time, the San River was the border between German-occupied Poland and the USSR.
Shooting time: 06/22/1941
The first Soviet prisoners of war, under the supervision of German soldiers, head west along the bridge over the San River near the city of Yaroslav.
Shooting time: 06/22/1941
After the failure of the sudden capture of the Brest Fortress, the Germans had to dig in. The photo was taken on the North or South Island.
Shooting time: 06/22/1941
Battle of the German strike units in the Brest area.
Shooting time: June 1941
A column of Soviet prisoners crossed the San River along the sapper bridge. Among the prisoners, there are noticeable not only the military, but also people in civilian clothes: the Germans detained and captured all men of military age so that they could not be recruited into the enemy army. District of the city of Yaroslav, June 1941.
Shooting time: June 1941
Sapper bridge over the San River near the city of Yaroslav, on which German troops are transported.
Shooting time: June 1941
German soldiers are photographed on a Soviet T-34-76 tank, model 1940, abandoned in Lvov.
Location: Lviv, Ukraine, USSR
Shooting time: 30.06. 1941
German soldiers inspect a T-34-76 tank, model 1940, stuck in a field and abandoned.
Shooting time: June 1941
Captured Soviet female soldiers in Nevel (now the Nevelsky district of the Pskov region).
Shooting time: 07/26/1941
German infantry passes by broken Soviet vehicles.
Shooting time: June 1941
The Germans are inspecting Soviet T-34-76 tanks stuck in a water meadow. Floodplain of the Drut River, near Tolochin, Vitebsk region.
Shooting time: July 1941
Start of the German Junkers Yu-87 dive bombers from a field airfield in the USSR.
Shooting time: summer 1941
Red Army soldiers surrender to the soldiers of the SS troops.
Shooting time: June 1941
Destroyed by Soviet artillery, the German light tank Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. C.
German soldiers next to a burning Soviet village.
Shooting time: June 1941
German soldier during the battle in the Brest Fortress.
Shooting time: June-July 1941
A rally at the Leningrad plant named after Kirov about the beginning of the war.
Shooting time: June 1941
Location: Leningrad
Residents of Leningrad near the window of LenTASS "Latest News" (Socialist street, house 14 - Pravda printing house).
Shooting time: July 1941
Location: Leningrad
Aerial photograph of the Smolensk-1 airfield taken by German air reconnaissance. An airfield with hangars and runways is marked in the upper left of the image. Other strategic objects are also marked in the image: barracks (bottom left, marked "B"), large bridges, anti-aircraft artillery batteries (vertical line with a circle).
Shooting time: 06/23/1941
Location: Smolensk
Red Army soldiers examine a wrecked German tank Pz 35 (t) (LT vz.35) of Czech production from the 6th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht. Neighborhood of the city of Raseiniai (Lithuanian SSR).
Shooting time: June 1941
Soviet refugees walk past an abandoned BT-7A tank.
Shooting time: June 1941
German soldiers examine a burning Soviet tank T-34-76 of the 1940 model.
Shooting time: June-August 1941
The Germans on the march at the beginning of the invasion of the USSR.
Shooting time: June 1941
Soviet field airfield, captured by the Germans. One can see an I-16 fighter shot down or dismantled on the ground, a Po-2 biplane and another I-16 in the background. A picture from a passing German car. Smolensk region, summer 1941.
Shooting time: July 1941
Artillerymen of the 29th motorized division of the Wehrmacht from an ambush shot Soviet tanks into the side from a 50-mm PaK 38 cannon. The closest, on the left, is the T-34 tank. Belarus, 1941.
Shooting time: summer 1941
German soldiers ride along the street along the destroyed houses on the outskirts of Smolensk.
Shooting time: July 1941
Location: Smolensk
At the captured airfield of Minsk, German soldiers are examining an SB bomber (or its training version of the CSS, since the nose of the aircraft is visible, which differs from the glazed nose of the SB). Early July 1941.
I-15 and I-153 Chaika fighters are visible behind.
Shooting time: July 1941
Soviet 203-mm howitzer B-4 (model 1931), captured by the Germans. The barrel of the gun, which was transported separately, is missing. 1941, presumably Belarus. German photo.
Shooting time: 1941
The city of Demidov, Smolensk region in the early days of the occupation. July 1941.
Shooting time: July 1941
Destroyed Soviet tank T-26. On the tower, under the hatch cover, a burnt tanker is visible.
Shooting time: summer 1941
Surrendering Soviet soldiers go to the rear of the Germans. Summer 1941. The picture was apparently taken from the back of a truck in a German convoy on the road.
Shooting time: summer 1941
A lot of broken Soviet aircraft: I-153 Chaika fighters (to the left). In the background is a U-2 and a twin-engine SB bomber. The airfield of Minsk, captured by German troops (in the foreground - a German soldier). Early July 1941.
Shooting time: July 1941
A lot of broken Soviet Chaika I-153 fighters. Minsk airport. Early July 1941.
Shooting time: July 1941
German collection point for Soviet captured equipment and weapons. On the left are Soviet 45 mm anti-tank guns, then a large number of Maxim machine guns and DP-27 light machine guns, on the right - 82 mm mortars. Summer 1941.
Shooting time: summer 1941
Dead Soviet soldiers at the captured trenches. This is probably the very beginning of the war, the summer of 1941: the soldier in the foreground is wearing a pre-war SSH-36 helmet, later such helmets were extremely rare in the Red Army and mainly in the Far East. It can also be seen that a belt has been removed from him - apparently, the work of the German soldiers who captured these positions.
Shooting time: summer 1941
A German soldier is knocking at the house of local residents. City of Yartsevo, Smolensk region, early July 1941.
Shooting time: July 1941
The Germans inspect the wrecked Soviet light tanks. In the foreground - BT-7, the far left - BT-5 (characteristic cabin of the tank driver), in the center of the road - T-26. Smolensk region, summer 1941
Shooting time: summer 1941
Soviet artillery wagon with a gun. A shell or air bomb exploded right in front of the horses. Neighborhood of the city of Yartsevo, Smolensk region. August 1941.
Shooting time: summer 1941
Grave of a Soviet soldier. The inscription on the tablet in German reads: "Here rests an unknown Russian soldier." Perhaps the fallen soldier was buried by his own, so at the bottom of the tablet you can make out the word "Here ..." in Russian. For some reason, the Germans made the inscription in their own language. The photo is German, the shooting location is presumably the Smolensk region, August 1941.
Shooting time: summer 1941
German armored personnel carrier, German soldiers on it and local residents in Belarus.
Shooting time: June 1941
Ukrainians welcome the Germans in Western Ukraine.
Shooting time: summer 1941
The advancing units of the Wehrmacht in Belarus. The picture was taken from a car window. June 1941
Shooting time: June 1941
German soldiers in captured Soviet positions. A Soviet 45mm cannon is visible in the foreground, and a Soviet T-34 tank of the 1940 model is visible in the background.
Shooting time: 1941
German soldiers are approaching the freshly knocked out Soviet BT-2 tanks.
Shooting time: June-July 1941
Smoke break crews tractor tractors "Stalinets". The photo is dated in the summer of 41
Shooting time: summer 1941
Soviet female volunteers are sent to the front. Summer 1941.
Shooting time: 1941
Soviet girl-rank-and-file among prisoners of war.
Shooting time: summer 1941
The machine-gun crew of the German rangers fires from the MG-34 machine gun. Summer 1941, Army Group North. In the background, the calculation covers the StuG III self-propelled guns.
Shooting time: summer 1941
The German column passes the village in the Smolensk region.
Shooting time: July 1941
Wehrmacht soldiers are watching the burning village. The territory of the USSR, the date of the picture is approximately the summer of 1941.
Shooting time: summer 1941
A Red Army soldier near a captured Czech-made German light tank LT vz.38 (designated Pz.Kpfw.38(t) in the Wehrmacht). About 600 of these tanks took part in military operations against the USSR, which were used in battles until mid-1942.
Shooting time: summer 1941
SS soldiers at the destroyed bunker on the "Stalin Line". The defensive structures located on the "old" (as of 1939) border of the USSR were mothballed, however, after the invasion of German troops, some fortified areas were used by the Red Army for defense.
Shooting time: 1941
Soviet railway station after the German bombardment, on the tracks there is an echelon with BT tanks.
The dead Soviet soldiers, as well as civilians - women and children. The bodies are dumped in a roadside ditch, like household garbage; dense columns of German troops are calmly moving past along the road.
Shooting time: summer 1941
A cart with the bodies of dead Red Army soldiers.
Soviet symbols in the captured city of Kobrin (Brest region, Belarus) - the T-26 tank and the monument to V.I. Lenin.
Shooting time: summer 1941
A column of German troops. Ukraine, July 1941.
Shooting time: July 1941
Red Army soldiers inspect a German fighter Bf.109F2 (from Squadron 3/JG3) hit by anti-aircraft fire and made an emergency landing. West of Kyiv, July 1941
Shooting time: July 1941
The banner of the 132nd NKVD escort battalion captured by the Germans. Photo from the personal album of one of the Wehrmacht soldiers.
A GOOD SONG ABOUT THIS BLACK DAY IN OUR HISTORY:
In the terrible and bloody confusion of the first day of the Great Patriotic War, the exploits of those soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, border guards, sailors and pilots, who, not sparing their own lives, repelled the onslaught of the strong and skillful against, stand out clearly.
War or provocation?
On June 22, 1941, at five o'clock 45 minutes in the morning, an urgent meeting began in the Kremlin with the participation of the country's top military and political leadership. There was only one item on the agenda. Is this a full-scale war or a border provocation?
Pale and sleepy, Joseph Stalin sat at the table, holding a pipe not stuffed with tobacco in his hands. Addressing the People's Commissar for Defense, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko and the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, General Georgy Zhukov, the de facto ruler of the USSR asked: "Is this not a provocation of the German generals?"
“No, Comrade Stalin, the Germans are bombing our cities in the Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics. What kind of provocation is this? Timoshenko answered gloomily.
Offensive in three main directions
By this time, fierce border battles were already in full swing on the Soviet-German border. Events developed rapidly.
Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb's Army Group North was advancing in the Baltic, breaking the battle formations of the North-Western Front of General Fyodor Kuznetsov. At the forefront of the main attack was General Erich von Manstein's 56th motorized corps.
Army Group "South" of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt operated in Ukraine, inflicting a blow between the Fifth and Sixth Armies of the Southwestern Front of General Mikhail Kirponos by the forces of the First Panzer Group of General Ewald von Kleist and the Sixth Field Army of Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau, advancing by the end of the day by 20 kilometers.
The Wehrmacht, which numbered in its ranks seven million 200 thousand people against five million 400 thousand soldiers and commanders in the Red Army, dealt the main blow in the zone of the Western Front, which was under the command of General Dmitry Pavlov. The strike was carried out by the troops of Field Marshal Fedor von Bock's Army Group Center, which included two tank groups at once - the Second General Heinz Guderian and the Third General Hermann Goth.
sad picture of the day
Hanging from the south and from the north over the Bialystok ledge, in which the 10th army of General Konstantin Golubev was located, both German tank armies moved under the base of the ledge, destroying the defenses of the Soviet front. By seven o'clock in the morning, Brest, which was part of Guderian's offensive zone, was captured, but the units defending the Brest fortress and the station fought fiercely in complete encirclement.
The actions of the ground troops were actively supported by the Luftwaffe, which destroyed on June 22 1200 aircraft of the Red Army aviation, many still at airfields in the first hours of the war, and gained air supremacy.
A sad picture of the day was described in his memoirs by General Ivan Boldin, whom Pavlov sent by plane from Minsk to restore contact with the command of the 10th Army.
During the first 8 hours of the war, the Soviet army lost 1200 aircraft, of which about 900 were destroyed on the ground. In the photo: June 23, 1941 in Kyiv, Grushki district.
Nazi Germany relied on a blitzkrieg strategy. Her plan, called "Barbarossa", meant the end of the war before the autumn thaw. In the photo: German aircraft bombing Soviet cities. June 22, 1941.
The day after the start of the war, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the mobilization of 14 ages (born 1905-1918) in 14 military districts was announced. In the other three districts - Trans-Baikal, Central Asian and Far Eastern - mobilization was carried out a month later under the guise of "large training camps." In the photo: recruits in Moscow, June 23, 1941.
Simultaneously with Germany, Italy and Romania declared war on the USSR. A day later, Slovakia joined them. In the photo: a tank regiment at the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization named after. Stalin before being sent to the front. Moscow, June 1941.
On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR was created. In August, it was renamed the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. In the photo: columns of fighters go to the front. Moscow, June 23, 1941.
As of June 22, 1941, the USSR state border from the Barents to the Black Sea was guarded by 666 border outposts, 485 of them were attacked on the very first day of the war. None of the outposts attacked on June 22 retreated without orders. In the photo: children on the streets of the city. Moscow, June 23, 1941.
Of the 19,600 border guards who met the Nazis on June 22, more than 16,000 died in the first days of the war. In the photo: refugees. June 23, 1941
At the beginning of the war, three groups of German armies were concentrated and deployed near the borders of the USSR: "North", "Center" and "South". They were supported from the air by three air fleets. In the photo: collective farmers are building defensive lines in the front line. July 1, 1941.
The army "North" was supposed to destroy the forces of the USSR in the Baltic states, as well as capture Leningrad and Kronstadt, depriving the Russian fleet of its strongholds in the Baltic. "Center" provided an offensive in Belarus and the capture of Smolensk. Army Group South was responsible for the offensive in western Ukraine. In the photo: the family leaves their home in Kirovograd. August 1, 1941.
In addition, on the territory of occupied Norway and in Northern Finland, the Wehrmacht had a separate army "Norway", which was set to capture Murmansk, the main naval base of the Northern Fleet Polyarny, the Rybachy Peninsula, and the Kirov railway north of Belomorsk. In the photo: columns of fighters are moving to the front. Moscow, June 23, 1941.
Finland did not allow Germany to strike at the USSR from its territory, but received instructions from the German Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces to prepare for the start of the operation. Without waiting for the attack, on the morning of June 25, the Soviet command launched a massive air strike on 18 Finnish airfields. After that, Finland announced that it was at war with the USSR. In the photo: graduates of the Military Academy. Stalin. Moscow, June 1941.
On June 27, Hungary also declared war on the USSR. On July 1, at the direction of Germany, the Hungarian Carpathian Group of Forces attacked the Soviet 12th Army. In the photo: nurses help the first wounded after the Nazi air raid near Chisinau, June 22, 1941.
From July 1 to September 30, 1941, the Red Army and the Soviet Navy carried out the Leningrad strategic operation. According to the Barbarossa plan, the capture of Leningrad and Kronstadt was one of the intermediate goals, followed by an operation to capture Moscow. In the photo: a link of Soviet fighters flies over the Peter and Paul Fortress in Leningrad. August 01, 1941.
One of the largest operations in the first months of the war was the defense of Odessa. The bombing of the city began on July 22, and in August Odessa was surrounded by German-Romanian troops from land. In the photo: one of the first German aircraft shot down near Odessa. July 1, 1941.
The defense of Odessa delayed the advance of the right wing of Army Group South for 73 days. During this time, the German-Romanian troops lost over 160 thousand troops, about 200 aircraft and up to 100 tanks. In the photo: scout Katya from Odessa is talking with the fighters, sitting in a wagon. District Red Dalnik. August 01, 1941.
The original plan of "Barbarossa" assumed the capture of Moscow during the first three to four months of the war. However, despite the successes of the Wehrmacht, the increased resistance of the Soviet troops prevented its implementation. They delayed the German offensive of the battle for Smolensk, Kyiv and Leningrad. In the photo: anti-aircraft gunners defend the sky of the capital. August 1, 1941.
The battle for Moscow, which the Germans called Operation Typhoon, began on September 30, 1941, with the main forces of Army Group Center leading the offensive. In the photo: flowers to wounded soldiers in a Moscow hospital. June 30, 1941.
The defensive stage of the Moscow operation was carried out until December 1941. And only at the beginning of the 42nd year, the Red Army went on the offensive, pushing the German troops back 100-250 kilometers back. In the photo: the beams of searchlights of the air defense forces illuminate the sky of Moscow. June 1941.
At noon on June 22, 1941, the whole country listened to the radio address of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Vyacheslav Molotov, who announced the German attack. “Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours,” was the final phrase of the appeal to the Soviet people.
"Explosions shake the ground, cars burn"
“Trains and warehouses are on fire. Ahead, to our left, there are big fires on the horizon. Enemy bombers constantly scurry in the air.
Going around the settlements, we are approaching Bialystok. Further we go, worse it becomes. More and more enemy aircraft are in the air ... We had no time to move 200 meters from the plane after landing, when the noise of engines was heard in the sky. Nine Junkers showed up, they are descending over the airfield and dropping bombs. Explosions shake the ground, cars burn. The planes on which we had just arrived were also engulfed in fire ... "Our pilots fought to the last opportunity. In the early morning of June 22, the deputy squadron commander of the 46th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Ivanov Ivanov, at the head of the I-16 troika, took on several He-111 bombers. One of them was shot down, and the rest began to drop bombs and turn back.
At that moment, three more enemy vehicles appeared. Given that the fuel was running out and the cartridges ran out, Ivanov decided to ram the leading German aircraft and, going into its tail and making a slide, sharply hit the enemy's tail with his propeller.
Soviet fighter I-16
The exact time of the air ram
A bomber with crosses crashed five kilometers from the airfield, which was defended by Soviet pilots, but Ivanov was also mortally wounded when an I-16 crashed on the outskirts of the village of Zagortsy. The exact time of the ramming - 4:25 - was recorded by the pilot's wristwatch, which stopped from hitting the dashboard. Ivanov died on the same day in a hospital in the city of Dubno. He was only 31 years old. In August 1941, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
At 5:10 a.m., junior lieutenant Dmitry Kokarev from the 124th Fighter Aviation Regiment took off his MiG-3. From left and right, his comrades took off - to intercept German bombers that attacked their field airfield in Vysoka Mazowiecka near Bialystok.
Shoot down the enemy at any cost
During a short-lived battle on the plane of 22-year-old Kokarev, the weapon failed, and the pilot decided to ram the enemy. Despite the aimed shots of the enemy gunner, the brave pilot approached the enemy Dornier Do 217 and shot it down, landing on the airfield on the damaged plane himself.
Pilot Oberfeldwebel Erich Stockmann and non-commissioned officer gunner Hans Schumacher burned to death in a wrecked aircraft. Only the navigator, squadron commander Lieutenant Hans-Georg Peters and flight radio operator Sergeant Hans Kownacki managed to survive after the swift attack of the Soviet fighter, who managed to jump out with parachutes.
In total, on the first day of the war, at least 15 Soviet pilots made an aerial ramming against Luftwaffe pilots.
Fighting surrounded for days and weeks
On the ground, the Germans also began to suffer losses from the beginning of the invasion. First of all - faced with fierce resistance from the personnel of 485 attacked border outposts. According to the Barbarossa plan, no more than half an hour was allotted for the capture of each. In fact, the soldiers in green caps fought for hours, days and even weeks, nowhere retreating without an order.
The neighbors also distinguished themselves - the Third Frontier Outpost of the same detachment. Thirty-six border guards, led by 24-year-old Lieutenant Viktor Usov, fought for more than six hours against a Wehrmacht infantry battalion, repeatedly switching to bayonet counterattacks. Having received five wounds, Usov died in a trench with a sniper rifle in his hands and in 1965 was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
The Gold Star was also posthumously awarded to 26-year-old Lieutenant Aleksey Lopatin, commander of the 13th border outpost of the 90th Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment. Leading an all-round defense, he fought with his subordinates for 11 days in complete encirclement, skillfully using the facilities of the local fortified area and favorable terrain. On June 29, he managed to withdraw women and children from the encirclement, and then, returning to the outpost, he, like his fighters, died in an unequal battle on July 2, 1941.
Landing on the enemy coast
The soldiers of the Ninth Frontier Post of the 17th Brest Frontier Detachment, Lieutenant Andrei Kizhevatov, were among the most staunch defenders of the Brest Fortress, which was stormed by the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht for nine days. The thirty-three-year-old commander was wounded on the first day of the war, but until June 29 he continued to lead the defense of the barracks of the 333rd regiment and the Terespol gates and died in a desperate counterattack. 20 years after the war, Kizhevatov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
On the site of the 79th Izmail border detachment, which guarded the border with Romania, on June 22, 1941, 15 enemy attempts were repelled to cross the Prut and Danube rivers in order to capture a bridgehead on Soviet territory. At the same time, the well-aimed fire of the fighters in green caps was supplemented by aimed volleys of army artillery of the 51st Infantry Division of General Pyotr Tsirulnikov.
On June 24, the division’s soldiers, together with border guards and sailors of the Danube military flotilla, led by lieutenant commander Ivan Kubyshkin, crossed the Danube and captured a 70-kilometer bridgehead in Romania, which they held until July 19, when, by order of the command, the last paratroopers left for the eastern bank of the river .
Commandant of the first liberated city
The first city to be recognized as liberated from German troops was Przemysl (or Przemysl - in Polish) in Western Ukraine, which was attacked by the 101st Infantry Division from the 17th Field Army of General Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, advancing on Lvov and Tarnopol.
Fierce battles ensued for him. On June 22, Przemysl was defended for 10 hours by the fighters of the Przemysl border detachment, who then retreated, having received the appropriate order. Their stubborn defense allowed them to gain time before the approach of the regiments of the 99th Infantry Division of Colonel Nikolai Dementyev, who the next morning, together with border guards and soldiers of the local fortified area, attacked the Germans, knocking them out of the city and holding it until June 27.
The hero of the battles was the 33-year-old senior lieutenant Grigory Polivoda, who commanded a combined battalion of border guards and became the first commander whose subordinates cleared the Soviet city of the enemy. He was rightfully appointed commandant of Przemysl and died in battle on July 30, 1941.
Gained time and pulled up new reserves
Following the results of the first day of the war with Russia, the chief of the general staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, General Franz Halder, noted with some surprise in his personal diary that after the initial stupor caused by the suddenness of the attack, the Red Army switched to active operations. “Without a doubt, on the side of the enemy there were cases of tactical withdrawal, albeit disorderly. There are no signs of an operational withdrawal, ”the German general wrote.
Red Army soldiers go on the attack
He did not suspect that the war that had just begun and victorious for the Wehrmacht would soon turn from a lightning-fast one into a life-and-death struggle between the two states, and victory would not go to Germany at all.
General Kurt von Tippelskirch, who became a historian after the war, described in his works the actions of the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. “The Russians held out with unexpected firmness and tenacity, even when they were bypassed and surrounded. By doing this, they bought time and pulled together all the new reserves for counterattacks from the depths of the country, which, moreover, were stronger than expected.
