Where the German troops reached map. Barbarossa plan. What plans did the Nazis have for European countries and the USSR?

, “the cruelty of the occupation regime was such that, according to the most conservative estimates, one in five of the seventy million Soviet citizens who found themselves under occupation did not live to see Victory.”

The inscription on the school board: “The Russian must die so that we can live.” Occupied territory of the USSR, October 10, 1941

According to Taylor, the representative of the US prosecution at the Nuremberg trials, “the atrocities committed by the armed forces and other organizations of the Third Reich in the East were so stunningly monstrous that the human mind can hardly comprehend them ... I think analysis will show that they were not just madness and bloodlust. On the contrary, there was a method and a goal. These atrocities occurred as a result of carefully calculated orders and directives issued before or during the attack on the Soviet Union and representing a consistent logical system."

As the Russian historian G. A. Bordyugov points out, in the affairs of the Extraordinary State Commission “to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices” (June 1941 - December 1944), 54,784 acts of atrocities against civilians in the occupied Soviet territories were recorded . Among them are crimes such as “the use of civilians during hostilities, the forced mobilization of civilians, the shooting of civilians and the destruction of their homes, rape, the hunt for people - slaves for German industry.”

Additional images online
	On the occupied territory, a thematic catalog of photographic documents of the Russian Archive.

The Nazi occupation of the USSR and its initiators were publicly condemned by an international tribunal during the Nuremberg trials.

Goals of war

As the German historian Dr. Wolfrem Werte noted in 1999, “The Third Reich's war against the Soviet Union was aimed from the very beginning at the seizure of territory up to the Urals, the exploitation of the natural resources of the USSR and the long-term subordination of Russia to German domination. Not only Jews, but also the Slavs who inhabited the Soviet territories captured by Germany in 1941-1944 faced a direct threat of systematic physical destruction... The Slavic population of the USSR... along with the Jews was proclaimed a “lower race” and was also subject to destruction.”

The military-political and ideological goals of the “war in the East” are evidenced, in particular, by the following documents:

The chief of staff of the operational leadership of the OKW, after appropriate corrections, returned the draft document “Instructions regarding the special problems of Directive No. 21 (variant of the Barbarossa plan)” presented to him on December 18, 1940 by the National Defense department, making a note that this draft could be reported to the Fuhrer after revision in accordance with the following provisions:

“The upcoming war will be not only an armed struggle, but also at the same time a struggle between two worldviews. To win this war in conditions where the enemy has a huge territory, it is not enough to defeat his armed forces, this territory should be divided into several states, headed by their own governments, with which we could conclude peace treaties.

The creation of such governments requires great political skill and the development of well-thought-out general principles.

Every large-scale revolution brings to life phenomena that cannot simply be cast aside. It is no longer possible to eradicate socialist ideas in today's Russia. These ideas can serve as an internal political basis for the creation of new states and governments. The Jewish-Bolshevik intelligentsia, which represents the oppressor of the people, must be removed from the scene. The former bourgeois-aristocratic intelligentsia, if it still exists, primarily among emigrants, should also not be allowed to come to power. It will not be accepted by the Russian people and, moreover, it is hostile towards the German nation. This is especially noticeable in the former Baltic states. Moreover, we must under no circumstances allow the Bolshevik state to be replaced by a nationalist Russia, which ultimately (as history shows) will again oppose Germany.

Our task is to create these socialist states dependent on us as quickly as possible with the least amount of military effort.

This task is so difficult that the army alone cannot solve it.”

30.3.1941 ... 11.00. Big meeting with the Fuhrer. Almost 2.5 hour speech...

The struggle of two ideologies... The huge danger of communism for the future. We must proceed from the principle of soldierly camaraderie. The communist has never been and will never be our comrade. We are talking about a fight of destruction. If we don't look at it this way, then even though we defeat the enemy, in 30 years the communist danger will arise again. We are not waging war in order to mothball our enemy.

Future political map of Russia: Northern Russia belongs to Finland, protectorates in the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus.

The fight against Russia: the destruction of the Bolshevik commissars and communist intelligentsia. The new states must be socialist, but without their own intelligentsia. A new intelligentsia should not be allowed to form. Here only the primitive socialist intelligentsia will be sufficient. The fight must be waged against the poison of demoralization. This is far from a military judicial issue. Commanders of units and units are required to know the goals of the war. They must lead in the struggle..., keep the troops firmly in their hands. The commander must give his orders taking into account the mood of the troops.

The war will be very different from the war in the West. In the East, cruelty is a blessing for the future. Commanders must make sacrifices and overcome their hesitations...

Diary of the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces F. Halder

The economic goals are formulated in the directive of Reichsmarschall Goering (written no later than June 16, 1941):

I. According to the orders of the Fuhrer, all measures must be taken for the immediate and fullest possible use of the occupied areas in the interests of Germany. All activities that could interfere with the achievement of this goal should be postponed or abandoned altogether.

II. The use of areas subject to occupation should be carried out primarily in the food and oil sectors of the economy. Getting as much food and oil as possible for Germany is the main economic goal of the campaign. Along with this, German industry must be provided with other raw materials from the occupied areas, as far as technically possible and taking into account the preservation of industry in these areas. As regards the type and volume of industrial production of the occupied areas that must be preserved, restored or reorganized, this must also be determined very first in accordance with the requirements that the use of agriculture and the oil industry poses for the German war economy.

German propaganda poster "Hitler's Warriors - Friends of the People."

This clearly expresses the guidelines for managing the economy in the occupied areas. This applies to both main goals and individual tasks that help achieve them. In addition, this also suggests that tasks that are not consistent with the main goal or interfere with maintaining it should be abandoned, even if their implementation in certain cases seems desirable. The point of view that the occupied regions should be put in order as soon as possible and their economy restored is completely inappropriate. On the contrary, the attitude towards individual parts of the country should be differentiated. Economic development and maintenance of order should be carried out only in those areas where we can extract significant reserves of agricultural products and oil. And in other parts of the country that cannot feed themselves, that is, in Central and Northern Russia, economic activity should be limited to the use of discovered reserves.

Main economic tasks

Baltic region

Caucasus

In the Caucasus it was planned to create an autonomous region (Reichskommissariat) within the Third Reich. The capital is Tbilisi. The territory would cover the entire Soviet Caucasus from Turkey and Iran to the Don and Volga. It was planned to create national entities within the Reichskommissariat. The basis of the economy of this region was to be oil production and agriculture.

Preparation for war and the initial period of hostilities

As Russian historian Gennady Bordyugov writes, “from the very beginning, the political and military leadership of Germany... demanded that soldiers be prepared for unlawful, essentially criminal, actions. Hitler’s ideas on this matter were a consistent development of the political principles that he outlined in his books written back in the 1920s... As mentioned above, on March 30, 1941, at a secret meeting, Hitler, speaking to 250 generals whose troops were to participate in Operation Barbarossa, called Bolshevism a manifestation of " social crime“. He stated that " it's about a fight of destruction“».

According to the order of the head of the Wehrmacht High Command, Field Marshal Keitel, dated May 13, 1941, “On military jurisdiction in the Barbarossa area and on special powers of troops,” signed by him on the basis of Hitler’s orders, a regime of unlimited terror was actually declared on the territory of the USSR occupied by German troops . The order contained a clause that actually exempted the occupiers from liability for crimes against the civilian population: “ Prosecution of acts committed by military personnel and service personnel against hostile civilians is not mandatory even where those acts also constitute a military crime or misdemeanor».

Gennady Bordyugov also points to the existence of other documentary evidence of the attitude of German military leaders towards the civilian population caught in the combat zone - for example, the commander of the 6th Army von Reichenau demands (July 10, 1941) to shoot “ soldiers in civilian clothes, easily recognizable by their short haircut", And " civilians whose manners and behavior appear to be hostile", General G. Hot (November 1941) - " immediately and ruthlessly stop every step of active or passive resistance", commander of the 254th division, Lieutenant General von Weschnitta (December 2, 1941) - " shoot without warning any civilian of any age or gender who approaches the front line" And " immediately shoot anyone suspected of spying».

Administration of occupied territories

There was no supply of food to the population from the occupation authorities; urban residents found themselves in especially difficult conditions. In the occupied territories, fines, corporal punishment, and in-kind and monetary taxes were established everywhere, the amounts of which were mostly set arbitrarily by the occupation authorities. The invaders applied various repressions to tax evaders, including execution and large-scale punitive operations.

Nazi demonstration on Freedom Square in Minsk, 1943.

Repression

The operation proceeded smoothly, excluding shifts in some of its stages over time. Their main reason was the following. On the map the settlement of Borki is shown as a compactly located village. In fact, it turned out that this village extends 6 - 7 km in length and width. When I established this at dawn, I expanded the cordon on the eastern side and organized the envelopment of the village in the form of pincers while simultaneously increasing the distance between the posts. As a result, I managed to capture and deliver to the gathering place all the village residents, without exception. It turned out to be favorable that the purpose for which the population was rounded up was unknown to him until the last moment. Calm reigned at the gathering place, the number of posts was reduced to a minimum, and the released forces could be used in the further course of the operation. The team of gravediggers received shovels only at the scene of the execution, thanks to which the population remained in the dark about what was coming. Discreetly installed light machine guns quelled the panic that arose from the very beginning when the first shots were fired from the execution site, located 700 m from the village. The two men tried to run, but fell after a few steps, hit by machine-gun fire. The shooting began at 9 o'clock. 00 min. and ended at 18:00. 00 min. Of the 809 rounded up, 104 people (politically reliable families) were released, among them were workers from the Mokrana estates. The execution took place without any complications, the preparatory measures turned out to be very expedient.

The confiscation of grain and equipment occurred, apart from the shift in time, systematically. The number of deliveries turned out to be sufficient, since the amount of grain was not large and the points for pouring unthreshed grain were not very far away...

Household utensils and agricultural implements were taken away with carts of bread.

I give the numerical result of the execution. 705 people were shot, of which 203 were men, 372 women, 130 children.

The number of collected livestock can only be determined approximately, since at the collection point the following were not recorded: horses - 45, cattle - 250, calves - 65, pigs and piglets - 450 and sheep - 300. Poultry could only be found in separate cases. What was found was handed over to the released residents.

The inventory collected included: 70 carts, 200 plows and harrows, 5 winnowing machines, 25 straw cutters and other small equipment.

All confiscated grain, equipment and livestock were transferred to the manager of the state estate of Mokrany...

During the operation in Borki, the following were consumed: rifle cartridges - 786, machine gun cartridges - 2496 pieces. There were no losses in the company. One watchman with suspected jaundice was sent to a hospital in Brest.

Deputy company commander, chief lieutenant of the security police Müller

On the occupied territory of the USSR, the destruction of Soviet prisoners of war who fell into the hands of the advancing German troops took place.

Exposure and punishment

In art

• “Come and See” (1985) - Soviet feature film directed by Elem Klimov, which recreates the eerie atmosphere of the occupation, the “everyday life” of the Ost plan, which envisioned the cultural devastation of Belarus and the physical destruction of most of its population.
• Road check of Alexey German.

The Battle of Moscow (1941-1942) is one of the largest battles of the Second World War, both in terms of the number of participants and the territory on which it took place. The significance of the battle is enormous, it was on the verge of actual defeat, but thanks to the valor of the soldiers and the leadership talents of the generals, the battle for Moscow was won, and the myth of the invincibility of the German troops was destroyed. Where were the Germans stopped near Moscow? The course of the battle, the strength of the parties, as well as its results and consequences will be discussed further in the article.

Background of the battle

According to the general plan of the German command, code-named “Barbarossa,” Moscow was supposed to be captured three to four months after the start of the war. However, Soviet troops offered heroic resistance. The battle for Smolensk alone delayed German troops for two months.

Hitler’s soldiers approached Moscow only at the end of September, that is, in the fourth month of the war. The operation to capture the capital of the USSR received the code name “Typhoon”, according to it, German troops were supposed to cover Moscow from the north and south, then encircle and capture. The Moscow battle took place over a vast territory that stretched for a thousand kilometers.

Strengths of the parties. Germany

The German command deployed huge forces. 77 divisions with a total number of more than 2 million people took part in the battles. In addition, the Wehrmacht had at its disposal more than 1,700 tanks and self-propelled guns, 14 thousand guns and mortars and about 800 aircraft. The commander of this huge army was Field Marshal F. von Bock.

USSR

The VKG Headquarters had at its disposal the forces of five fronts with a total number of more than 1.25 million people. Also, Soviet troops had more than 1000 tanks, 10 thousand guns and mortars and more than 500 aircraft. The defense of Moscow was led in turn by several outstanding strategists: A. M. Vasilevsky, I. S. Konev, G. K. Zhukov.

Course of events

Before finding out where the Germans were stopped near Moscow, it is worth talking a little about the course of military operations in this battle. It is usually divided into two stages: defensive (which lasted from September 30 to December 4, 1941) and offensive (from December 5, 1941 to April 20, 1942).

Defensive stage

The start date of the Battle of Moscow is considered to be September 30, 1941. On this day, the Nazis attacked the troops of the Bryansk Front.

On October 2, the Germans went on the offensive in the Vyazma direction. Despite stubborn resistance, German units managed to cut through the Soviet troops between the cities of Rzhev and Vyazma, as a result of which the troops of actually two fronts found themselves in a cauldron. In total, more than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers were surrounded.

After the defeat at Bryansk, the Soviet command organized a line of defense in the Mozhaisk direction. Residents of the city hastily prepared defensive structures: they dug trenches and trenches, and installed anti-tank hedgehogs.

During the rapid offensive, German troops managed to capture cities such as Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Kalinin, Mozhaisk from October 13 to 18 and came close to the Soviet capital. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

Moscow is surrounded

Even before the actual imposition of a state of siege in Moscow, on October 15, the Civil Defense Command was evacuated from the capital to Kuibyshev (modern Samara); the next day the evacuation of all government agencies, the general staff, etc. began.

J.V. Stalin decided to stay in the city. On the same day, panic gripped the residents of the capital, rumors spread about leaving Moscow, and several dozen city residents tried to urgently leave the capital. Only by October 20 was it possible to establish order. On this day the city went into a state of siege.

By the end of October 1941, battles were already taking place near Moscow in Naro-Fominsk, Kubinka, and Volokolamsk. German air raids were regularly carried out on Moscow, which did not cause much damage, since the most valuable buildings in the capital were carefully camouflaged, and Soviet anti-aircraft gunners worked well. At the cost of huge losses, the October offensive of the German troops was stopped. But they almost reached Moscow.

Where were the Germans able to get? This sad list includes the suburbs of Tula, Serpukhov, Naro-Fominsk, Kaluga, Kalinin, Mozhaisk.

Parade on Red Square

Taking advantage of the relative silence at the front, the Soviet command decided to hold a military parade on Red Square. The purpose of the parade was to raise the morale of Soviet soldiers. The date was set for November 7, 1941, the parade was hosted by S. M. Budyonny, the parade was commanded by General P. A. Artemyev. Rifle and motorized rifle units, Red Navy men, cavalrymen, as well as artillery and tank regiments took part in the parade. The soldiers left the parade almost immediately to the front line, leaving unconquered Moscow behind...

Where did the Germans go? What cities were they able to reach? How did the Red Army soldiers manage to stop the enemy’s orderly battle formations? It's time to find out about it.

November Nazi offensive on the capital

On November 15, after a powerful artillery barrage, a new round of German offensive began near Moscow. Stubborn battles unfolded in the Volokolamsk and Klin directions. So, during the 20 days of the offensive, the Nazis managed to advance 100 km and capture cities such as Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Yakhroma. The closest settlement to Moscow, where the Germans reached during the offensive, turned out to be Yasnaya Polyana - the estate of the writer L. N. Tolstoy.

The Germans had about 17 km to the borders of Moscow itself, and 29 km to the walls of the Kremlin. By the beginning of December, as a result of a counterattack, Soviet units were able to drive the Germans out of previously occupied territories in the vicinity of the capital, including from Yasnaya Polyana.

Today we know where the Germans reached near Moscow - to the very walls of the capital! But they failed to take the city.

The onset of cold weather

As stated above, the Barbarossa plan provided for the capture of Moscow by German troops no later than October 1941. In this regard, the German command did not provide winter uniforms for the soldiers. The first night frosts began at the end of October, and the temperature dropped below zero for the first time on November 4. On this day the thermometer showed -8 degrees. Subsequently, the temperature very rarely dropped below 0 °C.

Not only were the German soldiers, dressed in light uniforms, unprepared for the first cold weather, but also the equipment, which was not designed to work in subzero temperatures.

The cold caught the soldiers when they were actually several tens of kilometers from Belokamennaya, but their equipment did not start in the cold, and the frozen Germans near Moscow did not want to fight. “General Frost” once again rushed to the rescue of the Russians...

Where were the Germans stopped near Moscow? The last German attempt to capture Moscow was made during the attack on Naro-Fominsk on December 1. During several massive attacks, German units managed to penetrate for a short time into the areas of Zvenigorod by 5 km, and Naro-Fominsk by up to 10 km.

After transferring the reserve, Soviet troops managed to push the enemy back to their original positions. The Naro-Fominsk operation is considered the last one carried out by the Soviet command at the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow.

Results of the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow

The Soviet Union defended its capital at great cost. The irretrievable losses of Red Army personnel during the defensive phase amounted to more than 500 thousand people. at this stage it lost about 145 thousand people. But during its attack on Moscow, the German command used virtually all available reserves, which by December 1941 were virtually depleted, which allowed the Red Army to go on the offensive.

At the end of November, after it became known from intelligence sources that Japan did not transfer about 10 divisions and hundreds of tanks to Moscow from the Far East. The troops of the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts were equipped with new divisions, as a result of which, by the beginning of the offensive, the Soviet group in the Moscow direction consisted of more than 1.1 million soldiers, 7,700 guns and mortars, 750 tanks, and about 1 thousand aircraft.

However, she was opposed by a group of German troops, not inferior, and even superior in numbers. The number of personnel reached 1.7 million people, tanks and aircraft were 1200 and 650, respectively.

On the fifth and sixth of December, troops on three fronts launched a large-scale offensive, and already on December 8, Hitler gave the order for German troops to go on the defensive. In 1941, Soviet troops liberated Istra and Solnechnogorsk. On December 15 and 16, the cities of Klin and Kalinin were liberated.

During the ten days of the Red Army's offensive, they managed to push back the enemy on different sections of the front by 80-100 km, and also create a threat of collapse to the German front of Army Group Center.

Hitler, not wanting to retreat, dismissed Generals Brauchitsch and Bock and appointed General G. von Kluge as the new army commander. However, the Soviet offensive developed rapidly, and the German command was unable to stop it. In just December 1941, German troops in different sectors of the front were pushed back 100-250 km, which meant the virtual elimination of the threat to the capital and the complete defeat of the Germans near Moscow.

In 1942, Soviet troops slowed down the pace of their offensive and failed to actually destroy the front of Army Group Center, although they inflicted an extremely heavy defeat on the German troops.

The result of the battle for Moscow

The historical significance of the defeat of the Germans near Moscow is invaluable for the entire Second World War. More than 3 million people, over two thousand aircraft and three thousand tanks took part in this battle on both sides, and the front stretched over more than 1000 km. Over the 7 months of the battle, Soviet troops lost more than 900 thousand people killed and missing, while German troops lost more than 400 thousand people over the same period. Important results of the Battle of Moscow (1941-1942) include:

• The German plan for “blitzkrieg” - a quick lightning-fast victory - was destroyed, Germany had to prepare for a long, exhausting war.
• The threat of the capture of Moscow ceased to exist.
• The myth about the indestructibility of the German army was dispelled.
• The German army suffered serious losses of its advanced and most combat-ready units, which had to be replenished with inexperienced recruits.
• The Soviet command gained enormous experience in successfully waging war against the German army.
• After the victory in the Moscow battle, the anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape.

This is how the defense of Moscow took place, and such significant results were brought about by its positive outcome.

Event maps: Attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR Defeat of Nazi Germany A radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War Victory over militaristic Japan Video archive materials: A. Hitler Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact June 22, 1941 Beginning of the Great Patriotic War Tank battle near the village of Prokhorovka Stalingrad Berlin operation Tehran Conference Yalta Conference Signing of the Act of Surrender of Germany Victory Parade.

In January 1933, the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany (see video archive). A hotbed of military tension has emerged in the center of Europe. The attack of Nazi Germany on Poland on September 1, 1939 marked the beginning of the Second World War.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war (see video archive). By this time, Germany and its allies had captured virtually all of Europe. This allowed it to use the military-industrial potential of the occupied countries to strike at the Soviet Union. The superiority in the technical equipment of the German army (i.e. in tanks, aircraft, communications) and the accumulated experience of modern warfare determined the
the rapid offensive of German troops on the Soviet front in the summer of 1941.
The Soviet Union was unprepared to repel aggression. The rearmament of the Red Army was not completed. By the beginning of the war, the creation of new defensive lines had not been completed. Stalin's repressions in the army caused enormous damage to the army's combat effectiveness. In 1937-1938 During the repressions, 579 of the 733 senior command personnel of the Armed Forces (from brigade commander to marshal) were killed. The consequence of this was serious mistakes in the development of military doctrine. The biggest miscalculation of I.V. Stalin (see video archive) was ignoring information from Soviet intelligence officers about the exact date of the start of the war. The Red Army was not put on combat readiness. MASS REPRESSIONS IN THE RED ARMY (for the period 1936-1938) HIGH COMMAND OF THE RED ARMY REPRESSED of 5 marshals 3 of 2 army commissars of the 1st rank 2 of 4 army commanders of the 1st rank 2 of 12 army commanders of the 2nd rank 12 of 2 1st rank fleet flagships 2 out of 15 2nd rank army commissars 15 out of 67 corps commanders 60 out of 28 corps commissars 25 out of 199 division commanders 136 out of 397 brigade commanders 221 out of 36 brigade commissars 34
As a result, in the first days of the war, a significant part of Soviet aircraft and tanks were destroyed. Large formations of the Red Army were surrounded, destroyed or captured. In general, the Red Army lost 5 million people (killed, wounded and captured) in the first months of the war. The enemy occupied Ukraine, Crimea, the Baltic states, and Belarus. On September 8, 1941, the blockade of Leningrad began, which lasted almost 900 days (see map). However, the stubborn resistance of the Red Army in the summer-autumn of 1941 thwarted Hitler’s plan for a lightning war (plan “Barbarossa”).
Since the beginning of the war, the efforts of the ruling party and government were aimed at mobilizing all forces to repel the enemy. It was held under the slogan “Everything for the front!” Everything for victory! The restructuring of the economy on a war footing began. Its integral part was the evacuation of industrial enterprises and people from the front-line zone. By the end of 1941, 1,523 enterprises were relocated to the East of the country. Many civilian plants and factories switched to producing military products.
In the first days of the war, the formation of a people's militia began. Clandestine resistance groups and partisan detachments were created behind enemy lines. By the end of 1941, more than 2 thousand partisan detachments were operating in the occupied territory.
In the fall of 1941, Hitler launched two attacks on Moscow (Operation Typhoon), during which German units managed to get 25-30 km closer to the capital. In this critical situation
The people's militia provided great assistance to the army. At the beginning of December, a counteroffensive by Soviet troops began, which lasted until April 1942. As a result, the enemy was thrown back 100-250 km from the capital. The victory near Moscow finally crossed out the German “blitzkrieg” plan.

The names of Soviet military leaders became known to the whole world: Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, Ivan Stepanovich Konev, Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky.

The city of Stalingrad on the Volga became a symbol of the perseverance and heroism of Soviet soldiers. The defense of Stalingrad began in September 1942. Over two months of fierce fighting, the defenders of Stalingrad repelled 700 enemy attacks. By mid-1942, German troops were forced to stop the offensive due to heavy losses. On November 19, 1942, the Soviet offensive began (Operation Uranus). It developed at lightning speed and successfully. Within 5 days, 22 enemy divisions were surrounded. All attempts to break through the encirclement from the outside were repulsed (see map). The surrounded group was cut into pieces and destroyed. Over 90 thousand German soldiers and officers surrendered.
The victory at Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical change in the Great Patriotic War. The strategic initiative passed to the Soviet command. In the winter of 1943, a wide offensive of the Red Army began on all fronts. In January 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken. In February 1943, the North Caucasus was liberated.
In the summer of 1943, the largest battle of the Second World War took place - the Battle of Kursk. It started with a massive offensive
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German troops near Kursk (July 5, 1943). After a grandiose tank battle near the village of Prokhorovka on July 12, the enemy was stopped (see video archive). The counter-offensive of the Red Army began. It ended in the complete defeat of the German troops. In August, the cities of Orel and Belgorod were liberated. The Battle of Kursk marked the completion of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War (see.
card). In the fall of 1943, most of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv were liberated.
1944 was the year of the complete liberation of the territory of the USSR from invaders. Belarus (Operation Bagration), Moldova, Karelia, the Baltic states, all of Ukraine and the Arctic were liberated. In the summer and autumn of 1944, the Soviet Army crossed the border of the USSR and entered the territory of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Norway. As Soviet troops approached, armed uprisings broke out in a number of countries. During armed uprisings in Romania and Bulgaria, pro-fascist regimes were overthrown. At the beginning of 1945, the Soviet Army liberated Poland, Hungary, and Austria (see map).
In April 1945, the Berlin operation began under the command of Marshal Zhukov. The fascist leadership was completely
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demoralized. Hitler committed suicide. On the morning of May 1, Berlin was captured (see video archive). On May 8, 1945, representatives of the German command signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender
lations (see video archive). On May 9, the remnants of German troops were defeated in the area of ​​​​Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia. Therefore, May 9 became Victory Day of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War (see video archive).
The Great Patriotic War was an integral part of the Second World War (1939-1945). Great Britain and the USA became allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition. Allied forces made a significant contribution to the liberation of Western and Central Europe. However, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the struggle against fascism. The Soviet-German front remained the main one throughout the Second World War. The landing of Anglo-American troops in Northern France and the opening of a second front took place only on June 6, 1944. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union entered the war with Japan, fulfilling its allied obligations. The war in the Far East lasted from August 9 to September 2 and ended with the complete defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Japan's signing of the Instrument of Surrender marked the end of World War II (see map).
The Soviet people paid a huge price for their victory. During the war, about 27 million people died. 1,710 cities lay in ruins (see video archive), over 70 thousand villages and hamlets were burned. In the occupied territory, thousands of plants and factories were destroyed, museums and libraries were looted. However, mass heroism at the front and the selfless work of Soviet people in
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the rear was allowed to defeat Nazi Germany in this difficult and bloody war.
Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union.

Battle of Kursk
The defeat of Nazi troops at Stalingrad

The front line at the beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive
Russian troops (11/19/1942)
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The direction of the attacks of the Soviet troops in November 1942. The encirclement of the Nazi troops
Front line on November 30, 1942.
The direction of attack of the Nazi troops trying to break through to the encircled group
Counter-offensive of Nazi troops and their withdrawal
Front line by December 31, 1942
Final liquidation of the encircled Nazi troops (January 10 - February 2, 1943)
Front line by July 5, 1943 Offensive of the Nazi troops Defensive battles and counterattacks of the Soviet troops Line where the Nazi troops were stopped Soviet counteroffensive

Position of troops by August 9, 1945 " "I Fortified areas of Japanese troops Direction of attacks by Soviet troops
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Strikes by Soviet-Mongolian troops Action of the Pacific Fleet
Airborne assaults
Action of the People's Liberation
Chinese army
Counterattacks of Japanese troops and their withdrawal Atomic bombing of Japanese cities by American aircraft Signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Japan 01/8/2018 17:48

The internationally recognized term “collaborationism” refers to the cooperation of the local population of the occupied territories with the Nazis during the Second World War. In Ukraine, almost a quarter of a century of “independent” existence, attempts are being made to justify the traitors. In this series are decrees on the liquidation of Soviet monuments and their destruction without any decrees, on the honoring of Hauptmann Shukhevych and Bandera, on the recognition of UPA soldiers as veterans, on the removal of “communist-chauvinist literature” from libraries for destruction, etc. All this is accompanied by constant attempts to whitewash “at the scientific level” of Ukrainian nationalists, up to the complete denial of such a phenomenon as Ukrainian collaborationism, in the works of V. Kosik, O. Romaniv, M. Koval, V. Sergiychuk and others.
We have to remind you of well-known facts. All the leaders of the OUN Wire - E. Konovalets, A. Melnyk, S. Bandera, Y. Stetsko - were agents of the German intelligence services since the 1930s. This is confirmed by the same testimony of Abwehr Colonel E. Stolze: “In order to attract the broad masses for subversive activities against the Poles, we recruited the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, Colonel of the Petliura Army, White emigrant KONOVALETS... Soon Konovalets was killed. The OUN was headed by Andrei MELNIK, who, like Konovalets, we attracted to cooperate with German intelligence... at the end of 1938 or at the beginning of 1939, a meeting was organized for Lahousen with Melnik, during which the latter was recruited and received the nickname “Consul”... Germany was intensively preparing for a war against the USSR and therefore measures were taken through the Abwehr to intensify subversive activities, because those activities that were carried out through Melnik and other agents seemed insufficient. For these purposes, the prominent Ukrainian nationalist Stepan BANDERA was recruited, who during the war was released by the Germans from prison, where he was imprisoned by the Polish authorities for participating in a terrorist attack against the leaders of the Polish government.”
Almost all the commanders of the Bandera UPA (not to be confused with the Bulba-Borovets UPA destroyed by Bandera with the help of the Nazis at the end of 1942-1943) are former officers of German units. 1939: “Ukrainian Legion”, also known as the special unit “Bergbauerhalfe” (R. Sushko, I. Korachevsky, E. Lotovich), who fought as part of the Wehrmacht against Poland. 1939 - 1941: Abwehr battalions “Roland” and “Nachtigal” (Hauptmann R. Shukhevych, Sturmbannführer E. Pobigushchiy, Hauptmanns I. Grinoch and V. Sidor, Oberst-lieutenants Yu. Lopatinsky and A. Lutsky, Abwehr lieutenants L. Ortynsky, M. Andrusyak, P. Melnik) - all of them subsequently transferred to the police “Schutzmanschaftbattalion-201”, and from there to the UPA. The commander of the “Bukovinsky Kuren” and military assistant of the OUN (M) P. Voinovsky is a Sturmbannführer and commander of a separate SS punitive battalion in Kyiv. P. Dyachenko, V. Gerasimenko, M. Soltys - commanders of the “Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion” of the OUN (M) in Volyn, also known as “Schutzmanschaftbattalion-31”, which suppressed the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. And also B. Konik (shb–45), I. Kedyumich (shb–303) - executioners of Babyn Yar; K. Smovsky (shb–118) - Khatyn is on his conscience; SB No. 3 - Cortelis. And also the numerous “Ukrainian auxiliary police” (K. Zvarych, G. Zakhvalinsky, D. Kupyak), which in 1943, in full force, joined the SS division “Galicia”. This is not counting the various “Abwehrstelle” teams (M. Kostyuk, I. Onufrik, P. Glyn). One cannot but agree with the thesis of the famous Canadian scientist V.V. Polishchuk that “the OUN lost its loyal Great Britain until May 9, 1945. There was only a short period of time in the OUN Bandera - up to 3 months - a break between the spivdia and the occupiers - when their “powers of power” were established... (end 19 42 - cob 1943)"