The Red Army's offensive has begun. Stalin's fourth blow: the defeat of the Finnish army

Advance of the Red Army and Navy in 1943

In the early morning of June 22, 1941, over three million Axis troops suddenly and without a declaration of war rushed across the border of the Soviet Union, beginning the infamous Operation Barbarossa. Having in the front ranks four powerful tank groups, reliably covered from the air and seemingly invincible, the Wehrmacht troops in a surprisingly short period of time - less than six months - advanced from the western borders of the Soviet Union to the very outskirts of Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov. Faced with this sudden and ruthless German invasion, the Red Army and the Soviet state were forced to desperately fight for their very existence. The war, covering an area of ​​approximately 600,000 square miles, lasted almost four years - before the Red Army victoriously raised the Soviet flag over the ruins of Hitler's Reich Chancellery in Berlin in late April 1945. The war, called the "Great Patriotic War" in the Soviet Union, became unprecedented. cruel. It was a real “Kulturkampf” - a deadly struggle between two cultures that killed as many as 35 million Russian soldiers and civilians, almost 4 million German soldiers and an unknown number of German civilians, causing unimaginable damage to the population and economic infrastructure of much of Central and Eastern Europe. When this conflict ended on May 9, 1945, the Soviet Union and its Red Army occupied large parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Three years after the victory, the Iron Curtain fell on Europe, dividing the continent into opposing camps for more than 40 years. But more importantly, the searing effect of this war on the Russian soul lasted for generations, shaping the post-war development of the Soviet Union and contributing to its demise in 1991. Ironically, despite the enormous scale and global impact of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War, it remains largely unknown and incomprehensible to both Westerners and Russians. And what's worse, these obscurities and misunderstandings, by obscuring the contribution of the Red Army and the Soviet state to the eventual Allied victory, have seriously distorted the history of World War II as a whole. Those in the West who knew anything at all about the Soviet-German war viewed it as a mysterious and brutal four-year struggle between the worst political enemies in Europe - and at the same time its most powerful armies. Opponents fought in areas of size, complexity and climatic conditions which gave the conflict the appearance of a series of unrelated actions. The war seemed to be a series of individual offensives and retreats, which were interspersed with months of positional battles or periodically played out battles of grandiose proportions - such as the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of Belarus, the Battle of Berlin. The paucity of information about the Soviet-German War reaching the English-speaking reader reinforced the natural tendency of Americans (and Western Europeans) to view it as merely a backdrop for more dramatic and significant battles in the Western theater of war - such as the Battle of El Alamein, the Salerno landings , Anzio and in Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge. It is quite understandable that a distorted and amateurish view of this war prevailed in the West - after all, almost all histories of this conflict were based on German sources. And they, as one would expect, described it as a struggle with a faceless and formless enemy, whose main properties were the enormity of his army and a limitless supply of generously spent human resources. Against such a pale background, only the most sensational events stood out. This general misperception was shared even by those who were somewhat better informed. Experts knew about the Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk battles, about von Manstein’s counterattack in the Donbass and near Kharkov, about the battles in the Cherkassy pocket and near Kamenets-Podolsk, about the collapse of Army Group Center and the stoppage Soviet troops at the gates of Warsaw. But the very terms used to describe these battles, as well as the insistence on labeling them as “wars of Eastern Front", indicate that even the knowledge of experts was based primarily on German sources. This lack of sufficient knowledge about the Soviet-German war and its full understanding prevents us from adequately presenting the importance and significance of this war in the context of the entire Second World War as a whole. Who is to blame for promoting this unbalanced view of this war? Some of the blame certainly lies with Western historians, although most of them had no choice but to rely on German works, the only reliable sources available. Ethnocentrism, which forces people to perceive only what concerns them personally, helped create this unbalanced war on both sides. However, an even more important role here was played by the inability of Soviet - as well as Russian historians - to provide Western (and Russian) readers and researchers with reliable information about the war. In this case, ideology, political motivations and persistent prejudices generated by the Cold War came together to hinder the work and distort the perceptions of many Soviet and Russian historians. Although Soviet and Russian historians wrote much detailed, high-quality and amazing precise research about the war and the battles and operations of the war, government censors too often forced them either to pass over or ignore facts and events considered disgraceful to the state, its army or its most famous generals. The most accessible general works on this war for Western readers were at the same time the most politicized and the least accurate, and the most scientific works available were until recently classified by official government bodies on political and political issues. ideological reasons. Even now, more than a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, political pressure and limited access to archives prevent Russian historians from researching or publishing many events that were censored in the past. These sad realities have undermined the reliability of Soviet and Russian historical writings, allowing scholarship to prevail interpretations based on German materials - and at the same time reduced confidence in those few Western researchers who included Soviet historical materials in their works. This is why, even today, Western readers are so attracted to all sorts of sensational, unbiased and wildly inaccurate information about various aspects of this war, and why debate continues to rage about its purpose, course and significance.

Main results and features of the winter campaign of 1942-43

The winter campaign of 1942/43, which lasted four and a half months, was of enormous military and political significance. In this campaign, the Red Army, launching a counteroffensive near Stalingrad, seized the strategic initiative, launched an offensive on a huge front and advanced 600 - 700 km westward. The mass expulsion of the enemy from Soviet soil began. The Stalingrad, Voronezh, Rostov regions, part of the Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk), Smolensk and Oryol region, almost the entire North Caucasus, Stavropol and Krasnodar region, the liberation of the northeastern regions of Ukraine began. During this campaign, large strategic enemy groupings on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front (Army Groups B and A) were defeated, and Army Groups Don, North, and Center were seriously defeated. All this significantly worsened the position of the Nazi troops. The defeat of the Italian, Hungarian and two Romanian armies on the Soviet-German front significantly weakened the forces of the fascist coalition. The authority of Nazi Germany among its allies was significantly undermined. The main type of military action in the campaign was a strategic offensive, which was carried out by conducting operations of groups of fronts interconnected in purpose, place and time. The offensive operations launched near Stalingrad on a 400 km front began to be consistent. By the end of March 1943, the front of the strategic offensive reached 2000 km.

In total, six operations of strategic importance were carried out in the campaign. They deployed in a strip with a width of 200 - 250 to 350 - 650 km and developed in depth by 150 - 400 km. The duration of operations ranged from 20 to 76 days, and the average rate of advance was between 20 and 25 km per day. Their features were as follows:

1. To solve strategic problems, the Red Army used the most decisive forms of operations - the encirclement of large enemy groups.

2. It was important that for the first time in campaign operations they began to use artillery offensive and a barrage of fire, which ensured more reliable suppression of the enemy.

3. A qualitatively new phenomenon was the massive use of armored and mechanized formations and formations in offensive operations, which allowed fronts and armies to quickly complete a breakthrough of enemy defenses and quickly develop success into operational depth.

4. In the first half of 1943, the role of the air force in achieving victories increased, which began to cooperate more closely with the ground forces. Operations began to plan for an air offensive.

During the winter campaign of 1942/43, the Wehrmacht and Germany's allies lost 1,700 thousand people, more than 3,500 tanks, 24,000 guns and 4,300 aircraft.

After the completion of the winter campaign of 1942/43, a three-month strategic pause began, which lasted until the end of June 1943. The parties ceased active hostilities and began comprehensive preparations for summer battles.

Preparation and conduct of the summer-autumn campaign of 1943

In preparation for new offensive operations, the Supreme High Command Headquarters took measures to further strengthen the Armed Forces, which allowed the balance of forces and means on the Soviet-German front to change in favor of the Soviet Armed Forces by the beginning of July 1943. The quality of weapons has improved. Up to 70% of the tanks in the active army were heavy and medium. Military air force continued to receive aircraft of new designs. In artillery, the number of guns with calibers over 76 mm increased.

During the summer campaign of 1943, a total of seven strategic offensive operations were carried out: Oryol, Belgorod-Kharkov, the operation to liberate Left Bank Ukraine (Chernigov-Poltava), Donbass, Smolensk, Kiev and the operation in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. They deployed in a strip with a width of 340 to 450 km and a depth of 150 to 300 km; their duration was 1 - 3 months, and the average rate of advance of rifle troops was from 4 to 7 km per day. In addition to the operations of groups of fronts, Soviet troops carried out a number of separate front-line operations (Bryansk, Gomel-Rechitsa, Novorossiysk-Taman, Kerch landing). The conduct of these operations contributed to the solution of the main task of the campaign - the defeat of the Nazi troops in the southwestern direction. The battle on Kursk Bulge.

In the summer of 1943, Nazi Germany, taking advantage of the absence of a second front, after carrying out total mobilization, launched a new offensive in the area of ​​the Kursk ledge in order to regain the lost strategic initiative after the defeat at Stalingrad. For the offensive, the enemy concentrated powerful strike forces in the Orel and Belgorod area of ​​more than 50 divisions, which included about 900 thousand soldiers and officers, up to 10 thousand guns and mortars, about 2,700 tanks and over 2 thousand aircraft. The Nazis placed great hopes on the new Tiger and Panther tanks, Ferdi-Nand assault guns, Focke-Wulf-190A fighters and Henschel-129 attack aircraft. The goal of the new offensive plan, codenamed “Citadel,” was to defeat the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts and, by the end of the fourth day of the offensive, to encircle and then destroy the group of Soviet troops in the Kursk salient area.

The Soviet High Command, having guessed the enemy's plans, decided to exhaust and bleed the enemy in defensive battles, and then launch a counter-offensive and defeat him. Our defense on the Kursk Bulge was deliberate, with a deeply echeloned formation. In the area of ​​the Kursk salient, the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts had over 1,300 thousand people, up to 20 thousand guns and mortars. up to 3600 tanks and self-propelled guns and 2370 aircraft. They were superior to the enemy both in personnel and in military equipment. In the rear of the Central and Voronezh fronts, a strong strategic reserve of the Headquarters was concentrated - the Steppe Military District (from July 9 - the Steppe Front). At the same time, the troops of the Bryansk and Western fronts were required to be ready to go on the offensive in the Oryol direction.

The offensive of the Nazi troops, which began on July 5, met extremely stubborn resistance from Soviet soldiers, who showed massive heroism and courage. Artillerymen destroyed enemy tanks with direct fire, infantrymen pelted them with anti-tank grenades, pilots fought stubborn air battles, achieving air superiority. Thus, an unprecedented feat was accomplished by the soldiers and commanders of the 214th Regiment of the 73rd Guards rifle division. They courageously repelled the advance of 120 tanks, including 35 Tigers, operating together with machine gunners. In a twelve-hour battle, the patriots destroyed 39 tanks and up to a thousand Nazis. Over the course of five to eight days of fierce defensive battles, the main enemy groups were exsanguinated. A convincing confirmation of this is the oncoming tank battle on July 12 in the Prokhorovka area, in which 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns took part on both sides. This was the largest counter tank battle of the Second World War. The Prokhorovsk tank battle ended in victory for the Soviet troops. Enemy losses amounted to over 400 tanks.

On July 12, a turning point came in the Battle of Kursk. Soviet troops launched a decisive counteroffensive. It included two strategic offensive operations: Oryol (July 12 - August 18) and Belgorod-Kharkov (August 3 - 23, 1943).

The plan for the offensive in the Oryol direction (Operation Kutuzov) was to dismember and then destroy the enemy group with attacks in converging directions. In the Oryol direction, formations of the 2nd tank and 9th tanks defended field army Army Group Center. They consisted of 37 divisions, including 10 tank and motorized divisions. The Soviet troops were opposed by a strong enemy group (up to 600 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 7 thousand guns and mortars, about 1,200 tanks and assault guns, over 1,100 combat aircraft). Headquarters entrusted the defeat of the enemy's Oryol group to the troops of the left wing of the Western Front (commanded by General V.D. Sokolovsky). Bryansk (General M. M. Popov) and Central (General K. K. Rokossovsky) fronts (1,286 thousand people, more than 21 thousand guns and mortars, 2,400 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 3 thousand combat aircraft).

As a result of the Oryol operation, a strategically important enemy bridgehead was eliminated, his group was defeated and conditions were created for a subsequent offensive in Belarus. Soviet troops advanced 150 km west. At the beginning of August, the strategic situation that developed on the southwestern wing of the Soviet-German front favored the transition of Soviet troops to a counteroffensive in the Belgorod-Kharkov direction (Operation "Commander Rumyantsev").

The forces of the 4th defended in this direction. tank army the enemy and the Kempf task force, which included 18 infantry and tank divisions (up to 300 thousand soldiers and officers, over 3 thousand guns and mortars, up to 600 tanks and assault guns and more than 1 thousand combat aircraft). In this sector, the enemy defenses were weaker than in the Oryol direction.

The idea of ​​the Headquarters was to deliver a dissecting blow with adjacent wings of the Voronezh (General N.F. Vatutin) and Steppe (General I.S. Konev) fronts (980.5 thousand personnel, over 12 thousand guns and mortars. 2400 tanks and Self-propelled guns and 1,300 combat aircraft) from the area northwest of Belgorod in the direction of Bogodukhov. Valki, in order to dismember the enemy group and defeat it in the Kharkov region. From the air, ground troops were supposed to support the 2nd. 5th Air Army, part of the 17th Air Force. long-range aviation and the country's air defense forces. On August 3, after artillery preparation and air strikes, Soviet troops went on the offensive. By the end of the fifth day, the troops of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts broke through the enemy’s defenses on a 120-kilometer front and advanced to a depth of 100 km. The fascist German command, having pulled up reserves and regrouped forces, launched a counterattack on the advancing formations of the 1st Tank Army, and then in the zone of the 27th Army. The troops of the Steppe Front stopped the enemy's advance with active actions on August 20, and in the following days defeated him. On August 23, the city of Kharkov was liberated. The defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk created favorable conditions for the Soviet troops to go on the offensive on a broad front with decisive goals. It follows from this that in the fall of 1943, in the southwestern strategic direction, where the main efforts of the warring parties were still concentrated, the Supreme High Command Headquarters envisaged a series of offensive operations united by a single plan and entered into the history of the Great Patriotic War as the Battle of the Dnieper.

Target These operations consisted of the liberation of Left Bank Ukraine, Donbass, Kyiv, as well as the capture of bridgeheads on the right bank of the Dnieper. The battle, which unfolded over a zone of over 1 thousand km, involved troops of the Central, Voronezh, Steppe, South-Western and Southern (from October 20, respectively, Belorussian, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Ukrainian) fronts, as well as the Azov military flotilla , long-range aviation and partisan formations.

As events unfolded, the battle for the Dnieper was divided into two stages. At the first stage (August - September 1943), Soviet troops liberated Left Bank Ukraine and crossed the Dnieper, and at the second (October - December 1943) they fought to retain and expand the captured bridgeheads. As a result of the offensive, Soviet troops advanced 250 - 300 km in a southwestern direction. By the end of September, they reached the Dnieper on a 700-kilometer front - from Loev to Zaporozhye. The aggressor suffered a heavy defeat in Left Bank Ukraine. The Soviet soldiers were not stopped by such a powerful water barrier as the Dnieper. The crossing of the Dnieper on the move using improvised means after heavy offensive battles is a feat of arms unparalleled in the history of wars. The successful offensive of Soviet troops in the southwestern direction created favorable conditions for completing the battle for the Caucasus and liberating the Taman Peninsula from the Nazis. To carry out these tasks, the Supreme High Command Headquarters decided to conduct the Novorossiysk-Taman operation, which was part of the battles that unfolded on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front.

During this operation, troops of the North Caucasus Front, in cooperation with the Black Sea Fleet and the Azov Military Flotilla, defeated ten German and Romanian divisions during 30 days of fierce fighting and liberated the Taman Peninsula from the enemy on October 9. The completion of the liberation of the North Caucasus was a significant milestone during the Great Patriotic War.

Military-political results of 1943

Numerous facts indicate that 1943 was full of important military-political events, and in terms of the scale, intensity and intensity of the armed struggle it had no equal in the history of mankind. Having seized the strategic initiative during the counteroffensive at Stalingrad and developed it in subsequent offensive and defensive battles from Lake Ladoga to the Terek, the Red Army retained it until the end of the war. By the end of 1943, the Red Army, having crushed the enemy’s defenses at the front up to 2 thousand km, advanced with battles 500 km in the central and up to 1300 km in the southern direction, vast areas of the North Caucasus were returned, Central Russia, Eastern Belarus, fertile lands of the left bank of Ukraine, industrial centers - Kharkov and Donbass. The events that unfolded on the Soviet-German front in 1943 convincingly showed that, as before, it was the main front of the Second World War.

In terms of the number of forces deployed here, the scale and results of the operations carried out, and the losses suffered by the armed forces of the fascist bloc, this front far exceeded the indicators of the struggle on all others taken together. Suffice it to say that here in the second period of the war, from 193 to 203 divisions of Germany and from 32 to 66 divisions of its allies (almost three-quarters of all troops of the fascist bloc), the bulk of military equipment and weapons, operated here. It was on the Soviet-German front that the enemy had almost 80% of his total combat losses. 218 divisions of the Wehrmacht and its allies were defeated, and their best military personnel were destroyed. Losses only ground forces The Wehrmacht from November 1942 to the end of 1943 amounted to almost 7 thousand tanks and 14.4 thousand combat aircraft. In 1943, 442,623 soldiers and officers were captured, and the total loss of life increased by almost 1.9 times compared to the previous year. Replenishing such losses was already becoming too much for the enemy. This radically changed the balance of forces on the Soviet-German front. The results of the armed struggle on the Soviet-German front proved the ability of the Red Army to independently defeat the Wehrmacht. The Soviet Armed Forces demonstrated increased combat prowess and successfully solved the fundamental problem of the war - they won and retained the strategic initiative.

The main type of combat operations of the Red Army became the strategic offensive. It was carried out in the form of interconnected simultaneous and sequential strategic operations, as a rule, groups of fronts. In most cases, 6-8 fronts, long-range aviation, and the country's Air Defense Forces took part in them. The operations were of significant scope and high degree effectiveness: their result is the defeat of 15 to 50 enemy divisions. Success was achieved in implementing plans to encircle and defeat enemy operational-strategic groupings, and experience was gained in conducting an offensive simultaneously in all strategic directions of the front and in crossing large water barriers. In the second period of the war there were important changes in the organizational structure of the Red Army. They were aimed at creating large, mobile combined arms, tank and air formations and formations with great firepower. By the summer of 1943, the process of recreating the corps organization of the rifle troops was largely completed. First divisions were formed, and then breakthrough artillery corps. The capabilities of the fronts in defeating the enemy increased significantly after the creation of tank armies of a homogeneous composition, numbering from 600 to 900 armored vehicles.

In the air force at the end of 1942, homogeneous aviation divisions began to be created:

fighter, attack, bomber. During 1943, first mixed and then homogeneous aviation corps were formed in the air armies. These organizational measures made it possible to use aviation more centrally in the interests of ground forces. All this, along with the acquisition of combat experience by the Red Army, made it possible to increase the scope of strategic operations, improve methods of conducting armed struggle, and achieve increasingly tangible victories over the enemy.

The attacks at the front were combined with the intensification of the people's struggle in the occupied territory. By the end of 1943, over a million partisans and underground fighters were operating here. During this year, partisans and underground fighters defeated five times more enemy garrisons, headquarters and other objects, and destroyed almost four times more enemy personnel than in the previous year. The ground literally burned under the feet of the invaders. It should be noted that in the battles of 1943, hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers proved their enormous devotion to their Motherland and demonstrated examples of skillful and heroic actions. Their exploits were noted with high state awards. This was confirmation of the growing combat skill and heroism of all personnel of the Red Army and Navy. So, if during the period from October 1942 to April 1943 about 420 thousand people were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, then from April to October 1943 the number of those awarded was about 797 thousand people, that is, it almost doubled . During the second period of the war with new strength A military-economic confrontation between the parties also unfolded.

They continued to increase the volume of both general and military production. But the military economy of the Soviet Union, especially the anti-fascist coalition, significantly surpassed Germany and its allies in terms of development rates. So, if in Germany in 1943 the volume industrial production increased by 12%, then in the Soviet Union by 17%. In 1943, Soviet industry produced more than German industry: tanks - by 40%, aircraft - by 25%, guns - by 63%, and mortars - by 213%. This led to the fact that by the middle of the year the Red Army outnumbered the Wehrmacht in tanks by 1.6 times, in guns and mortars by almost 2 times, and in combat aircraft by almost 3 times. In the year of the radical change, the Soviet Armed Forces were almost entirely supported by the country's internal resources. At the same time, supplies from the United States and England under Lend-Lease also provided some assistance in overcoming the most bottlenecks in the Soviet economy associated with the shortage of certain types of raw materials (aviation gasoline, high-quality metals, etc.). However, they could not be decisive in the war, since they covered only a small part of what was required, and were often late.

Therefore, in the confrontation with Germany, the Soviet Union counted, first of all, on own strength, to the strength of its economy. The successes of the Soviet Union at the front and in the rear strengthened its position in the international arena, and its authority among its allies increased sharply. After the Tehran Conference of 1943, the interaction between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain in political and military fields has entered a new stage. Closer consolidation of their efforts, despite the remaining contradictions regarding the opening of a second front and the post-war structure of the world, made it possible to expand the ranks of the anti-Hitler coalition - by the end of the year the number of its participants increased from 26 to 41. At the same time, the process of political weakening of Germany and the fall of its international prestige. After the capitulation of Italy, the collapse of the bloc of fascist states began. Germany's remaining allies were looking for a way out of the war.



On July 5, 1943, the Battle of Kursk began. On July 12, 1943, near Prokhorovka, the Germans suffered a heavy defeat during the largest tank battle in the history of World War II.

On July 23, the German offensive was stopped along the entire front, and on August 3, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive along the Orel-Kursk-Belgorod line. By August 23, Oryol, Belgorod, and Kharkov were liberated. During the Kursk operation, 500 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks and other military equipment were destroyed.

Historical significance of the Battle of Kursk:

The best German divisions were defeated;

The strategic initiative passed to the Red Army, and a general offensive of Soviet troops began along the entire front;

The preconditions were laid for the landing of Anglo-American troops and the collapse of the German bloc.

As a result of the victory at Kursk, Soviet troops reached the Dnieper. From August to December 1943, the battle for the Dnieper continued, which ended with the breakthrough of the German defense - the "Eastern Wall", the liberation of Kyiv on November 6, 1943 and the beginning of the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine.

In 1944, Soviet troops attacked the Nazis along the entire Soviet-German front. From January 14 to March 1, 1944, German troops near Leningrad were completely defeated. The 900-day blockade of the legendary city ended, with the loss of at least 800 thousand people.

The main blow to the enemy in the winter and spring of 1943 was delivered in Right Bank Ukraine and Crimea. From January 24 to February 17, 1944, the forces of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts carried out the Korsun-Shevchenko operation. During the fighting here, 55 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were surrounded and destroyed. Based on the tactics and military art of encircling and destroying the German group in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area, it was called the “second Stalingrad.”

Following the offensive in Right Bank Ukraine on April 8, the Crimean operation of the 4th Ukrainian Front began. It ended on May 12, 1944 with the complete defeat of the Nazi group and the liberation of Crimea. Despite fierce enemy resistance, Sevastopol was liberated on May 9, 1944. In these battles, the enemy lost 100 thousand killed and wounded, as well as military equipment.

In the summer, a powerful blow was dealt to Finnish army on the Karelian Isthmus. On September 2, 1944, the Finnish government signed an armistice with the USSR. The Soviet Union retained the territory, which was transferred to it in 1940. In October 1944, with the consent of the Norwegian government, the Soviet army entered Norwegian territory.

The significant victories of the Soviet army prompted the Allies to open a Second Front in Europe.

Developing the success of the allied states, in the summer of 1944, Soviet troops carried out two strategic operations - the Belarusian "Bagration" (June 23 - August 29) and Lvov-Sandomierz (July 13 - August 29).

As a result of these operations, the German Army Group Center suffered a new defeat. Soviet army liberated Belarus, part of Lithuania and Latvia, approached the borders of East Prussia, crossed the Narev and Vistula rivers. During 1944, 3 more German groups were defeated.

The Iasi-Kishinev and Baltic operations were of great importance for the Soviet-German front and the successes of the allies. In October 1944, as a result of the Carpathian-Uzhgorod operation, the territory of Ukraine was completely liberated. In the fall of 1944, the enemy was almost completely expelled from the territory of the USSR; Soviet troops entered the territory of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Norway.

20. Soviet-German. the front remained the most significant in WWII. The second most important theater of war in 1942 was North Africa (June 10, 1940 - May 13, 1943). Here military operations took place between Anglo-America. and Italian-German. troops in the North. Africa. In September 1940 - October 1942. the battles went on with varying degrees of success. In the summer of 1942, Italian-German troops invaded areas of Egypt, where enemy losses amounted to: 55 thousand people. killed, wounded and captured, 320 tanks and about 1,000 guns destroyed. The victory at El Alamein changed the balance of power in this region in favor of the Western allies.) By the end of November landing troops Northwestern Africa occupied Morocco and Algeria, entered Tunisia and Germany. and Italian troops in the North Africa were doomed. On May 13, 1943, the surrounded Italian-German troops capitulated. Military operations in the North. Africa are over. On July 25, 1943, Mussolini's regime was overthrown, Italy concluded a truce with the allies, and on October 13, 1943, declared war on Germany. The third theater of war was the Asia-Pacific. In mid-1942, Japan dealt a serious blow to the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain. At the same time, Japan held the occupied part of China, Hawaii, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Australia. BUT exorbitant conquests only complicated the position of the aggressor. The Japanese troops scattered on numerous fronts were exhausted. Hopes for the complete conquest of China were fading. Since July 1942, the United States has intensified the fight against it. submarines off the coast of North America, cat. tried to strike important coastal targets. By the beginning of the winter of 1942–1943. the situation was complex and contradictory. The overall superiority in armed forces and combat equipment passed to the side of the USSR and its allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. The enemy was stopped and experienced great difficulties at the front and in the rear. Tehran: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed on the opening of a “Second Front”, on the creation of the UN after the war, on the fate of Germany after its military defeat. The USSR promised to enter the war against Japan after the end of the war in Europe

21. The defeat of the mute. armies in the summer of 1943 on the Kursk Bulge allowed the Red Army to go on the offensive and in September 1943 begin an operation to liberate Ukraine and Belarus. On September 23, 1943, the first city was liberated. Pos. Komarin. 20 soldiers were awarded the title. Hero of the SS. On November 26, Gomel was liberated. However, defeat him. The army group "Center" and liberating the entire territory of Belarus from the enemy failed. It was believed that the Wehrmacht had suffered heavy losses in the summer of 1943 and would not be able to hold back the advance of the Red Army. But the Wehrmacht showed that it had not yet lost its combat effectiveness. From September 27, 1943 to February 24, 1944, Red Army units completely or partially liberated 36 districts of our republic, 36 regional centers and two regions. center - Gomel and Mozyr. They took up convenient positions from which the White offensive Operation Bagration began in the summer of 1944. The offensive of the owls. troops in white land took place in conditions of universal support and assistance from the partisans and the entire population of the republic.

Plan for the defeat of the German-fascist group. armies “Center” was developed at Headquarters and approved at the end of May 1944. This operation went down in history under the name “Bagration” and consisted of 2 stages. According to the plan, it was planned to break through the defense there. armies to the center. section of the Soviet-German front, dismember Army Group Center into parts and defeat them separately. Troops from four fronts were involved in Operation Bagration. 1st Baltic Front: advanced from the Vitebsk region, 3rd Belorussian Front: south of Vitebsk towards Borisov. The 2nd Belorussian operated in the Mogilev direction. The 1st Belorussian Front (commander - K. Rokossovsky) was aimed at Bobruisk and Minsk. Their actions were coordinated by Marshals G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky. The total number of Soviet armies was 2.4 million soldiers, 36.4 thousand guns and mortars, 5.2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units and 5.3 thousand aircraft.

Stage I - June 23 – July 4, 1944. As a result of the operation, Vitebsk and Mogilev were liberated on June 26, and Minsk on July 3. The tank of junior lieutenant D. Frolikov was the first to burst into Minsk. Private Suvorov from the 1315th Infantry Regiment planted the state flag over the Government House.

With the liberation of Minsk, the first stage of Operation Bagration ended. The main forces of Army Group Center were defeated.

Stage II - July 5 – August 29, 1944 Liberated: Baranovichi, Pinsk, Grodno, Brest. During the implementation of the second stage of the Belarusian operation, Army Group Center was completely destroyed, which became no less a disaster for the Nazis than the defeat at Stalingrad. Total losses The armies consisted of about 500 thousand soldiers and officers. The damage on the Soviet side was also significant. The Red Army lost 765,815 soldiers.

As a result of Operation Bagration, the Red Army liberated Belarus, part of Lithuania and Latvia, Poland (reached the Warsaw suburb of Prague) and approached the borders of East Prussia.

More than 1,600 soldiers in the battles for the liberation of Belarus were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In memory of the heroic deeds of soldiers of four fronts, the majestic Mound of Glory (opened in 1969) was erected at the 21st kilometer of the Minsk-Moscow highway.

22 . The opening of a second front in Europe by the United States and Great Britain occupied a central place among political. tasks facing the fight against the fascist bloc. Operation Overlord - June 6, 1944 landing of American, British and Canadian troops on the coast of Northern France and Normandy. The second front operated for 11 months. During this time, troops under the command of Eisenhower liberated France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, entered Germany and advanced to the Elbe. In order to change the situation on the Western Front and defeat the Anglo-American forces in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Germans carried out an offensive operation on the Western Front in the Ardennes from December 16, 1944 to January 29, 1945. The Allies were on the verge of defeat. To save the Anglo-American troops in the Ardennes from defeat, W. Churchill asked I. Stalin to provide assistance. On January 12, 1945, a week before the scheduled date, the Red Army launched a powerful offensive along almost the entire sector of the front from Baltic Sea to the Carpathians. The Second Front played an important role in accelerating the victory over Nazi Germany. Having liberated the territory of the USSR from Nazi Germany. invaders, the Red Army fulfilled its liberation mission - it returned freedom to 11 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe.

23. Having liberated the territory of the USSR from Nazi Germany. invaders, the Red Army fulfilled its liberation mission - it returned freedom to 11 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe with a population of 113 million people (Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany). As a result of the successful actions of the Red Army, the position of Hitler's Germany became catastrophic, its isolation grew. But even after the opening of the second front. The theater of war remained Soviet-German. front.

The Yalta (Crimean) Conference of the Allied Powers (February 4–11, 1945) is the second of 3 meetings of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, dedicated to the establishment of the post-war world order.

The “Big Three” (J.V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill) approved the agreement developed by the European Advisory Commission “On the zones of occupation of Germany and on the management of Greater Berlin”, “On the control mechanism in Germany” and made the following decisions:

1) on the disarmament of Germany. troops, demilitarization of the German economy, the destruction of Nazism, the punishment of war criminals, the creation of a democratic Germany;

2) the decision on the occupation and division of Germany into occupation zones and on the allocation of its zone to France;

3) on collecting reparations from Germany for the damage suffered (the protocol was signed only in 1947). However, the Allies were never able to finally determine the amount of compensation. It was only decided that the USA and Great Britain would give the USSR 50% of all reparations;

4) about the eastern border of Poland (Curzon line);

5) The USSR confirmed its agreement to enter the war with Japan, subject to the return of the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin to the USSR 2-3 months after the surrender of Germany;

6) on the creation of the United Nations (UN).

The Crimean Conference demonstrated the strength and unanimity of the anti-Hitler coalition.

24. The Berlin strategic offensive operation was the last strategic operation of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Second World War. The operation lasted 23 days: from April 16. - May 8, 1945

Concept Berlin operation consisted of: with strikes of the 1st Belorussian, 2nd Belorussian, 1st Ukrainian fronts to break through the enemy’s defenses on the Oder and Neisse rivers; surround and destroy the main forces of the Berlin group, and reaching the Elbe, connect with the Allied troops advancing from the west. Having approved the plan, Stalin demanded that the operation begin on April 16, and be completed in 12–15 days, because he feared that the allies would get ahead of the Soviet troops.

The German command sought to contain the advance of the Red Army at all costs in the hope of gaining time to conclude a separate peace with the Western powers. At 12 noon on April 25, the ring closed around Berlin and it was on April 25, 1945 on the river. The first meeting of the allies took place in the Elbe region of Torgau. The assault on Berlin began.

Sergeants M. Egorov and M. Kantaria hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag on the night of May 1, for which they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. About 2 hours after this, Hitler shot himself in underground bunker Reich Chancellery, on May 2, the Berlin garrison ceased resistance.

On May 7, in Reims, the Germans signed an act of unconditional surrender with Western countries. This displeased Stalin, and at his request on May 9, 1945 at 0 hours 43 minutes in Karlshorst, in the presence of representatives of the command of all allied armies, the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. On the USSR side, the act was signed by Marshal G. Zhukov.

On June 9, the medal “For the Capture of Berlin” was established. It was presented to the direct participants in the assault on the city - 1,082 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army and the Polish Army. G. Zhukov became a Hero of the Soviet Union three times, I. Konev and K. Rokossovsky were awarded a second Gold Star.

The Potsdam Conference (near Berlin) was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945, with the participation of the leadership of the 3 largest powers of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II (Truman, Serchel, Stalin) in order to determine further steps for the post-war structure of Europe. Conference decisions:

1) confirmed the decisions of the Crimean Conference regarding Germany. The goals of the Allied occupation of Germany were denazification, demilitarization, democratization, decentralization and decartelization. The Allies agreed to preserve the unity of Germany;

2) considered the issue of the borders of Poland. Most of the eastern territories separated from Germany became part of Poland;

3) Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) was transferred to the USSR;

4) created the Council of Foreign Ministers to prepare treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland;

5) Stalin confirmed his commitment to declare war on Japan no later than 3 months after the surrender of Germany.

During the meetings, Truman received the famous news about the creation of American nuclear weapons: “The baby is born.” On July 24, 1945, in Potsdam, Truman casually informed Stalin that the United States “now has weapons of extraordinary destructive power.” That same evening, Stalin ordered Molotov to talk with Kurchatov about accelerating work on the atomic project.

Zhukov and Vasilevsky immediately began implementing the second part of the plan conceived in the Oryol-Kursk arc area. In a certain sense, the main significance of the battle on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge is not even in repelling Hoth and Model, but in creating effective preconditions for the subsequent offensive operations. Two such operations began immediately, in mid-July 1943. The reversal of fate was already noticeable on July 14th. The right flank of the Central Front prepared to attack.

In the north of the Kursk salient, the implementation of Operation Kutuzov began - a strike against a group of German troops in the area of ​​Orel and Bryansk. The Soviet shock troops concentrated on a very narrow offensive zone and managed to break the German front. Despite the unprecedentedly stubborn resistance of the German troops, this operation brought success. Using the best tactics of the Second World War - combining the actions of infantry, tanks and aircraft, Soviet troops opened up the German front and launched an entire tank army into the breakthrough. On the night of July 20, the situation around Orel, desperately defended by the Germans, was studied by Zhukov and Vasilevsky. North of Orel, Bagramyan's 11th Guards Army advanced a record seventy kilometers. To the left, to the south, the Bryansk Front fought in desperate frontal attacks. From the south, Rokossovsky's Central Front, reinforced by Romanenko's tanks, was advancing on the Oryol ledge. The partisans launched a desperate assault on the railways, the most important among which for the Germans were the Bryansk-Mikhailovsky highway and the road leading from Kharkov to Belgorod. More than 10 thousand acts of sabotage on roads were recorded. On July 17, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement “distributed” sections of the railways between individual detachments and the so-called “rail war” began. The main one among the assigned tasks was to destroy the lines of communication with the German 2nd Panzer and 9th Armies, which had advanced far forward in the Oryol salient.

The German command attached special importance to the Oryol salient; four tank divisions were sent here after July 20, 1943. They stopped the advance of Soviet troops. Now the Germans were burying their tanks, blocking the enemy’s advance on the approaches to Orel. It was at this time that Badanov came to the aid of the advancing Bagramyan with
4th Tank Army. Badanov had brand new 500 tanks, it was a formidable force. Two days of desperate travel to Bolkhov gave Badanov only two kilometers. And a lot of losses.
The 30th Ural Volunteer Corps did not know the fear of death, but the positions under fire from the Germans were an almost insurmountable obstacle. And yet, desperate courage justifies itself; the Germans began to withdraw their troops from the Bolkhov pocket. The result was the release of Orel on August 5. And on August 18 soviet tanks entered Bryansk.

“Operation Rumyantsev” began, which was directly supervised by Zhukov. From the north, from the Bryansk Front, four artillery divisions were transferred to Konev's Steppe Front, the troops received ammunition and food for independent combat operations for a period of up to twelve days. Zhukov concentrated 230 guns in the direction of the main attack, up to 70 tanks per kilometer. The joint attack of the 1st and 5th Guards Tank Armies made an impression by reaching Belgorod from the north and northwest, and from the south by entering the rear of Kharkov. The encirclement of Kharkov was carried out by three fronts - Voronezh, Stepnoy and
South-Western against the German 4th Panzer Army and the Kempf Group.

On the Steppe Front, the Germans, despite the preliminary artillery hell, managed to delay the advancing columns. But Konev’s Steppe Front corrected the mistakes of the first days and approached Belgorod. The 7th Guards Army crossed the Northern Donets south of Belgorod, cutting the already mentioned railway connecting Belgorod with Kharkov. And to the north, the 69th Army approached Belgorod, and Konev was already able to storm the city. Zhukov, seeing a gap that had opened in the German front on the line of confrontation with Konev, introduced
27th (Trofimenko) and 40th (Moskalenko) armies. This bold maneuver made it possible to threaten the encirclement of two tank and three infantry divisions.

Zhukov's maneuver significantly separated the 4th Panzer Army from the Kempf Group (which would soon become the 8th German Army). Soviet troops, heading south and west, struck the line of separation of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht and the “Army Group Kempf”. The fourth battle for Kharkov was also the last, although Hitler ordered to fight for it to the end. On August 19, 1943, General Managarov's 53rd Army emerged from the dense forests northwest and west of Kharkov. She was the first to enter the suburbs. Rotmistrov's heroic tank army, in which only 150 tanks remained, repelled the attacks of the elite SS tank units sent by Hitler from the south. Happy news spread on August 22 - reconnaissance planes reported that a (so far insignificant) stream was rushing out of the city in a southwestern direction. The artillery of the 5th Guards Tank Army was quickly brought to these retreat routes, and Soviet attack aircraft took off into the air. The assault on Kharkov began at night; the center of the beautiful city, once built in such an unusual style, was burning. By dawn on August 23, Soviet troops reached the city center, and a red flag was hoisted over the Gosprom building, the central point of the city. At noon, the official announcement of the liberation of Kharkov, the largest of the hitherto liberated cities, was made.

A new picture on the Soviet-German front emerged in August 1943. From Velikie Luki in the north to the Black Sea coast in the south, fierce battles took place along the entire front, and this was the largest offensive of the Soviet army against the German army to date. In the center against three Soviet fronts(Kalinin, Western, Bryansk) there were fifty-five divisions in the German Army Group Center. To the south, 68 German divisions fought against five Soviet fronts (Central, Voronezh, Stepnoy, South-Western, Southern). In total, Germany fielded 226 divisions and 11 brigades on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1943. There were 157 German divisions on a straight line from Velikiye Luki to the Black Sea. The submissive allies also supplied armed forces. The Germans had a high opinion of the Finnish army and a low opinion of the other Allied armies.

In terms of the number of divisions, the Soviet army, having mobilized almost the entire adult population of the country, begins to significantly surpass the Wehrmacht, but seven weeks of continuous battle in July 1943 cost the Soviet troops enormous losses. In the largest Soviet tank army - the 2nd - on August 25, there were only 265 combat vehicles. Katukov’s army had 162 tanks, Rotmistrov’s had 153.

On the evening of August 5, 1943, Moscow saluted with 120 guns in honor of the liberation of Orel and Belgorod. What is gratifying to note is that a great victory was achieved with less blood than before. If Stalingrad claimed the lives of 470 thousand of our soldiers and officers, then 70 thousand people died in the Battle of Kursk. The subsequent (double) breakthrough of the German front cost the lives of another 183 thousand of our soldiers. By this time, the USSR had lost more than 4 million 700 thousand people killed, wounded, captured and missing in the war. Instead of men, women are entering industry.

§ 19. VICTORIES OF THE RED ARMY IN 1944 – 1945

The offensive of the Red Army in 1944 In 1944, the strategic initiative and the staffing of the troops with human and material and technical reserves made it possible for the Red Army to conduct large-scale operations not in individual directions, but along the entire front.

In the winter of 1944, the strongest blow to the enemy was dealt near Leningrad and Novgorod. The country rejoiced upon learning of the final lifting of the siege of Leningrad on January 27. In February–March 1944, Soviet troops broke through the enemy’s defenses and liberated Right Bank Ukraine. This was followed by victories in the southern direction: the Red Army entered Odessa and Sevastopol.

In June 1944, Karelia was liberated. Finland refused to fight on the side of Germany, whose large group of troops in the Arctic was in a difficult situation.

In the summer of 1944, the main forces of Germany and its European allies were on the Eastern Front. They numbered 4.3 million people, 59 thousand guns and mortars, 7.8 thousand tanks and assault guns, 3.2 thousand combat aircraft. The Red Army outnumbered the enemy in men by 1.7 times, in guns and mortars by 1.8 times, in tanks and assault guns (self-propelled guns) by 1.6 times, and in combat aircraft by 4.9 times.

The main military battle of the summer of 1944 was the operation to liberate Belarus, codenamed “Bagration”. It took place from June 23 to August 29, 1944. 168 divisions, 12 corps and 20 brigades took part in Operation Bagration from the Soviet side. The blow to Army Group Center, the most combat-ready units of the Wehrmacht, was so powerful that it was practically destroyed. “It is impossible to imagine a greater crisis than we had this year in the East,” Hitler said. He accused the command of the ground forces of “defeatism” and “treason.”

As a result of military operations in 1944, the state border of the USSR, treacherously violated by Germany and its allies in June 1941, was restored along its entire length.

Girls are fighters partisan detachments in liberated Minsk. July 1944

The Nazis were expelled from Romania and Bulgaria, from most areas of Poland and Hungary. The Red Army entered the territory of Czechoslovakia; in cooperation with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, cleared eastern regions of this country. The war was inexorably approaching the borders of Germany.

No longer relying on the morale of the German soldier, the High Command of the German Armed Forces intensified measures “to combat defectors” in December 1944. From now on, those who defected to the enemy were sentenced to death, and their families were responsible for the “criminal” with “property, freedom or life.”

Soviet military leaders - front commanders at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War. From left to right: I. S. Konev, F. I. Tolbukhin, A. M. Vasilevsky, R. Ya. Malinovsky, G. K. Zhukov, L. A. Govorov, K. K. Rokossovsky, A. I. Eremenko , K. A. Meretskov, I. Kh. Bagramyan

Reichstag. Berlin. May 1945

Battle for Berlin. April 1, 1945 Headquarters began planning the Berlin operation. the main role it was allocated to the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, commanded by G.K. Zhukov. During the war, he showed the qualities of an outstanding commander and gained extraordinary popularity. The Soviet troops were faced with a difficult task: to break through the powerful defensive fortifications of Berlin, break into the city and take it during street battles, knowing that every street, house, canal, bridge constituted a defensive line. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front were to deliver the main blow from the small Kyustrin bridgehead, attacking the enemy's deeply echeloned defenses head-on. The first line of defense, running along the Oder, was followed by the Seelow Heights, a powerful second line of German defense.

On the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts (commander I.S. Konev) at the beginning of the operation there were: manpower - 1,279,800 people, tanks - 3183, self-propelled guns - 2027, anti-tank guns - 3750, rocket artillery installations - 2448 , combat aircraft - 5117. In the areas of the main breakthrough of the armies, on average, one division accounted for about 0.9 - 1.2 km of space, and for one German division there was a defense area with an average width of 8.2 km.

On April 16, 1945, at 3 o'clock local time, air and artillery preparation began. Then, unexpectedly, 143 anti-aircraft searchlights were turned on, blinding the German soldiers as the Soviet infantry advanced. The Seelow Heights could not withstand the onslaught of the attackers.

On April 24, the troops of G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev united, taking Berlin into a ring. The assault on the last bastion of the Third Reich has begun. Each army operated in its own zone, breaking the enemy’s defenses from street to street, from house to house. On April 29, the battles for the Reichstag began, and on the 30th the Victory Banner was already flying over the Reichstag. The remnants of the Berlin garrison in the amount of 134 thousand people surrendered. Even before the fall of Berlin, Hitler committed suicide in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery. On May 7, in Reims, 150 km from Paris, the Germans signed an act of military surrender with representatives of the United States and Great Britain. At the suggestion of I.V. Stalin, in connection with the continued resistance of the Wehrmacht, the allies agreed to consider the Reims Act a preliminary protocol of surrender. On May 9, 1945, at 0:43 a.m., the signing of the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was completed in Berlin. On behalf of the Soviet side, it was signed by G.K. Zhukov.

The Battle of Berlin was one of the bloodiest operations of the final stage of the Great Patriotic War. The number of killed and wounded in the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front was 179 thousand people, the losses of troops of three fronts and the naval forces interacting with them were 362 thousand people.

On May 9, 1945, in Moscow, thirty artillery salvoes from a thousand guns were fired in honor of the Victory.

The problem of collaboration, deportation of peoples. One of the most pressing problems in the history of the Patriotic War is the problem of collaboration. Collaborators were people who collaborated with the fascist invaders in the countries they occupied during the Second World War. According to official German data, at the beginning of 1943, up to 400 thousand so-called “hiwis” (volunteers, collaborators) were active in the Wehrmacht, about 70 thousand former Soviet citizens were in the troops for maintaining order, approximately 80 thousand in the eastern battalions : Georgian, Armenian, Turkestan, Caucasian, Baltic, etc.

Many historians emphasize that the breeding ground for betrayal was the defeat of the Red Army in 1941–1942, which caused depression, panic, and a feeling of hopelessness. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war were subjected to humiliation and abuse. The starvation camp ration broke the character of many people, and they cooperated with the Germans in order to survive in these conditions. At the same time, among those who went over to the enemy’s side there were many staunch opponents of Soviet power. Over time everything larger number German collaborators realized that they, in essence, were fighting not against communism, but against Russia, which led to bitter disappointment, mental breakdown, breakdowns, and tragedies.

Front roads

The fate of those who escaped from captivity was extremely difficult. Special departments shot without trial or investigation all suspects and “dubious” persons who escaped encirclement and lagged behind their units: an officer was tried by a tribunal, a soldier could be sentenced to death on suspicion of espionage, desertion, etc. Members of the families of imaginary and actual traitors to the Motherland: they were exiled to remote areas of the USSR and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

In 1941 - 1945 994 thousand people were convicted by military tribunals alone, of which 158 thousand were sentenced to death. In special camps, former prisoners of war and “encirclement” were involved in forced labor in mines, mines, the metallurgical industry, and logging. The attitude towards former prisoners of war did not change even after the end of the war.

Numerous documents, including German ones, indicate that many soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, despite the difficult and sometimes hopeless combat situation, offered fierce resistance to German troops and were captured, wounded, sick, and deprived of the opportunity to continue resistance. German generals also testify to the courage of the Red Army soldiers in defense.

The greatest fame among open opponents of Soviet power was gained by the former commander of the 2nd Shock Army, Lieutenant General A. A. Vlasov, who was captured in the summer of 1942. For more than two years, the Germans actively used his name in anti-Soviet propaganda, but only fundamental change the situation on the Soviet-German front prompted them to create the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). By April 1945, three divisions were formed (one in full strength), which took part in battles against Soviet troops.

The deportation of peoples carried out by the Soviet government became another tragic page in the history of the Patriotic War. The first to undergo forced relocation were in 1941–1942. Soviet Germans(mainly from the Volga German Republic and the North Caucasus). At the end of February 1944, 650 thousand Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks and Karachais were evicted to the eastern regions of the country. In the summer of 1944, about 225 thousand Crimean Tatars, as well as Bulgarians, Greeks, and Armenians living in Crimea, shared their fate. Government documents indicated the following reasons for the eviction: the need to stabilize the political situation in the region and eliminate banditry, cleanse the territory of “anti-Soviet, spy elements,” punishment for aiding the fascists and speaking out against Soviet power. According to the NKVD, by the fall of 1944 total number More than 1.5 million people were evicted.

Defeat of Japan. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet government told the Japanese ambassador in Moscow that as of August 9, the Soviet Union considered itself to be at war with Japan. The main goal of the Far Eastern campaign was the defeat of the Japanese striking force - the Kwantung Army.

The number of Soviet troops was 1,669,500 people. The fronts included 26 thousand guns and mortars, 5.5 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and over 3.8 thousand combat aircraft. To coordinate the actions of the fronts and the fleet, a main command was created on Far East led by Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky.

The main group of ground forces total number The Japanese command continued to hold over 1 million people against the Soviet Union in Manchuria, Korea, South Sakhalin and Kuril Islands. On the territory of Manchuria, bordering the USSR, the Japanese created 17 fortified areas, each of which reached more than 40 km along the front. The islands of the Kuril ridge were covered by coastal artillery batteries.

The Soviet plan envisaged using the configuration of the Soviet-Manchurian border, which was advantageous for military action, and striking Japanese troops in three directions: two main counter strikes - from the eastern protrusion of the Mongolian territory People's Republic and from Primorye, auxiliary - from the area southwest of Khabarovsk.

The offensive of the Soviet troops took place in the face of stubborn resistance from the Japanese, and yet the Soviet troops, showing heroism and courage, defeated the enemy in a short time. Human losses on our side amounted to 36,456 people.

On August 19, 1945, Japanese troops began to capitulate. 148 Japanese generals, 594 thousand officers and soldiers were captured.

On September 2, the act of surrender of Japan was signed, which meant the end of World War II.

Questions and tasks

1 . Using map No. 10, name the countries that were liberated by the Red Army. 2. Name the reasons that guided the Soviet government when carrying out the deportation of individual peoples. Was it possible to do without this measure? Give reasons for your answer. 3. Which peoples of the USSR were deported? Give an assessment of this phenomenon. 4. Using additional information, tell us about the defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Far East.

Creative activity

1. Using an online resource, prepare a report on the liberation mission of the Red Army in Eastern Europe.

2. Prepare a report or presentation about one of the offensive operations of 1944 - 1945. and military leadership of Soviet military leaders (optional).

Project activities

Prepare a project on the topic “The Battle of Berlin.”

Topic of discussion

Collaborationism during the Great Patriotic War

We work with documents

In connection with the end of the Patriotic War, an opportunity was created to pay our last respects to all those who died in the battles for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. The front commander ordered:

1. By June 15, 1945, the military councils of the armies should complete checking the offensive zones of the armies on German territory and by June 30, 1945, carry out this work on Polish territory, in order to detect single scattered graves, collect the dead and reburial them in divisional and army cemeteries, according to the order to the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front No. 4 dated March 31, 1945.

Cemeteries and graves should be thoroughly equipped to adequately perpetuate the memory of the fallen soldiers and officers of the victorious army.

Upon completion of the reburial, draw up detailed maps, diagrams of cemeteries, monuments and photograph them.

2. Heroes of the Soviet Union, commanders of formations, individual units and colonels who died in battles on German territory should be reburied by May 25, 1945 in the front-line officer cemetery in the city. Bunzlau - near the grave of the great Russian commander M.I. Kutuzov.

3. By June 10, 1945, in all formations, units and institutions, conduct a surname check of those killed during the entire period of the Patriotic War.

Check that all lists, notices, orders, valuables and personal belongings have been sent to their relatives in the prescribed manner, as well as responses to requests for searching for military personnel.

Where lists of those who died in the past have been deposited in the archives of NGOs and there are no supporting documents for sending lists and notifications, obtain lists by 06/30/1945 for final clarification.

4. Personnel departments and for personal accounting of losses of sergeants and rank and file of armies by July 1, 1945, create alphabetical lists fallen generals, officers, foremen, sergeants and privates on the fronts of the Patriotic War for the entire period.<…>

7. When conducting a family-by-surname verification of personal losses by using combat logs, press, and testimonies of World War II veterans, establish the degree of merit of those who died for the Motherland and those who were not marked with Government awards, award them posthumously.

Chief of Staff of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Army General PETROV.

1. Write a story about how the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War was immortalized in your area, city, village, town.

2. What, in your opinion, needs to be done to preserve the memory of the war?