How old was Hitler when he attacked the USSR? Hitler's Germany attacked the USSR
In 1939, planning an attack on Poland and foreseeing the possible entry into the war on its side of Great Britain and France, the leadership of the Third Reich decided to secure itself from the east - in August, a Non-Aggression Pact was concluded between Germany and the USSR, dividing the spheres of interests of the parties in Eastern Europe. On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union sent troops into Western Ukraine and Western Belarus and later annexed these territories. A common border appeared between Germany and the USSR. In 1940, Germany captured Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and defeated France. The victories of the Wehrmacht gave rise to hopes in Berlin for an early end to the war with England, which would allow Germany to throw all its forces into the defeat of the USSR. However, Germany failed to force Britain to make peace. The war continued.
The decision to go to war with the USSR and the general plan for the future campaign were announced by Hitler at a meeting with the high military command on July 31, 1940, shortly after the victory over France. The Fuhrer planned to liquidate the Soviet Union by the end of 1941.
The General Staff took the leading place in planning the war of Germany against the USSR ground forces(OKH) of the Wehrmacht, led by its chief, Colonel-General F. Halder. Along with the General Staff of the Ground Forces, the headquarters of the operational leadership played an active role in planning the "eastern campaign" supreme command armed forces Germany (OKW), led by General A. Jodl, who received instructions directly from Hitler.
On December 18, 1940, Hitler signed Directive No. 21 of the Wehrmacht Supreme High Command, which received the code name "Variant Barbarossa" and became the main guiding document in the war against the USSR. The German armed forces were tasked with "defeating Soviet Russia in the course of one short-term campaign", for which it was supposed to use all ground forces with the exception of those that performed occupation functions in Europe, as well as about two-thirds of the Air Force and not most Navy. Rapid operations with deep and rapid advance tank wedges, the German army was supposed to destroy the Soviet troops located in the western part of the USSR and prevent the withdrawal of combat-ready units into the interior of the country. In the future, quickly pursuing the enemy, the German troops were to reach the line from where the Soviet aviation would not be able to carry out raids on the Third Reich. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to reach the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan line.
As the immediate strategic goal of the war against the USSR, the defeat and destruction of Soviet troops in the Baltic States, Belarus and Right-Bank Ukraine were set. It was assumed that during these operations the Wehrmacht would reach Kyiv with fortifications east of the Dnieper, Smolensk and the area south and west of Lake Ilmen. Further goal was to timely occupy the militarily and economically important Donetsk coal basin, and in the north to quickly reach Moscow. The directive demanded that operations to take Moscow be started only after the destruction of Soviet troops in the Baltic states, the capture of Leningrad and Kronstadt. The task of the German Air Force was to disrupt the opposition Soviet aviation and support of their own ground forces in decisive directions. From naval forces it was necessary to ensure the defense of its coast, preventing a breakthrough Soviet fleet from Baltic Sea.
The beginning of the invasion was scheduled for May 15, 1941. The expected duration of the main hostilities was, according to the plan, 4-5 months.
With the completion of the development of the general plan for the war of Germany against the USSR, operational-strategic planning was transferred to the headquarters of the branches of the armed forces and associations of troops, where more specific plans were developed, tasks for the troops were clarified and detailed, measures were determined to prepare the armed forces, the economy, and the future theater of military actions.
The German leadership proceeded from the need to ensure the defeat of the Soviet troops along the entire length of the front line. As a result of the grandiose “border battle” planned, the USSR should have had nothing left but 30-40 reserve divisions. This goal was supposed to be achieved by an offensive along the entire front. The Moscow and Kiev directions were recognized as the main operational lines. They were provided by Army Groups "Center" (48 divisions were concentrated on the front of 500 km) and "South" (40 German divisions and significant allied forces were concentrated on the front of 1250 km). Army Group North (29 divisions on a front of 290 km) had the task of securing the northern flank of the Center group, capturing the Baltic states and establishing contact with Finnish troops. The total number of divisions of the first strategic echelon, including Finnish, Hungarian and Romanian troops, consisted of 157 divisions, of which 17 were armored and 13 motorized, and 18 brigades.
On the eighth day, German troops were to reach the line Kaunas - Baranovichi - Lvov - Mogilev-Podolsky. On the twentieth day of the war, they were supposed to capture the territory and reach the line: the Dnieper (to the area south of Kyiv) - Mozyr - Rogachev - Orsha - Vitebsk - Velikiye Luki - south of Pskov - south of Pyarnu. This was followed by a pause of twenty days, during which it was supposed to concentrate and regroup formations, rest the troops and prepare a new supply base. On the fortieth day of the war, the second phase of the offensive was to begin. During it, it was planned to capture Moscow, Leningrad and Donbass.
In connection with Hitler's decision to expand the scope of Operation Marita (attack on Greece), which required the involvement of additional forces, in mid-March 1941, changes were made to the war plan against the USSR. The allocation of additional forces for the Balkan campaign required the postponement of the start of the operation to a later date. All preparatory measures, including the transfer of mobile formations necessary for an offensive in the first operational echelon, were required to be completed by approximately June 22.
To attack the USSR by June 22, 1941, four army groups were created. Taking into account the strategic reserve, the grouping for operations in the East consisted of 183 divisions. Army Group North (commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb) was deployed in East Prussia, at the front from Memel to Goldap. Army Group Center (commanded by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock) occupied the front from Goldap to Vlodava. Army Group South (commanded by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt), under whose operational control was the Command of the Romanian Land Forces, occupied the front from Lublin to the mouth of the Danube.
In the USSR, on the basis of the military districts located on the western border, according to the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of June 21, 1941, 4 fronts were created. On June 24, 1941, the Northern Front was created. According to a certificate compiled on the eve of the war by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, General Vatutin, there were a total of 303 divisions in the ground forces, of which 237 divisions were in the grouping for operations in the West (of which 51 were tank and 25 motorized). The grouping for operations in the West was lined up in three strategic echelons.
The Northwestern Front (commanded by Colonel-General F.I. Kuznetsov) was created in the Baltics. The Western Front (commander General of the Army D. G. Pavlov) was created in Belarus. The Southwestern Front (commanded by Colonel-General MP Kirponos) was created in Western Ukraine. The Southern Front (commanded by General of the Army I. V. Tyulenev) was created in Moldova and southern Ukraine. The Northern Front (commanded by Lieutenant General M. M. Popov) was created on the basis of the Leningrad Military District. Baltic Fleet(Commander Admiral VF Tributs) was stationed in the Baltic Sea. The Black Sea Fleet (commanded by Vice Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky) was stationed in the Black Sea.
MENSBY
4.6
In the direction of the main attacks of the Nazis, 257 Soviet frontier posts held the defense from several hours to one day. The remaining frontier outposts held out from two days to two months. Of the 485 frontier posts attacked, not a single one withdrew without an order. The story of a day that forever changed the lives of tens of millions of people.
“They don’t suspect anything about our intentions”
June 21, 1941, 13:00. German troops receive the code signal "Dortmund", confirming that the invasion will begin the next day.
The commander of the 2nd Panzer Group of the Army Group Center, Heinz Guderian, writes in his diary: “Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything about our intentions. In the courtyard of the fortress of Brest, which was visible from our observation posts, to the sounds of an orchestra, they were holding guards. Coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops.
21:00. Soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant's office detained a German soldier who had crossed the border river Bug by swimming. The defector was sent to the headquarters of the detachment in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky.
23:00. German minelayers, who were in Finnish ports, began to mine the way out of the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, Finnish submarines began laying mines off the coast of Estonia.
June 22, 1941, 0:30. The defector was taken to Vladimir-Volynsky. During interrogation, the soldier identified himself as Alfred Liskov, a serviceman of the 221st regiment of the 15th infantry division Wehrmacht. He reported that at dawn on June 22 the German army would go on the offensive along the entire length of the Soviet-German border. The information has been passed on to the higher command.
At the same time, the transfer of directive No. 1 of the People's Commissariat of Defense for parts of the western military districts begins from Moscow. “During June 22-23, 1941, a sudden attack by the Germans on the fronts of the LVO, PribOVO, ZapOVO, KOVO, OdVO is possible. The attack may begin with provocative actions,” the directive said. - "The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications."
Parts were ordered to be brought to combat readiness, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border, disperse aviation over field airfields.
It is not possible to bring the directive to the military units before the start of hostilities, as a result of which the measures indicated in it are not carried out.
“I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory”
1:00. The commandants of the sections of the 90th border detachment report to the head of the detachment, Major Bychkovsky: "nothing suspicious was noticed on the adjacent side, everything is calm."
3:05. A group of 14 German Ju-88 bombers drops 28 magnetic mines near the Kronstadt raid.
3:07. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to the Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov: “The VNOS [airborne surveillance, warning and communications] system of the fleet reports on the approach from the sea of a large number of unknown aircraft; The fleet is on full alert.
3:10. The UNKGB in the Lvov region transmits by telephone to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR the information obtained during the interrogation of the defector Alfred Liskov.
From the memoirs of the head of the 90th border detachment, Major Bychkovsky: “Without finishing the interrogation of a soldier, I heard strong artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant's office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken ... "
3:30. Chief of staff Western District General Klimovskikh reports on enemy air raids on the cities of Belarus: Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovichi and others.
3:33. The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reports on air raids on the cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv.
3:40. The commander of the Baltic Military District, General Kuznetsov, reports on enemy air raids on Riga, Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas and other cities.
German soldiers cross the state border of the USSR.
"Enemy raid repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships has been thwarted."
3:42. Chief of the General Staff Zhukov calls Stalin and reports the start of hostilities by Germany. Stalin orders Timoshenko and Zhukov to arrive at the Kremlin, where an emergency meeting of the Politburo is being convened.
3:45. The 1st frontier post of the 86th Augustow border detachment was attacked by an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group. The personnel of the outpost under the command of Alexander Sivachev, having entered the battle, destroy the attackers.
4:00. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to Zhukov: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships has been thwarted. But there is destruction in Sevastopol.”
4:05. The outposts of the 86th August Frontier Detachment, including the 1st Frontier Post of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev, are subjected to heavy artillery fire, after which the German offensive begins. The border guards, deprived of communication with the command, engage in battle with superior enemy forces.
4:10. The Western and Baltic Special Military Districts report the start of hostilities by German troops on land.
4:15. The Nazis open massive artillery fire on Brest Fortress. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, communications were disrupted, and there were a large number of dead and wounded.
4:25. The 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht begins an attack on the Brest Fortress.
"Protection is not individual countries but ensuring the security of Europe"
4:30. A meeting of members of the Politburo begins in the Kremlin. Stalin expresses doubt that what happened is the beginning of the war and does not exclude the version of a German provocation. People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko and Zhukov insist: this is war.
4:55. In the Brest Fortress, the Nazis manage to capture almost half of the territory. Further progress was stopped by a sudden counterattack by the Red Army.
5:00. The German ambassador to the USSR, Count von Schulenburg, presents the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov with a “Note from the German Foreign Ministry to the Soviet Government”, which says: “The German government cannot be indifferent to a serious threat on the eastern border, so the Fuhrer gave the order to the German armed forces by all means ward off this threat. An hour after the actual start of hostilities, Germany de jure declares war on the Soviet Union.
5:30. On the German radio, Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels read out Adolf Hitler's appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against Soviet Union: “Now the hour has come when it is necessary to oppose this conspiracy of Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow ... In this moment the greatest in terms of its length and volume of the performance of the troops, which the world has ever seen ... The task of this front is no longer the protection of individual countries, but the security of Europe and thereby the salvation of all.
7:00. Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Ribbentrop begins a press conference at which he announces the start of hostilities against the USSR: "The German army has invaded the territory of Bolshevik Russia!"
“The city is on fire, why aren’t you broadcasting anything on the radio?”
7:15. Stalin approves the directive on repulsing the attack of Nazi Germany: "The troops will attack the enemy forces with all their strength and means and destroy them in areas where they have violated the Soviet border." The transfer of "Directive No. 2" due to the violation by saboteurs of the communication lines in the western districts. Moscow does not have a clear picture of what is happening in the war zone.
9:30. It was decided that at noon with an appeal to the Soviet people In connection with the outbreak of war, Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, will speak.
10:00. From the memoirs of announcer Yuri Levitan: “They call from Minsk: “Enemy planes over the city”, they call from Kaunas: “The city is on fire, why are you not transmitting anything on the radio?”, “Enemy planes are over Kyiv.” Women's crying, excitement: “Is it really a war? ..” However, no official messages are transmitted until 12:00 Moscow time on June 22.
10:30. From the report of the headquarters of the 45th German division on the battles on the territory of the Brest Fortress: “The Russians are fiercely resisting, especially behind our attacking companies. In the citadel, the enemy organized defense by infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of enemy snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers.
11:00. The Baltic, Western and Kyiv special military districts were transformed into the Northwestern, Western and Southwestern fronts.
“The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours"
12:00. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov read out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union: "Today at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed from our cities - Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others - with their own planes, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory ... Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repel the piratical attack and drive the German troops from the territory of our homeland ... The government calls on you, citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally their ranks still more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade Stalin.
Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".
12:30. Advanced German units break into the Belarusian city of Grodno.
13:00. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree "On the mobilization of those liable for military service ..."
“On the basis of Article 49 of paragraph “o” of the Constitution of the USSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announces mobilization on the territory of the military districts - Leningrad, Special Baltic, Western Special, Kyiv Special, Odessa, Kharkov, Oryol, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Ural, Siberian, Volga, North - Caucasian and Transcaucasian.
Those liable for military service who were born from 1905 to 1918 inclusive are subject to mobilization. Consider June 23, 1941 as the first day of mobilization. Despite the fact that June 23 is named the first day of mobilization, recruiting offices at the military registration and enlistment offices begin to work by the middle of the day on June 22.
13:30. The Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov, flies to Kyiv as a representative of the newly created Headquarters of the High Command on the Southwestern Front.
"Italy also declares war on the Soviet Union"
14:00. The Brest Fortress is completely surrounded by German troops. Soviet units blockaded in the citadel continue to offer fierce resistance.
14:05. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano states: “In view of the current situation, due to the fact that Germany declared war on the USSR, Italy, as an ally of Germany and as a member of the Tripartite Pact, also declares war on the Soviet Union from the moment the German troops entered the Soviet territory».
14:10. The 1st frontier post of Alexander Sivachev has been fighting for more than 10 hours. Having only weapon and grenades, the border guards destroyed up to 60 Nazis and burned three tanks. The wounded head of the outpost continued to command the battle.
15:00. From the notes of the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal von Bock: “The question of whether the Russians are carrying out a planned withdrawal is still open. There is now ample evidence both for and against this.
It is surprising that nowhere is any significant work of their artillery visible. Strong artillery fire is conducted only in the north-west of Grodno, where the VIII army corps. Apparently, our air Force have an overwhelming superiority over Russian aviation.
Of the 485 frontier posts attacked, none retreated without an order.
16:00. After a 12-hour battle, the Nazis occupy the positions of the 1st frontier post. This became possible only after all the border guards who defended it died. The head of the outpost, Alexander Sivachev, was posthumously awarded the Order Patriotic War I degree.
The feat of the outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev became one of the hundreds accomplished by the border guards in the first hours and days of the war. state border The USSR from the Barents to the Black Sea on June 22, 1941 was guarded by 666 border outposts, 485 of them were attacked on the very first day of the war. None of the 485 outposts attacked on June 22 withdrew without orders.
The Nazi command took 20 minutes to break the resistance of the border guards. 257 Soviet frontier posts held the defense from several hours to one day. More than one day - 20, more than two days - 16, more than three days - 20, more than four and five days - 43, from seven to nine days - 4, more than eleven days - 51, more than twelve days - 55, more than 15 days - 51 outposts. Up to two months, 45 outposts fought.
Of the 19,600 border guards who met the Nazis on June 22 in the direction of the main attack of Army Group Center, more than 16,000 died in the first days of the war.
17:00. Hitler's units manage to occupy the southwestern part of the Brest Fortress, the northeast remained under the control of Soviet troops. Stubborn battles for the fortress will continue for another week.
"The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland"
18:00. The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow and Kolomna, addresses the faithful with a message: “Fascist robbers have attacked our homeland. Trampling all sorts of treaties and promises, they suddenly fell upon us, and now the blood of peaceful citizens is already irrigating our native land ... Our Orthodox Church has always shared the fate of the people. Together with him, she carried trials, and consoled herself with his successes. She will not leave her people even now… The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox to defend the sacred borders of our Motherland.”
19:00. From the notes of the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, Colonel General Franz Halder: “All the armies, except for the 11th Army of the Army Group South in Romania, went on the offensive according to plan. The offensive of our troops, apparently, was a complete tactical surprise for the enemy on the entire front. The border bridges across the Bug and other rivers have been everywhere captured by our troops without a fight and in complete safety. The complete surprise of our offensive for the enemy is evidenced by the fact that the units were taken by surprise in the barracks, the planes stood at the airfields, covered with tarpaulin, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command what to do ... The Air Force command reported, that today 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken to the air without fighter cover, were attacked by our fighters and destroyed.
20:00. Directive No. 3 of the People's Commissariat of Defense was approved, ordering the Soviet troops to go on the counteroffensive with the task of defeating the Nazi troops on the territory of the USSR with further advancement into enemy territory. The directive prescribed by the end of June 24 to capture the Polish city of Lublin.
"We must give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can"
21:00. Summary of the High Command of the Red Army for June 22: “At dawn on June 22, 1941, the regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, the German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the Grodno and Krystynopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and take the towns of Kalvaria, Stojanow and Tsekhanovets (the first two at 15 km and the last at 10 km from the border).
Enemy aircraft attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere met a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes."
23:00. Appeal of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the British people in connection with the German attack on the USSR: “At 4 o'clock this morning, Hitler attacked Russia. All his usual formalities of treachery were observed with scrupulous precision ... suddenly, without a declaration of war, even without an ultimatum, German bombs fell from the sky on Russian cities, German troops violated Russian borders, and an hour later the German ambassador, who just the day before generously lavished his assurances to the Russians in friendship and almost an alliance, paid a visit to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and declared that Russia and Germany were in a state of war ...
No one has been a more staunch opponent of communism over the past 25 years than I have been. I will not take back a single word said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle unfolding now.
The past, with its crimes, follies and tragedies, recedes. I see Russian soldiers standing on the border of their native land and guarding the fields that their fathers have plowed since time immemorial. I see how they guard their homes; their mothers and wives pray - oh yes, because at such a time everyone prays for the preservation of their loved ones, for the return of the breadwinner, patron, their protectors ...
We must give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can. We must call on all our friends and allies in all parts of the world to follow a similar course and pursue it as steadfastly and steadily as we will, to the very end.
June 22 has come to an end. Ahead were another 1417 days of the most terrible war in the history of mankind.
22nd of June. Ordinary Sunday. More than 200 million citizens are planning how to spend their day off: go on a visit, take their children to the zoo, someone is in a hurry to play football, someone is on a date. Soon they will become heroes and victims of the war, killed and wounded, soldiers and refugees, blockade runners and prisoners of concentration camps, partisans, prisoners of war, orphans, and invalids. Winners and veterans of the Great Patriotic War. But none of them know about it yet.
In 1941 The Soviet Union stood quite firmly on its feet - industrialization and collectivization bore fruit, industry developed - out of ten tractors produced in the world, four were Soviet-made. Dneproges and Magnitogorsk have been built, the army is being re-equipped - the famous T-34 tank, Yak-1, MIG-3 fighters, Il-2 attack aircraft, Pe-2 bomber have already entered service with the Red Army. The situation in the world is turbulent, but the Soviet people are sure that "the armor is strong and our tanks are fast." In addition, two years ago, after three-hour talks in Moscow, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov and German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop signed a 10-year non-aggression pact.
After abnormal cold winter 1940–1941 enough came to Moscow warm summer. Amusements operate in the Gorky Park, football matches are held at the Dynamo stadium. The Mosfilm film studio is preparing the main premiere of the summer of 1941 - the editing of the lyrical comedy Hearts of Four, which will be released only in 1945, has just been completed here. AT leading role favorite of Joseph Stalin and all Soviet moviegoers, actress Valentina Serova.
June, 1941 Astrakhan. Near the village of Liney
1941 Astrakhan. On the Caspian Sea
July 1, 1940 A scene from the film "My Love" directed by Vladimir Korsh-Sablin. In the center, actress Lidia Smirnova as Shurochka
April, 1941 Peasant greets the first Soviet tractor
July 12, 1940 Residents of Uzbekistan work on the construction of a section of the Great Fergana Canal
August 9, 1940 Byelorussian SSR. Collective farmers of the village of Tonezh, Turovsky district, Polesye region, for a walk after a hard day's work
May 05, 1941 Kliment Voroshilov, Mikhail Kalinin, Anastas Mikoyan, Andrey Andreev, Alexander Shcherbakov, Georgy Malenkov, Semyon Timoshenko, Georgy Zhukov, Andrey Eremenko, Semyon Budyonny, Nikolai Bulganin, Lazar Kaganovich and others in the presidium of the ceremonial meeting dedicated to graduation commanders who graduated from military academies. Joseph Stalin speaking
June 1, 1940. Classes in civil defense in the village of Dikanka. Ukraine, Poltava region
In the spring and summer of 1941, exercises of the Soviet military began to be carried out more and more often on the western borders of the USSR. War is already in full swing in Europe. Rumors reach the Soviet leadership that Germany could attack at any moment. But such messages are often ignored, since a non-aggression pact was signed just recently.
August 20, 1940 Villagers talking to tankmen during military exercises
"Higher, higher and higher
We strive for the flight of our birds,
And breathes in every propeller
The tranquility of our borders."
Soviet song, better known as "March of the Aviators"
June 1, 1941. An I-16 fighter is suspended under the wing of a TB-3 aircraft, under the wing of which a high-explosive bomb weighing 250 kg
September 28, 1939 People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop shake hands after the signing of the joint Soviet-German treaty "On Friendship and Borders"
Field Marshal V. Keitel, Colonel General V. von Brauchitsch, A. Hitler, Colonel General F. Halder (left to right in the foreground) near the table with a map during a meeting of the General Staff. In 1940, Adolf Hitler signed the main directive number 21, codenamed "Barbarossa"
On June 17, 1941, V.N. Merkulov sent an intelligence message received by the NKGB of the USSR from Berlin to I.V. Stalin and V.M. Molotov:
“A source working at the headquarters of the German aviation reports:
1. All German military measures to prepare for an armed uprising against the USSR have been completely completed, and a strike can be expected at any time.
2. In the circles of the aviation headquarters, the TASS message of June 6 was perceived very ironically. They emphasize that this statement cannot have any meaning ... "
There is a resolution (regarding 2 points): “To Comrade Merkulov. You can send your "source" from the headquarters of the German aviation to the fucking mother. This is not a "source", but a disinformer. I. Stalin»
July 1, 1940 Marshal Semyon Timoshenko (right), General of the Army Georgy Zhukov (left) and General of the Army Kirill Meretskov (2nd from left) during exercises in 99 rifle division Kyiv Special Military District
June 21, 21:00
At the site of the Sokal commandant's office, a German soldier, Corporal Alfred Liskof, was detained after swimming across the Bug River.
From the testimony of the head of the 90th border detachment, Major Bychkovsky:“In view of the fact that the interpreters in the detachment are weak, I called a teacher from the city German language... and Liskof repeated the same thing again, that is, that the Germans were preparing to attack the USSR at dawn on June 22, 1941 ... Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, he heard strong artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant's office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken.
21:30
In Moscow, a conversation took place between People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov and German Ambassador Schulenburg. Molotov protested in connection with the numerous violations of the borders of the USSR by German aircraft. Schulenburg evaded answering.
From the memoirs of Corporal Hans Teuchler:“At 22 o’clock we were lined up and the order of the Fuhrer was read out. Finally, they told us directly why we are here. Not at all for a rush to Persia to punish the British with the permission of the Russians. And not in order to lull the vigilance of the British, and then quickly transfer troops to the English Channel and land in England. No. We - soldiers of the Great Reich - are waiting for a war with the Soviet Union itself. But there is no such force that could hold back the movement of our armies. For the Russians it will be a real war, for us it will be just a victory. We will pray for her."
June 22, 00:30
Directive No. 1 was sent to the districts, containing an order to covertly occupy firing points on the border, not to succumb to provocations and put the troops on alert.
From memories German general Heinz Guderian:“On the fateful day of June 22 at 2:10 in the morning, I went to the command post of the group ...
At 03:15 our artillery preparation began.
At 0340 hours - the first raid of our dive bombers.
At 4:15 a.m., the crossing over the Bug began.
03:07
The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Oktyabrsky, called the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Georgy Zhukov, and said that a large number of unknown aircraft were approaching from the sea; The fleet is in full combat readiness. The admiral offered to meet them with fleet air defense fire. He was instructed: "Act and report to your people's commissar."
03:30
Chief of Staff of the Western District, Major General Vladimir Klimovskikh, reported on a German air raid on the cities of Belarus. Three minutes later, the chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reported on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine. At 03:40, the commander of the Baltic District, General Kuznetsov, reported a raid on Kaunas and other cities.
From the memoirs of I. I. Geibo, deputy regiment commander of the 46th IAP, ZapVO:“... My chest went cold. In front of me are four twin-engine bombers with black crosses on their wings. I even bit my lip. Why, these are Junkers! German Ju-88 bombers! What to do? .. Another thought arose: "Today is Sunday, and on Sundays the Germans do not have training flights." So it's a war? Yes, war!
03:40
People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko asks Zhukov to report to Stalin about the start of hostilities. Stalin responded by ordering all members of the Politburo to gather in the Kremlin. At this point, Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovich, Bobruisk, Volkovysk, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sevastopol, Riga, Vindava, Libava, Siauliai, Kaunas, Vilnius and many other cities were bombed.
From the memoirs of Alevtina Kotik, born in 1925 (Lithuania):“I woke up from the fact that I hit my head on the bed - the ground shook from falling bombs. I ran to my parents. Dad said: “The war has begun. We have to get out of here!” We did not know with whom the war started, we did not think about it, it was just very scary. Dad was a military man, and therefore he was able to call a car for us, which took us to the railway station. They took only clothes with them. All furniture and household utensils remained. At first we rode on a freight train. I remember how my mother covered me and my brother with her body, then they transferred to a passenger train. The fact that the war with Germany, they learned somewhere around 12 noon from people they met. Near the city of Siauliai, we saw a large number of wounded, stretchers, doctors.
At the same time, the Belostok-Minsk battle began, as a result of which the main forces of the Soviet Western Front were surrounded and defeated. German troops captured a significant part of Belarus and advanced to a depth of over 300 km. On the part of the Soviet Union in the Bialystok and Minsk “boilers”, 11 rifle, 2 cavalry, 6 tank and 4 motorized divisions were destroyed, 3 commanders and 2 commanders were killed, 2 commanders and 6 division commanders were captured, another 1 corps commander and 2 commanders divisions were missing.
04:10
The Western and Baltic Special Districts reported on the start of hostilities by German troops on land.
04:12
German bombers appeared over Sevastopol. The enemy raid was repulsed, and an attempt to strike at the ships was thwarted, but residential buildings and warehouses were damaged in the city.
From the memoirs of Sevastopol Anatoly Marsanov:“I was then only five years old ... The only thing that remains in my memory: on the night of June 22, parachutes appeared in the sky. It became light, I remember, the whole city was illuminated, everyone was running, so joyful ... They shouted: “Paratroopers! Paratroopers!”… They don't know that these are mines. And they both gasped - one in the bay, the other - down the street below us, they killed so many people!
04:15
The defense of the Brest Fortress began. By the first attack, by 04:55, the Germans occupied almost half of the fortress.
From the memoirs of the defender of the Brest Fortress Pyotr Kotelnikov, born in 1929:“In the morning we were awakened by a strong blow. Broke the roof. I was stunned. I saw the wounded and the dead, I realized: this is no longer an exercise, but a war. Most of the soldiers of our barracks died in the first seconds. Following the adults, I rushed to the weapon, but they did not give me rifles. Then I, with one of the Red Army soldiers, rushed to extinguish the clothing warehouse. Then he moved with the soldiers to the cellars of the barracks of the neighboring 333rd Infantry Regiment ... We helped the wounded, brought them ammunition, food, water. Through the western wing at night they made their way to the river to draw water, and returned back.
05:00
Moscow time, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop summoned Soviet diplomats to his office. When they arrived, he informed them of the start of the war. The last thing he said to the ambassadors was: "Tell Moscow that I was against the attack." After that, telephones did not work in the embassy, and the building itself was surrounded by SS detachments.
5:30
Schulenburg officially informed Molotov about the beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR, reading out a note: “Bolshevik Moscow is ready to stab in the back of National Socialist Germany, which is fighting for existence. The German government cannot be indifferent to the serious threat on the eastern border. Therefore, the Fuhrer gave the order to the German armed forces to ward off this threat with all their might and means ... "
From the memoirs of Molotov:"The adviser to the German ambassador Hilger, when he handed the note, shed a tear."
From Hilger's memoirs:“He gave vent to his indignation by declaring that Germany had attacked a country with which it had a non-aggression pact. This has no precedent in history. The reason given by the German side is an empty pretext ... Molotov concluded his angry speech with the words: “We did not give any grounds for this.”
07:15
Directive No. 2 was issued, ordering the troops of the USSR to destroy enemy forces in areas of violation of the border, destroy enemy aircraft, and also “bomb Koenigsberg and Memel” (modern Kaliningrad and Klaipeda). The USSR Air Force was allowed to go "to the depth of German territory up to 100-150 km." At the same time, the first counterattack of the Soviet troops took place near the Lithuanian town of Alytus.
09:00
At 7:00 Berlin time, Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels read out on the radio Adolf Hitler's appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union: “... Today I decided again to put the fate and future of the German Reich and our people into the hands of our soldier. May the Lord help us in this struggle!
09:30
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Kalinin signed a number of decrees, including the decree on the introduction of martial law, on the formation of the Headquarters of the High Command, on military tribunals and on general mobilization, to which all those liable for military service from 1905 to 1918 were born.
10:00
German bombers raided Kyiv and its suburbs. The railway station, the Bolshevik plant, an aircraft plant, power plants, military airfields, and residential buildings were bombed. According to official data, 25 people died as a result of the bombing, according to unofficial data, there were many more victims. However, peaceful life continued in the capital of Ukraine for several more days. Only the opening of the stadium, scheduled for June 22, was canceled; on this day, the football match Dynamo (Kyiv) - CSKA was supposed to take place here.
12:15
Molotov made a speech on the radio about the beginning of the war, where he first called it patriotic. Also in this speech, for the first time, the phrase that became the main slogan of the war is heard: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".
From Molotov's address:“This unprecedented attack on our country is an unparalleled treachery in the history of civilized peoples... This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose suffering we understand well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs , Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples ... This is not the first time our people have to deal with an attacking arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.
The working people of Leningrad listen to the message about the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union
From the memoirs of Dmitry Savelyev, Novokuznetsk: “We gathered at the poles with loudspeakers. We listened carefully to Molotov's speech. For many, there was a feeling of some kind of wariness. After that, the streets began to empty, after a while food disappeared from the shops. They weren’t bought up – just the supply was reduced… People weren’t scared, but rather focused, doing everything the government told them to do.”
After some time, the text of Molotov's speech was repeated by the famous announcer Yuri Levitan. Thanks to his soulful voice and the fact that Levitan read the front-line reports of the Soviet Information Bureau throughout the war, there is an opinion that it was he who was the first to read the message about the beginning of the war on the radio. Even marshals Zhukov and Rokossovsky thought so, as they wrote about in their memoirs.
Moscow. Announcer Yuri Levitan during filming in the studio
From the memoirs of announcer Yuri Levitan:“When we, the announcers, were called to the radio early in the morning, the calls had already begun to ring out. They call from Minsk: “Enemy planes over the city”, they call from Kaunas: “The city is on fire, why are you not transmitting anything on the radio?”, “Enemy planes are over Kyiv.” Women's crying, excitement - "is it really a war"? .. And now I remember - I turned on the microphone. In all cases, I remember myself that I only worried internally, only experienced internally. But here, when I uttered the word “Moscow is speaking”, I feel that I can’t continue to speak - a lump stuck in my throat. They are already knocking from the control room - “Why are you silent? Go on! He clenched his fists and continued: "Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union ..."
Stalin delivered a speech to the Soviet people only on July 3, 12 days after the start of the war. Historians are still arguing why he was silent for so long. Here is how Vyacheslav Molotov explained this fact:“Why me and not Stalin? He didn't want to go first. It is necessary that there be a clearer picture, what tone and what approach ... He said that he would wait a few days and speak when the situation on the fronts cleared up.
And here is what Marshal Zhukov wrote about this:"AND. V. Stalin was a strong-willed man and, as they say, "not from a cowardly dozen." Confused, I saw him only once. It was at dawn on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked our country. During the first day, he could not really pull himself together and firmly direct events. The shock produced on I. V. Stalin by the attack of the enemy was so strong that his voice even dropped, and his orders for organizing armed struggle did not always correspond to the situation.
From a speech by Stalin on the radio on July 3, 1941:“The war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war ... Our war for the freedom of our Fatherland will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms.”
12:30
At the same time, German troops entered Grodno. A few minutes later, the bombardment of Minsk, Kyiv, Sevastopol and other cities began again.
From the memoirs of Ninel Karpova, born in 1931 (Kharovsk, Vologda region):“We listened to the message about the beginning of the war from the loudspeaker at the House of Defense. There were a lot of people there. I was not upset, on the contrary, I became proud: my father will defend the Motherland ... In general, people were not afraid. Yes, women, of course, were upset, crying. But there was no panic. Everyone was sure that we would quickly defeat the Germans. The men said: "Yes, the Germans will drape from us!"
Recruiting stations were opened in the military registration and enlistment offices. Queues lined up in Moscow, Leningrad and other cities.
From the memoirs of Dina Belykh, born in 1936 (Kushva city Sverdlovsk region): “All men immediately began to call, including my dad. Dad hugged mom, they both cried, kissed ... I remember how I grabbed him by the tarpaulin boots and shouted: “Daddy, don’t go! They'll kill you there, they'll kill you!" When he got on the train, my mother took me in her arms, we both sobbed, she whispered through her tears: “Wave to dad ...” What is there, I sobbed so much, I could not move my hand. We never saw him again, our breadwinner."
Calculations and experience of the mobilization carried out showed that in order to transfer the army and navy to wartime, 4.9 million people were required to be called up. However, when mobilization was announced, 14 ages of conscripts were called up, the total number of which was about 10 million people, that is, almost 5.1 million people more than what was required.
The first day of mobilization in the Red Army. Volunteers in the Oktyabrsky military registration and enlistment office
The call of such a mass of people was not called military necessity and brought disorganization into the national economy and anxiety among the masses. Without realizing this, Marshal of the Soviet Union G. I. Kulik suggested that the government additionally call on older ages (1895 - 1904), the total number of which was 6.8 million people.
13:15
To capture the Brest Fortress, the Germans brought into action new forces of the 133rd Infantry Regiment on the Southern and Western Islands, but this "did not bring changes in the situation." The Brest Fortress continued to hold the line. Fritz Schlieper's 45th Infantry Division was thrown into this sector of the front. It was decided that only infantry would take the Brest Fortress - without tanks. No more than eight hours were allotted for the capture of the fortress.
From a report to the headquarters of the 45th Infantry Division Fritz Schlieper:“The Russians are fiercely resisting, especially behind our attacking companies. In the Citadel, the enemy organized defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of Russian snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers.
14:30
Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano told the Soviet ambassador in Rome, Gorelkin, that Italy had declared war on the USSR "from the moment German troops entered Soviet territory."
From Ciano's diaries:“He perceives my message with rather great indifference, but this is in his nature. The message is very short, without unnecessary words. The conversation lasted two minutes.
15:00
The pilots of the German bombers reported that they had nothing more to bomb, all airfields, barracks and concentrations of armored vehicles were destroyed.
From the memoirs of Air Marshal, Hero of the Soviet Union G.V. Zimina:“On June 22, 1941, large groups of fascist bombers attacked 66 of our airfields, on which the main aviation forces of the western border districts were based. First of all, the airfields on which they were based were subjected to air strikes. aviation regiments, armed with aircraft of new designs ... As a result of attacks on airfields and in fierce air battles, the enemy managed to destroy up to 1200 aircraft, including 800 at airfields.
16:30
Stalin left the Kremlin for the Near Dacha. Until the end of the day, even members of the Politburo are not allowed to see the leader.
From the memoirs of Politburo member Nikita Khrushchev:
“Beria told the following: when the war began, members of the Politburo gathered at Stalin's. I don’t know, all or only a certain group, which most often met with Stalin. Stalin was morally completely depressed and made the following statement: “The war has begun, it is developing catastrophically. Lenin left us the proletarian Soviet state, and we pissed it off.” Literally said so.
“I,” he says, “refuse leadership,” and left. He left, got into the car and drove to a nearby dacha.
Some historians, referring to the memories of other participants in the events, argue that this conversation took place a day later. But the fact that in the first days of the war Stalin was confused and did not know how to act is confirmed by many witnesses.
18:30
The commander of the 4th Army, Ludwig Kubler, gives the order to "pull his own forces" at the Brest Fortress. This is one of the first orders for the retreat of German troops.
19:00
The commander of Army Group Center, General Fedor von Bock, gives the order to stop the execution of Soviet prisoners of war. After that, they were kept in hastily fenced fields with barbed wire. This is how the first camps for prisoners of war appeared.
From the notes of SS Brigadeführer G. Keppler, commander of the "Der Fuhrer" regiment from the SS division "Das Reich":“In the hands of our regiment were rich trophies and a large number of prisoners, among whom were many civilians, even women and girls, the Russians forced them to defend themselves with weapons in their hands, and they bravely fought along with the Red Army.”
23:00
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a radio address in which he stated that England "will give Russia and the Russian people all the help it can."
Winston Churchill's speech on the air of the BBC radio station:“Over the past 25 years, no one has been a more consistent opponent of communism than me. I won't take back a single word I said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle now unfolding. The past with its crimes, follies and tragedies is disappearing... I see Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields that their fathers have cultivated since time immemorial... I see how the vile Nazi war machine is approaching all this.
23:50
The Main Military Council of the Red Army sent out Directive No. 3, ordering June 23 to launch counterattacks against enemy groups.
Text: Information Center of the Kommersant Publishing House, Tatiana Mishanina, Artem Galustyan
Video: Dmitry Shelkovnikov, Alexey Koshel
A photo: TASS, RIA Novosti, Ogonyok, Dmitry Kuchev
Design, programming and layout: Anton Zhukov, Alexey Shabrov
Kim Voronin
Commissioning Editor: Artem Galustyan
And the allies swiftly struck at several points at once, catching the Russian army by surprise. This day was the beginning of a new period in the life of the USSR - the Great Patriotic War.
Prerequisites for the German attack on the USSR
After the defeat in the First World War, the situation in Germany remained extremely unstable: the economy and industry collapsed, a crisis occurred that the authorities could not solve. It was at this time that Hitler came to the government, whose main idea was to create a single nationally oriented state that would not only take revenge for losing the war, but also subordinate the entire main world to its order.
Following his own ideas, Hitler created a fascist state on the territory of Germany and in 1939 unleashed it by invading the Czech Republic and Poland and annexing them to Germany. During the war, Hitler's army rapidly advanced across Europe, seizing territories, but did not attack the USSR - a preliminary non-aggression pact was concluded.
Unfortunately, the USSR was still a tasty morsel for Hitler. The opportunity to seize territories and resources opened up an opportunity for Germany to enter into open confrontation with the United States and declare its dominance over most of the world's landmass.
To attack the USSR, the Barbarossa plan was developed - a plan for a treacherous military assault, which was to be carried out within two months. The implementation of the plan began on June 22 with the German invasion of the USSR.
German goals
Germany's main goals were:
- ideological and military: Germany sought to destroy the USSR as a state, as well as to destroy the communist ideology, which it considered incorrect; Hitler sought to establish the hegemony of nationalist ideas throughout the world (the superiority of one race, one people over others);
- imperialistic: as in many wars, Hitler's goal was to seize power in the world and create a powerful empire, to which all other states would be subordinate;
- economic: the capture of the USSR gave the German army unprecedented economic opportunities for the further conduct of the war;
- racist: Hitler sought to destroy all "wrong" races (in particular, Jews).
The first period of the war and the implementation of the plan "Barbarossa"
Although Hitler planned a surprise attack, the command of the USSR army suspected what could happen, therefore, on June 18, 1941, part of the army was put on alert, and the armed forces were drawn to the border at the places of the alleged attack. Unfortunately, the Soviet command had only vague information regarding the date of the attack, so by the time the fascist troops invaded, many military units did not have time to properly prepare in order to competently repel the attack.
At 4 am on June 22, 1941, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop handed the Soviet ambassador in Berlin a note declaring war, at the same time German troops launched an attack on the Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Finland. Early in the morning, the German ambassador arrived in the USSR to meet with People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov and made a statement saying that the Union was carrying out subversive activities in Germany in order to establish Bolshevik power there, so Germany was breaking the non-aggression agreement and starting hostilities. .
On the same day, Italy, Romania, and then Slovakia declared official war on the USSR. At 12 noon, Molotov made an official radio address to the citizens of the USSR, announcing the German attack on the USSR and announcing the start. A general mobilization began.
Causes and consequences of the German attack on the USSR
The Barbarossa plan could not be carried out, since the Soviet army put up good resistance, was better equipped than expected, and generally fought competently, taking into account territorial conditions. However, the first period of the war turned out to be a losing one for the USSR. Germany in as soon as possible managed to conquer a significant part of the territories, including Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania. German troops advanced inland, encircled Leningrad and began bombing Moscow.
The suddenness of the attack played its part. Soviet army inferior to the German one: the level of training of the soldiers was much lower, the military equipment was worse, and the leadership in the early stages made a number of very serious mistakes.
The German attack on the USSR resulted in a protracted war that claimed many lives and actually brought down the country's economy, which was not ready for large-scale military operations. Nevertheless, in the middle of the war, Soviet troops managed to gain an advantage and launch a counteroffensive.
The attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR began at 4 am on June 22, 1941, when the German military aviation launched the first strikes on a number of Soviet cities and strategic military and infrastructure facilities. Having attacked the USSR, Germany unilaterally broke the non-aggression pact between the countries, concluded two years earlier for a period of 10 years.
Background and preparation of the attack
In mid-1939, the USSR changed the course of its foreign policy: the collapse of the idea " collective security”and the dead end of negotiations with Great Britain and France forced Moscow to move closer to Nazi Germany. On August 23, the head of the German Foreign Ministry, I. von Ribbentrop, arrived in Moscow. On the same day, the parties signed a non-aggression pact for a period of ten years, and in addition to it, a secret protocol, which stipulated the delimitation of the spheres of interests of both states in Eastern Europe. Eight days after the signing of the treaty, Germany attacked Poland - the Second World War began.
The rapid victories of German troops in Europe caused concern in Moscow. The first deterioration in Soviet-German relations occurred in August-September 1940, and was caused by the provision of foreign policy guarantees by Germany to Romania after it was forced to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR (this was stipulated in a secret protocol). In September, Germany sent its troops to Finland. By this time, the German command had already been developing a plan for a lightning war (“blitzkrieg”) against the Soviet Union for more than a month.
In the spring of 1941, relations between Moscow and Berlin deteriorated sharply again: less than a day had passed since the signing of the Soviet-Yugoslav friendship treaty, as German troops invaded Yugoslavia. The USSR did not react to this, as well as to the attack on Greece. After the defeat of Greece and Yugoslavia, German troops began to concentrate near the borders of the USSR. Since the spring of 1941 from different sources Moscow received information about the threat of attack from Germany. So, at the end of March, a letter to Stalin with a warning that the Germans were transferring tank divisions from Romania to southern Poland was sent by British Prime Minister W. Churchill. Germany's intention to attack the USSR was reported by a number of Soviet intelligence officers and diplomats - Schulze-Boysen and Harnack from Germany, R. Sorge from Japan. However, some of their colleagues reported the opposite, so Moscow was in no hurry to draw conclusions. According to G.K. Zhukov, Stalin was sure that Hitler would not fight on two fronts and would not start a war with the USSR until the end of the war in the West. His point of view was shared by the head of the intelligence department, General F. I. Golikov: on March 20, 1941, he submitted a report to Stalin, in which he concluded that all the information about the inevitability of the imminent start of the Soviet-German war “should be regarded as disinformation coming from the British and even maybe German intelligence.
With the threat of conflict growing, Stalin assumed the formal leadership of the government: on May 6, 1941, he assumed the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. The day before, he spoke in the Kremlin at a reception in honor of graduates of military academies, in particular, saying that it was time for the country to move "from defense to offensive." On May 15, 1941, People's Commissar of Defense S. K. Timoshenko and the newly appointed Chief of the General Staff G. K. Zhukov presented to Stalin "Considerations on the plan for the strategic deployment of the armed forces of the Soviet Union in the event of a war with Germany and its allies." It was assumed that the Red Army would strike at the enemy at the moment when the enemy armies were in the deployment stage. According to Zhukov, Stalin did not want to hear about a preventive strike on German troops. Fearing a provocation that could give Germany a pretext for an attack, Stalin forbade opening fire on German reconnaissance aircraft, which had been increasingly crossing the Soviet border since the spring of 1941. He was convinced that, by observing the utmost caution, the USSR would avoid war, or at least delay it until a more favorable moment.
On June 14, 1941, by order of the Soviet government, TASS published a statement stating that rumors about Germany's intention to break the non-aggression pact and start a war against the USSR were groundless, and the transfer of German troops from the Balkans to eastern Germany was probably connected with other motives. . On June 17, 1941, Stalin was informed that the Soviet intelligence officer Schulze-Boysen, an employee of the German aviation headquarters, said: “All German military measures to prepare an armed uprising against the USSR are completely over, and a strike can be expected at any time.” The Soviet leader imposed a resolution in which he called Schulze-Boysen a disinformer and advised him to be sent to hell.
On the evening of June 21, 1941, a message was received in Moscow: a sergeant major of the German army, a staunch communist, crossed the Soviet-Romanian border at the risk of his life and said that the offensive would begin in the morning. The information was urgently conveyed to Stalin, and he gathered the military and members of the Politburo. People's Commissar of Defense S. K. Timoshenko and Chief of the General Staff G. K. Zhukov, according to the latter, asked Stalin to accept a directive to put the troops on alert, but he doubted, suggesting that the Germans could have planted a defector officer on purpose in order to provoke a conflict. Instead of the directive proposed by Tymoshenko and Zhukov, the head of state ordered another, short directive, indicating that the attack could begin with a provocation by the German units. On June 22, at 0:30, this order was transmitted to the military districts. At three o'clock in the morning, all those gathered at Stalin's dispersed.
Start of hostilities
Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, German aviation destroyed a significant part of Soviet aviation with a sudden attack on airfields. western districts. The bombing of Kyiv, Riga, Smolensk, Murmansk, Sevastopol and many other cities began. In a declaration read on the radio that day, Hitler stated that Moscow allegedly "treacherously violated" the friendship treaty with Germany, as it concentrated troops against it and violated German borders. Therefore, the Führer said, he decided to "come out against the Judeo-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and their assistants, as well as the Jews from the Moscow Bolshevik center" in the name of the "cause of peace" and "the security of Europe."
The offensive was carried out according to a previously developed plan "Barbarossa". As in previous military campaigns, the Germans expected to use the tactics of "blitzkrieg" ("blitzkrieg"): the defeat of the USSR was supposed to take only eight to ten weeks and be completed even before Germany ended the war with Great Britain. Planning to end the war before winter, the German command did not even bother to prepare winter uniforms. German armies in three groups were to advance on Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv, having previously surrounded and destroyed enemy troops in the western part of the USSR. The army groups were led by experienced military leaders: Field Marshal von Leeb commanded the North Army Group, Field Marshal von Bock commanded the Center Army Group, and Field Marshal von Rundstedt commanded the South Army Group. Each army group was given its own air fleet and tank army, the Center group had two of them. The ultimate goal of Operation Barbarossa was to be the achievement of the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line. The work of industrial enterprises located to the east of this line - in the Urals, in Kazakhstan and Siberia - the Germans expected to paralyze with the help of air strikes.
Giving instructions to the High Command of the Armed Forces, Hitler emphasized that the war with the USSR should become a "conflict of two worldviews." He demanded a "war of annihilation": "carriers of the state political idea and political leaders" were ordered not to be taken prisoner and shot on the spot, which was contrary to the norms international law. Anyone who resisted was ordered to be shot.
By the time the war began, 190 divisions of Germany and its allies were concentrated near the Soviet borders, of which 153 were German. They included more than 90% of the armored forces of the German army. Total population The armed forces of Germany and its allies, intended to attack the USSR, amounted to 5.5 million people. They had more than 47,000 guns and mortars, 4,300 tanks and assault guns, and about 6,000 combat aircraft at their disposal. They were opposed by the forces of five Soviet border military districts (with the outbreak of the war, they were deployed in five fronts). In total, there were over 4.8 million people in the Red Army, who had 76.5 thousand guns and mortars, 22.6 thousand tanks, and approximately 20 thousand aircraft. However, only 2.9 million fighters, 32.9 thousand guns and mortars, 14.2 thousand tanks and more than 9 thousand aircraft were in the border districts of the above.
After 4 o'clock in the morning Stalin woke up phone call Zhukov - he said that the war with Germany had begun. At 4:30 a.m., Tymoshenko and Zhukov again met with the head of state. In the meantime, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov, at the direction of Stalin, went to a meeting with the German ambassador W. von der Schulenburg. Until the return of Molotov, Stalin refused to order counterattacks on enemy units. The conversation between Molotov and Schulenburg began at 5:30. On behalf of the German government, the ambassador read out a note as follows: "In view of the further intolerable threat that has arisen for the German eastern border as a result of the massive concentration and training of all the armed forces of the Red Army, the German government considers itself forced to take military countermeasures." The head of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs tried in vain to challenge what the ambassador had said and to convince him of the innocence of the USSR. Already at 5:45, Molotov was in Stalin's office together with L.P. Beria, L.Z. Mekhlis, as well as Timoshenko and Zhukov. Stalin agreed to give a directive on the destruction of the enemy, but emphasized that the Soviet units should not violate the German border anywhere. At 7:15 a.m., the corresponding directive was sent to the troops.
Stalin's entourage believed that it was he who should speak on the radio with an appeal to the population, but he refused, and Molotov did it instead. In his address, the head of the NKID announced the start of the war, noted that the German aggression was the cause, and expressed confidence in the victory of the USSR. At the end of his speech, he uttered the famous words: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours!" In order to prevent possible doubts and rumors about the silence of Stalin himself, Molotov added several references to him to the original text of the appeal.
On the evening of June 22, British Prime Minister W. Churchill spoke on the radio. He stated that in the current situation, his anti-communist views recede into the background, and the West should provide "Russia and the Russian people" with all the help it can. On June 24, F. Roosevelt, President of the United States, made a similar statement in support of the USSR.
Retreat of the Red Army
In total, only on the first day of the war, the USSR lost at least 1200 aircraft (according to German data - more than 1.5 thousand). Many nodes and lines of communication were rendered unusable - because of this, the General Staff lost contact with the troops. Due to the inability to fulfill the requirements of the center, the commander of the aviation of the Western Front, I. I. Kopets, shot himself. On June 22, at 9:15 pm, the General Staff sent a new directive to the troops with an order to immediately launch a counteroffensive, “regardless of the border”, encircle and destroy the main enemy forces within two days, and by the end of June 24, capture the areas of the cities of Suwalki and Lublin. But the Soviet units failed not only to go on the offensive, but also to create a continuous defensive front. The Germans had a tactical advantage on all fronts. Despite the enormous efforts and sacrifices and the colossal enthusiasm of the fighters, the Soviet troops failed to stop the enemy's offensive. Already on June 28, the Germans entered Minsk. Due to the loss of communications and panic on the fronts, the army became almost uncontrollable.
Stalin was in a state of shock for the first 10 days of the war. He often intervened in the course of events, several times called Timoshenko and Zhukov to the Kremlin. On June 28, after the surrender of Minsk, the head of state went to his dacha and for three days - from June 28 to 30 - he stayed there without a break, not answering calls and not inviting anyone to his place. Only on the third day, the closest associates came to him themselves and persuaded him to return to work. On July 1, Stalin arrived in the Kremlin and on the same day stood at the head of the newly formed State Defense Committee (GKO) - an emergency governing body that received full power in the state. In addition to Stalin, the GKO included V. M. Molotov, K. E. Voroshilov, G. M. Malenkov, L. P. Beria. Later, the composition of the committee changed several times. Ten days later, Stalin also headed the Headquarters of the Supreme Command.
To rectify the situation, Stalin ordered to send marshals B. M. Shaposhnikov and G. I. Kulik to the Western Front, but the first fell ill, and the second himself was surrounded and with difficulty got out, disguised as a peasant. Stalin decided to shift the responsibility for failures on the fronts to the military command on the ground. The commander of the Western Front, General of the Army D. G. Pavlov, and several other military leaders were arrested and sent to a military tribunal. They were accused of an "anti-Soviet conspiracy", of deliberately "opening the front to Germany", and then of cowardice and alarmism, after which they were shot. In 1956 they were all rehabilitated.
By the beginning of July 1941, the armies of Germany and its allies occupied most of the Baltic states, Western Ukraine and Belarus, approached Smolensk and Kyiv. The Army Group Center advanced the deepest into Soviet territory. The German command and Hitler believed that the main enemy forces had been defeated, and the end of the war was near. Now Hitler was wondering how to quickly complete the defeat of the USSR: continue to advance on Moscow or encircle Soviet troops in Ukraine or Leningrad.
Version of Hitler's "preemptive strike"
In the early 1990s, V. B. Rezun, a former Soviet intelligence officer who fled to the West, published several books under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov, in which he claimed that Moscow planned to be the first to hit Germany, and Hitler, having started the war, only prevented the attack of the Soviet troops. Rezun was later supported by some Russian historians. However, an analysis of all available sources shows that if Stalin was going to strike first, then in a more favorable situation. As of the end of June-beginning of July 1941, he sought to delay the war with Germany and was not ready for an offensive.
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