Eastern European front of the Second World War. Second front of the Second World War. Battle of the Bulge. Vistula-Oder operation

In the CIS countries, the war on the Eastern European Front, which became the site of the largest military confrontation in Russia, is called the Great Patriotic War. More than 400 military formations of the German and Red Army fought for 4 years on a front that stretched over more than 1,600 km. Over the years, about 8 million Soviet and 4 million German soldiers. The military operations were particularly fierce: the largest tank battle in history (Battle of Kursk), the longest siege of a city (almost 900-day blockade of Leningrad), scorched earth policy, complete destruction of thousands of villages, mass deportations, executions... The situation was complicated by the fact that there was a split within the Soviet armed forces. At the beginning of the war, some groups even recognized the Nazi invaders as liberators from Stalin's regime and fought against the Red Army. After a series of defeats for the Red Army, Stalin issued Order No. 227, “Not a Step Back!”, prohibiting Soviet soldiers from retreating without orders. In case of disobedience, the military leaders faced a tribunal, and the soldiers could immediately receive punishment from their colleagues, who had to shoot at anyone who ran from the battlefield. This collection contains photographs from 1942-1943, covering the period of the Great Patriotic War from the blockade of Leningrad to decisive Soviet victories near Stalingrad and Kursk. The scale of military operations of that time is almost impossible to imagine, much less to cover in one photo report, but we bring to your attention photographs that have preserved scenes of military operations on the Eastern European Front for posterity.

Soviet soldiers going into battle through the ruins of Stalingrad, autumn 1942. (Georgy Zelma/Waralbum.ru)

The detachment commander observes the advance of his troops in the Kharkov region, Ukrainian SSR, June 21, 1942. (AP Photo)

A German anti-tank gun prepares for battle on the Soviet front, late 1942. (AP Photo)

Residents of Leningrad collect water during the nearly 900-day siege Soviet city by the German occupiers, winter 1942. The Germans were unable to capture Leningrad, but surrounded it with a blockade ring, damaged communications and shelled the city for more than two years. (AP Photo)

Funeral in Leningrad, spring 1942. As a result of the blockade, famine began in Leningrad, and due to the lack of medicine and equipment, people quickly died from illness and injury. During the siege of Leningrad, 1.5 million soldiers and civilians died, the same number of Leningraders were evacuated, but many of them died along the way due to hunger, disease and bombing. (Vsevolod Tarasevich/Waralbum.ru)

The scene after a fierce battle on the streets of Rostov during the occupation of the Soviet city by German invaders in August 1942. (AP Photo)

German motorized artillery crossing the Don River on a pontoon bridge, July 31, 1942. (AP Photo)

Soviet woman looking at a burning house, 1942. (NARA)

German soldiers shoot Jews near Ivangorod, Ukrainian SSR, 1942. This photograph was mailed to Germany and intercepted at a Warsaw post office by a Polish resistance member who was collecting evidence of Nazi war crimes. The original photograph belonged to Tadeusz Mazur and Jerzy Tomaszewski, and is now kept in the historical archives in Warsaw. The signature left by the Germans on the back of the photo card: “Ukrainian SSR, 1942, extermination of the Jews, Ivangorod.”

A German soldier takes part in the Battle of Stalingrad, spring 1942. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

In 1942, Red Army soldiers entered a village near Leningrad and discovered 38 bodies of Soviet prisoners of war, tortured to death by the German occupiers. (AP Photo)

Soviet war orphans stand near the ruins of their home, late 1942. The German occupiers destroyed their home and took their parents prisoner. (AP Photo)

A German armored car drives among the ruins of a Soviet fortress in Sevastopol, Ukrainian SSR, August 4, 1942. (AP Photo)

Stalingrad in October 1942. Soviet soldiers fight in the ruins of the Red October factory. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

Red Army soldiers prepare to fire anti-tank guns at approaching German tanks, October 13, 1942. (AP Photo)

The German Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber takes part in the Battle of Stalingrad. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

A German tank approaches a broken Soviet tank on the outskirts of a forest, USSR, October 20, 1942. (AP Photo)

German soldiers go on the offensive near Stalingrad, late 1942. (NARA)

A German soldier hangs a Nazi flag on a building in the center of Stalingrad. (NARA)

The Germans continued to fight for Stalingrad, despite the threat of encirclement by the Soviet army. Photo: Stuka dive bombers bomb the factory district of Stalingrad, November 24, 1942. (AP Photo)

A horse looks for food in the ruins of Stalingrad, December 1942. (AP Photo)

Tank cemetery organized by the Germans in Rzhev, December 21, 1942. There were about 2 thousand tanks in various conditions in the cemetery. (AP Photo

German soldiers walk through the ruins of a gas generating station in the factory district of Stalingrad, December 28, 1942. (AP Photo)

Red Army soldiers fire at the enemy from the backyard of an abandoned house on the outskirts of Stalingrad, December 16, 1942. (AP Photo)

Soviet soldiers in winter uniform took a position on the roof of a building in Stalingrad, January 1943. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

A Soviet T-34 tank rushes through the Square of Fallen Fighters in Stalingrad, January 1943. (Georgy Zelma/Waralbum.ru)

Soviet soldiers take cover behind barricades of ruins during the battle with the German occupiers on the outskirts of Stalingrad in early 1943. (AP Photo)

German soldiers advance through the destroyed streets of Stalingrad, early 1943. (AP Photo)

Red Army soldiers in camouflage attack German positions across a snowy field on the German-Soviet front, March 3, 1943. (AP Photo)

Soviet infantrymen march through the snow-covered hills around Stalingrad to liberate the city from the Nazi invaders, early 1943. The Red Army surrounded the German 6th Army, consisting of about 300 thousand German and Romanian soldiers. (AP Photo)

A Soviet soldier guards a captured German soldier, February 1943. After spending several months surrounded by Soviet forces in Stalingrad, the German 6th Army capitulated, losing 200 thousand soldiers in fierce battles and as a result of starvation. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus is interrogated at Red Army headquarters near Stalingrad, USSR, March 1, 1943. Paulus was the first German field marshal to fall into Soviet captivity. Contrary to Hitler's expectations that Paulus would fight until his death (or commit suicide after defeat), in Soviet captivity the field marshal began to criticize the Nazi regime. He subsequently acted as a prosecution witness at the Nuremberg trials. (AP Photo)

Red Army soldiers sit in a trench as a Soviet T-34 tank passes over them during the Battle of Kursk in 1943. (Mark Markov-Grinberg/Waralbum.ru)

The bodies of German soldiers lie along the road southwest of Stalingrad, April 14, 1943. (AP Photo)

Soviet soldiers shoot at an enemy plane, June 1943. (Waralbum.ru)

German Tiger tanks take part in fierce fighting south of Orel during the Battle of Kursk, mid-July 1943. From July to August 1943, the greatest tank battle in history took place in the Kursk region, in which about 3 thousand German and more than 5 thousand Soviet tanks took part. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

German tanks prepare for a new attack during the Battle of Kursk, July 28, 1943. The German army had been preparing for the offensive for months, but the Soviets were aware of Germany's plans and developed a powerful defense system. After the defeat of the German troops in Battle of Kursk The Red Army maintained superiority until the very end of the war. (AP Photo)

German soldiers walk in front of a Tiger tank during the Battle of Kursk in June or July 1943. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

Soviet soldiers advance on German positions in a smoke screen, USSR, July 23, 1943. (AP Photo)

Captured German tanks stand in a field southwest of Stalingrad, April 14, 1943. (AP Photo)

A Soviet lieutenant distributes cigarettes to German prisoners of war near Kursk, July 1943. (Michael Savin/Waralbum.ru)

View of Stalingrad, almost completely destroyed after six months of fierce fighting, at the end of hostilities at the end of 1943. (Michael Savin/Waralbum.ru)

In the CIS countries, the war on the Eastern European Front, which became the site of the largest military confrontation in history, is called the Great Patriotic War.

More than 400 military formations of the German and Red Army fought for 4 years on a front that stretched over more than 1,600 km. Over the years, about 8 million Soviet and 4 million German soldiers laid down their lives on the Eastern European Front. The military operations were particularly fierce: the largest tank battle in history (the Battle of Kursk), the longest siege of the city (almost 900-day blockade of Leningrad), a scorched earth policy, the complete destruction of thousands of villages, mass deportations, executions...

To complicate the situation, there was a split within the Soviet armed forces. At the beginning of the war, some groups even recognized the Nazi invaders as liberators from Stalin's regime and fought against the Red Army. After a series of defeats for the Red Army, Stalin issued Order No. 227, “Not a Step Back!”, prohibiting Soviet soldiers from retreating without orders. In case of disobedience, the military leaders faced a tribunal, and the soldiers could immediately receive punishment from their colleagues, who had to shoot at anyone who ran from the battlefield.

This collection contains photographs from 1942-1943, covering the period of the Great Patriotic War from the siege of Leningrad to the decisive Soviet victories at Stalingrad and Kursk. The scale of military operations of that time is almost impossible to imagine, much less to cover in one photo report, but we bring to your attention photographs that have preserved scenes of military operations on the Eastern European Front for posterity.

1. Soviet soldiers go into battle through the ruins of Stalingrad, autumn 1942. (Georgy Zelma/Waralbum.ru) # .

2. The detachment commander observes the advance of his troops in the Kharkov region, Ukrainian SSR, June 21, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

3. A German anti-tank gun is preparing for battle on the Soviet front, late 1942. (AP Photo) # .

4. Residents of Leningrad collect water during the nearly 900-day siege of the Soviet city by German occupiers, winter 1942. The Germans were unable to capture Leningrad, but surrounded it with a blockade ring, damaged communications and shelled the city for more than two years. (AP Photo) #.

5. Funeral in Leningrad, spring 1942. As a result of the blockade, famine began in Leningrad, and due to the lack of medicine and equipment, people quickly died from illness and injury. During the siege of Leningrad, 1.5 million soldiers and civilians died, the same number of Leningraders were evacuated, but many of them died along the way due to hunger, disease and bombing. (Vsevolod Tarasevich/Waralbum.ru) # .

6. The scene after a fierce battle on the streets of Rostov during the occupation of the Soviet city by German invaders in August 1942. (AP Photo) # .

7. German motorized artillery crossing the Don River on a pontoon bridge, July 31, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

8. A Soviet woman looks at a burning house, 1942. (NARA) # .

9. German soldiers shoot Jews near Ivangorod, Ukrainian SSR, 1942. This photograph was mailed to Germany and intercepted at a Warsaw post office by a Polish resistance member who was collecting evidence of Nazi war crimes. The original photograph belonged to Tadeusz Mazur and Jerzy Tomaszewski, and is now kept in the historical archives in Warsaw. The signature left by the Germans on the back of the photo card: “Ukrainian SSR, 1942, extermination of the Jews, Ivangorod.” # .

10. A German soldier takes part in the Battle of Stalingrad, spring 1942. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

12. In 1942, Red Army soldiers entered a village near Leningrad and discovered 38 bodies of Soviet prisoners of war, tortured to death by the German occupiers. (AP Photo) # .

14. Soviet war orphans stand near the ruins of their home, late 1942. The German occupiers destroyed their home and took their parents prisoner. (AP Photo) # .

15. A German armored car drives among the ruins of a Soviet fortress in Sevastopol, Ukrainian SSR, August 4, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

16. Stalingrad in October 1942. Soviet soldiers fight in the ruins of the Red October factory. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

17. Red Army soldiers prepare to fire anti-tank guns at approaching German tanks, October 13, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

18. German dive bomber Junkers Ju-87 Stuka takes part in the Battle of Stalingrad. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

19. A German tank approaches a broken Soviet tank on the outskirts of a forest, USSR, October 20, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

20. German soldiers go on the offensive near Stalingrad, late 1942. (NARA) # .

21. A German soldier hangs a Nazi flag on a building in the center of Stalingrad. (NARA) # .

22. The Germans continued to fight for Stalingrad, despite the threat of encirclement by the Soviet army. Photo: Stuka dive bombers bomb the factory district of Stalingrad, November 24, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

23. A horse is looking for food in the ruins of Stalingrad, December 1942. (AP Photo) # .

24. Tank cemetery organized by the Germans in Rzhev, December 21, 1942. There were about 2 thousand tanks in various conditions in the cemetery. (AP Photo) # .

25. German soldiers walk through the ruins of a gas generating station in the factory district of Stalingrad, December 28, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

27. Red Army soldiers fire at the enemy from the backyard of an abandoned house on the outskirts of Stalingrad, December 16, 1942. (AP Photo) # .

28. Soviet soldiers in winter uniforms took a position on the roof of a building in Stalingrad, January 1943. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

29. Soviet T-34 tank rushes through the Square of Fallen Fighters in Stalingrad, January 1943. (Georgy Zelma/Waralbum.ru) # .

30. Soviet soldiers take cover behind barricades of ruins during the battle with the German occupiers on the outskirts of Stalingrad in early 1943. (AP Photo) # .

31. German soldiers advance through the destroyed streets of Stalingrad, early 1943. (AP Photo) # .

32. Red Army soldiers in camouflage attack German positions across a snowy field on the German-Soviet front, March 3, 1943. (AP Photo) # .

33. Soviet infantrymen march through the snow-covered hills in the vicinity of Stalingrad to liberate the city from the Nazi invaders, early 1943. The Red Army surrounded the German 6th Army, consisting of about 300 thousand German and Romanian soldiers. (AP Photo) # .

34. A Soviet soldier guards a captured German soldier, February 1943. After spending several months surrounded by Soviet forces in Stalingrad, the German 6th Army capitulated, losing 200 thousand soldiers in fierce battles and as a result of starvation. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

35. German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus is interrogated at the headquarters of the Red Army near Stalingrad, USSR, March 1, 1943. Paulus was the first German field marshal to be captured by the Soviets. Contrary to Hitler's expectations that Paulus would fight until his death (or commit suicide after defeat), in Soviet captivity the field marshal began to criticize the Nazi regime. He subsequently acted as a prosecution witness at the Nuremberg trials. (AP Photo) # .

36. Red Army soldiers sit in a trench as a Soviet T-34 tank passes over them during the Battle of Kursk in 1943. (Mark Markov-Grinberg/Waralbum.ru) # .

37. The bodies of German soldiers lie along the road southwest of Stalingrad, April 14, 1943. (AP Photo) # .

38. Soviet soldiers shoot at an enemy plane, June 1943. (Waralbum.ru) # .

39. German Tiger tanks take part in fierce fighting south of Orel during the Battle of Kursk, mid-July 1943. From July to August 1943, the greatest tank battle in history took place in the Kursk region, in which about 3 thousand German and more than 5 thousand Soviet tanks took part. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

40. German tanks prepare for a new attack during the Battle of Kursk, July 28, 1943. The German army had been preparing for the offensive for months, but the Soviets were aware of Germany's plans and developed a powerful defense system. After the defeat of German troops in the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army maintained superiority until the very end of the war. (AP Photo) # .

41. German soldiers walk in front of a Tiger tank during the Battle of Kursk in June or July 1943. (Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive) # .

42. Soviet soldiers advancing on German positions in a smoke screen, USSR, July 23, 1943. (AP Photo) # .

43. Captured German tanks stand in a field southwest of Stalingrad, April 14, 1943. (AP Photo) # .

44. A Soviet lieutenant distributes cigarettes to German prisoners of war near Kursk, July 1943. (Michael Savin/Waralbum.ru) # .

45. View of Stalingrad, almost completely destroyed after six months of fierce fighting, at the end of hostilities at the end of 1943. (Michael Savin/Waralbum.ru) # .

Part XII. Eastern European Front.

In the CIS countries, the war on the Eastern European Front, which became the site of the largest military confrontation in history, is called the Great Patriotic War. More than 400 military formations of the German and Red Army fought for 4 years on a front that stretched over more than 1,600 km.

Over the years, about 8 million Soviet and 4 million German soldiers laid down their lives on the Eastern European Front. The military operations were particularly fierce: the largest tank battle in history (the Battle of Kursk), the longest siege of the city (almost 900-day blockade of Leningrad), a scorched earth policy, the complete destruction of thousands of villages, mass deportations, executions...

To complicate the situation, there was a split within the Soviet armed forces. At the beginning of the war, some groups even recognized the Nazi invaders as liberators from the Stalin regime and fought against the Red Army. After a series of defeats for the Red Army, Stalin issued Order No. 227, “Not a Step Back!”, prohibiting Soviet soldiers from retreating without orders. In case of disobedience, the military leaders faced a tribunal, and the soldiers could immediately receive punishment from their colleagues, who had to shoot at anyone who ran from the battlefield.

Autumn 1942. Soviet soldiers lead on the streets of Stalingrad.
(Georgy Zelma/Waralbum.ru)

June 21, 1942. The detachment commander observes the advance of his troops in the Kharkov region, Ukrainian SSR.
(AP Photo)

Late 1942. German soldiers are preparing an anti-tank gun for battle on the Soviet front.
(AP Photo)

Winter 1942. Residents of Leningrad collect water during the nearly 900-day siege of the Soviet city by the German occupiers. The Germans were unable to capture Leningrad, but surrounded it with a blockade ring, damaged communications and shelled the city for more than two years.
(AP Photo)

Spring 1942. Funeral in Leningrad. As a result of the blockade, famine began in Leningrad, and due to the lack of medicine and equipment, people quickly died from illness and injury. During the siege of Leningrad, 1.5 million soldiers and civilians died, the same number of Leningraders were evacuated, but many of them died along the way due to hunger, disease and bombing.
(Vsevolod Tarasevich/Waralbum.ru)

August 1942. Scene after a fierce battle on the streets of Rostov during the occupation of the Soviet city by German invaders.
(AP Photo)

July 31, 1942. German motorized artillery crosses the Don River on a pontoon bridge.
(AP Photo)

1942. A Soviet woman looks at a burning house.
(NARA)

1942. German soldiers shoot Jews near Ivangorod, Ukrainian SSR. This photograph was mailed to Germany and intercepted at the Warsaw post office by a member of the Polish resistance who was collecting evidence of Nazi war crimes. The original photograph belonged to Tadeusz Mazur and Jerzy Tomaszewski, and is now kept in the historical archives in Warsaw. The signature left by the Germans on the back of the photo card: “Ukrainian SSR, 1942, extermination of the Jews, Ivangorod.”

Spring 1942. A German soldier takes part in the Battle of Stalingrad.

In 1942, Red Army soldiers entered a village near Leningrad and discovered 38 bodies of Soviet prisoners of war, tortured to death by the German occupiers.
(AP Photo)

Late 1942. Soviet war orphans stand near the ruins of their home. The German occupiers destroyed their home and took their parents prisoner.
(AP Photo)

August 4, 1942. A German armored car drives among the ruins of a Soviet fortification in Sevastopol, Ukrainian SSR.
(AP Photo)

October 1942. Soviet soldiers fight in the ruins of the Red October factory, Stalingrad.
(Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

October 13, 1942. Red Army soldiers prepare to fire anti-tank guns at approaching German tanks.
(AP Photo)

The German Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber takes part in the Battle of Stalingrad.
(Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

October 20, 1942. A German tank approaches a broken Soviet tank on the outskirts of a forest, USSR.
(AP Photo)

Late 1942. German soldiers go on the offensive near Stalingrad.
(NARA)

A German soldier hangs a Nazi flag on a building in the center of Stalingrad.
(NARA)

November 24, 1942. The Germans continued to fight for Stalingrad, despite the threat of encirclement by the Soviet army. Photo: Stuka dive bombers bomb the factory district of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

December 1942. A horse is looking for food in the ruins of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

December 21, 1942. Tank cemetery organized by the Germans in Rzhev. There were about 2 thousand tanks in various conditions in the cemetery.
(AP Photo)

December 28, 1942. German soldiers walk through the ruins of a gas generating station in the factory district of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

December 16, 1942. Red Army soldiers fire at the enemy from the backyard of an abandoned house on the outskirts of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

January 1943. Soviet soldiers in winter uniform took up a position on the roof of a building in Stalingrad.
(Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

January 1943. Soviet T-34 tank rushes through the Square of Fallen Fighters in Stalingrad.
(Georgy Zelma/Waralbum.ru)

Early 1943. Soviet soldiers take cover behind barricades of ruins during a battle with the German occupiers on the outskirts of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

Early 1943. German soldiers advance through the destroyed streets of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

March 3, 1943. Red Army soldiers in camouflage attack German positions across a snow-covered field on the German-Soviet front.
(AP Photo)

Early 1943. Soviet infantrymen march through the snow-covered hills in the vicinity of Stalingrad to liberate the city from the Nazi invaders. The Red Army surrounded the German 6th Army, consisting of about 300 thousand German and Romanian soldiers.
(AP Photo)

February 1943. A Soviet soldier guards a captured German soldier. After spending several months surrounded by Soviet forces in Stalingrad, the German 6th Army capitulated, losing 200 thousand soldiers in fierce battles and as a result of starvation.
(Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

March 1, 1943: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus is interrogated at Red Army headquarters near Stalingrad, USSR. Paulus was the first German field marshal to be captured by the Soviets. Contrary to Hitler's expectations that Paulus would fight until his death (or commit suicide after defeat), in Soviet captivity the field marshal began to criticize the Nazi regime. He subsequently acted as a prosecution witness at the Nuremberg trials.
(AP Photo)

1943. Red Army soldiers sit in a trench as a Soviet T-34 tank passes over them during the Battle of Kursk.
(Mark Markov-Grinberg/Waralbum.ru)

April 14, 1943. The bodies of German soldiers lie along the road southwest of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

June 1943. Soviet soldiers shoot at an enemy plane.
(Waralbum.ru)

Mid-July 1943. German Tiger tanks take part in fierce fighting south of Orel during the Battle of Kursk. From July to August 1943, the greatest tank battle in history took place in the Kursk region, in which about 3 thousand German and more than 5 thousand Soviet tanks took part.
(Deutsches Bundesarchiv/German Federal Archive)

July 28, 1943. German tanks prepare for a new attack during the Battle of Kursk. The German army had been preparing for the offensive for months, but the Soviets were aware of Germany's plans and developed a powerful defense system. After the defeat of German troops in the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army maintained superiority until the very end of the war.
(AP Photo)

July 23, 1943. Soviet soldiers advance on German positions in a smoke screen, USSR.
(AP Photo)

April 14, 1943. Captured German tanks stand in a field southwest of Stalingrad.
(AP Photo)

July 1943. A Soviet lieutenant distributes cigarettes to German prisoners of war near Kursk.
(Michael Savin/Waralbum.ru)

End of 1943. View of Stalingrad, almost completely destroyed after six months of fierce fighting, at the end of hostilities.
(Michael Savin/Waralbum.ru)

Plan:

1 Poland. Finland. Baltics. (September 1939 – June 1941)
2 Invasion of the USSR. Moscow Battle
3 Summer campaign of 1942. Initial period Battle of Stalingrad (June 1942 - November 1942)
4 Radical change (November 1942 - December 1943)
5 Offensive in Belarus and Western Ukraine (December 1943 - September 1944)
6 Offensive in Karelia and the Balkans (September 1944 - January 1945)
7 The final stage of the war. Surrender of Germany (January - May 1945)

Introduction

Eastern European Theater of World War II (1939−1945) – fighting V Eastern Europe During the Second World War.
In Russia, the period of the Soviet-German war of 1941-1945 is called the Great Patriotic War.

1. Poland. Finland. Baltics. (September 1939 – June 1941)

September 1, 1939 Germany attacks Poland. Great Britain and France declare war on Germany, but do not take any active action in the West (“Strange War”). Despite the desperate resistance of the Polish troops, by September 8 the Germans had broken all pockets of resistance and besieged Warsaw. On September 17, the USSR, relying on a secret annex to the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the USSR on the division of spheres of influence, invades Polish territory from the east and occupies Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. The Polish government flees the country, the Polish army is left without command. On September 28, Warsaw fell. By October 5, the USSR and Germany complete the division of Poland.

On November 30, after a series of failed negotiations on the exchange of territories, the USSR declares war on Finland and invades its territory. However, Soviet troops were unable to immediately break through the fortified Mannerheim line. After fierce fighting in February 1940, the Red Army finally breaks through the fortified line, but due to difficult international situation, The USSR decides to stop the offensive and enters into negotiations with Finland. Under the terms of the agreement, the border on the Karelian Isthmus was moved away from Leningrad from 32 km to 150 km.

In June 1940, Bessarabia joined the USSR, and in August the Baltic states joined.

In the spring of 1941, Germany concluded alliance treaties with Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland and Slovakia and began intensive preparations for war against the USSR.

2. Invasion of the USSR. Moscow Battle

On June 22, 1941, Germany declared war on the USSR and at the same time began military operations along the entire front of the Soviet-German border. Germany was supported by its allies: Italy, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. As a result of a surprise attack, German troops managed to penetrate deep into Soviet territory in the first weeks of the war. By the end of the first ten days of July, Germany had captured Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine, and part of Moldova. Soviet counterattacks ended in failure; a large number of soldiers and officers of the Red Army.

As a result of the Battle of Smolensk at the cost huge losses Soviet army managed to restrain the enemy’s offensive impulse and prevent them from taking Moscow on the move. From July to October, the Germans occupied the eastern part of Ukraine, Crimea (with the exception of Sevastopol), Estonia, and the western regions of the RSFSR (Pskov, Smolensk, Bryansk, Kursk and others). The blockade of Leningrad began.

September 30 - October 2 German troops resumed the attack on Moscow, again achieved serious success, but then were stopped. In December 1941, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and drove them back from Moscow, inflicting a significant defeat on them. The threat to Moscow was eliminated.

However, the general offensive undertaken by the Red Army in January - April 1942 did not lead to the collapse of the Wehrmacht defense front. The decision on the possession of strategic initiative was postponed until the summer campaign of 1942.

3. Summer campaign of 1942. Initial period of the Battle of Stalingrad (June 1942 - November 1942)

Both the Soviet and German sides expected the summer of 1942 to implement their offensive plans.
According to OKW Directive No. 41 of April 5, 1942, the main objectives of the 1942 campaign were the Caucasus and Leningrad.

The general initial plans for the campaign in the East remain in force: the main task is to, while maintaining the position in the central sector, take Leningrad in the north and establish land contact with the Finns, and on the southern flank of the front to make a breakthrough into the Caucasus.

The main efforts of the Red Army, according to the plans of the Supreme Command Headquarters, were supposed to be concentrated on the central sector of the Soviet-German front. It was also planned to carry out an offensive near Kharkov, in the Crimea and break the blockade of Leningrad.

However, the offensive launched by Soviet troops in May 1942 near Kharkov ended in failure. German troops managed to parry the attack, defeated Soviet troops and went on the offensive themselves. In addition, German troops managed to defeat Soviet troops in the Kerch region. Defense Soviet troops in the southern section it turned out to be weakened. Taking advantage of this, the German command launched a strategic offensive in two directions: towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus.
After fierce fighting near Voronezh and in the Donbass, German troops of Army Group B managed to break through to the big bend of the Don. Started in mid-July Battle of Stalingrad, in which Soviet troops, at the cost of heavy losses, managed to pin down the enemy strike force.
Army Group A, advancing in the Caucasus, took Rostov-on-Don on July 23 and continued its attack on Kuban. On August 12, Krasnodar was captured. However, in battles in the foothills of the Caucasus and near Novorossiysk, Soviet troops managed to stop the enemy.

Meanwhile, in the central sector, the Soviet command undertook a major offensive operation to defeat the enemy’s Rzhev-Sychev grouping (9th Army of Army Group Center). However, the Rzhev-Sychevsky operation, carried out from July 30 to the end of September, was not successful.
It was also not possible to break the blockade of Leningrad, although the Soviet offensive forced the German command to abandon the assault on the city.

4. Radical change (November 1942 - December 1943)

On November 19, 1942, the counteroffensive of Soviet troops began near Stalingrad, on November 23, parts of Stalingrad and Southwestern Fronts united near the city of Kalach-on-Don and surrounded 22 enemy divisions.

The offensive on the central sector of the front, which began on November 25, 1942, ended in failure for the Soviet troops (see Second Rzhev-Sychev operation), but diverted significant Wehrmacht forces.

The victory in the south was of enormous importance for the development of events of the entire campaign. It was Germany's first major defeat in World War II and marked the beginning of a period of radical change in the Eastern Front.

The Soviet command decided to take advantage of the favorable situation that arose after the encirclement and defeat of German troops at Stalingrad and on the Upper Don (see Ostrogozh-Rossoshansk and Voronezh-Kastornensk operations). The new strategic plan included a major three-stage strategic operation (code name unknown): in the first stage, the Bryansk Front and the left wing of the Western Front, reinforced by the Central Front (renamed Don Front) transferred from Stalingrad, were supposed to defeat the 2nd Field and 2nd tank army enemy near Orel. At the second and third stages of the operation, Kalininsky and Western Front We were supposed to launch an offensive through Velizh and from Kirov to the rear of the enemy’s Rzhev-Vyazma grouping and connect with the troops of the Central Front near Smolensk. The new strategic offensive was to begin on February 12 with the attack on Oryol and continued on February 15, after the Central Front was brought into battle.

However, the German counter-offensive near Kharkov in February-March 1943 disrupted the implementation of Soviet plans and led to the stabilization of the front.

In July 1943, the German command tried to regain the initiative and defeat the Red Army at the Kursk Bulge. At the cost of enormous losses, the Soviet troops held back and exhausted the German army and were eventually able to win the battle. After this defeat, the Wehrmacht leadership finally lost the strategic initiative, was forced to abandon the offensive strategy and went on the defensive until the end of the war.

In the fall of 1943, the Red Army liberated most of Ukraine and part of Belarus from the Germans.

5. Offensive in Belarus and Western Ukraine (December 1943 - September 1944)

In the winter of 1943-1944, the Red Army carried out an offensive in Ukraine, liberated Leningrad, liberated Crimea, reached the Carpathians and entered the territory of Romania. The grandiose offensive of the Red Army in Belarus and Western Ukraine in the summer of 1944 ended with the defeat of the two largest strategic groupings of the Wehrmacht in the center of the Soviet-German front, a breakthrough German front to a depth of 600 km, the complete destruction of 26 divisions and inflicting heavy losses on 82 Nazi divisions. Soviet troops reached the border of East Prussia, occupied the Baltic states, entered Polish territory and approached the Vistula.

6. Offensive in Karelia and the Balkans (September 1944 - January 1945)

By September 1944, Soviet troops carried out operations in Karelia and the Arctic. Finland withdrew from the war and broke the alliance with Germany. However, German troops refused to leave Finnish territory. As a result, Finnish troops had to fight against their former allies.

In the Balkans, the Red Army carried out major operation, as a result of which the governments of Romania and Bulgaria were overthrown, and Romania broke the alliance with Germany. The new puppet pro-Soviet governments of both countries declared war on Germany. In October, Soviet troops entered Hungarian territory and helped the anti-fascist uprising in Slovakia. In January 1945, the Red Army captured Budapest and forced Hungary to surrender. However, the pro-German puppet government in Hungary proved much more popular than in Romania or Bulgaria. The Hungarian communists were never able to raise an army for the war against Germany, and on the German side, Hungarian troops continued to fight until the end of the war.

7. The final stage of the war. Surrender of Germany (January - May 1945)

From January to April 1945, Soviet troops completely occupied Poland, East Prussia, and entered the territory of Austria. For the defense of Berlin, the German command concentrated more than 1 million people. After stubborn fighting, Soviet troops broke into the city. On April 28, the Reichstag fell. On May 2, the fighting in Berlin ended and the city's garrison capitulated.

However, the German army continued to resist against the Soviet troops. A huge group of Field Marshal F. Schörner was surrounded on the territory of Czechoslovakia. And although the act of surrender in Karlhorst was signed on the night of May 8–9, the battles of World War II in Europe ended only on May 11. More than 860 thousand Germans were captured as a result of the Prague operation alone.

Notes

“Hitler needed Romania as a strategic bridgehead and as a supplier of oil. That’s why he occupied it before the start of the war” (Marshal Ion Antonescu).
V. I. Dashichev. The bankruptcy of the strategy of German fascism. Moscow, Nauka Publishing House, 1973. vol. 2. Aggression against the USSR. The fall of the "third empire" - katynbooks.narod.ru/foreign/dashichev-02.htm/
D. Glanz. The largest defeat of Zhukov, the Catastrophe of the Red Army in Operation Mars 1942 - M.: AST: Astrel, 2006.

Distribution of forces by Germany and its allies on the Eastern and Western Fronts in the 1st and 2nd WW

It seems that the losses of Germany and its allies in both world wars, incl. and broken down by the main fronts - Western and Eastern. But losses do not always reflect the true picture of the intensity of fighting, the tension of the nation in one direction or another, and most importantly, the danger and “value” of the opponents. For example, a significant part of the prisoners captured by the Western allies in April-May 1945 represented our legitimate booty.
Therefore, I decided to figure out what forces Germany (and its allies) were forced to deploy in the West and East during these wars?

I introduced a unit - a division-month (like a man-day). To take into account the Allied divisions, I applied a reduction factor (it is clear that their combat effectiveness was lower than that of the German ones) - 0.75 for the 1st WW and 0.5 for the 2nd (the increased role of equipment and maneuver operations made the gap larger), except for the Finnish army - he considered it equal to the German one. Didn't take into account separate brigades, confrontation during " strange war"1939-40, operations in Poland and Yugoslavia (where the Germans did not clash with the troops of the Western allies), the Italian and Serbian fronts of the 1st WW (except for the troops opposing the Anglo-French) and the troops opposing the Romanians on the Eastern Front; cavalry divisions are not taken into account In the 2nd WW, he took into account various infantry (including motorized, mountain, etc.) and tank divisions. Calculations were carried out according to Zayonchkovsky (1st MV) and Müller, ours, Hillebrandt (2nd MV). Naturally I rounded, but the general ratio and order of numbers are correct.

World War I:

2200 German division-months, 1500 (3/4) Austro-Hungarian, Turkish and Bulgarian division-months (including 350 - Caucasian Front), TOTAL - 3700 division-months against Russia

Western Front (with Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Thessaloniki, Palestine, Italian Front - opposing only the Anglo-French!):

6300 German division-months (including 4400 - until January 1918) and 450 other division-months (with a coefficient of 3/4, incl. 300 - until January 1918), TOTAL - 6750 division-months against the Entente and Americans (including 4,700 - before January 1918)

TOTAL Germany and its allies fielded 10,450 division-months (8,400 until January 1918), incl. about 2/3 are against the West (55% against the West before January 1918). Separately in Germany - a total of 8,500 German division-months (6,600 until January 1918), incl. almost 75% against the West (2/3 against the West before January 1918)

Thus, the West took over the bulk of the troops of the Central Powers, especially the German ones - the most combat-ready and won; Russia was opposed by a smaller part of the enemy troops, but it lost the war.

The Second World War:

Eastern front:

7500 German division-months and 1000 division-months of Germany's allies (Finland, Romania, Italy, Hungary, etc., except the first, all with a reduction factor of 1/2), TOTAL: 8500 division-months against Russia

Western Front (including Norway-1940, Greece and Crete-1941, East and North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Western Front - first and second):

1350 German division-months (including 1150 until June 1941) and 150 Italian division-months (with a coefficient of 1/2), TOTAL: 1500 division-months against the West (including 1250 until June 1941 )

TOTAL Germany and its allies fielded 10,000 division-months (8,750 after June 1941), incl. 85% are against Russia. Separately for Germany - a total of 8850 German division-months (8650 after June 1941), incl. almost 85% are against Russia.

Thus, Russia in 1941-45 bore the OVERWHELMING part of the load on the land front, an ORDER greater than its relative load in 1914-17...

Even if you add Pacific War, it turns out that the bulk of the Japanese army was deployed in China (incl. Kwantung Army), a relatively small part was opposed to the West ground forces, mainly in fleeting operations (except for Burma) and it is unlikely that the total number of Japanese division-months deployed against the West can be estimated at much more than 500...

In WW2, aviation began to play a much larger role; it is obvious that its ratio along the fronts will be significantly different - but this is a separate topic (especially for anti-aircraft artillery). At the same time, the forces of the German surface fleet, in the 1st WW, were involved almost exclusively against the West (except for episodic operations in the Baltic in 1915 and 1917, as well as the Goeben breakthrough to the Black Sea, the influence of which goes beyond the scope of mechanical calculation balance of forces), in the 2nd WW they were forced to act (including simply by presence) with the main forces against the Northern convoys and the coastal flanks of the Russian troops in the Baltic. There was not much difference in the distribution of submarine forces - again the "Battle of the Atlantic", with the exception of the factor of the Northern convoys.

What is the conclusion? And it is very simple - supposedly a rapidly developing and advanced Russian empire was not able to resist Germany on equal terms, while Russia in the form of the USSR withstood a similar test and won (albeit with gigantic losses - human and material), and with such a distribution of German forces (we are talking here exclusively about land operations! ), what can we say about the Russian-German war of 1941-45 (WWII) with little influence on it from operations on other fronts.