Radio speech by the Deputy Chairman of the Council
People's Commissars of the USSR and the People's Commissar
Foreign Affairs comrade. V.M. MOLOTOVA

June 22, 1941.

CITIZENS AND CITIZENS OF THE SOVIET UNION!

The Soviet government and its head comrade. Stalin instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims to Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others - from their aircraft, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy raids aircraft and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

The construction of the Soviet anti-tank ditch in Smolensk region.

This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never present a single claim against the USSR for the implementation of the treaty. All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

Destroyed Soviet planes. 1941

Already after the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 in the morning, made me, as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, a statement on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the USSR in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near the eastern German border.

German soldiers are approaching the freshly knocked out Soviet BT-2 tanks.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not present any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany attacked the USSR, despite the peaceful position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany was attacking side.

Destroyed Soviet tanks.

On behalf of the government of the Soviet Union, I must also state that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by the Romanian radio this morning that the Soviet aviation allegedly fired on Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. Hitler's entire declaration today is just as much a lie and a provocation, trying to concoct, retroactively, accusatory material about the Soviet Union's non-compliance with the Soviet-German pact.

Soviet female volunteers are sent to the front. Summer 1941.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops out of the territory of our homeland. This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very 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 .

June 22, 1941 near the bridge over the San River near the city of Yaroslav. At that time, the San River was the border between German-occupied Poland and the USSR.

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to the Soviet people, and deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.

The first Soviet prisoners of war, under the supervision of German soldiers, head west along the bridge over the San River near the city of Yaroslav.

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, conceited 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 with the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will once again wage a victorious Patriotic war for the motherland, for honor, for freedom.

Nazi troops are fighting near the walls of the Brest Fortress 1941

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm conviction that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intelligentsia, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due conscience. All our people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and others discipline, organization, selflessness, worthy of a true Soviet patriot, in order to provide for all the needs of the Red Army, fleet and aviation, in order to ensure victory over the enemy.

The machine-gun crew of the German rangers fires from the MG-34 machine gun. Summer 1941, Army Group North. In the background, the calculation covers the StuG III self-propelled guns.

The government calls on you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally your 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.

Soldiers of the Red Army on the battlefield near Kyiv 1941

Plan, Barbarossa,

Fuhrer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces

National Defense Department
No. 33408/40. Owls. secret.

Fuhrer's Headquarters

12/18/40

9 copies

9th copy
DIRECTIVE #21

The German armed forces must be ready to defeat Soviet Russia in a short campaign before the war against England is over. (Option "Barbarossa").

The ground forces must use for this purpose all the formations at their disposal, with the exception of those necessary to protect the occupied territories from any surprises.

Colonel General Richthofen in a group of officers discussing the situation 1941

The task of the air force is to release such forces to support the ground forces during the eastern campaign, so that ground operations can be expected to be completed quickly and at the same time the destruction of the eastern regions of Germany by enemy aircraft can be minimized. However, this concentration of Air Force efforts in the East must be limited by the requirement that all theaters of operations and areas where our military industry is located be reliably protected from enemy air raids and that offensive operations against England and especially against her sea lanes should by no means weaken.

Soldiers of the naval heavy artillery battery under the command of Denningburg, participating in the defense of Odessa, at the gun, 1941

The main efforts of the navy must also, during the eastern campaign, unquestionably be concentrated against England.

The order for the strategic deployment of the Armed Forces against the Soviet Union, if necessary, I will issue eight weeks before the scheduled start of operations.

Members of the defense of the city of Odessa build barricades

Preparations that require a longer time, since they have not yet begun, should begin now and be completed by 05/15/41.

It must be of decisive importance that our intentions to attack are not recognized.

The preparatory activities of the higher command instances should be carried out on the basis of the following basic provisions.
General intent

The main forces of the Russian ground forces, located in Western Russia, must be destroyed in daring operations by means of deep, rapid advancement of tank wedges. Retreat of combat-ready enemy troops to wide open spaces Russian territory must be prevented.

German General Kruger in the vicinity of Leningrad

Through rapid pursuit, a line must be reached from which the Russian air force will be unable to carry out raids on German imperial territory.

The ultimate goal of the operation is to create a protective barrier against Asiatic Russia along the general line Volga, Arkhangelsk. Thus, if necessary, the last industrial region remaining to the Russians in the Urals can be paralyzed with the help of aviation.

In the course of these operations, the Russian Baltic Fleet would quickly lose its bases and would thus be unable to continue the fight.

The effective actions of the Russian air force must be prevented by our powerful strikes at the very beginning of operations.

The workers of the Kirov factory go to the front

Proposed allies and their tasks
In the war against Soviet Russia on the flanks of our front we can count on the active participation of Rumania and Finland.

The Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces shall, at the appropriate time, agree and establish in what form the armed forces of both countries will be subordinated to the German command upon entry into the war.
Romania's task will be to support the offensive of the southern flank of the German troops with selected troops, at least at the beginning of the operation, to pin down the enemy where the German forces will not operate, and otherwise to carry out auxiliary service in the rear areas.
Finland must cover the concentration and deployment of a separate German northern group of troops (part of the 21st group), following from Norway. The Finnish army will lead fighting with these troops.

The battery is firing at the enemy on the outskirts of Moscow

In addition, Finland will be responsible for the capture of the Hanko peninsula.
It should be considered possible that by the beginning of the operation the Swedish railways and highways will be made available for the use of the German group of troops intended for operations in the North.
Operations

A) ground forces. (In accordance with the operational plans reported to me).

The theater of operations is divided by the Pripyat swamps into northern and southern parts. The direction of the main attack should be prepared north of the Pripyat swamps. Two groups of armies should be concentrated here.

The southern of these groups, which is the center of the common front, has the task of advancing with especially strong tank and motorized formations from the Warsaw area and to the north of it and splitting the enemy forces in Belarus. In this way, prerequisites will be created for the turn of powerful units of mobile troops to the north, in order to destroy the enemy forces operating in the Baltic in cooperation with the Northern Army Group advancing from East Prussia in the general direction to Leningrad. Only after this urgent task, which should be followed by the capture of Leningrad and Kronstadt, should operations begin to take Moscow, an important center of communications and military industry.

Soviet prisoners of war in a transit camp

And only the unexpectedly rapid collapse of the Russian resistance could justify the formulation and implementation of these two tasks simultaneously.

The most important task of the 21st group also during the eastern campaign remains the defense of Norway.

The forces available in addition to this (the mountain corps) should be used in the North primarily for the defense of the Petsamo region and its ore mines, as well as the route of the Arctic Ocean. Then these forces, together with the Finnish troops, should advance to the Murmansk railway in order to disrupt the supply of the Murmansk region through land communications.

Whether such an operation will be carried out by German troops (2-3 divisions) from the Rovaniemi area and to the south of it depends on the readiness of Sweden to put its railways at our disposal for the transport of troops.

Soviet prisoners of war harnessed to a plow (From captured photographs taken from captured and killed Wehrmacht soldiers)

The main forces of the Finnish army will be assigned the task, in accordance with the advancement of the German northern flank, by an offensive to the west or on both sides of Lake Ladoga, to forge as much as possible

more Russian troops, as well as take possession of the Hanko Peninsula.

The army group operating south of the Pripyat Marshes must, by means of concentric strikes, with the main forces on the flanks, destroy the Russian troops stationed in the Ukraine, even before the latter reach the Dnieper.

A German general inspects a captured Soviet anti-tank gun

To this end, the main blow is delivered from the Lublin region in the general direction of Kyiv. At the same time, troops located in Romania are crossing the river. The rod is in the lower reaches and carry out deep coverage of the enemy. The task of tying down the Russian forces located inside the pincers being formed will fall to the share of the Romanian army.

At the end of the battles to the south and north of the Pripyat marshes, during the pursuit, the following tasks should be carried out:

In the south - timely occupy the Donets Basin, which is important militarily and economically.

A group of German soldiers near a pile of Soviet canned food captured as a trophy

In the north - quickly go to Moscow. The capture of this city means, both politically and economically, a decisive success, not to mention the fact that the Russians will lose the most important railway junction.

b) the air force. Their task will be, as far as possible, to hinder and reduce the effectiveness of the counteraction of the Russian air forces and to support the ground forces in their operations in decisive directions.

This will be especially necessary on the front of the central army group and on the main axis of the southern army group.

Russian railways and communication routes, depending on their significance for the operation, should be cut or put out of action by capturing the most important objects located closest to the combat area (river crossings) by the bold actions of the airborne troops.

German machine gunners and machine gunners. Behind the back of the second calculation number is a replaceable barrel in a case. Narva, 1941

In order to concentrate all forces for the fight against enemy aircraft and for direct support of the ground forces, raids on military industrial facilities should not be carried out during the operation. Such raids, and above all against the Urals, will be on the order of the day only after the completion of maneuver operations.

B) Navy. In the war against Soviet Russia, he will have the task of ensuring the defense of his coast, to prevent the breakthrough of the enemy's navy from the Baltic Sea. Considering that after reaching Leningrad the Russian Baltic Fleet will lose its last stronghold and will find itself in a hopeless position, major operations at sea should be avoided until that moment.

Destroyed Soviet airfield. Minsk region.

After the neutralization of the Russian fleet, the task will be to ensure complete freedom of sea communications in the Baltic Sea, in particular, the supply of the northern flank of the ground forces by sea (minesweeping).
All orders that will be given by the commanders-in-chief on the basis of this directive must absolutely definitely proceed from the fact that we are talking about precautionary measures in case Russia changes its current position towards us.

A column of German troops. Ukraine, July 1941.

The number of officers involved in initial preparations should be as limited as possible. The remaining employees, the involvement of which is necessary, should be involved in work as late as possible and familiarize themselves only with those particular aspects of the training that are necessary for the performance of the official duties of each of them individually.

Otherwise, there is a danger that serious political and military complications will arise as a result of the disclosure of our preparations, the date of which has not yet been set.
I expect from the gentlemen of the commanders-in-chief oral reports on their further intentions, based on this directive.

The dead Soviet soldiers, as well as civilians - women and children. The bodies are dumped in a roadside ditch, like household garbage; dense columns of German troops are calmly moving past along the road.

Report to me through the supreme command of the armed forces on the planned preparatory measures for all branches of the armed forces and on the progress of their implementation.

Signed: Hitler

Correct: captain (signed)

Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces
Operations headquarters.
National Defense Division (Quartermaster IV)
No. 44125/41. Owls. secret. Fuhrer's Headquarters
13.3.41
Base. Directive of the headquarters of the operational leadership (department of defense of the country / 1) No. 33408/40 dated 12/18/40, Sov. secret.

Refugees in the Pskov region.



DIRECTIVE FOR THE CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS

(plan "Barbarossa")
General tasks.

In the event that Russia changes her present attitude towards Germany, as a precautionary measure, extensive preparations, which would have made it possible to defeat Soviet Russia in a fleeting campaign even before the war against England was over.

German soldiers in a street fight in the Baltics.

Operations must be carried out in such a way that, by means of a deep penetration of tank troops, the entire mass of Russian troops stationed in Western Russia is destroyed.

At the same time, it is necessary to prevent the possibility of a retreat of combat-ready Russian troops into the vast interior regions of the country.
The position of the enemy.

The dead Soviet tankers and tank landing soldiers at the gates of the border outpost. Tank - T-26.

It should be considered most probable that the Russians, using field fortifications reinforced in some areas on the new and old state borders, as well as numerous water barriers convenient for defense, will enter the battle in large formations west of the Dnieper and Zapadnaya Dvina rivers. The Russian command will attach particular importance to keeping its air and naval bases in the Baltic provinces as long as possible and to keep its southern flank adjoining the Black Sea through the use of large forces.

With an unfavorable development of operations south and north of the Pripyat marshes, the Russians will try to stop the German offensive on the line of the Dnieper, Western Dvina rivers.

German collection point for Soviet captured equipment and weapons. On the left are Soviet 45 mm anti-tank guns, then a large number of Maxim machine guns and DP-27 light machine guns, on the right - 82 mm mortars. Summer 1941.

Even with the elimination of German breakthroughs, as well as with possible attempts to withdraw the threatened troops to the line of the Dnieper, the Western Dvina, one should reckon with the possibility of offensive operations from large Russian formations using tanks.

Details of the enemy grouping are given in Appendix 3-r and the reference "Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dated January 1, 1941.
Design.

Padded T-26.

The first intention of the main command of the ground forces, in accordance with the above task, is to split the front of the main forces of the Russian army, concentrated in the western part of Russia, with quick and deep strikes from powerful mobile groups north and south of the Pripyat swamps and, using this breakthrough, destroy the disunited groups enemy troops.

South of the Pripyat marshes, Army Group "South" under the command of Field Marshal Rundstedt, using a swift blow from powerful tank formations from the Lublin region, cuts off Soviet troops stationed in Galicia and Western Ukraine from their communications on the Dnieper, captures crossings across the river. The Dnieper in the region of Kyiv and to the south of it, and thus provides freedom of maneuver for solving subsequent tasks in cooperation with troops operating to the north, or performing new tasks in southern Russia.

Tank Pz.Kpfw.38 (t) from the German 7th Panzer Division on the march. On the left is a burning Soviet tank.

North of the Pripyat marshes, Army Group Center is advancing under the command of Field Marshal von Bock. Having introduced powerful tank formations into battle, she makes a breakthrough from the Warsaw and Suwalki area in the direction of Smolensk; then turns the tank forces to the north and, together with the Army Group North (Field Marshal von Leeb), advancing from East Prussia in the general direction of Leningrad, destroys the Soviet troops stationed in the Baltic. Then the troops of the Army Group "North" and the mobile troops of the Army Group "Center", together with the Finnish army and the German troops thrown for this from Norway, finally deprive the enemy of the last defensive possibilities in the northern part of Russia. As a result of these operations, freedom of maneuver will be ensured for the implementation of subsequent tasks in cooperation with the German troops advancing in southern Russia.

A German column passes by an abandoned Soviet artillery park.

In the event of a sudden and complete defeat of the Russian forces in the north of Russia, the turn of troops to the north is no longer possible and the question of an immediate strike on Moscow may arise.

The beginning of the offensive will be given by a single order along the entire front from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea (day "B", time - "U").

Padded German armored personnel carrier in the Smolensk region. August 1941

The basis for the conduct of hostilities in this operation can serve as the principles that justified themselves in the Polish campaign. At the same time, however, it should be taken into account that, along with the concentration of forces in the directions of the main attacks, it is necessary to attack the enemy also in other sectors of the front.

Only in this way will it be possible to prevent the timely withdrawal of the enemy's combat-ready forces and destroy them to the west of the Dnieper-Zap line. Dvina. To an even greater extent than hitherto, we must expect the impact of enemy aircraft on the ground forces, especially since the German air force will not be fully involved in operations against Russia. The troops must also be prepared for the fact that the enemy can use chemical poisonous substances.
Tasks of army groups and armies:

Destroyed by Soviet artillery, the German light tank Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. C.

A) Army Group "South" advances with its reinforced left flank in the general direction of Kyiv, with moving units ahead. The general task is to destroy the Soviet troops in Galicia and Western Ukraine to the west of the river. Dnieper and capture in a timely manner the crossings on the Dnieper in the Kyiv region and to the south, thereby creating the prerequisites for continuing operations east of the Dnieper. The offensive should be prepared and carried out in such a way that mobile troops are concentrated for an attack from the Lublin region in the direction of Kyiv.

Soviet refugees walk past an abandoned BT-7A tank.

In accordance with this common goal the armies and the tank group, guided by the direct instructions of the command of Army Group South, must ensure the fulfillment of the following tasks:

11th Army provides cover for Romanian territory from invasion Soviet troops, bearing in mind the vital importance of Romania to the conduct of the war. During the offensive of Army Group South, the 11th Army fetters the enemy forces opposing it, creating a false impression of the strategic deployment of large forces, and, as the further situation develops, by inflicting a number of strikes on the retreating enemy troops in cooperation with aviation, prevents the organized withdrawal of the Soviet troops for the Dniester.

Start of the German Junkers Yu-87 dive bombers from a field airfield in the USSR.

The 1st Panzer Group, in cooperation with the troops of the 17th and 6th armies, breaks through the defenses of enemy troops concentrated near the border between Rava-Russkaya and Kovel and, advancing through Berdichev, Zhitomir, enters the river in a timely manner. Dnieper near Kyiv and to the south. In the future, without wasting time, according to the instructions of the command of the Army Group "South" continues the offensive along the Dnieper in a southeast direction in order to prevent the retreat beyond the river. Dnieper of an enemy group operating in Western Ukraine, and destroy it with a blow from the rear.

German infantry passes by broken Soviet vehicles.

The 17th Army breaks through the enemy defenses on the border northwest of Lvov. Rapidly advancing with her strong left flank, she pushes the enemy in a southeasterly direction and destroys him. In the future, this army, using the successful advance of the troops of the tank group, without delay goes to the Vinnitsa, Berdichev region and, depending on the situation, continues the offensive in a south or southeast direction.

Red Army soldiers surrender to the soldiers of the SS troops.

The 6th Army, in cooperation with the formations of the 1st Panzer Group, breaks through the enemy front in the area of ​​​​the city of Lutsk and, covering the northern flank of the army group from possible attacks from the Pripyat swamps, if possible, with its main forces, with maximum speed, follows Zhitomir after troops of the tank group. The troops of the army must be ready, at the direction of the command of the army group, to turn their main forces to the southeast west of the river. Dnieper, in order to, in cooperation with the tank group, prevent the retreat of the enemy group operating in Western Ukraine beyond the Dnieper, and destroy it.

A rally at the Leningrad plant named after Kirov about the beginning of the war.

b) Army Group Center, having concentrated its main forces on the flanks, splits the enemy forces in Belarus. Mobile formations advancing south and north of Minsk are connected in a timely manner in the Smolensk region and thus create the prerequisites for the interaction of large forces of mobile troops with the troops of Army Group North in order to destroy enemy forces located in the Baltic states and in the Leningrad region.

As part of this task, on the instructions of the command of Army Group Center, tank groups and armies perform the following tasks:

Fight on the streets of the city of Nemirov (Lviv region, Ukraine) on June 24, 1941, destroyed German guns SIG 33 of the 13th company of the 211th infantry regiment of the 71st infantry division are visible in the background.

The 2nd Panzer Group, interacting with the 4th Army, breaks through enemy border fortifications in the Kobrin area and to the north, and, quickly advancing to Slutsk and Minsk, in cooperation with the 3rd Panzer Group, advancing to the area north of Minsk, creates the prerequisites for the destruction enemy troops located between Bialystok and Minsk. Its further task: in close cooperation with the 3rd Panzer Group, as soon as possible, capture the area in the Smolensk region and to the south of it, prevent the concentration of enemy forces in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, thereby preserving the freedom of action for Army Group Center to carry out subsequent tasks.

Artillerymen of the 29th motorized division of the Wehrmacht from an ambush shot Soviet tanks into the side from a 50-mm PaK 38 cannon. The closest, on the left, is a T-34 tank. Belarus, 1941.

The 3rd Panzer Group, in cooperation with the 9th Army, breaks through the enemy border fortifications north of Grodno, rapidly advances to the area north of Minsk, and, in cooperation with the 2nd Panzer Group advancing from the southwest on Minsk, creates the prerequisites for the destruction of enemy forces located between Bialystok and Minsk. The subsequent task of the 3rd Panzer Group: in close cooperation with the 2nd Panzer Group, to reach the Vitebsk region and to the north at an accelerated pace, to prevent the concentration of enemy forces in the area of ​​​​the upper reaches of the Dvina, thereby ensuring the army group freedom of action in carrying out subsequent tasks.

The first day of the war in Przemysl (today - the Polish city of Przemysl) and the first dead invaders on Soviet soil (soldiers of the 101st light infantry division). The city was occupied by German troops on June 22, but the next morning it was liberated by the Red Army and border guards and held until June 27.

The 4th Army, inflicting the main blow on both sides of Brest-Litovsk, crosses the river. Zap. Bug and thus opens the way for the 2nd Panzer Group to Minsk. The main forces are developing an offensive through the river. Shara at Slonim and to the south, using the success of the tank groups, in cooperation with the 9th Army, destroys the enemy troops located between Bialystok and Minsk. In the future, this army follows the 2nd Panzer Group, covering its left flank from the Pripyat swamps, seizing the crossing across the river. Berezina between Bobruisk and Berezino and crosses the river. Dnieper at Mogilev and to the north.

Soldiers and officers of the Red Army surrender to German tankers.

The 9th Army, in cooperation with the 3rd Panzer Group, inflicts the main blow with the northern wing on the enemy grouping located west and north of Grodno, using the success of the tank groups, it is rapidly advancing in the direction of Lida, Vilnius and, together with the 4th Army, destroys enemy forces, located between Bialystok and Minsk. In the future, following the 3rd Panzer Group, it goes to the river. Zap. Dvina near Polotsk and southeast of it.

German soldiers next to a burning Soviet village.

c) Army Group "North" has the task of destroying the enemy forces operating in the Baltic states and seizing the ports on the Baltic Sea, including Leningrad and Kronstadt, to deprive the Russian fleet of its bases. Issues of joint operations with powerful mobile forces advancing on Smolensk and subordinate to Army Group Center will be clarified in a timely manner and brought to the attention of the High Command of the Ground Forces.

In accordance with this task, Army Group North breaks through the enemy front and, delivering the main blow in the direction of Dvinsk, advances as quickly as possible with its reinforced right flank, throwing forward mobile troops to force the river. Zap. Dvina, goes to the area northeast of Opochka in order to prevent the retreat of combat-ready Russian forces from the Baltic states to the east and create the prerequisites for further successful advance to Leningrad.

Residents of Leningrad at the window of LenTASS "Latest News" (Socialist street, house 14 - "Pravda" printing house).

As part of this task, at the direction of the command of Army Group North, the 4th Panzer Group and armies perform the following tasks:

The 4th tank group, together with the 16th and 18th armies, breaks through the enemy front between Lake. Vishtynetskoe and expensive Tilsit, Siauliai, is moving towards the West. Dvina to the Dvinsk region and to the south and captures a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river. Zap. Dvina. In the future, the 4th Panzer Group as quickly as possible reaches the area northeast of Opochka, so that from here, depending on the situation, continue the offensive in a northeast or north direction.

German vehicles on the march near the city of Yartsevo, Smolensk region.

The 16th Army, in cooperation with the 4th Panzer Group, breaks through the front of the opposing enemy and, delivering the main blow on both sides of the Ebenrode-Kaunas road, rapidly advancing its strong right flank behind the tank corps, reaches the northern bank of the river as quickly as possible. Zap. Dvina near Dvinsk and south of it. In the future, this army, following the 4th Panzer Group, quickly enters the Opochka area.

Soviet tanks abandoned after the battles near Dubno, July 1941. In the background is a T-35 (model 1938). Two white stripes on the turret - the tactical badge of the 67th Tank Regiment of the 34th Tank Division of the 8th KOVO Mechanized Corps. In the foreground is a T-26 light tank (model 1939) from the same division. On June 22, the 41st, the division had 7 KV, 38 T-35, 238 T-26 and 25 BT.

The 18th Army breaks through the front of the opposing enemy and, delivering the main blow along the Tilsit-Riga road and to the east, quickly crosses the river with its main forces. Zap. Dvina at Plavinas and to the south, cuts off enemy units located southwest of Riga and destroys them. In the future, it, rapidly advancing to the line of Pskov, Ostrov, prevents the withdrawal of Russian troops to the area south of Lake Peipsi and, at the direction of the command of Army Group North, in cooperation with tanks in the area north of Lake Peipus, clears the territory of Estonia from the enemy.

Curious German soldiers inspect a wrecked Soviet light tank BT-7. June 1941

The Second World War arose on the basis of ignorance, anti-humanity and political immorality of that era. Three decades of the twentieth century included the First World War, the collapse of empires, a series of bloody civil wars, famine, "war communism", the most severe repressions, totalitarianism in different countries and various forms, economic crises, the depreciation of life, the trampling of the individual, the violation of age-old norms of morality. Legal nihilism and even legal madness reigned.

Extremes of the 20th century: the rise of technology and the "black hole" of political morality.

The position of German Nazism was cynically voiced by Hitler: "There is no morality in international affairs, everyone grabs what he can." Or: “Iron law should be: “Never be allowed to carry weapons other than Germans.”

The memo to the soldiers of the Nazi Wehrmacht stated: “... Not a single world power can resist the German pressure. We will bring the whole world to its knees. The German is the absolute master of the world. You will decide the fate of England, Russia, America. You are a German, as befits a German, destroy every living thing that resists on your way ... Tomorrow the whole world will kneel before you ... ”(“ Soviet Russia”, June 22, 1989)

Hitler created a nation of Aryan blood with a Nordic character, cruel, arrogant, who, according to his plan, would have the qualities of a "super nation" to rule Europe and the world.

Three months before the German attack on the USSR, the chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht ground forces, Colonel-General F. Halder, wrote in his diary: “03/30/1941 11.00. Big meeting with the Fuhrer. Almost 2.5-hour speech: a review of the situation after 06/30/1940. Our tasks in Russia are: to defeat the armed forces, to destroy the state…”

“The struggle of two ideologies… The great danger of communism for the future. We must proceed from the principle of soldier's camaraderie. The communist has never been and never will be our comrade. It's about fighting for destruction. If we do not look like this, then, although we will defeat the enemy, in 30 years the communist danger will arise again. We are not fighting to conserve our opponent.

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

The struggle against Russia: the destruction of the Bolshevik commissars and the communist intelligentsia. The new states must be socialist, but without their own intelligentsia. We must not allow a new intelligentsia to form. Here only the primitive socialist intelligentsia will suffice...

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

“... I have the impression that in this moment there is a redivision of the world, and not in the way it has been done until now... We need living space... When this war is over, we will become the masters of Europe... Then we will have raw materials and resources, and then a large colonial empire will become our property... The final act is played out now. This drama will end with a German victory…”

The former chief of Hitler's foreign intelligence SD, Walter Schellenberg, in his book "Labyrinth" outlined Hitler's position regarding the war with Russia: The Germans completely dominated the mainland. Therefore, it is now possible to attack Russia, without any risk of getting involved in a war on two fronts ... A conflict with Russia, sooner or later, but must occur. Therefore, it is better to prevent the danger right now, when we can still be confident in our abilities. The General Staff is fully convinced of this. Surprise is of the utmost importance. Thanks to her, the Russian campaign will be successfully completed, at least by Christmas 1941.

Only Canaris (the head of the Abwehr) did not share the Fuhrer's point of view. However, it was useless to protest. His warnings only led to the fact that they already began to look askance at him.

On June 22, 1941, Colonel General Halder wrote in his diary: “I have just described the plan of the Russian campaign to the Fuhrer: Russian troops will be destroyed in six weeks…”

"Hitler's plan was to divide Russia and rule it as a colony, ignoring the aspirations of the heterogeneous nationalities of the Soviet Union for autonomy."

On June 22, 1941, Hitler's appeal to the German people was published, which ended with the words: “People of Germany! The military events unfolding at the present time in their scale far exceed all those that mankind has ever experienced.

At 03:30 on June 22, 1941, Germany, together with its allies, attacked the USSR.

Parts of the Red Army were forced to engage in heavy fighting without the necessary training and without completing the strategic deployment. They were staffed with only 60-70% of the wartime staff, with a limited amount of materiel, transport, communications, often without air and artillery support.

Nevertheless, stubborn resistance was offered to the enemy.

From the memoirs of a war invalid, retired officer P.M. Chaplin:

“I started the war from the first day. He then served on the real in Belarus, not far from the border. The enemy's attack took us unforgivably by surprise. The commanders were on vacation. Weapons in deep conservation, in warehouses. Technique is broken. Tanks from planes being flushed... There were a lot of our troops in the western sector. Physical training, endurance and morale of the soldiers were at their best ... But our fighting force, power (it was!) Did not find proper use, was not reasonably and timely put into action ... The enemy destroyed, smashed, cut, shredded our areas ... "defense", invaded the interior of the country.

Our warriors fought desperately, bravely, to the death. They entered into hand-to-hand fights, struck with a bullet, a bayonet, a butt ... But these are episodes. The overall picture was tragic, not in our favor. The enemy was armed to the teeth. The Germans with machine guns, and we often with training rifles, and then one for two ... Gritting our teeth, with pain in our hearts, we retreated, retreated ... made numerous victims.

(“Pravda”, 06/22/1991)

From the statement of Colonel-General Khadzhi Mamsurov:

“... It is difficult to imagine a great stupidity in the state military policy, when the system of fortified areas, well mastered, armed and prepared along the old border with the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania, which cost the Soviet people huge amounts of money, was destroyed in connection with the withdrawal of our troops to the west of the former borders (after the annexation of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus) by an average of 100-300 kilometers ... without building a new line of defensive lines ... "

From the post-war memoirs of Marshal Zhukov.

Zhukov reported to Stalin on the phone about the German air raids on Kyiv, Minsk, Sevastopol, Vilnius and other cities. It was at 3:25 am.

Stalin was breathing heavily into the receiver and did not say anything. Zhukov: "Comrade Stalin, do you understand me?"

At 4:30 on June 22, S.K. Timoshenko and G.K. Zhukov arrived in the Kremlin. The members of the Politburo were already assembled.

Stalin was pale and sat at the table, holding a pipe in his hands. He said: "We must urgently call the German embassy."

The embassy replied that the ambassador asked to receive him for an urgent message. V.M. was instructed to receive the ambassador. Molotov.

Meanwhile, the 1st Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General N.F. Vatutin, reported that the German ground forces, after heavy artillery fire in a number of sectors of the northwestern and western directions, went on the offensive.

After a while, Molotov quickly entered the office: "The German government has declared war on us."

Stalin silently sank into a chair and thought deeply. There was a long, painful pause. "Give us a directive," said Stalin.

At 07:15 on June 22, Directive No. 2 of the People's Commissar for Defense was handed over to the districts. But in the current situation, it turned out to be unrealistic, and therefore was not put into practice.

Western Special Military District.

“To the commanders of the 3rd, 4th 10th armies I convey the order of the People's Commissar of Defense for immediate execution:

1. During 22–23.641, a surprise German attack is possible on the fronts of the LVO, PribOVO, ZapOVO, KOVO, and ODVO.

The German attack may start with provocative actions.

2. The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.

At the same time, the troops of the LVO., PribOVO, KOVO and ODVO should be in full combat readiness to meet a sudden attack by the Germans or their allies.

3. I order:

a) during the night on June 22, 1941, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border;

b) before dawn on June 22, 1941, disperse all aviation, including military aviation, over field airfields, carefully disguise it;

c) put all units on combat readiness without an additional rise in assigned staff, prepare all measures to darken cities and objects.

Do not conduct any other activities without special instructions.

Shaposhnikov, Zhukov

Pavlov, Fomin, Klimovskikh.

From the order on the conduct of German troops in the East:

“... The main goal of the campaign against the Bolshevik system is the complete defeat of state power and the eradication of Asian influence on European culture ...

…Providing food for local residents and prisoners of war is unnecessary humanity…

... The troops are interested in extinguishing fires only in those buildings that should be used for parking of military units. Everything else, which is a symbol of the former domination of the Bolsheviks, including buildings, must be destroyed. No historical or artistic value in the East matters.

In the event of the use of weapons in the rear of the army by individual partisans, take decisive and cruel measures against them.

... Without going into political considerations for the future, the soldier must perform a twofold task:

1. Complete destruction of the Bolshevik heresy, the Soviet state and its armed forces.

2. Ruthless eradication of enemy cunning and cruelty and thereby ensuring the safety of life of the German Armed Forces in Russia.

Only in this way can we fulfill our historic mission of liberating the German people forever from the Asiatic-Jewish danger.

Commander-in-Chief von Reichenau, Field Marshal General.

Hermann Goth, Colonel General, Commander of the German 3rd Panzer Group:

“On the first day, the offensive went completely according to plan. The strategic attack, despite the concentration of large masses of troops along the entire Soviet-German border on the night before the offensive, was crowned with success. For the 3rd Panzer Group, it was a great surprise that all three bridges across the Neman, the capture of which was part of the task of the group, were captured intact. A captured Russian sapper officer said that he had an order to blow up the bridges in Alytus at 13.00 ...

Both divisions of the 5th Army Tank Corps, immediately after crossing the border, east of the city of Sejny, ran into the enemy's dug-in guards, which, despite the lack of artillery support, held their positions to the last. On the way to further advance to the Neman, our troops all the time met with stubborn resistance from the Russians ... "

Heinz Guderian, commander of the 2nd Panzer Group, Colonel General:

“On June 20 and 21, I was in the forward units of my corps, checking their readiness for the offensive. Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything of our intentions... The coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops... The prospects for maintaining the element of surprise were so great that the question arose: is it worth carrying out artillery preparation under such circumstances? »

Rudolf Gshepf (Brest Fortress):

“We believed that everything in the fortress was turned into a pile of ruins. Immediately after the artillery preparation, the infantry began to cross the Bug and tried to take the fortress with a quick and energetic throw, using the moment of surprise of the offensive. It was at this point that bitter disappointment arose. The Russians were raised by our fire from their beds, for the first prisoners were in their underwear. But they recovered surprisingly quickly, formed into battle groups behind our companies and began a desperate, stubborn and organized defense. Our losses in people, and especially in officers, soon assumed incredible proportions.

The command of the German Army Group Center gave the following overall score situation by the end of June 22: “Our offensive came as a complete surprise to the enemy. Field fortifications either have no garrisons at all, or have very weak garrisons. Separate concrete pillboxes continue to stubbornly resist. And in the reports of the headquarters of other German formations, the assertions that "the Soviet troops of the border districts were taken by surprise" predominate. However, judging by the documents, already on the second day of the invasion, our troops began to put up stubborn resistance.

A more detailed description of the situation in the first days of the war was made by the chief of staff of the German ground forces, Colonel-General Franz Halder:

“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 tarpaulins, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command what to do ...

... After the initial "tetanus" caused by the suddenness of the attack, the enemy proceeded to active operations ... It seems that the Russian command, due to its sluggishness, will not be able to organize operational opposition to our offensive in the near future. The Russians are forced to accept the battle in the grouping in which they were at the beginning of our offensive.

Our advancing divisions, wherever the enemy tried to offer resistance, threw him back and advanced 10-12 km in combat! Thus, the way to mobile connections is open.

The Air Force command reported that 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed to date, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken to the air without fighter cover, were attacked by our fighters and destroyed.

“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. From the second half of the day, 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 occupy the towns of Kalvariya, Stojanow and Tsekhanovets, the first two 15 km and the last 10 km from the border.

Enemy aviation attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere they met a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes.”

(“Pravda”, 06/22/1991)

Comparison of the reports of the command of the Soviet and German sides about the battles on the first day of the war confirms the well-known saying: nowhere do they lie so much as in war and hunting!

The main ideologist and propagandist of the Nazi Reich, Joseph Goebbels, made the following entry in his diary about the first days of the war:

The attack on Russia will begin at 03:30 at night - 160 completed divisions. The offensive line is 3000 km long. The world's largest concentration of troops ... This cancerous tumor must be burned out with a red-hot iron. Stalin must fall...

... Our air attack is 900 dive bombers and 200 fighters. Hostilities began along the entire front ... Russian aviation immediately suffered terrible losses: 200 aircraft shot down, 200 broken on the ground, 200 damaged. Take Brest. The Fuhrer leaves for the front ... Russian prisoners, trembling all over, get out of the dugouts

Churchill speaks with insane abuse against the Fuhrer and confirmation of the cooperation of London and Moscow against the Germans. ( Note. Summary W. Churchill's speech of June 22, 1941 will be given below.)

In the East, in the first two days, 2585 Russian aircraft were destroyed in comparison with 51 in our country. Leningrad is on fire.

... We are deeply wedged into Russian territory. Kovno - Vilna, Slonim and Brest-Litovsk are in our hands. The Russians defend bravely. They are losing countless tanks and planes. This is the precondition for victory.

On the southern sector of the front - maneuvering. Minsk is in our hands. The first big bag begins to be tied in a knot, it will contain many prisoners and all kinds of equipment ... Finland officially enters the war. Sweden misses one German division. Denmark is for us, in Spain - a demonstration against Moscow. Italy will send an expeditionary force...

... The first large boiler is almost closed. The Russians defend themselves valiantly. Their command is operationally better than in the early days. The Fuhrer is in the best state of mind.

...Achieved superiority in the air. Grodno, Vilna, Brest-Litovsk and Dvinsk are in our hands. To the east of Bialystok, 2 Red armies are surrounded, their breakthrough is excluded. Minsk is also in our hands. The Russians lost 2,233 tanks and 4,107 aircraft. About 50 million leaflets for the Red Army have already been printed and will be dropped by our aviation.

Very stubborn and fierce battles are going on in the East. There is no question of any walk. The red regime set the people in motion. The situation is not serious, but severe and requires the use of all forces.

Yesterday, a cauldron closed in the Bialystok region, 20 divisions, 100,000 people were taken prisoner, boundless trophies were captured ... A decisive act of historical significance was accomplished.

On the morning of July 3, Stalin delivered a speech. Defensive speech of bad conscience, saturated with deep pessimism. He paints the gravity of the situation, calls for the sabotage of our offensive, warns against alarmists and hostile rumors... Burn crops and all supplies... The impression is that we are eyewitnesses to the greatest battle of annihilation in history. The resistance of the reds seems to be gradually broken along the entire line. Bolshevism is going through a grave crisis.

In the Rogachev area, the Dnieper was crossed, thereby breaking through the Stalin line ... Our troops are approaching Smolensk. Near Minsk, 20,000 Bolsheviks surrendered, having previously shot their commissars. Chiang Kai-shek's regime broke off relations with us.

A great propaganda offensive against the Bolsheviks was launched - with the help of the press, radio, cinema and propaganda. Tendency: Bolshevism is the scourge of mankind, a bad disease that must be burned out with a red-hot iron... Eden delivers a speech in which he refuses to negotiate with us.

Major operations are again being deployed on the Eastern Front. Near Minsk, 53,000 Bolsheviks fled to us. However, in some places the Reds put up stubborn resistance ... We have 300,000 prisoners. Moscow is in a very gloomy mood.

... Red aviation no longer has any strike force - there are no air raids.

… We will not rest until the red bonzes fly. We succeeded in 1933 (in Germany), and we will succeed this time as well. Surrender is the slogan of our leaflets...

No one doubts our victory over Russia anymore.” (At this date, the entries in the 1st part of the German edition break off.)

("Spark", 1991, No. 32 and No. 33.)

From a speech on the radio on June 22, 1941 by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (it was mentioned in a diary entry on June 23 by J. Goebbels):

“Today at four o’clock in the morning, Hitler attacked and invaded Russia. At the same time, the usual insidious tricks were used in the most scrupulous way ...

Thus, on a much larger scale, the same pattern of all forms of trampling on agreements and international communication was repeated, which we witnessed in Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium and which Mussolini, Hitler's accomplice and jackal, copied so conscientiously in Greece ...

In the last 25 years there has not been a more consistent opponent of communism than myself. I won't take back a single word I said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle now unfolding. The danger that threatens Russia is a danger that threatens us and the United States, just as the cause of every Russian who fights for his hearth and home is the cause of free peoples in all parts of the globe.

In the morning of the same day, British Foreign Minister A. Eden invited the USSR Ambassador to Great Britain, I. M. Maisky. In the course of the conversation, the minister declared that Germany's declaration of war on the Soviet Union in no way changed Britain's policy, that her actions in the struggle against Germany would not only not weaken, but, on the contrary, would intensify. Yesterday, British aircraft made a major raid on France, shooting down 29 German aircraft. Powerful raids were also launched today. In general, the British Government is now intensifying the air war in the west to the maximum in order to divert a certain number of German aircraft from the east and at the same time to gain air supremacy over northern France. The British Government is ready to assist the Soviet Union in everything it can, and asks the Ambassador to indicate exactly what we need.

At parting with the Soviet ambassador, Eden said thoughtfully: "This is the beginning of the end for Hitler." (“Pravda”, 06/22/1991)

From the point of view of an objective understanding of the situation in Europe at the beginning of the war, the diary entries of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Count Galeazzo Ciano, are of particular interest:

At a meeting with Ciano on June 15, Ribbentrop replied evasively to a question from his interlocutor: “I can’t tell you anything yet. The solution is hidden in the Fuhrer's impenetrable chest. But be that as it may, there is no doubt about one thing: if we attack, within eight weeks Stalin's Russia will be erased from the geographical map.

The Germans informed us about the attack on Russia half an hour after the troops of the Reich crossed the eastern border.

An employee of the German embassy in Rome, Bismarck at three o'clock in the morning brings a long message from Hitler to the Duce ... The Duce is captured by the idea of ​​​​participating in the war also Italian units. But from the message of the Fuhrer it followed that he would like to do without them.

It seems that in Minsk the Germans ran into the strongest resistance from the Russians, which pleases the Duce.

Quite disappointing news from the Russian front. The Russians are fighting courageously, and the Germans, for the first time in the entire war, are forced to admit that they had to retreat in two sectors.

The wife of the head of the protocol department of the German Foreign Ministry, Dornberg, does not hide her views: “This is a war that we cannot win.”

The Duce fears that Germany has taken on too much of a challenge and will not achieve a radical solution to the problem before the start of winter, which calls into question many things.

News from the Russian front suggests that the offensive is shaky and very costly.

The dispatch of Italian troops to Russia became an obsession with the Duce. In the spring, he wants to transfer another 20 divisions there in order to avoid Germany treating Italy at the moment of victory as with other defeated peoples.

Hitler writes to himself... Europe will be subordinated to Germany. The defeated states will turn into German colonies. The allied states will become German provinces. Among them, Italy will be the most important.

The Germans informed the Duce about their military plans: in 1942 to liquidate Russia, to capture Egypt, in 1943 to capture the island (England).

During the trip of the German military attache Rintelen to the Eastern Front to meet with Hitler, German generals and marshals surrounded him and begged him to find a way to make Hitler understand that the war with Russia was pure madness, that the German army was not able to withstand such tension that he, Hitler pushing Germany towards disaster. It seems that this is the unanimous opinion of all the major German military, but none of them dares to tell Hitler about it. Rintelen, of course, also did not hint at this when speaking to Hitler.

Mussolini is pleased with the course of the war in Russia. From now on, he talks about it openly. The failures of the German troops please him.

Brauchitsch is removed from the post of commander of the ground forces. This indicates a serious crisis.

The news from the Russian front continues to be unfavorable. Mussolini is also concerned about this ... The position of the Germans is not the best.

The retreat in Russia weighs heavily on the Germans as a personal misfortune.

The Duce protests against the unbridledness of German soldiers in Italy, impudent, aggressive, shameless drunkards.

An employee of the Italian embassy in Berlin paints a very gloomy picture: hopes for victory are buried in the Russian steppes...

The head of the German Abwehr, Canaris, told his Italian colleague, Colonel Ame, that the internal situation in Germany was difficult from the point of view of both material and moral. The army is in a sour mood and at odds with politicians. Little faith in the success of the spring offensive.

Meeting of Italian leaders with Hitler and Ribbentrop, who said that Hitler's genius had conquered the Russian cold. Offensive against the Russians in the south to capture oil fields. Russia will not be able to continue the fight, having lost sources of fuel. That's when the British conservatives - after all, Churchill is a reasonable person - will do anything to save their crumbling empire.

... On the streets of German cities you will not see healthy men. Only women, children and old people. Foreign workers are real serfs.

Losses in Russia are big. Ribbentrop gave a figure of 270,000 dead. The Italian general Marras increases this figure to 700,000. And together with the crippled, frostbitten and seriously wounded, this figure reaches almost three million people.

British aviation delivers strong blows, Rostock and Lübeck are literally swept off the face of the earth. Cologne was also badly damaged. The Germans strike back at the English cities, but they are less effective. The Germans are used to others suffering, not them. They, who have devastated half of Europe, are shedding crocodile tears over the cruelty of the British, who are depriving many innocent Prussian families of their home. And the most amazing thing is that they quite sincerely think so.

According to Italian intelligence, morale german army very bad from all points of view. There is a general decline in morale, and the prospect of another winter to be spent on the Russian front drives the military to despair. There are still many suicides among soldiers who prefer death to return to the front.

The Italian journalist Sorretino, who returned from Russia, said that the Germans are behaving with amazing, criminal cruelty, which is hard to even imagine. Mass extermination of the population, violence against women, murder of children.

On the other hand, the firm determination of the Russians to fight and stand to the death, not losing faith in victory for a minute. And the morale of the German troops fell incredibly low.

During lengthy negotiations, Ribbentrop expressed restrained, albeit optimistic, assessments. The former statements: "We have already won the war" are now replaced by the words: "We cannot lose this war." It's a completely different song. He spoke of Russia as a tough, very tough nut to crack and thought that even a Japanese attack could not have brought the Soviets to defeat.

In Libya, the German commander-in-chief in North Africa is on the run. Great friction between the German and Italian troops ... It even comes to skirmishes. The Germans took all the trucks for their needs in order to drape quickly, and left the Italian divisions in the desert, where a lot of people are dying of hunger and thirst.

When Ciano arrived at Hitler's headquarters in Berlin, none of the Germans hid from him or from his employees the depression into which they were plunged by the news of the collapse on the Russian front. They are openly trying to shift the blame for this to the Italians.

The Duce declared his determination to go with Germany to the end. He hopes that “five hundred Tiger tanks, five hundred thousand reservists called up under arms, and new German weapons can still radically change the situation ...”

The Duce believes that today's report of the Germans on the course of hostilities is the worst of the entire war. A breakthrough in Stalingrad, a retreat along almost the entire front.

The surrender of Voronezh by the Germans has been announced. (The magazine "Abroad", 1985, No. 27.)

This text is an introductory piece. author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 2. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because Stalin planned "Operation Thunderstorm" - a preventive attack on Germany, which was planned for July 6, 1941, but Hitler got ahead of him and attacked himself Well, just like in the famous song Dear Alla Borisovna Pugacheva

From the book Tragedy of 1941 author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 9. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because, with the TASS message of June 14, 1941, Stalin disorientated the country's top military leadership, which as a result led to extremely sad consequences. We are talking about the famous TASS message published in the Soviet

From the book Tragedy of 1941 author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 18. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because, according to Stalin's plan, the USSR was not preparing for a defensive war with Nazi Germany. One of the most stupid complex myths in the entire mythology of the Great Patriotic War. Launched into propaganda circulation

From the book Tragedy of 1941 author Martirosyan Arsen Benikovich

Myth No. 24. The tragedy of June 22, 1941 occurred because Stalin did not allow the troops to be put on alert, as a result of which the attack turned out to be not only sudden, but also led to catastrophic consequences In all mythology about the causes of the tragedy of June 22, 1941, this

From the book Hidden Pages of Soviet History. author Bondarenko Alexander Yulievich

Message of the NKGB of the USSR June 17, 1941 MESSAGE of the NKGB of the USSR to I. V. STALIN AND V. M. MOLOTOV No. 2279 / m June 17, 1941 Top secret. We are sending an undercover message received by the NKGB of the USSR from Berlin. People's Commissar state security USSRV. Merkulov Post from

From the book June 22: There was no "suddenness"! [How Stalin missed a beat] author Melekhov Andrey M.

Note of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Soviet Government dated June 21, 1941 Memorandum I

From the book World War II. 1939–1945 Story great war author Shefov Nikolai Alexandrovich

German attack on the USSR Frontier battles On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. On this day, at 3:30, German troops invaded the territory of the USSR without declaring war. Romania, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary and

From the book June 1941. 10 days from the life of I. V. Stalin author Kostin Andrey L

2. SPEECH BY V. M. MOLOTOV, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE SNK AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE USSR, ON RADIO JUNE 22, 1941 Citizens and women of the Soviet Union! The Soviet government and its head Comrade Stalin instructed me to make the following statement:

From the book 500 famous historical events author Karnatsevich Vladislav Leonidovich

GERMANY ATTACK ON THE USSR The next object of Hitlerite aggression after the capture of Yugoslavia and Greece was the Soviet Union. The clash of the two superpowers of that time was inevitable, which both Hitler and Stalin understood. Neither one nor the other was going to put up with a possible

From the book What we know and what we do not know about the Great Patriotic War author Skorokhod Yuri Vsevolodovich

4. Why the England-Germany alliance did not take place, who started the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War, why the USSR did not expect the German attack on June 22, 1941 and the final alignment of forces

From the book Hitler's Headquarters "Werwolf" in space and time author Zagorodny Ivan Maksimovich

"The attack on Germany will begin on June 12, 1941 ..." In September 1939, the USSR declared itself a neutral state and ... until June 1941 captured a territory with a population of 23 million people. Stalin did not hide his strategic plans: “We need to draw Europe into the war, while remaining

From the book Chronology of Russian History. Russia and the world author Anisimov Evgeny Viktorovich

1941, June 22 German attack on the USSR In the summer of 1940, Hitler instructed the General Staff to start developing plans for a war against the USSR. Meanwhile, the German army occupied France, Yugoslavia and Greece. By the summer of 1941, the Germans had transferred to the Soviet border a huge mass of those released in

From the book Stalin. Secret "Scenario" of the beginning of the war author Verkhovsky Yakov

Chapter nine. "SUDDEN" ATTACK! June 22, 1941. 3 hours 15 minutes in the morning ... in our times, the speed of concentration of military forces has changed to the side of increase, and as if the benefits of the surprise of the "direction of forces" have increased, but the means of reconnaissance of the enemy's intentions have also improved

From the book On the Eve of June 22, 1941. feature stories author Vishlev Oleg Viktorovich

Soviet-German relations (beginning of June 1941). TASS report of June 13, 1941 While awaiting negotiations with Germany, the Soviet leadership nevertheless took steps to prepare to repel a possible attack. However, at the diplomatic level, in relations between the USSR and

author Israelyan Viktor Levonovich

Germany's attack on the USSR At dawn on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany treacherously, without a preliminary declaration of war, attacked the Soviet Union. The Nazis threw against the Soviet country almost all the enormous power of the military machine of German imperialism, as well as

From the book Diplomacy during the war years (1941–1945) author Israelyan Viktor Levonovich

Washington's reaction to Germany's attack on the USSR Hitler's treacherous attack on the Soviet Union aroused widespread indignation in the United States. Many political, public and trade union organizations in the United States immediately issued declarations announcing

Article 1. BORDER OF THE SOVIET UNION.

Article 4. Russian spirit

Article 7. Opinion of an American Citizen. Russians are best at making friends and at war.

Article 8. Moscow. Treacherous West

On this early morning in 1941, the enemy dealt a terrible, unexpected blow to the USSR. From the first minutes, the border guards were the first to enter into a deadly battle with the fascist invaders and courageously defended our Motherland, defending every inch of Soviet land.

At 04:00 on June 22, 1941, after a powerful artillery preparation, the forward detachments of the fascist troops attacked the border outposts from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Despite the huge superiority of the enemy in manpower and equipment, the border guards fought stubbornly, died heroically, but did not leave the defended lines without an order.

For many hours (and in some areas for several days), the outposts in stubborn battles held back the fascist units on the border line, preventing them from seizing bridges and crossings over the border rivers. With unprecedented stamina and courage, at the cost of their lives, the border guards sought to delay the advance of the advanced units of the Nazi troops. Each outpost was a small fortress, the enemy could not capture it as long as at least one border guard was alive.

Hitler took thirty minutes General base to destroy the Soviet border outposts. But this calculation turned out to be untenable.

None of the almost 2,000 outposts that took the unexpected blow of superior enemy forces faltered, did not give up, not a single one!

The frontier fighters were the first to repulse the onslaught of the fascist conquerors. They were the first to come under fire from the tank and motorized hordes of the enemy. Before anyone else, they stood up for the honor, freedom and independence of their homeland. The first victims of the war and its first heroes were Soviet border guards.

The most powerful attacks were made on the border outposts located in the direction of the main attacks of the Nazi troops. In the offensive zone of the Army Group "Center" in the sector of the Augustow border detachment, two divisions of the Nazis crossed the border. The enemy expected to destroy the border outposts in 20 minutes.

The 1st border outpost of Senior Lieutenant A.N. Sivachev defended for 12 hours, completely perished.

The 3rd outpost of Lieutenant V. M. Usov fought for 10 hours, 36 border guards repulsed seven attacks of the Nazis, and when the cartridges ran out, they launched a bayonet attack.

Courage and heroism were shown by the border guards of the Lomzhinsky border detachment.

The 4th outpost of Lieutenant V. G. Maliev fought until 12 noon on June 23, 13 people survived.

The 17th frontier outpost fought with the enemy infantry battalion until 07:00 on June 23, and the 2nd and 13th outposts held the line until 12:00 on June 22, and only by order did the surviving border guards withdraw from their lines.

The border guards of the 2nd and 8th outposts of the Chizhevsky border detachment bravely fought the enemy.

The border guards of the Brest border detachment covered themselves with unfading glory. The 2nd and 3rd outposts held out until 6 p.m. on June 22. The 4th outpost of Senior Lieutenant I. G. Tikhonov, located near the river, did not allow the enemy to cross to the eastern bank for several hours. At the same time, over 100 invaders, 5 tanks, 4 guns were destroyed and three enemy attacks were repulsed.

In their memoirs, German officers and generals noted that only wounded border guards were captured, none of them raised their hands, laid down their weapons.

Having marched solemnly across Europe, the fascists from the first minutes faced unprecedented perseverance and heroism of fighters in green caps, although the superiority of the Germans in manpower was 10-30 times, artillery, tanks, aircraft were involved, but the border guards fought to the death.

The former commander of the German 3rd Panzer Group, Colonel-General G. Goth, was subsequently forced to admit: “both divisions of the 5th Army Corps immediately after crossing the border ran into the enemy’s dug-in guards, which, despite the lack of artillery support, held their positions until the latter."

This is largely due to the selection and staffing of border outposts.

Manning was carried out from all the republics of the USSR. The junior commanding staff and the Red Army were called up at the age of 20 for 3 years (they served in naval units for 4 years). Commanding personnel for the Border Troops were trained by ten border schools (schools), the Leningrad Naval School, graduate School NKVD, as well as the Frunze Military Academy and the Military-Political Academy named after

V. I. Lenin.

The junior commanding staff was trained in the district and detachment schools of the MNS, the Red Army soldiers were trained at temporary training posts at each border detachment or a separate border unit, and naval specialists were trained in two training border naval detachments.

In 1939 - 1941, when staffing the border units and subunits on the western section of the border, the leadership of the Border Troops sought to appoint middle and senior commanding officers with service experience, especially combatants on Khalkhin Gol and on the border, to command positions in the border detachments and commandant's offices. with Finland. It was more difficult to staff border and reserve outposts with commanding staff.

By the beginning of 1941, the number of border outposts had doubled, and border schools could not immediately meet the sharply increased need for middle commanding staff, so in the fall of 1939, accelerated training courses were organized for the command of outposts from junior commanding staff and Red Army soldiers of the third year of service, and the advantage was given to persons with combat experience. All this made it possible by January 1, 1941 to fully equip all border and reserve outposts in the state.

In order to prepare to repel the aggression of fascist Germany, the Government of the USSR increased the density of protection of the western section of the state border of the country: from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. This section was guarded by 8 border districts, including 49 border detachments, 7 detachments of border ships, 10 separate border commandant's offices and three separate air squadrons.

The total number of 87459 people, of which 80% of the personnel were located directly on the state border, including 40963 Soviet border guards on the Soviet-German border. Of the 1747 border outposts guarding the state border of the USSR, 715 are located on the western border of the country.

Organizationally, the border detachments consisted of 4 border commandant's offices (each with 4 linear outposts and one reserve outpost), a maneuver group (a detachment reserve of four outposts, with a total strength of 200-250 people), a school for junior commanding staff - 100 people, headquarters, intelligence department, political agency and rear. In total, the detachment had up to 2000 border guards. The border detachment guarded the land section of the border with a length of up to 180 kilometers, on the sea coast - up to 450 kilometers.

Border outposts in June 1941 were staffed by 42 and 64 people, depending on the specific conditions of the terrain and other conditions of the situation. At the outpost numbering 42 people were the head of the outpost and his deputy, the foreman of the outpost and 4 squad commanders.

Its armament consisted of one Maxim heavy machine gun, three Degtyarev light machine guns and 37 five-shot rifles of the 1891/30 model. pieces for an easel machine gun, RGD hand grenades - 4 pieces for each border guard and 10 anti-tank grenades for the entire outpost.

The effective range of rifles is up to 400 meters, machine guns - up to 600 meters.

At the frontier numbering 64 people there were the head of the outpost and his two deputies, the foreman and 7 squad commanders. Its armament: two Maxim heavy machine guns, four light machine guns and 56 rifles. Accordingly, the amount of ammunition was more. By decision of the head of the border detachment at the outposts, where the most threatened situation developed, the number of cartridges was increased by one and a half times, but the subsequent development of events showed that this stock was only enough for 1-2 days of defensive operations. The only technical means of communication for the outpost was a field telephone. The vehicle was two horse carts.

Since the Border Troops during their service constantly met various violators on the border, including armed ones and as part of groups with whom they often had to fight, the degree of preparedness of all categories of border guards was good, and the combat readiness of such units as the border outpost and border post , the ship, was actually constantly full.

At 04:00 Moscow time on June 22, 1941, German aviation and artillery simultaneously, along the entire length of the USSR state border from the Baltic to the Black Seas, launched massive fire strikes on military and industrial facilities, railway junctions, airfields and seaports on the territory of the USSR to a depth of 250 300 kilometers from the state border. Armadas of fascist planes dropped bombs on the peaceful cities of the Baltic republics, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Crimea. Border ships and boats, together with other ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, with their anti-aircraft weapons, entered the fight against enemy aircraft.

Among the objects on which the enemy launched fire strikes were the positions of the covering troops and the places of deployment of the Red Army, as well as the military camps of the border detachments and commandant's offices. As a result of the artillery preparation of the enemy, which lasted from one to one and a half hours in various sectors, subunits and units of the covering troops and subunits of the border detachments suffered losses in manpower and equipment.

A short-term but powerful artillery strike was launched by the enemy on the towns of the border outposts, as a result of which all the wooden buildings were destroyed or engulfed in fire, the fortifications built near the towns of the border outposts were largely destroyed, the first wounded and killed border guards appeared.

On the night of June 22, German saboteurs damaged almost all wire communication lines, which disrupted the control of border units and Red Army troops.

Following air and artillery strikes, the German high command moved its invasion troops along a front of 1,500 kilometers from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains, having in the first echelon 14 tank, 10 mechanized and 75 infantry divisions with a total strength of 1,900,000 troops equipped with 2,500 tanks , 33 thousand guns and mortars, supported by 1200 bombers and 700 fighters.

By the time of the enemy attack, only border outposts were located on the state border, and behind them, 3-5 kilometers away, were separate rifle companies and rifle battalions of troops that performed the task of operational cover, as well as defensive structures of fortified areas.

The divisions of the first echelons of the covering armies were located in areas remote from their assigned deployment lines of 8-20 kilometers, which did not allow them to deploy in a timely manner in battle order and forced them to engage in battle with the aggressor separately, in parts, disorganized and with heavy losses in personnel and military equipment.

The course of military operations of the frontier outposts and their results varied. When analyzing the actions of the border guards, it is imperative to take into account the specific conditions in which each outpost found itself on June 22, 1941. They depended to a large extent on the composition of the advanced enemy units that attacked the outpost, as well as on the nature of the terrain along which the border passed and the directions of operations of the strike groups of the German army.

So, for example, a section of the state border with East Prussia ran along a plain with a large number of roads, without river barriers. It was in this area that the powerful German Army Group North deployed and struck. And on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front, where the Carpathian Mountains rose and the San, Dniester, Prut, and Danube rivers flowed, the actions of large groupings of enemy troops were difficult, and the conditions for the defense of border outposts were favorable.

In addition, if the outpost was located in a brick building, and not in a wooden one, then its defensive capabilities increased significantly. It must be borne in mind that in densely populated areas with well-developed agricultural land, building a platoon stronghold for an outpost was a great organizational difficulty, and therefore it was necessary to adapt premises for defense and build covered firing points near the outpost.

On the last night before the war, the border units of the western border districts carried out enhanced protection of the state border. Part of the personnel of the frontier outposts was on the border section in frontier detachments, the main part was in platoon strongholds, several border guards remained in the premises of the outposts for their protection. The personnel of the reserve units of the border commandant's offices and detachments were in the premises at the place of their permanent deployment.

For the commanders and Red Army men, who saw the concentration of enemy troops, it was not the attack itself that was unexpected, but the power and cruelty of the air raid and artillery strikes, as well as the mass character of the moving and firing armored vehicles. There was no panic, fuss or aimless shooting among the border guards. What happened for a whole month. Of course, there were losses, but not from panic and cowardice.

Ahead of the main forces of each German regiment, strike groups with a strength of up to a platoon with sappers and reconnaissance groups on armored personnel carriers and motorcycles moved with the tasks of eliminating border detachments, capturing bridges, establishing positions of Red Army cover troops, and completing the destruction of border outposts.

In order to ensure surprise, these enemy units began advancing in some sections of the border even during the period of artillery and aviation preparation. To complete the destruction of the personnel of the frontier outposts, tanks were used, which, being at a distance of 500-600 meters, fired at the strongholds of the outposts, remaining out of reach of the outpost's weapons.

The first to discover the crossing of the state border intelligence units fascist German troops, there were border guards who were in the service. Using pre-prepared trenches, as well as terrain folds and vegetation, as a shelter, they entered into battle with the enemy and thereby gave a signal of danger. Many border guards died in battle, and the survivors withdrew to the strongholds of the outposts and joined the defensive operations.

On the river border areas, the advanced enemy units sought to capture the bridges. Border detachments for the protection of bridges were sent as part of 5-10 people with a light, and sometimes with an easel machine gun. In most cases, the border guards prevented the advance groups of the enemy from capturing the bridges.

The enemy attracted armored vehicles to capture bridges, carried out the crossing of his advanced units on boats and pontoons, surrounded and destroyed border guards. Unfortunately, the border guards did not have the opportunity to blow up the bridges across the border river and they were delivered to the enemy in good order. The rest of the personnel of the outpost also took part in the battles to hold bridges on the border rivers, inflicting serious losses on enemy infantry, but being powerless against enemy tanks and armored vehicles.

So, while protecting the bridges across the Western Bug River, the personnel of the 4th, 6th, 12th and 14th border outposts of the Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment died in full strength. The 7th and 9th border outposts of the Przemysl border detachment also perished in unequal battles with the enemy, protecting bridges across the San River.

In the zone where the shock groups of the Nazi troops were advancing, the advanced enemy units were stronger in number and weapons than the border outpost, and, moreover, they had tanks and armored personnel carriers. In these areas, border outposts could only hold back the enemy for up to one or two hours. The border guards fired from machine guns and rifles repulsed the attack of the enemy infantry, but the enemy tanks, after the destruction defensive structures fire from cannons, burst into the stronghold of the outpost and completed their destruction.

In some cases, the border guards managed to knock out one tank, but in most cases they were powerless against armored vehicles. In the unequal struggle with the enemy, the personnel of the outpost almost all perished. The border guards, who were in the basements of the brick buildings of the outposts, held out the longest, and, continuing to fight, they died, blown up by German land mines.

But the personnel of many outposts continued to fight with the enemy from the strongholds of the outposts to the last man. These battles continued throughout June 22, and individual outposts fought in encirclement for several days.

For example, the 13th outpost of the Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment, relying on strong defensive structures and favorable terrain, fought in encirclement for eleven days. The defense of this outpost was facilitated by the heroic actions of the garrisons of the pillboxes of the fortified area of ​​the Red Army, which, during the period of artillery and aviation preparation of the enemy, prepared for defense and met him with powerful fire from guns and machine guns. In these pillboxes, commanders and Red Army soldiers defended themselves for many days, and in some places for more than a month. German troops were forced to bypass the area, and then, using poisonous fumes, flamethrowers and explosives, destroy the heroic garrisons.

Having joined the ranks of the Red Army, along with it, the border guards bore the brunt of the fight against the German invaders, fought against its intelligence agents, reliably guarded the rear of the Fronts and Armies from attacks by saboteurs, destroyed the breakout groups and the remnants of the encircled enemy groups, everywhere showing heroism and Chekist ingenuity , fortitude, courage and selfless devotion to the Soviet Motherland.

Summing up, it must be said that on June 22, 1941, the fascist German command set off a monstrous military machine against the USSR, which collapsed on Soviet people with special cruelty, which had no measure, no name. But in this difficult situation, the Soviet border guards did not flinch. In the very first battles, they showed boundless devotion to the Fatherland, unshakable will, the ability to maintain stamina and courage, even in moments of mortal danger.

Many details of the battles of several dozen border outposts are still unknown, as well as the fate of many defenders of the border. Among the irretrievable losses of border guards in the battles in June 1941, more than 90% were “missing”.

Not intended to repulse an armed invasion by regular enemy troops, the border outposts steadfastly held out under the onslaught of the superior forces of the German army and its satellites. The death of the border guards was justified by the fact that, dying in whole units, they provided access to the defensive lines of the Red Army cover units, which, in turn, ensured the deployment of the main forces of the Armies and Fronts and ultimately created the conditions for the defeat of the German armed forces and the liberation of the peoples of the USSR and Europe from fascism.

For courage and heroism shown in the first battles with the Nazi invaders on the state border, 826 border guards were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. 11 border guards were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, five of them posthumously. The names of sixteen border guards were assigned to the outposts where they served on the day the war began.

Here are just a few episodes of the fighting on that first day of the war and the names of the heroes:

Platon Mikhailovich Kubov

The name of the small Lithuanian village of Kybartai became widely known to many Soviet people on the very first day of the Great Patriotic War - a border outpost was located nearby, selflessly entering into an unequal battle with a superior enemy.

On that memorable night, no one slept at the outpost. Border guards continually reported on the appearance near the border of the Nazi troops. With the first explosions of enemy shells, the fighters took up all-round defense, and the head of the outpost, Lieutenant Kubov, with a small group of border guards, went to the site of the firefight. Three columns of the Nazis were heading towards the outpost. If he and his group accept the battle here, try to delay the enemy as much as possible, they will have time to prepare well at the outpost for a meeting with the invaders ...

A handful of fighters under the command of 27-year-old Lieutenant Platon Kubov, carefully disguised, repelled enemy attacks for several hours. One by one, all the soldiers died, but Kubov continued to fire from a machine gun. Out of ammo. Then the lieutenant jumped on his horse and rushed to the outpost.

The small garrison became one of the many outposts-fortresses that blocked, if only for a few hours, the path of the enemy. The border guards of the outpost fought to the last bullet, to the last grenade...

In the evening, local residents came to the smoking ruins of the border outpost. Among the piles of dead enemy soldiers, they found the mutilated bodies of the border guards and buried them in a mass grave.

A few years ago, the ashes of the Kubov heroes were transferred to the territory of the newly built outpost, which on August 17, 1963 was named after P. M. Kubov, a communist, a native of the village of Revolutionary Kursk region.

Alexey Vasilievich Lopatin

In the early morning of June 22, 1941, shells exploded in the courtyard of the 13th outpost of the Vladimir-Volynsky border detachment. And then planes with a fascist swastika flew over the outpost. War! For 25-year-old Alexei Lopatin, a native of the village of Dyukov, Ivanovo Region, it began literally from the first minute. A lieutenant who had graduated two years earlier military school, commanded the outpost.

The Nazis hoped to crush the small unit on the move. But they miscalculated. Lopatin organized a strong defense. A group sent to the bridge across the Bug more than an hour did not allow the enemy to cross the river. The heroes died one by one. The Nazis attacked the defense at the outpost for more than a day, and failed to break the resistance Soviet soldiers. Then the enemies surrounded the outpost, deciding that the border guards would surrender themselves. But the machine guns still hindered the advance of the Nazi columns. On the second day, a company of SS men was scattered, thrown at a small garrison. On the third day, the Nazis sent a fresh unit with artillery to the outpost. By this time, Lopatin hid his fighters and the families of the command staff in a secure basement of the barracks and continued to fight.

On June 26, the Nazi guns rained down fire on the ground part of the barracks. However, new attacks by the Nazis were again repulsed. On June 27, thermite shells rained down on the outpost. The SS men hoped to force the Soviet soldiers out of the basement with fire and smoke. But again the wave of the Nazis rolled back, met with well-aimed shots from the Lopatins. On June 29, women and children were sent from the ruins, and the border guards, including the wounded, remained to fight to the end.

And the battle continued for another three days, until the ruins of the barracks collapsed under heavy artillery fire ...

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded by the Motherland to a brave warrior, a candidate member of the party, Alexei Vasilyevich Lopatin. On February 20, 1954, his name was given to one of the outposts on the western border of the country.

Fedor Vasilievich Morin

A birch near the third blockhouse stood like a wounded soldier with a crutch, leaning on a dangling bough, broken by a shell fragment. The ground trembled all around, black smoke rising from the ruins of the outpost. The howl had been going on for more than seven hours.

In the morning, the outpost had no telephone connection with the headquarters. There was an order from the head of the detachment to withdraw to the rear lines, but the messenger sent from the commandant's office did not reach the outpost, struck by a stray bullet. And Lieutenant Fedor Marin did not even think about retreating without an order.

Rus, give up! - shouted the Nazis.

Marin gathered the seven fighters remaining in the ranks in the blockhouse, hugged and kissed each of them.

Better death than captivity, the commander said to the border guards.

We will die, but we will not surrender, - he heard in response.

Put on caps! Let's go in full force.

They loaded their rifles with the last rounds of ammunition, embraced once more, and charged at the enemy. Marin sang "The Internationale", the soldiers picked up, and it rang over the conflagration: "This is our last and decisive battle ..."

Two days later, a fascist sergeant major, taken prisoner by soldiers of a Red Army battalion, told how the Nazis were dumbfounded when they heard the revolutionary anthem through the roar.

Lieutenant Fyodor Vasilyevich Morin, who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, is still in the line of sentries of the border today. On September 3, 1965, his name was given to the outpost, which he commanded.

Ivan Ivanovich Parkhomenko

Awakened at dawn on June 22, 1941 by the roar of artillery cannonade, the head of the outpost, Senior Lieutenant Maksimov, jumped on his horse and rushed to the outpost, but before reaching it, he was seriously wounded. The defense was headed by political instructor Kiyan, but he soon died in a fight with the Nazis. The command of the outpost was taken over by Sergeant Major Ivan Parkhomenko. Fulfilling his instructions, machine gunners and arrows fired accurately at the Nazis crossing the Bug, trying not to let them come to our shore. But the superiority of the enemy was too great ...

The fearlessness of the foreman gave the border guards strength. Parkhomenko invariably appeared where the battle was in full swing, where his courage and commanding will were needed. A fragment of an enemy shell did not pass Ivan. But even with a broken collarbone, Parkhomenko continued to lead the fight.

The sun was already at its zenith when the trench, in which the last defenders of the outpost had concentrated, was surrounded. Only three could shoot, including the foreman. Parkhomenko had the last grenade left. The Nazis were approaching the trench. The foreman, gathering his strength, threw a grenade at the approaching car, killing three officers. Bleeding, Parkhomenko slid down to the bottom of the trench...

Before a company of the Nazis, the fighters of the border outpost under the command of Ivan Parkhomenko were exterminated, at the cost of their lives they delayed the advance of the enemy for eight hours.

Eternal glory and memory to the Heroes!!! We remember you!!!

Article 2. How the Minister of the Third Reich declared war on the USSR

The tragedy of June 1941 has been studied up and down. And the more it is studied, the more questions remain.

Today I would like to give the floor to an eyewitness of those events.

His name is Valentin Berezhkov. He worked as a translator. Translated to Stalin. He left a book of magnificent memoirs.

His memories are truly priceless.

After all, as they tell us, Stalin was afraid of Hitler. He was afraid of everything and therefore did nothing to prepare for the war. And they lie that everyone, including Stalin, was confused and scared when the war began.

And here's how it really happened.

As Foreign Minister of the Third Reich, Joachim von Ribbentrop declared war on the USSR.

"Suddenly at 3 o'clock in the morning, or at 5 o'clock in the morning Moscow time (it was already Sunday, June 22), the phone rang. An unfamiliar voice announced that Reich Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was waiting for Soviet representatives in his office at the Foreign Office on Wilhelmstrasse. Already from this barking unfamiliar voice, from the extremely official phraseology, something ominous wafted.

On reaching the Wilhelmstrasse, we saw from a distance a crowd in front of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although it was already dawn, the cast-iron canopy entrance was brightly lit by spotlights. Photojournalists, cameramen, and journalists fussed around. The official jumped out of the car first and opened the door wide. We left, blinded by the light of Jupiters and the flashes of magnesium lamps. A disturbing thought flashed through my head - is this really a war? There was no other way to explain such a pandemonium on the Wilhelmstrasse, and even at night. Photojournalists and cameramen relentlessly accompanied us. They now and then ran ahead, clicked the shutters. A long corridor led to the Minister's apartments. Along it, stretched out, were some people in uniform. When we appeared, they clicked their heels loudly, raising their hands in a fascist salute. Finally, we ended up in the minister's office.

At the back of the room was a desk, behind which sat Ribbentrop in his everyday grey-green ministerial uniform.

When we came close to the writing table, Ribbentrop stood up, silently nodded his head, extended his hand and invited him to follow him to the opposite corner of the hall at the round table. Ribbentrop had a swollen face of a crimson color and cloudy, as if stopped, inflamed eyes. He walked ahead of us with his head down and staggering a little. "Is he drunk?" - flashed through my head. After we sat down and Ribbentrop began to speak, my assumption was confirmed. He must have been drinking really hard.

The Soviet ambassador was never able to state our statement, the text of which we took with us. Ribbentrop, raising his voice, said that now we would talk about something completely different. Stumbling over almost every word, he began to explain, rather confusedly, that the German government had data on the increased concentration of Soviet troops on the German border. Ignoring the fact that in recent weeks the Soviet embassy, ​​on behalf of Moscow, has repeatedly drawn the attention of the German side to egregious cases of violations of the borders of the Soviet Union by German soldiers and aircraft, Ribbentrop stated that Soviet military personnel violated the German border and invaded German territory, although there are no such facts in there was no reality.

Ribbentrop went on to explain that he was summarizing the content of Hitler's memorandum, the text of which he immediately handed over to us. Then Ribbentrop said that the German government considered the situation as a threat to Germany at a time when she was waging a life-and-death war with the Anglo-Saxons. All this, Ribbentrop declared, is regarded by the German government and personally by the Fuhrer as the intention of the Soviet Union to stab the German people in the back. The Führer could not bear such a threat and decided to take measures to protect the life and safety of the German nation. The Fuhrer's decision is final. An hour ago, German troops crossed the border of the Soviet Union.

Then Ribbentrop began to assure that these actions of Germany were not aggression, but only defensive measures. After that, Ribbentrop stood up and drew himself up to his full height, trying to give himself a solemn air. But his voice clearly lacked firmness and confidence when he uttered the last phrase:

The Führer has instructed me to officially announce these defensive measures...

We also got up. The conversation was over. Now we knew that shells were already exploding on our land. After the completed robbery attack, the war was officially declared ... Nothing could be changed here. Before leaving, the Soviet ambassador said:

This is brazen, unprovoked aggression. You will regret that you have made a predatory attack on the Soviet Union. You will pay dearly for this…”

And now the end of the scene. Scenes of declaring war on the Soviet Union. Berlin. June 22, 1941. Office of Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop.

« We turned and headed towards the exit. And then the unexpected happened. Ribbentrop, semenya, hurried after us. He began to say in a whisper, as if he personally was against this decision of the Fuhrer. He even allegedly talked Hitler out of attacking the Soviet Union. Personally, he, Ribbentrop, considers this madness. But he couldn't help it. Hitler made this decision, he did not want to listen to anyone ...

- Tell in Moscow that I was against the attack, - we heard the last words of the Reich Minister, when we were already going out into the corridor ... ".

My comment: Drunken Ribbentrop and Soviet Ambassador Dekanozov, who not only "isn't afraid", but also speaks directly with a completely undiplomatic directness. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that the German "official version" of the start of the war completely coincides with the version of Rezun-Suvorov. More precisely, the London inmate writer, traitor defector Rezun rewrote the version of Nazi propaganda in his books.

Like, poor defenseless Hitler defended himself in June 1941. And this is what the West believes? They believe. And they want to instill this faith in the population of Russia. At the same time, Western historians and politicians believe Hitler only once: June 22, 1941. Neither before nor after do they believe him. After all, Hitler said that he attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, exclusively defending himself from Polish aggression. Western historians believe the Fuhrer only when it is necessary to discredit the USSR-Russia. The conclusion is simple: who believes Rezun, he believes Hitler.

I hope you begin to understand a little better why Stalin considered the German attack to be impossible stupidity.

Afterword. The fate of the characters in this scene is different.

Joachim von Ribbentrop was hanged by the Nuremberg Tribunal. Because he knew too much about behind-the-scenes politics on the eve and during the World War.

Vladimir Georgievich Dekanozov- the then Soviet ambassador to Germany was shot by the Khrushchevites in December 1953. After the murder of Stalin, and then the murder of Beria, the traitors did the same thing that was happening in 1991: they smashed the security agencies. They cleared out everyone who knew and who knew how to make politics at the “world level”. And Dekanozov knew a lot (read his biography).

Valentin Mikhailovich Berezhkov lived a difficult interesting life. I recommend reading his book of memoirs to everyone.

Article 3. Why was the German attack on the USSR called "treacherous"?

Today, on the 71st anniversary of the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, I would like to write about an issue that, in my memory, has not become a subject of discussion, although it lies right on the surface.

On July 3, 1941, addressing the Soviet people, Stalin called the attack of the Nazis "treacherous."

Below is the full text of that speech, including the audio recording. But it is worth starting with the search for an answer to the question, why did Stalin call the attack "treacherous"? Why already on June 22 in Molotov's speech, when the country learned about the beginning of the war, Vyacheslav Molotov said: "This unheard-of attack on our country is an unparalleled treachery in the history of civilized peoples."

What is "perfidy"? It means "broken faith". In other words, both Stalin and Molotov characterized Hitler's aggression as an act of "broken faith." But faith in what? So, Stalin believed Hitler, and Hitler broke this belief?

How else to take this word? At the head of the USSR was a world-class politician, and he knew how to call a spade a spade.

I offer one answer to this question. I found it in an article by our famous historian Yuri Rubtsov. He is a doctor of historical sciences, professor at the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Yuri Rubtsov writes:

“For all 70 years that have passed since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, public consciousness has been looking for an answer to an outwardly very simple question: how did it happen that the Soviet leadership, having seemingly irrefutable evidence that Germany was preparing aggression against the USSR, Opportunity was not believed, and was taken by surprise?

This outwardly simple question is one of those to which people are looking for an answer endlessly. One of the answers is that the leader became the victim of a large-scale disinformation operation carried out by the German special services.

The Hitlerite command understood that the surprise and maximum force of a strike against the troops of the Red Army could be ensured only when attacking from a position of direct contact with them.

Tactical surprise in the delivery of the first blow was achieved only on the condition that the date of the attack was kept secret until the last moment.

On May 22, 1941, as part of the final stage of the operational deployment of the Wehrmacht, the transfer of 47 divisions to the border with the USSR began, including 28 tank and motorized divisions.

Summarized, all versions of the purpose for which such a mass of troops is concentrated near the Soviet border boiled down to two main ones:

- to prepare for the invasion of the British Isles, in order to protect them here, in the distance, from British air strikes;

- to ensure by force a favorable course of negotiations with the Soviet Union, which, according to hints from Berlin, were about to begin.

As expected, a special disinformation operation against the USSR began long before the first German military echelons moved east on May 22, 1941.

A. Hitler took a personal and far from formal part in it.

Let's talk about the personal letter that the Fuhrer sent on May 14 to the leader of the Soviet people. In it, Hitler explained the presence of about 80 German divisions near the borders of the Soviet Union by the need to “organize troops away from English eyes and in connection with recent operations in the Balkans.” “Perhaps this gives rise to rumors about the possibility of a military conflict between us,” he wrote, switching to a confidential tone. “I want to assure you – and I give you my word of honor that this is not true…”

The Fuhrer promised, starting from June 15-20, to begin a massive withdrawal of troops from the Soviet borders to the west, and before that he conjured Stalin not to succumb to provocations that those German generals allegedly could go to, who, out of sympathy for England, "forgot about their duty" . “I look forward to seeing you in July. Sincerely yours, Adolf Hitler" - on such a "high" note

he completed his letter.

It was one of the peaks of the disinformation operation.

Alas, the Soviet leadership took the Germans' explanations at face value. In an effort to avoid war at all costs and not to give the slightest reason to attack, Stalin until the last day forbade bringing the troops of the border districts into combat readiness. As if the reason for the attack still somehow worried the Nazi leadership ...

On the last day before the war, Goebbels wrote in his diary: “The question of Russia is becoming more acute with every hour. Molotov asked for a visit to Berlin, but was resolutely refused. Naive assumption. This should have been done six months ago…”

Yes, if Moscow really got alarmed at least not half a year, but half a month before the hour "X"! However, Stalin was so possessed by the magic of confidence that a clash with Germany could be avoided that, even after receiving confirmation from Molotov that Germany had declared war, in a directive issued on June 22 at 7 o'clock. 15 minutes. Red Army to repulse the invading enemy, he forbade our troops, with the exception of aviation, to cross the line of the German border.

Here is a document cited by Yuri Rubtsov.

Of course, if Stalin believed Hitler's letter, in which he wrote “I look forward to seeing you in July. Sincerely yours, Adolf Hitler”, then it becomes possible to correctly understand why both Stalin and Molotov called the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union with the word “treacherous”.

Hitler "broke Stalin's faith"...

Here it is necessary, perhaps, to dwell on two episodes of the first days of the war.

In recent years, a lot of dirt has been poured on Stalin. Khrushchev lied that Stalin, they say, hid in the country and was in shock. Documents don't lie.

Here is the "JOURNAL OF VISITS TO JV STALIN IN HIS KREMLIN OFFICE" in June 1941.

Since this historical material was prepared for publication by employees working under the leadership of Alexander Yakovlev, who had a certain hatred for Stalin, there can be no doubt about the authenticity of the documents cited. They have been published in:

- 1941: In 2 books. Book 1 / Comp. L. E. Reshin and others. M .: Intern. Fund "Democracy", 1998. - 832 p. - (“Russia. XX century. Documents” / Under the editorship of Academician A.N. Yakovlev) ISBN 5-89511-0009-6;

- The State Defense Committee decides (1941-1945). Figures, Documents. - M.: OLMA-PRESS, 2002. - 575 p. ISBN 5-224-03313-6.

Below you will familiarize yourself with the entries "Journal of visits to I.V. Stalin in his Kremlin office" from June 22 to June 28, 1941. The publishers note:

“The dates of the reception of visitors, which took place outside Stalin's office, are marked with an asterisk. The journal entries sometimes contain the following errors: the day of the visit is indicated twice; there are no entry and exit dates for visitors; the sequence numbering of visitors is violated; names are misspelled."

So, before you are the real worries of Stalin in the first days of the war. Notice, no dacha, no shock. From the first minutes of the meeting and meeting to make decisions and issue instructions. In the very first hours, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was created.

1. Molotov NPO, deputy. Previous SNK 5.45-12.05

2. Beria NKVD 5.45-9.20

3. Tymoshenko NGO 5.45-8.30

4. Mehlis Nach. GlavPUR KA 5.45-8.30

5. Zhukov NGSH KA 5.45-8.30

6. Malenkov Secret. Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks 7.30-9.20

7. Mikoyan Deputy Previous SNK 7.55-9.30

8. Kaganovich NKPS 8.00-9.35

9. Voroshilov Deputy Previous SNK 8.00-10.15

10. Vyshinsky et al. MFA 7.30-10.40

11. Kuznetsov 8.15-8.30

12. Dimitrov member Comintern 8.40-10.40

13. Manuilsky 8.40-10.40

14. Kuznetsov 9.40-10.20

15. Mikoyan 9.50-10.30

16. Molotov 12.25-16.45

17. Voroshilov 10.40-12.05

18. Beria 11.30-12.00

19. Malenkov 11.30-12.00

20. Voroshilov 12.30-16.45

21. Mikoyan 12.30-14.30

22. Vyshinsky 13.05-15.25

23. Shaposhnikov Deputy NPO for SD 13.15-16.00

24. Tymoshenko 14.00-16.00

25. Zhukov 14.00-16.00

26. Vatutin 14.00-16.00

27. Kuznetsov 15.20-15.45

28. Kulik Deputy NPO 15.30-16.00

29. Beria 16.25-16.45

Last left 16.45

1. Molotov member GK rates 3.20-6.25

2. Voroshilov member GK rates 3.20-6.25

3. Beria member. TC rates 3.25-6.25

4. Timoshenko member GK rates 3.30-6.10

5. Vatutin 1st Deputy NGSH 3.30-6.10

6. Kuznetsov 3.45-5.25

7. Kaganovich NKPS 4.30-5.20

8. Zhigarev teams. VVS KA 4.35-6.10

Last released 6.25

1. Molotov 18.45-01.25

2. Zhigarev 18.25-20.45

3. Timoshenko NPO USSR 18.59-20.45

4. Merkulov NKVD 19.10-19.25

5. Voroshilov 20.00-01.25

6. Voznesensky Pred. Mr., Deputy Previous SNK 20.50-01.25

7. Mehlis 20.55-22.40

8. Kaganovich NKPS 23.15-01.10

9. Vatutin 23.55-00.55

10. Tymoshenko 23.55-00.55

11. Kuznetsov 23.55-00.50

12. Beria 24.00-01.25

13. Vlasik early. personal protection

Last released 01.25 24/VI 41

1. Malyshev 16.20-17.00

2. Voznesensky 16.20-17.05

3. Kuznetsov 16.20-17.05

4. Kizakov (Len.) 16.20-17.05

5. Salzman 16.20-17.05

6. Popov 16.20-17.05

7. Kuznetsov (Kr. m. fl.) 16.45-17.00

8. Beria 16.50-20.25

9. Molotov 17.05-21.30

10. Voroshilov 17.30-21.10

11. Tymoshenko 17.30-20.55

12. Vatutin 17.30-20.55

13. Shakhurin 20.00-21.15

14. Petrov 20.00-21.15

15. Zhigarev 20.00-21.15

16. Golikov 20.00-21.20

17. Shcherbakov secretary of the 1st CIM 18.45-20.55

18. Kaganovich 19.00-20.35

19. Suprun test pilot. 20.15-20.35

20. Zhdanov member p / bureau, secret. 20.55-21.30

Last left 21.30

1. Molotov 01.00-05.50

2. Shcherbakov 01.05-04.30

3. Peresypkin NKS, deputy. NCO 01.07-01.40

4. Kaganovich 01.10-02.30

5. Beria 01.15-05.25

6. Merkulov 01.35-01.40

7. Tymoshenko 01.40-05.50

8. Kuznetsov NK VMF 01.40-05.50

9. Vatutin 01.40-05.50

10. Mikoyan 02.20-05.30

11. Mehlis 01.20-05.20

Last left 05.50

1. Molotov 19.40-01.15

2. Voroshilov 19.40-01.15

3. Malyshev NK tank industry 20.05-21.10

4. Beria 20.05-21.10

5. Sokolov 20.10-20.55

6. Timoshenko Rev. GK rates 20.20-24.00

7. Vatutin 20.20-21.10

8. Voznesensky 20.25-21.10

9. Kuznetsov 20.30-21.40

10. Fedorenko teams. ABTV 21.15-24.00

11. Kaganovich 21.45-24.00

12. Kuznetsov 21.05.-24.00

13. Vatutin 22.10-24.00

14. Shcherbakov 23.00-23.50

15. Mehlis 20.10-24.00

16. Beria 00.25-01.15

17. Voznesensky 00.25-01.00

18. Vyshinsky et al. MFA 00.35-01.00

Last left 01.00

1. Kaganovich 12.10-16.45

2. Malenkov 12.40-16.10

3. Budyonny 12.40-16.10

4. Zhigarev 12.40-16.10

5. Voroshilov 12.40-16.30

6. Molotov 12.50-16.50

7. Vatutin 13.00-16.10

8. Petrov 13.15-16.10

9. Kovalev 14.00-14.10

10. Fedorenko 14.10-15.30

11. Kuznetsov 14.50-16.10

12. Zhukov NGSH 15.00-16.10

13. Beria 15.10-16.20

14. Yakovlev early. GAU 15.15-16.00

15. Tymoshenko 13.00-16.10

16. Voroshilov 17.45-18.25

17. Beria 17.45-19.20

18. Mikoyan Deputy Previous SNK 17.50-18.20

19. Vyshinsky 18.00-18.10

20. Molotov 19.00-23.20

21. Zhukov 21.00-22.00

22. Vatutin 1st Deputy NGSH 21.00-22.00

23. Tymoshenko 21.00-22.00

24. Voroshilov 21.00-22.10

25. Beria 21.00-22.30

26. Kaganovich 21.05-22.45

27. Shcherbakov 1st sec. MGK 22.00-22.10

28. Kuznetsov 22.00-22.20

Last released 23.20

1. Voznesensky 16.30-16.40

2. Molotov 17.30-18.00

3. Mikoyan 17.45-18.00

4. Molotov 19.35-19.45

5. Mikoyan 19.35-19.45

6. Molotov 21.25-24.00

7. Mikoyan 21.25-02.35

8. Beria 21.25-23.10

9. Malenkov 21.30-00.47

10. Tymoshenko 21.30-23.00

11. Zhukov 21.30-23.00

12. Vatutin 21.30-22.50

13. Kuznetsov 21.30-23.30

14. Zhigarev 22.05-00.45

15. Petrov 22.05-00.45

16. Sokokoverov 22.05-00.45

17. Zharov 22.05-00.45

18. Nikitin VVS KA 22.05-00.45

19. Titov 22.05-00.45

20. Voznesensky 22.15-23.40

21. Shakhurin NKAP 22.30-23.10

22. Dementiev Deputy NKAP 22.30-23.10

23. Shcherbakov 23.25-24.00

24. Shakhurin 00.40-00.50

25. Merkulov Deputy NKVD 01.00-01.30

26. Kaganovich 01.10-01.35

27. Tymoshenko 01.30-02.35

28. Golikov 01.30-02.35

29. Beria 01.30-02.35

30. Kuznetsov 01.30-02.35

Last left 02.40

1. Molotov 19.35-00.50

2. Malenkov 19.35-23.10

3. Budyonny deputy. NPO 19.35-19.50

4. Merkulov 19.45-20.05

5. Bulganin Deputy Previous SNK 20.15-20.20

6. Zhigarev 20.20-22.10

7. Petrov Gl. feature art. 20.20-22.10

8. Bulganin 20.40-20.45

9. Tymoshenko 21.30-23.10

10. Zhukov 21.30-23.10

11. Golikov 21.30-22.55

12. Kuznetsov 21.50-23.10

13. Kabanov 22.00-22.10

14. Stefanovsky test pilot. 22.00-22.10

15. Suprun test pilot. 22.00-22.10

16. Beria 22.40-00.50

17. Ustinov NK Voor. 22.55-23.10

18. Yakovlev GAUNKO 22.55-23.10

19. Shcherbakov 22.10-23.30

20. Mikoyan 23.30-00.50

21. Merkulov 24.00-00.15

Last left 00.50

And one more thing. Much has been written about the fact that on June 22 Molotov spoke on the radio, announcing the attack of the Nazis and the beginning of the war. Where was Stalin? Why didn't he do it himself?

The answer to the first question is in the lines of the "Journal of Visits".

The answer to the second question, apparently, lies in the fact that Stalin, as the political leader of the country, should have understood that in his speech all the people were waiting to hear the answer to the question "What to do?"

Therefore, Stalin took a break for ten days, received information about what was happening, thought about how to organize resistance to the aggressor, and only after that he spoke on July 3 not just with an appeal to the people, but with a detailed program of warfare!

Here is the text of that speech. Read and listen to the audio recording of Stalin's speech. You will find in the text a detailed program, up to the organization of partisan actions in the occupied territories, the hijacking of steam locomotives and much more. And this is just 10 days after the invasion.

That's strategic thinking!

The strength of the falsifiers of history lies in the fact that they juggle with their own invented clichés that have a given ideological orientation.

Read better documents. They contain the true Truth and Power...

July 3 marks the 71st anniversary of Stalin's legendary speech on the radio. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov in his last interview called this speech one of the three "symbols" of the Great Patriotic War.

Here is the text of this speech:

“Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters!

Soldiers of our army and navy!

I turn to you, my friends!

The perfidious military attack of Hitler Germany on our Motherland, launched on June 22, continues, despite the heroic resistance of the Red Army, despite the fact that the best divisions of the enemy and the best units of his aviation have already been defeated and have found their grave on the battlefields, the enemy continues to push forward, throwing new forces to the front. Hitler's troops managed to capture Lithuania, a significant part of Latvia, the western part of Belarus, and part of Western Ukraine. Fascist aviation is expanding the areas of operation of its bombers, bombarding Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilev, Smolensk, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol. Our country is in serious danger.

How could it happen that our glorious Red Army surrendered a number of our cities and regions to the fascist troops? Are the German fascist troops really invincible troops, as the boastful fascist propagandists tirelessly trumpet about it?

Of course not! History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible, but it was defeated alternately by Russian, English, German troops. Wilhelm's German army during the first imperialist war was also considered an invincible army, but it was defeated several times by Russian and Anglo-French troops and was finally defeated by Anglo-French troops. The same must be said about Hitler's present German fascist army. This army has not yet encountered serious resistance on the European continent. Only on our territory did it meet with serious resistance. And if, as a result of this resistance, the best divisions of the fascist German army were defeated by our Red Army, then this means that the Nazi fascist army can be defeated and will be defeated just as the armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm were defeated.

As for the fact that part of our territory nevertheless turned out to be captured by fascist German troops, this is mainly due to the fact that the war of fascist Germany against the USSR began under favorable conditions for the German troops and unfavorable for the Soviet troops. The fact is that the troops of Germany, as a country waging war, were already completely mobilized and 170 divisions abandoned by Germany against the USSR and moved to the borders of the USSR were in a state of complete readiness, waiting only for a signal to march, while the Soviet troops needed more mobilize and advance to the borders. Of no small importance here was the fact that fascist Germany unexpectedly and treacherously violated the non-aggression pact concluded in 1939 between it and the USSR, regardless of the fact that it would be recognized by the whole world as the attacking side. It is clear that our peace-loving country, not wanting to take the initiative to violate the pact, could not take the path of treachery.

It may be asked: how could it happen that the Soviet government agreed to conclude a non-aggression pact with such treacherous people and monsters as Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was there a mistake on the part of the Soviet government here? Of course not! A non-aggression pact is a peace pact between two states. It was this pact that Germany proposed to us in 1939. Could the Soviet government refuse such a proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state can refuse a peace agreement with a neighboring power, if at the head of this power there are even such monsters and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. And this, of course, on one indispensable condition - if the peace agreement does not affect either directly or indirectly the territorial integrity, independence and honor of a peace-loving state. As you know, the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR is just such a pact. What have we gained by signing a non-aggression pact with Germany? We ensured peace for our country for a year and a half and the possibility of preparing our forces for a rebuff if fascist Germany dared to attack our country in defiance of the pact. This is a definite gain for us and a loss for fascist Germany.

What did fascist Germany gain and lose by treacherously breaking the pact and attacking the USSR? She achieved by this some advantageous position for her troops in a short time, but she lost politically, exposing herself in the eyes of the whole world as a bloody aggressor. There can be no doubt that this short military gain for Germany is only an episode, while the enormous political gain for the USSR is a serious and lasting factor on the basis of which the decisive military successes of the Red Army in the war against Nazi Germany.

That is why all our valiant army, all our valiant Navy, all our falcon pilots, all the peoples of our country, all the best people of Europe, America and Asia, and finally, all the best people of Germany stigmatize the perfidious actions of the German fascists and sympathize with the Soviet government, approve of the behavior of the Soviet government and see that our cause is just that the enemy will be defeated, that we must win.

By virtue of the war imposed on us, our country entered into a mortal battle with its worst and insidious enemy - German fascism. Our troops are fighting heroically against the enemy, armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft. The Red Army and the Red Navy, overcoming numerous difficulties, are selflessly fighting for every inch Soviet land. The main forces of the Red Army, armed with thousands of tanks and aircraft, enter the battle. The courage of the soldiers of the Red Army is unparalleled. Our resistance to the enemy is growing stronger and stronger. Together with the Red Army, the entire Soviet people rises to defend the Motherland. What is required in order to eliminate the danger looming over our Motherland, and what measures must be taken in order to defeat the enemy?

First of all, it is necessary that our people, the Soviet people, understand the full depth of the danger that threatens our country, and renounce complacency, carelessness, and moods of peaceful construction, which were quite understandable in pre-war times, but pernicious at the present time, when the war is fundamentally changed position. The enemy is cruel and relentless. He sets as his goal the seizure of our lands, watered with our sweat, the seizure of our bread and our oil, extracted by our labor. It sets as its goal the restoration of the power of the landowners, the restoration of tsarism, the destruction of the national culture and national statehood of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and other free peoples of the Soviet Union, their Germanization, their transformation into slaves of German princes and barons. Thus, it is a question of life and death of the Soviet state, of life and death of the peoples of the USSR, of whether the peoples of the Soviet Union should be free or fall into enslavement. It is necessary that the Soviet people understand this and stop being carefree, that they mobilize themselves and reorganize all their work on a new, military basis, which knows no mercy for the enemy.

It is necessary, furthermore, that there be no place in our ranks for whiners and cowards, alarmists and deserters, that our people know no fear in the struggle and selflessly go to our Patriotic War of Liberation against the fascist enslavers. The great Lenin, who created our state, said that the main quality Soviet people there must be courage, courage, ignorance of fear in the struggle, readiness to fight together with the people against the enemies of our Motherland. It is necessary that this magnificent quality of a Bolshevik should become the property of millions and millions of the Red Army, our Red Navy and all the peoples of the Soviet Union. We must immediately reorganize all our work on a military footing, subordinating everything to the interests of the front and to the tasks of organizing the defeat of the enemy. The peoples of the Soviet Union now see that German fascism is indomitable in its furious malice and hatred of our Motherland, which has ensured free labor and well-being for all working people. The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise up to defend their rights, their land against the enemy.

The Red Army, the Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of the Soviet land, fight to the last drop of blood for our cities and villages, show the courage, initiative and ingenuity inherent in our people.

We must organize all-round assistance to the Red Army, ensure an intensified replenishment of its ranks, ensure its supply with everything necessary, organize the rapid advance of transports with troops and military cargo, and provide extensive assistance to the wounded.

We must strengthen the rear of the Red Army, subordinating all our work to the interests of this cause, ensuring the intensified work of all enterprises, producing more rifles, machine guns, guns, cartridges, shells, aircraft, organizing the protection of factories, power plants, telephone and telegraph communications, and establishing local air defense .

We must organize a merciless struggle against all sorts of disorganizers of the rear, deserters, alarmists, spreaders of rumors, destroy spies, saboteurs, enemy paratroopers, rendering prompt assistance to our destruction battalions in all this. It must be borne in mind that the enemy is cunning, cunning, experienced in deception and spreading false rumors. It is necessary to take into account all this and not succumb to provocations. All those who, by their alarmism and cowardice, interfere with the cause of defense, regardless of their faces, must immediately be brought to trial by a military tribunal.

With the forced withdrawal of Red Army units, it is necessary to steal the entire rolling stock, not to leave the enemy a single locomotive, not a single wagon, not to leave the enemy a single kilogram of bread, not a liter of fuel. Collective farmers must steal all livestock, hand over grain for safety government bodies to transport it to the rear areas. All valuable property, including non-ferrous metals, grain and fuel, which cannot be taken out must be unconditionally destroyed.

In areas occupied by the enemy, it is necessary to create partisan detachments, mounted and on foot, to create sabotage groups to fight against parts of the enemy army, to kindle guerrilla warfare everywhere and everywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, set fire to forests, warehouses, convoys. In the occupied areas, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them at every turn, disrupt all their activities.

The war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war. It is not only a war between two armies. It is at the same time a great war of the entire Soviet people against the German fascist troops. The goal of this nationwide Patriotic War against the fascist oppressors is not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our country, but also to help all the peoples of Europe, groaning under the yoke of German fascism. In this liberation war we won't be alone. In this great war we will have true allies in the peoples of Europe and America, including the German people, enslaved by the Nazi bosses. Our war for the freedom of our Fatherland will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms. It will be a united front of the peoples standing for freedom against enslavement and the threat of enslavement from Hitler's fascist armies. In this regard, the historic speech by British Prime Minister Mr. Churchill on helping the Soviet Union and the US government's declaration of readiness to help our country, which can only arouse a feeling of gratitude in the hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are quite understandable and revealing.

Comrades! Our strength is incalculable. An arrogant enemy will soon be convinced of this. Together with the Red Army, many thousands of workers, collective farmers, and intellectuals are rising to war against the attacking enemy. Millions of our people will rise up. The working people of Moscow and Leningrad have already begun to create a multi-thousand people's militia to support the Red Army. In every city that is in danger of being invaded by the enemy, we must create such a people's militia, raise all the working people to fight in order to defend our freedom, our honor, our homeland with our breasts in our Patriotic War against German fascism.

In order to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the USSR, to repulse the enemy who treacherously attacked our Motherland, the State Defense Committee was created, in whose hands all power in the state is now concentrated. The State Defense Committee has begun its work and calls on all the people to rally around the party of Lenin-Stalin, around the Soviet government for the selfless support of the Red Army and the Red Navy, for the defeat of the enemy, for victory.

All our strength is to support our heroic Red Army, our glorious Red Fleet!

All the forces of the people - to defeat the enemy!

Forward, for our victory!

Another speech of Stalin at the beginning of the War

Stalin's speech at the end of the war

June 8, 1942.

Article 4. Russian spirit

The fury of Russian resistance reflects the new Russian spirit, backed by newfound industrial and agricultural power.

Last June, most Democrats agreed with Adolf Hitler - in three months the Nazi armies would enter Moscow and the Russian case would be similar to the Norwegian, French and Greek ones. Even the American Communists trembled in their Russian boots, believing less in Marshal Timoshenko, Voroshilov and Budyonny than in Generals Frost, Mud and Slush. When the Germans bogged down, the disillusioned fellow travelers returned to their former convictions, a monument to Lenin was opened in London, and almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief: the impossible had happened.

The purpose of Maurice Hindus' book is to show that the impossible was inevitable. According to him, the fury of Russian resistance reflects the new Russian spirit, behind which is the newfound industrial and agricultural power.

Few observers of post-revolutionary Russia can talk about it more competently. Among American journalists, Maurice Gershon Hindus is the only professional Russian peasant (he arrived in the United States as a child).

After four years at Colgate University and a graduate student at Harvard, he managed to maintain a slight Russian accent and close ties to the good Russian land. “I,” he sometimes says, spreading his arms in Slavonic, “is a peasant.”

Fufu, smells like Russian spirit

When the Bolsheviks began to "eliminate the kulaks [successful farmers] as a class," the journalist Hindus traveled to Russia to see what was happening to his fellow peasants. The fruit of his observations was the book Humanity Uprooted, a bestseller whose main thesis is that forced collectivization is hard, deportation to the Far North for forced labor is even harder, but collectivization is the greatest economic restructuring in human history; it changes the face of the Russian land. She is the future. The Soviet planners were of the same opinion, and as a result, the journalist Hindus had unusual opportunities to observe how the new Russian spirit was born.

In Russia and Japan, he, relying on his direct knowledge, answers a question that may well decide the fate of the Second World War. What is this new Russian spirit? It's not that new. “Fu-fu, it smells like a Russian spirit! Previously, the Russian spirit had not been heard of, the view had not seen. Today, the Russian is rolling around the world, it catches your eye, it hits you in the face. These words are not taken from Stalin's speech. Their old witch named Baba Yaga always pronounces them in the most ancient Russian fairy tales.

Grandmothers whispered them to their grandchildren when the Mongols burned the surrounding villages in 1410.

They repeated them when the Russian spirit expelled the last Mongol from Muscovy twenty years before Columbus discovered the New World. They probably repeat them today.

three forces

By "the power of an idea" Hindu means that in Russia the possession of private property has become a social crime. "Deep in the minds of people - especially, of course, young people, that is, those who are twenty-nine and younger, and there are one hundred and seven million of them in Russia - the concept of the deep depravity of private entrepreneurship has penetrated."

By "strength of organization" the Hindu author understands the state's total control of industry and agriculture, so that every peacetime function actually becomes a military function. “Of course, the Russians never hinted at the military aspects of collectivization, and therefore foreign observers remained completely unaware of this element of a large-scale and brutal agricultural revolution. They emphasized only those consequences that concerned agriculture and society ... However, without collectivization, they would not have been able to wage war as effectively as they are waging it.

"Machine power" is an idea in the name of which an entire generation of Russians denied themselves food, clothing, cleanliness, and even the most basic comforts. "Like the strength of a new idea and a new organization, it saves the Soviet Union from being dismembered and destroyed by Germany." "In the same way," the author Hindus believes, "she will save him from the encroachments of Japan."

asian glacier

His arguments are less interesting than his analysis of Russian power in the Far East.

Russia's Wild East, stretching three thousand miles from Vladivostok, is fast becoming one of the largest industrial belts in the world. Among the most fascinating sections about Russia and Japan are those that debunk the legend that Siberia is an Asian glacier or a purely penal servitude. In fact, Siberia produces both polar bears and cotton, has large modern cities such as Novosibirsk (the "Siberian Chicago") and Magnitogorsk (steel), and is the center of Russia's gigantic arms industry. The Hindu believes that even if the Nazis reach Ural mountains, and the Japanese - to Lake Baikal, Russia will still remain a powerful industrial state.

No to a separate world

In addition, he believes that the Russians will not, under any circumstances, agree to a separate peace. After all, they are not just waging a war for liberation. In the form of a war of liberation, they continue the revolution. “Too alive to be forgotten, the memories of the sacrifices that people made for the sake of every machine tool, every locomotive, every brick for the construction of new factories ... Butter, cheese, eggs, white bread, caviar, fish, which should have been there are they and their children; textiles and leather, from which clothes and shoes were to be made for them and their children, were sent abroad ... to receive the currency that was paid for foreign cars and foreign services ... Indeed, Russia is waging a nationalist war; the peasant, as always, is fighting for his house and his land. But today's Russian nationalism rests on the idea and practice of Soviet or collectivized control over "the means of production and distribution" while Japanese nationalism rests on the idea of ​​honoring the Emperor.

Directory

Somewhat emotional judgments of the author Hindus are surprisingly confirmed by the book of the author Yugov "The Russian Economic Front in Peace and Wartime". Not such a friend of the Russian revolution as the author Hindus, the economist Yugov, a former employee of the USSR State Planning Committee, who now prefers to live in the USA. His book on Russia is much more difficult to read than the book of the Hindu author and contains more facts. It does not justify the suffering, death and oppression that Russia had to pay for its new economic and military power.

He hopes that one of the outcomes of the war for Russia will be a turn towards democracy, the only system under which he believes economic planning can really work. But the author Yugov agrees with the author Hindus in his assessment of why the Russians fight so fiercely, and it's not about the "geographical, everyday variety" of patriotism.

“The workers of Russia,” he says, “are fighting against a return to a private economy, against a return to the very bottom of the social pyramid ... The peasants are stubbornly and actively fighting Hitler, because Hitler would return the old landowners or create new ones according to the Prussian model. Numerous peoples of the Soviet Union are fighting because they know that Hitler is destroying all opportunities for their development ... "

“And finally, all the citizens of the Soviet Union go to the front to fight resolutely until victory, because they want to defend those undoubtedly majestic - albeit inadequately and insufficiently implemented - revolutionary achievements in the field of labor, culture, science and art .. The workers, peasants, various nationalities and all citizens of the Soviet Union have many claims and demands against the dictatorial regime of Stalin, and the struggle for these demands will not stop for a day. But at present, for the people, the task of defending their country from the enemy, personifying the social, political and national reaction, is above all else.

Article 5. Russians come for their own. Sevastopol - the prototype of the Victory

Miraculously, the day of the liberation of Sevastopol coincides with the day of the Great Victory. In the May waters of the Sevastopol bays, even today we can see the reflection of the fiery Berlin sky and the Banner of Victory in it.

Undoubtedly, in the solar ripples of those waters one can also guess the reflection of other victories to come.

“Not a single name in Russia is pronounced with more reverence than Sevastopol” - these words belong not to a patriot of Russia, but to a fierce enemy, and they are not uttered with the intonation that is to our hearts.

Colonel General Karl Almendinger, appointed on May 1, 1944 as commander of the 17th German Army, reflecting offensive operation Soviet troops, addressing the army, said: “I received an order to defend every inch of the Sevastopol bridgehead. You understand its meaning. Not a single name in Russia is pronounced with more reverence than Sevastopol ... I demand that everyone defends in the full sense of the word, that no one retreats, that every trench, every funnel, every trench ... relation, and the enemy, wherever he appears, will become entangled in the network of our defenses. But none of us should even think of withdrawing to these positions, located in the depths. The 17th Army in Sevastopol is supported by powerful air and naval forces. The Führer is giving us enough ammunition, planes, armaments and reinforcements. The honor of the army depends on every meter of the entrusted territory. Germany expects us to do our duty."

Hitler ordered to keep Sevastopol at any cost. In fact, this is an order - not a step back.

In a sense, history repeated itself in a mirror image.

Two and a half years earlier, on November 10, 1941, an order was issued by the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, F.S. Oktyabrsky, addressed to the troops of the Sevastopol defensive region: to an impregnable fortress and on the outskirts of the city to exterminate more than one division of presumptuous fascist scoundrels ... We have thousands of wonderful fighters, a powerful Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol coastal defense, glorious aviation. Together with us, the battle-hardened Primorsky Army ... All this gives us complete confidence that the enemy will not pass, will break his skull against our strength, our power ... "

Our army is back.

Then, in May 1944, Bismarck's old observation was again confirmed: do not hope that once you take advantage of Russia's weakness, you will receive dividends forever.

Russians always return their...

II

In November 1943, Soviet troops successfully carried out the Nizhnedneprovsk operation and blocked the Crimea. The 17th Army was then commanded by Colonel General Erwin Gustav Jeneke. The liberation of Crimea became possible in the spring of 1944. The start of the operation was scheduled for 8 April.

It was the eve of Holy Week...

For most contemporaries, the names of fronts, armies, unit numbers, the names of generals, and even marshals, say nothing or almost nothing.

It happened - like in a song. Victory is one for all. But let's remember.

The liberation of Crimea was entrusted to the 4th Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General F. I. Tolbukhin, a separate Primorsky Army under the command of Army General A. I. Eremenko, the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky and the Azov military flotilla under the command Rear Admiral S. G. Gorshkov.

Recall that the 4th Ukrainian Front included: the 51st Army (commanded by Lieutenant General Ya. G. Kreizer), the 2nd guards army(commander Lieutenant General G.F. Zakharov), 19th Tank Corps (commander Lieutenant General I.D. Vasilyev; he will be seriously wounded and on April 11 he will be replaced by Colonel I.A. Potseluev), 8th Air Army (Commander Colonel-General of Aviation, illustrious ace T. T. Khryukin).

Every name is a significant name. Everyone has years of war behind them. Others began their battle with the Germans as early as 1914-1918. Others fought in Spain, in China, Khryukin had a sunken Japanese battleship on his account ...

From the Soviet side, 470 thousand people, about 6 thousand guns and mortars, 559 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1250 aircraft were involved in the Crimean operation.

The 17th Army included 5 German and 7 Romanian divisions - a total of about 200 thousand people, 3600 guns and mortars, 215 tanks and assault guns, 148 aircraft.

On the side of the Germans were a powerful network of defensive structures, which had to be torn to shreds.

Big wins are made up of tiny wins.

The chronicles of the war contain the names of privates, officers and generals. The chronicles of the war allow us to see the Crimea of ​​that spring with cinematic clarity. It was a blissful spring, everything that could bloom, everything else sparkled with greenery, everything dreamed of living forever. The Russian tanks of the 19th tank corps had to bring the infantry into the operational space, crack the defense. Someone had to go first, lead the first tank, the first tank battalion into the attack, and almost certainly die.

The chronicles tell of the day of April 11, 1944: “The main forces of the 19th Corps were introduced into the breakthrough by the head tank battalion of Major I.N. Mashkarin from the 101st tank brigade. Leading the attackers, I. N. Mashkarin not only controlled the battle of his units. He personally destroyed six cannons, four machine-gun points, two mortars, dozens of Nazi soldiers and officers ... "

The brave battalion commander died that day.

He was 22 years old, he had already participated in 140 battles, defended Ukraine, fought near Rzhev and Orel ... After the Victory, he would be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). The battalion commander, who broke into the defense of the Crimea in the Dzhankoy direction, was buried in Simferopol in the Victory Square, in a mass grave ...

The armada of Soviet tanks broke into operational space. On the same day, Dzhankoy was also released.

Simultaneously with the actions of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the Separate Primorsky Army also went on the offensive in the Kerch direction. Its actions were supported by aviation of the 4th Air Army and the Black Sea Fleet.

On the same day, the partisans captured the city of Stary Krym. In response, the Germans, retreating from Kerch, carried out an army punitive operation, killing 584 people, shooting everyone who caught their eye.

Simferopol was cleared of the enemy on Thursday 13 April. Moscow saluted the troops that liberated the capital of Crimea.

On the same day, our fathers and grandfathers liberated the famous resort towns - Feodosia in the east, Evpatoria in the west. On April 14, on Good Friday, Bakhchisaray was liberated, and hence the Assumption Monastery, where many defenders of Sevastopol who died in Crimean War 1854–1856. On the same day, Sudak and Alushta were liberated.

Our troops swept like hurricanes through Yalta and Alupka. On April 15, Soviet tankers reached the outer defensive line of Sevastopol. On the same day, the Primorsky Army also approached Sevastopol from Yalta ...

And this situation was like a mirror image of the autumn of 1941. Our troops, preparing for the assault on Sevastopol, stood in the same positions that the Germans and Romanians were in at the end of October 1941. The Germans could not take Sevastopol for 8 months and, as Admiral Oktyabrsky foretold, they smashed their skull on Sevastopol.

Russian troops liberated their holy city in less than a month. The entire Crimean operation took 35 days. Directly storming the Sevastopol fortified area - 8 days, and the city itself was taken in 58 hours.

III

For the capture of Sevastopol, which could not be liberated immediately, all our armies were united under one command. On April 16, the Primorsky Army became part of the 4th Ukrainian Front. General K. S. Melnik was appointed the new commander of the Primorsky Army. (Eremenko was transferred to the commander of the 2nd Baltic Front.)

There have also been changes in the enemy camp.

General Jeneke was dismissed on the eve of the decisive assault. It seemed to him expedient to leave Sevastopol without a fight. Jeneke had already survived the Stalingrad cauldron. Recall that in the army of F. Paulus he commanded an army corps. In the Stalingrad cauldron, Yeneke survived only thanks to dexterity: he imitated a serious wound from shrapnel and was evacuated. Jeneke also managed to evade the Sevastopol cauldron. He did not see any point in the defense of the Crimea in the conditions of the blockade. Hitler thought otherwise. The next unifier of Europe believed that after the loss of the Crimea, Romania and Bulgaria would like to leave the Nazi bloc. On May 1, Hitler deposed Jeneke. General K. Almendinger was appointed commander-in-chief of the 17th Army.

IV

From Sunday, April 16 to April 30, Soviet troops repeatedly made attempts to break into the defense; achieved only partial success.

The general assault on Sevastopol began on May 5 at noon. After a powerful two-hour artillery and aviation preparation, the 2nd Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant General G.F. Zakharov fell from the Mekenziev Mountains into the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe North Side. Zakharov's army was to enter Sevastopol, crossing the Northern Bay.

The troops of the Maritime and 51st armies, after an hour and a half of artillery and aviation preparation, went on the offensive on May 7 at 10:30. On the main direction of Sapun-gora - Karan (village of Flotskoye), the Primorsky Army operated. To the east of Inkerman and Fedyukhin heights, the 51st Army led the attack on Sapun Mountain (this is the key to the city) ... Soviet soldiers it was necessary to break through the multi-tiered system of fortifications ...

Hundreds of bombers of the Hero of the Soviet Union General Timofey Timofeevich Khryukin were irreplaceable.

By the end of May 7, Sapun Mountain became ours. Assault red flags were raised to the top by privates G. I. Evglevsky, I. K. Yatsunenko, corporal V. I. Drobyazko, sergeant A. A. Kurbatov ... Sapun Mountain - the forerunner of the Reichstag.

V

The remnants of the 17th Army, these are several tens of thousands of Germans, Romanians and traitors to the motherland, accumulated on Cape Chersonese, hoping for evacuation.

In a certain sense, the situation of 1941 was repeated, mirrored.

On May 12, the entire Chersonese peninsula was liberated. The Crimean operation is completed. The peninsula was a monstrous picture: the skeletons of hundreds of houses, ruins, conflagrations, mountains of human corpses, mangled equipment - tanks, planes, guns ...

The prisoner testifies German officer: “... replenishment was constantly coming to us. However, the Russians broke through the defenses and occupied Sevastopol. Then the command gave a clearly belated order - to hold strong positions on Chersonese, and in the meantime try to evacuate the remnants of the defeated troops from the Crimea. Up to 30,000 soldiers have accumulated in our sector. Of these, it was hardly possible to take out more than one thousand. On May 10, I saw four ships enter Kamysheva Bay, but only two left. Two other transports were sunk by Russian aircraft. Since then, I have not seen any more ships. Meanwhile, the situation was becoming more and more critical... the soldiers were already demoralized. Everyone fled to the sea in the hope that, perhaps, at the last minute, some ships would appear ... Everything was mixed up, and chaos reigned all around ... It was a complete disaster for the German troops in the Crimea.

+++

On May 10, at one in the morning (at one in the morning!) Moscow saluted the liberators of the city with 24 volleys of 342 guns.

It was a victory.

This was a harbinger of the Great Victory.

The Pravda newspaper wrote: "Hello, dear Sevastopol! Beloved city of the Soviet people, hero city, hero city! The whole country joyfully greets you!" "Hello, dear Sevastopol!" – repeated then indeed the entire country.

Article 6

But when reminded of this event on TV, you usually hear about the “preemptive strike”, “Stalin is no less guilty of the war than Hitler”, “why did we get involved in this unnecessary war for us”, “Stalin was an ally of Hitler” and other vile nonsense.

Therefore, I consider it necessary to once again briefly recall the facts, because the flow of Artistic Truth, that is, vile nonsense, does not stop.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked us without declaring war.. Attacked deliberately, after a long and thorough preparation. Attacked with overwhelming force.

That is, it was brazen, undisguised and unmotivated aggression. Hitler made no demands or claims. He did not urgently try to scrape troops from anywhere for a "preemptive strike" - he just attacked. That is, he staged an act of obvious aggression.

On the contrary, we were not going to attack. In our country, mobilization was not carried out and did not even begin, orders were not given for an offensive or preparation for it. We fulfilled the terms of the non-aggression pact.

That is, we are a victim of aggression, without any options.

A non-aggression pact is not an alliance treaty. So the USSR has never (!) been an ally of Nazi Germany.

The Non-Aggression Pact is precisely the Non-Aggression Pact, no less, but no more. It did not give Germany the opportunity to use our territory for military operations, did not lead to the use of our armed forces in combat operations with Germany's opponents.

So all the talk about the alliance between Stalin and Hitler is either a lie or nonsense.

Stalin fulfilled the terms of the agreement and did not attack - Hitler violated the terms of the agreement and attacked.

Hitler attacked without putting forward claims or conditions, without giving the opportunity to resolve everything peacefully, so the USSR had no choice whether to enter the war or not. The war was imposed on the USSR without asking for consent. And Stalin had no choice but to fight.

And it was impossible to resolve the "contradictions" between the USSR and Germany. After all, the Germans did not seek to seize the disputed territory or change the terms of the peace agreements in their favor.

The goal of the Nazis was the destruction of the USSR and the genocide of the Soviet people. It just so happened that the communist ideology, in principle, did not suit the Nazis. And it just so happened that in the place that represented the “necessary living space” and intended for the harmonious settlement of the German nation, some Slavs brazenly lived. And all this was clearly voiced by Hitler.

That is, the war was not for redrawing treaties and border lands, but for the destruction of the Soviet people. And the choice was simple - to die, disappear from the map of the Earth, or fight and survive.

Did Stalin try to avoid this day and this choice? Yes! Tried to.

The USSR made every effort to prevent a war. He tried to stop the division of Czechoslovakia, he tried to create a system of collective security. But the contractual process is complicated by the fact that it requires the consent of all the contracting parties, and not just one of them. And when it turned out to be impossible to stop the aggressor at the beginning of the journey and save the whole of Europe from the war, Stalin began to try to save his country from the war. To keep from war at least until readiness for defense is reached. But he managed to win only two years.

So on June 22, 1941, the power of strongest army and one of the strongest economies in the world. And this power was intended to destroy our country and our people. No one was going to negotiate with us - only to destroy.

On June 22, our country and our people took the fight, which they did not want, although they were preparing for it. And they endured this terrible, hardest battle, broke the back of the Nazi creature. And they got the right to live and the right to be themselves.

Article 7. Russians are best able to make friends and fight.

22nd of June. Russians are best at making friends and at war.

22nd of June. Russia - USA: Before the fight

Everyone remembers what the result of the negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama looked like. The leaders of the two countries could not look each other in the eyes. The moment of truth has come. The details of the meeting between the leaders of the two countries are beginning to leak out, and many still obscure things are becoming clear. Why didn't both presidents have a face. Today it is safe to say that today the two powers are closer than ever to fatal actions.

Everything turned out to be very simple. Understanding the impossibility of getting through the UN Security Council resolution necessary for the war on Syria, Washington relies on exerting pressure or striking at Iran. After all, it is not Syria that interests Washington, but Iran. The United States is moving troops to Kuwait, from here to the border with Iran is only 80 kilometers. The very troops that Obama promised to withdraw from Afghanistan will now be redeployed specifically to Kuwait. The first 15,000 servicemen have already received orders for redeployment.

Travel moods reign in the editorial offices of the Western media. Everything is moving towards a serious deterioration of the situation.

President Vladimir Putin said quite a lot in his own words, saying that he would not go on reconnaissance with anyone, joking that he had “been out of service for a long time.”

The world did not understand his joke, but was wary.

In this joke, as well as in all others, there is some truth, sometimes a very large share. But in general, it was necessary to carefully listen to what the Russian president says.

It looks like the US Marines are going to take a serious stand against the Russian paratroopers.

At the mere thought of what might happen, a cold sweat breaks out on the body. This position of ground forces, too dangerous in its proximity, is almost guaranteed to end in a collision.

This first step, the redeployment of 15,000 Marines to Kuwait, may not be the most obvious intention, because in the end you won’t start a war with such forces, but if this batch of military personnel is followed by the next one, it will be possible to speak with confidence about the impending threat.

So far, in fact, this redeployment plays into the hands of Russia more than America. Of course, now oil will creep up, the risks become higher. Russia will turn out to be the main beneficiary in this show, because it is always good to be a seller when the price of your product is high, and, of course, it is not profitable to buy oil when you “raised” the price for it yourself.

In this case, the US budget will bear the additional burden.

Another truth in this story is that neither president can back down in this confrontation. If Obama backs down, he will bury his election because Americans don't like wimps (who loves them?).

So Obama will have to come up with something to stay with a "beautiful face."

Putin can't back down either. In addition to geopolitical interests, there is an expectation among the citizens of Russia that their president will not surrender this time, as he has never surrendered before. No wonder they voted for him and entrusted him with building a strong Russia.

Putin cannot deceive the expectations of his citizens, he really never deceived those who voted for him, and it seems that this time he is also going to demonstrate his very advanced qualities of a leader, perhaps even a crisis manager.

The matter, perhaps, could be resolved peacefully if the presidents of the two countries announced some new idea, program, joint project of the two states. In this case, no one would dare to reproach their president, because two countries would benefit from this, and the whole world would become safer.

Both presidents would win here. But such a project still needs to be devised. Judging by the faces of Obama and Putin, there is no such project.

But there are growing disagreements.

In this case, Obama's career is a big question, Putin's career is not in danger. Putin has already passed the elections, and Obama is still ahead.

However, as always in such cases, you need to look at the details. They are sometimes very eloquent.

Nuclear-powered ships make the first moves

According to some information, the nuclear-powered ships of the two most powerful fleets - the Northern and Pacific, in the coming days may receive a combat mission to take up a strike position in neutral waters off the US mainland. This has happened before, when in 2009 two nuclear-powered missile carriers surfaced in different places off the east coast of the United States. This was done quite deliberately, in order to indicate their presence.

The report of an American journalist, a military specialist, looks strange. Then he said that these boats are not terrible, because they do not have intercontinental missiles. It remains only to understand why a boat, which is located 200 nautical miles from the coast, needs intercontinental ballistic missiles if its regular R-39s cover a distance of up to 1,500 nautical miles.

The R-39 rockets, solid propellant with three-stage propulsion engines, used by the D-19 complex, are the largest submarine-launched missiles with 10 multiple nuclear warheads of 100 kilograms each. Even one such missile can lead to a global catastrophe for the whole country, on board the Project 941 Akula submarine that surfaced in 2009, 20 units are regularly located. Given that there were two boats, the optimistic mood of the American commentator on this event is simply incomprehensible.

Where is Georgia, and where is Georgia

The question may arise why now talk about what happened in 2009. I think there are parallels here. On August 5, 2009, when the military events of the 08.08.08 war were still fresh in the memory, serious pressure was put on Russia. Orders of the Russian authorities to withdraw from Abkhazia and South Ossetia were dictated almost by order. Then all the events revolved around Georgia. On July 14, 2009, the US Navy destroyer Stout entered Georgian territorial waters. Of course, this is putting pressure on the Russians. It was then, after half a month, that two boats surfaced off the coast of North America.

If one of them was near Greenland, then the second surfaced under the very nose of the largest naval base. The Norfolk Naval Base is only 250 miles northwest of the surfacing site, but it may be indicative that the boat surfaced closer to the coastline of the state of Georgia (this is the name of the former Georgian SSR, now Georgia, on English manner.) That is, in some special way, these two events may intersect. You sent a ship to us in Georgia (Georgia), so get our submarine from your Georgia.

It looks like some kind of hellish joke, from which it would never occur to anyone to laugh. By this comparison of events, the author wants to show that one should not think that Putin has no way out and that he must give in in Syria, where the US Navy grouping is dozens of times more representative than the Russian Navy in Tartus, even after the arrival of Russian paratroopers there.

Today, the war can be such that having defeated Russia in Syria, one can again be surprised off the coast of Georgia. This is well understood in the Pentagon. Americans are good at understanding the meaning of what is said, and even better they understand the meaning of what is shown.

Thus, one should not expect Putin to back down from his plans in Syria. The only thing that can make Putin take a step back is truly normal human relations.

Naive Russians still believe in friendship. The author of these lines is already tired of repeating to his American colleagues and writing in his articles: Russians in general are best able to make friends and fight. Whichever one you prefer to choose american president in Russian performance, it will always be done "from the heart and on a grand scale."

Article 8. Treacherous West

"Democratic" America surpassed Nazi Germany...

Olga Olgina, with whom I am constantly in contact in Hydepark, published an article by Sergei Chernyakhovsky, whom I know from honest, up-to-date publications.

I read it and thought...

June 22, 1941. I just published on my blogs an article by my friend Sergei Filatov “Why was the German attack on the USSR called “treacherous”?” And in one comment, an anonymous blogger, no data, I looked into his PM - he writes to me (I save his spelling):

“June 22, 1941 at 4:00 a.m., the Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop presented to the Soviet ambassador in Berlin to Dekanozov a note declaring war. Officially, the formalities were observed."

This anonymous person is not happy that we Russians call the German attack on our Motherland treacherous.

And then I caught myself on the fact that ...

June 22, 1941, my parents survived. Father, a colonel, a former cavalryman, was then in Monino. At the aviation school. As they said then, from “horse to motor!” Prepared personnel for aviation .... Dad and mom experienced the first bombings ... and then .... Four terrible years of war!

Why am I doing this?

“Foreign Minister Ribbentrop presented the Soviet Ambassador in Berlin Dekanozov with a note declaring war. Officially, the formalities were observed."

And was a note handed to the Ambassador of the Libyan Jamahiriya in some capital of some democratic country of the NATO alliance?

Were the formalities followed?

There is only one answer - no!

There were no notes, memorandums, letters, there were no formalities.

It turns out that it was a new, humane, democratic war humane, democratic West against a sovereign, Arab, African state.

Anyone who starts hinting at UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which supposedly gave the NATO alliance the right to this war, I will say - and all international lawyers who still have a conscience will support me: make a tube out of the paper of this resolution and insert it into one place . This resolution did not give anyone any right by any of its letters. Everything is invented, composed, distributed, and therefore cast in bronze! Unshakable as the Statue of Liberty!

I really like one image of her that I found on the Internet: the statue, unable to withstand the bullying of America and its partners over freedom and human rights, covers its face with its hands. She's ashamed!

Why are you ashamed?

Because there was no declaration of war. And no one can say about the perfidy of the West in relation to the Jamahiriya and personally to its leader, with whom every Western politician - and thousands of photographs confirm this - sought to kiss personally.

Kiss Judas!

Now each of us knows what it is!

Kissed - and now everything is possible!

Without notes and formalities!


And so I came to the most important thing: if the West is talking on every corner that it is ready to strike at Syria, then, forgive me, will the formalities be observed? Will notes declaring war be handed out IN ADVANCE to Syrian ambassadors in Western capitals?

Ah, no more ambassadors?

And no one to give?

What a shame!

It turns out that the smart, cunning West outdid Hitler. Now you can attack, bomb, kill, do any atrocities WITHOUT DECLARATION OF WAR!

And no perfidy!

Now read Chernyakhovsky's article, which Olgina published.

"Democratic" America surpassed Nazi Germany...

The situation in the world is now worse than it was in 1938-1939. Only Russia can stop the war

On June 22, we remember the tragedy. We mourn the dead. We are proud of those who took the blow and responded to it, as well as the fact that, having received this terrible blow, the people gathered their strength and crushed the one who dealt it. But all of this is in the past. And society has not remembered for a long time the thesis that for 50 years kept the world from war - "The forty-first year should not be repeated", and kept it not by repetition, but by practical implementation.

Sometimes even quite pro-Soviet-oriented people and political figures (not to mention those who think of themselves as citizens of other countries) are skeptical about overloading the USSR economy with military spending, ironically about the “Ustinov Doctrine” - “The USSR must be ready to conduct a simultaneous war with any two other powers” ​​(meaning the US and China) and assure that it was the adherence to this doctrine that undermined the economy of the USSR.

Whether it hurt or not is a big question, because until 1991, in the vast majority of industries, output grew. But why, at the same time, the shelves of the stores turned out to be empty, but at the same time they were filled with products for some two weeks after they were allowed to arbitrarily raise prices for them - this is another question for other people.

Ustinov really advocated this approach. But he did not formulate it: in world politics, the status of a great country has long been determined through the ability to wage a simultaneous war with any two other countries. And Ustinov knew why he defended it: because on June 9, 1941, he accepted the post of People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR and knew what it takes to arm the army when it is already forced to wage war underarmed. And with all the changes in the name of the post, he remained in it until he became Minister of Defense, until 1976.

Then, at the end of the 1980s, it was announced that the arms of the USSR were no longer needed, that the Cold War was over, and that now no one threatens us. cold war has a very important advantage: it is not "hot". But as soon as it ended, it was the "hot" wars that began in the world, and now in Europe as well.

True, so far no one has attacked Russia - from among independent countries and directly. But, firstly, it has been repeatedly attacked by "small military entities" - on the instructions and with the support of large countries. Secondly, the big ones did not attack mainly because Russia still had the weapons that were created in the USSR, and, with all the decay of the army, state and economy, these weapons were enough to repeatedly destroy any of them individually and all together. But after the creation of the American missile defense system, this situation will no longer exist.

Moreover, the current situation in the world is not much better, or rather, nothing better situation, which developed both before 1914 and before 1939-41. The talk that if the USSR (Russia) ceases to oppose the West, disarms and abandons its socio-economic system, then the threat of a world war will disappear and everyone will live in peace and friendship cannot even be considered as bewilderment. This is an outright lie aimed at the moral capitulation of the USSR, in particular, because most of the wars in history were wars not between countries with different socio-political systems, but between countries with a homogeneous system. In 1914, England and France were not much different from Germany and Austria-Hungary, and monarchist Russia fought on the side not of the last monarchies, but of the British and French democracies.

In the 1930s, one of the first to call for the creation of a European collective security system to repel possible Hitlerite aggression was the leader of fascist Italy, Benito Mussolini, and he agreed to an alliance with the Reich only when he saw that England and France were refusing to create such a system. And the Second World War began not with a war of capitalist countries with socialist USSR but with conflicts and wars between capitalist countries. And the immediate cause was the war between two not just capitalist, but fascist countries - Germany and Poland.

To believe that there can be no war between the United States and Russia because both of them today, let's say carefully, are "non-socialist", is simply to be a prisoner of the aberrations of consciousness. By 1939, Hitler had conflicts not so much with the USSR as with countries socially homogeneous to him, and there were fewer of these conflicts than those into which the United States has already become involved today.

Hitler then sent troops into the demilitarized Rhine zone, which, however, was located on the territory of Germany itself. He carried out the Anschluss of Austria, formally - peacefully on the basis of the will of Austria itself. With the consent of the Western powers, they seized the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and then captured Czechoslovakia itself. He fought on Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War. There are four conflicts in total, of which one is actually armed. And everyone recognized him as an aggressor and said that the war was on the threshold.

USA and NATO today:

1. Twice they carried out aggression against Yugoslavia, dismembered it into parts, seized part of its territory and destroyed it as a single state.

2. They invaded Iraq, overthrew the national government and occupied the country, setting up a puppet regime there.

3. They did the same in Afghanistan.

4. They prepared, organized and unleashed the war of the Saakashvili regime against Russia and took it under open protection after a military defeat.

5. They carried out aggression against Libya, subjected it to barbaric bombardments, overthrew the national government, killed the leader of the country, and brought a barbaric regime to power in general.

6. They unleashed a civil war in Syria, they practically participate in it on the side of their satellites, they are preparing military aggression against the country.

7. They threaten war on sovereign Iran.

8. They overthrew the national governments in Tunisia and Egypt.

9. They overthrew the national government in Georgia and installed a puppet dictatorial regime there, but in fact occupied the country. Up to the deprivation of her right to speak her native language: now the main requirement in Georgia when applying for a civil service and when receiving a diploma of higher education- fluency in the US language.

10. Partially implemented the same or tried to implement it in Serbia and Ukraine.

A total of 13 acts of aggression, 6 of which are direct military interventions. Against four, including one armed, with Hitler by 1941. Words are pronounced differently - actions are similar. Yes, the US can say that in Afghanistan they acted in self-defence, but Hitler could also say that in the Rhineland he acted in defense of German sovereignty.

As if it would be absurd to compare the democratic United States with fascist Germany, but the Libyans, Iraqis, Serbs and Syrians killed by the Americans do not feel any better. In terms of the scale and number of acts of aggression, the United States has long and far surpassed Hitler's Germany of the pre-war period. Only Hitler, paradoxically, was much more honest: he sent his soldiers into battle, sacrificing their lives for him. The United States, on the other hand, mainly sends its mercenaries, while they themselves strike almost from around the corner, killing the enemy from aircraft from a safe position.

The United States, as a result of its geopolitical offensive, committed three times more acts of aggression and unleashed six times more military acts of aggression than Hitler did in the pre-war period. And the point in this case is not which of them is worse (although Hitler looks almost like a moderate politician against the backdrop of non-stop US wars in recent years), but that the situation in the world is worse than it was in 1938-39. . A leading and hegemonic country carried out more aggression than a similar country by 1939. Acts of Nazi aggression were relatively local and concerned mainly the adjacent territories. US acts of aggression are spread all over the world.

In the 1930s, there were several relatively equal centers of power in the world and Europe, which, with a good combination of circumstances, could prevent aggression and stop Hitler. Today there is one center of power, striving for hegemony and many times superior in its military potential to almost all other participants in world political life.

The danger of a new world war is greater today than in the second half of the 1930s. The only factor that makes it unrealistic so far is Russia's deterrent capabilities. Not other nuclear powers (their potential is insufficient for this), but Russia. And this factor will disappear in a few years, when the American missile defense system is created.

Maybe war is inevitable. Maybe she won't be. But it will not happen only if Russia is ready for it. The whole situation is developing too similar to the beginning of the twentieth century and the 1930s. The number of military conflicts involving the leading countries of the world is growing. The world is going to war.

Russia has no other choice: it must prepare for it. Transfer the economy to war footing. Look for allies. Re-equip the army. Destroy agents and the fifth column of the enemy.

Here is an article by Sergei Chernyakhovsky. I will add: of course, it should not happen again. But if it happens again, then the first blows, vile, treacherous, and you can’t call them otherwise, will fall on peaceful Syrian cities and villages ...

As it happened with the cities and villages of the Soviet Union.

In 1941, Germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. The Barbarossa plan came into effect - a plan for a lightning war against the USSR, which, according to the plans of the military-political leadership of Germany, was supposed to lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union within 8-10 weeks. Having unleashed a war against the USSR, the Nazis put forward a version about the Red Army's allegedly preparing an invasion of Europe in 1941, about the threat of Germany, which, in order to protect its country and other Western European countries, was forced to start a pre-emptive "preventive" war against the Soviet Union. The explanation of war as a preventive measure was first given by Hitler in front of the generals of the Wehrmacht on the day of the attack on our country. He said that “the moment has now come when the expected policy is not only a sin, but a crime that violates the interests of the German people. And, consequently, all of Europe. Now about 150 Russian divisions are on our border. For a number of weeks there have been continuous violations of this border, not only on our territory, but also in the Far North of Europe, and in Romania. Soviet pilots amused themselves by not recognizing the border, apparently in order to prove to us in this way that they consider themselves the masters of these territories. On the night of June 18, Russian patrols again penetrated German territory and were pushed back only after a long skirmish. This was also stated in Hitler's appeal "To the soldiers of the Eastern Front", read out on the night of June 22, 1941 to the personnel of the Wehrmacht. In it, military actions against the Soviet Union were allegedly motivated by "Russian offensive intentions."

Officially, this version was launched on June 22, 1941 in a statement by the German ambassador F. Schulenburg, handed over to the Soviet government, and in a memorandum handed over by I. Ribbentrop on the same day to the Soviet ambassador in Berlin V. Dekanozov - already after the German troops invaded the Soviet territory. Schulenburg's statement claimed that while Germany faithfully observed the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, Russia repeatedly violated it. The USSR waged "sabotage, terrorism, and espionage" against Germany, "opposed German attempts to establish a stable order in Europe." The Soviet Union entered into an agreement with England "in order to attack German troops in Romania and Bulgaria", concentrating "all available Russian armed forces on a long front from the Baltic to the Black Sea", the USSR "created a threat to the Reich." Therefore, the Fuhrer "ordered the German armed forces to repel this threat with all the means at their disposal." The memorandum of the German government, handed to Dekanozov, said: "The hostile behavior of the Soviet government towards Germany and the serious danger manifested in the movement of Russian troops to the German eastern border is forcing the Reich to retaliate." The accusation of the Soviet Union of aggressiveness, of the intention to "blow up Germany from within" was contained in Hitler's appeal to the German people, read out on the morning of June 22 by Goebbels on the radio.

Thus, the Nazi leaders, trying to justify the fascist aggression, argued that they were forced to take the path of a "preventive" war against the USSR, since it was allegedly preparing to attack Germany, to stab her in the back. The version of a “preemptive” strike is trying to remove from German fascism the responsibility for unleashing the war, leading to the assertion of the guilt of the USSR for the beginning, because, as follows from its judgments, the Wehrmacht took actions that were supposedly only offensive in the military sense, and in the political sense - quite justified. In a broader sense, according to some domestic historians, this issue also affects the problem of Nazi Germany's responsibility for World War II.

In the statement of the Soviet government in connection with the German attack on the USSR, these "justifications" fascist aggression were qualified as a policy of "retroactively concocting accusatory material about the Soviet Union's non-compliance with the Soviet-German pact."

Domestic historians, revealing the origins of the version of the “preventive” war, emphasize that a similar point of view: “Germany’s war against the USSR is only the prevention of a preparing strike by the Red Army” was expressed by other leaders of the Third Reich close to Hitler: Rudolf Hess, Heydrich, General - Colonel A. Jodl and others. These statements were picked up by the propaganda department of J. Goebbels and for a long time were used to deceive the German people and the peoples of other countries; the idea of ​​a "preventive" war was intensively introduced into the minds of people. Under the influence of this and pre-war propaganda, many Germans, both at the front and in the rear, considered the war just, indicated in the report of the security service on July 7, 1941, "an absolutely necessary defensive measure" .

Hitler himself at a meeting on July 21, 1941 stated: “there are no signs of the USSR speaking out against us”

Domestic historians who reject the far-fetched false statements of the Nazis also rely on the fact that the version of a preventive attack - the most convenient way to justify aggression - was essentially rejected by none other than Hitler himself. At a meeting on July 21, 1941, he, characterizing Stalin's intentions, stated that "there are no signs of a speech (USSR. – M.F.) is not against us.” We emphasize that it was at this meeting that Field Marshal W. Brauchitsch received Hitler's instructions to begin developing a plan for attacking the USSR.

Let us mention another very important statement by Hitler, in which he concentratedly characterized the fundamental motives for his decision to start a war against the USSR - it is given in the work of the German historian J. Tauber. On February 15, 1945 (the end of the war was already approaching), Hitler returned to the topic of war. “The most difficult decision of this war was the order to attack Russia,” he said. There was no longer any hope of ending the war in the West by landing on the English Isles. The war could go on without end; war, the prospects for participation in which the Americans were growing ... Time - again and again time! – more and more worked against us. The only way to force England to peace was to destroy the Red Army and deprive the British of the hope of opposing us on the continent with an equivalent enemy.

Let us note that there is not a single word about the threat of an attack by the Soviet Union on Germany, about a stab in the back, and about other arguments to justify a "preventive" attack on the USSR.

Goebbels: "Preventive war is the most reliable and convenient war, if we take into account that the enemy must still be attacked"

Let's also read the notes of the Minister of Propaganda of the Third Reich J. Goebbels. On June 16, 1941, he wrote in his diary: “The Führer declares that we must achieve victory, whether we are right or not. We must achieve victory by any means, otherwise the German people will be wiped off the face of the earth. On July 9, in an atmosphere of euphoria from the victories of the Wehrmacht, he writes: “Preventive war is the most reliable and convenient war, if we take into account that the enemy must still be attacked at the first opportunity. This was the case with respect to Bolshevism. Now we will beat him until destruction. As they say, comments are superfluous here.

The version of a "preventive" war was rejected at the Nuremberg trials of the main war criminals in 1945-1946. Thus, the former head of the German press and broadcasting, G. Fritsche, stated in his testimony that he organized a wide campaign of anti-Soviet propaganda, trying to convince the public that “we only anticipated the attack of the Soviet Union ... The next task of German propaganda was to constantly emphasize that not Germany, but the Soviet Union, is responsible for this war, although there were no grounds for accusing the USSR of preparing an attack on Germany. And a number of German generals who testified at the trial did not deny this. Even Paulus, who was the developer of the Barbarossa plan, admitted that "no facts came into our field of view indicating that the Soviet Union was preparing for an attack." Field Marshal von Rundstedt stated: “In March 1941, I had no idea about the allegedly carried out (by the USSR. – M.F.) military preparations. He and other generals in Hitler's briefing were surprised to hear that "the Russians are arming quite heavily and are now deploying troops to attack us." According to General von Brauchitsch, during a visit to the 17th Army in June 1941, he became convinced that the grouping of the Red Army forces had a pronounced defensive character.

Map of Operation Barbarossa

“On June 22, 1941,” the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal notes, “without a declaration of war, Germany invaded Soviet territory in accordance with pre-prepared plans. The evidence presented to the tribunal confirms that Germany had elaborate plans to crush the USSR as a political and military force in order to clear the way for expansion to the East in accordance with her aspirations ... Plans for the economic exploitation of the USSR, mass deportation of the population, the murder of commissars and political leaders are part of a carefully crafted plan that began on 22 June without any warning or legal justification. It was clear aggression."

The thesis about the preemptiveness of the attack, as G. Kumanev and E. Shklyar rightly note, was always included in the official explanations of their actions by the Nazi Reich. However, the plan for the invasion of Austria was developed 4 months before the Anschluss, Czechoslovakia - 11 months before its occupation, Poland - 5 months before the start of hostilities, the Soviet Union - almost a year before the attack. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that these countries were ready to make compromises and concessions in order not to give Germany a pretext for aggression.

The version of a "preventive" war is completely untenable; fascist Germany carried out unprovoked perfidious aggression. A. Utkin believes that "in general, the historiographic stars of the first magnitude in this matter agree that in June 1941, not a preventive war was launched, but the realization of Hitler's true intentions, which were ideologically motivated, began."

The inconsistency of the Nazi thesis about a "preventive" war has been quite thoroughly and in detail proved in many works of Russian historians. The facts they cited, based on archival and other sources, testify that the Soviet state did not plan any aggressive actions, not intending to attack anyone. Most Russian authors convincingly show that the thesis of Germany's "preventive" war against the Soviet Union aims to distort the socio-political essence of the Soviet people's war against Nazi Germany, its just, liberating character. At the same time, they rely on documents that have long become known, indisputably testifying to the barbaric, merciless nature of the German war against the USSR, the essence of which can be described in two words: conquer and destroy.

Hitler: “Our task in Russia is to destroy the state. It's about fighting to annihilate."

This requirement of cruelty to the population permeates the orders of the German command. So, Colonel-General E. Gepner demanded: “The war against Russia ... This is the long-standing struggle of the Germans against the Slavs, the protection of European culture from the Muscovite-Asian invasion, the rebuff to Bolshevism. This struggle must have the goal of turning today's Russia into ruins, and therefore it must be waged with unheard-of cruelty.

In 1991, the German mass audience was presented with the exhibition “War of Annihilation. Crimes of the Wehrmacht in 1941-1944. Documentary exhibition. She demonstrated that on the basis of these orders a war of annihilation was waged against the USSR. The exhibition catalog convincingly shows that the Wehrmacht is responsible for waging a war in the East in 1941-1944, "contrary to international law", for the extermination of millions of people.

Actions against enemy civilians committed by members of the Wehrmacht and civilians, - stated in the decree of Hitler as Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht of May 13, 1941 on military proceedings in the war with the Soviet Union, - there will be no mandatory prosecution, even if the act is a war crime or misdemeanor . This decree legitimized draconian measures against the Soviet population, essentially considering the war with the Soviet Union as fundamentally different from all other “military campaigns” undertaken in 1939, notes the German historian J. Foerster. It should be considered, he wrote, “as a struggle of the Germans against the Slavs” with the aim of “destroying present-day Russia.”

Hitler: "We don't need either tsarist or Soviet, no Russia"

Specifying long-term plans, Hitler said: “It should be quite clear that from these areas (captured lands. – M.F.) will never leave. According to the Fuhrer, they represent a "huge pie" that had to be "mastered." Three criteria were set for an occupied country: first, to take possession; secondly, manage; third, exploit. For the sake of this, “we will apply all necessary measures: executions, evictions, etc.” . He put it in monosyllables: "We do not need either tsarist or Soviet, no Russia."

Goering: “20 to 30 million people will die of starvation in Russia. It’s good that this will happen: after all, some peoples need to be reduced”

And what will happen to the Russians and other peoples of the country? Let us turn to the general plan "Ost" and to the documents related to this plan. The plan itself was discovered in the German Federal Archives only at the end of the 80s of the last century. And it became available in digital form only in December 2009 . A document compiled by Dr. Wetzel, head of colonization of the First Main Political Department of the Rosenberg Ministry, dated April 1942, states: “It is not only about the destruction of the state centered in Moscow. The point is most likely to defeat the Russians as a people ... from a biological, especially from a racial-biological point of view ... ". Here is another excerpt from the documents that have become known: “The destruction of the biological strength of the Eastern peoples through a negative demographic policy ... Its goal is to change in the future the quantitative ratio between alien peoples and Germans in favor of the latter and thus reduce the difficulties that arise when dominating them.” Pitying subhumans, Hitler believed, makes no sense. “This year, 20 to 30 million people will die of starvation in Russia. It may even be good that this will happen: after all, some peoples need to be reduced, ”Goering said in an interview with Ciano in November 1941, echoing Hitler’s thoughts. In total, no more than 15-30 million people should remain on the territory of Russia, in his opinion. The rest, let them move to the east or die - as they please. Assessing the goals of the entire political leadership of Germany, the German historian O. Klöde writes that “not only Bolshevism, but also the Russian nation was subject to destruction ... And in the case of the Slavs in general, Hitler advocated the destruction of not only a different worldview, but also a foreign people.”

Those who remained alive were waiting for an unenviable account. In one of his table talks, Hitler said: “The peoples conquered by us must first of all serve our economic interests. The Slavs were created to work for the Germans, and nothing else. Our goal is to place one hundred million Germans in the places where they currently live. The German authorities should be housed in the best buildings, and the governors should live in palaces. Around provincial centers within a radius of 30-40 kilometers there will be belts of beautiful German villages connected by centers and good roads. On the other side of this belt there will be another world. Let the Russians live there, as they are used to. We will take only the best of their lands. Let the Slavic aborigines tinker in the swamp... Limit everything as much as possible! No printed publications ... No compulsory schooling ... ".

On the territory of the USSR, it was planned to create four Reichskommissariats - German provinces. Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and a number of other cities were to be wiped off the face of the earth. In the "Military folder", which is one of the most detailed documents in which the program for the exploitation of the territory of the USSR was outlined, the goal of turning the Soviet Union into a kind of colony of Germany was formulated in a completely naked form. At the same time, the attitude towards starvation of the majority of the population was constantly emphasized.

The defeat of the Soviet Union was seen as a decisive prerequisite for establishing complete dominance over the European continent and at the same time as the starting point for gaining world domination. The German historian A. Hilgruber notes: “The Eastern campaign took decisive place in the general military concept of the Nazis", with "successful completion eastern war"they hoped to get a free hand" to implement their worldwide strategy ". The famous German historian G.A. Jacobsen described Hitler's goals as follows: “He (Hitler. – M.F.) firmly decided to dismember Russia, mercilessly exploit and despotically oppress the “Eastern subhumans”, and also use the country for the Great German population. After the invasion of the Soviet state and the occupation of a number of territories, the Nazis began to carry out a program of genocide against the “race of subhumans” - the Russian nation.

All of the above quite convincingly reveals the main goals of the military-political leadership of Germany in the war with the Soviet Union. They testify to the groundlessness of the allegations about the war between Hitler and Stalin, National Socialism and European Bolshevism, hammered into the heads of the Germans by Goebbels and his assistants and who today found like-minded people in Russia. A victory in the war by fascist Germany would not lead to the destruction of totalitarianism, as some neoliberal historians claim, but to the dismemberment of the country, the destruction of tens of millions of people and the transformation of the survivors into servants of German colonists.

Attempts to distort the nature of war today are becoming more and more cruel, evil, aggressive

An informed reader may ask whether it was worth it in such detail, in detail to disclose the goals of fascist Germany in the war against the USSR, documentary sources that are well known to the absolute majority of people who are not subject to a feeling of unkind attitude towards their people, towards their Fatherland. Apparently, it should have, since it is precisely this aspect of the war - the most important and determining its character - that in recent years has been increasingly disappearing from television screens, being hushed up on the radio; almost nothing is reported about the barbaric plans of fascism in books about the Great Patriotic War, in a number of textbooks for schools and universities. On the eve of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, attempts to distort the nature of the war, the desire to lay responsibility on the USSR for almost its start "become more and more cruel, evil, aggressive." What has become undesirable is removed from school textbooks, - as M.V. Demurin (Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Envoy of the II Class), is the most important position of the Great Patriotic War: "the most important thing is that the Russian people fought [the battle] not for the sake of glory, but for the sake of life." Unfortunately, the collapse of the USSR released and gave rise to forces that are interested in revising the origins and course of the Great Patriotic War. And today, 70 years after our victory over Germany, it is extremely important to comprehensively disclose the plans and goals of Nazi Germany in relation to the USSR and its people, as well as the far-reaching calculations of German fascism. They leave no room for any claims of "preventive" war on Hitler's part. The fate of not only the Soviet people, but also the peoples of the whole world depended on the outcome of the struggle of the Soviet state with fascist Germany.

The war on the part of the Soviet Union had a fundamentally different character. For the peoples of the USSR, the armed struggle against Germany and its allies became the Great Patriotic War for the national independence of their state, for the freedom and honor of their homeland. In this war, the Soviet people set themselves the goal of helping the peoples of other countries to free themselves from the Nazi yoke, to save a dead civilization from fascist barbarism.

All attempts, consciously or as a result of a one-sided view generated by the insufficient scientific qualifications of the authors, to rewrite and correct the past, to contribute to the distorted picture of the Great Patriotic War, are ultimately futile, no matter how they are in tune with one or another political situation.

Fiction about the war must be countered with the truth of history

Of course, essential condition This is the need to overcome the underestimation of the positions of the falsifiers, a resolute, offensive struggle against the distortion of the essence of the character of the Great Patriotic War. It is necessary to oppose the truth of history, based on documentary sources, to the widespread and continuing to increase fictions about the war, to deeply reveal the victories of the Soviet troops in the grandiose battles on the Soviet-German front.

An air defense fighter conducts surveillance from the roof of a house on Gorky Street. Photo: TASS/Naum Granovsky

75 years ago, on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the USSR. The Great Patriotic War began. In Russia and some countries of the former Soviet Union, June 22 is the Day of Memory and Sorrow.

June 22, 1941 for the USSR and its capital Moscow was determined in Berlin a week before this date - on Saturday, June 14, at a meeting of the Supreme High Command of the armed forces of Nazi Germany. On it, Adolf Hitler gave the last orders to attack the USSR from 04 am on June 22, 1941.

On the same day, a TASS report on Soviet-German relations was circulated, which stated:

"According to the USSR, Germany is just as steadfastly observing the terms of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact as the Soviet Union, which is why, in the opinion of Soviet circles, rumors about Germany's intention to break the pact and launch an attack on the USSR are devoid of any ground."

However, June 22, 1941 for the world's first state of workers and peasants could come a month or a week earlier. The leaders of the Third Reich originally planned to invade Russia at dawn on Thursday 15 May. But on April 6, together with the troops of the allies - Italy and Hungary - the Germans entered Yugoslavia. The Balkan campaign forced Hitler to postpone the time for the conquest of Moscow.

Until noon on June 22, 1941 (and there are hundreds of archival evidence for this), Moscow did not know about the German invasion.

04:30 . 48 watering machines rolled out onto the streets (according to documents).
05:30 . Nearly 900 janitors started work. The morning was serene, sunny, painting "the gentle light of the walls of the ancient Kremlin."
Approximately from 07:00. In parks, squares and other places where people usually gather, "exit" stall trade began to unfold, summer buffets, beer and billiard rooms opened - the coming Sunday promised to be very warm, if not hot. And in places of mass recreation, an influx of citizens was expected.
07:00 and 07:30 . (According to the Sunday schedule - on ordinary days, half an hour earlier). Dairy shops and bakeries have reopened.
08:30 and 09:00 . Grocery and gastronomes have begun work. Department stores, except for GUM and TSUM, did not work on Sundays. The assortment of goods, in essence, is usual for a peaceful capital. In "Dairy" on Rochdelskaya they offered cottage cheese, curd mass, sour cream, kefir, curdled milk, milk, cheese, feta cheese, butter and ice cream. All products - two or three varieties and names.

In Moscow it's a normal Sunday

Gorkogo Street. Photo: TASS / F. Kislov

Grocery store No. 1 "Eliseevsky", the main one in the country, put on the counters boiled, semi-smoked and raw smoked sausages, sausages, sausages from three to four names, ham, boiled pork of three names. The fish department offered fresh sterlet, light-salted Caspian herring (zal), hot-smoked sturgeon, pressed and red caviar. In excess there were Georgian wines, Crimean Madeira and sherry, ports, vodka and rum of one, cognac of four names. At that time, there were no time limits on the sale of alcohol.

GUM and TSUM exhibited the entire range of the domestic clothing and footwear industry, calicos, drapes, bostons and other fabrics, bijouterie, fiber suitcases of various sizes. And jewelry, the cost of individual samples of which exceeded 50 thousand rubles - a fifth of the price of the legendary T-34 tank, the victory IL-2 attack aircraft and three anti-tank guns - ZIS-3 guns of 76 mm caliber according to the "price list" of May 1941. No one could have imagined that day that the Moscow Central Department Store would turn into an army barracks in two weeks.

From 07:00 to the big "mass event" began to prepare the stadium "Dynamo". A parade and competitions of athletes were to take place on it at 12 o'clock.
Around 08:00, 20 thousand schoolchildren were brought to Moscow from cities and districts of the region - for children's holiday, which began at 11 o'clock in Sokolniki Park.

There were no "fermentations" of school graduates on Red Square and on the streets of Moscow on the morning of June 22, 1941. This is the "mythology" of Soviet cinema and literature. The last proms in the capital were held on Friday, June 20.

In a word, all 4 million 600 thousand "ordinary" residents and about one million guests of the capital of the USSR did not know until lunch on June 22, 1941 that the biggest and most bloody war in the history of the country against the invaders had begun that night.

01:21 . The border with Poland, absorbed by the Third Reich, was crossed by the last train loaded with wheat, which the USSR supplied under an agreement with Germany of September 28, 1939.
03:05 . 14 German bombers, having taken off from Koenigsberg at 01:10, dropped 28 magnetic bombs near the raid near Kronstadt, 20 km from Leningrad.
04:00 . Hitler's troops crossed the border near Brest. Half an hour later, a large-scale offensive began on all fronts - from the southern to the northern borders of the USSR.

And when at 11 o'clock in the Sokolniki park the pioneers of the capital greeted their guests with a solemn line - the pioneers of the Moscow region, the German advanced 15, and in some places even 20 km deep into the country.

Solutions at the highest level

Moscow. V.M. Molotov, I.V. Stalin, K.E. Voroshilov (left to right in the foreground), G.M. Malenkov, L.P. Beria, A.S. Shcherbakov (left to right in the second row) and other members of the government are sent to Red Square. Newsreel TASS

The fact that the war was going on, in the rear in the morning of June 22, 1941, was known only to the top leadership of the country, the command of the military districts, the first leaders of Moscow, Leningrad and some others. major cities- Kuibyshev (now Samara), Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Khabarovsk.

06:30 . Candidate member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Central Committee and First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Alexander Sergeevich Shcherbakov gathered an emergency meeting of the key leaders of the capital with the participation of senior officers of NGOs, the NKVD and directors of major enterprises. He and the chairman of the city executive committee Vasily Prokhorovich Pronin by that time had the rank of general. At the meeting, priority measures were developed to ensure the life of Moscow in wartime.

Directly from the city committee, by telephone, orders were given to strengthen the protection of water supply systems, thermal and electrical energy, transport and, above all, the subway, food warehouses, refrigerators, the Moscow Canal, railway stations, defense enterprises and other important facilities. At the same meeting, the concept of Moscow's camouflage was formulated "roughly", including the construction of mock-ups and dummies, the protection of government and historical buildings.

At the suggestion of Shcherbakov, from June 23, a ban on entry into the capital was introduced for everyone who did not have a Moscow residence permit. Residents of the Moscow region also fell under it, including those who worked in Moscow. Special passes were introduced. Even Muscovites had to straighten them out, going to the forest for mushrooms or to a suburban dacha - they were not allowed back into the capital without a pass.

15:00. At the afternoon meeting, which took place after the speech on the radio by People's Commissar Molotov and after Shcherbakov and Pronin visited the Kremlin, the authorities of the capital, in agreement with the generals of the Moscow Military District, decided to install anti-aircraft batteries at all high-altitude points in the capital. Later, in the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR, created the next day, June 23, such a decision was called "exemplary." And they sent a directive to the Military Districts to ensure anti-aircraft protection of cities, following the example of the capital.

photography ban

One of the notable decisions of the second meeting of the leadership of Moscow on June 22, 1941: an appeal was formulated with an appeal to the population within three days to hand over cameras, other photographic equipment, film and reagents available for personal use. From now on, only accredited journalists and employees of special services could use photographic equipment.

This is partly why there are few photographs of Moscow in the first days of the war. Some of them are completely staged, such as, for example, the famous photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei "Muscovites listen to Comrade Molotov's address on the radio about the beginning of the war on June 22, 1941." On the first war day in the capital of the Union at 12 noon (the time of the live broadcast of the speech of People's Commissar Molotov) it was +24 degrees C. And in the photo - people in coats, hats, in a word, dressed in autumn, as in the twentieth of September, when Presumably this picture was taken.

By the way, the attire of people in that staged photo is very different from the T-shirts, white canvas shoes and trousers, in which, in another photo on June 22, 1941, Muscovites buy soda on Gorky Street (now Tverskaya).

At the same morning meeting on June 22, 1941, which was held by Alexander Shcherbakov, a special resolution was adopted - "to warn and suppress panic moods" in connection with the invasion of Hitler's troops in the USSR. The party secretary and de facto owner of the capital advised all leaders, and especially artists, writers, and newspapermen, to "adhere" to the position that the war would end in a month, a maximum of a month and a half. And the enemy will be defeated on his territory. "And he paid special attention to the fact that Molotov's speech called the war "holy." Two days later, on 06/24/41, having overcome a protracted depression, Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin), at the suggestion of Lavrenty Beria, appointed Shcherbakov (in addition to the existing positions and regalia) the head of the Sovinformburo - the main and, in fact, the only source of information for the masses during the Great Patriotic War.

Cleanups

Muscovites join the ranks of the people's militia. Photo: TASS

One of the results of the last meeting of the Moscow leadership, which took place after 21:00, was the decision to create fighter battalions. They, apparently, were initiated in the Kremlin, because a day later the overall leadership of the units was entrusted to the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, the head of the NKVD, Lavrenty Beria. But the first fighter battalion in the country became under arms precisely in Moscow, on the third day of the war, on June 24, 1941. In the documents, the destruction battalions were designated as "volunteer formations of citizens capable of owning weapons." The prerogative of admission to them remained with party, Komsomol, trade union activists and other "verified" (so in the document) persons who were not subject to conscription for military service. The task of the extermination battalions was to fight saboteurs, spies, Hitler's accomplices, as well as bandits, deserters, looters and profiteers. In a word, all those who threatened order in the cities and other settlements in wartime conditions.

On the fourth day of the war, the Moscow fighter made the first raids, choosing to begin with the workers' closets and doorways of Zamoskvorechye, the barracks of Maryina Roshcha. The purge was quite effective. 25 bandits with weapons were taken. Five especially dangerous criminals were eliminated in a shootout. Food products (stew, condensed milk, smoked meats, flour, cereals) and industrial goods stolen even before the start of the war from one of the warehouses in the Filey region were confiscated.

Leader's reaction

General Secretary of the CPSU(b) Joseph Stalin. Photo: TASS

In Moscow - not only the city committee of the CPSU (b) and the city executive committee, but the entire supreme power of the USSR. According to the "reflected" documents, Stalin was informed about the invasion of the Nazi troops almost immediately - around 04:35-04:45. He, as usual, did not go to bed yet, and, according to one version, he was at the "near dacha".

The subsequent (second) report on the advance of the Germans along the entire front made a strong impression on the leader. He locked himself in one of the rooms and did not leave it for about two hours, after which he allegedly went to the Kremlin. The text of Vyacheslav Molotov's speech did not read. And he demanded to report to him about the situation on the fronts every half an hour.

According to the testimonies of a number of military leaders, it was just this that was the most difficult to do - communication with the active units, leading fierce battles with the German troops, was weak, if not completely absent. In addition, by 18-19 hours on June 22, 1941, according to various sources, a total of 500 thousand to 700 thousand soldiers and officers of the Red Army were surrounded by the Nazis, who, with incredible efforts, with a terrible shortage of ammunition, equipment and weapons, tried to break through the "rings" of the Nazis.

However, according to other, also "reflected" documents, on June 22, 1941, the leader was on the Black Sea, at a dacha in Gagra. And, according to the USSR ambassador to the United States Ivan Maisky, "after the first report on the German attack, he fell into prostration, completely cut himself off from Moscow, remained out of touch for four days, drinking himself into a stupor."

So is it? Or not? It's hard to believe. It is no longer possible to check - the documents of the Central Committee of the CPSU since then have been massively burned and destroyed at least 4 times. For the first time in October 1941, when panic began in Moscow after the Nazis entered the outskirts of Khimki and the passage of a column of Nazi motorcyclists along Leningradsky Prospekt in the Sokol area. Then at the end of February 1956 and the end of October 1961, after Stalin's personality cult was exposed at the 20th and 22nd Congresses of the CPSU. And, finally, in August 1991, after the defeat of the State Emergency Committee.

And do you need to check everything? It remains a fact that in the first 10 days of the war, the most difficult time for the country, Stalin was neither heard nor seen. And all orders, orders and directives of the first week of the war were signed by marshals and generals, people's commissars and deputies of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR: Lavrenty Beria, Georgy Zhukov, Semyon Timoshenko, Georgy Malenkov, Dmitry Pavlov, Vyacheslav Molotov and even the "party mayor" of the capital Alexander Shcherbakov.

Appeal of Nakrom Molotov

12:15. From the studio of the Central Telegraph, one of the leaders of the Soviet state, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, spoke on the radio with an appeal.

It began with the words: "Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union! The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, instructed me to make the following statement. Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country ... "The speech ended with famous words that turned into an idiom throughout the Great Patriotic War: "Our cause is just! The enemy will be defeated! Victory will be ours!".

12.25. Judging by the "log of visits", Molotov returned from the Central Telegraph Office to Stalin's office.

Muscovites listened to the speech of the People's Commissar, mainly through loudspeakers installed on all streets of the city, as well as in parks, stadiums and other crowded places. In the performance of the announcer Yuri Levitan, the text of Molotov's speech was repeated 4 times at different times.

Muscovites listen to a message about the attack of Nazi Germany on our Motherland. Photo: TASS / Evgeny Khaldei

At the same time from about 09:30. until 11:00 there was supposedly a serious discussion in the Kremlin about who should make such an appeal? According to one version, all, as one, members of the Politburo believed that Stalin himself should do this. But he actively denied it, repeating the same thing: the political situation and the situation on the fronts "are not yet clear," and therefore he will speak later.

As time went. And delaying information about the beginning of the war became dangerous. At the suggestion of the leader, Molotov became the one who would inform the people about the beginning of the holy war. According to another version, there was no discussion, because Stalin himself was not in the Kremlin. They wanted to instruct the “all-Union headman” Mikhail Kalinin to tell the people about the war, but he even read from a piece of paper, stumbling, syllable by syllable.

Life after the start of the war

The news of the invasion of Hitler's troops on June 22, 1941, judging by the documents of the archives (reports of employees and freelance agents of the NKVD, police reports), as well as the recollections of eyewitnesses, did not plunge the residents and guests of the capital into despondency and did not change their plans too much.

Already after the announcement of the beginning of the war, passenger trains Moscow-Adler departed exactly on schedule from the Kursk railway station. And on the night of June 23 - to Sevastopol, which the Nazi aircraft heavily bombed as early as 05:00 on June 22. True, passengers who had tickets exactly to the Crimea were dropped off in Tula. And the train itself was allowed only to Kharkov.

Brass bands played in the parks during the day, performances were staged in theaters to full houses. Barber shops were open until evening. Beer houses and billiard rooms were practically filled with visitors. In the evening, the dance floors were not empty either. The famous foxtrot melody "Rio Rita" was heard in many parts of the capital.

A distinctive feature of the first war day in Moscow: mass optimism. In conversations, in addition to strong words of hatred for Germany and Hitler, it sounded: "Nothing. A month. Well, one and a half. Let's break, crush the reptile!" Another metropolitan sign on June 22, 1941: after the news of the attack of the Nazis, people in military uniform everywhere, even in pubs, began to skip the line.

Anti-aircraft artillery on guard of the city. Photo: TASS/Naum Granovsky

An impressive example of the efficiency of the Moscow authorities. By their order, at screenings in cinemas after 2 p.m. on June 22, 1941, before feature films(and these were "Shchors", "If there is war tomorrow", "Professor Malok", "The Oppenheim Family", "Boxers") began to show educational short films like "Blackout of an apartment building", "Take care of a gas mask", "Simple shelters from air bombs" .

In the evening, Vadim Kozin sang in the Hermitage Garden. In the restaurants "Metropol" and "Aragvi", judging by the "expenditure sheets" of the kitchen and buffet, sandwiches with pressed (black) caviar, herring with onions, fried pork loin in wine sauce, kharcho soup, chanakhi (lamb stew ), lamb cutlet on the bone with a complex garnish, vodka, KV cognac and sherry wine.

Moscow has not yet fully realized: big war already going. And on the fields of its battles, thousands of soldiers of the Red Army have already fallen, hundreds of civilians from Soviet cities and villages have died. Within a day, the registry offices of the city will note the influx of fathers and mothers with a request to replace the name Adolf in the birth certificates of their sons with Anatoly, Alexander, Andrey. Being Adolfs (colloquially - Adiks), who were massively born in the second half of 1933 and at the end of 1939, in June 1941, became not only disgusting, but also not safe.

A week later . In the capital of the USSR, they will gradually begin to introduce cards for food, household essentials, shoes and fabrics.
In two weeks. Muscovites will see newsreel footage showing Soviet villages, villages and towns on fire and women and young children lying near their huts shot by the Nazis.
Exactly one month later. Moscow will survive the first raid of the Nazi aviation, and with its own eyes, not in the cinema, will see the mutilated bodies of fellow citizens who died under the rubble, destroyed and burning houses.

In the meantime, on the first day of the war, in Moscow, everything is approximately the same as in the textbook poem by Gennady Shpalikov "On the dance floor of the Forty-First Year": "It's nothing that there is no Poland. But the country is strong. In a month - and no more - the war will end ... "

Evgeny Kuznetsov