The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945: a brief summary. The feat of the Soviet people in the fight against fascism

With the beginning of September 1939, a short peace period ended between the two great wars of the twentieth century. Two years later, under the rule of fascist Germany, there was a large part of Europe with a huge production and raw material potential.

A powerful blow was brought down on the Soviet Union, for which the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) began. The brief content of this period in the history of the USSR can not express the scale of the sufferings and heroism suffered by the Soviet people.

On the eve of military trials

The resurgence of the power of Germany, dissatisfied with the results of the First World War (1914-1918), against the backdrop of the aggressiveness of the party that came to power there, led by the demoniac Adolf Hitler, with its ideology of racial superiority, made the threat of a new war for the USSR ever more real. By the end of the 1930s, these sentiments increasingly penetrated the people, and the all-powerful leader of the vast country, Stalin, was also becoming more and more clear.

The country was preparing. People went to construction sites in the eastern part of the country, in Siberia and in the Urals, military factories were built-up substitutes of production located at the western borders. The defense industry invested significantly more financial, human and scientific resources than in the civilian. To increase the results of labor in cities and in agriculture, the ideological (Stakhanovite movement) and strict administrative means (repressive laws on discipline in factories and collective farms) were used.

Reform in the army was the adoption of the law on universal military duty (1939), universal military training was introduced. It was in the rifle, parachute clubs, in aeroclubs at OSOAVIAHIMe, the future soldiers-heroes of the Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began to study military affairs. New military schools were opened, new types of weapons were developed, and combat formations of a progressive type were formed: armored and airborne. But time was not enough, the combat readiness of Soviet troops was in many respects lower than that of the Wehrmacht, the army of fascist Germany.

Great harm brought suspicion of Stalin in relation to the power ambitions of the senior command staff. It resulted in monstrous repressions, cutting up to two-thirds of the officer corps. There is a version of the planned provocation of German military intelligence, which brought to blow many civil war heroes who were victims of purges.

Foreign policy factors

Stalin and the leaders of countries that wanted to limit the European hegemony of Hitler (Britain, France, the United States) could not create a single anti-fascist front before the war. The Soviet leader tried to contact Hitler in an effort to postpone the war. This led to the signing in 1939 of the Soviet-German pact (agreement) of non-aggression, which also did not contribute to the rapprochement of anti-Hitler forces.

As it turned out, the country's leadership was mistaken about the value of the peace agreement with Hitler. On June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe attacked the western borders of the USSR without declaration of war. This was a complete surprise for the Soviet troops and a great shock for Stalin.

The tragic experience

In 1940, Hitler approved the "Barbarossa" plan. According to this plan, the defeat of the USSR, the seizure of its capital, was given three summer months. And at first the plan was carried out with precision. All participants in the war remember the almost hopeless mood of mid-summer 1941. 5.5 million German soldiers against 2.9 million Russians, total superiority in armaments - and for a month captured Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, almost the whole of Ukraine. Losses of the Soviet troops - 1 million killed, 700 thousand prisoners.

Notable was the superiority of the Germans in the mastery of command and control - the combat experience of the army, which had already passed half of Europe, affected. Clever maneuvers surround and destroy entire groups from Smolensk, Kiev, in the Moscow direction, the blockade of Leningrad begins. Stalin is dissatisfied with the actions of his commanders and resorts to the usual repression - shot for treason, General Pavlov, commander of the Western Front.

War of the people

And yet Hitler's plans collapsed. The Soviet Union quickly rose to military rails. The Supreme Headquarters of the Supreme Command for the management of armies and the single governing body of the whole country-the State Defense Committee, headed by the all-powerful leader Stalin, are created.

Hitler believed that the Stalinist methods of governing the country, illegal repression of the intelligentsia, the military, wealthy peasants and entire nationalities would cause the collapse of the state, the appearance of the "fifth column" - as he was accustomed to in Europe. But he miscalculated.

Hated the invaders men in the trenches, women at the machine tools, old men and young children. Wars of this magnitude affect the destiny of every person, and for victory a general tension of forces is required. Victims for the sake of common victory were brought not only because of ideological motives, but also because of innate patriotism, which had its roots in pre-revolutionary history.

The Battle of Moscow

The first serious rebuff was the invasion of Smolensk. Heroic efforts to attack the capital was delayed there until early September.

By October, tanks with crosses on armor go to Moscow, aiming to capture the Soviet capital before the onset of cold weather. It was the most difficult time during the Great Patriotic War. In Moscow, a state of siege is declared (19.10.1941).

In history, there will always be a military parade on the anniversary of the October Revolution (07.11.1941) as a symbol of confidence that Moscow will be able to defend. Troops and people's militia left the Red Square directly to the front, which was 20 kilometers west.

An example of the resilience of Soviet soldiers was the feat of 28 Red Army men from the division of General Panfilov. They 4 hours delayed a breakthrough group of 50 tanks at the Dubosekovo crossing and died, destroying 18 combat vehicles. These heroes of the Patriotic War (1941-1945) are only a small part of the Immortal Regiment of the Russian Army. Such self-sacrifice gave the enemy doubts of victory, strengthening the courage of the defenders.

Recalling the events of the war, Marshal Zhukov, commander of the Western Front under Moscow, whom Stalin began to put forward for the first roles, always noted the decisive importance of the defense of the capital for achieving victory in May 1945. Any delay of the enemy army made it possible to accumulate forces for a counterattack: fresh parts of the Siberian garrisons were transferred to Moscow. Hitler did not plan to wage war in the winter, the Germans began to have problems with the supply of troops. By early December, there was a turning point in the battle for the Russian capital.

Root Twist

Unexpected for Hitler the offensive of the Red Army (5.12.1941) threw the Germans a hundred and fifty versts to the west. The army of the fascists suffered the first defeat in its history, the plan for a victorious war failed.

The offensive lasted until April 1942, but before the irreversible changes in the course of the war it was far away: large defeats followed Leningrad, Kharkov, and Crimea, the fascists came to the Volga near Stalingrad.

When historians of any country mention the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the summary of its events can not do without the Battle of Stalingrad. It was at the walls of the city, which bore the name of Hitler's sworn enemy, he received a blow, which eventually led him to collapse.

The city's defense was often hand-to-hand, for every patch of territory. Participants in the war celebrate an unprecedented number of human and technical means, attracted from both sides and burnt in the fire of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Germans lost a quarter of the troops - one and a half million bayonets, 2 million - our losses.

The unseen steadfastness of Soviet soldiers on the defensive and the irresistible rage in the offensive, together with the increased tactical skill of the command, ensured the encirclement and capture of 22 divisions of the 6th Army of Field Marshal Paulus. The results of the second military winter shocked Germany and the whole world. The history of the war of 1941-1945 changed the course, it became clear that the USSR had not only withstood the first blow, but would inevitably inflict a powerful retaliatory strike on the enemy.

The final stage of the turning point in the war

Several examples of the commander talent of the Soviet command include the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). The summary of the events of 1943 is a series of impressive victories of the Russians.

The spring of 1943 began with the Soviet offensive in all directions. The configuration of the front line jeopardized the encirclement of the Soviet Army in the Kursk region. The offensive operation of the Germans under the name "Citadel" had just this strategic goal, but the Red Army command envisaged enhanced defense in the places of the alleged breakthrough while simultaneously preparing reserves for the counteroffensive.

The German offensive in the beginning of July managed to break through the Soviet defenses only by sections to a depth of 35 km. The history of the war (1941-1945) knows the date of the start of the biggest counter battle of self-propelled combat vehicles. On a hot July day, on the 12th, in the steppe under the village of Prokhorovka, the crews of 1200 tanks began to battle. The Germans - the newest "Tiger" and "Panther", the Russians - T-34 with a new, more powerful gun. The defeat inflicted on the Germans threw off the offensive weapons of Hitler's motorized corps from the hands of Hitler, and the fascist army passed into strategic defense.

By the end of August 1943, Belgorod and Orel were repulsed, and Kharkov was also liberated. For the first time during the Great Patriotic War, the initiative was intercepted by the Red Army. Now the German generals had to guess where it would start the fighting.

In the penultimate military year, historians singled out 10 decisive operations, which led to the liberation of the territory seized by the enemy. Until 1953, they were called "10 Stalinist strikes."

The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945): a brief summary of the military operations of 1944

1. The removal of the Leningrad blockade (January 1944).
2. January-April 1944: Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya operation, successful battles in the Right-bank Ukraine, March 26 - exit to the border with Romania.
3. Liberation of the Crimea (May 1944).
4. The defeat of Finland in Karelia, its withdrawal from the war (June-August 1944).
5. The offensive of four fronts in Byelorussia (operation "Bagration").
6. July-August - fighting in Western Ukraine, the Lvov-Sandomierz operation.
7. Iasi-Kishinev operation, the defeat of 22 divisions, the withdrawal from the war of Romania and Bulgaria (August 1944).
8. Assistance to the Yugoslav guerrillas Tito (September 1944).
9. Liberation of the Baltic (July-October of the same year).
10. October - liberation of the Soviet Circumpolar and northeast of Norway.

End of enemy occupation

By early November, the territory of the USSR in the pre-war borders was liberated. The period of occupation for the peoples of Belarus and Ukraine is over. Today's political conjuncture makes some "figures" present the German occupation almost as a blessing. It is worth asking about this from the Belarusians, who lost every fourth from the actions of "civilized Europeans".

Not for nothing since the first days of foreign invasion in the occupied territories, partisans began to act. The war of 1941-1945 in this sense became the echo of the Patriotic War of 1812 , when other European invaders did not know rest on our territory.

The liberation of Europe

The European liberation campaign demanded from the USSR the unbelievable costs of human and military resources. Hitler, who did not admit the thought that the Soviet soldier would enter German soil, threw all possible forces into battle, put the old men and children under arms.

The course of the final stage of the war can be traced to the name of awards established by the Soviet government. Soviet soldiers-liberators received such medals of the war of 1941-1945: for the liberation of Belgrade (20.10.1944), Warsaw (7.01.1945), Prague (May 9), for the capture of Budapest (February 13), Koenigsberg (April 10), Vienna (April 13). And finally, the servicemen were rewarded for storming Berlin (May 2).

... And May came. The victory was marked by the signing on May 8 of the Act on the unconditional surrender of German troops, and on June 24 a parade was held with the participation of representatives of all fronts, types and branches of troops.

a great victory

Hitler's adventure cost the mankind very dearly. The exact number of human losses is still debated. The restoration of destroyed cities, the establishment of the economy required many years of hard work, hunger and deprivation.

The outcome of the war is now estimated in different ways. The geopolitical changes that occurred after 1945 had different consequences. The territorial acquisitions of the Soviet Union, the emergence of a socialist camp, the strengthening of the political weight of the USSR to the status of a superpower soon led to confrontation and increased tensions between the Allies in the Second World War.

But the main results are not subject to any revision, do not depend on the opinion of politicians seeking immediate benefits. In the Great Patriotic War, our country defended freedom and independence, a terrible enemy was defeated - a bearer of monstrous ideology, threatening the destruction of entire nations, the peoples of Europe were spared from it.

The participants in the fighting go down in history, the children of war are already elderly people, but the memory of that war will live as long as people are able to value freedom, honesty and courage.