WWII - the Great Patriotic War. World War II. War of liberation from fascism and Nazism. The bloodiest war in the history of civilization. It took millions of lives on almost all continents of the Earth. And it began meanly, in silence: without announcement, without warning.
The outbreak of World War II
World War II began on September 1, 1939. It's official. Not officially, it began a little earlier - from the time of the Anschluss of Germany and Austria, the annexation of the Czech Republic, Moravia and the Sudetenland by Germany. It began when Adolf Hitler came up with the idea of restoring the Great Reich - the Reich within the borders to the shameful Versailles peace for the Germans. But, since then few of the living could believe that war would come to their homes, no one even thought of calling the war a world war. It looked only like small territorial claims and "restoration of historical justice." Indeed, in the annexed regions and countries that were previously part of the Great German Empire, many citizens of German nationality lived.
Six months later, in June 1940, the authorities of the USSR, quite perfidiously staging coups d'état in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, forced the governments of the Baltic countries to resign, and uncontested elections were held at gunpoint, in which the communists were expected to win, since other parties were ready to vote were not allowed. Then, the "elected" parliaments declared these countries socialist and sent a petition to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for accession.
And then - in June 1940, Hitler ordered to begin preparations for an attack on the USSR. The formation of the "Operation Barbarossa" blitz-krieg plan has begun.
This redistribution of the world and spheres of influence was only a partial implementation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, concluded between Germany and its allies and the USSR on August 23, 1939.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War
For the citizens of the Soviet Union, the war began treacherously - at dawn on June 22, when the small border river Bug and other border territories were crossed by the fascist armada.
It would seem that nothing foreshadowed the war. Yes, Soviet intelligence officers who worked in Germany, Japan and other countries sent messages that war with Germany was inevitable. They, often at the cost of their own lives, managed to find out the date and time. Yes, six months before the designated date, and especially closer to it, the penetration of saboteurs and sabotage groups into Soviet territories intensified. But … Comrade Stalin, whose faith in himself as the Supreme and unsurpassed ruler on one-sixth of the land was so huge and unshakable that at best these scouts simply remained alive and worked on, and at worst they were declared enemies of the people and eliminated.
Stalin's faith was based both on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and on Hitler's personal promise. He could not imagine that someone could deceive and outplay him.
Therefore, despite the fact that from the side of the Soviet Union on the western borders, regular units were pulled together, ostensibly to increase combat readiness and planned military exercises, and in the newly annexed western territories of the USSR from June 13 to June 14, an operation was carried out to evict and clean up "socially "alien element" inland, the Red Army was not prepared at the beginning of the aggression. The military units received an order not to succumb to provocations. The commanding staff in large numbers, from senior to junior commanders of the Red Army, were sent on leave. Perhaps because Stalin himself hoped to unleash a war, but later: in late July - early August 1941.
History knows no subjunctive mood. Therefore, what happened happened: in the early evening of June 21, German forces received the signal "Dortmund", which meant the planned offensive the next day. And on a fine summer morning, Germany, without declaring war, with the support of the allies, invaded the Soviet Union and struck a powerful blow along the entire length of its western borders, from three sides - with units of three armies: "North", "Center" and "South". In the very first days, most of the ammunition, ground military equipment and aircraft were destroyed at the Red Army. Peaceful cities, guilty only of the fact that strategically important ports and airfields were located on their territories - Odessa, Sevastopol, Kiev, Minsk, Riga, Smolensk and other settlements were subjected to massive bombing.
By mid-July, German troops captured Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine, Moldova and Estonia. They destroyed most of the troops of the Red Army of the Western Front.
But then "something went wrong …" - the activation of the aviation of the Soviet troops on the Finnish border and in the Arctic, a counterattack of mechanized corps on the South-Western Front, halted the offensive of the Nazis. By the end of July - beginning of August, the Soviet troops learned not only to retreat, but also to defend themselves and resist the aggressor. And, although this was only the very beginning and until the end of the Second World War, four more terrible years will pass, but even then, defending and holding Kiev and Minsk, Sevastopol and Smolensk from their last forces, the Red Army troops felt that they could win, destroying Hitler's plans for a lightning-fast seizure of Soviet territories.
