The Great Patriotic War

1. The Great Patriotic War

2.

The signing of a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany only delayed the start of the war for a short
time. On June 22, 1941, having gathered a colossal invading army - 190 divisions, Germany and its
allies fell upon the Soviet Union without declaring war. The USSR was not ready for war. The
miscalculations of the war with Finland were slowly eliminated. Serious damage to the army and the
country was caused by the Stalinist repressions of the 30s. The situation was no better with technical
support. Despite the fact that Soviet engineering thought created many samples of perfect military
equipment, little was sent to the active army, and its mass production was just getting better.
The summer and autumn of 1941 were the most critical for the Soviet Union. Fascist troops invaded a
depth of 800 to 1200 kilometers, blockaded Leningrad, came dangerously close to Moscow,
occupied most of the Donbass and Crimea, the Baltic States, Belarus, Moldova, almost all of Ukraine
and a number of regions of the RSFSR. Many people died, the infrastructure of many cities and towns
was completely destroyed. However, the enemy was opposed by the courage and strength of the
spirit of the people and the material capabilities of the country that were set in motion. A massive
resistance movement was developing everywhere: partisan detachments were created in the rear of
the enemy, and later even whole formations.
Having bled the German troops in heavy defensive battles, the Soviet troops in the battle near
Moscow launched an offensive in early December 1941, which continued in some directions until April
1942. This dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the enemy. The international prestige of the USSR
increased sharply.
On October 1, 1941, a conference of representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain ended in
Moscow, at which the foundations for the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition were laid. Agreements
were signed on the supply of military aid. On January 1, 1942, 26 states signed the United Nations
Declaration.

3.

An anti-Hitler coalition was created, and its leaders decided the issues of waging war and the
democratic structure of the post-war order at joint conferences in Tehran in 1943, as well as in Yalta and
Potsdam in 1945.
At the beginning and in the middle of 1942, a very difficult situation again developed for the Red Army.
Taking advantage of the absence of a second front in Western Europe, the German command
concentrated maximum forces against the USSR. The successes of the German troops at the beginning
of the offensive were the result of an underestimation of their forces and capabilities, the result of an
unsuccessful attempt by the Soviet troops near Kharkov and gross miscalculations of the command. The
fascists were eager for the Caucasus and the Volga. On November 19, 1942, the Soviet troops, which
had stopped them in Stalingrad at the cost of colossal enemy losses, launched a counteroffensive,
which ended in the encirclement and complete elimination of more than 330,000 enemy forces.
However, a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War came only in 1943. One of the
main events of this year was the victory of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk. This was one of the
largest battles of the war. In only one tank battle in the Prokhorovka area, the enemy lost 400 tanks and
more than 10 thousand people were killed. Germany and its allies were forced from active operations to
go on the defensive.

4.

In 1944, an offensive Belorussian operation was carried out on the Soviet-German front, codenamed
"Bagration". As a result of its implementation, Soviet troops reached their former state border. The
enemy was not only expelled from the country, but the liberation of the countries of Eastern and
Central Europe from Nazi captivity began. And on June 6, 1944, the Allies who landed in Normandy
opened a second front. In Europe in the winter of 1944-1945. during the Ardennes operation, Hitler's
troops inflicted a serious defeat on the allies. The situation took on a catastrophic nature, and the Soviet
army helped them out of the difficult situation, which launched a large-scale Berlin operation. In AprilMay, this operation was completed, and our troops stormed the capital of Nazi Germany. A historic
meeting of the Allies took place on the Elbe River. The German command was forced to surrender. In
the course of its offensive operations, the Soviet army made a decisive contribution to the liberation of
the occupied countries from the fascist regime. And on May 8 and 9, most European countries and the
Soviet Union began to be celebrated as Victory Day.

5.

However, the war was not over yet. On the night of August 9, 1945, the USSR, faithful to its allied
obligations, entered the war with Japan. The offensive in Manchuria against the Japanese Kwantung
Army and its defeat forced the Japanese government to admit final defeat. On September 2, Japan's
surrender was signed. So after six long years, the Second World War was over. On October 20, 1945, a
trial began in the German city of Nuremberg against the main war criminals.
Soviet rear during the war
At the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis managed to occupy the industrially and
agriculturally developed regions of the country, which were its main military-industrial and food base.
However, the Soviet economy was able not only to withstand the extreme stress, but also to triumph
over the economy of the enemy. In an unprecedentedly short time, the economy of the Soviet Union
was rebuilt on a war footing and turned into a well-oiled war economy.
Already in the first days of the war, a significant number of industrial enterprises from the front-line
territories were prepared for evacuation to the eastern regions of the country in order to create the
main arsenal for the needs of the front. The evacuation was carried out in an extremely short time,
often under fire from the enemy and under the blows of his aircraft. The most important force that
made it possible to quickly restore evacuated enterprises in new places, build new industrial
capacities and start producing products intended for the front is the selfless labor of the Soviet
people, which gave unprecedented examples of labor heroism.
In mid-1942, the USSR had a rapidly growing military economy capable of meeting all the needs of the
front.

6.

During the war years in the USSR, the production of iron ore increased by 130%, the production of cast
iron - by almost 160%, steel - by 145%. In connection with the loss of Donbass and the enemy's access
to the oil-bearing sources of the Caucasus, vigorous measures were taken to increase the production
of coal, oil and other types of fuel in the eastern regions of the country. Light industry worked with
great stress, which, after 1942, which was difficult for the entire national economy, in the next year,
1943, managed to fulfill the plan to supply the warring army with everything necessary. The transport
also worked at full load. From 1942 to 1945 the freight turnover of railway transport alone increased by
almost one and a half times. The military industry of the USSR with each war year provided more and
more small arms, artillery weapons, tanks, aircraft, ammunition. Thanks to the selfless work of the home
front workers, by the end of 1943, the Red Army was already superior to the fascist in all military means.
All this was the result of stubborn single combat between two different economic systems and the
efforts of the entire Soviet people.

7.

The meaning and cost of the victory of the Soviet people over fascism
It was the Soviet Union, its fighting army and people that became the main force that blocked the path
of German fascism to world domination. More than 600 fascist divisions were destroyed on the SovietGerman front, the enemy army lost here three-quarters of its aviation, a significant part of tanks and
artillery.
The Soviet Union rendered decisive assistance to the peoples of Europe in their struggle for national
independence. As a result of the victory over fascism, the balance of forces in the world has drastically
changed. The authority of the Soviet Union in the international arena has grown significantly. In the
countries of Eastern Europe, power passed to the governments of people's democracy, the socialist
system went beyond the framework of one country. The economic and political isolation of the USSR
was eliminated. The Soviet Union has become a great world power. This became the main reason for
the formation of a new geopolitical situation in the world, characterized in the future by the
confrontation between two different systems - socialist and capitalist.
The war against fascism brought innumerable losses and destruction to our country. Almost 27 million
Soviet people died, of which more than 10 million were killed on the battlefields. About 6 million of our
compatriots were in fascist captivity, 4 million of them died. Almost 4 million partisans and underground
fighters perished behind enemy lines. The grief of irrecoverable losses came to almost every Soviet
family.
During the war years, more than 1700 cities and about 70 thousand villages and villages were
completely destroyed. Almost 25 million people have lost their roof over their heads. Such large cities as
Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov and others were subjected to significant destruction, and some of them, for
example Minsk, Stalingrad, Rostov-on-Don, were completely in ruins. A truly tragic situation has
developed in the village.

8.

About 100 thousand collective and state farms were destroyed by the invaders. The sown area has
decreased significantly. Livestock has suffered. In terms of its technical equipment, the country's
agriculture was thrown back to the level of the first half of the 30s. The country has lost about a third
of its national wealth. The damage caused by the war to the Soviet Union exceeded the losses
during the Second World War of all other European countries combined.