The liberation by the Soviet forces and its employees of the countries of Europe. The final period of the Great Patriotic War

After the defeat of the main part of the German army in the Battle of Kursk, the expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of the USSR began.

Practically deprived of an army, Germany could no longer attack and went on the defensive.
By order of Hitler, in the fall of 1943, the construction of the "Eastern Wall" began - a system of powerful echeloned defensive fortifications along the line of the Baltic Sea - Belarus - the Dnieper. According to Hitler's plan, the "Eastern Wall" was supposed to fence off Germany from the advancing Soviet troops, to give time to gather forces.
The most powerful defensive structures were erected in Ukraine along the Kyiv-Dnepropetrovsk-Melitopol line. On the one hand, it was a system of pillboxes, other powerful reinforced concrete structures, minefields, artillery along the entire right bank of the Dnieper, on the other hand, there was also a powerful natural barrier - the Dnieper. Due to these circumstances, the German command considered the Dnieper line of the "Eastern Wall" impassable. Hitler gave the order to hold the East Wall at all costs and endure the winter. During this time, by the summer of 1944, it was planned to restore the German army and launch a new offensive to the east.
In order to prevent Germany from recovering from defeat, the Soviet command decides to storm the East Wall.

In August 1943, the battle for the Dnieper began, which:

lasted 4 months - from August to December 1943;
it was carried out in very difficult conditions for the Soviet army - from the "low" (flat) left bank, it was necessary to cross the Dnieper on rafts and storm the "high" (mountainous) right bank, stuffed with German defensive structures;
The Soviet army suffered colossal casualties, since the German troops, having fortified on the heights of the right bank of the Dnieper, intensively fired at the Soviet army on the low left bank, drowned rafts with soldiers and equipment crossing the Dnieper, destroyed pontoon bridges;
the crossing of the Dnieper took place in conditions of very bad weather in October - November, ice water, rain and snow;
each bridgehead on the western bank of the Dnieper, each kilometer recaptured, was paid for by hundreds and thousands of dead. Despite this, the Soviet army crossed the Dnieper in stubborn battles. In October 1943, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Melitopol were liberated, and on November 6, 1943 - Kyiv.

By December 1943, the Eastern Wall was broken through - the way to the Right-Bank Ukraine, Moldova and further to Europe was opened.

November 28 - December 1, 1943 in Tehran, the capital of Iran, the first meeting of the "big three" - I. Stalin, W. Churchill, F. Roosevelt - the leaders of the main allied states (USSR, Great Britain and the USA) took place during the war. During this meeting:

the basic principles of a post-war settlement were worked out;
a decision was made in principle to open a second front in May - June 1944 - the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy (France) and their attack on Germany from the west.

In the spring - summer of 1944, the final stage of the liberation of the USSR took place - the Soviet army launched three powerful offensives:

in the north, during which the remnants of Army Group North were defeated, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted and most of the Baltic was liberated;
in Belarus (Operation Bagration), during which the backbone of Army Group Center was destroyed and Belarus was liberated;
in the south (Iasi-Chisinau operation), during which the Army Group "South" was surrounded and defeated, Moldova, most of the Right-Bank Ukraine, Northern Romania were liberated.

As a result of these operations, by the autumn of 1944, the remnants of the three main German armies that invaded the USSR in 1941 were defeated; most of the territory of the USSR was liberated. The final stage of the war began - the liberation of Europe.

More on the topic Question 73. The liberation of the territory of the USSR in 1943 - 1944:

Question 72. A radical change in the course of the war. Battle of Kursk 1943
Chapter 7 ISSUES OF CONCERNED REGULATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE ANTI-FASCIST COALITION (1943-1945)
Question 61
No. 179 OPERATIONAL REPORT BY THE CHIEF OF THE FIELD DEPARTMENT OF THE 5TH ARMY ON THE BATTLE OPERATIONS FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE KUSTANAY DISTRICT Chelyabinsk # October 18, 1919
Landscape-geochemical zoning of the territory of the USSR for the purposes of predicting the impact of technogenesis
No. 183 NOTE BY THE CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE 5TH ARMY TO CHIEFS 35 AND 54, NACHARM V ON THE ORGANIZATION OF FORTIFIED AREAS IN THE LIBERATED TERRITORY OF NORTH-EAST KAZAKHSTAN Chelyabinsk October 24, 1919

In 1944, the Soviet Army launched an offensive in all sectors of the front - from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea. In January, the offensive of parts of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts began, supported by the Baltic Fleet, which resulted in a complete liberation of Leningrad from enemy blockade, which lasted 900 days, and the expulsion of the Nazis from Novgorod. By the end of February, in cooperation with the troops of the Baltic Front, Leningrad, Novgorod and part of the Kalinin region were completely liberated.

At the end of January, the offensive of the troops of the Ukrainian fronts in the Right-Bank Ukraine began. Fierce battles flared up in February in the area of the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky grouping, in March - near Chernivtsi. At the same time, enemy groups were defeated in the Nikolaev-Odessa region. Since April, offensive operations have been launched in the Crimea. On April 9, Simferopol was taken, and on May 9, Sevastopol.

In April, having crossed the river. Prut, our armies have transferred military operations to the territory of Romania. The state border of the USSR was restored for several hundred kilometers.

The successful offensive of the Soviet troops in the winter - spring of 1944 accelerated opening a second front in Europe. On June 6, 1944, Anglo-American troops landed in Normandy (France). However, the main front of the Second World War continued to be the Soviet-German, where the main forces of Nazi Germany were concentrated.

In June - August 1944, the troops of the Leningrad, Karelian fronts and the Baltic Fleet, having defeated the Finnish units on the Karelian Isthmus, liberated Vyborg, Petrozavodsk and on August 9 reached the state border with Finland, whose government on September 4 ceased hostilities against the USSR, and after the defeat of the Nazis in the Baltic States (mainly in Estonia) on October 1 declared war on Germany. At the same time, the armies of the Belorussian and Baltic fronts, having defeated the enemy troops in Belarus and Lithuania, liberated Minsk, Vilnius and reached the border of Poland and Germany.

In July - September, parts of the Ukrainian fronts liberated all of Western Ukraine. On August 31, the Germans were driven out of Bucharest (Romania). In early September, Soviet troops entered the territory of Bulgaria.

In the fall of 1944, fierce battles began for liberation of the Baltics- On September 22, Tallinn was liberated, on October 13 - Riga. At the end of October, the Soviet Army entered Norway. In parallel with the offensive in the Baltic states and in the North, in September-October, our armies liberated part of the territory of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. The Czechoslovak Corps, formed on the territory of the USSR, took part in the battles for the liberation of Czechoslovakia. The troops of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, together with the armies of Marshal F. I. Tolbukhin, liberated Belgrade on October 20.

The result of the offensive of the Soviet Army in 1944 was complete liberation of the territory of the USSR from fascist invaders and bringing the war into enemy territory.

The victory in the fight against Nazi Germany was obvious. It was achieved not only in battles, but as a result of the heroic labor of the Soviet people in the rear. Despite the enormous destruction caused to the national economy of the country, its industrial potential was constantly growing. In 1944, Soviet industry surpassed military production not only in Germany, but in England and the USA, producing about 30,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 40,000 aircraft, and over 120,000 guns. The Soviet Army was provided with an abundance of light and heavy machine guns, machine guns and rifles. The Soviet economy, thanks to the selfless labor of the workers and peasants, defeated the entire European industry taken together, which was almost completely placed at the service of Nazi Germany. On the liberated lands, the restoration of the national economy immediately began.

It should be noted the work of Soviet scientists, engineers and technicians, who created first-class models of weapons and provided the front with them, which to a large extent determined the victory over the enemy.
Their names are well known - V. G. Grabin, P. M. Goryunov, V. A. Degtyarev, S. V. Ilyushin, S. A. Lavochkin, V. F. Tokarev, G. S. Shpagin, A. S. Yakovlev and others.

The works of remarkable Soviet writers, poets, composers (A. Korneichuk, L. Leonov, K. Simonov, A. Tvardovsky, M. Sholokhov, D. Shostakovich, etc.) ). The unity of the rear and the front was the key to victory.

In 1945, the Soviet Army had an absolute numerical superiority in manpower and equipment. The military potential of Germany was significantly weakened, since it actually found itself without allies and raw material bases. Considering that the Anglo-American troops did not show much activity with the development of offensive operations, the Germans still kept the main forces - 204 divisions - on the Soviet-German front. Moreover, at the end of December 1944, in the Ardennes region, the Germans, with less than 70 divisions, broke through the Anglo-American front and began to push the allied forces, over which there was a threat of encirclement and destruction. On January 6, 1945, British Prime Minister W. Churchill turned to Supreme Commander-in-Chief JV Stalin with a request to expedite offensive operations. Faithful to their allied duty, on January 12, 1945, the Soviet troops (instead of 20) launched an offensive, the front of which stretched from the shores of the Baltic to the Carpathian Mountains and was equal to 1200 km. A powerful offensive was carried out between the Vistula and the Oder - against Warsaw and Vienna. By the end of January was crossed the Oder, released Breslau. January 17 released Warsaw, then Poznan, April 9 - Koenigsberg(now Kaliningrad), April 4 - Bratislava, 13 - Vein. The result of the winter offensive of 1915 was the liberation of Poland, Hungary, East Prussia, Pomerania, Danni, parts of Austria and Silesia. Brandenburg was taken. Soviet troops reached the line Oder - Neisse - Spree. Preparations began for the storming of Berlin.

As early as the beginning of 1945 (February 4-13), a conference of leaders of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain met in Yalta ( Yalta conference), which addressed the issue of post-war order of the world. An agreement was reached on the cessation of hostilities only after the unconditional surrender of the fascist command. The heads of government came to an agreement on the need to eliminate the military potential of Germany, the complete destruction of Nazism, military contingents and the center of militarism - the German General Staff. At the same time, it was decided to convict the war criminals and oblige Germany to pay reparations in the amount of 20 billion dollars for the damage caused during the war to the countries with which she fought. The earlier decision to establish an international body for the maintenance of peace and security was confirmed - United Nations. The government of the USSR gave a promise to the allies to enter the war against Japanese imperialism three months after the surrender of Germany.

In the second half of April - early May, the Soviet Army delivered the last blows to Germany. On April 16, the operation to encircle Berlin began, ending by April 25. After a powerful bombardment and artillery shelling, stubborn street battles began. On April 30, between 2 and 3 pm, a red flag was hoisted over the Reichstag.

On May 9, the last enemy grouping was liquidated and Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, was liberated. Hitler's army ceased to exist. May 8 in the Berlin suburb of Karlhorst was signed act of unconditional surrender of Germany.

The Great Patriotic War ended with the final defeat of Nazi Germany and its allies. The Soviet Army not only bore the brunt of the war on its shoulders, liberated Europe from fascism, but also saved the Anglo-American troops from defeat, giving them the opportunity to fight against the small German garrisons.

Victory Parade on Red Square - June 24, 1945

On July 17, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain met in Potsdam ( Potsdam conference), discussing the outcome of the war. The leaders of the three powers agreed to permanently eliminate German militarism, the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and prevent its revival. Issues related to the payment of reparations by Germany were resolved.

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Japan continued to conduct military operations against the United States, Britain and other countries. The military actions of Japan also threatened the security of the USSR. The Soviet Union, fulfilling its allied obligations, on August 8, 1945, after rejecting the offer of surrender, declared war on Japan. Japan occupied a significant territory of China, Korea, Manchuria, Indochina. On the border with the USSR, the Japanese government kept a million-strong Kwantung Army, threatening a constant attack, which diverted significant forces of the Soviet Army. Thus, Japan objectively helped the Nazis in an aggressive war. On August 9, our units went on the offensive on three fronts, began Soviet-Japanese War. The entry of the USSR into the war, which had been unsuccessfully waged for several years by the Anglo-American troops, dramatically changed the situation.

Within two weeks, the main force of Japan, the Kwantung Army and its supporting units, was completely defeated. In an effort to raise their "prestige", the United States, without any military necessity, dropped two atomic bombs on peaceful Japanese cities - Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Continuing the offensive, the Soviet Army liberated South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria, and a number of cities and ports in North Korea. Seeing that the continuation of the war is meaningless, September 2, 1945 Japan surrendered. Japan's defeat World War II ended. The long-awaited peace has come.

The main stages of the Great Patriotic War..

First stage of the war. Strategic defense stage (June 22, 1941 – November 18, 1942).

Third stage of the war. Liberation of the territory of the USSR and European countries. Victory over Nazism in Europe (January 1944 - May 1945).

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Together with the Nazi Wehrmacht, the troops of Hungary, Italy, Romania and Finland, allies of Germany, took part in the hostilities against the USSR. In total, 190 divisions, 5.5 million people, were thrown against the USSR. The Great Patriotic War lasted 1418 days.

The plan of attack on the USSR was called the "Plan of Barbarossa" (after the name of the medieval German emperor, known for his aggressive campaigns). This was the plan for blitzkrieg (blitzkrieg). By the winter of 1941, German troops were to reach the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan line.

The war on the part of the Soviet Union had a just, liberating character. From the first hours of the invasion, the enemy encountered fierce resistance in a number of cases (the defense of the Brest Fortress).

To organize a rebuff to the Nazi invaders, the Soviet leadership took a number of measures. Martial law was declared throughout the country. The mobilization of the male population began. The Headquarters of the High Command was created. Since August, I.V. Stalin. On June 29, the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks sent a directive to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions. It spoke of the need to mobilize all forces and means to defeat the enemy, to protect every inch of land, to evacuate enterprises and people, and set the task of launching a struggle in the rear of the fascist troops. The main provisions of this directive were outlined by Stalin in a radio speech on July 3, 1941. On June 30, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was formed, headed by Stalin. He concentrated in his hands all the power in the country. In a short time, under the leadership of the Evacuation Council, over 1,500 large military factories were relocated to the east. The transfer of peaceful enterprises to the production of military products began. The slogan "Everything for the front, everything for victory!", put forward in the early days, remained the main one throughout the war.

With the outbreak of war, the governments of Britain and the United States issued statements of support for the struggle of the Soviet people. On July 12, an agreement was signed in Moscow on the joint actions of the USSR and Great Britain in the war against Germany. In autumn, an agreement was reached on the supply of weapons and strategic materials by the USSR to the USA and England. The formation of the anti-Hitler coalition began.

Summer - autumn 1941 - a period of serious setbacks for the Red Army. Military formations that entered the war near the borders were defeated. 3.9 million soldiers and officers out of 5 million army died or were taken prisoner. The Nazis captured the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, invaded Russia.

The reasons for the defeats at the initial stage of the war were as follows: 1) the military-economic potential of Germany and its allies was higher than that of the Soviet Union; 2) as a result of Stalin's repressions, the professional level of the Soviet commanding staff dropped sharply. This led to poor training of the troops, while the enemy troops had almost two years of battle experience; 3) major miscalculations by the Soviet leadership in military policy (belittling the role of mechanized formations, decommissioning a number of weapons before launching the production of their new types, destroying fortifications on the old border without creating a new line of defense, etc.); 4) criminal miscalculations in assessing the international situation. Blind faith that Hitler would not violate the non-aggression pact. This led to a sudden enemy attack for the Soviet military and political leadership.

As a result of the heroic defense of Leningrad, the defensive battles near Kyiv and Smolensk, the advance of the German troops was suspended, which made it possible for the Soviet command to gain time and bring up reserves.

From September 30, 1941 to the end of April 1942, there was a grandiose battle near Moscow. The German plan for the attack on Moscow was codenamed "Typhoon". Possessing significant superiority in military equipment, the Nazis managed to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops and by the beginning of December reach the Canal. Moscow, force the river. Nara, approach Kashira from the south. However, the enemy could not advance further. On December 5-6, the troops of the Kalinin (I.S. Konev) and Western (G.K. Zhukov) fronts launched a counteroffensive. German troops were thrown back 100-250 km from Moscow. The immediate threat to the capital was eliminated. Hitler's plan for a blitzkrieg against the USSR was thwarted. Near Moscow, they suffered their first strategic defeat in World War II. Germany's allies - Turkey and Japan - refrained from opening hostilities. The liberation struggle against fascism began to rise in the countries occupied by Germany.

In the summer of 1942, due to the mistakes of the top Soviet political and military leadership (overestimation of their own forces, underestimation of the enemy, the desire to conduct offensive operations on a wide front, the expectation of an enemy offensive in the Central direction), the Red Army suffered a number of major defeats in the North-West, near Kharkov, in the Crimea .

The Hitlerite command undertook a large-scale operation on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. At the same time, the goals were pursued: to deprive the Red Army of Caucasian oil, to interrupt the connection of the USSR with the allies through Iran, the central regions with Central Asia, to involve Turkey in the war, to destroy the Black Sea Fleet.

In the summer of 1942, the German group "South" broke through the Soviet front and rushed to Stalingrad. Since the end of August, fighting has been going on in the city. At the same time, German troops were advancing in the Caucasian direction. In the area of Stalingrad on November 19, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive and on November 23 closed the encirclement of 22 fascist divisions, numbering more than 300 thousand people. On February 2, 1943, this grouping was liquidated.

The Battle of Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the war, i.e., the interception of the strategic initiative. Simultaneously with the fighting in the Stalingrad region, Soviet troops were attacking along the entire southern sector of the front. The enemy was forced to withdraw his units from the North Caucasus. By the summer of 1943 the front had stabilized.

On July 5, 1943, the enemy, taking advantage of the favorable configuration of the front in the Kursk region, attempted a counteroffensive with the aim of encircling the Soviet units. The Battle of Kursk began, lasting until August 23. During fierce battles, the German strike force was stopped, and the Soviet troops went on the offensive, freeing Orel, Belgorod. Kharkov. The Battle of Kursk was a triumph of Soviet military art. German losses amounted to more than half a million people.

From the second half of July 1943, a general strategic offensive of the Red Army began along a front of 2,000 km. As a result of this offensive, he was released. Donbass, Left-bank Ukraine. In September, the battle for the Dnieper began. Soviet troops were able to capture bridgeheads on its right bank. On November 6, 1943, Kyiv was liberated.

During the summer-autumn offensive, half of the enemy divisions were defeated, and significant territories of the USSR were liberated. A new stage of the liberation war against fascism has begun in the occupied countries. The collapse of the fascist bloc began. In 1943, Italy was withdrawn from the war. The largest military-strategic operations of the Soviet troops in the winter - spring of 1944 should include: the final lifting of the 900-day blockade of Leningrad in January 1944. troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts; the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine (the most significant events in this sector of the front were the Korsun-Shevchenko operation); the liberation of the Crimea in May by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front.

In the summer of 1944, even larger battles unfolded. At As a result of the offensive of the Karelian and Leningrad fronts, Finland left the war. At As a result of the operation "Bagration" carried out by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts, one of the strongest enemy groupings "Center" was defeated, Belarus was liberated, the liberation of the Baltic states began (completed in the autumn of 1944) and Poland (completed at the beginning of 1945).

· Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front, as a result of the Lvov-Sandmir operation, defeated the enemy group of troops "Northern Ukraine", occupied Lvov and captured a bridgehead on the left bank of the Vistula.

· The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts, having carried out the Iasi-Chisinau operation, liquidated the German grouping and liberated Chisinau.

In 1944, the entire territory of the USSR was liberated from the Nazi occupation. The Soviet Army transferred military operations to the territories of the allies of fascist Germany and the countries captured by it.

At In August 1944, the new Romanian government declared war on Germany. By the beginning of September, Romania was liberated by the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

· In September, units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front liberated Bulgaria. On September 9, as a result of the uprising in Sofia, the government of the Fatherland Front came to power.

· Troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front assisted the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia in the liberation of Belgrade (October 20) and the entire country from invaders.

At As a result of heavy fighting in late 1944 - early 1945, Hungary was liberated by the Soviet Army. At In the fall of 1944, Slovakia was liberated by Slovak partisans and Soviet units.

In February 1945, a conference of leaders of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition (USSR, England, USA) was held in Yalta. At the conference, agreements were reached on the future structure of Germany, borders in post-war Europe, the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan, and the creation of the United Nations (UN).

In January 1945, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts carried out the Vistula-Oder operation, as a result of which Poland was cleared of the Nazis. Soviet troops reached the approaches to Berlin, the counteroffensive of German troops in the Ardennes against the Allies was thwarted.

At this time, the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts carried out the East Prussian operation. After fierce fighting, Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad) was taken.

From April 16 to May 2, the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts (T.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky, I.S. Konev) carried out the Berlin operation. The troops had to overcome the powerful fortifications of the enemy both on the outskirts and in the city itself. On April 18, the Seelow Heights were taken, and from April 22, fighting began on the outskirts of the city. April 24 Berlin was completely surrounded. On April 25, a meeting of Soviet and American troops took place on the Elbe. On May 2, the Berlin garrison laid down their arms. On May 8, Germany capitulated.

On May 5, an uprising began in Prague. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front came to the aid of the rebels from Berlin. On May 9, Soviet troops entered the city.

From July 17 to August 2, 1945, a conference of leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition (USSR, USA, England) was held in Potsdam, near Berlin. She confirmed and clarified the decisions of the Yalta Conference on the post-war structure of Europe, the borders, and the attitude of the allies towards defeated Germany. The Soviet Union confirmed its decision to enter the war against Japan.

№58/2 MOSCOW BATTLE

April 20, 1942 - The Battle of Moscow ended (began on September 30, 1941) during the Great Patriotic War.

The Moscow battle of 1941-1942 is a set of defensive and offensive operations of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War, carried out from September 30, 1941 to April 20, 1942 in the western strategic direction with the aim of defending Moscow and the Central Industrial Region, defeating the shock groups of German troops that threatened them . It included the strategic Moscow defensive operation (September 30 - December 5, 1941), the Moscow offensive operation (December 5, 1941 - January 7, 1942), the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation (January 8 - April 20, 1942) and the front-line Toropetsko-Kholmsky operation (January 9 - February 6, 1942). The troops of the Kalinin, Western, Reserve, Bryansk, left wing of the North-Western and right wing of the South-Western fronts, the troops of the country's Air Defense, and the Air Force participated in the Battle of Moscow. They were opposed by the German Army Group Center.

© RIA Novosti

The collapse of Operation Typhoon. Battle for Moscow in archival footage

By the beginning of the Moscow battle, the situation for the Soviet troops was extremely difficult. The enemy deeply invaded the country, capturing the Baltic states, Belarus, Moldova, a significant part of Ukraine, blockaded Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), reached the distant approaches to Moscow. After the failure of the plan to capture Moscow on the move in the first weeks of the war, the Nazi command prepared a major offensive operation under the code name Typhoon. The plan of the operation provided for dismembering the defense of the Soviet troops with three powerful strikes by tank groups from the areas of Dukhovshchina, Roslavl and Shostka in the eastern and northeastern directions, encircling and destroying Soviet troops in the areas west of Vyazma and east of Bryansk. Then it was planned to capture Moscow from the north and south with strong mobile groups and, in cooperation with the troops advancing from the front, capture it.

The German Army Group Center, intended for the offensive, had 1.8 million people, over 14 thousand guns and mortars, 1.7 thousand tanks and 1390 aircraft. Soviet troops numbered 1.25 million people, 7.6 thousand guns and mortars, 990 tanks, 677 aircraft (including reserve air groups).

The offensive according to the Typhoon plan was launched by the Nazi troops on September 30, 1941 in the Bryansk direction and on October 2 in the Vyazma direction. Despite the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, the enemy broke through their defenses. On October 6, he went to the area west of Vyazma and surrounded four armies of the Western and Reserve (on October 10, merged with the Western) fronts there. With their actions in the environment, these armies pinned down 28 enemy divisions; 14 of them could not continue the offensive until mid-October.

A difficult situation also developed in the Bryansk Front. On October 3, the enemy captured Orel, and on October 6, Bryansk. On October 7, the troops of the front were surrounded. Breaking out of encirclement, the armies of the Bryansk Front were forced to retreat. By the end of October, the Nazi troops reached the approaches to Tula.

On the Kalinin direction, the enemy launched an offensive on October 10 and captured the city of Kalinin (now Tver) on October 17. Troops of the Kalinin Front (created on October 17) stopped the advance of the enemy's 9th Army in the second half of October, taking up an enveloping position in relation to the left wing of Army Group Center.

By the beginning of November, the front passed along the line of Selizharovo, Kalinin, the Volga reservoir, along the rivers Ozerna, Nara, Oka and further Tula, Novosil. In mid-November, fighting began on the near approaches to Moscow. They were especially stubborn in the Volokolamsk-Istra direction. On November 23, Soviet troops left Klin. The enemy captured Solnechnogorsk, Yakhroma, Krasnaya Polyana. In late November - early December, German troops reached the Moscow-Volga canal, crossed the Nara River north and south of Naro-Fominsk, approached Kashira from the south, and captured Tula from the east. But they didn't go any further. On November 27, in the Kashira region and on November 29, north of the capital, Soviet troops launched counterattacks on the southern and northern enemy groupings, on December 3-5, counterattacks in the areas of Yakhroma, Krasnaya Polyana and Kryukov.

By persistent and active defense, the Red Army forced the fascist strike groups to disperse on a huge front, which led to the loss of offensive and maneuvering capabilities. Conditions were created for the transition of Soviet troops to the counteroffensive. The reserve armies began to advance into the zones of the forthcoming actions of the Red Army. The idea of the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops was to simultaneously defeat the most dangerous enemy strike groups that threatened Moscow from the north and south. The troops of the Western, Kalinin and right wing of the Southwestern (December 18, 1941 transformed into the Bryansk Front) fronts were involved in the Moscow offensive operation.

The counteroffensive began on December 5 with a blow from the left wing of the Kalinin Front. Waging intense battles, by January 7, Soviet troops reached the line of the Volga River northwest and east of Rzhev. They advanced 60-120 kilometers to the south and south-west, taking up an enveloping position in relation to the German troops in front of the Western Front.

The armies of the right wing of the Western Front, which launched a counteroffensive on December 6, liberated Istra, Klin, Volokolamsk and pushed the enemy back 90-110 kilometers to the west, eliminating the threat of bypassing Moscow from the north. The armies of the left wing of the Western Front delivered powerful blows from several directions against the enemy's 2nd Panzer Army, which had penetrated deeply into the defenses. The fascist German command, fearing the encirclement of its troops east of Tula, began to withdraw them to the west. By the end of December 16, the immediate threat to Moscow was also eliminated from the south.

The right-flank armies of the Southwestern Front during the offensive liberated up to 400 settlements and on December 17 liquidated the Yelets ledge.

Continuing the offensive, by the beginning of January 1942, the Soviet troops pushed the enemy back 100-250 kilometers, inflicted heavy losses on his 38 divisions, and over 11 thousand settlements were liberated.

In early January 1942, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided on the transition of Soviet troops to a general offensive near Leningrad, as well as in the western and southwestern directions. The troops of the western direction were tasked with encircling and defeating the main forces of Army Group Center.

The offensive, which unfolded over a vast area, was carried out in separate directions, and the fronts began operations at different times and under different conditions. In the western direction, the troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts carried out the Rzhev-Vyazemskaya, and the left wing of the North-Western (since January 22, Kalinin) Front, the Toropetsko-Kholmskaya operation, as a result of which the Germans were driven back from the capital by another 80-250 kilometers. Soviet troops penetrated deep into their defenses at the junction of Army Groups North and Center, disrupting operational interaction between them. However, it was not possible to encircle and destroy the main forces of Army Group Center.

Despite the incompleteness, the general offensive in the western direction achieved significant success. The enemy was thrown back 150-400 kilometers to the west, the Moscow and Tula regions, many areas of the Kalinin and Smolensk regions were liberated.

The enemy lost more than 500 thousand people killed, wounded and missing, 1.3 thousand tanks, 2.5 thousand guns and other equipment.

Germany suffered its first major defeat in World War II.

In the Battle of Moscow, Soviet troops also suffered significant losses. Irretrievable losses amounted to 936,644 people, sanitary - 898,689 people.

The outcome of the Battle of Moscow had enormous political and strategic consequences. There was a psychological turning point among the soldiers and the civilian population: faith in victory strengthened, the myth of the invincibility of the German army collapsed. The collapse of the lightning war plan ("Barbarossa") gave rise to doubts about the successful outcome of the war, both among the German military-political leadership and among ordinary Germans.

The Battle of Moscow was of great international importance: it contributed to the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition, forced the governments of Japan and Turkey to refrain from entering the war on the side of Germany.

For the exemplary performance of combat missions during the Battle of Moscow and the valor and courage shown at the same time, about 40 units and formations received the title of Guards, 36 thousand Soviet soldiers were awarded orders and medals, of which 110 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR established the medal "For the Defense of Moscow", which was awarded to more than one million defenders of the city.

(Additional

THIS DAY WE APPROVED AS WE COULD...

Great Patriotic War in dates and memoirs of veterans

Yuzhnoportovy district

1943 August 13 The Donbass offensive operation of the Southwestern and Southern Fronts began and continued until September 22. August 17th. The troops of the Steppe Front began fighting on the northern outskirts of Kharkov. August 23. The Belgorod-Kharkov operation ended. The troops of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts advanced 140 km to the south and south-west and liberated Kharkov. August 25 - December 22. Battle for the Dnieper troops of the Central, Voronezh, Steppe, South-Western and Southern fronts. It included the Chernigov-Pripyat, Gomel-Rechitsa, Donbass, Dnieper airborne, Kyiv offensive and defensive, Melitopol and Zaporozhye operations. 25-th of August. The Chernigov-Pripyat offensive operation began. August 31. The troops of the Central Front entered the borders of northern Ukraine. September 18th. More than 700 settlements have been liberated in the Kiev, Zaporozhye, Melitopol, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Krasnograd, Smolensk, Roslavl directions. September 19th. Parts of the Central Front crossed the Desna. More than 1,200 settlements have been liberated in the Kiev, Zaporozhye, Melitopol, Poltava, and Bryansk directions. September 21. Chernihiv is liberated. September 22nd. Parts of the 13th Army crossed the Dnieper. 23 September. The troops of the Steppe Front crossed the Vorskla River and liberated Poltava. September 24th. The Dnieper airborne operation began (about 10 thousand people). Until October 5, the paratroopers fought behind enemy lines in separate groups. September 25th. The troops of the Steppe and Southwestern Fronts crossed the Dnieper. September 26th. The troops of the Bryansk Front began the liberation of Belarus. The troops of the Voronezh Front crossed the Dnieper. The Melitopol offensive operation began. The left bank of the Dnieper near Kyiv has been completely cleared. September 30th. The Chernigov-Pripyat operation ended, the troops advanced up to 300 km, seized bridgeheads in the Chernobyl area. 2 October. The Smolensk operation ended, the troops advanced 200-250 km westward, defeating 7 enemy divisions, and the liberation of Belarus began. October 3rd. The Bryansk operation was completed, the Bryansk industrial region and part of Belarus were liberated. October 6th. The Nevelsk offensive operation of the troops of the Kalinin Front began. October 7th. Nevel was liberated, units of the Kalinin Front reached the approaches to Vitebsk. 10 October. The Nevelsk operation ended: the enemy defenses in the Nevel, Velikiye Luki region were broken through and the Dno-Vitebsk railroad connecting the North and Center army groups was cut. The Zaporizhzhya offensive began. The Zaporozhye operation was completed, Zaporozhye was liberated. October 23. Melitopol was liberated, the Germans began to retreat to the Dnieper. the 25th of October. Dnepropetrovsk and Dneprodzerzhinsk were liberated. November 3 - 23. Kyiv offensive operation. November 5. The withdrawal of German troops from Kyiv began. The Melitopol operation was completed, the Crimean enemy grouping was blocked from land. November 6th. Kyiv is liberated. November 7th. The railroad connecting the Kyiv and Krivoy Rog enemy groups was cut. 10th of November. The Gomel-Rechitsa offensive operation of the troops of the Belorussian Front began. 13 - 22 December. Kyiv defensive operation of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front. November 26th. Gomel is liberated. November 30th. The Gomel-Rechitsa operation was completed, a threat was created to the southern flank of Army Group Center. Fierce fighting troops of the Ukrainian fronts. December 13th. The city of Cherkasy was liberated. December 20. The operation to create a strategic foothold on the right bank of the Dnieper has been completed. Dec 22. The Kyiv defensive operation was completed, the front was stabilized on the line east of Chernyakhiv - Radomyshl. The battle for the Dnieper ended: a heavy defeat was inflicted on the army groups "South" and "Center", more than 38 thousand settlements were liberated, including 160 cities. December 24, 1943 - April 17, 1944 The offensive of troops in the Right-Bank Ukraine. Included: Zhytomyr-Berdichev, Kirovohrad, Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Rivne-Lutsk, Nikolsko-Krivorozhskaya, Proskurov-Chernivtsi, Uman-Botoshanskaya, Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya, Odessa and Polessye operations. The Zhytomyr-Berdychiv offensive operation began. The Gorodok operation was completed, the front line was pushed back 60 km. Zhitomir is liberated. January 14, 1944 The Zhytomyr-Berdichev operation was completed, the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions, a number of districts of the Vinnitsa and Rivne regions were almost completely liberated, 6 enemy divisions were defeated. January 24 - February 17. Korsun-Shevchenko offensive operation. January 27 - February 11. Rovno-Lutsk offensive operation. February 2. Lutsk and Rivne were liberated. February 11th. The Rovno-Lutsk operation ended, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front advanced 80 km west. February 17. The Korsun-Shevchenko operation was completed, 15 enemy divisions were defeated, including 8 tank divisions. 10th of March. Tank formations cut the Lvov-Odessa railway (the main communication of the southern wing of the enemy troops). March 13. Kherson is liberated. March 15 - April 4. Polissya offensive operation. March 17. The offensive of the Soviet troops on the Right-Bank Ukraine was completed. The liberation of Moldova began. 20th of March. Vinnitsa is liberated. March 26 - April 14. Odessa offensive operation. March 28th. Troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front liberated Nikolaev and crossed the Southern Bug. March 29. Chernivtsi liberated. April, 4. The enemy broke through to the city of Kovel and unblocked it. The Soviet troops, having inflicted a defeat on 12 enemy divisions, stopped the Polessky operation, taking up an enveloping position in relation to Kovel. April 7th. A grouping of German troops (23 divisions, including 10 tank divisions) broke out of the encirclement and connected with the troops that launched a counterattack in the Lvov area. April 10th. Odessa is liberated. 14th of April. Tarnopol (Ternopol), Mykolaiv and Odessa regions were liberated. May 9. Sevastopol is liberated. June 23 - August 29. Began: Belarusian strategic offensive operation (code name "Bagration"). Included: at the first stage (until July 4) - Vitebsk-Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Minsk and Polotsk; at the second stage (July 5 - August 29) - the Vilnius, Bialystok, Siauliai, Lublin-Brest and Kaunas operations; Vitebsk-Orsha and Mogilev offensive operations (until June 28); 24 - 29 June. Bobruisk offensive operation. June 26th. Vitebsk and Zhlobin were liberated. June 28th. Mogilev is liberated. June 29. The Bobruisk operation ended, Bobruisk was liberated. June 29 - July 4. Polotsk and Minsk offensive operations. 3 July. Minsk is liberated. July 9th The troops of the Belorussian Front reached the line of the Neman and Molchad rivers. July 15. Troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front crossed the Neman. July 16. The Zaneman part of Grodno was liberated. July 17th. The city of Sebezh was liberated. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front entered the territory of Poland. 57,600 German prisoners of war soldiers, officers and generals under escort passed through the squares and streets of Moscow. July 18 - August 2. Lublin-Brest offensive operation. July 27th. The enemy grouping in the Brest area is surrounded. July 28th. Brest was liberated, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Vistula and continued to move towards Warsaw. July. By mid-summer, the occupied regions of the RSFSR were liberated. During the war, Germany captured vast Soviet territories, where almost half of the country's total population lived - 80 million people. Almost 5 million were taken to Germany for forced labor, about half of them died.

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Kolya Yasnopolsky had not been spoiled by life before, but the boy was stubborn and managed to achieve a lot. Originally from a village, he became an orphan at the age of 10. The boy was taken to his brother - the founder of the legendary Magnitogorsk. When the war began, Nikolai was sent to serve in the anti-aircraft artillery school, which was evacuated to Ufa. The course of study at the school was short in a military way. By the end of 1942, Nikolai had already graduated from college with honors and received the rank of lieutenant. He could remain at the school as a platoon commander of cadets, but he turned to the command with a request to send him to the front. Nikolai fought on the 2nd Ukrainian, on the 2nd Belorussian fronts. At first he was the commander of a fire platoon of the 2nd battery of the 1716th Separate Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment. Then he took command of the battery - after the death of the battalion commander Dmitry Zvezdin. The battery, commanded by D. Zvezdin, and then by Nikolai, shot down 13 enemy aircraft. “Enemy vultures have swooped in. They tried to bomb the battle formations of our troops when there was a battle for Ensk. The anti-aircraft gunners of Lieutenant Yasnopolsky opened fire. The guns of senior sergeant Kochiev also fired on German aircraft. Sergeant Soroka diligently filed shells. Enemy planes began to come in to bomb the anti-aircraft gunners. At this time, shells from Kochiev's cannon hit a German aircraft. The enemy vehicle on fire fell to the ground ”(from an article in an army newspaper, 1944). The fighting on the right bank of the Dnieper was especially heavy. In flying weather, attacks by enemy dive bombers had to be repulsed every hour, every minute. The infantry could hide in trenches and dugouts, but they, the anti-aircraft gunners, had no right to hide - even in the most brutal raids. Terrible notches remained in my memory: wells clogged with the corpses of our soldiers, stars carved on the backs of Soviet officers, the great grief of the inhabitants of Ukrainian cities and villages ... At the front, fate brought him together with writers for the first time. It brought together in an amazing way: tanks built at the expense of A. Tolstoy, A. Korneichuk came to their corps ... Alexander Mitrofanovich Bondarev continues to recall: “From April to September 1943, our 167th division fought defensive battles near the city of Sumy. My platoon was defending not far from the village of Bititsa, in front of a small river. The battalion commander called me and ordered me to take the "tongue". I picked up the best soldiers, and we began to conduct surveillance in the company's defense zone. We clarified where the German machine-gun crew is located, convenient for capturing the “tongue”. They did everything according to a given program: at a strictly defined time they had breakfast, lunch, dinner, fired from machine guns, artillery and mortars, illuminated the area with rockets. At night, during the rain, we moved in a chain along the stream. A sapper walked ahead, showing us the passages in the minefield. At the appointed place they crossed the stream and began to move in dashes to the machine-gun crew of the Germans. About 50 meters away, three crawled to the trench, and two prepared to divert the fire on themselves. Without much fuss, one German was killed, the second was gagged and his hands were tied. When dragging the "tongue", the Germans lit flares several times. Not far from the river, the Nazis discovered us and opened heavy fire from six-barreled mortars. Our artillery returned fire after a red rocket fired in our direction. One of our scouts was killed, another wounded in the leg. We had to drag the dead man and the "tongue". The task was completed, the command received important information from the captured fascist. During the attack for the settlement of Nedrigailov (Sumy region) on September 5, I was wounded in the right leg by an explosive bullet. The 167th division was preparing to cross the Dnieper. The enemy clung to the water line, did everything to keep Kyiv. The 520th regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Akulov. Having been discharged from the hospital, I arrived at my regiment. Not to know was our combat unit. The soldiers became builders: they carried timber, boards, barrels. Rafts were made from all available improvised means so that soldiers, weapons and ammunition could be transported. The crossing was very difficult. On October 18, 1943, my assault group, under the cover of fog, quietly crossed the old channel of the Dnieper to the island of the Black Death. Together with us, Petropavlov's company, machine-gun and 50mm mortar platoons also crossed to the island. They began to dig in, but cold October water appeared at a depth of half a meter. The Nazis discovered us and opened fire with all kinds of weapons. Many of our soldiers were killed and wounded. Our artillery and "Katyushas" did not soon succeed in suppressing the enemy's firing points. The desire of soldiers and officers to quickly liberate Kyiv increased our strength tenfold. Fights went on for every quarter, grenades were used and hand-to-hand fighting. By the morning of November 6, on the eve of the 26th anniversary of October, Kyiv was cleared of fascist evil spirits. The Korsun-Shevchenko group of the enemy was surrounded and destroyed. After the liberation of the city of Vasilkovo, the 167th division moved to join units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The 520th regiment met with units of this front in the Zvenigorodka area. In January 1944, our regiment marched in a marching column to the settlement of Votylevka. The Germans, having missed us, struck from the rear and beat our positions well. I had to leave Votylevka. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe settlement of Tikhonovka, they took up defense. They dug trenches and part of trenches to the height of a man in order to repel enemy attacks and prevent a breakthrough of fascist formations moving to help the encircled group. In the battles to destroy the Korsun-Shevchenko grouping, the division knocked out and destroyed 78 German tanks and self-propelled guns, captured more than 1000 people. Our 520th regiment destroyed 20 tanks, captured more than 300 people. Valentina Ivanovna Vorobieva, born in 1924, nurse of the surgical department of hospital 4916 on the 2nd Ukrainian front. The front-line hospital had its own medical train, which followed the front. They did not have time to stay in one place - they had to move to a new one. Only there work is being established, again - emergency work, redeployment. On the shoulders of the sisters was all the work of receiving, treating the wounded, and then there was the move. Urgently pack your things, but do not forget anything. It was not easy for a 17-year-old girl to start carrying weights - some of the wounded weighed 90 and 100 kilograms. Some soldiers felt sorry for the weak thin girls, others were afraid that they might drop them, asked them to leave them alone, especially not to carry them up the stairs ... The worst place in the war turned out to be in Ukraine, near Kirovograd. A German group broke through there and surrounded the hospital. And what kind of protection does he have - recovering soldiers and weapons are only personal to officers. We lived in fear for almost a day, until our tanks came and defeated the insolent Germans. And even a little bit, they would have blown up the hospital ... It was even worse when an inexperienced young surgeon “crippled” the young body of a warrior - he amputated a limb that could well have been left and cured. There was no time for the doctor to think, but it was very disappointing for the guys: who would take him into the house? Blood, pus, bandages, so many things that it’s scary to remember ... Maria Ivanovna Svistun recalls that in the summer of 1943 the 89th division reached the village of Kartoyak, Kursk region and held back the left flank of the front. 600 people were collected from the battlefields. The blood is alive and clotted, lacerated wounds, severed limbs, shell-shocked unconscious people. The Battle of Kursk ended, the division was replenished with new personnel, updated with materiel - personal weapons and tools - machine guns, cannons, mortars, went further to the west. “I remember how they crossed the Dnieper River. They crossed to the west coast in small boats of four people each. We were covered by a wave from a shell that exploded nearby. The boat was flooded, all its passengers were in the water. I can't swim, I started to drown. They barely saved me - they dragged me onto a raft with a machine-gun crew that turned out to be nearby. Once she moved from one dugout to another, neighboring one. As soon as I got out, PO-2 descended before my eyes - a downed plane and crashed into the dugout from which I came out. I see that it is difficult for the pilot to get out of the cockpit. I help him out, drag him into a neighboring dugout, and as soon as they closed the door behind them, there was an explosion - it was the plane on fire. How the pilot swore at me from shock! When our troops took Kharkov, I was awarded the medal "For Courage" - they handed it to me there. After the Battle of Kursk, she received the Order of the Red Star, then the medal "For the Victory over Germany", the medal "For Military Merit", and other commemorative medals. Ivan Mikhailovich Manokhin, born in 1925, started the war at the Malinoko station near Zhitomir, as part of the 1416th self-propelled artillery regiment. He was in charge of the combat food warehouse, at the same time he acted as assistant platoon commander. The regiment took part in the liberation of Moldova, they took the cities of Balti, Yampol, the Vapnyarka station. I remember the terrible day when the Germans bombed this junction station for an hour and a half. From the explosions of bombs, the railroad rails stood on end, torn like threads. And the 2nd Ukrainian Front desperately needed ammunition that was stored in the Manokhin warehouse. He feared most of all for his household, prayed to God that he would save ammunition. And, as they say, a miracle happened. After the bombing, they hastily began to repair the tracks, anti-aircraft gunners came to the rescue, and began to repel enemy raids. The tracks were restored, and the first train was loaded with ammunition and sent to the front line. Ivan Mikhailovich received gratitude from the command. He has awards: the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, the medal "For the Victory over Germany", commemorative medals. Alexander Ivanovich Atamanov met the war in the city of Yelets. In 1943 he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the Moscow Mortar School. Upon completion, he was enrolled in a mortar company that fought near Orel. There he was wounded in the right leg and in the chin. The shard is still sitting there. For a month he was treated in a hospital in the city of Klintsy, Bryansk region, and was seconded to the Reserve Regiment. From there - to the front as part of the 140th Siberian Rifle Division, mortar. He served there until March 24, 1945. On that day, in a heavy battle near the city of Moravska-Ostrava, he was wounded: a bullet hit under the nose, under the right eye and went straight through. With this wound, he lay in the hospital and was demobilized in the second echelon in December 1945. The most terrible and difficult battles were near Lvov. The 140th division was sent to the front reserve, in one village they fought at night, slept during the day, and then went on the attack again. Atamanov's mortar fire destroyed enemy positions so swiftly and mercilessly that the enemy was forced to retreat. The capture of Lvov was marked by the command of awarding Alexander Ivanovich with the Order of Glory 3rd degree. Iosif Grigoryevich Kheifets was born in Yelets in 1918. He served in the Red Army in Baku in the regimental school of junior commanders in the air defense forces. I was about to be demobilized when the Great Patriotic War began. So I stayed in the south. Member of the defense of the Caucasus. His anti-aircraft gun, and then the battery, division defended the sky over the Kuban. Hitler really wanted to seize the Black Sea ports and hoist a flag with a fascist swastika on Mount Elbrus. On July 26, 1942, having transported tanks and artillery across the Don, German troops launched an offensive to the south. The troops of the Southern Front could not hold back the onslaught and retreated behind the Manych Canal. On July 28, the enemy managed to force this canal in the area of the Vesely farm. Order No. 227 was read to the troops, which emphasized the seriousness of the situation at the front. “The fighting is going on in the Voronezh region, on the Don, in the south, near the North Caucasus,” the Supreme Commander-in-Chief addressed the troops. “The German invaders are rushing to Stalingrad, to the Volga and want to seize the Kuban, the North Caucasus with oil and other riches at any cost ... To retreat further means to ruin ourselves and at the same time our Motherland.” The fighting of the North Caucasian Front in late July and early August proceeded in an extremely difficult situation. The enemy, who still possessed a quantitative superiority in tanks and aircraft, broke through the defenses of our troops; developing the offensive in the Stavropol direction, by the end of July 30, he had advanced to a depth of 120 km. On August 31, the Nazis captured Anapa. Our troops continued to hold their positions for a whole year until September 1943. At the same time, the advance of German troops in the area of the Tersky Range towards Grozny and Ordzhonikidze was stopped. Our troops repulsed all enemy attacks in the Tuapse region, and then launched a counterattack and defeated the enemy grouping that had penetrated to the south. And here the Germans were forced to abandon the further offensive and go on the defensive. By the end of September - beginning of October in the North Caucasus, the front had stabilized everywhere. Hitler at one of the meetings said that the Crimea should be held as long as possible. The Goebbels department clarified: "If the Russians defended Sevastopol for 250 days, then we will defend it for 15 years." The army of E. Eneke was in the Crimea, it consisted of more than 195 thousand people, 3600 guns and mortars, 5400 machine guns, over 215 assault guns and tanks, 148 aircraft. On April 8, 1944, after a powerful artillery preparation that lasted three hours, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front went on the offensive and very soon broke through the front at Perekop and Sivash. On the night of April 11, from the side of the Kerch Strait, from a small bridgehead captured by our troops back in November last year (I.G. Kheifets was there with his division), the offensive of the Separate Primorsky Army began. On April 15, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front from Bakhchisaray approached the outer defensive bypass of Sevastopol. And on April 16-17, units of the Separate Primorsky Army were already approaching the city from Yalta. Our fleet approached the city from the sea. Now Sevastopol was surrounded on all sides. On the morning of May 7, artillery preparation began already in the Sapun Mountain area. Attack pilots unleashed a sea of fire on enemy positions. The barrage of fire was powerful, but short, and now our troops launched a swift attack on the southeastern outskirts of the city. A furious trench battle broke out. It lasted 9 hours. On May 9, Sevastopol was completely liberated, the 17th army of Eneke ceased to exist, its losses on land amounted to 100 thousand people, including about 62 thousand prisoners. Iosif Kheyfets considers the medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus" his most expensive award, and he has more than twenty of them after the Order of the Red Star. Semyon Pavlovich Kutsenko, a teacher in a rural school, fought from the first to the last day of the war, commanded a radio communications platoon of the regiment, and was demobilized as a captain after 6 years of service. He received his first award for the liberation of Sevastopol. It was one of the most difficult battles. After him, the howitzer regiment received the title of Sevastopol. Became the 1232nd Sevastopol Artillery Regiment of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. Then, near Sevastopol, Semyon was shell-shocked. There was a stunning artillery noise, many could not stand it. The soldiers' eardrums burst. And in the enemy dugouts, when we appeared, the Germans sat in them, as if intoxicated. Some were bleeding from their ears, others from their mouths. They took Sapun Mountain by storm, and all those who survived received awards for participating in this battle. The second award - the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree, he received for crossing the Basi River in Belarus. There were no bridges there, the sappers tried to set up crossings in different places, but the Germans destroyed them with aimed fire. I had to wait until dark. At night they set up their rafts, pontoons. It was not yet dawn when the gunners moved their howitzers to the right bank, and after a while our troops launched an offensive, liberated more than 40 settlements. The medal "For Courage" was received for participation in the battles for the liberation of Novorossiysk. The Malaya Zemlya peninsula was filled with German pillboxes, guns, even tank towers dug into the ground. The defense seemed impregnable. Attacks were replaced by artillery preparation, bombing. Along with the explosions of shells and bombs, coastal stones flew in all directions, they were also ammunition - they hit a living body so hard, they knocked weapons out of their hands. For participation in the defense of the Caucasus and in the battles for its liberation, Semyon Pavlovich was awarded the medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus." Nikolai Nikolaevich Kalinchenko comes from a simple peasant family from the village of Yudovka, in the Kursk province. Kolya left the military school as a volunteer for the Finnish war, then fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Having started as a company political commissar, Nikolai Kalinchenko by the end of the war was already a battalion commissar, then a regiment party organizer. I had a chance to fight in Transcaucasia, in the North Caucasus. The Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree, the medals "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of the Caucasus" - this is how the Motherland highly appreciated the military merits of N. Kalinchenko. His native land was occupied by the Nazis, a policeman from his fellow villagers reported that Kalinchenko's father's children were fighting. Mother and father were taken to the forest to be shot, but at that time the partisans arrived and managed to beat them off. Further military service of Nicholas also took place in the southern regions: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, the North Caucasus, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don. The family fully experienced what the nomadic life of a military man is like. During the service, Nikolai Nikolaevich studied a lot. He retired with the rank of colonel, having served 36 years and was awarded the medals "For Impeccable Service in the Armed Forces" and "Veteran of the Armed Forces".

1. After the defeat of the main part of the German army in the Battle of Kursk, the expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of the USSR began.

Practically deprived of an army, Germany could no longer attack and went on the defensive.

By order of Hitler, in the fall of 1943, the construction of the "Eastern Wall" began - a system of powerful echeloned defensive fortifications along the line of the Baltic Sea - Belarus - the Dnieper. According to Hitler's plan, the "Eastern Wall" was supposed to fence off Germany from the advancing Soviet troops, to give time to gather forces.

The most powerful defensive structures were erected in Ukraine along the Kyiv-Dnepropetrovsk-Melitopol line. On the one hand, it was a system of pillboxes, other powerful reinforced concrete structures, minefields, artillery along the entire right bank of the Dnieper, on the other hand, there was also a powerful natural barrier - the Dnieper. Due to these circumstances, the German command considered the Dnieper line of the "Eastern Wall" impassable. Hitler gave the order to hold the East Wall at all costs and endure the winter. During this time, by the summer of 1944, it was planned to restore the German army and launch a new offensive to the east.

In order to prevent Germany from recovering from defeat, the Soviet command decides to storm the East Wall.

- lasted 4 months - from August to December 1943;

- was carried out in very difficult conditions for the Soviet army - from the "low" (flat) left bank, it was necessary to cross the Dnieper on rafts and storm the "high" (mountainous) right bank, stuffed with German defensive structures;

- The Soviet army suffered colossal casualties, since the German troops, having fortified on the heights of the right bank of the Dnieper, intensively shelled the Soviet army on the low left bank, drowned rafts with soldiers and equipment crossing the Dnieper, destroyed pontoon bridges;

- the crossing of the Dnieper took place in conditions of very bad weather in October - November, icy water, rain and snow;

- each bridgehead on the western bank of the Dnieper, each kilometer recaptured was paid for by hundreds and thousands of dead. Despite this. The Soviet army crossed the Dnieper in stubborn battles. In October 1943, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Melitopol were liberated, and on November 6, 1943 - Kyiv.

By December 1943, the Eastern Wall was broken through - the way to the Right-Bank Ukraine, Moldova and further to Europe was opened.

3. November 28 - December 1, 1943 in Tehran, the capital of Iran, the first meeting of the "Big Three" took place during the war - I. Stalin, W. Churchill, F. Roosevelt - the leaders of the main allied states (USSR, Great Britain and the USA ). During this meeting:

- the basic principles of the post-war settlement were worked out;

- a fundamental decision was made to open a second front in May - June 1944 - the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy (France) and their attack on Germany from the west.

4. In the spring - summer of 1944, the final stage of the liberation of the USSR took place - the Soviet army launched three powerful offensives:

- in the north, during which the remnants of Army Group North were defeated, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted and most of the Baltic states were liberated;

- in Belarus (Operation Bagration), during which the backbone of Army Group Center was destroyed and Belarus was liberated;

- in the south (Iasi-Kishinev operation), during which Army Group South was surrounded and defeated, Moldova, most of the Right-Bank Ukraine, Northern Romania were liberated.