Soviet troops in Europe 1945. The liberation of the territory of the USSR and European states by the Red Army
CONTROL WORK
On the topic: "The USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945"
OPTION - I
Choose the correct answer.
1. World War II began:
2. The German plan of attack on the USSR provided for:
1) the dismemberment of the USSR into separate states;
2) the preservation of the USSR as a single state;
3) colonization by Germany of the territory of the USSR;
4) the destruction of a single state, the colonization of the European part of the USSR
Z. The reasons for the retreat of the Red Army at the beginning of the war cannot be attributed to:
1) shortcomings in command and control of troops;
2) the absence of large military forces near the borders;
3) insufficient mobilization of troops;
4) the weakening of the commanding staff of the troops in the course of repression.
4. In 1941 one of the following battles began:
1) Battle of Stalingrad;
2) Battle of Kursk;
3) liberation of Crimea;
4) the battle near Moscow.
5. The Supreme Commander during the war years was: _
1) I.V. Stalin; 3) K.E. Voroshilov;
2) G.K. Zhukov; 4) S.M. Budyonny.
6. Where the Citadel plan was used:
1) the battle on the Kursk Bulge;
2) the battle near Moscow;
3) Battle of Stalingrad;
4) blockade of Leningrad.
7. What was the name of the operation involving the liberation of Kharkov and Belgorod:
1) Ring; 3) Kutuzov; 5) Commander Rumyantsev;
2) Uranus; 4) Citadel; 6) Bagration;
8. not typical :
1) the interaction of the Red Army with the partisans;
2) the creation of a single leading center for the partisan movement;
3) complete independence of partisan detachments in determining the tasks of their activities;
4) multinational composition of participants.
9. The second front in Europe was opened in:
1) 1942; 2) 1943; 3) 1944; 4) 1945
10 . For the economy of the USSR during the war not characteristic (but) :
1) rejection of hard planning;
2) the use of a mixed economy;
3) comprehensive regulation of the state economy;
4) limiting the independence of enterprises.
11.
1) agricultural production grew;
2) cities were consistently supplied with food;
3) the personal consumption of the population was reduced;
4) all special distributors are closed.
12 . In 1942 the Red Army did not tolerate a number of serious defeats under:
1) Kerch; 3) Eagle;
2) Kharkov; 4) Sevastopol.
13 . In 1945 went to the USSR:
1) Bessarabia (Moldova); 2) Kuril Islands;
3) Lithuania; 4) Latvia.
14. Indicate which of theis not the reason for the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany and its allies:
1) contradictions between members of the anti-Hitler coalition;
2) the selfless labor of Soviet people in the rear;
3) evacuation of industry to the east;
4) a broad partisan movement.
TESTS FOR CARRYING OUT
CONTROL WORK
On the topic: "The USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945."
OPTION - II
Choose the correct answer.
1. The anti-Hitler coalition finally took shape to:
1) autumn 1941; 3) spring 1942;
2) winter 1941; 4) autumn 1943
2. The so-called "Plan Barbarossa" not provided :
1) the transformation of the USSR into a military ally of Germany;
2) "blitzkrieg";
3) annexation of the European part of the USSR to Germany;
4) the exit of fascist troops to the Arkhangelsk-Volga line 6-8 weeks after the start of the war.
3. Mark which of the battles refers to a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War:
1) for Berlin;
2) under Moscow;
3) Stalingrad;
4) for the Caucasus.
4. Outstanding military leaders during the Great Patriotic War were:
1) A.M. Vasilevsky; 3) V.I. Chapaev;
2) M.N. Tukhachevsky; 4) M.V. Frunze.
5. The partisan movement is characterized by:
1) the interaction of the main forces of the Red Army and partisan detachments;
2) insignificant scale of movement;
3) the absence of the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement;
4) the creation of partisan detachments spontaneously.
6. When did the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Kursk take place:
3) in the summer of 1944;
7. The second front was opened during the war :
1) in the Balkans; 3) in Africa;
2) in Normandy; 4) in Italy.
8. The restructuring of the economy on a war footing characterizes :
1) use of the economic base of the Urals and Western Siberia;
2) mass closure of camps and release of political prisoners;
3) introduction of payment by labor;
4) free transfer to another job.
9.
1) Warsaw; 3) Stockholm;
2) Amsterdam; 4) Athens.
10. During the Great Patriotic War, the USSR fought with:
1) Italy; 3) France;
2) England; 4) USA.
11 . In 1945, the USSR became part of:
1) Poland; 3) Bulgaria;
2) Serbia; 4) part of East Prussia.
12. Japan did not enter the war against the USSR in 1941 due to :
1) the situation on the Soviet-German front;
2) US entry into the war with Japan;
3) the unpreparedness of the Kwantung Army;
4) the fact that the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
13. Indicate which of the above is the reason for the victory of the USSR over the fascist
Germany and its allies:
1) the military weakness of Germany and its allies at the last stage of the war;
2) patriotism of Soviet citizens;
3) huge human and natural resources;
4) all of the above.
14. What memorable places do you know in the Belgorod region?
TESTS FOR CARRYING OUT
CONTROL WORK
On the topic: "The USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945."
OPTION - III
Choose the correct answer.
1. The reason for the failures of the Red Army at the beginning of the war:
1) evacuation of military factories beyond the Urals;
2) the destruction by the NKVD of the highest command of the Red Army;
3) militarization of the economy;
4) the destruction of the system of organs of the NKVD.
2. Which of the battles of the Great Patriotic War belongs to the period of a radical change:
1) defense of Sevastopol;
2) the battle near Moscow;
3) Stalingrad;
4) the battle for Berlin.
Z. Outstanding military leaders during the war years were:
1) V. K. Blucher; 3) K. K. Rokossovsky;
2) S. M. Budyonny; 4) M. V. Frunze.
4. During the Great Patriotic War:
1) the population received all products only through shops;
2) the population bought products on the market;
3) increased material incentives for labor;
4) subsidiary plots of collective farms expanded.
5. For the first time, the USSR's statement about the country's entry into the war against Japan was made at the conference:
1) in Tehran;
2) in Moscow;
3) in Yalta (Crimean);
4) in Potsdam.
6. For the partisan movement during the war yearsnot typical :
1) coverage of large areas; 2) creation of large connections;
3) small scale; 4) actions outside the USSR.
7. What was the name of the counterattack plan in the Oryol direction:
1) Kutuzov;
2) Commander Rumyantsev;
3) Bagration;
4) Ring;
5) Uranus.
8. In what year was the city of Belgorod liberated from the Nazis:
9. The state border has been restored throughout:
1) in the spring of 1944; 2) in the summer of 1944;
3) in the autumn of 1944; 4) in the winter of 1945
10. AT 1945 became part of the USSR:
1) Eastern Ukraine; 2) Western Ukraine;
3) Western Belarus; 4) Transcarpathia.
11 . During the Great Patriotic War of the USSR did not fight
1) with Bulgaria; 2) with Turkey;
3) with Finland; 4) with Italy.
12. During World War II, the Red Army liberated:
1) Tehran; 2) Budapest;
3) Milan; 4) Rome.
13. The reasons for the victory of the USSR over Germany include:
1) the military weakness of Germany and its allies;
2) conducting military operations in winter;
3) successful reorganization of the Red Army on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War;
4) independence of partisan detachments.
14 . After the end of the war, changes took place in Europe:
1) the territory of East Prussia is divided between Poland and the USSR;
2) the Rhineland is annexed to France;
3) the Baltic countries are attached to the USSR;
4) Western Ukraine is separated from the USSR.
Answers
for test tasks for control work
on the topic "USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945."
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
1) - 3
1) - 3
1) - 2
2) - 4
2) - 3
2) - 3
3) - 1
3) - 3
3) - 3
4) - 4
4) - 1
4) - 2
5) - 1
5) - 1
5) - 1
6) - 1
6) - 1
6) - 3
7) - 5
7) - 2
7) - 1
8) - 3
8) - 1
8) - 1
9) - 3
9) - 1
9) - 3
10) -1
10) -1
10) -4
11) -3
11) -4
11) -2
12) -1
12) -1
12) -2
13) -2
13) -1
13) -3
14) -1
14) - Prokhorovskoe field, Eternal flame, Mass grave, etc.
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, the result of which was 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 the millionth Kwantung Army, threatening with 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.
No matter how the events of the Second World War are now interpreted and its history is not rewritten, the fact remains: having liberated the territory of the USSR from the Nazi invaders, the Red Army fulfilled the liberation mission - it returned freedom to 11 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe with a population of 113 million people .
At the same time, without disputing the contribution of the Allies to the victory over German Nazism at the same time, it is obvious that the Soviet Union and its Red Army did play a decisive contribution to the liberation of Europe. This is evidenced by the fact that the most fierce battles in 1944-1945, when, finally, on June 6, 1944, the second front was opened, nevertheless took place in the Soviet-German direction.
As part of the liberation mission, the Red Army carried out 9 strategic offensive operations, the beginning of which was laid by Yasso-Kishinevskaya (August 20-29, 1944).
During the operations carried out by the Red Army on the territory of European countries, significant Wehrmacht forces were defeated. For example, there are over 170 enemy divisions in Poland, 25 German and 22 Romanian divisions in Romania, more than 56 divisions in Hungary, and 122 divisions in Czechoslovakia.
The beginning of the liberation mission was initiated by the restoration on March 26, 1944 of the State border of the USSR and the crossing of the Soviet-Romanian border by the Red Army in the area of the Prut River following the results of the Uman-Botoshansky operation of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. Then the Soviet troops restored a small - only 85 km - segment of the USSR border.
It is noteworthy that a regiment stepped in to protect the liberated section of the border, the border guards of which took the first battle here on June 22, 1941. And the very next day, on March 27, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front crossed the Soviet-Romanian border, thereby proceeding to the direct liberation of Romania from the Nazis .
For about seven months, the Red Army liberated Romania - this was the longest stage of the liberation mission. From March to October 1944, more than 286 thousand Soviet soldiers shed their blood here, of which 69 thousand people died.
The significance of the Yasso-Kishinev operation on August 20-29, 1944, in the liberation mission, is due to the fact that during it the main forces of the Army Group "Southern Ukraine" were defeated and Romania was withdrawn from the war on the side of Nazi Germany, real prerequisites were created for the liberation of it itself, as well as other countries of southeastern Europe.
It is noteworthy that the operation itself is called the Yasso-Chisinau Cannes. It was carried out so brilliantly that it testified to the military talent of the Soviet military leaders who led this operation, as well as the high qualities, including professional and moral, of the commanders, and, of course, of His Majesty the Soviet Soldier.
The Iasi-Chisinau operation had a great influence on the further course of the war in the Balkans. Although the liberation of Romania itself continued until the end of October 1944, already in early September 1944, the Red Army began to liberate Bulgaria. The results of the operation had a demoralizing effect on its then leadership. Therefore, already on September 6-8, power in most cities and towns in Bulgaria passed to the anti-fascist Fatherland Front. On September 8, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, General F.I. Tolbukhin crossed the Romanian-Bulgarian border and, in fact, without a single shot, advanced through its territory. On September 9, the liberation of Bulgaria was completed. Thus, in fact, the liberation mission of the Red Army in Bulgaria was completed in two days.
Subsequently, Bulgarian troops took part in hostilities against Germany in the territory of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria.
The liberation of Bulgaria created the prerequisites for the liberation of Yugoslavia. It should be noted that Yugoslavia is one of the few states that dared to challenge Nazi Germany back in 1941. It is noteworthy that it was here that the most powerful partisan movement in Europe was deployed, which diverted the significant forces of Nazi Germany and the collaborators of Yugoslavia itself. Despite the fact that the territory of the country was occupied, a significant part of it was under the control of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia under the leadership of I. Tito. Initially turning to the British for help and not receiving it, Tito wrote a letter to I. Stalin on July 5, 1944, wishing the Red Army to help the NOAU drive out the Nazis.
This became possible in September-October 1944. As a result of the Belgrade offensive, the troops of the Red Army, in cooperation with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, defeated the German army group "Serbia", liberated the eastern and northeastern regions of Yugoslavia with its capital Belgrade (October 20).
Thus, favorable conditions were created for the preparation and conduct of the Budapest operation, which began 9 days after the liberation of Belgrade (October 29, 1944) and continued until February 13.
Unlike Yugoslavia, Hungary, like Romania and Bulgaria, was actually a satellite of Nazi Germany. In 1939, she joined the Anti-Comintern Pact and participated in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, the attack on Yugoslavia and the USSR. Therefore, a significant part of the population of the country had fears that the Red Army would not liberate, but conquer Hungary.
In order to dispel these fears, the command of the Red Army in a special appeal assured the population that it was entering Hungarian soil "not as a conqueror, but as a liberator of the Hungarian people from the German fascist yoke."
By December 25, 1944, the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts surrounded the 188,000th enemy grouping in Budapest. On January 18, 1945, the eastern part of the city of Pest was liberated, and on February 13, Buda.
As a result of another strategic offensive operation - Bolotonska (March 6 - 15, 1945), the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, with the participation of the 1st Bulgarian and 3rd Yugoslav armies, defeated the counteroffensive in the area north of about. Balaton grouping of German troops. The liberation of Hungary continued for 195 days. As a result of heavy battles and battles, the losses of Soviet troops here amounted to 320,082 people, of which 80,082 were irretrievable.
Soviet troops suffered even more significant losses during the liberation of Poland. More than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers gave their lives for its liberation, 1,416 thousand people were injured, almost half of all the losses of the Red Army during the liberation of Europe.
The liberation of Poland was overshadowed by the actions of the Polish government in exile, which initiated the uprising in Warsaw on August 1, 1944, inconsistent with the command of the Red Army.
The rebels counted on the fact that they would have to fight with the police and the rear. And I had to fight with experienced front-line soldiers and SS troops. The uprising was brutally suppressed on October 2, 1944. This is the price that Polish patriots had to pay for the ambitions of politicians.
The Red Army was able to begin the liberation of Poland only in 1945. The Polish direction, or rather the Warsaw-Berlin direction, was the main one from the beginning of 1945 until the end of the war. Only on the territory of Poland within its modern borders, the Red Army conducted five offensive operations: the Vistula-Oder, East Prussian, East Pomeranian, Upper Silesian and Lower Silesian.
The largest offensive operation in the winter of 1945 was the Vistula-Oder operation (January 12 - February 3, 1945). Its goal was to complete the liberation of Poland from the Nazi occupiers and create favorable conditions for a decisive offensive against Berlin.
During the 20 days of the offensive, Soviet troops completely defeated 35 enemy divisions, and 25 divisions suffered losses from 60 to 75% of their personnel. An important result of the operation was the liberation of Warsaw on January 17, 1945 by the joint efforts of the Soviet and Polish troops. On January 19, the troops of the 59th and 60th armies liberated Krakow. The Nazis intended to turn the city into a second Warsaw by mining it. Soviet troops saved the architectural monuments of this ancient city. On January 27, Auschwitz was liberated - the largest factory for the extermination of people, which was created by the Nazis.
The final battle of the Great Patriotic War - the Berlin offensive operation - is one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Second World War. More than 300 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers laid down their heads here. Without dwelling on the analysis of the operation itself, I would like to note a number of facts that emphasize the liberating nature of the mission of the Red Army.
On April 20, the assault on the Reichstag was launched - and on the same day, food supply points for the population of Berlin were deployed on the outskirts of Berlin. Yes, the act of unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany was signed, but Germany itself, today's Germany, hardly considers itself the losing side.
On the contrary, for Germany it was liberation from Nazism. And if we draw an analogy with the events of another great war - the First World War, when in 1918 Germany was actually brought to its knees, then it is obvious that following the results of the Second World War, Germany, although it was divided, nevertheless was not humiliated and it was not subject to unbearable reparations, as was the case at the end of the Treaty of Versailles.
Therefore, despite the acuteness of the situation that developed after 1945, the fact that for more than half a century in Europe the “cold war” did not transform into a “hot” World War III seems to be a consequence of the decisions taken at the Potsdam Conference and their implementation in practice. And, of course, the liberation mission of our Red Army also made a certain contribution to this.
The main result of the final operations of the Red Army on the territory of a number of countries in Central, South-Eastern and Northern Europe was the restoration of their independence and state sovereignty. The military successes of the Red Army provided the political conditions for the creation of the Yalta-Potsdam system of international legal relations with the most active participation of the USSR, which determined the world order for many decades and guaranteed the inviolability of borders in Europe.
Bocharnikov Igor Valentinovich
(From a speech at the International Scientific Conference "Iasi-Chisinau Operation: Myths and Realities" on September 15, 2014).
Old and new perception stereotypes in Russia and the West
The topic is constantly raised in the European information space "outrages" Red Army on the territory of the Third Reich occupied by it in 1945. How does this relate to reality – past and present? The main thing is being squeezed out of the historical memory of the Second World War - that the USSR and the Soviet people saved Europe from the destruction of entire states and peoples, and even democracy itself, at the cost of colossal losses and victims, unprecedented suffering and destruction on Soviet soil and incredible exertion of forces. Moreover, in the western zones of occupation of Germany, as documents show, there was by no means that idyll, the image of which is inspired today in the public consciousness. Eisenhower radio address "We come as winners!" meant both "the right of the victorious" and "woe to the vanquished." "Paradise life" in the Western sectors sometimes turned out to be such that even frightened by propaganda about "Russian atrocities" refugees returned to areas occupied by Soviet troops.
In January-February 1945, Soviet troops entered German soil. The day you've been waiting for so long has arrived. The thirst for revenge on the enemy "in his own lair" was one of the dominant moods in the troops, especially since it was fueled for a long time and purposefully by official propaganda.
Long before the army approached the enemy border, passing through their native land tormented by the invaders, seeing tortured women and children, burned and destroyed cities and villages, Soviet soldiers swore to take revenge on the invaders a hundredfold and thought about the time when they would enter enemy territory. And when it happened, there were – couldn't be – psychological breakdowns, especially among those who lost their loved ones and their homes. Acts of revenge were inevitable. And it was necessary to make special efforts to prevent their wide distribution.
January 19, 1945 Stalin signed a special order "On Conduct in Germany" which read: “Officers and Red Army soldiers! We are going to the country of the enemy. Everyone must maintain self-control, everyone must be brave ... The remaining population in the conquered areas, whether German, Czech, Pole, should not be subjected to violence. The guilty will be punished according to the laws of war. In the conquered territory, sexual intercourse with the female sex is not allowed. For violence and rape, the perpetrators will be shot.”.
The order was communicated to every soldier. In addition to its development, the command and political agencies of the fronts, formations and formations drew up relevant documents. These were the settings of the victorious army, but here's how Germany planned its actions in the occupied territories in 1941
According to the prescriptions of Dr. Goebbels
One of the most widespread anti-Russian myths in the West today is the topic of mass rapes allegedly committed by the Red Army in 1945 in Europe. It originates from the end of the war - from Goebbels' propaganda, and then from the publications of the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, who soon turned into opponents of the USSR in the Cold War.On March 2, 1945, J. Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda of the Third Reich, wrote in his diary: “... in fact, in the face of Soviet soldiers, we are dealing with steppe scum. This is confirmed by the reports of atrocities that have come to us from the eastern regions. They are truly terrifying. They cannot even be played separately. First of all, we should mention the terrible documents that came from Upper Silesia. In some villages and cities, all women from ten to 70 years old were subjected to countless rapes. It seems that this is done by order from above, since one can see an obvious system in the behavior of the Soviet soldiery. Against this we will now launch a broad campaign at home and abroad.” .
On March 13, a new entry appears: “The war in the east will now be guided by only one feeling - the feeling of revenge. Now all compatriots believe that the Bolsheviks are committing atrocities. There is no longer a person who would ignore our warnings.". March, 25: “Published reports of Soviet atrocities have provoked anger and a desire for revenge everywhere” .
Later, the assistant to the Reichskommissar Goebbels, Dr. Werner Naumann, admits: “Our propaganda about the Russians and what the population should expect from them in Berlin was so successful that we brought the Berliners to a state of extreme horror,” but “we overdid it - our propaganda hit us with a ricochet by ourselves". The German population had long been psychologically prepared for the image of an animalistically cruel "subhuman" and was ready to believe in any crimes of the Red Army.
“In an atmosphere of horror, on the verge of panic, fueled by the stories of refugees, reality was distorted, and rumors defeated facts and common sense. Terrible stories of the most nightmarish atrocities crawled through the city. Russians were described as narrow-eyed Mongols, ruthlessly and without hesitation killing women and children. It was said that priests were burned alive with flamethrowers, nuns were raped and then driven naked through the streets. They were afraid that women were turned into prostitutes, moving after military units, and men were sent to hard labor in Siberia. They even said on the radio that the Russians were nailing the tongues of the victims to the tables.
According to an Australian war correspondent Osmar White, "Goebbels' propaganda ... drove into the heads of the Germans a paranoid fear of the" hordes from the East ". When the Red Army approached the outskirts of Berlin, a wave of suicides swept the city. According to some estimates, in May-June 1945 between 30,000 and 40,000 Berliners voluntarily died» .
In his diaries, he wrote that “there was nothing new in Russophobia. The troops faced this all the way from the Rhine as they met thousands of people fleeing to the West and panic-stricken people. Russians are coming! Whatever it was, but you need to run away from them! When it was possible to question any of them, it almost always turned out that they knew nothing about the Russians. They were told so. They heard it from a friend, brother or relative who served on the Eastern Front. Well, of course, Hitler lied to them! His theories about a superior race were absurd, his claims that the British were decadent and that the Jews were subhuman, feeding on decayed brains, were lies. But, speaking of the Bolsheviks, the Fuhrer was right!»
At the same time, the allied media took up the initiative in promoting anti-Soviet horrors. Moreover, “the anti-Russian hysteria was so strong, there were so many stories about Russian atrocities that the head of the Anglo-American Bureau of Public Relations (PR) found it necessary to gather correspondents in order to give "clarification": “Remember,” he said, “that there is a strong and organized movement among the Germans aimed at sowing the seeds of mistrust among the allies. The Germans are convinced that they will benefit from a split between us. I want to warn you that to you did not believe the German stories about Russian atrocities without careful verification of their authenticity. But the Cold War was brewing. And already in 1946, Austin Epp's pamphlet "The Rape of the Women of Conquered Europe" was published in the USA.
In 1947, Ralph Killing published in Chicago the book Terrible Harvest. A costly attempt to exterminate the people of Germany”, which was based on press reports about “outrages in the Soviet zone of occupation” and materials from hearings in the American Parliament on the actions of the Red Army in post-war Germany. The rhetoric of the latter is especially revealing: “Bolshevized Mongol and Slavic hordes came from the East, immediately raping women and girls, infecting them with venereal diseases, impregnating them with the future race of Russian-German half-bloods ...” .
The next notable publications on this topic are the books by the German Erich Kube "Russians in Berlin, 1945" and the American Cornelius Ryan "The Last Battle: Storming Berlin through the eyes of eyewitnesses"; both come out in the mid 60s. Here the age range of the victims increases even in comparison with the statements of Goebbels: in the offensive zone of the Red Army, "every woman from eight to eighty years is threatened with rape." Subsequently, it is this figure that will regularly “emerge” in the publications of the Western media already at the beginning of the 21st century. However, wondering "how many women were raped" and admitting that "no one knows," Ryan says that "doctors give numbers between 20,000 and 100,000." Compared to the figures that his followers will claim, these will seem incredibly modest ...
A new surge of interest in "raped Germany" occurs in the early 90s after the collapse of the USSR. So, “in united Germany, they hastily began to print books and make films stigmatizing the Red Army and the Communists for the“ crimes of 1945 ”. For example, the famous documentary “Liberators and the Liberated. War, Violence, Children” (1992), filmed by Helke Zander and Barbara Yor, where a video sequence from the military chronicle, recordings of memories, combined with musical accompaniment, produce a strong emotional impact on the viewer.”
In the same year, a book of the same name was published in Munich, which Anthony Beevor would later actively refer to. Among the best known are Alfred de Zayas' A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of East European Germans, 1944-1950 published in New York in 1994 and Norman M. Neimark's Russians in Germany. History of the Soviet zone of occupation. 1945-1949". Well, and so on.
In our country, this topic has been slightly touched upon since perestroika and glasnost in connection with references to it in the works of eminent dissidents Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Lev Kopelev. But the real information boom began in the mid-2000s, when “the wave of anti-Russian books quickly enough transferred to newspapers of the corresponding orientation, which happily began to reproduce descriptions of the horrors of“ raped Germany ”for various military anniversaries. The topic became especially fashionable after the publication in 2002 of the book “The Fall of Berlin. 1945" by the English historian Anthony Beevor, who called "absolutely fantastic data on the number of women who became victims of Soviet soldiers". After the publication of the book in Russian, myth about mass rapes began to be actively exaggerated in the Russian liberal press and on the Russian-language Internet.
Very soon it became clear that the accusations of the Red Army in crimes against the civilian population of Germany and the calls to modern Russia to "realize and repent" signify a new stage in the struggle for the history of World War II and the revision of the role of the Soviet Union in it.
The peak of massive attacks on the role of the USSR in World War II came in 2005, the year of the 60th anniversary of the Victory. The Western mass media reacted especially actively to this information occasion. So, Konstantin Eggert from the BBC complained that "the war remains the only bright spot of the Soviet period of history for the majority of the population of Russia, and therefore it is declared outside the zone of critical study and discussion ..." And, calling on Russia to "rethink the past ”, rather frankly hinted that “only a deep national crisis can today return Russians to the situation of the late eighties, when the discussion about Soviet history, interrupted in the nineties, was in full swing” .
In a special review by RIA Novosti, prepared on the basis of monitoring the television and radio broadcasts of 86 foreign radio stations and television companies on April 19, 2005, it was stated: “Information fuss about the historical interpretation of the Great Patriotic War is not complete without an arsenal of horror propaganda. The reliance of journalists on subjective memoirs, the personal experience of former participants in the battles and frank conjectures of Goebbels' propaganda leads to the fact that images associated with revenge, hatred and violence come to the fore, which do little to consolidate public opinion and resurrect former foreign policy attitudes. The presence of the "dark side" of the liberation feat of the Red Army is postulated, which is allegedly hushed up in modern Russia.
"Scientific" methods of Mr. E. Beevor and Co.
In this context, the mythology regarding the mass rape of German women by Soviet soldiers, allegedly in the absence of such facts in the offensive zone of the Western Allies, took a special place and was actively discussed by the Western media. In particular, the mentioned book by Anthony Beevor "The Fall of Berlin, 1945" in 2002 caused a whole series of scandalous publications.Yes, in the paper The Daily Telegraph in an article under the eloquent title "Red Army troops even raped Russian women whom they released from the camps," it said: "Soviet soldiers considered rape, often carried out in front of a woman's husband and family members, as a suitable way to humiliate the German nation, which considered the Slavs an inferior race , with whom sexual contacts were not encouraged. Russian patriarchal society and the habit of revelry also played a role, but more important was the indignation at the sight of the relatively high welfare of the Germans.
The article provoked an angry letter to the editors of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the UK, Grigory Karasin, dated January 25, 2002.
The "scientific conscientiousness" of the English author can be judged by a specific example. The following text caused the greatest excitement in the Western media: “The most shocking, from the Russian point of view, are the facts of violence by Soviet soldiers and officers committed against Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian women and girls released from German work camps” with reference to my book “Psychology wars in the 20th century. The historical experience of Russia".
In the monograph of the author of the article we read something that can be indirectly attributed to the issue raised by Mr. Beevor: “Worldview attitudes and the moral and socio-psychological qualities resulting from them were also manifested in relation to the enemy. Already in the spring of 1942, in one of the divisional newspapers of the Karelian Front, there was an essay by a Red Army soldier under the eloquent heading "We have learned to hate." And this just hatred was one of the dominant feelings in the active Soviet Army throughout the war.
However, depending on its specific stage and the conditions associated with it, the attitude towards the enemy acquired various shades. So, a new, more complex range of feelings began to manifest itself in Soviet soldiers and officers in connection with the transfer of hostilities outside our country, to foreign, including enemy, territory. Many military personnel believed that as winners they could afford everything, including arbitrariness against the civilian population.
Negative phenomena in the liberating army caused tangible damage to the prestige of the Soviet Union and its armed forces, could adversely affect future relations with the countries through which our troops passed. The Soviet command had to pay attention again and again to the state of discipline in the troops, conduct explanatory conversations with personnel, adopt special directives and issue harsh orders. The Soviet Union had to show the peoples of Europe that it was not the "horde of Asians" that had entered their land, but the army of a civilized state. Therefore, purely criminal offenses in the eyes of the leadership of the USSR acquired a political coloring. In this regard, on the personal instructions of Stalin, several show trials were held with the death sentences for the guilty, and the NKVD authorities regularly informed the military command about their measures to combat the facts of robbery against the civilian population ... ".
Well, where are the "facts of violence by Soviet soldiers and officers committed against Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian women and girls liberated from German work camps"? Perhaps, Mr. Beevor meant that this was mentioned in the work of M.I. Semiryaga, to which I refer? But there is nothing of the kind there: neither on pages 314-315, nor on any others! However, in the West, Mr. Beevor's statements are regarded as absolutely reliable.
So, K. Eggert in the article “Memory and Truth”, written in 2005 for the BBC project on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, wrote: “When Anthony Beevor’s book “The Fall of Berlin” (now translated in Russia by the AST publishing house), the Russian ambassador to the UK, Grigory Karasin, wrote an angry letter to the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The diplomat accused the well-known military historian of slandering the glorious feat of Soviet soldiers. Cause? Beevor, based on documents from the main military archive in Podolsk, spoke, among other things, about the atrocities that Soviet soldiers committed in liberated Poland, East Prussia and in Berlin itself. Historians from the Russian Academy of Sciences condemned the book "The Fall of Berlin" almost before the ambassador. Meanwhile, the reference apparatus of Beevor's book is in perfect order: incoming and outgoing numbers of reports, a folder, a shelf, and so on. That is, you cannot accuse a writer of lying.
But if such an obvious fraud is allowed in this particular example, where is the guarantee that the other so-called facts given in Mr. Beevor's book are not fabricated according to the same "method"? Many falsifications are based on this simple calculation: the reference apparatus looks solid and convincing, especially for an inexperienced reader, and it is unlikely that anyone will check each of the 1007 author's footnotes in the archive and library ...
However, some check- and find a lot of interesting things. It was with the light hand of Beevor that the “accurate statistics” were launched and subsequently replicated in thousands of publications - two million German women were raped, of which one hundred thousand were in Berlin.
In his book, he writes: “Berliners remember the piercing screams at night that were heard in houses with broken windows. According to the estimates of the two main Berlin hospitals, the number of victims raped by Soviet soldiers ranges from ninety-five to one hundred and thirty thousand people. One Doctor concluded that approximately one hundred thousand women had been raped in Berlin alone. And about ten thousand of them died mainly as a result of suicide. The number of deaths throughout East Germany must be much higher if one takes into account the 1400,000 rapes in East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia. It appears that in total about two million German women were raped, many of whom (if not most) suffered this humiliation several times.
At the same time, he refers to the book “Liberators and Liberated” by Helke Sander and Barbara Yohr, where the calculations are made on the data not of “the two main Berlin hospitals”, but one children's clinic, i.e. "to add solidity" makes quite a conscious twitch. Not to mention the fact that these data are very doubtful, since the system of calculations by Barbara Yor, based on an arbitrary extrapolation of the number of children whose fathers are named Russians, born in 1945 and 1946. and examined in one Berlin clinic, on the total number of female population of East Germany aged "from 8 to 80 years", does not stand up to scrutiny. The result of such a "generalization" of individual cases implies that "every 6th East German woman, regardless of age, was raped by the Red Army at least once."
But even where E. Beevor refers to real archival documents, this does not prove anything. The Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation does indeed store materials from political departments with reports that contain the minutes of Red Army, Komsomol and party meetings describing cases of deviant behavior of servicemen. These are chubby folders, the contents of which are solid rubbish. But they were completed precisely “thematically”, as evidenced by their very names: “Emergency events and immoral phenomena” for such and such a period in such and such a military unit. By the way, these names already show that such phenomena were considered by the army leadership not as a behavioral norm, but as extraordinary event requiring decisive action.
There are also materials of military tribunals in the archive - investigation cases, sentences, etc., where you can find many negative examples, because it is there that such information is concentrated. But the fact is that the perpetrators of these crimes amounted to no more than 2% of the total number of servicemen. And authors like Mr. Beevor extend their accusations to the entire Soviet Army as a whole. Unfortunately, not only foreign ones. It is noteworthy that Beevor's book was translated into Russian and published in Russia in 2004, just on the eve of the anniversary of the Victory.
In 2005, another "revealing sensation" from the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition followed: "... in the West, a new book by the British military historian Max Hastings" Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 ", dedicated to the crimes of the Soviet Army against peaceful population of Germany and German prisoners of war. The historian draws literally the ritual retribution inflicted by the Soviet Army on the Germans who were losing the war, and even calls it "primitive" rape "of an entire nation" .
In 2006, a book by the German author Joachim Hoffmann “Stalin's War of Extermination (1941-1945)” was published in Russian. Planning, Implementation, Documents”, which has been widely distributed abroad since the mid-1990s and has gone through four editions only in Germany. At the same time, the preface to the Russian edition states that this work “is one of the best historical studies of the “dark spots” of the Soviet-German war”, and its author is “one of the most prominent representatives of the direction of West German historical science, which defended the postulate that in 1941 -1945, the war was fought between two criminal regimes: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR.
Naturally, several chapters are devoted to the last months of the war from a very specific angle, as evidenced by their titles: "No mercy, no condescension." Atrocities of the Red Army during the advance on German soil”, “Woe to you, Germany!” Atrocities find their continuation. The list of literature of this kind, reviving the spirit and letter of Goebbels' propaganda in the new historical conditions, can be continued for quite some time.
Information warfare in electronic media
A real information war has unfolded in the vastness of the Russian-language Internet. So, in May 2005, a certain Yu. Nesterenko wrote an article “Day of National Shame”, initiating an indefinite action “Anti-Victory”, within which “numerous testimonies of the monstrous crimes of the Soviet“ liberators ”(who often surpassed the worst acts of the Nazis in cruelty )": "...Instead of inflating another propaganda hysteria and demanding gratitude from the raped for the pleasure, we must put an end to the practice of many years of hypocritical lies and double standards, stop honoring the servants of the criminal regime and repent before all those who innocently suffered from the actions of "soldiers- liberators” – this is the main message of the organizer of the action.In May 2009, also on the eve of Victory Day, A. Shiropaev’s provocative post “The Grave of the Unknown Rapist” appeared, exposing our veterans as pedophile rapists, which received a huge number of comments and hung in the top of Yandex for a long time. On Wikipedia, many pages are directly or indirectly devoted to the topic of rape at the end of the war: “Violence against the civilian population of Germany (1945)”, “Deportation of Germans after World War II”, “German population in East Prussia after World War II” , "Murder in Nemmersdorf", "The Fall of Berlin. 1945" and others.
And the radio station "Echo of Moscow" (2009) in the program "Price of Victory" twice broadcast on "painful topics" - "The Wehrmacht and the Red Army against the civilian population" (February 16) and "The Red Army on German territory" (October 26) , inviting G. Bordyugov and the infamous M. Solonin to the studio. Finally, in 2010, the year of the 65th anniversary of the Victory, another anti-Russian wave arose that swept across Europe and was especially noticeable in Germany.
“Sometimes a pitiful thought slips through the Russian Internet that the Germans are so poor, they are tired of repenting,” writes A. Tyurin on Pravaya.ru. “There is no need to worry, even under the anti-fascist Chancellor Willy Brandt, Germany did not apologize for its crimes committed in Russia.”
And he shares his observations with readers: “While the German chancellor was looking at the Victory Parade, a Russophobic orgy was raging in Germany. The Russians who defeated Hitler were shown as a horde of subhumans - quite according to Goebbels' patterns. For three days in a row I watched programs on German state and commercial information channels dedicated to the end of World War II in Europe and the first post-war weeks. There are a lot of programs, both documentary and artistic. The general theme is this. Americans are humanists, breadwinners... Russians are robbers and rapists. The theme of the crimes of the Wehrmacht against the civilian population of the USSR is absent. The number of dead Soviet people in the zone of German-Romanian-Finnish occupation is not given.
Having taken Berlin, the Russians feed the poor Berliners badly, bring them to dystrophy, but they drag everything in a row and rape them. And here the artistic television series “One Woman in Berlin” is characteristic (central channel ZDF). The Russians are shown not as an army, but as a horde. Against the background of thin, pale, spiritualized German faces, these terrible Russian muzzles, gaping mouths, thick cheeks, greasy eyes, nasty smiles. The horde is precisely Russian, there are no nationalists, except for one Asian soldier, whom the Russians call "hey, Mongol."
Similar propaganda cliches splashed into art, emotionally affect the audience, are firmly fixed in the mass consciousness, form not only a distorted "retrospective" view of the events of the Second World War, but also image of modern Russia and Russians.
At the same time, as a result of a powerful information war, the term “liberation mission” itself is subjected to the most violent attacks by anti-Russian forces both in the West and within the country. The desire to rewrite the history of the Second World War comes from the states of the former socialist bloc, which today turned out to be NATO members, and from the former Soviet republics of the USSR, gravitating towards the West, and from the countries that were former opponents of the USSR in World War II, and from the countries that were former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.
The general leitmotif of these attacks is an attempt to replace “liberation” with “occupation”, the desire to present the liberation mission of the USSR in Europe as a “new enslavement” of countries that have fallen into the sphere of Soviet influence, accusations not only against the USSR and the Soviet Army, but also against Russia as the legal successor of the Soviet Union in the imposition of totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, in crimes against the civilian population, the requirements for it " confess" and " to pay damages».
Limits of hate, limits of revenge
However, the morality of war is completely different from the morality of peacetime. And it is possible to evaluate those events only in a general historical context, without dividing, and even more so, without substituting cause and effect. It is impossible to put an equal sign between the victim of aggression and the aggressor, especially one whose goal was the destruction of entire nations. Fascist Germany itself placed itself outside morality and outside the law. Should we be surprised at the acts of spontaneous revenge on the part of those whose loved ones she cold-bloodedly and methodically destroyed for several years in the most sophisticated and savage ways?During the Great Patriotic War, the theme of retribution was one of the central ones in agitation and propaganda, as well as in the thoughts and feelings of the Soviet people. Long before the army approached the enemy border, passing through their native land tormented by the occupiers, seeing tortured women and children, burned and destroyed cities and villages, Soviet soldiers swore to take revenge on the invaders a hundredfold and often thought about the time when they would enter enemy territory. And when it happened, they were - they couldn't help but be! - psychological breakdowns, especially among those who have lost their families.
In January-February 1945, Soviet troops launched the Vistula-Oder and East Prussian offensive operations and entered German soil. “Here it is, damn Germany!”- wrote on one of the home-made shields near the burned-out house a Russian soldier who was the first to cross the border. The day you've been waiting for so long has arrived. And at every step, Soviet soldiers came across things with our factory marks, stolen by the Nazis; compatriots released from captivity spoke about the horrors and abuses they experienced in German slavery. The German inhabitants, who supported Hitler and welcomed the war, shamelessly used the fruits of the robbery of other peoples, did not expect that the war would return to where it started - to the territory of Germany. And now these "civilian" the Germans, frightened and ingratiating, with white bandages on their sleeves, were afraid to look into the eyes, expecting retribution for everything that their army had done in a foreign land.
The thirst for revenge on the enemy "in his own lair" was one of the dominant moods in the troops, especially since it was fueled for a long time and purposefully by official propaganda. On the eve of the offensive, rallies and meetings were held in combat units on the topic “How will I take revenge on the German invaders”, “My personal account of revenge on the enemy”, where the principle of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!” was proclaimed the pinnacle of justice.
However, after our army went beyond the state border of the USSR, the Soviet government had a different kind of considerations, dictated by plans for a post-war structure in Europe. The political assessment "Hitlers come and go, but the German people, and the German state remains" (Order No. 55 of the People's Commissar of Defense of February 23, 1942) was actively adopted by propaganda and was of considerable importance for the formation of a new (and, in fact, reanimated old , pre-war) psychological attitude of the Soviet people towards the enemy. But it is one thing to understand this obvious truth with the mind, and quite another to rise above one's grief and hatred, not to give free rein to the blind thirst for revenge. The clarifications of the political departments that followed at the beginning of 1945 about “how one should behave” on German territory came as a surprise to many and were often rejected.
Here is how the front-line writer D. Samoilov recalled this: “The slogan “Kill the German!”” solved the old question by the method of Tsar Herod. And all the years of the war was not in doubt. “Clarification” on April 17 (an article by Aleksandrov, the then head of our propaganda, which criticized the position of Ilya Ehrenburg - “Kill the German!” - and interpreted the question of the responsibility of the German nation for the war in a new way) and especially Stalin’s words about Hitler and the people were, as it were, canceled previous look. The army, however, understood the political implications of these statements. Her emotional state and moral concepts could not accept pardon and amnesty for the people who brought so many misfortunes to Russia.
The pattern of hatred for Germany on the part of the Soviet troops entering its territory was understood at that time by the Germans themselves. Here is what 16-year-old Dieter Borkovsky wrote in his diary on April 15, 1945 about the mood of the Berlin population: There were many women on the train with us - refugees from the Russian-occupied eastern districts of Berlin. They dragged with them all their possessions: a stuffed backpack. Nothing else. Horror froze on their faces, anger and despair filled people! I have never heard such curses before ... Then someone yelled, blocking the noise: “Quiet!” We saw a nondescript, dirty soldier wearing two iron crosses and a gold German cross. On his sleeve he had a patch with four small metal tanks, which meant that he had knocked out 4 tanks in close combat.
“I want to tell you something,” he shouted, and there was silence in the train car. “Even if you don't want to listen! Stop whining! We must win this war, we must not lose courage. If others win - Russians, Poles, French, Czechs - and at least for one percent if they do to our people what we have done to them for six years in a row, then in a few weeks not a single German will be left alive. This is what the one who himself was in the occupied countries for six years is telling you!”. It became so quiet in the train that one could hear a hairpin fall.
This soldier knew what he was talking about. Acts of revenge were inevitable. The leadership of the Soviet Army took severe measures against violence and atrocities against the German population, declaring such actions criminal and unacceptable, and bringing those responsible to trial by a military tribunal up to and including execution.
On January 19, 1945, Stalin signed a special order "On Conduct on the Territory of Germany". The order was communicated to every soldier. In addition to its development, the command and political agencies of the fronts, formations and formations drew up relevant documents. So, having entered the lands of East Prussia, on January 21, 1945, the commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky issued Order No. 006, designed to "direct the feeling of hatred of people to exterminate the enemy on the battlefield", punishing for looting, violence, robbery, senseless arson and destruction. The danger of such phenomena for the morale and combat effectiveness of the army was noted.
On January 27, the same order was issued by the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal I.S. Konev. On January 29, in all battalions of the 1st Belorussian Front, the order of the marshal was read G.K. Zhukov, which forbade the Red Army soldiers "to oppress the German population, rob apartments and burn houses." On April 20, 1945, a special directive from the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on the conduct of Soviet troops in Germany was adopted. And although “it was not completely possible to prevent cases of violence, they managed to contain it, and then reduce it to a minimum” .
Political workers themselves paid attention to the contradictions of political attitudes before and after entering enemy territory. This is evidenced by the speech on February 6, 1945 by the head of the Political Directorate of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Lieutenant General A.D. Okorokova at a meeting of employees of the department of agitation and propaganda of the front and Glavpur of the Red Army on the moral and political state of the Soviet troops on enemy territory: “... The question of hatred for the enemy. The mood of people now boils down to what they said, they say, one thing, but now it turns out another. When our political workers began to explain order No. 006, there were exclamations: is this not a provocation? In the division of General Kustov, during the interviews, there were such responses: “These are political workers! They told us one thing, and now another!”
Moreover, it must be said frankly that stupid political workers began to consider Order No. 006 as a turn in politics, as a refusal to take revenge on the enemy. We must wage a resolute fight against this, explaining that the feeling of hatred is our sacred feeling, that we have never given up revenge, that it is not a question of turning around, but of explain correctly question.
Of course, the influx of feelings of revenge among our people is enormous, and this influx of feelings has led our fighters to the lair of the fascist beast and will lead them further to Germany. But you can not equate revenge with drunkenness, arson. I burned down the house, and there is nowhere to put the wounded. Is this revenge? I wantonly destroy property. This is not an expression of revenge. We must explain that all property, livestock was won with the blood of our people, that we must take all this to ourselves and, through this, to some extent strengthen the economy of our state in order to become even stronger than the Germans.
The soldier just needs clarify, to tell him simply that we have conquered it and must treat the conquered in a businesslike way. Explain that if you kill some old German woman in the rear, then the death of Germany will not accelerate from this. Here is a German soldier - destroy him, and take the surrendering prisoner to the rear. Direct the feeling of hatred of people to exterminate the enemy on the battlefield. And our people understand this. One said that I was ashamed of what I used to think - I would burn the house and by this I would take revenge.
Our Soviet people are organized and they will understand the essence of the matter. Now there is a decree of the GKO that all able-bodied German men from 17 to 55 years old be mobilized into work battalions and sent with our officer cadres to Ukraine and Belarus for restoration work. When we truly instill in a fighter a feeling of hatred for the Germans, then the fighter will not climb a German woman, because he will be disgusted. Here we will need to correct the shortcomings, direct the feeling of hatred towards the enemy in the right direction» .
And indeed, a lot of work had to be done to change the attitude of the army to the revenge of Germany, which was formed by the course of the war itself and the previous political work. I had to again breed the concepts of "fascist" and "German" in the minds of people.
“The political departments are doing a lot of work among the troops, explaining how to behave with the population, distinguishing incorrigible enemies from honest people with whom we probably still have to work a lot. Who knows, maybe they will still have to help restore everything that was destroyed by the war, - wrote in the spring of 1945 an employee of the headquarters of the 1st Guards Tank Army E.S. Katukov. - To tell the truth, many of our fighters hardly accept this line of tactful treatment of the population, especially those whose families suffered from the Nazis during the occupation. But our discipline is strict. Probably years will pass, and much will change. We will, perhaps, even visit the Germans to look at the current battlefields. But much before that must burn out and boil in the soul, everything that we experienced from the Nazis, all these horrors, is still too close ... ".
Various kinds of "emergency events and immoral phenomena" in the units of the advancing Red Army were carefully recorded by special departments, military prosecutors, political workers, were suppressed if possible and severely punished. However, they messed around mostly rear and cursers. The combat units were simply not up to it - they fought. Their hatred spilled out on the enemy armed and resisting. And those who tried to stay away from the front line “fought” with women and old people.
Recalling the battles in East Prussia, Lev Kopelev, a former political worker, later a writer and dissident, said: “I don’t know the statistics: how many scoundrels, marauders, rapists there were among our soldiers, I don’t know. I'm sure they made tiny minority. However, it was they who made, so to speak, an indelible impression.
It should be noted that many soldiers and officers themselves resolutely fought against robberies and violence. The harsh sentences of the military tribunals also contributed to their suppression. According to the military prosecutor's office, “in the first months of 1945, 4,148 officers and a large number of privates were convicted by military tribunals for committing atrocities against the local population. Several show trials of military personnel ended with the death sentences for those responsible.
At the same time, if we turn to the documents German side, we will see that even before the start of the war against the USSR it was pre-announced that "in the fight against Bolshevism it is impossible to build relations with the enemy on the principles of humanism and international law", thereby initially any infringement was allowed international law in the future relations of the German troops to the civilian population and Soviet prisoners of war.
As one of the numerous examples of policy statements by the German leadership, let us quote the Decree of Hitler as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht of May 13, 1941 on military justice in the war with the Soviet Union: “There will be no mandatory prosecution for actions against enemy civilians committed by Wehrmacht military personnel and civilians, even if the act is a war crime or a misdemeanor... The judge prescribes the prosecution of acts against local residents in a military court order only when it comes to non-compliance with military discipline or a threat to the security of the troops.
Or let us recall the famous “Memo of a German Soldier” (which became one of the documents of the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials), where such “humane” calls were made: "Remember and do»:
1) ... No nerves, heart, pity - you are made of German iron ...
2) ... Destroy pity and compassion in yourself, kill every Russian, do not stop if there is an old man or a woman, a girl or a boy in front of you ...
3) ... We will bring the whole world to its knees ... The German is the absolute master of the world. You will decide the fate of England, Russia, America ... destroy all living things that resist on your way ... Tomorrow the whole world will kneel before you.
“At the end of the first day of my stay in Berlin,” he wrote in his diary, “I was sure that the city was dead. Human beings could not live in this horrendous pile of rubbish. By the end of the first week, my perceptions began to change. Society began to revive among the ruins. Berliners began to receive food and water in quantities sufficient to survive. More and more people were employed in public works carried out under the direction of the Russians. Thanks to the Russians, who have extensive experience in dealing with such problems in their own devastated cities, the spread of epidemics was brought under control. I am convinced that the Soviets in those days did more to keep Berlin alive than the Anglo-Americans could have done in their place.
Russian methods of maintaining order and achieving results in the most essential did not have such a deterrent as good-heartedness. They understood the psychology of the masses and knew that the sooner the Berliners were inspired to help themselves, the better it would be for everyone. A few days after the surrender, they supported the idea of publishing newspapers. Then they restored radio broadcasting, allowed the organization of entertainment events and announced that they would approve the creation of trade unions and democratic political parties ... ".
He goes on to write, focusing on the reactions of the Germans themselves: “Radio, newspapers, politics, concerts... The Russians wisely fueled the rebirth in the desert of despair. They are showed generosity to the followers of the monster lying in his lair under the mountains of rubble. But the Berliners did not look at the world the way the Russians would have liked. Whispering was heard everywhere: “Thank God that you - the British and Americans - came here. Russians are animals, they took away everything that was from me ... they rape, steal and shoot ... ".
In this regard, it is worth citing the story of one veteran, mortar N.A. Orlov, shocked by the behavior of the Germans (and German women) in 1945: “No one in the minbat killed civilian Germans. Our special officer was a "Germanophile". If this happened, then the reaction of the punitive authorities to such an excess would be quick. About violence against German women. It seems to me that some, when talking about such a phenomenon, “exaggerate” a little. I have a different kind of example. We went to some German city, settled in the houses. A frau, about 45 years old, appears and asks for "herr commandant." They brought her to Marchenko. She claims to be in charge of the quarter, and brought together 20 German women for sexual (!!!) service Russian soldiers. Marchenko understood the German language, and I translated the meaning of what the German woman said to the political officer Dolgoborodov who was standing next to me. The reaction of our officers was angry and obscene. The German woman was driven away, along with her “detachment” ready for service.
In general, German obedience stunned us. They expected guerrilla warfare and sabotage from the Germans. But for this nation, order - "Ordnung" - is above all. If you are a winner, then they are “on their hind legs”, moreover, consciously and not under duress. Here such a psychology. Once again I say, I do not remember that someone from my company raped a German woman. There are few people in the minrote, such “deeds” would sooner or later become known to their comrades. My tongue is my enemy, one of my own people would blurt out something, the main thing is not to the special officer ... ".
Continuing the theme of "German obedience", a few more documents should be cited. In the report of the Deputy Head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army Shikin to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks G.F. Aleksandrov of April 30, 1945 on the attitude of the civilian population of Berlin to the personnel of the Red Army troops said: “As soon as our units occupy one or another area of the city, the inhabitants begin to gradually take to the streets, almost all of them have white armbands on their sleeves. When meeting with our servicemen, many women raise their hands up, cry and tremble with fear, but as soon as they are convinced that the soldiers and officers of the Red Army are not at all the same as they were painted by their fascist propaganda, this fear quickly disappears, more and more population takes to the streets and offers their services, trying in every possible way to emphasize their loyal attitude to the Red Army ... ".
Zultsman R. Propaganda as a weapon in war // Results of the Second World War. Conclusions of the vanquished. St. Petersburg; M.: Polygon, AST, 1998. S. 536-537.
White O. Conquerors" Road: An Eyewitness Account of Germany 1945. Cambridge University Press, 2003. XVII. P. 221. All quotations are from the translation available at URL: http://www.argo.net.au/andre /osmarwhite.html
Cit. Quoted from: Mendkovich N. Who “raped Germany”? Actual history // URL: http://actualhistory.ru/51 , http://actualhistory.ru/52 , http://actualhistory.ru/91
Beevor A. Berlin. The Downfall 1945. L.: Viking, 2002. Russian edition: Beevor E. The Fall of Berlin. 1945. M., 2004. S. 530-531.
Eggert K. Memory and Truth // BBC Russian.com. URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/in_depth/newsid_4464000/4464595.stm
"Atrocities" of the Red Army, or the bloody trail of liberation: Russia on foreign television and radio // RIA Novosti. No. 046. 2005. April 6-19. S. 9.
Johnson D. Red Army troops raped even Russian women as they freed them from camps // The Daily Telegraph.2002. 25 January.
Karasin G. Lies and insinuations in an article published in The Daily Telegraph. Letter to the editor of The Daily Telegraph. 2002. January 25 // URL: http://www.inosmi.ru/translation/140008.html
Senyavskaya E.S. The psychology of war in the twentieth century: the historical experience of Russia. M.: ROS-SPEN, 1999. S. 183-184.
Sander H., Johr B. BeFreier und Befreite. Krieg, Vergewaltigung, Kinder. Minchen, 1992.
Petrov I. On the issue of "two million" // URL: http://labas.livejournal.com/ 771672.html?page=1#comments; awas1952: The Legend of the Rapists. Comment by drvanmogg // URL: http://awas1952.livejournal.com/104346.html?thread=7611802#t7611802; poltora_bobra – About how Russians “raped” German women // URL: http://poltora-bobra.livejournal.com/42605.html
Bordyugov G. "The war will write off everything"? Wehrmacht and the Red Army: on the nature of crimes against the civilian population: a report at the Intern. Scientific Conf. "The experience of world wars in the history of Russia", September 11, 2005, Chelyabinsk. URL: http://www.airo-xxi.ru/gb/doklady/doklad01.htm
Krestovsky V. War and new ideological markers in the Anglo-American media // 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Great Patriotic War: winners and losers in the context of politics, mythology and memory. Materials for the International Forum (Moscow, September 2005). M., 2005. S. 148, 157-158.
Hoffman I. Stalin's war of annihilation (1941-1945). Planning, implementation, documents. M., 2006.
Nesterenko Y. The Day of National Shame, or Who Won World War II // URL: http://yun.complife.rU/miscell/antivict.htm#article
Shiropaev A. Tomb of the Unknown Rapist // http://shiropaev.livejournal.com/29142.html
Diary of a cow - Net worms against Victory Day. // URL: http://kkatya.livejournal.com/272537.html
Bordyugov G., Dymarsky V., Zakharov D. Wehrmacht and the Red Army against the civilian population // Radio station "Echo of Moscow" / Transmissions / Price of Victory / 16.02.2009. URL: http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/victory/572480-echo/; Solonin M., Bordyugov G., Dymarsky V., Zakharov D. The Red Army on German territory // Radio station "Echo of Moscow" / Transmissions / Price of Victory / 26.10.2009. URL: http://www.echo.msk.ru/guests/12328/ .
Tyurin A. Revisionists and bastards (May 12, 2010) // URL: http://www.pravaya.ru/comments/18698
They fought fascism. M., 1988. S. 130-131.
Stalin I. About the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. M., 1952. S. 46.
Samoilov D. People of one variant. (From military notes) // Aurora. 1990. No. 2. S. 91.
War of Germany against the Soviet Union 1941-1945. Documentary exposition of the city of Berlin on the 50th anniversary of the German attack on the Soviet Union. V., 1992. S. 255.
Cit. Quoted from: Medinsky V. War. Myths of the USSR. 1939-1945. M., 2011. S. 622*.
V. Medinsky refers to the publication "Orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief during the Great Patriotic War." M.: Military Publishing House, 1975.
Such a collection of documents was published, but the aforementioned order for January 19, 1945 is not there. It is not in other publications of documents either: neither in the orders of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, nor in the directives of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command for 1945 (see: Russian archive: Great Patriotic War. Orders of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR (1943-1945). Vol. 13 (2-3), M.: Terra, 1997, Russian Archive: Great Patriotic War, Headquarters of the Supreme High Command: Documents and Materials 1944-1945, Vol. 16(5-4), M.: Terra, 1999).
The text of Stalin's order of January 19, 1945 "On behavior in Germany" has not yet been found in the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. But foreign publications are full of references to it, dissidents L. Kopelev and A. Solzhenitsyn mentioned it. The existence of orders of the front commanders Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovsky with similar content, dated at the end of January 1945, has been undeniably proven, and this indirectly confirms that in some form (written - under the heading "top secret", or oral, which is also possible) such an order of Stalin also existed, but until the original is found, one cannot be responsible for the accuracy of its quotation.
Semiryaga M.I. How we ruled Germany. Politics and life. M., 1995. S. 314-315; Russian Archive. The Great Patriotic War. T. 15(4-5). Battle for Berlin. M., 1995. S. 220.
Rzheshevsky O.A. The Berlin operation of 1945: the discussion continues // World of History. 2002. No. 4. He is the same. "... To change the attitude towards the Germans, both to prisoners of war and to civilians" // Military History Journal. 2003. No. 5. S. 31.
TsAMO RF. F. 372. Op. 6570. D. 78. L. 30-32.
Zhukov Yu. Soldier's thoughts. M., 1987. S. 337.
Twinkle. 1989. No. 36. S. 23.
Rzheshevsky O.A. ".Change the attitude towards the Germans, both to prisoners of war and to civilians" // Military History Journal. 2003. No. 5. S. 31.
Order of the High Command of the Wehrmacht of June 6, 1941 regarding the treatment of political commissars of the Soviet Army // War of Germany against the Soviet Union 1941-1945. pp. 46, 45.
Raginskiy M.Yu. Nuremberg: before the court of history. M., 1986. S. 5.
Ryurup R. The Germans and the war against the Soviet Union // Free Thought. 1994. No. 11. S. 80-81.
TsAMO RF. F. 233. Op. 2380. D. 35. L. 93-102.
The seal of secrecy has been removed. Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, combat operations and military conflicts. M., 1993. S. 219.
From an interview with Orlov Naum Aronovich on the site "I remember" // URL: http://www.iremember.ru/minometchiki/orlov-naum-aronovich/stranitsa-6.html
RGASPI. F. 17. Op. 125. D. 321. L. 10-12.
GARF. F. r-9401. Op. 2. D. 96. L. 203, 21, 205.
From September 1 to December 31, 1945 - 12 out of a total of 237 newborns examined in the children's clinic "Empress Augusta Victoria" in Berlin, they were recognized as "Russians", and only in five cases "rape" was indicated; from 1.01. to December 31, 1946 - 20 out of 567 newborns are recognized as "Russian", and rape is indicated in four cases, however, Yor extends the category of raped mothers to all whose children are born from Russians.
RGASPI. F. 17. Op. 125. D. 321. L. 33, 99, 14-19, 20-21, 54-55; D. 320. L. 161-163.
Rzheshevsky O.A. ... To change the attitude towards the Germans, both to prisoners of war and to civilians // Military History Journal. 2003. No. 5. S. 31.
White O. Conquerors" Road: An Eyewitness Account of Germany 1945. Cambridge University Press, 2003. XVII, 221 pp. All quotations are from the translation available at: http://www.argo.net.au/andre/osmarwhite .html
Remember forever. M., 1995. S. 105.
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App A.J. Ravishing the Women of Conquered Europe. San Antonio, 1946. Op. by: Anna O. Rape of the Women of Conquered Europe // URL: http://bolshoyforum.org/forum/index.php?page=86
GARF. F. r-9401. Op. 2. D. 96. L. 200; D. 95. L. 399.
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TsAMO RF. F. 372. Op. 6570. D. 76. L. 85, 92, 94, 86, 225, 226; D. 68. L. 17-20. L. 4-5, 12. D. 78. L. 30-32; F. 233. Op. 2380. D. 41. L. 226-238.
Cit. by: Tazhidinova I.G. The value of things: the measurement of wartime // Problems of Russian history. M.; Magnitogorsk, 2010. Issue. H. S. 497, 496.
From an interview with Orlov Naum Aronovich on the site "I remember" // URL: http:// www.iremember.ru/minometchiki/orlov-naum-aronovich/stranitsa-6.html
Correspondence between Yu.P. Sharapov and N.N. Reshetnikova. 1942-1945 // Personal archive.
Aleksievich S. War has an unfeminine face. Minsk, 1985. S. 301-302.
Communist. 1975. No. 4. S. 73-74
Ortenberg D.I. Forty-third: Story-chronicle. M., 1991. S. 120.
Samoilov D. People of one variant. (From military notes) // Aurora. 1990. No. 2. S. 93.
Power. 2000. No. 6(357). S. 47.
Lavrenov S.Ya., Popov I.M. The collapse of the Third Reich. M., 2000. S. 370-371.
Sherstyanoy E. Germany and the Germans in the letters of the Red Army in the spring of 1945 // New and recent history. 2002. No. 2. S. 148.
Aftalion F. Moscow must pay the debt of memory (Le Figaro, France) // URL: http://www.inosmi.ru/stories/05/04/14/3445/220328.html
The footage that became the national shame of France // URL: http://svpressa.ru/war/photo/6743
The fight against fascism in French... // URL: http://szhaman.livejournal.com/219207.html
Ryurup R. The Germans and the war against the Soviet Union // Free Thought. 1994. No. 11. P. 80.
From the press release “On the Anniversary of the Victory Abroad” dated May 7, 2005, posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry: http://www.ln.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/091195668ECBC03FC3256FFA004E45E8
Cit. by: Vladimirsky A. Pre-anniversary "alternative history": the Molotov-Ribentrop Pact, the occupation of the Baltic states and the Katyn case in the Russian media and the Internet // 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Great Patriotic War: winners and losers in the context of politics, mythology and memory. Materials for the International Forum (Moscow, September 2005), ed. F. Bomsdorf and G. Bordyugov. Liberal Reading Library. M., 2005. Issue. 16. S. 228.
Krestovsky V. War and new ideological markers in the Anglo-American media // 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Great Patriotic War: winners and losers in the context of politics, mythology and memory. Materials for the International Forum (Moscow, September 2005). M., 2005. S. 148.
Today, “the period of occupation in France is preferred to be remembered as a heroic time. Charles de Gaulle, Resistance... However, the impartial footage of the photo chronicle shows that everything was not quite the way the veterans tell and write in the history books.
Not so long ago, an exhibition of a French photographer was held in the Paris Historical Library Andre Zucca"The French under occupation" (and more). The exhibition featured more than 250 color photographs taken between 1941 and 1944.
Photos show how Parisians enjoyed life on the banks of the Seine, in cafes and city parks, on the sun-drenched Champs-Elysées. Parisian fashionistas flaunt new hats, lovers embrace, children roller-skate, people ride bicycles, feed the elephant in the city zoo...
Nazi officers walk with the townspeople. “The picture is simply idyllic”, “the general impression of a peaceful and not at all unhappy life”, which is not at all overshadowed by red flags with a black swastika. The exhibition caused a huge scandal, the mayor's office of the French capital banned its display in Paris. City council member and head of the department of culture, Christophe Girard, told reporters that the exhibit was "unbearable".
Senyavskaya Elena Spartakovna
Leading Researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor at the Department of Contemporary Russian History at the Russian State Humanitarian University, full member of the Academy of Military Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences.
L. D. Trotsky became its chairman. His immediate subordinate was the former tsarist colonel, Latvian Joachim Vatsetis, who received the post of the first Soviet commander in chief.
Attempts to found the Red Army on a voluntary basis under the slogan "The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!" turned out to be unsuccessful. The result was a rapid transition to mobilizations. Party members and Red Guards mobilized into the Red Army, and it is forbidden to disband the few units of the former tsarist army that have retained their combat capability, for example, the Guards Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments. On May 29, 1918, on the basis of the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee "On forced recruitment into the worker-peasant army", conscription into the army began.
Non-working elements were called up to the rear militia.
An important step taken by the Bolsheviks was the fight against the "military anarchism" of the first months of the existence of the Red Army. The need for an effective military force forced them to go for the introduction in the army of the obligatory execution of orders from commanders, the restoration of executions for desertion, and the conduct of mass mobilizations in order to ensure the required number of troops. To control the loyalty of "military experts", the positions of commissars were established. In the summer of 1918, the election of commanders was abolished.
Beginning of the Civil War
Commission for the conscription of workers and peasants to the Red Army (1918)
In conflicts between the Cossacks and the non-residents in the traditional Cossack lands, the Bolsheviks sided with the non-residents. The struggle for power on the Don led to the election of the tsarist general A. M. Kaledin as the ataman of the Don Cossacks; on the Don, the formation of a group of senior officers (generals M. V. Alekseev, L. G. Kornilov, A. I. Denikin, S. L. Markov) of the White Guard Volunteer Army began. The signing of the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the Bolshevik leadership headed by Trotsky and A. A. Yoffe led to a sharp expansion of the German occupation (by the summer of 1918, the German and Austro-Hungarian armed forces occupied Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, a number of counties of the Pskov and Petrograd provinces, most of Belarus, Ukraine, Crimea, Don region, partly Taman Peninsula, Voronezh and Kursk provinces).
In March 1918, British troops occupied Arkhangelsk, in July - Murmansk, on April 5, Japanese troops occupied Vladivostok. Under the cover of the Entente troops in the north, a White Guard government is being formed, which has begun to form a "Slavic-British Legion" and a "Murmansk Volunteer Army" of 4,500 people, mainly former tsarist officers.
In the Soviet period, the beginning of the civil war was considered to be the rebellion of the Czechoslovak Corps in May 1918 - according to a number of historians, this is not true, if only because by this moment the first armed stage of the White Resistance - the struggle in the South of Russia - the First Kuban campaign of the young Volunteer Army (February 9 (22) - May 13, 1918). Another, and the most important, reason to consider this not true for this category of researchers is the complete ignorance of the authors of these statements with the definition of "war" in general, and "civil war" in particular. During the First World War, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and were forced to fight against Russia, despite the strong pro-Russian sentiment that existed at that time among the population of these countries. The tsarist government recruited a corps from Czechoslovak prisoners of war, planning to send it to the front; however, the revolution in Petrograd thwarted these plans. The command of the corps managed to reach an agreement with the Bolsheviks on sending to France through Vladivostok. At the time of the uprising, the corps was greatly stretched along the railroad.
At this stage, the corps was actually the only combat-ready military force in the country: the tsarist army disintegrated, and the Red Army and the white armies were still in the process of formation. The clashes between the Czechoslovak command and the Bolshevik agitators became one of the reasons for the simultaneous rebellion along the entire route of the corps. In Samara, the Czechoslovaks overthrew the Bolsheviks and supported the formation of the SR-Menshevik Komuch (committee of members of the Constituent Assembly). This event led to the fall of Soviet power over vast territories. In Siberia, a weak government of the Ufa Directory was formed. After the return to Russia of the former tsarist admiral A.V. Kolchak, determined officers organized a coup on November 18, 1918, which brought him to power.
The course of the war
The next stage of the civil war in Russia was the "white flood"; three main white armies were formed - the Volunteer Army on the Don (the first commander was General L. G. Kornilov, after his death on April 13, 1918 - General A. I. Denikin), in Siberia - the army of A. V. Kolchak (proclaimed by the Supreme The ruler of Russia with the capital in Omsk), in the north-west - the army of General N. N. Yudenich. Already in September 1918, the Komuch government collapsed under blows from two sides - the Whites and the Reds. Kolchak's troops reached the Urals, and Denikin's - to Kyiv, on October 13, 1919 they occupied Oryol. Yudenich's troops in September 1919 directly threatened Petrograd.
The powerful offensive of the White armies was stopped by the Red Army at the end of 1919. 1920 was the time of the "red flood": the offensive of the Red Army on all fronts was supported by the formed First Cavalry Army of S. M. Budyonny. General Yudenich with the slogan "United and indivisible Russia" did not receive support from Finland and Estonia, his troops at the end of 1919 were forced to retreat to the territory of Estonia, where they were subsequently interned. In January 1920, Admiral Kolchak was arrested in Irkutsk by the authorities of the Menshevik-SR Political Center, handed over to the Bolsheviks, and on February 7, 1920 he was shot. The Volunteer Army of General Denikin experienced friction with the Cossacks, in Ukraine she also had to fight, in addition to the Red Army, also with the Petliurists, and Makhno's troops. On January 10, 1920, the Red Army occupied Rostov-on-Don, in 1920 the Volunteer Army began a mass retreat to the south; On February 8, 1920, the Red Army occupied Odessa, on March 27 - Novorossiysk.
After the withdrawal of the Entente troops from the Northern Region (September 1919 - the evacuation of the interventionists from Arkhangelsk, February 1920 - from Murmansk), the disintegration of the local White Guard government began. On February 20, 1920, the Provisional Government of the Northern Region and its army fled to Finland and Norway; on February 21, 1920, the Red Army entered the Northern Region.
Legionnaires of the Czechoslovak Corps
In 1919-1921. The Red Army also participated in the Soviet-Polish war. By signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia de jure recognized the independence of Poland, de facto independent from the beginning of the German occupation in the summer of 1915 (Germany occupied Poland, Lithuania, part of Belarus west of the Dvinsk-Sventsyany-Pinsk line, the Moonsund Islands, part of Latvia, including Riga and Riga district, part of Ukraine). After Piłsudski came to power, Poland began to hatch plans for the restoration of the great Commonwealth “from sea to sea”. On May 6, 1920, Polish troops occupied Kyiv, but by mid-July 1920 they were driven back to the borders of Poland. The attempt of the Red Army to advance and further ended in disaster for it; instead of the uprising of the Polish proletariat expected by the Bolsheviks, the local population perceived the Red Army as Russian occupiers. In March 1921, a peace treaty was signed, transferring Western Belarus and Western Ukraine to Poland.
On October 28, 1920, the Red Army crossed the Sivash, and broke through the defenses of the White Armed Forces of the South of Russia under the command of Baron P. N. Wrangel in the Crimea. On November 14-16, 1920, the remnants of the White Guards were evacuated from the Crimea.
End of the war
In early 1920, the Bolsheviks recognized the Far Eastern Republic (FER), which was supposed to serve as a buffer between them and the Japanese occupiers. The main forces of the region, in addition to the Bolsheviks, the troops of the Far Eastern Republic and the Japanese, were also the Transbaikal Cossacks of Ataman Semyonov. Under the pressure of the Bolsheviks, as well as the Entente countries, who feared the strengthening of Japan, the FER troops were withdrawn from Transbaikalia in the fall of 1920.
In 1939, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland transfer the territories bordering Leningrad in exchange for sparsely populated territories in the north, or rather, suggested that the Finnish government consider a request to move the border from a line 30 kilometers from Leningrad (heavy artillery shot distance) to a safe for the USSR, the distance, in exchange for significantly larger territories in an area that does not threaten the security of the USSR, and, only having received a categorical refusal to discuss any conditions and generally negotiate, was forced, after a series of provocations from the Finnish side, to move to decisive action. The Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army crossed the border on November 30, 1939. The aggravation of relations led to the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40 (in Finnish sources - "Winter War"). The Finns' excellent knowledge of their territory, the widespread use of ski units and snipers, and most importantly, the advance (two months before the start of the Red Army's operations) full mobilization led to numerous losses among the Red Army (330 thousand people, including those killed and missing - 80 thousand). However, the enormous numerical and technical superiority of the Red Army of the Soviet Union led Finland to defeat with loss rates worse than normal for such conditions. On February 12, 1940, the Mannerheim Line was broken. Losses of 48.3 thousand people killed and 45 thousand wounded were also excessively large for the 200 thousand Finnish army.
At this stage, a number of Western powers viewed the USSR as a country fighting in World War II on the side of Germany, which is especially surprising given that Finland had been pursuing an exclusively pro-German policy since 1935. The USSR was excluded from the League of Nations as an aggressor; the possibility of sending volunteers to Finland, which had not yet been realized, was declared.
June 22, 1941
On the day of the surprise attack of the Nazis - June 22, 1941 - the number of field forces of the Red Army consisted of 303 divisions and 22 brigades in 4.8 million people, including 166 divisions and 9 brigades in 2.9 million people near the western borders of the USSR in the western military districts. The Axis concentrated 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3.5 million men) on the Eastern Front. The first months of the invasion led the Red Army to the loss of hundreds of thousands of people in encirclement, the loss of valuable weapons, military aircraft, tanks and artillery. The Soviet leadership announced a general mobilization, and by August 1, 1941, despite the loss of 46 divisions in battle, the Red Army had 401 divisions.
Large losses are explained, as is commonly believed, by the low readiness for an attack by Germany.
The first major success of the Red Army was the counter-offensive near Moscow on December 5, 1941, as a result of which German troops were driven back from the city, although the Red Army's attempt to go on the general offensive ended in disaster.
The Soviet government resorted to a series of emergency measures in order to stop the retreating Red Army. One of the effective means was the execution of those fleeing the battlefield, introduced by Stalin's order, which received the unofficial name "Not a step back."
The political commissars, conceived as messengers of the party, called upon to keep an eye on the commanders, lost their power. They were renamed political deputies and became subordinate unit commanders. However, the most radical step was the restoration of pre-revolutionary military ranks and insignia, with minor changes. During the civil war, there were no ranks and insignia in it initially. However, already in 1918, appeals were introduced for the position held, “comrade of the platoon commander”, “comrade of the regiment commander”, etc., and insignia were introduced to denote the position. The greatest hatred among the Bolsheviks was caused by shoulder straps, as a symbol of the old regime.
In 1938, as an experiment, personal military ranks were introduced for the highest ranks of the Red Army. In 1943, ranks and insignia, developed on the basis of the royal ones, were introduced for all military personnel.
The course of the war
In the territories occupied by the Nazis, the NKVD organized a broad partisan movement, for example, in Ukraine alone in August 1943, 24,500 Soviet partisans operated.
Soviet poster
The surrender took place in the period May 9-17, during which time the Red Army captured 1 million 390 thousand 978 soldiers and officers, and 101 generals. At the request of the USSR, on May 23, the German government of Karl Dönitz was dissolved. On June 5, the Declaration of the Defeat of Germany was signed, transferring all power in Germany to the victors.
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Army was the most powerful army in history. It had more tanks and artillery than all the other countries put together, more soldiers, more honored great generals. The British General Staff rejected the plan of Operation Unthinkable to overthrow the Stalin government and oust the Red Army from Europe as unworkable.
As part of the "crusade against Bolshevism" announced by Hitler, a number of European countries took part in the hostilities against the USSR, while actually pursuing their national interests:
- Finland - participated in the occupation of Karelia and the blockade of Leningrad as revenge for the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40. In Finnish sources, military operations against the USSR in the period 1941-1944 are usually called "Continuation War". After the return of the territories, Mannerheim ordered the troops to go on the defensive; On June 9, the Red Army launched an offensive; on September 5, Finland went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
- Spain - the "Blue Division" numbering 18 thousand people took part in the hostilities on the Eastern Front. This unit was recruited from volunteers - Falangists, staunch supporters of the dictator General Franco, while the USSR supported the other side during the Spanish Civil War - the Republicans. By October 1943, the formation lost 12,776 people and was withdrawn from the front.
- France - an infantry regiment of 2,452 men recruited in Vichy France fought on the Eastern Front. Disbanded 1 September 1944
- Italy - sent to the USSR the Italian Expeditionary Force in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, CSIR), numbering 62 thousand people. It was defeated as a result of the breakthrough of the Red Army on the Don on November 19.
- Romania - the troops underwent a series of reorganizations. The Romanian army participated in the occupation of Bessarabia, Ukraine, Crimea, and was the largest allied contingent from among the German satellite countries (267,727 people). The offensive of the Red Army in August 1944 caused a coup in Romania (King Mihai I overthrew the dictator Antonescu), and went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition on August 25.
- Hungary - sent to the Eastern Front in 1941 a mobile corps of 40 thousand people (destroyed and returned to Budapest on December 6, 1941), 4 infantry brigades with a total number of 63 thousand people, and the 2nd army, consisting of 9 light infantry divisions. Defeated during the Soviet offensive on January 12-14. The Hungarian government enters into negotiations with the USSR, and signs an armistice on October 15; German troops organize a coup d'état and force Hungary to continue the war. The fighting in Budapest continues until the very end of the war.
Liberation of Europe from the Wehrmacht
The offensive of 1944 allowed the Red Army to move on to liberation from the German occupiers of a number of European countries. Soviet troops fought in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, occupied Bulgaria, and occupied East Germany.
This laid the foundation for the subsequent formation of the so-called. "socialist camp" in Europe. However, its borders did not coincide with the territories of those countries that the Red Army liberated; thus, the communists in Yugoslavia came to power thanks to the partisan People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, which was virtually independent of Moscow. There were no Soviet troops on the territory of Albania either.
On the other hand, the Red Army liberated the capital of Austria, Vienna, and the island of Bornholm in Denmark, where pro-Soviet power had not been established.
The fighting took place in the following countries:
- Poland. In July-August 1944, the Red Army occupies territories east of the Vistula, which make up a quarter of Poland with a population of 5 million people. The Krayova Army is deployed - the armed forces of the Polish government in exile, and the People's Army - the militant organization of the pro-Soviet Polish Workers' Party (in 1944 it was reorganized into the Polish Army). On August 1, 1944, the Home Army organizes an anti-German uprising in Warsaw, which is suppressed by Germany with the most cruel methods. The question of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 remains debatable; supporters of one point of view argue that the Red Army deliberately "stopped at the Warsaw walls", since the uprising was organized by the Polish government in exile, in Soviet sources referred to as "the government in exile in London." Proponents of a different point of view point out that in August 1944 the Red Army was physically unable to come to the aid of the rebels. In January 1945, the Soviet-Polish troops force the Vistula and reach the Oder.
- Romania. In the spring of 1944, the Red Army enters the territory of this country. Soviet superiority over the Romanian troops is estimated at nine to one. This circumstance causes a coup on August 23, 1944. The Romanian king Mihai I overthrows the pro-German dictator Antonescu. Uprisings break out in Bucharest, Ploiesti, Brasov and others. On August 31, Soviet troops enter Bucharest. September 12, 1944 Romania signs an agreement to join the anti-Hitler coalition; the clauses of this agreement provide for the dissolution of pro-Hitler organizations and the prohibition of propaganda against the anti-Hitler coalition.
- Bulgaria. She fought on the side of Germany in both world wars. Nevertheless, the traditional pro-Russian sentiments led to the fact that Bulgaria did not formally declare war on the USSR, and did not send troops to the Eastern Front. Bulgarian units carried out occupational service in Greece and Yugoslavia, releasing German troops. This circumstance prompted the USSR to enter the territory of Bulgaria on September 8, 1944. The advance of the Red Army did not meet any resistance, and, in turn, caused the uprising of the Fatherland Front in Sofia on September 9, 1944. The new government declares war on Germany and Hungary.
- Czechoslovakia. The Red Army enters the territory of Slovakia on September 8, and begins battles with the German troops with the active support of the Czechoslovak partisans. The army of the pro-German government of Slovakia goes over to the side of the USSR. A new Soviet offensive begins in the spring of 1945, on May 5, 1945, an uprising breaks out in Prague. By the 7th, the position of the rebels becomes critical. On May 9, Soviet troops enter Prague.
- Yugoslavia. By 1944, widespread anti-German resistance unfolded in Yugoslavia, the main forces of which were the communist People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOAYU), numbering up to 400 thousand people under the command of Josip Broz Tito, and the monarchist "Officer Movement" of the Chetniks (from the Serbian "couple" - "Squad"), under the command of D. Mikhailovich. The weak activity of the Chetniks, and their propensity for collaborationism, was combined with clashes with the forces of the NOAU. On September 28, 1944, the Red Army strikes in the direction of Belgrade. By October 21, Soviet troops, with the support of Bulgarian troops and the NOAU, occupy Belgrade. A group of Chetniks pose with German soldiers.
- Hungary. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, the former admiral M. Horthy, a staunch supporter of Germany, comes to power. In August 1944, the Red Army entered the territory of Hungary. Her government proposes to conclude a truce, however, with the support of the Germans, on October 17, the leader of the fascist organization Arrow Cross F. Salashi comes to power. On December 26, the Soviet offensive closed the Hungarian and German troops in the Budapest area. On December 28, the new government declares war on Germany. The completion of the liberation of Hungary takes place in 1945.
- Austria. On April 6, 1945, the Red Army began street fighting in Vienna, which ended on April 13. On April 9, the government of the USSR makes a statement that "The Soviet government does not pursue the goal of acquiring part of the Austrian territories, or changing the social system of Austria." On April 27, 1945, Austria regains state sovereignty, destroyed during the Anschluss of 1938.
- Denmark. On May 9, 1945, the Red Army lands on the Danish island of Bornholm, and accepts the surrender of 12,000 German soldiers and officers. On May 19, representatives of the Danish government arrive at Bornholm to express gratitude.
- Norway. In October 1944, the Red Army liberates Pechenga, and enters the northeastern regions of Norway. The German grouping in this country capitulates only in May 1945.
- Finland. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army strikes at the Finns, occupies Vyborg on June 20, and Petrozavodsk on June 28. On September 19, 1944, Finland signs an armistice agreement with the USSR, the Lapland War with Germany begins.
Organization
In the first months of its existence, the Red Army was conceived without ranks and insignia, with free elections of commanders. However, already on May 29, 1918, compulsory military service was declared for men aged 18 to 40. To carry out mass recruitment into the troops, the Bolsheviks organized military commissariats (military enlistment offices), which continue to exist today, retaining their former functions and their former name. The military commissariats should not be confused with the institution of political commissars in the troops.
In the mid-1920s, a military reform was carried out in the USSR, which laid the basis for the formation of the Red Army on the territorial-militia principle. In each region, men capable of holding weapons were called up for a limited time to territorial units that made up about half of the army. The first term of service was three months during the year, then - one month a year for five years. At the same time, the regular frame remained the core of the system. In 1925, such an organization provided 46 out of 77 infantry divisions, and 1 out of 11 cavalry divisions. The term of service in the regular (non-territorial) troops was 2 years. Subsequently, the territorial system was dissolved, with a complete reorganization into personnel divisions in 1937-38.
With the beginning of industrialization in the USSR, a campaign for technical re-equipment and mechanization of troops was also launched. The first mechanized unit was formed in 1930. They became the 1st Mechanized Brigade, which consisted of a tank regiment, a motorized rifle regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, and an artillery battalion (corresponding to a battalion). After such humble beginnings, the Red Army began to form in 1932 the first operational-level mechanized formations in its history, the 11th and 45th mechanized corps. They included tank units in their composition, and were able to independently solve a number of combat missions without support from the fronts.
By order of the Soviet People's Commissar of Defense on July 6, 1940, nine mechanized corps were formed. Between February and March 1941, an order was issued to form another 20 such corps. Officially, the Red Army consisted of 29 mechanized corps in 1941, with no less than 29,899 tanks, but a number of historians are of the opinion that in fact there were only 17,000 tanks. A number of models were obsolete, there was a significant shortage of spare parts. On June 22, 1941, only 1,475 T-34 tanks and KV series tanks were in service with the Red Army, and they were too heavily dispersed along the front line. In the future, the 3rd Mechanized Corps in Lithuania was formed with 460 tanks, 109 of which were the latest T-34s and KV-1s at that time. The 4th Army had 520 tanks, all obsolete T-26s, despite the fact that it had to fight the enemy, who fielded 1,031 new medium tanks. According to other sources, in terms of combat qualities, the main tanks of the Red Army of the period 1940-1942. were on par with or superior to German tanks. New types of tanks (T-34 and KV) had superiority over all German tanks and were less vulnerable to enemy anti-tank artillery. The shortage of T-34 tanks was common for the Red Army at the beginning of the war, and played a role in its defeats in 1941.
Another point of view
The leadership of the USSR in the 30s came up with the following theses:
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is the armed force of the workers and peasants of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is called upon to guard and defend our Motherland, the world's first socialist working-class state.
Due to historical conditions, the Red Army exists as an invincible, all-destroying force. That's how she is, that's how she always will be.
Some observers explained the defeats of the Red Army in the first period of the Great Patriotic War by the low qualifications of the higher and middle command personnel. As the former commander of the howitzer battery of the 14th Panzer Division, Ya. I. Dzhugashvili, who was captured near Senno (See Lepel counterattack), said during interrogation:
The failures of the [Soviet] tank forces are not due to the poor quality of materials or weapons, but inability to command and lack of experience in maneuvering Wikipedia
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