The Great Patriotic War: main stages, events, reasons for the victory of the Soviet people. The Great Patriotic War in brief

From 1939 to 1945, the world was engulfed in brutal military battles called World War II. Within its framework, a particularly serious confrontation between Germany and the USSR is highlighted, which has received a separate name. Our article briefly talks about the Great Patriotic War.

Prerequisites for the beginning

At the beginning of World War II, the USSR maintained a neutral position, using Germany's actions to its advantage: the weakening of England, France and Germany itself. In addition, on August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union agreed to sign a Non-Aggression Pact with the Germans. Germany accepted all the conditions of the Russians, supplementing the agreement with a secret protocol on the redistribution of Eastern Europe.

The leadership of the countries understood that this agreement does not guarantee, but reduces the risk of hostilities between them. Hitler hoped in this way to keep the USSR from concluding an alliance with Great Britain and France and prematurely entering the war. Although he himself planned in advance to seize the Union after the victory in Europe.

Stalin was dissatisfied with the removal of the USSR from resolving issues of world politics and the British delaying the conclusion of an alliance, and the agreement with Germany made it possible to almost unhinderedly annex the Baltic states and Bessarabia to Russia.

04/02/2009 The European Parliament by a majority vote approved August 23 as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, equating all acts of aggression by both regimes with war crimes.

In October 1940, Germany, having learned that England was counting on Russia's help in the war, invited the USSR to join the Axis countries. Stalin put forward to Hitler a condition according to which Finland, Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria would have to withdraw to the USSR. Germany was categorically against this and stopped negotiations with the Union.

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In November, Hitler approved the previously developed plan for attacking the USSR and found other allies (Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania).

Although the USSR as a whole was preparing for war, Germany, violating the treaty, attacked suddenly, without an official announcement (it took place after the fact). It is the day of the attack, June 22, 1941, that is considered the date of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.

Rice. 1. German invasion of the USSR.

Periods of war

Having developed the Barbarossa plan (attack operation), Germany hoped to capture Russia during 1941, but, despite the weak readiness of the Soviet troops and their defeat in the initial period of the Second World War, Hitler received not a quick victory, but a protracted war. Slovakia, Romania, Italy, and Hungary took the side of Germany.

The entire course of military operations is conventionally divided into the following stages:

• First (June 1941-November 1942): the beginning of armed clashes along the Soviet border; German breakthroughs that brought defeat to Soviet troops in three defensive operations; renewal of the war with Finland, which recaptured its lands. Defeat of German troops in the Moscow direction. Siege of Leningrad;
• Second (radical change, November 1942-December 1943): victory of Soviet troops in the southern direction (Stalingrad offensive operation); liberation of the North Caucasus, breaking the Leningrad blockade. Defeat of the Germans in large-scale battles near Kursk and on the banks of the Dnieper;
• Third (January 1944-May 1945): liberation of Right Bank Ukraine; lifting the Leningrad blockade; reconquest of Crimea, the rest of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, the Arctic, and the northern part of Norway. The Soviet army is pushing the Germans beyond its borders. The attack on Berlin, during which Soviet troops met with American troops on the Elbe on April 25, 1945. Berlin was captured on May 2, 1945.

Rice. 2. Battle of Kursk.

Results

The main results of the armed confrontation between the USSR and Germany:

• The end of the war in favor of the USSR: 05/09/1945 Germany announced surrender;
• Liberation of occupied European countries, overthrow of the Nazi regime;
• The USSR expanded its territories, strengthened its army, political and economic influence, becoming one of the world leaders;
• Negative result: huge loss of life, serious destruction.

The confrontation of the Russian people with the aggression of Germany and other countries that sought to establish a “new world order.” This war became a clash between two opposing civilizations, in which the Western world set as its goal the complete destruction of Russia - the USSR as a state and nation, the seizure of a significant part of its territories and the formation of puppet regimes subject to Germany in the remaining parts. Germany was pushed to war against Russia by the Judeo-Masonic regimes of the USA and England, which saw in Hitler an instrument for carrying out their plans for world domination and the destruction of Russia.

On June 22, 1941, German armed forces consisting of 103 divisions, including 10 tank divisions, invaded Russian territory. Their total number numbered five and a half million people, of which more than 900 thousand were military personnel of Germany's Western allies - Italians, Spaniards, French, Dutch, Finns, Romanians, Hungarians, etc. 4,300 tanks and assault guns were assigned to this treacherous Western international , 4980 combat aircraft, 47200 guns and mortars.

The Russian armed forces of the five western border military districts and three fleets opposing the aggressor were twice as inferior to the enemy in manpower, and in the first echelon of our armies there were only 56 rifle and cavalry divisions, which found it difficult to compete with the German tank corps. The aggressor also had a great advantage in artillery, tanks and aircraft of the latest designs.

By nationality, more than 90% of the Soviet army opposing Germany were Russians (Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians), which is why, without exaggeration, it can be called the Russian army, which in no way detracts from the feasible contribution of other peoples of Russia in confronting the common enemy.

Treacherously, without declaring war, concentrating overwhelming superiority on the direction of attacks, the aggressor broke through the defenses of Russian troops, seized strategic initiative and air supremacy. The enemy occupied a significant part of the country and advanced inland to 300 - 600 km.

On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command was created (from August 6 - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command). All power was concentrated in the State Defense Committee (GKO) created on June 30. From August 8 I.V. Stalin became the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. He gathered around him outstanding Russian commanders G.K. Zhukov, S.K. Timoshenko, B.M. Shaposhnikov, A.M. Vasilevsky, K.K. Rokossovsky, N.F. Vatutin, A.I. Eremenko, K. A. Meretskov, I. S. Konev, I. D. Chernyakhovsky and many others. In his public speeches, Stalin relies on the sense of patriotism of the Russian people and calls on them to follow the example of their heroic ancestors. The main military events of the summer-autumn campaign of 1941 were the Battle of Smolensk, the defense of Leningrad and the beginning of its blockade, the military disaster of Soviet troops in Ukraine, the defense of Odessa, the beginning of the defense of Sevastopol, the loss of Donbass, the defensive period of the Battle of Moscow. The Russian army retreated 850-1200 km, but the enemy was stopped in the main directions near Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov and went on the defensive.

The winter campaign of 1941-42 began with a counter-offensive of Russian troops in the western strategic direction. During it, a counteroffensive near Moscow, the Lyuban, Rzhevsko-Vyazemskaya, Barvenkovsko-Lozovskaya and Kerch-Feodosia landing operations were carried out. Russian troops removed the threat to Moscow and the North Caucasus, eased the situation in Leningrad, and completely or partially liberated the territory of 10 regions, as well as over 60 cities. The blitzkrieg strategy collapsed. About 50 enemy divisions were defeated. The patriotism of the Russian people, which was widely manifested from the first days of the war, played a major role in the defeat of the enemy. Thousands of national heroes like A. Matrosov and Z. Kosmodemyanskaya, hundreds of thousands of partisans behind enemy lines in the first months greatly shook the morale of the aggressor.

In the summer-autumn campaign of 1942, the main military events unfolded in the southwestern direction: the defeat of the Crimean Front, the military disaster of Soviet troops in the Kharkov operation, the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad, Donbass, Stalingrad defensive operations, the battle in the North Caucasus. In the northwestern direction, the Russian army carried out the Demyansk and Rzhev-Sychevsk offensive operations. The enemy advanced 500 - 650 km, reached the Volga, and captured part of the passes of the Main Caucasus Range. The territory was occupied, where before the war 42% of the population lived, a third of the gross output was produced, and more than 45% of the sown areas were located. The economy was put on a war footing. A large number of enterprises were relocated to the eastern regions of the country (2,593 in the second half of 1941 alone, including 1,523 large ones), and 2.3 million heads of livestock were exported. In the first half of 1942, 10 thousand aircraft, 11 thousand tanks, approx. 54 thousand guns. In the 2nd half of the year, their production increased by more than 1.5 times.

In the winter campaign of 1942-43, the main military events were the Stalingrad and North Caucasus offensive operations and the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad. The Russian army advanced 600 - 700 km westward, liberating a territory of over 480 thousand square meters. km, defeated 100 divisions (40% of the enemy forces on the Soviet-German front). In the summer-autumn campaign of 1943, the decisive event was the Battle of Kursk. The partisans played an important role (Operation Rail War). During the battle for the Dnieper, 38 thousand settlements were liberated, including 160 cities; With the capture of strategic bridgeheads on the Dnieper, conditions were created for an offensive in Belarus. In the Battle of the Dnieper, the partisans carried out Operation Concert to destroy enemy communications. In other directions, the Smolensk and Bryansk offensive operations were carried out. The Russian army fought up to 500 - 1300 km and defeated 218 divisions.

During the winter campaign of 1943-44, the Russian army carried out an offensive in Ukraine (10 simultaneous and sequential front-line operations, united by a common plan). Completed the defeat of Army Group South, crossed the border with Romania and transferred the fighting to its territory. Almost simultaneously, the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive operation unfolded; Leningrad was finally released. As a result of the Crimean operation, Crimea was liberated. Russian troops advanced westward by 250 - 450 km, liberating approx. 300 thousand sq. km of territory, reached the state border with Czechoslovakia.

In June 1944, when the USA and England realized that Russia could win the war without their participation, they opened a 2nd front in France. This worsened the military-political situation in Germany. During the summer-autumn campaign of 1944, Russian troops carried out the Belarusian, Lvov-Sandomierz, East Carpathian, Iasi-Kishinev, Baltic, Debrecen, East Carpathian, Belgrade, partially Budapest and Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operations. The liberation of Belarus, Little Russia and the Baltic states (except for some regions of Latvia), partially of Czechoslovakia was completed, Romania and Hungary were forced to capitulate and entered the war against Germany, the Soviet Arctic and the northern regions of Norway were liberated from the occupiers.

The 1945 campaign in Europe included the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, completion of Budapest, East Pomeranian, Lower Silesian, Upper Silesian, Western Carpathian, Vienna and Berlin operations, which ended with the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the Berlin operation, Russian troops, together with the 2nd army of the Polish Army, the 1st and 4th Romanian armies and the 1st Czechoslovak corps, carried out the Prague operation.

Victory in the war greatly raised the spirit of the Russian people and contributed to the growth of their national self-awareness and self-confidence. As a result of the victory, Russia regained most of what was taken from it as a result of the revolution (except for Finland and Poland). The historical Russian lands in Galicia, Bukovina, Bessarabia, etc. returned to its composition. Most of the Russian people (including Little Russians and Belarusians) again became a single entity in one state, which created the preconditions for their unification in a single Church. The fulfillment of this historical task was the main positive outcome of the war. The victory of Russian weapons created favorable conditions for Slavic unity. At some stage, the Slavic countries united with Russia in something like a fraternal federation. For a period of time, the peoples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia realized how important it was for the Slavic world to stick together in the fight against Western encroachment on Slavic lands.

On Russia's initiative, Poland received Silesia and a significant part of East Prussia, from which the city of Königsberg with its surrounding territory came into the possession of the Russian state, and Czechoslovakia regained the Sudetenland previously captured by Germany.

The great mission to save humanity from the “new world order” was given to Russia at a huge price: the Russian people and the brotherly peoples of our Fatherland paid for this with the lives of 47 million people (including direct and indirect losses), of which approximately 37 million people were Russians themselves (including Little Russians and Belarusians).

Most of the deaths were not of the military directly involved in the hostilities, but of civilians, the civilian population of our country. The irretrievable losses of the Russian army (killed, died from wounds, missing in action, died in captivity) amount to 8 million 668 thousand 400 people. The remaining 35 million are the lives of civilians. During the war years, about 25 million people were evacuated to the East. Approximately 80 million people, or about 40% of the population of our country, ended up in the territory occupied by Germany. All these people became “objects” of the implementation of the misanthropic Ost program, were subjected to brutal repressions, and died from famine organized by the Germans. About 6 million people were driven into German slavery, many of them died from unbearable living conditions.

As a result of the war, the genetic fund of the most active and viable part of the population was significantly undermined, because in it, first of all, the strongest and most energetic members of society, capable of producing the most valuable offspring, died. In addition, due to the falling birth rate, the country is missing tens of millions of future citizens.

The huge price of victory fell most heavily on the shoulders of the Russian people (including Little Russians and Belarusians), because the main hostilities were carried out on their ethnic territories and it was towards them that the enemy was especially cruel and merciless.

In addition to the enormous human losses, our country suffered colossal material damage. Not a single country in its entire history and in the Second World War had such losses and barbaric destruction from aggressors as befell Great Russia. Russia's total material losses in world prices amounted to more than a trillion dollars (US national income for several years).

With the beginning of September 1939, the short period of peace between the two great wars of the 20th century ended. Two years later, most of Europe with enormous production and raw material potential came under the rule of Nazi Germany.

A powerful blow fell on the Soviet Union, for which the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) began. A brief summary of this period in the history of the USSR cannot express the scale of the suffering endured by the Soviet people and the heroism they showed.

On the eve of military trials

The revival of the power of Germany, dissatisfied with the results of the First World War (1914-1918), against the background of the aggressiveness of the party that came to power there, led by the possessed Adolf Hitler, with its ideology of racial superiority, made the threat of a new war for the USSR more and more real. By the end of the 30s, these sentiments penetrated more and more into the people, and the all-powerful leader of the huge country, Stalin, understood this more and more clearly.

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

The reform in the army was prompted by the adoption of the law on universal conscription (1939), and widespread military training was introduced. It was in shooting, parachute clubs, and flying clubs at OSOAVIAKHIM that future soldier-heroes of the Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began to study military science. New military schools were opened, the latest types of weapons were developed, and progressive combat formations were formed: armored and airborne. But there was not enough time, the combat readiness of the Soviet troops was in many respects lower than that of the Wehrmacht - the army of Nazi Germany.

Stalin's suspicion of the power ambitions of the senior command caused great harm. It resulted in monstrous repressions that wiped out up to two-thirds of the officer corps. There is a version about a planned provocation by German military intelligence, which exposed many heroes of the civil war who became victims of purges.

Foreign policy factors

Stalin and the leaders of countries that wanted to limit Hitler’s European hegemony (England, France, the USA) were unable to create a united anti-fascist front before the start of the war. The Soviet leader, in an effort to delay the war, tried to contact Hitler. This led to the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (agreement) in 1939, which also did not contribute to the rapprochement of anti-Hitler forces.

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

Tragic experience

In 1940, Hitler approved the Barbarossa plan. According to this plan, three summer months were allotted for the defeat of the USSR and the capture of its capital. And at first the plan was carried out with precision. All participants in the war recall the almost hopeless mood of mid-summer 1941. 5.5 million German soldiers against 2.9 million Russians, total superiority in weapons - and in a month Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, and almost all of Ukraine were captured. The losses of Soviet troops were 1 million killed, 700 thousand captured.

The superiority of the Germans in the skill of troop management was noticeable - the combat experience of the army, which had already covered half of Europe, was reflected. Skillful maneuvers encircle and destroy entire groups near Smolensk, Kyiv, in the Moscow direction, and the blockade of Leningrad begins. Stalin was dissatisfied with the actions of his commanders and resorted to the usual repressions - the commander of the Western Front was shot for treason.

People's War

And yet Hitler’s plans collapsed. The USSR quickly took a war footing. The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command was created to control the armies and a single governing body for the entire country - the State Defense Committee, headed by the all-powerful leader Stalin.

Hitler believed that Stalin's methods of leading the country, illegal repressions against the intelligentsia, the military, wealthy peasants and entire nationalities would cause the collapse of the state and the emergence of a “fifth column” - as he was used to in Europe. But he miscalculated.

The men in the trenches, the women at the machines, the old people and small children hated the invaders. Wars of this magnitude affect the fate of every person, and victory requires a universal effort. Sacrifices for the sake of a common victory were made not only because of ideological motives, but also because of innate patriotism, which had roots in pre-revolutionary history.

Battle of Moscow

The invasion received its first serious resistance near Smolensk. With heroic efforts, the attack on the capital was delayed there until the beginning of September.

By October, tanks with crosses on their armor reach Moscow, with the goal of capturing the Soviet capital before the onset of cold weather. The most difficult time during the Great Patriotic War was coming. A state of siege is declared in Moscow (10/19/1941).

The military parade on the anniversary of the October Revolution (11/07/1941) will forever remain in history as a symbol of confidence that Moscow will be able to be defended. The troops left Red Square straight to the front, which was located 20 kilometers to the west.

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

Recalling the events of the war, Marshal Zhukov, who commanded the Western Front near Moscow, whom Stalin began to promote to the leading roles, always noted the decisive importance of the defense of the capital for achieving victory in May 1945. Any delay by the enemy army made it possible to accumulate forces for a counterattack: fresh units of the Siberian garrisons were transferred to Moscow. Hitler did not plan to wage war in winter conditions; the Germans began to have problems supplying troops. By the beginning of December, there was a turning point in the battle for the Russian capital.

A radical turn

The offensive of the Red Army (December 5, 1941), which was unexpected for Hitler, threw the Germans one and a half hundred miles to the west. The fascist army suffered the first defeat in its history, the plan for a victorious war failed.

The offensive continued until April 1942, but it was far from irreversible changes in the course of the war: major defeats followed near Leningrad, Kharkov, in the Crimea, the Nazis reached the Volga near Stalingrad.

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

The defense of the city was often carried out hand-to-hand, for every piece of territory. Participants in the war note an unprecedented amount of human and technical assets recruited from both sides and burned in the fire of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Germans lost a quarter of their troops - one and a half million bayonets, 2 million were our losses.

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

The final turning point in the war

The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) contains several examples of the leadership talent of the Soviet command. A summary of the events of 1943 is a series of impressive Russian victories.

The spring of 1943 began with a Soviet offensive in all directions. The configuration of the front line threatened the encirclement of the Soviet Army in the Kursk region. The German offensive operation, called “Citadel,” had precisely this strategic goal, but the Red Army command provided for enhanced defense in the areas of the proposed breakthrough, while simultaneously preparing reserves for a counteroffensive.

The German offensive in early July managed to break through the Soviet defenses only in sections to a depth of 35 km. The history of the war (1941-1945) knows the date of the start of the largest oncoming battle of self-propelled combat vehicles. On a sultry July day, the 12th, the crews of 1,200 tanks began the battle in the steppe near the village of Prokhorovka. The Germans have the latest Tiger and Panther, the Russians have the T-34 with a new, more powerful gun. The defeat inflicted on the Germans knocked the offensive weapons of the motorized corps out of Hitler's hands, and the fascist army went on the strategic defensive.

By the end of August 1943, Belgorod and Orel were recaptured, and Kharkov was liberated. For the first time in years, the Red Army seized the initiative. Now the German generals had to guess where she would begin hostilities.

In the penultimate war year, historians identify 10 decisive operations that led to the liberation of territory captured by the enemy. Until 1953 they were called “Stalin’s 10 blows.”

Great Patriotic War (1941-1945): summary of military operations of 1944

1. Lifting the Leningrad blockade (January 1944).
2. January-April 1944: Korsun-Shevchenko operation, successful battles in Right Bank Ukraine, March 26 - access to the border with Romania.
3. Liberation of Crimea (May 1944).
4. The defeat of Finland in Karelia, its exit from the war (June-August 1944).
5. The offensive of four fronts in Belarus (Operation Bagration).
6. July-August - battles in Western Ukraine, Lvov-Sandomierz operation.
7. Iasi-Kishinev operation, defeat of 22 divisions, withdrawal of Romania and Bulgaria from the war (August 1944).
8. Help for Yugoslav partisans I.B. Tito (September 1944).
9. Liberation of the Baltic states (July-October of the same year).
10. October - liberation of the Soviet Arctic and northeast Norway.

End of enemy occupation

By the beginning of November, the territory of the USSR within the pre-war borders was liberated. The period of occupation has ended for the peoples of Belarus and Ukraine. Today's political situation forces some “figures” to present the German occupation almost as a blessing. It is worth asking about this from Belarusians, who lost every fourth person from the actions of “civilized Europeans”.

It was not for nothing that from the first days of the foreign invasion, partisans began to operate in the occupied territories. The war of 1941-1945 in this sense became an echo of the year when other European invaders did not know peace on our territory.

Liberation of Europe

The European liberation campaign required an unimaginable expenditure of human and military resources from the USSR. Hitler, who did not even allow the thought that a Soviet soldier would enter German soil, threw all possible forces into battle, putting the elderly and children under arms.

The course of the final stage of the war can be traced by the name of the awards established by the Soviet government. Soviet soldiers-liberators received the following medals of the war of 1941-1945: for (10/20/1944), Warsaw (01/7/1945), Prague (May 9), for the capture of Budapest (February 13), Koenigsberg (April 10), Vienna (13 April). And finally, military personnel were awarded for the storming of Berlin (May 2).

...And May came. The victory was marked by the signing on May 8 of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of German Troops, and on June 24 a parade was held with the participation of representatives of all fronts, branches and branches of the military.

Great Victory

Hitler's adventure cost humanity dearly. The exact number of human losses is still debated. Restoring destroyed cities and establishing an economy required many years of hard work, hunger and deprivation.

The results of the war are now assessed differently. The geopolitical changes that occurred after 1945 had different consequences. The territorial acquisitions of the Soviet Union, the emergence of the socialist camp, and the strengthening of the political weight of the USSR to the status of a superpower soon led to confrontation and increased tension between the allied countries in World War II.

But the main results are not subject to any revision and do not depend on the opinions of politicians looking for immediate benefits. In the Great Patriotic War, our country defended freedom and independence, a terrible enemy was defeated - the bearer of a monstrous ideology that threatened to destroy entire nations, and the peoples of Europe were freed from it.

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

How to tell children about the Great Patriotic War? With this story you can tell your children about the war in an accessible way.

It presents a chronology of the main events of the Great Patriotic War.

Victory will be ours!

- War! War!

On June 22, 1941, German fascists attacked our homeland. They attacked like thieves, like robbers. They wanted to seize our lands, our cities and villages, and either kill our people or make them their servants and slaves. The Great Patriotic War began. It lasted four years.

The path to victory was not easy. The enemies attacked us unexpectedly. They had more tanks and planes. Our armies were retreating. The battles took place on the ground, in the sky, and at sea. Great battles thundered: Moscow, Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk. Heroic Sevastopol did not surrender to the enemy for 250 days. For 900 days, courageous Leningrad held out under a terrible siege. The Caucasus fought bravely. In Ukraine, Belarus, and other places, formidable partisans crushed the invaders. Millions of people, including children, worked at factory machines and in the fields of the country. The Soviet people (the Soviet Union was the name of our country in those years) did everything to stop the Nazis. Even in the most difficult days, they firmly believed: “The enemy will be defeated! Victory will be ours!”

And then the day came when the advance of the invaders was stopped. The Soviet armies drove the Nazis out of their native land.

And again battles, battles, battles, battles. The blows of the Soviet troops are becoming more and more powerful, more and more indestructible. And the most long-awaited, greatest day came. Our soldiers reached the borders of Germany and stormed the capital of the Nazis - the city of Berlin. It was 1945. Spring was blooming. It was the month of May.

The Nazis admitted their complete defeat on May 9. Since then, this day has become our great holiday - Victory Day.

Our people showed miracles of heroism and courage while defending their native land from the Nazis.

The Brest Fortress stood on the very border. The Nazis attacked it on the very first day of the war. They thought: one day - and the fortress is in their hands. Our soldiers held out for a whole month. And when there was no strength left and the Nazis broke into the fortress, its last defender wrote on the wall with a bayonet: “I am dying, but I am not giving up.”

There was the Great Moscow Battle. Fascist tanks rushed forward. On one of the sections of the front, the enemy’s road was blocked by 28 heroic soldiers from General Panfilov’s division. Dozens of tanks were knocked out by soldiers. And they kept walking and walking. The soldiers were exhausted in battle. And the tanks kept coming and going. And yet Panfilov’s men did not retreat in this terrible battle. The Nazis were not allowed to enter Moscow.

General Dmitry Karbyshev was wounded in battle and was captured. He was a professor, a very famous military builder. The Nazis wanted the general to come over to their side. They promised life and high positions. Dmitry Karbyshev did not betray his homeland. The Nazis executed the general. They took us outside into the bitter cold. They doused him with cold water from hoses.

Vasily Zaitsev is a famous hero of the Battle of Stalingrad. He killed three hundred fascists with his sniper rifle. Zaitsev was elusive to his enemies. The fascist commanders had to call the famous shooter from Berlin. That's who will destroy the Soviet sniper. It turned out the other way around. Zaitsev killed a Berlin celebrity. “Three hundred and one,” said Vasily Zaitsev.

During the battles near Stalingrad, field telephone communications were interrupted in one of the artillery regiments. An ordinary soldier, signalman Titaev, crawled under enemy fire to find out where the wire was broken. Found it. He just tried to twist the ends of the wires when a fragment of an enemy shell hit the fighter. Before Titaev had time to connect the wires, then, dying, he clamped them tightly with his lips. The connection is working. "Fire! Fire!" - the commands sounded again in the artillery regiment.

The war brought us many deaths. The twelve Grigoryan soldiers were members of a large Armenian family. They served in the same department. They went to the front together. Together we defended our native Caucasus. Together with everyone else we went forward. One reached Berlin. Eleven Grigoryans died. After the war, the residents of the city where the Grigoryans lived planted twelve poplars in honor of the heroes. The poplars have now grown. They stand exactly in a row, like soldiers in formation - tall and beautiful. Eternal memory to the Grigoryans.

Teenagers and even children took part in the fight against enemies. Many of them were awarded military medals and orders for their bravery and courage. Valya Kotik, at the age of twelve, joined a partisan detachment as a scout. At the age of fourteen, for his exploits he became the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union.

An ordinary machine gunner fought in Sevastopol. Slayed enemies accurately. Left alone in the trench, he took on an unequal battle. He was wounded and shell-shocked. But he held the trench. Destroyed up to a hundred fascists. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The machine gunner's name was Ivan Bogatyr. You won't find a better surname.

Fighter pilot Alexander Pokryshkin shot down the first fascist plane at the very beginning of the war. Lucky Pokryshkin. The number of planes he shot down increases - 5, 10, 15. The names of the fronts on which the pilot fought change. The heroic score of victories grew and grew—20, 30, 40. The war was drawing to a close—50, 55, 59. Fifty-nine enemy planes were shot down by fighter pilot Alexander Pokryshkin.

He became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Became twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

Became Hero of the Soviet Union three times.

Eternal glory to you, Alexander Pokryshkin, the first three times hero in the country.

And here is the story of another feat. Pilot Alexey Maresyev was shot down in an air battle. He survived, but was seriously wounded. His plane crashed on enemy territory in a deep forest. It was winter. He walked for 18 days, and then crawled to his own. He was picked up by the partisans. The pilot had frostbitten feet. They had to be amputated. How can you fly without legs?! Maresyev learned not only to walk and even dance on prosthetics, but most importantly, to fly a fighter. In the very first air battles, he shot down three fascist planes.

The last days of the war were passing. Heavy fighting took place on the streets of Berlin. On one of the Berlin streets, soldier Nikolai Masalov, risking his life, carried a crying German girl from the battlefield under enemy fire. The war is over. In the very center of Berlin, in a park on a high hill, there now stands a monument to a Soviet soldier. He stands with the rescued girl in his arms.