THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-45, the largest war in human history between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan and the countries of the anti-fascist coalition that unleashed it. 61 states, over 80% of the world's population, were drawn into the war; military operations were carried out on the territory of 40 states, as well as in maritime and ocean theaters of operations.

Causes, preparation and outbreak of war. The Second World War arose as a result of a sharp aggravation of economic and ideological contradictions between the leading world powers. The main reason for its emergence was Germany’s course, supported by its allies, towards revenge for the defeat in the First World War of 1914-18 and the violent redivision of the world. In the 1930s, 2 hotbeds of war formed - on Far East and in Europe. The exorbitant reparations and restrictions imposed by the victors on Germany contributed to the development of a strong nationalist movement in it, in which extremely radical movements gained the upper hand. With A. Hitler coming to power in 1933, Germany turned into a militaristic force dangerous for the whole world. This was evidenced by the scale and growth rate of its military economy and armed forces (AF). If in 1934 840 aircraft were produced in Germany, then in 1936 - 4733. The volume of military production from 1934 to 1940 increased 22 times. In 1935, Germany had 29 divisions, and by the fall of 1939 there were already 102 of them. The German leadership placed special emphasis on training offensive strike forces - armored and motorized troops, bomber aircraft. The Nazi program for gaining world domination included plans for the restoration and expansion of the German colonial empire, the defeat of Great Britain, France and posed a threat to the United States; the most important goal of the Nazis was the destruction of the USSR. Ruling circles Western countries, hoping to avoid war, sought to direct German aggression to the East. They contributed to the revival of the military-industrial base of German militarism (US financial assistance to Germany under the Dawes Plan, the British-German Naval Agreement of 1935, etc.) and, in essence, encouraged the Nazi aggressors. The desire to redivide the world was also characteristic of the fascist regime of Italy and militaristic Japan.

Having created a solid military-economic base and continuing to develop it, Germany, Japan, and also, despite certain economic difficulties, Italy (in 1929-38 the gross volume of industrial output increased by 0.6%) began to implement their aggressive plans. Japan occupied the territory of Northeast China in the early 1930s, creating a springboard for attacks on the USSR, Mongolia, etc. Italian fascists invaded Ethiopia in 1935 (see Italian-Ethiopian wars). In the spring of 1935, Germany, in violation of the military articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, introduced universal conscription. As a result of the plebiscite, the Saar region was annexed to it. In March 1936, Germany unilaterally terminated the Locarno Treaty (see Locarno Treaties of 1925) and sent its troops into the Rhineland demilitarized zone, in March 1938 - into Austria (see Anschluss), eliminating an independent European state (of the great powers, only the USSR protested) . In September 1938, Great Britain and France betrayed their ally, Czechoslovakia, by agreeing to Germany's seizure of the Sudetenland (see Munich Agreement of 1938). Having a mutual assistance agreement with Czechoslovakia and France, the USSR repeatedly offered military assistance to Czechoslovakia, but the government of E. Benes refused it. In the fall of 1938, Germany occupied part of Czechoslovakia, and in the spring of 1939 - the entire Czech Republic (Slovakia was declared an “independent state”), and captured the Klaipeda region from Lithuania. Italy annexed Albania in April 1939. Having caused the so-called Danzig crisis at the end of 1938 and having secured itself from the east after concluding a non-aggression pact with the USSR in August 1939 (see Soviet-German treaties of 1939), Germany prepared to capture Poland, which received guarantees of military support from Great Britain and France.

The first period of the war (1.9.1939 - 21.6.1941). The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. By September 1, 1939, the strength of the German Armed Forces had reached over 4 million people, about 3.2 thousand tanks, over 26 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 4 thousand aircraft, 100 warships of the main classes were in service. Poland had an armed forces of about 1 million people, armed with 220 light tanks and 650 tankettes, 4.3 thousand artillery pieces, and 824 aircraft. Great Britain in the metropolis had an armed forces of 1.3 million people, a strong navy (328 warships of the main classes and over 1.2 thousand aircraft, of which 490 are in reserve) and an air force (3.9 thousand aircraft, of which 2 thousand are in reserve) . By the end of August 1939, the French Armed Forces numbered about 2.7 million people, about 3.1 thousand tanks, over 26 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 3.3 thousand aircraft, 174 warships of the main classes. On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, but did not provide practical assistance to Poland. German troops, possessing an overwhelming superiority in forces and equipment, despite the courageous resistance of the Polish army, defeated it in 32 days and occupied most Poland (see German-Polish War 1939). Having lost the ability to govern the country, on September 17 the Polish government fled to Romania. On September 17, the Soviet government introduced its troops into the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine (see March of the Red Army 1939), which were part of Russia until 1917, in order to take under protection the Belarusian and Ukrainian population in connection with the collapse of the Polish state and prevent further advance of the German armies to the east (these lands were classified as part of the Soviet “sphere of interests” according to the Soviet-German secret protocols of 1939). Important political consequences in the initial period of World War II were the reunification of Bessarabia with the USSR and the entry of Northern Bukovina into it, the conclusion of agreements in September - October 1939 on mutual assistance with the Baltic states and the subsequent entry of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union in August 1940. As a result of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40, although at the cost of great casualties, the main strategic goal pursued by the Soviet leadership was achieved - to secure the northwestern border. However, there was no complete guarantee that the territory of Finland would not be used for aggression against the USSR, because the set political goal - the creation of a pro-Soviet regime in Finland - was not achieved, and the hostile attitude towards the USSR intensified. This war led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the USA, Great Britain and France with the USSR (12/14/1939 the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations for the attack on Finland). Great Britain and France even planned a military invasion of the USSR from Finland, as well as bombing the oil fields of Baku. The course of the Soviet-Finnish war strengthened doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Red Army, which arose in Western ruling circles in connection with the repressions of 1937-38 against its command staff, and gave confidence to A. Hitler in his plans for the quick defeat of the Soviet Union.

In Western Europe, until May 1940, there was a “strange war”. The British-French troops were inactive, and the German armed forces, using the strategic pause after the defeat of Poland, were actively preparing for an attack on Western European states. On April 9, 1940, German troops occupied Denmark without declaring war and on the same day launched an invasion of Norway (see Norwegian operation 1940). British and French troops landed in Norway and captured Narvik, but were unable to resist the aggressor and were evacuated from the country in June. On May 10, Wehrmacht units invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg and struck France through their territories (see French Campaign of 1940) bypassing the French Maginot Line. Having broken through the defenses in the Sedan area, tank formations of German troops reached the English Channel on May 20. On May 14, the Dutch army capitulated, and on May 28, the Belgian army. The British Expeditionary Force and part of the French troops, blocked in the Dunkirk area (see Dunkirk operation 1940), managed to evacuate to Great Britain, abandoning almost all military equipment. German troops occupied Paris on June 14 without a fight, and France capitulated on June 22. Under the terms of the Compiegne Truce, most of France was occupied by German troops, the southern part remained under the rule of the pro-fascist government of Marshal A. Pétain (the Vichy government). At the end of June 1940, a French patriotic organization headed by General Charles de Gaulle - “Free France” (since July 1942, “Fighting France”) was formed in London.

On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany (in 1939, its armed forces numbered over 1.7 million people, about 400 tanks, about 13 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 3 thousand aircraft, 154 warships of the main classes and 105 submarines) . Italian troops captured British Somalia, part of Kenya and Sudan in August, and in September invaded Egypt from Libya, where they were stopped and defeated by British troops in December. An attempt by Italian troops in October to develop an offensive from Albania, occupied by them in 1939, to Greece was repulsed Greek army. In the Far East, Japan (by 1939, its armed forces included over 1.5 million people, over 2 thousand tanks, about 4.2 thousand artillery pieces, about 1 thousand aircraft, 172 warships of the main classes, including 6 aircraft carriers with 396 aircraft and 56 submarines) occupied the southern regions of China and occupied the northern part of French Indochina. Germany, Italy and Japan concluded the Berlin (Tripartite) Pact on September 27 (see Three Power Pact 1940).

In August 1940, aerial bombing of Great Britain by German aircraft began (see Battle of Britain 1940-41), the intensity of which sharply decreased in May 1941 due to the transfer of the main forces of the German Air Force to the east to attack the USSR. In the spring of 1941, the United States, which had not yet participated in the war, landed troops in Greenland and then in Iceland, creating military bases there. German submarine activity intensified (see Battle of the Atlantic 1939-45). In January - May 1941, British troops, supported by a rebellious population, expelled the Italians from East Africa. In February, German troops arrived in North Africa, forming the so-called Afrika Korps, led by Lieutenant General E. Rommel. Going on the offensive on March 31, Italian-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the 2nd half of April (see North African campaign 1940-43). Preparing an attack on Soviet Union, the countries of the fascist (Nazi) bloc in the spring of 1941 carried out aggression in the Balkans (see Balkan campaign of 1941). German troops entered Bulgaria on March 1-2, which joined the Tripartite Pact, and on April 6, German troops (later Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops) invaded Yugoslavia (capitulated on April 18) and Greece (occupied on April 30). In May

the island of Crete was captured (see Cretan airborne operation 1941).

Germany's military successes in the 1st period of the war were largely due to the fact that its opponents were unable to unite their efforts and create unified system military leadership, develop effective plans for joint warfare. The economies and resources of the occupied countries of Europe were used to prepare for war against the USSR.

Second period of the war (22.6.1941 - November 1942). 22.6.1941 Germany, violating the non-aggression pact, suddenly attacked the USSR. Together with Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and Italy opposed the USSR. The Great has begun Patriotic War 1941-45. Since the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union has taken measures to increase the country's defense capability and repel possible aggression. Industrial development proceeded at an accelerated pace, the scale of military production increased, new types of tanks, aircraft, artillery systems, and the like were introduced into production and put into service. In 1939 it was adopted new law on universal conscription, aimed at creating a massive personnel army (by mid-1941, the number of Soviet armed forces increased by more than 2.8 times compared to 1939 and amounted to about 5.7 million people). The experience of military operations in the West, as well as the Soviet-Finnish war, was actively studied. However, the mass repressions unleashed by the Stalinist leadership in the late 1930s, which hit the Armed Forces especially hard, reduced the effectiveness of preparations for war and affected the development of the military-political situation at the beginning of Hitler’s aggression.

The entry of the USSR into the war determined the content of its new stage and had a colossal influence on the policies of the leading world powers. The governments of Great Britain and the USA declared support for the USSR on June 22-24, 1941; in July - October, agreements on joint actions and military-economic cooperation were concluded between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. In August - September, the USSR and Great Britain sent their troops into Iran to prevent the possibility of creating fascist support bases in the Middle East. These joint military-political actions marked the beginning of the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. September 24 at Londonskaya international conference 1941 USSR joined Atlantic Charter 1941.

The Soviet-German front became the main front of the Second World War, where the armed struggle became extremely fierce. 70% of the German personnel acted against the USSR Ground Forces and SS units, 86% tank, 100% motorized formations, up to 75% artillery. Despite major successes early in the war, Germany failed to achieve the strategic goal of Plan Barbarossa. The Red Army, suffering heavy losses, in fierce battles in the summer of 1941 thwarted the “blitzkrieg” plan. Soviet troops in heavy battles exhausted and bled the advancing enemy groups. German troops failed to capture Leningrad, were shackled for a long time by the defense of Odessa in 1941 and the Sevastopol defense of 1941-42, and were stopped near Moscow. As a result of the defeat of German troops in the Battle of Moscow in 1941-1942, the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht was dispelled. This victory forced Germany into a protracted war, inspired the peoples of the occupied countries to fight for liberation against fascist oppression, and gave impetus to the Resistance Movement.

Attacking 7.12.1941 on the American military base Pearl Harbor, Japan started a war against the United States. On December 8, the USA, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan, and on December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the USA. The entry of the United States and Japan into the war affected the balance of forces and increased the scale of the armed struggle. The Moscow meetings of 1941-43 between representatives of the USSR, USA and Great Britain on the issue of military supplies to the Soviet Union (see Lend-Lease) played a major role in the development of allied relations. In Washington, on January 1, 1942, the Declaration of 26 States of 1942 was signed, which was later joined by other states.

IN North Africa in November 1941, British troops, taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Wehrmacht were pinned down near Moscow, launched an offensive, occupied Cyrenaica and lifted the blockade of Tobruk, besieged by Italo-German troops, but in January - June the Italo-German troops, launching a counter-offensive, advanced to 1.2 thousand km, captured Tobruk and part of the territory of Egypt. After this, there was a lull on the African front until the fall of 1942. IN Atlantic Ocean German submarines continued to cause great damage to the Allied fleets (by the fall of 1942, the tonnage of sunk ships, mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, amounted to over 14 million tons). At the beginning of 1942, Japan occupied Malaya, the most important islands of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Burma, inflicted a major defeat on the British fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, the British-American-Dutch fleet in the Javanese operation, and seized supremacy at sea. The American Navy and Air Force, significantly strengthened by the summer of 1942, defeated the Japanese fleet in naval battles in the Coral Sea (May 7-8) and off Midway Island (June). In Northern China, the Japanese invaders launched punitive operations in areas liberated by partisans.

On May 26, 1942, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Germany and its satellites; On June 11, the USSR and the USA entered into an agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in waging war. These acts completed the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. On June 12, the United States and Great Britain made a promise to open a second front in Western Europe in 1942, but did not fulfill it. Taking advantage of the absence of a second front and the defeats of the Red Army in the Crimea, and especially in the Kharkov operation of 1942, the German command launched a new strategic offensive on the Soviet-German front in the summer of 1942. In July - November, Soviet troops pinned down enemy strike groups and prepared the conditions for launching a counteroffensive. The failure of the German offensive on the Soviet-German front in 1942 and the failures of the Japanese Armed Forces in the Pacific Ocean forced Japan to refrain from the planned attack on the USSR and switch to defense in the Pacific Ocean at the end of 1942. At the same time, the USSR, maintaining neutrality, refused to allow the United States to use air bases in the Soviet Far East, from where it could launch attacks on Japan.

Entry into the war of two largest countries world - the USSR, and then the USA - led to a gigantic expansion of the scale of hostilities in the 2nd period of the Second World War, an increase in the number of armed forces participating in the fight. In opposition to the fascist bloc, an anti-fascist coalition of states was formed, which had enormous economic and military potential. By the end of 1941, on the Soviet-German front, the fascist bloc was faced with the need to wage a long, protracted war. The armed struggle also took on a similar character in the Pacific Ocean, in Southeast Asia and in other theaters of war. By the autumn of 1942, the adventurism of the aggressive plans of the leadership of Germany and its allies, designed to achieve world domination, became completely obvious. Attempts to crush the USSR were unsuccessful. In all theaters of operations, the offensive of the aggressor armed forces was stopped. However, the fascist coalition continued to remain a powerful military-political organization capable of active action.

The third period of the war (November 1942 - December 1943). The main events of World War II in 1942-1943 developed on the Soviet-German front. By November 1942, 192 divisions and 3 brigades of the Wehrmacht (71% of all Ground Forces) and 66 divisions and 13 brigades of the German allies were operating here. On November 19, the counteroffensive began Soviet troops near Stalingrad (see Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43), which ended with the encirclement and defeat of a 330,000-strong group of German troops. An attempt by the German Army Group Don (commanded by Field Marshal General E. von Manstein) to release the encircled group of Field Marshal F. von Paulus was thwarted. Having pinned down the main forces of the Wehrmacht in the Moscow direction (40% of German divisions), the Soviet command did not allow the reserves Manstein needed to be transferred to the south. The victory of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and had big influence on the further course of the entire Second World War. It undermined the prestige of Germany in the eyes of its allies and raised doubts among the Germans themselves about the possibility of victory in the war. The Red Army, having seized the strategic initiative, launched a general offensive on the Soviet-German front. The mass expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the Soviet Union began. The Battle of Kursk in 1943 and the advance to the Dnieper marked a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. The Battle of the Dnieper in 1943 upset the enemy’s plans for a transition to a protracted positional defensive war.

In the autumn of 1942, when fierce battles on the Soviet-German front pinned down the main forces of the Wehrmacht, British and American troops intensified military operations in North Africa. They won a victory in the Alamein operation of 1942 in October - November and carried out the North African landing operation of 1942. As a result of the Tunisian operation of 1943, the Italo-German troops in North Africa capitulated. British-American troops, taking advantage of the favorable situation (the main enemy forces took part in the Battle of Kursk), landed on the island of Sicily on July 10, 1943 and captured it by mid-August (see Sicilian landing operation of 1943). On July 25, the fascist regime in Italy fell, and the new government of P. Badoglio concluded a truce with the allies on September 3. Italy's withdrawal from the war marked the beginning of the collapse of the fascist bloc.

On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany, and in response, German troops occupied Northern Italy. In September, Allied troops landed in southern Italy, but were unable to break the resistance of German troops on the defensive line created north of Naples, and in December they suspended active operations. During this period, secret negotiations between representatives of the United States and Great Britain and German emissaries intensified (see Anglo-American-German contacts 1943-45). In the Pacific and Asia, Japan, switching to strategic defense, sought to retain the territories captured in 1941-42. The Allies, having launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean in August 1942, captured the island of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands; February 1943), landed on the island of New Guinea, ousted the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands, and inflicted a number of defeats on the Japanese fleet.

The 3rd period of World War II went down in history as a period of radical change. The historical victories of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and the Battle of the Dnieper, as well as the victories of the Allies in North Africa and the landing of their troops in Sicily and the south were of decisive importance for changing the strategic situation Apennine Peninsula. However, the main burden of the fight against Germany and its European allies was still borne by the Soviet Union. At the Tehran Conference of 1943, at the request of the Soviet delegation, a decision was made to open a second front no later than May 1944. The armies of the Nazi bloc in the 3rd period of World War II were unable to win a single major victory and were forced to take a course towards prolonging hostilities and switching to strategic defense. Having passed through a turning point, World War II in Europe entered its final stage.

It began with a new offensive of the Red Army. In 1944, Soviet troops dealt crushing blows to the enemy along the entire Soviet-German front and drove the invaders out of the Soviet Union. During the subsequent offensive, the USSR Armed Forces played a decisive role in the liberation of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, the northern regions of Norway, in the withdrawal of Finland from the war, and created the conditions for the liberation of Albania and Greece. Together with the Red Army, troops from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia took part in the fight against Nazi Germany, and after the truce was concluded with Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, military units of these countries also took part. The Allied forces, having carried out Operation Overlord, opened a second front and launched an offensive in Germany. Having landed on August 15, 1944 in the south of France, British-American troops, with the active support of the French Resistance Movement, joined forces with troops advancing from Normandy by mid-September, but German troops managed to leave France. After the opening of the second front, the main front of World War II continued to be the Soviet-German front, where 1.8-2.8 times more troops from the countries of the fascist bloc operated than on other fronts.

In February 1945, the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945 was held between the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, during which plans for the final defeat of the German Armed Forces were agreed upon, the basic principles of a general policy regarding the post-war structure of the world were outlined, decisions were made to create occupation zones in Germany and an all-German control body, on the collection of reparations from Germany, on the creation of the UN, etc. The USSR agreed to enter the war against Japan 3 months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe.

During the Ardennes Operation of 1944-1945, German troops defeated the Allied forces. To ease the position of the Allies in the Ardennes, at their request, the Red Army began its winter offensive ahead of schedule (see Vistula-Oder Operation of 1945 and East Prussian Operation of 1945). Having restored the situation by the end of January 1945, British-American troops crossed the Rhine at the end of March and in April carried out the Ruhr operation, which ended with the encirclement and capture of a large enemy group. During the Northern Italian Operation of 1945, the Allied forces, with the help of Italian partisans, completely captured Italy in April - early May. In the Pacific theater of operations, the Allies carried out operations to defeat the Japanese fleet, liberated a number of islands, approached Japan directly (on April 1, American troops landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa) and cut off its communications with the countries of Southeast Asia.

In April - May, Red Army formations defeated the last groupings of German troops in the Berlin Operation of 1945 and the Prague Operation of 1945 and met with the Allied troops. The war in Europe is over. The unconditional surrender of Germany was accepted late in the evening of May 8 (at 0:43 a.m. on May 9, Moscow time) by representatives of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France.

During the 4th period of World War II, the struggle reached its greatest scope and tension. It involved the most a large number of states, armed forces personnel, military equipment and weapons. Germany's military-economic potential declined sharply, while in the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition it reached its highest level during the war years. Military operations took place in conditions when Germany found itself facing the armies of the Allied powers advancing from the east and west. Since the end of 1944, Japan remained Germany's only ally, which indicated the collapse of the fascist bloc and bankruptcy foreign policy Germany. The USSR victoriously completed the unprecedentedly fierce Great Patriotic War.

At the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference of 1945, the USSR confirmed its readiness to enter into war with Japan, and at the San Francisco Conference of 1945, together with representatives of 50 states, it developed the UN Charter. In order to demoralize the enemy and demonstrate its military power to its allies (primarily the USSR), the United States dropped atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, respectively). Fulfilling its allied duty, the USSR declared war on Japan and began military operations on August 9. During the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945, Soviet troops, having defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army (see Manchurian Operation 1945), eliminated the source of aggression in the Far East, liberated Northeast China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, thereby accelerating the end of the war. On September 2, Japan surrendered and World War II ended.

Main results of the Second World War. The Second World War was the largest military conflict in human history. It lasted 6 years, the population of the participating states was 1.7 billion people, 110 million people were in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Military operations took place in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Northern Arctic Oceans. It was the most destructive and bloody of wars. Over 55 million people died in it. The damage from the destruction and destruction of material assets on the territory of the USSR amounted to about 41% of the losses of all countries participating in the war. The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war and suffered the greatest human casualties (about 27 million people died). Great victims were suffered by Poland (about 6 million people), China (over 5 million people), Yugoslavia (about 1.7 million people) and other states. The Soviet-German front was the main front of World War II. It was here that the military power of the fascist bloc was crushed. At different periods, from 190 to 270 divisions of Germany and its allies operated on the Soviet-German front. British-American troops in North Africa in 1941-43 were opposed by 9 to 20 divisions, in Italy in 1943-1945 - from 7 to 26 divisions, in Western Europe after the opening of the second front - from 56 to 75 divisions. The Soviet Armed Forces defeated and captured 607 enemy divisions, the Allies - 176 divisions. Germany and its allies lost about 9 million people on the Soviet-German front (total losses - about 14 million people) and about 75% of military equipment and weapons. The length of the Soviet-German front during the war years ranged from 2 thousand km to 6.2 thousand km, the North African front - up to 350 km, the Italian front - up to 300 km, and the Western European front - 800-1000 km. Active operations on the Soviet-German front took place 1320 days out of 1418 (93%), on the Allied fronts out of 2069 days - 1094 (53%). Irrevocable losses Allies (killed, died of wounds, missing) amounted to about 1.5 million soldiers and officers, including the USA - 405 thousand, Great Britain - 375 thousand, France - 600 thousand, Canada - 37 thousand, Australia - 35 thousand, New Zealand - 12 thousand, South African Union - 7 thousand people. The most important result of the war was the defeat of the most aggressive reactionary forces, which radically changed the balance of political forces in the world and determined its entire post-war development. Many peoples of “non-Aryan” origin, who were destined to perish in Nazi concentration camps or become slaves, were saved from physical destruction. The defeat of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan contributed to the rise of the national liberation movement, the collapse colonial system imperialism. For the first time, a legal assessment was given to the ideologists and executors of misanthropic plans for conquest of world domination (see Nuremberg trials of 1945-49 and Tokyo trials of 1946-48). The Second World War had a comprehensive influence on the further development of military art and the construction of the armed forces. It was distinguished by the massive use of tanks, a high degree of motorization, and the widespread introduction of new combat and technical means. During the Second World War, radars and other radio electronics, rocket artillery, jet aircraft, projectile aircraft and ballistic missiles were used for the first time, and at the final stage - nuclear weapons. The Second World War clearly showed the dependence of war on economics and scientific and technological progress, the close relationship of economic, scientific, military and other potentials on the path to victory.

Lit.: History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. M., 1973-1982. T. 1-12; Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Münch., 1979-2005. Bd 1-9; World War II: Results and lessons. M., 1985; Nuremberg trials: Sat. materials. M., 1987-1999. T. 1-8; 1939: History lessons. M., 1990; Resistance movement in Western Europe. 1939-1945. M., 1990-1991. T. 1-2; The Second World War: Actual problems. M., 1995; Allies at War, 1941-1945. M., 1995; The Resistance Movement in Central and South-Eastern Europe, 1939-1945. M., 1995; Another war, 1939-1945. M., 1996; The Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945: Military-historical essays. M., 1998-1999. T. 1-4; Churchill W. The Second World War. M., 1998. T. 1-6; Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. 13th ed. M., 2002. T. 1-2; World wars of the 20th century. M., 2002. Book. 3: World War II: Historical sketch. Book 4: World War II: Documents and materials.

War is a huge sorrow

World War II is the bloodiest war in human history. Lasted 6 years. The armies of 61 states with a total population of 1,700 million people, that is, 80% of the total population of the earth, took part in the hostilities. The fighting took place in the territories of 40 countries. For the first time in the annals of mankind, the number of civilian deaths exceeded the number of those killed directly in battles, almost twice as much.
finally dispelled people's illusions about human nature. No progress can change this nature. People remained the same as two or a thousand years ago: beasts, only slightly covered with a thin layer of civilization and culture. Anger, envy, self-interest, stupidity, indifference - qualities that manifest themselves in them to a much greater extent than kindness and compassion.
dispelled illusions about the importance of democracy. The people don't decide anything. As always in history, he is driven to the slaughterhouse to kill, rape, burn, and he obediently goes.
dispelled the illusion that humanity learns from its own mistakes. It doesn't learn. The First World War, which claimed 10 million lives, was separated from the Second by only 23 years.

Participants of the Second World War

— Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic - on the one hand
— USSR, Great Britain, USA, China - on the other

Years of World War II 1939 - 1945

Causes of World War II

— not only drew a line under the First World War, in which Germany was defeated, but its conditions humiliated and ruined Germany. Political instability, the danger of a victory for left forces in the political struggle, and economic difficulties contributed to the rise to power in Germany of the ultra-nationalist National Socialist Party led by Hitler, whose nationalist, demagogic, populist slogans appealed to the German people
“One Reich, one people, one Fuhrer”; "Blood and Soil"; “Germany wake up!”; “We want to show the German People that there is no life without Justice, and Justice without Power, Power without Power, and all Power is within our People,” “Freedom and Bread,” “Death of Lies”; "End corruption!"
— After World War I Western Europe pacifist sentiments took hold. The peoples did not want to fight under any circumstances, not for anything. Politicians were forced to take into account these feelings of voters, who reacted in any way or very sluggishly, yielding in everything, to Hitler’s revanchist, aggressive actions and aspirations

* early 1934 - Plans for the mobilization of 240 thousand enterprises for the production of military products were approved by the Working Committee of the Reich Defense Council

* October 1, 1934 - Hitler gave the order to increase the Reichswehr from 100 thousand to 300 thousand soldiers

* March 10, 1935 - Goering announced that Germany had air Force

* March 16, 1935 - Hitler announced the restoration of the system of universal recruitment into the army and the creation of a peacetime army of thirty-six divisions (about half a million people)

* On March 7, 1936, German troops entered the Rhineland demilitarized zone, violating all past treaties
* March 12, 1938 - Annexation of Austria to Germany
* September 28-30, 1938 - transfer of the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia by Germany
* October 24, 1938 - German demand for Poland to allow the annexation of the free city of Danzig to the Reich and the construction of extraterritorial railway and highways on Polish territory until East Prussia
* November 2, 1938 - Germany forced Czechoslovakia to transfer the southern regions of Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine to Hungary
* March 15, 1939 - German occupation of the Czech Republic and its incorporation into the Reich

— In the 20-30s, before World War II, the West watched with great apprehension the actions and policies of the Soviet Union, which continued to broadcast about the world revolution, which Europe perceived as a desire for world domination. The leaders of France and England saw Stalin and Hitler as birds of a feather and they hoped to direct Germany’s aggression to the East, pitting Germany and the USSR against each other through cunning diplomatic moves, while they themselves remained on the sidelines.
As a result of the disunity and contradictory actions of the world community, Germany gained strength and confidence in the possibility of its hegemony in the world

Major events of World War II

, September 1 - the German army crossed the western border of Poland
1939, September 3 - Great Britain and France declared war on Germany
1939, September 17 - The Red Army crossed eastern border Poland
1939, October 6 - surrender of Poland
May 10 - German attack on France
1940, April 9-June 7 - German occupation of Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Norway
1940, June 14 - The German army entered Paris
1940, September - 1941, May - Battle of Britain
1940, September 27 - Formation of the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy, Japan, who hoped to share influence in the world after the victory.

Later, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Thailand, Croatia, and Spain joined the Union. The Triple Alliance or Axis powers were opposed in World War II Anti-Hitler coalition within the Soviet Union, Great Britain and its dominions, the USA and China

, March 11 - Adopted in the USA
1941, April 13 - agreement between the USSR and Japan on non-aggression and neutrality
1941, June 22 - German attack on the Soviet Union. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War
1941, September 8 - the beginning of the siege of Leningrad
1941, September 30-December 5 - Battle of Moscow. Defeat of the German army
1941, November 7 - The Lend-Lease Law was extended to the USSR
1941, December 7 - Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor. Beginning of the War in the Pacific
1941, December 8 - US entry into the war
1941, December 9 - China declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy
1941, December 25 - Japan captured British-owned Hong Kong
, January 1 - Washington Declaration of 26 states on cooperation in the fight against fascism
1942, January-May - heavy defeats of British troops in North Africa
1942, January-March - Japanese troops occupied Rangoon, the islands of Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bali, part of New Guinea, New Britain, Gilbert Islands, most of the Solomon Islands
1942, first half - defeat of the Red Army. The German army reached the Volga
1942, June 4-5 - the defeat of part of the Japanese fleet at Midway Atoll by the US fleet
1942, July 17 - the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
1942, October 23-November 11 - defeat of the German army from Anglo-American troops in North Africa
1942, November 11 - German occupation of southern France
, February 2 - defeat fascist troops near Stalingrad
1943, January 12 - breaking the siege of Leningrad
1943, May 13 - surrender of German troops in Tunisia
1943, July 5-August 23 - defeat of the Germans near Kursk
1943, July-August - landing of Anglo-American troops in Sicily
1943, August-December - offensive of the Red Army, liberation of most of Belarus and Ukraine
1943, November 28-December 1 - Tehran Conference of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
, January-August - the offensive of the Red Army on all fronts. Its access to the pre-war borders of the USSR
1944, June 6 - landing of allied Anglo-American troops in Normandy. Opening of the Second Front
1944, August 25 - Paris in the hands of the Allies
1944, autumn - continuation of the offensive of the Red Army, liberation of the Baltic states, Moldova, Northern Norway
1944, December 16-1945, January - heavy defeat of the Allies during the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes
, January-May - offensive operations of the Red Army and allied forces in Europe and the Pacific Ocean
1945, January 4-11 - Yalta Conference with the participation of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the post-war structure of Europe
1945, April 12 - US President Roosevelt died, he was replaced by Truman
1945, April 25 - the assault on Berlin began by units of the Red Army
1945, May 8 - Germany surrenders. The end of the Great Patriotic War
1945, July 17-August 2 - Potsdam Conference of the Heads of Government of the USA, USSR, Great Britain
1945, July 26 - Japan rejected the offer to surrender
1945, August 6 - atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945, August 8 - USSR Japan
1945, September 2 - Japanese surrender. End of World War II

World War II ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of the Instrument of Surrender of Japan

Major battles of World War II

Air and naval Battle of Britain (July 10-October 30, 1940)
Battle of Smolensk (July 10-September 10, 1941)
Battle of Moscow (September 30, 1941-January 7, 1942)
Defense of Sevastopol (October 30, 1941-July 4, 1942)
Japanese fleet attack on US naval base Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
Naval battle at Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean between the US and Japanese fleets (June 4-June 7, 1942)
Battle of Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean (August 7, 1942-February 9, 1943)
Battle of Rzhev (January 5, 1942-March 21, 1943)
Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943)
Battle of El Alamein in North Africa (23 October - 5 November)
Battle of Kursk (July 5-August 23, 1943)
Battle of the Dnieper (crossing of the Dnieper September 22-30) (August 26-December 23, 1943)
Allied landings in Normandy (6 June 1944)
Liberation of Belarus (June 23-August 29, 1944)
Battle of the Bulge in southwest Belgium (December 16, 1944 – January 29, 1945)
Assault on Berlin (April 25-May 2, 1945)

Generals of World War II

Marshal Zhukov (1896-1974)
Marshal Vasilevsky (1895-1977)
Marshal Rokossovsky (1896-1968)
Marshal Konev (1897-1973)
Marshal Meretskov (1897 - 1968)
Marshal Govorov (1897 - 1955)
Marshal Malinovsky (1898 - 1967)
Marshal Tolbukhin (1894 - 1949)
Army General Antonov (1896 - 1962)
Army General Vatutin (1901-1944)
Chief Marshal of the Armored Forces Rotmistrov (1901-1981)
Marshal of the Armored Forces Katukov (1900-1976)
Army General Chernyakhovsky (1906-1945)

General of the Army Marshall (1880-1959)
Army General Eisenhower (1890-1969)
General of the Army MacArthur (1880-1964)
General of the Army Bradley (1893-1981)
Admiral Nimitz (1885-1966)
Army General, Air Force General H. Arnold (1886-1950)
General Patton (1885-1945)
General Divers (1887-1979)
General Clark (1896-1984)
Admiral Fletcher (1885-1973)

Most of the population of our country believes that the war ended on May 9, 1945, but in reality on this day we celebrate the surrender of Germany. The war continued for another 4 months.

On September 3, 1945, the day after the surrender of the Japanese Empire, Victory Day over Japan was established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. However, for a long time this holiday was practically ignored in the official calendar of significant dates.
The Instrument of Surrender of the Empire of Japan was signed on September 2, 1945 at 9:02 a.m. Tokyo time aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. On the Japanese side, the document was signed by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chief of the General Staff. Representatives of the Allied Powers were Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur, American Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the British Pacific Fleet Bruce Fraser, Soviet General Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko, Kuomintang General Su Yun-chang, French General J. Leclerc, Australian General T. Blamey, Dutch Admiral K. Halfrich, New Zealand Air Vice-Marshal L. Isit and Canadian Colonel N. Moore-Cosgrave .

This document put an end to the Second World War, which, according to Western and Soviet historiography, began on September 1, 1939 with the attack of the Third Reich on Poland.

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The most significant war in human history lasted six years and covered the territories of 40 countries in Eurasia and Africa, as well as all four ocean theaters of military operations (the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans). 61 states were drawn into the global conflict, and the total number of human resources plunged into the war was over 1.7 billion people.

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Chinese version of the start of World War II

The plot of the Great Chinese Wall interesting because it, in fact, protected China only by the very fact of its presence. In reality, the Great Wall of China never fought. All the times when the Wall was captured by nomads, they broke through it without a fight.

Sometimes neglect to guard the Wall and “weariness with the world,” and sometimes direct betrayal of military leaders and “a donkey loaded with gold,” opened the way into the interior of the country from its northern borders.

The last (and, perhaps, only) time the Wall fought... from January to May 1933. It was then that Japanese militarists and troops of the Manchurian state of Manchukuo, dependent on Japan, broke through the Wall from Manchuria into China.

The Wall itself lasted exactly two months back in 1933 - from the end of March to May 20, 1933. Well, the date itself, January 1, 1933, when a small Japanese garrison at the easternmost outpost of the Great Wall of China, in Shanhaiguan, staged a small “incident” with gunfire and grenade explosions, may well claim to be the date of the beginning of the Second World War. After all, then the logic historical process will be quite clear: the Second World War began exactly where it ended - in the Far East.

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Lieutenant General, one of the few generals awarded all three orders named after the outstanding commanders Suvorov, Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky. Knight of the Order of Lenin and the Red Banner of Battle. He was also awarded the American Order of Merit.

In 1936-38. Captain Derevianko carried out a secret operation to supply weapons to the Chinese troops fighting the Japanese, for which he received the Order of Lenin, awarded to him in the Kremlin personally by the All-Union elder M.I. Kalinin.

During the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940), volunteer Major K. Derevianko was the head of the headquarters of the Separate Special Ski Brigade. It was a reconnaissance and sabotage unit, formed mainly from students of the Leningrad Institute of Physical Education. Lesgafta. Derevianko himself was involved not only in planning. When the ski squad of Master of Sports V. Myagkov (posthumously Hero of the Soviet Union) was ambushed by the White Finns and was defeated, Derevianko, at the head of another squad, carried out the wounded and dead. Behind Finnish war Derevianko was awarded the Order of the Red Star and, outside the line, became a colonel.

In January-March 1941, he carried out a special assignment in East Prussia, and from June 27, 1941, he headed the intelligence department of the headquarters of the North-Western Front. In this capacity, in August 1941, he carried out a raid behind the German troops, during which about two thousand captured Red Army soldiers were freed from the concentration camp near Staraya Russa, many of them joined the front forces.

During the war, Derevianko was chief of staff of several armies (53rd, 57th, 4th Guards). Participated in the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of the Dnieper. Made a significant contribution to the successful completion of the Korsun-Shevchenko operation. His headquarters organized the defeat of the enemy in the Iasi-Kishinev operation. Participated in the liberation of Budapest and Vienna.

On May 4, 1942, Derevianko was appointed chief of staff of the 53rd Army of the North-Western Front and awarded the Order of the Red Star. At the same time, he was given the rank of general (according to the proposal of the front commander N.F. Vatutin and the deputy chief of the general staff A.M. Vasilevsky). On April 19, 1945, he was already a lieutenant general.

General Derevianko ended the war in the West as chief of staff of the 4th Guards Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. For some time he represented the USSR in the Federal Council for Austria. In connection with the upcoming war with Japan, he was transferred to the Far East to a similar post in the 35th Army. But in August (in Chita) he received the command to leave the train and come to the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal Vasilevsky. There he was presented with a telegram from Stalin and Chief of the General Staff Antonov about his appointment as a representative of the High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East at MacArthur's headquarters.

On August 25, Derevyanko flew from Vladivostok to the Philippines, where the headquarters of the American armed forces in the Pacific was stationed in Manila. Already in Manila on August 27, Derevyanko received instructions by telegram on the reassignment of the Supreme High Command to the Headquarters and the authority to sign the Act on unconditional surrender Japan on behalf of the Soviet Supreme Command. On August 30, together with MacArthur and representatives of the allied countries, Derevyanko arrived in Japan, and on September 2, 1945, he took part in the ceremony of signing the act of surrender.

After this, on behalf of the country's leadership, at great risk to his health, the general visited the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were subjected to American atomic bombing, several times. Having drawn up a detailed report on what he saw, he, together with an album of photographs, presented it to the General Staff, and then personally to Stalin during the report on September 30, 1945.

Subsequently, Derevianko was appointed representative of the USSR in the Allied Council for Japan, created in December 1945, headquartered in Tokyo (the chairman of which was appointed commander-in-chief of the Allied occupation forces, General MacArthur).

The Union Council ended its presence with the conclusion of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951. K.N. Derevianko was transferred to Moscow, where he worked at the military academy as the head of the department of armed forces of foreign states, and then as the head of the information department of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff.

As a result of nuclear radiation received during a visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, K. Derevianko’s health seriously deteriorated, and after a long and serious illness, he died of cancer on December 30, 1954.

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About the signing procedure

Lieutenant General Derevyanko arrived in Manila on August 27, 1945. Representatives from the USA, Great Britain, China, Canada, Australia, France, Holland and New Zealand have already gathered here. Having met Douglas MacArthur, Derevianko learned that all these people in uniforms and civilian clothes had arrived here to participate in the signing of the act of unconditional surrender of Japan. The Soviet representative did not have such powers. I had to urgently contact Moscow. On the same day, Derevianko received a coded message stating that he was entrusted with signing the said act on behalf of the USSR, and in addition, it was reported that from now on he would become directly subordinate to the Supreme Headquarters and should contact Moscow, bypassing Vasilevsky’s headquarters.

Communicating with fellow allies, Kuzma Nikolaevich found out that many of them consider the new US President Harry Truman to be a “slippery” politician. It was rumored that in Potsdam he spoke one thing, but directed his generals towards another: to end the war in the Pacific without Russia. Derevianko learned that Truman had sent a directive to Admiral Nimitz (it was August 13) with the order to occupy the port of Dairen (Dalny) before the Russians entered there. However, Soviet landings from the air and sea turned out to be so powerful that the Americans had to practice a “reverse move.”

Perhaps their ardor was cooled by the words of General Parker, whom Soviet paratroopers freed from captivity after capturing the camp in Mukden: “Russian soldiers were messengers from heaven for us. If it weren’t for these guys, we would still be in a Japanese dungeon.”

Japanese emissaries soon arrived in Manila to receive instructions from MacArthur regarding the details of the surrender. Soviet representatives immediately arrived at the headquarters of the American general. Derevianko demanded that MacArthur openly share information. And on the same day, Kuzma Nikolaevich had a headquarters report, which stated that the 11th US Airborne Division had already been delivered by transport aircraft to the Tokyo area. This was the beginning of the American occupation of Japan.

On August 30, Douglas MacArthur invited General Derevyanko and other representatives of the Allied countries onto his plane to fly to Japan. The Grand Hotel in Yokohama had rooms ready for representatives of all delegations. The signing of the historic act ending the Second World War was scheduled for September 2, 1945.

At 8.50 a.m., a boat carrying Japanese emissaries approached the starboard side of the American battleship Missouri.

he says with a stern expression on his face introduction MacArthur;

The whole ceremony took 20 minutes. MacArthur addressed the allies: “Let us pray that peace will now be restored and that God will preserve it forever. This ends the procedure.” And MacArthur went to the battleship commander’s salon, inviting all the delegates to go there. Kuzma Nikolaevich proclaimed a toast for Soviet people, who did so much for victory in the Second World War. Everyone drank while standing.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939-1945)

Read also: Great Patriotic War - chronological table, Patriotic War of 1812 - chronology, Northern War - chronology, First World War - chronology, Russian-Japanese War - chronology, October Revolution of 1917 - chronology, Civil War in Russia 1918-20 - chronology.

1939

August 23. Signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany).

September 17. The Polish government moves to Romania. Soviet troops invade Poland.

September 28. The signing of the “Treaty of Friendship and Border” between the USSR and Germany formally completes their division of Poland. Conclusion of a “mutual assistance pact” between the USSR and Estonia.

October 5. Conclusion of a “mutual assistance pact” between the USSR and Latvia. The Soviet proposal to Finland to conclude a “mutual assistance pact”, the beginning of negotiations between Finland and the USSR.

the 13th of November. Termination of Soviet-Finnish negotiations - Finland abandons the “mutual assistance pact” with the USSR.

November 26. The “Maynila Incident” is the reason for the start of the Soviet-Finnish War on November 30.

December 1. Creation " People's Government Finland" headed by O. Kuusinen. On December 2, it signed an agreement on mutual assistance and friendship with the USSR.

December 7th. The beginning of the Battle of Suomussalmi. It lasted until January 8, 1940 and ended in a heavy defeat for the Soviet troops.

Second World War. Warmongering

1940

April May. Execution by the NKVD of more than 20 thousand Polish officers and intellectuals in the Katyn Forest, Ostashkovsky, Starobelsky and other camps.

September – December. The beginning of Germany's secret preparations for war with the USSR. Development of the "Barbarossa Plan".

1941

January 15. Negus Haile Selasie entered Abyssinian territory, which he abandoned in 1936.

March 1. Bulgaria joins the Tripartite Pact. German troops enter Bulgaria.

March 25. The Yugoslav government of Prince Regent Paul adheres to the Tripartite Pact.

March 27. Government coup in Yugoslavia. King Peter II entrusts the formation of a new government to General Simovic. Mobilization of the Yugoslav army.

April, 4. Coup d'etat by Rashid Ali al-Gailani in Iraq in favor of Germany.

April 13. Signing of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality treaty for a period of five years.

14th of April. Battles for Tobruk. German defensive battles on the Egyptian border (April 14 – November 17).

April 18th. Surrender of the Yugoslav army. Division of Yugoslavia. Creation of independent Croatia.

26 April. Roosevelt announced his intention to establish American air bases in Greenland.

the 6th of May. Stalin replaces Molotov as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

12 May. Admiral Darlan in Berchtesgaden. The Pétain government provides the Germans with bases in Syria.

May. Roosevelt declared a "state of extreme national danger."

12 June. British aircraft begin systematic bombing of the industrial centers of Germany.

June 25. Finland enters the war on the side of Germany in response to the Soviet bombing of 19 airfields on its territory.

30 June. Capture of Riga by the Germans (see Baltic operation). Capture of Lvov by the Germans (see Lvov-Chernivtsi operation.) Creation of the highest authority in the USSR for the war period - the State Defense Committee (GKO): chairman Stalin, members - Molotov (deputy chairman), Beria, Malenkov, Voroshilov.

3 July. Stalin's order on organization partisan movement behind German lines and about the destruction of everything that might fall to the enemy. Stalin’s first radio speech since the beginning of the war: “Brothers and sisters!.. My friends!.. Despite the heroic resistance of the Red Army, despite the fact that the enemy’s best divisions and the best units of his aviation have already been defeated and have found their grave on the battlefield , the enemy continues to advance"

July 10. The end of the 14-day battles near Bialystok and Minsk, more than 300 thousand Soviet soldiers were surrounded here in two bags. The Nazis complete the encirclement of the 100,000-strong Red Army group near Uman. The beginning of the battle of Smolensk (July 10 - August 5).

October 15. Evacuation of the leadership of the Communist Party, the General Staff and administrative institutions from Moscow.

29th of October. The Germans drop a large bomb on the Kremlin: 41 people are killed and more than 100 are wounded.

November 1-15. Temporary cessation of the German offensive on Moscow due to exhaustion of troops and severe mud.

November 6. In his annual speech on the occasion of the October anniversary at the Mayakovskaya metro station, Stalin announced the failure of the German “Blitzkrieg” (lightning war) in Russia.

November 15 – December 4. An attempt by the Germans to make a decisive breakthrough towards Moscow.

November 18th. British offensive in Africa. Battle of Marmarica (the area between Cyrenaica and the Nile Delta). German retreat in Cyrenaica

November 22. Rostov-on-Don is occupied by the Germans - and a week later it is recaptured by units of the Red Army. The beginning of German defensive battles in the Donetsk basin.

End of December. Surrender of Hong Kong.

1942

Before January 1, 1942 The Red Army and Navy lose a total of 4.5 million people, of which 2.3 million are missing and captured (most likely, these figures are incomplete). Despite this, Stalin longs to end the war victoriously already in 1942, which becomes the cause of many strategic mistakes.

1st of January . The United Nations Union (26 nations fighting against the fascist bloc) was created in Washington - the beginning of the UN. It also includes the USSR.

Jan. 7 . The beginning of the Soviet Lyubanskaya offensive operation: attempts to strike from two sides at Lyuban, located north of Novgorod, to encircle the German troops located here. This operation lasts 16 weeks, ending in failure and defeat of the 2nd Shock Army of A. Vlasov.

January 8 . Rzhev-Vyazemskaya operation of 1942 (8.01 – 20.04): an unsuccessful attempt to quickly “cut off” the Rzhev ledge held by the Germans costs the Red Army (according to official Soviet data) 770 thousand losses against 330 thousand German ones.

January February . Encirclement of the Germans on the Demyansk bridgehead (southern Novgorod region, January – February). They defend here until April - May, when they break through the encirclement, holding Demyansk. German losses were 45 thousand, Soviet losses were 245 thousand.

January 26 . Landing of the first American Expeditionary Force in Northern Ireland.

The Second World War. Sun of Japan

February 19. Riom trial against “the culprits of the defeat of France” - Daladier, Leon Blum, General Gamelin and others (February 19 - April 2).

February 23. Roosevelt's Lend-Lease Act applied to all Allied nations (USSR).

28th of February. German-Italian troops recapture Marmarika (February 28 – June 29).

11th of March. Another attempt to solve the Indian question: Cripps mission to India.

March 12. General Toyo invites America, England, China and Australia to abandon a war that is hopeless for them.

April 1st. A special resolution of the Politburo subjected Voroshilov to devastating criticism, who refused to accept command of the Volkhov Front.

April. Hitler gains full power. From now on, Hitler's will becomes law for Germany. British aircraft drop an average of 250 tons of explosives per night over Germany.

May 8-21 . Battle for the Kerch Peninsula. Kerch was taken by the Germans (May 15). The failed attempt to liberate Crimea in 1942 cost the Red Army up to 150 thousand losses.

August 23. The exit of the 6th German Army to the outskirts of Stalingrad. Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. The most severe bombing of the city.

August. Offensive battles of the Red Army near Rzhev.

September 30th. Hitler announces Germany's transition from an offensive strategy to a defensive one (development of conquered territories).

From January to October The Red Army loses 5.5 million soldiers killed, wounded and captured.

October 23. Battle of El Alamein. Defeat of Rommel's expeditionary force (October 20 – November 3).

October 9. Elimination of the institution of commissars in the Red Army, introduction of unity of command among military commanders.

November 8. Allied landings in North Africa, under the command of General Eisenhower.

11th of November. The German army breaks through to the Volga in Stalingrad, the Soviet troops defending the city are divided into two narrow pockets. The Germans begin to occupy all of France. Demobilization of the French army retained after the 1940 armistice.

November 19. The beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad - Operation Uranus.

November 25. The beginning of the Second Rzhev-Sychev Operation (“Operation Mars”, 11/25 – 12/20): an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the 9th German Army at Rzhev. It costs the Red Army 100 thousand killed and 235 thousand wounded against 40 thousand total German losses. If “Mars” had ended successfully, it would have been followed by “Jupiter”: the defeat of the main part of the German Army Group Center in the Vyazma area.

November 27. Self-sinking of large French units navy in Toulon.

December 16. The beginning of the Red Army operation “Little Saturn” (December 16-30) - a strike from the south Voronezh region(from Kalach and Rossoshi), to Morozovsk (north of the Rostov region). Initially, it was planned to rush south all the way to Rostov-on-Don and thus cut off the entire German group “South”, but “Big Saturn” did not have enough strength for this, and had to limit itself to “Small”.

December 23. Termination of Operation Winter Storm - Manstein's attempt to rescue the Germans in Stalingrad with a blow from the south. The Red Army captured the airfield in Tatsinskaya, the main external source of supply for the encircled Stalingrad German group.

End of December. Rommel lingers in Tunisia. Stopping the Allied offensive in Africa.

1943

1 January. The beginning of the North Caucasus operation of the Red Army.

6 January. Decree “On the introduction of shoulder straps for Red Army personnel.”

11 January. Liberation of Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk and Mineralnye Vody from the Germans.

January 12-30. The Soviet Operation Iskra breaches the siege of Leningrad, opening (after the liberation of Shlisselburg on January 18) a narrow land corridor to the city. Soviet losses in this operation - approx. 105 thousand killed, wounded and prisoners, German - approx. 35 thousand

January 14-26. Conference in Casablanca (demanding “unconditional surrender of the Axis powers”).

21 January. Liberation of Voroshilovsk (Stavropol) from the Germans.

January 29. The beginning of Vatutin’s Voroshilovgrad operation (“Operation Leap”, January 29 – February 18): the initial goal was to reach the Sea of Azov through Voroshilovgrad and Donetsk and cut off the Germans in the Donbass, but they only succeeded in taking Izyum and Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk).

The 14th of February. Liberation of Rostov-on-Don and Lugansk by the Red Army. Creation of the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead by the Red Army at Myskhako, with the aim of attacks on Novorossiysk. The Germans, however, were held in Novorossiysk until September 16, 1943.

February 19. The beginning of Manstein's counteroffensive in the south (the "Third Battle of Kharkov"), which disrupts Soviet operation"Leap."

March 1. The beginning of Operation Buffel (Buffalo, March 1-30): German troops, through a systematic retreat, leave the Rzhev salient in order to transfer part of their forces from there to the Kursk Bulge. Soviet historians then they present “Buffel” not as a conscious retreat of the Germans, but as a successful offensive “Rzhevo-Vyazma operation of the Red Army of 1943.”

20th of March. Battle for Tunisia. Defeat of German troops in Africa (March 20 – May 12).

April 13. The Germans announce the discovery of a mass grave of Polish officers shot by the Soviet NKVD near Smolensk, near Katyn.

April 16. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs offers his mediation between the warring parties with a view to concluding peace.

June 3. Creation of the French Committee of National Liberation (formerly: French National Committee).

June. The German underwater danger has been reduced to a minimum.

5'th of July. The German offensive on the northern and southern fronts of the Kursk ledge - the beginning of the Battle of Kursk (July 5-23, 1943).

July 10. Anglo-American landing in Sicily (July 10 – August 17). Their start of military operations in Italy distracts a lot of enemy forces from the Soviet front and is actually tantamount to the opening of a Second Front in Europe.

July, 12. The Battle of Prokhorovka was a stop to the most dangerous German breakthrough on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge. Losses in Operation Citadel (July 5-12): Soviet - approx. 180 thousand soldiers, German - approx. 55 thousand. Beginning of Operation Kutuzov - the Soviet counter-offensive on the Oryol Bulge (the northern face of the Kursk salient).

July 17th. Creation of AMGOT (Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories) in Sicily.

23 September. Mussolini's announcement of the continuation of fascist rule in northern Italy (Italian Social Republic or Republic of Salò).

September 25. Units of the Red Army capture Smolensk and reach the Dnieper line. Losses in the Smolensk operation: Soviet - 450 thousand; German - 70 thousand (according to German data) or 200-250 thousand (according to Soviet data).

October 7th. New big Soviet offensive from Vitebsk to the Taman Peninsula.

October 19-30. Third Moscow Conference three great powers The foreign ministers participating in it are Molotov, Eden and Cordell Hull. At this conference, the USA and England promise to open a second (besides the Italian) front in Europe in the spring of 1944; four great powers (including China) sign the “Declaration on Global Security”, where for the first time together proclaim the formula for the unconditional surrender of fascist states as an indispensable condition for ending the war; A European Advisory Commission is created (consisting of representatives of the USSR, USA and England) to discuss issues related to the surrender of the Axis states.

End of october. Dnepropetrovsk and Melitopol were taken by the Red Army. Crimea is cut off.

November 6. Liberation of Kyiv from the Germans. Losses in the Kyiv operation: Soviet: 118 thousand, German - 17 thousand.

November 9. Congress of representatives of the 44 United Nations in Washington (November 9 – December 1).

the 13th of November. Liberation of Zhitomir from the Germans. On November 20, Zhitomir was recaptured by the Germans and liberated again on December 31.

November December. Manstein's unsuccessful counterattack on Kyiv.

November 28 – December 1. The Tehran Conference (Roosevelt – Churchill – Stalin) decides to open a second front in the West - and not in the Balkans, but in France; the Western allies agree to confirm after the war the Soviet-Polish border of 1939 (along the “Curzon line”); they veiledly agree to recognize the entry of the Baltic states into the USSR; Roosevelt's proposal to create a new world organization to replace the previous League of Nations is generally approved; Stalin promises to enter the war against Japan after the defeat of Germany.

December 24. General Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander of the armies of the second front in the West.

1944

January 24 - February 17. The Korsun-Shevchenko operation leads to the encirclement of 10 German divisions in the Dnieper bend.

March 29. The Red Army occupies Chernivtsi, and the day before, near this city, it enters the territory of Romania.

April 10th. Odessa is taken by the Red Army. The first awards of the Order of Victory: Zhukov and Vasilevsky received it, and on April 29 - Stalin.

The Second World War. Russian steam roller

May 17. After 4 months of fierce fighting, Allied forces break through the Gustav Line in Italy. Fall of Cassino.

June 6 . Allied landing in Normandy (Operation Overlord). Opening of the Second Front in Western Europe.

IN June 1944 the number of active Soviet army reaches 6.6 million; it has 13 thousand aircraft, 8 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, 100 thousand guns and mortars. The ratio of forces on the Soviet-German front in terms of personnel is 1.5:1 in favor of the Red Army, in terms of guns and mortars 1.7:1, in terms of aircraft 4.2:1. The forces in tanks are approximately equal.

June 23 . The beginning of Operation Bagration (June 23 - August 29, 1944) - the liberation of Belarus by the Red Army.

On September 1, 1939, the armed forces of Germany and Slovakia invaded Poland. At the same time, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired on the fortifications of the Polish Westerplatte peninsula. Since Poland was in an alliance with England, France and Germany, this was regarded as a declaration of war by Hitler.

On September 1, 1939, universal military service was announced in the USSR. The conscription age was lowered from 21 to 19, and in some cases to 18. This quickly increased the size of the army to 5 million people. The USSR began to prepare for war.

Hitler justified the need to attack Poland with the Gleiwitz incident, carefully avoiding "" and fearing the outbreak of military action against England and France. He promised the Polish people guarantees of immunity and expressed his intention only to actively defend against “Polish aggression.”

The Gleiwitz incident was a provocation on the part of the Third Reich to create a pretext for an armed conflict: SS officers dressed in Polish military uniform, carried out a number of attacks on the border of Poland and Germany. Pre-killed concentration camp prisoners who were taken directly to the scene of events were used as those killed during the attack.

Until the last moment, Hitler hoped that Poland’s allies would not stand up for it and Poland would be transferred to Germany in the same way as the Sudetenland was transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1938.

England and France declare war on Germany

Despite the Fuhrer's hopes, on September 3, 1945, England, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Within a short period of time they were joined by Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal. The USA and Japan declared neutrality.

The British ambassador, who arrived at the Reich Chancellery on September 3, 1939 and delivered an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of troops from Poland, shocked Hitler. But the war had already begun, the Fuhrer did not want to leave behind diplomatically what had been won by arms, and the offensive of German troops on Polish soil continued.

Despite the declared war, Western Front Anglo-French troops did not take any active actions in the period from September 3 to 10, with the exception of military operations at sea. This inaction allowed Germany to completely destroy Poland's armed forces in just 7 days, leaving only minor pockets of resistance. But they too will be completely eliminated by October 6, 1939. It was on this day that Germany announced the end of the existence of the Polish state and government.

USSR participation at the beginning of World War II

According to the secret additional protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty, the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, including in Poland, were clearly demarcated between the USSR and Germany. Therefore, on September 16, 1939, the Soviet Union introduced its troops into Polish territory and occupied lands that later became part of the USSR’s zone of influence and became part of the Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Lithuania.

Despite the fact that the USSR and Poland did not declare war on each other, many historians consider the fact that Soviet troops entered Polish territory in 1939 as the date of the USSR’s entry into World War II.

On October 6, Hitler proposed convening a peace conference between the world's major powers to resolve the Polish issue. England and France set a condition: either Germany withdraws troops from Poland and the Czech Republic and grants them independence, or there will be no conference. The leadership of the Third Reich rejected this ultimatum and the conference did not take place.