The beginning and end of the Second World War. In what year did the Great Patriotic War end? End date of the Great Patriotic War

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“There was a huge fireworks display, extraordinary, and they also raised a portrait of Stalin,” recalls Lidiya Pavlovna Antonova. “The jubilation was such that it is difficult to describe in words. Strangers hugged and kissed on the street. By evening there were even more people on the embankment! It was just spontaneous!”

According to the memoirs of Vsevolod Vishnevsky: “10 o’clock in the evening. Victory Salute! On Red Square there is the roar of a festive crowd... Music, dancing... Songs break out... More and more masses of happy people are pouring into the square. Purple-blue searchlights hit the sky... Thirty salvos from a thousand guns! Rain of rockets! Here it is, our Victory!”

High in the sky, above the construction of the Palace of Soviets and above Pushkin Square, huge portraits of Comrade Stalin appeared. When the fireworks began, the beams of powerful spotlights crossed the portraits, and they lit up, attracting the gaze of hundreds of thousands of Muscovites.

The festive fireworks begin. Moscow saluted the troops of the Red Army, ships and units of the Navy, which won a great victory, with thirty artillery salvoes from a thousand guns.

From Levitan’s memoirs: “In the evening I was called to the Kremlin and handed the text of the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on victory over Nazi Germany. It was supposed to be read in 35 minutes. The radio studio from which such broadcasts were broadcast was located not far from the Kremlin, in the GUM building. To get there, you had to cross Red Square. But before us is a sea of ​​people. We took about five meters in battle, but nothing further. “Comrades,” I shout, “let me through. We're on business!" And they answer us: “What’s going on there! Now Levitan will read the victory order on the radio, and the fireworks will begin. Stand like everyone else, listen and watch!” And then it dawned on us: there is also a radio studio in the Kremlin, we need to read from there! We run back, explain the situation to the commandant, and he gives the command to the guards not to stop the two people running through the Kremlin corridors.”

Levitan speaks on the radio: “Attention! Moscow speaks! All radio stations of the Soviet Union are working! The Great Patriotic War... has ended victoriously. Nazi Germany is completely defeated!

Only at the end of May 1945 was it decided to hold a parade. On June 22, Stalin signed an order to organize a parade. Military academies, schools, as well as combined regiments of each of the fronts participating in the war were supposed to take part in it. Marshal Rokossovsky was appointed commander of the parade, and Marshal Zhukov was appointed host of the parade. The rostrum for honored guests was traditionally organized on the Mausoleum building. In addition to Stalin, members of the Politburo were present at the parade: Kalinin, Molotov and others.

It was decided not to hold a parade, since the overwhelming number of military units were located outside the USSR at that moment. It was necessary to wait for their return to fully organize the action.

Joseph Stalin addressed the people from the Kremlin with a brief speech. “The Great Patriotic War, waged by the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders, has been victoriously completed,” the leader solemnly announced. - Germany is completely destroyed. Glory to our great people, the victorious people! Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in battles with the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!”

“My mother and I cried with her,” says Olga Vladimirovna Gaiduk. - I remember this very well. Then the elder sister ran to the Bolshoi Theater, there they rejoiced and danced all evening, but first there were tears...”

“People were walking and there was a woman’s howl. They sobbed and cried for their dead men. This nervous tension resulted in crying that we had finally suffered. Joy, fun and rejoicing came on the same day, but a little later. At first there were tears, and then there was joy,” recalls Leonid Gennadievich Chetverikov.

Joseph Stalin writes the following lines to US President Harry Truman: “I cordially thank you for your friendly congratulations on the occasion of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The peoples of the Soviet Union highly value the participation of the friendly American people in the current war of liberation. The joint struggle of the Soviet, American and British armies against the German invaders, which ended in their complete defeat and defeat, will go down in history as an example of the military commonwealth of our peoples.”

In the Bornholm area, Soviet aviation continues to attack German convoys leaving to the west (more than 50 ships were discovered), of which 10 were sunk and about the same number were damaged. In air battles in the area of ​​the island, 16 German aircraft were shot down.

Thousands of people go to Red Square. They come here in entire teams from Zamoskvorechye, Krasnaya Presnya, and Sokolniki.

By order of the Main Directorate of Local Air Defense of the NKVD of the USSR, the “threatened situation” was canceled throughout the entire territory of the Soviet Union.

A mobile group of the 38th Army advanced to the Choteborz area (100 km southeast of Prague), which covered 135 km in a day.

Joseph Stalin receives the following letter from Churchill: “I send you heartfelt greetings on the occasion of the brilliant victory you won in driving out the invaders from your country and defeating Nazi tyranny. I firmly believe that the future of humanity depends on friendship and mutual understanding between the British and Russian peoples. Here, in our island fatherland, we think about you very often today, and we send you wishes of happiness and prosperity from the depths of our hearts. We want that after all the sacrifices and suffering in that dark valley through which we went together, we now, bound by true friendship and mutual sympathy, could move on under the shining sun of a victorious world. I ask my wife to convey these words of friendship and admiration to you all.”

On Revolution Square, Muscovites dance, throw soldiers returning from the war into the air, and sing “Katyusha.”

The units of the German Wehrmacht located on the territory of Austria completely capitulated.

On Gorky Street, the wide sidewalks are filled with festively dressed people - animated, laughing, exchanging jokes.

In Poland, Hero of the Soviet Union Iosif Vasilyevich Matrunchik is blown up by an anti-tank mine.

The last naval battle took place in the Bornholm area: three Soviet torpedo boats caught up with an enemy convoy (transport, tug, 11 patrol boats). When the convoy was ordered to return to the port, the Germans opened fire. The torpedo launch failed, our boats began to retreat to the port of Roenne, two sailors were wounded in this battle, one soon died from his wounds. The convoy left for Denmark.

On Pushkin Square, a huge crowd moves, moves, forms separate circles - they dance inside them.

At this time, in Moscow, 250 artists performed in front of the jubilant people, with trucks serving as their stage.

A mobile front group entered Prague and covered 200 km in 24 hours.

At this point, the science department of Gazeta.Ru interrupts the historical online. Let's continue to restore the chronicle of the day at 18:00!

Meanwhile, the 6th Guards Tank Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front met with units of the 4th Guards Tank Army 35 kilometers southeast of Prague. On this day, I.M.’s 53rd Army went on the offensive. Managarova and the 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group I.A. Plieva.

Overtaken in the Austrian city of Zwettl, the commander of the 3rd Panzer Division “Totenkopf”, SS Brigadefuehrer Helmut Becker, surrendered into American captivity. Becker was later handed over to Soviet troops. In the USSR, he was sentenced to imprisonment in the Poltava prison, and then to serve his sentence in the Vorkuta camp.

General Zhukov received a call from Moscow and was informed that all the documentation on the surrender of Nazi Germany had been received and handed over to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Utesov arrived with his bus and was applauded. Because of the noise, nothing could be heard; he went to Red Square. The crowd cheered and cried.

A German radiogram was intercepted from Bornholm stating that there was a large concentration of ships and transport vessels in the roads there, with more than 7 thousand soldiers and officers on them, and the movement of ships continued.

“It seems impossible, but everyone understood each other, became close. Many cried - they lost relatives and friends. Their comforters also cried. Everyone had losses. Our family's cousin Neeh has gone missing. The families of my mother’s niece, Aunt Rosa and her husband, Uncle Yakov and his wife, were left in unmarked, unknown graves. They asked the soldiers where they fought, did they meet my father, son, brother? They took checks, cups, sandwiches out of their pockets and treated their neighbors,” recalls L. Surkova.

“Cars were coming from the Spasskaya Tower, But they were hampered by a barrier of people. The boys, clinging to the cabins, tried to make out the leaders. There was no way for the military, now they were being taken prisoner by their own people. For the first time in four years, peaceful battles awaited them,” recalled Alexander Timofeevsky in the poem “The Ninth of May 1945: A Chronicle.”

“...On May 9, 1945, with the permission of the commander, I left for Moscow for 3 days. It is simply impossible to tell what was happening in Moscow that day. Everyone rejoiced, from young to old. I arrived in Moscow in the morning and it took 2 hours to get to the apartment. It was impossible not only to drive through, but also to walk through. The soldiers are grabbed, rocked, kissed. In the evening there was a beautiful fireworks display, songs and dances throughout Moscow. It’s good that as soon as I arrived, I took a liter of vodka at the station, otherwise it was impossible to buy it in the evening. We celebrated Victory Day with our family, apartment owners and neighbors. They drank to victory, to those who did not live to see this day, and to ensuring that this bloody massacre would never happen again. On May 10, it was no longer possible to buy vodka in Moscow; they drank it all.” (From the memoirs of N.A. Kryuchkov, navigator of military transport aviation.)

"Front illustration"

Newspapers are published with the slogan “It was not Stalin who won—the people won!” Under the slogan were written the following words: “Long live the great inspirer and organizer of the historical victories of the Soviet people, our dear and beloved Stalin!!!”

The Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery in Moscow is crowded. “On Victory Day at the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery it was like Easter - the bird cherry blossoms were in bloom, a fresh wind was blowing, and crowds of people came to remember those who did not return from the front...” - E.P. Mayorova recalls about Victory Day.

“It’s unusually festive and sunny in the city. Even the conductor on the tram does not take money from the military: “I pay for you myself,” recalls the military correspondent and writer Vsevolod Vishnevsky. - There are many officers and soldiers on the streets - they survived, they made it! Passers-by stop them, hug them, kiss them...

And how the whole country rejoices today!

Moscow is beautiful and clean! How different it is from Berlin, which I persistently see in difficult dreams.”

The squadron commander, senior lieutenant Valery Polunovsky, was released from German captivity. In October 1943, in the area of ​​Lake Ilmen, Novgorod Region, he destroyed a German multi-purpose Me-110 aircraft with a ram on a Yak-1 aircraft. In total, Polunovsky’s personal account included 479 combat missions, 13 of which were at night. In 46 air battles he shot down 13 enemy aircraft. On March 27, 1944, Valery Fedorovich was on a mission to escort an Il-2 group. During the attack on the enemy airfield Parkanovo, his plane was shot down. Valery Fedorovich jumped out of the burning car by parachute, but was captured. He was initially placed in the Wistritz concentration camp, from where he escaped on August 22, 1944, but was captured and transferred to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. After a second unsuccessful escape attempt, Valery Fedorovich was transferred to the Buchenwald death camp.

According to information provided by Field Marshal Keitel at the request of the Soviet command, on May 9 the Wehrmacht had more than 1.5 million soldiers and officers on the Soviet-German front. In total, from May 9 to May 17, the Red Army captured about 1,391 thousand enemy soldiers and officers and 101 generals based on the act of surrender.

German prisoners

Zoya Dolgusheva, a resident of Sevastopol, recalls: “The district called the village council that the war was over. The church bells rang in celebration, everyone jumped out into the street and ran to our Zelenovsky village council, where the rally began. There were so many tears! Almost all of our village women remained widows and their children orphans. This is truly a victory with tears in our eyes.”

In honor of the Victory, rallies begin across the country in factories, factories, construction sites, on collective farms, in the squares of cities and villages.

When we approached the door, the commander was already on the ground, where he was congratulated “on the victory,” and at that time he seriously reported to someone about the completed flight and gave one a package, and another a package with the Victory Banner. I remember one thing for sure: there were four people standing next to him - two generals and two in civilian uniform. There was already a crowd of people standing around us, and photojournalists were clicking the buttons of their cameras.”

We taxied to the indicated place, braked and turned off the engine. I immediately put the package and the Banner in the hands of the commander, as a valuable, most valuable cargo that such value has not existed on earth in the entire history of mankind. The entire crew wholeheartedly shakes the commander's hand, with pride about the accomplishment of a big government task. We saw the commander off with a satisfied look and followed him to the front door, and the passengers, in turn, had long since left and mixed with the people greeting us.

I was worried because, on the instructions of the commander, the package with the Pact of Surrender of Nazi Germany was in my navigator’s tablet, and the package - the Victory Banner - lay under my right elbow near the pilot’s seat. My excitement rises, I want to shout “Hurray, Victory!”...

The act of surrender was delivered to Moscow. “The flight lasted about six hours. We arrived in Moscow at about the eleventh hour,” recalls Abdusamat Taymetov. — The plane landed and rolled smoothly along the asphalt strip. We can already see from afar how people have gathered to meet us at the air terminal of the central airport. (Today - between the Dynamo and Airport metro stations. - Gazeta.Ru.)

Oleg Yatskevich recalls: “My family miraculously survived the Leningrad blockade without losses. As Victory approached, I began to ask my mother: “When we (!) win, will there be cakes?” (I remembered the cakes from pre-war times and, naturally, considered these products to be the pinnacle of cooking.) And then May 9, 1945 came! Victory! That day, my mother bought me and my brother a block of ice cream each! I will remember the taste of Victory for the rest of my life! Mom laughed, and my older brother made a “masterpiece” for me - he buttered a piece of bread, sprinkled it with granulated sugar and “powdered” it with cocoa.”

Front-line soldiers meet at the square near the Bolshoi Theater. It is this square that will become a traditional meeting place for veterans in subsequent years.

A crowd of people walks along Nevsky Prospekt in Leningrad and sings “Katyusha”.

From the memoirs of Boris Goller: “At the corner of Nevsky and Proletkult, someone calls out: “Soviet people, help detain the bandit!” - and blood flows from his face. And the Soviet people, who defeated Hitler and the most terrible military machine of fascism, walk by and try not to look. There are a lot of bandits in the city - this is also a consequence of the war. Peace is more difficult than war - it has always been so, it will always be so! In war there is at least clarity - who is friend and who is enemy. In war it is clearer why one must sacrifice one’s life.”

Prague is completely occupied and cleared of the enemy by troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

Grossman's boys opened the door: “Victory!” They ran through all the rooms, shouting this amazing word loudly. My uncle Pasha, a disabled person, smiled, rose heavily from his chair and silently hobbled into another room, and his wife fell with her head on the table and sobbed loudly - their two sons died. One on the Orel-Kursk Bulge in 1943, the other exactly a year ago, in 1944, in Belarus. Dvorkin knocked and came in with a bottle of wine, followed by other neighbors, and we all drank to the victory. In our glasses, wine was mixed with tears - tears of joy and grief.”

“And the radio broadcast the marches, one after another. It still seems to me that I heard one of those marches for the only time in my life; it was swift and sparkled with silver. One will end - a pause, we freeze, holding our breath, waiting for some words. Music again. The windows were open, there was no sound or rustle on the street. Our house stood on Herzen Street (now Nikitskaya), in our two rooms the windows were on two sides - on Herzen Street, along which the tram then ran, and on Sobinovsky Lane, right on the red-brick Theater of the Revolution (now the Mayakovsky Theater) . GITIS could be seen in the distance, and down the Herzen Street was the Conservatory. And so, when dawn had already arrived and the next march had sounded, the radio went silent. Everyone froze, the silence seemed unbearable. It lasted for a minute, and Levitan’s solemn voice: “Moscow speaks...”

“On the morning of May 9, all the residents of our communal apartment were awake. I was finishing my second year at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute and lived in the family of my uncle, my father’s brother, and his wife. No one was sleeping, we sat at the table, above which hung a black cardboard radio plate, listened and were silent. The neighbors did not sleep either - the silent, as if mute, cook from the Kremlin canteen with his wife, Tsilya Grossman did not sleep with her husband - a disabled worker and two boys, the real swindler Dvorkin did not sleep with his wife and daughter, talking about his frauds, laughing contentedly , and always ready to treat everyone; my aunt Zhenya, a former actress who was alternately at odds with all her neighbors, did not sleep,” recalls Svetlana Obolenskaya.

Meanwhile, the troops of the 5th Guards Army with their main forces eliminated the enemy group northeast of Prague, and its vanguard also reached the northern outskirts of Prague.

www.1945-2010.info

Muscovites sing “Dark Night...” right on the streets, “Fire curls in a cramped stove...”, “Glorious sea, sacred Baikal...”, “Deaf, unknown taiga...”.

In Moscow, people continue to take to the streets and congratulate each other. The soldiers are kissed and thrown into the sky. “It still stands out to me how people, overwhelmed with the joy of the end of the war, surrounded those they came across in military uniform and shook them, that is, threw them up and caught them in their arms,” recalls native Muscovite V.V. Sigaev. — Strangers hugged, laughing and crying at the same time, there were simply no calm people passing by... The family gathered on Kislovka, prepared a festive meal that was not liquid at that time: vinaigrette, the then standard boiled sausage, cheese, herring, pickles, pancakes, tea with jam. We drank a glass and sang front-line songs quietly.”

General Eisenhower's headquarters announced: “The American 7th Army reports the arrest of Goering and Kesselring. According to the testimony given by Goering, Hitler sentenced him to death because on April 24 he proposed to replace him as leader of the German Reich. At the time of his arrest, Goering was wearing a uniform with gold stripes and only three awards. In a good mood, he declared that he was ready to give all the desired information honestly and in good faith, and told how he had to kill on Hitler’s personal orders.”

German troops capitulated in the area of ​​Danzig and Gdynia (about 75 thousand soldiers and officers, including 12 generals, laid down their arms).

“Incredible upward shooting began, they saluted that in the end the war was over, and that we had won, and that we were alive. ... And I remember this picture especially vividly - as a sign of surrender, there are white sheets in all the windows,” recalls artilleryman Arkady Blyakher, who met May 9 in Berlin.

Traffic controller in Berlin

“It is beyond my power to describe what happened on Theater Square. This has not happened and will not happen. Everything that had been accumulating for four years - torment, hope, disappointment, loss - burst out in one spirit, embraced everyone, and was strengthened many times over. It seems impossible, but everyone understood each other and became close,” recalls L. Surkova.

German soldiers blocked on the Courland Peninsula, having learned about the surrender, stopped resisting. Most of the approximately 135,000-strong army began to surrender, and some tried to escape to East Prussia. Among them was the commander of the Sixth SS Corps in Courland, SS-Obergruppenführer Walter Kruger. On May 22, 1945, he was captured by Soviet troops and shot himself.

Marches are broadcast on Soviet radio, one after another. Every hour, Levitan's statement about Victory, spoken late at night, is repeated.

“On the morning of May 9, Red Army soldiers walked down the street hugging each other,” recalls military translator Elena Rzhevskaya. - In anticipation of something extraordinary, some indescribable celebration and fun with which this long-awaited Victory Day should be celebrated. Some people were already dancing, others were singing. The military girls were urgently washing their tunics... The tractor was pulling a gun somewhere, and the letters on the barrel were still shining: “Give us Berlin!”... Everything remained as before. And at the same time, everything suddenly became different. The guns should not fire anymore, the soldiers should not attack. The long-awaited peace has come to earth... The days of incomparable elation of spirit, when they rushed to Berlin, are now becoming history.”

“...There’s nowhere to write your last name,” recalls Victor Gritsai. - Well, I won’t erase someone’s inscription. We went inside. It's dirty and smoky. One expert says: “This is Hitler’s office!” But this is unlikely. I saw some kind of snag, stepped on it and scrawled with a piece of glass: “Gritt. Stupino."

Soviet soldiers stationed in Berlin went to put up their murals on the Reichstag.

Soldiers sign the walls of the Reistag

Meanwhile, to accept the surrender of the German garrison, a detachment of torpedo boats (6 units) with a rifle company (108 people) left the port of Kolberg on the Danish island of Bornholm. These forces were commanded by the Chief of Staff of the Kolberg Naval Base, Captain 2nd Rank D.S. Shavtsov.

The formation is announced to the Soviet soldiers in Berlin and the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the complete surrender of Germany is read out.

Newspapers with the slogan “It was not Stalin who won, the people who won” are being prepared for publication.

The plane with the act of surrender was on its way to Moscow. “An hour and a half passed when the sun came out and began to shine directly towards us, into our eyes. The sky is clear - not a single cloud. The height has so far shown one thousand five hundred meters. Moscow transmits the actual weather forecast in the city and at the airfield,” recalled Abdusamat Taymetov.

Ilya Fedorovich Kulikov recalls: “In the morning, shooting started. Everyone runs, throwing their hats up. They shout that the war is over. We didn't believe it. There were still separate battles with undead fascist groups. When headquarters announced that Victory had arrived, we saluted, I fired three shots in honor of the Victory.”

The banquet of the Soviet and allied command is coming to an end. “The festive dinner ended in the morning with songs and dances,” Zhukov recalled. - Out of competition, Soviet generals danced. I also could not resist and, remembering my youth, I danced "Russian". They dispersed and dispersed to the sounds of cannonade, which was fired from all types of weapons on the occasion of the victory. Shooting went on in all districts of Berlin and its suburbs. They shot upward, but fragments of mines, shells and bullets fell to the ground, and walking on the morning of May 9 was not entirely safe. But how different this danger was from the one with which we all got used to during the long years of war.”

Wehrmacht and SS units began a retreat from Prague, which quickly developed into a stampede towards the western border of Czechoslovakia.

Advanced units of the 13th and 3rd Guards combined arms armies appeared on the Prague outskirts.

Red Army correspondent

Soviet troops enter Prague

According to Taimetov, after receiving the act of surrender, the pilots were worried about only one thought: how to ensure maximum flight safety and fly to Moscow faster?

“I’m standing next to Alexey Ivanovich, not far from the door of the plane, and at that moment, among those seeing us off, two people approached us, one in military uniform, and the second in civilian uniform. From his briefcase, a tall officer takes out a package sealed with a wax seal and hands it to a man in civilian uniform. And he, in turn, passes it into the hands of Alexei Ivanovich Semenkov, shakes his hand firmly and says that this package must be delivered to Moscow, that here is the Surrender Pact of defeated Nazi Germany, and this package is the Victory Banner! In turn, the commander handed over the documents and package to me, and we shook hands. The commander replies that the task will be completed,” writes Abdusamat Taymetov.

At that moment it was 4 o'clock in the morning in Moscow.

“We are approaching Berlin, descending to 300 meters, the surroundings of the city are green. ... I was strangely surprised that when they started steering along the path, on both sides at every 50-meter distance there were officers with gold shoulder straps and red flags in their hands,” this is how Abdusamat Taimetov describes his arrival in Berlin.

Abdusamat Taymetov

Abdusamat Taymetov

“And I return to my place. In all likelihood, the regiment commander noticed that I was walking back and forth. I took the helm to fly the plane and I kept thinking, but who is this old man? Then he couldn’t stand it and still dared to ask the commander.

- Comrade commander, who is he - a white old man, sleeping on the sofa?

He smiled pleasantly and said so that all crew members could hear:

“This little white old man is Comrade Vyshinsky, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR,” and he smiled broadly, pleased with himself that he had given us “secret information.”

At that time, a plane was flying to Berlin, the first pilot of which was Alexei Semenkov, and the second was Abdusamat Taimetov. The crew was supposed to pick up the act of surrender in Berlin and deliver it to Moscow.

“I kept thinking, who and what kind of people are in the passenger compartment? - Abdusamat Taymetov recalled. — I asked permission from Alexander Ivanovich Semenkov:

- Comrade commander, may I go out and go to the rear trunk?

The commander allowed it. I gave him the helm, calmly stood up and went out into the passenger compartment.

When I went into the bedroom salon, I saw on the sofa in underwear a little white old man with a little white trimmed mustache. A general salon passed by - people in military and civilian uniforms. Who looked at me, i.e. whoever caught his eye, nodded his head, greeted and walked to the tail of the plane. Having opened the rear trunk door and making sure that everything was in order, I closed the door and looked from the tail of the plane at the people sitting in the plane's seats, for some time I thought deeply about what kind of people and where we will bring them? Since there is no exact data on the place of landing.

The years 1941-1945 were a terrible test for the USSR, which the citizens of the country withstood with honor, emerging victorious from the armed confrontation with Germany. In our article we will briefly talk about the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and its final stage.

Beginning of the war

Since 1939, the Soviet Union, acting in its own territorial interests, tried to maintain neutrality. But when the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began, it automatically became part of the Second World War, which lasted for the second year already.

Anticipating a possible clash with Britain and France (the capitalist countries opposed communism), Stalin had been preparing the country for war since the 1930s. In 1940, the USSR began to regard Germany as its main adversary, although a non-aggression pact (1939) was concluded between the countries.

However, thanks to competent disinformation, the invasion of German troops into Soviet territory on June 22, 1941 without official warning came as a surprise.

Rice. 1. Joseph Stalin.

The first, on the orders of Rear Admiral Ivan Eliseev at three o'clock in the morning, was the Black Sea Fleet to repel the Nazis, firing at German planes that had invaded Soviet airspace. Border battles followed later.

The beginning of the war was officially announced to the Soviet ambassador in Germany only at four in the morning. On the same day, the decision of the Germans was repeated by the Italians and Romanians.

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A number of miscalculations (in military development, timing of attacks, time of deployment of troops) led to losses for the Soviet army in the first years of resistance. Germany captured the Baltic States, Belarus, most of Ukraine, southern Russia. Leningrad was taken into the blockade ring (from 09/08/1941). Moscow was defended. In addition, military operations began again on the border with Finland, as a result of which Finnish troops recaptured the lands captured by the Union during the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940).

Rice. 2. Siege Leningrad.

Despite the serious defeats of the USSR, the German Barbarossa plan to occupy Soviet lands in one year failed: Germany was bogged down in war.

Final period

Successfully conducted operations at the second stage of the war (November 1942-December 1943) allowed Soviet troops to continue the counteroffensive.

In four months (December 1943-April 1944), Right Bank Ukraine was recaptured. The army reached the southern borders of the Union and began the liberation of Romania.

In January 1944 the blockade of Leningrad was lifted, in April-May the Crimea was recaptured, in June-August Belarus was liberated, and in September-November the Baltic states were liberated.

In 1945, liberation operations of Soviet troops began outside the country (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria).

On April 16, 1945, the USSR army began the Berlin operation, during which the capital of Germany surrendered (May 2). Planted on May 1st on the roof of the Reichstag (Parliament building), the assault flag became the Victory Banner and was transferred to the dome.

05/09/1945 Germany capitulated.

Rice. 3. Victory Banner.

When the Great Patriotic War ended (May 1945), World War II was still ongoing (until September 2). Having won the war of liberation, the Soviet army, according to the preliminary agreements of the Yalta Conference (February 1945), transferred its forces to the war with Japan (August 1945). Having defeated the most powerful Japanese ground forces (Kwantung Army), the USSR contributed to the rapid surrender of Japan.

Igor Tyshkevich, "Khvilya"

Frankly, it has always been strange for me to listen to discussions about terminology. Especially in relation to the memory of the dead and the feat of heroes. The Great Patriotic War or the Second World War. Whatever you call it, the feat of those who defeated fascism should not be forgotten.

And they do not forget - all over the world, they honor the memory of the departed and are proud of the living. Moreover, the status of veterans is fixed by law. In many countries. As for what to call that war, even in the post-Soviet space, both terms are used. But not in Russia. Strange, more than strange.

I decided to figure it out. Delving into history books means multiplying discussions. I decided to take a different route - to look at the reasons for the state’s attitude to terminology. And this is best done by studying the laws. Moreover, the Kremlin itself gives reasons. Remember the fuss over the law, which the media dubbed the act of “protection of historical memory”?

If you just read it, everything seems fine. Responsibility is introduced for the propaganda of Nazi symbols as well as “other paraphernalia or symbols, the propaganda or public display of which is prohibited by federal laws” (1) .

A couple of phrases are also added to the law of the Russian Federation “On the perpetuation of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” In particular, the promotion of attributes and symbols of organizations that collaborated with structures (or persons) recognized as war criminals is prohibited. There is a really interesting addition to the list of prohibitions. War criminals are those who are recognized as such, including by “sentences of national, military or occupation tribunals based on the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the Trial and Punishment of the Main War Criminals of the European Axis Countries (Nuremberg Tribunal) or passed during the Great Patriotic War, World War II war." (2) And here again there are two terms - the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.

However, everything becomes clear if you look at the Russian law “On Veterans”. His first articles define who a veteran of the Great Patriotic War is. Everything seems to be the same as in neighboring countries. With just one additive. Veterans of the Second World War are recognized as persons who performed combat missions on the territory of the USSR until 1957. Including “those who took part in military operations to eliminate the nationalist underground in the territories of Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the period from January 1, 1944 to December 31, 1951.” It’s already strange - the Patriotic War ended in 1945 - that’s what the textbooks teach. But the anti-Soviet underground was not fascist.

But an even greater surprise awaits those who have the courage to read the law to the end. There are such applications - a list of states, cities, territories and periods of hostilities with the participation of citizens of the Russian Federation (3) .

I will quote section 1 in full:

Civil War: February 23, 1918 to October 1922
Soviet-Polish War: March - October 1920
Fighting in Spain: 1936 - 1939
War with Finland: from November 30, 1939 to March 13, 1940
Great Patriotic War: from June 22, 1941 to May 9 (11), 1945
War with Japan: August 9, 1945 to September 3, 1945
Combat operations to eliminate the Basmachi: from October 1922 to June 1931
The fighting in the area of ​​​​Lake Khasan: from July 29 to August 11, 1938
Fighting on the Khalkhin Gol River: from May 11 to September 16, 1939
Fighting during the reunification of the USSR, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus: from September 17 to 28, 1939
Fighting in China: from August 1924 to July 1927; October - November 1929; from July 1937 to September 1944; July - September 1945; from March 1946 to April 1949; March - May 1950 (for personnel of the air defense force group); from June 1950 to July 1953 (for personnel of military units that took part in hostilities in North Korea from Chinese territory)
Fighting in Hungary: 1956
Fighting in the area of ​​Damansky Island: March 1969
Fighting in the area of ​​Lake Zhalanashkol: August 1969

Why did I do this? The answer is in section 2.

“Persons who took part in wars and hostilities in states (territories) and in the defense of cities specified in sections I and II are subject to Articles 2 and 4 of the Federal Law “On Veterans.”

That is, they are all considered veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

Stop, you say. But the Second World War is a war against fascism. Yes. But according to Russian law, those who, for example, together with Nazi Germany stormed the Brest Fortress in 1939, fought against fascism in such a cunning way.

The shooting of residential buildings in Budapest from tanks in 1956 was also a fight against fascism.

Just like the Korean War. By the way, the same one that was fought against the international contingent sent by decision of the UN!

All these people are WWII veterans, fighters against fascism.

Now comes the fun part. The status of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War is recognized to one degree or another by all countries of the former USSR. And international treaties within the CIS guarantee such veterans social benefits without confirmation of status by national authorities. That is, a “veteran” from the Russian Federation who came to Belarus or Ukraine is considered a WWII veteran on the basis of Russian documents.

But this man may not have fought in 1939-1945. And all his exploits boiled down to the war against the same Belarusians and Ukrainians in the 50s. Or, for example, participation in a war against UN troops. And this person, in accordance with international obligations, should be honored on a par with a real fighter against fascism.

Further more. Interesting substitution of concepts. If an ordinary politician talks about the “Russian world”, that’s one thing. But if a “veteran of the Patriotic War” comes forward with these theses, it is already more difficult to object - simply out of respect for age and status. And the fact that this person did not receive the status and title for the fight against fascism is the tenth thing.

So what, Russia can erect monuments to such people. And any encroachment on them, according to Russian laws, is an encroachment on the memory of the Great Patriotic War.

Here is a quote from the law

“Monuments of the Great Patriotic War include sculptural, architectural and other memorial structures and objects that perpetuate the memory of the events, participants, veterans and victims of the Great Patriotic War.”

And here’s another (excerpts from article 8:

“On the basis of relevant international treaties, the Russian Federation ensures the construction, preservation and restoration of monuments... that are located outside the territory of the Russian Federation.”

That is, for example, the Russian Embassy in Belarus will receive a piece of land. Let’s say near Baranovichi or Novogrudok. And he will erect a monument to the brave soldiers who destroyed local residents in the 50s. Including under the guise of "national partisans". (confirmation of the application of the methodology - a manual from the KGB higher school (Boichenko, Eremin) Belarus bourgeois nationalists (4) ).

And that's all, gentlemen, this is a monument to the Great Patriotic War. And if the “grateful” Belarusians try to protest, they are fascists. They are against the people's memory. Against the Great Victory.

This is where the problem comes in. And, frankly, I am increasingly inclined to the opinion - stop playing with the Great Patriotic War. Let's leave this term to Moscow. Our ancestors fought against fascism on the fronts of the Second World War. In 1939, defending Grodno, Pinsk, Kobrin, Brest. Then the fronts of the USSR, France, Italy. And the partisan movement in Belarus itself began not in 1941. But in 1939. Then, when the “veterans of the Patriotic War” marched together with Wehrmacht units through the streets of Brest. The “partisanship” did not end in 1944 either. The last detachment left Belarus in the late 50s. This is our memory. These are our grandfathers. If the current citizens of the Russian Federation who fought in WORLD WORLD WAR II stood shoulder to shoulder with them, respect for such veterans.

And we’ll leave it to the Kremlin to honor the punitive corps in Hungary, war criminals in Korea or NKVD workers who shot at Belarusians, Ukrainians, and citizens of the Baltic countries in the late 40s and early 50s. These are their troops, these are their interests, this is their memory. Which has nothing to do with the fight against fascism.

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As before, the money received goes to me for beer and also:

1. sent to one of the special forces detachments of the Ukrainian Navy (information about them was given more than once in my feed below)

2. Spent on gifts or treats for children from the Vorzel orphanage.

Requisites:

Private card: 5168 7423 0834 3288

WebMoney: U247333217329 or Z293974971904

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Sources.

With final withdrawal siege of Leningrad(not to be confused with breakthrough blockade in January 1943) on January 28, 1944 and the beginning Leningrad-Novgorod operation, which lasted until March 1, 1944, came the final period Great Patriotic War. In the winter of the same year, troops of the Baltic and Leningrad fronts liberated the Leningrad region and destroyed Hitler’s Army Group North. At the same time, the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts under the command of Vatutin and Konev defeated the fascist Army Group South during Korsun-Shevchenko operation(January-February 1944), after which the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine began.

By April 17, 1944, it was completed Dnieper-Carpathian operation- one of the largest operations of the Great Patriotic War. During the first quarter of 1944, the troops of the commanders Zhukova, Vatutina, Malinovsky, Konev, Vasilevsky and Tolbukhin reached the borders of the Soviet Union, completely liberating the Ukrainian SSR from the Nazi invaders.

From April 8 to May 12, 1944, during Crimean operation Crimea was completely liberated.

June 22, 1944 began Operation Bagration(Belarusian operation, named after Mikhail Kutuzov’s comrade-in-arms - Pyotr Bagration). In two months, the Soviet army under the command of Marshal Zhukov, Rokossovsky and other commanders completely recaptured the territory of the Byelorussian SSR, part of the Baltic states and some regions of Eastern Poland. During this period, the German Army Group Center.

June 6, 1944 happened opening of a second front in France ( Normandy operation), where the allied forces of the British and Americans opposed the Nazis. Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders also took part in the landing. Participants also joined them ( partisans) French Resistance. Allied entry into the war created a distraction Adolf Hitler, who now had to fight on two fronts. Thus, the advance of the Soviet army accelerated.

By the end of 1944, in the course of several strategic operations, the territory of the Soviet Union was completely liberated from the occupiers:

• Baltic operation(September 14 - November 29, liberation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia);
• Iasi-Kishinev operation(August 20-29, liberation of Moldova and eastern Romania);
• East Carpathian operation(September-October, liberation of Transcarpathia and eastern Czechoslovakia);
• Petsamo-Kirkenes operation(liberation of Karelia and access to northern Norway - October 1944).

At the end of 1944 - beginning of 1945, in many countries of Eastern Europe, with the approach of Soviet troops, the national liberation movement against Hitler's Nazis intensified. This happened in Hungary, and in Poland (Home Army), and in Slovakia. It was at this time that the liberation of the Soviet Union quickly turned into liberation of Europe.

January 12, 1945 marked the beginning Vistula-Oder operation(between the Vistula and Oder rivers), which became one of the most rapid military operations of the 20th century. In less than a month, by February 3, Soviet soldiers, together with the rebel Poles, almost completely liberated Poland and occupied East Prussia. During the operation, the Germans lost up to 800 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers, as well as a lot of equipment and weapons.

During East Pomeranian Operation(February-March 1945) the remnants of the northern territories of Poland were liberated and Eastern Pomerania (northeast Germany) was occupied.

From February 4 to February 11, 1945, in the liberated Crimea, Yalta Conference at the Livadia Palace. This meeting was a continuation Tehran Conference leaders anti-Hitler coalition - Churchill, Roosevelt And Stalin. The heads of state gathered to resolve the issue of the post-war world order (everyone already understood that the defeat of Germany was a matter of time). In addition to the issue of new borders of European countries, the issue of some East Asian territories after the defeat of Japan was also considered (it was then that it was decided that the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin would again pass to Russia). No less important were negotiations on the creation of a new international organization to replace League of Nations. Thus the prerequisites were created creation of the UN.

In February-May 1945, three final operations of the Great Patriotic War took place:

1. Budapest operation(began at the end of October 1944 and ended on February 13, 1945 with the complete liberation of Hungary and its capital Budapest, as well as access to the Vienna direction).
2. Vienna operation(from March 16 to April 15, 1945 - liberation of Austria and its capital - Vienna) from the Nazis.
3. Berlin operation(April 16 - May 8, - capture of East Germany, battle of berlin and its subsequent capture, the complete liquidation of the German government and the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition).

On the eve of Victory Day, the British and Americans, fearing a conflict with the Soviet Union when the Allied troops met, developed Operation "Unthinkable", which provided for two options for the development of events at once - both an attack on the Russians and a defense. However, the strength and swiftness shown by Soviet troops during the Berlin operation and directly Storming of Berlin, forced the Western allies to abandon this idea. Nevertheless, the very fact of developing Operation Unthinkable has already become a prerequisite Cold War. Meanwhile, on April 25, meeting on the Elbe Russians and Americans in an extremely friendly and joyful atmosphere.

On the night of May 8-9 ( 9th May- Moscow time, Central European time it was still May 8) Supreme Commander-in-Chief Wehrmacht Wilhelm Keitel signed the Act of Unconditional surrender of Germany, and the Great Patriotic War came to an end (but not The Second World War), and May 9 became a national holiday - Victory Day.

Fun fact - during the signing of the act of surrender, Wehrmacht commander Wilhelm Keitel, when he handed Zhukov the document of German surrender, saw representatives of France. The field marshal could not resist and asked: “What, did they defeat us too?”

Boris Viktorovich Sapunov

There is no secret of the discrepancy between the dates of the Victory - there is a difference in time!

For any citizen of Russia and some CIS countries, the question of the end of the Great Patriotic War seems meaningless. May 9 - we always celebrate Victory Day on this spring day.
But Western Europe and the USA celebrate this date on May 8!

And this is not a long history, for example, of the wars of Pharaoh Ramses II, in which, after many years, no one would have thought to raise the question of such a minuscule discrepancy in dates. Today people are still alive who took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945, and for them this is not an idle question, because it concerns the largest date in the history of the twentieth century.

Moreover. We know how modern media loves sensationalism. And we read about them almost every day. About Victory Day, for example, I read in the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” (No. 21 (1386) St. Petersburg, May 23-29, 2007, p. 5) an article by V. Kostyakov entitled “Shadows of Bronze Soldiers.” It was written there: “But Moscow also distorted history. Instilling his cult of personality, Stalin set out to limit the role of the allies. By his will, we even celebrate Victory Day on May 9, and not May 8, like all of Europe.”

I happened to take Marshal G.K. Zhukov, but I didn’t dare ask him about the details of determining the date of the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Let's try, together with our readers, to figure out the dates today.

In the Soviet press, the text of the document on the Surrender of Germany was published in the morning newspapers on May 9, 1945. It said that the German armed forces ceased hostilities on land, sea and air on May 8 at 23:01. Apparently, they meant Central European (Berlin) standard time, which differs from Moscow by two hours. So formally, the German side was already in Moscow for 1 hour and 1 minute at the time of the ceasefire on May 9.

And our radio operators said that the ceasefire order from our side was transmitted in plain text on the waves of the Volga front-line radio station at about two in the morning on May 9th. Even taking into account the difference in standard time, the ceasefire on our part did not coincide with the moment of the ceasefire by the Germans. But since the fighting in the Berlin zone on May 8 was practically over, the difference of one or two hours, from a military point of view, did not matter much.

And yet, not everything is open yet!

There was another date for the end of the Second World War, which few people knew about. To a certain extent, I was lucky because I was able to observe it personally.

During the war years, I sometimes had to perform the functions of a communications officer, that is, to carry reports on the activities of the unit to the front headquarters and receive documents for food, mail and other necessary materials.

The next trip to the Front Headquarters took place on May 8. In the morning, after breakfast, I was handed a suitcase with documents and on a lorry (GAZ-A4) I went to the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front, the first echelon of which was then in the town of Karlhorst - a suburb of Berlin.

Arriving at headquarters, I was surprised by the situation that then developed there. Perplexed, I asked the security: “Guys, what does this mean?” In response: “Don’t you see? End of the war. The Germans came to ask for peace.”

Indeed, not far from the building of the former German military engineering school, where the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front was then located (now there is a museum of the Soviet Army), there were German cars with stencils "WH" - the abbreviation of the Land Forces of the German Army.

The car windows were curtained, and I couldn’t see who was in them. After some time, a revival began, the guards began to clear the road from the cars to the entrance of the headquarters building. I was also asked to step aside.

Then a group of German generals got out of the vehicles, ahead of which, as the guards later suggested to me, was the Chief of Staff of the High Command of the German Army, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946).
I remember him well. Tall, with a cold, gloomy face, he held his head somewhat strangely, tilting it slightly to one side.

A few minutes later the entire group disappeared into the entrance of the building. Naturally, I never saw them again. I went about my business, handed in my documents, received new ones, and by the end of the day I was going to go to my unit, which was then stationed near Berlin. As usual, I was driving not in the cab, but in the back, placing the machine gun on the roof of the cab. It was a wonderful warm spring day. And suddenly, at about 7-8 o’clock (I didn’t have a watch, and I can’t determine the exact time), we heard and literally saw hurricane gunfire over the city.

There were three of us: besides me and the driver there was another soldier - a tall North Caucasian to guard (of course, not me, but the documents). We got out of the car and began to think what this roar of guns meant. It was known that the Wehrmacht soldiers had basically stopped organized resistance, and it made no sense to fire such powerful artillery fire at them. The army of General Wenck, trying to relieve the encircled Berlin, was scattered in previous battles and could no longer offer serious resistance.

After thinking, we decided that by the end of the day the German side had signed a document on unconditional surrender and, having learned about this, our troops saluted in honor of the Victory.
This was the third time marker for the end of the Second World War, which did not receive official status.

Is there a date dispute?

The West believes that their accepted date for the end of World War II on the European continent - May 8 - is absolutely correct. It was on this day at 23:01 that the complete surrender of Germany took place.

The difference in standard time between Berlin and Moscow, in their opinion, does not play any role, because the fighting in Europe took place according to Central European time, and not Moscow time.

It is difficult to argue with this formal argument. And this suggests that the difference in the dates of Victory Day celebrations had deeper reasons.

It is quite obvious that Marshal G.K. Zhukov, who negotiated with the German side on the surrender of all armed forces of the Third Reich, on his own initiative, without the direct instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin, could not determine the exact time of the ceasefire.

As far as I know, I.V. Stalin never, either in writing or orally, substantiated his decision to celebrate Victory Day on May 9th. It suggests that the Supreme Commander had some serious reasons to shift the celebration of the Victory by one day from the date adopted in the West.

We will probably never get an exact answer to this question.

Let me express my point of view.
It is very likely that I.V. Stalin wanted with this act to emphasize the idea that we are not celebrating the victory of the entire anti-Hitler coalition in the Second World War of 1939 - 1945, but rather Our Victory, the Victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 on the European continent.

Such a decision was very logical for the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and this date was fixed in our history.