It seems we know everything about World War II. So many books have been written, films have been made, and history textbooks are full of facts. But, every time, historians manage to obtain more and more new information. Some don't agree with each other. What's the matter?
But the fact is that during the Second World War secret operations were carried out.
Second World War was the armed conflict that had the greatest impact on the modern world. Its result depended not only on open clashes on the battlefields, but also on participation in secret operations.
We have all heard about Operation Barbarossa, which initiated the German attack on the USSR, however, there were many secret missions, not as famous and successful as the previous ones, but worth knowing about them...
Rescue of Mussolini
The real name of this mission was "Operation Oak" and it was to rescue and return the Duce in 1943.
The release of the fascist leader received wide publicity in Germany. Indeed, such support would not hurt. The successful completion of the mission meant a lot not only to the nationalists of Italy, but also to Germany.
Saving Mussolini would be a show of force for fascists around the world. This would already be a major and inspiring victory.
Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
The Czechoslovakian government decided to cooperate with Nazi Germany during World War II and Heydrich became the most hated character in Prague. He was responsible for the actions of the secret police, the implementation of the vile plans of the SS, and this man is also one of the creators of the ideas of the Holocaust.
Then the people reacted quickly and brutally. In May 1942, secret agents Jan Kubis and Josef Gabcik fired at a Nazi car. Heydrich, instead of fleeing the scene, tried to resist the attack, but they threw a bomb at the back of the car.
Heydrich was taken to the hospital, and he even felt better for a while. True, this did not last long. Heydrich died of blood poisoning.
After the murder of the “man with an iron heart,” as Hitler called his comrade-in-arms, there was no easier regime in Czechoslovakia. The deaths of hundreds of Czechs who attacked Heydrich followed, and the country's government continued to collaborate with the Nazis.
Kidnapping in Crete
In 1944, General Heinrich Kreipe was kidnapped in Crete. Let us explain that this was an extremely important region that connected Europe with Africa, where many strategically important oil wells were concentrated.
Heinrich Kreipe did not even immediately realize that he had been kidnapped. The car in which he was traveling calmly passed 22 German inspection points and did not arouse suspicion among anyone.
Having learned about the kidnapping, the Germans began a real hunt for the kidnappers, but they, with the help of the local population, managed to escape from Greece to Cairo; and from there they transported Kreipe to England, where he remained a prisoner of war until 1947.
By and large, his abduction had no impact on the outcome of the war. The most interesting thing is that until the end of her life, Kreipe had a completely cordial relationship with her captor.
Werewolf Team
This team was formed in 1945. One of the last desperate attempts to change the course of the war.
Werewolf (werewolf) - a German militia for waging guerrilla warfare in the rear of advancing enemy troops. It was also used in the defense of cities. It was formed from old people and teenagers aged 14-16 years.
Franz Oppenhoff was a lawyer, mayor of the city of Aachen, subordinate to the American military administration.
He became the first and only victim of Nazi werewolves on March 25, 1945. Killed by saboteurs of the Werwolf militia on the personal orders of Heinrich Himmler as a state traitor.
Unfortunately, his murder was in vain as the Nazis were defeated a few months later.
The Second World War (September 1, 1939 – September 2, 1945) was a military conflict between two world military-political coalitions.
It became the largest armed conflict in humanity. 62 states took part in this war. About 80% of the total population of the Earth participated in hostilities on one side or another.
We bring to your attention a brief history of World War II. From this article you will learn the main events associated with this terrible tragedy on a global scale.
First period of World War 2
September 1, 1939 Armed forces entered Polish territory. In this regard, 2 days later, France declared war on Germany.
The Wehrmacht troops did not meet worthy resistance from the Poles, as a result of which they managed to occupy Poland in just 2 weeks.
At the end of April 1940, the Germans occupied Norway and Denmark. After this, the army annexed. It is worth noting that none of the listed states was able to adequately resist the enemy.
Soon the Germans attacked France, which was also forced to capitulate less than 2 months later. This was a real triumph for the Nazis, since at that time the French had good infantry, aviation and navy.
After the conquest of France, the Germans found themselves head and shoulders above all their opponents. During the French campaign, Italy became an ally of Germany, led by.
After this, Yugoslavia was also captured by the Germans. Thus, Hitler's lightning offensive allowed him to occupy all the countries of Western and Central Europe. Thus began the history of World War II.
Then the fascists began to take over African states. The Fuhrer planned to conquer countries on this continent within a few months, and then launch an offensive in the Middle East and India.
At the end of this, according to Hitler's plans, the reunification of German and Japanese troops was to take place.
Second period of World War 2
The battalion commander leads his soldiers into the attack. Ukraine, 1942 This came as a complete surprise to Soviet citizens and the country's leadership. As a result, the USSR united against Germany.
Soon the United States joined this alliance, agreeing to provide military, food and economic assistance. Thanks to this, countries were able to rationally use their own resources and provide support to each other.
Stylized photo "Hitler vs. Stalin" At the end of the summer of 1941, British and Soviet troops entered Iran, as a result of which Hitler encountered certain difficulties. Because of this, he was unable to place military bases there necessary for the full-fledged conduct of the war.
Anti-Hitler coalition
On January 1, 1942, in Washington, representatives of the Big Four (USSR, USA, Great Britain and China) signed the Declaration of the United Nations, thereby marking the beginning of the Anti-Hitler Coalition. Later, 22 more countries joined it.
Germany's first serious defeats in World War II began with the Battle of Moscow (1941-1942). Interestingly, Hitler's troops came so close to the capital of the USSR that they could already see it through binoculars.
Both the German leadership and the entire army were confident that they would soon defeat the Russians. Napoleon once dreamed of the same thing when he entered the year.
The Germans were so self-confident that they did not even bother to provide appropriate winter clothing for the soldiers, because they thought that the war was practically over. However, everything turned out quite the opposite.
The Soviet army accomplished a heroic feat by launching an active offensive against the Wehrmacht. He commanded the main military operations. It was thanks to the Russian troops that the blitzkrieg was thwarted.
Column of German prisoners on the Garden Ring, Moscow, 1944. Fifth period of World War 2
So, in 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the Soviet Union announced its intention to enter the war with Japan, which did not surprise anyone, because the Japanese army fought on Hitler’s side.
The USSR was able to defeat the Japanese army without much difficulty, liberating Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, as well as some territories.
The military operation, which lasted less than 1 month, ended with the surrender of Japan, which was signed on September 2. The largest war in human history has ended.
Results of World War II
As stated earlier, World War II is the largest military conflict in history. It lasted for 6 years. During this time, a total of more than 50 million people died, although some historians cite even higher numbers.
The USSR suffered the greatest damage from World War II. The country lost about 27 million citizens and also suffered severe economic losses.
On April 30 at 10 p.m. the Victory Banner was hoisted over the Reichstag. In conclusion, I would like to say that the Second World War is terrible lesson for all humanity. A lot of documentary photographic and video material has still been preserved, helping to see the horrors of that war.
What is it worth - the angel of death of the Nazi camps. But she wasn’t the only one!
People must do everything possible to ensure that such tragedies of a universal scale never happen again. Never again!
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Military operations in World War II took place on the territory of 40 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and four oceans. More than fifty million people died in this war, it had a huge impact on the destinies of mankind, since fascist Germany and militaristic Japan, which were the striking forces of imperialism, were defeated.
During the Second World War, valuable experience was gained in combat operations, in which millions of armies, equipped with the latest means of combat, took part. Various operations were carried out. Military operations were carried out in various theaters of war (land, sea) and in various natural and climatic conditions.
Combat experience of the Great Patriotic War has not lost its meaning to this day. Wars are unique and inimitable - the history of wars testifies, but historical continuity in the art of war remains.
Military operations of the USSR allies in the Mediterranean and Western European theaters of military operations (1940-1945)
In North Africa and the Middle East, the interests of three capitalist states collided: fascist Germany, England and Italy. In 1940, Italy had the largest military forces in this area. British troops were dispersed in various areas of Egypt and the Middle East.
The desire of Italian fascism to seize Egypt, the Suez Canal zone and penetrate the Middle East did not correspond to the interests of England and led to military action in North Africa in the fall of 1940. These actions took place over the vast territory of Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea.
Main events on land in 1941-1942. occurred in the Libyan desert and western regions of Egypt, in a narrow strip of terrain stretching up to 1300 km - from El-Ageil in Libya to El-Alamein in Egypt. Military operations were carried out in a coastal strip 20-40 km deep on terrain that allowed the use of all types of troops.
The Italian army invaded Egypt from Libya (a colony of Italy) in September 1940, but could not achieve serious success due to poorly organized supplies. British troops in December 1941 not only pushed back the Italians, but also, pursuing them, by the beginning of February 1941, advanced through the Libyan desert almost 800 km to the west and inflicted a heavy defeat on them.
Hitler's command, seeking to seize key positions in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, transferred one tank and one light infantry division under the command of General Rommel to North Africa to help the Italians. At the end of March 1941, German-Italian troops went on the offensive and, having defeated the British army, drove it back to the borders of Egypt.
In mid-June 1941, Rommel was forced to abandon further offensive and went on the defensive. First of all, this was a consequence of the hostilities that began on the Soviet-German front, as well as the increased resistance of the British. Now the Nazi command was not going to take major offensive actions in Africa “until the victory over the USSR.” Beginning in the summer of 1941, military operations in North Africa were determined mainly by the situation on the Soviet-German front.
Taking advantage of the favorable situation that had developed by the autumn of 1941, British troops united in the 8th Army (4 infantry divisions, 2 infantry brigades, 455 tanks and up to 700 aircraft), after careful preparation, went on the offensive on November 18 from the Libyan-Egyptian region borders. During several tank battles, the German-Italian forces were defeated and driven back across the Libyan desert to the El Agheila area. But, having won this victory, the British calmed down, underestimated the enemy and were taken by surprise when the German-Italian troops suddenly went on the offensive again at the end of May 1942. Having carried heavy losses, the 8th British Army was forced to retreat and stopped the enemy only in Western Egypt, at El Alamein.
Operation of the British 8th Army at El Alamein
By early July 1942, both sides were defending fortified positions between the coast at El Alamein and the Qatar Basin. In the autumn of 1942, the British army had a favorable situation for a new offensive. The main forces of the Nazi army were tightly pinned down on the Soviet-German front, where they suffered heavy losses. Taking this into account, the British command decided to launch an offensive from the El Alamein area.
By the beginning of October 1942, the troops of the British 8th Army under the command of General Montgomery included the 30th, 13th and 10th Army Corps. The British command equipped its troops with everything necessary to carry out a major offensive operation, which involved 600 tanks, 2,275 guns and up to 1,200 aircraft.
The situation was completely different in the German-Italian troops. They received no reinforcements from Europe. The German-Italian forces included the 20th, 21st and 10th Italian Army Corps and the German Afrika Korps, a total of 14 divisions and one parachute brigade. The tank divisions were not fully equipped. Supply for all types did not exceed 40%; there was only a week's supply of gasoline. There were only 3.3 rounds of ammunition available instead of the required 8.
The Allied forces outnumbered the enemy in men by more than one and a half times, in tanks and artillery by more than twice, and in aviation they had a fourfold superiority. The most suitable for an offensive was the coastal strip of terrain, 20-40 km wide. It was crossed by a highway, a railway and an oil pipeline, through which the troops were supplied.
The commander of the 8th British Army decided to deliver the main blow on the right flank, breaking through the German-Italian defense on a 6.5-kilometer front with the forces of four infantry divisions of the 30th Army Corps, which were in the first echelon of the army. With the army's troops reaching the coastal highway, it was planned to develop an offensive into the depths of Libya. An auxiliary attack was carried out by the 13th Army Corps.
The plan of the German-Italian command was defensive in nature. It decided to repel a possible offensive by British troops with the infantry divisions located in the first echelon, and destroy the troops that broke through with counterattacks from four tank divisions of the second echelon of the army.
To carry out a breakthrough for the first time in a desert theater, a strong artillery group was created. The density of artillery in the breakthrough area reached 100 guns and mortars per 1 km of front. Preliminary air preparation was of great importance, during which the Anglo-American air forces launched effective attacks on German communications, ports and airfields.
In the desert, camouflage and disinformation were of utmost importance. The lack of cover made it easier for the Germans to observe the British preparations from the air. This was taken into account by the command of the British troops. The British, knowing that it was impossible to completely hide all preparations for an offensive in the desert, decided to mislead the enemy regarding the timing of the offensive and the location of the attack. To do this, they disguised the tank group on the right flank as trucks, built mock-ups of tanks on the left flank and imitated an artillery group with wooden guns. On the left flank of the army, a false radio network of the 10th Army Corps operated, and a false oil pipeline was built from old cans and models of pumping stations. All this was done in order to give the enemy the impression of an impending attack on the left flank.
At 23.00 on October 25, 1942, a 20-minute artillery preparation began. Concentrated attacks were carried out on artillery batteries, command and observation posts and enemy resistance centers. At 23:30 the infantry began its offensive.
The formations of the first echelon of the 8th Army advanced very slowly. During the night they passed through a 6-kilometer neutral zone, approached the front edge of the German-Italian defense and only attacked the enemy in certain areas. Over the next two days, fierce battles were fought for the main position of the German-Italian defense.
The British were unable to quickly break through the enemy's tactical defense zone. On October 27, 1942, Rommel began to regroup his forces. He wanted to create an attack tank fist on his northern flank to defeat the main attacking group of the British. Thus, all available tank forces were concentrated on the northern flanks of both sides. The critical moment of the battle had arrived. On the afternoon of October 28, 1942, British planes took to the air and delivered strong blows to the German and Italian tank divisions located in their original areas and thwarted the counterattack that was being prepared.
After a pause, the troops of the 8th Army resumed their offensive on the night of November 2, 1942. However, despite complete superiority, especially in artillery and aviation, British troops continued to advance slowly. Having covered 4 km in 1.5 days, the formations of the 8th Army completed the breakthrough. The 7th Armored Division was introduced into the resulting gap and began to develop an offensive to the west. The Italian troops, having suffered defeat, capitulated. This ended the battle of El Alamein.
Over the next month, the troops of the 8th Army advanced almost 1200 km (average daily pace 40 km). It was stopped by the Germans only on November 23, 1942 at a position near El Agheil.
The political and military leadership of the United States, despite its obligations, in 1942 and 1943. did not open a second front in Europe. At the insistence of the British Prime Minister, a decision was made at the end of 1942 to land American and British troops in North Africa, in the French colonies of Algeria and Tunisia.
On October 22, 1942, the operation to land an expeditionary force in North Africa (“Torch”) began. The USA and England have been carefully preparing for it for a long time. Transports with troops (about 650 ships in total) moved from England and the USA. On the morning of November 8, 1942, 42 Allied troops landed in the areas of Algiers, Oran and Casablanca. Along the entire route of the sea crossing, the caravans of ships did not encounter any opposition from the German navy or air force. This allowed American and British troops to unhindered, in 15-20 days, occupy French Morocco and Algeria and reach Tunisia at the end of November.
The German command urgently took countermeasures. As early as November 10, 1942, it began transporting large forces to Tunisia by air and sea. By November 15, 1942, the newly arrived German formations deployed on a front of 300 km from the coast south to Sfax, with a front to the west. However, the Germans were late in transferring troops to Tunisia.
Meanwhile, the 8th British Army, advancing along the coast, occupied Tripoli. Rommel's troops retreated to the fortified Maret line. In the second half of March, English troops carried out a deep bypass of the Mareth line from the south, through the desert and mountains. The outflanking group advanced 180 km. Rommel managed to bring the weakened, exhausted army out of the attack, after which, transferring command to the Italian general, he left for Germany. The remnants of the German army were defeated and captured in mid-May 1943 in the area of Cape Bon.
The leaders of England and the United States decided, following the end of hostilities in North Africa, to land expeditionary forces in Sicily.
The landing in Sicily was characterized by the concentration of large forces and the creation of multiple superiority over the defending Italian troops. The landing of troops of the 15th Allied Army Group was supported by 4 thousand combat and 900 transport aircraft, as well as over 3 thousand ships. Preliminary aviation training lasted about 50 days. The desire to create maximum superiority, especially in technical means of combat, became the main distinguishing feature of the military art of the armed forces of England and the United States.
On July 10, 1943, the Allies invaded Sicily with large forces of fleet, aviation and landing troops, occupied it in mid-August 1943, and on September 3, 1943 they began landing on the southern coast of the Apennine Peninsula. In such a situation and as a result of the struggle launched by the Italian people against fascism, the Mussolini regime was overthrown. The new government of Badoglio, influenced by failures in North Africa and Sicily, the disaster of the Nazi army at Kursk and the growth of the anti-fascist movement of the Italian people, was forced to conclude a truce with the allies on September 3, 1943. Italy left the war. The fascist German command withdrew its troops to the area south of Rome. Here in November 1943 the front stabilized.
Thus, the victory achieved by the Allies in North Africa and Italy had relatively little significance for the course and outcome of the Second World War. Italy's withdrawal from the war in 1943 weakened the forces of the fascist bloc, but the diversion of allied forces to conduct operations in Italy delayed the opening of a second front in Europe.
By the summer of 1944, the situation in Europe was determined by the victories of Soviet troops on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and the powerful national liberation movement in the countries occupied by the Nazis. It clearly demonstrated the ability of the Red Army to complete the liberation of the territory not only of the Soviet Union, but also of the enslaved countries of Europe without the help of allies. This is what forced the ruling circles of the USA and England, after long delays, to hurry up with the opening of a second front in Europe.
The Normandy landing operation (Operation Overlord) of Anglo-American troops on the coast of Northwestern France, carried out from June 6 to July 24, 1944.
The plan for the Normandy landing operation provided for an amphibious landing consisting of five infantry divisions on the coast of the Bay of Senskaya on an area of about 80 km and an airborne assault consisting of three airborne divisions at a depth of 10-15 km from the coast, seizing bridgeheads, then combining them into one and expand it by the end of the twentieth day to 100 km along the front and 100-110 km in depth (reach the Avranches-Domfront-Falaise line).
When choosing the area for landing troops, the American-British command proceeded from the fact that the enemy, considering the most likely invasion of the coast of the Pas-de-Calais Strait, paid little attention to the area of the Bay of Seine.
The start of the landing of troops was scheduled for the morning of June 6, 1944. This time was the most favorable for the landing. At these hours there was the best visibility, and the conditions of high and low tide made it possible to approach closer to the shore and at the same time clear obstacles.
The general landing front was divided into two zones: the western, where American troops were to land, and the eastern, for British troops. The western zone was divided into two separate sections, the eastern zone into three sections. At each landing site, one reinforced infantry division was to land simultaneously. According to the number of landing sites, five landing detachments were created, which included the landing troops of these divisions and the naval forces that transported them.
All ground forces involved in the landing operation were united into the 21st Army Group. In its first echelon, troops of the 1st American and 2nd British armies landed, in the second - troops of the 1st Canadian Army.
The battle formations of the corps of the 1st American and 2nd British armies also had a two-echelon formation. The two corps that formed the first echelon of the American 1st Army landed in their first echelons two infantry divisions, reinforced by five tank battalions and two Ranger battalions. In the first echelons of the two corps of the 2nd British Army, three infantry divisions operated, reinforced by three assault tank brigades and two Commando brigades. Each division of the first echelon initially landed 1-2 reinforced regiments (brigades).
Along with ground forces, airborne troops consisting of three airborne divisions (82nd and 101st American and 6th British) were involved in the operation. Airborne landings were supposed to be dropped on the flanks of the landing area to a depth of 10-15 km from the coast 4-5 hours before the start of the amphibious landing. The American airborne divisions were to land in the area north of the city of Carentan, the British airborne division - in the area northeast of the city of Caen. The airborne troops had to assist the amphibious assault during the landing and capture of the beachhead on the shore, for which they would capture road junctions, crossings, bridges and other objects in the landing areas and prevent enemy reserves from approaching the landing areas from the sea.
In the interests of achieving surprise, measures were taken to covertly concentrate forces and assets, to misinform the enemy, for which false concentrations of troops and equipment were created, and demonstrative actions were carried out where troops were not supposed to be landed. Despite the undoubted weakness of the actions of the German aviation and navy, the American-British command organized cover of the operation from the sea, air defense, anti-submarine and mine defense.
To carry out the operation, the troops had a large number of transport and landing facilities. To supply the troops with everything necessary, two artificial ports were built on the coast of Senskaya Bay in the very first days of the operation, and a gas pipeline was laid along the bottom of the English Channel.
At 2.00 on June 6, the airborne troops began being dropped. Units of the 82nd American Airborne Division landed in the area west of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. The 101st Airborne Division landed in the area north of Carentan. The British 6th Airborne Division landed in an area northeast of Caen and established a foothold in the landing area.
At 5 o'clock on June 6, artillery preparation for the amphibious landing began. At 6:30 a.m. on June 6 in the American landing zone and about an hour later in the British zone, the first amphibious landing groups entered the coast of Seine Bay. The disembarkation order was as follows. Initially, small assault groups of amphibious tanks were landed on the seashore, which had the task of ensuring the landing of engineering and sapper groups. The latter were supposed to clear obstacles and ensure the landing of infantry and military equipment of the amphibious assault on the shore.
Subunits and units of the naval landing force, using the confusion of the Germans, their numerical superiority and massive naval artillery fire, made their way to the shore and pushed back the enemy.
This was greatly facilitated by air preparation for the landing and support of troops on the shore. The Germans did not actually interfere with the actions of American and British aviation. During June 6, only 50 German sorties were recorded in the area of Senskaya Bay.
By the end of the first day of the operation, the American-British troops managed to capture separate bridgeheads up to 10 km deep. During the day of June 6, the main forces of five infantry and three airborne divisions, several tank regiments and brigades, and four Commando and Ranger detachments were landed. This success was achieved due to the fact that during the air and artillery preparation, the anti-landing defense of the Nazi troops on the shore was largely suppressed. The fire from the surviving German batteries was ineffective.
During June 7 and 8, simultaneously with the consolidation of captured bridgeheads and the improvement of occupied positions, the intensive transfer of new forces and equipment of expeditionary forces to the coast of Senskaya Bay continued. By the end of June 8, eight infantry, one tank and three airborne divisions and a large number of reinforcement units were concentrated on the bridgeheads.
On the morning of June 9, American-British troops went on the offensive with the aim of creating a single bridgehead. As a result of the fighting in the period June 9-12, they managed to unite the captured bridgeheads into a common bridgehead with a length of about 80 km along the front and 13-18 km in depth.
By June 12, the German command, having brought into battle an additional three tank and one motorized divisions, brought the grouping of its troops in Normandy to 12 divisions. However, these troops rushed into battle in parts; as they approached, a strong striking fist was not created from them. As a result, they could not have a serious influence on the course of hostilities. In addition, the German divisions experienced a great shortage of fuel and ammunition.
The situation that developed in mid-June 1944 was favorable for the deployment of offensive actions with the aim of expanding the bridgehead. By the end of June, troops of the 1st American Army captured Cherbourg and cleared the Cotentin Peninsula of the remnants of German troops.
In the first half of July, the port of Cherbourg was restored and subsequently played a significant role in supplying the American-British troops in Normandy. This was especially important because two temporary ports built in the early days of the operation were destroyed during a storm on June 19, 1944. One of these ports was soon rebuilt.
By the end of June, the captured bridgehead was expanded to 100 km along the front and from 20 to 40 km in depth. By this time, the main forces of the 1st American and 2nd British armies and part of the forces of the 1st Canadian Army had landed on the bridgehead. The total number of expeditionary forces on the bridgehead reached one million people. These forces were opposed by 13 German divisions, which had suffered heavy losses in previous battles and operated partly in battle groups. The fact that in the second half of June the fascist German command increased its troops in Normandy by only one division is explained by the following: it still believed that the Anglo-Americans would deliver the main blow through the Pas-de-Calais Strait, and therefore continued to hold there are relatively large forces in this direction. Not a single German unit was transferred from the coast of the Pas-de-Calais Strait to Normandy.
Thus, the situation allowed the Anglo-Americans to launch a major offensive in Northwestern France already at the beginning of July. However, in an effort to create conditions for a complete guarantee of success, the American-British command postponed the start of such an offensive until the end of this month.
During July, troops of the 1st American Army, continuing combat operations to expand the bridgehead, advanced 10-15 km southward and occupied the city and road junction of Saint-Lo. The main efforts of the troops of the 2nd British Army at this time were aimed at capturing the city of Caen, to which both sides attached great importance.
On July 7-8, the British launched an offensive with three infantry divisions and three armored brigades with the aim of capturing the northwestern part of Caen, in which units of one German division were defending. During the day of July 8, the advancing troops were unable to achieve success. By the end of July 9, the British captured the northwestern part of this city.
In order to create a bridgehead on the southeastern bank of the river. Orne and the capture of the second half of Caen, the Anglo-Canadian troops launched a new offensive on July 18. Within three days, the troops completely captured the city of Kan and advanced to the southeast up to 10 km. Attempts by the British-Canadian troops to advance further to the south and southeast, made on July 21-24, were unsuccessful.
Thus, in the period from June 6 to July 24, 1944, the American-British expeditionary forces managed to land in Normandy and occupy a bridgehead of about 100 km along the front and up to 30-50 km in depth. This bridgehead was approximately half the size of the one that was planned to be occupied according to the landing operation plan. However, under conditions of absolute air supremacy, the captured bridgehead made it possible to concentrate a large amount of forces and resources on it. The American-British command had every opportunity to prepare and conduct a major offensive operation in Northwestern France.
Offensive allied forces in France, Belgium and Holland
The Falaise operation was an offensive operation of Anglo-American troops in Northwestern France, carried out from August 10 to August 25, 1944.
The goal of the Falaise operation was to encircle and destroy a group of German troops in the area of the cities of Falaise, Mortain, Argentan and reach the Seine River.
After the completion of the Normandy operation of 1944, the allied command (supreme commander of the allied expeditionary forces, General D. Eisenhower), taking advantage of the favorable situation (the main forces of the Wehrmacht were constrained by the offensive of Soviet troops on the Soviet-German front), from July 25, without expecting the complete concentration of their troops, launched an offensive in Northwestern France with the intention of pushing German troops back beyond the Loire and Seine rivers.
By August 10, the troops of the 12th Army Group (1st and 3rd American armies; commander General O. Bradley) deeply encircled from the south the main forces of the enemy forces defending against the allies (5th tank and 7th armies) from the Army Group B (commander Field Marshal V. Model). From the north they were surrounded by troops of the 21st Army Group (2nd British and 1st Canadian armies; commander General B. Montgomery).
In the area formed in the area of the cities of Falaise, Argentan, the so-called. There were up to 20 German divisions in the “Falaise sack”. The Allies had no less than 28 divisions against them and had complete air supremacy. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, the allied command decided to surround the Falaise group with counter attacks on Argentan by the forces of the 3rd American Army from the south, from the Le Mans area, and by the forces of the 1st Canadian Army from the north, the area north of Falaise.
The offensive of the American troops began on August 10, 1944. Units operating in the main direction of the 15th Army Corps reached the Argentan area on August 13, but were stopped here on the orders of Bradley and with the approval of Eisenhower, who feared that the corps would cross the boundary line with the 21st Group armies would lead to mixing of American and Canadian forces and loss of command and control. Leaving the 2nd division and 7 artillery divisions to defend in the Argentan area until the Canadians arrived, the American command turned the main forces of the 3rd Army east, to the Seine River. However, the troops of the 21st Army Group advanced extremely slowly, at a pace of 6-7 km per day, and only on August 17 the British occupied Falaise, and the Canadians bypassed it from the east.
The German command began to withdraw the main forces of the 5th Panzer and 7th armies through the 40-km pass remaining between Falaise and Argentan.
Only on August 18, American troops (1st Army) resumed their offensive from the Argentan area to the north and two days later in the area of Chambois and Tren they linked up with the 1st Polish Armored Division (1st Canadian Army), completing the encirclement. Over 8 German divisions were surrounded (including 3 tank divisions). The remaining forces of the 5th Panzer and 7th Armies retreated to the Lizaro, Gase, Rugle line and consolidated there, ensuring the withdrawal of the entire Army Group B beyond the Seine.
On August 20, German troops counterattacked five tank and two infantry divisions concentrated east of Tren, Chambois against the outer front of the encirclement, and units of tank and parachute corps from the encircled group broke through the front of the encirclement. About half of the encircled German troops managed to retreat beyond the Seine, the rest were captured.
By August 25, allied troops reached the Seine and captured small bridgeheads on its right bank. On August 19, an armed uprising began in Paris, ending on August 25 with the surrender of the German garrison. On August 26, Hitler's troops began to retreat to the borders of Germany. The Allied armies began pursuit along the entire front. By September 12, the German command withdrew the bulk of its troops and organized defense in the southern part of Holland and on the Siegfried Line.
The Falaise operation was successful for the Allied forces. However, despite the most favorable conditions, the Allies, as a result of indecisive actions and shortcomings in command and control, failed to complete the encirclement in a timely manner and achieve the goal set in the operation to destroy the troops of the 7th and 5th Tank Armies.
Dutch operation, an offensive operation of the Anglo-American troops, carried out from September 17 to November 10, 1944.
Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Germans were on the Eastern Front, the Allies carried out a series of successful offensive operations in France and by mid-September the troops of their northern wing captured almost the entire territory of Belgium and reached the borders of Holland.
The 21st Allied Army Group (commanded by Field Marshal B. Montgomery), consisting of the 2nd British and 1st Canadian armies (a total of 16 divisions, including 5 armored divisions) reached the Bre line, northern. Gel, sev. Antwerp, north-east. Bruges. In the rear of the advancing Allied troops, there remained surrounded German garrisons in the ports of Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk. The 15th and 1st Parachute Armies (a total of 9 divisions and 2 battle groups) of the German forces of Army Group B (commanded by Field Marshal General V. Model) defended in front of the British-Canadian troops on this section of the front.
The Allied command, trying to create favorable conditions for a further attack on the Ruhr, the main economic base of Nazi Germany, decided to conduct the Dutch operation with the help of the 21st Army Group.
The troops of the 2nd English Army were given the task of breaking through the enemy’s defenses and developing an offensive towards Arnhem, seizing a bridgehead on the northern bank of the Lower Rhine and thereby creating conditions for a further offensive. To strengthen the troops of the 2nd British Army and seize crossings across the Meuse, Waal and Lower Rhine rivers, it was assigned the 1st Allied Airborne Corps (82nd, 101st American, 1st British Airborne Divisions and Polish Parachute Brigade) .
In the offensive zone of the British 2nd Army, the main blow was delivered by the 30th Army Corps (one armored and two tank divisions) with the task of breaking through enemy defenses on a narrow section of the front and advancing to Eindhoven, Grave, Nijmegem, Arnhem, using the crossings across water obstacles captured by landing forces dropped in the corps' offensive zone.
For artillery preparation and support, 880 guns (136 per 1 km of front) were concentrated in the offensive zone of the 30th Army Corps.
The 8th and 12th Army Corps were supposed to operate on the flanks of the strike group in order to expand the breakthrough front.
About 650 aircraft were used to provide air support for the troops of the 2nd British Army.
The balance of forces in the zone of the 2nd British Army was in favor of the allies 2:1 (in the direction of the main attack 4:1), in terms of aviation and tanks it was absolute.
The troops of the 1st Canadian Army had the task of eliminating the encircled enemy group in the area of Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk and clearing the Germans from the mouth of the Scheldt River, and then advancing on Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
On September 17-18, after aviation training, airborne assault forces were dropped in the areas of Veghel, Grave, and Arnhem (the Arnhem airborne operation of 1944, carried out from September 17 to 26 as part of the Dutch operation).
The 30th Army Corps, after a short air and artillery preparation, went on the offensive. The armored division, operating in the first echelon of the corps, broke through the enemy's defenses. It was followed by two infantry divisions.
By the end of the first day, the allied forces advanced to a depth of 6-8 kilometers. On September 18, units of the corps approached Eindhoven, where they linked up with the 101st Airborne Division. On September 20, troops of the 30th Army Corps reached Nijmegen in a narrow sector and linked up with the 82nd Airborne Division. The 8th and 12th Army Corps, operating on the flanks of the strike force, met stubborn enemy resistance and only slightly expanded the breakthrough front. The German command, concentrating tank and infantry formations, launched a counterattack on the flank of the advancing Allied group and on their landings in the Arnhem area.
The situation for the allied forces became more complicated, and a real threat of encirclement of the strike force was created. The British 1st Airborne Division and the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade suffered heavy losses. With great difficulty, the command of the 2nd British Army managed to fend off the enemy's counterattack. On September 27-29, British troops reached the southern bank of the Lower Rhine and were forced to go on the defensive, failing to seize a bridgehead on the northern bank.
With the start of the Dutch operation, troops of the 1st Canadian Army fought against the encircled enemy garrisons and liberated Boulogne (September 22) and Calais (September 30). The advance north-west of Antwerp developed slowly, and Canadian troops reached the mouth of the Scheldt only towards the end of September.
In October-November, troops of the 21st Army Group continued offensive operations with limited objectives, trying to capture the territory north of Antwerp. The troops of the 2nd British Army, having regrouped, struck with the forces of the 12th Army Corps in the direction of Breda.
The troops of the 1st Canadian Army advanced on Rosendal, Bergen and fought to capture the Zuid-Beveland Peninsula and Walcheren Island. The Allied advance was slow. On October 30, Zuid-Beveland was occupied, and on November 9, Walcheren.
By November 10, the Allied forces reached the Meuse River, from Grave to the mouth, capturing the southwestern part of the Netherlands. In 55 days, the Anglo-Canadian troops advanced to a depth of 45 to 90 km on a front of 200 km. The objectives of the operation were not fully accomplished.
The characteristic features of the Dutch operation were the use of large airborne assaults to facilitate the offensive on the main axis, the deep formation of the battle formation of the advancing army corps, and the high density of artillery for the allied forces.
At the same time, breaking through the enemy’s defenses on a narrow section of the front (initially 1.5 km) and subsequently expanding it with active actions on the flanks of the strike group did not bring the expected results.
Operation of the Ardennes (in the Ardennes region in south-eastern Belgium), an offensive operation of German troops carried out in December 1944 - January 1945.
The goal of the Ardennes operation (code name “Watch on the Rhine”) was to defeat the American-British forces and change the situation in Western Europe in favor of Germany and free up the Wehrmacht forces to fight against the USSR.
Operation plan: break through the front in the Monschau, Echternach sector, cross the Meuse River in the areas of Liege and Namur, and on the 7th day of the operation, reaching Antwerp, cut off the Allied troops in Belgium and Holland (1st Canadian, 2nd English, 9 -I and 1st American armies) and defeat them.
The operation involved troops of the 6th SS, 5th Tank, 7th Field Army of Army Group B (commanded by Field Marshal V. Model). A total of 25 divisions were intended, including 7 tank divisions. The offensive group consisted of about 250 thousand people, 900 tanks and assault guns, 800 aircraft, 2,517 guns and mortars. However, this was not enough; the command of the German troops planned to transfer part of the forces from other sectors of the Western Front and from Germany during the offensive.
The strike force was provided with fuel for only half the depth of the operation. The Anglo-American command considered the Ardennes region unsuitable for conducting broad offensive operations. Here, on a 115-kilometer section of the front, the Germans were opposed by up to 5 divisions (83 thousand people, 242 tanks, 182 self-propelled anti-tank guns and 394 artillery guns) from the 1st Army of the 12th Army Group (commanded by General O. Bradley).
The German offensive began at dawn on December 16, 1944. Caught by surprise, American troops were unable to resist, suffered heavy losses and retreated.
By December 25, the German group, having broken through the front, advanced to a depth of more than 90 km. Its advanced tank units reached the area of Dinan and were located 4 km from the Meuse River. The Anglo-American command was forced to transfer divisions there from other sectors of the front. On December 23, with the onset of flying weather, allied aviation began to operate actively. From December 22 to 26, troops of the 3rd American Army launched a counterattack on the southern flank of the advancing enemy group and linked up with units of the 101st Airborne Division encircled in Bastogne. By the end of December, the Germans advanced on the river. The Maas was stopped. However, the German command did not abandon its plans. On the night of January 1, 1945, it launched an offensive in Alsace, in the Strasbourg area, against the troops of the 7th American Army. On January 1, more than 1,000 German aircraft launched a surprise attack on airfields in France, Belgium and Holland, resulting in the destruction of 260 Allied aircraft. The position of the Allied troops remained difficult. On January 6, 1945, W. Churchill turned to I. Stalin with a request for help. Fulfilling their allied duty, Soviet troops began it on January 12 - eight days earlier than planned. The offensive of the Soviet troops forced the Germans to curtail active operations on the Western Front and transfer their forces from there to the East.
By the end of January, the Germans in the Ardennes retreated to their original positions. Losses in the Ardennes operation on the Allied side amounted to about 77 thousand people, and on the German side - about 82 thousand people.
The Ardennes operation was the culmination of the struggle on the Western Front. The forced transfer of large forces and assets to the Soviet-German front, the losses suffered in the Ardennes, the lack of reserves - all this led to a sharp weakening of the German troops on the Western Front, contributed to the success of the armed forces of the United States, England and France in subsequent offensive operations, which took on the nature of pursuing the retreating enemy.
The Ruhr offensive operation of the Anglo-American troops, carried out from March 23 to April 18, 1945.
The goal of the Ruhr operation was to defeat the enemy's Ruhr group, and subsequently to advance towards the Soviet troops towards the Elbe and dismember the German troops. This operation was the final one in the military operations in Western Europe by Anglo-American troops.
In the first half of March, Allied troops completely captured the left bank of the Rhine and captured two bridgeheads on its right bank in the areas of the cities of Oppenheim and Remagen. By that time, Soviet troops advancing from the east were on the Oder, 60 km from Berlin and were preparing for the final blow to Nazi Germany.
The Allied Command (Supreme Commander-in-Chief General D. Eisenhower) decided to launch an offensive deep into Germany along the entire front. To do this, it planned, first of all, to defeat the most powerful enemy group on the Western Front, which defended the Ruhr industrial region (5th Panzer and 15th Armies of Group B) under the command of Field Marshal V. Model and part of the forces of 1- th Parachute Army.
The German Ruhr group included 29 divisions and one brigade - half of all forces deployed on the Western Front. It was supported by the main aviation forces of the 3rd Air Fleet and the Reich Air Fleet, which had only 1,704 combat aircraft. The German formations were 50-75% staffed and lacked fuel and ammunition.
The Allied command attracted the main forces of the 21st Army Group (9th American and 2nd British Armies) under the command of Field Marshal B. Montgomery, the 12th Army Group (3rd and 1st American Armies) to participate in the Ruhr operation. under the command of General O. Bradley and the 18th separate airborne corps - a total of 51 divisions, including 14 armored, 2 airborne and 12 brigades, incl. 7 armored vehicles.
According to the plan of the operation, the main blow was delivered by the forces of the 21st Army Group from the Wesel region and an auxiliary blow from the Rhine bridgeheads by the forces of the 1st Army Group on Kassel. In the future, it was planned to develop the offensive in the general direction of the Elbe River.
The offensive of the main group of the 21st Army Group began on the night of March 24 after powerful artillery and air preparation. They were preceded by two weeks of preliminary aviation training. During the night, troops of the 2nd British and 9th American armies crossed the Rhine and captured a bridgehead on its right bank. In the morning of March 24, the 18th Airborne Corps was landed behind enemy lines east of the Rhine. In the afternoon, the British troops advancing from the front joined the landing force. The enemy offered only minor resistance. In the following days, the captured bridgeheads were united, and on March 28, the general bridgehead was expanded to 60 km along the front and 35 km in depth.
In the direction of the auxiliary attack, the 1st and 3rd American armies developed an offensive to the north and northeast. On April 1, troops of the 1st and 9th American armies united in the Lipstadt area, creating an internal front of encirclement of the Germans in the Ruhr industrial region (18 divisions, about 325 thousand people in total). With the encirclement of this group, the western front of German troops virtually disintegrated.
The Anglo-American command decided to shift the main efforts to the central direction in order to develop an offensive on the external front of the encirclement. In this regard, on April 4, the 9th Army was transferred from the 21st to the 12th Army Group, which was advancing to the middle reaches of the Elbe. Almost without encountering enemy resistance, the troops of the 12th Army Group reached the Elbe in the Magdeburg area on April 12, and captured Leipzig on April 19. In other directions, the Allied offensive developed in a similar situation.
At the same time, part of the forces of the 12th Army Group fought against the encircled Ruhr group, which capitulated on April 18.
For the first time, the Allies managed to encircle a large group of German troops. This operation was carried out with the absolute superiority of the Allies in strength and means, in extremely favorable conditions, when the main forces of the Germans were turned against the Soviet troops threatening Berlin, and the German troops in the west, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, capitulated to the Anglo-American troops.
Operation Barbarossa - essence and goals
Operation Barbarossa (Barbarossa Plan 1941) is a plan for a military attack and rapid seizure of the territory of the USSR by Hitler’s troops during the Second World War. Hitler's plan and the essence of Operation Barbarossa was to quickly and unexpectedly attack Soviet troops on their own territory and, taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, defeat the Red Army. Then, within two months, the German army was to advance inland and conquer Moscow. Control over the USSR gave Germany the opportunity to fight with the United States for the right to dictate its terms in world politics. Hitler, who had already managed to conquer almost all of Europe, was confident of his victory over the USSR.
However, Plan Barbarossa was a failure, and the protracted operation turned into a long war. The “Barbarossa” plan received its name in honor of the medieval King of Germany, Frederick 1, who bore the nickname “Barbarossa” and was famous for his military achievements. Contents of Operation Barbarossa. Hitler's Plans Despite the fact that Germany and the USSR made peace in 1939, Hitler still decided to attack Russia, since it was a necessary step towards world domination by Germany and the “Third Reich”. In order for the attack to take place quickly and without problems, Hitler instructed the German command to collect information about the composition of the Soviet army and, on this basis, draw up an attack plan. This is how Plan Barbarossa came into being. After an inspection, German intelligence officers came to the conclusion that the Soviet army was in many ways inferior to the German one - it was less organized, less prepared and, most importantly, the technical equipment of Russian soldiers left much to be desired. Focusing precisely on these principles, Hitler created a plan for a rapid attack, which was supposed to ensure victory for Germany in record time. The essence of the Barbarossa plan was to attack the USSR on the borders of the country and, taking advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness, break the army into fragmented pieces and then destroy it. Hitler placed the main emphasis on modern military equipment that belonged to Germany and the effect of surprise. The plan was to be implemented at the beginning of 1941. First, German troops were to attack the Russian army in Belarus, where the main troops were gathered. Having defeated Soviet soldiers in Belarus, Hitler planned to advance towards Ukraine, conquer Kyiv and the sea routes, cutting off Russia's ability to travel along the Dnieper. At the same time, a blow was to be delivered to Murmansk from Norway. Hitler planned to launch an attack on Moscow, surrounding the capital from all sides. Despite careful preparation in an atmosphere of secrecy, from the first weeks it became clear that the Barbarossa plan was a failure. The implementation of the Barbarossa plan and its results From the very first days, the operation began to not be as successful as planned. First of all, this happened due to the fact that Hitler and the German command underestimated the Soviet troops. According to historians, the Russian army was not only equal in strength to the German one, but in many ways even surpassed it. The Soviet troops turned out to be well prepared, in addition, military operations took place on Russian territories, so the soldiers could use the natural conditions, which they knew better than the Germans, to their advantage. The Soviet army was also able to resist and not fall apart into separate detachments thanks to good command and the ability to quickly mobilize and make lightning-fast decisions. At the beginning of the attack, Hitler planned to quickly advance deep into the Soviet army and begin to fragment it into pieces, separating different units from each other in order to avoid massive and large operations from the Russians. He managed to advance, but failed to break the front - Russian detachments quickly gathered together and brought up new forces. This led to the fact that Hitler’s army, although winning, moved deeper into the country catastrophically slowly, not by kilometers, as planned, but by meters. Only a few months later, Hitler managed to approach Moscow, but the German army did not dare to launch attacks - the soldiers were exhausted from prolonged military operations, and the city was never bombed. Although it was planned differently. Hitler also failed to bomb Leningrad, which was besieged and blockaded, but never surrendered and was not destroyed from the air. A long war began, which lasted from 1941 to 1945 and ended with the defeat of Hitler. Reasons for the failure of the Barbarossa plan Hitler's plan failed for several reasons: The Russian army turned out to be stronger and more prepared than the German command expected. The Russians compensated for the lack of modern military equipment with the ability to fight in difficult natural conditions, as well as competent command; The Soviet army had excellent counterintelligence. Thanks to intelligence officers, the command almost always knew about the enemy’s next move, which made it possible to quickly and adequately respond to the actions of the attackers; Inaccessibility of territories. The Germans did not know the territories of the USSR well, since it was extremely difficult to get maps. In addition, they did not know how to fight in impenetrable forests; Loss of control over the course of the war. The Barbarossa plan quickly showed its inconsistency, and after a few months Hitler completely lost control over the course of military operations. http://historynotes.ru/operaciya-barbarossa/
Operation Bagration
This one of the largest operations of the Soviet Army is characterized in some Western historical works as “Hitler’s largest defeat.” Indeed, during this operation (June 23 - August 29, 1944), the German armed forces lost 289 thousand people killed and captured, 110 thousand wounded, the USSR recaptured Belarus and a significant part of Lithuania, and entered the territory of Poland. Planning Soviet side The development of a plan for the Belarusian operation was started by the Soviet General Staff (under the leadership of Marshal Vasilevsky) in April 1944. It was assumed that two converging attacks would be launched - from Vitebsk and from Bobruisk, both in the direction of Minsk (it should be noted that the Soviet General Staff assumed that the front of the German units was especially strengthened in the areas of Vitebsk and Bobruisk). Next, it was planned to occupy the entire territory of Belarus and Lithuania, reach the coast of the Baltic Sea (Klaipeda), the border of East Prussia (Suwalki) and the territory of Poland (Lublin). The duration of the operation is 40-50 days. The plan was approved by the Supreme Command Headquarters on May 30, 1944. The start of Operation Bagration was scheduled for June 19-20 (June 14, the start of the operation was postponed to June 23 due to delays in railway transportation). The German side The command of the German Army Group Center discovered preparations for the Soviet offensive by June 10. This preparation was reported on June 14 at a meeting of the Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Ground Forces with the chiefs of staff of the army groups. However, at the headquarters of the ground forces, Hitler's conviction took root that the Soviet offensive would be in the region of Western Ukraine, on the front of Army Group Northern Ukraine. Therefore, most of the German tank divisions were concentrated there (the German command planned to launch a powerful counterattack there against the expected Soviet offensive). In response to Army Group Center's request to allocate at least larger reserves, it was stated that the general situation on the Eastern Front did not allow for a different grouping of forces. Forces of the parties Soviet forces To participate in Operation Bagration, four Soviet fronts were involved - 1st Baltic, 3rd, 2nd, 1st Belorussian. In total - 168 rifle and cavalry divisions, 12 tank and mechanized corps, 20 brigades. The total number is 2.33 million soldiers and commanders (as well as the 1st Army of the Polish Army - 4 infantry divisions, cavalry and tank brigades, 80 thousand people). These troops were armed with more than 31 thousand guns and mortars (caliber 76 mm and higher), more than 5.2 thousand. tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 6 thousand aircraft. Thus, about a third of all Soviet forces on the Soviet-German front were involved in Operation Bagration. Marshal Vasilevsky (northern section, 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts) and Marshal Zhukov (southern section, 2nd and 1st Belorussian fronts) were appointed to directly supervise the preparation and conduct of Operation Bagration. German forces Army Group Center (commander - Field Marshal Busch) had four armies - 3rd Panzer, 4th, 9th, 2nd Armies. In total - 49 divisions, of which: 1 tank, 4 motorized, 30 infantry, 1 cavalry, 2 field, 1 training, 6 security, 1 Hungarian infantry, 1 Hungarian cavalry, 2 Hungarian reserves. The total number is 849 thousand people (of which 486 thousand are at the front). These troops were armed with 3.2 thousand guns and mortars, 500 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 600 aircraft. First stage of the operation (June 23-28) Northern sector On June 23, 1944, the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts went on the offensive against the German 3rd Tank Army. On June 25, the Soviet 43rd and 39th armies surrounded Vitebsk, where the German 53rd Corps (two infantry and two field divisions, about 30 thousand people) was defending. On June 26, the corps attempted to break out of the pocket, and the next day it was completely destroyed. In the extreme northern sector, the 4th Shock Army was unable to advance towards Polotsk. Advancing on the southern sector of the 3rd Belorussian Front, the 5th Guards Tank Army (524 tanks and self-propelled guns, commander - Marshal of Armored Forces Rotmistrov) on June 28 stumbled upon the German 5th Tank Division (125) transferred from western Ukraine on the approaches to the Berezina River tanks and self-propelled guns, commander - Major General Decker), was stopped by her, and suffered heavy losses. By the end of June 28, the troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts had advanced (except for the Polotsk direction) by 100-150 kilometers. The southern section of the 2nd Belorussian Front also went on the offensive on June 23, against the German 4th Army. On June 28, front troops crossed the Dnieper and occupied the city of Mogilev, advancing 50-80 kilometers. The 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive against the German 9th Army on June 24, a day later than the other three fronts (Zhukov asked Stalin about this and received consent). By the end of June 28, the front troops had advanced 100 kilometers and surrounded Bobruisk (the city, after stubborn fighting, was taken on June 29, a significant part of the German troops fought their way out of the cauldron). The second stage of the operation (June 29 - July 4) On June 28, 1944, the Supreme High Command Headquarters set new tasks for the fronts: the 1st Baltic - to take Polotsk and Glubokoe, then advance to Shvenchenys (Lithuania); 3rd Belorussian - to cross the Berezina River, take Minsk and Molodechno (the directive specifically noted that “Headquarters is dissatisfied with the slow and indecisive actions of the 5th Guards TA and attributes this to its poor leadership by Comrade Rotmistrov. Headquarters demands from the 5th Guards. TA for swift and decisive actions in response to the current situation at the front."); 2nd Belorussian - cross the Berezina River, then take Minsk and cross the Svisloch River; 1st Belorussian - advance on Baranovichi. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front approached Polotsk on June 30 and took it on July 4. On the same day Glubokoye was taken. Troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front took Minsk on July 3 (with the forces of the 11th Guards Army, 31st Army and 2nd Guards Tank Corps against the German 5th Tank Division and three infantry divisions; the front commander had previously ordered the 5th Guards Army to take Minsk by the end of July 2, but Rotmistrov withdrew his army to the north). Molodechno was captured on July 5th. On July 4, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front approached the eastern outskirts of Minsk. On July 4, troops of the 1st Belorussian Front took Nesvizh (40 km east of Baranovichi), and part of their forces approached the southern outskirts of Minsk. The third stage of the operation (July 5 - 28) On July 4, 1944, the Supreme High Command Headquarters set the tasks for the fronts: the 1st Baltic - to develop the offensive, delivering the main blow in the general direction of Švencionys, Kaunas. The immediate task is to capture the Daugavspils – Shvencioneliai – Podbrodze line no later than July 10-12. In the future, attack Kaunas and part of the forces on Panevezys and Siauliai. 3rd Belorussian - to develop the offensive, delivering the main blow in the general direction of Molodechno, Vilnius. The immediate task is to capture Vilnius and Lida no later than July 10-12. Subsequently, reach the Neman River and seize bridgeheads on the western bank. 2nd Belorussian - develop the offensive, delivering the main blow in the direction of Novogrudok, Volkovysk, Bialystok. The immediate task is to capture Novogrudok no later than July 12-15 and reach the Neman and Molchad rivers. Subsequently, capture Volkovysk and advance in the direction of Bialystok. 1st Belorussian - develop the offensive, delivering the main blow in the general direction of Baranovichi, Brest. The immediate task is to capture Baranovichi, Luninets and, no later than July 10-12, reach the Slonim - Shchara River - Pinsk line. Subsequently, capture Brest and reach the Western Bug River, capturing bridgeheads on the western bank. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front were unable to complete the immediate task - by July 14, they advanced approximately half the distance to the specified line and stopped, repelling German counterattacks. Troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front took Lida on July 9, but Vilnius was taken only on July 13, by the forces of the 5th Army and the 5th Guards Tank Army (Vilnius was defended by 7 German infantry battalions and 4 air defense batteries). On July 15, front troops crossed the Neman in the Alytus area and captured several bridgeheads on the western bank, but the front’s offensive stopped there due to stubborn German resistance. Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front took Novogrudok on July 8, Volkovysk on July 14, and Grodno on July 16. At the Grodno-Svisloch (western) line, the front was stopped due to stubborn German resistance. Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front took Baranovichi on July 8, and Pinsk on July 14. On July 16, front troops reached the Svisloch (western) - Pruzhany line. At the same time, the 33rd Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front and the 50th and 49th Armies of the 2nd Belorussian Front fought against a group of German troops surrounded east of Minsk (the remnants of five German corps, up to 100 thousand people), who were making their way into southwest direction (south of Minsk). By July 12, this group was mostly defeated (according to Vasilevsky’s memoirs, 35 thousand were captured, including 12 generals), but separate groups of Germans continued to make their way to the west, and some managed to cross the front line in August. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front went on the offensive again on July 20. On July 22, Panevezys was taken, and on July 27, Siauliai. The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front had been on the defensive on the Neman River since July 15. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front resumed the offensive on July 20, and took Bialystok on July 27. On July 18, troops of the 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive in the direction of Lublin. On July 20, front troops crossed the Western Bug River and entered Polish territory. On July 23, Lublin was captured. On July 25, front troops reached the Vistula River, in the Dęblin area. On July 28, Brest was captured. The fourth stage of the operation (July 29 - August 29) On July 28, 1944, the Supreme High Command Headquarters set the fronts tasks for a further offensive: the 1st Baltic - to cut off the enemy group operating in the Baltic states from its communications towards East Prussia. Develop the main attack in the general direction of Riga, with part of the forces of the left wing attacking Memel (Klaipeda). 3rd Belorussian Front - to capture Kaunas no later than August 1-2. Subsequently, advance to the borders of East Prussia and, no later than August 10, seize the border of Rossiena (Raseiniai) - Jurburg (Jurbarkas) - Eidkunnen - Suwalki, where to firmly gain a foothold in preparation for the invasion of East Prussia, in the general direction of Gumbinen, Insterburg, Preussisch-Aylau. The 2nd Belorussian Front is to develop the offensive, delivering the main blow in the general direction of Lomza - Ostroleka, no later than August 8-10, to capture the line Augustow - Graewo - Staviski - Ostroleka, to gain a strong foothold on it in preparation for the invasion of East Prussia. 1st Belorussian Front - develop an offensive in the general direction of Warsaw and, no later than August 5-8, occupy Prague (a suburb of Warsaw), seize bridgeheads on the western bank of the Narew River in the Pultusk - Serock region, and with the left wing capture a bridgehead on the western bank of the Vistula River in the area Dęblin – Zvolen – Solec. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front moved north and captured Jelgava on August 1. On the same day, Colonel Kremer's 8th Guards Mechanized Brigade reached the coast of the Gulf of Riga near the village of Klapkalns, but was soon driven back by a German counterattack. It was not possible to cut off the German Army Group North from Army Group Center. During August, front troops fought heavy defensive battles. The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front went on the offensive towards Kaunas. The enemy stubbornly resisted, but on August 1, Kaunas was taken. In August, having repelled German counterattacks in the Kaunas area, front troops reached the Raseiniai-Suwalki line. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front managed to advance 10–30 kilometers during a month of fighting. On July 31, troops of the 1st Belorussian Front approached the approaches to Prague (a suburb of Warsaw), but were unable to take it during August. At the beginning of August, the troops of the left wing of the front captured two bridgeheads on the western bank of the Vistula River (in the area of Magnushev and Pulawy), and also reached the Narew River. On August 29, 1944, the Supreme Command Headquarters ordered four fronts to go on the defensive. The offensive, launched on June 23 on the central sector of the Soviet-German front, ended. Results and losses During Operation Bagration, the Soviet Army occupied the territory of all of Belarus, most of Lithuania, part of the territory of Poland, and came close to the border of Germany (East Prussia). Soviet troops advanced 300 - 500 kilometers. The German armed forces suffered heavy losses in manpower - 289 thousand irretrievably (killed and captured) and 110 thousand wounded. The losses of the Soviet Army were 178.5 thousand irrevocably, 587 thousand wounded. Sources: 1. History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941 - 1945. Volume 4. M., Military Publishing House, 1962. 2. Great Patriotic War. Volume 16. M., “Terra”, 1998. 3. K. Tippelskirch, History of the Second World War. Volume 2. M., "Polygon", 1994. 4. A. Vasilevsky, The Work of a Whole Life. M., Politizdat, 1978. 5. Paul Adair, Hitler’s Greatest Defeat. London, Brockhampton Press, 1994. 6. Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century. M., “OLMA-PRESS”, 2001. 7. Liberation of cities. M., Voenizdat, 1985. http://www.volk59.narod.ru/OperationBagration.htm
"Rail War"
1) actions of partisans behind enemy lines with the aim of disrupting the work of his railway. transport and disablement of manpower, military equipment and materiel transported by rail.
2) Name major operation carried out by Soviet partisans during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 - in August - September 1943 in the occupied territories of the RSFSR, BSSR and part of the Ukrainian SSR with the aim of disabling the railway. enemy communications.
In June 1943, the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus put forward a plan for the simultaneous massive destruction of sections of railways in the occupied territory of the republic. The central headquarters of the partisan movement (TSSHPD) involved in the implementation of this plan, in addition to the partisans of Belarus, Leningrad, Kalinin, Smolensk, Oryol and part of the Ukrainian partisans. Operation R. V." was associated with the plans of the Supreme High Command to complete the defeat of the Nazi troops in the Battle of Kursk 1943 (See Battle of Kursk 1943), conduct the Smolensk operation of 1943 (See Smolensk operation 1943) and an offensive to liberate Left Bank Ukraine. On July 14, the TsShPD was given the order to conduct Operation R. V.". Local headquarters of the partisan movement and their representation at the fronts assigned areas and objects of action to each partisan formation. The partisans were provided with explosives and fuses, mine-explosive classes were held at “forest courses”, metal was mined from captured shells and bombs at local “factories”, and fastenings for metal bombs to rails were made in workshops and forges. Active exploration was carried out on railways. The operation began on the night of August 3 and continued until mid-September. The actions took place on an area with a length of about 1000 km along the front and 750 km in depth, about 100 thousand partisans took part in them, who were helped by the local population. Powerful blow to the railway. lines was unexpected for the enemy, who for some time could not counteract the partisans in an organized manner. During the operation, about 215 thousand rails were blown up, many trains were derailed, railway bridges and station buildings were blown up. The massive disruption of enemy communications significantly complicated the regrouping of retreating enemy troops, complicated their supply, and thereby contributed to the successful offensive of the Red Army.
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/127049/Rail
Operation Typhoon
Operation Typhoon, called by Nazi strategists “the main battle of the year,” began on September 30 with the transition of the Second Panzer Group of General Heinz Guderian to the offensive in the Bryansk Front from the Shostka region. On October 2, the remaining two groups from the areas of Dukhovshchina and Roslavl went on the offensive. Their attacks were directed in converging directions towards Vyazma with the aim of covering the main forces of the Western and Reserve Fronts. On the very first day, enemy divisions wedged 15-30 kilometers into the Red Army’s defenses. On October 3-4, the command of the Western Front, using army and front reserves, launched counterattacks against the Nazi units that had broken through, which, however, were not successful, since they were carried out by sedentary groups and without proper artillery and air support. In the first days, the enemy offensive developed successfully. He managed to reach the rear of the 3rd and 13th armies of the Bryansk Front, and on October 6, west of Vyazma, encircle the 19th and 20th armies of the Western Front and the 24th and 32nd armies of the Reserve Front. The troops who found themselves surrounded in Vyazma fought a courageous fight against the enemy. They launched counterattacks and broke out of the encirclement. This is how P. Lukin, N. Okhapkin and P. Silantiev, participants in the escape from encirclement as part of the 29th Infantry Division, talk about it. “The attacks of our troops followed one after another, they were preceded by artillery preparation. Our attacks were especially fierce on October 8-12, when Captain Flerov’s Katyusha battery joined the division’s fighting... For the Germans, the offensive of the encircled battalions and regiments of Soviet troops was a complete surprise. The Nazis apparently believed that since our units were surrounded and suffered significant losses, then they were no longer dangerous, they were finished. And suddenly these regiments and battalions found strength in themselves and moved forward in an eastern direction. The Germans had to hastily bring large formations and equipment here.” The active military operations of the Soviet troops in the encirclement had a serious impact on the development of events. They pinned down 28 fascist German divisions in the Vyazma area, which were stuck here and could not continue the attack on Moscow. At the same time, in the zone of the 43rd Army of the Reserve Front, the Nazis broke through the Warsaw Highway (now the A101 Moscow-Roslavl highway) and captured the important strategic settlement of Yukhnov. The Soviet command, having late discovered the accumulation of German motorized columns, could not find the strength to stop the breakthrough. In the afternoon of October 5, cadets of the Podolsk infantry and Podolsk artillery schools were raised on combat alert. By this time, only 17-18 year old first-year cadets remained at the school, since senior cadets were graduated early. The cadets had to urgently move to the Maloyaroslavets area to occupy a combat area on the left flank of the Mozhaisk defense line. But first of all, it was necessary to throw forward the forward detachments in order to delay the Germans at all costs until the defense was ready. The infantry school assigns a combined artillery division to the forward detachment, which is ordered to command Captain Rosikov, one of the cadet teachers. By the morning of October 6, the advance detachment reached the Ugra River and immediately attacked the enemy units that had already crossed. As it turned out later, this was the vanguard of one of the divisions of the enemy’s 4th Tank Group (Army), which completed the encirclement of several of our armies near Vyazma. The desperate attack of the young “Red Junkers” was a complete surprise for the Germans, and they were driven out beyond the Ugra. But this was only the beginning of the cadets' first test. Ahead were several difficult days of retreat under tank attacks and almost continuous bombing - to the Ilyinsky section of the Mozhaisk Line, where the main forces of the schools were deployed. For two weeks, suffering heavy losses, the Podolsk cadets defended the line. Many years later this will be called a feat of Podolsk cadets. In those two weeks, the inscription on the operational maps at German headquarters never left: “two ill-fated cadet schools.” To capture Maloyaroslavets, which was the key to Podolsk and Moscow, the enemy sent two divisions - motorized and infantry. They were opposed by formations and units of the 43rd Army of Lieutenant General S.D. Akimov: the 312th Infantry Division under the command of Colonel A.F. Naumov, units of the Podolsk infantry and artillery schools, the 108th reserve rifle regiment, the combined battalion 616- th rifle regiment, six artillery regiments, a guards mortar regiment, three separate machine-gun and artillery battalions, seven separate flamethrower companies and others. All attempts to contain the enemy's advance in this direction by the army's forces proved futile. Then, by order of the command of the Western Front, on October 13-14, a counterattack was launched by the forces of the 110th and 113th rifle divisions of Colonels S.T. Gladyshev and K.I. Mironov. However, he too was unsuccessful. The additional introduction into the battle of the 53rd Infantry Division (commander Colonel N.P. Krasnoretsky), 9th (commander Lieutenant Colonel I.F. Kirichenko) and 17th (commander Major N.Ya. Klypin) tank brigades did not change the situation. . The defense area was surrendered. The last attack on Moscow German tanks attack Soviet positions in the Istra region, November 25, 1941. “Now stop the enemy on the outskirts of our capital, not let him in, crush Hitler’s divisions and corps in battles... The Moscow node is now decisive... A little more time will pass, and the enemy’s offensive against Moscow will have to fizzle out. It is necessary to withstand the tension of these days at all costs” (G.K. Zhukov, November 26, 1941). To resume the offensive on Moscow, the Wehrmacht deployed 51 divisions, including 13 tank and 7 motorized divisions. According to the plan of the German command, Army Group Center was supposed to defeat the flank defense units of the Soviet troops and encircle Moscow. The Soviet command reinforced dangerous sectors of the front with reserves and reinforcements. The parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941 was of great political significance. Thus, the government of the USSR and J.V. Stalin personally demonstrated their determination to fight to the end. The German offensive against Moscow resumed from the northwest on November 15-16, and from the southwest on November 18. The enemy delivered the main attacks in the Klin-Rogachevo and Tula-Kashira directions. At the end of November, the enemy managed to capture the Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Istra areas, reach the Moscow-Volga canal in the Yakhroma area and occupy Krasnaya Polyana (32 km from the Moscow Kremlin). Further advance of the Germans in the northern direction was prevented by the release of water from the Istrinsky, Ivankovsky reservoirs and reservoirs of the Moscow Canal. According to the memoirs of Marshal Shaposhnikov, “as the Germans approached this line, the spillways of the reservoir were blown up (at the end of the crossing of our troops), as a result of which a water flow up to 2.5 m high was formed over a distance of up to 50 km south of the reservoir. The Germans’ attempts to close the spillways were unsuccessful.” The 1st Shock Army and the 20th Army were transferred to the Western Front, which covered the gap between the 30th (transferred to the Western Front on November 17) and the 16th armies. As a result of the involvement of Soviet reserves, the enemy was stopped and forced to go on the defensive. At the end of November there were fierce battles in the area of Kashira and Tula. On November 27, Soviet troops launched a counterattack on the 2nd Tank Army and drove it back from Kashira. The 2nd Tank Army tried to bypass Tula from the northeast and cut the Serpukhov-Tula railways and highways, but a counterattack by Soviet troops pushed the enemy back to their original positions. On December 1, the command of Army Group Center made a new attempt to break through to Moscow in the Aprelevka area. On December 2, the Germans occupied Burtsevo, the closest settlement to Moscow on the southwestern sector of the front. Thanks to the clearly organized interaction of the 33rd Army of General M.G. Efremov and the 5th Army of General L.A. Govorov, this attempt was eliminated. The Supreme High Command Headquarters ordered, in addition to the new 10th and 20th armies transferred to the Western Front from the reserve of the 1st Shock Headquarters, to include the 24th and 60th armies in the Moscow defense zone. On December 2, the advanced units of the 1st Shock and 20th armies repelled all enemy attacks north of Moscow in the Dmitrov area and south and forced him to stop the offensive. On December 3-5, the 1st Shock and 20th armies launched several strong counterattacks in the area of Yakhroma and Krasnaya Polyana and began to push back the enemy. The left-flank divisions of the 16th Army, in cooperation with the 5th Army, drove the enemy back from the large bend of the river. Moscow northeast of Zvenigorod. The strike group of the 33rd Army, having defeated enemy units on December 4-5, restored the situation on the Nara River. Results of the Defense of Moscow During the defensive stage of the Battle of Moscow, the Soviet command imposed a “war of attrition” on the enemy (when the “last battalion” rushes into battle, which must decide the outcome of the battle). But if during the battle all the reserves of the German command were exhausted, the Soviet command was able to preserve the main forces (of the strategic reserves, only the 1st Shock Army and the 20th Army were brought into battle). The commander of the German 2nd Panzer Army, G. Guderian, wrote down his summary as follows: The attack on Moscow failed. All the sacrifices and efforts of our valiant troops were in vain. We suffered a serious defeat, which, due to the stubbornness of the high command, led to fatal consequences in the coming weeks. During the German offensive, a crisis arose; the strength and morale of the German army were broken. h
ttp://rufact.org/wiki/Operation%20"Typhoon"
Plan "Ost"
General plan“Ost” (German: Generalplan Ost) is a secret plan of the German government of the Third Reich to carry out ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe and its German colonization after the victory over the USSR. A version of the plan was developed in 1941 by the Main Directorate of Reich Security and presented on May 28, 1942 by an employee of the Office of the Headquarters of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People, SS Oberführer Meyer-Hetling under the title “General Plan Ost - the foundations of the legal, economic and territorial structure of the East.” The text of this document was found in the German Federal Archives in the late 1980s, individual documents from there were presented at an exhibition in 1991, but was completely transferred to digital form and published only in November-December 2009. At the Nuremberg trials, the only evidence of the existence of the plan was “ Comments and proposals of the “Eastern Ministry” on the “Ost” master plan,” according to prosecutors, written on April 27, 1942 by E. Wetzel, an employee of the Ministry of Eastern Territories, after familiarizing himself with the draft plan prepared by the RSHA. The Rosenberg Project The General Plan was preceded by a project developed by the Reich Ministry for Occupied Territories, headed by Alfred Rosenberg. On May 9, 1941, Rosenberg presented the Fuhrer with draft directives on policy issues in the territories that were to be occupied as a result of aggression against the USSR. Rosenberg proposed creating five governorates on the territory of the USSR. Hitler opposed the autonomy of Ukraine and replaced the term “governorate” with “Reichskommissariat” for it. As a result, Rosenberg’s ideas took the following forms of implementation. Ostland - was supposed to include Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Ostland, where, according to Rosenberg, a population with Aryan blood lived, was subject to complete Germanization within two generations. Ukraine - would include the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR, Crimea, a number of territories along the Don and Volga, as well as lands of the abolished Soviet Autonomous Republic Germans of the Volga region. According to Rosenberg's idea, the governorate was supposed to gain autonomy and become the support of the Third Reich in the East. Caucasus - would include the republics of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia and would separate Russia from the Black Sea. Muscovy - Russia to the Urals. The fifth governorate was to be Turkestan. The success of the German campaign in the summer-autumn of 1941 led to a revision and tightening of the German plans for the eastern lands, and as a result, the Ost plan was born. Description of the plan According to some sources, the “Ost Plan” was divided into two - the “Small Plan” (German: Kleine Planung) and the “Big Plan” (German: Große Planung). The small plan was to be carried out during the war. The Big Plan was what the German government wanted to focus on after the war. The plan provided for different percentages of Germanization for the various conquered Slavic and other peoples. The “non-Germanized” were to be deported to Western Siberia or subjected to physical destruction. The execution of the plan was to ensure that the conquered territories would acquire an irrevocably German character. Wetzel's Remarks and Suggestions Among historians, a document known as “Remarks and Proposals of the “Eastern Ministry” on the Ost General Plan” has circulated. The text of this document has often been presented as Plan Ost itself, although it has little in common with the text of the Plan published at the end of 2009. Wetzel envisioned the expulsion of tens of millions of Slavs beyond the Urals. The Poles, according to Wetzel, “were the most hostile to the Germans, numerically the largest and therefore the most dangerous people.” Generalplan Ost, it should be understood, also implied the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” (German: Endlösung der Judenfrage), according to which the Jews were subject to total extermination: The number of people subject to deportation according to the plan should in fact be much higher than provided. Only if we take into account that approximately 5-6 million Jews living in this territory will be liquidated even before the eviction is carried out, can we agree with the figure mentioned in the plan of 45 million local residents of non-German origin. However, it is clear from the plan that the mentioned 45 million people also include Jews. It follows from this, therefore, that the plan is based on a clearly incorrect estimate of the population. In the Baltics, Latvians were considered more suitable for "Germanization", but Lithuanians and Latgalians were not, since there were too many "Slavic admixtures" among them. According to Wetzel's proposals, the Russian people were to be subjected to measures such as assimilation (“Germanization”) and reduction in numbers through a reduction in the birth rate - such actions are defined as genocide. From A. Hitler’s directive to the Minister for Eastern Territories A. Rosenberg on the implementation of the General Plan “Ost” (July 23, 1942) The Slavs must work for us, and if we no longer need them, let them die. Vaccinations and health protection are unnecessary for them. Slavic fertility is undesirable... education is dangerous. It is enough if they can count to one hundred... Every educated person is our future enemy. All sentimental objections should be abandoned. We must rule this people with iron determination... Military speaking, we must kill three to four million Russians a year. Developed versions of the Ost plan The following documents were developed by the planning group Gr. lll B planning service of the Main Staff Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the German People Heinrich Himmler (Reichskommissar für die Festigung Deutschen Volkstums (RKFDV) and the Institute of Agrarian Policy of the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin: Document 1: “Fundamentals of Planning” created in February 1940 by the planning service RKFDV (volume: 21 pages) Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in West Prussia and Wartheland. The area of colonization was to be 87,600 km², of which 59,000 km² were agricultural lands. About 100,000 settlement farms were to be created in this territory. 29 hectares each. It was planned to resettle about 4.3 million Germans to this territory; 3.15 million of them to rural areas and 1.15 million to cities. At the same time, 560,000 Jews (100% of the population of this area) were to be gradually eliminated. nationality) and 3.4 million Poles (44% of the region's population of this nationality). The costs of implementing these plans have not been estimated. Document 2: Materials for the report “Colonization”, developed in December 1940 by the RKFDV planning service (volume 5 pages). Contents: Fundamental article to the “Requirement of territories for forced resettlement from the Old Reich” with a specific requirement for 130,000 km² of land for 480,000 new viable settlement farms of 25 hectares each, as well as in addition 40% of the territory for forest, for the needs of the army and reserve areas in Wartheland and Poland. Documents created after the attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941 Document 3 (missing, exact contents unknown): “General Plan Ost”, created in July 1941 by the RKFDV planning service. Contents: Description of the extent of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR with the boundaries of specific areas of colonization. Document 4 (missing, exact contents unknown): "General Plan Ost", created in December 1941 by the planning group Gr. lll B RSHA. Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR and the General Government with specific boundaries of individual areas of settlement. Document 5: “General Plan Ost”, created in May 1942 by the Institute of Agriculture and Politics of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Berlin (volume 68 pages). Contents: Description of the scale of the planned eastern colonization in the USSR with specific boundaries of individual areas of settlement. The colonization area was supposed to cover 364,231 km², including 36 strong points and three administrative districts in the Leningrad region, the Kherson-Crimean region and in the Bialystok region. At the same time, settlement farms with an area of 40-100 hectares, as well as large agricultural enterprises with an area of at least 250 hectares, should have appeared. Required amount displaced people were estimated at 5.65 million. The areas planned for settlement were to be cleared of approximately 25 million people. The cost of implementing the plan was estimated at 66.6 billion Reichsmarks. Document 6: “General Plan for Colonization” (German Generalsiedlungsplan), created in September 1942 by the RKF planning service (volume: 200 pages, including 25 maps and tables). Contents: Description of the scale of the planned colonization of all areas envisaged for this with specific boundaries of individual settlement areas. The region was supposed to cover an area of 330,000 km² with 360,100 rural households. The required number of migrants was estimated at 12.21 million people (of which 2.859 million were peasants and those employed in forestry). The area planned for settlement was to be cleared of approximately 30.8 million people. The cost of implementing the plan was estimated at 144 billion Reichsmarks.
http://www.encyclopaedia-russia.ru/article.php?id=330
Berlin operation 1945
Offensive operation of the 2nd Belorussian (Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky), 1st Belorussian (Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov) and 1st Ukrainian (Marshal of the Soviet Union I.S. Konev) fronts on April 16 - May 8 during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-45 (See Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-45). In January - March 1945, Soviet troops defeated large enemy groups in East Prussia, Poland and Eastern Pomerania and, reaching the river on a wide front. The Oder and Neisse were deeply wedged into German territory. On the western bank of the river. Oder bridgeheads were captured, including a particularly important one in the Küstrin area. At the same time as Z., without encountering organized resistance, Anglo-American troops advanced. The Hitler clique, hoping for disagreements between the allies, took all measures to delay the advance of Soviet troops on the approaches to Berlin and negotiate with the Anglo-American ruling circles on a separate peace. In the Berlin direction, the fascist German command concentrated a large group as part of the Vistula Army Group (3rd Panzer and 9th Armies) under Colonel General G. Heinrici (from April 30, Infantry General K. Tippelskirch) and the 4th Panzer and 17th armies of Army Group Center under Field Marshal F. Scherner (total of about 1 million people, 10,400 guns and mortars, 1,530 tanks and assault guns, over 3,300 aircraft). On the western banks of the river. Oder and Neisse, 3 defensive zones with a depth of up to 20-40 km were created; The Berlin defensive area consisted of 3 defensive rings, all large buildings in the city were turned into strongholds, streets and squares were blocked with powerful barricades. For the offensive in the Berlin direction, the Soviet command concentrated 19 combined arms (including 2 Polish), 4 tank and 4 air armies (2.5 million people, 41,600 guns and mortars, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 7,500 aircraft ). The plan of the operation was to deliver several powerful blows on a wide front, dismember the enemy’s Berlin group, encircle and destroy it piece by piece. The operation began on April 16 after powerful artillery and air preparation, the 1st Belorussian Front attacked the enemy on the river. Oder, delivering the main blow from a bridgehead in the Küstrin area. At the same time, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front began to cross the river. Neisse. Despite fierce enemy resistance, especially on the Seelow Heights west of Küstrin, Soviet troops broke through his defenses. Attempts by the Nazi command to win the battle for Berlin on the Oder and Neisse ended in failure. On April 20, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front went on the offensive in the Stettin direction, crossing 2 branches of the river. The Oder and the interfluve between them and by the end of April 25 had broken through the enemy's main defense line south of Stettin. Troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts, after breaking through the enemy’s defenses, began a maneuver to dissect and encircle the Berlin group, bypassing Berlin from the north and south. On April 24, troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts united in the south - the eastern outskirts of Berlin and cut the enemy group into 2 parts; as a result, the main forces of the 9th Army and part of the forces of the 4th Tank Army were cut off from Berlin and surrounded southeast of the city. On April 25, the troops of these fronts met in the Ketzin area and closed the encirclement west of Berlin. Thus, up to 200 thousand Nazi troops were surrounded southeast of Berlin and 200 thousand in Berlin itself. The liquidation of the group, surrounded southeast of Berlin, was completed on May 1 by troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts. At the same time, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front repelled a counterattack by the 12th Army of General W. Wenck, transferred from the Western Front, in the Belitz area, as well as a counterattack by an enemy group in the Görlitz area, which was trying to reach the rear of the front and disrupt the advance of his troops on Berlin. The defeat of the group surrounded in Berlin resulted in a fierce battle. From April 21, when Soviet troops broke into Berlin, until May 2, bloody battles raged on the streets of the city day and night. Every street, every house had to be stormed; hand-to-hand combat took place in subway tunnels, sewer pipes, and underground communication passages. The enemy stubbornly resisted. On April 30, the troops of the 3rd Shock Army of Colonel General V. I. Kuznetsov began fighting for the Reichstag, which was stormed by the 171st Infantry Division of Colonel A. I. Negoda and the 150th Infantry Division of Major General V. M. Shatilov. In the evening of the same day, the Reichstag was taken and the Victory Banner was hoisted on it by sergeants M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, leaving a will on the composition of the new government headed by Admiral Dönitz. The latter sent parliamentarians on May 1, led by the Chief of the General Staff, Infantry General Krebs, with a proposal, signed by Goebbels and Bormann, for a temporary cessation of hostilities. The Soviet command's response demand for unconditional surrender was rejected. Then on the evening of May 1 a powerful fire strike was delivered and the assault was resumed. By the morning of May 2, the remnants of the Berlin garrison were divided into separate isolated groups and by 15 o'clock they surrendered, led by the chief of defense of Berlin, General Weidling. Simultaneously with the defeat of the encircled groups, Soviet troops advanced to the west, and on April 25, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the area of Rize and Torgau met with the advanced units of the 1st American Army. On May 7, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the river on a broad front. Elbe. At the same time, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, successfully advancing in Western Pomerania and Mecklenburg, captured the main enemy defense strongholds on the western bank of the river on April 26. Oder - Poelitz, Stettin, Gatow and Schwedt and, launching a rapid pursuit of the remnants of the defeated 3rd Panzer Army, on May 3 they reached the coast of the Baltic Sea, and on May 4 they advanced to the line of Wismar, Schwerin, r. Elde, where they came into contact with English troops. On May 4-5, front troops cleared the islands of Wollin, Usedom and Rügen of the enemy, and on May 9 they landed on the Danish island of Bornholm to accept the surrender of Nazi troops. During the B. o. Soviet troops completely defeated 70 infantry, 12 tank and 11 motorized divisions and captured about 480 thousand people. In B. o. Soviet troops lost over 304 thousand people killed, wounded and missing, as well as 2,156 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,220 guns and mortars, 527 aircraft. Having completed the war, Soviet troops, together with their allies, finally crushed the fascist German military machine. On May 8, representatives of the German command, led by Keitel, signed an act of unconditional surrender of Germany.
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/68834/Berlinskaya
"Overlord"
“Overlord” (English Overlord - overlord, supreme ruler, ruler, ruler), the code name of the operation for the invasion of the armed forces of the United States, Great Britain and their allies in Northwestern France in the 2nd World War. The real prospect of the defeat of Nazi Germany Sov. The army, the growing power and activity of the Resistance movement, which means the growing influence of the communist parties in the countries occupied by the Nazis - all this forced the governments of the United States and England to begin implementing the decision of the Tehran Conference of 1943 to open a second front in Europe. On February 12, 1944, the joint Anglo-American headquarters determined the purpose of the operation, which was to carry out an invasion of the European continent and, together with other united nations, undertake operations aimed at entering the center of Germany and destroying its armed forces. Carrying out Operation "O." At the 1st stage, it was entrusted to the 21st Army Group (1st American, 2nd British and 1st Canadian Armies), as well as powerful forces of the strategist, tact, aviation and navy. It was planned to land seaborne and airborne assault forces in Normandy and seize a strategic bridgehead. After the transfer to the bridgehead of the 3rd American Army, it was planned to develop an offensive to the south, southeast and, after 3 months, reach the line of the Seine and Loire rivers. Beginning of Operation O. was scheduled for the first days of May, and then postponed to June 6, 1944 (see Normandy landing operation 1944).
http://www.hrono.ru/sobyt/1900sob/1944overlord.php
Edelweiss
Edelweiss (Gnaphalium Leontopodium Scop. or Leontopodium alpinumCass., from the family Compositae) is one of the most famous alpine plants. Thick white-tomentose pubescence covers the entire plant, especially standing out on its upper narrow-lanceolate leaves, which in the form of a star surround the inflorescence, which ends in a non-branched stem. The flower heads are surrounded by a blanket of dry, membranous leaves at the end. The middle of the heads is occupied by bisexual tubular flowers, which, due to the underdevelopment of the ovary, function only as staminate flowers. The fruiting flowers are thread-like female flowers, which are usually located along the edge of the head. Long dry hairs of E., filled with air, are twisted and tangled into a thick felt, which prevents the plant from drying out, protecting its leaves from dry wind, which has a detrimental effect on plants on rocks and mountain cornices with a thin layer of soil, where E. usually live. In addition to the Alps, E. found in the mountains of Turkestan, Altai, Transbaikalia and the extreme east of Siberia. V. A. D. Aediculum (aediculum, diminutive of aedes) - according to the etymological meaning of the word, any small structure among the ancient Romans, both private and sacred. But in everyday life this word acquired a limited meaning and began to mean a small temple, a chapel. Very often, E. was an addition to the main, large temple and was placed in its fence, serving for less solemn sacrifices to the same deity to whom the main sanctuary is dedicated. Thus, E. Victoria is known at the temple (aedes) of the same goddess in Rome. Pompeian painting gives us images of the same chapels, but standing completely separately, independently of the main temple, and therefore having the meaning of an independent sacred place (templum). The small size does not allow, of course, to send EVs. cult of a given god with appropriate solemnity; a small temple serves only as a room for a statue of the god; Therefore, E. of this type are dedicated mainly to minor gods. The existence of the Roman religion of a significant number of local gods, the cult of which is closely associated with a specific place, such as the geniuses of the street, quarter (lares comitales, etc.), and finally, the patron gods of the family, home, etc., required a significant number of sanctuaries dedicated to these places. Of course, the size of these sanctuaries had to be very small and even the shape of a chapel, a miniature copy of a temple, was not always feasible. E.'s surrogate is a niche in the wall of the house, separated from the outside by architectural ornament. Two columns on the sides support the pediment, and in the niche itself there is a figurine of a god. Only this desire, at least in an ornamented form, to resemble the facade of a temple indicates a genetic connection between street or home sanctuaries and a free-standing chapel. In this way, the word E. acquires the meaning of a niche in which the image of some god is placed. Since the needs of the cult require the presence of altars of several gods in the same temple, then, naturally, E is used to distinguish the sanctuaries of each. in the last meaning of the word. The need to create several smaller ones in one temple, to turn the building itself into only a case for the latter, leads to the fact that each niche of the temple becomes a special building. Such are the niches of the Pantheon in Rome. E. becomes equivalent to a chapel, chapel, reduced in size. On the other hand, the constant profanation of the ancient temple, which, as is known, served not only religious purposes, but also commercial and political ones, creates the need to set aside a corner inside the temple where worldly vanity would not penetrate, where the statue and altar of God could be protected from secularizing everyday life. Inside the temple, another, small temple is built, which becomes the sanctuary itself, and in this sense, E. is called that part of the temple that has a purely religious purpose. The Catholic tabernacle, housing the main altar, represents only the development and continuation of this form of E. Becoming the central place in the temple. E. contains the main artistic and other values and is decorated with special zeal. Meanwhile, its other variety, created under the influence of adapting to the conditions of the place, the niche for street or household gods, naturally tends to simplify. Often, instead of a real statue, only a pictorial image of a revered god (or gods, since often the same E. is dedicated to two or three gods, for example, the patron god of a family and an image of a deceased ancestor) is placed in it. From here there is one step towards replacing the architectural ornamentation of the niche with pictorial imitations. Finally, processions, which occupied a prominent place in the ancient cult, required a special form of a small, portable temple in which the statue of the god participating in the procession could be placed. E. gave quite a significant variety of forms of reduction and stylization of the architectural type of the temple. And the portable E. was only a copy of one of them, namely the niche. A terracotta or stone box with an architecturally ornamented front, open side is the simplest way to create a movable temple for God. However, we have no reason to assume that this form of portable E. is exceptional. Archaeological finds only allow us to state its prevalence. As has already been noted, several gods were sometimes placed in one E., and this was not always done out of the need to save space. In other cases, E. served as an external unifying form, which was intended to emphasize the internal unity that united several gods. Thus, the presence of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva in the same niche in the Capitoline temple emphasized the kinship of these gods among themselves, putting them forward as a triad. Except literary descriptions E. among various authors and examples that have come down to us, for example, in Pompeii, coins that contained the image of E. are of great importance for familiarization with their form, which contained the image of E. more conveniently than the image of the whole temple, and, perhaps, medalists used them as symbolic (pars pro toto) a way to hint at the real temple.
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/brokgauz/23162
East Prussian operation 1945
Date: January 13 - April 25, 1945 Place: East Prussia, northern Poland, Baltic Sea Result: Victory of the Red Army Parties of the USSR Germany Commanders K. K. Rokossovsky I. D. Chernyakhovsky A. M. Vasilevsky V. F. Tributs G. Reinhardt, L. Rendulic Forces of the parties 1,670,000 people 25,426 guns and mortars 3,859 tanks 3,097 aircraft At the beginning of the operation 580,000 people at least 200 thousand Volkssturm 8,200 guns and mortars approx. 1000 tanks and assault guns 559 aircraft Losses 584,778 (of which 126,646 were killed) About 500 thousand (of which at least 150 thousand were killed and 220 thousand captured) East Prussian operation (January 13-April 25, 1945) - during The Great Patriotic War, Soviet troops of the 2nd (Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky) and 3rd (Army General I.D. Chernyakhovsky, from February 20 - Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky) Belorussian Fronts in cooperation with the Baltic fleet (Admiral V.F. Tributs) broke through the powerful defenses of the German Army Group Center (Colonel General G. Reinhardt, from January 26 - Army Group North, Colonel General L. Rendulic), reached the Baltic Sea and eliminated the main enemy forces (over 25 divisions), occupying East Prussia and liberating the northern part of Poland. The German command attached great importance to the retention of East Prussia. There have long been powerful fortifications here, which were subsequently improved and supplemented. By the beginning of the Red Army's winter offensive in 1945, the enemy had created a powerful defense system up to 200 km deep. The strongest fortifications were on the eastern approaches to Koenigsberg. During this strategic operation, the Insterburg, Mlawa-Elbing, Heilsberg, Koenigsberg and Zemland front-line offensive operations were carried out. The most important goal of the East Prussian strategic offensive operation was to cut off the enemy troops located there from the main forces of Nazi Germany, dissect them and destroy them. Three fronts took part in the operation: the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian and the 1st Baltic, commanded by Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky, generals I.D. Chernyakhovsky and I.Kh. Bagramyan. They were assisted by the Baltic Fleet under the command of Admiral V.F. Tributs. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front were supposed to defeat the enemy in Northern Poland with strikes from bridgeheads on the Narew River. The 3rd Belorussian Front received the task of attacking Koenigsberg from the east. The 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front assisted him in defeating the enemy in the Koenigsberg direction. By the beginning of 1945, the troops of Rokossovsky and Chernyakhovsky, together with the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front, numbered 1669 thousand people, 25.4 thousand guns and mortars, about 4 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units and more than 3 thousand combat aircraft . In East Prussia and Northern Poland, troops of Army Group Center under the command of General G. Reinhardt defended. The group had 580 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 8 thousand guns and mortars, 560 combat aircraft. Thus, the superiority of Soviet troops over the enemy in personnel and artillery was 2-3 times, and in tanks and aircraft - 4-5.5 times. However, German troops had the opportunity to replenish their units at the expense of the Volkssturm, the Todt organization (engineering and construction units not included in the Wehrmacht, but having basic military training) and simply the local population, bypassing the militia stage, which in 1945 was common practice for the active army. The 2nd Belorussian Front (commander - Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky, member of the Military Council - Lieutenant General N.E. Subbotin, chief of staff - Lieutenant General A.N. Bogolyubov) had the task of striking from the Ruzhansky bridgehead in general in the direction of Przasnysz, Mlawa, Lidzbark, defeat the enemy’s Mlawa grouping, no later than 10-12 days of the operation, capture the Myszyniec, Dzialdowo, Bezhun, Plock line and then advance in the general direction of Nowe Miasto, Marienburg. The front was to deliver the second blow from the Serock bridgehead in the general direction of Naselsk and Belsk. In addition, the front was supposed to assist the 1st Belorussian Front in defeating the enemy’s Warsaw group: part of the forces of the left wing would strike bypassing Modlin from the west. Marshal Rokossovsky planned to launch attacks from bridgeheads on the Narev River. It was planned to break through the enemy’s defenses in the main direction from the Ruzhansky bridgehead in an 18 km area with the forces of three armies. To develop success to the north, it was planned to use first separate tank, mechanized and cavalry corps, and then a tank army. By concentrating such forces in the direction of the main attack, Rokossovsky sought to reach the sea and cut off German troops in East Prussia. Another attack was planned by two armies in a 10 km area from the Serock bridgehead along the northern bank of the Vistula. The 3rd Belorussian Front (commander - Army General I. D. Chernyakhovsky, member of the Military Council - Lieutenant General V. Ya. Makarov, chief of staff - Colonel General A. P. Pokrovsky) received the task of defeating the Tilsit-Insterburg group of the enemy and no later than 10-12 days of the offensive, capture the line Nemonin, Norkitten, Darkemen, Goldap; further develop the attack on Koenigsberg on both banks of the Pregel River, having the main forces on the southern bank of the river. The front was ordered to deliver the main blow from the area north of Stallupenen and Gumbinnen in the general direction of Wellau, and auxiliary blows to Tilsit and Darkemen. General Chernyakhovsky's general plan was to launch a frontal attack on Koenigsberg, bypassing the powerful enemy fortifications north of the Masurian Lakes. The ultimate goal of the offensive of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front was to cover the main forces of the East Prussian group of Germans from the north and subsequently, together with the 2nd Belorussian Front, defeat them. Considering the difficulty of overcoming the enemy’s powerful defense, Chernyakhovsky decided to break through the defense in a 24 km area with the forces of three armies, after which he would bring two tank corps and a second-echelon army into battle and develop his success further into the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Fleet (commander - Admiral V.F. Tributs, member of the Military Council - Vice Admiral N.K. Smirnov, chief of staff - Rear Admiral A.N. Petrov) received the task of leaving Soviet troops to sea coast assist them with their artillery and landings, as well as cover the coastal flanks of the fronts. Soviet troops were preparing to go on the offensive on February 8-10, 1945. However, on December 16, 1944, an unexpected German counteroffensive began in the Ardennes, as a result of which a strong group of troops from Army Group B, commanded by Field Marshal V. Model, broke through the weak defenses of American troops and began to quickly advance deep into Belgium. The allies, taken by surprise, were defeated. General D. Eisenhower hastily pulled up his troops to the site of the breakthrough, which exceeded 100 km. Powerful Anglo-American aviation could provide quick assistance to the retreating troops, but its actions were hampered by bad weather. A critical situation has arisen. The January offensive of the Red Army, launched earlier than planned at the request of the allies, forced the German command to stop offensive operations in the West. After the Soviet troops broke through the line on the Vistula, the 6th German Tank Army - the main striking force of the Wehrmacht in the Ardennes - began to be transferred to the East. The Wehrmacht command finally abandoned plans for offensive actions against the American-British troops and on January 16 was forced to give the order to switch to defense in the West. The powerful rush of Soviet troops from the Vistula to the Oder provided the Allied armies with the opportunity to recover from the blows of the German troops, and on February 8, after a six-week delay, they were able to launch an offensive. To defeat the enemy in East Prussia, the 3rd Belorussian Front, which carried out the Insterburg-Koenigsberg operation, was the first to go on the offensive. The Germans were waiting for the blow. Their artillery fired methodically at the infantry formations preparing for the attack. On January 13, front troops began the operation. Having made sure that the offensive had begun, the enemy carried out a powerful artillery counter-preparation at dawn. The fire concentrated on the strike group of Chernyakhovsky’s troops indicated that the Germans had discovered the direction of the front’s main attack and were preparing to repel it. Their batteries were suppressed by return artillery fire and night bombers scrambled into the air, but surprise was not achieved. After two hours of artillery preparation, infantry and tanks attacked the enemy. By the end of the day, the 39th and 5th armies of generals I.I. Lyudnikov and N.I. Krylov wedged into the defense, but only 2-3 km. The 28th Army of General A. A. Luchinsky advanced more successfully, but it, having advanced 5-7 km, was unable to break through the enemy’s defenses. The dense fog prevented the use of aircraft. The tanks advanced by touch and suffered heavy losses. Nobody completed the tasks of the first day of the offensive. In six days, the strike group of the 3rd Belorussian Front broke through to a depth of 45 km in a 60 km area. And although the pace of advance was 2 times slower than planned, the troops inflicted heavy losses on the German 3rd Tank Army and created the conditions for continuing the offensive on Koenigsberg. Due to bad weather, the commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front, Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky, twice postponed the start of the offensive and was forced to launch it on January 14. The first two days of the Mlawa-Elbing operation, which was carried out by the front, things went poorly: the attack groups advancing from the Ruzhansky and Serotsky bridgeheads advanced only 7-8 km. Strikes from both bridgeheads combined into a common breakthrough over a 60 km area. Having advanced 30 km in three days, the front's strike groups created the conditions for rapid development of success in depth. On January 17, the 5th Guards Tank Army of General V.T. Volsky was introduced into the breakthrough. Pursuing the enemy, it quickly moved north and on January 18 blocked the Mlavsky fortified area. The pace of advance of the remaining front troops also increased. General Volsky's tank crews, bypassing the German fortifications, continued on their way to the sea. The 65th and 70th armies advancing from the Serotsky bridgehead under the command of generals P.I. Batov and B.S. Popov rushed along the northern bank of the Vistula to the west and captured the Modlin fortress. On the sixth day, Rokossovsky’s troops took the line that was planned to be reached on the 10-11th day. On January 21, the Headquarters clarified the task of the 2nd Belorussian Front. He was supposed to continue the offensive with the main forces to the north, and part of the forces to the west, in order to capture the Elbing, Marienburg, Torun line on February 2-4. As a result, the troops reached the sea and cut off the enemy in East Prussia from Germany. Troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front pursued the enemy. On the evening of January 23, the advance detachment of the 5th Guards Tank Army broke into the city of Elbing. Stunned by the sudden appearance of Soviet tanks, the garrison did not have time to prepare for battle. The detachment proceeded through the city and reached Frisch Gaff Bay. The enemy quickly organized the defense of Elbing and delayed the advance of the 29th Panzer Corps. Having bypassed the city, the formations of the tank army, together with the 42nd Rifle Corps, reached the sea. Enemy communications were cut off. The German 2nd Army under the command of General W. Weiss was thrown back to the west, beyond the Vistula. Continuing the Insterburg-Konigsberg operation, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front broke through to the outer defensive perimeter of Konigsberg from January 19 to 26. To the south they immediately crossed the line of the Masurian lakes. Bypassing Koenigsberg from the north, the 39th Army reached the sea west of the city. The 43rd Army of General A.P. Beloborodov and the 11th Guards Army of General K.N. Galitsky broke through to the Frisch Gaff Bay south of Koenigsberg. Pressed to the sea by the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts, Army Group Center, renamed Army Group North on January 26, was cut by Chernyakhovsky’s troops into three unequal parts: four enemy divisions ended up in Zemland, about five in Konigsberg and up to twenty divisions - in the Heilsberg area, southwest of Konigsberg. On January 30, German formations launched a strong counterattack on the left flank of the 11th Guards from the direction of Brandenburg (the Grossdeutschland tank division and one infantry division) and from the direction of Königsberg (the 5th Panzer Division, an assault gun brigade and one infantry division). the army of General K. Galitsky and pushed back the broken Soviet units 5 kilometers from Frisches Haff Bay, thereby releasing Koenigsberg from the southwest and restoring the connection of the city garrison with the 4th German Army in the Heilsberg-Heiligenbal area (the Germans held the corridor until mid-March ). On February 8, Marshal Rokossovsky received the task of turning west, defeating the enemy in Pomerania and reaching the Oder. The 3rd Belorussian Front was supposed to strike at the Heilsberg group, and the 1st Baltic Front under the command of I. Kh. Bagramyan - at the enemy in Zemland and Konigsberg. As a result of the Heilsberg operation of the 3rd Belorussian Front, which was extremely fierce in nature, the enemy was destroyed south of Koenigsberg. Weakened by heavy fighting, the front troops resumed their offensive on February 11, which proceeded slowly. During the day we managed to advance no more than 2 km. In an effort to turn the tide of the operation, the front commander was with the troops almost continuously. On the way from the 5th to the 3rd Army on February 18, he was mortally wounded by an artillery shell fragment. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Army General I. D. Chernyakhovsky died. The Red Army lost a talented military leader who was only 38 years old. The Headquarters appointed Marshal A.M. to command the front. Vasilevsky. The 1st Baltic Front was preparing to go on the offensive on February 20, with the task of clearing the Zemland Peninsula of Germans within a week. However, a day earlier, the Germans themselves launched converging attacks from Fischhausen and Koenigsberg (Operation West Wind) against units of the 39th Army of General I. Lyudnikov, as a result of which the land connection between Zemland and Koenigsberg was restored and the Soviet offensive was thwarted. On February 24, the 1st Baltic Front, having transferred troops to the 3rd Belorussian Front, was abolished. Having taken command of the front, A. M. Vasilevsky ordered to stop futile attacks, replenish supplies by March 10 and carefully prepare final blows. Given the limited forces, the marshal decided to destroy the surrounded groups sequentially, starting with the strongest - the Heilsberg one. Having created the necessary superiority, the troops resumed the offensive on March 13. Fogs and low clouds continued to limit the use of artillery and aircraft. These difficulties were added to by the spring thaw and flood. Despite difficult conditions and stubborn German resistance, Soviet troops reached Frisch Gaff Bay on March 26. The German command began a hasty evacuation of troops to the Zemland Peninsula in advance. Of the 150 thousand German soldiers and officers who defended southwest of Koenigsberg, 93 thousand were destroyed and 46 thousand were taken prisoner. On March 29, the remnants of the Heilsberg group stopped fighting. After the completion of the Heilsberg operation, six armies were freed from the 3rd Belorussian Front: three of them were sent to Konigsberg, the rest were withdrawn to the reserve of Headquarters, beginning a regrouping in the Berlin direction. When destroying the enemy pinned to the sea, the Baltic Fleet under the command of Admiral V.F. Tributs acted actively. The fleet attacked the enemy with aircraft, submarines and light surface forces. They disrupted German sea communications. In February and March alone, the fleet destroyed 32 transports and 7 warships. The submarine "S-13" under the command of Captain 3rd Rank A. I. Marinesko achieved outstanding success. On January 30, she sank the German liner Wilhelm Gustloff with a displacement of 25.5 thousand tons, on board of which more than 5 thousand people were evacuated, including 1.3 thousand submariners. On February 9, the submarine Marinesco achieved another success, sinking a German steamer with a displacement of 14.7 thousand tons. Not a single Soviet submariner achieved such brilliant results in one trip. For military services, the S-13 boat was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On April 6, the 3rd Belorussian Front began the Koenigsberg operation. After a powerful artillery barrage, infantry and tanks attacked the German positions. Due to bad weather, aviation made only 274 sorties during the day. Having overcome stubborn enemy resistance, the troops advanced 2-4 km and by the end of the day reached the outskirts of the city. The next two days became decisive, when flying weather settled in. 516 heavy bombers of the 18th Air Army, commanded by Air Chief Marshal A.E. Golovanov, dropped 3,742 large-caliber bombs on the fortress in just the evening of April 7 within 45 minutes. Other air armies, as well as naval aviation, also took part in the massive raids. It is necessary to note the worthy contribution of the pilots of the 4th Air Army, General K. A. Vershinin. In its composition, under the command of Major E.D. Bershanskaya, pilots from the night bomber regiment fought bravely. Their courage and heroism were highly appreciated by the Motherland: 23 pilots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the assault on the fortress alone, about 14 thousand sorties were flown (that’s over 3 thousand per day!). 2.1 thousand bombs of various calibers were dropped on the heads of the enemy. French pilots from the Normandy-Niemen regiment fought bravely alongside the Soviet pilots. For these battles, the regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and 24 pilots were awarded orders of the USSR. On April 8, troops advancing from the north and south cut the enemy group into two parts. During these days, the personnel of the ISU-152 battery, commanded by Senior Lieutenant A. A. Kosmodemyansky, distinguished themselves. The battery supported units of the 319th Infantry Division, which stormed one of the forts of the fortress. Having fired a volley at the thick brick walls of the fort, the self-propelled guns broke through them and immediately rushed inside the fortification. The fort's garrison of 350 people capitulated. 9 tanks, 200 vehicles and a fuel warehouse were captured. The battery commander was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was awarded posthumously. The brother of the famous partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was hanged by the Germans in the Moscow region, Alexander died on April 13 during the fighting on the Zemland Peninsula. The commandant of the Koenigsberg fortress, General O. Lasch, seeing the futility of further resistance, asked the commander of the 4th Army, General Muller, to allow the remaining forces to break through to the Zemland Peninsula, but was refused. Müller tried to help the Königsberg garrison with a strike from the peninsula to the west, but Soviet aviation thwarted these attacks. By evening, the remnants of the garrison were sandwiched in the center of the city and in the morning they found themselves under crushing artillery fire. Soldiers began to surrender in thousands. On April 9, Lasch ordered everyone to lay down their arms. Hitler regarded this decision as premature and sentenced the general to death penalty by hanging. The reports of the officers who witnessed the general’s courageous behavior did not influence the dictator’s decision. On April 9, the Konigsberg garrison capitulated. Lasch himself surrendered, which saved him from Hitler’s sentence. Together with Lash, 93,853 soldiers and officers were captured. About 42 thousand German soldiers from the fortress garrison died. General Müller was removed from his post as army commander, and Gauleiter Koch of East Prussia, who demanded that the troops on the Samland Peninsula fight to the last, fled by ship to Denmark. Moscow celebrated the completion of the assault on Koenigsberg with a salute of the highest category - 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns. A medal was established “For the Capture of Koenigsberg”, which was usually done only on the occasion of the capture of state capitals. All participants in the assault received a medal. The port of Pillau was the last point in East Prussia from which the population and troops could be evacuated. The city itself was a fortress covering the naval base from sea and land. The Germans defended the land approaches to the port with particular tenacity, which was facilitated by forests and bad weather. The 2nd Guards Army of General P. G. Chanchibadze was unable to overcome enemy resistance. Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky brought the 11th Guards Army into the battle. The defense was broken through only on the third day. In fierce battles for the fortress and port, the 11th Guards Army captured Pillau on April 25. This completed the East Prussian strategic operation. It lasted 103 days and was the longest operation of the last year of the war. In East Prussia, Soviet troops suffered heavy losses. By the end of January, in the rifle divisions of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts, which at the beginning of the offensive there were 6-6.5 thousand soldiers and officers each, 2.5-3.5 thousand remained. 5th By the end of January, the Guards Tank Army had only half the tanks it had at the start of the operation. Even more were lost during the destruction of the encircled groups. There were almost no reinforcements during the operation. Moreover, significant forces were transferred to the Berlin direction, which was the main one in the 1945 campaign. The weakening of the 3rd Belorussian Front led to protracted and bloody battles in East Prussia. The total losses of the Soviet fronts and fleet from January 13 to April 25 were enormous: 126.5 thousand soldiers and officers were killed or missing, more than 458 thousand soldiers were injured or were out of action due to illness. The troops lost 3,525 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 1,644 guns and mortars, and 1,450 combat aircraft. In East Prussia, the Red Army destroyed 25 German divisions, the other 12 divisions lost from 50 to 70% of their strength. Soviet troops captured more than 220 thousand soldiers and officers. The trophies included about 15 thousand guns and mortars, 1,442 tanks and assault guns, 363 combat aircraft and many other military equipment. The loss of large forces and a militarily-economically important area accelerated the defeat of Germany.
http://www.encyclopaedia-russia.ru/article.php?id=335
Prague operation 1945
The offensive operation of the troops of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts on May 6-11 to destroy the Nazi group on the territory of Czechoslovakia during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. At the beginning of May, in Czechoslovakia and Northern Austria, the German Army Group Center (1st and 4th Panzer and 17th Armies, commanded by Field Marshal F. Schörner) and part of the armies of the Austria Group (8th army and the 6th SS Panzer Army, commanded by Colonel General L. Rendulic), in total over 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, over 2200 tanks and assault guns, about 1000 aircraft. According to the plan of the new government of Nazi Germany, led by K. Dönitz, Army Group Center was supposed to hold areas of western and central Bohemia in order to gain time and ensure the withdrawal of its troops to the west for subsequent capitulation to American troops. The strategic plan of the Soviet Supreme High Command provided for the delivery of several powerful attacks in converging directions on Prague with the aim of encircling and dismembering the main enemy forces east of Prague and preventing their withdrawal to the west. The defeat of the enemy was entrusted to the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts ( commander, respectively, Marshals of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev, R. Ya. Malinovsky and Army General A. I. Eremenko). The group of fronts, in addition to Soviet troops, included the 2nd Army of the Polish Army, the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, the 1st and 4th Romanian armies. In total, over 1 million people, more than 23 thousand guns and mortars, about 1800 tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces and over 4 thousand aircraft (excluding one army of the 1st Ukrainian Front and Romanian troops). The main blows were delivered by troops of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts on both flanks of Army Group Center. On May 1-5, a popular uprising began in various regions of Czechoslovakia, and on May 5 in Prague (see People's Uprising of 1945). On the night of May 6, the Prague radio station turned to Soviet troops asking for help. Troops of the main strike group of the right wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front: 13th Army (commander Colonel General N.P. Pukhov), 3rd Guards Army (Colonel General V.N. Gordov), 5th Guards Army ( Colonel General A. S. Zhadov), 3rd Guards Tank Army (Colonel General of Tank Forces P. S. Rybalko) and 4th Guards Tank Army (Colonel General of Tank Forces D. D. Lelyushenko) a day before On the scheduled date, they went on the offensive and by the end of May 7 they reached the northern slopes of the Ore Mountains and began fighting for Dresden. On the morning of May 7, the remaining armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the troops of the 7th Guards Army (commanded by Colonel General M.S. Shumilov) of the 2nd Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. On May 6 and 7, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front continued the offensive in the Olomouc direction and, in cooperation with the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, created a threat of encirclement of the Nazi troops operating east of Olomouc, forcing the enemy to begin the withdrawal of the 1st Tank Army. In this regard, a successful offensive was launched by the troops of the 38th (commander Colonel General K. S. Moskalenko) and 1st Guards (commander Colonel General A. A. Grechko) armies of the 4th Ukrainian Front. On May 8, the offensive continued in all directions. The armies of the right wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front had the greatest success. They broke the enemy's resistance at the Ore Mountains, completely occupied Dresden and entered the territory of Czechoslovakia. In the 2nd Ukrainian Front, on May 8, the 6th Guards Tank Army (commanded by Colonel General of Tank Forces A.G. Kravchenko) was brought into battle, which rapidly developed an offensive on Jihlava, moving towards Prague from the south. Troops of the 4th Ukrainian The front liberated Olomouc and advanced on Prague from the east. On May 8, the German command signed an act of surrender, but Army Group Center continued to resist. In Prague, the rebels were in a difficult situation. On the night of May 9, the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front made a rapid 80-km rush, entered Prague on the morning of May 9 and soon cleared the city of the enemy. On the same day, the advanced units of the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts approached Prague, and the main forces of Army Group Center were surrounded. Only the divisions of Army Group Austria remained outside the encirclement, which were crushed by the troops of the left wing of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The success of the Soviet troops was largely facilitated by frontline aviation. On May 10-11, the main forces of the enemy troops were captured; Soviet troops came into contact with the 3rd American Army. The liberation of Czechoslovakia was completed. The rapid actions of the Soviet troops saved the cities and villages of Czechoslovakia from the destruction and atrocities of the Nazi troops, and the Czechoslovak people were given the opportunity to independently decide the fate of their Motherland. From the point of view of the military art of P. o. characterized by its preparation in a short time, carrying out a complex operational regrouping of troops, the use of tank armies to encircle and defeat a large group in the conditions of a mountainous and forested theater of military operations and a high rate of attack.
http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/123317/Prazhskaya
German-Polish War
IN In the pre-war years, Poland pursued a policy directed against the USSR. The Beck government's refusal to allow Soviet troops through its territory in the event of war with Germany contributed to the breakdown of Soviet-British-French negotiations on the creation of a collective security system in Europe.
After the “Munich Agreement” of 1938, Poland took part in the division of Czechoslovakia and tore away Teschen Silesia from it. Subsequently, Poland tried to enter into an alliance with Germany and negotiate with it to create a “Greater Poland from the Baltic to the Black Sea” by separating part of the territory of the Soviet Union.
These plans failed, and Poland itself became Germany's first victim in the outbreak of World War II.
On September 1, 1939, Hitler's Wehrmacht launched two powerful attacks (from the north and south) in the general direction of Warsaw. From the north - Army Group North, consisting of two armies (21 divisions, including 2 tank and 2 motorized). She was supported by the 1st Air Fleet. From the south - Army Group South, consisting of three armies (33 divisions, including 4 tank and 2 motorized). She was supported by the 4th Air Fleet. A small number of divisions of German troops pinned down the Polish Army "Poznan" in the center. In total, 62 divisions were allocated for the war against Poland. The invasion force numbered 1.6 million.
By September 1, 1939, the Polish command had managed to deploy 24 infantry divisions, 8 cavalry divisions, 1 armored motorized division, 3 mountain rifle brigades and 56 national defense battalions. The ground forces had 4,300 artillery pieces and mortars, 220 light tanks and 650 tankettes. The Polish Air Force had 824 aircraft, including only 407 combat-ready. The war plan was defensive.
Military operations in Poland are divided into 3 stages. The 1st stage covers the armed struggle from September 1 to 8, the 2nd - from September 9 to 16, and the 3rd - from September 17 to October 6, 1939.
At the 1st stage, the German Air Force launched surprise attacks on Polish airfields, large administrative centers, railway junctions, and troop concentration areas. Following the air strikes, the ground forces went on the offensive, having superiority in the directions of the main attacks: in tanks - 8 times, in field artillery - 4 times and in anti-tank artillery - 7 times. Within three days, German divisions broke through the defenses of the Polish armies. Tank and motorized formations began to develop their success in depth. The rate of their advance reached 25 - 30 km per day. At the 2nd stage, the defeat of the encircled Polish troops was completed. By September 16, German armies advancing from the north and south had united in the Wlodawa area, completing the encirclement of Polish troops east of Warsaw. German troops reached the line of Lvov, Vladimir-Volynsky, Brest, Bialystok.
At the 3rd stage, starting from September 17, 1939, Red Army troops, by decision of the USSR Government, entered Polish territory to protect the peoples of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.
German invasion of Western Europe
Although Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, they did not take any military action against it until April 9, 1940. It was the so-called “strange war”. The political circles of France and Great Britain tried to push Germany against the USSR in order to themselves remain on the sidelines. The inaction of the Anglo-French allied armies allowed Germany, after the defeat of Poland, to be well prepared for war against France and Great Britain.
The Allied military leadership believed that defense was the main prerequisite and condition for victory in the war against Germany. It was believed that the Wehrmacht would deliver its main blow through Belgium and Holland. The fortifications of the French Maginot Line were generally considered insurmountable. Allied forces were deployed in three army groups from Switzerland to Dunkirk. On April 9, 1940, Hitler's troops began operations to capture Denmark and Norway, landing sea and airborne assault forces in these countries. Without encountering serious resistance, the Wehrmacht occupied the territories of these states, gaining an important strategic springboard for further expansion of aggression.
The German General Staff planned to deliver the main attack through the Ardennes, and a secondary attack through Holland, Belgium and Northern France. On May 10, German aircraft attacked airfields and the most important centers of Holland, Belgium, and France. Simultaneously with the air strikes, about 4 thousand paratroopers were dropped, who, with the help of the “fifth column,” captured the bridges across the pp. Meuse and Waal, three airfields. Transport planes landed 22 thousand soldiers and officers at captured airfields. At the same time, ground forces began attacking Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. They delivered a powerful blow to the center of the Allied armies in the Ardennes, cut the Allied front, pressed the northern enemy group to the English Channel and destroyed it. German tank and mechanized formations entered the operational space. The French command was unable to organize a defense and was forced to begin withdrawing its troops to Paris.
On June 10, fascist Italy entered the war against Great Britain and France. In a week of fighting on two fronts, the French had exhausted all their reserves. On the morning of June 14, Nazi troops entered Paris.
The fighting lasted 40 days and ended in German victory. Belgium, Holland and France capitulated. Their defeat meant the collapse of the anti-Hitler coalition of European states. The French army lost 84 thousand killed, more than 1.5 million soldiers and officers were captured.
On June 22, 1939, in the forest of Compiègne, in the same carriage in which the surrender of Germany after the First World War was signed, Hitler accepted the surrender of France.
The British Expeditionary Force also suffered heavy losses and was evacuated from the continent through the port of Dunkirk.
Military action against Great Britain
To land on the British Isles, the German command planned Operation Seelowe (Sea Lion). On July 16, Directive No. 16 of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) was issued on its preparation, in which the landing was scheduled for August 15. According to the 1st version of the Operation Sea Lion plan, up to 38 divisions were to participate in the invasion of Great Britain, of which 6 tank and 3 motorized. Airborne support for the landing was assigned to the 2nd and 3rd air fleets, which had 2.6 thousand aircraft. However, due to a lack of landing assets, the date of the attack was postponed first to September 21, and subsequently to the spring of 1941.
On August 13, 1940, the Germans launched an air offensive against Great Britain. German air raids continued until May 1941. As a result, more than 1 million residential buildings were destroyed, about 40 thousand were killed and 46 thousand were wounded. The British Air Force lost 915 aircraft while repelling air raids, and German aviation (from July to November 1940) lost 1,733 aircraft. But by that time, preparations for the landing in Great Britain and the bombing of its territory had become a screen covering the genuine and carefully developed plans and preparations of Germany for an attack on the Soviet Union.
War in the Balkans
Expanding their expansion on the Balkan Peninsula, Germany and Italy began to conquer Yugoslavia and Greece. For the occupation of Greece, the Italian army was allocated, consisting of two army corps: 87 thousand people, 163 tanks, 686 guns, 380 combat aircraft. In addition, 54 large surface ships (4 battleships, 8 cruisers, 42 destroyers and destroyers) and 34 submarines were involved in the operation. Formations of the 12th German Army, reinforced by the 1st German Tank Group, were advancing on Yugoslavia.
Military operations began on October 28, 1940. On this day, Italian troops crossed the Greek border from Albania on a front of 80 km. The offensive was carried out in separate directions. Greek covering troops, reinforced by five infantry and two cavalry divisions, gave a decisive rebuff to the invaders. Having launched a strong counterattack, on November 5, Greek troops drove the Italians back into Albanian territory.
On November 12, 1940, Hitler signed Directive No. 18 on the preparation of an operation against Northern Greece from Bulgarian territory. By the end of the year, a plan for an attack on Greece was developed under the code name "Marita", closely linked to the Barbarossa plan.
On April 6, 1941, the Wehrmacht operation against Yugoslavia began. Despite stubborn resistance individual parts, by the end of the second day of fighting, Yugoslav troops in the southeast of the country were defeated. German aviation reigned supreme in the air. On April 17, an act of unconditional surrender was signed in Belgrade.
At the same time, on April 6, hostilities began against Greece from Bulgarian territory in the Thessaloniki direction. Greek troops and the English expeditionary force began to retreat. On April 23, Greece capitulated and British troops were evacuated to the island of Crete.
On May 18-20, after conducting an airborne operation, German troops captured the strategically important island of Crete.
By the summer of 1941 Hitler's Germany managed, having captured the Balkan Peninsula, to create a southern strategic bridgehead for the implementation of the Barbarossa plan. In France alone, the Germans captured about 5,000 tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as 3,000 aircraft. Using vehicles captured and produced in France, the German command equipped 92 divisions with vehicles.
Military operations in other theaters of war
With the defeat of the Anglo-French coalition in Europe in early July 1940, the war moved to the African continent, where the struggle for colonies in North and North-East Africa unfolded between Italy and England, with Germany joining it in March 1941. Italian troops in Egypt were unable to achieve significant success, and only after the transfer of the German expeditionary force of General E. Rommel to Libya did the situation begin to change. The British troops were driven back to the borders of Egypt and suffered significant losses. Subsequently, military operations in North Africa were carried out with varying success until the end of 1941.
The war in Asia, started by Japan, continued. By the summer of 1941, the Japanese occupiers penetrated into the central regions of China, invaded its southern provinces, and after the surrender of France, they captured the northern part of French Indochina. Vast sea and ocean spaces became the arena for operations of the naval forces of the warring states. Shipping and traditional trade links between many countries were disrupted.
The first period of World War II was the preparatory stage of aggression against the USSR for German fascism. With this
point of view, the capture of Poland meant the creation of bridgeheads against the Soviet Union in the central direction, the occupation of Norway - in the north, the Balkans - in the south. The war against the countries of Western Europe allowed Germany to largely provide a strategic rear.
The first period of World War II lasted about 22 months. During this time, almost 30 states with a population of over 1 billion people were involved in the war. The natural and human resources of many countries were thrown into support of ongoing or planned military operations. In September 1939, more than 10 million people were put under arms in Germany, Poland, France and Great Britain alone.
During the first period of the war, aggression was not stopped. It continued to grow in Europe, Africa and Asia. In Europe, Romania, Hungary, Finland and Bulgaria joined Hitler's Germany. Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Turkey, who were outside the war, collaborated with Germany, although to varying degrees, continuing to provide it, as in peacetime, with strategic raw materials, food, and industrial products.
By mid-1941, Nazi Germany had captured and enslaved Belgium, Holland, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, France, Yugoslavia, inflicted significant losses on the British army, and achieved major operational successes in the area Mediterranean Sea and North Africa. It used the industrial, raw materials, currency and human resources of the occupied countries to prepare aggression against the USSR. 172 divisions were equipped with weapons, military equipment, ammunition, equipment and transport captured there.
The military actions that unfolded in Europe in 1939-1941 revealed a number of features inherent in this period of the war.
Germany managed to implement the “lightning war” strategy. Relatively easy victories over their opponents finally strengthened the faith of the Hitlerite command in the success of the blitzkrieg and the methods of warfare that it developed and applied on the battlefields. However, during this period of the war, the Wehrmacht conducted operations against relatively weak militarily or passive opponents, which did not provide strong evidence of the inconsistency of the “blitzkrieg” theory. They appeared later, in the war with the Soviet Union.
The outbreak of World War II showed that war could be started without it being declared. The secret mobilization of troops, their concentration, and the creation of strike groups were carried out even before the start of hostilities. The German army was both strategically and tactically ahead of its opponents. Achieving surprise in initial operations was considered the most important condition for the success of the blitzkrieg and was ensured by the entire sum of political, strategic and operational-tactical measures.
The experience of military operations in Europe revealed some features in the organization of armed forces and the use of types and branches of troops. New and most significant was the sharp increase in the technical equipment of the armies of industrially developed countries. The number of types of military equipment entering service with the troops has increased many times, and their motorization has increased. Tanks and aircraft have achieved a significant share in the armed forces. 5.7 thousand tanks and 7.6 thousand combat aircraft took part in the French campaign on both sides.
The experience of armed struggle in Europe has shown that, thanks to the massive use of tanks and aircraft, and the increased motorization of troops, the conditions and nature of military operations have changed significantly. The increase in the mobility of ground forces in the presence of a large number of aviation made it possible to quickly concentrate troops in decisive directions, deliver sudden powerful strikes, and quickly transfer efforts into the depths of the enemy’s defenses or to other directions, which had a great influence on the entire course of military operations.
The war in Western Europe revealed the increased role of strategic and operational reserves in offense and defense.
Instructive conclusions emerged from the defensive actions of the armies of countries that were attacked by Hitler's troops. The military actions of the first period of the war refuted the generally accepted views on the conduct of defense. The reliance on positional, passive strategic defense did not pay off. The shortcomings of the defense of the Polish and Anglo-French troops were single-echelon formation, weak reserves, low densities of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, decentralized use of tanks and insufficient activity.
In preparation for the attack on the Soviet Union, Hitler's military leadership acquired rich combat experience in organizing and carrying out large offensive operations, including the use of large tank and motorized formations in close cooperation with aviation. However, it failed to critically evaluate this experience. Convinced of the correctness of the developed methods of waging war against the relatively poorly trained and technically equipped troops of the anti-Hitler coalition, with insufficiently high morale, it hoped to quickly win a victory over the Soviet Armed Forces.
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