On June 22, 1941, at 4 o'clock in the morning, fascist Germany treacherously invaded the USSR without declaring war. This attack ended the chain of aggressive actions of Hitlerite Germany, which, thanks to the connivance and instigation of the Western powers, grossly violated the elementary norms of international law, resorted to predatory seizures and monstrous atrocities in the occupied countries.

In accordance with the Barbarossa plan, the fascist offensive began on a broad front by several groupings in various directions. The army was stationed in the north "Norway" advancing on Murmansk and Kandalaksha; an army group was advancing from East Prussia to the Baltic states and Leningrad "North"; most powerful army group "Center" had the goal of defeating units of the Red Army in Belorussia, capturing Vitebsk-Smolensk and taking Moscow on the move; army group "South" was concentrated from Lublin to the mouth of the Danube and led the attack on Kyiv - Donbass. The plans of the Nazis boiled down to delivering a surprise strike in these areas, destroying border and military units, breaking through to the rear, capturing Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and the most important industrial centers of the southern regions of the country.

The command of the German army expected to end the war in 6-8 weeks.

190 enemy divisions, about 5.5 million soldiers, up to 50 thousand guns and mortars, 4300 tanks, almost 5 thousand aircraft and about 200 warships were thrown into the offensive against the Soviet Union.

The war began in exceptionally favorable conditions for Germany. Before the attack on the USSR, Germany captured almost all of Western Europe, whose economy worked for the Nazis. Therefore, Germany had a powerful material and technical base.

Germany's military products were supplied by 6,500 largest enterprises in Western Europe. More than 3 million foreign workers were involved in the military industry. In Western European countries, the Nazis looted a lot of weapons, military equipment, trucks, wagons and steam locomotives. The military and economic resources of Germany and its allies greatly exceeded those of the USSR. Germany fully mobilized its army, as well as the armies of its allies. Most of the German army was concentrated near the borders of the Soviet Union. In addition, imperialist Japan threatened an attack from the East, which diverted a significant part of the Soviet Armed Forces to defend the country's eastern borders. In the theses of the Central Committee of the CPSU "50 years of the Great October Socialist Revolution" an analysis of the reasons for the temporary failures of the Red Army in the initial period of the war is given. They are connected with the fact that the Nazis used temporary advantages:

• the militarization of the economy and the whole life of Germany;
• lengthy preparations for a war of conquest and more than two years of experience in conducting military operations in the West;
• superiority in armament and the number of troops concentrated in advance in the border zones.

They had at their disposal the economic and military resources of almost all of Western Europe. The miscalculations made in determining the possible timing of an attack by Nazi Germany on our country and the related omissions in preparing to repulse the first blows played their role. There were reliable data on the concentration of German troops near the borders of the USSR and the preparation of Germany for an attack on our country. However, the troops of the western military districts were not brought to a state of full combat readiness.

All these reasons put the Soviet country in a difficult position. However, the enormous difficulties of the initial period of the war did not break the fighting spirit of the Red Army, did not shake the stamina of the Soviet people. From the first days of the attack, it became clear that the blitzkrieg plan had collapsed. Accustomed to easy victories over the Western countries, whose governments betrayed their people to be torn to pieces by the occupiers, the fascists met stubborn resistance from the Soviet Armed Forces, border guards and the entire Soviet people. The war lasted 1418 days. Groups of border guards bravely fought on the border. The garrison of the Brest Fortress covered itself with unfading glory. The defense of the fortress was led by Captain I. N. Zubachev, regimental commissar E. M. Fomin, Major P. M. Gavrilov and others. (In total, about 200 rams were made during the war years). On June 26, the crew of Captain N.F. Gastello (A.A. Burdenyuk, G.N. Skorobogaty, A.A. Kalinin) crashed into a column of enemy troops on a burning plane. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers from the first days of the war showed examples of courage and heroism.

Lasted two months Smolensk battle. Born here near Smolensk soviet guard. The battle in the Smolensk region delayed the enemy advance until mid-September 1941.
During the Battle of Smolensk, the Red Army thwarted the plans of the enemy. The delay of the enemy offensive in the central direction was the first strategic success of the Soviet troops.

The Communist Party became the leading and guiding force for the defense of the country and the preparation for the destruction of the Nazi troops. From the first days of the war, the Party took urgent measures to organize a rebuff to the aggressor, carried out a huge amount of work to restructure all work on a war footing, to turn the country into a single military camp.

“For a real war,” wrote V. I. Lenin, “a strong organized rear is necessary. The best army, the most devoted to the cause of the revolution, people will be immediately exterminated by the enemy if they are not sufficiently armed, supplied with food, and trained ”(V. I. Lenin, Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 35, p. 408).

These Leninist instructions formed the basis for organizing the struggle against the enemy. On June 22, 1941, on behalf of the Soviet government, V. M. Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, spoke on the radio about the "robber" attack of Nazi Germany and a call to fight the enemy. On the same day, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was adopted on the introduction of martial law on the European territory of the USSR, as well as the Decree on the mobilization of a number of ages in 14 military districts. On June 23, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution on the tasks of party and Soviet organizations in war conditions. On June 24, the Evacuation Council was formed, and on June 27, the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR “On the procedure for the export and placement of human contingents and valuable property” determined the procedure for the evacuation of productive forces and the population to the eastern regions. In the directive of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated June 29, 1941, the most important tasks for mobilizing all forces and means to defeat the enemy were set out to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions.

“... In the war with fascist Germany imposed on us,” this document said, “the question of life and death of the Soviet state is being decided, of whether the peoples of the Soviet Union should be free or fall into enslavement.” The Central Committee and the Soviet government called for realizing the depth of the danger, reorganizing all work on a war footing, organizing all-round assistance to the front, increasing the production of weapons, ammunition, tanks, aircraft in every possible way, in the event of a forced withdrawal of the Red Army, to remove all valuable property, and to destroy what cannot be taken out , in the areas occupied by the enemy to organize partisan detachments. On July 3, the main provisions of the directive were outlined in a radio speech by IV Stalin. The directive determined the nature of the war, the degree of threat and danger, set the tasks of turning the country into a single combat camp, strengthening the Armed Forces in every possible way, restructuring the work of the rear on a military basis, and mobilizing all forces to repulse the enemy. On June 30, 1941, an emergency body was created to quickly mobilize all the forces and means of the country to repel and defeat the enemy - State Defense Committee (GKO) headed by I. V. Stalin. All power in the country, state, military and economic leadership was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee. It united the activities of all state and military institutions, party, trade union and Komsomol organizations.

Under war conditions, the restructuring of the entire economy on a war footing was of paramount importance. approved at the end of June "Mobilization national economic plan for the III quarter of 1941", and on August 16 "The military economic plan for the IV quarter of 1941 and for 1942 for the regions of the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia". In just five months of 1941, more than 1360 large military enterprises were relocated and about 10 million people were evacuated. Even according to bourgeois experts industry evacuation in the second half of 1941 and early 1942 and its deployment in the East should be considered among the most amazing feats of the peoples of the Soviet Union during the war. The evacuated Kramatorsk plant was launched 12 days after arriving at the site, Zaporozhye - after 20. By the end of 1941, the Urals produced 62% of iron and 50% of steel. In scope and significance, this was equal to the largest battles of wartime. The restructuring of the national economy on a war footing was completed by the middle of 1942.

The Party did a great deal of organizational work in the army. In accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, on July 16, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree "On the reorganization of political propaganda bodies and the introduction of the institution of military commissars". From July 16 in the Army, and from July 20 in the Navy, the institution of military commissars was introduced. During the second half of 1941, up to 1.5 million communists and more than 2 million Komsomol members were mobilized into the army (the party sent up to 40% of the entire membership to the active army). Prominent party leaders L. I. Brezhnev, A. A. Zhdanov, A. S. Shcherbakov, M. A. Suslov and others were sent to party work in the army.

On August 8, 1941, I. V. Stalin was appointed Supreme Commander of all the Armed Forces of the USSR. In order to concentrate all the functions of managing military operations, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was formed. Hundreds of thousands of communists and Komsomol members went to the front. About 300 thousand of the best representatives of the working class and intelligentsia of Moscow and Leningrad joined the ranks of the people's militia.

Meanwhile, the enemy stubbornly rushed to Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol and other major industrial centers of the country. An important place in the plans of fascist Germany was occupied by the calculation of the international isolation of the USSR. However, from the very first days of the war, an anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape. Already on June 22, 1941, the British government announced its support for the USSR in the fight against fascism, and on July 12 signed an agreement on joint actions against Nazi Germany. On August 2, 1941, US President F. Roosevelt announced economic support for the Soviet Union. September 29, 1941 gathered in Moscow tri-power conference(USSR, USA and England), which developed a plan for Anglo-American assistance in the fight against the enemy. Hitler's calculation for the international isolation of the USSR failed. On January 1, 1942, a declaration of 26 states was signed in Washington anti-Hitler coalition about the use of all the resources of these countries for the struggle against the German bloc. However, the allies were in no hurry to provide effective assistance aimed at defeating fascism, trying to weaken the belligerents.

By October, the Nazi invaders, despite the heroic resistance of our troops, managed to approach Moscow from three sides, simultaneously launching an offensive on the Don, in the Crimea, near Leningrad. Heroically defended Odessa and Sevastopol. September 30, 1941 the German command begins the first, and in November - the second general offensive against Moscow. The Nazis managed to occupy Klin, Yakhroma, Naro-Fominsk, Istra and other cities of the Moscow region. Soviet troops fought a heroic defense of the capital, showing examples of courage and heroism. The 316th rifle division of General Panfilov fought to the death in fierce battles. A partisan movement unfolded behind enemy lines. About 10 thousand partisans fought near Moscow alone. On December 5-6, 1941, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive near Moscow. At the same time, offensive operations were launched on the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts. The powerful offensive of the Soviet troops in the winter of 1941/42 drove the fascists back in a number of places at a distance of up to 400 km from the capital and was their first major defeat in World War II.

Main result Moscow battle consisted in the fact that the strategic initiative was wrested from the hands of the enemy and the blitzkrieg plan failed. The defeat of the Germans near Moscow was a decisive turn in the military operations of the Red Army and had a great influence on the entire subsequent course of the war.

By the spring of 1942, the production of military products was established in the eastern regions of the country. By the middle of the year, most of the evacuated enterprises were deployed in new places. The transfer of the country's economy to a military footing was largely completed. In the rear - in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Urals - there were more than 10 thousand industrial construction projects.

Instead of men who went to the front, women and youth came to the machines. Despite very difficult living conditions, Soviet people worked selflessly to ensure victory at the front. They worked one and a half to two shifts to restore industry and supply the front with everything necessary. All-Union socialist competition developed widely, the winners of which were awarded Red Banner GKO. In 1942 agricultural workers organized overplanned crops for the defense fund. The collective farm peasantry supplied the front and rear with food and industrial raw materials.

The situation in the temporarily occupied regions of the country was exceptionally difficult. The Nazis plundered cities and villages, mocked the civilian population. At the enterprises, German officials were appointed to oversee the work. The best lands were selected for farming for German soldiers. In all occupied settlements, German garrisons were kept at the expense of the population. However, the economic and social policy of the Nazis, which they tried to pursue in the occupied territories, immediately failed. The Soviet people, brought up on the ideas of the Communist Party, believed in the victory of the Soviet country, did not succumb to Hitler's provocations and demagogy.

Winter offensive of the Red Army in 1941/42 dealt a powerful blow to fascist Germany, to its military machine, but the Nazi army was still strong. Soviet troops fought stubborn defensive battles.

In this situation, the nationwide struggle of the Soviet people behind enemy lines played an important role, especially partisan movement.

Thousands of Soviet people went to partisan detachments. A partisan war developed widely in the Ukraine, in Belorussia and in the Smolensk region, in the Crimea and in a number of other places. In cities and villages temporarily occupied by the enemy, underground party and Komsomol organizations operated. In accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 18, 1941 No. "On the organization of the struggle in the rear of the German troops" 3,500 partisan detachments and groups, 32 underground regional committees, 805 city and district party committees, 5,429 primary party organizations, 10 regional, 210 inter-district city and 45 thousand primary Komsomol organizations were created. To coordinate the actions of partisan detachments and underground groups with units of the Red Army, by decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on May 30, 1942, at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the central headquarters of the partisan movement. Headquarters for the leadership of the partisan movement were formed in Belarus, Ukraine and other republics and regions occupied by the enemy.

After the defeat near Moscow and the winter offensive of our troops, the Nazi command was preparing a new major offensive with the aim of capturing all the southern regions of the country (Crimea, the North Caucasus, Don) up to the Volga, capturing Stalingrad and tearing Transcaucasia from the center of the country. This posed an exceptionally serious threat to our country.

By the summer of 1942, the international situation had changed, characterized by the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition. In May - June 1942, agreements were signed between the USSR, Britain and the USA on an alliance in the war against Germany and on post-war cooperation. In particular, an agreement was reached on the opening in 1942 in Europe second front against Germany, which would have greatly accelerated the defeat of fascism. But the allies in every possible way delayed its opening. Taking advantage of this, the fascist command transferred divisions from the Western Front to the Eastern. By the spring of 1942, the Nazi army had 237 divisions, massive aviation, tanks, artillery and other types of equipment for a new offensive.

intensified Leningrad blockade, almost daily subjected to artillery fire. In May, the Kerch Strait was captured. On July 3, the High Command ordered the heroic defenders of Sevastopol to leave the city after a 250-day defense, since it was not possible to keep the Crimea. As a result of the defeat of the Soviet troops in the area of ​​Kharkov and the Don, the enemy reached the Volga. The Stalingrad Front, created in July, took upon itself the powerful blows of the enemy. Retreating with heavy fighting, our troops inflicted huge damage on the enemy. In parallel, the fascist offensive was going on in the North Caucasus, where Stavropol, Krasnodar, Maykop were occupied. In the Mozdok area, the Nazi offensive was suspended.

The main battles unfolded on the Volga. The enemy sought to capture Stalingrad at any cost. The heroic defense of the city was one of the brightest pages of the Patriotic War. The working class, women, old people, teenagers - the entire population rose to the defense of Stalingrad. Despite the mortal danger, the workers of the tractor factory daily sent tanks to the front lines. In September, fighting broke out in the city for every street, for every house.

Line UMK I. L. Andreev, O. V. Volobuev. History (6-10)

General history

Russian history

June 22: chronology of the events of the first day of the Great Patriotic War

On June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was subjected to an unexpected, without a declaration of war, attack by Nazi Germany. The Great Patriotic War began, a brutal war between the Soviet people and the Wehrmacht troops. This day will forever remain a day of remembrance and mourning for all the dead. Today we remember how the events of the first day of that terrible war developed chronologically.

Peaceful June 41st The first summer month in 1941 turned out to be very warm. People spent their days off as usual: walking with children in parks, going to the cinema, watching performances in theaters. The day before, on Saturday, the 21st, graduation parties were held for high school students ... But already in the evening of that day, the first disturbing news came to the military: at about nine o'clock in the evening, a German defector soldier, Corporal Alfred Liskov, swam across the Bug River and surrendered to the Soviet border guards of the 90th border detachment. An anti-fascist by conviction, he warned the Soviet command about the impending attack, which he himself learned about a few hours ago. Alfred even named the exact time of the start of hostilities: 4 am, June 22.

On the eve of the war On June 22, at 02:30-03:00, German Ambassador to the USSR Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg made a statement in the office of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov, accusing the Soviet government of pursuing a hostile policy of the USSR towards Germany, as well as that the Union "illegally concentrated all its troops on the border with Germany and brought them to full combat readiness." "The Führer ordered the German armed forces to confront this threat with all the means at their disposal" - these were the final words of Schulenburg. At about the same time (04:00 am), the Soviet ambassador to Germany received an official note declaring war from German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. It was a belated procedure, by that time the war had already begun ...

Technological maps of lessons were developed in accordance with the textbook "History of Russia. Beginning of XX - beginning of XXI century. Grade 10" by O. V. Volobueva, S. P. Karpachev, P. N. Romanov, the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard of secondary general education and historical and cultural standard. The manual provides the content of the course, determines the sequence of studying the educational material, reflects the planned subject, meta-subject, personal learning outcomes, types of educational and cognitive activities of students, as well as forms of control. The manual will help the teacher organize the educational process and significantly reduce the time to prepare for the lesson. The materials of the manual are exemplary (1 lesson - 1 academic hour), the teacher can supplement them at his own discretion, based on the tasks set, the level of students' preparation and taking into account the school component.

3 hours 15 minutes At this time, German artillery opened fire along the entire line of the Soviet-German border, while hundreds of aircraft attacked military and civilian targets at the same time. Many peaceful cities also fell under the blow of German aviation, among them - Murmansk, Riga, Minsk, Smolensk, Kiev and others. On 06, the chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet, Rear Admiral Ivan Eliseev, gave the order to open fire in advance on enemy aircraft that had violated the airspace of the USSR and were approaching the southern borders of the country.

Bialystok-Minsk battle The fighting that began at dawn on the central sector of the Soviet-German front was called the Belostok-Minsk battle, which ended a week later for the Soviet army with a heavy defeat and the loss of the city of Minsk. The news of the beginning of the war came as a complete surprise to the Soviet leadership and caused obvious confusion. The Soviet troops lacked the experience and organization to effectively resist the well-coordinated German machine. The tank counterattacks of our army, inflicted on the afternoon of June 22, also did not bring significant success.

The workbook is part of the CMD on the history of Russia I.L. Andreeva, L.M. Lyashenko, O.V. Volobuev and others and corresponds to the Federal State Educational Standard of basic general education and the historical and cultural standard. The structure of the workbook corresponds to the structure of the textbook for grade 10 by O.V. Volobueva, S.P. Karpachev, P.N. Romanova. The notebook contains a variety of tasks: tests, writing an essay, working with a historical map, matching dates and events, etc. and adapted for training students for the OGE and the USE. Special signs mark tasks aimed at the formation of meta-subject skills (planning activities, highlighting various features, comparing, classifying, establishing cause-and-effect relationships, transforming information, etc.) and personal qualities of students.

Image from website mytravelbook.org

Defense of the Brest Fortress On the same morning (05:00), the Germans brought down heavy artillery fire on the Brest Fortress. in the very first minutes of the attack by the Wehrmacht troops, Soviet soldiers suffered heavy losses. After the end of the artillery preparation, the Germans launched an active offensive, and only infantry formations were supposed to storm the fortress, without the participation of tanks and heavy equipment. It took about 8 hours to take the fortress. The defenders of the fortress held it for almost a month: the Red Army soldiers, divided into separate detachments, repulsed the attacks and successfully held the defense. But after the involvement of German aviation, the resistance of the Soviet soldiers began to weaken and the Germans managed to finally suppress it.

Molotov's speech At noon, a historic speech by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov. It was then that the whole country learned about the German attack on the Soviet Union. During this speech, Molotov called the war with Germany the "Great Patriotic War" for the first time. Addressing the Soviet people, he utters his famous phrase: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours!". I.V. Stalin made a similar appeal only in July, after the military-political situation of the outbreak of war had become clearer.

End of doomsday By the evening of June 22, the depth of advance of the German troops was from 20 to 70 km. Almost along the entire line of the state border, the German troops managed to break through the Soviet defenses and destroy the command and control system. The Wehrmacht troops were encouraged by such rapid successes on the very first day of the war. It seemed to them that they would defeat the Soviet Union without much difficulty. The Red Army had a more difficult task to regroup and prevent the further advance of the Germans to the capital - Moscow. There were still 1417 days of war ahead...

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The workshop is designed to organize independent educational and cognitive activities of high school students in the course of studying the history of Russia (Grade 10). It can also be used to organize educational activities in the lesson as part of the basic history course, as an elective course, a system of lessons at the profile level of studying the subject, additional classes in preparation for passing the exam. This manual contributes to expanding the scope of the content of the basic historical course, creating conditions for students to develop certain research skills in working with a historical source, and improving the ability to formulate their own reasoned position.

In the direction of the main attacks of the Nazis, 257 Soviet frontier posts held the defense from several hours to one day. The remaining frontier outposts held out from two days to two months. Of the 485 frontier posts attacked, not a single one withdrew without an order. The story of a day that forever changed the lives of tens of millions of people.

“They don’t suspect anything about our intentions”

June 21, 1941, 13:00. German troops receive the code signal "Dortmund", confirming that the invasion will begin the next day.

The commander of the 2nd Panzer Group of the Army Group Center, Heinz Guderian, writes in his diary: “Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything about our intentions. In the courtyard of the fortress of Brest, which was visible from our observation posts, to the sounds of an orchestra, they were holding guards. Coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops.

21:00. Soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant's office detained a German soldier who had crossed the border river Bug by swimming. The defector was sent to the headquarters of the detachment in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky.

23:00. German minelayers, who were in Finnish ports, began to mine the way out of the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, Finnish submarines began laying mines off the coast of Estonia.

June 22, 1941, 0:30. The defector was taken to Vladimir-Volynsky. During interrogation, the soldier identified himself as Alfred Liskov, a serviceman of the 221st regiment of the 15th Wehrmacht infantry division. He reported that at dawn on June 22 the German army would go on the offensive along the entire length of the Soviet-German border. The information has been passed on to the higher command.

At the same time, the transfer of directive No. 1 of the People's Commissariat of Defense for parts of the western military districts begins from Moscow. “During June 22-23, 1941, a sudden attack by the Germans on the fronts of the LVO, PribOVO, ZapOVO, KOVO, OdVO is possible. The attack may begin with provocative actions,” the directive said. - "The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications."

The units were ordered to be put on alert, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border, and aviation was dispersed over field airfields.

It is not possible to bring the directive to the military units before the start of hostilities, as a result of which the measures indicated in it are not carried out.

“I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory”

1:00. The commandants of the sections of the 90th border detachment report to the head of the detachment, Major Bychkovsky: "nothing suspicious was noticed on the adjacent side, everything is calm."

3:05. A group of 14 German Ju-88 bombers drops 28 magnetic mines near the Kronstadt raid.

3:07. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to the Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov: “The VNOS [airborne surveillance, warning and communications] system of the fleet reports on the approach from the sea of ​​a large number of unknown aircraft; The fleet is on full alert.

3:10. The UNKGB in the Lvov region transmits by telephone to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR the information obtained during the interrogation of the defector Alfred Liskov.

From the memoirs of the head of the 90th border detachment, Major Bychkovsky: “Without finishing the interrogation of a soldier, I heard strong artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant's office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken ... "

3:30. The chief of staff of the Western District, General Klimovskikh, reports on an enemy air raid on the cities of Belarus: Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovichi and others.

3:33. The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reports on air raids on the cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv.

3:40. The commander of the Baltic Military District, General Kuznetsov, reports on enemy air raids on Riga, Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas and other cities.

German soldiers cross the state border of the USSR.

"Enemy raid repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships has been thwarted."

3:42. Chief of the General Staff Zhukov calls Stalin and reports the start of hostilities by Germany. Stalin orders Timoshenko and Zhukov to arrive at the Kremlin, where an emergency meeting of the Politburo is being convened.

3:45. The 1st frontier post of the 86th Augustow border detachment was attacked by an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group. The personnel of the outpost under the command of Alexander Sivachev, having entered the battle, destroy the attackers.

4:00. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to Zhukov: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships has been thwarted. But there is destruction in Sevastopol.”

4:05. The outposts of the 86th August Frontier Detachment, including the 1st Frontier Post of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev, are subjected to heavy artillery fire, after which the German offensive begins. The border guards, deprived of communication with the command, engage in battle with superior enemy forces.

4:10. The Western and Baltic Special Military Districts report the start of hostilities by German troops on land.

4:15. The Nazis open massive artillery fire on the Brest Fortress. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, communications were disrupted, and there were a large number of dead and wounded.

4:25. The 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht begins an attack on the Brest Fortress.

"Defending not individual countries, but ensuring the security of Europe"

4:30. A meeting of members of the Politburo begins in the Kremlin. Stalin expresses doubt that what happened is the beginning of the war and does not exclude the version of a German provocation. People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko and Zhukov insist: this is war.

4:55. In the Brest Fortress, the Nazis manage to capture almost half of the territory. Further progress was stopped by a sudden counterattack by the Red Army.

5:00. The German ambassador to the USSR, Count von Schulenburg, presents the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Molotov with the "Note of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Soviet Government", which says: "The German government cannot be indifferent to a serious threat on the eastern border, so the Fuhrer gave the order to the German armed forces by all means ward off this threat. An hour after the actual start of hostilities, Germany de jure declares war on the Soviet Union.

5:30. On the German radio, Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels read out Adolf Hitler's appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union: “Now the hour has come when it is necessary to oppose this conspiracy of Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow ... At the moment the greatest in terms of its length and volume of the performance of the troops, which the world has ever seen ... The task of this front is no longer the protection of individual countries, but the security of Europe and thereby the salvation of all.

7:00. Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Ribbentrop begins a press conference at which he announces the start of hostilities against the USSR: "The German army has invaded the territory of Bolshevik Russia!"

“The city is on fire, why aren’t you broadcasting anything on the radio?”

7:15. Stalin approves the directive on repulsing the attack of Nazi Germany: "The troops will attack the enemy forces with all their strength and means and destroy them in areas where they have violated the Soviet border." The transfer of "Directive No. 2" due to the violation by saboteurs of the communication lines in the western districts. Moscow does not have a clear picture of what is happening in the war zone.

9:30. It was decided that at noon Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, would address the Soviet people in connection with the outbreak of war.

10:00. From the memoirs of announcer Yuri Levitan: “They call from Minsk: “Enemy planes over the city”, they call from Kaunas: “The city is on fire, why are you not transmitting anything on the radio?”, “Enemy planes are over Kiev.” Women's crying, excitement: “Is it really a war? ..” However, no official messages are transmitted until 12:00 Moscow time on June 22.

10:30. From the report of the headquarters of the 45th German division on the battles on the territory of the Brest Fortress: “The Russians are fiercely resisting, especially behind our attacking companies. In the citadel, the enemy organized defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of enemy snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers.

11:00. The Baltic, Western and Kiev special military districts were transformed into the Northwestern, Western and Southwestern fronts.

“The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours"

12:00. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov read out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union: "Today at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed from our cities - Zhytomyr, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others - with their own planes, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory ... Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repel the piratical attack and drive the German troops from the territory of our homeland ... The government calls on you, citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally their ranks still more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

12:30. Advanced German units break into the Belarusian city of Grodno.

13:00. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree "On the mobilization of those liable for military service ..."

“On the basis of Article 49 of paragraph “o” of the Constitution of the USSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announces mobilization on the territory of the military districts - Leningrad, Special Baltic, Western Special, Kiev Special, Odessa, Kharkov, Oryol, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Ural, Siberian, Volga, North - Caucasian and Transcaucasian.

Those liable for military service who were born from 1905 to 1918 inclusive are subject to mobilization. Consider June 23, 1941 as the first day of mobilization. Despite the fact that June 23 is named the first day of mobilization, recruiting offices at military registration and enlistment offices begin to work by the middle of the day on June 22.

13:30. The Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov, flies to Kyiv as a representative of the newly created Headquarters of the High Command on the Southwestern Front.

"Italy also declares war on the Soviet Union"

14:00. The Brest Fortress is completely surrounded by German troops. Soviet units blockaded in the citadel continue to offer fierce resistance.

14:05. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano states: “In view of the current situation, due to the fact that Germany has declared war on the USSR, Italy, as an ally of Germany and as a member of the Tripartite Pact, also declares war on the Soviet Union from the moment German troops enter Soviet territory.”

14:10. The 1st frontier post of Alexander Sivachev has been fighting for more than 10 hours. The border guards, who had only small arms and grenades, destroyed up to 60 Nazis and burned three tanks. The wounded head of the outpost continued to command the battle.

15:00. From the notes of the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal von Bock: “The question of whether the Russians are carrying out a planned withdrawal is still open. There is now ample evidence both for and against this.

It is surprising that nowhere is any significant work of their artillery visible. Strong artillery fire is conducted only in the north-west of Grodno, where the VIII Army Corps is advancing. Apparently, our air force has an overwhelming superiority over Russian aviation.

Of the 485 frontier posts attacked, none retreated without an order.

16:00. After a 12-hour battle, the Nazis occupy the positions of the 1st frontier post. This became possible only after all the border guards who defended it died. The head of the outpost, Alexander Sivachev, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class.

The feat of the outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev became one of the hundreds accomplished by the border guards in the first hours and days of the war. The state border of the USSR from the Barents to the Black Sea on June 22, 1941 was guarded by 666 border outposts, 485 of them were attacked on the very first day of the war. None of the 485 outposts attacked on June 22 withdrew without orders.

The Nazi command took 20 minutes to break the resistance of the border guards. 257 Soviet frontier posts held the defense from several hours to one day. More than one day - 20, more than two days - 16, more than three days - 20, more than four and five days - 43, from seven to nine days - 4, more than eleven days - 51, more than twelve days - 55, more than 15 days - 51 outposts. Up to two months, 45 outposts fought.

Of the 19,600 border guards who met the Nazis on June 22 in the direction of the main attack of Army Group Center, more than 16,000 died in the first days of the war.

17:00. Hitler's units manage to occupy the southwestern part of the Brest Fortress, the northeast remained under the control of Soviet troops. Stubborn battles for the fortress will continue for another week.

"The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland"

18:00. The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow and Kolomna, addresses the faithful with a message: “Fascist robbers have attacked our homeland. Trampling all sorts of treaties and promises, they suddenly fell upon us, and now the blood of peaceful citizens is already irrigating our native land ... Our Orthodox Church has always shared the fate of the people. Together with him, she carried trials, and consoled herself with his successes. She will not leave her people even now… The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox to defend the sacred borders of our Motherland.”

19:00. From the notes of the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, Colonel General Franz Halder: “All the armies, except for the 11th Army of the Army Group South in Romania, went on the offensive according to plan. The offensive of our troops, apparently, was a complete tactical surprise for the enemy on the entire front. The border bridges across the Bug and other rivers have been everywhere captured by our troops without a fight and in complete safety. The complete surprise of our offensive for the enemy is evidenced by the fact that the units were taken by surprise in the barracks, the planes stood at the airfields, covered with tarpaulin, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command what to do ... The Air Force command reported, that today 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken to the air without fighter cover, were attacked by our fighters and destroyed.

20:00. Directive No. 3 of the People's Commissariat of Defense was approved, ordering the Soviet troops to go on the counteroffensive with the task of defeating the Nazi troops on the territory of the USSR with further advancement into enemy territory. The directive prescribed by the end of June 24 to capture the Polish city of Lublin.

"We must give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can"

21:00. Summary of the High Command of the Red Army for June 22: “At dawn on June 22, 1941, the regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, the German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the Grodno and Krystynopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and take the towns of Kalvaria, Stojanow and Tsekhanovets (the first two at 15 km and the last at 10 km from the border).

Enemy aviation attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere they met with a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes."

23:00. Appeal of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the British people in connection with the German attack on the USSR: “At 4 o'clock this morning, Hitler attacked Russia. All his usual formalities of treachery were observed with scrupulous precision ... suddenly, without a declaration of war, even without an ultimatum, German bombs fell from the sky on Russian cities, German troops violated Russian borders, and an hour later the German ambassador, who just the day before generously lavished his assurances to the Russians in friendship and almost an alliance, paid a visit to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and declared that Russia and Germany were in a state of war ...

No one has been a more staunch opponent of communism over the past 25 years than I have been. I will not take back a single word said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle unfolding now.

The past, with its crimes, follies and tragedies, recedes. I see Russian soldiers standing on the border of their native land and guarding the fields that their fathers have plowed since time immemorial. I see how they guard their homes; their mothers and wives pray - oh yes, because at such a time everyone prays for the preservation of their loved ones, for the return of the breadwinner, patron, their protectors ...

We must give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can. We must call on all our friends and allies in all parts of the world to follow a similar course and pursue it as steadfastly and steadily as we will, to the very end.

June 22 has come to an end. Ahead were another 1417 days of the most terrible war in the history of mankind.

The attack on the Soviet Union took place without a declaration of war in the morning hours of June 22, 1941. Despite the long preparations for war, the attack turned out to be completely unexpected for the USSR, since the German leadership did not even have a pretext for an attack.

The military events of the first weeks inspired full hope for the success of the next "blitzkrieg". Armored formations advanced quickly and occupied vast expanses of the country. In major battles and in encirclement, the Soviet Army suffered millions of casualties in killed and captured. A large number of military equipment was destroyed or captured as trophies. Again, it seemed that the doubts and feelings of fear that had spread in Germany, despite careful ideological preparation, were disproved by the successes of the Wehrmacht. The Church Board of Trustees of the German Evangelical Church expressed the feelings that gripped many, assuring Hitler by telegraph that "he is supported by all the evangelical Christianity of the Reich in the decisive battles with the mortal enemy of order and Western Christian culture."

The successes of the Wehrmacht evoked various reactions from the Soviet side. There were manifestations of panic and confusion, the soldiers left their military units. And even Stalin first addressed the population only on July 3. In areas captured or annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939/40. part of the population welcomed the Germans as liberators. Nevertheless, from the first day of the war, Soviet troops offered unexpectedly strong resistance even in the most hopeless situations. And the civilian population actively participated in the evacuation and movement of militarily important industrial facilities beyond the Urals.

The staunch Soviet resistance and the heavy losses of the German Wehrmacht (until December 1, 1941, about 200,000 killed and missing, almost 500,000 wounded) soon disproved the German hopes for an easy and quick victory. Autumn mud, snow and a terrible cold in winter interfered with the military operations of the Wehrmacht. The German army was not prepared for the war in winter conditions, it was believed that by this time victory would have been achieved. An attempt to capture Moscow as the political center of the Soviet Union failed, although German troops approached the city at a distance of 30 kilometers. In early December, the Soviet Army unexpectedly launched a counteroffensive, which was successful not only near Moscow, but also in other sectors of the front. Thus, the concept of blitzkrieg was finally wrecked.

In the summer of 1942, new forces were accumulated to advance in a southerly direction. Although the German troops managed to capture large territories and advance as far as the Caucasus, they could not fortify anywhere. The oil fields were in Soviet hands, and Stalingrad became a foothold on the western bank of the Volga. In November 1942, the line of the German fronts in the territory of the Soviet Union reached its greatest extent, but there could be no question of a decisive success.

Chronicle of the war from June 1941 to November 1942

22.6.41. The beginning of the German attack, the advancement of three army groups. Romania, Italy, Slovakia, Finland and Hungary entered the war on the side of Germany.

29/30.6.41 The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks declares the war a "patriotic" war of the whole people; formation of the State Defense Committee.

July August. The German offensive along the entire front, the destruction of large Soviet formations in the environment (Bialystok and Minsk: 328,000 prisoners, Smolensk: 310,000 prisoners).

September. Leningrad is cut off from the rest of the country. East of Kyiv, over 600,000 Soviet soldiers were captured and surrounded. The general offensive of the German troops, which are suffering heavy losses, is slowed down due to the constant resistance of the Soviet Army.

2.10.41. The beginning of the offensive on Moscow, some sections of the front line at the end of November were 30 km from Moscow.

5.12.41. The beginning of the Soviet counter-offensive with fresh forces near Moscow, the German retreat. After the intervention of Hitler, the stabilization of the defensive positions of Army Group Center in January 1942 at the cost of heavy losses. Soviet success in the south.

12/11/41. Germany declares war on the USA.

In 1941, the Soviet Army lost 1.5 - 2.5 million soldiers killed and about 3 million prisoners. The number of civilian deaths is not precisely established, but it is estimated in the millions. Losses of the German army - about 200,000 people killed and missing.

January - March 1942 A wide winter offensive of the Soviet Army, partly successful, but not reaching its goals due to heavy losses. The losses of the German army in manpower and equipment were also so great that the continuation of the offensive on a broad front turned out to be impossible at the moment.

May. The failure of the Soviet offensive near Kharkov; during the counteroffensive, 250,000 Soviet soldiers were surrounded and taken prisoner.

June July. The capture of the fortress of Sevastopol and thus the entire Crimea. The beginning of the German summer offensive, with the aim of reaching the Volga and capturing oil fields in the Caucasus. The Soviet side, in view of the new victories of Germany, is in a state of crisis.

August. German troops reach the Caucasus Mountains, but fail to inflict a decisive defeat on the Soviet troops.

September. The beginning of the battles for Stalingrad, which in October was almost completely captured by the Germans. Nevertheless, the Soviet bridgehead on the western bank of the Volga under the command of General Chuikov could not be destroyed.

9.11.42. Beginning of the Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad.

50 The Soviet population listens in the street to the government message about the beginning of the war, 22.6.1941.

Text 33
From a speech on the radio by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov, June 22, 1941.

Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union! The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, have instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without declaring any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhytomyr, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, moreover, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from the Romanian and Finnish territories. This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany, and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the fulfillment of the treaty. All responsibility for this robbery attack on the Soviet Union will fall entirely on the German fascist rulers. [...]

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples . [...]

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, conceited enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will once again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.

Text 34
An excerpt from the diary of Elena Scriabina dated 22.6.1941 about the news of the German attack.

Molotov's speech sounded haltingly, hurriedly, as if he were out of breath. His encouragement sounded completely out of place. Immediately there was a feeling that a monster was approaching menacingly, slowly and terrified everyone. After the news, I ran out into the street. The city was in a panic. People hurriedly exchanged a few words, rushed to the shops and bought everything that came to hand. As if beside themselves, they rushed about the streets, many went to the savings banks to collect their savings. This wave swept over me too, and I tried to get rubles from my passbook. But I came too late, the cashier was empty, the payment was suspended, everyone around was noisy, complaining. And the June day was blazing, the heat was unbearable, someone felt ill, someone cursed in despair. All day the mood was restless and tense. Only in the evening it became strangely quiet. It seemed that everyone was somewhere huddled with horror.

Text 35
Excerpts from the diary of NKVD major Shabalin from 6 to 19 October 1941

Major Shabalin died on 20.10. when trying to get out of the environment. The diary was transferred to the German army for military analysis. Back translation from German; the original is lost.

Diary
Major NKVD Shabalin,
head of the special department of the NKVD
at 50 army

for the accuracy of transmission
Chief of Staff of the 2nd Tank Army
Signed Frh.f. Liebenstein
[...]

The army is not what we used to think and imagine at home. Huge lack of everything. The attacks of our armies are disappointing.

We are interrogating a red-haired German prisoner, a shabby guy, covered in shrouds, extremely stupid. [...]

The situation with the personnel is very difficult, almost the entire army consists of people whose native places have been captured by the Germans. They want to go home. Inactivity at the front, sitting in the trenches demoralize the Red Army. There are cases of drunkenness of command and political personnel. People sometimes do not return from reconnaissance. [...]

The enemy has encircled us. Continuous cannonade. Duel of artillerymen, mortarmen and submachine gunners. Danger and fear almost the whole day. I'm not talking anymore about the forest, the swamp and the lodging for the night. Since the 12th I have not slept any more, since October 8th I have not read a single newspaper.

Creepy! I wander, around the corpses, the horrors of war, continuous shelling! Again hungry and without sleep. He took a bottle of alcohol. Went to the forest to explore. Our complete annihilation is evident. The army is defeated, the convoy is destroyed. I am writing in the woods by the fire. In the morning I lost all the Chekists, I was left alone among strangers. The army collapsed.

I spent the night in the forest. I haven't eaten bread for three days. There are a lot of Red Army soldiers in the forest; there are no commanders. Throughout the night and in the morning the Germans shelled the forest with weapons of all kinds. At about 7 o'clock in the morning we got up and went north. Shooting continues. At the halt, I washed up. [...]

All night we walked in the rain through the swampy terrain. Endless darkness. I was soaked to the skin, my right leg was swollen; terribly hard to walk.

Text 36
Field mail letter from non-commissioned officer Robert Rupp to his wife dated July 1, 1941 about the attitude towards Soviet prisoners of war.

They say that the Fuhrer's order was issued that prisoners and those who surrender are no longer subject to execution. It makes me happy. Finally! Many of the executed, whom I saw on the ground, were lying with their hands raised up, without weapons and even without a belt. I have seen at least a hundred of them. They say that even a truce envoy walking with a white flag was shot dead! After dinner, they said that the Russians were surrendering in whole companies. The method was bad. Even the wounded were shot.

Text 37
Diary entry of the former ambassador Ulrich von Hassell dated 18.8.1941 regarding the war crimes of the Wehrmacht.

Ulrich von Hassell took an active part in the anti-Hitler Resistance of conservative circles and was executed after the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944.

18. 8. 41 [...]

The whole war in the east is terrible, the general savagery. One young officer received an order to destroy 350 civilians driven into a large barn, among whom were women and children, at first refused to do this, but he was told that this was a failure to comply with the order, after which he asked for 10 minutes to think and finally did it , sending, together with some others, machine-gun bursts into the open door of the shed into a crowd of people, and then, finishing off the still alive from machine guns. He was so shocked by this that later, having received a slight wound, he firmly decided not to return to the front.

Text 38
Excerpts from the order of the commander of the 17th Army, Colonel General Hoth, dated 11/17/1941, regarding the basic principles of warfare.

Command
17th Army A.Gef.St.,
1a No. 0973/41 secret. dated 17.11.41
[...]

2. The campaign to the East must end differently than, for example, the war against the French. This summer it becomes more and more clear to us that here, in the East, two internally irresistible views are fighting against each other: the German sense of honor and race, the centuries-old German army against the Asiatic type of thinking and primitive instincts, fueled by a small number of mainly Jewish intellectuals: fear of whip, disregard for moral values, equalization of the lower, neglect of one's life of no value.

51 German Junkere Ju-87 (Shtukas) dive bombers take off from a field airfield in the Soviet Union, 1941.

52 German infantry on the march, 1941

53 Soviet prisoners dig their own grave, 1941.

54 Soviet prisoners before execution, 1941. Both photographs (53 and 54) were in the wallet of a German soldier who died near Moscow. The place and circumstances of the execution are unknown.

More strongly than ever, we believe in a historical turning point, when the German people, by virtue of the superiority of their race and their successes, will assume control of Europe. We are more clearly aware of our calling to save European culture from Asiatic barbarism. Now we know that we have to fight an embittered and stubborn enemy. This struggle can only end in the annihilation of one side or the other; there can be no agreement. [...]

6. I demand that every soldier of the army should be imbued with pride in our successes, with a sense of unconditional superiority. We are the masters of this country which we have conquered. Our feeling of domination is expressed not in satiety, not in contemptuous behavior, and not even in the selfish abuse of power by individuals, but in a conscious opposition to Bolshevism, in strict discipline, inflexible determination and tireless vigilance.

8. There should be absolutely no place for sympathy and gentleness towards the population. The Red soldiers brutally killed our wounded; they dealt cruelly with the prisoners and killed them. We must remember this if the population, which once endured the Bolshevik yoke, now wants to receive us with joy and worship. The Volksdeutsche should be treated with a sense of self-awareness and with calm restraint. The fight against impending food difficulties should be left to the self-government of the enemy population. Any trace of active or passive resistance, or any machinations of Bolshevik-Jewish instigators, must be eradicated immediately. The need for harsh measures against elements hostile to the people and our policy must be understood by the soldiers. [...]

Behind everyday life, we should not lose sight of the worldwide significance of our struggle against Soviet Russia. The Russian masses have been paralyzing Europe for two centuries now. The need to take Russia into account and the fear of her possible attack constantly dominated political relations in Europe and hampered peaceful development. Russia is not a European, but an Asian state. Each step into the depths of this dull, enslaved country allows you to see this difference. From this pressure and from the destructive forces of Bolshevism, Europe and especially Germany must be liberated forever.

For this we fight and work.

Commander Hoth (signed)
Send to the following units: regiments and separate battalions, including construction and service units, to the commander of the patrol service; distributor 1a; reserve = 10 copies.

Text 39
Report of the commander of the rear of the 2nd Panzer Army, General von Schenckendorff dated 24. 3. 1942 regarding looting.

Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army 24.3.42
Rel.: unauthorized requisition;
Application

1) The commander of the rear of the 2nd Panzer Army in a daily report dated 23.2.42: “Unauthorized requisition by German soldiers near Navlya is increasing. From Gremyachey (28 km southwest of Karachev), soldiers from the area of ​​Karachevo took away 76 cows without a certificate, from Plastovoye (32 km southwest of Karachev) - 69 cows. Not a single head of cattle remained in either place. In addition, the Russian law enforcement service was disarmed in Plastovoi; the next day the settlement was occupied by partisans. In the Sinezerko area (25 km south of Bryansk), the soldiers of the platoon commander Sebastian (code 2) wildly requisitioned cattle, and in the neighboring village they shot at the village headman and his assistants. [...]

Increasingly, these cases are being reported. In this regard, I especially point out the issued orders on the conduct of troops and their supply in the country in accordance with the order. They are once again reflected in the application.

“On June 21 at 21.00, a soldier who had fled from the German army, Liskov Alfred, was detained at the site of the Sokal commandant's office. Since there was no interpreter at the commandant's office, I ordered the commandant of the section, Captain Bershadsky, to deliver the soldier in the city of Vladimir to the detachment headquarters by truck.

At 0.30 on June 22, 1941, the soldier arrived in the city of Vladimir-Volynsk. Through an interpreter, at about 1 a.m., soldier Liskov testified that on June 22, at dawn, the Germans should cross the border. I immediately reported this to the responsible officer on duty at the headquarters of the troops, Brigadier Commissar Maslovsky. At the same time, I personally informed the commander of the 5th Army, Major General Potapov, by telephone, who was suspicious of my message, not taking it into account.

I personally was also not firmly convinced of the veracity of the message of soldier Liskov, but nevertheless called the commandants of the districts and ordered to strengthen the protection of the state border, to put up special listeners to the river. Bug and in the event of the Germans crossing the river, destroy them with fire. At the same time, he ordered that if anything suspicious was noticed (any movement on the adjacent side), immediately report to me personally. I was at headquarters all the time.

The commandants of the districts at 1.00 on June 22 reported to me that nothing suspicious was seen on the adjacent side, everything is calm ... "("Mechanisms of War" with reference to the RGVA, f. 32880, on. 5, d. 279, l. 2. Copy).

Despite doubts about the reliability of the information transmitted by the German soldier, and the skeptical attitude towards it on the part of the commander of the 5th Army, it was promptly transferred "upstairs".

From the telephone message of the UNKGB in the Lvov region to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR.

" On June 22, 1941, at 3:10 a.m., the UNKGB in the Lvov region transmitted the following message by telephone to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR: “A German corporal who crossed the border in the Sokal region testified as follows: his surname is Liskov Alfred Germanovich, 30 years old, worker, carpenter of a furniture factory in Kolberg (Bavaria), where he left his wife, child, mother and father.

The corporal served in the 221st sapper regiment of the 15th division. The regiment is located in the village of Tselenzha, which is 5 km north of Sokal. He was drafted into the army from the reserve in 1939.

He considers himself a communist, is a member of the Union of Red Soldiers, says that life in Germany is very hard for soldiers and workers.

Before evening, his company commander, Lieutenant Schultz, gave the order and announced that tonight, after artillery preparation, their unit would begin crossing the Bug on rafts, boats and pontoons. As a supporter of the Soviet government, having learned about this, he decided to run to us and tell us.("History in documents" with reference to "1941. Documents". Soviet archives. "News of the Central Committee of the CPSU", 1990, No. 4. ").

G.K. Zhukov recalls: “At about 24 hours on June 21, the commander of the Kiev district, M.P. Kirponos, who was at his command post in Ternopil, reported via HF [...] another German soldier appeared in our units - 222- 1st Infantry Regiment of the 74th Infantry Division. He swam across the river, appeared to the border guards and said that the German troops would go on the offensive at 4 o'clock. MP Kirponos was ordered to quickly transmit the directive to the troops to put them on alert ... ".

However, there was no time left. The above-mentioned head of the 90th border detachment, M.S. Bychkovsky, continues his testimony as follows:

"... In view of the fact that the interpreters in the detachment are weak, I called a German teacher from the city, who was fluent in German, and Liskov repeated the same thing again, that is, that the Germans were preparing to attack the USSR at dawn on June 22, 1941. He called himself a communist and declared that he had come specially to warn him on his own initiative.

Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, he heard strong artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant's office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken ... "(cit. source) The Great Patriotic War began.

03:00 - 13:00, General Staff - Kremlin. First hours of the war

Was the German attack on the USSR completely unexpected? What did the generals, the General Staff and the People's Commissariat of Defense do in the first hours of the war? There is a version that the beginning of the war was banally overslept - both in the border units and in Moscow. With the news of the bombardment of Soviet cities and the transition of the fascist troops to the offensive, confusion and panic arose in the capital.

Here is how G.K. Zhukov recalls the events of that night: “On the night of June 22, 1941, all employees of the General Staff and the People's Commissariat of Defense were ordered to remain in their places. It was necessary to transfer to the districts as soon as possible a directive on bringing the border troops on combat readiness. At this time, the people's commissar of defense and I were in continuous negotiations with the commanders of the districts and the chiefs of staff, who reported to us about the increasing noise on the other side of the border.They received this information from the border guards and forward units of the cover.Everything indicated that the German troops were moving closer to the border."

The first message about the beginning of the war was received by the General Staff at 03:07 on June 22, 1941.

Zhukov writes: “At 03:07, the Black Sea Fleet Commander F.S. Oktyabrsky called me on HF and said: “The VNOS [air surveillance, warning and communications] system of the fleet reports on the approach from the sea of ​​a large number of unknown aircraft; the fleet is in full combat readiness, I ask for instructions" [...]

“At 4 o’clock I again spoke with F.S. Oktyabrsky. He reported in a calm tone: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to hit the ships was thwarted. But there is destruction in the city.”

As can be seen from these lines, the beginning of the war did not take the Black Sea Fleet by surprise. The air raid was repulsed.

03.30: Chief of Staff of the Western District, General Klimovskikh, reported on an enemy air raid on the cities of Belarus.

03:33 The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reported on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine.

03:40: Commander of the Baltic District General Kuznetsov and reported on the raid on Kaunas and other cities.

03:40: People's Commissar of Defense S. K. Timoshenko ordered the Chief of the General Staff G. K. Zhukov to call Stalin at the "Near Dacha" and report on the start of hostilities. After listening to Zhukov, Stalin ordered:

Come with Tymoshenko to the Kremlin. Tell Poskrebyshev to call all the members of the Politburo.

04.10: The Western and Baltic special districts reported the start of hostilities by German troops in the land sectors.

At 4:30 am, members of the Politburo, People's Commissar for Defense Tymoshenko, and Chief of the General Staff Zhukov gathered in the Kremlin. Stalin asked to urgently contact the German embassy.

The embassy said that Ambassador Count von Schulenburg asked to receive him for an urgent message. Molotov went to meet Schulenberg. Returning to the office, he said:

The German government has declared war on us.

At 07:15, JV Stalin signed a directive to the Armed Forces of the USSR on the repulse of Hitler's aggression.

At 9:30 a.m., I. V. Stalin, in the presence of S. K. Timoshenko and G. K. Zhukov, edited and signed a decree on mobilization and the imposition of martial law in the European part of the country, as well as on the formation of the Headquarters of the High Command and a number of other documents .

On the morning of June 22, it was decided that at 12 o'clock V. M. Molotov would address the peoples of the Soviet Union with the Statement of the Soviet Government by radio.

“JV Stalin,” recalls Zhukov, “being seriously ill, of course, could not make an appeal to the Soviet people. He, together with Molotov, drafted a statement.”

“At about 1 pm I.V. Stalin called me,” writes Zhukov in his memoirs, “and said:

Our front commanders do not have sufficient experience in directing the combat operations of troops and, apparently, are somewhat confused. The Politburo has decided to send you to the Southwestern Front as a representative of the Headquarters of the High Command. We will send Shaposhnikov and Kulik to the Western Front. I called them to my place and gave the appropriate instructions. You need to fly immediately to Kyiv and from there, together with Khrushchev, go to the front headquarters in Ternopil.

I asked:

And who will lead the General Staff in such a difficult situation?
JV Stalin replied:

Leave Vatutin behind.

Don't waste your time, we'll get around here somehow.

I called home so that they would not wait for me, and after 40 minutes I was already in the air. I just remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. The pilots helped me out by treating me with strong tea and sandwiches. (the chronology is based on the memoirs of G.K. Zhukov).

05:30. Hitler announces the start of war with the USSR

On June 22, 1941, at 5:30 am, Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels, in a special program on the Greater German Radio, read out Adolf Hitler's appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union.

“...Today, 160 Russian divisions are stationed on our border,” the appeal said, in particular. “In recent weeks, there have been continuous violations of this border, not only ours, but also in the far north and in Romania. Russian pilots amuse themselves by who carelessly fly over this border, as if they want to show us that they already feel like masters of this territory.On the night of June 17-18, Russian patrols again invaded the territory of the Reich and were driven out only after a long skirmish.But now the hour has come when it is necessary to oppose this conspiracy of Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow.

German people! At the moment, the greatest in its extent and volume of military action, which the world has ever seen, is being carried out. In alliance with the Finnish comrades are the fighters of the winner at Narvik near the Arctic Ocean. The German divisions under the command of the conqueror of Norway, together with the Finnish heroes of the struggle for freedom, under the command of their marshal, defend the Finnish land. Formations of the German eastern front were deployed from East Prussia to the Carpathians. On the banks of the Prut and in the lower reaches of the Danube to the Black Sea coast, Romanian and German soldiers unite under the command of the head of state, Antonescu.

The task of this front is no longer to protect individual countries, but to ensure the security of Europe and thereby the salvation of all.

That is why I have decided today to once again place the fate and future of the German Reich and our people in the hands of our soldiers. May the Lord help us in this struggle!

Battles across the front

Fascist troops went on the offensive along the entire front. Not everywhere the attack developed according to the scenario conceived by the German General Staff. The Black Sea Fleet repelled an air raid. In the south, in the north, the Wehrmacht failed to gain an overwhelming advantage. Heavy positional battles ensued here.

Army Group "North" ran into fierce resistance from Soviet tankers near the city of Alytus. The capture of the crossing over the Neman was critical for the advancing German forces. Here, units of the 3rd Panzer Group of the Nazis stumbled upon the organized resistance of the 5th Panzer Division.

Only dive bombers managed to break the resistance of the Soviet tankers. The 5th Panzer Division did not have air cover, under the threat of destruction of manpower and materiel, it began to retreat.

The bombers swooped down on the Soviet tanks until noon on 23 June. The division lost almost all armored vehicles and, in fact, ceased to exist. However, on the first day of the war, the tankers did not leave the line and stopped the advance of the Nazi troops inland.

The main blow of the German troops fell on Belarus. Here the Brest Fortress stood in the way of the Nazis. In the first seconds of the war, a hail of bombs fell on the city, followed by heavy artillery fire. After that, units of the 45th Infantry Division went on the attack.

The hurricane fire of the Nazis caught the defenders of the fortress by surprise. However, the garrison, numbering 7-8 thousand people, put up fierce resistance to the advancing German units.

By the middle of the day on June 22, the Brest Fortress was completely surrounded. Part of the garrison managed to break out of the "cauldron", part was blocked and continued to resist.

By the evening of the first day of the war, the Nazis managed to capture the southwestern part of the fortress city, the northeast was under the control of Soviet troops. Pockets of resistance also remained in the territories controlled by the Nazis.

Despite the complete encirclement and overwhelming superiority in people and equipment, the Nazis failed to break the resistance of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. Skirmishes continued here until November 1941.

Battle for air supremacy

From the first minutes of the war, the USSR Air Force entered into a fierce battle with enemy aircraft. The attack was sudden, some of the aircraft did not have time to rise from the airfields and were destroyed on the ground. The Belarusian military district took the greatest blow. The 74th assault aviation regiment, which was based in Pruzhany, was attacked at about 4 am by Messerschmites. The regiment did not have air defense systems, the planes were not dispersed, as a result of which enemy aircraft smashed equipment as if on a training ground.

A completely different situation developed in the 33rd Fighter Aviation Regiment. Here the pilots entered the battle as early as 3.30 in the morning, when over Brest the link of Lieutenant Mochalov shot down a German plane. This is how the Aviation Encyclopedia website "Corner of the Sky" describes the battle of the 33rd IAP (article by A. Gulyas):

“Soon, about 20 He-111s flew into the airfield of the regiment under the cover of a small group of Bf-109s. At that time, there was only one squadron there, which took off and entered the battle. Soon the other three squadrons, returning from patrolling the Brest-Kobrin area, joined it. "In the battle the enemy lost 5 aircraft. Two Non-111s were destroyed by Lieutenant Gudimov. He won his last victory at 5.20 in the morning, ramming a German bomber. Twice more, the regiment successfully intercepted large groups of Heinkels on the distant approaches to the airfield. After another interception, the returning already on the last liters of fuel, the regiment's I-16s were attacked by Messerschmitts. No one could take off to help. The airfield was subjected to continuous attack for almost an hour. By 10 o'clock in the morning, not a single aircraft capable of taking off was left in the regiment ... ".

The 123rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, whose airfield was located near the town of Imenin, just like the 74th Attack Aviation Regiment, did not have anti-aircraft cover. However, its pilots were in the air from the first minutes of the war:

“By 5.00 am, B.N. Surin already had a personal victory - he shot down a Bf-109. On the fourth sortie, being seriously wounded, he brought his“ seagull ”to the airfield, but could no longer land. Obviously, he died in the cockpit while leveling ... Boris Nikolaevich Surin fought 4 battles, personally shot down 3 German aircraft. But this did not become a record. The young pilot Ivan Kalabushkin turned out to be the best sniper of the day: at dawn he destroyed two Ju-88s, closer to noon - He-111, and sunset, two Bf-109s were sent as victims of his nimble "gulls"! .. "- reports the Aviation Encyclopedia.

“At about eight in the morning, four fighters piloted by Mr. M.P. Mozhaev, L. G.N. Zhidov, P.S. Ryabtsev and Nazarov flew out against eight Messerschmitt-109s. Taking Zhidov’s car into the “pincers” ", the Germans knocked her out. Rescuing a comrade, Mozhaev shot down one fascist. Zhidov set fire to the second. Having used up ammunition, Ryabtsev rammed a third enemy. Thus, in this battle, the enemy lost 3 cars, and we lost one. For 10 hours, the pilots of the 123rd IAP were heavy fighting, making 10-14 and even 17 sorties. Technicians, working under enemy fire, ensured the readiness of aircraft. During the day, the regiment shot down about 30 (according to other sources, more than 20) enemy aircraft, losing 9 of its own in the air."

Unfortunately, in the absence of communication and the prevailing confusion, timely delivery of ammunition and fuel was not organized. Fighting vehicles fought to the last drop of gasoline and the last bullet. After that, they froze dead on the airfield and became easy prey for the Nazis.

The total losses of Soviet aircraft on the first day of the war amounted to 1160 aircraft.

12:00. Radio speech by V.M. Molotov

At noon on June 22, 1941, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov read out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union:

"CITIZENS AND CITIZENS OF THE SOVIET UNION!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, have instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas from their aircraft. and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the Soviet Union regarding the fulfillment of the treaty. The entire responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

Already after the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 in the morning, made a statement to me, as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the Soviet Union in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near eastern German border.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not make any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany attacked the Soviet Union, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany was the attacking side .

On behalf of the government of the Soviet Union, I must also state that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by the Romanian radio this morning that the Soviet aviation allegedly fired on Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. Hitler's entire declaration today is just as much a lie and a provocation, trying to concoct, retroactively, accusatory material about the Soviet Union's non-compliance with the Soviet-German pact.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops out of the territory of our homeland.

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples .

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to the Soviet people, and deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.
This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen with the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country, the Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for the motherland, for honor, for freedom.

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm conviction that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intelligentsia, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due conscience. All our people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and others discipline, organization, selflessness, worthy of a real Soviet patriot, in order to provide for all the needs of the Red Army, fleet and aviation, in order to ensure victory over the enemy.

The government calls on you, citizens and women of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks still more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

The first atrocities of the Nazis

The first case of atrocities by the German army on the territory of the Soviet Union falls on the first day of the war. On June 22, 1941, the Nazis, advancing, broke into the village of Albinga, Klaipeda region of Lithuania.

The soldiers robbed and burned all the houses. Residents - 42 people - were herded into a barn and locked up. During the day of June 22, the Nazis killed several people - they beat them to death or shot them.

The next morning, the systematic destruction of people began. Groups of peasants were taken out of the barn and shot in cold blood. First all the men, then the turn came to women and children. Those who tried to escape into the forest were shot in the back.

In 1972, a memorial ensemble for the victims of fascism was created near Ablinga.

The first summary of the Great Patriotic War

SUMMARY OF THE HIGH COMMAND OF THE RED ARMY
for 22.VI. - 1941

At dawn on June 22, 1941, the regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the BALTIC to the BLACK Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, the German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the GRODNO and KRYSTYNOPOLS directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of KALVARIYA, STOJANOW and TSEKHANOVEC (the first two at 15 km and the last at 10 km from the border).

Enemy aviation attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere they met with a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes. from RIA Novosti funds

23:00 (GMT). Winston Churchill's speech on BBC radio

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 22 at 23:00 GMT made a statement in connection with the aggression of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.

"... The Nazi regime has the worst features of communism," in particular, he said on the air of the BBC radio station. no one has been a more consistent opponent of communism than I have been in the past 25 years. I will not take back a single word I have said about it. But all this pales before the spectacle now unfolding. The past with its crimes, follies and tragedies disappears.

I see Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields that their fathers have cultivated since time immemorial.

I see them guarding their homes, where their mothers and wives pray - yes, for there are times when everyone prays - for the safety of their loved ones, for the return of their breadwinner, their protector and support.

I see tens of thousands of Russian villages, where the means of subsistence are torn from the ground with such difficulty, but where there are primordial human joys, where girls laugh and children play.

I see how the vile Nazi war machine is approaching all this, with its dapper, rattling Prussian officers, with its skillful agents, who have just pacified and tied hand and foot a dozen countries.

I also see a gray, well-drilled, obedient mass of ferocious Hun soldiers advancing like swarms of creeping locusts.

I see German bombers and fighters in the sky, still scarred from the wounds inflicted on them by the British, rejoicing that they have found what they think is easier and surer prey.

Behind all this noise and thunder, I see a bunch of villains who are planning, organizing and bringing this avalanche of disasters to humanity ... I must announce the decision of His Majesty's Government, and I am sure that the great dominions will agree with this decision in due time, for we should speak out immediately, without a single day of delay. I have to make a statement, but can you doubt what our policy will be?

We have only one single unchanging goal. We are determined to destroy Hitler and all traces of the Nazi regime. Nothing can turn us away from it, nothing. We will never negotiate, we will never enter into negotiations with Hitler or with any of his gang. We will fight him on land, we will fight him at sea, we will fight him in the air until, with God's help, we rid the earth of his very shadow and free the peoples from his yoke. Any person or state that fights against Nazism will receive our help. Any person or state that goes with Hitler is our enemy...

This is our policy, this is our statement. It follows from this that we will give Russia and the Russian people all the help that we can ... "