Now we move on to the main part of the episode, to our main topic.
June 22, 1941 — the day the war beganAt 4 a.m. on June 22, 1941, without a declaration of war, the troops of Nazi Germany and its allies crossed the border of the Soviet Union. Thousands of German planes began bombing Soviet cities — Kyiv, Minsk, Riga, Sevastopol, and many others. German artillery opened fire on border military units.
The unexpected warWhy did the attack come as such a surprise? After all, intelligence had reported Germany's preparations for war. There were even exact dates — June 22. But Stalin did not believe these reports.
He had several reasons. First, intelligence had already named many different dates for the attack, and each time it turned out to be false. Moreover, the Germans deliberately spread disinformation to confuse the Soviet leadership. Disinformation is false information (untrue).
Second, Stalin believed that Hitler would first finish the war with England and only then attack the USSR. It seemed to him that Hitler would not fight on two fronts — against England and against the Soviet Union.
Third, Stalin was afraid of giving the Germans a pretext. If the Soviet Union had declared full mobilization and put its troops on combat alert before Germany, that would have given Hitler the opportunity to announce to the whole world: "The USSR attacked us!" Stalin was very afraid of this.
On June 21, when military commanders proposed putting the troops on combat alert, Stalin replied: "Are you proposing to carry out mobilization in the country, raise the troops now and move them to the western borders? That would be war! Do you understand that or not?!"
Even on June 22, when the attack had already begun, Stalin did not immediately believe what was happening. They say that this news completely knocked him out of his working state, and he remained silent for the first few days. Only on July 3 did he address the Soviet people.
The troops were not readySoviet troops on the border were not ready for defense. They had not been put on combat alert. Most of the army was in the second and third echelons — up to 400 kilometers from the border. Simply put, the soldiers were far away, not on the front line.
The German army used the tactic of blitzkrieg — lightning war (fast, instantaneous). The strikes were carried out by huge tank groups that broke through defenses, surrounded Soviet units, and quickly advanced deep into the country. The armies of Western countries had already been defeated by this tactic in 1939–1941. The Soviet army faced the same.
In the very first days of the war, German troops advanced 50–100 kilometers deep into Soviet territory.
The first millions of victimsIn just the first day of the war — June 22, 1941 — 80 thousand Soviet soldiers and civilians died. Eighty thousand in just one day.
Altogether, the Great Patriotic War claimed the lives of about 27 million Soviet people. One in three of all those who died during World War II was a citizen of the Soviet Union.
Graduation prom — the last peaceful happinessJune 22, 1941, is the shortest night of the year. On the night of June 22, graduation proms were held in all schools across the Soviet Union.
Young men and women in elegant clothes danced the waltz. The waltz is a dance for two people. Young people sang, laughed, made plans for the future — some planned to enter university, some to work, some to get married. They were happy. They went out into the streets to greet the dawn.
That dawn came on June 22. Along with it came the war.
Graduates who had been dancing at the ball just yesterday now went to recruitment centers — the places where citizens were registered for military service.
Who attacked the USSR?Several countries fought together with Germany, all together forming a coalition:
- Romania — declared war on the very first day
- Italy — Hitler's main ally
- Slovakia — declared war on June 23, 1941
- Finland — declared war on June 26, 1941
- Hungary — was also in the coalition
- Croatia — sent volunteer legions (troops)
The war against the USSR was also supported by Spain and Bulgaria. Almost all of Europe was against us.
Personal storyThe war left a deep mark on our family. My wife's cousin's grandfather was a fighter pilot — that is, a pilot of a fighter aircraft. In the first days of the war, he flew out on his fighter to carry out a combat mission and never returned. He went missing in action. We don't know where he died, how it happened, or if his grave exists. That was the fate of millions of Soviet soldiers — they left and never returned, and their families never learned the truth.
But my grandfather and his two sons — my uncles — fought and, fortunately, all three returned alive. That is a great rarity. Every Soviet family had losses, but we were lucky: our relatives survived that terrible meat grinder.
ConclusionToday we learned:
- That on June 22, 1941, at 4 a.m., without a declaration of war, Germany and its allies attacked the Soviet Union.
- That Stalin did not believe in the attack, despite intelligence reports, and the troops were not put on combat alert.
- That 80 thousand people died on the very first day of the war, and about 27 million over the course of the war.
- That on the night of June 22, graduation proms were held in all schools across the country, and in the morning, yesterday's schoolchildren went to the front.
Friends, now let's repeat the new words: coalition, evacuation, blockade, front, graduation prom, occupation, reconnaissance, mobilization, tactics, victim.