1. After the defeat of the main part of the German army in the Battle of Kursk, the expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of the USSR began.

Practically deprived of an army, Germany could no longer attack and went on the defensive.
By order of Hitler, in the fall of 1943, the construction of the "Eastern Wall" began - a system of powerful echeloned defensive fortifications along the line of the Baltic Sea - Belarus - the Dnieper. According to Hitler's plan, the "Eastern Wall" was supposed to fence off Germany from the advancing Soviet troops, to give time to gather forces.
The most powerful defensive structures were erected in Ukraine along the Kyiv-Dnepropetrovsk-Melitopol line. On the one hand, it was a system of pillboxes, other powerful reinforced concrete structures, minefields, artillery along the entire right bank of the Dnieper, on the other hand, there was also a powerful natural barrier - the Dnieper. Due to these circumstances, the German command considered the Dnieper line of the "Eastern Wall" impassable. Hitler gave the order to hold the East Wall at all costs and endure the winter. During this time, by the summer of 1944, it was planned to restore the German army and launch a new offensive to the east.
In order to prevent Germany from recovering from defeat, the Soviet command decides to storm the East Wall.

1. In August 1943, the battle for the Dnieper began, which:

• lasted 4 months - from August to December 1943;
• it was carried out in very difficult conditions for the Soviet army - from the "low" (flat) left bank, it was necessary to cross the Dnieper on rafts and storm the "high" (mountainous) right bank, stuffed with German defensive structures;
• The Soviet army suffered colossal casualties, as the German troops, having fortified themselves on the heights of the right bank of the Dnieper, intensively shelled the Soviet army on the low left bank, drowned rafts with soldiers and equipment crossing the Dnieper, destroyed pontoon bridges;
• the crossing of the Dnieper took place in conditions of very bad weather in October - November, ice water, rain and snow;
• each bridgehead on the western bank of the Dnieper, each kilometer recaptured, was paid for by hundreds and thousands of dead. Despite this, the Soviet army crossed the Dnieper in stubborn battles. In October 1943, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Melitopol were liberated, and on November 6, 1943 - Kyiv.

By December 1943, the Eastern Wall was broken through - the way to the Right-Bank Ukraine, Moldova and further to Europe was opened.

1. November 28 - December 1, 1943 in Tehran, the capital of Iran, the first meeting of the "big three" - I. Stalin, W. Churchill, F. Roosevelt - the leaders of the main allied states (USSR, Great Britain and the USA) took place during the war. During this meeting:

• the basic principles of a post-war settlement were worked out;
• a decision was made in principle to open a second front in May - June 1944 - the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy (France) and their attack on Germany from the west.

1. In the spring - summer of 1944, the final stage of the liberation of the USSR took place - the Soviet army launched three powerful offensives:

• in the north, during which the remnants of Army Group North were defeated, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted and most of the Baltic was liberated;
• in Belarus (Operation Bagration), during which the backbone of Army Group Center was destroyed and Belarus was liberated;
• in the south (Iasi-Chisinau operation), during which the Army Group "South" was surrounded and defeated, Moldova, most of the Right-Bank Ukraine, Northern Romania were liberated.

As a result of these operations, by the autumn of 1944, the remnants of the three main German armies that invaded the USSR in 1941 were defeated; most of the territory of the USSR was liberated. The final stage of the war began - the liberation of Europe.

More on the topic Question 73. The liberation of the territory of the USSR in 1943 - 1944:

1. Question 72. A radical change in the course of the war. Battle of Kursk 1943
2. Chapter 7 ISSUES OF CONCERNED REGULATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE ANTI-FASCIST COALITION (1943-1945)
3. Question 61
4. No. 179 OPERATIONAL REPORT BY THE CHIEF OF THE FIELD DEPARTMENT OF THE 5TH ARMY ON THE MILITARY OPERATIONS FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE KUSTANAY DISTRICT Chelyabinsk # October 18, 1919
5. Landscape-geochemical zoning of the territory of the USSR for the purposes of predicting the impact of technogenesis
6. No. 183 NOTE BY THE CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE 5TH ARMY TO THE GENERAL 35 AND 54, NACHARM V ON THE ORGANIZATION OF FORTIFIED AREAS IN THE LIBERATED TERRITORY OF NORTH-EAST KAZAKHSTAN Chelyabinsk October 24, 1919

The main stages of the Great Patriotic War..

First stage of the war. Strategic defense stage (June 22, 1941 – November 18, 1942).

Third stage of the war. Liberation of the territory of the USSR and European countries. Victory over Nazism in Europe (January 1944 - May 1945).

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Together with the Nazi Wehrmacht, the troops of Hungary, Italy, Romania and Finland, allies of Germany, took part in the hostilities against the USSR. In total, 190 divisions, 5.5 million people, were thrown against the USSR. The Great Patriotic War lasted 1418 days.

The plan of attack on the USSR was called the "Plan of Barbarossa" (after the name of the medieval German emperor, known for his aggressive campaigns). This was the plan for blitzkrieg (blitzkrieg). By the winter of 1941, German troops were to reach the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan line.

War from the side Soviet Union was just and liberating. From the first hours of the invasion, the enemy encountered fierce resistance in a number of cases (the defense of the Brest Fortress).

To organize a rebuff to the Nazi invaders, the Soviet leadership took a number of measures. Martial law was declared throughout the country. The mobilization of the male population began. The Headquarters of the High Command was created. Since August, I.V. Stalin. On June 29, the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks sent a directive to party and Soviet organizations in the front-line regions. It spoke of the need to mobilize all forces and means to defeat the enemy, to protect every inch of land, to evacuate enterprises and people, and set the task of launching a struggle in the rear of the fascist troops. The main provisions of this directive were outlined by Stalin in a radio speech on July 3, 1941. On June 30, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was formed, headed by Stalin. He concentrated in his hands all the power in the country. In a short time, under the leadership of the Evacuation Council, over 1,500 large military factories were relocated to the east. The transfer of peaceful enterprises to the production of military products began. The slogan "Everything for the front, everything for victory!", put forward in the early days, remained the main one throughout the war.

With the outbreak of war, the governments of Britain and the United States issued statements of support for the struggle of the Soviet people. On July 12, an agreement was signed in Moscow on the joint actions of the USSR and Great Britain in the war against Germany. In autumn, an agreement was reached on the supply of weapons and strategic materials by the USSR to the USA and England. The formation of the anti-Hitler coalition began.

Summer - autumn 1941 - a period of serious setbacks for the Red Army. Military formations that entered the war near the borders were defeated. 3.9 million soldiers and officers out of 5 million army died or were taken prisoner. The Nazis captured the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, invaded Russia.

The reasons for the defeats at the initial stage of the war were as follows: 1) the military-economic potential of Germany and its allies was higher than that of the Soviet Union; 2) due to Stalinist repressions, it dropped sharply professional level Soviet commanders. This led to poor training of the troops, while the enemy troops had almost two years of battle experience; 3) major miscalculations of the Soviet leadership in military policy (belittling the role of mechanized formations, decommissioning a number of weapons before launching the production of their new types, destroying fortifications on the old border without creating a new line of defense, etc.); 4) criminal miscalculations in assessing the international situation. Blind faith that Hitler would not violate the non-aggression pact. This led to a sudden enemy attack for the Soviet military and political leadership.

As a result of the heroic defense of Leningrad, the defensive battles near Kyiv and Smolensk, the advance of the German troops was suspended, which made it possible for the Soviet command to gain time and bring up reserves.

From September 30, 1941 to the end of April 1942, there was a grandiose battle near Moscow. The German plan for the attack on Moscow was codenamed "Typhoon". Possessing significant superiority in military equipment, the Nazis managed to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops and by the beginning of December reach the Canal. Moscow, force the river. Nara, approach Kashira from the south. However, the enemy could not advance further. On December 5-6, the troops of the Kalinin (I.S. Konev) and Western (G.K. Zhukov) fronts launched a counteroffensive. German troops were thrown back 100-250 km from Moscow. The immediate threat to the capital was eliminated. Hitler's plan for a blitzkrieg against the USSR was thwarted. Near Moscow, they suffered their first strategic defeat in World War II. Germany's allies - Turkey and Japan - refrained from opening hostilities. The liberation struggle against fascism began to rise in the countries occupied by Germany.

In the summer of 1942, due to the mistakes of the top Soviet political and military leadership (overestimation of their own forces, underestimation of the enemy, the desire to conduct offensive operations on a wide front, the expectation of an enemy offensive in the Central direction), the Red Army suffered a number of major defeats in the North-West, near Kharkov, in the Crimea .

The Hitlerite command undertook a large-scale operation on the southern sector of the Soviet-German front. At the same time, the goals were pursued: to deprive the Red Army of Caucasian oil, to interrupt the connection of the USSR with the allies through Iran, the central regions with Central Asia, involve Turkey in the war, destroy the Black Sea Fleet.

In the summer of 1942, the German group "South" broke through the Soviet front and rushed to Stalingrad. Since the end of August, fighting has been going on in the city. At the same time, German troops were advancing in the Caucasian direction. In the area of ​​Stalingrad on November 19, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive and on November 23 closed the encirclement of 22 fascist divisions, numbering more than 300 thousand people. On February 2, 1943, this grouping was liquidated.

The Battle of Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the war, i.e., the interception of the strategic initiative. Simultaneously with the fighting in the Stalingrad region, Soviet troops were attacking along the entire southern sector of the front. The enemy was forced to withdraw his units from the North Caucasus. By the summer of 1943 the front had stabilized.

On July 5, 1943, the enemy, taking advantage of the favorable configuration of the front in the Kursk region, attempted a counteroffensive with the aim of encircling the Soviet units. started Battle of Kursk, which lasted until August 23. During fierce battles, the German strike force was stopped, and the Soviet troops went on the offensive, freeing Orel, Belgorod. Kharkiv. The Battle of Kursk was a triumph of Soviet military art. German losses amounted to more than half a million people.

From the second half of July 1943, a general strategic offensive of the Red Army began along a front of 2,000 km. As a result of this offensive, he was released. Donbass, Left-bank Ukraine. In September, the battle for the Dnieper began. Soviet troops were able to capture bridgeheads on its right bank. On November 6, 1943, Kyiv was liberated.

During the summer-autumn offensive, half of the enemy divisions were defeated, and significant territories of the USSR were liberated. A new stage has begun in the occupied countries liberation war against fascism. The collapse of the fascist bloc began. In 1943, Italy was withdrawn from the war. The largest military-strategic operations of the Soviet troops in the winter - spring of 1944 should include: the final lifting of the 900-day blockade of Leningrad in January 1944. troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts; the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine (the most significant events in this sector of the front were the Korsun-Shevchenko operation); the liberation of the Crimea in May by the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front.

In the summer of 1944, even larger battles unfolded. At As a result of the offensive of the Karelian and Leningrad fronts, Finland left the war. At As a result of the operation "Bagration" carried out by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts, one of the strongest enemy groupings "Center" was defeated, Belarus was liberated, the liberation of the Baltic states began (ended in the fall of 1944) and Poland (ended at the beginning of 1945).

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front as a result of the Lvov-Sandmir operation defeated the enemy group of troops " Northern Ukraine", Os-vobrdili Lviv and captured a bridgehead on the left bank of the Vistula.

· The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts, having carried out the Iasi-Chisinau operation, liquidated the German grouping and liberated Chisinau.

In 1944, the entire territory of the USSR was liberated from the Nazi occupation. The Soviet Army transferred military operations to the territories of the allies of fascist Germany and the countries captured by it.

At In August 1944, the new Romanian government declared war on Germany. By the beginning of September, Romania was liberated by the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

· In September, units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front liberated Bulgaria. On September 9, as a result of the uprising in Sofia, the government of the Fatherland Front came to power.

· Troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front assisted the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia in the liberation of Belgrade (October 20) and the entire country from invaders.

At As a result of heavy fighting in late 1944 - early 1945, Hungary was liberated by the Soviet Army. At In the fall of 1944, Slovakia was liberated by Slovak partisans and Soviet units.

In February 1945, a conference of leaders of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition (USSR, England, USA) was held in Yalta. At the conference, agreements were reached on the future structure of Germany, borders in post-war Europe, the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan, and the creation of the United Nations (UN).

In January 1945, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts carried out the Vistula-Oder operation, as a result of which Poland was cleared of the Nazis. Soviet troops reached the approaches to Berlin, the counteroffensive of German troops in the Ardennes against the Allies was thwarted.

At this time, the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts carried out the East Prussian operation. After fierce fighting, Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad) was taken.

From April 16 to May 2, the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts (T.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky, I.S. Konev) carried out the Berlin operation. The troops had to overcome the powerful fortifications of the enemy both on the outskirts and in the city itself. On April 18, the Seelow Heights were taken, and from April 22, fighting began on the outskirts of the city. April 24 Berlin was completely surrounded. On April 25, a meeting of Soviet and American troops took place on the Elbe. On May 2, the Berlin garrison laid down their arms. On May 8, Germany capitulated.

On May 5, an uprising began in Prague. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front came to the aid of the rebels from Berlin. On May 9, Soviet troops entered the city.

From July 17 to August 2, 1945, a conference of leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition (USSR, USA, England) was held in Potsdam, near Berlin. She confirmed and clarified the decisions of the Yalta Conference on the post-war structure of Europe, the borders, and the attitude of the allies towards defeated Germany. The Soviet Union confirmed its decision to enter the war against Japan.

№58/2 MOSCOW BATTLE

April 20, 1942 - The Battle of Moscow ended (began on September 30, 1941) during the Great Patriotic War.

The Moscow battle of 1941-1942 is a set of defensive and offensive operations of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War, carried out from September 30, 1941 to April 20, 1942 in the western strategic direction with the aim of defending Moscow and the Central Industrial Region, defeating the German strike groups that threatened them . It included the strategic Moscow defensive operation (September 30 - December 5, 1941), the Moscow offensive operation (December 5, 1941 - January 7, 1942), the Rzhev-Vyazemskaya operation (January 8 - April 20, 1942) and the front-line Toropetsko-Kholmsky operation (January 9 - February 6, 1942). The troops of the Kalinin, Western, Reserve, Bryansk, left wing of the North-Western and right wing of the South-Western fronts, the troops of the country's Air Defense, and the Air Force participated in the Battle of Moscow. They were opposed by the German Army Group Center.

© RIA Novosti

The collapse of Operation Typhoon. Battle for Moscow in archival footage

By the beginning of the Moscow battle, the situation for the Soviet troops was extremely difficult. The enemy deeply invaded the country, capturing the Baltic states, Belarus, Moldova, a significant part of Ukraine, blockaded Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), reached the distant approaches to Moscow. After the failure of the plan to capture Moscow on the move in the first weeks of the war, the Nazi command prepared a major offensive operation under the code name Typhoon. The plan of the operation provided for dismembering the defense of the Soviet troops with three powerful strikes by tank groups from the areas of Dukhovshchina, Roslavl and Shostka in the eastern and northeastern directions, encircling and destroying Soviet troops in the areas west of Vyazma and east of Bryansk. Then it was planned to capture Moscow from the north and south with strong mobile groups and, in cooperation with the troops advancing from the front, capture it.

The German Army Group Center, intended for the offensive, had 1.8 million people, over 14 thousand guns and mortars, 1.7 thousand tanks and 1390 aircraft. Soviet troops numbered 1.25 million people, 7.6 thousand guns and mortars, 990 tanks, 677 aircraft (including reserve air groups).

The offensive according to the Typhoon plan was launched by the Nazi troops on September 30, 1941 in the Bryansk direction and on October 2 in the Vyazma direction. Despite the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, the enemy broke through their defenses. On October 6, he went to the area west of Vyazma and surrounded four armies of the Western and Reserve (on October 10, merged with the Western) fronts there. With their actions in the environment, these armies pinned down 28 enemy divisions; 14 of them could not continue the offensive until mid-October.

A difficult situation also developed in the Bryansk Front. On October 3, the enemy captured Orel, and on October 6, Bryansk. On October 7, the troops of the front were surrounded. Breaking out of encirclement, the armies of the Bryansk Front were forced to withdraw. By the end of October, the Nazi troops reached the approaches to Tula.

On the Kalinin direction, the enemy launched an offensive on October 10 and captured the city of Kalinin (now Tver) on October 17. Troops of the Kalinin Front (created on October 17) stopped the advance of the enemy's 9th Army in the second half of October, taking up an enveloping position in relation to the left wing of Army Group Center.

By the beginning of November, the front passed along the line of Selizharovo, Kalinin, the Volga reservoir, along the rivers Ozerna, Nara, Oka and further Tula, Novosil. In mid-November, fighting began on the near approaches to Moscow. They were especially stubborn in the Volokolamsk-Istra direction. On November 23, Soviet troops left Klin. The enemy captured Solnechnogorsk, Yakhroma, Krasnaya Polyana. In late November - early December, German troops reached the Moscow-Volga canal, crossed the Nara River north and south of Naro-Fominsk, approached Kashira from the south, and captured Tula from the east. But they didn't go any further. On November 27, in the Kashira region and on November 29, north of the capital, Soviet troops launched counterattacks on the southern and northern enemy groupings, on December 3-5, counterattacks in the areas of Yakhroma, Krasnaya Polyana and Kryukov.

By persistent and active defense, the Red Army forced the fascist strike groups to disperse on a huge front, which led to the loss of offensive and maneuvering capabilities. Conditions were created for the transition of Soviet troops to the counteroffensive. The reserve armies began to advance into the zones of the forthcoming actions of the Red Army. The idea of ​​the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops was to simultaneously defeat the most dangerous enemy strike groups that threatened Moscow from the north and south. The troops of the Western, Kalinin and right wing of the Southwestern (December 18, 1941 transformed into the Bryansk Front) fronts were involved in the Moscow offensive operation.

The counteroffensive began on December 5 with a blow from the left wing of the Kalinin Front. Waging intense battles, by January 7, Soviet troops reached the line of the Volga River northwest and east of Rzhev. They advanced 60-120 kilometers to the south and south-west, taking up an enveloping position in relation to the German troops in front of the Western Front.

The armies of the right wing of the Western Front, which launched a counteroffensive on December 6, liberated Istra, Klin, Volokolamsk and pushed the enemy back 90-110 kilometers to the west, eliminating the threat of bypassing Moscow from the north. The armies of the left wing of the Western Front delivered powerful blows from several directions against the enemy's 2nd Panzer Army, which had penetrated deeply into the defenses. The fascist German command, fearing the encirclement of its troops east of Tula, began to withdraw them to the west. By the end of December 16, the immediate threat to Moscow was also eliminated from the south.

The right-flank armies of the Southwestern Front during the offensive liberated up to 400 settlements and on December 17 liquidated the Yelets ledge.

Continuing the offensive, by the beginning of January 1942, the Soviet troops pushed the enemy back 100-250 kilometers, inflicted heavy losses on his 38 divisions, and over 11 thousand settlements were liberated.

In early January 1942, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided on the transition of Soviet troops to a general offensive near Leningrad, as well as in the western and southwestern directions. The troops of the western direction were tasked with encircling and defeating the main forces of Army Group Center.

The offensive, which unfolded over a vast area, was carried out in separate directions, and the fronts began operations at different times and under different conditions. In the western direction, the troops of the Western and Kalinin Fronts carried out the Rzhev-Vyazemskaya, and the left wing of the North-Western (from January 22 Kalinin) Front - the Toropetsko-Kholmskaya operation, as a result of which the Germans were driven back from the capital by another 80-250 kilometers. Soviet troops penetrated deep into their defenses at the junction of Army Groups North and Center, disrupting operational interaction between them. However, it was not possible to encircle and destroy the main forces of Army Group Center.

Despite the incompleteness, the general offensive in the western direction achieved significant success. The enemy was thrown back 150-400 kilometers to the west, the Moscow and Tula regions, many areas of the Kalinin and Smolensk regions were liberated.

The enemy lost more than 500 thousand people killed, wounded and missing, 1.3 thousand tanks, 2.5 thousand guns and other equipment.

Germany suffered its first major defeat in World War II.

In the Battle of Moscow, Soviet troops also suffered significant losses. Irretrievable losses amounted to 936,644 people, sanitary - 898,689 people.

The outcome of the Battle of Moscow had enormous political and strategic consequences. There was a psychological turning point among the soldiers and the civilian population: faith in victory strengthened, the myth of the invincibility of the German army collapsed. The collapse of the lightning war plan ("Barbarossa") gave rise to doubts about the successful outcome of the war, both among the German military-political leadership and among ordinary Germans.

The Battle of Moscow was of great international importance: it contributed to the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition, forced the governments of Japan and Turkey to refrain from entering the war on the side of Germany.

For the exemplary performance of combat missions during the Battle of Moscow and the valor and courage shown at the same time, about 40 units and formations received the title of guards, 36 thousand Soviet soldiers were awarded orders and medals, of which 110 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR established the medal "For the Defense of Moscow", which was awarded to more than one million defenders of the city.

(Additional

Since September 1943, the offensive of the Red Army went on a wide front (2 thousand km), 9 fronts participated in it.

On September 8, 1943, the troops of the Western and Southwestern fronts managed to overcome the line of German defense along the river. Mius and occupy Stalino (Donetsk), the 1st Panzer and 6th Army of the Nazis were forced to retreat beyond the Dnieper.

On September 17, 1943, the troops of the Bryansk Front liberated Bryansk and Bezhitsa; on September 25, units of the Western and Kalinin Fronts expelled the invaders from Smolensk.

During September 1943, units of the North Caucasian Front liberated the northern Caucasus.

However, the main events of this offensive unfolded on the Dnieper. On the right - high bank of the Dnieper, the Germans built a reliable line of fortifications - the "Eastern Wall". On September 22 - 30, 1943, Soviet troops crossed the river without preparation, in small groups using improvised means. Over 750 km, several dozen bridgeheads on the right bank were captured. Throughout October 1943, the Red Army fought to expand these small patches of occupied territory. On October 23, 1943, the Germans began a hasty retreat beyond the Dnieper. On November 6, 1943 Kyiv was liberated by the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front. November 10, 1943 the entire "Eastern shaft" was hacked. German troops temporarily recaptured Zhytomyr, but could not do more.

In October-November 1943, in the western direction, the forces of the 1st and 2nd Baltic, Belorussian and Western fronts launched an offensive, cutting through the enemy forces in Belarus.

On December 24, 1943, the 1st Ukrainian Front (N.F. Vatutin) dealt a crushing blow to the German armies in the area of ​​Zhitomir and Berdichev. On January 1–4, 1944, the 2nd Ukrainian Front (I.S. Konev) launched an offensive and liberated Kirovograd in the middle of the month. On January 10–11, 1944, the forces of the 3rd (R.Ya. Malinovsky) and 4th (F.I. Tolbukhin) Ukrainian Fronts also continued their offensive in the southwestern direction. By the end of January 1944, the troops of Konev and Vatutin surrounded the enemy's Korsun-Shevchenko group (6 divisions). Refusing to surrender, on February 17, 1944, the Germans made an attempt to break through the encirclement, but only 25 thousand people were able to leave. At the same time, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied Rovno and Lutsk. On February 21, 1944, the troops of Malinovsky and Tolbukhin liberated Krivoy Rog.

In the same period, the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 1st Baltic Fronts fought to lift the blockade of Leningrad. On January 14, 1944, they went on the offensive, defeating the enemy grouping in the area of ​​Peterhof and Strelna. On January 20, 1944, units of the Volkhov Front liberated Novgorod. January 27, 1944 The blockade of Leningrad - one of the most terrible phenomena throughout the war - was finally eliminated, by March 1944 the Soviet troops pushed the enemy back 220-280 km from Leningrad.

In March 1944, the second stage of the offensive of the Red Army in Ukraine began. After the death of General N.F. Vatutin, the command of the 1st Ukrainian Front was entrusted to G.K. Zhukov. On March 4, 1944, his troops dealt a powerful blow to the 1st German tank army near Kamenetz-Podolsk, on April 17, 1944, the advanced units of the front crossed the Dniester and reached the Carpathians.

Meanwhile, the troops of I.S. Konev crossed the Bug and the Dniester. On March 25, 1944, the lead forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front reached the border of the USSR. In early February 1944, Soviet troops reached the state border for more than 400 km.

The forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, having crossed the Southern Bug, occupied Kherson, Odessa and Nikolaev. In April 1944, the 4th Ukrainian Front set about liberating Crimea. The Nazis fought the last stubborn battles for Sevastopol, but on May 9, 1944 they left the city and stopped resistance.

In June-August 1944, during the Vyborg and Svir-Petrozavodsk operations, the Finnish troops were defeated and the threat to Leningrad from the north was removed. In September 1944, Finnish President K.G. Mannerheim signed a truce with the USSR and began military operations against the Germans in northern Finland.

In the summer of 1944, the Red Army inflicted the largest defeat on the fascist troops during Operation Bagration, which unfolded in Belarus. On June 23-26, 1944, Soviet troops surrounded and defeated 6 enemy divisions near Vitebsk. June 27 - July 2, 1944 the forces of the 1st Belorussian Front (K.K. Rokossovsky) destroyed 13 German divisions near Bobruisk. On June 28, 1944, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front (G.F. Fedorov) liberated Mogilev. On July 3, 1944, Minsk was liberated. The German group near Minsk was destroyed on July 11, 1944. On July 13, 1944, Soviet troops liberated Vilnius and reached the German border (East Prussia). On July 28, 1944, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front occupied Brest and reached the outskirts of Warsaw.

In Ukraine, Konev's troops defeated in July 1944 the most powerful grouping of the Nazis at that time - "Northern Ukraine". In July-August 1944, Western Ukraine was liberated from the Germans. Soviet units went to southern Poland, Romania to the border of Czechoslovakia (Lvov-Sandomierz operation).

By mid-autumn 1944, the border of the USSR was restored almost along its entire length.

Liberation of the territory of the USSR and European countries. Victory over Nazism in Europe (January 1944 - May 1945)

By the beginning of 1944, Germany's position was deteriorating sharply, its material and human reserves were depleted. However, the enemy was still strong. The command of the Wehrmacht switched to a rigid positional defense. The production of military equipment of the USSR in 1944 reached its apogee. Soviet military factories produced 7-8 times, guns 6 times, mortars almost 8 times, aircraft 4 times more than before the war. Over 24 thousand km of railways have been restored. Agriculture thanks to the heroic labor of the collective farm peasantry, it achieved an increase in the production of grain and livestock products. The sown areas of the country increased by 16 million hectares compared to 1943.

The Supreme High Command set the Red Army the task of clearing the Soviet land of the enemy, proceeding to liberate the European countries from the occupiers, and end the war with the complete defeat of the aggressor on its territory.

The main content of the winter-spring campaign of 1944 was the implementation of successive strategic operations of the Soviet troops as part of four Ukrainian fronts on the right-bank Ukraine. In a strip with a length of up to 1400 km, during which the main forces of the German fascist army groups "South" and "A" were defeated and access was opened to the state border, the foothills of the Carpathians and the territory of Romania. At the same time, the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 20th Baltic fronts inflicted a defeat on Army Group North, liberating the Leningrad and part of the Kalinin regions. In the spring of 1944 Crimea was cleared of the enemy.

Under these favorable conditions, the Western Allies, after two years of preparation, opened a second front in Europe in northern France. On June 6, 1944, the combined Anglo-American forces, having crossed the English Channel and the Pas de Calais, began the Normandy landing operation, the largest in the years of the war, and in August already entered Paris.

Continuing to develop the strategic initiative, the Soviet troops in the summer of 1944 launched a powerful offensive in Karelia, Belarus, Western Ukraine and in Moldova. As a result of the advance of Soviet troops in the north, on September 19, Finland, having signed a truce with the USSR, withdrew from the war, and on March 4, 1945, declared war on Germany. During the Yassy-Kishenev operation, 22 Nazi divisions and Romanian troops at the front were destroyed. This forced Romania to withdraw from the war on the side of Germany and, after the anti-fascist uprising of the Romanian people on August 24, declare war on it.

In September-November, the troops of the three Baltic and Leningrad fronts cleared almost the entire territory of the Baltic from the Nazis. Thus, during the summer and autumn of 1944, on the Soviet-German front, the enemy lost 1.6 million soldiers and officers, 20 of his divisions and 22 brigades were defeated. The front came close to the borders of Nazi Germany. In East Prussia he stepped over them. With the opening of the second front, the position of fascist Germany worsened. Squeezed in the grip of two fronts, she could no longer freely transfer forces from the West to the East, she had to carry out a new total mobilization in order to somehow make up for the losses at the front.

During the winter campaign of 1945, further coordination of the military operations of the armed forces of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition was developed. So after the counteroffensive of the Nazi troops in the Ardennes, the Anglo-American troops found themselves in a difficult situation. Then, at the request of W. Churchill, in mid-January 1945, by agreement with the Anglo-American command, they went on the offensive from the Baltic to the Carpathians and thus provided effective assistance to the Western allies.

In early April, the troops of the Western Allies successfully surrounded and then captured 19 enemy divisions in the Ruhr area. After this operation, the Nazi resistance on the Western Front was practically broken. Using favorable conditions, the Anglo-American-French troops launched an offensive in the center of Germany. By mid-April, they reached the line of the Elbe River, where, on April 25, 1945, a historic meeting of Soviet and American soldiers took place near the city of Torgau. north - western Germany and Denmark.

In January - early April 1945, as a result of a powerful strategic offensive on the entire Soviet-German front, with the forces of ten fronts, the Soviet active army inflicted a crushing situation on the main enemy forces. During the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, West Carpathian and the completion of the Budapest operation, Soviet troops created the conditions for further strikes in Pomerania and Silesia, and then for an attack on Berlin. Almost all of Poland and Czechoslovakia, the entire territory of Hungary were liberated. The attempt of the new interim German government, which on May 1, 1945 after the suicide of A. Hitler was headed by Grand Admiral K. Doenitz, to achieve a separate peace with the USA and Great Britain failed. The most reactionary elements of the ruling circles of Great Britain and the USA, secretly from the USSR, tried to negotiate with Germany. The Soviet Union continued to seek to strengthen the anti-Hitler coalition. The decisive victories of the Soviet Armed Forces contributed to the success of the Crimean Conference in 1945. The leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, at which issues related to the defeat of Germany and its post-war situation were agreed. An agreement was also reached on the entry of the USSR into the war against imperialist Japan 2-3 months after the end of the war in Europe.

During the Berlin operation, the troops of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, with the support of two armies of the Polish Army, having defeated 93 enemy divisions, captured about 480 thousand people. A huge amount of military trophy equipment and weapons. On May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the Act of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to the countries participating in the leading powers of the anti-Hitler coalition was signed.

May 9th became Victory Day over Nazi Germany. In connection with the end of the war in Europe, the Berlin Conference of 1945 was held by the heads of government of the great powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. It discussed the problems of the post-war order of the world in Europe and adopted decisions on a number of issues.

In the summer and autumn of 1944, the Red Army continued to inflict Stalinist blows on the enemy.
The sixth blow was delivered by the forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev. Back in early May 1944, Zhukov was recalled to Headquarters and I.S. Konev was appointed commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, R.Ya. Malinovsky was appointed commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, F.I. Tolbukhin was appointed commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front .

Stalin called the Lvov-Sandomierz operation the sixth blow against the enemy. It was carried out from July 13 to August 29, 1944. Our troops were opposed by the German troops of the Northern Ukraine Army Group. By the end time, it coincides with the Belarusian operation. Conducting operations at the same time did not allow the German command to maneuver forces. And the Red Army by this time had a sufficient number of forces and means for the simultaneous conduct of even major operations.

The troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front had over 1.1 million people, 16,100 guns and mortars, over 2,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, and 3,250 aircraft. The German group of troops "Northern Ukraine" consisted of 900 thousand people, 6300 guns and mortars, 900 tanks and assault guns, 700 aircraft.
Yes, from the first to last day During the war, the Soviet army had a sufficient number of weapons to fight the enemy: in the first year of the war, our army had weapons in sufficient quantities for a successful defense, and in subsequent years of the war - for more and more successful offensives and the complete defeat of the enemy. In today's Russia, they don't know about it.

Let us recall the balance of forces and means at the beginning of the German offensive against Moscow in accordance with the Typhoon operation developed by the Germans. This is the period when our army had the smallest number of weapons in the entire war. At that time, the Germans had superiority in people - 1.4 times, in guns and mortars - 1.8 times, in tanks - 1.7 times, in aircraft - 2 times. As you can see, even at that time, the Germans did not have superiority in any type of weapon by more than 2 times.

Already in November 1942, at the beginning of the offensive near Stalingrad, Soviet troops had more than two times more tanks than the armies of Germany and its allies opposing it.
The troops of I. S. Konev, despite the largest Belarusian operation at that time, had an advantage over the enemy in people - 1.2 times, in guns and mortars - 2.5 times, in tanks and self-propelled guns - 2.2 times, in airplanes 4.6 times. I suppose that such a great superiority in aircraft is also due to the fact that light U-2 aircraft were also included in the number of our combat aircraft.

Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front were successfully advancing. In the area of ​​​​the city of Brody on July 22, 8 enemy divisions were surrounded and destroyed. On July 27, Lvov, Przemysl, and Stanislav were liberated. Army Group "Northern Ukraine" was divided into two parts, of which one part retreated to the Vistula, and the second - to the Carpathians. In order to concentrate all the forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the main direction, the 4th Ukrainian Front was formed from part of the armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of General of the Army I.E. Petrov, who continued to pursue the Germans in the Carpathian direction.

The troops of I. S. Konev, in cooperation with the troops of K. K. Rokossovsky (1st Belorussian Front), were ordered to develop an offensive in a westerly direction. July 29 - August 1, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Vistula and captured several bridgeheads on its western bank in the Sandomierz region, which were then expanded and merged into one Sandomierz bridgehead.

The Germans gathered and threw huge forces against the troops on the bridgehead. Even battalions of "Royal Tiger" tanks were advancing on our units. Fierce battles unfolded near Sandomierz. The Soviet troops survived. The enemy suffered heavy losses and did not succeed. Favorable conditions were created for the subsequent offensive. While holding the bridgehead, our troops also distinguished themselves by the fact that, in the process of repulsing enemy attacks, they managed to surround and destroy three enemy divisions on the bridgehead in the Sandomierz area.

The seventh strike was the Iasi-Kishinev operation, carried out in the period from August 20 to 29. Our troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts had 1.25 million people, 16 thousand guns and mortars, 1870 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2200 aircraft. The enemy had 900 thousand people, 7600 guns and mortars, over 400 tanks and assault guns, 810 aircraft. The troops of R. Ya. Malinovsky and F. I. Tolbukhin utterly defeated the German and Romanian troops, destroying 22 German divisions surrounded near Chisinau and defeating all the Romanian divisions. 208.6 thousand prisoners were captured.

After fierce battles, on August 21, our troops captured the city of Iasi, and on August 29, they liberated the city of Chisinau, as well as the entire Moldavian Soviet Republic and the Izmail region, entered deep into Romania. On August 31, Soviet troops entered Bucharest, the capital of Romania, and brought the latter out of the war on the side of Germany (Romania declared war on Nazi Germany and Hungary), disabled Germany's ally, Bulgaria, which also declared war on Germany, opened the way to the territory of the last and most faithful ally of Germany - Hungary and on the territory of friendly to us, especially Serbs who suffered during the war. At the borders of Hungary and Yugoslavia, the seventh strike was completed.

In addition, the seventh blow destroyed the plans of the Anglo-Americans to occupy Romania and other Balkan countries and invade between our and German troops. They hoped so, despite the fact that the offensive of their troops in Italy developed slowly, and in August 1944 it was still very far from the Balkans.

The eighth blow, Stalin called the defeat of German troops in September near Tallinn, and in October - near Riga and the almost complete expulsion of the Germans from the Baltic states. As a result of the eighth strike, 30 German divisions were cut off from East Prussia.

The ninth blow is a blow inflicted during the Belgrade and Budapest operations with the aim of withdrawing Hungary from the war and expelling the Nazi troops from Transcarpathian Ukraine, Hungary, Yugoslavia, as well as entering the territory of Czechoslovakia. Time of strike: from September 28 to October 20, 1944 during the Belgorod operation and from October 29, 1944 to February 13, 1945 during the Budapest operation.

The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, with the participation of part of the forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, were only able to achieve the ultimate goal of the strike and take by storm the capital of Hungary - the city of Budapest, only on February 13, 1945, since very powerful defensive fortifications and strong groupings of enemy troops appeared near Budapest. The fighting was extremely fierce.

This blow allowed us to help Yugoslavia, whose People's Liberation Army was the only Eastern European country that did not submit to the Germans and conducted active military operations against the German troops throughout the war. Despite the fact that on October 20, units of the Soviet army entered Belgrade along with the army of Yugoslavia, the complete expulsion of the enemy from the country continued by the Yugoslav army and ended only in May 1945. This blow also helped the Slovaks and Czechs who fought against the German invaders.

Stalin called the tenth blow the blow of our troops in order to expel the Germans from the Soviet Arctic: the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, which provides for the liberation of the territory of the Murmansk region occupied by the enemy and the expulsion of the enemy from the Pechenga (Petsamo) region. The blow was delivered by the forces of the Karelian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov and the 7th Air Army.

The Germans had 53 thousand people, over 750 guns and mortars, over 160 aircraft and a significant naval force based in the ports of Northern Norway. Our 14th Army of the Karelian Front attacked the enemy, which had 97 thousand people, 2.1 thousand guns and mortars, 126 tanks and self-propelled guns, a total of about 1000 aircraft and part of the forces of the Northern Fleet. The fighting unfolded near the Barents Sea.

Our troops, in cooperation with the Northern Fleet, liberated the port of Linakhamari, the city of Petsamo (Pechenga) and reached the border with Norway. On October 22, they captured the village of Nikel. Having crossed the Soviet-Norwegian border, our army pushed the enemy away from the border of the USSR, freeing a number of Norwegian cities from the Germans. Soviet troops did not begin to go deeper into the territory of Norway.

The Allies did not disarm the German troops assembled in Norway for a long time, holding them against the USSR just in case. At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, Stalin pointed out to the Allies that the 400,000-strong group of German troops in Norway was not disarmed.

As a result of the 10th strike, the enemy lost only 30 thousand people killed. The Soviet fleet sank 156 enemy ships and vessels. Aviation destroyed 125 enemy aircraft.
This is how, step by step, the Soviet troops liberated their native land from the invaders.

Ten Stalinist strikes in 1944 completed the expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the Soviet Union. I would like to believe that the glory of the heroes who liberated our Motherland from a cruel enemy will live forever, and the memory of them will be preserved by all subsequent generations until the end of time.

During the summer campaign of 1944, our army covered over 900 kilometers from Chisinau to Belgrade, more than 600 kilometers from Zhlobin to Warsaw, and 550 kilometers from Vitebsk to Tilsit. The Red Army, as a result of the strikes, defeated 136 enemy divisions.
The year 1944 is the holy year of the cleansing of our land from the enemy and the year of the glory of Soviet weapons. Feats accomplished only in Stalin's time are enough for the faith of all subsequent generations in the greatness of the peoples of Russia.