Hitler seemed closer and more understandable to "Western democracies", and his clash with the Soviet Union was an ideal option
75 years separate us from the tragic date - June 22, 1941. This is the day of the beginning of the bloodiest war in world history, which cost the peoples of our country huge losses and losses. The Soviet Union has decreased by 26.6 million citizens. Among the victims of the war, 13, 7 million people are civilians. Of these, 7, 4 million were deliberately exterminated by the occupiers, 2, 2 million died at work in Germany, 4, 1 million died of hunger during the occupation. The situation on the eve of the Great Patriotic War is very similar to the current one in relation to the Russian Federation - a collective conspiracy.
The total irrecoverable losses of the Red Army amounted to 11,944,100 people, including 6,885,000 killed, missing, captured 4,559,000. In the USSR, 1,710 cities were destroyed, more than 70,000 villages, 32,000 factories and plants, 98 thousands of collective farms.
The essence and consequences of this war, its place and role in history turned out to be so significant that it organically entered the people's consciousness as the Great. What are the lessons from her early days?
Clouds over Europe
The political goals and content immediately made the war a Patriotic one, because the independence of the Motherland was at stake and all the peoples of the Soviet Union stood up to defend the Fatherland, their historical choice. The war became popular, since there was no family that it would not scorch, and Victory was achieved with the blood and sweat of tens of millions of Soviet people who heroically fought the enemy at the front and selflessly worked in the rear.
The USSR's war against fascist Germany and its allies was eminently just. Defeat inevitably entailed not only the disappearance of the Soviet system, but also the death of the statehood that had existed for centuries on the territory of historical Russia. The peoples of the USSR were threatened with physical destruction.
The ideology of patriotism has always united us and was of decisive importance in the fight against the enemy. So it was, is and will be. Unfortunately, after the destruction of the USSR, the spiritual life of many of its peoples was deformed by the growing tendency to falsify our common past. And this is not the only problem. Today the sad reality is that many young citizens of Russia know little about the military history of their homeland.
But in spite of everything, the historical memory of the people preserved the Great Patriotic War as a nationwide feat, and its results and consequences - as outstanding events. This assessment is based on numerous objective and subjective circumstances. Here is the "small history" of each family, and the "big history" of the whole country.
In the past two decades, many publications have appeared in our country and abroad aimed at understanding a particular problem of war, its strategic, operational, tactical, political, spiritual and moral aspects. In a number of works, gaps in coverage of well-known and little-studied sides of the Great Patriotic War and World War II, as well as individual events, have been successfully filled, weighted and accurate assessments have been given. But it was not without extremes. In pursuit of imaginary novelty and sensationalism, a departure from historical truth is allowed, and facts are misinterpreted to please the conjuncture.
The study of the history of the Great Patriotic War as the most important part of the Second World War is impossible outside the context of the complex processes of the previous quarter of a century. At this time, the geopolitical situation in the world has changed dramatically. Three huge empires collapsed: Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian, new states arose. The balance of forces in the international arena became fundamentally different, but neither the First World War itself, nor the peace agreements that followed it resolved the problems that led to the outbreak of the global conflict. Moreover, the foundations were laid for new, even deeper and more hidden contradictions. In this sense, the assessment that French Marshal Ferdinand Foch gave to the situation in 1919 cannot be called anything other than prophetic: “This is not peace. This is a truce for 20 years."
After the revolution took place in Russia in October 1917, new ones were added to the "usual", traditional contradictions between the leading industrial powers: between the capitalist system and the socialist state. They became the reason for the international isolation of the Soviet Union, which was forced to develop in conditions of constant military threat. By the very fact of its existence, the USSR posed a danger to the old world, which was also experiencing a systemic internal crisis. In this regard, the Bolshevik expectations of a "world revolution" were based on real objective and subjective premises. As for the limited support that the Soviet communists, through the Comintern, provided to like-minded people in the Western countries, it was not only a consequence of ideological convictions, but also an attempt to break out of a hostile, deadly environment. As you know, these hopes were not justified, the world revolution did not happen.
At the end of the First World War, the ideas of the revival of nations found fertile ground in the so-called defeated countries. The society of these states saw the way out of the crisis in the ideology of fascism. So, in 1922, the fascists came to power in Italy, led by Mussolini. In 1933, the leader of the German National Socialists, Hitler, who created the most brutal version of fascism, was appointed chancellor. A year later, he concentrated all power in his hands and began active preparations for a big war. The semantic core of his ideology was the vicious idea of the division of humanity into full-fledged races that have all rights and those whose destiny is death or enslavement.
Militant nationalism has found many supporters both in Europe and beyond. Profascist coups took place in Hungary (March 1, 1920), Bulgaria (June 9, 1923), Spain (September 13, 1923), Portugal and Poland (in May 1926). Even in the USA, Great Britain and France, influential nationalist parties and organizations appeared, headed by politicians who sympathized with Hitler. The high-profile assassinations of King Alexander of Yugoslavia, French Foreign Minister Bartu, Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss, Romanian Prime Minister Duca became visible confirmation of the rapid destabilization of the political situation in Europe.
Hitler made calls to destroy the USSR from the very beginning of his political career. In his book "My Struggle", the first edition of which was published back in 1925, he stated that the main foreign policy goal of the National Socialists is the conquest and settlement of vast lands in the east of Europe by the Germans, only this will ensure Germany the status of a power capable of entering in the struggle for world domination.
Hitler argued that the huge Russian Empire allegedly existed solely due to the presence in it of "state-forming Germanic elements among an inferior race", that without the "German core" lost during the revolutionary events at the end of the First World War, it was ripe for disintegration. Shortly before the Nazis seized power in Germany, he said: “All Russia must be dismembered into its component parts. These components are the natural imperial territory of Germany."
Prelude "Barbarossa"
After the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, preparations for the destruction of the USSR became the main direction of the domestic and foreign policy of the Third Reich. Already on February 3, at a closed meeting with representatives of the Reichswehr high command, Hitler announced that his government intended to "eradicate Marxism", establish a "strictly authoritarian regime" and introduce universal military service. This is in the field of domestic policy. And externally - to achieve the abolition of the Versailles Peace Treaty, find allies, prepare for the "seizure of a new living space in the East and its merciless Germanization."
In the pre-war years, England and France demonstrated their readiness to give up someone else's, but not theirs, in order to preserve the illusion of peace in Europe. The United States preferred to remain on the sidelines for the time being. The West wanted at least to gain time to organize its own defense and, if possible, to solve the problem of neutralizing the USSR with the help of Germany.
In turn, Hitler tried to achieve his goals by dividing the opponents and breaking them apart. He took advantage of the widespread mistrust in the West, even hatred of the Soviet Union. France and Great Britain were frightened by the revolutionary rhetoric of the Comintern, as well as the assistance that the USSR provided to the Spanish republicans, Kuomintang China, and the left forces in general. Hitler seemed to the "Western democracies" closer and more understandable, his clash with the Soviet Union looked in their eyes an ideal option, the realization of which they contributed in every possible way. The world had to pay a huge price for this mistake.
The test of strength for the Nazis was the Spanish Civil War (July 1936 - April 1939). The victory of the rebels under the leadership of General Franco hastened the ripening of a general war. It was the fear of it that made the West evade aid to the republican government, yield to Hitler and Mussolini, which freed their hands for further action.
In March 1936, German troops entered the demilitarized Rhineland, two years later, the Anschluss of Austria occurred, which significantly improved the strategic position of Germany. On September 29-30, 1938, in Munich, the British and French Prime Ministers Chamberlain and Daladier met with Hitler and Mussolini. The agreement signed by them provided for the transfer to Germany of the Sudetenland belonging to Czechoslovakia (where a significant number of Germans lived), some territories were ceded to Hungary and Poland. The West actually sacrificed Czechoslovakia in an attempt to pacify Hitler, and Soviet offers of aid to this country were ignored.
Result? In March 1939, Germany liquidated Czechoslovakia as a sovereign state, and two weeks later captured Memel. After that, the peoples of Poland (September 1 - October 6, 1939), Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, France (from April 10 to June 22, 1940) became victims of German aggression. In Compiegne, in the same carriage where the surrender of Germany was signed in 1918, a Franco-German armistice was concluded, according to which Paris agrees to the occupation of most of the country's territory, the demobilization of almost the entire land army, and the internment of the navy and aviation.
Now it only remained to crush the USSR in order to establish dominance over the entire continental Europe. The conclusion of the German-Soviet treaties on non-aggression (August 23, 1939) and on friendship and the border (September 28, 1939) with additional secret protocols was viewed in Berlin as a tactical maneuver to create the most favorable political and strategic prerequisites for aggression against the USSR. Speaking to a group of members of the Reichstag on August 28, 1939, Hitler emphasized that the Non-Aggression Pact "does not change anything in principled anti-Bolshevik policy" and, moreover, will be used by Germany against the Soviets.
Having concluded an armistice with France on June 22, 1940, the German leadership, despite the fact that it did not manage to withdraw England from the war, decided to turn its weapons against the USSR. On July 3, the Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Colonel-General Halder, on his own initiative, even before receiving the appropriate order from Hitler, began to study the issue of delivering a military strike to Russia, which would force it to recognize the dominant role of Germany in Europe. In the first half of December, the work on the plan was completed.
On December 18, 1940, Hitler signed Directive No. 21, in which it was labeled “Top secret. For command only! " contained a plan of attack on the Soviet Union. The key task of the Wehrmacht was to destroy the Red Army. The plan was given the code name "Barbarossa" - in honor of the aggressive policy of the King of Germany, Frederick I Gigenstaufen (1122-1190), nicknamed Barbarossa for his reddish beard.
The essence of the directive was most fully reflected the phrases with which it began: "The German armed forces must be ready to defeat Soviet Russia in the course of a short campaign even before the war against England is over …" against Poland and France, the confidence that the next blitzkrieg will end in a few weeks of border battles.
The Barbarossa plan envisaged participation in the war between Romania and Finland. The Romanian troops were supposed to "support the offensive of the southern flank of the German troops at least at the beginning of the operation", and "otherwise carry out auxiliary service in the rear areas." The Finnish army was instructed to cover the concentration and deployment at the Soviet border of a grouping of German troops advancing from occupied Norway, and then to conduct hostilities together.
In May 1941, Hungary was also involved in preparing an attack on the USSR. Located in the center of Europe, it was the crossroads of the most important communications. Without her participation or even consent, the German command could not carry out the transfer of its troops to South-Eastern Europe.
All of Europe worked for Hitler
On January 31, 1941, the main command of the ground forces prepared a directive for strategic deployment in accordance with the Barbarossa plan. On February 3, she was approved and sent to the headquarters of three army groups, the Luftwaffe and the naval forces. At the end of February 1941, the deployment of German troops began near the borders of the USSR.
Russia with a military strike, which would force it to recognize the dominant role of Germany in Europe"
The leaders of the allied countries of Germany also believed that the Wehrmacht was capable of crushing the Red Army within a few weeks or months. Therefore, the rulers of Italy, Slovakia and Croatia, on their own initiative, hastily sent their troops to the Eastern Front. In a matter of weeks, an Italian expeditionary corps consisting of three divisions, a Slovak corps with two divisions and a Croatian reinforced regiment arrived here. These formations supported 83 Italian, 51 Slovak and up to 60 Croatian warplanes.
The higher authorities of the Third Reich developed plans in advance not only for waging a war against the Soviet Union, but also for its economic exploitation and dismemberment (plan "Ost"). The speeches of the Nazi leader to the top of the Wehrmacht on January 9, March 17 and 30, 1941 give an idea of how Berlin saw the war with the USSR. Hitler stated that it would be "the complete opposite of a normal war in the west and north of Europe", and that "total destruction, the destruction of Russia as a state" is envisaged. It is necessary to defeat with "the use of the most severe violence" not only the Red Army, but also the "control mechanism" of the USSR, "destroy the commissars and the communist intelligentsia", functionaries and in this way destroy the "ideological bonds" of the Russian people.
By the beginning of the war against the USSR, representatives of the highest command staff of the Wehrmacht had mastered the Nazi worldview and perceived Hitler not only as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but also as an ideological leader. They clothed his criminal instructions in the form of orders to the troops.
On April 28, 1941, Brauchitsch issued an order "Procedure for the use of the security police and the security service (SD) in the formations of the ground forces." It emphasized that army commanders, together with the commanders of special punitive formations of the Nazi security service (SD), are responsible for carrying out actions to destroy communists, Jews and "other radical elements" in the rear front-line areas without trial and investigation. Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) Keitel on May 13, 1941 issued an order "On special jurisdiction in the Barbarossa area and special powers of the troops." The soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht were relieved of responsibility for future crimes in the occupied territory of the USSR. They were ordered to be ruthless, to shoot on the spot without trial or investigation anyone who would show even the slightest resistance or sympathize with the partisans. In the "Guidelines on the conduct of troops in Russia" as one of the appendices to special order No. 1 of May 19, 1941 to the directive "Barbarossa" it was said: "This struggle requires merciless and decisive action against Bolshevik instigators, partisans, saboteurs, Jews and complete suppression of any attempt of active or passive resistance”. On June 6, 1941, the OKW headquarters issued an Instruction on the Treatment of Political Commissars. The soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht were ordered to exterminate all captured political workers of the Red Army on the spot. These ideologically motivated orders, contrary to international law, were approved by Hitler.
The criminal goals of the leadership of Nazi Germany in the war against the USSR, to put it in a few lines, boiled down to the following: the destruction of the Soviet Union as a state, the seizure of its wealth and lands, the extermination of the most active part of the population, primarily representatives of party and Soviet bodies, the intelligentsia and all those who fought against the aggressor. The rest of the citizens were prepared for either exile to Siberia without a livelihood, or the fate of the slaves of the Aryan masters. The rationale for these goals was the racist views of the Nazi leadership, contempt for the Slavs and other "subhumans" who prevent the "existence and reproduction of the superior race" supposedly due to the catastrophic lack of "living space" for it.
It was envisaged within seven months (August 1940 - April 1941) to ensure the complete rearmament of the ground forces (at the rate of 200 divisions). It was undertaken not only by the military factories of the Third Reich, but also by 4,876 enterprises of occupied Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France.
The aviation industry of Germany and the annexed territories produced 10,250 in 1940 and 11,030 military aircraft of all types in 1941. In preparation for the attack on the USSR, the main focus was on the accelerated production of fighters. From the second half of 1940, the production of armored vehicles became the highest priority military program. It has doubled over the year. If in the entire 1940th 1643 light and medium tanks came out, then only in the first half of 1941 their production reached 1621 units. In January 1941, the command demanded that the monthly production of tanks and armored personnel carriers be increased to 1,250 vehicles. In addition to them, wheeled and half-track armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers with 7, 62 and 7, 92-mm machine guns, 20-mm anti-aircraft and 47-mm anti-tank guns and flamethrowers were created. Their output has more than doubled.
At the beginning of 1941, the production of German weapons reached its highest level. In the second quarter, 306 tanks were produced monthly against 109 in the same period in 1940. Compared to April 1, 1940, the increase in the land army's armament by June 1, 1941 was expressed in the following figures: for light 75-mm infantry guns - by 1.26 times, in ammunition for them - by 21 times; for heavy 149.1-mm infantry guns - 1.86 times, for ammunition for them - 15 times; for 105-mm field howitzers - 1, 31 times, for ammunition for them - 18 times; for heavy 150-mm field howitzers - 1.33 times, for ammunition for them - 10 times; for 210-mm mortars - 3, 13 times, for ammunition for them - 29 times.
In connection with the preparations for the war against the USSR, the release of ammunition was significantly increased. Only for the implementation of the initial stage of Operation Barbarossa, about 300 thousand tons of them were allocated.
In value terms, the production of weapons and equipment increased from 700 million marks in 1939 to two billion in 1941. The share of military products in the total volume of industrial production increased in the same years from 9 to 19 percent.
The bottleneck remained the unstable provision of Germany with strategic raw materials, as well as the lack of human resources. But the success of the Nazis in campaigns against Poland, France, and other countries created confidence in the Wehrmacht command and the political leadership that the war against the USSR could also be won in the course of a short campaign and without full mobilization stress on the economy.
Starting aggression against the USSR, Germany also hoped that she would not have to wage a war on two fronts, with the exception of sea and air operations in the West. The German military command, together with representatives of German industry, made plans for the rapid seizure and development of natural resources, industrial enterprises and the labor force of the Soviet Union. On this basis, the leadership of the Third Reich considered it possible to quickly increase its military-economic potential and take further steps towards world domination.
If before the offensive on France in the Wehrmacht there were 156 divisions, including 10 tank and 6 motorized, then before the attack on the USSR there were already 214 divisions, including 21 tank and 14 motorized. For the war in the East, more than 70 percent of the formations were allocated: 153 divisions, including 17 tank and 14 motorized, as well as three brigades. It was the most efficient part of the German ground forces.
For aviation support, out of the five air fleets available in the Wehrmacht, three in full and one in part have been allocated. These forces, in the opinion of the German military command, were quite enough to defeat the Red Army.
To create more favorable conditions for the deployment of its troops near the western borders of the USSR, the Reich achieved the accession of three powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) to a number of European countries: Hungary (November 20, 1940), Romania (November 23), Slovakia (24 November), Bulgaria (March 1, 1941), "independent" Croatia (June 16), created by the Nazi government after the defeat and dismemberment of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Berlin established military cooperation with Finland without including it in the Three-Power Pact. Under the cover of two agreements concluded with Helsinki on September 12 and 20, 1940 on the transit of military materials and troops to occupied Norway, the transformation of Finnish territory into an operational base for an attack on the USSR began. The Turkish government, maintaining neutrality at a certain stage, planned to enter the war on the side of the Axis countries and was ready to attack the Soviet Union in the fall of 1942.
It was not possible to complete the deployment of the main German forces in the east according to the Barbarossa plan, as planned, until May 15. Part of the German troops from April 6 to April 29, 1941, participated in the Balkan campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On April 30, at a meeting of the Wehrmacht high command, the beginning of Operation Barbarossa was postponed to June 22.
The deployment of German troops intended to attack the USSR was completed in the middle of the month. In the grouping of the German armed forces on June 22, 1941, there were 4.1 million people, 40,500 artillery pieces, about 4,200 tanks and assault guns, more than 3,600 combat aircraft, 159 ships. Taking into account the troops of Finland, Romania and Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Croatia, about five million people, 182 divisions and 20 brigades, 47,200 guns and mortars, about 4,400 tanks and assault guns, more than 4,300 combat aircraft, 246 ships.
Thus, in the summer of 1941, the main military forces of the aggressor bloc came out against the USSR. An armed struggle unprecedented in scope and intensity began. The direction of human history depended on its outcome.
Oldenburg is the codename for the economic subsection of the Barbarossa plan. It was envisaged that all reserves of raw materials and large industrial enterprises in the territory between the Vistula and the Urals would be put into the service of the Reich.
The most valuable industrial equipment was supposed to be sent to the Reich, and the one that would not be useful to Germany was to be destroyed. The initial version of the Oldenburg plan (Goering's Green Folder) was approved at a secret meeting on March 1, 1941 (protocol 1317 P. S.). It was finally approved after a two-month detailed study on April 29, 1941 (minutes of the secret meeting 1157 P. S.). The territory of the USSR was divided into four economic inspectorates (Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, Baku) and 23 commandant's offices, as well as 12 bureaus. The Oldenburg headquarters was formed for coordination.
Subsequently, it was supposed to split the European part of the USSR into seven states, each of which was to be economically dependent on Germany. The territory of the Baltic States was planned to be made a protectorate and subsequently included in the Reich.
The economic robbery was accompanied by the implementation of the "OST" plan - the destruction, resettlement and Germanization of the Russian people. For Ingermanlandia, which was to include the Pskov land, a sharp decline in population was assumed (physical destruction, a decrease in the birth rate, resettlement to remote areas), as well as the transfer of the liberated territory to German colonists. This plan was designed for the future, but some directives were implemented already during the occupation.
Several German landowners arrived in the Pskov lands. One of them, Beck, got the opportunity to create a latifundia on the basis of the Gari state farm in the Dnovsky district (5700 hectares). On this territory there were 14 villages, more than a thousand peasant farms, which found themselves in the position of slaves. Baron Schauer established an estate in Porkhovsky district on the lands of the Iskra state farm.
From the first days of the occupation, compulsory labor service was introduced for all persons from 18 to 45 years old, which was later extended to those who turned 15, and extended to 65 years for men and 45 for women. The working day lasted 14-16 hours. Many of those who remained in the occupied territory worked in a power plant, railroad, peat mining and tannery, subject to corporal punishment and imprisonment. The invaders deprived the Russian population of the right to study in schools. All libraries, cinemas, clubs, museums were looted.
A terrible page of the occupation - sending young people to work in Germany and the Baltic states. They were housed in farms, where they labored in the field, looked after livestock, while receiving meager food, wearing their own clothes, and being bullied. Some were sent to military factories in Germany, where they worked 12 hours a day and were paid 12 marks a month. This money was enough to buy 200 grams of bread and 20 grams of margarine a day.
Several concentration camps were created by the Germans in the occupied territory. They contained hundreds of thousands of wounded and sick. Only in the concentration camp in Kresty 65 thousand people died - approximately this was the entire pre-war population of Pskov.
First Partisan
Despite the "new order" based on fear, brutal exploitation, robbery and violence, the Nazis failed to break the Pskovites. Already in the first months of the occupation, partisan detachments of 25 to 180 people were organized.
The position of the Northern capital, blocked from all sides, forced the leaders of the regional party committee to speed up the creation of the headquarters of the partisan movement of the Leningrad region, which included the northern part of the present-day Pskov. LShPD was formed on September 27, 1941, the first in the country, long before the organization of the central headquarters (in May 1942).
Taking into account the situation, it was decided to create base groups and brigades (mainly in Leningrad), which were then thrown across the front line and already in the occupied territory gathered together scattered partisan detachments, called on the local population to resist. There was also self-organization on the basis of extermination battalions and the people's militia.
The core of the 2nd Leningrad Partisan Brigade (commander - career officer Nikolai Vasiliev), which soon became the leading one, was formed from Soviet workers in the eastern regions of the Pskov region and professional military personnel. His goal was to unite all scattered and small detachments in the occupied territory. In August 1941, this task was completed.
Soon the 2nd LPB conquered from the enemy a significant part of the territory on which the first Partisan Territory was formed. Here, south of Lake Ilmen, at the junction of modern Pskov and Novgorod regions, there were no large German garrisons, so there was an opportunity to expand the borders of the region, making small strikes and sabotage. But the population of the villages got the hope that they have real protection, armed groups will always come to the rescue. The peasants provided the partisans with all kinds of support with food, clothing, information about the location and movement of German troops. More than 400 villages were located on the territory of the Partisan Territory. Here, in the form of organizational projects and village councils, Soviet power was restored, schools worked, and newspapers were published.
At the first stage of the war, this was the most significant area of operation of the partisans. In the winter of 1941-1942, they carried out raids to destroy the German garrisons (Yasski, Tyurikovo, Dedovichi). In March 1942, a convoy with food for besieged Leningrad was sent from the region. During this period, the 2nd brigade repelled the offensive of punitive expeditions three times (November 1941, May and June 1942) and each time it managed to win, primarily thanks to nationwide support, which was also manifested in the increase in the number of fighters: from a thousand to August 1941 to three thousand a year later. Fortified outposts were created along the border of the region. Punishers committed atrocities in places adjacent to the Partisan Territory: they burned villages, killed peasants. The partisans also had losses: 360 killed, 487 wounded in the first year.
During its centuries-old history, Pskov had to participate in 120 wars and withstand 30 sieges, but still the most heroic and tragic moments of its history will forever remain associated with the Great Patriotic War.
The path to glory
In the early morning of May 1, 1945, Alexei Berest, Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria, with the support of the machine gunners of the company I. Syanov, hoisted the assault flag of the 150th rifle division over the Reichstag, which later became the Banner of Victory. This division was formed in September 1943 in the Staraya Russa area on the basis of the 127th, 144th and 151st rifle brigades of the North-Western Front.
Since September 12, the 150th Infantry has already taken part in local battles. Until the end of 1943, she participated in battles as part of the 22nd and 6th Guards Armies. From January 5 to the end of July 1944, she fought defensive and offensive battles as part of the 3rd Shock Army of the 2nd Baltic Front. During the Rezhitsa-Dvina and Madona operations, she took part in the liberation of cities: July 12 - Idritsa, July 27 - Rezhitsa (Rezekne), August 13 - Madona. By order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of July 12, 1944, the 150th Infantry Division was awarded the honorary title of Idritskaya for military merits. The division fought offensive battles in the Riga operation (September 14 - October 22, 1944).
As part of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 150th Idritskaya Infantry Division of the Order of Kutuzov took part in the Berlin operation (April 16 - May 8, 1945), conducting hostilities in the main direction.
On April 30, after several attacks, units of the 150th Rifle Division under the command of Major General V. Shatilov and the 171st Rifle Division under the command of Colonel A. Negodov took the main part of the Reichstag by storm. The remaining Nazi units offered fierce resistance. I had to fight literally for every room. During the battle for the Reichstag, the assault flag of the 150th division was installed on the dome of the building. By order of the Supreme Command of June 11, 1945, the division was given the honorary name Berlin.
Pskov after liberation presented a terrible picture of destruction. The total damage to the city in post-war prices was estimated at 1.5 billion rubles. The residents had to accomplish a new feat, this time a labor one.
The leadership of the state understood well the importance of the city in the history of the country and Russian culture, and rendered enormous help and support to the people of Pskov. In accordance with the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 23, 1944, Pskov became the center of the newly formed region. On November 1, 1945, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, it was included in the list of the 15 oldest cities in the country that were subject to priority restoration. All these measures contributed not only to the revival in historical and cultural hypostases, but also to the acquisition of new - political and economic values.
By presidential decree of December 5, 2009, he was awarded the honorary title "City of Military Glory" for the courage, resilience and mass heroism shown by the defenders of Pskov in the struggle for the freedom and independence of the Fatherland.
Lessons and Conclusions
The question is legitimate: could the beginning of the war have turned out differently for us, could it have been better prepared to repel the aggression? The acute shortage of time and the lack of material resources did not allow to fulfill all that had been planned. The restructuring of the economy for the needs of a future war was far from complete. Numerous measures to strengthen and re-equip the army also did not have time to complete. The fortifications on the old and new borders were incomplete and poorly equipped. The army, which had grown at times, was in great need of qualified command personnel.
Speaking about the subjective side of the problem, one cannot but admit the personal responsibility of the Soviet political and military leadership, Stalin personally, for the mistakes made in preparing the country and the army for war, for mass repressions. And also because the order to bring the border districts to full combat readiness was given too late.
The roots of many wrong decisions can be found in the fact that the leaders of the USSR erroneously assessed the political possibilities of preventing a war with Germany in 1941. Hence the fear of provocations, and the delay in giving the necessary orders. The stakes in the pre-war difficult game with Hitler were extremely high, and the significance of its possible outcome was so great that the risks were underestimated. And it was very expensive. We got the hardest war on our territory with gigantic population losses.
It would seem that our sacrifices are confirmation of the Soviet Union's unpreparedness for war. They are truly immense. In June - September 1941 alone, the irrecoverable losses of Soviet troops exceeded 2.1 million, including 430,578 people killed, died of wounds and diseases, 1,699,099 people were missing and captured. The Germans left them dead in the same period. on the Soviet-German front 185 thousand people. Tank divisions of the Wehrmacht had already lost up to 50 percent of their personnel and about half of their tanks by mid-August.
And yet, the tragic results of the initial period of the war should not prevent us from seeing the main thing: the Soviet Union survived. This means that in the broadest sense of the word he was ready for war and showed himself worthy of Victory.
In Poland, France and other European countries, the unpreparedness was fatal, and this is confirmed by the very fact of their quick and crushing defeat.
The USSR withstood the blow and did not disintegrate, although this was predicted by many. The country and the army remained manageable. To unite the efforts of the front and rear, all power was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee formed on June 30, 1941. The brilliantly organized evacuation of millions of people, thousands of enterprises, enormous material values made it possible in 1942 to surpass Germany in the production of basic types of military products.
Despite all the military successes and the seizure of many regions of the USSR with a multi-million population, the aggressor was unable to achieve its goal: to destroy the main forces of the Red Army and ensure unhindered advancement into the interior of the country.
Significant in this respect is the sharp slowdown in the offensive of the German fascist troops. The average daily rate of advance of the Wehrmacht in comparison with the first days of the war by September 1941 decreased in the northwestern direction from 26 to two or three kilometers, in the west - from 30 to two or two and a half kilometers, in the southwest - from 20 to six kilometers. During the Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow in December 1941, the Germans were driven back from the capital, which meant the failure of the Barbarossa plan and the blitzkrieg strategy.
The Soviet command used the gained time to organize defense, form reserves and conduct evacuation.
Before the attack on the Soviet Union, Germany defeated and captured many European states in lightning military campaigns. Hitler and his entourage, believing in the blitzkrieg doctrine, hoped that it would work flawlessly against the USSR as well. The aggressor's temporary successes cost him great irreparable losses, undermined his material, moral and psychological strength.
Overcoming significant shortcomings in the organization and conduct of hostilities, the commanding staff of the Red Army learned the skill of commanding troops, mastered the advanced achievements of military art.
In the flames of war, the consciousness of the Soviet people also changed: the initial confusion was replaced by a firm belief in the rightness of the struggle against fascism, in the inevitability of the triumph of justice, in Victory. The feeling of historical responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, for the life of relatives and friends multiplied the forces of resistance to the enemy.
