World War II

Countries participating in the war

In total, 62 of the 73 independent states that existed at that time participated in World War II.

Dark Green - Allies before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

Light Green - Allies who joined after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Blue - Nazi Forces

Sery - neutral forces

1939

Japan's use of bio-weapons against the USSR during the battle on the Khalkhin-Gol River

At the end of August 2024, the FSB published declassified archival documents on Japan's use of bacteriological weapons against the USSR. This happened at the end of August 1939 during the battle on the Khalkhin-Gol River. Read more here.

Map from the American magazine "Look"

German attack on Poland

On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland.

Britain declares war on Germany but does not fight. Hitler's direction plan for the USSR

On September 1, 1939, the British government under the leadership of N. Chamberlain sent a note of protest to Germany, on September 3 it was followed by an ultimatum, then a declaration of war on Germany.

British expeditionary forces were sent to France.

However, all the time the German troops were busy in the East, in actions against Poland, the allied Anglo-French troops did not undertake any active hostilities on land and in the air. And the rapid defeat of Poland made the temporary period during which it was possible to force Germany to fight on two fronts very short.

As a result, the British expeditionary force of 10 divisions, transferred to France from September 1939 to February 1940, was inactive. In the American press, this period was called "Strange War."

In September 1939, France and England, with a guaranteed victory (absolute superiority over German cover troops), did not enter the battle for Poland in spite of allied obligations.

The "policy of appeasement" is a consistent strategy to strengthen Hitler to destroy the USSR. 

The English scenario of World War II broke Stalin with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The German-Polish war did not develop into a war with the USSR. England and France were unexpectedly in a position of war with Hitler fed by them under Soviet neutrality. 

Britain declares India a belligerent

On 3 September 1939, India, without the consent of its political parties represented in the Central Legislative Assembly, was declared a belligerent by the British government. Immediately after that, the law "On the Defense of India" was introduced in the country, which provided for the creation of special tribunals for the consideration of cases related to "crimes against the country's defense." The law gave the authorities the right to ban rallies, disband any organizations and arrest people if their activities were recognized as dangerous to the defense of India.

Partition of Poland

On September 14, 1939, during the invasion of Poland, the German 19th Motorized Corps attacked the city of Brest-Litovsk and occupied it. On the morning of September 17, the Germans also occupied the fortress.

On September 22, Brest was transferred, in accordance with the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union (also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army during the "impromptu parade" and included in the USSR as the center of the newly formed Brest region of the BSSR.

The Soviet-German state border ran along the Western Bug River.

The beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war to prevent the plan of Britain and France to organize an attack on the USSR

On November 30, 1939, after lengthy unsuccessful negotiations, Soviet troops launched an invasion of Finland.

On the same day, Soviet aircraft bombed and fired machine guns at Helsinki. At the same time, as a result of the mistake of the pilots, mainly residential working quarters were damaged. In response to protests by European diplomats, Molotov said that Soviet aircraft dropped bread on Helsinki for the starving population.

1940

Britain and France's plan to attack the USSR in the Caucasus and Karelia failed

England and France were preparing plans for a war against the USSR in early 1940 . The operation in the South was the destruction of the main center of Soviet oil production (massive bombing of Baku, Grozny, the invasion of the army of Gen. Weigan based on the uprisings of the anti-Soviet forces of the Caucasus). 

The operation in the North is the landing of an expeditionary force in Petsamo, the joint capture of Karelia with the Finns, provoking a civil war ("Karelia could become a place where anti-Stalinist forces will unite" - Adm. Darlan).

England explained the plans to attack the USSR with noble goals:  1. depriving Hitler of access to Soviet oil;  2. help the Finns repel USSR aggression. All claims against Stalin: he concluded the Pact with Hitler, supplied him with oil and attacked Finland. This version is actively being introduced into the public consciousness. 

In fact, in 1940, oil consumption in Germany was about 10 million tons (a strategic reserve of 6 million). 669 thousand tons were delivered from the USSR (if it is technically impossible to increase). From Romania, 1.442 million tons (if possible to double the increase). 72.8% of the needs were covered by the production of artificial fuel (to be brought to 97%). These figures were known in Moscow, even better they were known in London.

The plans to attack the USSR are an attempt to escape, translating the "strange war" into a pan-European campaign against Bolshevism. The destruction of the oil production center would lead to the collapse of the military, industrial and agricultural systems of Russia within about 9 months (Gen. Gamelin). The Reich, saturated with anti-communism, could not take advantage of this opportunity. 

For the USSR, these plans were more dangerous than Barbarossa. I would have to fight not only with the Reich and its satellites, but also with England and France, with an army and economy completely not yet ready for a big war.   The goals and plans of London and Paris were known to Moscow ("support for the White-Finns, the creation of a hotbed of war in the south of the Soviet Union, the direction of Germany to the East" - Summary of the 5th Upr. KA, February 1940). Which made it possible to disrupt them. Finland was withdrawn from the war before the expeditionary force was ready. The strengthening of the army and air defense in Transcaucasia forced the Anglo-French command to postpone the attack to the end of June 1940 for better training, but on June 14 the Wehrmacht entered Paris, the "strange war" ended. Stalin proved the fairness of the saying "Do not dig a hole for another."

By April, London had already realized the failure of plans for a pan-European war against the USSR and began to look for other options. On June 20, he proposed that Moscow annex all the oil-bearing regions of Romania to the USSR except Bessarabia. 

The weakness of the USSR army in the war with Finland prompted Hitler to prepare an attack

After three months of horrific military losses, Stalin had to agree to a truce with Finland in March 1940.

It was a formal victory for the USSR, but a pyrrhic victory. In addition to the inadequate ratio of losses (Soviet troops lost about seven times more than Finnish), this war showed the weakness of the Red Army, the inability of its military leaders and largely contributed to Hitler's decision to attack the USSR.

Germany occupies Norway and Denmark

The invasion of Nazi Germany in Norway took place on the night of April 8-9, 1940 and took place under the pretext that Norway needed protection from military aggression from Great Britain and France.

On April 9, 1940, Denmark, in violation of the non-aggression treaty with Germany, was occupied by Wehrmacht forces as part of the Danish-Norwegian operation.

An hour after the start of the operation, the government and the king ordered the armed forces not to resist the aggressor and capitulated. In general, the operation to occupy Denmark took several hours, the losses of the German army amounted to 2 servicemen killed and 10 wounded.

Netherlands capitulates in 5 days

On May 10, 1940, German troops invaded the Netherlands, and on May 15, 1940, the Dutch armed forces surrendered.

The royal family left for London, a pro-German government was created in the country. Two divisions of SS troops (23rd and 34th) were created from Dutch volunteers.

25.05.1940 d]]

Italy declares war on Britain and France

The Kingdom of Italy entered World War II on the side of the Axis on June 10, 1940, declaring war on Britain and France.

Capitulation of France

The Baltic countries are part of the USSR

On June 3, 1940, the USSR Charge d'Affaires in Lithuania V. Semenov wrote a review note on the situation in Lithuania, in which the Soviet embassy drew Moscow's attention to the Lithuanian government's desire to "fall into the hands of Germany," and to the intensification of "the activities of the German fifth column and arming members of the Union of Shooters," preparation for mobilization. It speaks of "the true intentions of the Lithuanian ruling circles," which, if the conflict is resolved, will only strengthen "their line against the treaty, moving to" business collusion with Germany, waiting only for a convenient moment for a direct strike on the Soviet garrisons. "

On June 4, under the guise of exercises, the troops of the Leningrad, Kalinin and Belorussian Special Military Districts were raised on alarm and began to advance to the borders of the Baltic states.

On June 14, the Soviet government presented an ultimatum to Lithuania, and on June 16 - Latvia and Estonia. In the main features, the meaning of ultimatums coincided - the governments of these states were accused of gross violation of the conditions of the Mutual Assistance Treaties previously concluded with the USSR, and a demand was made to form governments capable of ensuring the implementation of these treaties, as well as allowing additional contingents of troops to enter the territory of these countries. The conditions were accepted.

On June 15, additional contingents of Soviet troops were introduced to Lithuania, and on June 17 - to Estonia and Latvia.

Lithuanian President Antanas Smetona insisted on organizing resistance to Soviet troops, however, having been refused by most of the government, he fled to Germany, and his Latvian and Estonian colleagues - Karlis Ulmanis and Konstantin Päts - went to cooperate with the new government (both were soon repressed), as did Lithuanian Prime Minister Antanas Merkis. In all three countries, Soviet-friendly governments were formed, headed, respectively, by Eustace Paleckis (Lithuania), Johannes Vares (Estonia) and August Kirchenstein (Latvia).

The new governments lifted bans on the activities of communist parties and demonstrations, issued pro-Soviet political prisoners and called snap parliamentary elections. At the July 14 votes in all three states, the pro-communist Blocs (Unions) of the working people formally won were the only electoral lists admitted to the elections.

The newly elected parliaments on July 21-22 proclaimed the creation of the Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR and the Lithuanian SSR and adopted the Declarations on entry into the USSR. On August 3-6, 1940, in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, these republics were adopted into the Soviet Union.

From the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian armies, Lithuanian (29th rifle), Latvian (24th rifle) and Estonian (22nd rifle) territorial corps were formed, which became part of PribOVO.

Japan occupies French Indochina

At the beginning of World War II, eastern Indochina was a French colony, but the rapid fall of France created a political vacuum that allowed Japan to occupy Indochina in September 1940.

Japan's ally in the region was Thailand, which allowed Japanese troops to be deployed on its territory. In return, pro-Japanese Thailand received Laos and part of the territory of Cambodia.

Main article: Detachment 731 (Bacteriological Weapons of Japan)

Britain deploys mobilization and military economy in East Africa

Main article: British Colonies of East Africa

Negotiations between the USSR and Germany

Göring, the air ass of the First World War, played an important role in organizing the Luftwaffe, the German air force, the supreme command of which he exercised almost the entire period of World War II in Europe (1939 - 1945).

Italy declares war on Greece

On October 28, 1940, Italy declared war on Greece.

Coca-Cola's German office creates Fanta drink due to sanctions - only for Nazi Germany

During World War II, Coca-Cola, due to sanctions, could not import syrup into German territory. Therefore, the representative of Coca-Cola in this fascist country created the drink Fanta - only for Nazi Germany.

1941

German bombings of London

Italy declares war on Yugoslavia

On April 6, 1941, Italy declared war on Yugoslavia.

The "hunger plan" of the Nazis to exterminate 20-30 million people from the peoples of the USSR

At the end of June 2023, the Russian Military Historical Society published the full version of the "Hunger Plan" - a document developed by Hitler's Germany to destroy the peoples of the USSR.

The document entitled "Directive on Economic Policy of the Economic Headquarters" is posted on the portal www.histrf.ru. This plan, dated May 23, 1941, involved the extermination of from 20 to 30 million residents of the USSR.

According to Yegor Yakovlev, director of the Digital History Research Foundation, in addition to the well-known Barbarossa military program, an economic plan for seizing Soviet territory was also prepared. The plan came at a turbulent time when the Third Reich was heavily dependent on food imports. The British naval blockade threatened the food situation in Nazi Germany. Therefore, Nazi Germany tried to rob the Soviet Union by removing clean all grain from the USSR.

According to Yakovlev, this document was discovered by one American among the documents of the Wehrmacht high command and presented to the Nuremberg Tribunal. Unfortunately, it was never published in Russian. According to the document, German settlers had to gradually settle in the occupied territories of the USSR, and the indigenous population had to go somewhere.

We condemn these people to starvation not only because they are extra mouths, but also because the Great Russians, that under the tsar, that under the Bolsheviks, have always been enemies of Germany and Europe, are a quote from the directive.

The "Directive on Economic Policy of the Economic Headquarters" was proposed by Herbert Buck, Secretary of the German Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The directive formulated by him stated that if the Wehrmacht conquered the black earth territories of the USSR, then all food from it should be used to supply the Third Reich to support the German layman. According to the plan, primarily grain and other food was supposed to leave Moscow and Leningrad due to the high population density.^[1][2]

Germany and Turkey signed a friendship treaty

On June 18, 1941, Germany and Turkey signed a friendship treaty. See History of Turkey for details.

Axis countries attack the USSR

On June 22, 1941, the Axis countries attacked the USSR.

At the end of November 2022, the head of Rosarkhiv Andrei Artizov said that, according to archival documents, the Great Patriotic War actually began at 03:15 - 45 minutes earlier than previously thought.

As Artizov specified, in Soviet historiography it was always about the fact that the war began at 04:00. However, the documents indicate that the bombing of the cities of the USSR was actually carried out at 03:15.

According to RIA Novosti, reports of the activity of the Nazis at the border began to arrive on June 22, 1941 after three o'clock in the morning. They were perceived as provocations, but soon they realized: this is a war. At 3:05, German bombers Ju-88 dropped 28 magnetic mines at the Kronstadt raid, and two minutes later the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reported that many unknown aircraft were approaching Sevastopol from the sea. And an hour later - about the first destruction in the city.

At 4:15 in the morning, the Germans launched a massive artillery strike on the Brest Fortress - detonated ammunition depots, communication was broken, killed and wounded appeared. As it became known later, the Germans concentrated impressive ground forces in Belarus - in Army Group Center under the command of Field Marshal Boca there were almost 650 thousand people, 800 tanks, 12.5 thousand guns and mortars, about 1.7 thousand aircraft.

The Western Front defending this section was not inferior in terms of the number of personnel and equipment to the enemy, and even exceeded in tanks, but in the first echelon of the Soviet group there were only 13 rifle divisions, while the Germans had 28.

At the same time, German aviation destroyed Minsk - bombs destroyed water supply, sewerage, electricity, and telephone communications. Thousands of civilians were killed. Hitler's mechanized formations dissected and surrounded the troops of the Western Front, blocking almost three dozen divisions in the boiler.^[3]

22 divisions of other countries attacked the USSR on the side of Hitler

During the attack on the USSR, 22 "national SS divisions" really fought on Hitler's side. In total, 522 thousand volunteers served in them.

Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg sent about 110 thousand soldiers to the Soviet-German front. France gave Germany up to 180 thousand fighters (this is more than fought in the French Resistance to Hitler). And even officially neutral Spain, Sweden and Switzerland gave the German army more than 50 thousand volunteers.^[4]

They should be listed at least in order to assess the geography of Hitler's "European Union":

• Albania: 21st SS Skanderbeg Mountain Division;
• Belgium: 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Langemark," 28th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Wallonia," Flemish SS Legion;
• Bulgaria: Bulgarian anti-tank brigade of SS troops;
• Hungary: 17th SS Corps, 25th SS Grenadier Division "Hunyadi," 26th SS Grenadier Division, 33rd SS Cavalry Division;
• Denmark: 11th SS Volunteer Tank and Grenadier Division "Nordland," 34th Volunteer Grenadier Division "Landstorm Nederland," SS Free Corps "Dunmark," SS Volunteer Corps "Schalburg";

  Italy 29th SS Grenadier Division "Italia";

• Netherlands: 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland," 23rd SS Volunteer Motorized Division "Nederland," 34th Landstorm Nederland Volunteer Grenadier Division, Flemish SS Legion;
• Norway: Norwegian SS Legion, Norwegian SS Ski Gamekeeper Battalion, Norwegian SS Legion, 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland";
• Poland: SS Gural Volunteer Legion;
• Romania: 103rd SS Tank Fighter Regiment, Grenadier Regiment of SS Troops;
• Serbia: Serbian SS Volunteer Corps;
• Latvia: Latvian Legionnaires, Latvian SS Volunteer Legion, 6th SS Corps, 15th SS Grenadier Division, 19th SS Grenadier Division;
• Estonia: 20th SS Grenadier Division;
• Finland: Finnish SS Volunteer Battalion, 11th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland";

• France: 28th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Wallonia," 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne," Legion "Besin Perroth";
• Croatia: 9th SS Mountain Corps, 13th SS Khanjar Mountain Division, 23rd SS Kama Mountain Division;
• Czechoslovakia: SS Gural Volunteer Legion;
• Galicia: 14th SS Grenadier Division "Galicia" (1st Ukrainian).

And there were: the Scandinavian 5th SS Panzer Division Viking (Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway), the Balkan 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prince Eugen (Hungary, Romania, Serbia), the 4th SS Mountain Rifle (cave) Division "Karstjeger" (Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Galicia, Italy), the 36th SS Grenadier Division "Dirlewanger" (recruited from different countries of Europe).

Moscow, October 25th Street. Photo: Evgeny Halday, TASS]]

Year: 1941]]

Graduates of the Lipetsk Aviation School in the Luftwaffe General

Figures marked Lipetsk "graduates": 1. Field Marshal Hugo Sperrle; 2. Major General Gunther Korten; 3. Aviation General Hans Yeshonnek; 4. Lieutenant General Wilhelm Speidel; 5. Aviation General Gustav Kastner-Kirdorf. Second from left is Albert Kesselring, in white is Hermann Goering.

Explosion of DneproHPP during the retreat of Soviet troops

On August 18, 1941, after the breakthrough of German troops in the Zaporozhye region, the DneproHPP dam was blown up. The undermining was carried out at the direction of the Soviet leadership, according to the order of the General Staff.

Contrary to the statements of the Finnish leaders that their goal is only the return of land rejected by the Soviet Union in 1940, Finnish troops advanced much further than the old border. In particular, they occupied most of Soviet Karelia with Petrozavodsk as its capital.

In the fall of 1941, the advance of the Finnish army was stopped. The front line in Karelia and north of Leningrad did not change until June 1944, when the offensive operations of the Soviet troops began.

Overthrow of Shah Reza Pahlavi during the Soviet-British operation in Iran

In 1941, during World War II, Reza Shah tried to refuse the USSR and Britain to deploy their troops in Iran, after which on August 25, 1941, Soviet and British troops from both ends of the country crossed the Iranian border as part of Operation Consent. It was announced that for the entire period of World War II, they were taking control of the territory, and the Shah was asked to abdicate.

15.09.1941, Soviet and British troops entered Tehran, and the next day, September 16, Shah Reza Pahlavi was forced to sign an abdication in favor of his son.

Occupation of Kyiv by German troops

German troops entered Kyiv on September 19, 1941.

Shooting by Germans of tens of thousands of Jews in Vinnitsa

July 19, 1941 Vinnitsa was captured by the Wehrmacht. Part of the Jewish population managed to evacuate along with the retreating Red Army, but the remaining in the city (and there were most of them) were imprisoned in a ghetto in the Jerusalem region, and a Judenrat was created in the city.

On July 28, 1941, the first 146 Jews were shot in Vinnitsa. On August 1, executions resumed with the murder of 25 Jewish intellectuals, and on August 13, another 350 people were shot.

On September 5 and 13, 1,000 and 2,200 Jews were killed in preparation for the "final solution of the Jewish issue" in Vinnitsa. On September 19-22, about 28 thousand Jews were shot, most of the prisoners of the Vinnitsa ghetto. After the seizure of valuables, Jews drove into large previously dug ditches in many places around the city and were shot, and the murders were recorded on film. German police battalions and Einsatzgruppen took part in the executions with the help of Ukrainian collaborators.

The first mass shooting in Babi Yar in Kyiv - 33,771 Jews

Babi Yar in Kyiv gained fame as a tract in which mass executions of civilians were carried out, mainly Jews, gypsies, as well as Soviet prisoners of war, Nazis and Ukrainian collaborators during World War II, during the occupation of Ukraine by German troops.

The first mass shooting occurred on September 29-30, 1941, as a result of which 33,771 Jews were killed.

In total, about a hundred thousand people were shot. According to some sources, about one hundred and fifty thousand people (residents of Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine) were shot in Babi Yar alone.

Deaths from German air bombs of 2,000 women, children and wounded during evacuation in Tikhvin, Leningrad Region

On October 14, 1941, more than 2,000 people died at the railway station in the city of Tikhvin - wounded Red Army soldiers, women and children evacuated from Leningrad. They seemed to be far from war, famine and the horrors of the blockade: only a few kilometers to the Big Land remained. But a massive raid of fascist aviation began. For several hours, the enemy mercilessly dropped high-explosive and incendiary bombs on defenseless people. Ammunition trains and fuel tanks exploded. The strongest fire started... The exact death toll at Tikhvin Station is still unknown.

in

"My mission, if I succeed, is to destroy Slavism" - Hitler

"My mission, if I succeed, is to destroy Slavism," Adolf Hitler said in a conversation with Deputy Prime Minister of the government and Foreign Romania Minister Mihai Antonescu. During their meeting Berlin on November 27, 1941, Hitler openly announced plans for the genocide of the Slavs^[5]

Yegor Yakovlev, an expert of the Russian Military Historical Society, head of the Digital History project, found a record of the negotiations and for the first time translated its full text into Russian. The original so-called "meeting record" is kept in the archives of the National Council for the Study of Security Archives in Bucharest.

Part of the dialogue between Antonescu and Hitler was devoted entirely to the "Slavic question." Antonescu informed the Fuhrer that Romania is a categorical opponent of the creation of an independent Ukraine, about the projects of which he was aware. The Romanian politician pointed out that Slavism is a huge "biological problem" for Europe, referring to the large number of the "primitive" Slavic population, which is incompatible with European culture and civilization. If, after the defeat of the USSR, an independent Ukraine appears, according to Antonescu, it will begin to draw the rest of the Eastern Slavs into its orbit and turn into a new threat to Europe. This, the head of the Romanian Foreign Ministry argued, should not be allowed.

Führer immediately agrees that the Slavs pose not an ideological, but a biological problem for Europe, speaks of the extreme danger of the "Russian problem" and argues that it is necessary to jointly find methods for the "biological elimination of the Slavs." Further, the head of the Third Reich discusses the conquest of living space in the East and says that his mission, if he can only fulfill it, is to destroy Slavism.

• These were not just statements - the policy of destroying the indigenous population of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus by the fall of 1941 was already carried out by the Nazis quite consistently - said Yegor Yakovlev. - Its main tool to the Nazis was famine, which became a means of destroying Soviet prisoners of war and residents of large cities. The most monstrous famine was organized to lure out Leningraders, but, for example, the population of Kyiv and Kharkov was also destroyed by artificial hunger. The special actions of the SS and the police with the support of the Wehrmacht were to complement this organized humanitarian catastrophe. The occupation regime was planned in such a way as to cause huge mortality among indigenous peoples and thereby "solve the biological problem" that Hitler and Antonescu spoke about on November 27, 1941. At the same time, Jews and gypsies were subject to total extermination.

Key fragment from Mihai Antonescu meeting report:

"The Führer began with a heated discussion of the great Slavic problem, giving me the honor in three cases to accept the point of view I stated on European reconstruction. As the basis for the conversation, the Fuhrer openly told me:

"You are right, the Slavic problem is biological, not ideological, as you said, and the fight against the Slavs should be fought by all Europeans."

In the future Europe, there should be only two races: Latin and Germanic. These two races must work together in Russia to destroy (literally - dărâma, demolish) the Slavs. You cannot oppose Russia with legal or political formulas, because the Russian problem is much more serious than many people think, and we must find solutions to the colonization and biological elimination of the Slavs.

That is why all European peoples must work together in the fight against the Slavs, and tomorrow jointly transform Russia for Europe.

Why should Belgians have 224 inhabitants per square kilometer when Russia has such huge spaces?

Why should my West Germans live in difficult conditions when spaces in the East offer them a future?

My mission, the Führer said, if I succeed, is to destroy Slavism. "

US enters war after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor

The United States of America entered World War II on December 7, 1941, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

Initially, the M&M'S chocolate drage was made for the US military by Mars.

1942

Croats open children's concentration camps. In total, almost 75 thousand Serbian children died in them

During World War II, the Ustashi (Croatian Nazis) launched large-scale activities to "re-educate" small Orthodox Serbs.

The independent state of Croatia has become the only country in the history of mankind on the territory of which children's concentration camps were opened, hidden behind "refugee shelters."

The first camp for children was founded in the town of Gornya Rijeka near Krizhevets. The camp was founded with the direct participation of the Ustaše government of the Independent State of Croatia. The first group of children was taken to the camp on June 24, 1942.

The scale is terrifying: according to historians, almost 75 thousand children under the age of 14 died in the camps of Lobor, Jablanac, Mlaka, Brošica, Ustiči, Stara Gradiška, Sisak, Gornja Rijeka and Yastrebarsko. The same number of Croats were forcibly converted to Catholicism. Children who underwent "re-education" and abandoned the Orthodox faith and Serbian identity were sent for adoption to Croatian families.

Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad

The battle for Stalingrad, unprecedented in its significance, scope and tension, lasted 200 days and nights. The battle, which changed history and turned the tide of the entire World War II, began on July 17, 1942.

The beginning of the Soviet offensive near Stalingrad

On November 19, 1942, powerful artillery training marked the beginning of the Soviet offensive near Stalingrad, which became the turning point of the entire World War II. Two years later, the date was chosen as the day of artillery, and later - the day of rocket forces and artillery.

The court recognized the crimes of the Nazis in Adygea in 1942 as genocide

On September 26, 2024, the Supreme Court of Adygea recognized the actions of the Nazi invaders in the republic during the Great Patriotic War as genocide of the peoples of the USSR. The consequences of the Nazis' stay in the region were the death of thousands of people, destroyed industry, ruined agricultural enterprises, destroyed social and cultural objects and residential buildings.

In November 1942, as a result of a punitive action on Mikhizeeva Polyana in the Maykop district, 207 people were killed, including 115 children.

According to the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Adygea, when studying archival materials, experts reliably established that the occupation of oil-producing regions, including Adygea, was due to the needs of the Wehrmacht and its allies in fuel and lubricants. This part of the USSR, in accordance with the directives of the Nazis, turned into an agrarian-raw material appendage of Germany.

The civilian population of the region during the occupation was subjected to torture and torture. People could not evacuate, starved and hid in the forests, but when found they were shot by the Germans. Civilians suspected of partisans were also shot, subjected to torture and bullying. Some of the dead were impossible to identify. Moreover, even young children became victims of such atrocities. In order to intimidate the local population, the Nazis arranged public executions. Unbearable conditions of existence were created for the surviving people. The invaders mercilessly robbed the inhabitants of Adygea, taking food, clothes and even items and personal hygiene products.

The Investigative Committee of Russia declares that as part of the investigation of the criminal case on genocide during the Great Patriotic War, the facts of targeted mass destruction by Nazi invaders and their accomplices of civilians and military personnel in the occupied territory of the Republic of Adygea have been reliably established.^[6]

Enrico Fermi in the United States received the first nuclear chain reaction

1943

Breaking the blockade of Leningrad

Victory of Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted 200 days from July 1942, ended in a complete victory for the Soviet troops on February 2, 1943. At different times, the troops of the Southwest, Stalingrad, Southeast, Don, left wing of the Voronezh fronts, the Volga military flotilla and the Stalingrad corps air defense area participated in the battle.

The first air battle of the Normandy-Neman squadron

On April 5, 1943, the first air battle of the Normandy-Neman squadron took place - the French Albert Duran and Albert Preziosi shot down the German Focke-Wulf.

Against the background of the fighter are Soviet cameramen and photographers (from left to right): M.I. Poichenko, D.I. Shmolovich, Y. N. Khalip, M.A. Troyanovsky. Krasnodar Territory, June 1943. Apparently, the plane was a German trophy and left at the airfield during the retreat.]]

The overthrow of Mussolini and Italy's withdrawal from the war

Benito Mussolini lost influence in Italy long before the end of World War II. In July 1943, against the background of an extremely unsuccessful military campaign for the Italian army, Duce was removed from power by his own associates in the Fascist Party (PNF). The political crisis was marked by Mussolini's arrest, the dissolution of the PNF and Italy's withdrawal from the war.

USA, 1943]]

Battle of Kursk and the Red Army going on the offensive

In July and August 1943, the Battle of the Kursk Bulge was held, as a result of which the Red Army finally intercepted the strategic initiative in the Great Patriotic War and went on the offensive. On August 5, 1943, Orel was released.

During the Battle of Kursk - the largest tank battle in history - 30 German divisions were defeated. Tank units armed with new heavy military equipment, on which the German command had high hopes, suffered special damage.

The armored troops of the Wehrmacht, due to large losses in people and equipment, failed for a long time. Operation Citadel of the Nazi command was a failure.

Soviet warriors showed courage, resilience and mass heroism. Over 100 thousand people were awarded orders and medals, 231 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 132 formations and units received the guards rank, 26 were awarded honorary titles of Oryol, Belgorod, Kharkov and Karachay.

During a report at a solemn meeting of the Moscow Council of Workers' Deputies on November 6, 1943, I.V. Stalin summed up the great battle: "If the battle of Stalingrad foreshadowed the decline of the Nazi army, then the battle of Kursk put it before disaster."

Spanish Republican pilots fight for the USSR

Naviego's researcher Rafael de Madariaga investigated the history of Spanish air aces that entered the USSR after losing the civil war in. They Spain formed a group totaling about a hundred airmen, whose history is almost unknown. Madariaga collected dozens of their biographies in his work 'Los aviadores españoles en la URSS' (Spanish Aviators in the USSR).

Joining the Red Army was not easy for Spanish aviators. Many had to spend a year at the front, like ordinary soldiers, 'to prove their Soviet faith', and their military rank was not always retained by them. 'They were usually lowered by one rank,' the researcher stresses. The mass entry of these republican pilots into the Soviet Army occurred in 1943, and although they tried, they were not allowed to join the same regiment. Nevertheless, their work at the helm of the most modern Soviet aircraft was impeccable. 'The Russians worked at full capacity to create aircraft capable of countering the German: the MiG-1, which became the MiG-3, a series of aircraft by Yakolev, Lavochkin, Gorbunov, Gudkov and others,' says Madariaga.

Of the ninety-five airmen recounted in Madariag's book, fifteen were shot down in battle or killed in accidents while operating Soviet vehicles. Some of them were shot down almost immediately and did not affect the course of the battles, and their biographies boil down to several lines. Others, however, became real heroes, as in the case of José María Pascual Santamaria, who died in the bloody Battle of Stalingrad. 'Defending the city from German bombers, he managed to shoot down nine planes in one day. On August 28, he was shot down and died, "says Rafael de Madariaga. Pilots such as José María Bravo, who until his death in 2009, was the most productive Spanish aviation pilot in terms of the number of planes shot down. Francisco Merogno, Antonio Garcia Cano and Antonio Arias are other Republican aviation aces who served in the ranks of the Red Air Fleet.

Among the Spanish pilots who fought for the USSR, the Asturian from Ballota shone - Celestino Martinez Fierros, who, according to the researcher, is the most outstanding Asturian pilot from a group of Spanish aviators who took to the skies during World War II, participating in battles on the side of the USSR.

German paratroopers liberate Mussolini. Establishment of the Republic of Salo in northern Italy

On September 12, 1943, the ousted dictator was released from arrest by German paratroopers led by Otto Skorzeny. Broken morally and experiencing health problems, Mussolini wanted to finally move away from politics. However, Adolf Hitler did not allow him to retire. During their meeting at the Wolf's Lair headquarters, the Fuhrer demanded that Mussolini return to Italy and create a new fascist state. Already on September 23, the puppet Italian Social Republic, better known as the Republic of Salo, was proclaimed in the German-occupied northern part of the Apennine Peninsula. She held exclusively on the military force of the Third Reich. The 60-year-old Mussolini himself, despite the nominal position of head of state, no longer had any independence and was used by the Nazis only as a screen to carry out the decisions they needed into the light.

Liberation of Kyiv

On November 6, 1943, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front (Army General N.F. Vatutin) liberated the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, from the fascist invaders during the Kyiv offensive operation.

Tehran conference - the first meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill

The Tehran Conference is the first conference of the "Big Three" in the years of World War II - the leaders of three countries: I.V. Stalin (USSR), F.D. Roosevelt (USA), W. Churchill (Great Britain), held in Tehran on November 28 - December 1, 1943.

The execution in Berlin of the sister of the writer Erich Maria Remarca

On December 6, 1943, 43-year-old dressmaker Elfrida Scholz (Mrs. Elfriede Scholz).

She was executed "for outrageously fanatical propaganda in favour of the enemy."

One of the clients reported: Elfrida said that German soldiers were cannon fodder, Germany was doomed to defeat, and that she would willingly put a bullet in Hitler's forehead. At the trial and before the execution, Elfrida was courageous.

There is evidence that the judge announced to her: "Your brother, unfortunately, fled from us, but you will not leave."

The authorities sent her sister a bill for the maintenance of Elfrida in prison, trial and execution - 495 marks and 80 pfennig.

In 25 years, a street in her hometown of Osnabrück will be named after Elfrida Scholz.

The elder and only brother of the deceased Elfrida was the writer Erich Maria Remarque. It was to her that he dedicated his novel "Spark of Life," published in 1952.

1944

Complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad completed

On January 27, 1944, as a result of Operation January Thunder, the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad was completed.

Vesuvius eruption

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation declassified documents on the murder of babies by Ukrainian nationalists

At the end of August 2024, the Russian Ministry of Defense declassified documents on the atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists in the village of Mogilnitsy, Tarnopol Region, in the spring of 1944. It is said that several holes with bodies were found near this settlement - a total of up to a hundred residents were killed and tortured, in addition, the bodies of several captured Red Army soldiers were found. Read more here.

Albanian "Popular Front" joins the SS division "Skanderbeg" and arranges a mass massacre of the Serbian population

During the Second World War, Balli Kombotar (translated from Albanian "Popular Front") openly collaborated with the Nazis, participated in the burning of villages in Serbia, Greece and Macedonia. The ideologists of the organization argued that Albanians are "Aryan Illyrians" - the highest race that should establish dominance in the Balkans and "free themselves from oppression" by the Slavs and Greeks. In April 1944, Balli Kombötar entered the infamous 21st SS Volunteer Division Skanderbeg and staged a mass massacre of the Serbian population, which significantly affected the ethnic composition of Kosovo and Metohija.

Liberation of Sevastopol

On May 9, 1944, during the Crimean offensive operation, Soviet troops liberated Sevastopol.

The Crimean offensive operation is one of the most significant in the history of the Great Patriotic War. In 35 days, the peninsula was completely liberated from the enemy: on May 12, the 4th Ukrainian Front and a separate Primorsky Army completely defeated the German 17th Army.

A well-prepared operation successfully developed from the very beginning:

• April 11, 1944 the city of Kerch was liberated,
• April 13 liberated Evpatoria and Simferopol,
• April 14-15 - Sudak, Bakhchisaray, Alushtu and Yalta,
• On April 15-16, Soviet troops reached the approaches to Sevastopol.

The general assault on the Sevastopol fortified area began on May 5. Two days later, Soviet troops broke through the enemy defenses on a 9-kilometer section of the front and captured Sapun Mountain during fierce battles.

The city could not be occupied immediately, it was liberated only on May 9, 1944 as a result of the assault, exactly a year before the Great Victory.

No.

Photo: Eugene Halday.]]

Allied troops took possession of Rome

On May 19, 1944, after four bloody battles known as the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Allied forces broke through the German fortifications of the Gustav Line and captured Rome on June 4.

Allied landings in Normandy

Operation Furious: US Air Force departures from airfields in Britain, Italy and the USSR

Operation Frantic (English: Operation Frantic) - the organization, provision and performance by the US Army aviation of the so-called shuttle combat sorties of bomber aircraft operating from airfields in Britain, southern Italy and the USSR. The time of the operation is June-September 1944.

Liberation of Petrozavodsk

During the occupation of Soviet Karelia by the Finns, six concentration camps were created in Petrozavodsk to support local Russian-speaking residents. Camp No. 6 was located in the area of ​ ​ the Transshipment Exchange, 7,000 people were kept in it. The photo was taken after the liberation of Petrozavodsk by Soviet troops on June 28, 1944.

This picture was presented as part of the evidence at the Nuremberg trial of war criminals.

The girl who in the photo is the second from the pillar to the right - Klavdia Nyuppieva - many years later published her memoirs.

'I remember people swooning in the heat in a so-called bathhouse and then being doused with cold water. I remember the disinfection of barracks, after which it made noise in the ears, and many were bleeding with their noses, and that steam room, where all our rags were processed with great "effort." Once the steam room burned down, depriving many people of their last clothes. "

March of tens of thousands of captured Germans in Moscow

By the end of his life, Adolf Hitler had only 4 teeth of his own.]]

Failed Warsaw Uprising

The Warsaw Uprising began on 1 August 1944 as part of Operation Storm, which was part of a plan for a nationwide takeover of power in Poland. The main goal of the leadership of the rebels was to oust the German invaders and seize power in Warsaw. The political task of the Home Army (AK, Patriotic Army) against the background of confrontation with the USSR was to liberate the city before the actual occupation of the Red Army by the troops in order to emphasize the independence of the Polish state, bring the Government in Exile organization to power, force the USSR authorities to recognize the emigrant government and prevent the Polish National Liberation Committee from coming to power.

The leadership of the AK planned, 12 hours before the entry of Soviet troops into Warsaw, to proclaim the political and administrative power of the organization Polish Emigrant Government. Coordination with the advancing Soviet units was not provided for by the plan. The AK leadership had no plans to help the Red Army in crossing the Vistula and liberating Warsaw. The command of the Red Army, the High Command of the Polskoy Army, Polish left-wing organizations operating in the Warsaw underground did not receive any official information about the preparation and date of the uprising led by the Home Army.

The concept of the uprising involved a brief (maximum 3-4 days) battle with the retreating German troops. It was planned to capture Warsaw with a sudden blow, then land the 1st Polish parachute brigade and prepare everything necessary for the arrival of the organization of the emigrant government. The uprising was supposed to be a political demonstration supported by a short armed struggle. Further calculation was based on mass support and on the help of the Western allies (which was supposed to balance the Soviet support of the PKNO).

Pursuing mutually exclusive and conflicting goals, in particular objectively directed against the Red Army, the AK leadership believed that it was the Soviet troops who should support the uprising. Insufficiently prepared militarily, politically directed against the USSR and PKNO, uncoordinated with the command of the Red Army, the uprising ended after two months of fierce battles with defeat, entailed huge human casualties and the destruction of left-bank Warsaw. AK achieved neither military nor political goals.

The exact number of victims of the uprising remains unknown. It is believed that about 17 thousand participants in the Polish resistance died and about 6 thousand were seriously wounded. According to rough estimates, from 100 to 150 thousand civilians were killed in punitive campaigns. The total losses of the Polskoy Army amounted to 3,764 soldiers and officers, including 1,987 people killed and missing on the western bank of the Vistula.

During street battles, about 25% of the housing stock of Warsaw was destroyed, and after the surrender of the Polish forces, German troops purposefully, quarter by quarter, leveled another 35% of the city's buildings.

One of the walls of the Königsberg Cathedral (Kaliningrad) has a thickness of three meters, the rest - about one and a half. Over its almost seven hundred-year history, he experienced various losses, but did not know such destruction as in August 1944. Kneiphof Island, today it bears the name of Kant, according to the tradition coming from the Middle Ages, was built up very densely. English aircraft by carpet bombing turned houses into piles of ruins. But not a single bomb hit the cathedral. He died from the fire - a powerful flame burst inside, and the building, generously decorated with wooden decor, burned to the ground. The roof collapsed and the fire-scarred walls were left standing.

The SS division "Galicia" exterminates 700 thousand people from concentration camps in the Lviv region. Corpses are burned, ash is sifted to collect gold

At the end of August 2024, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published declassified archival documents on the crimes of the SS Galicia division. It is said that in 1944 she sent 110 kg of gold obtained during the extermination of civilians and Soviet prisoners of war from Lviv to Germany.

The published materials say that the corpses of people were stacked on special sites - from 1200 to 1600 bodies. Then they were poured with resin and gasoline and burned. Ash and bone remains were sifted through a special lattice in order to collect gold objects - crowns, teeth, rings, watches, etc.

Witnesses Velichker, Hamaides and others in their testimony said that during their five months of work in the "death brigade" 110 kg of gold was sown from the ashes of the corpses they burned and sent by the Germans to Germany, the published materials say.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, according to the extraordinary state commission, in Lviv and other areas of the Lviv region, German invaders exterminated about 700 thousand Soviet people - men, women, children, as well as subjects of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Holland, Great Britain, the United States, brought from concentration camps in Germany. The bodies of the victims were reportedly hastily destroyed in connection with the successful offensive of the Red Army and the "panicked retreat of the Nazi troops."

The scientific director of the RVIO, Mikhail Myagkov, told RIA Novosti that the SS Galicia division, in fact, did not participate in hostilities at all. She engaged mainly in punitive actions against civilians. The soldiers of the division, according to Myagkov, "carried out the genocide of the Soviet people, including purposefully killing Jews, burning villages, and fighting partisans."^[7]

Hitler plans to launch nuclear strikes on the USSR with the help of long-range V-2 ballistic missiles

Hitlerite Germany planned to launch nuclear attacks on the industrial centers of the USSR in the Urals Asia and Central with the help of long-range V-2 ballistic missiles. This is stated in declassified archival documents, which FSB Russia were published on August 7, 2024.

The published materials relate to the investigation of the SA Gruppenführer Werner Wechter. During interrogations, it was established that simultaneously with the post of chief of staff of the Main Directorate of Propaganda of the Nazi Party of the NSDAP, Vehter was headed in the same department by a general abstract of weapons and construction. Wechter announced the development of new types of weapons by Nazi Germany, including an atomic bomb. According to him, in 1944, projects were developed for "very long-range bombers" capable of bombing the military construction centers of the Soviet Union in the Urals and industrial facilities in North America. The aircraft were planned to be used to transport atomic bombs.

German experimental nuclear reactor in Heigerloch

The main leader of all work on the latest types of weapons was General Dornberger, who was responsible for the production of the FAU-1 and FAU-2, as well as atomic bombs. According to Wechter, he was aware that the Ministry of Arms was carrying out practical work to prepare for the use of an atomic bomb. Wechter learned about this from a friend of the editor of the secret government bulletin Gertel Hans.

According to the documents, in February 1945, Hans, on behalf of the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, went on a business trip to the city of Celle and met there with the head of the special forces air school, Colonel German Hayo. He, in turn, said that the school is armed with aircraft of the latest design, which will be armed with an atomic bomb. According to Hayo, these aircraft were intended to bombard the industrial centers of the Soviet Union located in the Urals and Central Asia with atomic bombs.^[8]

Finland changes the president and goes over to the side of the USSR

In the summer of 1944, the Finnish parliament dismissed President Risto Ryti and elected Gustav Mannerheim in his place. On August 25, Mannerheim sent Stalin a proposal for a truce and soon received an answer to it that a truce was possible only if two conditions were met: the immediate break of Finland with Germany and the internment of all German troops in Finland who remained there after September 15.

In fact, this was a demand for Finland to turn its arms against its ally yesterday. Mannerheim agreed to it. Even before the official signing of the armistice, which took place in Moscow on September 19, 1944, hostilities began between the Finnish and German troops (Lapland War).

Churchill at talks in Moscow proposes Stalin to divide Eastern Europe into spheres of influence

The fourth Moscow conference, in the English-language historiography of the Tolstoy Conference (codenamed "Tolstoy"), also known as Churchill's second visit to Moscow, was held from October 9 to 19, 1944 between the main allies in World War II.

Winston Churchill, a British statesman and politician, British Prime Minister in 1940-1945 and 1951-1955, arrived in the capital of the USSR to negotiate the post-war structure of Europe.

Churchill suggested that Stalin divide Europe into spheres of influence, but the Soviet side, judging by the transcript of the negotiations, rejected these initiatives, calling them "dirty."

Winston Churchill also informed I.V. Stalin about the successes of the finally open Second Front.

A draft of the division of Eastern Europe between England and the USSR, personally compiled by Churchill and Stalin on October 9, 1944 during the Moscow negotiations of the Allies:

• Romania: USSR -90%, others - 10%.
• Greece: England (in accordance with the USA) - 90%, USSR - 10%.
• Yugoslavia - 50 by 50%,
• Hungary - 50 by 50%,
• Bulgaria: USSR - 75%, others - 25%.

In the official documents compiled following the results of the Moscow conference, any mention of spheres of influence is absent.

The agreement was not implemented in the original version. At the end of World War II, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania fell into the sphere of influence of the USSR, and Greece, having passed through the civil war between the communists and their opponents, was influenced by the United States.

Burning, shooting or sending 15 thousand people to hard labor in Germany in 1944 in only one district of Belarus. FSB declassified the document

On November 27, 2024, the FSB of Russia published digital copies of previously unpublished declassified archival documents from the investigation case against the Latvian punisher Janis Apse. In 1944, he served in the 318th Latvian police battalion and took part in punitive operations against civilians and Soviet partisans in the Polotsk region of the Byelorussian SSR.

Special message No. 286 of the Smersh ROC of the 20th UOS RGK to the head of the Smersh UKR of the 2nd Baltic Front, Lieutenant General N.I. Zheleznikov, about the arrest of the Latvian punisher Y. Apse. March 19, 1945

It is said that during the Great Patriotic War, among the Latvian punitive units were the so-called "police battalions" - paramilitary units formed by the German command in occupied Latvia from the local auxiliary police. These battalions numbered between 500 and 800 men.

Apse was detained by employees of the Smersh Counterintelligence Department (ROC) of the 20th Defense Construction Directorate (UOS) of the High Command Reserve (RGC). During interrogations, he said that during his service in the 318th Latvian police battalion in 1944, he personally participated in the brutal reprisals against children, women and the elderly. So, during the punitive expedition in the Dries region, 177 settlements and 3260 residential buildings were destroyed, and over 15 thousand people were burned, shot or sent to hard labor in Germany.

The documents say that in the Rossitsky village council, during punitive operations, settlements were completely destroyed: out of 3978 people, only 150 residents remained, while the rest were burned and shot. In the Vetrinsky district, 93 settlements were destroyed (3700 residential buildings of collective farmers, workers and employees). At the same time, about 4,500 people were shot and burned among the civilian population.

During my participation in the exterminations, we killed about a thousand partisans, as well as up to about one thousand children and women, "Apse said during interrogation.[9]

Another bombing of Cologne by the British

On October 14, 15 and 17, 1944, the British Air Force dropped 9,000 long tons of bombs on Cologne, and the total number of aircraft for these three days went through the roof for the figure of 2,000.

Stalin proposes to manufacture Victory flags of divisions for installation in Berlin

The idea of ​ ​ hoisting a red banner over the capital of defeated Germany was expressed by Stalin at a solemn meeting on November 6, 1944. This idea was also supported by the Military Council of the Army. According to the general opinion, the flag over the Reichstag symbolized the final collapse of Nazism.

At the same time, nine convoys were urgently made on the model of the state flag of the USSR - there were so many divisions that were part of the 3rd shock army.

1945

Hitler moves to bunker in Berlin

Soviet troops liberate prisoners of Auschwitz concentration camp

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops under the command of Marshal Konev entered Auschwitz (the German name Auschwitz) 60 km west of Krakow, in which at that time there were about 7.6 thousand prisoners. On January 27, at about 3 pm, soldiers of Major General V. Ya. Petrenko, commander of the 107th division of the 60th Army, appeared in the camp.

By Victor Temin]]

Meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at the conference in Yalta

Turkey formally declares war on Germany, but does not participate in battles

On February 23, 1945, Turkey officially declared war on Germany to be considered one of the founders of the United Nations. It was a purely symbolic act - the Turkish army was not drawn into battles. See History of Turkey for details.

Buchenwald camp uprising

The uprising in Buchenwald camp began on April 11, 1945 by storming guard towers. The rebels acted in an organized manner, as part of predetermined units, attacking the guards simultaneously in several directions. Then the commandant's office was captured, the former prisoners took up a circular defense. On the same day, at 15:15, units of the Third US Army entered the liberated camp.

One of them, on the back, shows the inscription SU (Sowjetunion, German: Soviet Union), which marked Soviet citizens.]]

Meeting on the Elbe

The meeting on the Elbe is an episode of World War II, when on April 25, 1945, near the city of Torgau on the Elbe River, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front of the USSR Army met with the troops of the 1st US Army.

As a result of the meeting of the Allied forces, the remnants of the German armed forces were split into two parts - northern and southern.

US Army wins battle over Japan's Iwo Jima island

American Marines during the battle for the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in the spring of 1945]]

Mussolini's execution

After the partisans shot Mussolini and his mistress Petacci on April 28, 1945, their bodies and the bodies of five more fascists were taken to Milan, where they hung their legs at a gas station near Loreto Square.

It was an act of revenge: a year earlier, 15 partisans were executed there. People began to send curses to the dead and throw stones at them. Especially got the corpse of Mussolini, whom they mocked for a long time and ingeniously. Despite the presence of women, several men have met his needs. As a result, the face of the duce was disfigured beyond recognition. After the ropes were clipped, the bodies were still lying in the gutter for some time.

The Americans who arrived in the city ordered the bodies to be removed and taken to the city morgue for an autopsy.

The capture of Berlin by Soviet troops

Hitler's suicide

At the end of April 2022, the FSB of Russia published an archive on the suicide on April 30, 1945 of the founder of Nazi Germany, the chairman of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party) Adolf Hitler. We are talking about documents from the investigation case against Hitler's former personal pilot, SS Gruppenführer, police lieutenant general Hans Baur, which is stored in the FSB department in the Novgorod region. Read more here.

On April 30, 1945, at 14:25, the soldiers of the company of Senior Sergeant Syanov fought through the stairs to the roof of the building and reached the dome of the Reichstag. Brave warriors communist Lieutenant Berest, Komsomolets Red Army soldier Egorov and non-partisan junior sergeant Kantaria installed a banner, the proud flag of the Soviet Union - a symbol of our great victory - was hoisted over the building of the German parliament.

Photographer: Mark Redkin.]]

Surrender of Germany

Stalin was outraged by the signing of the surrender in Reims on May 7, in which the Western allies played a leading role. He refused to recognize this act, demanding a new signing of it in Berlin, taken by the Red Army, necessarily by the supreme command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Pianist of the Moscow Conservatory Nina Emelyanova during a performance on Mayakovsky Square in Moscow, May 9, 1945. He performs Mazurka in F minor No. 3 on a piano mounted in the back of a truck.

at the

Sculptures from the Anichkov Bridge were lowered into the ground only half of their height so that they would not be destroyed by groundwater. Earthen hills were poured on top. In 1945, during one night from June 1 to 2, the sculptures were returned to their places.

Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow

On June 24, 1945, the first parade of troops of the army, the Navy and the Moscow garrison was held in Moscow on Red Square to commemorate the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War.

It was decided to bring the Red Banner from Berlin, which was hoisted over the Reichstag on April 30, 1945 by scouts of the 150th Infantry Division Egorov and Kantaria.

US conducts first nuclear bomb test

US drops nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities

On August 9, 1945, the Fat Man atomic bomb equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT was dropped on the city of Nagasaki by US pilot Charles Sweeney, commander of the B-29 Bockscar bomber. The total death toll in Nagasaki ranged from 60 to 80 thousand people.

Soviet troops liberate the northern part of the Korean Peninsula

Pictured: Pyongyang residents waiting for Soviet troops to come]]

Landing of the Soviet landing on the Kuril Islands

Soviet troops liberate Dalian and Port Arthur

On August 22, 1945, the troops of the Trans-Baikal Front under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky liberated the Chinese port cities of Dalian and Port Arthur, located on the Liaodong Peninsula, from the Japanese.

Irretrievable losses of the USSR during the Manchurian operation amounted to about 12 thousand people, Japan - about 100 thousand.

Surrender of Japan and the end of the war

On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender.

The Act of Surrender, formally ending World War II, was signed on September 2, 1945.

On September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, aboard the US Navy battleship Missouri, the Japan Surrender Act was signed, which put an end to World War II. Photo: AP]]

Nuremberg trials

Results of the war

Main article: Results of World War II

War veterans

Main article: World War II veterans

World War II documents

2020: Rosarchiv opened access to electronic documents about World War II

On May 21, 2020, the Federal Archival Agency (Rosarkhiv) opened access to the project "World War II in Archival Documents." The information resource, which became the first part of the complex of digitized archival documents, film and photo materials about World War II and is available to everyone, was launched on the Yeltsin Presidential  Library portal of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. Read more here.

Films about the Second World War

Main article: Cinema of Russia

№	Title	Year	Comments
	District Committee Secretary	1942
	She fought for her homeland	1943
	In the name of the Motherland (Russian people)	July 20, 1943	Directors Vsevolod Pudovkin and Dmitry Vasiliev based on the play by Konstantin Simonov "Russian People" (1942)

Falsification of the history of war

Main article: Falsification of history

See also

• World War I

• Monuments of the Great Patriotic War

Notes