On the eve of the Liberation Campaign, on September 16, an absurd and tragic plane crash occurred, in which the most successful Soviet pilot of the 30s, twice Hero, died Soviet Union Major Sergei Ivanovich Gritsevets. Participant civil war In Spain, Gritsevets destroyed 7 enemy aircraft, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gritsevets was remembered for his new victories at Khalkhin Gol, having shot down 12 Japanese planes. In addition, he took his commander, Major V. Zabaluev, from the territory captured by the enemy, landing his I-16 near Japanese positions. Remaining invincible in the air, Gritsevets died through no fault of his own during landing at the Balbasovo airfield near Orsha. According to all the rules, at dusk and in foggy conditions, he made an exemplary landing and, fearing a collision with the pilots following him to land, taxied from the landing strip to the neutral one. At this moment, Major P. Hara, against all odds, came in to land with opposite side, mistaking the neutral strip for a landing strip. There was a collision between the fighters, and while Khara escaped with bruises, Gritsevets died from the impact of the propeller. As the campaign began, it was decided not to report the death of the famous pilot. Gritsevets was never destined to see his native village of Borovtsy, liberated by Soviet troops during the 1939 campaign in Belarus.
Having liberated the territory of the Soviet Union from the Nazi invaders, the Red Army moved west to help the peoples of Europe restore freedom and independence. The first country where Soviet soldiers entered was Romania. By mid-April 1944, they had traveled more than 100 km into the interior of the country. On August 23, 1944, a popular armed uprising broke out in Bucharest, marking the beginning of the democratic revolution. The regime of J. Antonescu was overthrown. Romania declared war on Germany. On August 31, 1944, the Red Army entered Bucharest and, together with the Romanian army, cleared the country of German troops by October 25. 69 thousand Soviet soldiers died in the battles for the freedom of the Romanian people.
On September 8, the Red Army entered Bulgaria, which, contrary to the will of its people, was drawn into the Fascist bloc. On September 9, power in the country passed into the hands of Fatherland Front. Bulgaria declared war on Germany.
September 28 Soviet troops crossed the Yugoslav border and, jointly with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, expelled the occupiers from Belgrade on October 20, 1944.
Long liberation battles were fought for the liberation of Hungary. A German force of 188,000 was surrounded in the Budapest area. On February 13, 1945, the capital of Hungary was liberated.
In March 1945, the Red Army crossed the border of Austria and on April 13 cleared Vienna of invaders. The state sovereignty of the country, which became the first victim of the aggressor, was restored.
The situation in Poland was more complex. On August 1, 1944, as Soviet troops approached the Vistula River, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, organized by the command of the Home Army and the Polish government in exile, located in London, without the consent of the Soviet government. German troops brutally suppressed the uprising. Only on January 17, 1945, Warsaw was liberated by Soviet troops and the 1st Army of the Polish Army.
On October 21, 1944, Red Army troops crossed the Soviet-Norwegian border and expelled the occupiers from the regions of Northern Norway.
On May 5, 1945, an uprising of city residents against the fascist occupiers began in Prague. On May 9, 1945, Prague was liberated.
Soviet troops also contributed to the liberation of the Danish island of Bornholm from the Nazis. The Red Army fulfilled its liberation mission, returning freedom to 11 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe with a population of 113 million people.
Not only military units, but also all home front workers took part in the fight against the fascist invaders. The difficult task of supplying the troops with everything necessary fell on the shoulders of the people in the rear. The army had to be fed, clothed, shoed, and continuously supplied to the front with weapons, military equipment, ammunition, fuel and much more. All this was created by home front workers. They worked from dark to dark, enduring hardships every day. Despite the difficulties of wartime, the Soviet rear coped with the tasks assigned to it and ensured the defeat of the enemy. The leadership of the Soviet Union, with the unique diversity of the country's regions and an insufficiently developed communications system, managed to ensure the unity of the front and rear, the strictest discipline at all levels with unconditional subordination to the center. The centralization of political and economic power made it possible for the Soviet leadership to concentrate its main efforts on the most important, decisive areas. The motto is “Everything for the front, everything for victory over the enemy!” did not remain just a slogan, it was put into practice. Under the conditions of state-owned domination in the country, the authorities managed to achieve the maximum concentration of all material resources, carry out a rapid transition of the economy to a war footing, and carry out an unprecedented transfer of people, industrial equipment, and raw materials from areas that were threatened German occupation, to the east.
The German attack radically changed the lives of Soviet people. In the first days of the war, not everyone realized the reality of the emerging threat: people believed in pre-war slogans and promises from the authorities to quickly defeat any aggressor on his own soil. However, as enemy-occupied territory expanded, moods and expectations changed. People became acutely aware that the fate of not only the Soviet government, but also the country itself was being decided. The mass terror of the German troops and the merciless attitude towards the civilian population told people more clearly than any propaganda that it could only be a matter of stopping the aggressor or dying. The threat of the Germans seizing developed industrial areas country was dictated by the need to remove the most valuable equipment. A grandiose-scale evacuation to the east of plants and factories, property of collective farms and MTS, and livestock began. Thousands of enterprises and millions of people had to be evacuated in a short time, under enemy air raids. An equally important task was to organize the work of these enterprises in a new location. Sometimes machines and equipment were installed in the open air in order to urgently ensure the production of the weapons and ammunition needed by the army. By mid-1942, the transition of the economy to a war footing was completed, and the output of military products exceeded the German level in volume. By this time, it was possible to stabilize (albeit at an extremely low level) the food supply not only to the army, but also to the urban population. The hard times of war did not bypass the education system. Tens of thousands school buildings were destroyed, and the survivors often housed military hospitals. Due to a shortage of paper, schoolchildren sometimes wrote in the margins of old newspapers. Textbooks were replaced by the teacher's oral history. Teaching was carried out even in besieged Sevastopol, Odessa, Leningrad, and in partisan detachments of Ukraine and Belarus. In the occupied regions of the country, the education of children ceased completely. By the beginning of the war, the church was in a difficult situation. The Church not only took an active civic position, awakening and strengthening the patriotic feelings of believers, blessing them for military feats and labor achievements, but also provided significant assistance to the state and showed concern for strengthening the combat power of the Red Army. Priests in the occupied territories maintained contact with the underground, partisans, and provided assistance to the civilian population. Many of them were killed by the Nazis.
21. Liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders On June 22, 1944, on the third anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, reconnaissance in force was carried out in sectors of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts. In this way, the commanders clarified the location of enemy firing points on the front line and spotted the positions of some previously unknown artillery batteries. The final preparations for the general offensive were being made. The main blow in the summer of 1944 was delivered by the Soviet Army in Belarus. Even after the winter campaign of 1944, during which Soviet troops occupied advantageous positions, preparations began for an offensive operation under the code name “Bagration” - one of the largest in terms of military-political results and the scope of operations of the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet troops were tasked with defeating Hitler's Army Group Center and liberating Belarus. The essence of the plan was to simultaneously break through the enemy’s defenses in six sectors, encircle and destroy the enemy’s flank groups in the area of Vitebsk and Bobruisk. With the solution of these tasks, our troops were able to rapidly develop an offensive into the depths of enemy defenses for the subsequent encirclement of an even larger group of German troops in the Minsk region. The operation began on the morning of June 23, 1944. Near Vitebsk, Soviet troops successfully broke through the enemy’s defenses and already encircled them on June 25 west of the city his five divisions. Their liquidation was completed by the morning of June 27. With the destruction of the Vitebsk group of German troops, a key position on the left flank of the defense of Army Group Center was destroyed. On the morning of June 3, a powerful artillery barrage, accompanied by targeted air strikes, opened the Belarusian operation of the Red Army. On June 26, tankers of General Bakharov made a breakthrough to Bobruisk. Initially, the troops of the Rogachev strike group encountered fierce enemy resistance. In addition, the rapid success of the offensive in the Parichi area put German command facing the threat of encirclement. On the evening of June 25, the Germans began a tactical retreat from the Zhlobin-Rogachev line. On June 27, the encirclement closed. The “bag” contained parts of the 35th Army and 41st Tank Corps of the Germans. Two days earlier, the troops successfully completed the encirclement of the enemy in the Vitebsk area. Vitebsk was taken on June 26. The next day, the troops finally broke the enemy’s resistance and liberated Orsha. On June 28, Soviet tanks were already in Lepel and Borisov. We entered Minsk at dawn on July 3. On July 5, the second stage of the liberation of Belarus began; The fronts, closely interacting with each other, successfully carried out five offensive operations at this stage: Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas, Bialystok and Brest-Lublin. The Soviet Army one by one defeated the remnants of the retreating formations of Army Group Center and inflicted major damage on the troops transferred here from Germany, Norway, Italy and other areas. Soviet troops completed the liberation of Belarus. They liberated part of Lithuania and Latvia, crossed the state border, entered the territory of Poland and approached the borders East Prussia. The Narew and Vistula rivers were crossed. The front advanced westward by 260-400 kilometers. It was a victory of strategic importance.
20. Tehran Conference of 1943: its decisions and significance. By the summer of 1942, the German leadership concentrated its main efforts on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front, relying on the capture of the oil regions of the Caucasus and the fertile regions of the Don, Kuban, Lower Volga region , which would also allow Turkey and Japan to be drawn into the war against the USSR. Taking measures to thwart the enemy's plans, the Soviet command equipped the troops with new types of weapons, improved the organizational structure of the Soviet Armed Forces, and accumulated strategic reserves. But it was not possible to complete the restructuring of the Soviet troops. The Tehran Conference took place in Tehran on November 28 - December 1, 1943. The main ones were military issues, especially the question of a second front in Europe, which, contrary to the obligations of the United States and Great Britain, was not opened by them either in 1942 or in 1943. In the new situation that developed in as a result of the victories of the Sov. The armies and Anglo-American allies began to fear that the Sov. Armed The forces will liberate the West. Europe without the participation of the US and British armed forces. At the same time, during the negotiations, a difference in points of view between the heads of government in the United States and Great Britain about the place, scale and time of the Allied invasion of Europe was revealed. At the insistence of the owls. The T.K. delegation decided to open a second front in France during May 1944 (see “Overlord”). Because she also took into account the statement of I.V. Stalin that Soviet troops would launch an offensive at about the same time in order to prevent the transfer of German forces from the Eastern to the Western Front. In Tehran, owls. The delegation, meeting halfway requests from the US and Great Britain, and also taking into account Japan’s repeated violations of Soviet-Japanese. Treaty of 1941 on neutrality and in order to reduce the duration of the war in the Far East, declared the USSR’s readiness to enter the war against Japan at the end of the war. action in Europe. Because the United States raised the question of dividing Germany after the war into five autonomous states. England put forward its plan for the dismemberment of Germany, which provided for the isolation of Prussia from the rest of Germany, as well as the separation of its southern provinces and their inclusion, along with Austria and Hungary, in the so-called. Danube Confederation. However, the position of Sov. The Union prevented the Western powers from implementing these plans. On the T.K., a preliminary agreement was reached on establishing the borders of Poland along the “Curzon Line” of 1920 in the east along the river. Oder (Odra) - in the west. The “Declaration on Iran” was adopted, in which the participants declared “their desire to preserve the full independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran.” Other issues were also discussed at the conference, including those related to post-war. peace organizations. The results since indicate the possibility of military. and political cooperation between the state and various societies, systems in resolving international issues. problems. The conference contributed to the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition.
19. Battle of Kursk. After the defeat at Stalingrad, the German command decided to take revenge, meaning the implementation of a major offensive on the Soviet-German front, the location of which was chosen as the so-called Kursk salient(or arc), formed by Soviet troops in the winter and spring of 1943. The Battle of Kursk, like the battles of Moscow and Stalingrad, was distinguished by its great scope and focus. Operation Citadel, developed by the Germans, envisaged the encirclement of Soviet troops with converging attacks on Kursk and a further offensive into the depths of the defense.
By the beginning of July, the Soviet command completed preparations for the Battle of Kursk. The troops operating in the Kursk salient area were reinforced.
On August 3, after powerful artillery preparation and air strikes, front troops, supported by a barrage of fire, went on the offensive and successfully broke through the first enemy position. With the introduction of second echelons of regiments into battle, the second position was broken through. They, together with rifle formations, broke the enemy’s resistance, completed the breakthrough of the main defensive line, and by the end of the day approached the second defensive line. Having broken through the tactical defense zone and destroyed the nearest operational reserves, the main strike group of the Voronezh Front began pursuing the enemy in the morning of the second day of the operation.
One of the largest tank battles in world history took place in the Prokhorovka area. On July 12, the Germans were forced to go on the defensive, and on July 16 they began to retreat. Pursuing the enemy, Soviet troops drove the Germans back to their starting line. At the same time, at the height of the battle, on July 12, Soviet troops on the Western and Bryansk fronts launched an offensive in the Oryol bridgehead area and liberated the cities of Orel and Belgorod. Partisan units provided active assistance to the regular troops. They disrupted enemy communications and the work of rear agencies. In the Oryol region alone, from July 21 to August 9, more than 100 thousand rails were blown up. The German command was forced to keep a significant number of divisions only on security duty.
The troops of the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts defeated 15 enemy divisions, advanced 140 km in the southern and southwestern direction, and came close to the Donbass enemy group. Soviet troops liberated Kharkov, completed the defeat of the entire Belgorod-Kharkov enemy group and took an advantageous position to launch a general offensive with the goal of liberating Left Bank Ukraine and Donbass.
Near Kursk, the Wehrmacht military machine suffered such a blow, after which the outcome of the war was actually predetermined. This was a radical change in the course of the war, forcing many politicians on all warring sides to reconsider their positions. Was released on August 23 Kharkiv, September 8 – Stalino (now Donetsk). On September 15, the German command was forced to give an order for the general withdrawal of the Army Group “South” to the Eastern Wall, thus hoping to retain Right Bank Ukraine, Crimea, ports of the Black Sea. German troops, retreating, destroyed cities and villages, destroyed enterprises, bridges, and roads.
By September 9, the large cities of Donbass were liberated - Makeevka, Stalino, Gorlovka, Artemovsk. On September 10, Mariupol was liberated.
18. Battle of Stalingrad . Battle of Stalingrad, fighting between Soviet and German troops in the bend of the Don and Volga, as well as in Stalingrad July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943. Includes two strategic Stalingrad operations - offensive and defensive. The fighting in the bend of the Don and Volga lasted a whole month. Unlike the summer of 1941, the Soviet troops were not defeated. They maintained their combat effectiveness, conducted a maneuverable defense and did not get surrounded. The persistent resistance of the Red Army in the Stalingrad direction forced Hitler to transfer the 4th Tank Army (General G. Hoth) here from the Caucasus (July 31). After this, the Germans intensified their attack and, having made a final push towards the Volga, broke through to the city at the end of August.
The Battle of Stalingrad began on August 23, 1942, with units of the 6th German Army (General F. Paulus) reaching the Volga near the northern outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, the 4th had broken through to him from the south. tank army. The city was captured in pincers. Now communication with him could only be carried out across the river. In order to immediately suppress the will of the city’s defenders to resist, the German command on August 23 sent the entire aviation of the 4th Air Fleet to the city, which dropped over 2 thousand bombs on the city in one day. After this blow from the sky, Stalingrad, even before the start of the fighting, overnight turned into piles of ruins.
On September 13, the assault on Stalingrad began. If earlier Soviet troops left cities, as a rule, without street fighting, now a fierce struggle broke out for houses and floors. The Germans pushed the 64th Army back to southern outskirts city, and the main burden of the Stalingrad defense fell on the shoulders of Chuikov’s fighters, contact with whom was maintained only through the Volga. Until September 27, the main struggle was for Central station, which changed hands 13 times. The battles along the 20-kilometer strip along the Volga did not subside day or night, moving from skirmishes to hand-to-hand combat.
On October 14, the Germans launched a general assault on Stalingrad. The assault lasted three weeks. The attackers managed to capture the Stalingrad Tractor Plant and reach the Volga in the northern sector of the 62nd Army's defense. But the defenders of Stalingrad, pressed against the river, continued to repel the onslaught of the assault troops with extraordinary resilience.
On November 14, the German command made a third attempt to completely capture the city. After a desperate struggle the Germans took southern part plant "Barricades" and broke through in this area to the Volga. This was their last success. During the street fighting, the fighters of Chuikov and Shumilov repelled up to 700 attacks. From July to November, the Germans lost 700 thousand people in the Battle of Stalingrad. Soviet troops - about 644 thousand people.
November 19, 1942 The Red Army went on the offensive. The blow was skillfully timed. It occurred at a time when the first frosts had already frozen the soil, stopping the autumn thaw, and at the same time, heavy snowfalls had not yet covered the ground with deep snow. All this ensured a high speed of advance of the troops and allowed them to maneuver.
On January 10, 1943, the liquidation of the encircled group began. Heavy fighting continued for three weeks. In the second half of January, the 21st Army (General I.M. Chistyakov) burst into Stalingrad from the west, and the 62nd Army intensified the attack from the east. On January 26, both armies united, dividing the German troops in the city into two parts. On January 31, the Southern Group, led by Paulus, capitulated. On February 2, Northern also surrendered.
The German onslaught on the East was finally stopped in Stalingrad. From here, from the banks of the Volga, the expulsion of invaders from the territory of the USSR began. Germany's time of victory is over. A turning point came in the Great Patriotic War. The strategic initiative passed to the Red Army.
17. Events on the war fronts in 1942-1943. In accordance with the military-political goals of the further conduct of the war, in the early spring of 1942, when active armed struggle on the Soviet-German front almost ceased, both belligerents began to develop strategic plans for military operations.
The General Staff completed all justifications and calculations for the strategic action plan for 1942 by mid-March. main idea plan: active defense, accumulation of reserves, and then transition to a decisive offensive.
Taking into account the timing of reserve readiness and the degree of reorganization of the Air Force and armored forces, the summer offensive of the Soviet Army could begin only in the second half of July 1942.
The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command positioned its reserves so that they could be used, depending on the prevailing situation, both in the southwestern direction - to repel the expected enemy attack and launch a decisive offensive, and in the western direction - to reliably provide the Moscow region. Therefore, the main forces of the reserves were concentrated in the areas of Tula, Voronezh, Stalingrad, Saratov, from where they could quickly be advanced to one or another threatened direction. All marching reinforcements of the active army were distributed between these two directions.
The basis of the new offensive plan in 1942 Hitler's leadership laid the desire to achieve the political goals of the war against the USSR, which Nazi Germany failed to achieve in 1941. The strategic concept of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht defined the Soviet-German front as the main front of the struggle. It is here, the leaders of fascist Germany believed, that lies the key to winning victory over the anti-fascist coalition, to solving the problem of gaining world domination. The overall strategic plan was to apply powerful blow concentrated forces in one strategic direction - the southern wing of the front - and to the consistent expansion of the offensive zone to the north.
According to the plan of the fascist command, the German armed forces in the summer offensive of 1942 were supposed to achieve the achievement of political goals set by the Barbarossa plan. The enemy intended to deliver the main blow on the southern wing. The Wehrmacht was no longer capable of launching simultaneous attacks in other strategic directions, as was the case in 1941.
The implementation of the military-political goals of the entire offensive of the Nazi army in the East in the summer of 1942 largely depended on the successful solution of the initial tasks planned by German strategists for May - June 1942.
In order to ensure the secrecy of the summer offensive of 1942, the fascist leadership carried out a number of disinformation activities.
So, in the spring of 1942, both warring parties developed strategic plans and were preparing for the next round of active operations on the Soviet-German front, which was caused by the urgent need to have a strategic initiative in their hands.
In accordance with the general plans for the upcoming actions, groupings of forces of the operating armies were created.
Illustration copyright Getty Image caption
On September 1, 1939, Hitler attacked Poland. After 17 days at 6 am the Red Army in large forces (21 rifle and 13 cavalry divisions, 16 tank and 2 motorized brigades, a total of 618 thousand people and 4733 tanks) crossed the Soviet-Polish border from Polotsk to Kamenets-Podolsk.
In the USSR the operation was called a “liberation campaign”, in modern Russia neutrally called the "Polish campaign". Some historians consider September 17 to be the date of the actual entry of the Soviet Union into World War II.
Spawn of the Pact
The fate of Poland was decided on August 23 in Moscow, when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed.
For “calm confidence in the East” (the expression of Vyacheslav Molotov) and supplies of raw materials and bread, Berlin recognized half of Poland, Estonia, Latvia (Stalin later exchanged Lithuania from Hitler for part of the Polish territory owed to the USSR), Finland and Bessarabia as a “zone of Soviet interests.”
They did not ask for the opinions of the listed countries, as well as other world players.
Great and not-so-great powers constantly divided up foreign lands, openly and secretly, bilaterally and internationally. international conferences. For Poland, the German-Russian partition of 1939 was the fourth.
The world has changed quite a lot since then. The geopolitical game continues, but it is impossible to imagine that two powerful states or blocs would cynically decide the fate of third countries behind their backs.
Has Poland gone bankrupt?
Justifying the violation of the Soviet-Polish non-aggression treaty of July 25, 1932 (in 1937, its validity was extended until 1945), the Soviet side argued that the Polish state had virtually ceased to exist.
“The German-Polish war clearly showed the internal bankruptcy of the Polish state. Thus, the agreements concluded between the USSR and Poland ceased to be valid,” said the note handed to the person summoned to the NKID on September 17 Polish Ambassador Waclaw Grzybowski by Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Potemkin.
“The sovereignty of the state exists as long as the soldiers of the regular army fight. Napoleon entered Moscow, but as long as Kutuzov’s army existed, they believed that Russia existed. Where did the Slavic solidarity go?” - Grzybowski answered.
The Soviet authorities wanted to arrest Grzybowski and his employees. The Polish diplomats were saved by the German ambassador Werner von Schulenburg, who reminded the new allies about the Geneva Convention.
The Wehrmacht's attack was truly terrible. However, the Polish army, cut by tank wedges, imposed on the enemy the battle on Bzura that lasted from September 9 to 22, which even the Voelkischer Beobachter recognized as “fierce.”
We are expanding the front of socialist construction, this is beneficial for humanity, because the Lithuanians, Western Belarusians, and Bessarabians consider themselves happy, whom we delivered from the oppression of landowners, capitalists, police officers and all other bastards from Joseph Stalin’s speech at a meeting in the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on September 9 1940
The attempt to encircle and cut off the aggressor troops that had broken through from Germany was unsuccessful, but Polish forces retreated beyond the Vistula and began to regroup for a counterattack. In particular, 980 tanks remained at their disposal.
The defense of Westerplatte, Hel and Gdynia aroused the admiration of the whole world.
Mocking the “military backwardness” and “gentry arrogance” of the Poles, Soviet propaganda picked up Goebbels’s fiction that Polish lancers allegedly rushed at German tanks on horseback, helplessly pounding their sabers on the armor.
In fact, the Poles did not engage in such nonsense, and the corresponding film, made by the German Ministry of Propaganda, was subsequently proven to be a fake. But the Polish cavalry seriously disturbed the German infantry.
The Polish garrison of the Brest Fortress, led by General Konstantin Plisovsky, repulsed all attacks, and German artillery was stuck near Warsaw. Soviet heavy guns helped, shelling the citadel for two days. Then a joint parade took place, which was hosted by Heinz Guderian, who soon became too well known to Soviet people, on the German side, and by brigade commander Semyon Krivoshein on the Soviet side.
Surrounded Warsaw capitulated only on September 26, and resistance finally ceased on October 6.
According to military analysts, Poland was doomed, but could fight for a long time.
Diplomatic games
Illustration copyright GettyAlready on September 3, Hitler began to urge Moscow to act as soon as possible - because the war was not unfolding quite as he wanted, but, most importantly, to induce Britain and France to recognize the USSR as the aggressor and declare war on it along with Germany.
The Kremlin, understanding these calculations, was in no hurry.
On September 10, Schulenburg reported to Berlin: “At yesterday’s meeting, I got the impression that Molotov promised a little more than can be expected from the Red Army.”
According to historian Igor Bunich, diplomatic correspondence every day more and more resembled conversations on a thieves' "raspberry": if you don't go to work, you'll be left without a share!
The Red Army began to move two days after Ribbentrop, in his next message, transparently hinted at the possibility of creating an OUN state in western Ukraine.
If Russian intervention is not initiated, the question will inevitably arise as to whether a political vacuum will be created in the area lying east of the German zone of influence. In eastern Poland, conditions may arise for the formation of new states from Ribbentrop's telegram to Molotov dated September 15, 1939.
“The question of whether the preservation of an independent Polish State is desirable in mutual interests, and what the boundaries of this state will be, can only be finally clarified during further political development,” said paragraph 2 of the secret protocol.
At first, Hitler was inclined to the idea of preserving Poland in a reduced form, cutting it off from the west and east. The Nazi Fuehrer hoped that Britain and France would accept this compromise and end the war.
Moscow did not want to give him a chance to escape the trap.
On September 25, Schulenburg reported to Berlin: “Stalin considers it a mistake to leave an independent Polish state.”
By that time, London officially declared: the only possible condition for peace is the withdrawal of German troops to the positions they occupied before September 1; no microscopic quasi-states will save the situation.
Divided without a trace
As a result, during Ribbentrop's second visit to Moscow on September 27-28, Poland was divided completely.
The signed document already talked about “friendship” between the USSR and Germany.
In a telegram to Hitler in response to congratulations on his own 60th birthday in December 1939, Stalin repeated and strengthened this thesis: “The friendship of the peoples of Germany and the Soviet Union, sealed by blood, has every reason to be long-lasting and strong.”
The agreement of September 28 was accompanied by new secret protocols, the main one of which stated that the contracting parties would not allow “any Polish agitation” in the territories they controlled. The corresponding map was signed not by Molotov, but by Stalin himself, and his 58-centimeter stroke, starting in Western Belarus, crossed Ukraine and entered Romania.
At the banquet in the Kremlin, according to Gustav Hilger, adviser to the German embassy, 22 toasts were raised. Further, Hilger, according to him, lost count because he drank at the same rate.
Stalin honored all the guests, including the SS man Schulze, who stood behind Ribbentrop’s chair. The adjutant was not supposed to drink in such a company, but the owner personally handed him a glass, proposed a toast “to the youngest of those present,” and said that he would probably black is coming uniform with silver stripes, and demanded that Schulze promise to come to the Soviet Union again, and certainly in uniform. Schulze gave his word and kept it on June 22, 1941.
Unconvincing arguments
Official soviet history offered four main explanations, or rather, justifications for the actions of the USSR in August-September 1939:
a) the pact made it possible to delay the war (obviously, it is implied that in otherwise, the Germans, having captured Poland, would immediately march on Moscow without stopping);
b) the border moved 150-200 km to the west, which played a role important role in repelling future aggression;
c) the USSR took under the protection of half-brothers Ukrainians and Belarusians, saving them from Nazi occupation;
d) the pact prevented an “anti-Soviet conspiracy” between Germany and the West.
The first two points arose in hindsight. Until June 22, 1941, Stalin and his circle did not say anything like this. They did not consider the USSR as a weak defending party and did not intend to fight on their territory, be it “old” or newly acquired.
Hypothesis about German attack in the USSR already in the fall of 1939 looks frivolous.
For aggression against Poland, the Germans were able to assemble 62 divisions, of which about 20 were undertrained and understaffed, 2,000 aircraft and 2,800 tanks, over 80% of which were light tankettes. At the same time, Kliment Voroshilov, during negotiations with the British and French military delegations in May 1939, said that Moscow was able to field 136 divisions, 9-10 thousand tanks, 5 thousand aircraft.
On the previous border we had powerful fortified areas, and the direct enemy at that time was only Poland, which alone would not have dared to attack us, and if it had colluded with Germany, it would not have been difficult to establish the exit of German troops to our border. Then we would have time to mobilize and deploy. Now we are face to face with Germany, which can secretly concentrate its troops for an attack from the speech of the chief of staff of the Belarusian Military District Maxim Purkaev at the meeting command staff district in October 1939
Pushing the border west in the summer of 1941 did not help the Soviet Union, because the Germans occupied this territory in the first days of the war. Moreover: thanks to the pact, Germany advanced east by an average of 300 km, and most importantly, acquired a common border with the USSR, without which an attack, especially a sudden one, would have been completely impossible.
A “crusade against the USSR” may have seemed plausible to Stalin, whose worldview was shaped by the Marxist doctrine of class struggle as the main driving force of history, and also suspicious by nature.
However, not a single attempt by London and Paris to conclude an alliance with Hitler is known. Chamberlain's "appeasement" was not intended to "direct German aggression to the East", but to encourage Nazi leader give up aggression altogether.
The thesis of protecting Ukrainians and Belarusians was officially presented by the Soviet side in September 1939 as the main reason.
Hitler, through Schulenburg, expressed his strong disagreement with such an “anti-German formulation.”
“The Soviet government, unfortunately, does not see any other pretext to justify its current intervention abroad. We ask, taking into account the difficult situation for the Soviet government, not to allow such trifles to stand in our way,” Molotov said in response to the German Ambassador
In fact, the argument could be considered flawless if the Soviet authorities, in pursuance of secret NKVD order No. 001223 of October 11, 1939, in a territory with a population of 13.4 million, had not arrested 107 thousand and administratively deported 391 thousand people. About ten thousand died during the deportation and settlement.
High-ranking security officer Pavel Sudoplatov, who arrived in Lviv immediately after its occupation by the Red Army, wrote in his memoirs: “The atmosphere was strikingly different from the state of affairs in the Soviet part of Ukraine. The Western capitalist way of life flourished, wholesale and retail trade were in the hands of private traders, who would soon liquidate."
Special scores
In the first two weeks of the war, the Soviet press devoted short news reports to it under neutral headlines, as if they were talking about distant and insignificant events.
On September 14, in order to prepare information for the invasion, Pravda published a large article devoted mainly to the oppression of national minorities in Poland (as if the arrival of the Nazis promised them better times), and containing the statement: “That’s why no one wants to fight for such a state.”
Subsequently, the misfortune that befell Poland was commented on with undisguised gloating.
Speaking at the session Supreme Council On October 31, Molotov rejoiced that “nothing remained of this ugly brainchild of the Treaty of Versailles.”
Both in the open press and in confidential documents, the neighboring country was called either " former Poland", or, in the Nazi way, "Governor General".
Newspapers printed cartoons depicting a border post being knocked down by a Red Army boot, and a sad teacher announcing to the class: “This, children, is where we finish our study of the history of the Polish state.”
Through the corpse of white Poland lies the path to world fire. On bayonets we will bring happiness and peace to working humanity Mikhail Tukhachevsky, 1920
When the Polish government in exile led by Wladyslaw Sikorski was created in Paris on October 14, Pravda responded not with information or analytical material, and in a feuilleton: “The territory of the new government consists of six rooms, a bathroom and a toilet. In comparison with this territory, Monaco looks like a boundless empire.”
Stalin had special scores to settle with Poland.
During the disastrous Polish War of 1920 for Soviet Russia, he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council (political commissar) of the Southwestern Front.
The neighboring country in the USSR was called nothing less than “lord's Poland” and was always blamed for everything.
As follows from the decree signed by Stalin and Molotov on January 22, 1933 on the fight against the migration of peasants to the cities, people, it turns out, did this not trying to escape the Holodomor, but being incited by “Polish agents.”
Until the mid-1930s, Soviet military plans considered Poland as the main enemy. Mikhail Tukhachevsky, who at one time was also among the beaten commanders, according to the recollections of witnesses, simply lost his composure when the conversation turned to Poland.
Repressions against the leadership of the Polish Communist Party living in Moscow in 1937-1938 were common practice, but the fact that it was declared “sabotage” as such and dissolved by decision of the Comintern is a unique fact.
The NKVD also discovered in the USSR the “Polish Military Organization”, allegedly created back in 1914 by Pilsudski personally. She was accused of something that the Bolsheviks themselves took credit for: the disintegration of the Russian army during the First World War.
During the “Polish operation”, carried out under Yezhov’s secret order No. 00485, 143,810 people were arrested, 139,835 of them were convicted and 111,091 were executed - every sixth of the ethnic Poles living in the USSR.
In terms of the number of victims, even the Katyn massacre pales in comparison to these tragedies, although it was she who became known to the whole world.
Easy walk
Before the start of the operation, Soviet troops were consolidated into two fronts: Ukrainian under the command of the future People's Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko and Belarusian under General Mikhail Kovalev.
The 180-degree turn occurred so quickly that many Red Army soldiers and commanders thought they were going to fight the Nazis. The Poles also did not immediately understand that this was not help.
Another incident occurred: the political commissars explained to the soldiers that they had to “beat the gentlemen,” but the setting had to be urgently changed: it turned out that in neighboring country Everyone is gentlemen and ladies.
The head of the Polish state, Edward Rydz-Śmigly, realizing the impossibility of a war on two fronts, ordered the troops not to resist the Red Army, but to be interned in Romania.
Some commanders did not receive the order or ignored it. The battles took place near Grodno, Shatsk and Oran.
On September 24, near Przemysl, the lancers of General Wladyslaw Anders unexpected attack defeated two Soviet infantry regiments. Tymoshenko had to move tanks to prevent the Poles from breaking into Soviet territory.
But basically the “liberation campaign”, which officially ended on September 30, became for the Red Army light army a walk.
The territorial acquisitions of 1939–1940 resulted in a major political loss and international isolation for the USSR. The “bridgeheads” occupied with Hitler’s consent did not strengthen the country’s defense capability at all, since this was not what Vladimir Beshanov was intended for,
historian
The winners captured about 240 thousand prisoners, 300 combat aircraft, a lot of equipment and military equipment. Created at the beginning of the Finnish war, the “armed forces of democratic Finland”, without thinking twice, dressed in captured uniforms from warehouses in Bialystok, disputing Polish symbols from them.
The declared losses amounted to 737 killed and 1,862 wounded (according to updated data from the website “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century” - 1,475 dead and 3,858 wounded and sick).
In a holiday order on November 7, 1939, People's Commissar of Defense Kliment Voroshilov argued that “the Polish state at the very first military clash scattered like an old rotten cart.”
“Just think how many years tsarism fought to annex Lvov, and our troops took this territory in seven days!” - Lazar Kaganovich triumphed at a meeting of the party activists of the People's Commissariat of Railways on October 4.
To be fair, it should be noted that there was a person in the Soviet leadership who tried to at least partially cool the euphoria.
“We were terribly damaged by the Polish campaign, it spoiled us. Our army did not immediately understand that the war in Poland was a military promenade, not a war,” Joseph Stalin said at a meeting of senior command staff on April 17, 1940.
However, in general, the “liberation campaign” was perceived as an example of any future war, which the USSR will begin whenever it wishes and will complete victoriously and easily.
Many participants in the Great Patriotic War noted the enormous harm caused by the sabotage sentiments of the army and society.
Historian Mark Solonin named August-September 1939 finest hour Stalin's diplomacy. From the point of view of immediate goals, this was the case: without officially entering the world war, and with little loss of life, the Kremlin achieved everything it wanted.
However, just two years later, the decisions taken then almost turned into death for the country.
On September 17, 1939, the Polish campaign of the Red Army began. The London Times assessed this event as “a stab in the back of Poland.” For the USSR, this campaign was of strategic importance and was recognized as liberation. 7 facts about the Polish campaign of the Red Army in 1939.
1. If there is a war on two fronts - the Polish answer
In April 1939, Poland demonstratively conducted large-scale military maneuvers on the border of the USSR. At the same time, the Soviet side invited the Polish government to consider the issue of a defensive alliance against third countries, to which it received a very strict refusal, the meaning of which was that if necessary, the Polish army was ready to defeat both Stalin and Hitler at the same time. The Soviet Union did not react to this essentially offensive demarche. Ironically, a few months later in September 1939 Polish army within a short period of time we had to deal with both German and Soviet troops. Of course, it is impossible to talk about a war on two fronts. Soviet troops faced only spotty resistance, and even in to a greater extent not by the army, but by the siege soldiers, the police and the local militia.
2. Disaster in Balbasovo
On the eve of the Liberation Campaign, on September 16, an absurd and tragic plane crash occurred, in which the most successful Soviet pilot of the 30s, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major Sergei Ivanovich Gritsevets, died. Gritsevets, a participant in the Spanish Civil War, destroyed 7 enemy aircraft, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gritsevets was remembered for his new victories at Khalkhin Gol, having shot down 12 Japanese planes. In addition, he took his commander, Major V. Zabaluev, from the territory captured by the enemy, landing his I-16 near Japanese positions. Remaining invincible in the air, Gritsevets died through no fault of his own during landing at the Balbasovo airfield near Orsha. According to all the rules, at dusk and in foggy conditions, he made an exemplary landing and, fearing a collision with the pilots following him to land, taxied from the landing strip to the neutral one. At this moment, Major P. Hara, against all odds, came in to land from the opposite side, mistaking the neutral strip for a landing strip. There was a collision between the fighters, and while Khara escaped with bruises, Gritsevets died from the impact of the propeller. As the campaign began, it was decided not to report the death of the famous pilot. Gritsevets was never destined to see his native village of Borovtsy, liberated by Soviet troops during the 1939 campaign in Belarus.
3. Skidel's tragedy
30 km from Grodno is the small town of Skidel, in which, after receiving news that the Red Army had crossed the border, an uprising against the Polish authorities began, brutally suppressed by punitive forces: “30 people were immediately shot by punitive forces. They also shot just those who turned up. Before the execution they mocked: some had their eyes gouged out, others had their tongues cut, others had their fingers broken with rifle butts...” There could have been more victims if the group had not arrived in time to the scene Soviet tanks, which in a short but fierce battle defeated the Polish detachment.
4. At one gas station
It is noteworthy that during the Liberation Campaign, a number of Soviet tank units often had only one fuel refueling. The lack of fuel made it necessary to form attack mobile groups from tanks and quickly move on, transferring fuel to them from other combat vehicles. Since there was no serious opposition from Polish troops, this experiment was successful. However, the same fuel shortage would fatally affect in June 1941, when hundreds of Soviet tanks were abandoned or destroyed by their crews due to lack of fuel.
5. Liberation campaign in art
The liberation campaign was definitely reflected in literature, cinema and music. In memory of the Soviet tank in Antopol, which was burned by the gang that surrounded it (by no means Polish soldiers), together with the crew, Alexander Tvardovsky wrote the poem “Tank”, then set to music by V. Kochetov. The appearance of the famous “Song of the Red Regiments” is also connected with the history of the Liberation Campaign.
6. Vilno
On the evening of September 18, 1939, mobile tank groups of the 3rd and 11th armies Belorussian Front broke into Vilna and to the middle next day completely captured the city. Losses amounted to 9 tanks and armored cars: 13 were killed and 24 Red Army soldiers were wounded. The city, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (point 1), was transferred to Lithuania (this was later secured by the corresponding Soviet-Lithuanian treaty). Thus, Lithuania regained its capital, lost during the conflict with Poland in 1922. Until this time, Vilna was still considered the official capital of Lithuania (its loss was not recognized), but all government structures were located in Kaunas.
7. Polish monitors
On September 18, 1939, Polish crews on Pripyat and Pina sank 5 river monitors as Soviet troops approached. They were examined and raised at the same time, in September 1939, and then put into operation with a change of names - “Vinnitsa” (“Torun”), “Bobruisk” (“Gorodishche”). "Vitebsk" ("Warsaw"), "Zhitomir" ("Pinsk"), "Smolensk" ("Krakow"). The ships became part of the Dnieper and then the Pinsk flotilla. The military biography of the monitors in the Great Patriotic War turned out to be short, but bright - they all distinguished themselves while operating on Pripyat, Berezina and the Dnieper, managing to complete a number of combat missions, breaking out of disastrous traps more than once in June-September 1941. When leaving Kyiv on September 18, 1941 "Vitebsk" died - the last of the five captured monitors remaining at that time.
On September 17, 1939, the Soviet invasion of Poland took place. The USSR was not alone in this aggression. Earlier, on September 1, by mutual agreement with the USSR, the troops of Nazi Germany invaded Poland and this date marked the beginning of the Second World War.
It would seem that the whole world condemned Hitler’s aggression, England and France " declared war on Germany as a result of allied obligations, but were in no hurry to enter the war, fearing its expansion and hoping for a miracle. We will find out later that the Second World War had already begun, and then...then politicians still hoped for something.
So, Hitler attacked Poland and Poland is fighting with its last strength against the Wehrmacht troops. England and France condemned Hitler's invasion and declared war on Germany, that is, they sided with Poland. Two weeks later, Poland, which was fighting back the aggression of Nazi Germany with all its might, was additionally invaded from the east by another country - the USSR.
A war on two fronts!
That is, the USSR, at the very beginning of the global fire, decided to take the side of Germany. Then, after the victory over Poland, the Allies (USSR and Germany) will celebrate their joint victory and hold a joint military parade in Brest, spilling captured champagne from the captured wine cellars of Poland. There are newsreels. And on September 17, Soviet troops moved from their western borders deep into the territory of Poland towards the “brotherly” Wehrmacht troops to Warsaw, which was engulfed in fire. Warsaw will continue to defend itself until the end of September, confronting two strong aggressors and will fall in an unequal struggle.
The date September 17, 1939 marked the entry of the USSR into World War II on the side of Nazi Germany. It will be later, after the victory over Germany, that history will be rewritten and real facts will be kept silent, and the entire population of the USSR will sincerely believe that the “Great Patriotic War"began on June 22, 1941, and then.... then the countries anti-Hitler coalition received a severe blow and the world balance of power was sharply shaken.
September 17, 2010 was the 71st anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. How did this event go in Poland:
A little chronicle and facts
Heinz Guderian (center) and Semyon Krivoshein (right) watch the passage of Wehrmacht and Red Army troops during the transfer of Brest-Litovsk on September 22, 1939 to the Soviet administration
September 1939
Meeting of Soviet and German troops in the Lublin area
They were the first
who met Hitler's war machine with an open face - the Polish military command.The first heroes of World War II:
Commander-in-Chief of the VP Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly
Chief of the VP General Staff, Brigadier General Vaclav Stachewicz
VP Armor General Kazimierz Sosnkowski
Divisional General of the VP Kazimierz Fabrycy
Divisional General VP Tadeusz Kutrzeba
Entry of Red Army forces into Polish territory
At 5 o'clock in the morning on September 17, 1939, troops of the Belorussian and Ukrainian fronts crossed Polish-Soviet border along its entire length and attacked KOP checkpoints. Thus, the USSR violated at least four international agreements:
- Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 on Soviet-Polish borders
- The Litvinov Protocol, or the Eastern Pact of Renunciation of War
- Soviet-Polish non-aggression pact of January 25, 1932, extended in 1934 until the end of 1945
- London Convention of 1933, which contains a definition of aggression, and which the USSR signed on July 3, 1933
The governments of England and France presented notes of protest in Moscow against the undisguised aggression of the USSR against Poland, rejecting all of Molotov’s justifying arguments. On September 18, the London Times described this event, like “a stab in the back of Poland.” At the same time, articles began to appear explaining the actions of the USSR as having an anti-German orientation (!!!)
The advancing units of the Red Army encountered virtually no resistance from the border units. To top it all off, Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly gave the so-called in Kuty. “General Directive”, which was read out on the radio:
Quote: The Soviets invaded. I order the withdrawal to Romania and Hungary by the shortest routes. Do not conduct hostilities with the Soviets, only in the event of an attempt on their part to disarm our units. The task for Warsaw and Modlin, which must defend themselves from the Germans, remains unchanged. The units approached by the Soviets must negotiate with them in order to withdraw garrisons to Romania or Hungary...
The commander-in-chief's directive led to the disorientation of the majority of Polish military personnel and their mass capture. In connection with Soviet aggression, Polish President Ignacy Mościcki, while in the town of Kosov, addressed the people. He accused the USSR of violating all legal and moral norms and called on the Poles to remain strong and courageous in the fight against soulless barbarians. Mościcki also announced the transfer of the residence of the President of the Republic of Poland and all higher authorities authorities “to the territory of one of our allies.” On the evening of September 17, the President and the government of the Republic of Poland, headed by Prime Minister Felician Skladkovsky, crossed the border of Romania. And after midnight on September 17/18 - the Commander-in-Chief of the VP Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly. It was also possible to evacuate 30 thousand military personnel to Romania and 40 thousand to Hungary. Including a motorized brigade, a battalion of railway sappers and a police battalion "Golędzinow".
Despite the order of the commander-in-chief, many Polish units entered into battle with the advancing Red Army units. Particularly stubborn resistance was shown by units of the VP during the defense of Vilna, Grodno, Lvov (which from September 12 to 22 defended against the Germans, and from September 18 also against the Red Army) and near Sarny. On September 29 - 30, a battle took place near Shatsk between the 52nd Infantry Division and the retreating units of the Polish troops.
War on two fronts
The Soviet invasion sharply worsened the already catastrophic situation of the Polish army. In the new conditions, the main burden of resistance to German troops fell on the Central Front of Tadeusz Piskor. On September 17 - 26, two battles took place near Tomaszow Lubelski - the largest in the September campaign after the Battle of Bzura. The task was to break through the German barrier in Rawa Ruska, blocking the path to Lviv (3 infantry and 2 tank divisions of the 7th Army Corps of General Leonard Wecker). During the heaviest battles fought by the 23rd and 55th infantry divisions, as well as the Warsaw tank-motorized brigade of Colonel Stefan Rowecki, it was not possible to break through the German defenses. The 6th Infantry Division and the Krakow Cavalry Brigade also suffered huge losses. On September 20, 1939, General Tadeusz Piskor announced surrender Central Front. More than 20 thousand Polish soldiers were captured (including Tadeusz Piskor himself).
Now the main forces of the Wehrmacht concentrated against the Polish Northern Front.
On September 23, a new battle began near Tomaszow Lubelski. Northern Front was in difficult situation. The 7th was pressing on him from the west. army corps Leonard Wecker, and from the east - the Red Army troops. Units of the Southern Front of General Kazimierz Sosnkowski at this time tried to break through to the encircled Lvov, inflicting a number of defeats on the German troops. However, on the outskirts of Lvov they were stopped by the Wehrmacht and suffered heavy losses. After the news of the capitulation of Lvov on September 22, the front troops received orders to split into small groups and make their way to Hungary. However, not all groups managed to reach the Hungarian border. General Kazimierz Sosnkowski himself was cut off from the main parts of the front in the Brzuchowice area. In civilian clothes, he managed to pass through the territory occupied by Soviet troops. First to Lviv, and then, through the Carpathians, to Hungary. On September 23, one of the last mounted battles of World War II took place. The 25th regiment of the Wielkopolska Uhlan, Lieutenant Colonel Bohdan Stakhlewski, attacked the German cavalry in Krasnobrud and captured the city.
On September 20, Soviet troops suppressed the last pockets of resistance in Vilna. About 10 thousand Polish soldiers were captured. In the morning, tank units of the Belorussian Front (27th tank brigade of the 15th tank corps from the 11th Army) launched an attack on Grodno and crossed the Neman. Despite the fact that at least 50 tanks took part in the assault, it was not possible to take the city on the move. Some of the tanks were destroyed (the city’s defenders widely used Molotov cocktails), and the rest retreated back beyond the Neman. Grodno was defended by very small units of the local garrison. All the main forces a few days earlier became part of the 35th Infantry Division and were transferred to the defense of Lvov, besieged by the Germans. Volunteers (including scouts) joined parts of the garrison.
The troops of the Ukrainian Front began preparations for the assault on Lvov, scheduled for the morning of September 21. Meanwhile, the power supply was cut off in the besieged city. By the evening German troops received Hitler's order to move 10 km away from Lvov. Because according to the agreement, the city went to the USSR. The Germans undertook last try change this situation. The Wehrmacht command again demanded that the Poles surrender the city no later than 10 o’clock on September 21: “If you surrender Lvov to us, you will remain in Europe, if you surrender it to the Bolsheviks, you will become Asia forever”. On the night of September 21, the German units besieging the city began to retreat. After negotiations with the Soviet command, General Vladislav Langner decided to capitulate Lvov. The majority of officers supported him.
The end of September and the beginning of October marked the end of the existence of the independent Polish state. Warsaw defended until September 28, Modlin defended until September 29. On October 2, the defense of Hel ended. The last to lay down their arms were the defenders of Kotsk - October 6, 1939.
This ended the armed resistance of regular units of the Polish Army on Polish territory. To further fight against Germany and its allies, armed formations made up of Polish citizens were created:
- Polish armed forces in the West
- Anders Army (2nd Polish Corps)
- Polish armed forces in the USSR (1943 – 1944)
Results of the war
As a result of the aggression of Germany and the USSR, the Polish state ceased to exist. September 28, 1939, immediately after the surrender of Warsaw, in violation of the Hague Convention of October 18, 1907). Germany and the USSR defined the Soviet-German border on the territory of Poland they occupied. German plan consisted of creating a puppet “Polish residual state” Reststaat within the borders of the Kingdom of Poland and Western Galicia. However, this plan was not accepted due to Stalin's disagreement. Who was not satisfied with the existence of any Polish state entity.
The new border largely coincided with the “Curzon Line” recommended in 1919 by the Paris Peace Conference as a eastern border Poland, since it delimited areas of compact residence of Poles, on the one hand, and Ukrainians and Belarusians, on the other.
The territories east of the Western Bug and San rivers were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR. This increased the territory of the USSR by 196 thousand km², and the population by 13 million people.
Germany expanded the borders of East Prussia, moving them close to Warsaw, and included the area up to the city of Lodz, renamed Litzmannstadt, into the Wart region, which occupied the territory of the old Poznan region. By decree of Hitler on October 8, 1939, Poznan, Pomerania, Silesia, Lodz, part of the Kieleck and Warsaw voivodeships, where about 9.5 million people lived, were proclaimed German states and annexed to Germany.
The small residual Polish state was declared the "General Government of the Occupied Polish Regions" under the control of the German authorities, which a year later became known as the "General Government of the German Empire". Krakow became its capital. Any independent policy of Poland ceased.
On October 6, 1939, speaking in the Reichstag, Hitler publicly announced the cessation of the 2nd Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the division of its territory between Germany and the USSR. In this regard, he turned to France and England with a proposal for peace. On October 12, this proposal was rejected by Neville Chamberlain at a meeting of the House of Commons
Losses of the parties
Germany- During the campaign, the Germans, according to various sources, lost 10-17 thousand killed, 27-31 thousand wounded, 300-3500 people missing.
USSR - Combat losses The Red Army during the Polish campaign of 1939, according to Russian historian Mikhail Meltyukhov, amounted to 1,173 people killed, 2,002 wounded and 302 missing. As a result of the fighting, 17 tanks, 6 aircraft, 6 guns and mortars and 36 vehicles were also lost.
According to Polish historians, the Red Army lost about 2,500 soldiers, 150 armored vehicles and 20 aircraft.
Poland- According to post-war research by the Bureau of Military Losses, more than 66 thousand Polish military personnel (including 2000 officers and 5 generals) died in battles with the Wehrmacht. 133 thousand were wounded, and 420 thousand were captured by the Germans.
Polish losses in battles with the Red Army are not precisely known. Meltyukhov gives figures of 3,500 killed, 20,000 missing and 454,700 prisoners. According to the Polish Military Encyclopedia in Soviet captivity 250,000 troops were hit. Almost whole officers(about 21,000 people) was subsequently shot by the NKVD.
Myths that arose after the Polish campaign
The war of 1939 has become overgrown with myths and legends over many years. This was a consequence of Nazi and Soviet propaganda, falsification of history and the lack of free access by Polish and foreign historians to archival materials during the Polish People's Republic. One of decisive roles Some works of literature and art also played a role in the creation of persistent myths.
"Polish cavalrymen in despair rushed with sabers at the tanks"
Perhaps the most popular and enduring of all myths. It arose immediately after the Battle of Krojanty, in which the 18th Pomeranian Lancer Regiment of Colonel Kazimierz Mastalez attacked the 2nd Motorized Battalion of the 76th Motorized Regiment of the 20th Motorized Division of the Wehrmacht. Despite the defeat, the regiment completed its task. The lancers' attack brought chaos to general progress German offensive, knocked down his pace and disorganized the troops. The Germans needed certain time to resume your progress. They never managed to reach the crossings that day. In addition, this attack had a certain effect on the enemy psychological impact, which Heinz Guderian recalled.
The very next day, Italian correspondents who were in the combat area, referring to the testimony of German soldiers, wrote that “Polish cavalrymen rushed with sabers at the tanks.” Some “eyewitnesses” claimed that the lancers cut down tanks with sabers, believing that they were made of paper. In 1941, the Germans made a propaganda film on this topic, Kampfgeschwader Lützow. Even Andrzej Wajda did not escape the propaganda stamp in his 1958 “Lotna” (the picture was criticized by war veterans).
The Polish cavalry fought on horseback, but used infantry tactics. It was armed with machine guns, 75 and 35 mm carbines, Bofors anti-tank guns, a small number of Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as a small number of UR 1935 anti-tank rifles. Of course, the cavalrymen carried sabers and pikes, but these weapons were used only in mounted battles. Throughout the entire September campaign there was not a single case of attack by Polish cavalry German tanks. It should be noted, however, that there were times when the cavalry galloped quickly in the direction of the tanks attacking it. With one single goal - to get past them as quickly as possible.
"Polish aviation was destroyed on the ground in the first days of the war"
In fact, just before the start of the war, almost all aviation was relocated to small, camouflaged airfields. The Germans managed to destroy only training and support aircraft on the ground. For two whole weeks, inferior to the Luftwaffe in numbers and quality of vehicles, Polish aviation caused them significant losses. After the end of the fighting, many Polish pilots moved to France and England, where they joined the Allied Air Force pilots and continued the war (after shooting down many German aircraft during the Battle of Britain)
"Poland did not provide adequate resistance to the enemy and quickly surrendered"
In fact, the Wehrmacht, superior to the Polish Army in all major military indicators, received a strong and completely unplanned rebuff from the OKW. German army lost about 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles (almost 30% of the total strength), 370 guns, over 10,000 military vehicles (about 6,000 cars and 5,500 motorcycles). The Luftwaffe lost over 700 aircraft (about 32% of the total personnel participating in the campaign).
Manpower losses amounted to 45,000 killed and wounded. According to Hitler’s personal admission, the Wehrmacht infantry “...did not live up to the hopes placed on it.”
A significant number of German weapons were so damaged that they required major repairs. And the intensity of the fighting was such that there was only enough ammunition and other equipment for two weeks.
By time Polish campaign turned out to be only a week shorter than the French one. Although the forces of the Anglo-French coalition were significantly superior to the Polish Army both in numbers and in weapons. Moreover, the unexpected delay of the Wehrmacht in Poland allowed the Allies to more seriously prepare for the German attack.
Read also about the heroic one, which the Poles were the first to take upon themselves.
Quote: Immediately after the invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 ""...The Red Army committed a series of violence, murders, robberies and other lawlessness, both in relation to captured units and in relation to the civilian population" "[http://www .krotov.info/libr_min/m/mackiew.html Jozef Mackiewicz. "Katyn", Ed. "Zarya", Canada, 1988] Total, by general assessments, about 2,500 military and police personnel were killed, as well as several hundred civilians. Andrzej Frischke. "Poland. The fate of the country and the people 1939 - 1989, Warsaw, publishing house "Iskra", 2003, p. 25, ISBN 83-207-1711-6] At the same time, the commanders of the Red Army called on the people to "beat the officers and generals" (from the address of Army Commander Semyon Timoshenko).“When we were taken prisoner, we were ordered to raise our hands up and they drove us at a run for two kilometers. During the search, they stripped us naked, grabbing everything of any value... after which they drove us for 30 km, without rest or water. Who was weaker and could not keep up, received a blow with the butt, fell to the ground, and if he could not get up, he was pinned with a bayonet. I saw four such cases. I remember exactly that Captain Krzeminski from Warsaw was shoved with a bayonet several times, and when he fell, another Soviet the soldier shot him twice in the head..." (from the testimony of a KOP soldier) [http://www.krotov.info/libr_min/m/mackiew.html Yuzef Matskevich. "Katyn", Ed. "Dawn", Canada, 1988] ]
The most serious war crimes of the Red Army took place in Rohatyn, where prisoners of war were brutally killed along with civilian population(the so-called "Rohatyn massacre") Vladislav Pobug-Malinowski. "Newest political history Poland. 1939 - 1945", publishing house "Platan", Krakow, 2004, volume 3, p. 107, ISBN 83-89711-10-9] Katyn crime in documents. London, 1975, pp. 9-11]] Wojciech Roszkowski. "Modern history of Poland 1914 - 1945". Warsaw, "World of Books", 2003, pp. 344-354, 397-410 (volume 1) ISBN 83-7311-991-4], in Grodno, Novogrudok, Sarny, Ternopil, Volkovysk, Oshmyany, Svislochi, Molodechno and Kossovo Vladislav Pobug-Malinowski. "The latest political history of Poland. 1939 - 1945", publishing house "Platan", Krakow, 2004, volume 3, p. 107, ISBN 83-89711-10-9] "...Terror and murders took on enormous proportions in Grodno, where 130 schoolchildren and servants, the wounded defencists were quenched on the spot. 12-year-old Tadzik Yasinsky was tied to a tank and dragged along the pavement. After the occupation of Grodno, repressions began; those arrested were shot on Dog Mountain and in the Secret grove. On the square under Fara lay a wall of corpses..." Julian Siedletski. "The Fates of the Poles in the USSR in 1939 - 1986", London, 1988, pp. 32-34] Karol Liszewski. "The Polish-Soviet War of 1939", London, Polish Cultural fund, 1986, ISBN 0-85065-170-0 (The monograph contains a detailed description of the battles on the entire Polish-Soviet front and testimony of witnesses about the war crimes of the USSR in September 1939) ] Institute of National Memory of Poland. Investigation into the fact massacre civilians and military defenders of Grodno by military personnel of the Red Army, NKVD employees and saboteurs 09.22.39 ]
“At the end of September 1939, part of the Polish army entered into battle with a Soviet unit in the vicinity of Vilna. The Bolsheviks sent parliamentarians with a proposal to lay down their arms, guaranteeing in return freedom and return to their homes. The commander of the Polish unit believed these assurances and ordered to lay down their arms. The entire detachment at once surrounded, and the liquidation of the officers began..." (from the testimony of Polish soldier J.L. dated April 24, 1943) [http://www.krotov.info/libr_min/m/mackiew.html Jozef Matskevich. "Katyn", Ed. "Dawn", Canada, 1988] ]
“I myself witnessed the capture of Ternopil. I saw how Soviet soldiers hunted Polish officers. For example, one of the two soldiers passing by me, leaving his comrade, rushed into opposite direction, and when asked where he was in a hurry, he answered: “I’ll be back now, just kill that bourgeois,” and pointed to a man in an officer’s overcoat without insignia...” (from the testimony of a Polish serviceman on the crimes of the Red Army in Ternopol) [http://www .krotov.info/libr_min/m/mackiew.html Jozef Mackiewicz, “Katyn”, Zarya Publishing House, Canada, 1988] ]
“Soviet troops entered at about four o’clock in the afternoon and immediately began a brutal massacre and brutal abuse of the victims. They killed not only police and military personnel, but also the so-called “bourgeois”, including women and children. Those military personnel who escaped death and who As soon as they were disarmed, they were ordered to lie down in a wet meadow outside the city. About 800 people were lying there. The machine guns were installed in such a way that they could shoot low above the ground. Anyone who raised their head died. They were kept like that all night. The next day they were driven to Stanislavov , and from there into the depths of Soviet Russia..." (from testimony on the "Rohatyn Massacre") [http://www.krotov.info/libr_min/m/mackiew.html Jozef Matskevich. "Katyn", Ed. "Dawn", Canada, 1988] ]
“On September 22, during the battles for Grodno, at about 10 o’clock, the commander of the communications platoon, junior lieutenant Dubovik, received an order to escort 80-90 prisoners to the rear. Having moved 1.5-2 km from the city, Dubovik interrogated the prisoners in order to identify the officers and persons who took participation in the murder of the Bolsheviks. Promising to release the prisoners, he sought confessions and shot 29 people. The remaining prisoners were returned to Grodno. The command of the 101st Infantry Regiment of the 4th was aware of this rifle division, but no measures were taken against Dubovik. Moreover, the commander of the 3rd battalion, Senior Lieutenant Tolochko, gave a direct order to shoot the officers..."Meltyukhov M.I. [http://militera.lib.ru/research/meltyukhov2/index.html Soviet-Polish wars. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939] M., 2001.] end of quote
Often Polish units surrendered, succumbing to the promises of freedom that the Red Army commanders guaranteed them. In reality, these promises were never kept. Like, for example, in Polesie, where some of the 120 officers were shot and the rest were sent deep into the USSR [http://www.krotov.info/libr_min/m/mackiew.html Yuzef Matskevich. "Katyn", Ed. "Zarya", Canada, 1988] ] On September 22, 1939, the commander of the defense of Lvov, General Vladislav Langner, signed an act of surrender, providing for the unhindered passage of military and police units to the Romanian border immediately after they laid down their arms. This agreement was violated by the Soviet side. All Polish military personnel and police were arrested and taken to the USSR. Wojciech Roszkowski. "Modern history of Poland 1914 - 1945". Warsaw, "World of Books", 2003, pp. 344-354, 397-410 (volume 1) ISBN 83-7311-991-4]
The command of the Red Army did the same with the defenders of Brest. Moreover, all captured border guards of the 135th KOP regiment were shot on the spot by Wojciech Roszkowski. "Modern history of Poland 1914 - 1945". Warsaw, "World of Books", 2003, pp. 344-354, 397-410 (volume 1) ISBN 83-7311-991-4]
One of the most serious war crimes of the Red Army was committed in Velikiye Mosty on the territory of the School of State Police Subofficers. At that time, there were about 1,000 cadets in this largest and most modern police training institution in Poland. The School Commandant, Inspector Vitold Dunin-Vonsovich, gathered the cadets and teachers on the parade ground and gave a report to the arriving NKVD officer. After which the latter ordered to open fire from machine guns. Everyone died, including the commandant [http://www.lwow.com.pl/policja/policja.html Krystyna Balicka “Destruction of the Polish Police”] ]
The reprisal of General Olshina-Wilczynski
On September 11, 2002, the Institute of National Memory began an investigation into the circumstances tragic death General Józef Olszyny-Wilczynski and Captain Mieczysław Strzemeski (Act S 6/02/Zk). During inquiries in Polish and Soviet archives the following was established:
“On September 22, 1939, the former commander of the Grodno operational group, General Jozef Olshina-Wilczynski, his wife Alfreda, adjutant artillery captain Mieczyslaw Strzemeski, the driver and his assistant ended up in the town of Sopotskin near Grodno. Here they were stopped by the crews of two Red Army tanks. The tank crews ordered everyone leave the car. The general's wife was taken to a nearby barn, where more than a dozen other people were already present. After which both Polish officers were shot on the spot. From photocopies of Soviet archival materials located in the Central Military Archive in Warsaw, it follows that on September 22, 1939, In the Sopotskin area, a motorized detachment of the 2nd tank brigade of the 15th tank corps entered into battle with Polish troops. The corps was part of the Dzerzhinsky cavalry-mechanized group of the Belorussian Front, commanded by corps commander Ivan Boldin..." [http://www.pl.indymedia .org/pl/2005/07/15086.shtml
The investigation identified the persons directly responsible for this crime. This is the commander of the motorized detachment, Major Fedor Chuvakin, and Commissioner Polikarp Grigorenko. There are also testimonies of witnesses to the murder of Polish officers - the wife of General Alfreda Staniszewska, the driver of the car and his assistant, as well as local residents. On September 26, 2003, a request was submitted to the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for assistance in the investigation into the murder of General Olszyna-Wilczynski and Captain Mieczyslaw Strzemeski (as a crime that does not have a statute of limitations in accordance with Hague Convention dated October 18, 1907). In response Military prosecutor's office the Polish side was told that in this case we're talking about not a war crime, but a common law crime for which the statute of limitations had already expired. The prosecutor's arguments were rejected as having as their sole purpose the termination of the Polish investigation. However, the refusal of the Military Prosecutor's Office to cooperate made further investigation pointless. On May 18, 2004 it was terminated. [http://www.pl.indymedia.org/pl/2005/07/15086.shtml Act S6/02/Zk - investigation into the murder of General Olszyna-Wilczynski and Captain Mieczyslaw Strzemeski, Institute of National Memory of Poland] ]
Why did Lech Kaczynski die?... The Polish Law and Justice party, led by President Lech Kaczynski, is preparing a response to Vladimir Putin. The first step against “Russian propaganda praising Stalin” should be a resolution equating the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 with fascist aggression.Polish conservatives from the Law and Justice (PiS) party proposed to officially equate the invasion of Poland by Soviet troops in 1939 with fascist aggression. The most representative party in the Sejm, to which Polish President Lech Kaczynski belongs, presented a draft resolution on Thursday.
According to Polish conservatives, every day glorifies Stalin in the spirit Soviet propaganda- This is an insult to the Polish state, the victims of World War II in Poland and around the world. To prevent this, they call on the Sejm leadership to “call on the Polish government to take steps to counter the falsification of history.”
“We insist on revealing the truth,” Rzeczpospolita quotes a statement from the faction’s official representative, Mariusz Blaszczak. “Fascism and communism are the two great totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, and their leaders were responsible for the outbreak of World War II and its consequences. The Red Army brought death and ruin to Polish territory. Its plans included genocide, murder, rape, looting and other forms of persecution,” reads the resolution proposed by PiS.
Blaszczak is confident that the date of September 17, 1939, when Soviet troops entered Poland, was not as well known until that time as September 1, 1939, the day of the invasion of Hitler’s troops: “Thanks to the efforts of Russian propaganda, which falsifies history, this remains the case to this day.”.
When asked whether the adoption of this document would harm Polish-Russian relations, Blaszczak said that there would be nothing to harm. In Russia, “smear campaigns are underway” against Poland, in which government agencies, including the FSB, are taking part, and official Warsaw “should put an end to this.”
However, the passage of the document through the Sejm is unlikely.
The deputy head of the PiS faction, Gregory Dolnyak, generally opposed the draft resolution being made public until his group managed to agree on the text of the statement with the other factions. "Any resolution historical content we must first try to agree among ourselves, and then make it public,” Rzeczpospolita quotes him as saying.
His fears are justified. The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party is openly skeptical.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Stefan Niesiołowski, representing the Civic Platform, called the resolution “stupid, untruthful and damaging to the interests of Poland.” "It is not true that Soviet occupation was the same as the German one, it was softer. It is also not true that the Soviets carried out ethnic cleansing; the Germans did this,” he noted in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza.
The socialist camp also categorically opposes the resolution. As Tadeusz Iwiński, a member of the Left Forces and Democrats bloc, noted to the same publication, LSD considers the draft resolution “anti-historical and provocative.” Poland and Russia have recently managed to bring closer their positions on the issue of the role of the USSR in the death of the Polish state in 1939. In an article in Gazeta Wyborcza dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the start of the war, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact “unacceptable from a moral point of view” and had “no prospects from the point of view practical implementation", not forgetting to reproach historians who write to please the "momentary political situation." The idyllic picture was blurred when, at memorial celebrations on Westerplatte near Gdansk, Prime Minister Putin compared attempts to understand the causes of World War II to “picking through a moldy bun.” At the same time, Polish President Kaczynski announced that in 1939 “Bolshevik Russia” inflicted a “stab in the back” on his country, and clearly accused the Red Army, which occupied eastern Polish lands, of persecuting Poles on ethnic grounds.
The Nuremberg Military Tribunal sentenced: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia) to death by hanging.
Hess, Funk, Raeder - to life imprisonment.
Schirach, Speer - to 20, Neurath - to 15, Doenitz - to 10 years in prison.
Fritsche, Papen, and Schacht were acquitted. Ley, who was handed over to the court, hanged himself in prison shortly before the start of the trial. Krup (industrialist) was declared terminally ill, and the case against him was dropped.
After the Control Council for Germany rejected the prisoners' requests for clemency, those sentenced to death were hanged in Nuremberg prison on the night of October 16, 1946 (2 hours earlier, G. Goering committed suicide). The Tribunal also declared criminal organizations SS, SD, Gestapo, management team National Socialist Party (NDSAP), but did not recognize the SA as such, German government, General Staff and High Command of the Wehrmacht. But a member of the tribunal from the USSR, R. A. Rudenko, stated in a “dissenting opinion” that he disagreed with the acquittal of the three defendants and spoke in favor of the death penalty against R. Hess.
The International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character and punished them as criminals statesmen, guilty of preparing, unleashing and conducting wars of aggression, rightly punished the organizers and executors of criminal plans to exterminate millions of people and conquer entire nations. And its principles, contained in the Charter of the Tribunal and expressed in the verdict, were confirmed by the resolution of the UN General Assembly of December 11, 1946, as generally recognized norms international law and entered the consciousness of most people.
So, don't say that someone is rewriting history. It is beyond the power of man to change past history, change what has already happened.
But it is possible to change the brains of the population by implanting political and historical hallucinations in them.
Regarding the charges of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, don’t you think that the list of accused is not complete? Many escaped responsibility and continue to go unpunished to this day. But the point is not even in them - their crimes, which are presented as valor, are not condemned, thereby distorting historical logic and distorting memory, replacing it with propaganda lies.
“You can’t trust anyone’s word, comrades... (Stormy applause).” (I.V. Stalin. From speeches.)