Which countries were liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet army. Europe has forgotten who freed it from fascism
The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war on its shoulders and played a decisive role in defeating the armies of Germany and its allies. The main armed forces of Germany and its satellites were concentrated on the Soviet-German front. Here the main military events took place and the plans of the Nazi invaders suffered a complete collapse.
The distribution of the ground forces of Germany and its European allies along the fronts in 1941-1945*
* The distribution of troops is given in calculated divisions. When counting, two brigades are equated to one division.
World history has not known such a colossal concentration of troops and military equipment as on the Soviet-German front, where in different periods from 8 to 12.8 million people were concentrated on both sides, a huge amount of military equipment. Active hostilities were conducted here for 1320 days out of 1418, that is, they accounted for 93% of the front's existence. On the three fronts of the Western Allies - North African, Italian and Western European - active battles were fought only 1094 days out of 2069, or 53% of the period of existence of these fronts.
Of great importance for the victorious outcome of the war were the operations of the Armed Forces of the USSR in 1944, as a result of which the liberation of Soviet land was completed and hostilities were transferred beyond its borders.
The arrival of the Red Army was awaited with hope by millions of working people in the countries of Europe occupied by the Nazis; The success of the struggle of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition largely depended on the situation on the Soviet-German front.
It should be noted that even during this period, 1.8-2.8 times more enemy divisions were concentrated on the Soviet-German front than against the Allied forces. Under the influence of the victories of the Red Army and the troops of the allies, the movement of resistance to fascism intensified in the countries occupied and dependent on Nazi Germany. The Resistance fighters inflicted significant blows on the communications and garrisons of the enemy, disorganized the work of industrial enterprises, and diverted part of the armed forces of the Nazi coalition. They destroyed tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and officers, expelled the invaders and their accomplices from settlements, cities and vast areas. The main assistance to the resistance movement was the defeat by the Red Army of the main forces of Nazi Germany on the Soviet-German front. The USSR provided significant assistance in the development of the partisan movement by supplying weapons, ammunition, communications equipment and training partisan organizers. More than 40 thousand Soviet citizens fought in the ranks of anti-fascist fighters in European countries.
With the entry of Soviet troops into Romania in March 1944 and into Poland in July, the stage of liberation by the Red Army of foreign countries from the fascist yoke began.
The defeat of the enemy troops in the Iasi-Kishinev operation deprived the Nazis and the fascist Antonescu regime of armed support in Romania, created decisive conditions for the success of the anti-fascist armed uprising, the overthrow of the Antonescu dictatorship and Romania's exit from the war on the side of Germany. After the victory of the popular uprising in Romania on August 23, 1944 and the fall of the fascist regime, two Romanian armies fought in the same ranks with the Soviet troops for the liberation of their country, and then Hungary and Czechoslovakia. On September 8, Soviet troops crossed the Romanian-Bulgarian border and were enthusiastically received by the Bulgarian people, who were joined by the army. On September 9, an armed uprising won in Sofia, and the reactionary regime was overthrown. The government of the Fatherland Front came to power and declared war on Germany. 3 Bulgarian armies entered the fight against the German troops. In September-October 1944, the Red Army carried out the East Carpathian operation to support the Slovak armed uprising, in which Soviet partisans also participated. Together with the Soviet soldiers, the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps fought. Having overcome the Eastern Carpathians, they liberated the Transcarpathian Ukraine, part of Eastern Slovakia and entered the Hungarian lowland.
With the liberation of Bulgaria and the withdrawal of Soviet troops to the border with Yugoslavia, favorable conditions were created for the final defeat of the fascist troops on the territory of Yugoslavia, Greece and Albania. The operation to liberate the eastern rivers of Yugoslavia, which went down in history under the name Belgrade, is a vivid example of the cooperation of the allied armies during the Second World War. On October 20, 1944, Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, was liberated by the joint actions of the Soviet and Yugoslav troops. The defeat of the German troops on the territory of Yugoslavia had a positive effect on the struggle of the Albanian and Greek peoples. On November 29, 1944, the Albanian National Liberation Army completed the expulsion of all invaders from its territory. On October 12, the People's Liberation Army of Greece and the partisans liberated Athens, and on November 3, the entire territory of the country was cleared of invaders. On the territory of Hungary, Soviet troops fought intense battles from September 25, 1944. Having liberated Budapest on February 13, 1945 and defeated a large enemy grouping in the Lake Balaton area, the Red Army, together with the Bulgarian and Romanian troops, completed the liberation of Hungary on April 4.
At a time when Soviet troops were crushing the German army in Poland and East Prussia, formations of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts in February 1945 completed the defeat of the encircled enemy troops in Budapest. From March 6 to March 15, 1945, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, which included the 1st Bulgarian Army of General V. Stoychev, carried out the Balaton defensive operation, as a result of which the last attempt of the enemy to carry out a major counteroffensive was thwarted.
On March 16, the Vienna offensive operation of the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts began. On April 13, Vienna, the capital of Austria, was taken by storm, Soviet troops delivered the Austrian people from the Nazi yoke.
At the beginning of May 1945, an amphibious assault was prepared on the Danish island of Bornholm, where the Germans created a base for their naval ships and where a large number of troops from Pomerania were taken. The Germans refused the ultimatum of the Soviet command about the surrender of troops on the island. In this regard, on May 9, an amphibious assault was landed on the island, which forced the Nazis to lay down their arms.
During the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, Soviet troops liberated the northern regions of Norway. King Ho-kon II of Norway declared that "the Norwegian people accepted the Red Army as a liberator."
In the context of the impending collapse of the Third Reich, on May 5, the patriots of Czechoslovakia raised an armed uprising in Prague and in a number of other cities. The rebels asked for help, and the Soviet Supreme High Command decided to speed up the Prague operation. During it, as in the first operation to liberate Czechoslovakia, assistance was provided to the insurgent patriots and the capital of Czechoslovakia was saved from destruction by the Nazis. The fighting on the territory of Czechoslovakia ended on the night of May 12 with the defeat and capture of a large enemy grouping.
The Prague operation of the Soviet troops was the last military operation of World War II in Europe.
By the end of 1944, all of Eastern Slovakia was liberated. In the winter and spring of 1945, Soviet troops liberated the important industrial centers of Czechoslovakia - Bratislava, Brno and Moravska Ostrava.
The words of US President F. Roosevelt, expressed as early as May 6, 1942, are known: “From the point of view of grand strategy ... it is difficult to get away from the obvious fact that the Russian armies destroy more enemy soldiers and weapons than all the other 25 states of the United Nations, taken together". “... It was the Russian army,” wrote British Prime Minister W. Churchill in September 1944, “that let the guts out of the German military machine.” General Charles de Gaulle said in December 1944: "The French know what Soviet Russia has done for them, and they know that it was Soviet Russia that played the main role in their liberation."
The USA and Great Britain opened a second front in the summer of 1944, when the Armed Forces of the USSR, winning one victory after another, were approaching the borders of Germany from the east. The opening of the Second Front and the subsequent offensive actions of the allied forces in Western Europe played a significant role in shortening the time for the end of the war in Europe.
Crimean (Yalta) Conference
February 4–11, 1945. near Yalta (Crimea), in the Livadia Palace, the second meeting of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain took place. J. V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill discussed not so much the military plans for the defeat of Germany as post-war order of the world. They agreed on the terms of the unconditional surrender of Germany, stipulated the terms of its occupation and demilitarization.
D. Nalbaldyan. Crimean conference.1945
In Yalta, a decision was made to convene a founding conference of the United Nations, which was to be established with the aim of preventing new wars in the future. The Declaration on a Liberated Europe was adopted, proclaiming the need to coordinate the actions of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain in post-war Europe. The USSR confirmed its promise to enter the war against Japan 2-3 months after the defeat of Germany.
The liberation of Europe from fascism
At the beginning of 1945, 10 Soviet fronts fought on the Soviet-German front, consisting of 6.7 million people, equipped with 107.3 thousand guns and mortars, 12.1 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, 14.7 thousand aircraft. In December 1944 - January 1945, the Anglo-American troops experienced serious difficulties in the Ardennes (southwest of Belgium). Therefore, in January 1945, at the request of W. Churchill, Soviet troops launched an offensive ahead of schedule along the entire front line.
January 12 - February 3, 1945 was held Vistula-Oder operation to defeat the German-Hungarian group in the Western Carpathians. Having broken through the enemy defenses and destroyed 17 divisions, the troops of the 1st Belorussian (commander G.K. Zhukov) and the 1st Ukrainian (commander I.S. Konev) liberated the territory of Poland to the west of the Vistula. By the beginning of February, Soviet troops reached the Oder, capturing a number of bridgeheads on its left bank.
From the document (F.V. Mellentin. Tank battles 1939-1945):
... On January 12, the long-awaited Russian offensive began with the advance of Konev's troops from the Baranuv bridgehead. Forty-two rifle divisions, six tank corps and four mechanized brigades broke into southern Poland and rushed into the industrial region of Upper Silesia ...
On January 9, Guderian warned Hitler that "the Eastern Front was like a house of cards," but Hitler stubbornly continued to think that the preparation of the Russians was just a gigantic bluff. He demanded a firm hold on the positions he occupied and transferred tank reserves from Poland to Hungary, trying in vain to alleviate the situation of the troops in Budapest. As a result, a few days later the front of the German troops on the Vistula collapsed. On January 17, Warsaw fell, on January 18, the Russians captured Lodz and Krakow, and on January 20, the advancing troops of Zhukov crossed the border of Silesia. The frozen ground favored a rapid advance, and the Russian offensive developed with unprecedented strength and swiftness. It was clear that their Supreme High Command had fully mastered the technique of organizing the offensive of huge mechanized armies and that Stalin was determined to be the first to enter Berlin. On January 25, the Russians were already standing under the walls of my hometown of Breslau, and by February 5, Zhukov reached the Oder near Kustrin, only 80 km from the German capital ...
... It is impossible to describe everything that happened between the Vistula and the Oder in the first months of 1945. Europe has not known anything like this since the fall of the Roman Empire.
January 13 - April 25, 1945 troops of the 2nd (commander K.K. Rokossovsky) and 3rd (commander I.D. Chernyakhovsky, from February 20 - A.M. Vasilevsky) Belarusian and parts of the 1st Baltic ( commander I. Kh. Bagramyan) of fronts in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet (commander V. F. Tributs) during East Prussian operation they broke through the powerful defenses of the German Army Group Center, reached the Baltic Sea and liquidated the main enemy forces (over 25 divisions), occupying East Prussia and liberating the northern part of Poland.
Assault on Koenigsberg
During the destruction of the enemy at sea during the East Prussian operation, the S-13 submarine under the command of Captain 3rd Rank A.I. Marinesko achieved outstanding success. On January 30, she sank the German liner "Wilhelm Gustloff" with a displacement of 25.5 thousand tons, on February 9 - the German steamer "General von Steuben" with a displacement of 14.7 thousand tons. Not a single Soviet submariner achieved such brilliant results in one trip. For military merits, the S-13 boat was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
I. I. Rodionov. Destruction of the German liner "Wilhelm Gustlov"
By the beginning of April, the territory of Hungary, Poland and East Prussia was liberated from the enemy. In mid-April, the troops of the 1st Belorussian (commander G.K. Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (commander K.K. Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (commander I.S. Konev) fronts totaling 2.5 million people began the final operation to defeat Germany. According to the developed plan for the destruction of the Army Groups "Center" and "Vistula", the capture of Berlin and access to the Elbe to connect with the allies, on April 16, units of the 1st Belorussian Front attacked the central section of the German line of fortifications on the Oder. They ran into stubborn resistance, especially at the Seelow Heights, which they managed to take only on April 17 at the cost of huge losses.
Battle for the Seelow Heights
April 17, 1945 in the sky over Berlin shot down the 62nd German aircraft I. N. Kozhedub, squadron commander, deputy regiment commander, three times Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, during the war years, he conducted 120 air battles; shot down 62 aircraft.
I. N. Kozhedub
On April 19, having broken a 30-km gap in the enemy's defenses, units of the 1st Belorussian Front rushed to Berlin and on April 21 reached its suburbs. The 1st Ukrainian Front crossed the Neisse on April 16, broke through the German defenses by April 19, defeated the 4th Panzer Army and moved to Berlin from the south. On April 25, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts completed the encirclement of the Berlin group.
April 25, 1945 units of the 1st Ukrainian Front reached the Elbe and in the area Torgau met with units of the 1st American Army. Here the Eastern and Western fronts joined.
Allied meeting at Torgau
The 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the Vistula Army Group, which was hurrying to the aid of Berlin. On April 20, his troops crossed the Oder and on April 26 captured Stettin. On April 26, the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts began to liquidate two encircled Wehrmacht groups. On April 28, they captured the outskirts of the city and started fighting for the central quarters. On April 30, 1945, soldiers of the 150th Infantry Division M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria hoisted the Red Banner of Victory over the Reichstag.
On the same day, Hitler committed suicide. On May 2, the Berlin garrison capitulated. On May 8, in Karlshorst near Berlin, representatives of the victorious countries and the German military command signed the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender. From the USSR, the document was signed by Marshal G.K. Zhukov.
On the same day, units of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied Dresden. May 9, 1945. surrendered the remnants of the German army in Czechoslovakia. This day has been declared Victory Day.
However, at that time the USSR only accepted the surrender of fascist Germany, formally the war with the Germans ended in 1955, when a decree was issued "On the termination of the state of war between the Soviet Union and Germany."
On June 24, 1945, the Victory Parade took place on Red Square. He was received by Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov. Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky commanded the parade. The deposition of the German banners was carried out with gloves to emphasize the disgust for the Nazis. After the parade, gloves and a wooden platform near the Mausoleum were solemnly burned.
Potsdam conference
July 17 - August 2, 1945 in the suburbs of Berlin, Potsdam, a conference of leaders of the victorious powers was held. The Soviet delegation was headed by I. V. Stalin, the American - by G. Truman, the British - by W. Churchill (on July 28 he was replaced by the new Prime Minister K. Attlee). The central place was taken by the question of the post-war structure of Europe. It was decided to keep Germany as a single state, to carry out measures for its disarmament and demilitarization, the complete elimination of the remnants of the fascist regime (the so-called denazification). To do this, the troops of the victorious countries (including France) were to enter the territory of Germany, and the period of their stay was not limited. The issue of reparation payments from Germany in favor of the USSR, as the country most affected by Hitler's aggression, was resolved.
The Big Three at the Potsdam Conference
At the conference, the leaders of the victorious powers established new frontiers in Europe. The pre-war borders of the USSR were recognized, the territory of Poland was expanded at the expense of German lands. The territory of East Prussia was divided between Poland and the USSR. The USSR confirmed its commitment to declare war on Japan no later than 3 months.
War of the USSR with Japan
The Second World War after the defeat of Germany continued in the Far East, where the United States, Britain and China were at war with Japan. On August 8, the USSR, true to its allied obligations, declared war on Japan. During the Manchurian operation, a crushing blow was dealt to the millionth Japanese Kwantung Army.
In two weeks, the Soviet army under the command of Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky defeated the main forces of the Japanese, occupied Harbin and Mukden in Northeast China, Port Arthur, Far, Pyongyang. During landing operations, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were liberated from the Japanese. Japan's losses on the Far Eastern Front for three weeks amounted to almost 800 thousand people.
On August 6 and 9, the US military carried out atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the official goal of hastening Japan's surrender. The Little Boy and Fat Man bombs killed 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000 to 80,000 people in Nagasaki. The necessity and ethical validity of the atomic bombings of Japan are still debatable.
Nuclear explosions in Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)
On September 2, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender was signed aboard the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. From Japan, it was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs S. Mamoru and Chief of the General Staff U. Yoshijiro, from the USA - by General D. MacArthur, from the USSR - Lieutenant General K. N. Derevyanko.
Japan's Unconditional Surrender Act
In the spring of 1944 there was a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War. On March 26, 1944, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev, during the Uman-Botoshansky operation, reached the Prut River - the state border of the USSR and Romania. In honor of this event, an artillery salute was given in Moscow.
The troops of the Red Army began the liberation of Europe from the "brown plague". More than 1 million Soviet soldiers gave their lives in the struggle to save the enslaved European peoples.
Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the offensive operations of the Red Army in Europe, the allies of the USSR - the USA, England and Great Britain - opened a second front. On June 6, 1944, Anglo-American troops launched Operation Overlord, landing in Normandy.
Romania: request for help
As a result of the Iasi-Kishinev operation, carried out from August 20 to 29, 1944, the German-Romanian group of troops was destroyed and the territory of Moldova was liberated. The crushing victory of the Red Army became the impetus for the overthrow of the pro-fascist regime of Ion Antonescu in Romania. On August 23, an uprising was raised in the country, as a result of which the dictator Antonescu was arrested and a new government was formed. The new authorities announced the withdrawal of Romania from the war on the side of Germany, the acceptance of peaceful conditions, and also asked the USSR for military assistance. On August 31, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian entered Bucharest. On September 12, 1944, in Moscow, the Soviet government signed an armistice agreement with Romania.
Bulgaria: with hope for the Russians
The liberation of Bulgaria passed almost bloodlessly during the Bulgarian operation, carried out on September 5-9, 1944. Formally, Bulgaria did not participate in the war against the USSR because of the sympathy of the country's population for the Russians, who liberated the country from the Ottoman yoke in 1878. Nevertheless, the country was headed by a pro-fascist government, the Bulgarian army served as the occupying troops in Greece and Yugoslavia, and the German troops used the entire transport infrastructure of the country. On September 8, the advanced units of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and the Black Sea Fleet entered Bulgaria without encountering resistance.
On September 9, a popular uprising took place in the country, the pro-fascist government was overthrown and the government of the Fatherland Front was formed. Subsequently, it declared war on Germany and its ally, Hungary.
On the picture: Residents of Sofia greet the units of the Soviet Army that entered the city, November 20, 1944.
Yugoslavia: together with the partisans
On April 6, 1941, Nazi troops invaded Yugoslavia; on April 17, the country capitulated. On July 8, 1941, the People's Liberation War of Yugoslavia began against the Nazi invaders, which was expressed in a mass partisan movement. It had the same significance as the Great Patriotic War in the history of Russia.
The population of the country sympathized with the Russians and the USSR. The Soviet Union sent instructors to the fraternal people of Yugoslavia to teach military affairs.
On September 28, during the Belgrade operation, the Red Army launched an assault on Belgrade, in which Yugoslav partisans also participated. October 20, 1944 the capital of Yugoslavia was completely liberated from the invaders.
On the picture: The commander of the rifle battalion, Major V. Romanenko, tells the Yugoslav partisans and residents of the village of Starchevo about the military affairs of the young scout corporal Viktor Zhayvoronka, September 15, 1944.
Norway: royal recognition
Northern Norway was liberated as a result of the Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operation, in which the troops of the Karelian Front and the Northern Fleet of the USSR Navy took part in northern Norway from October 7 to 29, 1944.
In Norway, the Germans established a strict occupation regime; they used the country's territory as a military base for operations against the northern allied convoys, thanks to which Lend-Lease deliveries were made to the USSR. The Soviet troops were to liberate the Arctic (the cities of Luostari and Pechenga) and Kirkenes in Northern Norway from the Nazis.
On October 18, 1944, soldiers of the Red Army landed in Norway. On October 25, during fierce fighting, Kirkenes was liberated.
“We followed with admiration and enthusiasm the heroic and victorious struggle of the Soviet Union against our common enemy,” noted Norwegian King Haakon VII in his radio speech on October 26, 1944. “It is the duty of every Norwegian to give maximum support to our Soviet ally.”
On the picture: Northern Fleet. Boats with Soviet paratroopers go to the shores of Northern Norway, October 15, 1944. Reproduction TASS.
The Baltics: a strategic breakthrough
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia were liberated from the Nazis during the Belarusian (June 23 - August 29, 1944) and Baltic (September 14 - November 24, 1944) offensive operations.
On July 13, 1944, Vilnius was liberated from the Nazi invaders. Tallinn was liberated on September 22, and the entire territory of Estonia by September 26, 1944. Soviet troops entered Riga on October 15, 1944, and by October 22 most of Latvia had been cleared of the invaders.
Having lost the Baltic States, the Wehrmacht lost a profitable strategic area, which served as an important industrial, raw material and food base for the Germans.
On the picture: Soviet infantry during an offensive southeast of the city of Klaipeda, October 26, 1944.
Hungary: supported by volunteers
From October 29, 1944 to February 13, 1945, the Budapest offensive operation was carried out, in which the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts took part. Bloody battles for Budapest lasted a month and a half. The Budapest operation ended with the capture of SS Obergruppenführer Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, who commanded a 188,000-strong group of German troops. Thus, Hungary ceased to participate in the war.
Hungarian volunteers fought in the ranks of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts - soldiers and officers of the Hungarian army who went over to the side of the Soviet troops.
On the picture: A boy in one of the liberated cities of Hungary with a soldier of the Red Army, March 1, 1945.
Poland: road to Berlin
Large industrial centers were located in Poland, which were of strategic importance for the Germans, so the Wehrmacht tried to create a powerful, in-depth defense in the country. Enemy resistance was broken during the Vistula-Oder strategic offensive operation, carried out by the forces of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts and lasting from January 12 to February 3, 1945.
Soldiers of the Polish Army fought side by side with the soldiers of the Red Army. It was they who, on January 17, 1945, were given the opportunity by the Soviet command to be the first to enter Warsaw completely destroyed and plundered by the Nazis.
Over 600,000 Soviet soldiers and officers gave their lives in 23 days of bloody battles for Poland. As a result of the Vistula-Oder operation, favorable conditions were created for an attack on Berlin, to which the Red Army approached at a distance of 60-70 km.
Austria: restoration of sovereignty
The Vienna offensive operation began on March 16, 1945 and lasted until April 15. The troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts and the Danube military flotilla participated in it.
Given that Vienna was the last frontier on the outskirts of Germany, the city was an impregnable fortress with anti-tank ditches and anti-personnel barriers. The fierce resistance of the German garrison was broken thanks to the courage and bravery of the paratroopers and the assault detachment of the marines of the Danube Flotilla. On the night of April 13-14, 1945, Vienna was completely cleared of the German garrison defending it. On April 27, a provisional government was established, promulgating a declaration of independence, which the country lost in 1938.
On the picture: An armored personnel carrier of the Red Army clears the streets of Vienna from the enemy. Austria, April 12, 1945.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: INTERNATIONAL OPERATION
The Prague offensive operation, which lasted from May 6 to May 11, 1945, was the last in the course of the Great Patriotic War. Already after the signing of the surrender of fascist Germany in Czechoslovakia, a powerful grouping of troops of the Army Groups "Center" and "Austria", numbering about 900 thousand people, remained. In early May, anti-Nazi demonstrations began in various cities of Czechoslovakia, and on May 5, 1945, the Czech Resistance raised an armed uprising of the population of Prague. A mass exodus of Nazi troops from the city began. On May 7, Marshal of the USSR Ivan Konev gave the order to pursue the enemy. On May 8, the German garrison in Prague capitulated, and on May 9, the Red Army entered Prague. Within a few hours, the city was cleared of the remnants of German troops.
As a result of the Prague operation, about 860 thousand German soldiers and officers surrendered. The soldiers and officers of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Poland participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia from the Nazis.
LIBERATION OF THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE
The aggressors achieved maximum success in Europe, Asia and Africa by the autumn of 1942. In Europe, they occupied, recall, 12 countries (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia, Greece), as well as part of the territory of the USSR, where more than 80 million people lived before the war, reached Stalingrad and the foothills of the Caucasus in the east and the Atlantic coast in the west. In Asia, Japanese troops occupied the vast territory of China, French Indochina, Malaya with the fortress of Singapore, Burma, Thailand, Hong Kong, present-day Indonesia and the Philippines, most of the Solomon Islands, reached the approaches to Australia and India. Italo-German troops in North Africa occupied the territory from Tunisia to the border of Egypt. It took more than three years of fierce battles for the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition, supported by the resistance movement in Europe and Asia, to achieve a turning point in the war and liberate the countries and territories occupied by the aggressors.
In Europe, this was achieved through the joint efforts of the armed forces of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA, with a decisive contribution to the liberation of the European continent by the Red Army. In Asia, the main confrontation unfolded between the US and Japan. In Africa - between the British and Italian-German troops, with the participation of the US troops from the end of 1942.
Let us dwell in more detail on the liberation mission of the Soviet Union, with which, from the first days of the Great Patriotic War, people of the most diverse segments of the population in many countries of the world pinned their hopes.
Bernard Shaw wrote on 17 July 1941 to Alexander Fadeev in Moscow; “...Hitler threw down the gauntlet as a champion of his idea, and Russia is lifting this glove as a champion of another, incomparably more powerful idea. When Russia crushes Hitler, it will become the spiritual center of the world... Remember that our civilization is now facing a turning point that it has never been able to overcome. And this time, Russia must lead us forward or perish.”
The Soviet Union did not separate its struggle against Nazism from the struggle of other peoples for their national liberation. This position was confirmed in the statement of the Soviet government of September 24, 1941 in connection with the Atlantic Charter signed shortly before by the US President and the British Prime Minister. The USSR expressed its agreement with the goals of the ongoing war against the aggressive bloc, as well as with the basic principles of the post-war order of the world. The Soviet leadership guaranteed full support for the right of all enslaved peoples to restore their state independence and sovereign development.
The victories of the Red Army near Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk marked a radical turn in the Great Patriotic War. In the autumn of 1943, Soviet troops crossed the Dnieper and began a rapid advance through the territory of the Right-Bank Ukraine. It became clear to both the leadership of the Axis states and the leaders of the allied powers of the USSR that the day was not far off when the Red Army would reach its pre-war borders and begin the expulsion of enemy troops from the territories of European countries. At this time, fears arose in the ruling circles of England and the United States that a further offensive by the Soviet armies in Romania, Poland and other states of Central and South-Eastern Europe could lead to a significant strengthening of Moscow's positions in this region. London expressed particular concern about this, considering the USSR its geopolitical rival in the struggle for influence on the continent, primarily in the Balkans and Poland. Nevertheless, the ever-increasing military power of the Soviet Union forced Britain to moderate its imperial ambitions. Moreover, the public of the Western countries enthusiastically perceived each new success of the Red Army, which took place against the backdrop of the as yet absent second front in France.
On March 26, 1944, Soviet troops in a number of sectors reached the Prut River, along which the state border between the USSR and Romania passed. The situation on the Soviet-German front was developing in such a way that the Red Army now had to fight on the territory of an ally of Nazi Germany. Even before the entry of Soviet troops into the depths of the European continent, Moscow faced the problem of how to treat those countries that openly participated in the world war on the side of Germany. It was necessary to initially determine their policy in relation to both Romania and other satellite states of the Third Reich.
The document emphasized that Moscow "does not pursue the goal of acquiring any part of the Romanian territory or changing the existing social order of Romania ...". At the same time, the USSR sought to use every opportunity to bring Romania out of the war by political means. The Romanians themselves were supposed to contribute to the expulsion of German troops from their territory.
Similarly, the USSR hoped to achieve a withdrawal from the war and other countries that fought on the side of Germany. He coordinated his position with the US and British governments.
On May 13, a joint statement was issued by the governments of the three leading powers of the anti-Hitler coalition addressed to Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Finland. It stated that these countries had the opportunity to shorten the duration of the European war by breaking with Germany and resisting Nazi forces by all means, to decide "whether they intend to persist in their present hopeless and disastrous policy of preventing the inevitable victory of the Allies, although there is still time for them to contribute contribution to this victory.
The tone of this statement reflected the realities of the military-political situation in Europe that had developed by that time. The countries listed in the document were in the enemy camp, so the main task of the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition was to withdraw them from the war on the side of Germany. Moreover, if this was unattainable with the help of political measures, then the Red Army had no other choice but to enter their territories as the territories of enemy states. The calculation boiled down to the fact that the threat of a complete military defeat, new heavy losses would inspire the governments of the satellite countries of Germany to stop hostilities against the USSR and its allies and turn their weapons against the Nazis.
The position of each of the satellite countries of the fascist-militarist bloc was not unambiguous. So, Bulgaria, although it was an ally of Germany, did not participate in the war against the USSR. In addition to Germany, the war on the USSR was also declared by Italy, Romania (June 22, 1941), Finland (June 26), Hungary (June 27). They were joined by the puppet governments of Slovakia, Croatia and Norway created by the Nazis. The entry of the Red Army into the borders of states that found themselves against their will under German occupation - Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Norway, Denmark (Bornholm Island) - took place, as a rule, on the basis of bilateral agreements either with the governments of these countries, who were in exile, or with the leading forces of the resistance movement.
From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR actively helped the deployment of the national liberation movement on their territory. So, in the Soviet rear, Polish and Czechoslovak formations were formed, which then fought on the Soviet-German front and took part in the liberation of their homeland from the aggressors; Soviet weapons were supplied to the partisans of Yugoslavia. The liberation of each of the occupied countries also had its own characteristics. In Yugoslavia, the troops of the Red Army carried out close cooperation with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, already hardened in heavy battles, under the command of I. Broz Tito. Since 1941, vast partisan areas existed in the country, cleared of the enemy by the efforts of the Yugoslavs themselves.
In Poland, the situation was different. Armed detachments of the Home Army, subordinate to the government in exile in London, avoided cooperation with the Red Army. As a result of the fact that within the Polish resistance movement itself it was not possible to reach a compromise between various political forces, the first post-war government of Poland was formed in Moscow. It was based on representatives of the Union of Polish Patriots - a public organization of Poles who were in the USSR during the war years ...
It is possible to divide the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union into two parts, one of which was fought on Soviet territory and the other abroad, only conditionally. Both before and after our armies crossed the borders of the USSR, the policy of the country and the actions of the Armed Forces were subordinated to a single goal - the defeat of the invaders, the liberation of the countries and territories occupied by them. It is noteworthy that the liberation of the European states by the Red Army began in the spring of 1944, that is, even before many areas that were part of the Soviet Union until June 22, 1941 were cleared of the enemy. So, the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda was taken by Soviet troops on January 28, 1945, and the German group in Courland (Latvia) surrendered only on May 9, 1945. This state of affairs is explained by purely military reasons. The Soviet command had to take into account the rapidly changing situation at the front, maneuver forces, deliver powerful blows to the enemy, primarily in those sectors where this was due to strategic necessity.
The first of the foreign countries where the Red Army entered, as already noted, was Romania. Immediately crossing the Prut, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front (commander - Marshal of the Soviet Union I. Konev) on March 27, 1944 occupied a bridgehead on its western, Romanian, coast. Until mid-May, the troops of the front liberated 800 cities and villages of northeastern Romania and reached the foothills of the Carpathians. Then, until the second half of August, they fought to hold the liberated areas. The loss of the front in April - August 1944 amounted to only 16 thousand people killed.
Meanwhile, the attempts of the dictatorial regime of Marshal I. Antonescu to reach an agreement with the United States and Great Britain on the introduction of Western Allied troops into Romanian territory were intensified even before the start of a new offensive by the Red Army. However, neither the US nor the UK agreed to this deal. Washington and London understood that they would not be able to decide the fate of Romania behind the back of the USSR. On April 12, 1944, the Romanian emissary Prince B. Shtibrei, who arrived in Cairo for negotiations with representatives of the anti-Hitler coalition, was handed the terms of the armistice worked out by the Soviet government and approved by the leadership of the United States and Great Britain. They provided for Romania's breaking off relations with Germany, its entry into the war on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition as an independent and sovereign state, the restoration of the Soviet-Romanian border of 1940, compensation by Romania for the damage that it caused the USSR by military operations and the occupation of part of its territory (Bessarabia and a number of regions of southern Ukraine, including Odessa), the return of all prisoners of war and internees, ensuring the free movement of allied troops across Romanian territory. For its part, the Soviet government expressed its consent to the annulment of the so-called Vienna Arbitration imposed on Romania by Germany in 1940, according to which she was forced to transfer Northern Transylvania to Hungary.
For the Romanian dictator Antonescu, the terms of the truce were unacceptable. He continued to insist on the entry of Anglo-American troops into the country, believing that in this way he would be able to retain power and avoid retribution for complicity in aggression against the USSR. In this situation, the most sober-minded national politicians embarked on the path of cooperation with the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), which invariably advocated the overthrow of the pro-fascist regime and an immediate end to the war with the Soviet Union.
By May 1944, representatives of the Communist Party and other parties opposed to the regime of I. Antonescu established contacts with King Mihai, who agreed to the arrest of Antonescu. With the participation of the Romanian military command, preparations began for an uprising with the aim of overthrowing the dictatorial regime.
At the same time, anxiety grew in Berlin about the possibility of breaking off relations with Bucharest. In early August, the German command began to prepare for the implementation of the plan for the complete occupation of Romania (code name - "Margarita II"). On August 15, the commander of the Army Group "Southern Ukraine", General G. Frisner, received from Hitler's headquarters the authority to take over the leadership of all German military formations in Romania and, if necessary, put the plan "Margaret II" into execution.
However, the leadership of the Wehrmacht failed to carry out its plan. On August 20, the Iasi-Chisinau operation of the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts began against the German formations of the Southern Ukraine Army Group. Its goal was to complete the liberation of Soviet Moldavia and withdraw Romania from the war on the side of Nazi Germany.
The skillful actions of the Soviet armies in the Iasi-Kishinev operation played a decisive role in the expulsion of German troops from Romanian territory and the transition of Romania to the side of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. As a result of the operation, from August 20 to 29, 1944, 22 German divisions were destroyed, including 18 divisions that were surrounded, as well as many divisions of the Romanian army. The dictatorial regime lost its armed support in the country, which created favorable conditions for the victory of the popular uprising that began on August 23, 1944. On this day, Marshal Antonescu was arrested by order of King Mihai, and the Romanian troops of the Bucharest garrison began to block the German headquarters and other military installations of the Wehrmacht . By evening, a new government of the country was formed, headed by the adjutant of the king, General C. Sanatescu. It called for an immediate end to the war against the anti-Hitler coalition and announced the start of a war with Germany.
Attempts by the commander of Army Group "Southern Ukraine" Frisner to suppress an armed uprising in Bucharest were in vain. The Germans did not have the strength to resist the rebels: the most combat-ready units of the Wehrmacht were destroyed near Chisinau and Iasi. By August 28, Bucharest was completely cleared of German troops. On August 31, formations of the 2nd Ukrainian Front entered the city liberated by the patriots. Parts of the 1st Romanian Volunteer Division named after Tudor Vladimirescu moved in the first columns, which in 1943 was formed from Romanian prisoners of war in the USSR and included in the front. The population of Bucharest enthusiastically welcomed the troops of the liberators.
On September 12, the armistice conditions presented to Romania in April 1944 were signed in Moscow. By this time, two Romanian armies, the 1st and 4th, were already fighting against the German troops, along with formations of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts. Together, on October 25, 1944, they completed the complete liberation of the country. In the battles for the liberation of Romania, the total losses of Soviet troops amounted to 286 thousand people, including 69 thousand killed. Romanian troops from August 23 to October 30, 1944 lost 58 thousand people killed, wounded and missing.
In connection with the approach of Soviet troops to the borders of Poland in mid-July 1944, the question arose about the path of its development after the liberation by the Red Army. It should be emphasized that by that time the Polish problem had become one of the most difficult in relations between the USSR and the Western allies. Moscow's attempts to establish cooperation with the Polish government in exile in London in order to coordinate efforts in the liberation of Poland were unsuccessful. On the way to establishing mutual understanding, first of all, there was the demand of the Polish government in exile to restore the border between the two states as of September 1, 1939. The Soviet leadership was asked to refuse the reunification of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus with the USSR.
A serious blow to bilateral relations was also dealt by the evacuation in mid-1942 of more than 100,000-strong Polish army under General W. Anders, formed in 1941 from Poles who were at that time on Soviet territory. Thus, the agreement on the participation of this army in hostilities on the Soviet-German front was violated. From the Poles remaining in the Soviet Union, the Soviet command formed a new 1st Polish Army, led by Colonel E. Berling. The attitude of the Polish government in exile in London to the USSR took on an extremely negative character after the German radio announced in the spring of 1943 that in the territory of the Soviet Union occupied by the Wehrmacht - in the Katyn forest near Smolensk - the bodies of interned Polish servicemen shot by the NKVD in 1940 were found. While the German version was refuted in Moscow, the Polish government in London published a statement of responsibility for the crime in Katyn of the Soviet leadership, which led to a temporary break in relations between the USSR and the Polish government in exile.
On January 1, 1944, in Warsaw (in the underground), the pro-Moscow Craiova Rada Narodova (KRN) was formed and began to operate - the political representation of the national front, created to fight against the invaders. The KRN supported the position of the USSR on the issue of the post-war borders of Poland, advocated close Polish-Soviet cooperation, and challenged the right of the London government in exile to speak on behalf of the entire Polish people.
The KRN addressed a greeting to the soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Front (since May 1944 the commander was Marshal of the Soviet Union I. Konev), who crossed the Western Bug and entered Polish territory on July 17, 1944. On July 21, the KRN, with the assistance of the Soviet leadership, created the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKNO) - a temporary body of executive power. On July 22, the PKNO issued a manifesto in which it called on all Poles to cooperate with the Red Army in the liberation of their country. On July 26, an agreement was signed in Moscow between the government of the USSR and the PKNO, according to which the latter was given full power in the Polish territory liberated by the Red Army, after it ceased to be a war zone. The Soviet government exchanged official representatives with the PKNO, located first in Chelm and then in Lublin.
Meanwhile, the offensive of the Soviet troops in Eastern Poland continued. Entering the final stage of the Belarusian operation, which lasted until the end of August 1944, the Red Army liberated approximately one fourth of the Polish territory. More than 5 million Poles living east of the Vistula were rescued from Nazi slavery. The majority of the local population met the Soviet soldiers with exceptional cordiality. According to the report of the political department of the 1st Ukrainian Front dated August 6, 1944, almost all residents of the liberated cities and towns came out to meet the advance detachments of the Red Army. “The Poles,” the document noted, “bring water and milk to our fighters, treat them with berries, present flowers and warmly express gratitude for the liberation from the fascist yoke, under which they were five years old.”
The German command transferred large forces to the Warsaw direction against the advancing formations of the Red Army and at the same time took active steps to block the uprising of the AK detachments in the Polish capital that began on August 1. The position of the rebels, joined by thousands of citizens, soon became critical. Their losses during the uprising are estimated at 22-25 thousand people, more than 11 thousand surrendered to the Germans. The number of civilian casualties during this period was even greater - from 150 to 200 thousand dead and missing.
The final liberation of the territory of Poland took place only in the following year, 1945. The Vistula-Oder operation, which began in January 1945, during which Warsaw was also liberated, shook the defense of the German Army Group A to its foundations. Having traveled over 500 km to the west, Soviet troops liberated the western part of Poland and in a number of sectors reached the Oder. The territories of Silesia, Eastern Pomerania, the southern regions of East Prussia, which before the war were part of Germany and, by agreement with the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, were transferred to Poland, were completely liberated by the Red Army during subsequent operations against the Nazi troops in February - April 1945. Shoulder to Soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Polish armies of the Polish Army, representing the armed forces of the PKNO, fought shoulder to shoulder with the Soviet troops.
More than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers gave their lives in the battles for the liberation of Poland. The Polish army, created with the comprehensive assistance of the USSR, lost 26 thousand killed and missing in the battles for their homeland.
In Romania, Soviet troops, having surrounded and destroyed the main forces of the Army Group "Southern Ukraine", approached the border of Bulgaria. Officially, this country was at war with the USA and Great Britain since the end of December 1941, taking a neutral position in the war of Germany against the USSR. Her government had to reckon with the Bulgarian people, who felt a deep sense of gratitude towards Russia and the Russians, who in 1878 freed them from the centuries-old Ottoman yoke. However, in reality, the Bulgarian government provided considerable support to the Wehrmacht in the war against the USSR. It put the country's economy at the service of Germany, providing it with various types of raw materials and food, and placed its airfields and ports on the Black Sea at the disposal of the German army. 12 Bulgarian divisions and 2 cavalry brigades carried out occupational service in Yugoslavia and Greece, which allowed Germany to release significant forces and resources to replenish Wehrmacht units on the Soviet-German front.
The complicity of the Bulgarian leadership in the German aggression against the USSR caused a protest among the population, which intensified as the Red Army advanced. The most radical part of the political forces in opposition to the government, on the initiative of the Bulgarian Workers' Party, in 1943 united in the Fatherland Front. In the same year, under the leadership of the Bulgarian communists, the People's Liberation Insurgent Army was formed from scattered throughout the country partisan detachments that waged an armed struggle against German units and the Bulgarian government troops. Since the spring of 1944, the outskirts of the Bulgarian capital Sofia have become a war zone for partisans. The Bulgarian soldiers and officers who were in Yugoslavia openly expressed their sympathy for Russia. An increasing number of them deserted from the army and went over to the partisans.
The Bulgarian ruling circles, fearing an explosion of popular indignation and an anti-government uprising, sought to prevent the entry of the Red Army into the country. Their goal was the surrender of the country to the troops of Great Britain and the United States. On September 4, the government of M. Muraviev, who came to power, issued a declaration stating that Bulgaria was withdrawing from the military alliance with Germany and would henceforth pursue a policy of "complete unconditional neutrality." The calculation was based on the fact that the proclaimed neutrality would serve as an obstacle to the passage of Soviet troops to Bulgarian territory.
However, this plan failed. On September 5, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. Only after that Sophia decided to break off diplomatic relations with Germany. On September 8, the advanced units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front (commander - Marshal of the Soviet Union F. Tolbukhin) crossed the Romanian-Bulgarian border without firing a shot. Almost the entire population came out to meet the soldiers of the Red Army. At 12 noon, the Muraviev government announced that it was at war with Germany. In the evening of the same day, the USSR accepted for consideration the request of Bulgaria to conclude a truce.
By this time, Bulgaria was in the grip of a popular uprising. It was led by the Fatherland Front. On the night of September 9, Muraviev's government was overthrown. The new government of the Fatherland Front declared war on Germany and its allied Hungary. On September 15, Soviet units and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army of Bulgaria entered Sofia. The people of the city gave them an enthusiastic welcome.
The liberation of Bulgaria was not without losses. They amounted to 12,750 people, including 977 irrevocable.
On October 28, 1944, the USSR, the USA and Great Britain signed an armistice agreement with Bulgaria. It documented the transition of this country to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The new Bulgarian army was operationally subordinate to the commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. About 200 thousand Bulgarian soldiers, together with the Soviet troops, took part in the battles against the Wehrmacht in Yugoslavia and Hungary.
By the beginning of September 1944, as a result of the operations successfully carried out by the Red Army in Romania and Western Ukraine, it became possible for Soviet troops to enter the territory of Czechoslovakia. Soviet formations in the first place had to enter Slovakia - a puppet state formed in 1939 after the German occupation of the Czech Republic. Several Slovak units were located on the Soviet-German front, performing, as a rule, security functions in the rear of the German troops. The headquarters of the Supreme High Command set the task of withdrawing this country from the war and the sphere of German domination.
Already after the Battle of Stalingrad in Slovakia, forces opposed to the dictatorial regime became more active. Dissatisfaction with the country's participation in the war against the USSR grew among the people and the army. In two Slovak divisions sent to the Soviet-German front, the transition of soldiers to the side of the partisans assumed such a wide scope that the German command was forced at the end of 1943 to prohibit these formations from participating in hostilities and send them to construction work. Established in December 1943 as the governing body of the resistance movement, the Slovak National Council (SNC) set out to prepare an armed uprising to overthrow the pro-Nazi leadership of the country and restore the democratic Czechoslovak Republic.
In connection with the approach of the Red Army to the borders of Czechoslovakia, at the suggestion of the Czechoslovak government, who was in exile in London, with the consent of the governments of Great Britain and the United States, on May 8, 1944, a Soviet-Czechoslovak agreement was concluded, which stated that, as soon as any part liberated Czechoslovak territory will cease to be a zone of direct military operations, the management of affairs in this territory will pass to the Czechoslovak government.
At the beginning of August 1944, the growth of the partisan movement began in Slovakia. The Slovak puppet government, not without reason, was alarmed by this and turned to Berlin for help. On August 29, several German units began to move into the territory of Slovakia. On the same day, the SNA issued a call for an uprising. On August 31, the Czechoslovak government in exile turned to the Soviet leadership with a request to provide assistance to the rebels within the operational capabilities of the Red Army.
From a military point of view, it was not advisable to start an operation to liberate Slovakia at that time, since the troops of the 1st and 4th Ukrainian fronts, after heavy fighting, needed rest and replenishment. In addition, the offensive had to be carried out through the difficult mountainous terrain of the Eastern Carpathians. Nevertheless, on September 2, 1944, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command issued an order to the command of these fronts to prepare and conduct an operation in order to reach the Slovak border and join the rebels. On September 8, the East Carpathian operation began. On September 20, the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front (commander - General of the Army I. Petrov), having completed the liberation of the western regions of Ukraine, entered the territory of Slovakia. However, the further offensive in the mountains developed slowly. The formations of the Red Army met especially fierce resistance here. On October 28, the operation was terminated. The Soviet soldiers did everything they could to alleviate the plight of the rebels, while losing only 21,000 killed and 89,000 wounded. But due to insufficient preparation and the superiority of the German forces, the Slovak uprising was crushed. Slovakia was under the occupation of the Wehrmacht and soon turned into the arena of new bloody battles.
At the beginning of 1945, Soviet troops continued fighting to liberate Czechoslovakia. To this end, four more offensive operations were carried out. It must be said that for a long time the formations of the Red Army did not manage to inflict a final defeat on the enemy here. The difficult terrain conditions, the stiff resistance of the German forces in well-fortified defensive positions, as well as the mistakes of the command of the 4th and 2nd Ukrainian fronts in preparing and conducting the offensive, affected. Difficulties in the West Carpathian operation (January 12 - February 18, 1945) and the subsequent low rate of advance of the Soviet troops caused the removal in March 1945 of Army General I. Petrov from the post of commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front and his replacement by Army General A Eremenko.
The liberation of Czechoslovakia was completed during the Prague operation (May 6–11, 1945), in which the Red Army assisted the armed uprising of the Czech people and liberated Prague from the German invaders. The western part of Czechoslovakia was liberated by US troops.
The struggle for the liberation of Czechoslovakia lasted 246 days. It cost the Red Army great sacrifices. The total losses of the Soviet troops amounted to 500 thousand people killed, wounded and missing. 140 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers were buried on the territory of the Czech Republic and Slovakia ...
On September 23, 1944, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front (commander - Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Malinovsky) crossed the Romanian-Hungarian border with battles and advanced 10–15 km into Hungarian territory by the end of the day. By this time, the ruling circles of Hungary were in a deep political crisis. Starting with the defeat of the 2nd Hungarian Army on the Upper Don in the winter of 1942/43, they tried through neutral countries to persuade the United States and Great Britain to conclude a separate peace and bring Anglo-American troops into Hungary before the Red Army entered its territory. At the same time, the Hungarian leadership, seeking to distance itself from Germany, spoke out in favor of the removal of all its units from the Soviet-German front. All this caused Berlin to distrust its ally. On March 19, 1944, the German plan for the occupation of Hungary was carried out. The former government was dissolved. The new government, loyal to Germany, was appointed by the emissary of the German Reich in Budapest, SS General E. Wesenmayer, endowed with emergency powers by Hitler. On March 23, the Hungarian dictator M. Horthy was forced to approve the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers.
These measures were taken by the German leadership to strengthen the defenses on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, before the territory of Hungary was to turn into an arena of fierce battles. The German command paid special attention to this direction, not without reason fearing the exit of Soviet units from the southeast to the vital centers of Germany.
In connection with the approach of Soviet troops to the borders of Hungary in September 1944, Horthy asked the Soviet government for consent to negotiate an armistice. Consent has been received. On October 11, in Moscow, the Hungarian delegation accepted the terms of the armistice. Hungary renounced all the territories it had previously occupied, pledged to break off relations with Germany and declare war on her. The USSR undertook to provide military assistance to Hungary.
However, on October 15–16, German units, with the support of members of the Hungarian pro-Nazi Arrow Cross party, captured Budapest and overthrew the government. The head of the new puppet government was declared the German protégé F. Salashi. Horthy was arrested. Thus, Berlin managed to keep Hungary and its army under its control.
The fighting in Hungary took on a protracted character. At first, the offensive of the Soviet troops on the Hungarian plain developed quite successfully. During the Debrecen operation (October 6–28, 1944), the 2nd Ukrainian Front liberated about 30% of the Hungarian territory. By the end of December, the Soviet units reached Budapest and surrounded it. However, it was not possible to liquidate the 188,000th German group in the Hungarian capital on the move. German formations carried out a number of strong counterattacks, which were repulsed by the Soviet troops only during heavy and bloody battles. The assault on Budapest ended only on February 13, 1945. The remnants of the enemy garrison surrendered.
At the beginning of March 1945, the German command made a new attempt at a counteroffensive in Hungary. The 6th SS Panzer Army was transferred from the Western Front to the Lake Balaton area. She was tasked with pushing back the Soviet troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front beyond the Danube. The offensive was unexpected for the Soviet command. The Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army A. Antonov, talking on the phone with F. Tolbukhin, even asked in disbelief: “Who can believe that Hitler removed the 6th SS Panzer Army from the west and sent it against the 3rd Ukrainian Front, and not near Berlin, where the last operation to defeat the fascist troops is being prepared? For several days of fighting, the German formations managed in some areas to push the units of the Red Army that had gone over to the defensive. One of the reasons for the surprise of the German strike was unverified information received by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command from the Western allies. However, the enemy failed to achieve major success in the Balaton area. By mid-March, the formations of the 6th SS Panzer Army were bled and thrown back to their original positions.
Back in December 1944, the Provisional Government of this country was formed on the Hungarian lands already liberated from the enemy. It was formed by the Provisional National Assembly on the initiative of the Communists and Social Democrats. On December 24, the Provisional Government requested a truce from the USSR, and on December 28 declared war on Germany. On January 20, 1945, an armistice agreement was signed in Moscow between the new Hungarian leadership, on the one hand, and representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, on the other. This document secured the transition of Hungary to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition ...
Soviet troops entered Yugoslavia at the request of the National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia (NKOYU), the country's highest executive and administrative body, which exercised power in areas controlled by partisans. On behalf of the NKOYU, its chairman and supreme commander of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOAYU), Marshal I. Broz Tito, flew to Moscow on September 21, 1944, where he agreed with Stalin on the joint actions of the NOAU and the Red Army to liberate Eastern Serbia and the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade. During the negotiations, the request of the Soviet government was granted so that parts of the Soviet troops that had reached the Romanian-Yugoslav border launched a planned offensive into Hungary through the northeastern regions of Yugoslavia. At the same time, the Soviet leadership undertook to withdraw its troops from Yugoslavia as soon as they completed their operational tasks.
At the end of September 1944, formations of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, having marched through the territory of Bulgaria, approached the Bulgarian-Yugoslav border. In accordance with the agreement with the NKOYU, to participate in the liberation of Yugoslavia, the command of the Red Army allocated the 57th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and the 46th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, a total of 190 thousand people, as well as the 17th Air Army and units Danube military flotilla. On September 28, this grouping, having entered Yugoslav soil, launched the Belgrade offensive operation. In its course, Soviet formations, together with units of the NOAU, liberated the capital of the country, Belgrade, and defeated the German army group "Serbia". The depth of advance of the Soviet troops was more than 200 km. The Yugoslav army received a solid rear for further struggle for the liberation of the entire territory of the country. In the Belgrade operation, the Red Army lost more than 35 thousand killed, wounded and missing.
The peoples of Yugoslavia warmly welcomed the Soviet soldiers, meeting them as liberators. The victories of the Red Army were an important condition for the revival of the national independence of the Yugoslav people. I. Broz Tito emphasized that without the USSR "the liberation of Yugoslavia would have been impossible."
Soon after the Belgrade operation, the regrouping of Soviet troops began in the Budapest-Vienna direction. But even after leaving the borders of Yugoslavia, the 3rd Ukrainian Front, during the offensive in Hungary and Austria, assisted the Yugoslav army in the complete liberation of their country. The offensive operations of the Yugoslav troops in Croatia and Slovenia were supported by Soviet aviation until May 10, 1945.
In the north of the Soviet-German front, the Red Army in the second half of 1944 achieved the withdrawal of Finland from the war without transferring hostilities to its territory. During the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk strategic operation (June 10 - August 9, 1944), the troops of the Leningrad (commander - General of the Army L. Govorov) and Karelian (commander - General of the Army K. Meretskov) fronts in a number of sectors came close to the state border with Finland. The Finnish government was faced with a choice: either continue the senseless resistance, or stop the war. After the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, Marshal K. Mannerheim, was appointed president of the country, a decision was made to end the war. On August 25, the Finnish side turned to the USSR with a proposal for a truce. On August 29, Moscow replied that it agreed to start peace negotiations, provided that Finland breaks relations with Germany and ensures the withdrawal of German troops from its territory within two weeks. On September 4, 1944, Finland announced the severance of relations with Germany and demanded that the Wehrmacht units leave its territory by September 15.
On September 12, 1944, even before the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish negotiations in Moscow, Stalin forbade the commander of the Karelian Front, K. Meretskov, to advance with battles deep into the territory of Finland to defeat the German forces stationed in the north of this country. Stalin's telegram pointed out that the decision to attack the German grouping was wrong. “According to the preliminary agreements,” he emphasized, “the Finns themselves should deal with the expulsion of the Germans from Finland, and our troops will only assist them in this.”
On September 14, negotiations began in Moscow with the Finnish delegation, in which, in addition to the Soviet side, British representatives also took part. They ended on September 19 with the signing of an armistice agreement. Soviet troops were ordered to reach the border between the USSR and Finland in 1940 and stop further movement. The offensive was planned to continue only along the coast of the Barents Sea in the Petsamo-Kirkenes direction against the grouping of the 20th mountain army of the Wehrmacht to liberate Northern Norway.
The Germans, instead of starting the withdrawal of their troops from Finland, on the night of September 15 made an attempt to capture the island of Suursaari, which was under Finnish control, which was important for blocking the Soviet fleet at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. Up to 2 thousand German soldiers were landed on the island. The Finnish garrison entered into battle with them. With the support of aviation of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, the attackers were defeated. September 15, 1944 was later recognized by the Finnish government as the day the war with Germany began.
From October 1, the Finnish units began to pursue the German troops, who retreated further and further to the north of the country - to the nickel-rich region of Petsamo (Pechenga). Its defense was entrusted to the 19th mountain rifle corps of the 20th German mountain army. Under the terms of the Soviet-Finnish armistice agreement, the Petsamo region was returned to the Soviet Union. The task of her release and subsequent access to the area of the Norwegian port of Kirkenes was entrusted to the troops of the 14th Army of the Karelian Front.
As early as May 17, 1944, at the request of the Norwegian government in exile in London, the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain signed an agreement with him in the event of the participation of allied forces in hostilities on Norwegian territory. The document stipulated that "the allied commanders should de facto enjoy during the first, or military, phase of the liberation of Norway, the supreme power", but "as soon as the military situation permits, the Norwegian government should again assume its full constitutional responsibility for civil administration" in the liberated territory of the country.
At the entrance of the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation (October 7–29, 1944), on October 15, the troops of the Karelian Front took Petsamo, the stronghold of the German defense in the Far North. With further pursuit of the enemy, on October 18 they transferred the fighting beyond the Soviet-Norwegian border. On October 22, Soviet troops captured the city of Tarnet, and on October 25, after a stubborn battle, Kirkenes was liberated. Thus, the units of the Red Army fulfilled their task. Having reached the Neiden-Nautsi line by October 29, they went on the defensive.
The losses of Soviet troops in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation amounted to about 16 thousand people, including more than 2 thousand killed and wounded directly on Norwegian soil.
The Soviet troops were warmly welcomed by the Norwegians. For their part, the soldiers of the Red Army did their best to alleviate the situation of the local population: they supplied the Norwegians with food, fuel, and assisted in the formation of military units.
In a telegram to the government of the USSR on the occasion of the end of the war in Europe, King Haakon VII of Norway, on "his own behalf and on behalf of the Norwegian people," expressed "admiration and gratitude for the brilliant struggle of the Soviet Armed Forces for the common cause of freedom." In September 1945, Soviet troops left the territory of Northern Norway.
During the Vienna operation, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian and part of the forces of the 2nd Ukrainian fronts on March 30, 1945 entered the territory of Austria. The Soviet government never recognized the incorporation of Austria into Germany. On his initiative, the “Declaration on Austria” was adopted at the conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain held in Moscow (October 19-30, 1943). In it, the three states of the anti-Hitler coalition declared invalid the forced liquidation of the independent Republic of Austria by Nazi Germany and declared their desire "to see a restored, free and independent Austria."
After the Soviet troops crossed the Hungarian-Austrian border, the military councils of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts issued special appeals to the Red Army soldiers and the Austrian people. They emphasized that "the Red Army does not confuse the Austrians with the German occupiers", that its task is to "enable the Austrian people to restore their independence and democratic freedoms."
On April 6, Soviet formations made their way to the outskirts of Vienna. On April 13, Vienna was completely liberated. The Viennese greeted the soldiers of the Red Army as liberators. The quick and decisive actions of the Red Army saved one of the most beautiful cities in the world from destruction and saved many thousands of its inhabitants.
During subsequent stubborn battles, the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts completely liberated the provinces of Lower Austria and Burgenland, most of Styria, part of Upper Austria (total 36,551 sq. Km) with a population of more than 4.5 million people. In the battles for the liberation of the Austrian people, 26 thousand Soviet soldiers died. The western part of Austria was liberated by US troops.
In Austria, the fighting of the Red Army ended on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front. With the support of the resistance movement, she fulfilled her liberation mission in relation to six European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia.
In the very last days of the war, Soviet troops participated in the expulsion of German invaders from Danish territory. During the offensive of the Red Army on Berlin, the Danish island of Bornholm was turned by the German command into a base for their ships and the removal of a large number of troops from Pomerania there. When a small Soviet force landed on the island on May 7, the commandant of the German garrison refused to surrender it. In response, the aviation of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet launched air strikes on the island.
On May 9, the Germans were forced to capitulate. The next day, units of the 132nd Rifle Corps landed on the island and proceeded to disarm the German garrison. By May 13, 1945, at least 11 thousand German soldiers and officers were disarmed and evacuated from the island. During the liberation of Bornholm, 30 Red Army soldiers were killed. Several Soviet officers who participated in his liberation were awarded an order in honor of his name and the medal "Freedom" by decree of the Danish king Christian X.
The Soviet troops left Bornholm on April 5, 1946. Before that, representatives of the Red Army command handed over the captured property, communication lines, and ground communications to the local administration. The joint act signed on this occasion noted that the stay of the Soviet units "was not associated with any interference in the internal affairs of the island", that the population of the island "thanks the Soviet troops for their liberation from the Nazi invaders, as well as for the good and friendly relations of the Soviet troops to the Danish people.
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Fresh review
A couple of articles have already been written about high-rise Sharjah - and. Now it's time to talk and look at simpler buildings - one-story cottages and simple streets.
Although I will start with cars - usually there are always a lot of good cars in the Emirates and our people love to look at them. I also have a few of these photos. I did not aim to shoot cool cars, so there are few photos and the cars on them are not the coolest of those that I managed to see. I'm more impressed in this regard, but new cars are also interesting.
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The main attraction of Akhaltsikhe is the fortress. For the first time, a fortress called Akhaltsikhe ("New Fortress") was mentioned in chronicles in 1204. Apparently, before that there was an "old" one, the places here are borderline (it's a stone's throw from Turkey - about 20 km), and the rock above the quiet river Potskhovi was directly created for the construction of a fortification. But it is reliably known that the real fortress was built in the 12th century by the princely family of Jakeli and served them as a family residence for 3 centuries.
I don't even know if Byala is a city or a village. In size, it is not much smaller than Obzor, but in Obzor there is a sign in the center that it has been awarded the title of a city, and I have not seen such a thing in Byala. And the locals call it a village.
In this part about this resort town, we will talk about the surroundings, the general plans of the city and a little about greenery.
I'll start from the coast, from where you can clearly see the city of Obzor.
Our journey through the Borjomi Gorge continued, ahead of us should be an acquaintance with the city known for its mineral waters - Borjomi. But the weather turned bad again, it began to rain and the guide decided to leave Borjomi for a "snack". And we went straight to the final destination of our tour - Akhaltsikhe. On the site of the town, people settled from time immemorial, there was a settlement of the Kuro-Arak culture dating back to 4000-2200 BC. The name of the city was given by the fortress built in the first half of the 12th century (ახალციხე, literally means New Fortress). From the 14th to the 16th centuries Akhaltsikhe was the center of the Meskheti region. In 1579 he fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. It was returned to the bosom of Georgia during the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-29, when it had already become part of the Russian Empire.
Sharjah at night is certainly not the same as Dubai, but also very pretty. In addition, Ramadan and life begins only at sunset. The variety of photographs is not very encouraging, because the night walks were almost in one place - in the area that I already wrote about.
And I’ll start not quite with night photography - the moon is sometimes visible during the day. And the country is Islamic, and the holy month of Ramadan. In general, let's start with the crescent.
I can’t say that since childhood I dreamed of visiting Hollywood, but since we are close, we simply must see it, if only in order to say later: “Yes, there is nothing special there.” So we went there in the morning. And we decided to start the tour from the observation deck at the well-known inscription "HOLLYWOOD". But we were not lucky, on that day some kind of marathon was held and the road there was closed, besides, cars cannot enter there at all. By the way, about the roads, how do they understand the directions in these heaped viaducts? I don’t drive a car and I’m more used to seeing all sorts of interchanges on the plan, maybe because of this, when I see multi-level road structures in nature, I lose spatial thinking.
After standing on the bridge, waving to the passing ships and surveying the near and far neighborhoods, we decided to return home, fry the chicken and prepare a farewell dinner. But Alex drew our attention to a road bridge located upstream of the Elbe. It was crowded with trucks, which practically did not move. Apparently, something happened on the autobahn and a traffic jam formed. It was problematic to return to Magdeburg, we decided to take another walk, and what if it “dissolves” ... And we went to inspect the village, which was first mentioned in the records of Magdeburg Archbishop Albrecht in 1225. Apparently, little has been preserved since those times, but the brickwork of this house reminded me of the monastery in. According to 2012 data, 1459 people live here and live quite well.
Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County. The area where the town now stands, the Spaniards in 1769 called Vallejo de Santa Ana - the Valley of St. Anne. The settlement of Santa Ana in 1886 received city status. To be honest, we did not bother to see the city itself, but we looked at the zoo with pleasure. The zoo is small, it occupies only 8 hectares, but there are also enclosures and cages for animals, playgrounds and cafes, and the composition of animals is very unusual. The opening of the zoo took place in 1952 on the territory of Prentice Park. The philanthropist Joseph Prentice donated part of his land to the zoo on the condition that the management would provide for the maintenance of at least 50 monkeys at any time, and this condition is still being met.
The last part was mostly about . Now it will be about the stones themselves and science. Of course, I learned more about the rocks not when visiting this national park, but from the museum of the city of Byala, where part of the exposition is dedicated to this particular place.
I'll start, though, I'm still with photos of the rocks themselves, but the text will mostly be from the museum. Although it is quite general. So:
The White Rocks in Byala are the fourth place in the world that testifies to a gigantic cosmic cataclysm that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and also gave the opportunity for mammals to develop. The White Cliffs represent a continuous geological rock profile with a Cretaceous-Tertiary geochronological boundary and an accompanying iridium anomaly. The rocks are a relatively new geotope protected within the framework of the development of the Register and Cadastre of Geological Phenomena in Bulgaria at the initiative of the Varna Regional Council. This place has a high scientific and ecological value.
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