World War II 1939-1945

a war prepared by the forces of international imperialist reaction and unleashed by the main aggressive states - fascist Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan. V. m. v., like the first, arose due to the operation of the law of uneven development of capitalist countries under imperialism and was the result of a sharp aggravation of inter-imperialist contradictions, the struggle for markets, sources of raw materials, spheres of influence and investment of capital. The war began in conditions when capitalism was no longer an all-encompassing system, when the world's first socialist state, the USSR, existed and was growing stronger. The split of the world into two systems led to the emergence of the main contradiction of the era - between socialism and capitalism. Inter-imperialist contradictions have ceased to be the only factor in world politics. They developed in parallel and in interaction with the contradictions between the two systems. The warring capitalist groups, fighting each other, simultaneously sought to destroy the USSR. However, V. m. began as a clash between two coalitions of major capitalist powers. It was imperialist in origin, its originators were the imperialists of all countries, the system of modern capitalism. Hitlerite Germany, which led the bloc of fascist aggressors, bears special responsibility for its emergence. On the part of the states of the fascist bloc, the war bore an imperialist character throughout its entire length. On the part of the states fighting against the fascist aggressors and their allies, the nature of the war was gradually changing. Under the influence of the national liberation struggle of the peoples, the war was being transformed into a just, anti-fascist one. Introduction Soviet Union in the war against the states of the fascist bloc that treacherously attacked him, completed this process.

Preparation and outbreak of war. The forces that unleashed the war of war prepared strategic and political positions favorable to the aggressors long before it began. In the 30s. two main centers of military danger have formed in the world: Germany - in Europe, Japan - on Far East. Strengthened German imperialism, under the pretext of eliminating the injustices of the Versailles system, began to demand a redistribution of the world in its favor. The establishment of a terrorist fascist dictatorship in Germany in 1933, which fulfilled the demands of the most reactionary and chauvinist circles of monopoly capital, turned that country into a strike force of imperialism directed primarily against the USSR. However, the plans of German fascism were not limited to the enslavement of the peoples of the Soviet Union. The fascist program for the conquest of world domination provided for the transformation of Germany into the center of a gigantic colonial empire, the power and influence of which would extend to all of Europe and the richest regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, mass extermination of the population in the conquered countries, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe. The fascist elite planned to start implementing this program from the countries of Central Europe, then spreading it to the entire continent. The defeat and capture of the Soviet Union, with the aim of primarily destroying the center of the international communist and working-class movement, as well as expanding the "living space" of German imperialism, was the most important political task of fascism and, at the same time, the main prerequisite for the further successful deployment of aggression on a world scale. The imperialists of Italy and Japan also aspired to redistribute the world and establish a "new order". Thus, the plans of the Nazis and their allies posed a serious threat not only to the USSR, but also to Great Britain, France, and the USA. However, the ruling circles of the Western powers, driven by a feeling of class hatred for the Soviet state, under the guise of "non-intervention" and "neutrality", essentially pursued a policy of complicity with the fascist aggressors, hoping to avert the threat of a fascist invasion from their countries, to weaken their imperialist rivals by the forces of the Soviet Union, and then with their help to destroy the USSR. They relied on the mutual exhaustion of the USSR and Nazi Germany in a protracted and destructive war.

The French ruling elite, pushing Hitler's aggression to the East in the pre-war years and waging a struggle against the communist movement inside the country, at the same time feared a new German invasion, sought a close military alliance with Great Britain, strengthened the eastern borders by building the Maginot Line and deploying armed forces against Germany. The British government sought to strengthen the British colonial empire and sent troops and naval forces to its key areas (the Middle East, Singapore, India). Pursuing a policy of complicity with aggressors in Europe, the government of N. Chamberlain, right up to the start of the war and in its first months, hoped for an agreement with Hitler at the expense of the USSR. In the event of aggression against France, it hoped that the French armed forces, repelling the aggression together with the British expeditionary forces and British aviation formations, would ensure the security of the British Isles. Before the war, the US ruling circles supported Germany economically and thus contributed to the reconstruction of the German military potential. With the outbreak of the war, they were forced to change their political course somewhat and, as fascist aggression expanded, they switched to supporting Great Britain and France.

The Soviet Union, in a situation of increasing military danger, pursued a policy aimed at curbing the aggressor and creating a reliable system for ensuring peace. On May 2, 1935, the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed in Paris. On May 16, 1935, the Soviet Union concluded a mutual assistance pact with Czechoslovakia. The Soviet government struggled to create a system of collective security that could become effective tool preventing war and securing peace. At the same time, the Soviet state carried out a set of measures aimed at strengthening the country's defense and developing its military and economic potential.

In the 30s. Hitler's government launched diplomatic, strategic and economic preparations for a world war. In October 1933, Germany left the Geneva Disarmament Conference of 1932-35 and announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations. On March 16, 1935, Hitler violated the military articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 and introduced universal military service in the country. In March 1936, German troops occupied the demilitarized Rhineland. In November 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy joined in 1937. The activation of the aggressive forces of imperialism led to a series of international political crises and local wars. As a result of Japan's aggressive wars against China (started in 1931), Italy against Ethiopia (1935–36), and the German-Italian intervention in Spain (1936–39), the fascist states strengthened their positions in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Using the policy of "non-intervention" pursued by Great Britain and France, fascist Germany captured Austria in March 1938 and began to prepare an attack on Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia had a well-trained army, based on a powerful system of border fortifications; treaties with France (1924) and with the USSR (1935) provided for military assistance from these powers to Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union has repeatedly declared its readiness to fulfill its obligations and provide military assistance to Czechoslovakia, even if France does not do this. However, the government of E. Benes did not accept the help of the USSR. As a result of the Munich Agreement of 1938, the ruling circles of Great Britain and France, supported by the United States, betrayed Czechoslovakia and agreed to the seizure of the Sudetenland by Germany, hoping in this way to open "the road to the East" for fascist Germany. The hands of the fascist leadership were untied for aggression.

At the end of 1938, the ruling circles of fascist Germany launched a diplomatic offensive against Poland, creating the so-called Danzig crisis, the meaning of which was to carry out aggression against Poland under the cover of demands for the liquidation of the "injustices of Versailles" in relation to the free city of Danzig. In March 1939, Germany completely occupied Czechoslovakia, created a puppet fascist "state" - Slovakia, seized the Memel region from Lithuania and imposed an enslaving "economic" treaty on Romania. Italy occupied Albania in April 1939. In response to the expansion of fascist aggression, the governments of Great Britain and France, in order to protect their economic and political interests in Europe, provided "guarantees of independence" to Poland, Romania, Greece and Turkey. France also pledged military assistance to Poland in the event of an attack by Germany. In April–May 1939, Germany denounced the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935, tore up the 1934 non-aggression agreement with Poland, and concluded with Italy the so-called Steel Pact, according to which the Italian government pledged to help Germany if it went to war with the Western powers.

In such an environment, the British and French governments, under the influence public opinion, out of fear of further strengthening of Germany and with the aim of putting pressure on it, entered into negotiations with the USSR, held in Moscow in the summer of 1939 (see Moscow negotiations 1939). However, the Western powers did not agree to the conclusion of an agreement proposed by the USSR on a joint struggle against the aggressor. Offering the Soviet Union to take unilateral obligations to help any European neighbor in the event of an attack on it, the Western powers wanted to draw the USSR into a one-on-one war against Germany. Negotiations, which lasted until mid-August 1939, did not produce results due to the sabotage by Paris and London of Soviet constructive proposals. Leading the Moscow negotiations to a breakdown, the British government at the same time entered into secret contacts with the Nazis through their ambassador in London, G. Dirksen, trying to reach an agreement on the redistribution of the world at the expense of the USSR. The position of the Western powers predetermined the failure of the Moscow negotiations and confronted the Soviet Union with an alternative: to be isolated in the face of a direct threat of an attack by fascist Germany or, having exhausted the possibilities of concluding an alliance with Great Britain and France, to sign a non-aggression pact proposed by Germany and thereby postpone the threat of war. The situation made the second choice inevitable. The Soviet-German treaty concluded on August 23, 1939 contributed to the fact that, contrary to the calculations of Western politicians, the world war began with a clash within the capitalist world.

On the eve of V. m. German fascism through forced development military economy created a powerful military potential. In 1933-39, spending on armaments increased more than 12 times and reached 37 billion marks. Germany smelted 22.5 million tons in 1939. T steel, 17.5 million T cast iron, mined 251.6 million tons. T coal, produced 66.0 billion kW · h electricity. However, for a number of types of strategic raw materials, Germany was dependent on imports (iron ore, rubber, manganese ore, copper, oil and oil products, chromium ore). By September 1, 1939, the number of armed forces of fascist Germany reached 4.6 million people. There were 26 thousand guns and mortars, 3.2 thousand tanks, 4.4 thousand combat aircraft, 115 warships (including 57 submarines) in service.

The strategy of the German High Command was based on the doctrine of "total war". Its main content was the concept of "blitzkrieg", according to which victory must be won in the shortest time, until the enemy fully deploys his armed forces and military-economic potential. The strategic plan of the fascist German command was to attack Poland, using the cover of limited forces in the west, and quickly defeat its armed forces. 61 divisions and 2 brigades were deployed against Poland (including 7 tank and about 9 motorized), of which 7 infantry and 1 tank divisions approached after the start of the war, a total of 1.8 million people, over 11 thousand guns and mortars, 2.8 thousand tanks, about 2 thousand aircraft; against France - 35 infantry divisions (after September 3, another 9 divisions approached), 1.5 thousand aircraft.

The Polish command, counting on military assistance guaranteed by Great Britain and France, intended to defend the border zone and go on the offensive after the French army and British aviation diverted German forces from the Polish front. By September 1, Poland managed to mobilize and concentrate troops only by 70%: 24 infantry divisions, 3 mountain rifle brigades, 1 armored motorized brigade, 8 cavalry brigades and 56 national defense battalions were deployed. The Polish armed forces had over 4,000 guns and mortars, 785 light tanks and tankettes, and about 400 aircraft.

The French plan for waging war against Germany, in accordance with the political course pursued by France and the military doctrine of the French command, provided for defense along the Maginot Line and the entry of troops into Belgium and the Netherlands to continue the defensive front to the north in order to protect the ports and industrial regions of France and Belgium. After mobilization, the armed forces of France numbered 110 divisions (of which 15 were in the colonies), a total of 2.67 million people, about 2.7 thousand tanks (in the metropolis - 2.4 thousand), over 26 thousand guns and mortars, 2330 aircraft (in the metropolis - 1735), 176 warships (including 77 submarines).

Great Britain had a strong Navy and Air Force - 320 warships of the main classes (including 69 submarines), about 2 thousand aircraft. Its ground forces consisted of 9 personnel and 17 territorial divisions; they had 5.6 thousand guns and mortars, 547 tanks. The number of the British army was 1.27 million people. In the event of a war with Germany, the British command planned to concentrate its main efforts on the sea and send 10 divisions to France. The English and French commands did not intend to provide serious assistance to Poland.

1st period of the war (September 1, 1939 - June 21, 1941)- the period of military successes of fascist Germany. On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland (see Polish Campaign of 1939). On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. With an overwhelming superiority of forces over the Polish army and by concentrating a mass of tanks and aircraft on the main sectors of the front, the Hitlerite command was able to achieve major operational results from the beginning of the war. The incomplete deployment of forces, the lack of help from the Allies, the weakness of the centralized leadership and its subsequent collapse put the Polish army in front of a catastrophe.

The courageous resistance of the Polish troops near Mokra, Mlawa, on the Bzura, the defense of Modlin, Westerplatte and the heroic 20-day defense of Warsaw (September 8-28) wrote bright pages in the history of the German-Polish war, but could not prevent the defeat of Poland. Hitler's troops surrounded a number of groupings of the Polish army west of the Vistula, transferred military operations to eastern regions country and in early October completed its occupation.

On September 17, by order of the Soviet government, the troops of the Red Army crossed the border of the collapsed Polish state and began a liberation campaign in Western Belarus and Western Ukraine in order to protect the lives and property of the Ukrainian and Belarusian population, striving for reunification with the Soviet republics. A march to the West was also necessary to stop the spread of Hitler's aggression to the east. The Soviet government, confident in the inevitability of German aggression against the USSR in the near future, sought to postpone the starting point for the future deployment of troops of a potential enemy, which was in the interests not only of the Soviet Union, but of all peoples threatened by fascist aggression. After the liberation of the Western Belorussian and Western Ukrainian lands by the Red Army, Western Ukraine (November 1, 1939) and Western Belarus (November 2, 1939) were reunited with the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR, respectively.

In late September - early October 1939, Soviet-Estonian, Soviet-Latvian and Soviet-Lithuanian mutual assistance treaties were signed, which prevented Nazi Germany from seizing the Baltic countries and turning them into a military foothold against the USSR. In August 1940, after the overthrow of the bourgeois governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, these countries, in accordance with the desire of their peoples, were admitted to the USSR.

As a result of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–40, according to an agreement dated March 12, 1940, the USSR border on the Karelian Isthmus, in the region of Leningrad and the Murmansk Railway, was somewhat pushed back to the northwest. On June 26, 1940, the Soviet government proposed to Romania that Bessarabia, which had been occupied by Romania in 1918, be returned to the USSR and that the northern part of Bukovina, inhabited by Ukrainians, be transferred to the USSR. On June 28, the Romanian government agreed to the return of Bessarabia and the transfer of Northern Bukovina.

After the outbreak of war until May 1940, the governments of Great Britain and France continued only in a slightly modified form the pre-war foreign policy, which was based on calculations of reconciliation with Nazi Germany on the basis of anti-communism and the direction of its aggression against the USSR. Despite the declaration of war, the French armed forces and the British Expeditionary Force (began to arrive in France from mid-September) were inactive for 9 months. During this period, called the "strange war", the Nazi army was preparing for an offensive against the countries of Western Europe. From the end of September 1939, active military operations were carried out only on sea lanes. To blockade Great Britain, the Nazi command used the forces of the fleet, especially submarines and large ships (raiders). From September to December 1939, Great Britain lost 114 ships from German submarine attacks, and in 1940 - 471 ships, while the Germans in 1939 lost only 9 submarines. By the summer of 1941, strikes against the sea communications of Great Britain led to the loss of 1/3 of the tonnage of the British merchant fleet and created a serious threat to the country's economy.

In April–May 1940, the German armed forces seized Norway and Denmark (see the Norwegian operation of 1940) with the aim of strengthening German positions in the Atlantic and northern Europe, seizing iron ore, bringing the bases of the German fleet closer to Great Britain, and securing a foothold in the north for an attack on the USSR . On April 9, 1940, amphibious assault troops, having landed at the same time, captured the key ports of Norway along its entire coast with a length of 1800 km, and airborne troops occupied the main airfields. The courageous resistance of the Norwegian army (late in deployment) and the patriots delayed the onslaught of the Nazis. Attempts by the Anglo-French troops to drive the Germans out of the points they occupied led to a series of battles in the areas of Narvik, Namsus, Molle (Molde), and others. British troops recaptured Narvik from the Germans. But it was not possible to snatch the strategic initiative from the Nazis. In early June, they evacuated from Narvik. The occupation of Norway was facilitated by the Nazis by the actions of the Norwegian "fifth column" headed by V. Quisling. The country turned into a Nazi base in northern Europe. But the significant losses of the Nazi fleet during the Norwegian operation weakened its capabilities in the further struggle for the Atlantic.

At dawn on May 10, 1940, after careful preparation, fascist German troops (135 divisions, including 10 tank and 6 motorized, and 1 brigade, 2580 tanks, 3834 aircraft) invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and then through their territories and into France (see French campaign of 1940). The Germans delivered the main blow with a mass of mobile formations and aircraft through the Ardennes mountains, bypassing the Maginot Line from the north, through northern France to the coast of the English Channel. The French command, adhering to the defensive doctrine, deployed large forces on the Maginot Line and did not create a strategic reserve in the depths. After the start of the German offensive, it brought the main grouping of troops, including the British Expeditionary Army, into Belgian territory, exposing these forces to a blow from the rear. These serious mistakes of the French command, aggravated by poor interaction between the armies of the allies, allowed the Nazi troops after forcing the river. Meuse and battles in central Belgium to break through northern France, cut the front of the Anglo-French troops, go to the rear of the Anglo-French group operating in Belgium, and break through to the English Channel. On May 14, the Netherlands capitulated. The Belgian, British and part of the French armies were surrounded in Flanders. On May 28, Belgium capitulated. The English and part of the French troops, surrounded in the Dunkirk area, succeeded, having lost all military equipment, evacuate to the UK (see Dunkirk operation 1940).

At the 2nd stage of the summer campaign of 1940, the Nazi army, with much superior forces, broke through the front hastily created by the French along the river. Somme and En. The danger hanging over France demanded the rallying of the forces of the people. The French Communists called for nationwide resistance and the organization of the defense of Paris. The capitulators and traitors (P. Reynaud, C. Peten, P. Laval and others), who determined the policy of France, the high command, headed by M. Weygand, rejected this only way to save the country, as they feared the revolutionary actions of the proletariat and the strengthening of the Communist Party. They decided to surrender Paris without a fight and capitulate to Hitler. Without exhausting the possibilities of resistance, the French armed forces laid down their arms. The Compiègne armistice of 1940 (signed on June 22) was a milestone in the policy of national treason pursued by the Pétain government, which expressed the interests of a part of the French bourgeoisie that was oriented towards Nazi Germany. This truce was aimed at strangling the national liberation struggle of the French people. According to its terms, an occupation regime was established in the northern and central parts of France. Industrial, raw materials, food resources of France were under the control of Germany. In the unoccupied, southern part of the country, an anti-national pro-fascist Vichy government led by Pétain came to power, which became a puppet of Hitler. But at the end of June 1940, the Committee of Free (from July 1942 - Fighting) France was formed in London, headed by General Charles de Gaulle to lead the struggle for the liberation of France from the Nazi invaders and their henchmen.

On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war against Great Britain and France, striving to establish dominance in the Mediterranean basin. In August, Italian troops captured British Somalia, part of Kenya and Sudan, and in mid-September invaded Egypt from Libya in order to break through to Suez (see North African campaigns of 1940-43). However, they were soon stopped, and in December 1940 they were driven back by the British. The Italian attempt, launched in October 1940, to develop an offensive from Albania to Greece was resolutely repulsed by the Greek army, which inflicted a number of strong retaliatory blows on the Italian troops (see Italo-Greek War of 1940-41 (See Italo-Greek War of 1940-1941)). In January - May 1941, British troops expelled the Italians from British Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Italian Somalia, Eritrea. Mussolini was forced in January 1941 to ask for help from Hitler. In the spring, German troops were sent to North Africa, forming the so-called African Corps, headed by General E. Rommel. Going on the offensive on March 31, the Italo-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the second half of April.

After the defeat of France, the threat looming over Great Britain contributed to the isolation of the Munich elements and the rallying of the forces of the British people. The government of W. Churchill, which replaced the government of N. Chamberlain on May 10, 1940, set about organizing effective defense. The British government attached particular importance to the support of the United States. In July 1940, secret negotiations between the air and naval headquarters of the United States and Great Britain began, culminating in the signing on September 2 of an agreement on the transfer of the last 50 obsolete American destroyers in exchange for British military bases in the Western Hemisphere (they were provided by the United States for a period of 99 years). Destroyers were required to fight on the Atlantic communications.

On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive for the invasion of Great Britain (Operation Sea Lion). Since August 1940, the Nazis began massive bombardments of Great Britain in order to undermine its military and economic potential, demoralize the population, prepare an invasion, and ultimately force it to surrender (see Battle of England 1940-41). German aviation caused significant damage to many British cities, enterprises, ports, but did not break the resistance of the British Air Force, was unable to establish air supremacy over the English Channel and suffered heavy losses. As a result of air raids that continued until May 1941, the Nazi leadership was unable to force Great Britain to capitulate, destroy its industry, and undermine the morale of the population. The German command was unable to provide the required amount of landing equipment in a timely manner. The strength of the fleet was insufficient.

However, the main reason for Hitler's refusal to invade Great Britain was the decision he made back in the summer of 1940 on aggression against the Soviet Union. Having begun direct preparations for an attack on the USSR, the Nazi leadership was forced to transfer forces from the West to the East, to direct huge resources for the development of ground forces, and not the fleet necessary to fight against Great Britain. In the autumn, the preparations for war against the USSR removed the direct threat of a German invasion of Great Britain. Closely connected with plans to prepare for an attack on the USSR was the strengthening of the aggressive alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which found expression in the signing of the Berlin Pact of 1940 on September 27 (See Berlin Pact of 1940).

In preparation for an attack on the USSR, fascist Germany carried out aggression in the Balkans in the spring of 1941 (see Balkan Campaign of 1941). On March 2, fascist German troops entered Bulgaria, which had joined the Berlin Pact; On April 6, Italo-German and then Hungarian troops invaded Yugoslavia and Greece and occupied Yugoslavia by April 18 and mainland Greece by April 29. Puppet fascist "states" - Croatia and Serbia - were created on the territory of Yugoslavia. From May 20 to June 2, the fascist German command carried out the Crete Airborne Operation of 1941, during which Crete and other Greek islands in the Aegean Sea were captured.

The military successes of fascist Germany in the first period of the war were largely due to the fact that its opponents, who possessed an overall higher industrial and economic potential, were unable to pool their resources, create single system military leadership, develop unified effective plans for the conduct of war. Their military machine lagged behind the new requirements of the armed struggle and with difficulty resisted more modern methods her conduct. In terms of training, combat training and technical equipment, the Nazi Wehrmacht as a whole surpassed the armed forces of Western states. The insufficient military preparedness of the latter was mainly due to the reactionary pre-war foreign policy of their ruling circles, which was based on the desire to negotiate with the aggressor at the expense of the USSR.

By the end of the first period of the war, the bloc of fascist states had sharply increased economically and militarily. Most of continental Europe, with its resources and economy, came under German control. In Poland, Germany seized the main metallurgical and machine-building plants, the coal mines of Upper Silesia, the chemical and mining industries - a total of 294 large, 35 thousand medium and small industrial enterprises; in France - the metallurgical and steel industry of Lorraine, the entire automotive and aviation industry, reserves of iron ore, copper, aluminum, magnesium, as well as cars, precision mechanics, machine tools, rolling stock; in Norway - the mining, metallurgical, shipbuilding industry, enterprises for the production of ferroalloys; in Yugoslavia - copper, bauxite deposits; in the Netherlands, in addition to industrial enterprises, a gold reserve in the amount of 71.3 million florins. total amount material assets looted by fascist Germany in the occupied countries amounted to 9 billion pounds by 1941. By the spring of 1941, more than 3 million foreign workers and prisoners of war were working at German enterprises. In addition, all the weapons of their armies were seized in the occupied countries; for example, only in France - about 5 thousand tanks and 3 thousand aircraft. In 1941, the Nazis equipped French motor vehicles with 38 infantry, 3 motorized, and 1 tank divisions. More than 4,000 steam locomotives and 40,000 wagons from the occupied countries appeared on the German railway. The economic resources of most European states were put at the service of the war, primarily the war being prepared against the USSR.

In the occupied territories, as well as in Germany itself, the Nazis established a terrorist regime, exterminating all those who were dissatisfied or suspected of discontent. A system of concentration camps was created, in which millions of people were exterminated in an organized manner. The activities of the death camps especially unfolded after the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR. Only in the Auschwitz camp (Poland) over 4 million people were killed. The Nazi command widely practiced punitive expeditions and mass shootings civilian population (see Lidice, Oradour-sur-Glane and others).

Military successes allowed Hitler's diplomacy to expand the boundaries of the fascist bloc, to consolidate the accession to it of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland (which were headed by reactionary governments closely connected with fascist Germany and dependent on it), plant their agents and strengthen their positions in the Middle East, in parts of Africa and Latin America. At the same time, the political self-exposure of the Nazi regime took place, hatred for it grew not only among the general population, but also among the ruling classes of the capitalist countries, and the Resistance Movement began. In the face of the fascist threat, the ruling circles of the Western powers, primarily Great Britain, were forced to revise their previous political course aimed at condoning fascist aggression, and gradually replace it with a course towards the fight against fascism.

Gradually, the US government began to revise its foreign policy course. It increasingly actively supported Great Britain, becoming its "non-belligerent ally". In May 1940, Congress approved an amount of 3 billion dollars for the needs of the army and navy, and in the summer - 6.5 billion, including 4 billion for the construction of a "fleet of two oceans." The supply of arms and equipment for Great Britain increased. According to the law adopted by the US Congress on March 11, 1941, on the transfer of military materials to belligerent countries on loan or lease (see Lend-Lease), Great Britain was allocated 7 billion dollars. In April 1941, the lend-lease law was extended to Yugoslavia and Greece. US troops occupied Greenland and Iceland and established bases there. The North Atlantic was declared a "patrol zone" for the US Navy, which at the same time began to be used to escort merchant ships bound for the UK.

2nd period of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) characterized by a further expansion of its scale and the beginning in connection with the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, which became the main and decisive component of military m.v. (for details about the actions on the Soviet-German front, see the article. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-45). On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany treacherously and suddenly attacked the Soviet Union. This attack completed the long course of the anti-Soviet policy of German fascism, which sought to destroy the world's first socialist state and seize its richest resources. Against the Soviet Union, fascist Germany threw 77% of the personnel of the armed forces, the bulk of tanks and aircraft, that is, the main most combat-ready forces of the fascist Wehrmacht. Together with Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Italy entered the war against the USSR. The Soviet-German front became the main front of the war. From now on, the struggle of the Soviet Union against fascism decided the outcome of V. m. v., the fate of mankind.

From the very beginning, the struggle of the Red Army exerted a decisive influence on the entire course of the military war, on the entire policy and military strategy of the belligerent coalitions and states. Under the influence of events on the Soviet-German front, the Nazi military command was forced to determine the methods of strategic leadership of the war, the formation and use of strategic reserves, and the system of regroupings between theaters of military operations. During the war, the Red Army forced the Nazi command to completely abandon the doctrine of "blitzkrieg". Under the blows of the Soviet troops, other methods of warfare and military leadership used by the German strategy consistently collapsed.

As a result of the surprise attack, the superior forces of the Nazi troops succeeded in the first weeks of the war in penetrating deeply into Soviet territory. By the end of the first decade of July, the enemy captured Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine, part of Moldova. However, moving deep into the territory of the USSR, the fascist German troops met the growing resistance of the Red Army and suffered more and more heavy losses. Soviet troops fought steadfastly and stubbornly. Under the leadership of the Communist Party and its Central Committee, the restructuring of the entire life of the country on a military footing began, the mobilization of internal forces to defeat the enemy. The peoples of the USSR rallied into a single fighting camp. The formation of large strategic reserves was carried out, the reorganization of the country's leadership system was carried out. The Communist Party launched work to organize the partisan movement.

Already the initial period of the war showed that the military adventure of the Nazis was doomed to failure. The Nazi armies were stopped near Leningrad and on the river. Volkhov. The heroic defense of Kyiv, Odessa and Sevastopol for a long time fettered the large forces of the Nazi troops in the south. In the fierce battle of Smolensk 1941 (See Battle of Smolensk 1941) (July 10 - September 10) The Red Army stopped the German strike force - Army Group Center, advancing on Moscow, inflicting heavy losses on it. In October 1941, the enemy, having pulled up reserves, resumed the attack on Moscow. Despite initial successes, he failed to break the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, who were inferior to the enemy in numbers and military equipment, and break through to Moscow. In tense battles, the Red Army in exclusively difficult conditions defended the capital, bled the enemy's shock groupings, and in early December 1941 launched a counteroffensive. The defeat of the Nazis in the Battle of Moscow 1941-42 (See the Battle of Moscow 1941-42) (September 30, 1941 - April 20, 1942) buried the fascist plan for a "blitzkrieg", becoming an event of world-historical significance. The Battle of Moscow dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Nazi Wehrmacht, confronted Nazi Germany with the need to wage a protracted war, and contributed to further unity anti-Hitler coalition inspired all freedom-loving peoples to fight the aggressors. The victory of the Red Army near Moscow meant a decisive turn in military events in favor of the USSR and had a great influence on the entire further course of the V. m.

Having carried out extensive preparations, the Nazi leadership at the end of June 1942 resumed offensive operations on the Soviet-German front. After fierce battles near Voronezh and in the Donbass, the fascist German troops managed to break into the big bend of the Don. However, the Soviet command managed to withdraw the main forces of the South-Western and Southern fronts from under attack, withdraw them beyond the Don, and thereby frustrate the enemy's plans to encircle them. In mid-July 1942 began Battle of Stalingrad 1942-1943 (See. Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43) - the greatest battle of V. m. During heroic defense near Stalingrad in July - November 1942 Soviet troops pinned down the enemy's strike force, inflicted heavy losses on it and prepared the conditions for a counteroffensive. Hitler's troops were not able to achieve decisive success in the Caucasus either (see the article Caucasus).

By November 1942, despite enormous difficulties, the Red Army had achieved major successes. The fascist German army was stopped. A well-coordinated military economy was created in the USSR, the output of military products surpassed the output of military products of fascist Germany. The Soviet Union created the conditions for a radical change in the course of V. m.

The liberation struggle of the peoples against the aggressors created the objective prerequisites for the formation and consolidation of the anti-Hitler coalition. The Soviet government sought to mobilize all forces in the international arena to fight against fascism. On July 12, 1941, the USSR signed an agreement with Great Britain on joint actions in the war against Germany; On July 18, a similar agreement was signed with the government of Czechoslovakia, on July 30 - with the Polish government in exile. On August 9-12, 1941, talks were held on warships near Argentilla (Newfoundland) between British Prime Minister W. Churchill and US President F. D. Roosevelt. Taking a wait-and-see position, the United States intended to limit itself to providing material support (lend-lease) to countries fighting against Germany. Great Britain, urging the United States to enter the war, proposed a strategy of protracted actions by naval and air forces. The goals of the war and the principles of the post-war order of the world were formulated in the Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchill (See Atlantic Charter) (dated August 14, 1941). On September 24, the Soviet Union joined the Atlantic Charter, while expressing its dissenting opinion on certain issues. In late September - early October 1941, a meeting of representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain was held in Moscow, which ended with the signing of a protocol on mutual deliveries.

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States with a surprise attack on the American military base in the Pacific Ocean, Pearl Harbor. On December 8, 1941, the USA, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan. The war in the Pacific and Asia was born out of long-standing and deep-seated Japanese-American imperialist contradictions, which escalated in the course of the struggle for dominance in China and South-East Asia. The US entry into the war strengthened the anti-Hitler coalition. The military alliance of states fighting against fascism was formalized in Washington on January 1 by the Declaration of 26 States of 1942 (See Declaration of 26 States of 1942). The declaration proceeded from the recognition of the need to achieve complete victory over the enemy, for which the countries waging war were charged with the duty to mobilize all military and economic resources, cooperate with each other, and not conclude a separate peace with the enemy. The creation of the anti-Hitler coalition meant the failure of the Nazi plans to isolate the USSR, the consolidation of all world anti-fascist forces.

To develop a joint plan of action, Churchill and Roosevelt held a conference in Washington on December 22, 1941 - January 14, 1942 (under the code name "Arcadia"), during which an agreed course of Anglo-American strategy was determined, based on the recognition of Germany as the main enemy in the war, and area of ​​the Atlantic and Europe - the decisive theater of war. However, assistance to the Red Army, which bore the brunt of the struggle, was planned only in the form of increased air raids on Germany, its blockade and the organization of subversive activities in the occupied countries. It was supposed to prepare an invasion of the continent, but not earlier than 1943, either from the Mediterranean region, or by landing in Western Europe.

At the Washington Conference, a system of general management of the military efforts of the Western allies was determined, a joint Anglo-American headquarters was created to coordinate the strategy developed at conferences of heads of government; a unified allied Anglo-American-Dutch-Australian command for the southwestern part of the Pacific was formed, headed by the British Field Marshal A.P. Wavell.

Immediately after the Washington Conference, the Allies began to violate their own established principle of the decisive importance of the European theater of operations. Without developing concrete plans for waging war in Europe, they (primarily the United States) began to transfer more and more forces of the fleet, aviation, and landing craft to the Pacific Ocean, where the situation was unfavorable for the United States.

Meanwhile, the leaders of fascist Germany sought to strengthen the fascist bloc. In November 1941 Anti-Comintern Pact» fascist powers was extended for 5 years. December 11, 1941 Germany, Italy, Japan signed an agreement on waging war against the United States and Great Britain "to a victorious end" and refusing to sign a truce with them without mutual agreement.

Having disabled the main forces of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese armed forces then occupied Thailand, Xianggang (Hong Kong), Burma, Malaya with the fortress of Singapore, the Philippines, the most important islands of Indonesia, capturing vast reserves of strategic raw materials in the zone of the southern seas. They defeated the US Asiatic Fleet, part of the British Navy, the Air Force and the Allied ground forces and, having ensured supremacy at sea, deprived the US and Great Britain of all naval and air bases in the Western Pacific Ocean in 5 months of the war. With a strike from the Caroline Islands, the Japanese fleet captured part of New Guinea and the islands adjacent to it, including most of the Solomon Islands, and created the threat of an invasion of Australia (see Pacific campaigns of 1941-45). The ruling circles of Japan hoped that Germany would tie up the forces of the United States and Great Britain on other fronts, and that both powers, after seizing their possessions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, would give up fighting at a great distance from the mother country.

Under these conditions, the United States began to take emergency measures to deploy a war economy and mobilize resources. By transferring part of the fleet from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the United States launched the first retaliatory strikes in the first half of 1942. The two-day battle in the Coral Sea on May 7-8 brought success to the American fleet and forced the Japanese to abandon further offensive in the southwestern Pacific. In June 1942 at Fr. Midway, the American fleet defeated a large force Japanese fleet, which, having suffered heavy losses, was forced to limit its actions and in the 2nd half of 1942 go on the defensive in the Pacific Ocean. The patriots of the countries occupied by the Japanese - Indonesia, Indochina, Korea, Burma, Malaya, the Philippines - launched a national liberation struggle against the invaders. In China, in the summer of 1941, a major Japanese offensive against the liberated areas was halted (mainly by the forces of the People's Liberation Army of China).

The actions of the Red Army on the Eastern Front had a growing influence on the military situation in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and North Africa. Germany and Italy, after the attack on the USSR, were unable to conduct simultaneously offensive operations in other areas. Having transferred the main aviation forces against the Soviet Union, the German command lost the opportunity to actively act against Great Britain, to deliver effective strikes against British sea lanes, fleet bases, and shipyards. This allowed Great Britain to strengthen the construction of the fleet, remove large naval forces from the waters of the mother country and transfer them to ensure communications in the Atlantic.

However, the German fleet soon seized the initiative for a short time. After the US entered the war, a significant part of the German submarines began to operate in the coastal waters of the Atlantic coast of America. In the first half of 1942, the losses of Anglo-American ships in the Atlantic increased again. But the improvement of anti-submarine defense methods allowed the Anglo-American command from the summer of 1942 to improve the situation on the Atlantic sea lanes, launch a series of retaliatory strikes against the German submarine fleet and push it back to the central regions of the Atlantic. From the beginning of V. m. Until the autumn of 1942, the tonnage of merchant ships sunk mainly in the Atlantic of Great Britain, the USA, allies with them and neutral countries exceeded 14 million tons. T.

The transfer of the bulk of the fascist German troops to the Soviet-German front contributed to a radical improvement in the position of the British armed forces in the Mediterranean basin and in North Africa. In the summer of 1941, the British Navy and Air Force firmly seized naval and air supremacy in the Mediterranean theater. Using o. Malta as a base, they sank in August 1941 33%, and in November - more than 70% of the cargo sent from Italy to North Africa. The British command re-formed the 8th Army in Egypt, which on November 18 went on the offensive against the German-Italian troops of Rommel. A fierce tank battle unfolded near Sidi Rezeh, which proceeded with varying success. The depletion of forces forced Rommel on December 7 to begin a withdrawal along the coast to positions at El Agheila.

In late November-December 1941, the German command reinforced its Air Force in the Mediterranean basin and transferred part of the submarines and torpedo boats from the Atlantic. Having inflicted a series of strong blows on the British fleet and its base in Malta, having sunk 3 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier and other ships, the German-Italian fleet and aviation again seized dominance in the Mediterranean Sea, which improved their position in North Africa. January 21, 1942 German-Italian troops suddenly went on the offensive for the British and advanced 450 km to El Ghazala. On May 27, they resumed their offensive with the aim of reaching Suez. With a deep maneuver, they managed to cover the main forces of the 8th Army and capture Tobruk. At the end of June 1942, Rommel's troops crossed the Libyan-Egyptian border and reached El Alamein, where they were stopped without reaching their goal due to exhaustion and lack of reinforcements.

3rd period of the war (November 19, 1942 - December 1943) was a period of a radical turning point, when the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition wrested the strategic initiative from the Axis powers, fully deployed their military potentials and went over to the strategic offensive everywhere. As before, decisive events took place on the Soviet-German front. By November 1942, out of 267 divisions and 5 brigades that Germany had, 192 divisions and 3 brigades (or 71%) were operating against the Red Army. In addition, there were 66 divisions and 13 brigades of German satellites on the Soviet-German front. On November 19, the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad began. The troops of the Southwestern, Don and Stalingrad fronts broke through the enemy defenses and, having introduced mobile formations, by November 23 surrounded 330,000 troops in the interfluve of the Volga and Don. grouping from the 6th and 4th Panzer German armies. Soviet troops stubborn defense in the area of ​​the river. Myshkov thwarted an attempt by the Nazi command to release the encircled. The offensive on the middle Don of the troops of the South-Western and left wing of the Voronezh fronts (began on December 16) ended with the defeat of the 8th Italian army. The threat of a strike by Soviet tank formations on the flank of the German deblocking group forced it to start a hasty retreat. By February 2, 1943, the group surrounded by Stalingrad was liquidated. This ended the Battle of Stalingrad, in which from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943, 32 divisions and 3 brigades of the Nazi army and German satellites were completely defeated and 16 divisions were bled white. The total losses of the enemy during this time amounted to over 800 thousand people, 2 thousand tanks and assault guns, over 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 3 thousand aircraft, etc. The victory of the Red Army shocked Nazi Germany, inflicted irreparable damage on its armed forces. damage, undermined the military and political prestige of Germany in the eyes of its allies, increased dissatisfaction with the war among them. The Battle of Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the entire V. m.

The victories of the Red Army contributed to the expansion of the partisan movement in the USSR, became a powerful stimulus for the further development of the Resistance Movement in Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Greece, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and other European countries. Polish patriots gradually moved from spontaneous, scattered actions during the beginning of the war to a mass struggle. The Polish communists at the beginning of 1942 called for the formation of a "second front in the rear of the Nazi army." The fighting force of the Polish Workers' Party - the Guard of Ludow became the first military organization in Poland, which led a systematic struggle against the invaders. The creation of a democratic national front at the end of 1943 and the formation on the night of January 1, 1944, of its central body, the Craiova Rada Narodova (see Craiova Rada Narodova), contributed to the further development of the national liberation struggle.

In Yugoslavia in November 1942, under the leadership of the Communists, the formation of the People's Liberation Army began, which by the end of 1942 had liberated one-fifth of the country's territory. And although in 1943 the occupiers carried out 3 major offensives against the Yugoslav patriots, the ranks of active anti-fascist fighters steadily multiplied and grew stronger. Under the blows of the partisans, the Nazi troops suffered ever-increasing losses; the transport network in the Balkans by the end of 1943 was paralyzed.

In Czechoslovakia, on the initiative of the Communist Party, the National Revolutionary Committee was created, which became the central political body of the anti-fascist struggle. The number of partisan detachments grew, and centers of the partisan movement formed in a number of regions of Czechoslovakia. Under the leadership of the HRC, the movement anti-fascist resistance gradually developed into a national uprising.

The French Resistance Movement intensified sharply in the summer and autumn of 1943, after new defeats by the Wehrmacht on the Soviet-German front. Organizations of the Resistance Movement were included in the united anti-fascist army created on the territory of France - the French Internal Forces, the number of which soon reached 500 thousand people.

The liberation movement that unfolded in the territories occupied by the countries of the fascist bloc fettered the Nazi troops, their main forces were bled to death by the Red Army. As early as the first half of 1942, conditions were in place for the opening of a second front in Western Europe. The leaders of the United States and Great Britain undertook to open it in 1942, which was announced in the Anglo-Soviet and Soviet-American communiqués published on June 12, 1942. However, the leaders of the Western powers delayed the opening of the second front, trying to weaken both fascist Germany and the USSR at the same time, in order to establish its dominance in Europe and throughout the world. On June 11, 1942, the British Cabinet rejected a plan for a direct invasion of France across the English Channel under the pretext of difficulties in supplying troops, transferring reinforcements, and a shortage of special landing craft. At a meeting in Washington of the heads of government and representatives of the joint headquarters of the United States and Great Britain in the second half of June 1942, it was decided to abandon the landing in France in 1942 and 1943, and instead carry out an operation to land expeditionary forces in French Northwest Africa (Operation "Torch") and only in the future begin to concentrate large masses US troops in the UK (Operation Bolero). This decision, which had no solid grounds, provoked a protest from the Soviet government.

In North Africa, British troops, using the weakening of the Italo-German grouping, launched offensive operations. British aviation, which again seized air supremacy in the fall of 1942, sank in October 1942 up to 40% of the Italian and German ships heading for North Africa, and disrupted the regular replenishment and supply of Rommel's troops. On October 23, 1942, General B. L. Montgomery's Eighth Army launched a decisive offensive. Having won an important victory in the battle of El Alamein, for the next three months she pursued Rommel's African Corps along the coast, occupied the territory of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, liberated Tobruk, Benghazi and reached positions at El Agheila.

On November 8, 1942, the landing of the American-British expeditionary forces in French North Africa began (under the overall command of General D. Eisenhower); in the ports of Algiers, Oran, Casablanca, 12 divisions were unloaded (a total of over 150 thousand people). Airborne detachments captured two large airfields in Morocco. After little resistance, the commander-in-chief of the French armed forces of the Vichy regime in North Africa, Admiral J. Darlan, ordered not to interfere with the American-British troops.

The fascist German command, intending to hold North Africa, urgently transferred the 5th Panzer Army to Tunisia by air and sea, which succeeded in stopping the Anglo-American troops and driving them back from Tunisia. In November 1942, fascist German troops occupied the entire territory of France and tried to capture the French Navy (about 60 warships) in Toulon, which, however, was sunk by French sailors.

At the Casablanca Conference of 1943 (see Casablanca Conference of 1943), the leaders of the United States and Great Britain, declaring the unconditional surrender of the "Axis" countries as their ultimate goal, determined further plans for the conduct of the war, which were based on a policy of delaying the opening of a second front. Roosevelt and Churchill considered and approved the strategic plan prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for 1943, which provided for the capture of Sicily in order to put pressure on Italy and create conditions for attracting Turkey as an active ally, as well as an intensified air attack on Germany and the concentration of the largest possible forces to enter the Continent "as soon as German resistance has weakened to the desired level."

The implementation of this plan could not seriously undermine the forces of the fascist bloc in Europe, much less replace the second front, since active operations by the American-British troops were planned in a theater of military operations secondary to Germany. In the main questions of the strategy of V. m. this conference proved fruitless.

The struggle in North Africa went on with varying success until the spring of 1943. In March, the 18th Anglo-American Army Group under the command of the British Field Marshal H. Alexander struck with superior forces and, after lengthy battles, occupied the city of Tunis, and by May 13 forced the Italo-German troops capitulate on the Bon Peninsula. The entire territory of North Africa passed into the hands of the allies.

After the defeat in Africa, the Nazi command expected the Allied invasion of France, not being ready to resist it. However, the allied command was preparing a landing in Italy. On May 12, Roosevelt and Churchill met at a new conference in Washington. The intention was confirmed not to open a second front in Western Europe during 1943 and the approximate date of its opening was set - May 1, 1944.

At this time, Germany was preparing a decisive summer offensive on the Soviet-German front. The Hitlerite leadership sought to defeat the main forces of the Red Army, regain the strategic initiative, and achieve a change in the course of the war. It increased its armed forces by 2 million people. by means of "total mobilization", forced the release of military products, transferred large contingents of troops from various regions of Europe to the Eastern Front. According to the Citadel plan, it was supposed to encircle and destroy Soviet troops in the Kursk salient, and then expand the front of the offensive and capture the entire Donbass.

The Soviet command, having information about the impending enemy offensive, decided to wear down the Nazi troops in a defensive battle on Kursk Bulge, then defeat them in the central and southern sectors of the Soviet-German front, liberate the Left-Bank Ukraine, Donbass, eastern regions of Belarus and reach the Dnieper. Significant forces and means were concentrated and skillfully located to solve this problem. The Battle of Kursk 1943, which began on July 5, is one of greatest battles V. m. - immediately developed in favor of the Red Army. The Hitlerite command failed to break the skillful and staunch defense of the Soviet troops with a powerful avalanche of tanks. In a defensive battle on the Kursk Bulge, the troops of the Central and Voronezh Fronts bled the enemy to death. On July 12, the Soviet command launched a counteroffensive of the troops of the Bryansk and Western fronts against the Germans' Oryol bridgehead. On July 16, the enemy began to withdraw. The troops of the five fronts of the Red Army, developing a counteroffensive, defeated the enemy strike groups, opened their way to the Left-Bank Ukraine and the Dnieper. In the Battle of Kursk, Soviet troops defeated 30 Nazi divisions, including 7 tank divisions. After this major defeat, the leadership of the Wehrmacht finally lost the strategic initiative, was forced to completely abandon the offensive strategy and go on the defensive until the end of the war. The Red Army, using its major success, liberated the Donbass and the Left-bank Ukraine, crossed the Dnieper on the move (see Dnepr in the article), began the liberation of Belarus. In total, in the summer and autumn of 1943, Soviet troops defeated 218 Nazi divisions, completing a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. A catastrophe loomed over Nazi Germany. The total losses of the German ground forces alone from the beginning of the war to November 1943 amounted to about 5.2 million people.

After the end of the struggle in North Africa, the Allies carried out the Sicilian operation of 1943 (See Sicilian operation of 1943), which began on July 10. With absolute superiority of forces at sea and in the air, by mid-August they captured Sicily, and in early September they crossed to the Apennine Peninsula (see Italian campaign 1943-1945 (See Italian campaign 1943-1945)). In Italy, a movement was growing for the elimination of the fascist regime and a way out of the war. As a result of the blows of the Anglo-American troops and the growth of the anti-fascist movement, Mussolini's regime fell at the end of July. He was replaced by the government of P. Badoglio, who signed an armistice with the United States and Great Britain on September 3. In response, the Nazis brought additional contingents of troops into Italy, disarmed the Italian army and occupied the country. By November 1943, after the Anglo-American landings in Salerno, the fascist German command withdrew its troops to S., in the area of ​​Rome, and entrenched itself on the line of the river. Sangro and Carigliano, where the front has stabilized.

In the Atlantic Ocean by the beginning of 1943 the positions of the German fleet were weakened. The Allies ensured their superiority in surface forces and naval aviation. The large ships of the German fleet could now operate only in the Arctic Ocean against convoys. Considering the weakening of its surface fleet, the Nazi naval command, led by Admiral K. Dönitz, who replaced the former fleet commander E. Raeder, shifted the focus to actions submarine fleet. Having commissioned more than 200 submarines, the Germans inflicted a series of heavy blows on the allies in the Atlantic. But after the highest success achieved in March 1943, the effectiveness of German submarine attacks began to decline rapidly. The growth in the size of the allied fleet, the use of new technology for detecting submarines, and the increase in the range of naval aviation predetermined the growth of losses in the German submarine fleet, which were not replenished. Shipbuilding in the United States and Great Britain now provided an excess of the number of newly built ships over those sunk, the number of which had decreased.

In the Pacific Ocean in the first half of 1943, after the losses suffered in 1942, the belligerents accumulated forces and did not conduct extensive operations. Japan more than tripled its aircraft output compared to 1941, and its shipyards laid down 60 new ships, including 40 submarines. The total strength of the Japanese armed forces increased by 2.3 times. The Japanese command decided to stop further advance in the Pacific Ocean and consolidate what was captured by going on the defensive on the lines of the Aleutian, Marshall, Gilbert Islands, New Guinea, Indonesia, Burma.

The United States also intensively deployed military production. 28 new aircraft carriers were laid down, several new operational formations were formed (2 field and 2 air armies), many special units; military bases were built in the South Pacific. The forces of the United States and its allies in the Pacific were consolidated into two operational groups: the central part of the Pacific (Admiral C.W. Nimitz) and the southwestern part of the Pacific (General D. MacArthur). The groups included several fleets, field armies, marines, carrier and base aviation, mobile naval bases, etc., in total - 500 thousand people, 253 large warships (including 69 submarines), over 2 thousand combat aircraft. Naval and air Force The US outnumbered the Japanese. In May 1943, units of the Nimitz group occupied the Aleutian Islands, securing American positions in the north.

In connection with the great summer successes of the Red Army and the landing in Italy, Roosevelt and Churchill held a conference in Quebec (August 11-24, 1943) to refine military plans again. The main intention of the leaders of both powers was to “achieve in the shortest possible time the unconditional surrender of the European countries of the “axis””, for which, through an air offensive, to achieve “undermining and disorganization on an ever-increasing scale of the military and economic power of Germany”. On May 1, 1944, it was planned to launch Operation Overlord to invade France. In the Far East, it was decided to expand the offensive in order to capture bridgeheads, from which it would then be possible, after the defeat of the European countries of the "axis" and the transfer of forces from Europe, to strike Japan and defeat it "within 12 months after the end of the war with Germany." The plan of action chosen by the allies did not meet the objectives of ending the war in Europe as soon as possible, since active operations in Western Europe were not expected until the summer of 1944.

Carrying out plans for offensive operations in the Pacific, the Americans continued the battles for the Solomon Islands that began as early as June 1943. Having mastered about New George and a bridgehead on about. Bougainville, they brought their bases in the South Pacific closer to the Japanese, including the main Japanese base - Rabaul. At the end of November 1943, the Americans occupied the Gilbert Islands, which were then turned into a base for preparing an attack on the Marshall Islands. MacArthur's group in stubborn battles captured most of the islands in the Coral Sea, the eastern part of New Guinea and deployed a base here for an attack on the Bismarck Archipelago. By removing the threat of a Japanese invasion of Australia, she secured US sea lanes in the area. As a result of these actions, the strategic initiative in the Pacific passed into the hands of the Allies, who eliminated the consequences of the defeat of 1941-42 and created the conditions for an offensive against Japan.

The national liberation struggle of the peoples of China, Korea, Indo-China, Burma, Indonesia, and the Philippines expanded ever more. Communist parties these countries were united by partisan forces in the ranks of the National Front. The People's Liberation Army and partisan detachments of China, having resumed active operations, liberated the territory with a population of about 80 million people.

The rapid development of events in 1943 on all fronts, especially on the Soviet-German front, required the Allies to clarify and coordinate plans for the conduct of the war for the next year. This was done at the November 1943 conference in Cairo (see the Cairo Conference of 1943) and the Tehran Conference of 1943 (see the Tehran Conference of 1943).

At the Cairo Conference (November 22-26), the delegations of the United States (head of the delegation F. D. Roosevelt), Great Britain (head of the delegation W. Churchill), China (head of the delegation Chiang Kai-shek) considered plans for waging war in Southeast Asia, which provided for limited goals: the creation of bases for the subsequent offensive against Burma and Indochina and the improvement of air supply to Chiang Kai-shek's army. Questions of military action in Europe were seen as secondary; The British leadership proposed to postpone Operation Overlord.

At the Tehran conference (November 28 - December 1, 1943) of the heads of government of the USSR (head of the delegation I. V. Stalin), the USA (head of the delegation F. D. Roosevelt) and Great Britain (head of the delegation W. Churchill) military questions were in the center of attention. The British delegation proposed a plan to invade Southeast Europe through the Balkans, with the participation of Turkey. The Soviet delegation proved that this plan did not meet the requirements of the fastest defeat of Germany, because operations in the Mediterranean area were "operations of secondary importance"; With its firm and consistent position, the Soviet delegation forced the Allies to once again recognize the paramount importance of the invasion of Western Europe, and "Overlord" - the main operation of the Allies, which should be accompanied by an auxiliary landing in southern France and distracting actions in Italy. For its part, the USSR pledged to enter the war with Japan after the defeat of Germany.

The report on the conference of the heads of government of the three powers said: “We have come to full agreement on the scale and timing of the operations to be undertaken from the east, west and south. The mutual understanding we have reached here guarantees us victory.”

At the Cairo Conference held on December 3-7, 1943, the delegations of the United States and Great Britain, after a series of discussions, recognized the need to use landing craft destined for Southeast Asia in Europe and approved a program according to which the most important operations in 1944 should be Overlord and Anvil ( landing in the south of France); the conference participants agreed that "in no other part of the world should any action be taken that could hinder the success of these two operations." It was an important victory for the Soviet foreign policy, its struggle for the unity of action of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition and the military strategy based on this policy.

4th period of the war (January 1, 1944 - May 8, 1945) was the period when the Red Army, in the course of a powerful strategic offensive, expelled the Nazi troops from the territory of the USSR, liberated the peoples of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and, together with the armed forces of the allies, completed the defeat of Nazi Germany. At the same time, the offensive of the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain in the Pacific Ocean continued, and the people's liberation war in China intensified.

As in previous periods, the main burden of the struggle was borne by the Soviet Union, against which the fascist bloc continued to hold its main forces. By the beginning of 1944, the German command of 315 divisions and 10 brigades that it had had 198 divisions and 6 brigades on the Soviet-German front. In addition, there were 38 divisions and 18 brigades of satellite states on the Soviet-German front. In 1944, the Soviet command planned an offensive along the front from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, with the main attack in the southwestern direction. In January - February, the Red Army, after a 900-day heroic defense, liberated Leningrad from the blockade (see the Battle of Leningrad 1941-44). By spring, having carried out a number of major operations, Soviet troops liberated the Right-Bank Ukraine and Crimea, reached the Carpathians and entered the territory of Romania. In the winter campaign of 1944 alone, the enemy lost 30 divisions and 6 brigades from the blows of the Red Army; 172 divisions and 7 brigades suffered heavy losses; human losses amounted to more than 1 million people. Germany could no longer make up for the damage it had suffered. In June 1944, the Red Army struck the Finnish army, after which Finland requested an armistice, an agreement on which was signed on September 19, 1944 in Moscow.

The grandiose offensive of the Red Army in Belarus from June 23 to August 29, 1944 (see the Belarusian operation of 1944) and in Western Ukraine from July 13 to August 29, 1944 (see the Lvov-Sandomierz operation of 1944) ended with the defeat of the two largest strategic groups of the Wehrmacht in the center of the Soviet -German front, breakthrough of the German front to a depth of 600 km, the complete destruction of 26 divisions and the infliction of heavy losses on 82 Nazi divisions. Soviet troops reached the border East Prussia, entered the territory of Poland and approached the Vistula. Polish troops also took part in the offensive.

In Chelm, the first Polish city liberated by the Red Army, on July 21, 1944, the Polish Committee of National Liberation was formed - a temporary executive body of people's power, subordinate to the Craiova Rada Narodova. In August 1944, the Home Army, following the order of the Polish government in exile in London, which sought to seize power in Poland before the Red Army approached and restore pre-war order, launched the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. After 63 days of heroic struggle, this uprising, undertaken in an unfavorable strategic environment, was defeated.

The international and military situation in the spring and summer of 1944 developed in such a way that a further delay in the opening of the second front would lead to the liberation of all of Europe by the forces of the USSR. This prospect worried the ruling circles of the United States and Great Britain, who sought to restore the pre-war capitalist order in the countries occupied by the Nazis and their allies. In London and Washington, they began to rush to prepare for an invasion of Western Europe across the English Channel in order to seize bridgeheads in Normandy and Brittany, ensure the landing of expeditionary troops, and then liberate northwestern France. In the future, it was supposed to break through the "Siegfried Line", which covered the German border, cross the Rhine and advance deep into Germany. The Allied Expeditionary Force under the command of General Eisenhower by the beginning of June 1944 had 2.8 million people, 37 divisions, 12 separate brigades, "commando detachments", about 11 thousand combat aircraft, 537 warships and a large number of transports and landing craft.

After defeats on the Soviet-German front, the fascist German command could keep in France, Belgium and the Netherlands as part of Army Group West (Field Marshal G. Rundstedt) only 61 weakened, poorly equipped divisions, 500 aircraft, 182 warships. The allies had, in the same way, absolute superiority in forces and means.

When it comes to a global conflict, it is somehow strange to be interested in who fought in the Second World War, because it seems that everyone took part. But to obtain such a status, it is not necessary that every person on the planet be involved, and over the past years it is easy to forget who and on whose side stood in this conflict.

Countries adhering to neutrality

It is easier to start with those who chose to remain neutral. There are already 12 such countries, but since the main part is small African colonies, it is worth mentioning only “serious” players:

• Spain- contrary to popular belief, the regime sympathetic to the Nazis and fascists did not provide real assistance with regular troops;
• Sweden- was able to avoid involvement in military affairs, avoiding the fate of Finland and Norway;
• Ireland- refused to fight the Nazis for the stupidest reason, the country did not want to have anything to do with Great Britain;
• Portugal- adhered to the position of its eternal ally in the person of Spain;
• Switzerland- remained faithful to the wait-and-see tactics and the policy of non-intervention.

True neutrality is out of the question - Spain formed a division of volunteers, and Sweden did not prevent its citizens from fighting on the side of Germany.

The troika from Portugal, Sweden and Spain actively traded with all parties to the conflict, sympathizing with the Germans. Switzerland was preparing to repel the advance of the Nazi army and was developing a plan for conducting military operations on its territory.

Even Ireland did not enter the war only because of political beliefs and even greater hatred of the British.

European allies of Germany

On the side of Hitler, the following took part in the hostilities:

1. Third Reich;
2. Bulgaria;
3. Hungary;
4. Italy;
5. Finland;
6. Romania;
7. Slovakia;
8. Croatia.

Most of the Slavic countries from this list did not take part in the invasion of the territory of the Union. The same cannot be said about Hungary, whose formations were twice defeated by the Red Army. It's about about more than 100 thousand soldiers and officers.

Italy and Romania possessed the most impressive infantry corps, which managed to “become famous” on our soil, perhaps due to the cruel treatment of the civilian population in the occupied territories. In the zone of Romanian occupation were Odessa and Nikolaev, along with the adjacent territories, where the mass destruction of the Jewish population took place. Romania was defeated in 1944, the fascist regime of Italy was forced to withdraw from the war in 1943.

You can’t really talk about difficult relations with Finland since the war of 1940. The most "significant" contribution is the closure of the blockade of Leningrad from the north side. The Finns were defeated in 1944, as was Romania.

USSR and its allies in Europe

The Germans and their allies in Europe were opposed by:

• Britannia;
• THE USSR;
• France;
• Belgium;
• Poland;
• Czechoslovakia;
• Greece;
• Denmark;
• Netherlands;

Considering the losses incurred and the liberated territories, it would be incorrect not to include the Americans in this list. The main blow was taken by the Soviet Union, along with Britain and France.

For each of the countries, the war had its own form:

1. Great Britain tried to cope with the constant raids of enemy aircraft in the first stage and with missile strikes from continental Europe - in the second;
2. The French army was defeated with amazing speed, and how significant a contribution to the final result was made only partisan movement;
3. The Soviet Union suffered the greatest losses, the war was massive battles, constant retreats and offensives, the struggle for every piece of land.

Western Front, opened by the United States, contributed to the acceleration of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis and saved millions of lives of Soviet citizens.

War in the Pacific

Fought in the Pacific:

• Australia;
• Canada;
• THE USSR.

The allies were opposed by Japan, with all its spheres of influence.

The Soviet Union entered this conflict at the final stage:

1. Provided the transfer of ground forces;
2. Defeated the remaining Japanese army on the mainland;
3. Contributed to the surrender of the Empire.

The battle-hardened Red Army soldiers were able to defeat the entire Japanese grouping, devoid of supply routes, with minimal losses.

The main battles in previous years took place in the sky and on the water:

• Bombing of Japanese cities and military bases;
• Attacks on caravans of ships;
• The sinking of battleships and aircraft carriers;
• The battle for the resource base;
• The use of a nuclear bomb on the civilian population.

Given the geographical and topographic features, there was no talk of any large-scale ground operations. All tactics were:

1. In control of key islands;
2. cutting off supply lines;
3. Restrictions of the enemy in resources;
4. Knocking out airfields and ship parking.

The chances of victory for the Japanese from the first day of the war were very illusory. Despite the success due to the surprise and unwillingness of the Americans to lead fighting over the ocean.

How many countries are involved in the conflict

Exactly 62 countries. Not one more, not one less. So many were participants in the Second World War. And this is from the 73 states that existed at that time.

This involvement is explained by:

• Crisis brewing in the world;
• Involvement of "major players" in their spheres of influence;
• Desire to solve economic and social problems by military means;
• The presence of numerous allied treaties between the parties to the conflict.

You can list all of them, designate the side and years of active action. But such a volume of information will not be remembered and the next day will not leave a trace. Therefore, it is easier to identify the main participants and explain their contribution to the ongoing catastrophe.

The results of the Second World War have long been summed up:

1. Guilty found;
2. War criminals punished;
3. Appropriate conclusions are made;
4. Created "memory organizations";
5. Prohibited fascism and Nazism in most countries;
6. Reparations and debts for the supply of equipment and weapons have been paid.

The main task is not repeat something like this .

Today, even schoolchildren know who fought in the Second World War and what consequences this conflict had for the world. But there are too many myths that need to be dispelled.

Video about the participants in the military conflict

This video very clearly demonstrates the entire chronology of the events of the Second World War, which countries took part in what:

1. September 1939 - June 1941. At the first stage of the war, the territory of Poland was divided between Germany, the USSR, Slovakia and Lithuania. In November 1939, Soviet troops invaded Finland. As a result of the Winter War, the USSR withdrew the Karelian Isthmus. In April-May 1940, Germany occupied Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and part of France. In June - July, Soviet troops captured the Baltic countries, the North African campaign began with the participation of the British and Italians.

1. June 1941 - November 1942. On June 22, the troops of the Axis countries invaded the USSR. A series of long-term defeats of the Soviet army ended with a counteroffensive near Moscow. In December 1941, the Japanese attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor, and thus began the war in the Pacific.

1. November 1942 - June 1944. On November 19, 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad took place, which became a turning point in the Great Patriotic war. In May 1943, the Italians and Germans capitulated in Tunisia to the Americans and the British. In July, Soviet troops consolidated their success on the Kursk Bulge. The landing of the allies (USA, Great Britain and Canada) in Sicily led to the fall of the fascist regime in Italy.

1. June 1944 - May 1945. The landing of British-American troops in Normandy marked the opening of the Second Front in Western Europe. In January 1945, the Soviet army, having defeated the Nazis many times, reached its starting lines. In February, the Yalta Conference on the post-war structure of the world took place. On May 8, Germany capitulated.

1. May - September 1945. In the summer of 1945, American aircraft bombed a number of Japanese cities, including Tokyo. In August, following the Potsdam Declaration, the USSR entered the Pacific War. On the 6th and 9th, American pilots dropped nuclear bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan capitulated in September.

Human losses of the countries participating in the Second World War

A country	Party to the conflict	Total losses, thous.	Losses of the civilian population, thousand people	Losses of the armed forces, thousand people
Australia	anti-Hitler coalition	24,1	0,7	23,4
Austria	Nazi block	420	140	280
Albania	anti-Hitler coalition
Belgium	anti-Hitler coalition	86,5		12,5
Bulgaria	Nazi block	24,5	2,5
Brazil	anti-Hitler coalition	1,9		0,9
british empire	anti-Hitler coalition	5 31 2 , 6	4 9 39 , 2	37 3 ,4
Hungary	Nazi block	570	270	300
Germany	Nazi block	6 758	1 440	5 318
Greece	anti-Hitler coalition	435	375
Denmark	anti-Hitler coalition	4,4	2,9	1,5
Indonesia	anti-Hitler coalition	4 000	4 000
Iraq	anti-Hitler coalition
Iran	anti-Hitler coalition	0,2	0,2
Ireland	neutrality	0,2	0,2
Iceland	anti-Hitler coalition
Spain	neutrality
Italy (with Libya)	Nazi block	499	105	394
Canada	anti-Hitler coalition	39,3		39,3
China	anti-Hitler coalition	11 700	7 900	3 800
Cuba	anti-Hitler coalition	0,1	0,1
Luxembourg	anti-Hitler coalition		1,8	2,2
Mexico	anti-Hitler coalition	0,1	0,1
Mongolia	anti-Hitler coalition	0,07		0,07
Netherlands	anti-Hitler coalition	220	182
Norway	anti-Hitler coalition		2,2	7,8
Poland	anti-Hitler coalition	6 025	5 600	425
Portugal (Timor)	neutrality
Romania	Nazi block	1 050,5	500	550,5
USSR	anti-Hitler coalition	26 682	15 760	10 922
United States (with Philippines)	anti-Hitler coalition	1 408,4	963	445,4
Thailand	Nazi

Second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries - including all the great powers - have formed two opposing military alliances.
The Second World War was the reason for the desire of the world powers to revise the spheres of influence and redistribute the markets for raw materials and sales of products (1939-1945). Germany and Italy sought revenge, the USSR wanted to establish itself in Eastern Europe, in the Black Sea Straits, in Western and South Asia, to increase influence in the Far East, England, France and the USA tried to maintain their positions in the world.

Another reason for the Second World War was the attempt of bourgeois-democratic states to oppose each other totalitarian regimes - fascists and communists.
World War II was chronologically divided into three major phases:

1. From September 1, 1939 to June 1942 - the period in which Germany had the advantage.
2. From June 1942 to January 1944. During this period, the anti-Hitler coalition took over the advantage.
3. From January 1944 to September 2, 1945, the period when the troops of the aggressor countries were defeated and the ruling regimes in these countries fell.

World War II began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. On September 8-14, in the battles near the Bruz River, the Polish troops were defeated. Warsaw fell on 28 September. In September, Soviet troops also invaded Poland. Poland became the first victim of the World War. The Germans destroyed the Jewish and Polish intelligentsia, introduced labor service.

"Strange War"
In response to the aggression of Germany, England and France on September 3 declared war on her. But active hostilities did not follow. Therefore, the beginning of the war on the Western Front is called the "Strange War".
On September 17, 1939, Soviet troops captured Western Ukraine and Western Belarus - lands lost under the Riga Treaty of 1921 as a result of an unsuccessful Polish-Soviet war. The Soviet-German treaty "On Friendship and Borders" concluded on September 28, 1939, confirmed the fact of the capture and partition of Poland. The treaty defined the Soviet-German borders, the border was set aside a little to the west. Lithuania was included in the sphere of interests of the USSR.
In November 1939, Stalin offered Finland to lease the port of Petsamo and the Hanko peninsula for the construction military base, as well as push back the border on the Karelian Isthmus in exchange for more territory in Soviet Karelia. Finland rejected this proposal. On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union declared war on Finland. This war went down in history under the name " winter war". Stalin organized a puppet Finnish "workers' government" in advance. But the Soviet troops met fierce resistance from the Finns on the "Mannerheim Line" and only in March 1940 did they overcome it. Finland was forced to accept the conditions of the USSR. On March 12, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow. The Karelian-Finnish SSR was created.
During September-October 1939, the Soviet Union sent troops into the Baltic countries, forcing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to conclude agreements. On June 21, 1940, Soviet power was established in all three republics. Two weeks later, these republics became part of the USSR. In June 1940, the USSR took Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania.
In Bessarabia, the Moldavian SSR was created, which also became part of the USSR. And Northern Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian SSR. These aggressive actions of the USSR were condemned by England and France. On December 14, 1939, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations.

Military operations in the West, Africa and the Balkans
For successful operations in the North Atlantic, Germany needed bases. Therefore, she attacked Denmark and Norway, although they declared themselves neutral. On April 9, 1940, Denmark surrendered, and on June 10, Norway. In Norway, the fascist V. Quisling seized power. The king of Norway turned to England for help. In May 1940, the main forces of the German army (Wehrmacht) concentrated on the Western Front. On May 10, the Germans suddenly occupied Holland and Belgium and pressed the Anglo-French-Belgian troops to the sea in the Dunkirk area. The Germans occupied Calais. But on the orders of Hitler, the offensive was suspended, and the enemy was given the opportunity to get out of the encirclement. This event became known as the "Miracle of Dunkirk". With this gesture, Hitler wanted to propitiate England, conclude an agreement with her and withdraw her from the war for a while.

On May 26, Germany launched an offensive against France, achieved victory near the Aime River and, breaking through the Maginot Line, on June 14 the Germans entered Paris. On June 22, 1940, in the Forest of Compiègne, at the very spot where Germany surrendered 22 years ago, Marshal Foch, in the same staff car, signed the act of surrender of France. France was divided into 2 parts: the northern part, which was under German occupation, and the southern part, centered in the city of Vichy.
This part of France was dependent on Germany; a puppet "Vichy government" was organized here, headed by Marshal Pétain. The Vichy government had a small army. The fleet was confiscated. The French constitution was also abolished, and Pétain was given unlimited powers. The Vichy collaborationist regime lasted until August 1944.
The anti-fascist forces of France grouped around the Free French organization, created by Charles de Gaulle in England.
In the summer of 1940, an ardent opponent of Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill, was elected Prime Minister of England. Since the German Navy inferior to the English fleet, then Hitler abandoned the idea of ​​​​landing troops in England, and was content with only air bombardments. England actively defended itself and won the "air war". This was the first victory in the war with Germany.
On June 10, 1940, Italy also joined the war against England and France. The Italian army from Ethiopia captured Kenya, strongholds in Sudan, and part of British Somalia. And in October, Italy attacked Libya and Egypt in order to seize the Suez Canal. But, having seized the initiative, the British troops forced the Italian army in Ethiopia to surrender. In December 1940, the Italians were defeated in Egypt, and in 1941 - in Libya. The help sent by Hitler was not effective. In general, during the winter of 1940-1941, British troops, with the help of the local population, drove the Italians out of British and Italian Somalia, from Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
September 22, 1940 Germany, Italy and Japan signed a pact in Berlin ("Pact of Steel"). A little later, Germany's allies - Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia - joined him. In essence, it was an agreement on the redistribution of the world. Germany invited the USSR to join this pact and participate in the occupation of British India and other southern lands. But Stalin was interested in the Balkans and the Black Sea straits. And this was contrary to Hitler's plans.
In October 1940, Italy attacked Greece. German troops helped Italy. In April 1941, Yugoslavia and Greece capitulated.
Thus, the most severe blow to the positions of the British was dealt in the Balkans. The British Corps was returned to Egypt. In May 1941 the Germans took the island of Crete and the British lost control of the Aegean. Yugoslavia ceased to exist as a state. An independent Croatia emerged. The remaining Yugoslav lands were divided among themselves by Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary. Under pressure from Hitler, Romania gave Transylvania to Hungary.

German attack on the USSR
Back in June 1940, Hitler instructed the leadership of the Wehrmacht to prepare for an attack on the USSR. A plan for a "lightning war" was prepared and approved on December 18, 1940, codenamed "Barbarossa". A native of Baku, intelligence officer Richard Sorge in May 1941 announced the impending German attack on the USSR, but Stalin did not believe it. On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. The Germans intended to reach the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line before the onset of winter. During the first week of the war, the Germans took Smolensk, approached Kyiv and Leningrad. In September, Kyiv was taken, and Leningrad was under blockade.
In November 1941, the Germans launched an offensive against Moscow. On December 5-6, 1941, they were defeated in the battle near Moscow. In this battle and in the winter operations of 1942, the myth of the "invincibility" of the German army collapsed, and the plan for a "blitzkrieg" was thwarted. The victory of the Soviet troops inspired the resistance movement in the countries occupied by the Germans, strengthened the anti-Hitler coalition.
Creation of the anti-Hitler coalition

The territory of Eurasia to the east of the 70th meridian Japan considered the sphere of its influence. After the capitulation of France, Japan appropriated its colonies - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and stationed its troops there. Sensing the danger to their possessions in the Philippines, the United States demanded that Japan withdraw its troops and established a ban on trade with Japan.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese squadron launched an unexpected attack on the US naval base in the Hawaiian Islands - Pearl Harbor. On the same day, Japanese troops invaded Thailand and the British colonies of Malaysia and Burma. In response, the United States and Great Britain declared war on Japan.
At the same time, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. In the spring of 1942, the Japanese took the British fortress of Singapore, which was considered impregnable, and approached India. Then they conquered Indonesia and the Philippines, landed on New Guinea.
Back in March 1941, the US Congress passed a law on Lend-Lease - an "assistance system" with weapons, strategic raw materials and food. After Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the United States became in solidarity with the USSR. W. Churchill said that against Hitler he was ready to enter into an alliance even with the devil himself.
On July 12, 1941, an agreement on cooperation between the USSR and Great Britain was signed. On October 10, a trilateral agreement was signed between the USA, the USSR and Great Britain on military and food aid to the USSR. In November 1941, the United States extended the Lend-Lease Act to the Soviet Union. An anti-Hitler coalition emerged, consisting of the USA, Great Britain and the USSR.
In order to prevent a rapprochement between Germany and Iran, on August 25, 1941, the Soviet army entered Iran from the north, and the British from the south. In the history of World War II, this was the first joint operation between the USSR and England.
On August 14, 1941, the United States and England signed a document called the "Atlantic Charter", in which they declared their refusal to seize foreign territories, recognized the right of all peoples to self-government, renounced the use of force in international affairs, and showed interest in building a just and secure post-war world . The USSR announced the recognition of the governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland, who were in exile, and on September 24 also joined the Atlantic Charter. On January 1, 1942, 26 states signed the "Declaration of the United Nations". The strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition contributed to the onset of a radical turning point in the course of World War II.

The beginning of a radical fracture
The second period of the war is characterized as a period of radical change. The first step here was the Battle of Midway Atoll in June 1942, in which the US Navy sank a Japanese squadron. Having suffered heavy losses, Japan lost the ability to fight in the Pacific.
In October 1942, British troops under the command of General B. Montgomery surrounded and defeated the Italo-German troops at El Apamein. In November, US troops under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower in Morocco pressed the Italo-German troops against Tunisia and forced them to surrender. But the allies did not keep their promises and in 1942 they did not open a second front in Europe. This allowed the Germans to group large forces into eastern front, to break through the defense of the Soviet troops on the Kerch Peninsula in May, capturing Sevastopol and Kharkov in July, move to Stalingrad and the Caucasus. But the German offensive was repulsed near Stalingrad, and in a counterattack on November 23 near the city of Kalach, Soviet troops surrounded 22 enemy divisions. The Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted until February 2, 1943, ended with the victory of the USSR, which seized the strategic initiative. A radical turning point took place in the Soviet-German war. The counteroffensive of the Soviet troops in the Caucasus began.
One of the important conditions for a radical turning point in the war was the ability of the USSR, the USA and Britain to mobilize their resources. So, on June 30, 1941, the State Defense Committee was created in the USSR under the chairmanship of I. Stalin and the main Logistics Directorate. A card system was introduced.
In 1942, a law was passed in England giving the government emergency powers in the field of management. In the United States, the Office of War Production was created.

Resistance movement
Another factor that contributed to the radical change was the resistance movement of the peoples who fell under the German, Italian and Japanese yoke. The Nazis created death camps - Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Maidanek, Treblinka, Dachau, Mauthausen, etc. In France - Oradur, in Czechoslovakia - Lidice, in Belarus - Khatyn and many more such villages around the world, the population of which was completely destroyed. A systematic policy of extermination of Jews and Slavs was pursued. On January 20, 1942, a plan was approved for the extermination of all Jews in Europe.
The Japanese acted under the slogan "Asia for Asians", but ran into desperate resistance in Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, and the Philippines. The unification of anti-fascist forces contributed to the strengthening of resistance. Under pressure from the allies, the Comintern was dissolved in 1943, so the communists in some countries took an active part in joint anti-fascist actions.
In 1943, an anti-fascist uprising broke out in the Warsaw Jewish ghetto. In the territories of the USSR conquered by the Germans, the partisan movement was especially widespread.

Completion of a radical fracture
The radical change on the Soviet-German front ended with a grandiose Battle of Kursk(July-August 1943), in which the Nazis were defeated. In naval battles in the Atlantic, the Germans lost many submarines. Allied ships began to cross Atlantic Ocean as part of special sentinel convoys.
A radical change in the course of the war caused a crisis in the countries of the fascist bloc. In July 1943, the allied forces captured the island of Sicily, and this caused a deep crisis of the fascist regime of Mussolini. He was overthrown and arrested. The new government was headed by Marshal Badoglio. The Fascist Party was outlawed, and political prisoners were granted amnesty.
Secret negotiations began. September 3 Allied troops landed in the Apennines. An armistice was signed with Italy.
At this time, Germany occupied northern Italy. Badoglio declared war on Germany. A front line arose north of Naples, and the regime of Mussolini, who had fled from captivity, was restored in the territory occupied by the Germans. He relied on the German troops.
After the completion of the radical change, the heads of the allied states - F. Roosevelt, J. Stalin and W. Churchill met in Tehran from November 28 to December 1, 1943. The central place in the work of the conference was occupied by the question of opening a second front. Churchill insisted on opening a second front in the Balkans to prevent the penetration of communism into Europe, and Stalin believed that a second front should be opened closer to the German borders - in Northern France. So there were differences in views on the second front. Roosevelt sided with Stalin. It was decided to open a second front in May 1944 in France. Thus, for the first time, the foundations of a common military concept anti-Hitler coalition. Stalin agreed to participate in the war with Japan, on the condition that Kaliningrad (Königsberg) be transferred to the USSR, and the new western borders of the USSR would be recognized. Tehran also adopted a declaration on Iran. The heads of the three states expressed their intention to maintain the integrity of the territory of this country.
In December 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill signed the Egyptian Declaration in Egypt with Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek. An agreement was reached that the war would continue until the complete defeat of Japan. All the territories taken from it by Japan will be returned to China, Korea will become free and independent.

Deportation of Turks and Caucasian peoples
The German offensive in the Caucasus, which began in the summer of 1942, in accordance with the Edelweiss plan, failed.
In the territories inhabited by the Turkic peoples (North and South Azerbaijan, central Asia, Kazakhstan, Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Crimea, North Caucasus, Western China and Afghanistan) Germany planned the creation of the state "Great Turkestan".
In 1944-1945, the Soviet leadership declared some Turkic and Caucasian peoples in cooperation with the German occupiers and deported them. As a result of this deportation, accompanied by genocide, in February 1944, 650,000 Chechens, Ingush and Karachais, in May - about 2 million Crimean Turks, in November - about a million Turks - Meskhetians from the regions of Georgia bordering Turkey were resettled in the eastern regions of the USSR. In parallel with the deportation, the forms of state administration of these peoples were liquidated (in 1944 the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, in 1945 the Crimean ASSR). In October 1944, the independent Republic of Tuva, located in Siberia, was incorporated into the RSFSR.

Military operations 1944-1945
At the beginning of 1944 Soviet army launched a counteroffensive near Leningrad and in right-bank Ukraine. On September 2, 1944, an armistice was signed between the USSR and Finland. The lands seized in 1940, the Pechenga region, were transferred to the USSR. Finland's access to the Barents Sea has been closed. In October, with the permission of the Norwegian authorities, Soviet troops entered the territory of Norway.
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces under the command of American General D. Eisenhower landed in northern France and opened a second front. At the same time, Soviet troops launched "Operation Bagration", as a result of which the territory of the USSR was completely cleared of the enemy.
The Soviet army entered East Prussia and Poland. In August 1944, an anti-fascist uprising began in Paris. Before the end of this year, the Allies completely liberated France and Belgium.
At the beginning of 1944, the United States occupied the Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands and the Philippines, and blocked Japan's sea lanes. In turn, the Japanese captured Central China. But due to difficulties in providing the Japanese, the “campaign to Delhi” failed.
In July 1944, Soviet troops entered Romania. The fascist regime of Antonescu was overthrown, and the Romanian King Mihai declared war on Germany. September 2 - Bulgaria, and September 12 - Romania signed a truce with the allies. In mid-September, Soviet troops entered Yugoslavia, most of which by this time had been liberated by the partisan army of I.B. Tito. At this time, Churchill resigned himself to the entry of all the Balkan countries into the sphere of influence of the USSR. And the troops subordinate to the Polish government in exile in London fought both against the Germans and against the Russians. In August 1944, an unprepared uprising began in Warsaw, suppressed by the Nazis. The Allies did not agree on the legitimacy of each of the two Polish governments.

Crimean Conference
On February 4-11, 1945, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met in the Crimea (Yalta). Here, a decision was made on the unconditional surrender of Germany and the division of its territory into 4 occupation zones (USSR, USA, England, France), the collection of reparations from Germany, the recognition of new western borders USSR, the inclusion of new members in the London Polish government. The USSR confirmed its consent to enter the war against Japan 2-3 months after the end of the war with Germany. In return, Stalin expected to receive South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, railway in Manchuria and Port Arthur.
At the conference, a declaration "On a liberated Europe" was adopted. It guaranteed the right to create democratic structures of their own choosing.
Here, the order of work of the future United Nations was determined. The Crimean Conference was the last meeting of the "Big Three" with the participation of Roosevelt. In 1945 he died. He was replaced by G. Truman.

Surrender of Germany
The defeat at the fronts caused a severe crisis in the bloc of fascist regimes. Realizing the disastrous for Germany to continue the war and the need to conclude peace, a group of officers organized an assassination attempt on Hitler, but unsuccessfully.
In 1944, the German military industry reached high level, but there was no longer any strength to resist. Despite this, Hitler announced a general mobilization and began to use a new type of weapon - V-rockets. In December 1944, in the Ardennes, the Germans went on the last counterattack. The position of the allies worsened. At their request, the USSR launched the Vistula-Oder operation ahead of schedule in January 1945 and approached Berlin at a distance of 60 kilometers. In February, the Allies launched a general offensive. On April 16, under the leadership of Marshal G. Zhukov, the Berlin operation began. On April 30, the Banner of Victory was hung over the Reichstag. Mussolini was executed by partisans in Milan. Upon learning of this, Hitler shot himself. On the night of May 8-9, on behalf of the German government, Field Marshal W. Keitel signed an act of unconditional surrender. On May 9, Prague was liberated and the war in Europe ended.

Potsdam conference
From July 17 to August 2, 1945, a new conference of the "Big Three" was held in Potsdam. Now the United States was represented by Truman, and Britain, instead of Churchill, by the newly elected Prime Minister, Labor leader C. Attlee.
The main purpose of the conference was to determine the principles of the Allied policy towards Germany. The territory of Germany was divided into 4 zones of occupation (USSR, USA, France, England). An agreement was reached on the dissolution of fascist organizations, the restoration of previously banned parties and civil liberties, the destruction of the military industry and cartels. The main fascist war criminals were tried by the International Tribunal. The conference decided that Germany should remain a single state. In the meantime, it will be controlled by the occupying authorities. The country's capital Berlin was also divided into 4 zones. There were elections after which peace would be signed with the new democratic government.
The conference also determined the state borders of Germany, which lost a quarter of its territory. Germany has lost everything it has gained since 1938. The lands of East Prussia were divided between the USSR and Poland. The borders of Poland were determined along the line of the Oder-Neisse rivers. Soviet citizens who fled to the west or remained there were to be returned to their homeland.
The amount of reparations from Germany was set at 20 billion dollars. 50% of this amount was due to the Soviet Union.

End of World War II
In April 1945, US troops entered the island of Okinawa during the anti-Japanese operation. Before the summer, the Philippines, Indonesia and part of Indo-China were liberated. On July 26, 1945, the United States, the USSR and China demanded the surrender of Japan, but were refused. To demonstrate its strength, the United States on August 6 dropped atomic bomb to Hiroshima. On August 8, the USSR declared war on Japan. On August 9, the United States dropped a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki.
On August 14, at the request of Emperor Hirohito, the Japanese government announced its surrender. The official act of surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship Missouri.
Thus, the Second World War, in which 61 states participated and in which 67 million people died, ended.
If the First World War was mainly of a positional nature, then the Second World War was of an offensive nature.

The day of the end of the Second World War is the day when Japan, which continued to fight even after the defeat of Germany, signed the Act of Surrender. After the capture of Berlin and the surrender of Hitler's Germany, the USSR, fulfilling its allied duty, began hostilities against Japan. According to the recognition of the world community, including the Americans, the entry of the USSR into the war against Japan in June significantly brought the end of the World War closer. During the battles against the imperial Kwantung Army, our troops lost 12 thousand people killed. Japanese losses were 84,000 killed and 600,000 captured. Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender on 2 September.

On September 2, 1945, after the surrender of Japan, World War II became history. This story is still alive today. In the forests and fields, even now they find many shells, mines, caches with weapons that the warring parties left behind. Until now, search teams are finding civilian graves and mass graves of soldiers all over the world. This war cannot be over until the last soldier is buried.

How our fathers and grandfathers beat the enemy

In this war, the USSR suffered colossal economic and human losses. More than 9 million soldiers died on the fronts, but historians call a larger figure. Among the civilian population, the losses were much worse: about 16 million people. The population of the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the Russian SFSR suffered the most.

In the battles near Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, victory and the Glory of the Russian People were forged. Thanks to the exceptional courage of Soviet soldiers and officers, who, at the cost of their lives, broke the back of the "fascist hydra" and saved the people from complete annihilation, as Hitler and his entourage planned. The feat of our army will always be glorious for centuries.

Often, miracles of heroism and unprecedented courage awed the enemy, forced him to bow his head before the courage of our fighters and commanders. From the first days of the war, the Germans and their allies faced serious resistance. Many outposts that were planned to be destroyed in the first few hours of the war held out for several days. The historian Smirnov told the world that the last defender of the Brest Fortress was taken prisoner by the Germans in 1942, in the month of April. Our pilots, when they ran out of ammunition, boldly went to ram enemy aircraft, its ground combat equipment, railway echelons and enemy manpower. Our tankers in a burning tank did not take their vehicles out of the heat of battle, fighting to the last breath. It is worth remembering the brave sailors who died along with their ship, but did not surrender. Often, soldiers closed the embrasure with their chests in order to save their comrades from the deadly machine-gun fire of the enemy. Left without anti-tank guns, the fighters tied themselves with grenades and rushed under the tank, thereby stopping the fascist armored armada.

World War II began counting its bloody pages in September 1939 when Germany attacked Poland. The massacre lasted for 2076 days, taking away thousands of human lives every day, not sparing the elderly, children and women. The end of the Second World War is a truly great event that marked the establishment of peace throughout the world.

Day of the end of World War II. Holiday date.

The celebration of this day is enshrined at the state level. In accordance with the Federal Law "On the days of military glory and anniversaries Russia" September 2 is the day of Military Glory - the date of the end of the Second World War.

In 1941, a non-aggression pact was signed between the USSR and Japan. Although after the Nazi troops crossed the border of the Soviet Union, Japan did not enter the war, opening the Western Front, nevertheless, the ruling elite of the country of the "Rising Sun" did not leave the thought of aggression. This is evidenced by the covert mobilization in Manchuria and the doubling of the size of the Kwantung Army.

After Germany's capitulation, the Japanese government wanted in July, through the leadership of the Soviet Union, to find ways to conclude a peace agreement. Although the emperor's envoys did not receive a refusal, they were told that they could not be accepted due to the participation of Stalin and Molotov in the Potsdam Conference. Japan did not agree to peace terms even after the USSR, three months after the end of the war in Europe, in accordance with the obligations assumed during the Yalta Peace Conference, officially declared war on her and stopped all diplomatic relations.

After the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the defeat of the Kwantung Army, the defeat of the fleet in the Pacific Ocean, the military government of Japan agreed to the terms of surrender on August 14. On August 17, the order was handed over to the troops. Not everyone received an order to stop resistance, and some Japanese could not imagine themselves as defeated, categorically refused to lay down their arms and fought right up to September 10th. The capitulation began on 20 August. And on September 2, the undecided Act of Surrender of Japan was signed on the cruiser Missouri of the US Navy. The signing was attended by representatives of all countries that fought against Japan and its satellites: the USSR, the Netherlands, China, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, France and New Zealand.

The next day, the date of the end of the Second World War, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, became an official holiday: Happy Victory Day of the USSR over Japan! But for a long time this date was ignored at the state level. But in the Russian Federation this day is celebrated annually in memory not only of those who brought the defeat of Japan closer, but also of those who went through the heat of the war from the first day to the last day.

Traditions of the end of World War II

It is actively celebrated in the Far East, where hostilities took place between Japan and the USSR. On this day, it is customary to honor the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. In cities, concerts are held in the Houses of Officers, in various theaters and concert halls. Traditionally, flowers are laid at the soldiers' memorials, the Eternal Flame, the monument to the Unknown Soldier, and memorial services are served in churches. In military units with soldiers, educational activities are carried out aimed at instilling pride in the Russian army.

In addition, events dedicated to this date are held all over the world. Recently, it was announced in Austria that memorial events would be held in the capital, and a watch would be set up at the monument to those who died in the war. A brass military band will also play on the square in Vienna. These actions are aimed at ousting from the life of Europe the nationalists who hold mourning events for the defeat in the Second World War. Festivals and concerts are held in other countries.

Let there be peace...

World War II 1939 - 1945 became the worst massacre in the history of mankind. The war was on five continents, more than 73 states participated in it, which is approximately 80% of the world's population at that time. Millions of Soviet soldiers gave their lives so that this war for all mankind ended with the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition.

On the day the Second World War ends, I would like to believe that there will be no more military conflicts, that evil was forever buried under the ruins of the Reichstag, that there will be no more pain or human suffering on Earth.