World War II September 1, 1939. History of the Second World War. Armed intervention in Poland

The Second World War is considered the largest in human history. It began and ended on September 2, 1945. During this time, sixty-two countries took part in it, representing eighty percent of the planet's population. Three continents and four oceans experienced hostilities, and atomic weapons were also used. It was the most terrible war. It started quickly and took many people from this world. We will talk about this and much more today.

Prerequisites for the war

Many historians consider the main prerequisite for the outbreak of World War II to be the outcome of the first armed conflict in the world. The peace treaty that ended the First World War put the countries that were defeated in it in a powerless position. Germany lost a lot of its lands, it had to stop developing its weapons system and military industry, and abandon its armed forces. In addition, it had to pay compensation to the affected countries. All this depressed the German government, and a thirst arose to take revenge. Dissatisfaction in the country with the low standard of living made it possible for A. Hitler to come to power.

Policy of reconciliation

What happened on September 1, 1939, we already know. But shortly before this, the USSR, which appeared during the First World War, worried many European politicians, since they in every possible way prevented the spread of socialism in the world. Therefore, the second reason for the start of the war was opposition to the popularization of communism. This gave impetus to the development of fascism in many countries. England and France, which had initially restricted Germany, subsequently lifted all restrictions and ignored the many violations by the German state of the Treaty of Versailles. There was no reaction to the fact that Germany annexed Austria, increasing its military power. The Munich Treaty also approved the annexation of part of Czechoslovakia to Germany. All this was done in order to direct the country's aggression towards the USSR. Europe's politicians began to worry when Germany expanded its annexation without asking anyone. But it was too late, because the plan for a new military conflict was drawn up and began to be implemented.

Role of Italy

Together with Germany, Italy also began to pursue an aggressive foreign policy. In 1935, she invaded Ethiopia, to which the world community reacted negatively. However, fascist Italy a year later annexed all Ethiopian territories and proclaimed itself an empire. The deterioration of relations with Western countries contributed to its rapprochement with Germany. Mussolini allows Hitler to take over Austria. In 1936, the Third Reich and Japan entered into an agreement to jointly fight communism. A year later, Italy joined them.

Collapse of the Versailles-Washington system

The outbreaks of World War II formed gradually, so the outbreak of hostilities could have been prevented. Let's consider the main stages of the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system:

1. In 1931, Japan occupied Northeast China.
2. In 1935, Hitler began to deploy the Wehrmacht in Germany, violating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
3. In 1937, Japan conquered all of China.
4. 1938 - Germany captured Austria and part of Czechoslovakia.
5. 1939 - Hitler captured all of Czechoslovakia. In August, Germany and the USSR signed a non-aggression treaty and division of spheres of influence in the world.
6. September 1, 1939 - German attack on Poland.

Armed intervention in Poland

Germany has set itself the task of expanding space to the East. At the same time, Poland must be captured as soon as possible. In August, the USSR and Germany signed a non-aggression pact against each other. In the same month, Germans dressed in Polish uniforms attacked a radio station in Gleiwitz. German and Slovak troops advance on Poland. England, France and other countries that were allied with Poland declare war on the Nazis. At half past five in the morning, German dive bombers made their first flight to the control points of Tczew. The first Polish plane was shot down. At four hours and forty-five minutes in the morning, a German battleship opened fire on the Polish fortifications located on Westerplatte. Mussolini put forward a proposal for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but Hitler refused, citing the incident in Gleiwitz.

In the USSR, military mobilization was introduced. In a short period of time, the army reached five million people.

Fascist strategy

Poland and Germany have long had claims against each other regarding territories. The main clashes began near the city of Danzig, which the Nazis had long claimed. But Poland did not meet the Germans halfway. This did not upset the latter, since they had long ago had the Weiss plan ready to capture Poland. 1 September 1939 Poland should have become part of Germany. A plan was developed to quickly seize its territory and destroy all infrastructure. To achieve the goal, Hitler planned to use aviation, infantry and tank troops. The Weiss plan was designed down to the smallest detail. Hitler hoped that England and France would not begin military operations, but considered the possibility of opening a second front, sending troops to the borders with the Netherlands, France and Belgium.

Preparedness for military conflict

Attack on Poland September 1, 1939 year was obvious, as was the outcome of the fascist operation. The German army was much larger than the Polish one, as was its technical equipment. In addition, the Nazis organized a rapid mobilization, about which Poland knew nothing. The Polish government concentrated all its forces along the entire border, which contributed to the weakening of the troops before the powerful attack of the Nazis. The Nazi offensive went according to plan. The Polish troops turned out to be weak in front of the enemy, especially in front of his tank formations. In addition, the President of Poland left the capital. The government followed four days later. The Anglo-French troops did not take any action to help the Poles. Only two days later they, along with New Zealand and Australia, declared war on Hitler. A few days later they were joined by Nepal, Canada, the Union of South Africa and Newfoundland. On September 3, at sea, a Nazi submarine attacked an English liner without warning. During the war, Hitler hoped to the last that Poland's allies would not enter into an armed conflict, everything would happen the same as with Munich. Adolf Hitler was shocked when Britain gave him an ultimatum, demanding the withdrawal of troops from Polish territory.

Germany

Nazi Germany made several diplomatic steps in order to expand the circle of states that were involved in the division of Polish territory. Ribbentrop proposed that Hungary annex part of Polish Ukraine, but Budapest avoided these questions. Germany offered Lithuania to conquer the Vilnius region, but the latter declared neutrality for the year. From the first days of the war, the leader of the OUN was in Berlin, to whom the German side promised the formation of the so-called independent Ukraine in southeastern Poland. A little later, he was informed about the possibility of forming a Western Ukrainian state on the border with Soviet Russia.

In the summer of 1939, when the OUN was preparing for military action in Poland, a unit of Galicians called the VVN was formed in Slovakia. It was part of a German-Slovak unit that attacked from the territory of Slovakia. Hitler wanted to create states on the border with the USSR that would be subordinate to the Third Reich: Ukraine, the so-called Polish pseudo-state and Lithuania. Ribbentrop pointed out that it was necessary to destroy the Poles and Jews with the help of the VVN. At the end of September, Ukrainian nationalists launched uprisings, during which military personnel and civilians were killed. At this time, actions were taken in Germany against the USSR. Ribbentrop invites Hitler to discuss the issue of the entry of Russian troops into the lands of Poland to occupy that part that is included in the circle of interests of the USSR, according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Moscow refused such a proposal, indicating that the time had not yet come. Molotov indicated that the intervention of the Soviet Union could be a reaction to the advance of the Nazis, to protect Ukrainians and Belarusians from the Nazis.

The Union was officially notified that the outbreak had begun in Europe. war, September 1, 1939. The border troops were ordered to strengthen the security of the Soviet-Polish border, military mobilization was introduced, the number of vehicles, horses, tractors, etc. in the army was increased. Ribbentrop calls on the Union to completely defeat Poland within two or three weeks. Molotov argued that the USSR did not want to take part in the war, ensuring its security. Stalin said that there was a war going on in the world between two camps (rich and poor) for the redivision of the world. But the Union will watch from the side as they weaken each other well. He claimed that the communists were against the war. But in the meantime, the SIC directive stated that the Union could not defend fascist Poland. A little later, the Soviet press indicated that the German-Polish war was becoming threatening, so reserves were being called up. A large number of army groups were created. On September 17, the Red Army advanced to Poland. Polish troops offered no resistance. The division of Poland between the Union and Germany ended on September 28. Western Belarus and Western Ukraine went to the USSR, which later merged with the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR.

The mood for war with Germany, which had existed in the Union since 1935, lost its meaning, but mobilization continued. About two hundred thousand conscripts continued to serve, according to the new law on conscription that was created September 1, 1939 (event what happened on this day is familiar to us).

Poland's reaction

Having learned about the crossing of the Polish border by the Soviet army, the Polish command sent an ambassador with the question of how the Soviet army crossed their border. He was presented with a fait accompli, although the Polish government believed that the Red Army was brought in to limit the Nazi occupation zone. It was ordered to retreat to Romania and Hungary and not to conduct military operations.

Germany's reaction

For the management of the German armed forces, the advance of the Soviet army into Poland came as a surprise. An emergency meeting was convened to discuss options for further actions by the Nazis. At the same time, armed clashes with the Red Army were considered inappropriate.

France and England

When September 1, 1939 World War II began with the invasion of Poland, England and France remained on the sidelines. After the USSR invaded Poland, these two states did not focus on Soviet intervention in the Polish-German war. They tried to find out what position the Union took in this conflict. There were rumors in these countries that the Red Army in Poland opposed German troops. In mid-September, the British government decided that England would defend Poland only from Germany, so the USSR did not send a protest, thereby recognizing the Soviet action in Poland.

Withdrawal of German troops

On September 20, Hitler gave the order to withdraw troops to the west. He demanded an immediate end to the fighting. But this order did not take into account the fact that there were a large number of wounded, prisoners and equipment on Polish territory. It was planned to leave the wounded in place, providing them with medical personnel. All trophies that could not be evacuated were left to the Russian soldiers. The Germans left military equipment in place for further removal. Damaged tanks made using new technologies were ordered to be destroyed so that it would not be possible to identify them.

Negotiations between Germany and the USSR were scheduled for September 27-28. Stalin made a proposal to transfer Lithuania to the Union in exchange for part of the Warsaw and Lublin voivodeships. Stalin was afraid of the division of the Polish population, so he left the entire ethnic territory of the country to Germany, as well as part of the Augustow forests. Hitler approved this version of the division of Poland. On September 29, the Treaty of Friendship and Border between the Soviet Union and Germany was signed. Thus, the basis of peace in Europe for a long time was created. The elimination of the impending war between Germany, England and France ensured the interests of many nations.

Anglo-French reaction

England was satisfied with this course of events. She informed the Union that she wanted Poland to be smaller, so the question of returning the territories captured by the USSR to it could not arise. France and England informed the Polish President not to declare war on the Soviet Union. Churchill said that Russian troops needed to enter Poland in order to ensure security against the threat from the Nazis.

Results of the operation

Poland ceased to exist as a state. As a result of its division, the USSR received a territory of about two hundred thousand square kilometers, which is half the area of ​​the country, and a population of thirteen million people. The territory of the Vilnius region was transferred to Lithuania. Germany received the entire ethnic territory of Poland. Some lands went to Slovakia. The lands that did not join Germany became part of the General Government, which was ruled by the Nazis. Krakow became its capital. The Third Reich lost about twenty thousand people, thirty thousand people were wounded. The Polish army lost sixty-six thousand people, two hundred thousand were wounded, and seven hundred thousand were captured. The Slovak army lost eighteen people, forty-six people were wounded.

Year 1939... September 1 - beginning of World War II. Poland was the first to take the blow, as a result of which it was divided between the Soviet Union and Germany. In the territories that became part of the USSR, Soviet power was established and industry was nationalized. Repressions and deportations of representatives of the bourgeoisie, rich peasants, intelligentsia, and so on were carried out. In the territories that became part of Germany, a so-called racial policy was carried out; the population was divided according to rights, depending on their nationality. At the same time, Gypsies and Jews were destroyed. In the General Government there was more aggression against the Polish and Jewish population. No one suspected then that this was just the beginning of the war, that it would take six long years and end with the defeat of Nazi Germany. Most of the world's population took part in military conflict.

In the early morning of September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Goebbels’s propaganda presented this event as a response to the previous “seizure by Polish soldiers” of a radio station in the German border town of Gleiwitz (it later turned out that the German security service staged the attack in Gleiwitz, using German death row prisoners dressed in Polish military uniforms). Germany sent 57 divisions against Poland.

Great Britain and France, bound by allied obligations with Poland, after some hesitation, declared war on Germany on September 3. But the opponents were in no hurry to get involved in active struggle. According to Hitler's instructions, German troops were to adhere to defensive tactics on the Western Front during this period in order to “sparing their forces as much as possible, to create the preconditions for the successful completion of the operation against Poland.” The Western powers did not launch an offensive either. 110 French and 5 British divisions stood against 23 German ones, without taking serious military action. It is no coincidence that this confrontation was called a “strange war.”

Left without help, Poland, despite the desperate resistance of its soldiers and officers to the invaders in Gdansk (Danzig), on the Baltic coast in the Westerplatte region, in Silesia and other places, could not hold back the onslaught of the German armies.

On September 6, the Germans approached Warsaw. The Polish government and diplomatic corps left the capital. But the remnants of the garrison and the population defended the city until the end of September. The defense of Warsaw became one of the heroic pages in the history of the struggle against the occupiers.

At the height of the tragic events for Poland on September 17, 1939, units of the Red Army crossed the Soviet-Polish border and occupied the border territories. In this regard, the Soviet note said that they “took under protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.” On September 28, 1939, Germany and the USSR, having practically divided the territory of Poland, entered into a friendship and border treaty. In a statement on this occasion, representatives of the two countries emphasized that “thereby they created a solid foundation for lasting peace in Eastern Europe.” Having thus secured new borders in the east, Hitler turned to the west.

On April 9, 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. On May 10, they crossed the borders of Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg and began an attack on France. The balance of forces was approximately equal. But the German shock armies, with their strong tank formations and aviation, managed to break through the Allied front. Some of the defeated Allied troops retreated to the English Channel coast. Their remnants were evacuated from Dunkirk at the beginning of June. By mid-June, the Germans had captured the northern part of French territory.

The French government declared Paris an "open city." On June 14, it was surrendered to the Germans without a fight. Hero of the First World War, 84-year-old Marshal A.F. Petain spoke on the radio with an appeal to the French: “With pain in my heart, I tell you today that we must stop the fight. Tonight I turned to the enemy to ask him if he is ready to seek with me ... a means to put an end to hostilities.” However, not all French supported this position. On June 18, 1940, in a broadcast from the London BBC radio station, General Charles de Gaulle stated:

“Has the last word been said? Is there no more hope? Has the final defeat been dealt? No! France is not alone! ...This war is not limited only to the long-suffering territory of our country. The outcome of this war is not decided by the Battle of France. This is a world war... I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, appeal to the French officers and soldiers who are on British territory... with an appeal to establish contact with me... Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance should not go out and will not go out.”

On June 22, 1940, in the Compiègne forest (in the same place and in the same carriage as in 1918), a Franco-German truce was concluded, this time meaning the defeat of France. In the remaining unoccupied territory of France, a government was created headed by A.F. Petain, which expressed its readiness to cooperate with the German authorities (it was located in the small town of Vichy). On the same day, Charles de Gaulle announced the creation of the Free France Committee, the purpose of which was to organize the fight against the occupiers.

After the surrender of France, Germany invited Great Britain to begin peace negotiations. The British government, headed at that moment by a supporter of decisive anti-German actions, W. Churchill, refused. In response, Germany strengthened the naval blockade of the British Isles, and massive German bomber raids began on English cities. Great Britain, for its part, signed an agreement with the United States in September 1940 on the transfer of several dozen American warships to the British fleet. Germany failed to achieve its intended goals in the “Battle of Britain.”

Back in the summer of 1940, the strategic direction of further actions was determined in the leadership circles of Germany. The Chief of the General Staff F. Halder then wrote in his official diary: “Eyes are turned to the East.” Hitler at one of the military meetings said: “Russia must be liquidated. The deadline is spring 1941.”

In preparation for this task, Germany was interested in expanding and strengthening the anti-Soviet coalition. In September 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan concluded a military-political alliance for a period of 10 years - the Tripartite Pact. It was soon joined by Hungary, Romania and the self-proclaimed Slovak state, and a few months later by Bulgaria. A German-Finnish agreement on military cooperation was also concluded. Where it was not possible to establish an alliance on a contractual basis, they acted by force. In October 1940, Italy attacked Greece. In April 1941, German troops occupied Yugoslavia and Greece. Croatia became a separate state - a satellite of Germany. By the summer of 1941, almost all of Central and Western Europe was under the rule of Germany and its allies.

1941

In December 1940, Hitler approved the Barbarossa plan, which provided for the defeat of the Soviet Union. This was the plan for blitzkrieg (lightning war). Three army groups - “North”, “Center” and “South” were supposed to break through the Soviet front and capture vital centers: the Baltic states and Leningrad, Moscow, Ukraine, Donbass. The breakthrough was ensured by powerful tank formations and aviation. Before the onset of winter, it was planned to reach the Arkhangelsk - Volga - Astrakhan line.

On June 22, 1941, the armies of Germany and its allies attacked the USSR. A new stage of the Second World War began. Its main front was the Soviet-German front, the most important component was the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the invaders. First of all, these are the battles that thwarted the German plan for a lightning war. In their ranks one can name many battles - from the desperate resistance of border guards, the Battle of Smolensk to the defense of Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, besieged but never surrendered Leningrad.

The largest event of not only military but also political significance was the battle of Moscow. The offensives of the German Army Group Center, launched on September 30 and November 15-16, 1941, did not achieve their goal. It was not possible to take Moscow. And on December 5-6, the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops began, as a result of which the enemy was thrown back from the capital 100-250 km, 38 German divisions were defeated. The victory of the Red Army near Moscow became possible thanks to the steadfastness and heroism of its defenders and the skill of its commanders (the fronts were commanded by I. S. Konev, G. K. Zhukov, S. K. Timoshenko). This was Germany's first major defeat in World War II. In this regard, W. Churchill stated: “The Russian resistance broke the back of the German armies.”

The balance of forces at the beginning of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops in Moscow

Important events occurred at this time in the Pacific Ocean. Back in the summer and autumn of 1940, Japan, taking advantage of the defeat of France, seized its possessions in Indochina. Now it has decided to strike at the strongholds of other Western powers, primarily its main rival in the struggle for influence in Southeast Asia - the United States. On December 7, 1941, more than 350 Japanese naval aircraft attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor (in the Hawaiian Islands).

In two hours, most of the warships and aircraft of the American Pacific Fleet were destroyed or disabled, the number of Americans killed was more than 2,400 people, and more than 1,100 people were wounded. The Japanese lost several dozen people. The next day, the US Congress decided to start a war against Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

The defeat of German troops near Moscow and the entry of the United States of America into the war accelerated the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Dates and events

• July 12, 1941- signing of the Anglo-Soviet agreement on joint actions against Germany.
• August 14- F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill issued a joint declaration on the goals of the war, support for democratic principles in international relations - the Atlantic Charter; in September the USSR joined it.
• September 29 - October 1- British-American-Soviet conference in Moscow, a program for mutual supplies of weapons, military materials and raw materials was adopted.
• November 7- the law on Lend-Lease (transfer by the United States of America of weapons and other materials to opponents of Germany) was extended to the USSR.
• January 1, 1942- The Declaration of 26 states - “united nations” fighting against the fascist bloc was signed in Washington.

On the fronts of the world war

War in Africa. Back in 1940, the war spread beyond Europe. That summer, Italy, eager to make the Mediterranean its “inland sea,” attempted to seize the British colonies in North Africa. Italian troops occupied British Somalia, parts of Kenya and Sudan, and then invaded Egypt. However, by the spring of 1941, British armed forces not only drove the Italians out of the territories they had captured, but also entered Ethiopia, occupied by Italy in 1935. Italian possessions in Libya were also under threat.

At the request of Italy, Germany intervened in military operations in North Africa. In the spring of 1941, the German corps under the command of General E. Rommel, together with the Italians, began to oust the British from Libya and blocked the Tobruk fortress. Then Egypt became the target of the German-Italian offensive. In the summer of 1942, General Rommel, nicknamed the “Desert Fox,” captured Tobruk and broke through with his troops to El Alamein.

The Western powers were faced with a choice. They promised the leadership of the Soviet Union to open a second front in Europe in 1942. In April 1942, F. Roosevelt wrote to W. Churchill: “Your and my people demand the creation of a second front in order to remove the burden from the Russians. Our peoples cannot help but see that the Russians are killing more Germans and destroying more enemy equipment than the United States and England combined.” But these promises were at odds with the political interests of Western countries. Churchill cabled Roosevelt: “Don’t let North Africa out of your sight.” The Allies announced that the opening of a second front in Europe was forced to be postponed until 1943.

In October 1942, British troops under the command of General B. Montgomery launched an offensive in Egypt. They defeated the enemy at El Alamein (about 10 thousand Germans and 20 thousand Italians were captured). Most of Rommel's army retreated to Tunisia. In November, American and British troops (numbering 110 thousand people) under the command of General D. Eisenhower landed in Morocco and Algeria. The German-Italian army group, squeezed in Tunisia by British and American troops advancing from the east and west, capitulated in the spring of 1943. According to various estimates, from 130 thousand to 252 thousand people were captured (in total, 12-14 people fought in North Africa Italian and German divisions, while over 200 divisions of Germany and its allies fought on the Soviet-German front).

Fighting in the Pacific Ocean. In the summer of 1942, the American naval forces defeated the Japanese in the battle of Midway Island (4 large aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser were sunk, 332 aircraft were destroyed). Later, American units occupied and defended the island of Guadalcanal. The balance of forces in this combat area changed in favor of the Western powers. By the end of 1942, Germany and its allies were forced to suspend the advance of their troops on all fronts.

"New order"

In the Nazi plans for the conquest of the world, the fate of many peoples and states was predetermined.

Hitler, in his secret notes, which became known after the war, provided for the following: the Soviet Union would “disappear from the face of the earth”, within 30 years its territory would become part of the “Greater German Reich”; after the “final victory of Germany” there will be reconciliation with England, a treaty of friendship will be concluded with it; the Reich will include the countries of Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula and other European states; The United States of America will be “permanently excluded from world politics”, it will undergo “complete re-education of the racially inferior population”, and the population “with German blood” will be given military training and “re-education in the national spirit”, after which America will “become a German state” .

Already in 1940, directives and instructions “on the Eastern Question” began to be developed, and a comprehensive program for the conquest of the peoples of Eastern Europe was outlined in the “Ost” master plan (December 1941). The general guidelines were as follows: “The highest goal of all activities carried out in the East should be to strengthen the military potential of the Reich. The task is to remove the largest amount of agricultural products, raw materials, and labor from the new eastern regions,” “the occupied regions will provide everything necessary... even if the consequence of this is the starvation of millions of people.” Part of the population of the occupied territories was to be destroyed on the spot, a significant part was to be resettled in Siberia (it was planned to destroy 5-6 million Jews in the “eastern regions”, evict 46-51 million people, and reduce the remaining 14 million people to the level of a semi-literate labor force, education limited to a four-year school).

In the conquered countries of Europe, the Nazis methodically implemented their plans. In the occupied territories, a “cleansing” of the population was carried out - Jews and communists were exterminated. Prisoners of war and part of the civilian population were sent to concentration camps. A network of more than 30 death camps has engulfed Europe. The terrible memory of millions of tortured people is associated among the war and post-war generations with the names Buchenwald, Dachau, Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, Treblinka, etc. In only two of them - Auschwitz and Majdanek - more than 5.5 million people were exterminated. Those who arrived at the camp underwent “selection” (selection), the weak, primarily the elderly and children, were sent to the gas chambers and then burned in the ovens of the crematoria.

From the testimony of an Auschwitz prisoner, Frenchwoman Vaillant-Couturier, presented at the Nuremberg trials:

“There were eight cremation ovens at Auschwitz. But since 1944 this number has become insufficient. The SS forced the prisoners to dig colossal ditches in which they set fire to brushwood doused with gasoline. The corpses were thrown into these ditches. We saw from our block how, about 45 minutes to an hour after the arrival of the party of prisoners, large flames began to burst out of the crematorium ovens, and a glow appeared in the sky, rising above the ditches. One night we were awakened by a terrible scream, and the next morning we learned from people who worked in the Sonderkommando (the team that serviced the gas chambers) that the day before there was not enough gas and therefore children were thrown into the furnaces of cremation furnaces while still alive.”

At the beginning of 1942, Nazi leaders adopted a directive on the “final solution to the Jewish question,” that is, on the systematic destruction of an entire people. During the war years, 6 million Jews were killed - one in three. This tragedy was called the Holocaust, which translated from Greek means “burnt offering.” The orders of the German command to identify and transport the Jewish population to concentration camps were perceived differently in the occupied countries of Europe. In France, the Vichy police helped the Germans. Even the Pope did not dare to condemn the removal of Jews from Italy by the Germans in 1943 for subsequent extermination. And in Denmark, the population hid Jews from the Nazis and helped 8 thousand people move to neutral Sweden. After the war, an alley was laid out in Jerusalem in honor of the Righteous Among the Nations - people who risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones to save at least one innocent person sentenced to imprisonment and death.

For residents of occupied countries who were not immediately subjected to extermination or deportation, the “new order” meant strict regulation in all spheres of life. The occupation authorities and German industrialists seized a dominant position in the economy with the help of "Aryanization" laws. Small enterprises closed, and large ones switched to military production. Some agricultural areas were subject to Germanization, and their population was forcibly evicted to other areas. Thus, about 450 thousand residents were evicted from the territories of the Czech Republic bordering Germany, and about 280 thousand people from Slovenia. Mandatory supplies of agricultural products were introduced for peasants. Along with control over economic activities, the new authorities pursued a policy of restrictions in the field of education and culture. In many countries, representatives of the intelligentsia - scientists, engineers, teachers, doctors, etc. - were persecuted. In Poland, for example, the Nazis carried out a targeted curtailment of the education system. Classes at universities and high schools were prohibited. (Why do you think, why was this done?) Some teachers, risking their lives, continued to teach students illegally. During the war years, the occupiers killed about 12.5 thousand teachers of higher educational institutions and teachers in Poland.

The authorities of Germany's allied states - Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, as well as the newly proclaimed states - Croatia and Slovakia, also pursued a tough policy towards the population. In Croatia, the Ustasha government (participants of the nationalist movement that came to power in 1941), under the slogan of creating a “purely national state,” encouraged the mass expulsion and extermination of Serbs.

The forced removal of the working population, especially young people, from the occupied countries of Eastern Europe to work in Germany took on a wide scale. General Commissioner “for the use of labor” Sauckel set the task of “completely exhausting all human reserves available in the Soviet regions.” Trains with thousands of young men and women forcibly driven away from their homes reached the Reich. By the end of 1942, German industry and agriculture employed the labor of about 7 million “Eastern workers” and prisoners of war. In 1943, another 2 million people were added to them.

Any insubordination, and especially resistance to the occupation authorities, was mercilessly punished. One of the terrible examples of the Nazis’ reprisal against civilians was the destruction of the Czech village of Lidice in the summer of 1942. It was carried out as an “act of retaliation” for the murder of a major Nazi official, “Protector of Bohemia and Moravia” Heydrich, committed the day before by members of a sabotage group.

The village was surrounded by German soldiers. The entire male population over 16 years of age (172 people) was shot (the residents who were absent that day - 19 people - were captured later and also shot). 195 women were sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp (four pregnant women were taken to maternity hospitals in Prague, after giving birth they were also sent to the camp, and newborn children were killed). 90 children from Lidice were taken from their mothers and sent to Poland, and then to Germany, where their traces were lost. All houses and buildings of the village were burned to the ground. Lidice disappeared from the face of the earth. German cameramen carefully filmed the entire “operation” - “for the edification” of contemporaries and descendants.

Turning point in the war

By mid-1942, it became obvious that Germany and its allies had failed to carry out their original war plans on any front. In subsequent military actions it was necessary to decide which side would have the advantage. The outcome of the entire war depended mainly on events in Europe, on the Soviet-German front. In the summer of 1942, the German armies launched a major offensive in the southern direction, approached Stalingrad and reached the foothills of the Caucasus.

Battles for Stalingrad lasted more than 3 months. The city was defended by the 62nd and 64th armies under the command of V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov. Hitler, who had no doubt about victory, declared: “Stalingrad is already in our hands.” But the counteroffensive of Soviet troops that began on November 19, 1942 (front commanders N.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky, A.I. Eremenko) ended in the encirclement of German armies (numbering over 300 thousand people), their subsequent defeat and capture , including commander Field Marshal F. Paulus.

During the Soviet offensive, the losses of the armies of Germany and its allies amounted to 800 thousand people. In total, in the Battle of Stalingrad they lost up to 1.5 million soldiers and officers - approximately a quarter of the forces then operating on the Soviet-German front.

Battle of Kursk. In the summer of 1943, an attempt by a German attack on Kursk from the Orel and Belgorod areas ended in a crushing defeat. On the German side, over 50 divisions (including 16 tank and motorized) took part in the operation. A special role was given to powerful artillery and tank strikes. On July 12, the largest tank battle of World War II took place on a field near the village of Prokhorovka, in which about 1,200 tanks and self-propelled artillery units collided. At the beginning of August, Soviet troops liberated Oryol and Belgorod. 30 enemy divisions were defeated. The losses of the German army in this battle amounted to 500 thousand soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks. After the Battle of Kursk, the offensive of Soviet troops unfolded along the entire front. In the summer and autumn of 1943, Smolensk, Gomel, Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv were liberated. The strategic initiative on the Soviet-German front passed to the Red Army.

In the summer of 1943, the Western powers began fighting in Europe. But they did not open, as expected, a second front against Germany, but struck in the south, against Italy. In July, British and American troops landed on the island of Sicily. Soon a coup d'état took place in Italy. Representatives of the army elite removed Mussolini from power and arrested him. A new government was created headed by Marshal P. Badoglio. On September 3, it concluded an armistice agreement with the British-American command. On September 8, the surrender of Italy was announced, and troops of Western powers landed in the south of the country. In response, 10 German divisions entered Italy from the north and captured Rome. On the newly formed Italian front, British-American troops with difficulty, slowly, but still pushed back the enemy (in the summer of 1944 they occupied Rome).

The turning point in the course of the war immediately affected the positions of other countries - allies of Germany. After the Battle of Stalingrad, representatives of Romania and Hungary began to explore the possibility of concluding a separate peace with the Western powers. The Francoist government of Spain issued statements of neutrality.

On November 28 - December 1, 1943, a meeting of the leaders of the three countries took place in Tehran- members of the anti-Hitler coalition: USSR, USA and Great Britain. I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill discussed mainly the question of the second front, as well as some questions of the structure of the post-war world. US and British leaders promised to open a second front in Europe in May 1944, launching the landing of Allied troops in France.

Resistance movement

Since the establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany, and then the occupation regimes in European countries, the Resistance movement to the “new order” began. It was attended by people of different beliefs and political affiliations: communists, social democrats, supporters of bourgeois parties and non-party people. German anti-fascists were among the first to join the fight in the pre-war years. Thus, at the end of the 1930s, an underground anti-Nazi group arose in Germany, led by H. Schulze-Boysen and A. Harnack. In the early 1940s, it was already a strong organization with an extensive network of secret groups (in total, up to 600 people participated in its work). The underground carried out propaganda and intelligence work, maintaining contact with Soviet intelligence. In the summer of 1942, the Gestapo discovered the organization. The scale of its activities amazed the investigators themselves, who called this group the “Red Chapel.” After interrogation and torture, the leaders and many members of the group were sentenced to death. In his last word at the trial, H. Schulze-Boysen said: “Today you judge us, but tomorrow we will be the judges.”

In a number of European countries, immediately after their occupation, an armed struggle began against the invaders. In Yugoslavia, the communists became the initiators of nationwide resistance to the enemy. Already in the summer of 1941, they created the Main Headquarters of the people's liberation partisan detachments (it was headed by I. Broz Tito) and decided on an armed uprising. By the fall of 1941, partisan detachments numbering up to 70 thousand people were operating in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1942, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (PLJA) was created, and by the end of the year it practically controlled a fifth of the country's territory. In the same year, representatives of organizations participating in the Resistance formed the Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ). In November 1943, the veche proclaimed itself the temporary supreme body of legislative and executive power. By this time, half of the country’s territory was already under his control. A declaration was adopted that defined the foundations of the new Yugoslav state. National committees were created in the liberated territory, and the confiscation of enterprises and lands of fascists and collaborators (people who collaborated with the occupiers) began.

The Resistance movement in Poland consisted of many groups with different political orientations. In February 1942, part of the underground armed forces united into the Home Army (AK), led by representatives of the Polish émigré government, which was located in London. “Peasant battalions” were created in the villages. Detachments of the Army of the People (AL) organized by the communists began to operate.

Guerrilla groups carried out sabotage on transport (over 1,200 military trains were blown up and about the same number set on fire), at military enterprises, and attacked police and gendarmerie stations. The underground members produced leaflets telling about the situation at the fronts and warning the population about the actions of the occupation authorities. In 1943-1944. partisan groups began to unite into large detachments that successfully fought against significant enemy forces, and as the Soviet-German front approached Poland, they interacted with Soviet partisan detachments and army units and carried out joint combat operations.

The defeat of the armies of Germany and its allies at Stalingrad had a particular impact on the mood of people in the warring and occupied countries. The German security service reported on the “state of mind” in the Reich: “The belief has become universal that Stalingrad marks a turning point in the war... Unstable citizens see Stalingrad as the beginning of the end.”

In Germany, in January 1943, total (general) mobilization into the army was announced. The working day increased to 12 hours. But simultaneously with the desire of the Hitler regime to gather the forces of the nation into an “iron fist,” rejection of his policies grew among different groups of the population. Thus, one of the youth circles issued a leaflet with the appeal: “Students! Students! The German people are looking at us! They expect us to be liberated from Nazi terror... Those who died at Stalingrad call on us: rise up, people, the flames are burning!”

After the turning point in the fighting on the fronts, the number of underground groups and armed detachments fighting against the invaders and their accomplices in the occupied countries increased significantly. In France, the Maquis became more active - partisans who carried out sabotage on railways, attacked German posts, warehouses, etc.

One of the leaders of the French Resistance movement, Charles de Gaulle, wrote in his memoirs:

“Until the end of 1942, there were few Maquis detachments and their actions were not particularly effective. But then hope increased, and with it the number of those who wanted to fight increased. In addition, compulsory “labor conscription,” which in a few months mobilized half a million young men, mostly workers, for use in Germany, and the dissolution of the “armistice army,” prompted many dissenters to go underground. The number of more or less significant Resistance groups increased, and they waged a guerrilla war, which played a primary role in wearing out the enemy, and later in the ensuing Battle of France.”

Figures and facts

Number of participants in the Resistance movement (1944):

• France - over 400 thousand people;
• Italy - 500 thousand people;
• Yugoslavia - 600 thousand people;
• Greece - 75 thousand people.

By mid-1944, leading bodies of the Resistance movement had formed in many countries, uniting different movements and groups - from communists to Catholics. For example, in France, the National Council of the Resistance included representatives of 16 organizations. The most determined and active participants in the Resistance were the communists. For the sacrifices made in the fight against the occupiers, they were called the “party of those executed.” In Italy, communists, socialists, Christian Democrats, liberals, members of the Action Party and the Democracy of Labor party participated in the work of national liberation committees.

All participants in the Resistance sought first of all to liberate their countries from occupation and fascism. But on the question of what kind of power should be established after this, the views of representatives of individual movements diverged. Some advocated the restoration of pre-war regimes. Others, primarily the communists, sought to establish a new, “people's democratic power.”

Liberation of Europe

The beginning of 1944 was marked by major offensive operations by Soviet troops on the southern and northern sectors of the Soviet-German front. Ukraine and Crimea were liberated, and the 900-day blockade of Leningrad was lifted. In the spring of this year, Soviet troops reached the state border of the USSR for more than 400 km, approaching the borders of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Continuing the defeat of the enemy, they began to liberate the countries of Eastern Europe. Next to the Soviet soldiers, units of the 1st Czechoslovak Brigade under the command of L. Svoboda and the 1st Polish Division, formed during the war on the territory of the USSR, fought for the freedom of their peoples. T. Kosciuszko under the command of Z. Berling.

At this time, the Allies finally opened a second front in Western Europe. On June 6, 1944, American and British troops landed in Normandy, on the northern coast of France.

The bridgehead between the cities of Cherbourg and Caen was occupied by 40 divisions with a total number of up to 1.5 million people. The Allied forces were commanded by American General D. Eisenhower. Two and a half months after the landing, the Allies began advancing deeper into French territory. They were opposed by about 60 understrength German divisions. At the same time, resistance units launched an open struggle against the German army in the occupied territory. On August 19, an uprising began in Paris against the troops of the German garrison. General de Gaulle, who arrived in France with the Allied troops (by that time he had been proclaimed head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic), fearing the “anarchy” of the mass liberation struggle, insisted that Leclerc’s French tank division be sent to Paris. On August 25, 1944, this division entered Paris, which by that time had been practically liberated by the rebels.

Having liberated France and Belgium, where in a number of provinces the Resistance forces also launched armed actions against the occupiers, the Allied troops reached the German border by September 11, 1944.

At that time, a frontal offensive by the Red Army was taking place on the Soviet-German front, as a result of which the countries of Eastern and Central Europe were liberated.

Dates and events

Fighting in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in 1944-1945.

1944

• July 17 - Soviet troops crossed the border with Poland; Chelm, Lublin liberated; In the liberated territory, the power of the new government, the Polish Committee of National Liberation, began to assert itself.
• August 1 - the beginning of the uprising against the occupiers in Warsaw; this action, prepared and led by the émigré government located in London, was defeated by the beginning of October, despite the heroism of its participants; By order of the German command, the population was expelled from Warsaw, and the city itself was destroyed.
• August 23 - the overthrow of the Antonescu regime in Romania, a week later Soviet troops entered Bucharest.
• August 29 - the beginning of the uprising against the occupiers and the reactionary regime in Slovakia.
• September 8 - Soviet troops entered Bulgarian territory.
• September 9 - anti-fascist uprising in Bulgaria, the government of the Fatherland Front comes to power.
• October 6 - Soviet troops and units of the Czechoslovak Corps entered the territory of Czechoslovakia.
• October 20 - troops of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and the Red Army liberated Belgrade.
• October 22 - Red Army units crossed the Norwegian border and occupied the port of Kirkenes on October 25.

1945

• January 17 - troops of the Red Army and the Polish Army liberated Warsaw.
• January 29 - Soviet troops crossed the German border in the Poznan region. February 13 - Red Army troops captured Budapest.
• April 13 - Soviet troops entered Vienna.
• April 16 - The Berlin operation of the Red Army began.
• April 18 - American units entered the territory of Czechoslovakia.
• April 25 - Soviet and American troops met on the Elbe River near the city of Torgau.

Many thousands of Soviet soldiers gave their lives for the liberation of European countries. In Romania, 69 thousand soldiers and officers died, in Poland - about 600 thousand, in Czechoslovakia - more than 140 thousand and about the same in Hungary. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in other, including opposing, armies. They fought on opposite sides of the front, but were similar in one thing: no one wanted to die, especially in the last months and days of the war.

During the liberation in the countries of Eastern Europe, the issue of power acquired paramount importance. The pre-war governments of a number of countries were in exile and now sought to return to leadership. But new governments and local authorities appeared in the liberated territories. They were created on the basis of the organizations of the National (People's) Front, which arose during the war years as an association of anti-fascist forces. The organizers and most active participants of the national fronts were communists and social democrats. The programs of the new governments provided not only for the elimination of occupation and reactionary, pro-fascist regimes, but also for broad democratic reforms in political life and socio-economic relations.

Defeat of Germany

In the fall of 1944, troops of the Western powers - participants in the anti-Hitler coalition - approached the borders of Germany. In December of this year, the German command launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes (Belgium). American and British troops found themselves in a difficult position. D. Eisenhower and W. Churchill turned to I.V. Stalin with a request to speed up the offensive of the Red Army in order to divert German forces from west to east. By Stalin's decision, the offensive along the entire front was launched on January 12, 1945 (8 days earlier than planned). W. Churchill subsequently wrote: “It was a wonderful feat on the part of the Russians to speed up a broad offensive, undoubtedly at the cost of human lives.” On January 29, Soviet troops entered the territory of the German Reich.

On February 4-11, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place in Yalta. I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill agreed on plans for military operations against Germany and post-war policy towards it: zones and conditions of occupation, actions to destroy the fascist regime, the procedure for collecting reparations, etc. An accession agreement was also signed at the conference The USSR entered the war against Japan 2-3 months after the surrender of Germany.

From the documents of the conference of the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA in Crimea (Yalta, February 4-11, 1945):

“...Our unyielding goal is the destruction of German militarism and Nazism and the creation of guarantees that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world. We are determined to disarm and disband all German armed forces, to destroy once and for all the German General Staff, which has repeatedly contributed to the revival of German militarism, to confiscate or destroy all German military equipment, to liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for military purposes. production; subject all war criminals to fair and speedy punishment and exact compensation in kind for the destruction caused by the Germans; wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions from the face of the earth; to remove all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people, and to take together such other measures in Germany as may prove necessary for the future peace and security of the whole world. Our goals do not include the destruction of the German people. Only when Nazism and militarism are eradicated will there be hope for a dignified existence for the German people and a place for them in the community of nations.”

By mid-April 1945, Soviet troops approached the capital of the Reich, and on April 16 the Berlin operation began (front commanders G.K. Zhukov, I.S. Konev, K.K. Rokossovsky). It was distinguished by both the offensive power of the Soviet units and the fierce resistance of the defenders. On April 21, Soviet units entered the city. On April 30, A. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. The next day, the Red Banner fluttered over the Reichstag building. On May 2, the remnants of the Berlin garrison capitulated.

During the battle for Berlin, the German command issued the order: “Defend the capital to the last man and to the last cartridge.” Teenagers - members of the Hitler Youth - were mobilized into the army. The photo shows one of these soldiers, the last defenders of the Reich, who was captured.

On May 7, 1945, General A. Jodl signed an act of unconditional surrender of German troops at the headquarters of General D. Eisenhower in Reims. Stalin considered such a unilateral capitulation to the Western powers insufficient. In his opinion, surrender had to take place in Berlin and before the high command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. On the night of May 8-9, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, Field Marshal W. Keitel, in the presence of representatives of the high command of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France, signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany.

The last European capital to be liberated was Prague. On May 5, an uprising against the occupiers began in the city. A large group of German troops under the command of Field Marshal F. Scherner, who refused to lay down their arms and broke through to the west, threatened to capture and destroy the capital of Czechoslovakia. In response to the rebels' request for help, units of three Soviet fronts were hastily transferred to Prague. On May 9 they entered Prague. As a result of the Prague operation, about 860 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were captured.

On July 17 - August 2, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place in Potsdam (near Berlin). Those who took part in it were I. Stalin, G. Truman (US President after F. Roosevelt, who died in April 1945), and C. Attlee (who replaced W. Churchill as British Prime Minister) discussed “the principles of the coordinated policy of the allies towards the defeated Germany." A program of democratization, denazification, and demilitarization of Germany was adopted. The total amount of reparations it had to pay was confirmed as $20 billion. Half was intended for the Soviet Union (it was later calculated that the damage inflicted by the Nazis on the Soviet country amounted to about $128 billion). Germany was divided into four occupation zones - Soviet, American, British and French. Liberated by Soviet troops, Berlin and the capital of Austria, Vienna, were placed under the control of the four Allied powers.

At the Potsdam Conference. In the first row from left to right: K. Attlee, G. Truman, I. Stalin

Provision was made for the establishment of an International Military Tribunal to try Nazi war criminals. The border between Germany and Poland was established along the Oder and Neisse rivers. East Prussia went to Poland and partially (the region of Königsberg, now Kaliningrad) to the USSR.

End of the war

In 1944, at a time when the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition countries were conducting a widespread offensive against Germany and its allies in Europe, Japan intensified its actions in Southeast Asia. Its troops launched a massive offensive in China, capturing a territory with a population of over 100 million people by the end of the year.

The strength of the Japanese army at that time reached 5 million people. Its units fought with particular tenacity and fanaticism, defending their positions to the last soldier. In the army and aviation, there were kamikazes - suicide bombers who sacrificed their lives by directing specially equipped aircraft or torpedoes at enemy military targets, blowing themselves up along with enemy soldiers. The American military believed that it would be possible to defeat Japan no earlier than 1947, with losses amounting to at least 1 million people. The participation of the Soviet Union in the war against Japan could, in their opinion, significantly facilitate the achievement of the assigned tasks.

In accordance with the commitment given at the Crimean (Yalta) Conference, the USSR declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945. But the Americans did not want to give up the leading role in the future victory to the Soviet troops, especially since by the summer of 1945 atomic weapons had been created in the United States. On August 6 and 9, 1945, American planes dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Testimony of historians:

“On August 6, a B-29 bomber appeared over Hiroshima. The alarm was not announced, since the appearance of one plane did not seem to pose a serious threat. At 8.15 am the atomic bomb was dropped by parachute. A few moments later, a blinding fireball broke out over the city, the temperature at the epicenter of the explosion reached several million degrees. Fires in the city, built up with light wooden houses, covered an area within a radius of more than 4 km. Japanese authors write: “Hundreds of thousands of people who became victims of atomic explosions died an unusual death - they died after terrible torture. The radiation even penetrated into the bone marrow. People without the slightest scratch, seemingly completely healthy, after a few days or weeks, or even months, their hair suddenly fell out, their gums began to bleed, diarrhea appeared, the skin became covered with dark spots, hemoptysis began, and they died in full consciousness.”

(From the book: Rozanov G. L., Yakovlev N. N. Recent history. 1917-1945)

Hiroshima. 1945

As a result of nuclear explosions in Hiroshima, 247 thousand people died, in Nagasaki there were up to 200 thousand killed and wounded. Later, many thousands of people died from wounds, burns, and radiation sickness, the number of which has not yet been accurately calculated. But politicians didn't think about it. And the cities that were bombed did not constitute important military installations. Those who used the bombs mainly wanted to demonstrate their strength. US President Henry Truman, upon learning that a bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, exclaimed: “This is the greatest event in history!”

On August 9, troops of three Soviet fronts (over 1 million 700 thousand personnel) and parts of the Mongolian army began an offensive in Manchuria and on the coast of North Korea. A few days later they went 150-200 km into enemy territory in some areas. The Japanese Kwantung Army (numbering about 1 million people) was under threat of defeat. On August 14, the Japanese government announced its agreement with the proposed terms of surrender. But Japanese troops did not stop resisting. Only after August 17 did units of the Kwantung Army begin to lay down their arms.

On September 2, 1945, representatives of the Japanese government signed an act of unconditional surrender of Japan on board the American battleship Missouri.

The Second World War is over. 72 states with a total population of over 1.7 billion people took part in it. The fighting took place on the territory of 40 countries. 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces. According to updated estimates, up to 62 million people died in the war, including about 27 million Soviet citizens. Thousands of cities and villages were destroyed, innumerable material and cultural values ​​were destroyed. Humanity paid a huge price for the victory over the invaders who sought world domination.

The war, in which atomic weapons were used for the first time, showed that armed conflicts in the modern world threaten to destroy not only an increasing number of people, but also humanity as a whole, all life on earth. The hardships and losses of the war years, as well as examples of human self-sacrifice and heroism, left a memory of themselves in several generations of people. The international and socio-political consequences of the war turned out to be significant.

References:
Aleksashkina L.N. / General history. XX - early XXI centuries.

75 years ago , 1st September 1939 , with the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland, the Second World War began. The formal reason for the start of the war was the so-called "Gleiwitz Incident" - a staged attack by SS men dressed in Polish uniforms, led by Alfred Naujoks to the German border radio station in the city of Gleiwitz, after which, August 31, 1939 , the German press and radio reported that “...on Thursday, at approximately 20 o’clock, the premises of the radio station in Gleiwitz were captured by the Poles.”

The imaginary "rebels" broadcast an appeal in Polish and quickly left, carefully laying out the pre-prepared corpses of prisoners from German concentration camps on the floor in Polish uniforms . The next day, September 1, 1939, the German Fuhrer Adolf Gitler stated about " Polish attacks into German territory" and declared war on Poland, after which the troops of fascist Germany and its allied Slovakia, where the fascist dictator was in power Josef Tiso , invaded Poland, which provoked a declaration of war on Germany by England, France and other countries that had allied relations with Poland.

The war began with that on September 1, 1939, at 4:45 a.m., a German training ship, an outdated battleship, arrived in Danzig on a friendly visit and was enthusiastically greeted by the local German population "Schleswig-Holstein" - opened fire from main caliber guns at Polish fortifications on Westerplatte what served signal to the beginning of the German Wehrmacht's invasion of Poland.

In the same day , September 1, 1939, in the Reichstag Adolf Hitler spoke, dressed in a military uniform. To justify the attack on Poland, Hitler cited the "Gleiwitz Incident." At the same time, he carefully avoided in his speech the term "war" fearing possible entry into this conflict between England and France, who at one time gave Poland the appropriate guarantees. The order issued by Hitler stated only about "active defense" Germany against the alleged “Polish aggression”.

Italian fascist dictator - "Il Duce" Benito Mussolini in this regard, he immediately proposed to convene “ conference for a peaceful solution to the Polish question,” which met with support from the Western powers, who feared that the German-Polish conflict would escalate into World War II, but Adolf Hitler decisively refused , declaring that “it is inappropriate to imagine that what was won by arms was gained by diplomacy.”

1st September 1939 Universal conscription was introduced in the Soviet Union. At the same time, the conscription age was reduced from 21 to 19 years, and for some categories - to 18 years. Law on universal conscription immediately came into force and in a short time the strength of the Red Army reached 5 million people, which amounted to about 3% of the then population of the USSR.

September 3, 1939 at 9.00 am, England , and at 12:20 o'clock on the same day - France , as well as Australia and New Zealand, declared war on Germany. Within days they were joined by Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal. The Second World War has begun.

German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and his entourage until the last moment hoped that Poland’s allies would not dare to enter the war with Germany and the matter would end “ second Munich " Chief translator of the German Foreign Office Paul Schmidt described in his post-war memoirs the state of shock into which Hitler came when the British ambassador Neville Henderson , appearing at the Reich Chancellery at 9 a.m. on September 3, 1939, gave him ultimatum his government demanding withdraw troops from Polish territory to their original positions. Only those who were present Hermann Goering was able to say: “If we lose this war, then we can only rely on the mercy of God.”

From the German Nazis there were very serious reasons to hope that London and Paris would again turn a blind eye to Berlin’s aggressive actions. They came from precedent, created September 30, 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who signed with Hitler the “Declaration of Non-Aggression and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes between Great Britain and Germany”, that is agreement, known in the USSR as " Munich Agreement ».

Then, in 1938 Neville Chamberlain met with three times Hitler , and after the meeting in Munich returned home with his famous statement “ I brought you peace ! In fact, this agreement, concluded without the participation of the leadership of Czechoslovakia, led to its section Germany, with the participation of Hungary and Poland.

The Munich Agreement is considered a classic example. appeasement of the aggressor , which subsequently only prompted him to further expand his aggressive policy and became one of the reasons the beginning of World War II. Winston Churchill On October 3, 1938, he stated on this occasion: “Great Britain was offered a choice between war and dishonor. She chose dishonor and will get war.”

Before September 1, 1939 Germany's aggressive actions did not meet with serious resistance from Great Britain And France who did not dare to start a war and tried to save the system of the Versailles Treaty with reasonable, from their point of view, concessions (the so-called “policy of appeasement”). However, after Hitler violated the Munich Treaty, in both countries they increasingly began to realize the need for a tougher policy, and in the event of further German aggression, Great Britain and France gave military guarantees to Poland .

Following these events the rapid defeat and occupation of Poland, the “Phantom War” on the Western Front, the German Blitzkrieg in France, the Battle of England, and June 22, 1941 - the invasion of the German Wehrmacht into the USSR - all these grandiose events gradually pushed into the background history of the Second World War and the “Gleiwitz Incident”, and the Polish-German conflict itself.

However, the choice of location and object for the provocation that gave rise to the outbreak of World War II was far away not accidental : Beginning in the mid-1920s, Germany and Poland waged an active information war for the hearts and minds of border residents, primarily with the help of the latest technology of the 20th century - radio. In the pre-war months of 1939 anti-German propaganda The authorities of Polish Silesia became extremely aggressive and, it must be said, very effective, which gave Hitler some credibility for staging the Gleiwitz provocation.

Land of Silesia - a historical region at the junction of the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland - originally belonged to the Polish crown, but then came under the rule of the Habsburgs, and in the 18th century they were conquered by Prussia. The mixed population of the territory over many centuries gradually Germanized , and Silesia was considered one of the lands most loyal to the Second German Reich. In the 19th century, Upper Silesia became Germany's foremost industrial region: a quarter of coal, 81 percent of zinc and 34 percent of lead were mined there . In 1914 More than half of the Poles (and people with mixed identities) remained in the region (out of a population of 2 million).

The Treaty of Versailles extremely limited Germany's military capabilities. From the German point of view, the terms dictated at Versailles were unfair legally and economically unfeasible. Moreover, the amounts of reparations were not agreed upon in advance and were increased twice. All this created international tension and confidence that no later than 20 years later world war will be resumed.

According to the Treaty of Versailles (1919), a plebiscite was to take place in Upper Silesia: its residents were given the opportunity to decide for themselves which state they would live in. Plebiscite was appointed for 1921, but for now the German authorities remained in place. Both the Poles and the Germans used this time for active propaganda - moreover, Poles raised in Silesia two uprisings . However, in the end, the majority of those who voted in Silesia unexpectedly spoke out for Germany (707,605 vs. 479,359).

After this, a fire broke out in Silesia. third Polish uprising , and the bloodiest, in connection with which the Entente countries decided to divide Upper Silesia along the front line between Polish and German formations (as of October 1921). So in the Polish Silesian Voivodeship there were approximately 260 thousand Germans (for 735 thousand Poles), and in the German province of Upper Silesia - 530 thousand Poles (for 635 thousand Germans).

In the 1920s, European states , dissatisfied with the borders established following the First World War, began to actively use the latest technology for the propaganda struggle for the souls of the inhabitants of the border territories (their own and others) - radio . Officials wanted to quickly turn their citizens into “correct” Germans (Poles, Hungarians, and so on), to support “compatriots” beyond the new borders, while simultaneously suppressing the separatist sentiments of ethnic minorities on their territory and inciting them in the territory of their neighbors.

For this purpose, Germany has created border radio stations : from Aachen to Königsberg, from Kiel to Breslau. It was to strengthen the signal of the latter that a repeater station was built in 1925 in Gleiwitz . Started work two years later "Polish Radio Katowice" (PRK), whose signal was eight times more powerful than Gleiwitz's. The Imperial Broadcasting Society increased the power of the relay station, and five years later the Nazis who came to power increased it tenfold and rebuilt it Gleiwitz radio tower . It became (and remains to this day) one of the tallest - 118 meters - wooden structures in the world. Contents of radio broadcasts initially it was openly provocative in nature, contributing to “inciting ethnic hatred” and “inciting an armed rebellion.”

Since its arrival in 1933 to power of the National Socialist Workers' Party (NSDAP) led by Adolf Hitler Germany , without encountering any special objections from Great Britain and France, and in some places with their support, soon began ignore many restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles - in particular, it restored conscription into the army and began to rapidly increase the production of weapons and military equipment. October 14, 1933 Germany left League of Nations and refused to participate in the Geneva Disarmament Conference. January 26, 1934 A non-aggression pact was concluded between Germany and Poland. four divisions to the Austrian border.

After meetings of the heads of the relevant structures in 1927, as well as the signing Polish-German Non-Aggression Pact in 1934 provocative programs were closed and concerts, radio plays, literary readings, and educational programs with a slight political accent came to the fore.

In the pre-war years , however, it was quiet radio war a new round of tension began. In response to Hitler's Germanization Eindeutschung) Silesia, Polish Radio Katowice launched a program “Abroad”, where local residents were encouraged to refuse to use German place names (Gleiwitz - Gliwice, Breslau - Wroclaw) and were informed about their rights as members of a national minority.

Polish radio is especially intense worked during the census in May 1939 , when Berlin, through threats and powerful propaganda, tried to force local residents to identify themselves as Germans in questionnaires.

In 1939 The ideological confrontation between the German and Polish radio stations became so intense that local residents began to seriously fear war. In July 1939, the PRK began broadcasting in German, masquerading as Third Reich radio , and also began to produce anti-German programs in Czech for residents of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In August 1939 Germany abandoned its monolingual broadcasting policy and began broadcasting programs in Polish and Ukrainian. In response to this Silesian Poles rumors began to spread that these broadcasts were, in fact, coming from the Polish Radio in Breslau (the capital of the province of Silesia) and that all of Upper Silesia would soon join the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

During the political crisis of 1939 In Europe, two military-political blocs have emerged: English-French And German-Italian , each of whom was interested in an agreement with the USSR.

Poland, having concluded treaties of alliance with Great Britain and France, which were obliged to help it in the event of German aggression, refused to make concessions in negotiations with Germany (in particular, on the issue of the Polish Corridor).

August 15, 1939 German Ambassador to the USSR Werner von der Schulenburg read out Vyacheslav Molotov message from the German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop , in which he expressed his readiness to personally come to Moscow to “clarify German-Russian relations.” On the same day, directives from the USSR NKO No. 4/2/48601-4/2/486011 were sent to the Red Army on the deployment of an additional 56 divisions to the existing 96 rifle divisions.

August 19, 1939 Molotov agreed to receive Ribbentrop in Moscow to sign a treaty with Germany, and August 23 The USSR signed with Germany Non-aggression pact , in which the parties agreed on non-aggression against each other (including in the event of the outbreak of military action by one of the parties against third countries, which was a common practice in German treaties at that time). In the secret additional protocol it included a “division of spheres of interest in Eastern Europe,” including the Baltic states and Poland, between the USSR and Germany.

German propaganda portrayed Poland at this time as “a puppet in the hands of Anglo-French imperialism” and called Warsaw “ source of aggression ", presenting Nazi Germany as "a bastion of world peace." The measures of the Polish government directed against the organizations of the German minority in the Silesian Voivodeship gave extra trump card into the hands of propagandists from Berlin.

During these years , especially in the summer, many residents of Polish Silesia illegally crossed the border to find work and good earnings in Germany, as well as to avoid conscription into the Polish army, for fear of participating in the brewing war, which was obviously a losing one, in their opinion.

The Nazis were recruiting these Poles and trained them to be agitators who were supposed to tell Silesians from the German province about the “horrors of life in Poland.” To “neutralize” this propaganda, Polish Radio reported on the disgusting conditions in which refugees were living, and how poor and hungry the Third Reich itself was, preparing for war: “Better put on a Polish uniform! Hungry German soldiers dream of conquering Poland so they can finally eat their fill.”

Back on May 23, 1939 A meeting was held in Hitler’s office in the presence of a number of senior officers, at which it was noted that “ Polish problem closely related to the inevitable conflict between Germany and England and France, a quick victory over which is problematic. At the same time, Poland is unlikely to be able to fulfill role of barrier against Bolshevism. At present, the task of German foreign policy is expansion of living space to the East, ensuring a guaranteed food supply and eliminating the threat from the East. Poland must be invaded at the first opportunity."

To counteract Polish radio was not shy about propaganda aggression on the part of Nazi Germany and “ saber rattling ", speaking in different ways about the inevitability of war with Germany, and usually in an ironic manner: "Hey, Nazis, prepare your asses for our rods... Let the Germans just come here, and we will tear them apart with our bloody sharp claws."

There were even hints that Poland can take the first step . It was said that the fortifications on the border were being built by the Germans supposedly in order to “hide their asses, when we Poles will come ».

To the Berlin protests Polish officials responded that the Germans did not understand jokes. “What tense nerves do the German “Führers” have if they are disturbed even by Polish humor and laughter,” reported the official publication of the Silesian Voivodeship, Polska Zachodnia.

Silesian Voivode Michal Grazynski (Michał Grażyński) in June 1939, together with veterans of the uprisings of 1919-1921, members of the paramilitary force "Związek insurrection" and soldiers of the Polish Army solemnly opened the “monument to the Polish rebel”, and at a distance of only 200 meters from the German border. During the opening ceremony, broadcast by the PRK, Grazynski promised that “we will finish the work that the heroes of the third uprising did not finish” - that is, we will take Upper Silesia from Germany.

A week later The Polish voivode opened another “Monument to the Rebel”, also near the German border (in the village of Boruszowice). Finally, in mid-August 1939, Związek Postańców held its annual "March to the Oder » from the German to the Czech border. In other years, these Polish “traditions and ceremonies” would hardly have caused much political resonance, but in the pre-war atmosphere, the propaganda of the Third Reich squeezed out of them maximum evidence for its theory about Poland's aggressive plans , allegedly preparing the annexation of Upper Silesia.

Therefore, on September 2, 1939 In 2009, German authorities were able to very convincingly link the “Gleiwitz Incident” with the aggressive statement of Mikhail Grazynski, reporting that in the attack on the radio station “ The Związek Rebelsw gang took part. Thus, by broadcasting live programs where it was openly announced that “German Silesia must be taken away from Germany,” Polish Radio Katowice helped Berlin to give credence to its claims about “Polish aggression”, that made it easier for the Nazis searching for a reason to invade Poland, which triggered the outbreak of World War II.

The Second World War - a war between two world military-political coalitions, which became the largest war in human history. It was attended by 61 states out of 73 existing at that time (80% of the world's population). The fighting took place on the territory of three continents and in the waters of four oceans. This is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons were used.

Number of countries involved in World War II changed during the war. Some of them were actively involved in military operations, others helped their allies with food supplies, and many participated in the war only in name.

The anti-Hitler coalition included : Poland, the British Empire (and its dominions: Canada, India, the Union of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand), France - entered the war in September 1939; Ethiopia - Ethiopian troops under the command of the Ethiopian government in exile continued guerrilla warfare after the state's annexation in 1936, officially recognized as an ally on July 12, 1940; Denmark, Norway - April 9, 1940; Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg - since May 10, 1940; Greece - October 28, 1940; Yugoslavia - April 6, 1941; USSR, Tuva, Mongolia - June 22, 1941; USA, Philippines - since December 1941; US supplies under Lend-Lease to the USSR since March 1941; China (the government of Chiang Kai-shek) - fought against Japan since July 7, 1937, officially recognized as an ally on December 9, 1941; Mexico - May 22, 1942; Brazil - August 22, 1942.

The Axis countries were also formally opposed : Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Nepal, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Iran, Albania, Paraguay, Ecuador, San Marino, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Liberia, Bolivia.

During the war, the coalition was joined by some states that left the Nazi bloc: Iraq - January 17, 1943; Kingdom of Italy - October 13, 1943; Romania - August 23, 1944; Bulgaria - September 5, 1944; Finland - September 19, 1944. Iran was also not part of the Nazi bloc.

On the other hand, the Axis countries and their allies participated in World War II: Germany, Slovakia - September 1, 1939; Italy, Albania - June 10, 1940; Hungary - April 11, 1941; Iraq - May 1, 1941; Romania, Croatia, Finland - June 1941; Japan, Manchukuo - December 7, 1941; Bulgaria - December 13, 1941; Thailand - January 25, 1942; China (Wang Jingwei government) - January 9, 1943; Burma - August 1, 1943; Philippines - September 1944.

On the territory of occupied countries puppet states were created that were not participants in the Second World War and joined the fascist coalition : Vichy France, Greek State, Italian Social Republic, Hungarian State, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Principality of Pindus-Meglena, Mengjiang, Burma, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Azad Hind, Wang Jingwei Regime.

In a number of German Reichskommissariats Autonomous puppet governments were created: the Quisling regime in Norway, the Mussert regime in the Netherlands, the Belarusian Central Rada in Belarus. On the side of Germany and Japan Many collaborationist troops also fought, created from citizens of the opposing side: ROA, foreign SS divisions (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Estonian, 2 Latvian, Norwegian-Danish, 2 Dutch, 2 Belgian, 2 Bosnian, French, Albanian), a number of foreign legions . Also, volunteer forces of states that formally remained neutral fought in the armed forces of the countries of the Nazi bloc: Spain (“Blue Division”), Sweden and Portugal.

September 3, 1939 in Bydgoszcz (formerly Bromberg), a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship (formerly West Prussia), which passed to Poland under the Treaty of Versailles, occurred mass kill according to nationality - "Bromber pogrom." In a city whose population was 3/4 German, Polish nationalists killed several hundred civilians of German origin. Their number varies from one to three hundred dead - according to the Polish side and from one to five thousand - according to the German side.

German offensive developed according to plan. Polish troops as a whole turned out to be a weak military force compared to the coordinated German tank formations of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. Wherein on the Western Front the allied Anglo-French troops did not undertake no active actions. Only at sea did the war begin immediately and also by Germany: already on September 3, 1939, the German submarine U-30, without warning, attacked the English passenger liner Athenia and sank it.

September 7, 1939 German troops under the command Heinz Guderian launched an attack on the Polish defensive line near Wizna. In Poland, during the first week of fighting, German troops cut the Polish front in several places and occupied part of Mazovia, western Prussia, the Upper Silesian industrial region and western Galicia. By September 9, 1939 The Germans managed to break Polish resistance along the entire front line and approach Warsaw.

September 10th, 1939 Polish commander in chief Edward Rydz-Smigly gave the order for a general retreat to southeastern Poland, but the bulk of his troops, unable to retreat beyond the Vistula, found themselves surrounded. By mid-September 1939, having never received support from the West, the Polish armed forces ceased to exist as a whole; Only local centers of resistance remained.

14th September 1939 Heinz Guderian's 19th Corps captured the Brest . Polish troops under the command of General Plisovsky They defended the Brest Fortress for several more days. On the night of September 17, 1939, its defenders left the forts in an organized manner and retreated beyond the Bug.

16th September 1939 The Polish ambassador to the USSR was told that since the Polish state and its government ceased to exist , Soviet Union takes under its protection life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

September 17, 1939 , fearing that Germany would refuse to comply with the terms of the secret additional protocol to the Non-Aggression Treaty, the USSR began sending Red Army troops into the Eastern regions of Poland. Soviet propaganda stated that “the Red Army is taking fraternal peoples under its protection.”

On this day, at 6.00 am , Soviet troops crossed the state border with Poland in two military groups, and the Soviet People's Commissar for International Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov sent the German Ambassador to the USSR Werner von der Schulenburg congratulation regarding the “brilliant success of the German Wehrmacht.” Although neither the USSR nor Poland declared war on each other , some liberal historians mistakenly believe today is the day date of “entry of the USSR during the Second World War."

On the evening of September 17, 1939 The Polish Government and High Command fled to Romania. September 28, 1939 the Germans occupied Warsaw. On the same day in Moscow it was signed Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany , which established the demarcation line between German and Soviet troops in the territory of the former Poland approximately along the “Curzon Line”.

October 6, 1939 The last units of the Polish Army capitulated. Part of the western Polish lands became part of the Third Reich. These lands were subject to Germanization " The Polish and Jewish population was deported from here to the central regions of Poland, where a “government general” was created. Massive repressions were carried out against the Polish people. The most difficult situation was the situation of Polish Jews driven into the ghetto.

Territories that came under the influence of the USSR , were included in the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the then independent Lithuania. In the territories included in the USSR, Soviet power was established, socialist transformations (nationalization of industry, collectivization of the peasantry), which was accompanied deportation and repression in relation to the former ruling classes - representatives of the bourgeoisie, landowners, rich peasants, and part of the intelligentsia.

October 6, 1939 , after the end of all hostilities in Poland, the German Fuhrer Adolf Gitler made a proposal to convene Peace Conference with the participation of all major powers to resolve existing contradictions. France and Great Britain stated that they would agree to the conference, only if the Germans immediately withdraw their troops from Poland and the Czech Republic and return independence to these countries. Germany rejected these conditions, and as a result the Peace Conference never took place.

Further course of events in Europe led to new German aggression against France and Great Britain, and then against the Soviet Union, expanding the scope of the Second World War and involving more and more states in it.

World War II ended the complete and unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany (the act of surrender was signed on May 9, 1945 in Berlin) and Japan (the act of surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 on board the American battleship Missouri).

War is a huge sorrow

World War II is the bloodiest war in human history. Lasted 6 years. The armies of 61 states with a total population of 1,700 million people, that is, 80% of the total population of the earth, took part in the hostilities. The fighting took place in the territories of 40 countries. For the first time in the annals of mankind, the number of civilian deaths exceeded the number of those killed directly in battles, almost twice as much.
finally dispelled people's illusions about human nature. No progress can change this nature. People remained the same as two or a thousand years ago: beasts, only slightly covered with a thin layer of civilization and culture. Anger, envy, self-interest, stupidity, indifference - qualities that manifest themselves in them to a much greater extent than kindness and compassion.
dispelled illusions about the importance of democracy. The people don't decide anything. As always in history, he is driven to the slaughterhouse to kill, rape, burn, and he obediently goes.
dispelled the illusion that humanity learns from its own mistakes. It doesn't learn. The First World War, which claimed 10 million lives, was separated from the Second by only 23 years.

Participants of the Second World War

— Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic - on the one hand
— USSR, Great Britain, USA, China - on the other

Years of World War II 1939 - 1945

Causes of World War II

— not only drew a line under the First World War, in which Germany was defeated, but its conditions humiliated and ruined Germany. Political instability, the danger of a victory for left forces in the political struggle, and economic difficulties contributed to the rise to power in Germany of the ultra-nationalist National Socialist Party led by Hitler, whose nationalist, demagogic, populist slogans appealed to the German people
“One Reich, one people, one Fuhrer”; "Blood and Soil"; “Germany wake up!”; “We want to show the German People that there is no life without Justice, and Justice without Power, Power without Power, and all Power is within our People,” “Freedom and Bread,” “Death of Lies”; "End corruption!"
— After the First World War, Western Europe was swept by pacifist sentiments. The peoples did not want to fight under any circumstances, not for anything. Politicians were forced to take into account these feelings of voters, who reacted in any way or very sluggishly, yielding in everything, to Hitler’s revanchist, aggressive actions and aspirations

* early 1934 - Plans for the mobilization of 240 thousand enterprises for the production of military products were approved by the Working Committee of the Reich Defense Council
* October 1, 1934 - Hitler gave the order to increase the Reichswehr from 100 thousand to 300 thousand soldiers
* March 10, 1935 - Goering announced that Germany had an air force
* March 16, 1935 - Hitler announced the restoration of the system of universal recruitment into the army and the creation of a peacetime army of thirty-six divisions (about half a million people)
* On March 7, 1936, German troops entered the Rhineland demilitarized zone, violating all past treaties
* March 12, 1938 - Annexation of Austria to Germany
* September 28-30, 1938 - transfer of the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia by Germany
* October 24, 1938 - German demand for Poland to allow the annexation of the Free City of Danzig to the Reich and the construction of extraterritorial railways and roads on Polish territory to East Prussia
* November 2, 1938 - Germany forced Czechoslovakia to transfer the southern regions of Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine to Hungary
* March 15, 1939 - German occupation of the Czech Republic and its incorporation into the Reich

— In the 20-30s, before World War II, the West watched with great apprehension the actions and policies of the Soviet Union, which continued to broadcast about the world revolution, which Europe perceived as a desire for world domination. The leaders of France and England saw Stalin and Hitler as birds of a feather and they hoped to direct Germany’s aggression to the East, pitting Germany and the USSR against each other through cunning diplomatic moves, while they themselves remained on the sidelines.
As a result of the disunity and contradictory actions of the world community, Germany gained strength and confidence in the possibility of its hegemony in the world

Major events of World War II

• , September 1 - the German army crossed the western border of Poland
• 1939, September 3 - Great Britain and France declared war on Germany
• 1939, September 17 - The Red Army crossed the eastern border of Poland
• 1939, October 6 - surrender of Poland
• May 10 - German attack on France
• 1940, April 9-June 7 - German occupation of Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Norway
• 1940, June 14 - The German army entered Paris
• 1940, September - 1941, May - Battle of Britain
• 1940, September 27 - Formation of the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy, Japan, who hoped to share influence in the world after the victory.

Later, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Thailand, Croatia, and Spain joined the Union. The Triple Alliance or Axis countries in World War II were opposed by the Anti-Hitler coalition consisting of the Soviet Union, Great Britain and its dominions, the USA and China.

• , March 11 - Adopted in the USA
• 1941, April 13 - agreement between the USSR and Japan on non-aggression and neutrality
• 1941, June 22 - German attack on the Soviet Union. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War
• 1941, September 8 - the beginning of the siege of Leningrad
• 1941, September 30-December 5 - Battle of Moscow. Defeat of the German army
• 1941, November 7 - The Lend-Lease Law was extended to the USSR
• 1941, December 7 - Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor. Beginning of the War in the Pacific
• 1941, December 8 - US entry into the war
• 1941, December 9 - China declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy
• 1941, December 25 - Japan captured British-owned Hong Kong
• , January 1 - Washington Declaration of 26 states on cooperation in the fight against fascism
• 1942, January-May - heavy defeats of British troops in North Africa
• 1942, January-March - Japanese troops occupied Rangoon, the islands of Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bali, part of New Guinea, New Britain, the Gilbert Islands, most of the Solomon Islands
• 1942, first half - defeat of the Red Army. The German army reached the Volga
• 1942, June 4-5 - the defeat of part of the Japanese fleet at Midway Atoll by the US fleet
• 1942, July 17 - the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
• 1942, October 23-November 11 - defeat of the German army from Anglo-American troops in North Africa
• 1942, November 11 - German occupation of southern France
• , February 2 - defeat of fascist troops at Stalingrad
• 1943, January 12 - breaking the siege of Leningrad
• 1943, May 13 - surrender of German troops in Tunisia
• 1943, July 5-August 23 - defeat of the Germans near Kursk
• 1943, July-August - landing of Anglo-American troops in Sicily
• 1943, August-December - offensive of the Red Army, liberation of most of Belarus and Ukraine
• 1943, November 28-December 1 - Tehran Conference of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
• , January-August - the offensive of the Red Army on all fronts. Its access to the pre-war borders of the USSR
• 1944, June 6 - landing of allied Anglo-American troops in Normandy. Opening of the Second Front
• 1944, August 25 - Paris in the hands of the Allies
• 1944, autumn - continuation of the offensive of the Red Army, liberation of the Baltic states, Moldova, Northern Norway
• 1944, December 16-1945, January - heavy defeat of the Allies during the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes
• , January-May - offensive operations of the Red Army and allied forces in Europe and the Pacific Ocean
• 1945, January 4-11 - Yalta Conference with the participation of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the post-war structure of Europe
• 1945, April 12 - US President Roosevelt died, he was replaced by Truman
• 1945, April 25 - the assault on Berlin began by units of the Red Army
• 1945, May 8 - Germany surrenders. The end of the Great Patriotic War
• 1945, July 17-August 2 - Potsdam Conference of the Heads of Government of the USA, USSR, Great Britain
• 1945, July 26 - Japan rejected the offer to surrender
• 1945, August 6 - atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• 1945, August 8 - USSR Japan
• 1945, September 2 - Japanese surrender. End of World War II

World War II ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of the Instrument of Surrender of Japan

Major battles of World War II

• Air and naval Battle of Britain (July 10-October 30, 1940)
• Battle of Smolensk (July 10-September 10, 1941)
• Battle of Moscow (September 30, 1941-January 7, 1942)
• Defense of Sevastopol (October 30, 1941-July 4, 1942)
• Japanese fleet attack on US naval base Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
• Naval battle at Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean between the US and Japanese fleets (June 4-June 7, 1942)
• Battle of Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean (August 7, 1942-February 9, 1943)
• Battle of Rzhev (January 5, 1942-March 21, 1943)
• Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943)
• Battle of El Alamein in North Africa (23 October - 5 November)
• Battle of Kursk (July 5-August 23, 1943)
• Battle of the Dnieper (crossing of the Dnieper September 22-30) (August 26-December 23, 1943)
• Allied landings in Normandy (6 June 1944)
• Liberation of Belarus (June 23-August 29, 1944)
• Battle of the Bulge in southwest Belgium (December 16, 1944 – January 29, 1945)
• Assault on Berlin (April 25-May 2, 1945)

Generals of World War II

• Marshal Zhukov (1896-1974)
• Marshal Vasilevsky (1895-1977)
• Marshal Rokossovsky (1896-1968)
• Marshal Konev (1897-1973)
• Marshal Meretskov (1897 - 1968)
• Marshal Govorov (1897 - 1955)
• Marshal Malinovsky (1898 - 1967)
• Marshal Tolbukhin (1894 - 1949)
• Army General Antonov (1896 - 1962)
• Army General Vatutin (1901-1944)
• Chief Marshal of the Armored Forces Rotmistrov (1901-1981)
• Marshal of the Armored Forces Katukov (1900-1976)
• Army General Chernyakhovsky (1906-1945)

• General of the Army Marshall (1880-1959)
• Army General Eisenhower (1890-1969)
• General of the Army MacArthur (1880-1964)
• General of the Army Bradley (1893-1981)
• Admiral Nimitz (1885-1966)
• Army General, Air Force General H. Arnold (1886-1950)
• General Patton (1885-1945)
• General Divers (1887-1979)
• General Clark (1896-1984)
• Admiral Fletcher (1885-1973)

The Second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of countries in the world - including all the great powers - have formed two opposing military alliances.
The Second World War became the reason for the desire of world powers to reconsider their spheres of influence and redistribute 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 Southern Asia, to strengthen its 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 totalitarian regimes - fascists and communists - to each other.
The Second World War was chronologically divided into three large stages:

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 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, Polish troops were defeated in battles near the Bruza River. On September 28, Warsaw fell. In September, Soviet troops also invaded Poland. Poland became the first casualty of the world war. The Germans destroyed the Jewish and Polish intelligentsia and introduced labor conscription.

“Strange War”
In response to German aggression, England and France declared war on her on September 3. But no active military action followed. 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 Treaty of Riga of 1921 as a result of the unsuccessful Polish-Soviet war. The Soviet-German Treaty “On Friendship and Borders” concluded on September 28, 1939 confirmed the fact of the capture and division of Poland. The agreement defined the Soviet-German borders, the border was set aside slightly to the west. Lithuania was included in the sphere of interests of the USSR.
In November 1939, Stalin proposed that Finland lease the port of Petsamo and the Hanko Peninsula for the construction of a military base, and also 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 Soviet troops met fierce resistance from the Finns on the “Mannerheim Line” and only overcame it in March 1940. Finland was forced to accept the conditions of the USSR. On March 12, 1940, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow. The Karelo-Finnish SSR was created.
During September-October 1939, the Soviet Union sent troops into the Baltic countries, forcing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to conclude treaties. 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.
The Moldavian SSR was created in Bessarabia, 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. Denmark surrendered on April 9, 1940, and Norway surrendered on June 10. 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 pinned Anglo-Franco-Belgian troops to the sea in the Dunkirk area. The Germans occupied Calais. But by order of Hitler, the offensive was suspended, and the enemy was given the opportunity to leave the encirclement. This event was called the “Miracle of Dunkirk”. With this gesture, Hitler wanted to appease England, conclude an agreement with it and temporarily withdraw it from the war.

On May 26, Germany launched an attack on France, achieved victory at the Ema River and, having broken through the Maginot Line, the Germans entered Paris on June 14. On June 22, 1940, in the Compiegne Forest, on the very spot where Germany surrendered 22 years ago, Marshal Foch, in the same headquarters carriage, 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; the 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 collaborationist Vichy regime lasted until August 1944.
Anti-fascist forces in France grouped around the Free France 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 was inferior to the English fleet, Hitler abandoned the idea of ​​landing troops in England, and was content only with air bombing. 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, 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.
On September 22, 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan concluded 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 contradicted Hitler’s plans.
In October 1940, Italy attacked Greece. German troops helped Italy. In April 1941, Yugoslavia and Greece capitulated.
Thus, the strongest blow to the British positions 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 Sea. Yugoslavia ceased to exist as a state. An independent Croatia emerged. The remaining Yugoslav lands were divided between Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary. Under pressure from Hitler, Romania gave Transylvania to Hungary.

German attack on the USSR
Back in June 1940, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht leadership to prepare for an attack on the USSR. A plan for a “lightning war” under the code name “Barbarossa” was prepared and approved on December 18, 1940. A native of Baku, intelligence officer Richard Sorge reported in May 1941 about an 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 and approached Kyiv and Leningrad. In September, Kyiv was captured, and Leningrad was under siege.
In November 1941, the Germans launched an attack on Moscow. On December 5-6, 1941, they were defeated in the Battle of 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 “lightning war” was thwarted. The victory of the Soviet troops inspired the resistance movement in the countries occupied by the Germans and strengthened the anti-Hitler coalition.
Creation of the anti-Hitler coalition

Japan considered the territory of Eurasia east of the 70th meridian to be its sphere of influence. After the surrender of France, Japan appropriated its colonies - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and stationed its troops there. Sensing a danger to its possessions in the Philippines, the United States demanded that Japan withdraw its troops and established a ban on trade with it during the Battle of Moscow.
On December 7, 1941, a 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 and landed in New Guinea.
Back in March 1941, the US Congress passed a law on Lend-Lease - a “system of assistance” with weapons, strategic raw materials and food. After Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the USA became solidary with the USSR. W. Churchill said that he was ready to enter into an alliance against Hitler, even with the devil himself.
On July 12, 1941, a cooperation agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain. On October 10, a trilateral agreement was signed between the USA, 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 Germany from rapprochement with Iran, on August 25, 1941, the Soviet army entered Iran from the north, and the British army 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 USA 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 expressed interest in building a just and safe post-war world . The USSR declared recognition of the exiled governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland 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 during the Second World War.

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 in June 1942, in which the US fleet sank a Japanese squadron. Having suffered heavy losses, Japan lost the ability to fight in the Pacific Ocean.
In October 1942, British troops under the command of General B. Montgomery encircled and defeated Italian-German troops at El Apamein. In November, US troops under General Dwight Eisenhower in Morocco pinned Italian-German forces against Tunisia and forced their surrender. But the Allies did not keep their promises and did not open a second front in Europe in 1942. This allowed the Germans to group large forces on the eastern front, break through the defenses of Soviet troops on the Kerch Peninsula in May, capturing Sevastopol and Kharkov in July, and move towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus. But the German offensive was repulsed at 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 in victory for the USSR, which seized the strategic initiative. A radical turning point occurred in the Soviet-German war. The counter-offensive of Soviet troops began in the Caucasus.
One of the important conditions for a radical change in the war was the ability of the USSR, USA and England to mobilize their resources. Thus, 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 economic management. The War Production Administration was created in the United States.

Resistance movement
Another factor that contributed to the radical change was the Resistance movement of peoples who fell under the German, Italian and Japanese yoke. The Nazis created death camps - Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Dachau, Mauthausen, etc. In France - Oradour, 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 carried out. On January 20, 1942, a plan was approved to exterminate all Jews in Europe.
The Japanese acted under the slogan “Asia for Asians,” but encountered desperate resistance in Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, and the Philippines. The strengthening of resistance was facilitated by the unification of anti-fascist forces. Under pressure from the allies, the Comintern was dissolved in 1943, so communists in individual countries more actively participated 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 turning point on the Soviet-German front ended with the 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 the Atlantic Ocean as part of special patrol convoys.
A radical change in the course of the war became the cause of the crisis in the countries of the fascist bloc. In July 1943, Allied forces captured the island of Sicily, and this caused a deep crisis for 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 received an amnesty.
Secret negotiations began. On 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 emerged north of Naples, and the regime of Mussolini, who had escaped from captivity, was restored in the territory occupied by the Germans. He relied on German troops.
After the radical change was completed, the heads of the allied states - F. Roosevelt, I. Stalin and W. Churchill met in Tehran from November 28 to December 1, 1943. The central issue in the work of the conference was the opening of 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. Thus, differences in views on the second front arose. 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 the general military concept of the anti-Hitler coalition were developed. Stalin agreed to participate in the war with Japan on the condition that Kaliningrad (Königsberg) would be transferred to the USSR and the new western borders of the USSR would be recognized. A declaration on Iran was also adopted in Tehran. The heads of the three states expressed their intention to respect the integrity of the territory of this country.
In December 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill signed the Egyptian Declaration with Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek. An agreement was reached that the war would continue until the complete defeat of Japan. All 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 Turkic peoples (Northern and Southern Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Crimea, North Caucasus, Western China and Afghanistan), Germany planned to create the state “Great Turkestan”.
In 1944-1945, the Soviet leadership declared some Turkic and Caucasian peoples to be collaborating with the German occupiers and deported them. As a result of this deportation, accompanied by genocide, in February 1944, 650 thousand Chechens, Ingush and Karachays, in May - about 2 million Crimean Turks, in November - about a million Meskhetian Turks from the regions of Georgia bordering Turkey were resettled to the eastern regions of the USSR. In parallel with the deportation, the forms of government of these peoples were also liquidated (in 1944, the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1945, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). In October 1944, the independent Republic of Tuva, located in Siberia, was incorporated into the RSFSR.

Military operations of 1944-1945
At the beginning of 1944, the 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 captured 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 Norwegian territory.
On June 6, 1944, Allied troops 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. By the end of this year, the Allies had completely liberated France and Belgium.
At the beginning of 1944, the United States occupied the Marshall, Mariana Islands and the Philippines and blocked Japan's sea communications. In turn, the Japanese captured Central China. But due to difficulties in supplying the Japanese, the “march on Delhi” failed.
In July 1944, Soviet troops entered Romania. Antonescu's fascist regime was overthrown, and Romanian King Mihai declared war on Germany. On September 2, Bulgaria and on September 12, Romania concluded a truce with the allies. In mid-September, Soviet troops entered Yugoslavia, most of which by this time had been liberated by I. B. Tito’s partisan army. At this time, Churchill came to terms with the entry of all Balkan countries into the sphere of influence of the USSR. And the troops subordinate to the Polish émigré government in London fought both against the Germans and the Russians. In August 1944, an unprepared uprising began in Warsaw, suppressed by the Nazis. The Allies were divided on the legality of each of the two Polish governments.

Crimean Conference
February 4-11, 1945 Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met in Crimea (Yalta). Here it was decided to unconditionally surrender Germany and divide its territory into 4 occupation zones (USSR, USA, England, France), collect reparations from Germany, recognize the new western borders of the USSR, and include new members in the London Polish government. The USSR confirmed its agreement 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, the railway in Manchuria and Port Arthur.
At the conference, the declaration “On a Liberated Europe” was adopted. It guaranteed the right to create democratic structures of their own choice.
Here the order of work of the future United Nations Organization was determined. The Crimean Conference was the last meeting of the Big Three with Roosevelt participating. He died in 1945. He was replaced by G. Truman.

Defeat on the fronts caused a strong crisis in the bloc of fascist regimes. Realizing the disastrous consequences for Germany of continuing the war and the need to make peace, a group of officers organized an assassination attempt on Hitler, but was unsuccessful.
In 1944, the German military industry reached a high level, but there was no longer any strength to resist. Despite this, Hitler announced general mobilization and began to use a new type of weapon - V-missiles. In December 1944, the Germans launched a final counterattack in the Ardennes. The Allies' position worsened. At their request, the USSR launched Operation Vistula-Oder earlier than scheduled in January 1945 and approached Berlin to 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 Victory Banner was hung over the Reichstag. In Milan, partisans executed Mussolini. 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” took place in Potsdam. Now the United States was represented by Truman, and England, 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 Allied policy towards Germany. The territory of Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones (USSR, USA, France, England). An agreement was reached on the dissolution of fascist organizations, the restoration of previously banned parties and civil liberties, and the destruction of the military industry and cartels. The main fascist war criminals were put on trial by the International Tribunal. The conference decided that Germany should remain a single state. In the meantime, it will be controlled by the occupation authorities. The capital of the country, Berlin, was also divided into 4 zones. Elections were coming up, 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 lost everything it gained after 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 determined 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 an anti-Japanese operation. Before the summer, the Philippines, Indonesia and part of Indo-China were liberated. On July 26, 1945, the USA, USSR and China demanded Japan's surrender, but were refused. To demonstrate its strength, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6. 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 on board the battleship Missouri.
Thus, the Second World War, in which 61 countries participated and in which 67 million people died, came to an end.
If the First World War was mainly of a positional nature, then the Second World War was of an offensive nature.