Event maps: attack of fascist Germany on the USSR defeat of the fascist

The art of war is a science in which nothing succeeds except what has been calculated and thought out.

Napoleon

The Barbarossa plan is a plan for Germany's attack on the USSR, based on the principle of lightning war, blitzkrieg. The plan began to be developed in the summer of 1940, and on December 18, 1940, Hitler approved a plan according to which the war was to be ended by November 1941 at the latest.

Plan Barbarossa was named after Frederick Barbarossa, a 12th century emperor who became famous for his conquests. This traced elements of symbolism, to which Hitler himself and his entourage paid so much attention. The plan received its name on January 31, 1941.

Number of troops to implement the plan

Germany prepared 190 divisions for war and 24 divisions as a reserve. For the war, 19 tank and 14 motorized divisions were allocated. The total number of the contingent that Germany sent to the USSR, according to various estimates, ranges from 5 to 5.5 million people.

The apparent superiority in the technology of the USSR should not be taken into account, since by the beginning of the wars, German technical tanks and aircraft were superior to Soviet ones, and the army itself was much more trained. Suffice it to recall the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, where the Red Army demonstrated weakness in literally everything.

Direction of the main attack

The Barbarossa plan defined 3 main directions for the strike:

• Army Group South. A blow to Moldova, Ukraine, Crimea and access to the Caucasus. Further movement to the line Astrakhan - Stalingrad (Volgograd).
• Army Group Center. Line "Minsk - Smolensk - Moscow". Advance to Nizhny Novgorod, leveling the line "Wave - Northern Dvina".
• Army Group North. Attack on the Baltic states, Leningrad and further advance towards Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. At the same time, the army "Norway" was to fight in the north together with the Finnish army.

Approximately by the end of October 1941, the German command planned to reach the Volga-Northern Dvina line, thereby capturing the entire European part of the USSR. This was the plan of the blitzkrieg. After the blitzkrieg, the lands beyond the Urals should have remained, which, without the support of the center, would quickly surrender to the winner.

Until about mid-August 1941, the Germans believed that the war was going according to plan, but in September there were already entries in the diaries of officers that the Barbarossa plan had failed and the war would be lost. The best proof that Germany in August 1941 believed that only a few weeks were left before the end of the war with the USSR is the speech of Goebbels. The Minister of Propaganda suggested that the Germans additionally collect warm clothes for the needs of the army. The government decided that this step was not necessary, since there would be no war in the winter.

Implementation of the plan

The first three weeks of the war assured Hitler that everything was going according to plan. The army advanced rapidly, winning victories, the Soviet army suffered huge losses:

• 28 divisions out of 170 disabled.
• 70 divisions lost about 50% of their personnel.
• 72 divisions remained combat-ready (43% of those available at the start of the war).

During the same 3 weeks, the average rate of advance of German troops inland was 30 km per day.

By July 11, the army group "North" occupied almost the entire territory of the Baltic states, providing access to Leningrad, the army group "Center" reached Smolensk, the army group "South" went to Kyiv. These were the last achievements that fully corresponded to the plan of the German command. After that, failures began (still local, but already indicative). Nevertheless, the initiative in the war until the end of 1941 was on the side of Germany.

German failures in the North

The army "North" occupied the Baltic states without problems, especially since there was practically no partisan movement there. The next strategic point to be captured was Leningrad. It turned out that the Wehrmacht was not capable of this task. The city did not capitulate to the enemy, and until the end of the war, despite all efforts, Germany failed to capture it.

Failures of the Army Center

The "Center" army reached Smolensk without any problems, but got stuck under the city until September 10. Smolensk resisted for almost a month. The German command demanded a decisive victory and the advance of the troops, since such a delay under the city, which was planned to be taken without heavy losses, was unacceptable and cast doubt on the implementation of the Barbarossa plan. As a result, the Germans took Smolensk, but their troops were pretty battered.

Historians today evaluate the battle for Smolensk as a tactical victory for Germany, but a strategic victory for Russia, as they managed to stop the advance of troops on Moscow, which allowed the capital to prepare for defense.

Complicated the advance of the German army deep into the country partisan movement of Belarus.

Failures of the Army of the South

The "South" army reached Kyiv in 3.5 weeks and, like the "Center" army near Smolensk, got stuck in battles. In the end, it was possible to take the city in view of the clear superiority of the army, but Kyiv held out almost until the end of September, which also made it difficult for the German army to advance, and made a significant contribution to the disruption of the Barbarossa plan.

Map of the advance plan of the German troops

Above is a map showing the plan of the German command for the offensive. The map shows: green - the borders of the USSR, red - the border to which Germany planned to reach, blue - the deployment and the plan for the advancement of the German forces.

General state of affairs

• In the North, it was not possible to capture Leningrad and Murmansk. The advance of the troops stopped.
• In the Center, with great difficulty, we managed to get to Moscow. At the time the German army entered the Soviet capital, it was clear that no blitzkrieg had happened.
• In the South, they failed to take Odessa and capture the Caucasus. By the end of September, the Nazi troops had only captured Kyiv and launched an offensive against Kharkov and the Donbass.

Why did the blitzkrieg fail in Germany?

Germany failed the blitzkrieg because the Wehrmacht was preparing the Barbarossa plan, as it later turned out, on false intelligence. Hitler admitted this by the end of 1941, saying that if he had known the real state of affairs in the USSR, he would not have started the war on June 22.

The lightning war tactics were based on the fact that the country has one line of defense on the western border, all large army units are located on the western border, and aviation is located on the border. Since Hitler was sure that all Soviet troops were located on the border, this formed the basis of the blitzkrieg - to destroy the enemy army in the first weeks of the war, and then rapidly move inland without encountering serious resistance.

In fact, there were several lines of defense, the army was not located with all its forces on the western border, there were reserves. Germany did not expect this, and by August 1941 it became clear that the lightning war had failed, and Germany could not win the war. The fact that World War II lasted until 1945 only proves that the Germans fought very organized and brave. Due to the fact that they had the economy of the whole of Europe behind them (speaking of the war between Germany and the USSR, many for some reason forget that the German army included units from almost all European countries) they managed to fight successfully.

Did Barbarossa's plan fail?

I propose to evaluate the Barbarossa plan according to 2 criteria: global and local. Global(landmark - the Great Patriotic War) - the plan was thwarted, because the lightning war did not work, the German troops were bogged down in battles. Local(landmark - intelligence data) - the plan was implemented. The German command drew up the Barbarossa plan on the basis that the USSR had 170 divisions on the country's border, there were no additional defense echelons. There are no reserves and reinforcements. The army was preparing for this. In 3 weeks, 28 Soviet divisions were completely destroyed, and in 70, approximately 50% of the personnel and equipment were disabled. At this stage, the blitzkrieg worked and, in the absence of reinforcements from the USSR, gave the desired results. But it turned out that the Soviet command has reserves, not all troops are located on the border, mobilization brings quality soldiers into the army, there are additional lines of defense, the "charm" of which Germany felt near Smolensk and Kyiv.

Therefore, the disruption of the Barbarossa plan must be regarded as a huge strategic mistake of German intelligence, led by Wilhelm Canaris. Today, some historians associate this person with the agents of England, but there is no evidence for this. But if we assume that this is indeed the case, then it becomes clear why Canaris slipped an absolute “linden” to Hitler that the USSR was not ready for war and all the troops were located on the border.

The Battle for Moscow (1941-1942) is one of the largest battles of the Second World War, both in terms of the number of participants in the parties, and in terms of the territory on which it took place. The significance of the battle is enormous, it was on the verge of actual defeat, but thanks to the valor of the soldiers and the talents of the generals, the battle for Moscow was won, and the myth of the invincibility of the German troops was destroyed. Where did the Germans stop near Moscow? The course of the battle, the strength of the parties, as well as its results and consequences will be discussed further in the article.

History of the battle

According to the master plan of the German command, codenamed "Barbarossa", Moscow was supposed to be captured three to four months after the start of the war. However, the Soviet troops offered heroic resistance. The battle for Smolensk alone delayed the German troops for two months.

Hitlerite soldiers approached Moscow only at the end of September, that is, in the fourth month of the war. The operation to capture the capital of the USSR received the code name "Typhoon", according to which the German troops were to cover Moscow from the north and south, then surround and capture. The Moscow battle took place on a vast territory that stretched for a thousand kilometers.

Side forces. Germany

The German command deployed huge forces to capture Moscow. 77 divisions with a total number of more than 2 million people took part in the battles. In addition, the Wehrmacht had at its disposal more than 1,700 tanks and self-propelled guns, 14,000 guns and mortars, and about 800 aircraft. The commander of this huge army was Field Marshal F. von Bock.

USSR

For the Headquarters of the VKG, there were forces of five fronts with a total number of more than 1.25 million people. Also, the Soviet troops had more than 1000 tanks, 10 thousand guns and mortars and more than 500 aircraft. The defense of Moscow was in turn led by several outstanding strategists: A. M. Vasilevsky, I. S. Konev, G. K. Zhukov.

Course of events

Before finding out where the Germans were stopped near Moscow, it is worth talking a little about the course of hostilities in this battle. It is customary to divide it into two stages: defensive (which lasted from September 30 to December 4, 1941) and offensive (from December 5, 1941 to April 20, 1942).

defensive stage

September 30, 1941 is considered the start date of the battle for Moscow. On this day, the Nazis attacked the troops of the Bryansk Front.

On October 2, the Germans went on the offensive in the Vyazma direction. Despite stubborn resistance, the German units managed to cut through the Soviet troops between the cities of Rzhev and Vyazma, as a result of which the troops of actually two fronts ended up in a cauldron. In total, more than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers were surrounded.

After the defeat near Bryansk, the Soviet command organized a line of defense in the Mozhaisk direction. The inhabitants of the city hastily prepared fortifications: trenches and trenches were dug, anti-tank hedgehogs were placed.

During the rapid offensive, the German troops managed to capture such cities as Kaluga, Maloyaroslavets, Kalinin, Mozhaisk from October 13 to 18 and come close to the Soviet capital. On October 20, a state of siege was introduced in Moscow.

Moscow surrounded

Even before the actual introduction of a state of siege in Moscow, on October 15, the Defense Command was evacuated from the capital to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), the next day, the evacuation of all government agencies, the general staff, etc. began.

JV Stalin decided to stay in the city. On the same day, the residents of the capital panicked, rumors spread about leaving Moscow, several dozen residents of the city tried to urgently leave the capital. Only by October 20 was it possible to establish order. On this day, the city went into a state of siege.

By the end of October 1941, fighting was already underway near Moscow in Naro-Fominsk, Kubinka, and Volokolamsk. Moscow was regularly raided by German aircraft, which did not cause much damage, since the most valuable buildings of the capital were carefully camouflaged, and the Soviet anti-aircraft gunners also worked well. At the cost of huge losses, the October offensive of the German troops was stopped. But they almost reached Moscow.

Where did the Germans get to? This sad list includes the suburbs of Tula, Serpukhov, Naro-Fominsk, Kaluga, Kalinin, Mozhaisk.

Parade on Red Square

Taking advantage of the relative silence at the front, the Soviet command decided to hold a military parade on Red Square. The purpose of the parade was to raise the morale of Soviet soldiers. The date was set for November 7, 1941, S. M. Budyonny hosted the parade, General P. A. Artemyev commanded the parade. Rifle and motorized rifle units, Red Navy, cavalrymen, as well as artillery and tank regiments took part in the parade. The soldiers left the parade almost immediately to the front line, leaving unconquered Moscow behind...

Where did the Germans go? What cities did they reach? How did the Red Army men manage to stop the enemy's orderly battle formations? It's time to find out about it.

November offensive of the Nazis on the capital

On November 15, after a powerful artillery preparation, a new round of the German offensive near Moscow began. Stubborn battles unfolded in the Volokolamsk and Klinsk directions. So, in 20 days of the offensive, the Nazis managed to advance 100 km and capture cities such as Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Yakhroma. The closest settlement to Moscow, where the Germans reached during the offensive, turned out to be Yasnaya Polyana - the estate of the writer Leo Tolstoy.

The Germans had about 17 km to the borders of Moscow itself, and 29 km to the walls of the Kremlin. By the beginning of December, as a result of a counterattack, the Soviet units managed to drive the Germans out of the previously occupied territories in the vicinity of the capital, including from Yasnaya Polyana.

Today we know where the Germans reached near Moscow - to the very walls of the capital! But they failed to take the city.

The onset of cold weather

As mentioned above, the Barbarossa plan provided for the capture of Moscow by German troops no later than October 1941. In this regard, the German command did not provide for winter uniforms for soldiers. The first night frosts began at the end of October, and for the first time the temperature dropped below zero on November 4th. That day the thermometer showed -8 degrees. Subsequently, the temperature very rarely dropped below 0 °C.

Not only German soldiers, dressed in light uniforms, were not ready for the first cold weather, but also equipment that was not designed to work at low temperatures.

The cold caught the soldiers when they were actually a few dozen kilometers from Belokamennaya, but their equipment did not start in the cold, and the frozen Germans near Moscow did not want to fight. "General Frost" once again rushed to the rescue of the Russians ...

Where did the Germans stop near Moscow? The last German attempt to capture Moscow was made during the attack on Naro-Fominsk on December 1. In the course of several massive attacks, the German units managed to penetrate for a short time into the areas of Zvenigorod for 5 km, Naro-Fominsk up to 10 km.

After the transfer of the reserve, the Soviet troops managed to push the enemy back to their original positions. The Naro-Fominsk operation is considered the last one carried out by the Soviet command at the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow.

The results of the defensive stage of the battle for Moscow

The Soviet Union defended its capital at a huge cost. The irretrievable losses of the personnel of the Red Army during the defensive phase amounted to more than 500 thousand people. The German army at this stage lost about 145 thousand people. But in the course of its attack on Moscow, the German command used virtually all the free reserves, which by December 1941 were actually depleted, which allowed the Red Army to go on the offensive.

At the end of November, after it became known from undercover sources that Japan was not from the Far East, about 10 divisions and hundreds of tanks were transferred to Moscow. The troops of the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts were equipped with new divisions, as a result of which, by the beginning of the offensive, the Soviet group in the Moscow direction consisted of more than 1.1 million soldiers, 7,700 guns and mortars, 750 tanks, and about 1 thousand aircraft.

However, she was opposed by a grouping of German troops, not inferior, but even superior in number. The number of personnel reached 1.7 million people, tanks and aircraft were 1200 and 650, respectively.

On the fifth and sixth of December, the troops of three fronts went on a large-scale offensive, and already on December 8, Hitler gives the order for the German troops to go on the defensive. On December 12, 1941, Istra and Solnechnogorsk were liberated by Soviet troops. On December 15 and 16, the cities of Klin and Kalinin were liberated.

During the ten days of the offensive, the Red Army managed to push back the enemy in different sectors of the front for 80-100 km, and also create a threat of collapse to the German front of Army Group Center.

Hitler, not wanting to back down, dismissed Generals Brauchitsch and Bock and appointed General G. von Kluge as the new commander of the army. However, the Soviet offensive developed rapidly, and the German command was unable to stop it. In total, in December 1941, German troops in different sectors of the front were driven back by 100-250 km, which meant the elimination of the threat to the capital, the complete defeat of the Germans near Moscow.

In 1942, the Soviet troops slowed down the pace of their offensive and failed to actually destroy the front of Army Group Center, although they inflicted an extremely heavy defeat on the German troops.

The result of the battle for Moscow

The historical significance of the defeat of the Germans near Moscow is invaluable for the entire Second World War. More than 3 million people, more than 2,000 aircraft and 3,000 tanks took part in this battle on both sides, and the front stretched for more than 1,000 km. During the 7 months of the battle, Soviet troops lost more than 900 thousand people killed and missing, German troops lost more than 400 thousand people over the same period. Important results of the battle for Moscow (1941-1942) can be indicated:

• The German plan of "blitzkrieg" - a quick lightning victory - was destroyed, Germany had to prepare for a long exhausting war.
• The threat of the capture of Moscow ceased to exist.
• The myth of the invincibility of the German army was dispelled.
• suffered serious losses in its advanced and most combat-ready units, which had to be replenished with inexperienced recruits.
• The Soviet command gained tremendous experience for the successful conduct of the war with the German army.
• After the victory in the Moscow battle, an anti-Hitler coalition began to take shape.

This is how the defense of Moscow took place, and its positive outcome brought such significant results.

He recalled: Stalin was sure that the Germans would break into Moscow, but he planned to defend ​ every house - before the approach of fresh divisions from Siberia.

On October 12, 1941, the NKVD organized 20 groups of Chekist militants: to protect the Kremlin, Belorussky railway station, Okhotny Ryad and sabotage in areas of the capital that could be captured. Throughout the city, 59 secret warehouses with weapons and ammunition were arranged, the Metropol and National hotels, the Bolshoi Theater, the Central Telegraph Office and ... St. Basil's Cathedral were mined - it occurred to someone that if Moscow was captured, Hitler would come there. Meanwhile, the British historian Nicholas Reeds in 1954, he suggested that if the soldiers of the Third Reich had entered Moscow, the "Stalingrad scenario" would have happened. That is, the Wehrmacht exhausts itself in many days of battles from house to house, then troops arrive from the Far East, and then the Germans capitulate, and the war ... ends in 1943!

Anti-aircraft gunners guarding the city. The Great Patriotic War. Photo: RIA Novosti / Naum Granovsky

Fact #2 - Officials started the panic

... On October 16, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution "On the evacuation of the capital of the USSR." Most understood it this way - from day to day Moscow will be handed over to the Germans. Panic began in the city: the metro was closed, trams stopped running. The very first to rush out of the city were party officials, who just yesterday called for a "war to victory." Archival documents testify: “On the very first day, 779 senior employees of institutions and organizations fled from the capital, taking with them money and valuables worth 2.5 million rubles. 100 cars and trucks were stolen - these leaders used them to take their families." Seeing how the authorities fled from Moscow, the people, picking up bundles and suitcases, also rushed away. Three days in a row the highway was packed with people. But

Muscovites are building anti-tank fortifications. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Ustinov

Fact #3 - The Kremlin was not considered

... It is believed that the Wehrmacht was stuck 32 km from the then Moscow: the Germans managed to capture the village of Krasnaya Polyana, near Lobnya. After that, information appeared that the German generals, having climbed the bell tower, examined the Kremlin through binoculars. This myth is quite stable, but the Kremlin can only be seen from Krasnaya Polyana in summer, and then in absolutely clear weather. In snowfall this is not possible.

On December 2, 1941, an American journalist William Shearer made a statement: according to his information, today the reconnaissance battalion of the 258th division of the Wehrmacht invaded the village of Khimki, and from there the Germans surveyed the Kremlin towers with binoculars. It is not clear how they managed to do this: the Kremlin is even more invisible from Khimki. Plus, the 258th division of the Wehrmacht on that day miraculously escaped encirclement in a completely different place - in the Yushkovo-Burtsevo area. Historians still have not come to a consensus when exactly the Germans appeared in Khimki (now there is a defense monument - three anti-tank hedgehogs) - October 16, November 30, or still December 2. Moreover: in the archives of the Wehrmacht ... there is no evidence of an attack on Khimki at all.

Fact #4 - There were no frosts

…Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army of the Reich, General Heinz Guderian after the defeat near Moscow, he blamed his failures on ... Russian frosts. Say, by November the Germans would already be drinking beer in the Kremlin, but they were stopped by terrible cold. The tanks got stuck in the snow, the guns jammed - the grease froze. Is it so? On November 4, 1941, the temperature in the Moscow region was minus 7 degrees (before that, it rained in October, and the roads became muddy), and on November 8 it was completely zero (!). On November 11-13, the air froze (-15 degrees), but soon warmed up to -3 - and this can hardly be called "terrible cold." Severe frosts (under minus 40°C) struck only at the very beginning of the Red Army's counter-offensive - December 5, 1941 - and could not radically change the situation at the front. The cold played its role only when the Soviet troops drove the Wehrmacht armies back (this is where Guderian's tanks really did not start), but stopped the enemy near Moscow in normal winter weather.

Two Red Army soldiers stand next to an overturned German tank, shot down in the battle near Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti / Minkevich

Fact #5 - Battle of Borodino

... On January 21, 1942, the Russians and the French met on the Borodino field for the second time in 130 years. On the side of the Wehrmacht, the Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism fought - 2452 soldiers. They were instructed to defend Borodino from the advancing Soviet troops. Before the attack, he turned to the legionnaires Marshal von Kluge: "Remember Napoleon!" In a few days, the legion was defeated - half of the soldiers died, hundreds were captured, the rest were taken to the rear with frostbite. As in the case of Bonaparte, the French were not lucky on the Borodino field.

... On December 16, 1941, Hitler, struck by the flight of his army from Moscow, issued an order similar to Stalin's, "Not a step back!" He demanded to "hold the front to the last soldier", threatening to shoot the division commanders. The chief of staff of the 4th Army, Gunther Blumentritt, in his book Fatal Decisions, pointed out: "Hitler instinctively realized that a retreat in the snow would lead to the collapse of the entire front and our troops would suffer the fate of Napoleon's army." So it eventually happened: three and a half years later, when Soviet soldiers entered Berlin ...

Museum "Borodino" was destroyed and burned by the Germans during the retreat. The picture was taken in January 1942. Photo: RIA Novosti / N. Popov

The troops of Nazi Germany cross the border river. Filming location unknown, June 22, 1941.

The beginning of the hostilities of Nazi Germany against the USSR. Lithuanian SSR, 1941

Parts of the German army entered the territory of the USSR (from captured photographs taken from captured and killed Wehrmacht soldiers). Filming location unknown, June 1941.

Parts of the German army on the territory of the USSR (from captured photographs taken from captured and killed soldiers of the Wehrmacht). Filming location unknown, June 1941.

German soldiers during the battle near Brest. Brest, 1941

Nazi troops are fighting near the walls of the Brest Fortress. Brest, 1941

German General Kruger in the vicinity of Leningrad. Leningrad region, 1941

German units enter Vyazma. Smolensk region, 1941

Employees of the Propaganda Ministry of the Third Reich inspecting a captured Soviet T-26 light tank (photography of the Propaganda Ministry of the Third Reich). Filming location unknown, September 1941.

Camel captured as a trophy and used by German mountain rangers. Krasnodar Territory, 1941

A group of German soldiers near a pile of Soviet canned food, captured as a trophy. Location unknown, 1941

Part of the SS guards cars with the population being stolen to Germany. Mogilev, June 1943

German soldiers among the ruins of Voronezh. Filming location unknown, July 1942.

A group of Nazi soldiers on one of the streets of Krasnodar. Krasnodar, 1942

German soldiers in Taganrog. Taganrog, 1942

Raising the Nazi flag by the Nazis in one of the occupied areas of the city. Stalingrad, 1942

A detachment of German soldiers on one of the streets of occupied Rostov. Rostov, 1942

German soldiers in the captured village. Location unknown, year unknown.

A column of advancing German troops near Novgorod. Novgorod the Great, August 19, 1941

A group of German soldiers in one of the occupied villages. Location unknown, year unknown.

Cavalry division in Gomel. Gomel, November 1941

Before the retreat, the Germans destroy the railway near Grodno; the soldier puts the fuse for the explosion. Grodno, July 1944

German units retreat between Lake Ilmen and the Gulf of Finland. Leningrad Front, February 1944

The retreat of the Germans from the region of Novgorod. Filming location unknown, January 27, 1944.

On Defender of the Fatherland Day, it is worth recalling who the Russian soldier fought with and where the defenders of other fatherlands were at that time

This year we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II. Therefore, on Defender of the Fatherland Day, it is worth recalling once again who the Russian soldier fought with and where the defenders of other fatherlands were at that time.

So it turns out that it would be more logical for many European countries to celebrate May 9 not as Victory Day in World War II, but to remember their shameful capitulation. After all, almost all of continental Europe by 1941 somehow entered the Third Reich. Of the more than two dozen European countries that existed by June 1941, nine - Spain, Italy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia - Together with Germany and Austria entered the war against the USSR.

The rest also resisted the enemy for a short time:
Monaco - 1 day, Luxembourg - 1 day, Netherlands - 6 days, Belgium - 8 days, Yugoslavia - 12 days, Greece - 24 days, Poland - 36 days, France - 43 days, and then actually joined the aggressor and worked for his industry.
Even supposedly neutral countries - Switzerland and Sweden did not stand aside. They granted fascist Germany the right to free transit of military cargo through their territory, and also received huge incomes from trade. The trade turnover of "neutral" Portugal with the Nazis was so successful that in May 1945 she declared three days of mourning in connection with the death of Hitler.
But that's not all.
- The national identity of all those who died in battles on the Russian front is difficult or even impossible to establish. But the composition of the military personnel taken prisoner by our army during the war is known. Germans and Austrians - 2,546,242 people; 766,901 people belonged to other nations that declared war on us: Hungarians, Romanians, Italians, Finns and others, but another 464,147 prisoners of war are French, Belgians, Czechs and representatives of other European states that did not seem to be at war with us, - gives terrible numbers of betrayal historian Vadim Kozhinov. - And while this multinational army won victories on the Russian front, Europe was, by and large, on the side of the Third Reich.

That is why, according to the recollections of the participants, during the signing of the act of surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945, the head of the German delegation, Field Marshal Keitel, seeing among those present at the ceremony persons in French military uniforms, could not contain his surprise: "How?! And they also defeated us, or what ?!
It is interesting what the field marshal would say today to the Europeans calling for celebrating Victory Day without Russia's participation. I would probably remind you that the Wehrmacht conquered their countries faster than a couple of houses in Stalingrad.