Interesting facts about the Great Patriotic War. History of the Second World War
website- First of all, I want to congratulate everyone on this holiday and thank our veterans for everything that we have now. After all, if it weren’t for them, we don’t know what our life would be like now. The freedom we now breathe, calm and peace, is all thanks to our veterans!
And on the eve of this event, I would like to tell you some interesting facts about this date. So, go ahead:
The most interesting fact is that abroad Victory Day is celebrated not on May 9, as in Russia, but on the 8th, since the act of surrender in Central European time was signed on May 8, 1945 at 22:43 (May 9 at 0: 43 Moscow time).
The Victory Banner is the assault flag of the 150th Order of Kutuzov, II degree, Idritsa Rifle Division, hoisted on May 1, 1945 on the Reichstag building in Berlin.
The first Victory Day was celebrated in a way that, probably, very few holidays were celebrated in the history of the USSR and Russia. People on the streets congratulated each other, hugged, kissed and cried.
On May 9, 1945, a Li-2 plane with the crew of A.I. Semenkov landed at the Frunze Central Airfield, delivering the act of surrender of Nazi Germany to Moscow.
War-torn Europe also celebrated Victory Day sincerely and publicly. On May 9, 1945, in almost all European cities, people congratulated each other and the winning soldiers.
In London, the center of celebrations was Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. People were congratulated by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Winston Churchill gave a speech from the balcony of Buckingham Palace
Berlin was taken on May 2, but German troops offered fierce resistance to the Red Army for more than a week before the fascist command, in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, finally decided to surrender.
On May 9, in the evening, the Victory Salute was given in Moscow, the largest in the history of the USSR: thirty salvos were fired from a thousand guns.
However, May 9th was a public holiday for only three years. In 1948, it was ordered to forget about the war and devote all efforts to restoring what was destroyed by the war. national economy. And only in 1965, already during the Brezhnev era, the holiday was again given its due. May 9 became a day off again, Parades, large-scale fireworks in all cities resumed - Heroes and honoring veterans
St. George's Ribbon: - bicolor (two-color) orange and black. Orange means fire and black means smoke. It traces its history from the ribbon to the soldier's Order of St. George the Victorious, established on November 26, 1769 by Empress Catherine II. This ribbon, with minor changes, entered the USSR award system as the “Guards Ribbon” - a sign of special distinction for a soldier. The block of the very honorable “soldier’s” Order of Glory is covered with it.
In the USA, there are two Victory Days: V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) and V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day).
My My My Palmer
Today I would like to remember interesting, important facts about Victory Day, about May 9. It wouldn't hurt to know.
1. Despite the fact that May 9, 1945 is officially considered the day of the end of the Great Patriotic War, the war officially continued until January 25, 1955. We were at war with Germany until '55. On May 8, only the act of surrender of Germany was signed, which officially came into force on May 9.
2. Now one of the symbols of victory in the Great Patriotic War There were stripes with St. George's ribbon. In general, this ribbon was established back in the 18th century for valor shown in battle.
3. A little more about the important meaning of the St. George Ribbon, or more precisely about the Georgiy estate for Victory Day. May 6, 1945, right before Victory Day, was St. George's Day. The surrender of Germany was signed by Georgy Zhukov.
4. In Europe, Victory Day is celebrated on May 8 and is called Europe Day, and in America, it’s generally September 2.
5. May 9 became a day off only in 1965. Also, the day off was from 1946 to 1948, that is, in 65 there was essentially a return.
6. In 2000, the last walking parade of veterans took place in Moscow.
7. In 2008, for the first time, heavy equipment marched at the Victory Parade on Red Square.
This is such an amazing and important day in the history of the USSR.
Here are the facts about the 1945 Victory Parade:
The banner hoisted over the Reichstag was not carried across Red Square.
Everyone saw the footage of fascist banners being thrown at the foot of the Mausoleum. But it is curious that the soldiers carried 200 banners and standards of the defeated German units with gloves.
Participants and witnesses of that first parade say that in terms of the crazy “temperature” of people’s joy, it can only be compared with the first news from Berlin about the Victory.
Its history contains many interesting details. Let's remember some of them.
1. HOW THE LEADER’S DREAM FAILED
It is known that the first Victory Parade was hosted by Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. However, we, the military boys of that time, and some people today are surprised: why not Stalin? After all, he is the commander-in-chief, the generalissimo, the supreme leader of the victors. It would seem that he, and not Zhukov, would ride out of the Spasskaya Tower on a white horse... One might say, he was born in the saddle, like any highlander...
This secret was revealed by Vasily, Stalin's son.
A week before the parade day, Stalin called Zhukov to his dacha and asked if the marshal had forgotten how to ride a horse. He has to drive staff cars more and more. Zhukov replied that he had not forgotten how to do it and in his spare time he tried to ride a horse.
That’s what,” said the Supreme Commander, “you will have to host the Victory Parade.” Rokossovsky will command the parade.
Zhukov was surprised, but didn’t show it:
Thank you for this honor, but wouldn’t it be better for you to host the parade?
And Stalin - to him:
I'm too old to host parades. Take it, you are younger.
All this is in Zhukov’s memoirs. We read: “When saying goodbye, he (Stalin. - Ed.) remarked, as it seemed to me, not without a hint:
I advise you to take part in the parade on a white horse, which Budyonny will show you..."
The next day, Zhukov went to the Central Airfield on the former Khodynka - a parade rehearsal was taking place there - and met with Vasily, Stalin's son. And it was here that Vasily amazed the marshal. He told me in confidence that my father himself was going to host the parade. I ordered Marshal Budyonny to prepare a suitable horse and went to Khamovniki, to the main army riding arena on Chudovka, as Komsomolsky Prospekt was called then. There the army cavalrymen set up their magnificent arena - a huge, high hall, covered in large mirrors. It was here that Stalin came on June 16, 1945 to shake off the old days and check whether the horseman’s skills had not been lost over time. Still, I’m used to holding other reins...
At a sign from Budyonny, they brought the snow-white horse and helped him into the saddle. Gathering the reins in his left hand, which always remained bent at the elbow and only half active, which is why the evil tongues of his party comrades called the leader “Sukhoruky”, Stalin spurred the restive horse - and he rushed off...
The rider fell out of the saddle and, despite the thick layer of sawdust, hit his side and head painfully... Everyone rushed to him and helped him up. Budyonny, a timid man, looked at the leader with fear... But there were no consequences.
After this incident, Stalin instructed the marshal to host the Victory Parade. And at the same time he strongly advised me to saddle exactly that daring horse. Did you like it? Or did you think that Zhukov wouldn’t be able to sit still? But on the day of the parade, Marshal Zhukov dashed across Red Square...
Our smaller brothers, who saved many human lives, marched in the same ranks with the heroes of the war.
2. WHY WAS THERE NOT THE MAIN BANNER OF VICTORY?
The Victory Banner, brought to Moscow on June 20, 1945, was to be carried across Red Square. And the crew of the flag bearers was specially trained. The Keeper of the Banner at the Museum of the Soviet Army, A. Dementyev, argued: those who hoisted it over the Reichstag and sent it to Moscow as a standard bearer, Neustroev and his assistants Egorov, Kantaria and Berest, were extremely unsuccessful at the rehearsal - they had no time for drill training in the war. The same Neustroev, at the age of 22, had five wounds, his legs were damaged. Appointing other standard bearers is absurd and too late. Zhukov decided not to take out the Banner. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, there was no Banner at the Victory Parade. The first time the Banner was carried out at the parade was in 1965.
3. WHO CORNED THE SCARLET BANNA?
According to the same Dementyev, the question arose more than once: why does the Banner lack a strip 73 centimeters long and 3 centimeters wide, since the panels of all assault flags were cut the same size? There are two versions. First: he tore off the strip and took it as a souvenir on May 2, 1945, who was on the roof of the Reichstag, Private Alexander Kharkov, a Katyusha gunner from the 92nd Guards Mortar Regiment. How could he have known that this particular chintz cloth, one of several, would become the Victory Banner?
Second version: The banner was kept in the political department of the 150th Infantry Division. Mostly women worked there, who began to be demobilized in the summer of 1945. They decided to keep a souvenir for themselves, cut off a strip and divided it into pieces. This version is the most likely: in the early 70s, a woman came to the Museum of the Soviet Army, told this story and showed her scrap. They attached it to the Banner - it was in place...
4. STANDARDS OF HITLER AND VLASOV
Everyone saw the footage of fascist banners being thrown at the foot of the Mausoleum. But it is curious that the soldiers carried 200 banners and standards of the defeated German units with gloves, emphasizing that it was disgusting to even take the shafts of these standards into your hands. And they threw them onto a special platform so that the standards would not touch the pavement of Red Square. Hitler's personal standard was thrown first, the last was the banner of Vlasov's army. And in the evening of the same day, the platform and all the gloves were burned.
The victory came at a high price...
5. THE DATE OF THE PARADE WAS DETERMINED BY THE WORK OF... SEWING FACTORIES
The directive on preparations for the parade was sent to the troops a month in advance, at the end of May. And the exact date of the parade was determined by the time required for Moscow garment factories to sew 10 thousand sets of ceremonial uniforms for soldiers and the time required for sewing uniforms for officers and generals in the atelier.
6. HOW THE LUCKY PEOPLE WERE SELECTED FOR THE PARTY REGIMENTS
To participate in the Victory Parade, it was necessary to go through a strict selection: not only feats and merits were taken into account, but also the appearance corresponding to the appearance of the victorious warrior, and that he be at least 170 cm tall. It is not for nothing that in the newsreels all the participants in the parade are simply handsome, especially pilots. Going to Moscow, the lucky ones did not yet know that they would have to practice drill for 10 hours a day for three and a half minutes of flawless march along Red Square.
7. THE AIR MARCH HAD TO BE CANCELED
Fifteen minutes before the start of the parade, it began to rain and turned into downpour. It only cleared up in the evening. Because of this, the aerial part of the parade was cancelled.
Standing on the podium of the Mausoleum, Stalin was dressed in a raincoat and rubber boots - depending on the weather. But the marshals were soaked through. Rokossovsky's wet ceremonial uniform, when dry, shrunk so that it was impossible to remove it - he had to rip it open.
That day, heavy summer rain did not spoil the joy of Muscovites.
Zhukov's ceremonial speech survived. It is interesting that in its margins someone carefully wrote down all the intonations with which the marshal was supposed to pronounce this text.
The most interesting notes: “Quiet, more severe” - on the words “Four years ago, Nazi hordes of bandits attacked our country.” “Louder, with increasing intensity” - on the boldly underlined phrase “The Red Army, under the leadership of its brilliant commander, launched a decisive offensive.” But “quieter, more penetrating” - starting with the sentence “We won the victory at the cost of heavy sacrifices.”
9. HOW MANY VICTORY PARADES WERE TOTAL?
Few people know that there were four epoch-making parades in 1945. The first in importance, undoubtedly, is the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945 on Red Square in Moscow. Three more little-known parades were dedicated to the end of the Great Patriotic War and the victory of the United Nations in World War II, the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
The parade of Soviet troops in Berlin took place on May 4, 1945 at the Brandenburg Gate, and was hosted by the military commandant of Berlin, General N. Berzarin.
The Allied Victory Parade was held in Berlin on September 7, 1945. This was Zhukov’s proposal after the Moscow Victory Parade. A combined regiment of a thousand men and armored units participated from each allied nation. But the 52 IS-2 tanks from our 2nd Guards Tank Army aroused general admiration.
The Victory Parade of Soviet troops in Harbin on September 16, 1945 was reminiscent of the first parade in Berlin: our soldiers marched in field uniform. Tanks and self-propelled guns brought up the rear of the column.
10. VICTORY DAY HAS NOT BEEN A HOLIDAY FOR TWENTY YEARS...
After the parade on June 24, 1945, Victory Day was not widely celebrated and was an ordinary working day. Only in 1965 did Victory Day become a public holiday. After the collapse of the USSR, Victory Parades were not held until 1995.
Frisky horses gracefully carried Marshals of Victory Georgy Zhukov (in front) and Konstantin Rokossovsky across Red Square.
Where did the Idol come from?
Zhukov's horse was a Terek breed, light gray in color, named Kumir. Few people know that Idol also took part in the legendary military parade on November 7, 1941. Then the commander of the first squadron of the NKVD cavalry regiment, Ivan Maksimets, was in the saddle. It is curious that Maksimets survived the war and participated in the Victory Parade: he walked on foot in the combined regiment. The horses for Zhukov and Rokossovsky were specially accustomed to the roar of engines and the sounds of the orchestra, and the marshals themselves trained and got used to them in the arena for a whole month.
STATISTICS
At the parade, the combined regiments of 11 fronts marched in a solemn march in the following order: Karelian, Leningrad, 1st and 2nd Baltic, 3rd, 2nd and 1st Belorussian, 1st, 4th, 2nd and the 3rd Ukrainian, consolidated regiment of the Navy. As part of the regiment of the 1st Belorussian Front, representatives of the Polish Army marched in a special column.
The parade also included “boxes” of the Commissariat of Defense (1), military academies (8), military and Suvorov schools (4), the Moscow garrison (1), cavalry brigade (1), artillery, mechanized, airborne and tank units and divisions (by special calculation).
As well as a combined military orchestra of 1,400 people.
The duration of the parade is 2 hours 09 minutes. 10 sec.
Of these, the passage:
Infantry - 36 min.
Cavalry - 4 min.
Artillery - 29 min.
Armored vehicles - 21 min.
The parade included 24 marshals, 249 generals, 2,536 officers, 31,116 privates and sergeants.
More than 1,850 pieces of military equipment passed through Red Square.
PARADE PARTICIPANTS SPEAK
Mikhail BELOKON, Belorussian Front: “They even kissed our feet”
I was among those who threw Nazi banners at the Mausoleum. There was so much joy! It was a sigh, a deep sigh of people after 1418 days of war. And after the parade, Muscovites picked us up and carried us 800 meters in their arms. They kissed us on the forehead, lips, even kissed our feet. When the war began, I was only 15 years old, and at the front I was 16 years old, and at 17 I was already wounded. Then, after being wounded, he was again at the front. And in both cases I was a scout, a field scout!
Konstantin LEVIKIN, Ukrainian Front: “It’s a pity there was no demonstration!”
We passed the Intercession Cathedral onto Kuibyshev Street, and at that time people gathered on all the streets adjacent to Red Square. People were going to participate in the demonstration, it was scheduled for that day, due to heavy rain it was canceled, but they did not leave. We walked at a free pace, and suddenly they began to throw flowers at our feet. And then the smart Sergeant Maksimenko shouted: “Brothers, let’s press with our left!” - and we switched to drill, began to print a step without any command from the officers, and the officers themselves followed our example.”
Interesting and useful information for schoolchildren about the Victory Day holiday.
On May 9, Russia celebrates Victory Day. Victory Day over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. The war began on June 22, 1941. Our entire people rose up to fight the Nazi invaders: queues formed at the military registration and enlistment offices, sometimes they went to the front straight from school. Only women, children and old people remained in the rear. They worked in factories, dug trenches, built defensive structures, and extinguished incendiary bombs on roofs. They also raised children and saved the future of the country. The main motto of the entire people was: “Everything for the front, everything for victory!”
But despite the heroic resistance, the enemy was uncontrollably approaching Moscow. To deceive the German pilots who bombed Moscow, houses and trees were painted on the Kremlin wall. The domes of the Kremlin cathedrals did not shine with gold: they were painted black, and the walls were covered with green and black stripes. Our fighters also blocked the path of enemy aircraft. A division under the command of General Panfilov fought on the approaches to Moscow. At the Dubosekovo railway crossing, twenty-eight of our soldiers with political instructor Vasily Klochkov stopped a fascist tank column. Before the start of the fierce battle, Klochkov uttered a phrase that became historical: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind.” Almost all of Panfilov’s heroes died, but did not allow enemy tanks to approach Moscow.
As Hitler's army moved east, partisan detachments began to appear in the territories occupied by the Germans. Partisans blew up fascist trains, organized ambushes and surprise raids.
Berlin has fallen. The war of the Soviet and other peoples against German fascism ended in complete victory. But the price of this victory was great and bitter. Our country lost about 27 million people in this terrible war.
On May 9, 1945, Moscow was illuminated with fireworks to the long-awaited victory. Our entire country celebrated the first day of peace with jubilation. Muscovites left their homes and hurried to Red Square. On the streets, the military was hugged, kissed, grabbed and swung, thrown over the heads of the seething sea of people. At midnight, an unprecedented fireworks display burst out. Thirty salvoes were fired from a thousand guns.
The holiday of May 9 has become sacred for each of us. We should all remember the past and give thanks older generation for the Great Victory.
How to spend May 9th with your family
You should definitely congratulate all veterans you know on this holiday. The fascist fanatics prepared a terrible fate for many peoples. They wanted to wipe out entire nations from the face of the earth, leaving them without a future - without children. There was not a single family in our country to whom this war did not bring grief. And we all, born after this terrible war, should be grateful for our lives to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War! On this day, buy some carnations with your mom or dad and go to the city park. You will probably see people there with orders and medals on their chests. There are fewer and fewer heroes of that war every year. Come and congratulate such a person on the holiday, give him a flower or just a card. He will be very pleased that even the smallest Russians remember his feat.
And in the evening, when the whole family gets together, ask your parents to show you the family album. Surely there will be photographs of your great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers during the war years. These photographs are black and white, sometimes rusty with age. Let adults remember the names and surnames of those who look at you from the album pages, remember where your great-grandfathers worked and served during and after the war. If the photos are not signed, sign them together with mom and dad. Then you can look through and sign dad’s army photos or mom and dad’s student photos. And now your childhood photographs are smiling from the album. They are bright, elegant, colorful. This is exactly what those who will forever remain “black and white” dreamed of and fought for. All photographs must be signed. Because memory is short-lived. And “what is written with a pen cannot be cut out with an axe.” Someday you yourself will leaf through this album with your son or daughter and tell them the story of your family. In Rus', it has long been about people who do not remember family traditions, they said dismissively: “Ivan, who doesn’t remember his kinship.” Let's protect, preserve and enhance the history and traditions of our family!
You can end this slightly sad holiday with songs from the war years. They are known and loved in everyone Russian family. And, of course, the main song of this holiday is “Victory Day”. Before everyone sings it together, you need to stand up and take a minute of silence to honor the memory of all the fallen soldiers from the front and rear.
Song "Victory Day"
Music: David Tukhmanov
Words: Vladimir Kharitonov
Victory Day,
how far he was from us,
Like in an extinguished fire
the coal was melting.
There were miles
burnt, in dust, -
We are approaching this day
as best they could.
Chorus:
This Victory Day
smelled like gunpowder
It's a holiday
with gray hair at the temples.
This is joy
with tears in my eyes.
Victory Day!
Victory Day!
Victory Day!
Days and nights
at open hearth furnaces
Our Motherland did not close
Days and nights
fought a difficult battle -
We are approaching this day
as best they could.
Chorus.
Hello mom,
Not all of us returned...
Would like to go for a run barefoot
We walked half of Europe,
half the Earth, -
We are approaching this day
as best they could.
Chorus.
May 9. Victory Day in World War II. Day of the legendary victory over fascism and Day of Remembrance of fallen soldiers. In January 1945, Soviet troops launched an offensive in Central Poland and East Prussia (forcing the Nazi command to transfer some troops from the Western Front to the Eastern Front), and in the south they continued their victorious advance in the Balkan direction. The Allied armies drove German units out of the Rhineland and the Ruhr Basin and advanced to the Elbe River, as well as on the central and southern sectors of the front.
Hitler, who survived four assassination attempts, committed suicide on April 30, 1945 - before Berlin surrendered May 2 after the assault by troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian fronts.
May 7, 1945 Representatives of Admiral Karl Dönitz, Hitler's successor as head of state, signed the act of unconditional surrender to the Western Allies at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims.
May 8 In Berlin, Field Marshal Keitel signed the act of surrender in the presence of representatives of the Soviet military command. The entire territory of Germany was occupied by Soviet, British, American and French troops. In the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst at 22 hours 43 minutes Central European time (the next day has already arrived in Moscow) signed final act of military surrender of Germany. On behalf of the German Supreme High Command, the act was signed by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht, Field Marshal W. Keitel, the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces, Admiral von Friedeburg, and Colonel General of Aviation G. Yu. Stumpf. The Soviet Union was represented by the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov, allies - British Air Chief Marshal A. Tedder. The commander of the US Strategic Air Forces, General K. Spaats, and the Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, General J. M. De Lattre de Tassigny, were present as witnesses.
Even before the signing of the act, I.V. Stalin signed a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR about the proclamation May 9 Victory Day. On the morning of May 9, the Decree was read by announcer Levitan on the radio.
Little-known facts about May 9 and Victory Parades
May 8 and 9 - different dates of Victory
Berlin was captured on May 2, 1945. But the fascist troops resisted for another week. The final surrender was signed on the night of May 9. According to Moscow time it was at 00:43 on May 9, and according to Central European time at 22:43 on May 8.
That is why in Europe the 8th is considered a holiday. But there, unlike the post-Soviet space, they celebrate not Victory Day, but Reconciliation Day. On this day the victims of Nazism are honored. In the USA, two holidays are celebrated - Victory Day in Europe and Victory Day in Japan (V-E Day and V-J Day).
Red flag over the Reichstag
On the night of May 1, 1945, a red flag was hoisted over the Reichstag, which later became the Victory Banner. According to the official version, this was done by Alexey Berest, Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria, although they say that several groups with flags climbed to the roof of the Reichstag at once, and there is still debate about who was first.
One way or another, the symbol of victory was Yevgeny Khaldei’s photo “Banner of Victory over the Reichstag” with supposedly Egorov, Kantaria and Berest. However, in fact, the photo is staged; the roles of standard bearers were played by Alexey Kovalev, Abdulkhakim Ismailov and Leonid Gorichev. Khaldei took them on May 2, when Berlin had already been taken, and the photo was subsequently greatly edited. Smoke was added to the negative, as if the battle was still going on. The soldier's watch below was missing from the photo so that Soviet soldiers would not be accused of looting or seizing trophies.
Another version of the photo showed a tank in front of the Brandenburg Gate and fighter jets in the sky.
Cut Victory Banner
The Victory Banner itself also survived a lot. He was not at the first parade in Moscow. It just turned out that the standard bearers who took the Reichstag did not shine with combat training. They did not appoint others for the parade, and they decided not to take out the flag. Later it turned out that someone cut a strip 3 cm wide from the Victory Banner. There is a version that the Katyusha gunner who stormed the Reichstag, or the workers of the political department of the 150th Infantry Division, took it as a souvenir.
First Victory Parade
The first Victory Parade took place on June 24, 1945. It was planned to be held at the end of May. But the date was determined by the garment factories, which produced 10 thousand sets of ceremonial uniforms for soldiers. Participants in the parade were selected according to their height - no lower than 170 cm and were subjected to 10 hours of drill a day.
On June 24, heavy rain spoiled everyone’s mood. Because of it, the aviation flight was cancelled. The participants were thoroughly wet. Marshal Rokossovsky's uniform shrank so much that he had to be ripped open to remove it.
The parade was hosted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov on his silver-white horse Idol. Actually, Stalin should have been in his place as commander-in-chief, but he was sitting on the podium. It turned out that the Generalissimo fell from the restive Idol, which Budyonny had chosen for him, during a rehearsal. Stalin told Zhukov that he would take part in the parade on horseback, but always on this hot horse. Zhukov coped with the task perfectly.
Victory Day was not celebrated in the Soviet Union for 17 years. Since 1948, for a long time, this “most important” holiday today was not actually celebrated and was a working day (instead, January 1 was made a day off, which had not been a day off since 1930). It was first widely celebrated in the USSR only almost two decades later - in the anniversary year of 1965. At the same time, Victory Day again became a non-working day.
5 million 691 thousand liters of vodka were drunk in December 1942 alone.
Some historians attribute the cancellation of the holiday to the fact that the Soviet government was pretty afraid of independent and active veterans. Officially, it was ordered: to forget about the war, to devote all efforts to restoring the national economy destroyed by the war.
For 10 years after Victory Day, the Soviet Union was formally at war with Germany. It turned out that, having accepted the surrender of the German command, the Soviet Union decided not to sign peace with Germany, and thereby remained at war with it. And only on January 25, 1955, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree “On ending the state of war between the Soviet Union and Germany,” thereby legally formalizing the end of hostilities.
The number of Soviet citizens killed during the Great Patriotic War increased from 7 to 43 million.
The Soviet government was not eager to engage in a real calculation of losses during the fighting. Therefore, immediately after the end of the war, Joseph Stalin “out of thin air” took the figure of 7 million people. True, in the West they immediately noted that this figure does not correspond to reality. However, the number was not revised until Stalin's death.
After the “cult of personality” was debunked, this figure increased to “more than 20 million” (the then Secretary General Khrushchev said this). The real study of losses began only in the late 1980s. Then they already started talking about almost 30 million. According to the assessment of the Russian publicist Boris Sokolov, the total human losses of the USSR in 1939-1945. - 43 million 448 thousand people, and the total number of deaths in the ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1941-1945. - 26.4 million people (of which 4 million people died in captivity). If you believe his data, then the ratio of losses of Red Army and Wehrmacht soldiers on the Eastern Front reaches 10:1. However, the question of the number of deaths still remains open, and it is unlikely that a definitive answer will ever be given.
80 thousand Soviet officers during the Great Patriotic War were women.
In general, from 600 thousand to 1 million representatives of the fairer sex fought at the front in different periods. For the first time in world history, women's military formations appeared in the Armed Forces of the USSR. In particular, 3 aviation regiments were formed from female volunteers: the 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment (the Germans called the warriors from this unit “night witches”), the 125th Guards Bomber Regiment, and the 586th Air Defense Fighter Regiment. A separate women's volunteer rifle brigade and a separate women's reserve brigade were also created rifle regiment. Women snipers were trained by the Central Women's Sniper School. In addition, a separate female company of sailors was created. It is worth noting that the weaker sex fought quite successfully. Thus, 87 women received the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” during the Great Patriotic War.
It is interesting that, according to secret annexes to the resolutions of the State Defense Committee, it was recorded: at all stages of the war, victorious and failed, the Red Army drank approximately the same. For example, already in December 1943, the Red Army “consumed” 5 million 665 thousand liters.
True, not everyone was supposed to have strong drinks. On July 20, 1941, the main “supplier” of the USSR, Anastas Mikoyan, proposed in his resolution “to establish, starting from September 1, 1941, the distribution of 40-proof vodka in the amount of 100 grams per day per person to the Red Army soldiers and the commanding staff of the active army.” But Stalin, after the words “composition,” added “first-line troops.” Like, if you want a drink, go fight, and don’t sit in the rear.
About 400 thousand awards and medals were not given to Soviet veterans.
Moreover, by the end of the Great Patriotic War, about three million awards had not been awarded. In addition to the high rotation of personnel (some were transferred, others to the infirmary, and many died), the reason for this delay was the banal shortage of orders and medals themselves. We didn’t have time to release them.
Immediately after the war, the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, archival services, and military registration and enlistment offices began to actively search for the awardees. By 1956, nearly a million awards had been given out. Then the search essentially stopped. They were issued only if citizens applied. Over the following decades, about half a million more orders and medals were awarded. However, the remaining 400 thousand orders are unlikely to ever find their heroes: there are practically no real veterans left alive.
More than 400 people accomplished a feat similar to “Matrosov’s.”
The first to go to the embrasure was the junior political instructor of the tank company, Alexander Pankratov. On August 24, 1941, in the battles for the defense of Novgorod, Pankratov covered an enemy machine gun with himself, which allowed the Red Army soldiers to occupy a bridgehead without losses. In general, before the “hyped” Alexander Matrosov, 58 people accomplished a similar feat.
334 settlements in Ukraine were burned by the German Nazis along with all their inhabitants.
The largest town destroyed by the invaders was Koryukivka, Chernigov region. In two days, 1,290 out of 1,300 houses were burned, about 7 thousand residents of the town were killed and burned.
According to historians Drobyazko and Romanko, during the war about 400 thousand policemen went into service with the Germans. True, this figure is quite arbitrary, since it is not possible to verify it. Firstly, units of the regular army of the USSR tried not to take policemen prisoner. They were destroyed immediately. In addition, starting in 1942, many began to join the partisans. By 1944, such transitions had become widespread, and only the police, whose hands were bloody up to their elbows, remained loyal to the Germans.
