By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin dated June 8, 1996 No. 857 in Russia, June 22 was declared the “Day of Memory and Sorrow.”

On this day, state flags are lowered at half-mast on the territory of the Russian Federation. All cultural institutions, television channels and radio stations are recommended not to include entertainment events and programs in their programs on this day.

June 22 is celebrated in Belarus (the official name is “Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War”) and in Ukraine (“Day of Mourning and Honoring the Memory of War Victims”).

Introduction.

June 22, 1941 is one of the saddest dates in the history of Russia - the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow - the day the Great Patriotic War began.

This day reminds us of all those who died in battle, were tortured in fascist captivity, and died in the rear from hunger and deprivation. We mourn for everyone who, at the cost of their lives, fulfilled their sacred duty, defending our Fatherland in those harsh years.

Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, without declaring war, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, inflicting a massive blow on military and strategic targets and many cities. Thus began the Great Patriotic War, which lasted 1,418 days and nights, and in which the USSR lost about 27 million people, but was able to survive.

In a difficult, bloody war, the Soviet people made a decisive contribution to the liberation of the peoples of Europe from fascist rule and to the defeat of Hitler’s troops. In many countries, on this day, national flags are lowered and they remember this war and those who died in it. On this day, various commemorative events are held with the lighting of candles, laying flowers at monuments and memorials.

Citizens of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus honor the memory of their compatriots, relatives and friends who fought for the freedom of their Motherland.

The night of June 21-22, 1941. Darkness. Fog. Silence. But the silence is unsettling. The border guards listen carefully. On the opposite bank of the Bug, Nazi troops are completing their final preparations. Thousands of guns are aimed, bombs are attached to planes, tanks are refueled.

Time “X” is approaching - 3.15 (4.15 Moscow time)… Rumble. Explosions. Smoke from fires. Screams of the wounded, cries of women and children. The groan of the earth itself...

At 21:00 on Saturday, June 21, soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant’s office (Ukraine, modern Lviv region) detained a German soldier who swam across the Bug River.
However, there was no time left. Head of the 90th border detachment M.S. Bychkovsky outlined the situation as follows:

“...Due to the fact that the translators in the detachment are weak, I called a German teacher from the city, who speaks excellent German, and Liskov again repeated the same thing, that is, that the Germans were preparing to attack the USSR at dawn on June 22, 1941. He called himself a communist and stated that he had come specifically to warn on his own initiative.

Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, I heard heavy artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant’s office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken..."

The Great Patriotic War began.

G.K. Zhukov recalls: “At about 24 hours on June 21, the commander of the Kyiv district M.P. Kirponos, who was at his command post in Ternopil, reported via HF that another German soldier had appeared in our units - the 222nd Infantry Regiment 74 1st Infantry Division. He swam across the river, appeared to the border guards and reported that at 4 o'clock the German troops would go on the offensive. M.P. Kirponos was ordered to quickly transmit the directive to the troops to put them on combat readiness...”

However, there was no time left.

The first message about the start of the war arrived at the General Staff at 3:07 a.m. on June 22, 1941.

Zhukov writes: “At 3:07 a.m. the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, F.S., called me on HF. Oktyabrsky and reported: “The fleet’s VNOS [air surveillance, warning and communications] system reports the approach of a large number of unknown aircraft from the sea; the fleet is in full combat readiness. I ask for instructions."

“At 4 o’clock I spoke with F.S. again. Oktyabrsky. He reported in a calm tone: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike the ships was foiled. But there is destruction in the city."

As can be seen from these lines, the start of the war did not take the Black Sea Fleet by surprise. The air raid was repulsed.

03.30: Chief of Staff of the Western District, General Klimovskikh, reported on an enemy air raid on the cities of Belarus.

03:33 The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reported on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine.

03:40: The commander of the Baltic district, General Kuznetsov, reported on the raid on Kaunas and other cities...

Thus, at dawn on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. Its aircraft carried out a massive attack on airfields, railway junctions, naval bases, military bases and many cities to a depth of 250-300 kilometers from the state border.

Romania, Italy, and a few days later Hungary, Slovakia and Finland opposed the USSR.

Some examples of heroic defense of the borders of our Motherland:

Fascist troops went on the offensive along the entire front. Not everywhere the attack developed according to the scenario conceived by the German General Staff. The Black Sea Fleet repelled the air raid. In the south and north, the Wehrmacht failed to gain an overwhelming advantage. Here heavy positional battles ensued.

Army Group North came across fierce resistance from Soviet tankers near the city of Alytus. Capturing the crossing of the Neman was critical for the advancing German forces. Here, units of the 3rd Tank Group of the Nazis stumbled upon organized resistance from the 5th Tank Division.

Only dive bombers managed to break the resistance of Soviet tankers. The 5th Panzer Division did not have air cover and, under the threat of destruction of manpower and materiel, began to retreat.

Bombers dived at Soviet tanks before noon on June 23. The division lost almost all its armored vehicles and, in fact, ceased to exist. However, on the first day of the war, the tankers did not leave the line and stopped the advance of fascist troops deeper into the country.

The main blow of the German troops fell on Belarus. Here the Brest Fortress stood in the way of the Nazis. In the first seconds of the war, a hail of bombs fell on the city, followed by heavy artillery fire. After which units of the 45th Infantry Division went on the attack.

The hurricane fire of the Nazis took the defenders of the fortress by surprise. However, the garrison, numbering 7-8 thousand people, offered fierce resistance to the advancing German units.

By mid-day on June 22, the Brest Fortress was completely surrounded. Part of the garrison managed to escape from the “cauldron”; part was blocked and continued to resist.

By the evening of the first day of the war, the Nazis managed to capture the southwestern part of the fortress city, the northeast was under the control of Soviet troops. Foci of resistance remained in fascist-controlled territories.

Despite complete encirclement and overwhelming superiority in men and equipment, the Nazis were unable to break the resistance of the defenders of the Brest Fortress. Skirmishes continued here until November 1941.

05:30. Hitler announces the start of war with the USSR

On June 22, 1941, at 5:30 a.m., Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels read out in a special broadcast of Greater German Radio Adolf Hitler's appeal to the German people in connection with the start of the war against the Soviet Union.

“...Today there are 160 Russian divisions on our border,” the address said, in particular. - In recent weeks, there have been continuous violations of this border, not only ours, but also in the far north and in Romania. Russian pilots amuse themselves by carelessly flying over this border, as if they want to show us that they already feel like masters of this territory. On the night of June 17–18, Russian patrols again invaded Reich territory and were driven out only after a lengthy firefight. But now the hour has come when it is necessary to speak out against this conspiracy of the Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also the Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow.

German people! At the moment, the greatest troop movement in terms of length and volume that the world has ever seen is taking place. In alliance with their Finnish comrades are the victorious fighters at Narvik near the Arctic Ocean. German divisions under the command of the conqueror of Norway defend Finnish soil together with Finnish heroes of the struggle for freedom under the command of their marshal. Formations of the German Eastern Front were deployed from East Prussia to the Carpathians. On the banks of the Prut and in the lower reaches of the Danube to the Black Sea coast, Romanian and German soldiers unite under the command of the head of state Antonescu.

The task of this front is no longer to protect individual countries, but to ensure the security of Europe and thereby save everyone.

Therefore, today I have decided to once again place the fate and future of the German Reich and our people in the hands of our soldiers. May the Lord help us in this struggle!”

12:00. Radio speech by V.M. Molotov

At noon on June 22, 1941, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov read out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union:

“CITIZENS AND CITIZENS OF THE SOVIET UNION!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities from their planes - Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

This unheard of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized nations. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the terms of this treaty in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire duration of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the Soviet Union regarding the implementation of the treaty. All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

After the attack, the German Ambassador in Moscow Schulenburg at 5:30 a.m. made me, as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, a statement on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the Soviet Union in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near eastern German border.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not make any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany carried out an attack on the Soviet Union, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany is the attacking party .

On behalf of the government of the Soviet Union, I must also state that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by Romanian radio this morning that Soviet aviation allegedly fired at Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. The entire today’s declaration by Hitler, who is trying to retroactively concoct incriminating material about the Soviet Union’s non-compliance with the Soviet-German Pact, is the same lie and provocation.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repel the bandit attack and expel German troops from the territory of our homeland.

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intellectuals, whose suffering we well understand, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples .

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to the Soviet people, and will deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon’s campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War and Napoleon was defeated and came to his collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for their homeland, for honor, for freedom.

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm confidence that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intellectuals, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due consciousness. Our entire people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and from others discipline, organization, and dedication worthy of a true Soviet patriot in order to provide all the needs of the Red Army, Navy and Air Force to ensure victory over the enemy.

The government calls on you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks even more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader, Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

23:00 (GMT). Speech by Winston Churchill on BBC radio.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a statement on June 22 at 23:00 GMT in connection with the aggression of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.

“...The Nazi regime has the worst features of communism,” in particular, he said on BBC radio. “He has no foundations or principles other than greed and the desire for racial domination. In its cruelty and furious aggressiveness it surpasses all forms of human depravity. Over the past 25 years, no one has been a more consistent opponent of communism than me. I won't take back a single word I said about him. But all this pales in comparison to the spectacle now unfolding. The past with its crimes, follies and tragedies disappears.

I see Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields that their fathers have cultivated since time immemorial.

I see them guarding their homes, where their mothers and wives pray - yes, for there are times when everyone prays - for the safety of their loved ones, for the return of their breadwinner, their protector and support.

I see tens of thousands of Russian villages, where livelihoods are torn from the ground with such difficulty, but where primordial human joys exist, where girls laugh and children play.

I see the vile Nazi war machine approaching all this with its dapper, spur-clanging Prussian officers, with its skilled agents who have just pacified and tied a dozen countries hand and foot.

I also see a gray, trained, obedient mass of fierce Hun soldiers, advancing like clouds of crawling locusts.

I see in the sky German bombers and fighters with still unhealed scars from the wounds inflicted on them by the British, rejoicing that they have found, as it seems to them, easier and more certain prey.

Behind all this noise and thunder, I see a bunch of villains who are planning, organizing and bringing this avalanche of disasters upon humanity... I must declare the decision of His Majesty's Government, and I am sure that the great dominions will agree with this decision in due time, for we must speak out immediately, without a single day of delay. I must make a statement, but can you doubt what our policy will be?

We have only one unchanging goal. We are determined to destroy Hitler and all traces of the Nazi regime. Nothing can turn us away from this, nothing. We will never come to an agreement, we will never enter into negotiations with Hitler or with anyone from his gang. We will fight him on land, we will fight him by sea, we will fight him in the air, until, with God's help, we have rid the earth of his very shadow and freed the nations from his yoke. Any person or state that fights against Nazism will receive our help. Any person or state that goes with Hitler is our enemy...

This is our policy, this is our statement. It follows that We will provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can..."

And there were 1418 days of pain and feat of the Soviet people.

A difficult bloody war, which lasted 1,418 days and nights, ended on May 9, 1945 with the complete defeat of the countries of the fascist bloc. The total human losses of the USSR during the war amounted to 26.6 million people.

Of these, more than 8.7 million died on the battlefields, 7.42 million people were deliberately exterminated by the Nazis in occupied territories, and more than 4.1 million died from the brutal conditions of the occupation regime. 5.27 million people were taken to hard labor in Germany and neighboring countries, which were also under German occupation. Of these, a little more than half returned to their homeland - 2.65 million people, 450 thousand immigrated, 2.16 million people died in captivity.

Memorial Day in modern Russia.

Until 1992, the day the Great Patriotic War began was not an official memorial date. By a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation of July 13, 1992, this day was declared the Day of Remembrance of Defenders of the Fatherland.

On October 24, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the law “On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia”, which included a new one - June 22 - Day of Remembrance and Sorrow - the day of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (1941) in the list of memorable dates.

On June 22, in memory of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, state flags are lowered at half-mast on Russian territory. In cultural institutions, on television and radio, entertainment events and programs are canceled throughout the day.

On this day, the country's leaders lay funeral wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.

On this day, the peoples of Russia mourn for all compatriots who defended their Fatherland at the cost of their lives or became victims of wars, especially the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Residents of Russia remember the beginning of the Great Patriotic War with a minute of silence and the ringing of bells; various patriotic events are held throughout the country. In many cities, the first commemorative events take place at the hour when the war began.

On the eve of the anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, the traditional youth patriotic event “Memory Train” dedicated to the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow starts every year. Trains from Moscow and St. Petersburg depart to Minsk and Brest. The main goal of the action is direct communication between representatives of different generations on the road, which gives young people the opportunity to hear the stories of war participants.

According to tradition, in the Brest Fortress on the Ceremonial Square of the memorial complex, on June 22 at four o’clock in the morning, the requiem meeting “Let us bow to those great years” begins, in which passengers of the “Memory Train” take part. Every year, young people lower wreaths with candles, which were lit from the Eternal Flame of the memorial, into the waters of the Bug River.

Since 1996, in the center of Moscow near the Eternal Flame in the Alexander Garden, an open patriotic event “Memory Watch” has been held annually. Eternal Flame”, during which each participant lights a Memory Candle to pay tribute to the heroic deeds of the courageous Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War.

In 2015, the campaign “Memory Watch. Eternal Flame 2015” became officially all-Russian and was held according to a single standard in hero cities and cities of military glory.

In 2009, a “Memory Alley” was opened on Vorobyovy Gory in Moscow, where on June 22 at 4.00, young people, together with veterans, light candles in memory of the dead and tie bells on tree branches so that their ringing reminds of the price at which Victory was won.

On this day, since 2009, the memorial campaign “Candle of Memory June 22 - Candle of Memory on My Window” has been held annually. More than 1,200 cities and towns in Russia traditionally take part in it.

In 2015, the “Line of Memory” event was held for the first time in Moscow, during which people with burning candles in their hands came to the Crimean embankment.

Conclusion.

And the mustacheless boys went straight from school to battle, and from battle to immortality. And they received the funeral of their mother and wife. And the native land cried under the enemy occupiers. And it entered every family - war. The holy war that our huge country has embarked on. And she didn’t just survive. We won. At the cost of millions of lives. And we must not forget this. And rewriting history today is a crime! And to call in domestic textbooks the Great Patriotic War, which took the lives of millions of soldiers, children, old people, women, is blasphemy...

Today is a day of mourning, a day of grief, a day of remembrance. Everyone whose fathers and grandfathers gave their lives near Moscow, Stalingrad, Prague, Berlin... Who died of hunger in Leningrad, who shed blood on Mamayev Kurgan, who stood to the last drop of blood in Brest, who fought for Odessa, who lay down on the Kursk Bulge who met the last hour on the Oder... Who was tortured in the dungeons of Buchenwald, who died under torture, who went into the forest as a partisan and died destroying the Nazis... Who, having forgotten about childhood and youth, posthumously earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union... Who went into the last ram... Who pulled the wounded out of the battlefield and covered them with his body... Who prepared shells for the front... Who cried with happiness on May 9, 1945, hearing the long-awaited news of Victory on the radio...

Let us not forget the feat of our fathers and grandfathers. Let us not consign their feat to oblivion.

The first and most difficult day of the Great Patriotic War

The implementation of Hitler's Barbarossa plan began at dawn on June 22, 1941. It was at this time that the Wehrmacht troops concentrated on the USSR border received the order to begin the invasion.

That first day of the war began unusually early not only for the troops of the western border military districts, but also for the Soviet people living in the border regions of the USSR. At dawn, hundreds of German bombers invaded Soviet airspace. They bombed airfields, troop locations in the western border districts, railway junctions, communication lines and other important facilities, as well as large cities in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova.

At the same time, Wehrmacht troops concentrated along the entire length of the State Border of the USSR opened hurricane artillery fire on border outposts, fortified areas, as well as formations and units of the Red Army stationed in the immediate vicinity. After artillery and aviation training, they crossed the State Border of the USSR over a huge distance - from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

The Great Patriotic War began - the most difficult of all wars ever experienced by Russia and its people.

Germany and its allies (Finland, Romania and Hungary)

a powerful group was deployed for the war against the Soviet Union,

numbering 190 divisions, 5.5 million people, over 47 thousand guns and mortars,

about 4,300 tanks and assault guns, 4,200 aircraft.

They were united in three army groups - “North”, “Center” and “South”,

which were intended to strike in the directions of Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv.

The immediate strategic goal of the German military leadership was the defeat of Soviet troops in the Baltic states, Belarus and Right Bank Ukraine.

The main attacks of the Wehrmacht were aimed at Leningrad, Moscow and Kyiv. The efforts of one of the army groups were concentrated in each direction.

The troops of Army Group North, deployed in East Prussia, advanced on Leningrad. They were supposed to destroy Soviet troops in the Baltic states, capture ports on the Baltic Sea and the North-Western regions of the USSR. In cooperation with this group of armies, a little later the German Army “Norway” and the Karelian Army of the Finns were to act with the task of capturing Murmansk. The enemy group directly operating in the Baltic direction was opposed by the troops of the Baltic Special Military District under the command of General F.I. Kuznetsov, and in the Murmansk sector the troops of the Leningrad Military District, which was headed by General M.M. Popov.

In the main Moscow direction, troops of Army Group Center operated, which were supposed to defeat Soviet troops in Belarus and develop an offensive to the East. In this direction, cover of the State Border of the USSR was carried out by troops of the Western Special Military District under the command of General D.G. Pavlova.

Army Group South, deployed from Wlodawa to the mouth of the Danube, struck in the general direction of Kyiv. This grouping of enemy troops was opposed by the forces of the Kyiv Special Military District, commanded by General M.P. Kirponos and the Odessa Military District under the command of General Ya.T. Cherevichenko.

In Moscow, the first reports of the invasion came from border guards. “Offensive along the entire front. Border guard units are fighting... - the command of the Bialystok border section reported to the Main Directorate of Border Troops, - The Germans are advancing in Kretinga... Bialystok.” At the same time, the General Staff received similar information from the western border districts. At about 4 o'clock in the morning his superior, General G.K. Zhukov reported to I.V. Stalin about what happened.

Only an hour and a half after the invasion of Wehrmacht troops on Soviet territory, the German Ambassador to the USSR F. Schulenburg arrived to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov, and gave him an official note from his government, which stated: “In view of the further intolerable threat, due to the massive concentration ... of the armed forces of the Red Army. The German government considers itself forced to immediately take military countermeasures." However, even after receiving an official document from the German embassy, ​​I.V. Stalin could not fully believe that this was war. He demanded from the People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko and Chief of the General Staff General G.K. Zhukov, so that they immediately figure out whether this was a provocation of the German generals, and ordered the troops to give orders not to cross the border until special instructions.

The whole country learned about the German attack only at 12 noon, when the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M., addressed the people on behalf of the government on the radio. Molotov. The address ended with the words that became the slogan of the Soviet people in the fight against the invaders: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

Already after the speech of V.M. Molotov, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a number of decrees aimed at mobilizing all the forces of the state to repel an attack, as well as to ensure public order and state security within the country:

• “On the announcement of mobilization on the territory of 14 military districts from June 23”;
• “On the introduction of martial law in certain areas of the USSR.”

Crowding around loudspeakers installed on the streets and industrial enterprises, people listened to Molotov’s speech, afraid to miss a word. At first, almost none of them doubted that the Red Army would need only a few weeks to defeat the enemy “with little blood, a mighty blow.” The tragedy of the situation was not fully realized by the military-political leadership of the country due to the lack of objective information from the front.

Only by the end of this day did it become clear to the head of the Soviet government that military actions on the western borders of the USSR were by no means a large-scale military provocation of Germany, but the beginning of a war - the most terrible and cruel. “At dawn on June 22, 1941, regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea,” the population of the country was informed in the first report of the Red Army High Command, “and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon... after fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the Grodno and Kristynopol directions the enemy managed to achieve minor tactical successes...”

Already in this report from the front, to some extent, all the drama of the first border battles and battles, most severe in their intensity and consequences, was visible. But then, on the first day of the war, no one could even imagine what inhuman trials would fall on the shoulders of every Soviet person, not only at the front, but also in the rear.

The population of Germany learned about the beginning of a new war from Hitler’s address to the people, which at 5:30 minutes was read out on Berlin radio by Propaganda Minister J. Goebbels. Judging by this appeal, the political leadership of Germany sought not only to justify the aggression in the eyes of the world community, but also to attract Western powers to participate in the anti-Soviet war and thereby deprive the USSR of possible allies. However, both the leaders of the leading powers and the majority of sober-minded European politicians clearly understood that the Nazis’ statements were just a propaganda trick with the help of which they hoped to justify the next act of their aggressive aspirations.

The British were the first to react. Already in the evening of the same day, British Prime Minister W. Churchill made a statement about support for the USSR in the war with Nazi Germany. He clearly formulated the purpose of British policy in the war and guaranteed a tough and consistent position for his country:

“We have only one unchanging goal. We are determined to destroy Hitler and all traces of the Nazi regime..."

He concluded his speech with promises to “provide all the help we can to Russia and the Russian people.”

The speech of the British Prime Minister had a huge resonance throughout the world. All the dots had been placed: England had clearly defined its attitude towards the Soviet Union, which had been subjected to aggression. To clarify the positions of many other states of the world, primarily the countries of the British Commonwealth, which are accustomed to traditionally rely on the opinion of London, Churchill’s speech was of fundamental importance. In a certain sense, it also influenced the position of the United States of America. True, the events taking place in Europe had little impact on the Americans. After all, they were on the sidelines of the world war. Nevertheless, on the morning of June 23, Acting Secretary of State S. Welles, on the instructions of President F. Roosevelt, made an official statement about providing assistance to the USSR. The next day, Roosevelt himself, at a press conference in the White House, said that the United States would provide all possible assistance to the USSR in its fight against Germany, but noted that it was not yet known what form it would take.

And yet, at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Western powers talked more about supporting the USSR than actually helping it. The reasons for this slowness are obvious. The temptation to strengthen one’s own positions was very great - to take advantage of the mutual weakening and exhaustion of the two irreconcilable enemies of Germany and the Soviet Union. And there was not much confidence that the Red Army would survive the battle with the seemingly invincible Wehrmacht. Indeed, already on June 22, the strike groups of German troops achieved tangible success in all directions, due to the decisive concentration by his command in the first strategic echelon of more than 80% of all forces intended for the eastern campaign - 130 divisions, 8 brigades, 3350 tanks, about 38 thousand. guns and mortars and about 5 thousand aircraft.

A blow of such force came as a complete surprise to all troops in the western border districts. They were not prepared for such a development of events. The Soviet border guards, who were the first to stand in the way of the German troops, did not expect this blow either. The enemy hoped to crush the border outposts in a short time, but he failed. The border guards fought to the death.

In extremely unfavorable conditions, the formations and covering units of the western border districts had to begin combat operations. Not brought into combat readiness in advance, they were unable to adequately repel the enemy. At half past two on the night of June 22, the headquarters of the border military districts received a directive from the People's Commissar of Defense No. 1 that on June 22 or 23, an attack on the country by the German armed forces was possible. But this document did not give permission to put into effect the plan for covering the state border in full, since it only ordered “not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications...”.

The insufficiently specific content of the order given raised many questions among commanders of all levels, and most importantly, it hindered their initiative. Thus, the directive of the Baltic Special Military District indicated to the 8th and 11th armies:

“During the night of June 22, covertly occupy the defense of the main zone... Do not issue live ammunition and shells... In the event of provocative actions by the Germans, do not open fire.”

At 2 hours 25 minutes, similar instructions to the armies were given by the military council and the Western Special Military District.

Army headquarters, having received district directives a few minutes before the start of the war, communicated this order to subordinate formations and units until 5–6 o’clock in the morning. Therefore, only a few of them were put on alert in a timely manner. The combat alarm signal for most of them was the first explosions of enemy artillery shells and aerial bombs. The commanders of the 3rd and 4th armies of the Western Special Military District managed to give only some preliminary orders to the commanders of the formations. At the headquarters of the 10th Army, the directive was received after the outbreak of hostilities. There were several reasons. On the night of June 22, throughout the entire border zone, as a result of the actions of enemy sabotage groups, wire communications at the army-corps-division link were significantly disrupted. The lack of pre-developed documents on covert command and control of troops, the low provision of headquarters with radio equipment, as well as radio fear led to the fact that they practically did not use this type of communication.

Former chief of staff of the 11th Army of the Northwestern Front, General I.T. Shlemin noted:

“On the afternoon of June 22, wire and radio communications with the district were interrupted. It was impossible to find the district... The district headquarters, receiving encrypted telegrams from the army by radio, believed that the encrypted messages were coming from the enemy, and, fearing to give away their plans and their location, decided not to respond to the army’s requests.”

As a result of the first massive enemy air strikes on troop locations, a large number of communications and transport equipment were destroyed. Already in the first hours of the war, the commander of the 3rd Army, General V.I. Kuznetsov reported to the headquarters of the Western Front:

“Wired communication with units has been disrupted; radio communication has not been established for up to 8 hours.”

A similar situation was observed at the headquarters of the 14th Mechanized Corps. Later, his commander, General S.I. Oborin also reported to the headquarters of the Western Front:

“70% of the communications battalion was killed on June 22, 1941 in the morning, during the bombing of the city of Kobrin. The headquarters of the 14th mechanized corps remained at 20% of the staff.”

Without accurate information from the troops about the development of events, commanders and staffs were unable to assess the seriousness of the situation. The People's Commissar of Defense's directive No. 1 “not to succumb to any provocations” was still in effect, which limited the decisive actions of the commanders of formations and units of the covering armies. Thus, the commander of the 3rd Army reported to the headquarters of the Western Front:

“Enemy aircraft are bombing Grodno, I’m waiting for orders from General Pavlov... artillery and machine-gun fire from the Germans... I’m waiting for instructions.”

Almost the same thing was noted by the commander of the 11th Rifle Corps of the 8th Army of the Northwestern Front, General M.S. Shumilov: “The war began at 4.00... I immediately reported to the commander of the 8th Army... I received the order: “Do not open fire, do not succumb to provocation.” But the troops returned fire without orders.

The commanders of most formations and units acted similarly in other areas covering the state border of the western border districts. Orders from above came much later. Thus, the Military Council of the Western Front sent a directive to the commanders of the 3rd, 4th and 10th armies only at 5:25 a.m.: “In view of the massive military actions that have emerged from the Germans, I order: to raise troops and act in a combat manner.”

Army aviation suffered difficult losses from enemy air strikes, most of them destroyed at airfields. 66 airfields, where the most combat-ready aviation regiments of the western border districts were stationed, were subjected to massive raids. Thus, in the 10th mixed aviation division of the 4th Army of the Western Front, more than 70% of the aircraft of the attack and fighter aviation regiments were destroyed at airfields in the Vysokoye and Pruzhany areas. By 15:00, only five or six aircraft remained in the 7th Mixed Aviation Division of the 8th Army of the Northwestern Front, the rest were destroyed. As a result, Soviet aviation lost over 1,200 aircraft that day.

From the very first hours of the war, the enemy, taking advantage of the almost complete absence of anti-aircraft weapons in military air defense units, secured complete air supremacy. Commander of the 3rd Mechanized Corps, General A.V. Kurkin, in one of his reports to the commander of the 8th Army of the North-Western Front, noted:

“...there is no our aviation. The enemy is bombing all the time.”

The troops of the western border military districts, alerted, tried to go to their cover areas, but, having no information about the situation, not knowing what was happening on the border, while still on the march, they were subjected to attacks by German aviation and its ground troops. Even before they came into contact with the enemy, they suffered huge losses. On this occasion, the commander of the 3rd Panzer Group, General G. Goth, indicated in the reporting document:

“There were no signs of purposeful and planned control of the enemy forces as a whole. Direct command and control of troops was characterized by inactivity and sketchiness... Not a single Soviet military commander made an independent decision to destroy crossings and bridges.”

In such a situation, 7 hours 15 minutes, the headquarters of the North-Western, Western and South-Western Fronts received the directive of the People's Commissar of Defense No. 2, in which the commander of the front troops was given the task: “with all forces and means, attack enemy forces and destroy them in areas where they violated the Soviet border."

However, under the current conditions, this order of the People's Commissar was impossible to implement. Already at 8 o'clock in the morning, the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal F. Bock, reported to the Wehrmacht command:

“The offensive continues successfully. Along the entire offensive front, the enemy is still offering little resistance... the enemy is taken by surprise in all sectors.”

A few documents testify to the complexity of the first day of the war. Thus, the commander of the Northwestern Front, General F.I. Kuznetsov reported to Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko:

“Large forces of tanks and motorized units are breaking through to Druskeniki. The 128th Rifle Division is mostly surrounded, there is no exact information about its condition... I cannot create a group to eliminate the breakthrough. Please help."

Head of the Operations Directorate of the Western Front, General I.I. Semenov reported to the General Staff: “There is rifle, machine gun and artillery fire along the entire border... We have no wired communications with the armies.”

Some formations and units of the front were already fighting in the encirclement during these first hours, and it was not possible to establish contact with them. From the commander of the 3rd Army, General V.I. Kuznetsov, the headquarters of the Western Front received only three combat reports from the beginning of the war until 10 a.m. From the commander of the 10th Army, General K.D. Golubev received only one message during the same time, and the commander of the 4th Army, General A.A. Korobkov was able to send his first combat report only at 6:40 am.

Nevertheless, commanders of all levels and in these difficult conditions withdrew their subordinate formations and units to their cover areas. Thus, in the Western Front zone, out of ten formations of the first echelon of the 3rd, 10th and 4th armies, three rifle divisions still managed to reach their operational areas. In the Southwestern Front, the forward units of the 62nd and 87th Infantry Divisions of the 26th Army were the first to reach the state border.

In total, 14 divisions out of 57 planned first-echelon formations were withdrawn mainly on the flanks of the Soviet-German front to cover the border on June 22. They entered the battle on the move, defended in wide stripes, in single-echelon combat formations, sometimes on terrain that was not equipped in terms of engineering, moreover, without significant artillery support, without proper air cover and anti-aircraft weapons, and with a limited amount of ammunition. In this regard, they were forced to retreat with heavy losses.

By mid-day, the Wehrmacht strike groups managed to create a large gap on the adjacent flanks of the North-Western and Western Fronts, into which the 3rd Panzer Group of General G. Hoth rushed. Not knowing the true state of affairs, the commander of the Northwestern Front, General F.I. Kuznetsov, reported to the People's Commissar of Defense that the formations of the 11th Army continued to hold back the enemy, although in reality they were retreating hastily and disorganized with heavy losses.

Towards evening, the most dangerous situation developed in the Western Front. His command, which had not yet realized the threat of deep bilateral envelopment of the front forces by enemy tank formations, was more concerned about the situation on the northern front of the Bialystok bulge, where the enemy was rushing towards Grodno. He assessed the situation in the Brest direction as more or less stable. However, by the end of the day, formations and units of the 4th Army were thrown back 25–30 km from the border, and the enemy’s advanced tank units managed to advance even deeper - 60 km, and occupy Kobrin.

Without understanding the situation, the commander of the front troops, General D.G. At 5 p.m. Pavlov sent a report to the General Staff that essentially disoriented the country’s political and military leadership:

“During the day of June 22, 1941, units of the Western Front fought holding battles... offering stubborn resistance to superior enemy forces... Units of the 4th Army fought defensive battles, presumably at the line... Brest, Wlodawa.”

In reality, the troops of the Western Front continued to hastily retreat to the east in scattered groups.

Based on reports from the headquarters of the North-Western and Western Fronts, not fully understanding the actual situation, the People's Commissar of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff concluded that most of the fighting was taking place near the border. At that time, they were most concerned about the situation in the Grodno direction, where there was already deep coverage of the Bialystok bulge from the north. Due to misleading reports from the headquarters of the Western Front, the People's Commissar of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff clearly underestimated the powerful enemy group that was striking from the Brest area.

Trying to turn the tide of events and believing that there were quite enough forces for a retaliatory strike, the High Command at 21:15 sent directive No. 3 to the commanders of the forces of the North-Western, Western, South-Western and Southern fronts, which required powerful counterattacks against the invading groups enemy. However, while aiming them at the defeat of enemy groups that posed the greatest danger in each front, the General Staff did not take into account the difficulties that the front command would have in organizing and preparing attacks on the enemy within one night.

The real situation that developed by the end of the first day of the war on the entire Soviet-German front turned out to be much more complicated than the military-political leadership of the country knew. Therefore, the requirements of the High Command were no longer realistic, since they did not meet the rapidly changing situation.

And at this time, the position of the troops of the Western Front was becoming more and more critical: “The enemy, having bypassed the right flank of the army, is striking in the Lida direction...,” the commander of the 3rd Army, General Kuznetsov, reported to the front headquarters, “we have no reserves, and we have to parry the attack.” nothing." By the end of the first day of the war, the troops of the North-Western, Western and South-Western Fronts, under the unrelenting pressure of the enemy, were forced to retreat, fighting rearguard battles.

The events of June 22 took place differently on the flanks of the Soviet-German front, where the enemy was not active or acted with limited forces. This allowed the Soviet troops, operating in a relatively calm environment, to advance to the border and occupy defensive lines according to cover plans.

In general, by the end of the first day of military operations in the western direction, an extremely difficult situation had developed for the Red Army. The enemy forestalled formations and covering units in occupying defensive zones and lines. By the end of the day, the advanced detachments of the German 2nd and 3rd tank groups had penetrated the defenses of the Soviet troops to a depth of 60 km. Thus, they began to cover the main forces of the Western Front from the north and south and created favorable conditions for their troops operating in other directions.

Thus ended the first day of the war. Under pressure from superior enemy forces, Soviet troops retreated into the interior of the country with heavy fighting. They still had a whole war ahead of them, which lasted 1418 days and nights. During the Great Patriotic War, undoubtedly, there were more fateful days for our country, but that first day will forever remain in the memory of the peoples of Russia.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Semyon Timoshenko and Georgy Zhukov knew everything, but took the secrets to the grave

Until the very beginning of the war and in the first hours after it, Joseph Stalin did not believe in the possibility of a German attack.

He learned that the Germans were crossing the border and bombing Soviet cities at about 4 a.m. on June 22 from Chief of the General Staff Georgy Zhukov.

According to Zhukov’s “Memoirs and Reflections,” the leader did not react to what he heard, but only breathed heavily into the phone, and after a long pause, he limited himself to ordering Zhukov and the People’s Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko to go to a meeting in the Kremlin.

In a prepared but undelivered speech at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in May 1956, Zhukov argued that Stalin forbade opening fire on the enemy.

At the same time, in May-June, Stalin secretly transferred 939 trains with troops and equipment to the western border, called up 801 thousand reservists from the reserves under the guise of training, and on June 19, by secret order, he reorganized the border military districts into fronts, which was always done and exclusively a few days before the start of hostilities.

“The transfer of troops was planned with the expectation of completing the concentration from June 1 to July 10, 1941. The disposition of troops was influenced by the offensive nature of the planned actions,” says the collective monograph “1941 - Lessons and Conclusions” published by the Russian Ministry of Defense in 1992.

A legitimate question arises: what was the cause of the tragedy of June 22? Usually referred to as "mistakes" and "miscalculations" of the Soviet leadership. But upon careful examination, some of them turn out to be not naive delusions, but the consequence of thoughtful measures with the aim of preparing a pre-emptive strike and subsequent offensive actions Vladimir Danilov, historian

“There was surprise, but only tactical. Hitler was ahead of us!” - Vyacheslav Molotov said to the writer Ivan Stadnyuk in the 1970s.

“The trouble was not that we had no plans - we had plans! - but that the suddenly changed situation did not allow us to carry them out,” reported Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky in an article written for the 20th anniversary of the Victory, but which was published only in the early 90s -X.

Not “the traitor Rezun,” but the President of the Academy of Military Sciences, General of the Army Makhmud Gareev, pointed out: “If there were plans for defensive operations, then the groupings of forces and means would be located completely differently, the management and echeloning of material reserves would be structured differently. But this was not done in the border military districts."

“Stalin’s main miscalculation and his guilt lay not in the fact that the country was not prepared for defense (it did not prepare for it), but in the fact that it was not possible to accurately determine the moment. A preemptive strike would have saved our Fatherland millions of lives and, perhaps, would have led much earlier to the same political results that the country, ruined, hungry, and having lost the color of the nation, achieved in 1945,” believed the director of the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, academician Andrei Sakharov.

Clearly aware of the inevitability of a clash with Germany, the leadership of the USSR until June 22, 1941 did not see itself in the role of a victim, did not wonder with a sinking heart “whether they will attack or not,” but worked hard to start the war at a favorable moment and carry it out “smallly.” blood on foreign territory." Most researchers agree with this. The difference is in details, dates and, mainly, in moral assessments.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption The war broke out unexpectedly, although a premonition was in the air

On this tragic day, on the eve and immediately after it, amazing things happened that did not fit into either the logic of preparation for defense or the logic of preparation for an offensive.

There is no explanation for them based on documents and testimonies of participants in the events, and it is unlikely that one will appear. There are only more or less plausible guesses and versions.

Stalin's dream

Around midnight on June 22, having agreed and authorized Tymoshenko and Zhukov to send a controversial document known as “Directive No. 1” to the border districts for their signatures, the leader left the Kremlin for the Near Dacha.

When Zhukov called with a report of the attack, the guard said that Stalin was sleeping and did not order to wake him up, so the chief of the general staff had to shout at him.

The widespread opinion that the USSR was waiting for an attack by the enemy, and only then planning an offensive, does not take into account that in this case the strategic initiative would be given into the hands of the enemy, and the Soviet troops would be placed in obviously unfavorable conditions Mikhail Meltyukhov, historian

Saturday June 21st passed in incredible tension. There were a stream of reports from the border that the approaching roar of engines could be heard from the German side.

After the Führer's order was read out to the German soldiers before the formation at 13:00, two or three communist defectors swam across the Bug to warn the "camaraden": it will begin tonight. By the way, another mystery is that we know nothing about these people who should have become heroes in the USSR and the GDR.

Stalin spent the day in the Kremlin in the company of Timoshenko, Zhukov, Molotov, Beria, Malenkov and Mehlis, analyzing incoming information and discussing what to do.

Let's say he doubted the data he was receiving and never took concrete steps. But how could you go to bed without waiting for the ending, when the clock was ticking? Moreover, a person who had the habit, even in a calm everyday environment, of working until dawn and sleeping until lunch?

Plan and directive

At the headquarters of the Soviet troops in the western direction, up to and including the divisions, there were detailed and clear cover plans, which were stored in “red packets” and were subject to execution upon receipt of the appropriate order from the People's Commissar of Defense.

Cover plans are different from strategic war plans. This is a set of measures to ensure the mobilization, concentration and deployment of the main forces in the event of a threat of a preemptive strike by the enemy (occupying fortifications with personnel, moving artillery to tank-threat areas, raising aviation and air defense units, intensifying reconnaissance).

The introduction of a cover plan is not yet a war, but a combat alert.

During the one and a half hour meeting that began at 20:50 on June 21, Stalin did not allow Timoshenko and Zhukov to take this necessary and obvious step.

The directive completely confused the troops on the border Konstantin Pleshakov, historian

In return, the famous “Directive No. 1” was sent to the border districts, which, in particular, said: “During June 22-23, a surprise attack by the Germans is possible. The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions […] at the same time be in full combat readiness to meet a possible attack […] other measures should not be carried out without special orders.”

How can one “meet the blow” without carrying out the measures provided for in the cover plan? How to distinguish provocation from attack?

Late mobilization

Incredible, but true: general mobilization in the USSR was announced not on the day the war began, but only on June 23, despite the fact that every hour of delay gave the enemy additional advantages.

The corresponding telegram from the People's Commissar of Defense arrived at the Central Telegraph at 16:40 on June 22, although since the early morning the state leadership, perhaps, had not had a more urgent task.

At the same time, the short text, just three sentences long, written in dry clerical language, did not contain a word about the treacherous attack, defense of the homeland and sacred duty, as if it were a routine conscription.

Theater and concert evening

The command of the Western Special Military District (by that time actually the Western Front), led by Army General Dmitry Pavlov, spent Saturday evening at the Minsk Officers' House at a performance of the operetta “Wedding in Malinovka.”

Memoir literature confirms that the phenomenon was widespread and widespread. It’s hard to imagine that big commanders in that atmosphere would go out and have fun without orders from above.

There is numerous evidence of the cancellation on June 20-21 of previously issued orders to increase combat readiness, the unexpected announcement of days off, and the dispatch of anti-aircraft artillery to training camps.

Anti-aircraft divisions of the 4th Army and the 6th Mechanized Corps of the Western OVO met the war at a training ground 120 km east of Minsk.

The orders to the troops to send artillery to the firing ranges and other ridiculous instructions in that situation caused complete bewilderment of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky

“The regiment was declared a day off on Sunday. Everyone was happy: they had not rested for three months. On Saturday evening, the command, pilots and technicians went to their families,” recalled former pilot of the 13th Bomber Aviation Regiment Pavel Tsupko.

On June 20, the commander of one of the three ZapOVO air divisions, Nikolai Belov, received an order from the district air force commander to put the division on combat readiness, cancel vacations and dismissals, disperse equipment, and at 16:00 on June 21, it was canceled.

“Stalin tried to make it clear by the very condition and behavior of the troops in the border districts that calm, if not carelessness, reigns in our country. As a result, instead of misleading the aggressor with skillful disinformation actions regarding the combat readiness of our troops, we actually reduced it to an extremely low degree,” the former chief of the operational department of the 13th Army headquarters, Sergei Ivanov, was perplexed.

The ill-fated regiment

But the most incredible story happened in the 122nd Fighter Aviation Regiment, which covered Grodno.

On Friday, June 20, high-ranking officials from Moscow and Minsk arrived at the unit, and at 6 pm on Saturday, the personnel were given an order: to remove the I-16 fighters from the fighters and send weapons and ammunition to the warehouse.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption It took several hours to reinstall the removed machine guns on the I-16.

The order was so wild and inexplicable that the pilots started talking about treason, but they were silenced.

Needless to say, the next morning the 122nd Air Regiment was completely destroyed.

The Soviet Air Force grouping in the western direction consisted of 111 air regiments, including 52 fighter regiments. Why did this one attract so much attention?

What's happened?

“Stalin, contrary to obvious facts, believed that this was not a war, but a provocation of individual undisciplined units of the German army,” Nikita Khrushchev said in a report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU.

The obsessive thought of some kind of provocation, apparently, was indeed present in Stalin’s mind. He developed it both in “Directive No. 1” and at the first meeting in the Kremlin after the start of the invasion, which opened at 05:45 on June 22. He did not give permission to return fire until 06:30, until Molotov announced that Germany had officially declared war on the USSR.

The now deceased St. Petersburg historian Igor Bunich claimed that a few days before the start of the war, Hitler sent a secret personal message to Stalin warning that some Anglophile generals might try to provoke a conflict between the USSR and Germany.

Stalin allegedly remarked with satisfaction to Beria that this was impossible in our country; we had brought order to our army.

True, it was not possible to find the document in German or Soviet archives.

Israeli researcher Gabriel Gorodetsky explains Stalin's actions by panic fear and the desire to not give Hitler a reason for aggression at any cost.

Stalin really drove away every thought from himself, but not about war (he was no longer thinking about anything else), but about the fact that Hitler at the very last moment would be able to get ahead of him Mark Solonin, historian

“Stalin drove away any thought about war, he lost the initiative and was practically paralyzed,” writes Gorodetsky.

Opponents object that Stalin was not afraid in November 1940, through the mouth of Molotov, to harshly demand from Berlin Finland, Southern Bukovina and the base in the Dardanelles, and in early April 1941 to conclude an agreement with Yugoslavia that infuriated Hitler and at the same time had no practical meaning.

Demonstration of defensive preparations cannot provoke a potential enemy, but it can make you think again.

“When dealing with a dangerous enemy, we should probably show him, first of all, our readiness to fight back. If we had demonstrated to Hitler our true power, he might have refrained from war with the USSR at that moment,” the experienced staff officer believed Sergei Ivanov, who later rose to the rank of army general.

According to Alexander Osokin, Stalin, on the contrary, deliberately pushed Germany to attack in order to appear in the eyes of the world as a victim of aggression and receive American help.

Critics point out that the game in this case turned out to be very dangerous, Lend-Lease did not have a self-sufficient meaning in the eyes of Stalin, and Roosevelt was guided not by the kindergarten principle of “who started?”, but by the interests of US national security.

Shoot first

Another hypothesis was put forward by historians Keistut Zakoretsky and Mark Solonin.

In the first three weeks of June, Timoshenko and Zhukov met with Stalin seven times.

According to Zhukov, they called for immediately bringing the troops into some incomprehensible “state of full readiness for war” (preparations were already carried out continuously and at the limit of strength), and, according to a number of modern researchers, for a preemptive strike without waiting for the completion of the strategic deployment .

Truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction must stay within the bounds of probability, but truth cannot. Mark Twain

Zakoretsky and Solonin believe that in the face of Berlin’s obvious aggressive intentions, Stalin did listen to the military.

Presumably at a meeting on June 18 with the participation of Tymoshenko, Zhukov, Molotov and Malenkov, it was decided to start a preventive war not sometime, but on June 22, the longest daylight hours of the year. Not at dawn, but later.

The war with Finland was preceded by. According to researchers, the war with Germany should also have begun with a provocation - a raid on Grodno by several Junkers and Dorniers purchased from the Germans. At the hour when residents have breakfast and go out into the streets and parks to relax after a week of work.

The propaganda effect would have been deafening, and Stalin could well have sacrificed several dozen civilians in the higher interests.

The version explains almost everything quite logically.

And Stalin’s refusal to believe that the Germans would strike almost simultaneously (such coincidences simply do not happen, and what Hitler intends to do in the following days is no longer important).

And mobilization began on Monday (the decree was prepared in advance, but they did not bother to redo it in the confusion of the first morning of the war).

There are two wills in the field Russian proverb

And the disarmament of the fighters based near Grodno (so that one of the “vultures” would not be accidentally shot down over Soviet territory).

The deliberate complacency made the fascist perfidy even more blatant. The bombs were supposed to fall on a peaceful Soviet city in complete prosperity. Contrary to popular belief, the demonstration was not addressed to the Germans, but to its own citizens.

It also becomes clear that Stalin did not want to blur the effect by introducing a cover-up plan ahead of time.

Unfortunately for the USSR, the aggression turned out to be real.

However, this is only a hypothesis, as the authors themselves emphasize.

On December 18, 1940, Hitler, in Directive No. 21, approved the final plan for the war against the USSR under the code name “Barbarossa”. To implement it, Germany and its allies in Europe - Finland, Romania and Hungary - created an invasion army unprecedented in history: 182 divisions and 20 brigades (up to 5 million people), 47.2 thousand guns and mortars, about 4.4 thousand ... combat aircraft, 4.4 thousand tanks and assault guns, and 250 ships. The group of Soviet troops resisting the aggressors included 186 divisions (3 million people), about 39.4 guns and mortars, 11 thousand tanks and more than 9.1 thousand aircraft. These forces were not put on alert in advance. The directive of the Red Army General Staff on a possible German attack on June 22-23 was received in the western border districts only on the night of June 22, and already at dawn on June 22 the invasion began. After lengthy artillery preparation, at 4.00 in the morning, German troops, treacherously violating the non-aggression pact concluded with the USSR, attacked the Soviet-German border along its entire length from the Barents to the Black Sea. Soviet troops were taken by surprise. The organization of powerful counterattacks against the enemy was hampered by the fact that they were relatively evenly distributed along the entire front along the entire border and dispersed to a great depth. With such a formation it was difficult to resist the enemy.

On June 22, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. addressed the citizens of the Soviet Union on the radio. Molotov. He said, in particular: “This unheard-of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany.”

On June 23, 1941, the highest body of strategic leadership of the armed forces was created in Moscow - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. All power in the country was concentrated in the hands of the State Defense Committee (GKO), formed on June 30. He was appointed Chairman of the State Defense Committee and Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The country began to implement a program of emergency measures under the motto: “Everything for the front! Everything for victory! The Red Army, however, continued to retreat. By mid-July 1941, German troops advanced 300-600 km deep into Soviet territory, capturing Lithuania, Latvia, almost all of Belarus, a significant part of Estonia, Ukraine and Moldova, creating a threat to Leningrad, Smolensk and Kyiv. A mortal danger loomed over the USSR.

OPERATIONAL REPORT No. 1 OF THE CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE RKKA ARMY GENERAL G.K. ZHUKOVA. 10.00, June 22, 1941

At 4.00 on June 22, 1941, the Germans, without any reason, raided our airfields and cities and crossed the border with ground troops...

1. Northern Front: the enemy, with a flight of bomber-type aircraft, violated the border and entered the region of Leningrad and Kronstadt...

2. Northwestern Front. At 4.00 the enemy opened artillery fire and at the same time began to bomb airfields and cities: Vindava, Libava, Kovno, Vilno and Shulyai...

W. Western Front. At 4.20, up to 60 enemy aircraft bombed Grodno and Brest. At the same time, the enemy opened artillery fire along the entire border of the Western Front... With ground forces, the enemy is developing an attack from the Suwalki area in the direction of Golynka, Dąbrowa and from the Stokołów area along the railway to Wolkowysk. The advancing enemy forces are being clarified. ...

4. Southwestern Front. At 4.20 the enemy began shelling our borders with machine-gun fire. From 4.30, enemy planes bombed the cities of Lyuboml, Kovel, Lutsk, Vladimir-Volynsky... At 4.35, after artillery fire in the Vladimir-Volynsky, Lyuboml area, enemy ground forces crossed the border developing an attack in the direction of Vladimir-Volynsky, Lyuboml and Krystynopol...

The front commanders have put into effect a cover plan and, through the active actions of mobile troops, are trying to destroy the enemy units that have crossed the border...

The enemy, having forestalled our troops in deployment, forced units of the Red Army to take battle in the process of occupying their initial position according to the cover plan. Using this advantage, the enemy managed to achieve partial success in certain areas.

Signature: Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army G.K. Zhukov

The Great Patriotic War - day after day: based on materials from declassified operational reports of the General Staff of the Red Army. M., 2008 .

RADIO SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF THE USSR and PEOPLE'S COMMISSAR FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE USSR V.M. MOLOTOV June 22, 1941

Citizens and women of the Soviet Union!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims to the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities from their planes - Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, and more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy air raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territories.

This unheard of attack on our country is a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized nations. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the terms of this treaty in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire duration of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the implementation of the treaty. All responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers (...)

The government calls on you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks even more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade. Stalin.

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

Foreign policy documents. T.24. M., 2000.

J. STALIN'S SPEECH ON RADIO, July 3, 1941

Comrades! Citizens!

Brothers and sisters!

Soldiers of our army and navy!

I am addressing you, my friends!

The treacherous military attack of Nazi Germany on our Motherland, which began on June 22, continues. Despite the heroic resistance of the Red Army, despite the fact that the enemy’s best divisions and the best units of his aviation have already been defeated and found their grave on the battlefield, the enemy continues to push forward, throwing new forces to the front (...)

History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible, but it was defeated alternately by Russian, English, and German troops. Wilhelm's German army during the first imperialist war was also considered an invincible army, but it was defeated several times by Russian and Anglo-French troops and was finally defeated by Anglo-French troops. The same needs to be said about the current Nazi German army of Hitler. This army has not yet encountered serious resistance on the continent of Europe. Only on our territory did it encounter serious resistance (...)

It may be asked: how could it happen that the Soviet government agreed to conclude a non-aggression pact with such treacherous people and monsters as Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was there a mistake made here by the Soviet government? Of course not! A non-aggression pact is a peace pact between two states. This is exactly the kind of pact Germany offered us in 1939. Could the Soviet government refuse such a proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state can refuse a peace agreement with a neighboring power, if at the head of this power are even such monsters and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. And this, of course, is subject to one indispensable condition - if the peace agreement does not affect either directly or indirectly the territorial integrity, independence and honor of the peace-loving state. As you know, the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR is just such a pact(...)

In the event of a forced withdrawal of units of the Red Army, it is necessary to hijack all rolling stock, not to leave the enemy a single locomotive, not a single carriage, not to leave the enemy a kilogram of bread or a liter of fuel (...) In areas occupied by the enemy, it is necessary to create partisan detachments, horse and foot, create sabotage groups to fight units of the enemy army, to incite partisan warfare anywhere, to blow up bridges, roads, damage telephone and telegraph communications, set fire to forests, warehouses, and carts. In occupied areas, create unbearable conditions for the enemy and all his accomplices, pursue and destroy them at every step, disrupt all their activities (...)

In this great war, we will have faithful allies in the people of Europe and America, including the German people, enslaved by Hitler’s bosses. Our war for the freedom of our Fatherland will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms (...)

In order to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the USSR, to repel the enemy who treacherously attacked our Motherland, the State Defense Committee was created, in whose hands all power in the state is now concentrated. The State Defense Committee has begun its work and calls on all the people to rally around the party of Lenin - Stalin, around the Soviet government for selfless support of the Red Army and Red Navy, for the defeat of the enemy, for victory.

All our strength is in support of our heroic Red Army, our glorious Red Navy!

All the forces of the people are to defeat the enemy!

Forward, for our victory!

Stalin I. About the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. M., 1947.

In the direction of the main attacks of the Nazis, 257 Soviet border posts held the defense from several hours to one day. The remaining border posts held out from two days to two months. Of the 485 border posts attacked, not a single one withdrew without orders. The story of a day that changed the lives of tens of millions of people forever.

"They suspect nothing of our intentions"

June 21, 1941, 13:00. German troops receive the code signal "Dortmund", confirming that the invasion will begin the next day.

The commander of the 2nd Panzer Group of Army Group Center, Heinz Guderian, writes in his diary: “Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they were unaware of our intentions. In the courtyard of the Brest fortress, which was visible from our observation points, they were changing the guards to the sounds of an orchestra. The coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops."

21:00. Soldiers of the 90th border detachment of the Sokal commandant's office detained a German serviceman who crossed the border Bug River by swimming. The defector was sent to the detachment headquarters in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky.

23:00. German minelayers stationed in Finnish ports began to mine the exit from the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, Finnish submarines began laying mines off the coast of Estonia.

June 22, 1941, 0:30. The defector was taken to Vladimir-Volynsky. During interrogation, the soldier identified himself as Alfred Liskov, a soldier of the 221st Regiment of the 15th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht. He said that at dawn on June 22, the German army would go on the offensive along the entire length of the Soviet-German border. The information was transferred to higher command.

At the same time, the transmission of Directive No. 1 of the People's Commissariat of Defense for parts of the western military districts began from Moscow. “During June 22 - 23, 1941, a surprise attack by the Germans on the fronts of LVO, PribOVO, ZAPOVO, KOVO, OdVO is possible. An attack may begin with provocative actions,” the directive said. “The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications.”

The units were ordered to be put on combat readiness, to secretly occupy firing points of fortified areas on the state border, and to disperse aircraft to field airfields.

It is not possible to convey the directive to military units before the start of hostilities, as a result of which the measures specified in it are not carried out.

“I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory”

1:00. The commandants of the sections of the 90th border detachment report to the head of the detachment, Major Bychkovsky: “nothing suspicious was noticed on the adjacent side, everything is calm.”

3:05. A group of 14 German Ju-88 bombers drops 28 magnetic mines near the Kronstadt roadstead.

3:07. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to the Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov: “The fleet’s VNOS [air surveillance, warning and communications] system reports the approach of a large number of unknown aircraft from the sea; The fleet is in full combat readiness."

3:10. The NKGB for the Lviv region transmits by telephone message to the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR the information obtained during the interrogation of the defector Alfred Liskov.

From the memoirs of the head of the 90th border detachment, Major Bychkovsky: “Without finishing the interrogation of the soldier, I heard strong artillery fire in the direction of Ustilug (the first commandant’s office). I realized that it was the Germans who opened fire on our territory, which was immediately confirmed by the interrogated soldier. I immediately began to call the commandant by phone, but the connection was broken..."

3:30. The Chief of Staff of the Western District, General Klimovskikh, reports on an enemy air raid on the cities of Belarus: Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovichi and others.

3:33. The chief of staff of the Kyiv district, General Purkaev, reports on an air raid on the cities of Ukraine, including Kyiv.

3:40. The commander of the Baltic Military District, General Kuznetsov, reports on enemy air raids on Riga, Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas and other cities.

German soldiers cross the state border of the USSR.

“The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships was foiled."

3:42. Chief of the General Staff Zhukov calls Stalin and reports that Germany has begun hostilities. Stalin orders Timoshenko and Zhukov to the Kremlin, where an emergency meeting of the Politburo is convened.

3:45. The 1st border outpost of the 86th August border detachment was attacked by an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group. The outpost personnel under the command of Alexander Sivachev, entering the battle, destroy the attackers.

4:00. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Oktyabrsky, reports to Zhukov: “The enemy raid has been repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships was foiled. But there is destruction in Sevastopol.”

4:05. The outposts of the 86th August Border Detachment, including the 1st Border Outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev, come under heavy artillery fire, after which the German offensive begins. Border guards, deprived of communication with the command, engage in battle with superior enemy forces.

4:10. The Western and Baltic special military districts report the beginning of hostilities by German troops on the ground.

4:15. The Nazis open massive artillery fire on the Brest Fortress. As a result, warehouses were destroyed, communications were disrupted, and there were a large number of dead and wounded.

4:25. The 45th Wehrmacht Infantry Division begins an attack on the Brest Fortress.

“Protecting not individual countries, but ensuring the security of Europe”

4:30. A meeting of Politburo members begins in the Kremlin. Stalin expresses doubt that what happened is the beginning of a war and does not exclude the possibility of a German provocation. People's Commissar of Defense Timoshenko and Zhukov insist: this is war.

4:55. In the Brest Fortress, the Nazis manage to capture almost half of the territory. Further progress was stopped by a sudden counterattack by the Red Army.

5:00. The German Ambassador to the USSR, Count von Schulenburg, presents the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Molotov, with a “Note from the German Foreign Ministry to the Soviet Government,” which states: “The German Government cannot remain indifferent to a serious threat on the eastern border, so the Fuhrer has given the order to the German Armed Forces by all means.” avert this threat." An hour after the actual start of hostilities, Germany de jure declares war on the Soviet Union.

5:30. On German radio, Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels reads Adolf Hitler’s appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the Soviet Union: “Now the hour has come when it is necessary to speak out against this conspiracy of Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also the Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow... At the moment “The greatest military action in terms of its length and volume that the world has ever seen is taking place... The task of this front is no longer to protect individual countries, but to ensure the security of Europe and thereby save everyone.”

7:00. Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop begins a press conference at which he announces the start of hostilities against the USSR: “The German army has invaded the territory of Bolshevik Russia!”

“The city is burning, why aren’t you broadcasting anything on the radio?”

7:15. Stalin approves a directive to repel the attack of Nazi Germany: “The troops with all their might and means attack enemy forces and destroy them in areas where they violated the Soviet border.” Transfer of “directive No. 2” due to saboteurs’ disruption of communication lines in the western districts. Moscow does not have a clear picture of what is happening in the combat zone.

9:30. It was decided that at noon, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov would address the Soviet people in connection with the outbreak of war.

10:00. From the memoirs of announcer Yuri Levitan: “They are calling from Minsk: “Enemy planes are over the city,” they are calling from Kaunas: “The city is burning, why don’t you broadcast anything on the radio?”, “Enemy planes are over Kiev.” A woman’s crying, excitement: “Is it really war?..” However, no official messages are transmitted until 12:00 Moscow time on June 22.

10:30. From a report from the headquarters of the 45th German division about the battles on the territory of the Brest Fortress: “The Russians are resisting fiercely, especially behind our attacking companies. In the citadel, the enemy organized a defense with infantry units supported by 35–40 tanks and armored vehicles. Enemy sniper fire resulted in heavy casualties among officers and non-commissioned officers."

11:00. The Baltic, Western and Kiev special military districts were transformed into the North-Western, Western and South-Western fronts.

“The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours"

12:00. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov reads out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union: “Today at 4 o’clock in the morning, without making any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed us with our cities - Zhitomir, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others - with their planes, and more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Raids by enemy planes and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory... Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given an order to our troops to repel the predatory attack and expel German troops from the territory of our homeland... The government calls on you, citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally our ranks even more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader, Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

12:30. Advanced German units break into the Belarusian city of Grodno.

13:00. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issues a decree “On the mobilization of those liable for military service...”

“Based on Article 49, paragraph “o” of the USSR Constitution, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announces mobilization on the territory of the military districts - Leningrad, Baltic special, Western special, Kiev special, Odessa, Kharkov, Oryol, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Ural, Siberian, Volga, North -Caucasian and Transcaucasian.

Those liable for military service who were born from 1905 to 1918 inclusive are subject to mobilization. The first day of mobilization is June 23, 1941.” Despite the fact that the first day of mobilization is June 23, recruiting stations at military registration and enlistment offices begin to operate by the middle of the day on June 22.

13:30. Chief of the General Staff General Zhukov flies to Kyiv as a representative of the newly created Headquarters of the Main Command on the Southwestern Front.

"Italy also declares war on the Soviet Union"

14:00. The Brest Fortress is completely surrounded by German troops. Soviet units blocked in the citadel continue to offer fierce resistance.

14:05. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano states: “In view of the current situation, due to the fact that Germany declared war on the USSR, Italy, as an ally of Germany and as a member of the Tripartite Pact, also declares war on the Soviet Union from the moment German troops entered Soviet territory.”

14:10. The 1st border outpost of Alexander Sivachev has been fighting for more than 10 hours. The border guards, who had only small arms and grenades, destroyed up to 60 Nazis and burned three tanks. The wounded commander of the outpost continued to command the battle.

15:00. From the notes of the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal von Bock: “The question of whether the Russians are carrying out a systematic retreat remains open. There is now plenty of evidence both for and against this.

What is surprising is that nowhere is any significant work of their artillery visible. Heavy artillery fire is conducted only in the northwest of Grodno, where the VIII Army Corps is advancing. Apparently, our air force has an overwhelming superiority over Russian aviation."

Of the 485 border posts attacked, not a single one withdrew without orders.

16:00. After a 12-hour battle, the Nazis took the positions of the 1st border outpost. This became possible only after all the border guards who defended it died. The head of the outpost, Alexander Sivachev, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

The feat of the outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev was one of hundreds committed by border guards in the first hours and days of the war. On June 22, 1941, the state border of the USSR from the Barents to the Black Sea was guarded by 666 border outposts, 485 of which were attacked on the very first day of the war. Not one of the 485 outposts attacked on June 22 withdrew without orders.

Hitler's command allotted 20 minutes to break the resistance of the border guards. 257 Soviet border posts held their defense from several hours to one day. More than one day - 20, more than two days - 16, more than three days - 20, more than four and five days - 43, from seven to nine days - 4, more than eleven days - 51, more than twelve days - 55, more than 15 days - 51 outpost. Forty-five outposts fought for up to two months.

Of the 19,600 border guards who met the Nazis on June 22 in the direction of the main attack of Army Group Center, more than 16,000 died in the first days of the war.

17:00. Hitler's units manage to occupy the southwestern part of the Brest Fortress, the northeast remained under the control of Soviet troops. Stubborn battles for the fortress will continue for weeks.

“The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox Christians for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland”

18:00. The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow and Kolomna, addresses the believers with a message: “Fascist robbers attacked our homeland. Trampling all kinds of agreements and promises, they suddenly fell upon us, and now the blood of peaceful citizens is already irrigating our native land... Our Orthodox Church has always shared the fate of the people. She endured trials with him and was consoled by his successes. She will not abandon her people even now... The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox Christians for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland.”

19:00. From the notes of the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces, Colonel General Franz Halder: “All armies, except the 11th Army of Army Group South in Romania, went on the offensive according to plan. The offensive of our troops, apparently, came as a complete tactical surprise to the enemy along the entire front. Border bridges across the Bug and other rivers were everywhere captured by our troops without a fight and in complete safety. The complete surprise of our offensive for the enemy is evidenced by the fact that the units were taken by surprise in a barracks arrangement, the planes were parked at airfields, covered with tarpaulins, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command about what to do... The Air Force command reported, that today 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken off without fighter cover, were attacked by our fighters and destroyed.”

20:00. Directive No. 3 of the People's Commissariat of Defense was approved, ordering Soviet troops to launch a counteroffensive with the task of defeating Hitler's troops on the territory of the USSR with further advance into enemy territory. The directive ordered the capture of the Polish city of Lublin by the end of June 24.

“We must provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can.”

21:00. Summary of the Red Army High Command for June 22: “At dawn on June 22, 1941, regular troops of the German army attacked our border units on the front from the Baltic to the Black Sea and were held back by them during the first half of the day. In the afternoon, German troops met with the advanced units of the field troops of the Red Army. After fierce fighting, the enemy was repulsed with heavy losses. Only in the Grodno and Kristinopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of Kalwaria, Stoyanuv and Tsekhanovets (the first two are 15 km and the last 10 km from the border).

Enemy aircraft attacked a number of our airfields and populated areas, but everywhere they met decisive resistance from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy aircraft.”

23:00. Appeal from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the British people in connection with the German attack on the USSR: “At 4 o'clock this morning Hitler attacked Russia. All his usual formalities of treachery were observed with scrupulous precision... suddenly, without a declaration of war, even without an ultimatum, German bombs fell from the sky on Russian cities, German troops violated Russian borders, and an hour later the German ambassador, who just the day before had generously lavished his assurances on the Russians in friendship and almost an alliance, paid a visit to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and declared that Russia and Germany were at war...

No one has been more staunchly opposed to communism over the past 25 years than I have been. I will not take back a single word that was said about him. But all this pales in comparison to the spectacle unfolding now.

The past, with its crimes, follies and tragedies, recedes. I see Russian soldiers as they stand on the border of their native land and guard the fields that their fathers have plowed since time immemorial. I see them guarding their homes; their mothers and wives pray - oh, yes, because at such a time everyone prays for the preservation of their loved ones, for the return of their breadwinner, patron, their protectors...

We must provide Russia and the Russian people with all the help we can. We must call on all our friends and allies in all parts of the world to pursue a similar course and pursue it as steadfastly and steadily as we will, to the very end.”

June 22 came to an end. There were still 1,417 days ahead of the worst war in human history.