June 22, 1941 - one of the saddest dates in the history of Russia - the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, which is an integral part of the Second World War. At dawn on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war.

The Great Patriotic War began...

"... 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 - Zhytomyr, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas from their aircraft. 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 treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany, and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the fulfillment of the treaty. The entire responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

Already after the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 in the morning made me, as 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 USSR in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near the 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 attacked the USSR, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany was the attacking side.

On behalf of the Government of the Soviet Union, I must also declare that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by the Romanian radio this morning that the Soviet aviation allegedly fired on Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. Hitler's entire declaration today is just as much a lie and a provocation, trying to concoct, retroactively, accusatory material about the Soviet Union's non-compliance with the Soviet-German pact.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops out of our homeland.

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, 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 deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, conceited 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 own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will once again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm conviction that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intelligentsia, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due conscience. All our people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and from others discipline, organization, selflessness, worthy of a true Soviet patriot, in order to provide for all the needs of the Red Army, fleet and aviation, in order to ensure victory over the enemy.

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

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

VL / Articles / Interesting

How it was: what Hitler really faced on June 22, 1941 (part 1)

22-06-2016, 08:44

On June 22, 1941, at 4 o'clock in the morning, Germany treacherously, without declaring war, attacked the Soviet Union and, starting to bomb our cities with peacefully sleeping children, immediately declared itself to be a criminal force that did not have a human face. The most bloody war in the entire history of the existence of the Russian state began.

Our fight with Europe was deadly. On June 22, 1941, German troops launched an offensive against the USSR in three directions: east (Army Group Center) to Moscow, southeast (Army Group South) to Kiev and northeast (Army Group North) to Leningrad . In addition, the German army "Norway" was advancing in the direction of Murmansk.

Together with the German armies, the armies of Italy, Romania, Hungary, Finland and volunteer formations from Croatia, Slovakia, Spain, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and other European countries advanced on the USSR.

On June 22, 1941, 5.5 million soldiers and officers of Nazi Germany and its satellites crossed the border of the USSR and invaded our land, but in terms of the number of troops, the armed forces of Germany alone exceeded the Armed Forces of the USSR by 1.6 times, namely: 8.5 million people in the Wehrmacht and a little over 5 million people in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. Together with the Allied armies, Germany had at least 11 million trained, armed soldiers and officers on June 22, 1941, and could very quickly make up for the losses of its army and strengthen its troops.

And if the number of only German troops exceeded the number of Soviet troops by 1.6 times, then together with the troops of the European allies it exceeded the number of Soviet troops by at least 2.2 times. Such a monstrously huge force opposed the Red Army.

The industry of Europe united by it worked for Germany with a population of about 400 million people, which was almost 2 times the population of the USSR, which had 195 million people.

At the beginning of the war, the Red Army, compared with the troops of Germany and its allies that attacked the USSR, had 19,800 units more guns and mortars, 86 units more warships of the main classes, and the Red Army outnumbered the attacking enemy in the number of machine guns. Small arms, guns of all calibers and mortars, in terms of combat characteristics, not only were not inferior, but in many cases even surpassed German weapons.

As for the armored forces and aviation, our army had them in numbers that far exceeded the number of units of this equipment that the enemy had at the beginning of the war. But the bulk of our tanks and aircraft compared to the German ones were weapons of the "old generation", obsolete. Tanks for the most part were only with bulletproof armor. A considerable percentage were also defective aircraft and tanks to be written off.

At the same time, it should be noted that before the start of the war, the Red Army received 595 KB heavy tanks and 1,225 T-34 medium tanks, as well as 3,719 new types of aircraft: Yak-1, LaGG-3, MiG-3 fighters, Il- 4 (DB-ZF), Pe-8 (TB-7), Pe-2, Il-2 attack aircraft. Basically, we designed and produced the specified new, expensive and science-intensive equipment in the period from the beginning of 1939 to the middle of 1941, that is, for the most part during the validity of the non-aggression pact concluded in 1939 - the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact".

It was the presence of a large number of weapons that allowed us to survive and win. For, despite the huge losses of weapons in the initial period of the war, we still had a sufficient amount of weapons to resist during the retreat and for the offensive near Moscow.

It must be said that in 1941 the German army did not have equipment similar to our heavy KB tanks, armored attack aircraft IL-2 and rocket artillery, such as BM-13 ("Katyusha"), capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than eight kilometers.

Due to the poor work of Soviet intelligence, our army did not know the direction of the main attacks planned by the enemy. Therefore, the Germans had the opportunity to create a multiple superiority of military forces in the breakthrough areas and break through our defenses.

The capabilities of Soviet intelligence are greatly exaggerated in order to belittle the military merits and technical achievements of the USSR. Our troops retreated under the onslaught of superior enemy forces. Parts of the Red Army had to either withdraw quickly to avoid encirclement, or fight in encirclement. And it was not so easy to withdraw the troops, because in many cases the mobility of the German mechanized formations that had broken through our defenses exceeded the mobility of our troops.

Of course, not all groupings of Soviet troops were capable of mobile German formations. The main part of the German infantry advanced on foot, as our troops basically retreated, which allowed many units of the Red Army to retreat to new lines of defense.

The encircled covering troops held back the advance of the Nazi hordes to the last opportunity, and the units retreating in battles, uniting with the troops of the 2nd echelon, significantly slowed down the advance of the German armies.

In order to stop the German armies that had broken through the border, large reserves were needed, equipped with mobile formations that could quickly approach the breakthrough site and push the enemy back. We did not have such reserves, since the country had no economic opportunities to maintain an 11 millionth army in peacetime.

It is unfair to blame the government of the USSR for such a development of events. Despite the desperate resistance to industrialization on the part of certain forces within the country, our government and our people have done everything they could to create and equip an army. It was impossible to do more in the time allotted to the Soviet Union.

Our intelligence, of course, was not up to par. But it's only in the movies that scouts get blueprints for planes and atomic bombs. In real life, such drawings will take far from one railway car. Our intelligence did not have the opportunity to receive the Barbarossa plan in 1941. But even knowing the direction of the main blows, we would have to retreat before the monstrous force of the enemy. But in this case we would have less losses.

According to all theoretical calculations, the USSR should have lost this war, but we won it, because we knew how to work and fight like no one else on earth. Hitler conquered Europe, except for Poland, in an effort to unite and subordinate to the will of Germany. And he sought to exterminate us both in battles, and the civilian population, and our prisoners of war. About the war against the USSR, Hitler said: "We are talking about a war of extermination."

But everything did not go as planned for Hitler: the Russians left more than half of the troops far from the border, announced mobilization after the start of the war, as a result of which they had people to recruit new divisions, took military factories to the East, did not lose heart, but fought steadfastly for every inch of land. The German General Staff was horrified by Germany's losses in men and equipment.

The losses of our retreating army in 1941, of course, were greater than the German ones. The German army created a new organizational structure, including tanks, motorized infantry, artillery, engineering units and communications units, which made it possible not only to break through the enemy’s defenses, but also to develop it in depth, breaking away from the bulk of its troops for tens of kilometers. The proportions of all military branches were carefully calculated by the Germans and tested in battles in Europe. With such a structure, tank formations became a strategic means of struggle.

We needed time to create such troops from newly manufactured equipment. In the summer of 1941, we had neither the experience of creating and using such formations, nor the number of trucks needed to transport infantry. Created on the eve of the war, our mechanized corps were much less perfect than the German ones.

The General Staff of Germany gave the plan of attack on the USSR the name "Barbarossa" after the German emperor of terrifying cruelty. On June 29, 1941, Hitler declared: "In four weeks we will be in Moscow, and it will be plowed up."

Not a single German general spoke in his forecasts about the capture of Moscow later than August. For everyone, August was the deadline for the capture of Moscow, and October - the territory of the USSR to the Urals along the line Arkhangelsk - Astrakhan.

The US military believed that Germany would be occupied in the war with the Russians from one to three months, and the British military - from three to six weeks. They made such predictions, because they knew well the force of the blow that Germany brought down on the USSR. How long we will hold out in the war with Germany, the West estimated by itself.

The German government was so sure of a quick victory that it did not even consider it necessary to spend money on warm winter uniforms for the army.

Enemy troops advanced from the Barents to the Black Seas on a front stretching over 2,000 thousand kilometers.

Germany counted on a blitzkrieg, that is, a lightning strike on our armed forces and their destruction as a result of this lightning strike. The location of 57% of Soviet troops in the 2nd and 3rd echelons initially contributed to the disruption of the Germans' calculation for a blitzkrieg. And in combination with the resilience of our troops in the 1st defense echelon, it completely disrupted the German calculation for a blitzkrieg.

And what kind of blitzkrieg can we talk about if the Germans in the summer of 1941 could not even destroy our aircraft. From the first day of the war, the Luftwaffe paid a huge price for the desire to destroy our aircraft on the airfields and in the air.

From 1940 to 1946, the People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry of the USSR, A. I. Shakhurin wrote: “During the period from June 22 to July 5, 1941, the German Air Force lost 807 aircraft of all types, and for the period from July 6 to 19, another 477 aircraft. A third of the German air force, which they had before the attack on our country, was destroyed.

Thus, only for the first month of fighting in the period from 22.06. By July 19, 1941, Germany lost 1284 aircraft, and in less than five months of fighting - 5180 aircraft. Surprisingly, only a few people in the whole of large Russia know today about our glorious victories in the most unfortunate period of the war for us.

So who and with what weapons destroyed these 1284 Luftwaffe aircraft in the first month of the war? These aircraft were destroyed by our pilots and anti-aircraft gunners in the same way that our artillerymen destroyed enemy tanks, because the Red Army had anti-tank guns, aircraft and anti-aircraft guns.

And in October 1941, the Red Army had enough weapons to hold the front. At this time, the defense of Moscow was carried out at the limit of human strength. Only Soviet, Russian people could fight like that. I. V. Stalin deserves a good word, back in July 1941 he organized the construction of concrete pillboxes, bunkers, anti-tank barriers and other protective military construction structures, fortified areas (Urov) on the outskirts of Moscow, who managed to provide weapons, ammunition, food and uniforms fighting army.

The Germans were stopped near Moscow, first of all, because even in the autumn of 1941, our men fighting the enemy had weapons to shoot down planes, burn tanks and mix enemy infantry with the ground.

On November 29, 1941, our troops liberated Rostov-on-Don in the south, and Tikhvin was liberated in the north on December 9. Having pinned down the southern and northern groupings of German troops, our command created favorable conditions for the offensive of the Red Army near Moscow.

It was not the Siberian divisions that made it possible for our troops to go on the offensive near Moscow, but the reserve armies created by the Stavka and brought up to Moscow before our troops went on the offensive. A. M. Vasilevsky recalled: “A major event was the completion of the preparation of regular and extraordinary reserve formations. At the turn of Vytegra - Rybinsk - Gorky - Saratov - Stalingrad - Astrakhan, a new strategic line was being created for the Red Army. Here, on the basis of the decision of the GKO, adopted on October 5, ten reserve armies were formed. Creating them throughout the entire battle of Moscow was one of the main and daily concerns of the Central Committee of the Party, the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters. We, the leaders of the General Staff, daily, when reporting to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the situation on the fronts, reported in detail on the progress in the creation of these formations. It can be said without exaggeration: in the outcome of the Battle of Moscow, the fact that the party and the Soviet people promptly formed, armed, trained and deployed new armies under the capital was of decisive importance.

The battle near Moscow can be divided into two parts: defensive from September 30 to December 5, 1941 and offensive from December 5 to April 20, 1942.

And if in June 1941 German troops suddenly attacked us, then in December 1941 near Moscow our Soviet troops suddenly attacked the Germans. Despite the deep snow and frost, our army successfully advanced. Panic broke out in the German army. Only the intervention of Hitler prevented the complete defeat of the German troops.

The monstrous force of Europe, faced with the Russian force, could not overcome us and, under the blows of the Soviet troops, fled back to the West. In 1941, our great-grandfathers and grandfathers defended the right to life and, meeting the New Year 1942, proclaimed toasts to the Victory.

In 1942, our troops continued to advance. The Moscow and Tula regions, many districts of the Kalinin, Smolensk, Ryazan and Oryol regions were liberated. Losses in manpower only of the Army Group Center, which until recently stood near Moscow for the period from January 1 to March 30, 1942, amounted to over 333 thousand people.

But the enemy was still strong. By May 1942, the fascist German army had 6.2 million people and weapons superior to the Red Army. Our army numbered 5.1 million people. without air defense troops and the Navy.

Thus, in the summer of 1942, against our ground forces, Germany and its allies had 1.1 million more soldiers and officers. Germany and its allies maintained superiority in the number of troops from the first day of the war until 1943. In the summer of 1942, 217 enemy divisions and 20 enemy brigades operated on the Soviet-German front, that is, about 80% of all German ground forces.

In connection with this circumstance, the Headquarters did not transfer troops from the Western to the South-Western direction. This decision was correct, as was the decision to deploy strategic reserves in the area of Tula, Voronezh, Stalingrad and Saratov.

Most of our forces and means were concentrated not in the south-western, but in the western direction. Ultimately, this distribution of forces led to the defeat of the German, or rather European, army, and in this regard, it is inappropriate to talk about the incorrect distribution of our troops by the summer of 1942. It was thanks to this distribution of troops that we were able in November to gather forces near Stalingrad sufficient to defeat the enemy, and were able to replenish our troops in defensive battles.

In the summer of 1942, we could not hold the defense for a long time against the German troops, which were superior to us in forces and means, and were forced to retreat under the threat of encirclement.

It was still impossible to compensate for the missing number of artillery, aviation and other types of weapons, since the evacuated enterprises were just starting to work at full capacity, and the military industry of Europe still surpassed the military industry of the Soviet Union.

German troops continued their offensive along the western (right) bank of the Don and sought, by all means, to reach the large bend of the river. Soviet troops retreated to natural lines where they could gain a foothold.

By mid-July, the enemy captured Valuiki, Rossosh, Boguchar, Kantemirovka, Millerovo. Before him opened the eastern road - to Stalingrad and the south - to the Caucasus.

The battle of Stalingrad is divided into two periods: defensive from July 17 to November 18 and offensive, culminating in the liquidation of a huge enemy group, from November 19, 1942 to February 02, 1943.

The defensive operation began on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. From July 17, the forward detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies offered fierce resistance to the enemy at the turn of the Chir and Tsymla rivers for 6 days.

The troops of Germany and its allies could not take Stalingrad.

The offensive of our troops began on November 19, 1942. The troops of the Southwestern and Don Fronts went on the offensive. This day went down in our history as Artillery Day. On November 20, 1942, the troops of the Stalingrad Front went on the offensive. On November 23, the troops of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts united in the Kalach-on-Don, Sovetsky area, closing the encirclement of German troops. The Headquarters and our General Staff calculated everything very well, tying Paulus's army hand and foot with a great distance from our advancing troops, the 62nd Army, located in Stalingrad, and the offensive of the troops of the Don Front.

New Year's Eve 1943 was celebrated by our courageous soldiers and officers, just like New Year's Eve 1942, by the victors.

A huge contribution to the organization of the victory at Stalingrad was made by the Headquarters and the General Staff, headed by A. M. Vasilevsky.

During the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted 200 days and nights, Germany and its allies lost ¼ of the forces operating at that time on the Soviet-German front. “The total losses of enemy troops in the region of the Don, Volga, Stalingrad amounted to 1.5 million people, up to 3500 tanks and assault guns, 12 thousand guns and mortars, up to 3 thousand aircraft and a large number of other equipment. Such losses of forces and means had a catastrophic effect on the general strategic situation and shook the entire military machine of Nazi Germany to its foundations, ”wrote G.K. Zhukov.

During the two winter months of 1942-1943, the defeated German army was driven back to the positions from which it had begun the offensive in the summer of 1942. This great victory for our troops gave additional strength to both the fighters and the home front workers.

The troops of Germany and their allies were also defeated near Leningrad. On January 18, 1943, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts united, the ring of the blockade of Leningrad was broken.

A narrow corridor 8-11 kilometers wide, adjacent to the southern coast of Lake Ladoga, was cleared of the enemy and connected Leningrad with the country. Long-distance trains began to run from Leningrad to Vladivostok.

Hitler was going to take Leningrad in 4 weeks by July 21, 1941 and send the liberated troops to storm Moscow, but he could not take the city by January 1944 either. Hitler ordered the proposals to surrender the city to the German troops not to accept and wipe the city off the face of the earth, but in fact, the German divisions stationed near Leningrad were wiped off the face of the earth by the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. Hitler stated that Leningrad would be the first major city captured by the Germans in the Soviet Union and spared no effort to capture it, but did not take into account that he was fighting not in Europe, but in Soviet Russia. I did not take into account the courage of the Leningraders and the strength of our weapons.

The victorious conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad and the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad became possible not only thanks to the stamina and courage of the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, the ingenuity of our soldiers and the knowledge of our military leaders, but, above all, thanks to the heroic work of the rear.

To be continued...

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On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. At 3:30 am, when the fascist German troops received the prearranged signal "Dortmund", an artillery strike was suddenly launched at the Soviet border outposts and fortifications, and a few minutes later the enemy hordes invaded the USSR. Large German aviation forces unleashed thousands of tons of deadly cargo on Soviet airfields, bridges, warehouses, railways, naval bases, communication lines and centers, on sleeping cities. A giant fiery tornado raged in the border regions of the country. For the Soviet people, the cruel and incredibly difficult Great Patriotic War began.

At 12 noon, Molotov made an official radio address to the citizens of the USSR, announcing the German attack on the USSR and announcing the start of a Patriotic War. I think everyone has heard and knows the text of this appeal to the Soviet people:

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 ..." - this particular hour is considered the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. However, the Great Patriotic War began 47 minutes earlier, and not in Brest or on the Prut River, but in Sevastopol.

The war began for Sevastopol at 03:13 on June 22, 1941 with a German air raid. The first bombs flew on the city, mines were dropped into the water area of the bay.

The first mine fell directly into the waters of the Sevastopol Bay - in order to prevent the ships of the Black Sea Fleet from entering the sea. She fell almost at the very place where in the Crimean War, during the defense of Sevastopol, old wooden ships were flooded in order to prevent the Anglo-French squadron from entering the bay. There is also a monument, which is called just that - "Monument to the Scuttled Ships" (it is he in the picture). It was here that the Great Patriotic War began.

The second mine was also thrown for this purpose, but did not hit the water area, but fell on the street. Podgornaya and brought the first victims (about 20 people were killed and wounded). These were the first victims of the Great Patriotic War.

Mines descended on parachutes and exploded when they fell to the ground, several of them fell into the sea. Military experts have suggested that the enemy is dropping conventional anchor mines. On the evening of June 22, as a result of an underwater explosion, the SP-12 tugboat was killed, two days later - a 25-ton floating crane, then the destroyer Bystry. It turned out that the German troops used a new type of weapon - non-contact bottom magnetic mines, which exploded under the influence of the mass of ships passing over them. By placing electromagnetic mines in the fairways, the German command hoped to clog the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, and then destroy the ships with bomber strikes.

However, as a result of the successful work of the air defense forces, the Germans did not complete the task of blocking the Sevastopol bays with mines in order to destroy the fleet with bomber aircraft in the future. For a long time, enemy planes tried to mine the bay, the main fairway.

A means of combating non-contact mines was found by boatmen of the Division for the Protection of the Water Area. At high speed, the boats passed over the places where the fall of mines was noted, and dropped depth charges, from the explosion of which the mines detonated and exploded. But this method was not absolutely reliable and fraught with huge risks.

In order to quickly solve a complex problem, the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet created a group of military engineers in early July. They were greatly assisted by the scientists of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology E.E. Lysenko, Yu.S. Lazurkin, A.R. Regel, P.G. Stepanov and laboratory assistant K.K. Shcherbo. Soon the first electromagnetic trawl was created.

On August 9, 1941, physicists, later academicians, A.P. Aleksandrov and I.V. Kurchatov arrived in Sevastopol. The days of intense work came (after the departure of A.P. Aleksandrov, the leadership was carried out by Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov). In a small house on the shore of Holland Bay, I.V. Kurchatov and his group managed to develop a demagnetization system in a uniquely short time. Scientists, together with specialists from the Black Sea Fleet, having carefully and comprehensively studied the fundamental foundations of the new weapon, theoretically substantiated the method of mine protection of ships by demagnetizing them. Based on their research, the special anti-mine treatment of warships before they go to sea gave positive results. Surface and submarine ships of the fleet processed in this way were not afraid of enemy magnetic mines.

Participants in the work on degaussing ships. In the first row - A.R. Regel, Yu.S. Lazurkin, V.D. Panchenko. In the second row - P.G. Stepanov, D.M. Gitelmacher. In the third - I.V. Kurchatov. 1941

Undermining an underwater mine produced by a special trawl developed by the group of I.V. Kurchatov.

The physical principle, in general, is quite simple - the mine sensor reacts to the ship's magnetic field, just like a compass needle. The idea underlying the work on protecting ships from non-contact mines was to demagnetize the ships. It was assumed that this could be done by compensating the magnetic field of the ship with the help of special windings fixed on it, through which a direct current was passed. In this case, the magnetic field of the ship can be compensated by the magnetic field of the current to such an extent that the passage of the ship over the mine will not trigger the fuse, which has limited sensitivity.

The first work on degaussing ships was carried out even before the war, but in Sevastopol they worked with larger mines of a new design. By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of April 10, 1942, A.P. Aleksandrov, I.V. Kurchatov and six other participants in the work were awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree for the creation of effective methods for demagnetizing ships and their practical implementation. On October 4, 1944, IV Kurchatov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for solving the same problem. The command of the Black Sea Fleet presented Kurchatov for the medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol". So we can say that the demagnetization of ships in order to protect them from mines also began to develop actively after this work by Alexandrov and Kurchatov in 1941 in Sevastopol.

On land, the enemy came out to Sevastopol only in October 41. Already in mid-September, German and Romanian troops began preparations for the invasion of the peninsula. Until mid-October, our troops managed to keep the enemy on the outskirts of the Crimea. However, on October 22, the Germans reached the last, Ishun line of defense of the Crimean isthmuses and, having captured them, on October 28 broke through to the steppe expanses of the peninsula, developing an offensive in the direction of Sevastopol and Kerch.

On October 29, 1941, a state of siege was introduced in Sevastopol. On October 30, 1941, the second heroic defense of Sevastopol began, which lasted 250 days - until July 4, 1942. From the first battles to the last days of defense, the city's defenders showed dedication, unparalleled stamina and heroism. On November 4, the Sevastopol Defensive Region (SOR) was created to unite all the forces of the Main Base of the Black Sea Fleet. General management of the Main Base of the Black Sea Fleet and its defense was carried out by the Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet. As in the first defense of Sevastopol, Soviet sailors commanded the defense - the successors of Nakhimov, Kornilov, Istomin.

A. A. Deineka, "Defense of Sevastopol" (1942)

The city withstood two assaults (the first was an attempt by German troops to capture the city on the move during October 30 - November 21, 1941, the second - December 17-30). The last, summer assault began on June 7th. For the last, June, assault, both sides were preparing with all their strength: the Sevastopol residents - with the courage of despair, the Germans - with unprecedented frenzy. Their grouping was strengthened to 200 thousand people. The latest weapons were brought near Sevastopol, including the largest cannon of the Second World War "Dora", which was served by a whole division led by a general. One shell weighed 7 tons - it was visible in flight. But only 3 weeks later, from June 30, street fighting began. On the same day, an order was received from the Stavka to leave Sevastopol. However, organized resistance ended on 3 July. Separate centers resisted until June 12. The last defenders of Sevastopol fought on the Kherson Peninsula, on the legendary 35th battery (now there is a unique museum complex dedicated to the heroic defenders of Sevastopol - I recommend visiting everyone, you will not see this anywhere else).

If the defense of Sevastopol lasted 250 days, then the liberation took only a week. On May 5, as a result of a powerful offensive, German fortifications near the Mekenziev Mountains were broken through, and on May 7, Sapun Mountain was taken by storm. After 58 hours, by the end of the day on May 9, 1944, the city was liberated. Sevastopol. May 8, 1965 Sevastopol was awarded the title of Hero City (among the first 7: Leningrad, Odessa, Stalingrad, Kiev, Brest Fortress and Moscow).

Memorial wall in honor of the heroic defense of Sevastopol and the Alley of Hero Cities Sevastopol (Republic of Crimea) (my photo). Two bayonets reflected by a soldier symbolize two reflected assaults.

Today, June 22, 2015 at 03:13 at the Memorial of the Heroic Defense of Sevastopol in 1941-1942, the All-Russian action "Candle of Memory" will take place.

On June 22, 1941, the German army invaded the territory of the USSR, and the Great Patriotic War began, in which about 27 million Soviet citizens died. This is a tragic date - sacred for each of us, today, on the Day of Memory and Sorrow, we remember and honor the feat of those who died in the Great Patriotic War.

The longest day of the year
With its cloudless weather
He gave us a common misfortune
For all, for all four years.
She so pressed the trace of the tour of the Reichstag

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

“They don’t suspect anything about 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 the Army Group Center, Heinz Guderian, writes in his diary: “Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything about our intentions. In the courtyard of the fortress of Brest, which was visible from our observation posts, to the sounds of an orchestra, they were holding guards. 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 soldier who had crossed the border river Bug by swimming. The defector was sent to the headquarters of the detachment in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky.

23:00. German minelayers, who were in Finnish ports, began to mine the way out of 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 serviceman of the 221st regiment of the 15th Wehrmacht infantry division. He reported 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 has been passed on to the higher command.

At the same time, the transfer of directive No. 1 of the People's Commissariat of Defense for parts of the western military districts begins from Moscow. “During June 22-23, 1941, a sudden attack by the Germans on the fronts of the LVO, PribOVO, ZapOVO, KOVO, OdVO is possible. The 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 placed on combat readiness, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border, and aviation was dispersed over field airfields.

It is not possible to bring the directive to the military units before the start of hostilities, as a result of which the measures indicated 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 raid.

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

ten past three. The UNKGB in the Lvov region transmits by telephone 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 a 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 Kiev district, General Purkaev, reports on air raids on the cities of Ukraine, including Kiev.

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.

"Enemy raid repulsed. An attempt to strike our ships has been thwarted."

3:42. Chief of the General Staff Zhukov calls Stalin and reports the start of hostilities by Germany. Stalin orders Timoshenko and Zhukov to arrive at the Kremlin, where an emergency meeting of the Politburo is being convened.

3:45. The 1st frontier post of the 86th Augustow border detachment was attacked by an enemy reconnaissance and sabotage group. The personnel of the outpost under the command of Alexander Sivachev, having entered 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 has been thwarted. But there is destruction in Sevastopol.”

4:05. The outposts of the 86th August Frontier Detachment, including the 1st Frontier Post of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev, are subjected to heavy artillery fire, after which the German offensive begins. The 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 start of hostilities by German troops on land.

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 Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht begins an attack on the Brest Fortress.

"Defending not individual countries, but ensuring the security of Europe"

4:30. A meeting of members of the Politburo begins in the Kremlin. Stalin expresses doubt that what happened is the beginning of the war and does not exclude the version 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 of the German Foreign Ministry to the Soviet Government", which says: "The German government cannot be indifferent to a serious threat on the eastern border, so the Fuhrer gave the order to the German armed forces by all means ward off this threat. An hour after the actual start of hostilities, Germany de jure declares war on the Soviet Union.

5:30. On the German radio, Reich Minister of Propaganda Goebbels read out 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 oppose this conspiracy of Jewish-Anglo-Saxon warmongers and also Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow ... At the moment the greatest in terms of its length and volume of the performance of troops, which the world has ever seen ... The task of this front is no longer the defense of individual countries, but the security of Europe and thereby the salvation of all.

7:00. Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs 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 on fire, why aren’t you broadcasting anything on the radio?”

7:15. Stalin approves the directive on repulsing the attack of Nazi Germany: "The troops will attack the enemy forces with all their strength and means and destroy them in areas where they have violated the Soviet border." The transfer of "Directive No. 2" due to the violation by saboteurs of the communication lines in the western districts. Moscow does not have a clear picture of what is happening in the war zone.

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

10:00. From the memoirs of announcer Yuri Levitan: “They call from Minsk: “Enemy planes over the city”, they call from Kaunas: “The city is on fire, why are you not transmitting anything on the radio?”, “Enemy planes are over Kiev.” Women's crying, excitement: “Is it really a war? ..” However, no official messages are transmitted until 12:00 Moscow time on June 22.

10:30. From the report of the headquarters of the 45th German division on the battles on the territory of the Brest Fortress: “The Russians are fiercely resisting, especially behind our attacking companies. In the citadel, the enemy organized defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of enemy snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers.

11:00. The Baltic, Western and Kiev special military districts were transformed into the Northwestern, Western and Southwestern fronts.

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

12:00. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov read out an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union: "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 from our cities - Zhytomyr, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others - with their own planes, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids 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 piratical attack and drive the German troops from the territory of our homeland ... The government calls on you, citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally their ranks still more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is right. 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 ..."

“On the basis of Article 49 of paragraph “o” of the Constitution of the USSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR announces mobilization on the territory of the military districts - Leningrad, Special Baltic, 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. Consider June 23, 1941 as the first day of mobilization. Despite the fact that June 23 is named the first day of mobilization, recruiting offices at the military registration and enlistment offices begin to work by the middle of the day on June 22.

13:30. The Chief of the General Staff, General Zhukov, flies to Kiev as a representative of the newly created Headquarters of the High 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 blockaded 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 has 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 enter Soviet territory.”

14:10. The 1st frontier post 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 head 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 planned withdrawal is still open. There is now ample evidence both for and against this.

It is surprising that nowhere is any significant work of their artillery visible. Strong artillery fire is conducted only in the north-west of Grodno, where the VIII Army Corps is advancing. Apparently, our air force has an overwhelming superiority over Russian aviation.

Of the 485 frontier posts attacked, none retreated without an order.

16:00. After a 12-hour battle, the Nazis occupy the positions of the 1st frontier post. 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 class.

The feat of the outpost of Senior Lieutenant Sivachev became one of the hundreds accomplished by the border guards in the first hours and days of the war. The state border of the USSR from the Barents to the Black Sea on June 22, 1941 was guarded by 666 border outposts, 485 of them were attacked on the very first day of the war. None of the 485 outposts attacked on June 22 withdrew without orders.

The Nazi command took 20 minutes to break the resistance of the border guards. 257 Soviet frontier posts held the 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 outposts. Up to two months, 45 outposts fought.

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 another week.

"The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox for the defense of the sacred borders of our Motherland"

18:00. The Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Sergius, addresses the faithful with a message: “Fascist robbers have attacked our homeland. Trampling all sorts of treaties 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. Together with him, she carried trials, and consoled herself with his successes. She will not leave her people even now… The Church of Christ blesses all Orthodox to defend 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 the armies, except for the 11th Army of the Army Group South in Romania, went on the offensive according to plan. The offensive of our troops, apparently, was a complete tactical surprise for the enemy on the entire front. The border bridges across the Bug and other rivers have been 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 the barracks, the planes stood at the airfields, covered with tarpaulins, and the advanced units, suddenly attacked by our troops, asked the command what to do ... The Air Force command reported, that today 850 enemy aircraft have been destroyed, including entire squadrons of bombers, which, having taken to the air 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 the Soviet troops to go on the counteroffensive with the task of defeating the Nazi troops on the territory of the USSR with further advance into the territory of the enemy. The directive prescribed by the end of June 24 to capture the Polish city of Lublin.

"We must give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can"

21:00. Summary of the High Command of the Red Army for June 22: “At dawn on June 22, 1941, the 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, the 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 Krystynopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of Kalvaria, Stoyanuv and Tsekhanovets (the first two at 15 km and the last at 10 km from the border).

Enemy aviation attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere they met with a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes."

23:00. Appeal of 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 generously lavished his assurances to 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 in a state of war ...

No one has been a more staunch opponent of communism over the past 25 years than I have been. I will not take back a single word said about him. But all this pales before the spectacle unfolding now.

The past, with its crimes, follies and tragedies, recedes. I see Russian soldiers standing on the border of their native land and guarding the fields that their fathers have plowed since time immemorial. I see how they guard 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 the breadwinner, patron, their protectors ...

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

June 22 has come to an end. Ahead were another 1417 days of the most terrible war in the history of mankind.

June 22, 1941 will forever remain in the history of our country as the day of the beginning of a bloody and cruel war. NTV tells what happened on that terrible morning and how the Great Patriotic War began.

Read below

June 21, 1941

13:00 (Berlin time) German troops received the signal "Dortmund", meaning that the offensive, as planned, would begin on 22 June.

In Germany, Colonel General Guderian checked the readiness of advanced combat units for the offensive: “... Careful observation of the Russians convinced me that they did not suspect anything about our intentions. In the courtyard of the fortress of Brest, which was visible from our observation posts, to the sounds of an orchestra, they were holding guards. Coastal fortifications along the Western Bug were not occupied by Russian troops.

21:30 In Moscow, a conversation took place between People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov and German Ambassador Schulenburg. Molotov protested in connection with the repeated violations of the borders of the USSR by German aircraft. The ambassador evaded the answer.

23:00 German minelayers, who were in Finnish ports, began to mine the way out of the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, Finnish submarines began laying mines off the coast of Estonia.

June 22, 1941

00:10 The border troops detained a defector from the German side, Alfred Liskov, who left the location of his unit and swam across the Bug. During interrogation, the detainee said that at about 4 am the German army would begin crossing the Bug.

01:00 Stalin summoned the Chief of the General Staff, Georgy Zhukov, and People's Commissar for Defense, Semyon Timoshenko, to the Kremlin. They reported Liskov's message. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov joins them. Zhukov and Timoshenko insist on issuing Directive No. 1.

01:45 Directive No. 1 was sent to the districts with the order to covertly occupy firing points on the border, not to succumb to provocations and put the troops on alert.
"one. During June 22–23, 1941, a surprise attack by the Germans on the fronts of the LVO, PribOVO, ZAPOVO, KOVO, and OdVO is possible. The attack may start with provocative actions.
2. The task of our troops is not to succumb to any provocative actions that could cause major complications. At the same time, the troops of the Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kiev and Odessa military districts should be in full combat readiness to meet a possible surprise attack by the Germans or their allies.
3. I order:
a) during the night of June 22, 1941, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the state border;
b) before dawn on June 22, 1941, disperse all aviation, including military aviation, over field airfields, carefully disguise it;
c) put all units on combat readiness. Keep the troops dispersed and camouflaged;
d) put the air defense on alert without an additional rise in assigned staff. Prepare all measures to darken cities and objects;
e) no other activities are to be carried out without special instructions.
Timoshenko. Zhukov."

3:07 The first reports of artillery shelling began to arrive.

3:40 People's Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko asks Zhukov to report to Stalin on the start of full-scale hostilities. At this time, the cities of Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Volkovysk, Kiev, Zhitomir, Sevastopol, Riga, Vindava, Libava, Shauliai, Kaunas, Vilnius and many others were bombed.

The Chief of Staff of the Black Sea Fleet, Rear Admiral I. D. Eliseev, ordered to open fire on German aircraft that had invaded the airspace of the Soviet Union.

04:00 German troops went on the offensive. The Great Patriotic War began.

Photo: TASS

4:15 The defense of the Brest Fortress began.

4:30 The Western and Baltic districts reported on the start of large-scale hostilities by German troops on land. 4 million soldiers of Germany and allies invaded the border territory of the USSR. 3350 tanks, 7000 various guns and 2000 aircraft were involved in the battles.

4:55 Almost half of the Brest Fortress is occupied by German troops.

5:30 The German Foreign Ministry sent a note to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, in which it stated: “Bolshevik Moscow is ready to stab in the back of National Socialist Germany, which is fighting for existence. The German government cannot be indifferent to the serious threat on the eastern border. Therefore, the Fuhrer gave the order to the German armed forces to ward off this threat with all their might and means ... "

7:15 Directive No. 2 was sent to the western military districts of the Soviet Union, which ordered the USSR troops to destroy enemy forces in the areas of violation of the border, as well as “to establish reconnaissance and combat aviation to establish the enemy’s aviation concentration sites and the grouping of his ground forces. With powerful strikes by bomber and attack aircraft, destroy aircraft at enemy airfields and bomb groupings of his ground forces ... "

9:30 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Kalinin signed decrees on the introduction of martial law in the country, on the formation of the Headquarters of the High Command, on military tribunals and general mobilization, to which all those liable for military service from 1905 to 1918 were born.

Photo: TASS

10:00 An air raid was carried out on Kiev and its suburbs. The railway station, factories, power plants, military airfields and residential buildings were attacked.

12:00 The People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR made a speech on the radio. V. M. Molotov.
“... 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 - Zhytomyr, Kiev, Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, and more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory ... Germany attacked the USSR, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany is the attacking side ...
Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops from the territory of our Motherland ... Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours".

After some time, the text of Molotov's speech was repeated by the famous announcer Yuri Levitan. Until now, there is an opinion that it was he who was the first to read a message on the radio about the beginning of the war.

12:30 German troops entered Grodno. Minsk, Kiev and Sevastopol were subjected to repeated bombardments.

13:00 Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano said that Italy had declared war on the USSR:
“In view of the current situation, due to the fact that Germany has 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 the German troops enter Soviet territory, that is, from 5.30 on June 22”

14:00 The Brest Fortress continued to hold the line. The German commanders decided that only infantry would take the fortress, without tanks. It took no more than 8 hours to take it.

Photo: TASS / Valery Gende-Rote

15:00 German bomber pilots continue air raids. The Baltic strategic defensive operation of the North-Western Front of F. I. Kuznetsov and part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet began. At the same time, the Belarusian strategic defensive operation of the Western Front by D. G. Pavlov and the defensive operation in Western Ukraine of the South-Western Front began.

16:30 The Kremlin was abandoned by Beria, Molotov and Voroshilov. In the first days after the start of the war, no one else met with Stalin, and there was practically no connection with him. Stalin delivered a speech to the Soviet people only on July 3, 1941. Why this happened is still debated by historians.

18:30 One of the German commanders gives the order to "pull off their own forces" at the Brest Fortress. This was one of the first orders for the retreat of German troops.

Photo: TASS

19:00 The commander of the German army group "Center" gives the order to stop the execution of the first Soviet prisoners of war and create special camps for them.

21:15 Directive No. 3 was transferred to the western military districts of the Soviet Union. In it, People's Commissar of Defense Semyon Timoshenko orders the bombing of Koenigsberg and Danzig, as well as air strikes 100-150 km deep into Germany.

23:00 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivers a radio address in which he declares that Britain is ready to provide the USSR with all the help it can give.
“… We are determined to destroy Hitler and all traces of the Nazi regime. Nothing can turn us away from it, nothing. We will never negotiate, we will never enter into negotiations with Hitler or with any of his gang. We will fight him on land, we will fight him at sea, we will fight him in the air until, with God's help, we have rid the earth of his very shadow and free the peoples 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 from this that we will give Russia and the Russian people all the help we can. We will appeal to all our friends and allies in all parts of the world with an appeal to follow the same course and carry it out as steadfastly and steadily to the end, as we will do it ... ".

23:50 The Main Military Council of the Red Army sent out a directive that ordered on June 23 to launch counterattacks on enemy forces.

June 23, 1941

00:00 In the night radio news, for the first time, a summary of the main command of the Red Army appeared: “At dawn on June 22, 1941, the 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, the 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 Krystynopol directions did the enemy manage to achieve minor tactical successes and occupy the towns of Kalvaria, Stoyanuv and Tsekhanovets (the first two at 15 km and the last at 10 km from the border). Enemy aviation attacked a number of our airfields and settlements, but everywhere they met with a decisive rebuff from our fighters and anti-aircraft artillery, which inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. We shot down 65 enemy planes."

Photo: TASS / Nikolai Surovtsev

It is known that on the first day of the war, German troops advanced along the entire border 50–60 km deep into the territory of the USSR. There were still almost 4 years of war ahead.

Victory will be ours: how the Great Patriotic War began