In which year did the Great Patriotic War end? The date of the end of the Great Patriotic War

About war in the Soviet Union they wrote a lot. Mass memoirs of generals, notes of officers and soldiers, prose, poems, historical research were published in mass editions. There are also memories of the workers of the rear (both ordinary workers and managers, directors of factories, people's commissars, aircraft designers). All this constitutes an impressive library, according to which, it would seem, it is possible to restore historical facts with complete certainty. In addition, films were made - artistic and documentary, short and multi-series. In schools, technical colleges and institutes, students studied in detail all the stages of the great battle that took tens of millions of lives. And with all this it turned out that our people know surprisingly little about what happened during the Great Patriotic War.

Two calendar dates - black and red

In the minds of the masses, the two main dates are firmly entrenched - June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945. Unfortunately, not everyone knows what happened in these days. In the early summer morning, "Kiev bombed, we were announced ...", and the general summary that the Germans attacked suddenly did not declare war. It's all about the first date. The information is not entirely truthful. The declaration of the war was, German ambassador Schulenburg sent a note to Molotov. True, it did not matter, at that moment the Junkers and Henkeli were already gaining ground above the border, and there was no time left to prepare for repelling the attack. But that's the war, so as not to warn in advance about the attack. About why the defense was not prepared, the conversation is special.

On what year the Great Patriotic War ended and on what day, at first glance, more is known. But even here everything is not clear.

Start

On June 22, something happened, to which the USSR was preparing for a long time. An unprecedented modernization of industrial potential, called industrialization, took place. The peasant way of life was radically restructured, the basis for private initiative in the village was eliminated. This led to a sharp decline in the welfare of the whole people. Large-scale efforts, since they did not lead to an increase in the standard of living, could only be directed to one thing - defense. Propaganda persistently inspired the idea of the inevitability of war and, at the same time, the peace of the world's first state of workers and peasants. The scenario of the future fateful events was described in a feature film with the eloquent title "If tomorrow is a war". An insidious enemy attacked, and he was immediately caught retribution of terrible power. He was completely defeated, and real freedom came to his land, as in the USSR. Why did it happen differently in June 1941?

Almost all the military power of the Red Army as of mid-June 1941 was concentrated near the western borders of the USSR. There were also supplies of weapons, fuel, ammunition, medicines, food and everything necessary for war on a foreign territory with little blood. The airfields were also maximally pushed into the border strip. The equipment was not completed, the delivery of military cargo and trains with equipment continued. All this was covered both in works of art and in many memoirs.

It can be concluded that the Patriotic War was not planned for Stalin to defend his country.

What counted Hitler

The German Fuhrer hoped mainly, most likely, to the dissatisfaction of the population with Soviet power. The German intelligence agency reported on the monstrous consequences of more than twenty years of communist rule, the repressions that decapitated the Red Army, the millions of starving peasants in the collective farms, the intimidated working class and the suppressed intelligentsia. The Fuhrer had practically no doubts that with the approach of the Wehrmacht to the borders of the USSR, the population would gladly meet the "liberators". Similar situations, by the way, took place in some western regions, but in general, hopes did not come true.

How Germany prepared for the war

If it were not for the hope of a quick crushing of the "colossus on clay feet," Adolf Hitler would hardly have ventured to attack. The position of Germany in the early summer of 1941 could not be called brilliant. Against the backdrop of successful actions in Europe, there were also not very pleasant processes. Half of France remained "under-funded", 100% control over Yugoslavia was never established, in North Africa things went badly, naval operations were also taking place with varying success. America did not join the war, but in fact it already participated in it, helping Britain with its almost inexhaustible material resources.

Allies of Germany - Romania, Italy and Japan - brought more trouble than good. The beginning of the war against the USSR in such conditions could be considered a mad step. Preparation was practically not conducted, the soldiers of the Wehrmacht did not even have warm clothes and shoes (they never appeared), frost-resistant fuel and lubricants. Soviet intelligence knew about this and reported to the Kremlin.

Nevertheless, the war began for the USSR in a completely unexpected way and in an extremely unprofitable situation for us. The Germans were rapidly moving deeper into the territory, the situation was becoming increasingly threatening. It became clear that without participation in the defense of the entire people it would be impossible to win. And the war became Patriotic.

Patriotic War

Almost immediately after the Hitlerite attack, the war was declared Patriotic. It happened the second time in Russian history. The threat arose not just to some social order, but to the very existence of the country and the Eurasian civilization. And how was it the first time, under the tsar-liberator?

Patriotic war with France was in 1812 until the Napoleonic hordes were not expelled from the Russian land. Bonaparte was driven to Paris, reached it, and, taking in 1814, the emperor-usurper there was not found. We stayed a bit "on a visit", and then returned home for brave songs. But after crossing the Berezina, all this was just a hike. Only the first year, while there were battles along the Old Smolenskaya road, near Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, and the partisans were attacking the invaders, the war was considered Patriotic.

Version one: 1944

If we carry out historical analogies, then the question of when the Great Patriotic War ended was to be answered: in 1944, in the autumn. It was then that the last armed German, Romanian, Spaniard, Italian, Hungarian and any other soldier who fought on the side of Nazi Germany left the territory of the USSR. The prisoners and the dead do not count. The war itself continued, but the domestic war ceased to exist, it entered the phase of finishing the enemy in its lair with the passing release of the enslaved peoples. The threat to the existence of the USSR was over, the question was only in terms of the final rout of the enemy and the conditions of the subsequent peace.

Version two - May 8, 1945

True, there are opponents in this version, and their arguments deserve respect. The end of the Second World War, in their opinion, coincides chronologically with the moment of signing the capitulation in Karlshorst - the outskirts of Berlin. On our part, Marshal GK Zhukov and other military commanders participated in the ceremony, with Keitel with the German officers and generals of the German General Staff. Hitler was already dead for eight days. The date of the historic event is May 8, 1945. A day earlier, there was another signing of surrender, but the higher Soviet command was not present on it, so Stalin did not recognize him, and he did not give the order to end the hostilities. The victorious ending of the Great Patriotic War on May 9 became a national holiday, all radio stations of the Soviet Union announced about it. The people rejoiced, people laughed and cried. And someone else had to fight ...

May 9, after the Victory

The signing of the act of surrendering Germany did not yet mean the end of the war. Soviet soldiers died on May 9 as well. In Prague, the German garrison, consisting of elite SS men, refused to lay down their arms. The situation arose acute, the townspeople tried to confront the Nazi fanatics, who understand that their days are numbered, and they have nothing to lose. A swift roll of Soviet troops saved the Czech capital from a bloody massacre. The outcome of the battles was predetermined, but there were losses. On the ninth of May it all ended. Dying on the last day of the war was offensive, but this is a soldier's share ...

There was also a little-known war in the Far East. Quickly and decisively, the Soviet Army defeated the Kwangtung group of the Japanese armed forces, reaching Korea. There were losses, however, incomparably smaller than during the war with Germany.

The Patriotic War of Front and Rear

The ninth of May is the day of the end of the Great Patriotic War , because although it was conducted from the autumn of 1944 not on our territory, in fact the efforts of the whole country were directed to overcoming the resistance of the enemy. The entire economic potential of the USSR worked on the principle "everything for the front, everything for victory". The fighting went west of the Soviet borders, but there was a battle in the rear. Tanks, airplanes, guns, ships, which were to be crushed by the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe and the Kriggsmarine, were all built in the rear.

The workers, among whom there were many women and teenagers, spared no effort to supply the native Red Army with everything necessary, they waged their war, crying out a lot over funerals and not eating enough. The victory in the Great Patriotic War was the result of efforts not only of soldiers, officers, generals, admirals and sailors, but also of the rest of the Soviet people. In this sense, the war was domestic from the first to the last day.

Version three - 1955

The signing of the surrender of Germany took place in a complex and nervous situation. The defeated enemy tried to maintain the appearance of some dignity, Keitel even saluted the winners with a Field Marshal's staff. The allies added tension, they tried to observe their own geopolitical interests, which, in general, is quite natural. Mutual vigilance interfered with the triumph of the expected great holiday. It's no surprise that in this situation we forgot about a very important document, namely, a peace treaty. Wars end and what comes next? That's right, the world. But not some abstract, but one about which the winners will agree. The only thing left for the defeated is to accept the conditions proposed by him. The end of the Great Patriotic War in May 1945 was actual, but no legal registration took place, it was simply forgotten.

Legal clause

We suddenly remembered in about ten years. January 25, 1955 by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, signed by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR K. Voroshilov and Secretary of the Presidium N. Pegova, the state of war with Germany was discontinued. Of course, this legislative act was symbolic, and even the most defeated state at that time was not in its original form - it was divided into two parts, the FRG and the GDR, but the teachers for the students-historians had a question on backfilling: "In what year did the Great The Patriotic War in the legal sense? "And the correct answer, which was not known to everyone, is this: in 1955!

Legal niceties today do not really matter, they are important only for those who consider themselves an expert and want to flash erudition in front of others. Today, when not every high school graduate knows in which year the Great Patriotic War ended, it is not so difficult. A couple of decades ago, it was known to everyone. Events of history are becoming more and more remote from us, and fewer eyewitnesses can tell about them. The date of the end of the Great Patriotic War is prescribed in textbooks, but it is also on pedestals of monuments.

It is known the winged expression of one of the great generals that while at least one dead soldier is not buried, the war can not be considered finished. Unfortunately, our country has lost so many sons and daughters that to this day the search groups find their remains in the places of former battles. They are escorted to the last path with military honors, relatives learn about the fate of their fathers and grandfathers, thunder salute ... Can we ever assert that all the soldiers who gave their lives for their homeland found a fitting rest? This is unlikely, but it should be pursued.