2. A radical change during the Great Patriotic War

The fundamental turning point in the course of the war is the interception of strategic initiative, the transition from defense to strategic offensive, and a change in the balance of forces.

Most researchers believe that the main events of the second stage of the war (“radical turning point”) were : defeat German troops near Stalingrad (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943); Battle of Kursk (July 5-August 23, 1943); Battle of the Dnieper (September-November 1943); liberation of the Caucasus (January-February 1943).

The main attack of the Germans was aimed at the Don - in the area between Voronezh and Rostov. If the ambitious plan were implemented - if German troops were successful along the entire front line, wedged deep into Russian territory - they would have a real opportunity to surround Moscow on both sides and take it in a pincer movement. Nevertheless, the Soviet troops defending the northern sector of the Voronezh front fought to the death, so further the German offensive could develop only in the southern and southeastern direction - in the Caucasus and the Lower Volga region.

This turn of events, in turn, posed other problems: in order to protect their western flank while advancing into the Caucasus, the Germans needed to completely capture the Crimea. After they completed this task, German troops invaded the territory of the North Caucasus and captured important oil fields there in the Maykop region. After this, they directed the main attack on another Russian fortress, a city on the Volga - Stalingrad.

By the beginning of the spring-summer campaign of 1942, the German army maintained an advantage in the number of personnel, the number of guns and aircraft. The Germans continued their offensive in July and August, attacking simultaneously from the southwest and northwest. Von Paulus's 6th Army reached the Volga from the north-west and could bombard Stalingrad.

The enemy's offensive was stopped by November 1942. The following factors contributed to this:

1) the Soviet command learned serious lessons from defeats and failures initial period war, confidence in military personnel increased, which was manifested in the liquidation of the institution of military commissars in August 1942;

2) by mid-1942 it was possible to transfer the national economic complex to a military footing. As a result, since the end of 1942, the USSR produced more tanks, aircraft, guns and other military equipment than Germany. This became the material basis for victory;

3) during the first period of the war, at the cost of enormous sacrifices, a new officer corps was formed, capable senior and middle-level commanders were identified, and the troops learned to fight. The mood of soldiers and civilians changed. The war became truly Patriotic.

The main event of the war at the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943 was the Battle of Stalingrad. 1st stage (July 17-November 18, 1942) – defensive stage. Until September 12, there were battles for the Stalingrad region, and from September 12 - for the city itself. The city was defended by the 62nd and 64th armies. On July 28, 1942, order No. 227 “Not a step back!” was issued. (not a single unit of the Red Army could retreat without orders from higher command).

The defense of Stalingrad is one of the most incredible battles in military history for the stamina of soldiers in the face of immeasurably superior enemy forces and bloodshed.

On September 13, fierce street fighting began in Stalingrad , the defense of which was entrusted to the 62nd and 64th armies (generals V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov). The troops of these armies, having a large shortage of men and military equipment, defended a front stretching 65 km.

There were no long operational operations in the battles on the territory of Stalingrad.pauses. The fighting went on continuously. They intensified, subsided, but did not stop at all. The enemy attacked again and again, launching over 700 attacks. By the beginning of October, Chuikov's army was defending on a front 25 km long and only 200 m to 2.5 km deep.

The city's defense was built according to the principle of a fortified area. Each strong point and node of resistance was adapted to a perimeter defense. To resist the enemy, not only the above-ground parts of the buildings were used, but also the basements, sewer pipes and wells. During defense large buildings fire weapons were located on all floors and on stairwells. Cracks were opened around the buildings, in which garrisons of strong points took refuge during bombing and artillery shelling. To carry out the maneuver, they were often created underground passages. Units and subunits, while defending themselves, at the same time used every opportunity to launch counterattacks.

Defense Soviet troops was distinguished by her tenacity and perseverance, massive heroism of soldiers, high activity. Indicative for fighting in the city is defense of Pavlov's house. For about two months, a group of brave men from the 13th Guards Rifle Division, led by Sergeant Ya.F. Pavlov defended the house on the Ninth January Square, called the House of Soldier's Glory. The feat of Pacific sailor M.A. will forever go down in history. Panics. When enemy tanks approached the positions of his regiment near the village of Krasny Oktyabr, Panikakha used bottles with flammable liquid. An enemy bullet pierced one of the bottles, and the ignited liquid doused the brave man. Panikakha, engulfed in flames, jumped out of the trench, rushed to the lead fascist tank and set it on fire with a second bottle. The hero died, but the Nazis, having lost the lead vehicle, were amazed by what they saw, retreated.

Among the defenders of Stalingrad widespread received a sniper movement, numbering over 400 masters of accurate fire. Born in the battles of Stalingrad battle glory snipers Hero of the Soviet Union V. Zaitsev, V. Medvedev, V. Feofanov, N. Kulikov and many others. Only on " personal account» Zaitseva There were 242 enemy killed.

The heroic defense of the city forced the Nazi command to transfer more and more forces from the Caucasian direction to the Stalingrad area. A large enemy group found itself drawn into protracted, exhausting battles and was deprived of the opportunity to maneuver. The German command was forced to give the order to go on the defensive. Only in the city did it still try to conduct offensive operations.

In the fierce battles between the Volga and Don, the Nazis lost about 700 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 1 thousand tanks and assault guns, over 2 thousand guns and mortars, more than 1,400 aircraft. The total losses of the Red Army in the Stalingrad defensive operation amounted to 643,842 people, 1,426 tanks, 12,137 guns and mortars, and 2,063 aircraft.

2nd stage (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943) – encirclement of the enemy group and its surrender. By the fall of 1942, the overall balance of forces had changed in favor of the Soviet Armed Forces. The strengthening of the military-economic base of the USSR and the growth of the technical equipment of our Armed Forces ensured further improvement organizational structure units and formations, their quantitative increase in all branches of the military. The accumulated forces made it possible to prepare and conduct a number of large offensive operations along the entire front. Start offensive actions marked the beginning of the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad.

According to the Uranus plan, developed by G.K. Zhukov and provided for the use of the forces of the Southwestern (commander I.F. Vatutin), Stalingrad (commander A.I. Eremenko) and Don (commander K.K. Rokossovsky) fronts to encircle the Germans between the Volga and Don.

The goals set by the enemy in the summer offensive of 1942 were not achieved, and its offensive capabilities were exhausted. In the Stalingrad direction, in an 860-kilometer strip, battle-weary troops of the 8th Italian, 3rd Romanian, 6th and 4th German tank armies, and 4th Romanian operated.

On November 19, Soviet troops launched an offensive and already on November 23 united at the Sovetsky farm and the city of Kalach on the Don, encircling the 6th, part of the 4th German tank armies and part of the allied forces. There were 330 thousand people in the cauldron. Unfortunately, it was not possible to immediately defeat the enemy’s huge grouping as planned. The operation took three months instead of one month.

The fascist German command immediately after encircling its group began to take measures to restore the situation at Stalingrad. The “Führer” gave the order to preserve the captured positions in Stalingrad, and to release the encircled 6A by attacking from the outside. This decision was aimed at ensuring the withdrawal of the North Caucasian group of Germans, which was under threat of encirclement, to Rostov.

In December 1942, an attempt by Army Group Don of Field Marshal E. Manstein to break through the outer ring of encirclement was repulsed.

From December 30 to February 2, 1943, the final operation “Ring” took place, during which Paulus’ army was dissected and capitulated on February 2. During the operation, troops of the Don Front took over 91 thousand prisoners, including more than 2,500 officers and 21 generals . In these battles, the encircled enemy lost about 140 thousand soldiers and officers.

The Battle of Stalingrad was the beginning of a radical change and collapse of the Wehrmacht's offensive strategy. The victory at Stalingrad was the beginning of a major offensive by Soviet troops, as a result of which Rostov, Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, Kharkov, and part of Donbass were returned. The troops of the Western Front approached Smolensk, and with the liberation of Shlisselburg the blockade of Leningrad was broken.

In the winter campaign of 1942/43, the Soviet Armed Forces achieved outstanding victories. They defeated up to 100 enemy divisions and drove them back from the Volga and Terek by 600-700 km. The Soviet Army liberated fascist invaders the entire territory that they captured in the summer of 1942, and began the massive expulsion of the occupiers from our Motherland. The enemy lost in the winter campaign of 1942/43. 1 million 600 thousand people (1 million irrevocably), 24 thousand guns, over 3.5 thousand tanks, 4.5 thousand aircraft. For the first time, its losses exceeded the losses of Soviet troops - 840 thousand people (279 thousand irrevocably).

Battle of Kursk(July 5-August 23, 1943). In the spring of 1943 at Eastern Front There was a strategic pause. German Armed Forces Command still hoped to find a strategic continuation of the war that would ensure the achievement of a favorable situation for it at the front and the transition to at least negotiations on an armistice on terms favorable to it.During production plan to conduct the summer campaign of 1943, the German command came to the conclusion on the advisability of carrying out a major offensive in the Kursk region ( Operation Citadel).

The German command carried out thorough preparations for the offensive, as a result of which The strength of the enemy group in the Kursk direction was : personnel – about 900 thousand people, 2,700 tanks, 10,000 guns and mortars, about 2,000 aircraft.

The Red Army command took into account the lessons of the summer of 1942 and, having received information about the offensive plan near Kursk (Operation Citadel), decided to organize a strategic defense in order to wear down the enemy in defensive battles and then go on the offensive.

In April–June, in the Kursk direction, Soviet troops created a strong, deeply echeloned, well-saturated defense. In front of the front line of defense and in its depths there were engineering barriers and minefields. During the creation of the defense, more than 10 thousand km of trenches were dug and more than 700 km of wire fences were installed. More than 600 thousand mines were installed on the Voronezh Front alone. The total depth of defense of the Soviet troops reached 250 – 300 km.

The total number of troops on the three fronts was : personnel more than 1 million 800 thousand people, tanks and self-propelled guns – 4000, guns and mortars – 27 thousand

Thus, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command promptly revealed the preparations for the summer offensive of the Nazis, unraveled their plans and created a group of troops in the Kursk direction that was significantly superior to the enemy troops.

The defensive stage of the Battle of Kursk took place from July 5 to July 18. On the very first day, the enemy threw a large number of tanks at the positions of our troops with aviation support. Soviet soldiers steadfastly repelled enemy attacks, showing massive heroism and courage. Artillerymen destroyed enemy tanks with direct fire, infantrymen pelted them with anti-tank grenades, and sappers quickly laid anti-tank mines. The main efforts of attack and bomber aircraft were aimed at combating enemy tanks.

The days of fighting are filled with examples of mass heroism and self-sacrifice. Immortal feat committed by soldiers of the 214th Rifle Regiment of the 73rd Guards Rifle Division. They courageously repelled the attack of 120 enemy tanks, destroying 39 tanks and up to a thousand Nazis in 12 hours of battle. The 3rd battalion of the regiment especially distinguished itself. Of the 450 soldiers and officers of the battalion, 150 people remained in the ranks, but the tanks did not get through. Captain Grib's four guns (124th artillery regiment), while repelling an enemy attack, destroyed 6 "tigers", 4 medium tanks and 7 trucks with infantry. Enemy infantry surrounded the battalion commander's observation post. In hand-to-hand combat A.A. The mushroom destroyed two officers, six soldiers and escaped from the encirclement.

Defense Breakout Plan Central Front and the development of the attack on Kursk from the north was disrupted by July 9. The enemy has penetrated our defense by 10 – 12 km. on a section of 35 km along the front, it was stopped, and then driven to its original positions.

The fight in the strip took place under more difficult conditions Voronezh Front . By the end of July 9, the enemy had penetrated our defenses to a depth of 35 km, butFurther advance of the enemy in this direction was stopped. The Nazis' desire to break through to Kursk through Oboyan was thwarted.

Then Manstein decided to change the direction of concentration of the main efforts of the strike group. The breakthrough of the army defense line was planned to be carried out by striking in the direction of Prokhorovka. The basis of the strike group was the 2nd tank corps SS (more than 300 tanks and assault guns). At the same time, the Kempf group (more than 100 tanks and assault guns) was supposed to strike from the south.

Having guessed the enemy's plan, the Soviet command decided to launch counterattacks on Prokhorovskyand Oboyan directions and disrupt his offensive. The most fierce counter battle broke out on July 12 near Prokhorovka, in which about 600 Soviet and 300 German tanks and self-propelled guns took part. Due to poor training and weak air support, the losses of the 5th Guards Tank Army amounted to more than 50% of the tanks and self-propelled guns that participated in the battles. The 2nd SS Panzer Corps lost more than 70 tanks and self-propelled guns damaged and destroyed. At Oboyan, our troops were also not active enough and were not successful. At the same time, the counterattack, although it did not achieve decisive goals, forced the enemy to go on the defensive in all directions. By August 18, the original situation was restored.

Soviet counteroffensive. The counteroffensive of the Soviet troops, which opened a new stage of the Battle of Kursk, began in the Oryol direction on July 12 with the transition of the troops of the Western and Bryansk fronts to the offensive. Three days later, the troops of the Central Front also launched a counteroffensive in this direction. The counteroffensive of the troops of the Voronezh, Steppe and Southwestern fronts began on August 3.

On August 5, Oryol and Belgorod were liberated, and on August 23, Kharkov. IN Battle of Kursk The German offensive strategy finally collapsed.

The Battle of Kursk, which lasted 50 days and nights, was over. This was one of the greatest battles World War II. The total losses of the Nazi troops amounted to over 500 thousand people, 1.5 thousand tanks, 3 thousand guns and over 3.7 thousand aircraft. Hitler's army was unable to recover from such a defeat until the very end of the war. After the Battle of Kursk, the fascist command was forced to finally abandon the offensive strategy and go on the defensive along the entire Soviet-German front.

From August to November 1943, Soviet troops carried out more than 20 offensive operations on the front from Leningrad to the Black Sea. The general counteroffensive after the Battle of Kursk led to the liberation of Left Bank Ukraine. Donbass, southeastern regions of Belarus.

A radical turning point was completed in October-November 1943 during the Battle of the Dnieper - the entry of Soviet troops to the Dnieper line, its crossing north of Kyiv and the liberation of the capital of Ukraine. This was the collapse of the defensive strategy of the Wehrmacht, which relied on the creation of an “eastern rampart” along the Dnieper. The war has entered its final stage.

The beginning of a radical fracture. Battle of Stalingrad. In the middle of the summer of 1942, the enemy reached the Volga, and the Battle of Stalingrad began (July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943). From mid-September 1942, fighting took place inside the city. The defense was led by generals V.I. Chuikov, A.I. Rodimtsev, M.S. Shumilov. The German command attached particular importance to the capture of Stalingrad. Its capture would make it possible to cut the Volga transport artery, through which bread and oil were delivered to the center of the country. According to the Soviet plan “Uranus” (encircling the enemy in the Stalingrad area), on November 19, 1942, the Red Army went on the offensive, a few days later encircling the German group under the command of Field Marshal F. von Paulus.

From November 1942 to November - December 1943, the strategic initiative firmly passed into the hands of the Soviet command, the Red Army moved from defense to strategic offensive, so this period of the war was called a radical turning point.

The Nazi army of 330,000 was surrounded at Stalingrad. According to the “Ring” plan, on January 10, 1943, Soviet troops began the defeat of the fascist group, dividing it into two parts - southern and northern. First, the southern part capitulated, and then on February 2, 1943, the northern part.

The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad is that it:

1) marked the beginning of a radical change in the Great Patriotic War;

2) the liberation struggle intensified in the anti-fascist countries of Europe;

3) Germany’s foreign policy relations with its allies worsened.

In December 1942, the Red Army began its offensive in the Caucasus. On January 18, 1943, Soviet troops partially broke through the blockade of Leningrad. The radical change that began at Stalingrad was completed during the Battle of Kursk and the battles for the river. Dnieper. Battle on Kursk Bulge(Eagle - Belgorod) - was planned by the German command already in the winter of 1943. According to the “Citadel” plan, the Nazis planned to encircle and destroy the troops of Voronezh and Central Fronts, concentrated on the Kursk salient.

The Soviet command became aware of the impending operation, and it also concentrated forces for an offensive in this area. The Battle of Kursk began on July 5, 1943 and lasted almost two months. Its course can be divided into two periods: the first – defensive battles, the second – the period of counter-offensive. On July 12, 1943, a grandiose tank battle took place near Prokhorovka. On August 5, Oryol and Belgorod were liberated. In honor of this event, the first fireworks display during the war was given. On August 23, the battle ended with the liberation of Kharkov. By this time almost all of them had been liberated. North Caucasus, Rostov, Voronezh, Oryol, Kursk regions.

In October 1943, fierce battles took place on the river. Dnieper, as a result of which the “Eastern Wall”, a powerful line of enemy defense, was crushed. November 3–13, 1943 during the Kyiv offensive operation On November 6, the capital of Ukraine was liberated. During defensive battles, by the end of December 1943, the enemy was repulsed from the city. The fundamental turning point in the course of the war has ended.

Meaning of radical fracture:

1) Nazi Germany switched to strategic defense on all fronts;

2) more than half Soviet territory was liberated from the invaders and the restoration of the destroyed areas began;

3) the front of the national liberation struggle in Europe expanded and intensified.

The final stage of the war. In January 1944, Soviet troops, with the active participation of partisans, defeated a large German group near Leningrad and Novgorod, finally lifting the 900-day siege of Leningrad.

After the defeat of the Nazis on the Dnieper, the Red Army began fighting for the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine and part of Moldova. During the Korsun-Shevchenko operation in February–March 1944, the enemy was defeated in the area of ​​​​Zhitomir and Berdichev and lost ten divisions. In March–May, the Black Sea coast and Crimea were cleared of invaders, and the cities of Nikolaev, Odessa, and Sevastopol were liberated.

In June – August 1944, during the Belarusian operation (code name “Bagration”), Army Group “Center” was defeated and Belarus, Latvia, part of Lithuania, and the eastern part of Poland were liberated.

As a result of the Lvov-Sandomierz operation (July - August 1944), Lvov, Western Ukraine, and the southeastern regions of Poland were liberated, and the Vistula was crossed.

During the Iasi-Kishinev operation (August 20–29, 1944), the territory of Moldova and the eastern part of Romania were completely liberated. In October - November the Baltic states and the Arctic were liberated. During the operations of 1944, Soviet troops entered the territory of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria and, finally, Germany.

On June 6, 1944, the Allied landing in Normandy (northern France) opened a second front (commanded by American General Eisenhower). To support the allies, the Red Army launched an offensive in the North against Finnish-German troops on June 10. Finland opposed Germany. On August 24, Romania declared war on Hitler. In September, Bulgaria switched sides Anti-Hitler coalition. In joint action with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, the Red Army helped liberate Belgrade in October 1944.

In April 1945, Soviet troops, having carried out the East Prussian operation, entered Konigsberg and then took Gdansk.

From April 16 to May 2, 1945, the final Berlin operation took place. The 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts (commanders Marshals G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev) and the 1st Ukrainian Front (commander Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky) took part in it. The battle began with fierce fighting at the Seelow Heights. April 25, 1945 on the river. Elbe was the junction of the armies of the Allies in the Anti-Hitler Coalition. On May 2, the Berlin garrison surrendered. In the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst on May 8, 1945, representatives of the German command signed an act of unconditional surrender. On May 9–11, Soviet troops ended the war by defeating a group of Nazi troops in Prague.

Incomplete definition ↓

The period of a radical change (Root change) is a radical change in forces during the Great Patriotic War, characterized by the transfer of initiative into the hands of the USSR and the Soviet army, as well as a sharp increase in the military-economic position of the Soviet Union.

In the first period of the Great Patriotic War, the initiative belonged entirely to Hitler and Nazi Germany. This was facilitated by several factors: firstly, Germany had enormous military and industrial power, due to which its army was more numerous, and military equipment more modern; secondly, Hitler’s success was greatly facilitated by the factor of surprise - the attack on the USSR, although it was not completely unexpected for the Soviet command, still took the Soviet army by surprise, which is why it was unable to thoroughly prepare and provide a worthy rebuff even on its own territories. Already in the first two years of the war, Hitler and his allies managed to capture Ukraine, Belarus, blockade Leningrad and come close to Moscow. During this period, the Soviet army suffered one defeat after another.

However, Hitler's superiority could not last long, and the great Battle of Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War.

The strategic initiative passed from Germany to the USSR. The Germans lost their superiority in the war, the Red Army launched a counter-offensive, and Germany turned from an attacker into a defender, gradually retreating back to the borders;

The rise of the economy and military industry, the entire industry of the USSR, by order of Stalin, was aimed at meeting the needs of the front. This made it possible to completely re-equip the Soviet army in a short time, giving it an advantage over the enemy;

Qualitative changes on the world stage were also achieved thanks to the launched counter-offensive of the Soviet Union.

Progression of a radical fracture

In the winter of 1942, the Soviet command made several attempts to seize the initiative and launch a counteroffensive, however, both the winter and spring offensives were unsuccessful - the Germans were still in complete control of the situation, and Soviet troops were losing more and more territory. During the same period, Germany received serious reinforcements, which only strengthened its power.

At the end of June 1942, the Germans began to advance in the south from Stalingrad, where protracted and very brutal battles for the city unfolded. Stalin, seeing the situation, issued the famous order “Not a step back,” in which he said that the city should not be taken under any circumstances. It was necessary to organize a defense, which is what the Soviet command did, transferring all its forces to Stalingrad. The battle for the city lasted several months, but the Germans failed to take Stalingrad, despite huge losses from the Soviet army.

The radical change began in the second period Battle of Stalingrad together with Operation Uranus, according to which it was planned to unite several Soviet fronts and with their help encircle the German army, forcing it to capitulate, or simply destroy the enemy. The operation was led by generals G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky. On November 23, the Germans were completely surrounded and destroyed by February 2. The Battle of Stalingrad ended in a triumphant victory for the Soviet Union.

From that moment on, the strategic initiative passed to the USSR, new weapons and uniforms began to actively arrive at the front, which quickly ensured technical superiority. In the winter and spring of 1943, the USSR strengthened its position by recapturing Leningrad and launching an offensive in the Caucasus and the Don.

The final turning point occurred with the Battle of Kursk (July 5 – August 23, 1943). At the beginning of the year, the Germans managed to achieve some success in the southern direction, so the command decided to launch an offensive operation on the Kursk ledge in order to regain the initiative. On July 12, a major tank battle took place, which ended in the complete defeat of the German army. The Soviet Union was able to recapture Belgorod, Orel and Kharkov, as well as inflict serious losses on Hitler's army.

The Battle of Kursk was the last stage of a radical change. From that moment until the end of the war, the initiative never again passed into German hands. The Soviet Union was able not only to recapture its own territories, but also to reach Berlin.

Results and significance of the radical fracture.

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the radical turning point for the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Union was able to return its territories, free prisoners of war and forever seize the military initiative into its own hands, confidently destroying the enemy armies.

The transition of the initiative in the war to the USSR was also reflected in the course of the Second World War. After the defeat at Stalingrad in Germany, for the first time during the war, three days of mourning were declared, which became a sign for the allied European troops, who were convinced that Hitler’s hegemony could be overthrown, and he himself could be destroyed.

Proof that a turning point had taken place was the Tehran conference, which brought together the heads of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in 1943. The conference discussed the opening of a second European front and the strategy to combat Hitler.

In fact, the period of radical change marked the beginning of the fall of the Hitler Empire.

58. A radical change in the Second World War (November 1942 - December 1943) Fundamentals. The turning point events were:

Difficult situation for Germany. The offensive and the Soviet command developed and east direction.

Offensives: To cover it, the Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal Timoshenko. In connection with the current critical situation and the breakdown of order in the troops, an order was issued by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - Stalin issues decree No. 227 “NOT A STEP BACK”. On the enemy side, the attack was led by the 6th Army under the command of Paulus. In August the Germans broke through to the Volga, and from September Stalingrad was declared under martial law and defended. . Massive assaults on Stalingrad began. Zhukov and Vasilevsky developed the offensive operation Uranus - according to which it was supposed to destroy the encircled fascist troops. The operation began in November, 3 fronts took part:

Southwestern - headed by Vatutin

Donskoy - headed by Rokossovsky

Stalingrad - Eremenko. The plan was implemented.

The Nazi troops collided in a ring, as a result, Paulus’s army was surrounded. Thousands of Soviet patriots showed themselves heroically in the battles for the city. As a result, enemy troops suffered colossal losses in the battles for Stalingrad. Every month of the battle, about 250 thousand new Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, the bulk of military equipment, were sent. By mid-November 1942, fascist troops were forced to stop the offensive.

In November 1942, the offensive of the Southwestern and Don Fronts of the Soviet Union began. Army. A day later, the Stalingrad Front advanced. There was a connection between the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts. As a result, the German tank divisions were surrounded. Attempts to escape the encirclement failed and at the beginning of February 1943, von Paulus’s group surrendered. . There was resistance to German troops until February 1943.

The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad led to a radical change in the soul: not only in the Second World War, but also in World War II as a whole. A broad offensive of the Red Army began on all fronts: in January 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken (food, medicine and weapons began to flow into the besieged city along a liberated corridor no more than 11 km wide); in February, the North Caucasus was liberated. As a result of the autumn-winter campaign of 1942/43, the military power of Nazi Germany was significantly undermined.=

Our victory was facilitated by:

miscalculations of the German command

well-thought-out policy of German troops

strengthening the anti-fascist coalition

worsening contradictions in the bloc of fascist states

Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition.

June 22, 1942 Churchill - Prime Minister of England. He made a statement of support for the USSR in its fight against Germany, and a Soviet-British agreement on joint actions against a common enemy was signed. US President Roosevelt also made a statement of support for the Soviet State. In August 1941, the Atlantic Charter was signed, which set out the principles of the struggle against the fascist coalition and determined the volume of supplies of weapons and military materials to the Soviet Union in exchange for raw materials.

In 1942, 26 states joined the anti-city coalition. The main form of cooperation between the allies was deliveries under Lend-Lease (supplies of transport and food) Battle of Kursk:

The Battle of Kursk is a radical turning point in the war – July-August 1943.

After the Battle of Stalingrad, there was a lull for several months on the Soviet-German front. Both sides brought up reserves. After Stalingrad, the successes of the Soviet troops increased. The success of the Soviet troops in advancing along the Don, Belgorod and Kursk were liberated, Kharkov was recaptured.

In the central direction, after successful actions in the spring of 1943, the so-called Kursk ledge was formed on the front line, wedged deeply into German positions. The German leadership decided to launch an offensive on the Kursk Bulge. The German command hoped to encircle and destroy the troops of the Central and Voronezh Fronts with attacks from the north, from the Orel region, and from the south, from the Belgorod region and, if successful, launch an attack on Moscow. The operation was called "Citadel".

By the time of the Battle of Kursk we had superiority in strength and weapons.

The Battle of Kursk was commanded by outstanding commanders: Marshals Zhukov and Vasilevsky, Generals Vatutin and Rokossovsky.

The Germans were going to again use the surprise factor of the attack and launch an offensive on July 5 at 3 am. But Soviet intelligence accurately determined the day and hour of the upcoming offensive, and it was decided to launch a warning strike with artillery a few minutes before the expected start. As a result, the Germans suffered significant losses and were able to launch an offensive only a few hours later, bringing in all their reserves.

The Battle of Kursk lasted July-August 1943.

Hitler placed particular hopes on new types of tanks. In July, Army Group "Center" (Kluge) and "South" (Manstein) attacked the troops of the Central (Rokossovsky) and Voronezh (Vatutin) fronts. But our troops not only stopped the enemy, but also launched a counteroffensive.

On July 12, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive. On the same day, the largest oncoming tank battle in world history took place near the village of Prokhorovka, in which more than 1,200 tanks took part. On this day the final turning point came. The counter-offensive of the Red Army began.

The German command had high hopes for the surprise of the attack, but Soviet intelligence was able to quite accurately establish the start date of the operation.

Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive and captured Belgorod, then Orel.

During the battle on the Kursk Bulge, the German army suffered a defeat, from which it was unable to recover. If the battle of Stalingrad foreshadowed the decline of the German army, then the battle of the Kursk Bulge confronted it with disaster.

The Soviet command and government had confidence in victory. The Soviet command knew the enemy's plan, deployment, and direction of troops. Unlike previous years, Stalin treated the information confidentially.

The numerical superiority of the troops and their quality were of great importance in the victory. This superiority was achieved and won by air superiority. Our pilots had combat experience. The victory of Soviet troops near Kursk marked the beginning of a powerful offensive of the Red Army.

In August, Kharkov was liberated; in September 1943, Soviet troops crossed the Dnieper and liberated Donbass, the Taman Peninsula, Novorossiysk, Bryansk, and Smolensk. The liberation of Belarus began. In the fall of 1943, fighting broke out in Right Bank Ukraine. Troops of the Voronezh Front under the command of Vatutin liberated Kyiv in November.

• - the final transfer of strategic initiative from Germany to the Soviet Union;
• - ensuring the economic superiority of the Soviet Union;
• - military-technical superiority of the armed forces, and not in isolated samples, but in mass supply;
• - change political situation opposing countries in the international arena.

The beginning of the radical change is considered to be the end of 1942. Some consider the defeat of the Germans near Moscow in December 1941 to be the beginning of a radical change. I think the difficulty in determining the turning point in the war lies in its scale and the enormity of the forces involved in the great confrontation. Let's still look at the events that are directly or indirectly related to the radical change.

What happened in 1942? At the beginning of 1942, the Germans no longer had the same resources for an offensive as in 1941. However, Hitler did not want to go on the defensive. The Fuhrer wanted to carry out an operation that, even with limited resources, could bring serious success. It was taken into account that German troops would not be able to repeat the offensive in several directions. Refusal to defend was not a mistake of the German command. The Germans maintained tactical and technical advantage, owned the initiative, dominated the sky. They saw shortcomings in the preparedness of Soviet soldiers and commanders, and inconsistency in the actions of Soviet units. On the other hand, evacuated industry was already operating in the Urals and Siberia, mid-level commanders and military specialists were being trained in the rear and front-line areas, human resources made it possible to carry out large-scale and numerous mobilization. The Russians quickly learned to fight, and their generals learned to take into account the shortcomings of the middle management and other subtleties of the balance of forces when leading. A series of counter-offensives near Moscow showed the ability Soviet army break through the German defenses. Later 1942 would be called " academic year"for Soviet commanders.

Many generals urged Hitler to switch to strategic defense. The offensive, especially near Moscow, could no longer bring the desired result. Some analysts believe that Germany should have done so. Hitler cannot convince his generals, is dissatisfied with the course of hostilities and takes command of the troops himself.

Blitzkrieg failed, the troops lacked equipment, and the equipment lacked fuel. What was needed was a success that would completely or at least partially equalize the chances during Germany's transition to strategic defense. A number of successes of the German troops in 1942 in the southern regions of the USSR created the preconditions for a major offensive operation. In May, Marshal S.K. Timoshenko suffered a complete failure in his attempt to liberate Kharkov. On July 4, Sevastopol fell.

The German command's plan to concentrate the main attack in the south was correct. The main Soviet troops were concentrated near Moscow, awaiting a second attack on Moscow. Stalin did not believe in the evidence of an impending Axis offensive in the south, although there was intelligence. The plan, codenamed Blau, envisaged a general offensive by Army Group South. German troops were supposed to reach the Caucasus and the lower reaches of the Volga. The main goal is to deprive Soviet Union main economic resources (oil, coal, bread).

Stalingrad was of particular strategic importance. It was necessary, if not to capture it, then at least to neutralize it as a communications hub on the Volga River.

In the summer of 1942, the German offensive began. The offensive progressed successfully, but not quickly enough to achieve the main goal. Soviet troops were able to defend the Caucasus, retreat across the Don in the Voronezh region and take up defensive positions. The lessons of 1941 and Tymoshenko's failures were taken into account. Soviet troops systematically retreated under the attacks of German divisions, buying time to stabilize the newly created Stalingrad Front. On July 9, the advanced units of Group A crossed the Don, but met only the rearguards of the Soviet troops. On July 17, Voroshilovgrad was captured, but without major losses on the part of the Russians. On July 24, Rostov was captured, but again not in the same way as cities were captured in 1941, without encircling and capturing thousands of soldiers. Stalingrad, despite the difficult situation of the Soviet troops, was not taken. Constant counterattacks exhausted the Germans; they no longer had the strength to develop the offensive. By November it became clear that the offensive had not achieved its goal. In Stalingrad, the battle, by all indicators, took on the character of a battle of attrition. Both sides constantly introduced new manpower and equipment into the battle, trying to achieve an advantage. In November 1942, approximate parity in the amount of manpower and equipment was established on the Soviet-German front. But time was on our side. While the Soviet Union could economically afford a long war, Germany was gradually exhausted.

Here is what a participant in those events writes: “When a new grandiose offensive began on June 28, 1942, Hitler was for the first time faced with completely new responsibilities for him, which he assigned to himself when he became commander-in-chief ground forces, that is, with the leadership of huge army masses in an extremely risky offensive operation. ...It was difficult to expect from a man like Hitler that he would be able to fully comprehend with his mind all the work that he took upon himself. ... Decisions were almost always late, and therefore events preceded them with unimaginable speed, as a result of which the enemy increasingly seized the initiative, and we lost one position after another.

...Russian counterattacks against Army Group Center in the Rzhev area were becoming threatening. Field Marshal von Kluge, Commander-in-Chief of Group Center, appeared at Werwolf on August 8 and made an urgent request to be given the opportunity to rectify the situation with the help of two panzer divisions (9th and 11th), which had been transferred under his command from the offensive area . ...the situation near Rzhev, meanwhile, became uncontrollable; its continuation was historical significance. Two days later, on August 24, Halder again insisted at an afternoon meeting that the 9th Army, which was fighting near Rzhev, should be given freedom of maneuver and allowed to occupy a shorter line of defense that it could hold with its depleted forces.

Several divisions of Manstein's army were transferred from Crimea to the very north, but by the end of August the enemy seized the initiative there, and these divisions, one after another, were wasted on defense.

On top of this, the activities of the partisans in the rear became so serious that in a new attempt to suppress this movement, the headquarters of the operational leadership sent out a special directive signed by Hitler (No. 46 of August 18, 1942).

When I entered the house, Hitler, instead of greeting me, stared at me with a long, angry look, and I suddenly thought: this man has lost his confidence; he realized that his deadly game was moving towards a predetermined end, that Soviet Russia was not going to allow itself to be destroyed on the second try, and that now the war on two fronts, which he had unleashed with his senseless, willful actions, would grind the Reich into powder.

The moment when Hitler truly lost the strategic initiative was not the defeat at Stalingrad or the defeat three months later in Tunisia; it was November 1942, fatal for modern history Germany, when the enemy attacked us simultaneously in the east and west.(Walter Warlimont. At Hitler's headquarters. Memoirs of a German general.)

Events on Germany's western front undoubtedly played a role in its defeat. Germany retreated from Africa, where it was surrounded and a group of 300 thousand surrendered. This was after the same number of Soviet soldiers defended Stalingrad. We will not consider and compare the size and scale of its defeats in the West and in Russia. It is important that the fundamental turning point in the Great Patriotic War and the turning point throughout the Second World War are links in the same chain. Having mobilized the entire country and won near Moscow, the Soviet people, as many authors like to put it, “hammered the first nail into the coffin of Nazi Germany.”