On 80 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic war of 1941-1945
By President Vladimir Putin | 80 years have passed since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
The attack by Nazi Germany was unprecedented in terms of its destructive power. On June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union (USSR) faced the strongest, most mobilized and skilled army in the World with the industrial, economic and military potential of almost all the conquered countries of Europe working for it. Not only the Nazi, but also their satellites and military contingents of many other states of Europe, took part in this deadly invasion.
The most serious military defeats in 1941 brought the Soviet Union to the brink of catastrophe. Combat power and control had to be restored by extreme means, nation-wide mobilization and intensification of all efforts of the State and the People. In summer 1941, millions of citizens, hundreds of factories and industries began to be evacuated under enemy fire to the east of the country. Manufacture of weapons and munition for the front was launched in the shortest possible time. The Soviet people did something that seemed impossible, both on the front lines and the home front. It is still hard to realize, understand and imagine what incredible efforts, courage, dedication these greatest achievements were worth of.
The tremendous power of the Soviet People, united by the desire to protect the native land, rose against the powerful, armed to the teeth, and cold-blooded Nazi machine. It stood up to take revenge on the enemy, who had broken and trampled peaceful life, as well as people’s plans and hopes.
The Nazi ‘strategists’ were convinced that a huge multinational state of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics would be brought to heel easily. They thought that the sudden outbreak of the war, its mercilessness and unbearable hardships would inevitably exacerbate inter- ethnic relations, and that the country could be split into pieces.
But from the very first days, it was clear that the Nazi plan had failed. The Volga region and the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, the republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia became home to millions of evacuees. Their residents shared everything they had and provided all the support they could. Friendship and mutual help became a real indestructible fortress for the enemy.
The Soviet People and the Red Army made the main and crucial contribution to the defeat of Nazism. These were heroes who fought to the end surrounded by the enemy at Brest, Bialystok and Mogilev, Uman and Kiev, Vyazma and Kharkov. They launched attacks near Moscow and Stalingrad, Sevastopol and Odessa, Kursk and Smolensk. They liberated Warsaw, Belgrade, Vienna and Prague. They stormed Koenigsberg and Berlin.
On April 28, 1942, the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his address to the American nation: “These Russian forces have destroyed and are destroying more armed power of our enemies – troops, planes, tanks, and guns – than all the other United Nations put together.” Winston Churchill in his message to Joseph Stalin of September 27, 1944, wrote that “it is the Russian army that tore the guts out of the German military machine…”.
The years 1941-1945 turned into one of the most dramatic periods in our history. The lives of almost 27 million people were taken away. It was the bravery, sacrifice and resilience of the entire Soviet people and the glorious Red Army strengthened with the gallant and essential support by the Allied Forces that made it possible to defeat Nazism. The Victory over the Third Reich when the Nazi surrendered to the Soviet troops in Berlin in May 1945 was crucial for ending the Second World War. It provided the conditions for establishing the United Nations and contributed significantly to the process of decolonization and to shaping the modern relations between the nations.
The full version of the article „75th Anniversary of the Great Victory: Shared Responsibility to History and our Future” by President Vladimir Putin on: www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/63527