Lightning War. "white plan" - the first experience of a blitzkrieg Another name for the course of a blitzkrieg

The meaning of the word "blitzkrieg" (Blitzkrieg - "lightning", Krieg - "war") is known to many. This is a military strategy. It involves a lightning-fast attack on the enemy using a large number of military equipment. It is assumed that the enemy will not have time to deploy his main forces and will be successfully defeated. This was the tactic the Germans used when they attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. We will talk about this military operation in our article.

History of the issue

The lightning war theory originated in the early 20th century. It was invented by the German military leader Alfred von Schlieffen. The tactics were very ingenious. The world was experiencing an unprecedented technical boom, and new weapons were at the disposal of the military. But during the First World War, the blitzkrieg failed. Affected by the imperfection of military technology and weak aviation. Germany's swift offensive against France collapsed. The successful application of this method of hostilities was postponed until better times. And they came in 1940, when Nazi Germany carried out a lightning-fast occupation, first in Poland, and then in France.

"Barbossa"

In 1941 it was the turn of the USSR. Hitler rushed to the East with a very specific goal. He needed to neutralize the Soviet Union in order to consolidate his dominance in Europe. England continued to resist, counting on the support of the Red Army. This hindrance had to be eliminated.

The Barbarossa plan was developed to attack the USSR. It was based on the blitzkrieg theory. It was a very ambitious project. The German war machine was about to unleash all its might on the Soviet Union. The main forces of the Russian troops considered it possible to destroy through an operational invasion of tank divisions. Four battle groups were created, combining tank, motorized and infantry divisions. They had to first penetrate far into the rear of the enemy, and then unite with each other. The ultimate goal of the new lightning-fast war assumed the seizure of the territory of the USSR up to the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line. Before the attack, Hitler's strategists were confident that the war with the Soviet Union would take them only three to four months.

Strategy

The German troops were divided into three large groups: "North", "Center" and "South". The "North" was advancing on Leningrad. "Center" rushed to Moscow. "South" was supposed to conquer Kiev and Donbass. The main role in the attack was assigned to the tank groups. There were four of them, led by Guderian, Goth, Gopner and Kleist. It was they who were supposed to carry out the fleeting blitzkrieg. It wasn’t so impracticable. However, the German generals miscalculated.

Start

On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. First border Soviet Union crossed by German bombers. They bombed Russian cities and military airfields. It was a smart move. The destruction of Soviet aircraft gave the invaders a serious advantage. The damage was especially severe in Belarus. In the very first hours of the war, 700 aircraft were destroyed.

Then the German ground divisions entered the lightning war. And if the army group "North" managed to successfully cross the Neman and approach Vilnius, then the "Center" met unexpected resistance in Brest. Of course, this did not stop the elite Nazi units. However made an impression on German soldiers... For the first time, they realized who they had to deal with. The Russians were dying but not giving up.

Tank battles

The blitzkrieg of Germany in the Soviet Union failed. But Hitler had a huge chance of success. In 1941, the Germans possessed the most advanced military equipment in the world. Therefore, the very first tank battle between the Russians and the Nazis turned into a massacre. The fact is that Soviet combat vehicles of the 1932 model were defenseless against enemy weapons. They did not meet modern requirements. More than 300 light tanks T-26 and BT-7 were destroyed in the first days of the war. However, in some places the Nazis met with serious resistance. The meeting with the brand new T-34 and KV-1 was a big shock for them. German shells flew off the tanks, which seemed to the invaders as unprecedented monsters. But the general situation at the front was still disastrous. The Soviet Union did not have time to deploy its main forces. The Red Army suffered huge losses.

Chronicle of events

The period from June 22, 1941 to November 18, 1942 historians call the first stage of the Great Patriotic War... At this time, the initiative was wholly owned by the invaders. In a relatively short period of time, the Nazis occupied Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, Belarus and Moldova. Then enemy divisions began a siege of Leningrad, captured Novgorod and Rostov-on-Don. However, the main target of the Nazis was Moscow. This would have allowed a blow to the heart of the Soviet Union. However, the lightning offensive quickly got out of the approved schedule. On September 8, 1941, the military blockade of Leningrad began. The Wehrmacht troops stood under it for 872 days, but were never able to conquer the city. The largest defeat of the Red Army is considered to be the Kiev cauldron. More than 600,000 people died in it. The Germans seized a huge amount of military equipment, opened their way to the Azov and Donbass regions, but ... lost precious time. No wonder the commander of the second tank division Guderian left the front line, appeared at Hitler's headquarters and tried to convince him that the main task of Germany at the moment was the occupation of Moscow. Blitzkrieg is a powerful breakthrough into the interior of the country, which turns out to be a complete defeat for the enemy. However, Hitler did not listen to anyone. He preferred to send military units of the "Center" to the South to seize territories where valuable natural resources are concentrated.

Blitzkrieg failure

This is a turning point in the history of Nazi Germany. Now the Nazis had no chance. They say that Field Marshal Keitel, when asked when he first realized that the blitzkrieg had failed, answered only one word: "Moscow." The defense of the capital turned the tide of the Second World War. On December 6, 1941, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive. After that, the "lightning" war turned into a battle of attrition. How could enemy strategists have miscalculated so? Among the reasons, some historians call the total Russian off-road and severe frost. However, the invaders themselves pointed to two main reasons:

fierce enemy resistance;
biased assessment of the defense capability of the Red Army.

Of course, the fact that Russian soldiers defended their homeland also played a role. And they managed to defend every inch of their native land. The failure of Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg against the USSR is a great feat that arouses sincere admiration. And this feat was accomplished by the soldiers of the multinational Red Army.

The art of war is a science in which nothing succeeds except what has been calculated and thought out.
Napoleon

The Barbarossa plan is a plan for Germany's attack on the USSR, based on the principle of lightning war, blitzkrieg. The plan began to be developed in the summer of 1940, and on December 18, 1940, Hitler approved a plan according to which the war was to be ended by November 1941 at the latest.

The Barbarossa Plan was named after Frederick Barbarossa, the 12th century emperor who became famous for his campaigns of conquest. In this, elements of symbolism were traced, to which Hitler himself and his entourage paid so much attention. The plan got its name on January 31, 1941.

The number of troops for the implementation of the plan

Germany trained 190 divisions for warfare and 24 divisions as a reserve. 19 tank and 14 motorized divisions were allocated for the war. The total number of the contingent that Germany sent to the USSR, according to various estimates, ranges from 5 to 5.5 million people.

The apparent superiority in Soviet equipment should not be taken into account especially, since by the beginning of the wars, Germany's technical tanks and aircraft were superior to Soviet ones, and the army itself was much more trained. Suffice it to recall the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, where the Red Army demonstrated weakness in literally everything.

Main impact direction

Barbarossa's plan defined 3 main directions for attack:

Army Group "South". A blow to Moldova, Ukraine, Crimea and access to the Caucasus. Further movement to the line Astrakhan - Stalingrad (Volgograd).
Army Group "Center". Line "Minsk - Smolensk - Moscow". Advance to Nizhny Novgorod, aligning the "Volna - Severnaya Dvina" line.
Army Group "North". A blow to the Baltic States, Leningrad and further advance to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. At the same time, the Norwegian army was to fight in the north together with the Finnish army.

Table - offensive targets agree with Barbarossa's plan

	SOUTH	CENTRE	NORTH
Target	Ukraine, Crimea, access to the Caucasus	Minsk, Smolensk, Moscow	Baltic, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk
Number of	57 divisions and 13 brigades	50 divisions and 2 brigades	29th division + army "Norway"
Commanding	Field Marshal von Rundstedt	Field Marshal von Bock	Field Marshal von Leeb
common goal	Get on the line: Arkhangelsk - Volga - Astrakhan (Northern Dvina)

Around the end of October 1941, the German command planned to enter the Volga-Severnaya Dvina line, thereby capturing the entire European part of the USSR. This was the plan for a lightning war. After the blitzkrieg, there should have been lands beyond the Urals, which, without the support of the center, would quickly surrender to the winner.

Until about mid-August 1941, the Germans believed that the war was going according to plan, but in September there are already records in the diaries of officers that the Barbarossa plan failed and the war would be lost. The best proof that Germany in August 1941 believed that there were only a few weeks left before the end of the war with the USSR was Goebbels' speech. The propaganda minister suggested that the Germans collect additional warm clothes for the needs of the army. The government decided that this step was not necessary, as there would be no war in winter.

Implementation of the plan

The first three weeks of the war assured Hitler that everything was going according to plan. The army was rapidly advancing, gaining victories, the Soviet army suffered huge losses:

28 divisions out of 170 were disabled.
70 divisions lost about 50% of their personnel.
72 divisions remained combat-ready (43% of those available at the start of the war).

For the same 3 weeks, the average rate of advance of German troops inland was 30 km per day.

By July 11, Army Group "North" occupied almost the entire territory of the Baltic States, providing access to Leningrad, Army Group "Center" reached Smolensk, Army Group "South" went to Kiev. These were the last achievements that fully corresponded to the plan of the German command. After that, failures began (still local, but already indicative). Nevertheless, the initiative in the war until the end of 1941 was on the side of Germany.

Germany's failures in the North

Army "North" occupied the Baltic region without any problems, especially since there was practically no partisan movement there. The next strategic point to be captured was Leningrad. Here it turned out that the Wehrmacht was not capable of this task. The city did not capitulate to the enemy and until the end of the war, despite all efforts, Germany was unable to capture it.

Army Failures Center

Army Center reached Smolensk without any problems, but got stuck under the city until 10 September. Smolensk resisted for almost a month. The German command demanded a decisive victory and the advance of troops, since such a delay under the city, which was planned to be taken without heavy losses, was unacceptable and cast doubt on the implementation of the Barbarossa plan. As a result, the Germans took Smolensk, but their troops were pretty battered.

Historians today assess the battle for Smolensk as a tactical victory for Germany, but a strategic victory for Russia, since it was possible to stop the advance of troops to Moscow, which allowed the capital to prepare for defense.

The advance of the German army into the interior of the country was complicated by the partisan movement of Belarus.

Failures of the Army South

Army "South" reached Kiev in 3.5 weeks and, like the Army "Center" near Smolensk, got stuck in battles. Ultimately, it was possible to take the city in view of the obvious superiority of the army, but Kiev held out almost until the end of September, which also made it difficult for the German army to advance, and made a significant contribution to the disruption of the Barbarossa plan.

German troops advance plan map

Above is a map showing the German command's plan for the offensive. The map shows: green - the borders of the USSR, red - the border, which Germany planned to reach, blue - the deployment and plan for the advance of German troops.

General state of affairs

In the North, they failed to capture Leningrad and Murmansk. The advance of the troops stopped.
With great difficulty, the Center managed to reach Moscow. At the time the German army reached the Soviet capital, it was clear that no blitzkrieg had taken place.
In the South, they failed to take Odessa and capture the Caucasus. By the end of September, Hitler's troops had just captured Kiev and began an offensive on Kharkov and Donbass.

Why Germany did not succeed in the blitzkrieg

Germany did not succeed in the blitzkrieg because the Wehrmacht was preparing the Barbarossa plan, as it later turned out, according to false intelligence data. Hitler admitted this by the end of 1941, saying that if he knew the real state of affairs in the USSR, he would not have started the war on June 22.

The tactics of lightning war were based on the fact that the country has one line of defense on the western border, all large army units are located on the western border, and aviation is located on the border. Since Hitler was sure that all Soviet troops were located on the border, this was the basis of the blitzkrieg - to destroy the enemy army in the first weeks of the war, and then to rapidly advance deep into the country without encountering serious resistance.

In fact, there were several lines of defense, the army was not located with all its forces on the western border, there were reserves. Germany did not expect this, and by August 1941 it became clear that the lightning war had broken down and Germany could not win the war. The fact that World War II lasted right up to 1945 only proves that the Germans fought in a very organized and brave manner. Thanks to the fact that they had the economy of all of Europe behind them (speaking of the war between Germany and the USSR, many for some reason forget that the German army included units from almost all European countries) they were able to successfully fight.

Did Barbarossa's plan foil

I propose to evaluate the Barbarossa plan according to 2 criteria: global and local. Global(landmark - the Great Patriotic War) - the plan was thwarted, since lightning war did not work, German troops got bogged down in battles. Local(landmark - intelligence data) - the plan was executed. The German command drew up the Barbarossa plan on the basis that the USSR had 170 divisions on the border of the country, there were no additional echelons of defense. There are no reserves or reinforcements. The army was preparing for this. In 3 weeks, 28 Soviet divisions were completely destroyed, and in 70, about 50% of personnel and equipment were disabled. At this stage, the blitzkrieg worked and, in the absence of reinforcements from the USSR, gave the desired results. But it turned out that the Soviet command has reserves, not all troops are located on the border, mobilization brings high-quality soldiers to the army, there are additional lines of defense, the "charm" of which Germany felt near Smolensk and Kiev.

Therefore, the failure of the Barbarossa plan should be viewed as a huge strategic mistake of German intelligence, led by Wilhelm Canaris. Today, some historians associate this person with the agents of England, but there is no evidence of this. But if we assume that this is really so, then it becomes clear why Canaris slipped an absolute "linden" to Hitler, that the USSR was not ready for war and all the troops were located on the border.

A catastrophic start. On June 22, 1941, without declaring war, the troops of fascist Germany invaded Soviet territory. The most difficult and bloody war in the history of our Fatherland began. At 4 o'clock in the morning, German aircraft began bombing Soviet cities - Smolensk, Kiev, Zhitomir, Murmansk, Riga, Kaunas, Liepaja, military bases (Kronstadt, Sevastopol, Izmail), railway tracks and bridges. On the first day of the war, 66 airfields and 1200 aircraft were destroyed, 800 of them on the ground. By the end of June 22, the enemy groupings had advanced to a depth of 50-60 km.

Stalin's mistakes and miscalculations regarding the timing and place of the German invasion allowed the aggressor to gain significant advantages. In accordance with the plan for the defense of the state border of the USSR, developed and approved by the government in February 1941, mobilization measures were launched during May-June. In the border areas, about 2,500 reinforced concrete structures were built, and the network of military airfields was expanded. In the second half of May - early June, troops began to move out of the internal military districts in order to bring them closer to the western border. However, by the time the Germans attacked, the strategic deployment of the troops had not been completed. Stalin stubbornly refused to GK Zhukov's repeated proposals to bring the border troops to a state of combat readiness. Only in the evening of June 21, after receiving a message from a defector that at dawn german troops will begin an attack on the USSR, the High Command sent directive No. l to the border districts on bringing the troops to a state of combat readiness. As the analysis of this directive shows, it was drawn up unprofessionally, did not give specific instructions to the troops and allowed an ambiguous interpretation of certain points, which was unacceptable in combat conditions. In addition, the directive was delivered to the troops with a great delay: some border districts, which took on the first blows of the enemy, did not receive it.

On the eve of the attack, Hitlerite Germany and its allies concentrated 190 divisions (5.5 million people), almost 4 thousand tanks, 5 thousand combat aircraft, over 47 thousand guns and mortars along the borders of the Soviet Union.

The military potential of the Red Army, in principle, was not much lower than the German one. 170 divisions (2.9 million people) were concentrated in the western border military districts. In terms of the number of military equipment, armored vehicles and aviation, the Soviet troops were not inferior to the German ones, but a significant part of the tanks, and especially aircraft, were of outdated types, new weapons were just being mastered by the personnel, many tank and aviation formations were in the stage of formation. The lack of understanding of the scale of the German invasion by the Soviet command, and first of all by Stalin, is evidenced by the second directive sent to the troops at 7 am on June 22: Soviet border". Stalin's postscript "From now on, until a special order for the ground troops to cross the border" testified to the fact that Stalin still thought that the war could be avoided. This directive, like directive number 1, was drawn up unprofessionally, hastily, which once again speaks of the lack of clear plans for the Soviet command in the event of a forced defense.

On June 22, Molotov made a call to repulse the aggressor. Stalin's speech took place only on July 3.

Resistance to the aggressor. The fascist command organized an offensive in three strategic directions: Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. The Soviet command was waiting for the main blow in the southwest, but Hitler struck it in the center, in the west. The advance of the Germans forward in all directions, contrary to their expectations, was accompanied by fierce battles. From the very beginning of the war, Soviet troops put up serious resistance to the enemy. For the first time since 1939, the Germans began to suffer significant losses.

The defense of the Brest Fortress was a striking manifestation of the heroism and courage of our soldiers and officers at the initial stage of the war. Its garrison under the command of Major P. M. Gavrilov held back the attacks of superior enemy forces for more than a month.

On June 23, the soldiers of the 99th Infantry Division with a counterattack drove the Germans out of Przemysl and held the city for 5 days. In the very first battles, the 1st Artillery Anti-Tank Brigade, which consisted mainly of young Muscovites, destroyed 42 tanks of General Kleist's group. On June 23, the division of Colonel I. D. Chernyakhovsky completely destroyed the motorized regiment of the 4th Panzer Group of General Hepner. There were many such examples.

But despite the massive heroism and self-sacrifice of Soviet soldiers, the results of the initial stage of the war were disastrous for the Red Army. By mid-July 1941 fascist troops captured Latvia, Lithuania, a significant part of Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, the city of Pskov, Lvov, a huge number of soldiers were captured.

A terrible tragedy broke out near Minsk. Here, by July 9, the Germans managed to encircle almost 30 Soviet divisions. Minsk was left with battles, 323 thousand Soviet soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, the losses of the Western Front amounted to 418 thousand people. Stalin blamed the commander of the Western Front, D. G. Pavlov, and a number of other military leaders for this defeat. They were all shot by sentence The Supreme Court dated July 22, 1941 on charges of cowardice (rehabilitated in 1956). The flywheel of repression did not stop even with the outbreak of the war. On August 16, 1941, during the retreat of Soviet troops, Stalin issued Order No. 270, according to which deserters from command personnel should be “shot on the spot”, and those who were surrounded should not surrender, fight to the last bullet. Stalin's accusations of the desertion of military leaders were largely unfounded, nevertheless, only from July 1941 to March 1942, 30 generals were shot (all were also rehabilitated).

The repressive policy also affected the civilian population. In August 1941, Soviet Germans (about 1.5 million people) were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan, and most of them were sent to the labor army. In September 1941, 170 political prisoners were shot in the Oryol prison, among whom were the famous revolutionaries Kh. Rakovsky and M. Spiridonova. A special meeting of the NKVD continued to pass sentences in mass numbers without trial or investigation. Spreading false rumors was punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison.

In these difficult conditions, the Soviet people managed to rally against the common enemy - fascism - and showed their heroic character.

The occupation of a significant part of Soviet territory was assessed by the Hitlerite command as a decisive success in the war, but the Red Army turned out to be much stronger than the fascist strategists had hoped. Soviet troops not only defended themselves, but also retaliated against the enemy.

Moving towards Moscow, the enemy met fierce resistance in the capture of Smolensk. The Smolensk battle lasted two months (from July 10 to September 10, 1941). During the battle, the Soviet command used the famous Katyushas for the first time. Rocket launchers under the command of Captain I.A.Flerov struck at the enemy in the area of Orsha, and then Rudnya and Yelnya. In bloody battles Soviet soldiers and the commanders showed true heroism. On July 30, the Germans were forced to go over to the defensive for the first time. On September 5, 1941, the troops of the Reserve Front formed on July 30 under the command of G.K. Zhukov during the counteroffensive broke through the enemy's defenses and liberated Yelnya. The enemy lost several divisions (more than 50 thousand soldiers). For distinctions in the Yelninsky operation, the four best rifle divisions were the first in the Red Army to receive the rank of guards.

During the battles near Smolensk from August 9 to 10, 1941, the air division under the command of MV Vodopyanov on heavy Pe-8 aircraft, having made a heroic and most dangerous flight, bombed Berlin for the first time.

The Battle of Smolensk allowed the Soviet command to gain time to prepare the defense of Moscow. On September 10, the enemy was stopped 300 km from Moscow. Hitler's "blitzkrieg" was dealt a serious blow.

Organizational activities. The beginning of the war is the most tragic chapter in the history of the Great Patriotic War. By mid-July 1941, out of 170 Soviet divisions, 28 were completely defeated, 70 divisions lost over 50% of their personnel and equipment. The troops of the Western Front suffered especially heavy losses.

German troops, having advanced in several weeks of fighting in different directions for 300-500 km inland, captured the territory on which almost 2/3 of industrial and agricultural products were produced before the war. About 23 million Soviet people fell into the occupation. By the end of 1941, the total number of prisoners of war reached 3.9 million.

In the very first days of the war, the country's leadership took a number of measures to organize a rebuff to the enemy: a general mobilization was declared, the Headquarters of the Supreme Command of the USSR Armed Forces was created. In a secret directive dated June 29, 1941, the country's leadership told the party and Soviet organizations of the front-line regions for the first time about the scale of military defeats. The directive contained a strict requirement to defend every inch of Soviet land, leave nothing to the enemy in the event of a forced retreat, destroy valuable property that cannot be taken out, organize partisan detachments and sabotage groups in the occupied territory, and create unbearable conditions for the enemy.

The Soviet totalitarian system, which was ineffective in conditions of peaceful life, turned out to be more effective in conditions of war. Her mobilization capabilities, multiplied during the Great Patriotic War by patriotism and sacrifice Soviet people, played important role in organizing a rebuff to the enemy, especially at the initial stage of the war.

The appeal "Everything for the front, everything for the victory!" was accepted by all the people. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens voluntarily joined the army. In the week since the beginning of the war, more than 5 million people have been mobilized.

On June 30, 1941, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was created - the extraordinary supreme state body of the USSR, headed by J.V. Stalin. During the war years, the GKO concentrated all power in the country. Great attention was given to military-economic work. A week after the outbreak of the war, the "Mobilization Plan" for the III quarter of 1941 was adopted. The GKO decree of July 4, 1941 began the development of a military-economic plan for the use of resources and the development of enterprises relocated to the eastern regions of the country. Throughout the war, quarterly and monthly plans of military-economic work were drawn up.

From the very first days of the war, all industrial and scientific institutions of the country began to restructure their work in accordance with the needs of defense. During the wartime, the entire able-bodied population of the cities was mobilized to work in production and construction. The decree "On the working hours of workers and employees in wartime" of June 26, 1941 established a working day of 11 hours, introduced mandatory overtime work, and canceled holidays. In the fall of 1941, the rationing system for distributing food among the population was reintroduced.

An important part of the creation of a military economy was the movement to the deep rear of industrial enterprises, equipment, material and cultural values. In just the first six months, over 1,500 large industrial enterprises were displaced from areas threatened by occupation, many were evacuated. schools, Research institutes, libraries, museums, theaters. More than 10 million people were sent to the east of the country (according to some sources, 17 million people). The deployment of the military-industrial base in the eastern regions of the country took place in extremely difficult conditions. In the rear, people worked around the clock, often in the open air, in severe frosts.

By mid-1942, the military restructuring of the economy was largely completed. The eastern regions of the country became the main arsenal of the front and the main production base of the country.

Defensive battles in the summer-autumn of 1941 The outcome of the entire Great Patriotic War was seriously influenced by the defensive battles waged by the Red Army in the summer and autumn of 1941. Hitler's strategic failures near Smolensk forced him to change the direction of the main attack and direct it from the center to the south - to Kiev, Donbass, Rostov. Considerable forces were concentrated near Kiev from both the German and Soviet sides. Together with the cadre units, the militias, the inhabitants of Kiev, heroically fought against the Nazis. However, the Germans managed to enter the rear of the 6th and 12th armies and surround them. For almost a whole week, Soviet soldiers and officers put up heroic resistance. Trying to save the army, the commander of the Southwestern Front, Marshal S.M.Budyonny, asked the Headquarters for permission to leave Kiev, but Stalin was against it. Only on September 18, such permission was given, but the situation deteriorated so much that only a few managed to get out of the encirclement. In fact, both armies were lost. With the capture of Kiev by the enemy, the road to Moscow through Bryansk and Orel was opened.

In parallel, the Germans were attacking Odessa - an important base Black Sea Fleet... The legendary defense of Odessa lasted more than two months. The Red Army men, sailors and residents of the city became a single military garrison and successfully repulsed the onslaught of several Romanian divisions. Only on October 16, due to the threat of the seizure of Crimea, by order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the defenders of Odessa left the city. A significant part of the participants in the defense of Odessa was transferred to Sevastopol.

On its defensive lines, the soldiers of the Primorsky Army (commanded by General I.E. Petrov) and the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, headed by Vice Admiral F.S. to the USSR. The enemy more than once tried to seize the city by storm, but Sevastopol stood unshakable.

Army Group "North", having captured Pskov on July 9, advanced close to Leningrad. Its fall, according to the plans of the German command, was to precede the capture of Moscow. However, despite repeated attempts, the Germans and the Finns acting together with them did not succeed in taking the city. On September 8, 1941, the 900-day siege of Leningrad began. For 611 days, the city was subjected to intense artillery shelling and bombing. The blockade put his defenders in an extremely difficult position. The daily bread ration in November-December 1941 was 250 for workers, 125 for employees and dependents. About a million inhabitants of Leningrad died from hunger, cold, bombing and shelling. To connect the city with the mainland, an ice track was laid across Lake Ladoga, which the Leningraders called "Dear Life".

Despite the occupation of a significant part of the western regions of the country, the German army did not achieve decisive successes in any of the three main strategic directions of the offensive.

Disruption of Operation Typhoon. After the capture of Kiev, the Hitlerite General Staff began to develop a new operation to seize Moscow, called the Typhoon. On September 30, 1941, after a certain lull that came on the Central Front after the Battle of Smolensk, a new offensive by the enemy troops began. The tank army of the German General Guderian directed an attack along the Orel-Tula-Moscow line and captured Oryol and Bryansk.

In accordance with the Typhoon plan, the enemy concentrated 1.8 million soldiers and officers and a significant amount of military equipment in the Moscow sector, creating a numerical superiority over the Soviet troops. Despite the heroic resistance of the Red Army, the Nazis during the offensive managed to capture the cities of Vyazma, Mozhaisk, Kalinin and Maloyaroslavets and approach Moscow at 80–100 km. Hitler's directive said: “The city must be surrounded so that not a single Russian soldier, not a single inhabitant - be it a man, woman or child - could leave it. Suppress any attempt to escape by force. Make the necessary preparations so that Moscow and its environs are flooded with water with the help of huge structures. Where Moscow stands today, a sea should arise that will forever hide the capital of the Russian people from the civilized world. "

In early October, the situation became critical: as a result of the encirclement of five Soviet armies the way to Moscow was practically open. The Soviet command took a number of urgent measures. On October 12, the Western Front was created under the command of General G.K. Zhukov, and the armies of the Reserve Front were also transferred to him. Particularly fierce fighting in the Moscow sector erupted in mid-October. On October 15, 1941, the State Defense Committee made a decision to evacuate parts of government and party institutions, the diplomatic corps to Kuibyshev, and prepare for the destruction of 1119 industrial enterprises and facilities in Moscow and the region. The evacuation of Stalin was supposed. Under the influence of rumors about the surrender of Moscow on October 16, panic arose in the capital. Subsequently, according to the testimony of contemporaries, the words "October 16 man" became synonymous with shameful behavior and cowardice. Three days later, the panic was stopped by order of Stalin, who remained in the Kremlin. Tough measures were applied to cowards, alarmists, looters, up to execution. A state of siege was declared in Moscow.

The whole country rose to defend the capital. Echelons hurried to Moscow with replenishment, weapons, ammunition from Siberia, the Urals, Of the Far East, Central Asia. 50 thousand militia fighters came to the aid of the front.

The defenders of Tula made an invaluable contribution to the defense of Moscow. Guderian's army was unable to take the city and was stopped by the heroic actions of the defenders of Tula. Moscow was also reliably covered from air attacks. Defending the Moscow sky, pilot V.V. Talalikhin was one of the first to use a night air ram.

As a result of the measures taken in late October and early November, the offensive of the Nazis was stopped. Operation Typhoon failed. On November 6, in Moscow, in the hall of the Mayakovskaya metro station, a ceremonial meeting was held dedicated to the 24th anniversary October revolution, at which IV Stalin made a speech. On November 7, 1941, a traditional military parade took place on Red Square, after which the troops immediately went to the front. All these events were of great importance for maintaining the morale of Soviet soldiers.

By mid-November, German troops launched a new offensive against Moscow. It was attended by 51 divisions, including 13 tank and 7 motorized, armed with 1.5 thousand tanks, 3 thousand guns. They were supported by 700 aircraft. The western front, which was holding back the offensive, already had more divisions than the enemy at that time, and outnumbered German aviation by a factor of 1.5 in the number of aircraft.

As a result of the offensive, the Germans managed to capture Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Kryukovo, Yakhroma, Istra and approach Moscow at 25-30 km. The battles were especially stubborn in the defense zone of the 16th Army (commanded by General K. K. Rokossovsky) in the Istra region. A group of tank destroyers from the 316th Infantry Division of General IV Panfilov stood to death. He himself died in battle on November 18. Heroic efforts Nazi troops were stopped almost at the walls of the capital.

Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow. In early December 1941, the Soviet command, in an atmosphere of secrecy, was preparing a counteroffensive near Moscow. Such an operation became possible after the formation of ten reserve armies in the rear and a change in the balance of forces. The enemy retained superiority in the number of troops, the number of artillery and tanks, but it was no longer overwhelming.

In early December, the Germans launched another offensive against Moscow, but during this, on December 5–6, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive along the entire front, from Kalinin to Yelets. It was attended by troops of three fronts - Western (under the command of G.K. Zhukov), Kalininsky (under the command of I.S.Konev) and South-West (under the command of S.K. Timoshenko). This offensive came as a complete surprise to the German command. It turned out to be unable to repel the powerful blows of the Red Army. By the beginning of January 1942, Soviet troops threw the Nazis back from Moscow by 100–250 km. The winter offensive of the Red Army continued until April 1942. As a result, the Moscow and Tula regions, many areas of the Smolensk, Kalinin, Ryazan and Oryol regions were completely liberated.

The blitzkrieg strategy finally collapsed near Moscow. The failure of the offensive on Moscow prevented Japan and Turkey from entering the war on the side of Germany. The victory of the Red Army pushed the United States and Britain to create an anti-Hitler coalition.

At the beginning 40- x years of the twentieth century, the main leadership of Germany tried to develop their own unique plan to capture the Soviet Union. The uniqueness of the idea was its time frame. The seizure was supposed to last no more than five months. The development of this document was approached very responsibly, not only Hitler himself worked on it, but also his inner circle. Everyone understood that if the territory of a huge state was not quickly occupied and the situation was not stabilized in their favor, many adverse consequences could ensue. Hitler clearly understood that he had already started the Second World War and was quite successful, however, in order to achieve all the intended goals, maximum resources should be attracted, including mental ones. In the event of a failure in the plan, the Union can be provided with various assistance from other countries that are not interested in the victory of Hitler's Germany. Furrer understood that the defeat of the USSR would give an ally of Germany an opportunity to completely untie his hands in Asia and prevent the insidious United States of America from interfering.
The European continent was firmly in the hands of Adolf, but he wanted more. Moreover, he perfectly understood that the USSR was not a powerful enough country (for now) and Stalin would not be able to openly oppose Germany, but his interests are in Europe and, in order to eliminate any inclinations, it is necessary to eliminate an undesirable rival in the future.

Adolf Hitler planned to end the war against the Soviet Union even before the moment when he could end the war started against Great Britain. It was about to become the fastest running company of all time to conquer a vast territory in such a short time. The German ground forces were planned to be sent to conduct hostilities. The Air Force will be required to provide all necessary support in order to cover and protect its military. Any actions that are planned to be carried out on the territory of the Soviet Union must be fully coordinated with the command and must not interfere with the established interests of the capture of Great Britain.
It was said that all large-scale actions aimed at thoroughly preparing a lightning-fast capture against the USSR should be carefully disguised so that the enemy could not learn about them and not take any countermeasures.

Hitler's main mistakes

Many historians who have studied the situation with the development and implementation of a plan for the instant capture of the Union for several decades, come to one single thought - about the adventurousness and senselessness of this idea. The commanding fascist generals also gave an assessment of the plan. They considered it the main, one might say fatal mistake - the Fuehrer's acute desire to occupy the territory of the country of the Soviets until the final end of the war with England.
Hitler wanted to start actions back in the fall of 1940, but his military leaders were able to dissuade him from this crazy undertaking, giving a lot of convincing arguments. The events described suggest that Hitler had an obsessive obsession with the establishment of complete world domination and a crushing and intoxicating victory in Europe did not give him the opportunity to thoughtfully make some of the most important strategic decisions.
The second, most important, according to historians, mistake in the plan was that it was constantly retreated from. Hitler changed his instructions several times, which lost precious time. Although he surrounded himself with excellent commanders, whose advice would help him achieve what he wanted and conquer the territory of the country of soviets. However, they were opposed by the personal ambitions of the dictator, which were higher for the Fuhrer than common sense.
In addition, an important mistake of the Fuehrer is the use of only part of the combat-ready divisions. If all possible forces were involved, the consequences of the war could be completely different, and now history would be written quite differently. At the time of the offensive, part of the combat-ready divisions were in Great Britain, as well as in North Africa.

The main idea of Hitler regarding the lightning speed of the plan

He believed that important point is the ability to break ground forces with active tank attacks. The purpose of the operation, Adolf saw exclusively the division of existing Russia into two parts along the Volga and Arkhangelsk. This would allow him to leave the main industrial region of the country in action, but have complete control over it, as well as create an unprecedented shield dividing the country into European and Asian parts.
In addition, the primary task was to deprive the Baltic Fleet of its bases, which would allow the Germans to exclude the participation of Russians in battles.
An instruction was given to maintain complete secrecy with regard to future conquest actions. Only a certain circle of people was privy to this. They were charged with coordinating the preparations for the invasion without unnecessary dissemination of information. It got to the point that the whole country was closely involved in the preparation, but only a few knew what exactly was going to happen and what tasks were set for the fascist army.

Outcome

The plan failed. In fact, this happened with the consent of Hitler, when he began to retreat from his intended goals. For the entire Russian people, this is a huge plus, we do not know how we would live now if the legendary plan for the instant conquest of Russia, created in the fortieth year of the twentieth century, became successful and achieved all the goals set in it. One can only be glad that the commanders-in-chief German troops made several cardinal mistakes that did not allow him to achieve world domination and establish his ideology around the globe.