THE SACRED WAR

Red Star. April 29, 2005. By Anatoly Dokuchaev

Why were the USSR's armed forces taken unawares and unable to repel invasion of German armies, if they were brought up to be vigilant against enemy's plans and being prepared to the coming war? How could it happen that the Red Army retreated to Volga and Caucasian mountain ridge after it hurled German troops back from Moscow and destroyed the Blitzkrieg strategy? And how did the Soviet armed forces change the course of events and pass to the offensive on a wide front, which ended with the complete defeat of the enemy, despite of all the catastrophic events, inconceivable losses in manpower and territory?

Answers on these questions can be found in the book "The Sacred War 1941-1945" published by the Publishing House "Arms and Technologies" on the eve of 60-year anniversary of the Victory. The publishing project was sponsored by "LUKoil" company. "There are historical events in Russia's life, which are not subject to time. The Great Patriotic War takes a special place among them. It was one of the greatest achievements in our homeland's military history", - wrote Nikolai Spassky, the general director and editor-in-chief of the Publishing House "Arms and Technologies", who is also the concept author and the project leader, - "Soldiers' heroism, the tragedy, and the great deed of people can not be measured". These words serve as an epigraph to the work of a group of well-known historians.

The book, which is truthful and easy to understand, describes the history of the Great Patriotic War. Even professionals, analyzing events taken place 60 years ago, will make discoveries, not to mention young Russian citizens having fragmentary knowledge about this great event in the world's history. The description of Sacred War history is based on fundamental material, and many documents have been published for the first time.

Sections of the first chapter "Origin of the war" can tell the reader about the book structure. These sections are "The eve of the war", "Preparation for Blitzkrieg against the USSR", "The Red Army: force and weakness", "What war the Soviet Union prepared for?" and "The Anti-Hitler Coalition". Authors note: Hitler was sure that western democracies will never unite with the USSR due to their anti-Sovietism and, hence, a war with two fronts can not take place. New countries originated within the Versailles System - Czechoslovakia and Poland - were too weak in order to organize a significant eastern front without Russia. At such circumstances only a smart policy was required, which should be a combination of insidiousness and demagogy. And he began his impertinent and dangerous game.

It should be noted here that each chapter contains maps, posters of that time, as well as documents never published. For example, the first chapter is illustrated with extractions from Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and written rules of behavior for German soldiers. "You have ho heart and nerves, they are not required during the war, - reads the latter document - Discard your pity and compassion, kill every Russian, do not stop if you see an old man or woman, a girl or a boy". It could be of interest the preparation of the Wehrmacht in accordance with Blitzkrieg concepts.

The authors give a clear and logical answer to those, who like to eliminate "white spots" in History, who try to convince the public through books and TV channels that in 1941 Stalin planned to defeat Germany, the "western bastion against communists", and bring the "world revolution" into Europe on Soviet bayonets. And, anyway, how did matters stand in 1941? In order to give a comprehensive answer, the authors propose to split this question into two ones. The first question - had the Soviet Union plans to make an assault on Germany in 1941? And the second question - was the Soviet Union able to do this in 1941, taking into account the condition of the Red Army at that time? The answer to both questions is single: no. The Stalin's aim was to avoid at any cost a possible German assault in 1941. The USSR needed at least one year, and in 1942 it would be able, more or less, to repel aggression.

The authors paint a real picture of the Wehrmacht's invasion into the USSR's territory, in particular they show the chaos in troops of the Western Front. And they describe first failures of the Blitzkrieg taken place at that time, although the first period of the Great Patriotic War ended with a defeat of the Soviet armed forces. Colonel-General Franz Halder, the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht's Land Force, wrote in his diary: "It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Russian campaign will be completed within 14 days". He has miscalculated seriously.

Moscow was the main vector of the invasion. Keeping the same approaching speed (50-60 km per day), German troops were able to reach Moscow within a couple of weeks. They could, but… On July 10, the battle of Smolensk began. Soviet troops, fighting with unexpected and increasing stubbornness, were unable to defeat the German army group, but they destroyed its approach to Moscow and helped the main forces to break out of encirclement. On August 30, troops of the left side of the Reserve Front, commanded by General of the Army Georgy Zhukov, began an approaching operation near Yelnya, and, on September 9, the Soviet Information Bureau reported about the seizure of Yelnya. The victory near Yelnya encouraged the Soviet troops: it is possible to baffle Germans!

The Soviet country met 1942 with optimism, but also with exaltation due to successes. Failures began in spring. The German troops reached Volga. The book contains the full text of the Order No. 227 of July 28 1942, knows as the "Not one step back!" order, issued by the Defense Commissar of the USSR. The authors provide a comprehensive and truthful description of the battle of Stalingrad including the counter-offensive of our troops (the operations "Uran" and "Mars"); the break of the blockade of Leningrad (the operation "Iskra"); the battle of Kursk and the following destruction of "East Rampart" (the battle for Dnepr). Probably, it could be of reader's interest the Soviet commanders' ultimatum to Colonel-General Friedrich Paulus, the Commander in Chief of the 6th Army; the Order No. 0374, issued by the People's Commissar of Defense, related to results of food inspection on the Kalinin Front.

"Bagration" was the main operation in 1944. But it is not the only operation the authors pay attention to. The strategic Leningrad-Novgorod operation aimed to run the blockade of Leningrad is described quite comprehensively. The liberation of Right-bank Ukraine and northern Russian territories is covered widely. Telling about the liberation of Byelorussia, authors decided that it is necessary to tell about the village Khatyn burnt by fascists. This subject seems to be timely because some mass media companies began to talk that the fascists' mission was humane.

Defeat of the enemy in Europe is shown at wide extent: in Balkans, in Czechoslovakia, on the Polish territory, in Austria, in Denmark, making Hungary go out of the war, counteraction with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia. And the aid to liberated nations is shown, which is especially important because it is less and less mentioned at the present time.

The description of the Berlin Operation is based on documents, and it is shown without coloring the truth. But the authors do not finish at this point, they prefer to continue the discussion. They offer comprehensive materials about all-nation aid to the Army, show relations between the powers and the church during the Great Patriotic War, touch subjects related to captivity and collaboration.

By the way, at the present time these subjects are considered from a certain point of view or ignored at all. The authors show that, at the total number of Soviet prisoners of war about 4,059 thousand people, 2 millions of them, or 49%, were taken prisoner in 1941. About 2 millions of Soviet prisoners were dead in captivity during the war, many thousand soldiers and commanders participated in the Resistance movement were killed in concentration camps. Having no wish to live in the nazi's hell, Soviet prisoners were escaping from torture chambers. According to incomplete data, about 450 thousand Soviet prisoners escaped from 4 thousand concentration camps in Germany and countries, occupied by the Wehrmacht, during the period 1941-1944. Many of them were captured and killed, but many thousand reached their destination.

The book tells about German prisoners as well. It is known that 1,9 million German prisoners came back from the Soviet Union to Germany after the war. 450 thousand of Wehrmacht's soldiers and officers were dead in Soviet camps. Their deaths were mainly caused by various infections. Many soldiers were taken prisoner being already doomed.

Very soon Russia and our allies will celebrate the 60-year anniversary of the Victory. What are its constituents? The answer to this question can be found in articles written by competent public figures: General of the Army Valentin Varennikov, a participant of the Victory Parade on June 24 1945; Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Karpov, an author; Alexander Zinoviev, a well-known scientist.

Each of them expresses his own point of view on the Victory, but they are unanimous in general: there are Soviet people who have gained the victory. Vladimir Karpov strikingly and boldly distinguishes one of the most important constituents of the Victory - the great brotherhood of all peoples of our country. "Remembering and thinking how and why we have gained the victory, we must say warm words of greatest love and gratitude to those who lie in common graves in our land and in cemeteries in many countries of ungrateful now Europe. The Russians and the Uzbeks, the Kirghizes and the Georgians, the Latvians and the Turkmen, the Kazakhs and the Moldavians - sons and daughters of all nations of our country, - lie in those graves. I saw them in battles - they were real brothers… This brotherhood was great and sacred, and the fallen were buried in common graves, which were called brother graves. Today these brother graves are a dumb reproach to those who became mankurts, suffering from nationalistic poisoning, and forgot about our common Homeland for which our grandfathers, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters have fallen into these graves".

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