How many Soviet soldiers died for the “liberation of Europe” from fascism.

Fresh review

Let me start with the fact that the Maralsay rest house is located not far from Almaty, and specifically beyond Talgar in the Talgar gorge, or more precisely in the Maralsay gully. Maral is a deer and a beam, translated respectively as Deer.

First, a little road - the one that is already in the mountains. Getting to the mountains is not at all interesting and not particularly beautiful - you just drive along the Talgar highway through endless villages, gas stations, roadside shops and banquet halls. And then you turn into the Talgar Gorge and it immediately becomes beautiful.

It was mid-February. We ordered a transfer from home to the recreation center and back - we were told that we would not get there in a regular sedan. The road, in general, showed that they were right - not to say that there was ice, but the road was snowy and the slopes were not small - the all-wheel drive pickup truck skidded and sometimes the driver engaged the locks.

Random entries

In the previous article about Rouen, I started right away with the main attraction - the Rouen Cathedral, since the cathedral is the holy of holies in European cities. It has been built for centuries and to last, and they try to decorate it more elaborately. But Rouen is famous not only for its cathedral. The city suffered greatly during the Second World War, especially from British bombing in April 1944 and American bombing in May-June of the same year. During these air raids, the cathedral and the historical quarter adjacent to it were significantly damaged. Fortunately, most of the city's most iconic historical monuments were reconstructed or rebuilt during the 15 post-war years, placing Rouen in the top five French cities for the antiquity of its historical heritage.

From Champagne we had to move to Normandy. From Reims to the main city of Normandy - Rouen - just over 200 km. After a practically sleepless night, I dozed off while the guide told me about the opening of a second front during World War II. It’s not that it wasn’t interesting, it’s just that I’ve already heard and seen something on TV on Discovery Channel and History, and sometimes I opened my eyes when the guide pointed in one direction or another. But green meadows spread around, the sun was shining and nothing reminded of the war. “It clicked” in her head only when she began to talk about the feat of an American soldier who, showing remarkable ingenuity, was able to make his way to a German firing point, using the body of a dead comrade as a refuge. And thoughts themselves flowed in a different direction. Still, there are events in the assessment of which we will never meet Western requirements. Intellectually, I understand that in war all means are good, but we were brought up with other examples. Our people recklessly cover the embrasure with their bodies so that their comrades remain alive.

Forest Fairytale was a fairly old resort and quite poor in terms of skiing entertainment. But this year everything has changed. We built three new chairlifts, a couple more ski lifts and a bunch of slopes. Even if they are quite simple, and those that are more complex are quite short, there are a lot of them and they are varied, which gives the new resort the right to compete with and, as with the best and largest ski resorts in Kazakhstan.

Let me start with the fact that Lesnaya Skazka is now at least three resorts: Oy-Karagay, Aport and Lesnaya Skazka itself. While you’re riding, it’s not entirely clear how they are intertwined and where, but I think if you carefully study this issue, you can figure it out. But in principle this does not matter.

I continue to publish photographs from the album of a German tourist in Almaty, which were taken in December 2013. This time a selection from a trip to dachas and around the city. And again, this is not at all the beauty that we are all used to seeing in tourist advertisements, but something that a foreign tourist found interesting or surprising.

In general, everything is as it is. Without embellishment.

Reims is the largest city in the Champagne region, is the 12th most populous (185 thousand people in 2009) in France and the first in the Champagne-Ardenne region, although it is not the capital of the province. In addition to the Reims Cathedral, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, there are several other historical attractions, but the most famous is still champagne. The funny thing is that on the way to Reims we never saw any vineyards; perhaps we missed it at night. When dawn broke, pastoral rural landscapes floated past the window.

It seems like a tradition is already taking shape; from Stuttgart we travel to France. Last time in 2012 it was Paris, and now the bus tour organized by Russia Travels was called “The Atlantic coast of France - Champagne, Normandy, Brittany”. Departure (also according to tradition) at night from Stuttgart airport, but there were more people. The bus was late, just like last time, but we still had to run after it. For some reason they were not allowed to stop at the main building; they had to walk quickly through the entire airport to the bus stop.

We devoted another day of our stay in Stuttgart to an excursion to the town of Esslingen am Neckar, or rather, now it is an independent area belonging to the administrative district of Stuttgart. Getting there is very easy - by metro, or as it is commonly called here - U-bahn, although I don’t remember the route number. We arrived at this station square. To my surprise, there are trolleybuses in Esslingen. This is the first city in Germany where I saw such public transport, which is quite common here.

Bulgaria was the first destination we went to with our two children. And this circumstance greatly influenced the quality of rest. I will say that it is quite difficult. Children love it - every day at sea from morning until evening. You can’t leave them there alone, they are constantly covered in sand, and besides, you constantly smear them with sunscreen and the sand sticks to them even better. The room is also covered in sand, the children need to be constantly bathed in the sea, then in the shower, and still everything is covered in sand. At lunchtime, they both fall asleep in a cafe and then don’t eat what they order. At night they want to eat, but there is nothing special in the hotel. On some cultural and entertainment trips, they sometimes sleep, sometimes they are tired, sometimes they are bored. In general, on the one hand, all this is fun and funny, on the other hand, you get tired.

Well, walks around the city always either ended at playgrounds or took place with long stops there. I’ll tell you about this - the children’s entertainment in which we took part was not very interesting and similar ones probably now exist everywhere, including Alma-Ata, but suddenly someone will become interested. There will be quite a lot of photos and some are quite monotonous.

The second part of the album about Kuibshev will be dedicated to the proletariat.

Cities, like people, are judged by their deeds. Our city has a long and strong reputation as a hard worker, a jack of all trades. The city makes machine tools and bearings, tower cranes and clocks, ball mills and carburetors, drilling equipment and communication cables. If you look at things that have been done conscientiously, it’s no different that the Tula Lefty lives in this city, and not just one, but thousands. On many products supplied by our country to other countries of the world, brands of Kuibyshev enterprises flaunt above the proud words “Made in the USSR”.

Almost all sectors of the domestic industry are represented in the city - mechanical engineering, machine tool building, metallurgy, energy, oil and gas refining, construction equipment and materials, equipment and communications, woodworking, food and light industry. Let us note, by the way, that in old Samara there was not one. During the years of Soviet power, the volume of industrial production increased more than 350 times.

Liberation of the territory of the USSR and Eastern Europe from fascism (1944-1945)

In January 1944 ᴦ. As a result of the successful operation of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted. In the winter of 1944. Through the efforts of three Ukrainian fronts, Right Bank Ukraine was liberated, and by the end of spring the western border of the USSR was completely restored.

In such conditions at the beginning of the summer of 1944. a second front was opened in Europe.

The headquarters of the Supreme High Command developed a plan, grandiose in scale and successful in tactical ideas, for the complete liberation of Soviet territory and the entry of Red Army troops into Eastern Europe with the aim of liberating it from fascist enslavement. This was preceded by one of the major offensive operations - the Belarusian one, which received the code name "Bagration".

As a result of the offensive, the Soviet Army reached the outskirts of Warsaw and stopped on the right bank of the Vistula. At this time, a popular uprising broke out in Warsaw, brutally suppressed by the Nazis.

In September-October 1944 ᴦ. Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were liberated. The partisan formations of these states took an active part in the hostilities of the Soviet troops, which later formed the basis of their national armed forces.

Fierce battles broke out for the liberation of the lands of Hungary, where a large group of fascist troops was located, especially in the area of ​​Lake Balaton. For two months, Soviet troops besieged Budapest, whose garrison capitulated only in February 1945. Only towards the middle of April 1945. Hungarian territory was completely liberated.

Under the sign of the victories of the Soviet Army, from February 4 to 11, a conference of the leaders of the USSR, the USA and England was held in Yalta, at which issues of the post-war reorganization of the world were discussed. Among them are the establishment of the borders of Poland, recognition of the USSR's demands for reparations, the question of the USSR's entry into the war against Japan, and the consent of the Allied powers to annex the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin to the USSR.

April 16 - May 2 - The Berlin operation is the last major battle of the Great Patriotic War. It took place in several stages:

Capture of the Seelow Heights;

Fighting on the outskirts of Berlin;

Assault on the central, most fortified part of the city.

On the night of May 9, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany was signed.

July 17 - August 2 - Potsdam Conference of Heads of State - members of the anti-Hitler coalition. The main question is the fate of post-war Germany. Control was created. nal council is a joint body of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France to exercise supreme power in Germany during the period of its occupation. He paid special attention to issues of the Polish-German border. Germany was subject to complete demilitarization, and the activities of the Social Nazi Party were prohibited. Stalin confirmed the USSR's readiness to take part in the war against Japan.

The US President, who had received positive results from nuclear weapons tests at the beginning of the conference, began putting pressure on the Soviet Union. Work on the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR also accelerated.

On August 6 and 9, the United States nuclear-bombed two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which had no strategic significance. The act was of a warning and threatening nature, primarily for our state.

On the night of August 9, 1945. The Soviet Union began military operations against Japan. Three fronts were formed: Transbaikal and two Far Eastern. Together with the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Military Flotilla, the selected Japanese Kwantung Army was defeated and North China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were liberated.

September 2, 1945 ᴦ. The Second World War ended with the signing of the Japanese Surrender Act on the American cruiser Missouri.

Liberation of the territory of the USSR and Eastern Europe from fascism (1944-1945) - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Liberation of the territory of the USSR and Eastern Europe from fascism (1944-1945)" 2017, 2018.

The victories of the Red Army in 1943 meant a radical change not only on the Soviet-German front, but also in World War II as a whole. They increased the contradictions in the camp of Germany's allies. On July 25, 1943, the fascist government of B. Mussolini fell in Italy, and the new leadership led by General P. Badoglio declared war on Germany on October 13, 1943. The Resistance movement intensified in the occupied countries. In 1943, the fight against the enemy was carried out by 300 thousand partisans of France, 300 thousand of Yugoslavia, over 70 thousand of Greece, 100 thousand of Italy, 50 thousand of Norway, as well as partisan detachments of other countries. In total, 2.2 million people took part in the Resistance movement.
The coordination of the actions of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition was facilitated by meetings of the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. The first of the Big Three conferences took place from November 28 to December 1, 1943 in Tehran. The main ones were military issues - about the second front in Europe. It was decided that no later than May 1, 1944, Anglo-American troops would land in France. A declaration on joint actions in the war against Germany and on post-war cooperation was adopted, and the issue of the post-war borders of Poland was considered. The USSR took upon itself the obligation to enter the war against Japan after the end of the war with Germany.
In January 1944, the third and final stage of the Great Patriotic War began. By this time, Nazi troops continued to occupy Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Karelia, a significant part of Belarus, Ukraine, the Leningrad and Kalinin regions, Moldova and Crimea. Hitler's command kept the main, most combat-ready troops of about 5 million people in the East. Germany still had significant resources to fight the war, although its economy had entered a period of serious difficulties.
However, the general military-political situation, in comparison with the first years of the war, changed radically in favor of the USSR and its Armed Forces. By the beginning of 1944, there were more than 6.3 million people in the active army of the USSR. The production of steel, cast iron, coal and oil production increased rapidly, and the eastern regions of the country were developed. The defense industry produced 5 times more tanks and aircraft in 1944 than in 1941.
The Soviet Army was faced with the task of completing the liberation of its territory, providing assistance to the peoples of Europe in overthrowing the fascist yoke, and ending the war with the complete defeat of the enemy on its territory. The peculiarity of offensive operations in 1944 was that the enemy was struck in advance by powerful attacks on various directions of the Soviet-German front, forcing him to disperse his forces and making it difficult to organize an effective defense.
In 1944, the Red Army inflicted a series of crushing blows on the German troops, which led to the complete liberation of Soviet land from the fascist invaders. Among the largest operations are the following:

January-February - near Leningrad and Novgorod. The 900-day blockade of Leningrad, which had lasted since September 8, 1941, was lifted (during the blockade, more than 640 thousand residents died of hunger in the city; the food standard in 1941 was 250 g of bread per day for workers and 125 g for the rest);
FebruaryMarch - liberation of Right Bank Ukraine;
AprilMay - liberation of Crimea;
June-August - Belarusian operation;
July-August - liberation of Western Ukraine;
early August - Iasso-Kishinev operation;
October - liberation of the Arctic.
By December 1944, all Soviet territory was liberated. On November 7, 1944, the Pravda newspaper published Order No. 220 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: “The Soviet state border,” it said, “has been restored all the way from the Black Sea to the Barents Sea” (for the first time during the war, Soviet troops reached the state border USSR March 26, 1944 on the border with Romania). All of Germany's allies withdrew from the war - Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary. Hitler's coalition completely collapsed. And the number of countries that were at war with Germany was constantly increasing. On June 22, 1941 there were 14 of them, and in May 1945 there were 53.

The successes of the Red Army did not mean that the enemy ceased to pose a serious military threat. An army of almost five million confronted the USSR in early 1944. But the Red Army was superior to the Wehrmacht both in numbers and in firepower. By the beginning of 1944, it numbered more than 6 million soldiers and officers, had 90 thousand guns and mortars (the Germans had about 55 thousand), an approximately equal number of tanks and self-propelled guns, and an advantage of 5 thousand aircraft.
The successful course of military operations was also facilitated by the opening of a second front. On June 6, 1944, Anglo-American troops landed in France. However, the main one remained the Soviet-German front. In June 1944, Germany had 259 divisions on its Eastern Front, and 81 on the Western Front. Paying tribute to all the peoples of the planet who fought against fascism, it should be noted that it was the Soviet Union that was the main force that blocked A. Hitler’s path to world domination . The Soviet-German front was the main front where the fate of humanity was decided. Its length ranged from 3000 to 6000 km, it existed for 1418 days. Until the summer of 1944 -
Liberation of the territory of the USSR by the Red Army
,Mupei states 267
the time of the opening of the second front in Europe - 9295% of the ground forces of Germany and its allies operated here, and then from 74 to 65%.
Having liberated the USSR, the Red Army, pursuing the retreating enemy, entered the territory of foreign countries in 1944. She fought in 13 European and Asian countries. More than a million Soviet soldiers gave their lives for their liberation from fascism.
In 1945, the offensive operations of the Red Army assumed an even larger scale. The troops launched a final offensive along the entire front from the Baltic to the Carpathians, which was planned for the end of January. But due to the fact that the Anglo-American army in the Ardennes (Belgium) was on the brink of disaster, the Soviet leadership decided to begin hostilities ahead of schedule.
The main attacks were carried out in the Warsaw-Berlin direction. Overcoming desperate resistance, Soviet troops completely liberated Poland and defeated the main Nazi forces in East Prussia and Pomerania. At the same time, strikes were carried out on the territory of Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.
In connection with the approaching final defeat of Germany, issues of joint actions by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition at the final stage of the war and in peacetime became acute. In February 1945, the second conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and England took place in Yalta. The conditions for the unconditional surrender of Germany were worked out, and measures were determined to eradicate Nazism and transform Germany into a democratic state. These principles are known as the “4 Ds” - democratization, demilitarization, denazification and decartelization. The allies also agreed on general principles for resolving the reparation issue, that is, on the amount and procedure for compensation for damage caused by Germany to other countries (the total amount of reparation was set at 20 billion US dollars, of which the USSR was to receive half). An agreement was reached on the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan 23 months after the surrender of Germany and on the return of the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin Island to it. In order to maintain Peace and security, it was decided to create an international organization - the UN. Its founding conference took place on April 25, 1945 in San Francisco.
One of the largest and most significant at the final stage of the war was the Berlin operation. The offensive began on April 16. On April 25, all roads leading from the city to the west were cut. On the same day, units of the 1st Ukrainian Front met with American troops near the city of Torgau on the Elbe. On April 30, the storming of the Reichstag began. On May 2, the Berlin garrison capitulated. May 8 - Capitulation was signed.
In the last days of the war, the Red Army had to fight stubborn battles in Czechoslovakia. On May 5, an armed uprising against the occupiers began in Prague. On May 9, Soviet troops liberated Prague.

Liberation of Poland

The success of Operation Bagration made it possible to begin the liberation of European countries from fascism. The Resistance movement in the occupied countries covered ever wider sections of the population. The Polish people had been under the rule of the Nazi invaders for about five years. The state independence of Poland was eliminated. The Nazis annexed its western and northern regions to Germany, and turned the central and eastern lands into a “government general”. During the years of occupation, the Nazis destroyed almost 5.5 million inhabitants of this country.

The resistance movement against the German occupiers in Poland was not homogeneous. On the one hand, there was the Home Army, a large underground armed organization subordinate to the London emigrant government. On the other hand, on the eve of 1944, on the initiative of the PPR (Polish Workers' Party), supported by other democratic organizations, the Craiova Rada of the People was created, whose activities took place in deep underground conditions. By decree of the Home Council of the People's Republic of January 1, 1944, the Army of Ludova was created.

From July - August 1944, when Soviet troops, with the participation of the 1st Polish Army, expelled the Nazi occupiers from almost all lands east of the Vistula (a quarter of the country's territory, where about 5.6 million people lived), the national liberation movement in Poland it intensified even more.

One of the famous episodes of the struggle of the Poles against the Nazi invaders is the Warsaw Uprising . It began on August 1, 1944. The Home Army, which received orders to clear the capital of the Nazis, was not prepared for this task. The organization of the uprising took place so hastily that many detachments did not know about the time of action. Other underground organizations were not warned about this in a timely manner. A shortage of weapons and ammunition was immediately discovered. Therefore, only part of the Home Army units located in Warsaw were able to take up arms when the uprising began. The uprising grew, thousands of residents of the Polish capital, as well as the detachments of the Ludovo Army located in it, joined it. Events developed dramatically. Participants in the mass uprising, in an atmosphere of complete doom, heroically fought against the fascist enslavers, fighting for the liberation of the capital, for the revival of their homeland, for a new life. On October 2, the last pockets of resistance in Warsaw, destroyed by the Nazis, were suppressed.

By August 1, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front on their left flank reached the Polish capital from the southwest, but met fierce resistance from a strong enemy group. The 2nd Tank Army, operating ahead of the combined arms formations, was forced, repelling counterattacks and suffering serious losses, to retreat from the outskirts of Warsaw - Prague. The troops of the center and the right wing of the front lagged far behind the left flank, and the front line formed a protrusion over 200 km long, from which fascist German troops could launch a counterattack on the right flank of the front. By the time in question, the troops of the left flank of the 1st Belorussian Front and the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front had reached the Vistula, crossed it and captured bridgeheads in the areas of Malkushev, Pulawy and Sandomierz. The immediate task here was the struggle to retain and expand the bridgeheads. Meanwhile, the enemy continued to build up counterattacks in the Warsaw area and on the approaches to it, bringing in new forces and means. Soviet troops that entered the territory of Poland, as a result of heavy losses in men and equipment during many days of fierce fighting, temporarily exhausted their offensive capabilities. A long pause in offensive operations was necessary in order to replenish the fronts with fresh forces, regroup troops, and tighten up the rear. Despite the unfavorable situation for offensive operations, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts fought heavy battles with the enemy during August and the first half of September. In order to provide direct assistance to the rebels, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front liberated Prague on September 14. The next day, the 1st Army of the Polish Army, operating as part of the front, entered Prague and began preparing to cross the Vistula and join forces with the rebels in Warsaw. The operation was supported by Soviet artillery and aviation. The crossing of the Vistula began on the night of September 16. In the battles on the captured bridgeheads, units of the 1st Polish Army showed real heroism, but the enemy turned out to be stronger. The Polish units that crossed to Warsaw were isolated and suffered heavy losses. Under these conditions, their evacuation to the eastern bank of the Vistula began, which was completed (with losses) by September 23. The Soviet command proposed that the leaders of the uprising give the order to the rebel troops to break through to the Vistula under the cover of fire from Soviet artillery and aviation. Only a few units that refused to carry out the order broke out of Warsaw and linked up with Soviet troops. It was obvious that without lengthy preparation it was impossible to cross the Vistula and ensure a successful attack on Warsaw.

Liberation of Romania

By August 1944, favorable conditions had developed for delivering a powerful blow to the enemy in the south. Hitler's command weakened its grouping south of the Carpathians, transferring up to 12 divisions, including 6 tank and 1 motorized, from Army Group Southern Ukraine to Belarus and Western Ukraine. It was also important that, under the influence of the victories of the Red Army, the Resistance movement grew in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. The advance of the Red Army there inevitably had to contribute to the strengthening of the liberation struggle and the collapse of fascist regimes in the Balkans, which was also of great importance for weakening the rear of Nazi Germany.

Hitler and the fascist generals understood the exceptional importance of the Romanian section of the front, which covered the path to the southern borders of the Third Reich. Retaining it was necessary to continue the war. The fascist German command took urgent measures in advance to strengthen its positions in the Balkan direction. Within four to five months, a powerful defense was created along a 600-kilometer front from the Carpathians to the Black Sea. The enemy's combat capability was undermined by the mistrust and alienation that existed between the German and Romanian troops. In addition, partisan detachments were increasingly active behind enemy lines on the territory of Soviet Moldova. It was also noted above that Army Group “Southern Ukraine” was significantly weakened by the transfer of part of its forces to the central section of the Soviet-German front in July-August.

The headquarters of the Soviet Supreme High Command decided to deliver a powerful blow to the southern enemy group with the forces of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, which included 1250 thousand people, 16 thousand guns and mortars, 1870 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2200 combat aircraft. These troops, in cooperation with the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube Military Flotilla, were supposed to break through the enemy’s defenses on his flanks, and then, developing an offensive, encircle and destroy the enemy in the Iasi-Chisinau region. At the same time, it was planned to launch an offensive deep into Romania and towards the borders of Bulgaria.

The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front (commander General R.Ya. Malinovsky, member of the Military Council General I.Z. Susaykov, chief of staff General M.V. Zakharov) delivered the main blow from the area northwest of Iasi in the direction of Vaslui. The 3rd Ukrainian Front (commander General F.I. Tolbukhin, member of the Military Council General A.S. Zheltov, chief of staff General S.S. Biryuzov) delivered the main blow from the Dnieper bridgehead south of Tiraspol. In the upcoming operation, the Black Sea Fleet was tasked with landing troops in Akkerman and on the sea coast, launching air strikes on the ports of Constanta and Sulina, destroying enemy ships at sea, and assisting ground forces in crossing the Danube. All types of troops were involved in the Iasi-Kishinev operation, including large armored forces and aviation.

The Iasi-Chisinau operation began on August 20, 1944 . On August 24, the first stage of the strategic operation of two fronts was completed - breaking through the defense and encircling the Iasi-Kishinev enemy group. 18 divisions were surrounded by Soviet troops - the main forces of the 6th German Army. Royal Romania, with its political and social system, was experiencing a deep crisis. Antonescu's military-fascist clique, based on an alliance with the Nazis, was about to collapse. On August 23, when the government decided to mobilize all the forces of the nation to continue the war, Antonescu came to the royal palace to ask King Mihai to address the people on this issue. However, in the palace, Antonescu, and after him, other ministers of his government were arrested. Under the blows of patriotic forces, the fascist regime collapsed, unable to organize resistance. Not a single unit of the Romanian army spoke out in defense of Antonescu’s fascist clique.

After Antonescu was eliminated, the king, in contact with palace circles, formed a government headed by General C. Sanatescu. It also included representatives of parties of the national democratic bloc, including the Communist Party. This was explained by the fact that the new government pledged to ensure the immediate cessation of hostilities against the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, the country's withdrawal from the anti-Soviet war, and the restoration of national independence and sovereignty.

On the night of August 25, the Soviet government broadcast a statement on the radio, which confirmed the terms of the truce with Romania put forward by the USSR on April 12, 1944. The statement stated that “The Soviet Union has no intention of acquiring any part of Romanian territory or changing the existing social system in Romania, or to infringe in any way on the independence of Romania. On the contrary, the Soviet government considers it necessary to restore, together with the Romanians, the independence of Romania by liberating Romania from the Nazi yoke.” Events developed in a complex and bitter struggle. The Sanatescu government in fact did not want to fight against Nazi Germany. The Romanian General Staff gave instructions not to interfere with the withdrawal of German troops from Romanian territory, and King Mihai informed the German Ambassador Killinger that German troops could leave Romania without hindrance. Fierce fighting in the Romanian capital and on the outskirts of it took place from August 24 to 28. The outcome of this struggle was determined by the fact that the main forces of the Nazi troops were surrounded in the area southeast of Iasi. The armed uprising in Bucharest ended in victory for the patriotic forces. When these events took place, Soviet troops continued to fight to destroy the encircled group, which was achieved by September 4. All the enemy’s attempts to break out of the ring were unsuccessful; only Army Group Commander Frisner and his staff managed to escape. Offensive operations did not stop during this entire time. The troops of the fronts, with the majority of their forces (about 60%), advanced into the depths of Romania.

The Moldavian SSR was completely liberated , whose population during the years of fascist occupation suffered from merciless exploitation, violence and robbery by the Romanian invaders. On August 24, the 5th Shock Army of General N.E. Berzarin occupied Chisinau, where the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the government of Soviet Moldavia then returned. Soviet troops advanced in three main directions: the Carpathian, which opens the way to Transylvania; Focsani, leading to the Ploesti oil center and the capital of Romania; Izmail (seaside).

On August 31, 1944, the advancing troops entered liberated Bucharest. There were stubborn battles in the Carpathian direction. The enemy, using the mountainous and wooded terrain, offered stubborn resistance. The advancing troops failed to break through into Transylvania on the move.

The Iasi-Kishinev operation of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts ended with the entry of troops into Ploesti, Bucharest and Constanta. During this operation, troops from two fronts, with the support of the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube Flotilla, defeated the main forces of the enemy army group "Southern Ukraine", which covered the route to the Balkans. Near Iasi and Chisinau, 18 German divisions, 22 divisions and 5 brigades of royal Romania were surrounded and destroyed. On September 12 in Moscow, the Soviet government, on behalf of its allies - the USSR, England and the USA - signed an armistice agreement with Romania.

Liberation of Bulgaria.

In the summer of 1944, the situation in Bulgaria was characterized by a deep crisis. Although formally this country did not participate in the war against the USSR, in fact its ruling circles completely devoted themselves to the service of Nazi Germany. Without risking openly declaring war on the Soviet Union, the Bulgarian government helped the Third Reich in everything. Hitler's Wehrmacht used airfields, seaports, and railways in Bulgaria. Releasing fascist German divisions for armed struggle against the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, primarily against the USSR, the German rulers forced Bulgarian troops to carry out occupation service in Greece and Yugoslavia. German monopolists plundered the national wealth of Bulgaria, and its national economy was ruined. The standard of living of the majority of the country's population has been steadily declining. The whole ego was the result of the actual occupation of the country by the Nazis.

The offensive of the Red Army brought the end of the rule of the Bulgarian pro-fascist regime closer. In the spring and summer of 1944, the Soviet government proposed to the Bulgarian government to break the alliance with Germany and actually maintain neutrality. Soviet troops were already approaching the Romanian-Bulgarian border. On August 26, Bagryanov’s government announced complete neutrality. But this step was also deceptive, designed to gain time. The Nazis, as before, maintained their dominant position in the country. The development of events at the same time showed that Nazi Germany was steadily and quickly moving towards disaster. A mass political movement swept the entire country. Bagryanov's government was forced to resign on September 1. However, the Muraviev government that replaced it essentially continued its previous policy, masking it with declarative statements of strict neutrality in the war, but doing nothing against the Nazi troops stationed in Bulgaria. The Soviet government, based on the fact that Bulgaria had been practically at war with the USSR for a long time, announced on September 5 that the Soviet Union would henceforth be in a state of war with Bulgaria.

On September 8, troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front entered the territory of Bulgaria. The advancing troops did not encounter resistance and in the first two days advanced 110 - 160 km. The ships of the Black Sea Fleet entered the ports of Varna and Burgas. On the evening of September 9, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front suspended further advance.

On the night of September 9, a national liberation uprising broke out in Sofia. Many formations and units of the Bulgarian army sided with the rebel people. The fascist clique was overthrown, members of the regency council B. Filov, N. Mikhov and Prince Kiril, ministers and other representatives of the government hated by the people were arrested. Power in the country passed into the hands of the Fatherland Front government. On September 16, Soviet troops entered the capital of Bulgaria.

The Government of the Fatherland Front, headed by K. Georgiev, took measures for Bulgaria to switch to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition and for the country to enter the war against Nazi Germany. The Bulgarian parliament, police and fascist organizations were dissolved. The state apparatus was freed from the henchmen of reaction and fascism. A people's militia was created. The army was democratized and transformed into the People's Revolutionary Anti-Fascist Army. In October 1944, the governments of the USSR, USA and England concluded a truce with Bulgaria in Moscow. About 200 thousand Bulgarian soldiers took part in the battles against the Nazi Wehrmacht on the territory of Yugoslavia and Hungary, along with Soviet troops.

The beginning of the liberation of Czechoslovakia.

The victories won by the Red Army in the Iasi-Kishinev operation and the liberation of Romania and Bulgaria radically changed the military-political situation in the Balkans. The enemy's strategic front was broken through hundreds of kilometers, Soviet troops advanced in the southwestern direction up to 750 km. The Nazi Army Group “Southern Ukraine” was defeated. The Carpathian group of German-Hungarian troops was deeply engulfed by Soviet troops. The Black Sea was completely dominated by the USSR Navy. The current situation was favorable for striking Hungary, where the pro-fascist Horthy regime existed, and made it possible to provide assistance to the peoples of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and other European countries that were still under the yoke of Hitler's rule. This was all the more important because, under the influence of the successes of the Red Army, the anti-fascist struggle in these countries intensified even more.

In Czechoslovakia, the national liberation movement, despite the brutal terror and mass repressions of the Nazis, was continuously growing. This movement became especially widespread in Slovakia, where formally there was an “independent state” governed by a puppet government headed by Tiso. On August 29, Nazi troops entered Slovakia. In response to this, the masses took up arms, and Slovakia was swept by a nationwide uprising, the political center of which was the city of Banska Bystrica. The outbreak of the uprising covered 18 regions of Slovakia. However, the struggle took place in unfavorable conditions for the rebels. The German command managed to quickly transfer large forces to Slovakia. Taking advantage of the numerical superiority of their troops and superiority in weapons, the Nazis disarmed the units of the Slovak army that had joined the people and began to push back the partisans. In this situation, the Czechoslovak ambassador in Moscow Z. Fierlinger on August 31 turned to the Soviet government with a request to provide assistance to the rebels. Despite all the difficulties of overcoming the Carpathians with tired troops, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on September 2 gave the order to carry out this operation.

The offensive was planned to be carried out at the junction of the 1st and 4th Ukrainian fronts. With a strike from the Krosno region to Duklja and further to Presov, Soviet troops were supposed to enter Slovakia and unite with the rebels.

At dawn on September 8, the Soviet offensive began. The fascist German command, using advantageous defensive positions in mountainous and wooded areas, sought to block the attackers’ path to Slovakia and Transylvania. The 38th Army of General K.S. Moskalenko of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the 1st Guards Army of General A.A. Grechko of the 4th Ukrainian Front fought with great effort for each line. The enemy brought troops and equipment to the battle area, and in mid-September he outnumbered the attackers in tanks and self-propelled artillery by 2.3 times. Soviet forces also increased.

By the end of September, the attackers reached the Main Carpathian Ridge. The first to cross the Czechoslovak border were the formations of General A.A. Grechko. On October 6, the 38th Army and the 1st Czechoslovak Corps, operating within it, under the command of General L. Svoboda, captured the Duklinsky Pass in fierce battles. Subsequently, this date was declared the day of the Czechoslovak People's Army.

The advancing Soviet and Czechoslovak troops continued to engage in fierce battles with a stubbornly resisting enemy. By the end of October, the 38th Army of General K.S. Moskalenko reached the Wisloka River, and the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front occupied Mukachevo and Uzhgorod. The offensive in Czechoslovakia temporarily stopped, and the enemy command was forced to send significant forces to Slovakia and Duklja, removing them from other areas, including from Transcarpathian Ukraine and from the area of ​​the Slovak uprising.

The offensive of the Soviet troops did not lead to a connection with the participants in the uprising in Slovakia, but it provided them with real assistance, drawing off large enemy forces. This circumstance, along with the courageous struggle against the Nazi troops of the Slovak partisans and the rebel army, allowed the rebels to hold the liberated territory for two months. However, the forces were too unequal. At the end of October, the Nazis managed to occupy all the most important points of the uprising, including its center - Banska Bystrica. The rebels retreated to the mountains, where they continued to fight the invaders. The number of partisans, despite the losses suffered, continued to grow. At the beginning of November, partisan formations and detachments numbered about 19 thousand people.

The Slovak popular uprising contributed to the collapse of the “Slovak state” and was the beginning of the national democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia, the birth on its territory of a new republic of two equal peoples - Czechs and Slovaks.

Liberation of Yugoslavia

In the spring of 1944, the Nazis launched another, particularly powerful attack on the liberated areas of Yugoslavia, controlled by partisans. By the fall of 1944, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (PLAU), seasoned in three years of battles and having accumulated rich combat experience, had over 400 thousand soldiers. In fact, the only political leader of the Yugoslav Resistance was J.B. Tito. The Yugoslav Resistance received support from abroad. From May to September 7, 1944 alone, 920 tons of various cargo were transported by plane from the USSR to Yugoslavia: weapons, ammunition, uniforms, shoes, food, communications equipment, and medicines. After Soviet troops reached the Yugoslav border, this material assistance increased sharply. In the fall of 1943, the British and Americans sent their military missions to the Supreme Headquarters of the NOAI.

The change in the political and strategic situation in the Balkans forced the Nazi command to begin evacuating its troops from Greece. By the fall of 1944, the Nazi command had large forces in Yugoslavia. In addition, there were several Hungarian divisions on the territory of Vojvodina, and in various regions of Yugoslavia there were about 270 thousand people in the Quisling military formations.

In September 1944, during the stay of Marshal I. Broz Tito in Moscow, an agreement was reached on joint operations of the Red Army and the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia.

The Soviet Supreme High Command decided to allocate the main forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front for the upcoming military operations in Yugoslavia: the 57th Army, a rifle division and a motorized rifle brigade of front-line subordination, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps and numerous front-line reinforcements. The actions of the strike group of the 3rd Ukrainian Front were to be supported on the right flank by the 46th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front .

On September 28, troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front crossed the Bulgarian-Yugoslav border and launched an offensive. The main blow was delivered from the Vidin area in the general direction of Belgrade. By October 10, having overcome the East Serbian Mountains, formations of the 57th Army of General N.A. Gagen entered the valley of the river. Moravians. On the right was advancing the 46th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, whose formations, together with the troops of the NOAU, also successfully broke the enemy’s resistance. The 10th Guards Rifle Corps of this army captured the city of Pancevo. At this time, the 13th Corps of the NOAU was approaching the city of Leskovac from the west, and troops of the new Bulgarian army were approaching it from the east.

With access to the Morava Valley, conditions for maneuvering operations improved. On October 12, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps of General V.I. Zhdanov was brought into battle. Its units, interacting with the 1st Proletarian Division of Colonel Vaso Jovanovic and other troops of the 1st Proletarian Corps of General Peko Depcevic, approached the outskirts of Belgrade on October 14 and started fighting there. The 12th Corps of the NOLA, General Danilo Lekic, was moving towards the capital from the southwest.

The struggle in the streets and squares of the Yugoslav capital was extremely intense and stubborn. It was further complicated by the fact that the surrounded 20,000-strong enemy group continued to resist southeast of Belgrade, and in order to destroy it it was necessary to divert part of the forces. This group was liquidated by joint actions of Soviet and Yugoslav troops on October 19. The next day Belgrade was completely cleared of occupiers. During the liberation of Belgrade, Soviet soldiers and soldiers of the 1st, 5th, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 28th and 36th NOLA divisions fought with the enemy in close military cooperation.

The offensive of the Red Army, together with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and with the participation of the new Bulgarian army, inflicted a serious defeat on Hitler's Army Group F. The enemy was forced to speed up the evacuation of its troops from the south of the Balkan Peninsula. NOAU continued to fight for the complete liberation of the country.

The Red Army troops operating on Yugoslav territory after the Belgrade operation were soon transferred to Hungary. By the end of 1944, the NOLA had completely cleared Serbia, Montenegro and Vardar Macedonia of occupiers. Only in the north-west of Yugoslavia did Nazi troops continue to remain.

Liberation of Hungary

Hungary's participation in the war of aggression against the USSR brought it to the brink of disaster. By 1944, the Hungarian armed forces had suffered huge losses on the Soviet-German front. The fascist dictator M. Horthy still continued to unquestioningly fulfill Hitler's demands, but the inevitability of the defeat of Nazi Germany was already obvious. The internal state of Hungary was characterized by growing economic difficulties and social contradictions. Acute inflation sharply reduced the living standards of the population. On August 25, when an anti-fascist uprising took place in Romania, the Hungarian government decided to prevent Soviet troops from entering Hungary. Horthy and his entourage wanted to gain time, striving to preserve the existing social and political system in the country. These calculations did not take into account the actual situation at the front. The Red Army has already crossed the Hungarian border. Horthy still tried to enter into secret negotiations with the United States and England to conclude a truce. However, discussion of this issue could not be carried out without the decisive participation of the USSR. The Hungarian mission was forced to arrive in Moscow on October 1, 1944, with the authority to conclude an armistice agreement if the Soviet government agreed to the participation of the United States and England in the occupation of Hungary and to the free withdrawal of fascist German troops from Hungarian territory. The Germans learned about these steps of the Hungarian government. Hitler ordered greater control over his activities and at the same time sent large tank forces to the Budapest area. All this did not cause any opposition.

By the end of September, the 2nd Ukrainian Front was opposed by Army Group South (created to replace the former Army Group South Ukraine) and part of the forces of Army Group F - a total of 32 divisions and 5 brigades. The 2nd Ukrainian Front had significantly greater forces and means: it had 10,200 guns and mortars, 750 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,100 aircraft. The headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the 2nd Ukrainian Front, with the assistance of the 4th Ukrainian Front, to defeat the enemy opposing them, which was supposed to bring Hungary out of the war on the side of Germany.

On October 6, the 2nd Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. The main blow was inflicted on Army Group South in the Debrecen direction. From the very first days of the fighting, the attackers achieved significant results. On October 20, front troops occupied Debrecen. Continuing to develop the offensive in a wide zone, Soviet troops reached the Tissa line. On the left flank of the front, formations of the 46th Army of General I.T. Shlemin crossed this river and, having captured a large bridgehead, reached the Danube in the area of ​​​​the city of Bahia and to the south. During the offensive battles, the eastern regions of Hungary and the northern part of Transylvania were liberated.

The importance of the Debrecen operation lay in the fact that the exit of the main forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front to the rear of the Carpathian enemy group played a decisive role in the liberation of Transcarpathian Ukraine from the Hungarian-German occupation. In mid-October, the fascist command began to withdraw its troops in front of the center and left wing of the 4th Ukrainian Front. This allowed the troops of this front, who had not previously achieved noticeable progress in the Carpathian passes, to proceed to pursue the enemy and successfully complete the Carpathian-Uzhgorod operation. Uzhgorod and Mukachevo were liberated.

In Moscow, the Hungarian military delegation accepted the preliminary conditions of an armistice agreement between Hungary and the USSR and its allies. On October 15, it was broadcast on Hungarian radio that the Hungarian government intended to withdraw from the war. However, this statement was only declarative in nature. Horthy did not take any measures to neutralize the likely actions of the Nazi command, first of all, he did not pull the necessary military forces to the capital area. This allowed the Nazis, with the assistance of their Hungarian henchmen, to remove Horthy from power on October 16 and force him to resign as regent. The leader of the fascist party, Salasi, came to power and immediately gave the order to the Hungarian troops to continue fighting on the side of Nazi Germany. And although forces appeared in the Hungarian army that did not want to submit to the fascists (the commander of the 1st Hungarian Army Bela Miklos, as well as several thousand soldiers and officers, went over to the side of the Soviet troops), Salasi and the Nazi command managed to suppress the unrest in the army with drastic measures and force it act against Soviet troops. The political situation in Hungary remained unstable.

At the end of October 1944, the troops of the left wing of the 2nd Ukrainian Front launched an offensive in the Budapest direction, where mainly Hungarian formations operated. By November 2, Soviet troops reached the approaches to Budapest from the south. The enemy transferred 14 divisions to the capital area and, relying on strong fortifications prepared in advance, delayed the further advance of Soviet troops. The command of the 2nd Ukrainian Front was unable to correctly assess the enemy’s strength and its ability to resist. This was largely due to the fact that reconnaissance did not detect the concentration of enemy reserves in a timely manner. The fighting developed more successfully on the right wing of the front, where the advancing troops occupied Miskolc and, north of it, reached the Czechoslovak border.

The 3rd Ukrainian Front also joined the battles for Budapest . After the liberation of Belgrade, formations of this front crossed the Danube and, with the support of the 17th Air Army, advanced to Lakes Velence and Balaton, where they linked up with the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The headquarters strengthened the 3rd Ukrainian Front at the expense of part of the forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. The Headquarters set the task for the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts to encircle the enemy group in Budapest and occupy the capital of Hungary through joint actions. The offensive began on December 20. The troops of both fronts, overcoming strong enemy resistance, advanced in converging directions and after 6 days of fighting united near the city of Esztergom. 50 - 60 km west of Budapest, a 188,000-strong enemy group found itself surrounded.

The Wehrmacht command continued to reinforce Army Group South with troops and equipment. To hold Hungary - its last satellite - the enemy transferred 37 divisions, removing them from the central section of the Soviet-German front and from other places. By the beginning of January 1945, south of the Carpathians, the enemy had 16 tank and motorized divisions, which accounted for half of all its armored forces on the Soviet-German front. The Nazis tried to release their encircled Budapest group with strong counterattacks. To this end, they launched three counterattacks. Hitler's troops managed to dismember the 3rd Ukrainian Front and reach the western bank of the Danube. The 4th Guards Army, operating on the external front, found itself in a particularly difficult situation; Nazi tanks broke through to its command post. However, the enemy breakthrough was eliminated by joint actions of the 3rd and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts. By the beginning of February, the position of the Soviet troops had been restored. While the enemy tried in vain to break through the outer ring of encirclement, part of the forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front fought fierce battles on the streets of the Hungarian capital. On January 18, the assaulting troops occupied the eastern part of the city - Pest, and on February 13 the western part - Buda. This ended the fierce struggle for the liberation of Budapest. Over 138 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were captured. . Through democratic elections, a supreme body was created in the liberated territory - the Provisional National Assembly, which formed the Provisional Government. On December 28, this government decided to withdraw Hungary from the war on the side of Nazi Germany and declared war on it. Shortly after this, on January 20, 1945, a Hungarian government delegation sent to Moscow signed an armistice agreement. The main forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, in cooperation with the 4th Ukrainian Front, were advancing in Czechoslovakia at the same time as the Budapest operation was unfolding. Having advanced 100 - 150 km, they liberated hundreds of Czechoslovak villages and towns.

Seven fronts were involved in the final campaign of 1945, the attack on Berlin - three Belarusian and four Ukrainian. Aviation and the Baltic Fleet were supposed to support the advancing Red Army troops. Fulfilling the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the troops of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts under the command of Marshals G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev went on the offensive from the Vistula line.

The famous Vistula-Oder operation began. On January 18, the troops of Marshal G.K. Zhukov completed the destruction of the enemy surrounded to the west of Warsaw, and on January 19 they liberated the large industrial center of Lodz. The 8th Guards, 33rd and 69th armies of generals V.I. Chuikov, V.D. Tsvetaev and V.A. Kolpakchi acted especially successfully. On January 23, the troops of the right wing of the front liberated Bydgoszcz. The troops of Marshals G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev advancing on Polish territory were quickly approaching the borders of Germany, the line of the Oder. This successful advance was largely facilitated by the simultaneous offensive of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts in northwestern Poland and East Prussia and the 4th Ukrainian Front in the southern regions of Poland. The Vistula-Oder operation ended in early February . As a result of the successfully carried out Vistula-Oder operation, most of the territory of Poland was cleared of Nazi invaders. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front found themselves 60 km from Berlin, and the 1st Ukrainian Front reached the Oder in its upper and middle reaches, threatening the enemy in the Berlin and Dresden directions. The victory of the USSR in the Vistula-Oder operation had enormous military-political significance, which was recognized by both allies and enemies.

The offensive operations of the Red Army, grandiose in their scale and significance, decisively determined the approach of the final collapse of Nazi Germany. During the 18 days of the offensive in January 1945, Soviet troops advanced up to 500 km in the direction of the main attack. The Red Army reached the Oder and occupied the Silesian industrial region. The fighting was already taking place on the territory of Germany itself; Soviet troops were preparing to attack directly on Berlin. Romania and Bulgaria were liberated. The struggle in Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia was ending.

1. After the defeat of the main part of the German army in the Battle of Kursk, the expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of the USSR began.

Germany, practically deprived of an army, could no longer attack and went on the defensive.

By order of Hitler, in the fall of 1943, the construction of the “Eastern Wall” began - a system of powerful echeloned defensive fortifications along the Baltic Sea - Belarus - Dnieper line. According to Hitler’s plan, the “Eastern Wall” was supposed to fence off Germany from the advancing Soviet troops and give time to gather forces.

The most powerful defensive structures were erected in Ukraine along the Kyiv-Dnepropetrovsk-Melitopol line. On the one hand, it was a system of pillboxes, other powerful reinforced concrete structures, minefields, artillery along the entire right bank of the Dnieper, on the other hand, there was a powerful natural barrier - the Dnieper. Due to these circumstances, the German command considered the Dnieper line of the “Eastern Wall” impassable. Hitler gave the order to hold the Eastern Wall at all costs and withstand the winter. During this time, by the summer of 1944, it was planned to restore the German army and launch a new offensive to the east.

In order to prevent Germany from recovering from defeat, the Soviet command decides to storm the Eastern Wall.

- lasted 4 months - from August to December 1943;

- was carried out in very difficult conditions for the Soviet army - from the “low” (flat) left bank it was necessary to cross the Dnieper on rafts and storm the “high” (mountainous) right bank, stuffed with German defensive structures;

— The Soviet army suffered colossal casualties, since German troops, having fortified themselves on the heights of the right bank of the Dnieper, intensively fired at the Soviet army on the low left bank, sank rafts with soldiers and equipment sailing across the Dnieper, and destroyed pontoon bridges;

— the crossing of the Dnieper took place in conditions of very bad weather in October - November, icy water, rain and snow;

- every bridgehead on the western bank of the Dnieper, every kilometer conquered was paid for by hundreds and thousands of dead. Despite this. The Soviet army crossed the Dnieper in stubborn battles. In October 1943, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye and Melitopol were liberated, and on November 6, 1943, Kyiv.

By December 1943, the Eastern Wall was broken through, opening the way to Right Bank Ukraine, Moldova and further to Europe.

3. November 28 - December 1, 1943 in Tehran, the capital of Iran, the first meeting of the “Big Three” during the war took place - I. Stalin, W. Churchill, F. Roosevelt - the leaders of the main allied states (USSR, Great Britain and the USA ). During this meeting:

- the basic principles of the post-war settlement were developed;

- a fundamental decision was made to open a second front in May - June 1944 - the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy (France) and their attack on Germany from the west.

4. In the spring - summer of 1944, the final stage of the liberation of the USSR took place - the Soviet army launched three powerful offensives:

- in the north, during which the remnants of Army Group North were defeated, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted and most of the Baltic states were liberated;

- in Belarus (Operation Bagration), during which the backbone of Army Group Center was destroyed and Belarus was liberated;

- in the south (Iasi-Kishinev operation), during which Army Group “South” was surrounded and defeated, Moldova, most of Right Bank Ukraine, and Northern Romania were liberated.

As a result of these operations, by the fall of 1944, the remnants of the three main German armies that invaded the USSR in 1941 were defeated; Most of the territory of the USSR was liberated. The final stage of the war began - the liberation of Europe.