22 JUNE 1941 OF THE YEAR - THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

On June 22, 1941, at 4 am, without declaring war, Nazi Germany and its allies attacked the Soviet Union. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War fell not just on Sunday. It was a church holiday of All Saints who shone in the Russian land.

Parts of the Red Army were attacked by German troops along the entire length of the border. Riga, Vindava, Libava, Siauliai, Kaunas, Vilnius, Grodno, Lida, Volkovysk, Brest, Kobrin, Slonim, Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Sevastopol and many other cities, railway junctions, airfields, naval bases of the USSR were bombed , artillery shelling of border fortifications and areas of deployment of Soviet troops near the border from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians was carried out. The Great Patriotic War began.

Then no one knew that it would go down in the history of mankind as the most bloody. No one guessed that the Soviet people would have to go through inhuman trials, go through and win. Rid the world of fascism, showing everyone that the spirit of a Red Army soldier cannot be broken by the invaders. No one could have imagined that the names of the hero cities would become known to the whole world, that Stalingrad would become a symbol of the resilience of our people, Leningrad a symbol of courage, Brest a symbol of courage. That, on a par with male warriors, old men, women and children will heroically defend the earth from the fascist plague.

1418 days and nights of war.

Over 26 million human lives...

These photographs have one thing in common: they were taken in the first hours and days of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

On the eve of the war

Soviet border guards on patrol. The photograph is interesting because it was taken for a newspaper at one of the outposts on the western border of the USSR on June 20, 1941, that is, two days before the war.

German air raid

The first to take the blow were the border guards and the fighters of the cover units. They not only defended, but also went on the counterattack. For a whole month, the garrison of the Brest Fortress fought in the rear of the Germans. Even after the enemy managed to capture the fortress, some of its defenders continued to resist. The last of them was captured by the Germans in the summer of 1942.

The picture was taken on June 24, 1941.

During the first 8 hours of the war, Soviet aviation lost 1,200 aircraft, of which about 900 were lost on the ground (66 airfields were bombed). The Western Special Military District suffered the greatest losses - 738 aircraft (528 on the ground). Having learned about such losses, the head of the Air Force of the district, Major General Kopets I.I. shot himself.

On the morning of June 22, Moscow radio broadcast the usual Sunday programs and peaceful music. Soviet citizens learned about the beginning of the war only at noon, when Vyacheslav Molotov spoke on the radio. He reported: "Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country."

1941 poster

On the same day, a decree was published by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the mobilization of those liable for military service born in 1905-1918 on the territory of all military districts. Hundreds of thousands of men and women received summons, appeared at the military registration and enlistment offices, and then went to the front in trains.

The mobilization capabilities of the Soviet system, multiplied during the Great Patriotic War by the patriotism and sacrifice of the people, played an important role in organizing a rebuff to the enemy, especially at the initial stage of the war. The call "Everything for the front, everything for victory!" was accepted by all the people. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens voluntarily went into the army. In just a week since the beginning of the war, more than 5 million people were mobilized.

The line between peace and war was invisible, and people did not immediately perceive the change of reality. It seemed to many that this was just some kind of masquerade, a misunderstanding, and soon everything would be resolved.

The fascist troops met stubborn resistance in the battles near Minsk, Smolensk, Vladimir-Volynsky, Przemysl, Lutsk, Dubno, Rovno, Mogilev and others.And yet, in the first three weeks of the war, the troops of the Red Army left Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine and Moldova. Minsk fell six days after the start of the war. The German army advanced in various directions from 350 to 600 km. The Red Army lost almost 800 thousand people.

The turning point in the perception of the war by the inhabitants of the Soviet Union, of course, was August 14. It was then that the whole country suddenly learned that The Germans occupied Smolensk . It really was a bolt from the blue. While the fighting was going on "somewhere out there, in the west," and cities flashed in the reports, the location of which many could imagine with great difficulty, it seemed that the war was still far away anyway. Smolensk is not just the name of the city, this word meant a lot. Firstly, it is already more than 400 km from the border, and secondly, only 360 km from Moscow. And thirdly, unlike Vilna, Grodno and Molodechno, Smolensk is an ancient purely Russian city.

The stubborn resistance of the Red Army in the summer of 1941 frustrated Hitler's plans. The Nazis failed to quickly take either Moscow or Leningrad, and in September the long defense of Leningrad began. In the Arctic, Soviet troops, in cooperation with the Northern Fleet, defended Murmansk and the main base of the fleet - Polyarny. Although in Ukraine in October-November the enemy captured the Donbass, captured Rostov, and broke into the Crimea, nevertheless, here, too, his troops were fettered by the defense of Sevastopol. The formations of the Army Group "South" could not reach the rear of the Soviet troops remaining in the lower reaches of the Don through the Kerch Strait.

Minsk 1941. Execution of Soviet prisoners of war

September 30th within Operation Typhoon the Germans started general attack on Moscow . Its beginning was unfavorable for the Soviet troops. Pali Bryansk and Vyazma. On October 10, G.K. was appointed commander of the Western Front. Zhukov. On October 19, Moscow was declared under a state of siege. In bloody battles, the Red Army still managed to stop the enemy. Having strengthened the Army Group Center, the German command resumed the attack on Moscow in mid-November. Overcoming the resistance of the Western, Kalinin and right flanks of the Southwestern fronts, the enemy strike groups bypassed the city from the north and south and by the end of the month reached the Moscow-Volga canal (25-30 km from the capital), approached Kashira. On this, the German offensive bogged down. The bloodless Army Group Center was forced to go on the defensive, which was also facilitated by the successful offensive operations of the Soviet troops near Tikhvin (November 10 - December 30) and Rostov (November 17 - December 2). On December 6, the counteroffensive of the Red Army began. , as a result of which the enemy was driven back from Moscow by 100 - 250 km. Kaluga, Kalinin (Tver), Maloyaroslavets and others were liberated.

On guard of the Moscow sky. Autumn 1941

The victory near Moscow was of great strategic and moral-political significance, since it was the first since the beginning of the war. The immediate threat to Moscow was eliminated.

Although, as a result of the summer-autumn campaign, our army retreated 850-1200 km inland, and the most important economic regions fell into the hands of the aggressor, the plans for the "blitzkrieg" were nevertheless frustrated. The Nazi leadership faced the inevitable prospect of a protracted war. The victory near Moscow also changed the balance of power in the international arena. They began to look at the Soviet Union as the decisive factor in the Second World War. Japan was forced to refrain from attacking the USSR.

In winter, units of the Red Army carried out an offensive on other fronts. However, it was not possible to consolidate the success, primarily because of the dispersal of forces and means along a front of enormous length.

During the offensive of the German troops in May 1942, the Crimean Front was defeated on the Kerch Peninsula in 10 days. May 15 had to leave Kerch, and July 4, 1942 after a hard defense fell Sevastopol. The enemy completely took possession of the Crimea. In July - August, Rostov, Stavropol and Novorossiysk were captured. Stubborn battles were fought in the central part of the Caucasus Range.

Hundreds of thousands of our compatriots found themselves in more than 14 thousand concentration camps, prisons, ghettos scattered throughout Europe. Dispassionate figures testify to the scale of the tragedy: only on the territory of Russia, the fascist invaders shot, choked in gas chambers, burned, and hanged 1.7 million. people (including 600 thousand children). In total, about 5 million Soviet citizens died in concentration camps.

But, despite the stubborn battles, the Nazis failed to solve their main task - to break through into the Transcaucasus to master the oil reserves of Baku. At the end of September, the offensive of the fascist troops in the Caucasus was stopped.

To contain the enemy onslaught in the east, the Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal S.K. Timoshenko. On July 17, 1942, the enemy under the command of General von Paulus delivered a powerful blow on the Stalingrad front. In August, the Nazis broke through to the Volga in stubborn battles. From the beginning of September 1942, the heroic defense of Stalingrad began. The battles went on literally for every inch of land, for every house. Both sides suffered huge losses. By mid-November, the Nazis were forced to stop the offensive. The heroic resistance of the Soviet troops made it possible to create favorable conditions for them to go over to the counteroffensive at Stalingrad and thereby initiate a radical change in the course of the war.

By November 1942, almost 40% of the population was under German occupation. The regions captured by the Germans were subject to military and civil administration. In Germany, even a special ministry for the affairs of the occupied regions was created, headed by A. Rosenberg. Political supervision was in charge of the SS and police services. On the ground, the occupiers formed the so-called self-government - city and district councils, in the villages the posts of elders were introduced. Persons dissatisfied with the Soviet government were involved in cooperation. All residents of the occupied territories, regardless of age, were required to work. In addition to participating in the construction of roads and defensive structures, they were forced to clear minefields. The civilian population, mostly young people, was also sent to forced labor in Germany, where they were called "Ostarbeiter" and used as cheap labor. In total, 6 million people were hijacked during the war years. From hunger and epidemics in the occupied territory, more than 6.5 million people were killed, more than 11 million Soviet citizens were shot in camps and at their places of residence.

November 19, 1942 Soviet troops moved into counteroffensive at Stalingrad (Operation Uranus). The forces of the Red Army surrounded 22 divisions and 160 separate units of the Wehrmacht (about 330 thousand people). The Nazi command formed the Don Army Group, consisting of 30 divisions, and tried to break through the encirclement. However, this attempt was not successful. In December, our troops, having defeated this grouping, launched an offensive against Rostov (Operation Saturn). By the beginning of February 1943, our troops liquidated the grouping of fascist troops caught in the ring. 91 thousand people were taken prisoner, led by the commander of the 6th German Army, Field Marshal von Paulus. Behind 6.5 months of the Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943) Germany and its allies lost up to 1.5 million people, as well as a huge amount of equipment. The military power of fascist Germany was significantly undermined.

The defeat at Stalingrad caused a deep political crisis in Germany. It was declared three days of mourning. The morale of the German soldiers fell, defeatist sentiments swept over the general population, which less and less believed the Fuhrer.

The victory of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the course of World War II. The strategic initiative finally passed into the hands of the Soviet Armed Forces.

In January-February 1943, the Red Army was conducting an offensive on all fronts. In the Caucasian direction, Soviet troops advanced by the summer of 1943 by 500-600 km. In January 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken.

The command of the Wehrmacht planned summer 1943 conduct a major strategic offensive operation in the area of ​​the Kursk salient (Operation Citadel) , defeat the Soviet troops here, and then strike at the rear of the Southwestern Front (Operation Panther) and subsequently, building on success, again create a threat to Moscow. To this end, up to 50 divisions were concentrated in the area of ​​the Kursk Bulge, including 19 tank and motorized divisions, and other units - a total of over 900 thousand people. This grouping was opposed by the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts, which had 1.3 million people. During the Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle of the Second World War took place.

On July 5, 1943, a massive offensive of the Soviet troops began. Within 5 - 7 days, our troops, stubbornly defending themselves, stopped the enemy, who had penetrated 10 - 35 km behind the front line, and launched a counteroffensive. It started July 12 near Prokhorovka , where the largest oncoming tank battle in the history of wars (with the participation of up to 1,200 tanks on both sides) took place. In August 1943, our troops captured Orel and Belgorod. In honor of this victory in Moscow, a salute was fired for the first time with 12 artillery volleys. Continuing the offensive, our troops inflicted a crushing defeat on the Nazis.

In September, Left-bank Ukraine and Donbass were liberated. On November 6, formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front entered Kyiv.

Having thrown the enemy back 200-300 km from Moscow, the Soviet troops set about liberating Belarus. From that moment on, our command held the strategic initiative until the end of the war. From November 1942 to December 1943, the Soviet Army advanced 500-1300 km westward, freeing about 50% of the territory occupied by the enemy. 218 enemy divisions were destroyed. During this period, partisan formations inflicted great damage on the enemy, in the ranks of which up to 250 thousand people fought.

Significant successes of the Soviet troops in 1943 intensified diplomatic and military-political cooperation between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. On November 28 - December 1, 1943, the Tehran Conference of the "Big Three" was held with the participation of I. Stalin (USSR), W. Churchill (Great Britain) and F. Roosevelt (USA). The leaders of the leading powers of the anti-Hitler coalition determined the timing of the opening of a second front in Europe (the landing operation "Overlord" was scheduled for May 1944).

Tehran Conference of the "Big Three" with the participation of I. Stalin (USSR), W. Churchill (Great Britain) and F. Roosevelt (USA).

In the spring of 1944 Crimea was cleared of the enemy.

Under these favorable conditions, the Western Allies, after two years of preparation, opened a second front in Europe in northern France. June 6, 1944 the combined Anglo-American forces (General D. Eisenhower), numbering over 2.8 million people, up to 11 thousand combat aircraft, over 12 thousand combat and 41 thousand transport ships, having crossed the English Channel and the Pas de Calais, started the biggest war in years landing Norman operation ("Overlord") and entered Paris in August.

Continuing to develop the strategic initiative, in the summer of 1944, Soviet troops launched a powerful offensive in Karelia (June 10 - August 9), Belarus (June 23 - August 29), in Western Ukraine (July 13 - August 29) and in Moldova (June 20 - 29 August).

During Belarusian operation (code name "Bagration") Army Group Center was defeated, Soviet troops liberated Belarus, Latvia, part of Lithuania, eastern Poland and reached the border with East Prussia.

The victories of the Soviet troops in the southern direction in the autumn of 1944 helped the Bulgarian, Hungarian, Yugoslav and Czechoslovak peoples in their liberation from fascism.

As a result of the hostilities of 1944, the state border of the USSR, treacherously violated by Germany in June 1941, was restored along its entire length from the Barents to the Black Sea. The Nazis were expelled from Romania, Bulgaria, from most regions of Poland and Hungary. In these countries, pro-German regimes were overthrown, and patriotic forces came to power. The Soviet Army entered the territory of Czechoslovakia.

While the block of fascist states was falling apart, the anti-Hitler coalition was growing stronger, as evidenced by the success of the Crimean (Yalta) conference of the leaders of the USSR, the United States and Great Britain (from February 4 to 11, 1945).

But still the decisive role in defeating the enemy at the final stage was played by the Soviet Union. Thanks to the titanic efforts of all the people, the technical equipment and armament of the army and navy of the USSR reached the highest level by the beginning of 1945. In January - early April 1945, as a result of a powerful strategic offensive on the entire Soviet-German front, the Soviet Army decisively defeated the main enemy forces with the forces of ten fronts. During the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, West Carpathian and the completion of the Budapest operations, Soviet troops created the conditions for further strikes in Pomerania and Silesia, and then for an attack on Berlin. Almost all of Poland and Czechoslovakia, the entire territory of Hungary were liberated.

The capture of the capital of the Third Reich and the final defeat of fascism was carried out during Berlin operation (April 16 - May 8, 1945).

April 30 in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery Hitler committed suicide .

On the morning of May 1, over the Reichstag, sergeants M.A. Egorov and M.V. Kantaria was hoisted the Red Banner as a symbol of the Victory of the Soviet people. On May 2, Soviet troops completely captured the city. The attempts of the new German government, which on May 1, 1945, after the suicide of A. Hitler, was headed by Grand Admiral K. Doenitz, to achieve a separate peace with the USA and Great Britain failed.

May 9, 1945 at 0043 In the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the Armed Forces of Nazi Germany was signed. On behalf of the Soviet side, this historical document was signed by the hero of the war, Marshal G.K. Zhukov, from Germany - Field Marshal Keitel. On the same day, the remnants of the last large enemy grouping on the territory of Czechoslovakia in the Prague region were defeated. City Liberation Day - May 9 - became the Day of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. The news of the Victory spread like lightning all over the world. The Soviet people, who suffered the greatest losses, greeted her with popular rejoicing. Truly, it was a great holiday "with tears in the eyes."

In Moscow, on Victory Day, a festive salute was fired from a thousand guns.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

For millions of Soviet people, the morning of Sunday, June 22, 1941, was a regular day off. Everything changed at noon, when the famous speech of Vyacheslav Molotov sounded on the radio. He reported on the treacherous attack of fascist Germany and announced the beginning of a Patriotic War against the aggressor. It was then that the words were spoken - "Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours."

The eighth hour of the war was ending, heavy fighting was going on on the border, and the country still did not know anything.

“It was a Sunday, people went about their business, someone went out of town,” recalls war veteran Radiy Demov. War veteran Anatoly Baturin adds: "The weather was overcast, not particularly good." "And then the radio transmitter began to make noise, and the announcer's voice was heard that a government message would be transmitted at 12:15," says Radiy Demov.

On June 22, at 12.05, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov left Stalin's office, a few minutes later he was in the building of the Central Telegraph on Gorky 7, climbed the stairs and entered the door. At that time, several radio studios were located here at once. Molotov entered one of them and read out live his famous address to the people, which began with the words "Citizens and citizens!"

Ordinary Soviet people could not know what was happening in Stalin's office a few hours before, on the morning of June 22. And there, the members of the Politburo convinced the leader that it was he who should make an appeal to the people. Stalin categorically refused. Then it was decided to send his deputy in the government, Molotov, to the Central Telegraph.

“Stalin was in a very depressed state. Grandfather recalled how he said that “We blew the country,” says V. Molotov’s grandson Vyacheslav Nikonov.

It was after the death of the leader that different versions began to arise as to why he did not address the people on June 22. Versions are sometimes simply fantastic. It was even said that when the war began, Stalin was not in Moscow. This, of course, is not true. However, for most citizens of the Soviet Union there was nothing surprising in the fact that they heard not Stalin, but Molotov.

"Molotov is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This is his field of activity. Naturally, Molotov had to come forward and announce the beginning of the war," says war veteran Pavel Toroshchin.

The speech, which lasted a little more than 8.5 minutes, was listened to with bated breath by everyone: men and women, old people and children.

"We heard that Vyacheslav Ivanovich says: our cause is just, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours," says war veteran Anatoly Baturin. According to veteran Pavel Toroshchin, "women were sitting around crying."

Stalin made his address to the people only 11 days later, on July 3. He ended his speech with the words: "Forward, for our Victory!" But on the medal "For the Victory over Nazi Germany", established on May 9, 1945, along with the profile of the leader, Molotov's words were minted: "Our cause is just! We won!"

25 years ago, the first announcer of "all radio stations of the Soviet Union", the legendary Yuri Levitan, passed away. Yuri Borisovich devoted most of his life to radio broadcasting. During the Great Patriotic War, his voice inspired hope and faith in the victory of the Soviet people; in peacetime, the first persons of the state "spoke" through his lips. Not a single broadcast of the parade on Red Square could do without Yuri Levitan.

In his youth, Levitan could not imagine any other profession for himself, except for the profession of a film actor. But attempts to enter an acting university were unsuccessful. Who would have imagined that in a few years the fame of this 17-year-old boy would outshine many artists, and later he would be awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR .

Then Levitan was about to return home to Vladimir. It is not known how his fate would have developed further if he had not come across an announcement about recruitment into a group of radio announcers.

So Yuri Levitan was enrolled in a group of trainees of the Radio Committee, where at first he was busy getting rid of the Volodymyr dialect. Elizaveta Yuzvitskaya, a teacher in speech technique, helped to wean the native Vladimir from the "window".

Training and lessons were not in vain, over time, Levitan's speech improved so much that even the most meticulous specialists could not find mistakes.

Soon, an event occurred in Levitan's life that turned his whole life upside down. Coincidentally, on the day, or rather on the night, when he made his debut as an announcer, Stalin was at the receiver. Levitan transmitted articles from Pravda. Hearing him, Stalin called the chairman of the Radio Committee of the USSR and said that the text of his report tomorrow at the XVII Party Congress opening in the morning should be read by the announcer who had just broadcast the articles.

A sealed package with Stalin's speech was brought to the studio at 12 noon. Yuri Levitan, white with excitement, read the sacred text for five hours and did not make a single mistake. The next day, the nineteen-year-old youth became the chief announcer of the Soviet Union.

Levitan very soon gained recognition among colleagues and superiors. Yurbor - that's how colleagues respectfully called Levitan among themselves - from the name and patronymic of Yuri Borisovich. From now on, the announcer had to report to the leadership all the time, where he was, so that at the moment when the new speech of the Secretary General appeared, he could be found.

There is a misconception that it was Levitan who first read the message about the beginning of the war. In fact, this already textbook text was first read on the radio by Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, and Levitan repeated it after some time.

It is noteworthy that such marshals as Zhukov and Rokossovsky also wrote in their memoirs that the announcer Yuri Levitan was the first to convey the message. So this championship was preserved by Levitan.

On the third day of the war - June 24, 1941 - the Soviet Information Bureau was created with the aim of "... covering international events, military operations on the fronts and the life of the country" in the press and on the radio.

Every day throughout the war, millions of people froze at the radios at the words of Yuri Levitan "From the Soviet Information Bureau ...". General Chernyakhovsky once said : "Yuri Levitan could replace an entire division."

Adolf Hitler declared him his personal enemy number one and promised to "hang him as soon as the Wehrmacht enters Moscow." A reward was even promised for the head of the first announcer of the Soviet Union - 250 thousand marks.

Few knew Yury Borisovich's face. False rumors about his appearance were even spread around the city in order to protect the announcer. But one day this almost prevented Levitan from completing the task - to utter the most long-awaited words for millions of the country's inhabitants - a message about the Victory.

In the evening, Levitan was summoned to the Kremlin and handed over the text of the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on Victory over Nazi Germany. It was supposed to be read in 35 minutes.

Here is how Yuri Borisovich himself recalls this: “The radio studio from where such broadcasts were made was located not far from the Kremlin, behind the GUM building. To get there, we had to cross Red Square. But in front of us is the sea of ​​people. five meters, and then - no way.

"Comrades," I shout, "let me through, we're on business!" And they answer us: "What's the matter! Now Levitan will transmit the order for victory on the radio, there will be a salute. Stand like everyone else, listen and look!"

Wow advice ... But what to do? If we make our way further, we will get into such a dense environment that we will not get out. And then it dawned on us: the Kremlin also has a radio station, you need to read from there! We run back, explain the situation to the commandant, and he gives the command to the guards not to stop the two people running along the Kremlin corridors. Here is the radio station. We tear off the wax seals from the package, reveal the text. The clock is 21 hours 55 minutes. Moscow speaking. Fascist Germany has been defeated..."

Yuri Borisovich read out all the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Even when Stalin died in March 1953, he read out to the country a message about the death of Joseph Vissarionovich.

In April 1961, Yuri Borisovich informed the whole world about the flight into space of the first man, Yuri Gagarin. In total, Levitan has over 60 thousand programs on his account.

Nevertheless, in the early seventies, Yuri Borisovich almost did not go live. The authorities believed that the voice of the announcer announcing the start of the war was associated by the population with some extraordinary events. But Levitan could not imagine himself without work: he began to voice newsreels, read voice-over texts for feature films, and recorded Information Bureau messages for history. But the most pleasant for him in his work were meetings with veterans - for them his voice was as sacred as the memory of past battles.

In early August 1983, Levitan was to take part in the celebrations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Orel and Belgorod.

Before leaving, he complained to friends about pain in his heart, but when asked to stay at home, he answered: "I can't let people down. They are waiting for me." Speaking at the rally in the heat, Yuri Borisovich felt bad. The heart of the first announcer of the country could not stand it, and on the night of August 4, 1983, he died. In Moscow, tens of thousands of people came to say goodbye to Levitan.

The material was prepared by the online editors www.rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

When asked who announced the beginning of the Second World War on the radio, and if possible, quote. given by the author Ўliya Danilova the best answer is Here is an audio recording of Levitan's voice announcing the start of the war ...
There is a type of video with Levitan's voice about the beginning of the war

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hey! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: who announced the beginning of the Second World War on the radio, and if possible, quote.

Answer from Nika W.[guru]
Levitan

Answer from Andrey Volobuev[guru]
RADIO SPEECH by V. M. MOLOTOV June 22, 1941
Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union!
The Soviet government and its head comrade. Stalin instructed me to make the following statement:
Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas from their aircraft. and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.
This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the fulfillment of the treaty. The entire responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.
Already after the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 in the morning made me, as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, a statement on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the USSR in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near the eastern German border.
In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not make any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany attacked the USSR, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany was the attacking side.
On behalf of the Government of the Soviet Union, I must also declare that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by the Romanian radio this morning that the Soviet aviation allegedly fired on Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. Hitler's entire declaration today is just as much a lie and a provocation, trying to concoct, retroactively, accusatory material about the Soviet Union's non-compliance with the Soviet-German pact.
Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops out of our homeland.
This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples .
The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to the Soviet people, and deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.
This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, conceited enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for the motherland, for honor, for freedom.
...
The government calls on you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks still more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader, Comrade. Stalin.
Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

Answer from Victor Azarov[guru]
Of course Molotov!!

Answer from Olga Letchford[guru]
Levitan: "Today, June 22, 1941 at 4 am, Nazi Germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union"...

Answer from Lyokha Ipatiev[newbie]
There is a popular belief that Yuri Levitan was the first to read the message about the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In fact, this is not so - the textbook was first voiced on the radio by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Vyacheslav Molotov, and Levitan only repeated it after a while.

The great secret of the Great Patriotic War. Eyes open Osokin Alexander Nikolaevich

On June 22, 1941, Molotov read the wrong speech he had written

One of the biggest mysteries of the first day of the war is Molotov's speech on the radio. First, why did not Stalin himself, the leader, head of the party and government, speak? Secondly, why Molotov’s speech began on June 22, 1941 only at 12.15, although German aircraft began to strike at border airfields from 4.00, Goebbels began to read out on the radio the Fuhrer’s appeal to the German people in connection with the outbreak of war against the USSR at 6.30, and Ribbentrop's press conference started at 7:30? Thirdly, why among the first Soviet cities subjected to air bombardment, only four cities were named in Molotov's speech - Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol and Kaunas, although according to the very first operational report of the Red Army General Staff No. 01 at 10.00 on June 22, 1941 ( see Annex 21), airfields located in 33 cities and towns were bombed. Of the four cities named by Molotov, only one Kaunas (Kovno) was indicated in the report of the General Staff No. 01; according to the reports of the General Staff over the following days, Sevastopol and Kyiv were bombed for the first time on June 24, 1941, the bombing of Zhitomir by the Germans undoubtedly took place, but for some reason it was not recorded in the first operational reports of the General Staff.

There are several explanations for Stalin's silence on the first day of the war:

1. The Politburo decided that he needed to speak, but he refused. So to speak, violated party discipline. In the presentation of A. I. Mikoyan, it looks like this: “We decided that it was necessary to speak on the radio in connection with the outbreak of war. Of course, they suggested that Stalin do it. But Stalin said: "Let Molotov speak." We all objected to this: the people will not understand ... However, our persuasions did not lead to anything. Stalin said that he could not speak now, he would do it another time. Since Stalin stubbornly refused, they decided to let Molotov speak ... Of course, this was a mistake. But Stalin was in such a depressed state that at that moment he did not know what to say to the people.

In my opinion, no one could oblige Stalin to do anything at that time, this simply could not be discussed, and there was certainly a depressed state (of course, he told everyone that there would be no war for another two years). From this was born the next version of the reason for his silence.

2. Stalin was in shock and went to one of his dachas.

3. Stalin had to understand what was happening, since, most likely, he still hoped to reduce everything to a conflict like Khalkhin Gol. V. M. Molotov told F. Chuev about this: “He did not want to be the first to speak, it is necessary that there be a clearer picture ... He said that he would wait a few days and speak when the situation on the fronts cleared up.” This is very similar to the truth, but it sounds creepy: “He will speak out when the situation on the fronts clears up!” Will it clear up if he doesn't come out?! It's like saying to the passengers of the Titanic that has hit an iceberg: "The captain will announce his decision when he's dealt with the situation!" What if the Titanic vanishes into the abyss before that?

4. Stalin was ill (allegedly he had an abscess in his throat, and he lost his voice), so he could not speak.

5. Stalin was simply not in Moscow. According to some foreign historians, in particular R. Payne and R. Brackman, on June 19, 1941, he and Zhdanov left by train for Sochi on vacation. It is possible that Khrushchev also traveled on the same train with them to Kyiv (in his Memoirs, he claims that Stalin kept him with him for a long time, and then suddenly took him and let him go, so he left Moscow by train on the evening of June 20).

The last explanation seems to me the most realistic, despite the fact that an “indisputable” argument is put up against him - they say that Stalin continuously (with the exception of two days - June 29 and 30) continued to receive in his office, which follows from the records of his visitors in “ Kremlin Journal” from June 18 to July 8, 1941. On July 8, the leader was definitely in Moscow, as he received the British Ambassador Cripps in his office that day.

But let me remind you of an interesting fact that I discovered during a careful study of the "Kremlin Journal": it turns out that since 1927 everyone who crossed the threshold of Stalin's office was recorded in it, regardless of whether the leader himself was there. In the absence of the leader, the first person to enter the cabinet was the one whom he left “on the farm” instead of himself - usually it was Molotov (he entrusted him on June 22, 41st to turn to the people instead of himself and report on the outbreak of war, why couldn’t he trust his cabinet in peacetime?). In the first half of the 1930s, when going on vacation to the south, Stalin kept Molotov or Kaganovich in charge. They held a reception in his office, but this was not reflected in the journal entries, according to them it can be assumed that at that time Stalin was in his office. Later, in March 1953, Stalin was lying with a stroke at the Kuntsevskaya dacha, and according to the records on March 2, he visited him twice in the office of the Politburo (called the Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Committee until March 5, 1953) in full force. Stalin died on March 5, but every day from March 5 to March 9, members and candidate members of the Politburo were again "at the reception" in his office. And the entry in the journal these days is absolutely no different from the one made at the time when his owner was in the office. It seems that the records of visitors were kept specifically for the regime and security, therefore, every day, as it should be, they recorded all those who crossed the threshold of this super-important and top-secret object (you never know what happens later - God forbid, “wiretapping” will later reveal either poison or a mine) . Most likely, the records of the secretary on duty in the reception room were handed over daily to the head of the leader's security guard, and therefore they were kept not in a special journal or notebook, but on separate sheets. And to serve as one hundred percent proof that during the stay of visitors in Stalin's office, he himself was there, they cannot in any way.

The question of where Stalin was from June 19 to July 3, 1941, was discussed in detail by me in the books “The Great Secret of the Great Patriotic War. Here I also cite a document found in the Foreign Policy Archive that makes it possible to answer this question.

This document was introduced into scientific circulation by G. N. Peskova in the Newsletter of the Historical and Documentary Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany, in the article “Our cause is just. How Molotov's speech on the radio on June 22, 1941 was prepared" (http://www.mvd.ru/ns-arch.nsf/0). This document is called “Appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union, written by the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov in connection with the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR (manuscript, draft version, pencil). 06/22/1941" (WUA RF. F. 7a. Op. 1. P. 2. D. 24. L. 1–4).

Peskova described the history of its creation as follows: "Sitting in Stalin's office, Molotov sketched with a pencil the initial version of the appeal to the people ... It has amendments made by Molotov's hand ... ".

Having familiarized myself with the original “draft of Molotov's speech” in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, I saw with my own eyes the changes made to it by Molotov's hand. Here they are.

Handwritten text of Molotov's speech on four pages

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Firstly, this draft was first written by Molotov, clearly not on his own behalf, but rather on behalf of Stalin, since Molotov is mentioned in it in the third person: "Schulenburg ... made a statement to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov", but then he himself corrects "... a statement to me as a people's commissar", and crosses out the word "Molotov".

Secondly, the mention of the bombing of Soviet airfields was deleted from the text.

Thirdly, the draft is a completely finished text, although it contains the author's corrections made in the process of writing. But there is also a correction that Molotov, most likely, made according to someone's comments, reading to someone the text he wrote. Basically, it's insignificant. For example, "they attacked our homeland" was replaced with "they attacked our country"; “having opened the bombing” - to “subjecting to the bombing”, etc. But there is one place in the text that allows you to accurately determine the author of the correction. The Molotov version ended with the words: "... they will inflict a crushing blow on the enemy, defeat and destroy." But then the words “defeat and destroy” Molotov crossed out and made an insert: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours!". Now this is, undoubtedly, a chased Stalinist style.

So, it seems that the whole picture of what happened on the morning of June 22, 1941 in Stalin's office is clear. At first (from 5.45) Molotov and Beria and the leadership of the NPO - Timoshenko, Zhukov and Mehlis were in the office.

The military reported on the attack and hostilities on the border, Beria - on the messages of the border guards and agents. We discussed the situation, Molotov began to sketch out the text of the leader's speech. At 7 o'clock, Malenkov, who remained behind Zhdanov, came up, as well as Vyshinsky (Molotov sent him instead of himself to receive the charge d'affaires of Great Britain Baggaley). Members of the Politburo began to follow them - Voroshilov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich. We discussed the text of the appeal and decided that Stalin should read it. At 10.15-10.25 they brought the operational report of the General Staff No. 01 (at 10.00), clarified the text on it. Molotov read to Stalin the draft text of his speech, Stalin slightly edited it, introduced the final slogan inspiring victory, and unexpectedly announced the main thing: he would not speak, Molotov should address the people on the radio. In the office at that time, in addition to Molotov, there were “the very best” - Voroshilov, Mikoyan (all three are members of the Politburo) and Beria and Malenkov (candidates). All of them, with the exception of Mikoyan, will soon become members of the State Defense Committee, which, from June 30, 1941, will have full power in the country. They allegedly tried (according to their recollections) to convince Stalin to speak, but he was adamant. At 12.05 (according to an entry in the Kremlin Journal), Molotov leaves the leader's office. He goes down to the entrance, reaches the Central Telegraph Office, where the Radio Committee's studio was located, and at 12.15 he reads out a text that ... is very different from the one just agreed upon and corrected by the leader. This is unbelievable, but true - in ten minutes of the road and stay in the radio studio, Molotov made very significant changes to the text!

I drew up a temporary schedule for the stay of visitors in Stalin's office on June 22, 1941, according to the entries in the Kremlin Journal for that day.

It can be seen from the graph that in the period from 12.05 to 12.25 (the time Molotov left Stalin's office for a trip to the radio studio of the Central Telegraph, speaking on the radio and returning back), not a single visitor remained in the office, which is possible only in one case - if Stalin is not was in the office, for it is unlikely that he began to listen to Molotov's speech on the radio alone.

Peskova writes about the differences between Molotov’s handwritten text that she discovered and what he said on the radio: “The text was taken as a basis and substantially supplemented. So, in the final version of the appeal, the phrase appeared that Molotov was acting on behalf of the Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin. The second paragraph spoke in detail about the violation by Germany of the non-aggression pact concluded with the USSR. The text of the appeal was also significantly expanded by including in it a provision on the outbreak of war by the rulers of Germany, and not the German people, and on the complete defeat of the enemies invading Russia, as happened more than once in Russian history. The final part contained an appeal to the Soviet people to rally to fight at a difficult moment for the country, and in this connection the name of Stalin was once again mentioned. The last words of the appeal: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours”, which became the main slogan during the war, belong to Molotov.” I categorically disagree with the last statement of the respected G. N. Peskova. I am convinced that these are the words of Stalin, dictated by him to Molotov.

Comparing the text, which Molotov wrote in pencil with his own hand, with the text of the speech delivered by him on the radio on June 22, 1941, I discovered a number of other serious differences that were not noted in Peskova's work.

In a radio speech, the text of which was published in the Pravda newspaper on June 24, 1941, it was added 1) that, according to Schulenburg, the German government went to war against the USSR, and the number of dead and wounded from the first bombings was 200 people ; 2) a list of countries and peoples that have previously become victims of fascist aggression has been added; 3) a comparison of Hitler with Napoleon has been added, and both of them are called “arrogant” (that is, they imagined that they could defeat England without an alliance with Russia); 4) for the first time an analogy was drawn between the war of 1812 and the war of the USSR with Germany, and the war that had begun was called Patriotic for the first time; 5) there is an appeal to the entire Soviet people to take part in the defeat of the enemy, while in the outline of the speech this is assigned only to the army, navy and aviation; 6) there is an appeal to the people to rally around the Bolshevik Party and "around our great leader Comrade Stalin"; 7) there are 606 words in it, and 305 in the draft.

So, Peskova indicated four differences between the text that was heard on the radio and the Molotov “draft” in her article, seven more - I indicated above, three more - I discovered after reading the original Molotov autograph (see p. 510).

But after all, this is unrealistic - Molotov could not have made such serious changes to the text in such a short time, and most importantly - he did not dare to change a single letter in the text approved by Stalin! And yet it was done.

Peskova believes that the text was corrected in Stalin's office and Molotov read out the text changed there on the radio. But if this were the case, then the changed text would be stored in the archive, and not its first version. And then, in Molotov's handwritten version, Stalin's correction is quite obvious - first of all, in the change of the person on whose behalf the appeal will be read, and in the introduction of the final historical words "Our cause is just ...". Where did the handwritten document with the new text come from, where did it go with the old one, and if it exists, why couldn't Peskova publish it? Why, with the acute shortage of time at the time of preparation of Molotov's speech, was his text rewritten, since most of Molotov's text was preserved in it? It would have been easier to write in the Molotov version of the addition (although, again, it is not clear why, because everything that Stalin dictated, Molotov had already entered with his own hand).

The explanation could be like this. Most likely, when Molotov, with the participation of three members and two candidate members of the Politburo, wrote an appeal, Stalin himself was not in the office, since he was in Sochi. Communication with him was carried out by HF telephone, Molotov read him a prepared text and asked on behalf of the Politburo to immediately fly to Moscow to speak with him on the All-Union Radio. Stalin, referring to the danger of such a flight in the conditions of the outbreak of war, refused to fly (he had never flown in an airplane before) and ordered Molotov, as his deputy, to speak on the radio himself. At the same time, he dictated to Molotov a few more changes and additions. Molotov made these changes to the text (including the words "Our cause is just", etc.). Nevertheless, realizing that Koba, as always, would then begin to look for someone to blame, and it would undoubtedly be Molotov, who gave his name to the pact with Germany and traveled to Berlin, he, perhaps for the first time in his life, rebelled and declared that, having no signed by the leader of the text, will not speak. Stalin had no choice but to accept his unheard-of condition.

How could it be done?

There were only two options:

1. The text agreed upon by phone was sent to Sochi by a special telegram, on which the leader put his signature, at the same time made amendments and sent Molotov back by plane. This is unlikely, since an analysis of the visitors to the leader's office that day shows that the conversation between Molotov and Stalin via HF communication could not have taken place before 9.00. Half an hour to prepare and send a telegram, then 4.5-5.5 hours for the flight, even without taking into account the time the car travels to the airfield in Sochi and to the Central Telegraph Office in Moscow. It turns out that Molotov would have received a telegram with Stalin's signature only at 14.00-15.00. And he began his speech at 12.15 and at 12.25 he returned to Stalin's office.

2. The text from Moscow to Sochi was transmitted by telegraph, and back ... by phototelegraph (after all, before his speech on the radio, Molotov should have had a text certified by Stalin's signature). It turned out that the phototelegraph had been operating in the USSR since the 1930s, and “by the end of 1940, the Moscow Central Telegraph already had 22 phototelegraph lines” (TSB) that connected it with the largest cities of the country. There is no doubt that the second of them was Sochi - practically the only place where Stalin regularly came on vacation. Then the fact that on June 22, 1941 Molotov spoke from a radio studio located precisely in the Central Telegraph building acquires a special meaning.

This means that the text signed by Stalin was transmitted to Moscow by telegraph and the leader, when signing it, made a number of additions. And Molotov read out the appeal directly from the photo telegram, which was handed to him at the Central Telegraph. In the memoirs of the deputy head of the military department of the Pravda newspaper L. Brontman, indirectly confirming my assumption about the phototelegram, the story of the correspondent of Latest News of the USSR Radio Committee N. Stor about Molotov’s speech on June 22 in the studio is given:

“Chekists arrived and occupied all the exits and corridors. Three minutes before the appointed time (that is, at 12.12. - A. O.) Molotov arrived. He sat down at the table, opened the folder and began to read the prepared speech (that is, to get acquainted with the text, since he saw this option for the first time. – A. O.). Half a minute before the deadline, he got up and went into the studio to the microphone. Stor came over and poured the narzan into a glass.

- Remove all unnecessary! Molotov said sharply.

Levitan announced his performance. Molotov spoke very excitedly, nervously. But they recorded everything well.

In order for this assumption of mine about the reason for Molotov's unexpected appearance of another text of the speech to be confirmed or rejected, it is only necessary to find a facsimile of that speech written down on paper, which was heard on the radio on June 22, 1941.

At present, in all publications of this document, they refer to the appeal printed in the Pravda newspaper on June 24, 1941. G. N. Peskova, when publishing this text, gave a more thorough reference: “Foreign policy of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War. M., 1944. T. I. S. 111–113. I opened the modern official publication Documents of Foreign Policy 1940 - June 22, 1941 (Vol. XXIII, Book 2(2), Moscow: International Relations, 1998) and found that even there the newspaper Pravda "For June 24, 1941 Let's finally find a real archival document - the original source. This will make it possible to finally answer a number of questions related to this black day in our history, including whether Stalin was in Moscow that day.

It must be admitted, however, that there is a second version of the explanation of how the new text of Molotov's speech appeared. The possibility of this option allows for such a mysterious fact: his speech was recorded on magnetic tape (as evidenced by the above story by N. Stor), but on June 22, 1941, Molotov’s voice never sounded on the radio again, and his speech was read nine times by the announcer Levitan. This could be only in one case - if, after listening to Molotov's speech on the radio, Stalin made new changes and additions to the text by telephone or special telegraph, taking into account which Levitan read it out (or it was transmitted in recordings). It was this text of the speech that was published in the Pravda newspaper on June 24, 1941. Perhaps that is why it was published in Pravda not the day after Molotov's speech, as was usually done, that is, on June 23, but only on the 24th. After all, the text of Stalin's speech on the radio on July 3, 1941 appeared in Pravda right on the day of the broadcast. Since Molotov's speech was not recorded on June 22, 1941, it can be assumed that the “Recording of the speech of V. M. Molotov. June 22, 1941. Russian state archive of photographic documents. Archival number H-253" was made later. At the same time, he did not repeat the text he had spoken on the radio on June 22, but read it out from the publication in Pravda on June 24, 1941. It is possible that Levitan's recording made on June 22, 1941 was also preserved in the archives of the Radio Committee, and maybe even a printed text with corrections from which he read.

We must continue to search the archives!

Now about the first Soviet cities mentioned in Molotov's speech, bombed on June 22, 1941. Kaunas is the only one of them, the bombing of which is confirmed by the operational report of the Red Army General Staff No. 01 for June 22, 1941 (signed at 10.00 by the Chief of the General Staff, Army General Zhukov), moreover, it was not Kaunas itself that was bombed, but the Aleksotas airfield, located a few kilometers from the city. I know this because at that time I lived with my parents in Kaunas in the military town of Ponemuni, not far from this airfield.

The bombing of the other two cities mentioned in Molotov’s speech, according to the operational reports of the General Staff, for the first time occurred not on June 22, but on June 24, 1941: Sevastopol is indicated in the morning operational report of the General Staff No. 05 for June 24, 1941 (“Sevastopol was bombed during the night on 24.6” ); and Kyiv - in the morning operational report of the General Staff No. 07 for June 25, 1941 (“In the second half of June 24, 39 enemy aircraft bombarded Kyiv ...”). The bombing of Zhitomir is not mentioned in the operational reports of the General Staff, although, according to its residents, at dawn on June 22, bomb explosions were heard in it at airfields located near the city, and at 9.15 - 9.20 in the morning the city itself was already bombed.

And the very first raid by German aviation was carried out at 4.00 on June 22, 1941 (in the "Barbarossa" the time of flight by planes of the border is indicated - 3.15, however, according to the entry in Halder's Diary on June 14, 1941, at the last meeting with the Fuhrer before the attack in the USSR, it was moved to 3.00, that is, to 4.00 Moscow time).

This means that the very first strike of German aviation was carried out that day not on cities (Barbarossa explicitly states: “during the operation it is not necessary to carry out raids on military industry facilities”), but on border airfields on which new types of Soviet fighters were based and they were destroyed. After that, fearing nothing, German bombers could carry out raids on Soviet railway junctions, headquarters, accumulations of military equipment, etc. in large groups without escort fighters.

It is interesting to note that, for some unknown reason, the operational summary of General Staff No. 01 does not mention the very first raid by enemy aircraft on June 22 - in Sevastopol, which occurred an hour earlier than all the others (at 3.00) and which is described in the memoirs of Marshal Zhukov and Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov (and why -they call these planes "unknown").

In "Clues to the Clue" I expressed and substantiated my assumption that these were British aircraft, and therefore they did not drop bombs on the warships of the Black Sea Fleet, but allegedly threw magnetic bottom mines. Perhaps, with this provocation, Churchill imitated the joint attack on the USSR that he had promised to Hitler that day, which managed to push the Fuhrer to strike on June 22. However, in Sevastopol, the approach of these aircraft at night was recorded by the first Soviet shipboard radar station Redut-K, which was adopted by the Molotov cruiser from June 15, 1941. Moreover, according to the flight path, it was possible to understand that these planes were flying not from Romania, but from Turkey, where there could not be German planes, but there were English ones at the air bases of Mosul, Habbaniya, Cyprus. Therefore, the General Staff did not include information about this raid on Sevastopol in the first report - it was also not enough to start hostilities with England on that day! Therefore, in the morning, Baggaley, Chargé d'Affaires d'Affaires ad interim for the USSR, was invited to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs to Deputy People's Commissar Vyshinsky, who assured that England would fight together with the USSR against Germany. They managed to urgently report this to Molotov, and he informed Stalin by HF telephone, after which they decided to attribute the Sevastopol raid to the Germans, which Molotov did, speaking on the radio at 12.15:

Citizens and citizens of the Soviet Union!

The Soviet government and its head, Comrade Stalin, have instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas from their aircraft. and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany, and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the Soviet Union regarding the fulfillment of the treaty. The entire responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

Already after the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 in the morning, made a statement to me, as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the Soviet Union in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near eastern German border.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not make any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany attacked the Soviet Union, despite the peace-loving position of the Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany was the attacking side .

On behalf of the Government of the Soviet Union, I must also declare that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by the Romanian radio this morning that the Soviet aviation allegedly fired on Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. Hitler's entire declaration today is just as much a lie and a provocation, trying to concoct, retroactively, accusatory material about the Soviet Union's non-compliance with the Soviet-German pact.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops out of the territory of our homeland.

This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples .

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to the Soviet people, and deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking, conceited enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will once again wage a victorious patriotic war for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom. The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm conviction that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intelligentsia, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due conscience. All our people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and from others discipline, organization, selflessness, worthy of a true Soviet patriot, in order to provide for all the needs of the Red Army, fleet and aviation, in order to ensure victory over the enemy.

The government calls on you, citizens and women of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks even more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade Stalin.

Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

I go and listen to the song. Dmitry Bykov wrote another biography. Better than before 2009-03-12 Evgeny Lesin Bykov, Okudzhava / First a bard and only then a poet and prose writer. Illustration from a book by Dmitry Bykov. Bulat Okudzhava. - M .: Young guard, 2009. - 778 p. It's funny, but Dmitry Bykov