The theme of the Great Patriotic War continues to excite people despite the fact that next year we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory.
Often we are sure that the German troops were victoriously moving to Moscow, almost without receiving resistance, and only near Moscow they were stopped by the cadets of military schools. But this is not entirely correct. Indeed, by the end of 1941, the troops of the Third Reich reached the outskirts of Moscow. Don't forget that this promotion took over 5 months.
For example, we can recall how long the war between Germany and France, whose army was one of the strongest in Europe at that time, lasted. Germany declared war on France on May 10, 1940 and ended victoriously on June 22, 1940. Incidentally, this is why British and American military analysts argued that Hitler would conquer the Soviet Union in 1.5 months. Everyone was wrong, including the military leadership of the German troops. At the same time, an important factor in the defeat at the beginning of the war was the complete unpreparedness of the armies. Unavailability of airfields. Errors of the top military personnel led to the emergence of several "cauldrons" in which whole armies were taken prisoner. So what, then, prevented Hitler's plan to quickly seize the territory of the USSR?
The courage of the Soviet people interfered. Because not everyone surrendered. There were many heroes who were ready to fight alone against the superior forces of the enemy. And nobody could take this into account.
After all, it would seem, why did the defenders of the Brest Fortress have to defend it for more than 30 days? Well, they would have surrendered immediately and, perhaps, would have been alive. But they preferred to fight to the last. For what? Apparently for the Motherland.
And there were a lot of such examples.
For example, the crew of the T-34 tank chose to die in battle and crushed a German column. The photo is seen upside down.
Promotional video:
No less indicative was the heroic deed of the Red Army soldier Efim Moiseevich Balakar, which he committed on June 22, 1941. Here are the lines from the award order:
It was during the attack on Przemysl that the Germans suffered the first losses in manpower. This can be seen in a photograph from German archives.
The courage and heroism of Soviet soldiers stood in the way of a very strong military machine in Germany at that time. It was with such feats that the opportunity was obtained to launch an offensive from Moscow, and not, for example, from the Urals.
But the fact that the offensive would still be I am convinced.
That is why it is worth remembering the ordinary soldiers of that war who did not surrender, but chose to fight to the end, thereby ensuring a peaceful sky overhead for the next generations. And our task is to preserve it.