Very often, the Great Patriotic War is called only an episode of World War II, while noticing that this episode is appropriate to call the Soviet-German war. That is, the war between the Third Reich and the USSR. But with whom did the Soviet Union actually fight? And was it a one-on-one battle?
When liberals and other historians-entertainers start shouting about senseless losses, "filled up with meat" and "would drink Bavarian", they usually like to confirm their theses about the "mediocrity and criminality" of the Soviet leadership and command by comparing the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. They say that the Red Army had more people, but all the time they were smashed, and there were more tanks, and planes and other pieces of iron, and all the Germans burned them. Not forgetting, however, to tell about one "rifle for three", "shovel cuttings" and the rest of the crap from the category of "Solzhenitsyn's tales."
Both are not true. On a rifle for three. Everything was exactly the opposite. In total, from 1891 to 1918, about 10 million Mosin rifles were produced. It is difficult to say how many of them were produced from 1918 to 1924, but production does not stop. By 1941, in the arsenals of the Red Army, there were at least 12-15 million rifles. With the size of the Red Army on June 22, 1941, about 5.5 million people. Add to this more than a million SVT automatic rifles, at least half a million PPSh submachine guns, a large number of heavy and light machine guns. It immediately becomes clear: there was something, but there was enough small arms in the Red Army.
But the second myth is much more interesting. About the overwhelming superiority of the Red Army over the Wehrmacht in the number of literally everything. So maybe liberal historians are right, and we fought mediocre? Let's look at the numbers.
By June 1941, on the border with the USSR, the Wehrmacht had 127 divisions, two brigades and one regiment in three groups of armies and the army "Norway". These troops numbered 2 million 812 thousand people, 37099 guns and mortars, 3865 tanks and assault guns.
Note that a larger number of divisions, with the correct organization, gives a noticeable advantage with an equal number of troops, and this is significant. But this did not exhaust the forces of Germany, and the liberals "forget" to mention this.
Together with Germany, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Italy were preparing to enter the war with the USSR.
Finland - 17.5 divisions with a total strength of 340 thousand 600 people, 2047 guns, 86 tanks and 307 aircraft;
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Slovakia - 2.5 divisions with a total strength of 42,500 men, 246 guns, 35 tanks and 51 aircraft;
Hungary - 2.5 divisions with a total strength of 44,500 men, 200 guns, 160 tanks and 100 aircraft;
Romania - 17.5 divisions with a total strength of 358,100 men, 3255 guns, 60 tanks and 423 aircraft;
Italy - 3 divisions with a total strength of 61,900 people, 925 guns, 61 tanks and 83 aircraft.
That is, almost a million people in 42.5 divisions, with 7 thousand guns, 402 tanks, and almost a thousand aircraft. A simple calculation shows that only on the Eastern Front, the allies of the Hitlerite axis, and it would be more correct to call them that, had 166 divisions, numbering 4 million 307 thousand people with 42,601 artillery units of various systems, as well as 4,171 tanks and assault guns and 4,846 aircraft.
So: 2 million 812 thousand only in the Wehrmacht and 4 million 307 thousand total, given the forces of the allies. One and a half times more. The picture is changing dramatically. Is not it?
And what did he have on the western border of the USSR by June 22, 1941?
Yes, the armed forces of the Soviet Union by the summer of 1941, when the inevitability of war became obvious, were the largest army in the world. Practically hidden mobilization was carried out. By the beginning of the war, the Soviet armed forces numbered 5 million 774 thousand soldiers. Specifically, the ground forces had 303 divisions, 16 airborne and 3 rifle brigades. The troops had 117,581 artillery systems, 25,784 tanks and 24,488 aircraft.
It seems that the superiority is evident? However, all of the above forces of Germany and its allies were deployed in the immediate 100-kilometer zone along the Soviet borders. While in the western districts of the Red Army had a group of 3 million people, 57 thousand guns and mortars and 14 thousand tanks, of which only 11 thousand were serviceable, as well as about 9 thousand aircraft, of which only 7.5 thousand were serviceable.
Moreover, in the immediate vicinity of the border, the Red Army had in more or less combat readiness no more than 40% of this number.
From the above, if you are not tired of the numbers, it quite clearly follows that the USSR fought not only with Germany. Just like in 1812, not with France alone. That is, there can be no talk of any "filled with meat".
And so it went on for almost the entire war, right up to the second half of 1944, when the allies of the Third Reich fell down like a house of cards.
Add here, in addition to the direct allied countries, the foreign units of the Wehrmacht, the so-called "national SS divisions", a total of 22 volunteer divisions. During the war, 522 thousand volunteers from other countries served in them, including 185 thousand Volksdeutsche, that is, "foreign Germans". The total number of foreign volunteers was 57% (!) Of the Waffen-SS. Let's list them. If this tires you, then just estimate the number of lines and the geography. All of Europe is represented, with the exception of the principalities of Luxembourg and Monaco, and that is not a fact.
Albania: 21st SS Mountain Division "Skanderbeg" (1st Albanian);
Belgium: 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Langemark" (1st Flemish), 28th SS Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division "Wallonia" (1st Walloon), Flemish SS Legion;
Bulgaria: Bulgarian SS anti-tank brigade (1st Bulgarian);
Great Britain: Arab Legion "Free Arabia", British Volunteer Corps, Indian SS Volunteer Legion "Free India";
Hungary: 17th SS Corps, 25th SS Grenadier Division Hunyadi (1st Hungarian), 26th SS Grenadier Division (2nd Hungarian), 33rd SS Cavalry Division (3rd Hungarian);
Denmark: 11th Volunteer SS Panzer Grenadier Division Nordland, 34th Volunteer Grenadier Division Landstorm Nederland (2nd Dutch), Free SS Danmark (1st Danish), SS Volunteer Corps Schalburg ;
Italy: 29th SS Grenadier Division "Italy" (1st Italian);
Netherlands: 11th SS Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division "Nordland", 23rd SS Volunteer Motorized Division "Nederland" (1st Dutch), 34th Volunteer Grenadier Division "Landstorm Nederland" (2nd Dutch), Flemish Legion of the SS;
Norway: Norwegian SS Legion, Norwegian SS Ski Jaegers Battalion, Norwegian SS Legion, 11th SS Volunteer Tank-Grenadier Division "Nordland";
Poland: Guralian SS Volunteer Legion;
Romania: 103rd SS Tank Fighter Regiment (1st Romanian), SS Grenadier Regiment (2nd Romanian);
Serbia: Serbian SS Volunteer Corps;
Latvia: Latvian Legionnaires, Latvian SS Volunteer Legion, 6th SS Corps, 15th SS Grenadier Division (1st Latvian), 19th SS Grenadier Division (2nd Latvian);
Estonia: 20th SS Grenadier Division (1st Estonian)
Finland: Finnish SS Volunteers, Finnish SS Volunteer Battalion, 11th SS Volunteer Tank-Grenadier Division "Nordland";
France: French SS legionaries, 28th SS Volunteer Panzer-Grenadier Division "Wallonia" (1st Walloon), 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne" (1st French), Legion "Bezen Perrot" (recruited from Breton nationalists);
Croatia: 9th SS Mountain Corps, 13th SS Mountain Division "Khanjar" (1st Croatian). 23rd SS Mountain Division "Kama" (2nd Croatian);
Czechoslovakia: Gural SS Volunteer Legion
Galicia: 14th SS Grenadier Division "Galicia" (1st Ukrainian).
Separately:
* Scandinavian 5th SS Panzer Division "Viking" - Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway;
* Balkan 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prince Eugen" - Hungary, Romania, Serbia.
* 24th SS Mountain Rifle (Cave) Division "Karstjeger" - Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Galicia, Italy;
* 36th SS Grenadier Division "Dirlewanger" - recruited from criminals from various European countries.
I repeat, we are talking about European volunteers, not about conscription, not about prisoners of war, not about deserters, forced to exchange service with the Germans for their own lives by the will of fate. About volunteers who deliberately enlisted in the SS to fight the Russians.
And we have not yet mentioned hivi, from the German Hilfswilliger, that is, "willing to help." These are volunteers who entered the service directly in the Wehrmacht. They served in auxiliary units. But that doesn't mean non-combat. For example, anti-aircraft crews for the Luftwaffe were formed from the Khivi.
The ethnic composition of the prisoners of war who ended up in our captivity by the end of the war speaks very eloquently about the very motley national composition of the troops opposing the Red Army. Simple fact: there were more Danes, Norwegians and even French prisoners on the eastern front than they participated in the resistance to the Nazis in their homeland.
And we have not even touched on the topic of economic potential that worked for the German war machine. First of all, it is Czechoslovakia, the pre-war leader of arms production in Europe, and France. And this is artillery, small arms and tanks.
For example, the Czech arms concern Skoda. Every third German tank that took part in Operation Barbarossa was produced by this company. First of all, this is the LT-35, which received the designation Pz. Kpfw in the Wehrmacht. 35 (t).
Moreover, after the annexation of Czechoslovakia, German specialists found two new experimental LT-38 tanks in the Skoda workshops. After reviewing the drawings, the Germans decided to put the tank into service and began its serial production.
The production of these tanks went on almost until the end of the war, only from the end of 1941 they began to be produced as a base for German self-propelled guns. More than half of the German self-propelled guns had a Czech base.
The French, in turn, provided the Germans with their ship repair facilities. German submarines, the thunderstorm of the Allied Atlantic convoys, the so-called Doenitz Wolf Packs, were based and undergoing repairs on the southern coast of France and in Middle-earth near Marseilles. Moreover, the ship repair crews organized competitions to see who would repair the boat faster. Doesn't sound like a forced job, does it?
So with whom did the USSR fight in the Great Patriotic War? Although it would be more correct to formulate the question differently: who attacked the USSR in June 1941?
The question is rhetorical.
Oleg Denezhka