Audiotour Hall TWO

With the end of the Polish campaign, the Wehrmacht-occupied territory of Poland became a springboard for aggression against the Soviet Union. The plan for the attack on the USSR developed by German Command, called Barbarossa, was approved by Hitler on December 18, 1940. The strategic basis of the plan was the idea of blitzkrieg ​​lightning war. The plan was to defeat the USSR in one short-term campaign and end hostilities by the autumn of 1941.

To invade the territorial boundaries of the Soviet Union, Germany and its allies concentrated 190 divisions along the western border, which included 5.5 million soldiers and officers, armed with 4.3 thousand tanks, almost 5,000 aircraft, 47.2 thousand. guns and mortars.

Soviet troops, concentrated in the western border districts, consisted of 170 divisions and numbered 2.7 million personnel, 37.5 thousand guns and mortars, 1475 tanks KV and T-34, 1540 combat aircraft of new types, as well as a significant number of light tanks and aircraft of obsolete designs. Not all divisions were fully staffed. In the main areas, the German troops managed to secure an advantage of 3-4 times, and in the areas of the main strike – even more.

On June 22, 1941, at 3.15 am, German artillery opened fire on the border posts of the USSR, and at 3.30 am, air raids began.

From now on, a new countdown has begun. The clash of two totalitarian systems led to a war of titanic proportions and unprecedented brutality. The fighting unfolded along the front line with a length of 3 thousand km from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea.

With the beginning of the war for the people of Kharkiv, as well as for millions of their compatriots, the countdown began, full of suffering, irreparable loss of family and friends.

In the first days of the war, the Soviet government issued decrees declaring martial law and mobilizing conscripts born from 1905-1918, in the USSR and in the Kharkiv Military District.

Long queues of conscripts and volunteers lined up near the military registration and enlistment offices. A total of 969,832 people were sent to the Red Army from June to November 1941 in theKharkiv Military District (Sumska, Poltavska, Stalinska, Voroshilovgradska, Chernihivska, and Kharkivska regions), and 154,000 people were mobilized from Kharkiv and the region (from incomplete data).

The German army had the experience of modern warfare, high-level professional training and a fighting spirit and was, without a doubt, the best military machine of its time.

In the first days of the war, Wehrmacht troops developed a fast pace of attack, which amounted to 20-25 km per day and up to 50 km of motorized units.

The frequent acts of the heroism of the Red Army soldiers could not significantly affect the generally unfavorable development of events on the Soviet-German front.

On September 15, 1941, the 1st (E. Kleist) and 2nd (G. Guderian) German tank groups united in the Lohvytsia area, encircling most of the troops of the South-Western Front not far from Kyiv. During the battle, the commander of the South-Western Front, Colonel-General MP Kirponis was killed. According to German data, 665 thousand people were taken prisoner near Kyiv. (according to the Soviets - 460 thousand people.), killed and wounded losses amounted to 900 thousand soldiers and commanders. There were 150,541 people in the units and rear units and armies that escaped the encirclement at the end of the operation. This defeat paved the way to the Left-Bank of Ukraine.

On September 20, 1941, the advanced units of the 6th German Army (W. Reihenau) entered the territory of the Kharkiv region, capturing the city of Krasnograd.

The mass evacuation of Kharkiv enterprises, primarily aviation, medium-sized engineering, and tank, began in the second half of September 1941 (according to the decision of the State CommitteeofDefance of the USSR of September 16, 1941). To the town of Irbit, Sverdlovsk Region with part of the evacuated equipment, workers of the Sickle and Hammer plant were sent. The production of motorcycles for the active army was started here. The staff of KharkivAviation Plant arrived in Molotov (now Perm). One of the areas where the evacuated Kharkiv enterprises were located was the Kuznetsk Basin, as well as various cities of the USSR - Saratov, Tashkent, Penza, Omsk.

A total of 320 echelons with industrial equipment, materials and raw materials were evacuated from Kharkiv to the eastern regions of the USSR. 24,000 workers, engineers, technicians, and employees left to work in the deep rear. In addition, 225 echelons with people and 56 echelons with hospitals were sent east.

One of the manifestations of patriotic feelings of Kharkiv residents was the creation of people's militia formations. According to various sources, 85 - 209 thousand volunteers joined the militia. The corps of the Kharkiv militia consisted of 9 divisions according to 9 districts of the city.

In October 1941, divisions of the 1st German Panzer Army broke through the Soviet defenses near the city of Krasnograd in the Kharkiv region. The troops of Major General VV Tsyganov's 38th Army, which had been bled to death in fierce battles, could not restrain the enemy. At 11 oclock on October 25, 1941, after a two-day defense, the last defenders left Kharkiv. The city was captured by German troops.