The Soviet Union in World War II, Part III

Compare US and Soviet wartime posters: ty_vtoroy_mirovoy_nayti_10_otlichiy- 145.xhtml ty_vtoroy_mirovoy_nayti_10_otlichiy- 145.xhtml

July 1942: Massive German offensive in southern Russia The city of Stalingrad is besieged The turning point of World War II August 23: Massive German bombing destroys 80% of the city’s residential buildings Fighting in the city: average life expectancy of the Soviet soldier – 24 hours

Stalingrad before the war

Stalingrad, September 1942

Women volunteers signing Oath of Allegiance

Red Army infantry counterattack at Stalingrad

Stalingrad worker militia

Soviet “Katyusha” rocket attack

Stalingrad: street fighting

Stalingrad: surrender of German Field Marshal von Paulus

The Battle of Stalingrad claimed over two million casualties, more than any other battle in human history, and was also one of the longest: it raged for 199 days. Killed, wounded or captured at Stalingrad:  Germans and allies: 850,000  Soviets: 1,130,000 (incl. 40,000 civilians)

General Georgiy Zhukov

General Aleksandr Vasilevsky

General Konstantin Rokossovsky

General Ivan Konev

July-August 1943: The Battle of Kursk  50 days  2.7 mln. men  8,000 tanks  5,000 aircraft Casualties:  German – 260,000  Soviet – over 1 mln.

The Soviet Steamroller, documentary: 3xzfJkM&feature=related 3xzfJkM&feature=related

Vitya Zhaivoronok, Soviet Army scout, Yugoslavia, 1945

Ruins of Peterhof

German POWs in Russia

German POWs outside Moscow

Diplomacy in the Grand Alliance The main issues: Helping USSR Opening the 2 nd front Postwar settlement

The Big Three: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta, Feb.1945

Churchill: Stalin is a "devil"-like tyrant leading a vile system”. (it didn’t prevent him from making a territorial deal w. Stalin, however) Roosevelt: “ I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man.... I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace.” James Byrnes, member of US delegation: “It was not a question of what we would let the Russians do, but what we could get the Russians to do."

Major decisions of the Yalta Conference 1. Unconditional surrender of Germany 2. Division of Germany into 4 occupied zones 3. Demilitarization and denazification of Germany 4. Germany’s reparations, including by forced labour of its soldiers 5. A new govt in Poland, including non-Communists 6. Changes of Poland’s borders 7. Return of citizens to USSR and Yugoslavia 8. Soviet Union will participate in the creation of the UNO 9. Stalin agreed to attack Japan within 90 days of Germany’s surrender. 10. Nazi war criminals were to be hunted down and brought to justice. 11. A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up.

Hitler’s last public speech: qLFPQ2A&feature=related qLFPQ2A&feature=related

US and British aid to the Soviet ally, :  Food - $1.5 bln. in  Automobiles – 427,000  Warplanes – 22,000  Tanks – 13,000  Warships – over 500  Explosives – 350,000 tons  Other supplies Total estimated cost of Allied aid to USSR in contemporary prices – $100 bln.

The Battle of Berlin: gs gs Hitler phones Stalin (a satire): 8&feature=related 8&feature=related

The Battle of Berlin 17 days 3.3 mln. men Total losses: 0.5 mln.

Red flag over Berlin, May 1945

Checking out Hitler’s headquarters, May 1945

Berlin, 1945: surrender of German High Command

Ovens in Buchenwald concentration camp

Survivors of a Nazi concentration camp

June 24, 1945: Marshal Zhukov leads Victory Parade in Red Square

Victory Parade in Red Square, June 24, 1945: gQttPBs&NR=1 gQttPBs&NR=1

July 1945: Stalin, Truman and Churchill at Potsdam, Germany

Marshal Zhukov and General Eisenhower

August 1945: Defeat of Japanese forces in Manchuria

Japanese-American historian T. Hasegawa: Soviet war on Japan was the decisive factor for Japanese surrender – not the atom bomb ntsec=frontcover&dq=racing+the+enemy&hl=en&sa =X&ei=BM_GT_73B8fJ6gGV7KTMCw&ved=0CDgQ 6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=racing%20the%20enemy& f=false ntsec=frontcover&dq=racing+the+enemy&hl=en&sa =X&ei=BM_GT_73B8fJ6gGV7KTMCw&ved=0CDgQ 6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=racing%20the%20enemy& f=false

The war took all nine of her sons

Nazi war criminals on trial at Nuremberg

Soviet losses in World War II Over 27 mln. killed (13.6% of the population) Of those who survived, 29 mln. took part in the fighting (including 0.8 mln. women) Battlefield losses – 11.5 mln. (Germany lost 8.6 mln.) 5.8 mln. POWs (of them 3 mln. died in concentration camps) 1,710 cities and 70,000 villages completely or partially destroyed 40,000 hospitals, 84,000 schools, 43,000 libraries destroyed Historically unprecedented level of damage suffered by a country