German Surprise Attack

1. German Surprise Attack • The surprise attack – dawn of June 22, 1941. • Why Germany did not declare war before the beginning of attack? • The Stalin’s reaction on news. • No defensive plans in the Soviet Staff. • Soviets try to seize initiative: Stalin’s order to attack German positions. Impossibility to fulfil this order.

2. World’s reaction on the beginning of the Soviet-German war • Churchill’s speech: If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons. • The US officials support the USSR. • Senator Truman’s words: If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way we let them kill as many as possible.

3. German Blitzkrieg and the Soviet Allies • German advances during the first months of war. • The unbelievable number of the Soviet prisoners of war. • The catastrophic situation for the USSR. • Britain and the USA – the Soviet allies. • Hopkins in the USSR – end of July – beginning of August, 1941.

4. The Atlantic Conference • Churchill and Roosevelt in Placentia Bay – 9-14 August, 1941. • Atlantic Charter: 1. US and UK seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other; 2. They desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned; 3. They respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them;

5. The Atlantic Conference 4. They will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity; 5. They desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security;

6. The Atlantic Conference 6. After the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want; 7. Such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;

7. The Atlantic Conference 8. they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.

8. German Attack Continues • Fall of Kiev – September 19, 1941. • Germans advancing to Leningrad. • The Beginning of Siege of Leningrad – October 1941 (Siege will continue till January 1944 – 900 days). • German advance to Moscow. • Panic in Moscow – October 15-17. • The Soviet military Parade in Moscow – November 7, 1941. • The Soviet counter-attack – December 6, 1941.