Occupation regime in Donbass. Battle for Donbass: Manstein's military shame

On February 25, 1943, the commander of the Southwestern Front N. Vatutin gave the order to curtail Operation Leap to liberate Stalino and Mariupol. Many historians consider it a failure. However, this battle created the necessary preconditions for the stunning summer offensive of the Red Army.

Hitler's plans

Before the war, Donbass, along with the Urals, was considered the most important industrial region of the USSR. In 1940, only in the territory of the present Donetsk region there were 1,260 enterprises of union significance, including machine-building, chemical and metallurgical plants. The mines of the Voroshilovograd (Lugansk) and Stalin (Donetsk) regions produced 60% of all all-Union coal. All this made the region a tasty morsel for Germany. Hitler's plans noted that in 1943 the Donetsk region was supposed to smelt more than one million tons of metal for the needs of the Third Reich. In general, fascist strategists were confident that the side that controlled Donbass would win the war. In Berlin, it was believed that without Donetsk coke, the Soviet tank-building industry would experience fuel starvation and would not provide the Red Army with the necessary amount of armored vehicles. However, the Germans were mistaken. The mobilization potential of the USSR turned out to be so powerful that even without Donbass, the Red Army in 1942 received 12,553 T-34 tanks and 780 KV-1s.

Death of the Mining Army

On September 29, 1941, the Germans began an operation to capture Donbass. And already on October 7, the 17th Army of the Wehrmacht and Kleist’s tanks closed the ring in the vicinity of Berdyansk, as a result of which a significant part of the Southern Front, consisting of nine rifle divisions of the 9th and 18th armies of the Red Army, found itself in a “cauldron”. But the Germans were unable to destroy all the encircled troops. The 18th Army, as a result of a bayonet battle in the Temryuk area, made a breakthrough and reached its own. The garrison of Mariupol was less fortunate. Using the effect of surprise, on October 8, 1941, Kleist’s tanks burst into the city, where large front-line hospitals were located at that time. Most of the wounded are still considered missing, which suggests that the invaders simply shot them. During these same days, almost the entire 9th Army, which was called the miners’ army, was killed under the tracks of fascist tanks.

“...On October 8, 1941, these divisions did not have a single anti-tank weapon, nor 45-mm guns, nor hand-held anti-tank rifles,” wrote historian Mikhail Zhirokhov in the book “The Battle for Donbass. Mius-front. 1941−1943“. - Thus, it is effective to fight tank units, which were the main impact force enemy, they couldn’t.”

OUN in Donbass

The beginning of the occupation of Donbass was carried out by field and local commandant's offices. The Supreme Administration exercised military command. Since the autumn of 1941, “OUN marching groups” appeared in the Donbass, whose main task was to seize power in all local governments in the Stalin region. OUN* activist Andrei Iria-Avramenko later, during interrogation, spoke about the activities of his organization during the war years: “After Mariupol was occupied by the Germans, active Ukrainian nationalist figures - emigrants, especially Galicians - arrived with them.” In 1942, with their direct participation, the German authorities issued seven orders banning the Russian language and introducing it as a language in a number of regions. official language"languages". It was the OUN members who compiled lists of people to be sent to Germany, and also confiscated food and livestock for the benefit of German army. At the same time, Ukrainian nationalists in every possible way avoided being sent to the Stalin region. Historian V. Nikolsky cited the following figures: after the liberation of Ukraine, 27,532 OUN members were arrested, of which only 150 people led active work in Donbass.

Operation Leap

On January 20, 1943, the Headquarters approved the “Leap” plan - a rapid attack on Stalino (Donetsk) and Mariupol. This happened after the forces of the Southern and North Caucasian fronts of the Red Army defeated 26 German divisions of Army Group B. The Soviet command understood that the enemy was demoralized and could not be allowed to come to its senses. The same danger was seen in Berlin. On February 1, 1943, the Chief of the Wehrmacht General Staff, General Kurt Zeitzler, admitted that “the Russians could take Donbass, which is not acceptable.” The Germans formed a powerful armored group in the Krasnoarmeysk area, including at the expense of the elite SS tank division "Reich", transferred from France. The headquarters of the Don armies moved from Taganrog to Stalino, which certainly affected the controllability of the Wehrmacht units. In general, the enemy was able to quickly prepare for the second battle for Donbass, which began on January 29, 1943.

In the first days, the Soviet offensive developed quite successfully. Moreover, on February 2, the Red Army soldiers broke into the northeastern part of Slavyansk, a strategically important junction of highways and railways, and then liberated the city. However, Headquarters underestimated the enemy's strength. Soon, significant tank and infantry formations from the formed “iron fist” arrived to help the defending invaders. Almost all reserves were involved, and even punitive units. For example, police battalions were transferred from Debaltsevo to the assault on Slavyansk.

The German is still strong

The fighting that began was distinguished by mutual tenacity, but still military superiority was still on the side of the fascists. For example, the fire density of the German infantry at the beginning of 1943 was 8-9 bullets per linear meter(for comparison in the Red Army - 3.9 bullets), which, along with mine and engineering obstacles, often negated any numerical advantage of our attacking units. In addition, the Wehrmacht, due to its mobility, created an advantage in critical areas in a matter of days, or even hours. As a result, losses among the Red Army soldiers in Operation Leap reached up to 40% of the strength. The Luftwaffe still had air supremacy. “...Time after time, more and more planes came in to bomb, diving and pouring machine-gun fire on the human mess,” this is how historian Mikhail Zhirokhov described the withdrawal of Soviet troops.

On February 28, 1943, Slavyansk was abandoned. Soon Kharkov and Belgorod fell. A number of military experts consider the Leap to be a mistake by the Headquarters; other historians, in particular Alexander Zablotsky and Roman Larintsev, are confident that the Soviet plan was carefully thought out. This was exactly the case when military luck was on Hitler's side. If the 2nd SS Panzer Corps had not managed to jump out of the pocket that had formed in the Kharkov region, Soviet troops would have reached the Dnieper and the Desna by the end of winter, and the West would have had no choice but to open a second front in the summer of 1943.

Liberation of Donbass

On August 13, 1943, the third battle for Donbass began. The blow of the Southwestern Front, whose fighters crossed to the right bank of the Seversky Donets, made it possible for the Steppe Front to liberate Kharkov. Three days later, the Nazis were attacked by divisions of the Southern Front. Now the Germans felt the full power of a properly organized and technically supported Soviet offensive. Withering artillery fire, night bombing and massive attack aircraft raids were carried out precisely on targets indicated by army intelligence. Next came tanks and infantry, suppressing pockets of resistance from a demoralized and bloodless enemy. And the Luftwaffe forces no longer had air supremacy.

Thanks to light-emitting aerial bombs, called “chandeliers,” Soviet tanks developed rapid night breakthroughs.

As a result, units of the 5th Shock Army of the Red Army cut the Wehrmacht group in two. “The retreat to the Melitopol-Dnieper line, begun in accordance with the order under the pressure of superior enemy forces, is perhaps the most difficult operation carried out by an army group during the 1941-1943 campaign,” Manstein recalled. “...Everything that could help the enemy immediately continue his offensive on a wide front was destroyed, destroyed or taken to the rear.”

The scorched earth tactics that the Germans followed in the Donbass during their retreat were called after the war by a British tribunal a war crime and a personal disgrace for Field Marshal Erich von Manstein.

* By the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 17, 2014, this organization was recognized as extremist, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo at the opening of the article: Great Patriotic War, 1943 / TASS photo chronicle

Having occupied the territory of Ukraine, the Nazis began to implement their plans. First, the captured territory was dismembered. The western lands made up the district of Galicia, the southern lands called Transnistria became part of Romania. Most of Ukraine was made up of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The Voroshilovograd, Stalin, Sumy, Kharkov, Chernigov regions and Crimea constituted the front-line zone; this territory was constantly under the control of the military authorities of the so-called “military zone” of Army Group South.

A large administrative apparatus was created to manage the occupied territory. On July 17, by decree of Hitler, the Reich Ministry for the occupied territories of the East is created. The occupation regime in Donbass was established in November 1941. The region was classified as a "military zone" and was subordinate to the German military high command. Military and civilian (subordinate to the military) authorities operated in the occupied territory. They performed command (“ensuring peace” and protecting the rear) and management functions (creation, management and control of local authorities). There were numerous police and punitive agencies. These are the SD, Gestapo, Eisengruppen, field gendarmerie, etc. In December 1941, the Ukrainian auxiliary police was created to help the occupation apparatus. , it was controlled by the Gestapo and the military commandant's office, although formally they were subordinate to the military administration. The Ukrainian police consisted mainly of criminals and “anti-Soviet elements”, who especially distinguished themselves by currying favor with the fascists, robbing and cruelly mocking the local population.

In the occupied territory the so-called “ new order“, its goal was to carry out the following tasks: firstly, to provide food and materials to the fascists, secondly, the cleansing of Ukrainian lands through the physical destruction of the population, and thirdly, the settlement of the lands with German settlers.

Having occupied Donbass, the Germans began to create administration and management bodies. A large administrative apparatus was created to manage the occupied territory. Punitive squads and local police were created.

The Germans assigned a huge role to the Donbass industry in their plans; the region was supposed to supply the Reich with food and resources, primarily metal and coal. But it never worked out. Local patriots played a huge role in this, who resisted the Germans in every possible way, sabotaged work, carried out sabotage, etc.

The Germans in 1942-1943 were economically depleted, and such a rich region as Donbass was very important for them, there were numerous useful resources(all types of coal, metal, etc.) necessary for the German military industry, as well as numerous enterprises that could be used for the German military industry. But due to the fact that the workers refused to go to work, did the work slowly and poorly, damaged equipment and materials, and committed sabotage, the Germans were unable to put the economic potential of Donbass at the service of the Reich. In general, the sabotage activities of the workers played a huge role in the disruption German plans economic use of Donbass resources. Thanks to the activities of local patriots, the Nazis never received the metal and coal they needed, and were unable to establish repairs and production of cars.

After Nazi Germany captured the territory of Ukraine, millions of its citizens found themselves in the occupation zone. They actually had to live in a new state. The occupied territories were perceived as raw material base, and the population as cheap labor.

Occupation of Ukraine

The capture of Kyiv and the occupation of Ukraine were the most important goals of the Wehrmacht in the first stage of the war. The “Kyiv Cauldron” became the largest encirclement in world military history.

In the encirclement organized by the Germans, the entire front, the South-Western, perished.

Four armies were completely destroyed (5th, 21st, 26th, 37th), the 38th and 40th armies were partially defeated.

According to official data Hitler's Germany, which were published on September 27, 1941, 665,000 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army were captured in the “Kiev Cauldron”, 3,718 guns and 884 tanks were captured.

Stalin did not want to leave Kyiv until the last moment, although, according to the memoirs of Georgy Zhukov, he warned the commander-in-chief that the city must be abandoned on July 29.

Historian Anatoly Tchaikovsky also wrote that the losses of Kyiv, and primarily of the armed forces, would have been significantly smaller if the decision to retreat the troops had been made in time. However, it was the long defense of Kyiv that delayed the German offensive for 70 days, which was one of the factors that influenced the failure of the blitzkrieg and gave time to prepare for the defense of Moscow.

After the occupation

Immediately after the occupation of Kyiv, the Germans announced forced registration of residents. It should have passed in less than a week, in five days. Problems with food and light immediately began. The population of Kyiv, which found itself under occupation, could survive only thanks to the markets located on Yevbaz, on Lviv Square, on Lukyanovka and on Podol.

The shops served only Germans. The prices were very high and the quality of the products was terrible.

A curfew was introduced in the city. From 6 pm to 5 am it was forbidden to go outside. However, the Operetta Theater, puppet and opera theaters, the conservatory, and the Ukrainian choir continued to operate in Kyiv.

In 1943, two art exhibitions were even held in Kyiv, at which 216 artists exhibited their works. The paintings were bought mainly by Germans. Sports events were also held.

Propaganda agencies also worked actively in the territory of occupied Ukraine. The occupiers published 190 newspapers with a total circulation of 1 million copies, radio stations and a cinema network operated.

Division of Ukraine

On July 17, 1941, on the basis of Hitler’s order “On Civil Administration in the Occupied Eastern Regions,” the “Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories” was created under the leadership of Alfred Rosenberg. Its tasks included dividing the occupied territories into zones and controlling them.

According to Rosenberg’s plans, Ukraine was divided into “zones of influence.”

Lvov, Drohobych, Stanislav and Ternopil regions (without the northern regions) formed the “District of Galicia”, which was subordinate to the so-called Polish (Warsaw) General Government.

Rivne, Volyn, Kamenets-Podolsk, Zhytomyr, northern regions Ternopil, northern areas of Vinnitsa, eastern regions Nikolaev, Kiev, Poltava, Dnepropetrovsk regions, the northern regions of Crimea and the southern regions of Belarus formed the “Reichskommissariat Ukraine”. The city of Rivne became the center.

Eastern regions of Ukraine (Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kharkov region, Donbass) to the coast of the Azov Sea, as well as the south Crimean peninsula were subordinate to the military administration.

The lands of Odessa, Chernivtsi, southern regions of Vinnitsa and western regions of Nikolaev regions formed the new Romanian province “Transnistria”. Transcarpathia has remained under Hungarian rule since 1939.

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

On August 20, 1941, by decree of Hitler, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine was established as an administrative unit of the Greater German Reich. It included the captured Ukrainian territories minus the district of Galicia, Transnistria and Northern Bukovina and Tavria (Crimea), annexed by Germany for future German colonization as Gothia (Gotengau).

In the future, the Reichskommissariat Ukraine was supposed to cover the Russian regions: Kursk, Voronezh, Oryol, Rostov, Tambov, Saratov and Stalingrad.

Instead of Kyiv, the capital of the Reich Commissariat Ukraine became a small regional center in Western Ukraine - the city of Rivne.

Eric Koch was appointed Reich Commissioner, who from the first days of his power began to pursue an extremely tough policy, not restraining himself either in means or in expressions. He said directly: “I need a Pole to kill a Ukrainian when meeting a Ukrainian and, conversely, for a Ukrainian to kill a Pole. We don't need Russians, Ukrainians, or Poles. We need fertile lands."

Order

First of all, the Germans began to impose their new order in the occupied territories. All residents were required to register with the police and were strictly forbidden to leave their place of residence without written permission from the administration.

Violation of any regulation, for example, the use of a well from which the Germans took water, could entail severe punishment up to death penalty by hanging.

The occupied territories did not have a single civil administration and unified governance. Councils were created in cities, and commandant's offices in rural areas. All power in the districts (volosts) belonged to the corresponding military commandants. In volosts, elders (burgomasters) were appointed, in villages and hamlets - elders. All exes Soviet authorities were dissolved, public organizations were banned. Order in rural areas was ensured by the police, in large settlements - by SS units and security units.

At first, the Germans announced that taxes for residents of the occupied territories would be lower than under the Soviet regime, but in fact they added taxes on doors, windows, dogs, excess furniture and even beards. According to one of the women who survived the occupation, many then existed according to the principle “we lived one day - and thank God.”

The curfew was in force not only in cities, but also in rural areas. For violating it, they were shot on the spot.

Shops, restaurants, and hairdressers served only the occupying troops. City residents were prohibited from using railway and public transport, electricity, telegraph, post office, and pharmacy. At every step one could see notices: “Only for Germans”, “Ukrainians are prohibited from entering.”

Raw material base

The occupied Ukrainian territories were primarily supposed to serve as a raw material and food base for Germany, and the population as a cheap labor force. Therefore, the leadership of the Third Reich, if possible, demanded to keep here agriculture and industry, which were of great interest to the German war economy.

As of March 1943, 5,950 thousand tons of wheat, 1,372 thousand tons of potatoes, 2,120 thousand heads of livestock, 49 thousand tons of butter, 220 thousand tons of sugar, 400 thousand heads of pigs, 406 thousand sheep were exported to Germany from Ukraine. . By March 1944, these figures already had the following indicators: 9.2 million tons of grain, 622 thousand tons of meat and millions of tons of other industrial products and food products.

However, much less agricultural products from Ukraine came to Germany than the Germans expected, and their attempts to revive the Donbass, Krivoy Rog and other industrial areas ended in complete fiasco.

The Germans even had to send coal to Ukraine from Germany.

In addition to the resistance of the local population, the Germans were faced with another problem - a lack of equipment and qualified labor.

According to German statistics, the total value of all products (except agricultural products) sent to Germany from the east (that is, from all occupied areas of Soviet territory, and not just from Ukraine) amounted to 725 million marks. On the other hand, 535 million marks of coal and equipment were exported from Germany to the east; Thus, the net profit was only 190 million marks.

According to Dallin's calculations, based on official German statistics, even with agricultural supplies, "the indemnities received by the Reich from the occupied eastern territories ... amounted to only one-seventh of what the Reich received from France during the war."

Resistance and partisans

Despite the “draconian measures” (Keitel’s expression) in the occupied Ukrainian territories, the resistance movement continued to function there throughout the years of the occupation regime.

In Ukraine, partisan formations operated under the command of Semyon Kovpak (carried out a raid from Putivl to the Carpathians), Alexey Fedorov (Chernihiv region), Alexander Saburov (Sumy region, Right Bank Ukraine), Mikhail Naumov (Sumy region).

The communist and Komsomol underground operated in Ukrainian cities.

The actions of the partisans were coordinated with the actions of the Red Army. In 1943, during Battle of Kursk The partisans carried out Operation Rail War . In the fall of the same year, Operation Concert took place. . Enemy communications were blown up and railways were disabled.

To fight the partisans, the Germans formed jagdkomandos (extermination or hunting teams) from the local population of the occupied territories, which were also called “false partisans,” but the success of their actions was small. Desertion and defections to the Red Army were common in these formations.

Atrocities

According to Russian historian Alexandra Dyukova, “the cruelty of the occupation regime was such that, according to the most conservative estimates, one in five of the seventy million Soviet citizens who found themselves under occupation did not live to see Victory.”

In the occupied territories, the Nazis killed millions of civilians, almost 300 places were discovered mass executions population, 180 concentration camps, over 400 ghettos. To prevent the Resistance movement, the Germans introduced a system of collective responsibility for an act of terror or sabotage. 50% of Jews and 50% of Ukrainians, Russians and other nationalities of the total number of hostages were subject to execution.

During the occupation, 3.9 million civilians were killed on the territory of Ukraine.

Became a symbol of the Holocaust in Ukraine Babi Yar, where 33,771 Jews were exterminated on September 29-30, 1941 alone. Afterwards, for 103 weeks, the occupiers carried out executions every Tuesday and Friday (the total number of victims was 150 thousand people).

The most bloodthirsty news of the week comes, naturally, from Kyiv. On Wednesday, Poroshenko signed the so-called law on the reintegration of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

It seems like nothing new. We have been called an aggressor country before, and Donbass, which is fighting for the right to think and speak Russian, has been called occupied - though it is not clear by whom - territories. But now these formulations are not only the painful hysteria of participants in Ukrainian talk shows, but also the law. Let taken by illegal actors.

Now the leader of the Kyiv terrorists can use troops inside the country without further approval. This means that this week Poroshenko took a huge step towards war.

The Ukrainian law “On the peculiarities of state policy to ensure the state sovereignty of Ukraine over the temporarily occupied territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions,” according to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, “indicates a desire to depopulate the lands where several million people live.”

In ukrology, you and I captured the Donbass. There, under occupation, under the yoke of the Russian imperial boot, unfortunate peaceful people dream of only one thing - to quickly open the doors to the Lviv liberator warrior. And there is only one solution: war with Russia to a victorious end!
Notice that the young man calmly, without shocking, offers all these non-Ukrainians “knowledge.”

The thought was not crazy, but well lodged in his shaved head. I would especially like to note that “znyshchaty” in the Ukrainian dialect is used in relation to rats, mice, sick dangerous animals, and harmful insects.

And most importantly, there is an excellent explanation. If we know anyone, it’s the Russian occupiers. Sleep well, nenka Ukraine! And everything seems to be according to the law! I wonder if Poroshenko thought about this at least for a minute when he signed the document? But what a difference it makes!

Maidan continues

Over the weekend, one of the Kyiv terrorist groups twice attacked the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo. The walls are painted with Nazi symbols. The flag of our country was trampled and burned.

After this, the police took the building of the Ukrainian Center in the center of Moscow on Arbat under special protection. What about their Ukrainian colleagues? How did they react to outright illegality?

Between the attacks, the police terminated the contract to protect the building, citing extraordinary circumstances.

Let me tell you in plain text: the majority of people who work at Rossotrudnichestvo representative offices are local residents. That is, the Ukrainian police refused to protect the citizens of Ukraine itself. They say it’s their own fault: there’s no point in cooperating with the aggressor. This is the logic.

Everything is exactly the opposite.

Residents of Gorlovka, Donetsk, Lugansk, Avdeevka know where good is and where evil is. The miners took machine guns and began to dig trenches around their houses because the victory of the skinheads from Lviv and Vinnitsa meant death for Donbass. Listen to a short interview with a Ukrainian warrior. Very revealing. I will only translate the word “znyschyty” - to destroy. When I see such a crowd, ready to tear to pieces anyone who is “against the idea of ​​a Greater Ukraine,” I remember fascist Germany. But not about “democratic Europe”. There are none of the “European values” here. Under their pretext they killed four years ago last defenders Ukrainian statehood - Berkut fighters.

On February 21, 2014, President Yanukovych agreed with rebel leaders on early elections in exchange for an end to street violence. The agreement was also signed by the foreign ministers of Poland and Germany and an official from the French Foreign Ministry. The next day, the Supreme Council, which the militants broke into, declared the president removed from official duties.

I explain in plain text: not a single law of Ukraine contains such a concept - self-removal from official duties. There is a coup d'état. For him - even for trying - severe punishment is due. But there is no self-elimination. It is not for nothing that Poroshenko, testifying on Wednesday at the trial on charges of treason against President Yanukovych, said that four years ago, as a deputy of the Supreme Council, he knew nothing about this resolution. And when Yanukovych’s lawyer asked whether Poroshenko’s secret ten-day vacation in the Maldives could be considered self-dismissal, the judge immediately ended the interrogation. This is what democracy is like in Kyiv today.

Graveyard World

There is such a peacemaker Volker - in English pronunciation Volker. Special Representative for Ukraine of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America. He, oddly enough, is tasked with resolving the conflict in Donbass. For this purpose, he flies for negotiations almost every week.

And still nothing. This week it became clear why things weren't working out.

Special Representative Volker said that the goal of the SGA is to “fill the gaps in the armament of the Ukrainian army, increasing the ability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend its territory.” He also said that the supply of Javlin-Spear portable anti-tank missiles to Ukraine is only the first step: “Javelin will be part of such assistance, but we are talking about much more.”

The plan for a peaceful settlement is in plain text: burn the tanks of the Donbass people, attack their positions (and at the same time, I note, residential areas and life support infrastructure) with high-precision weapons.

Until now, Ukraine has received weapons and ammunition from old Soviet stocks from NATO countries that were once socialist. Now the SGA will give Kyiv something more effective. More deadly.

Well, to establish a peaceful life throughout the southwest of Rus'. As Mikhail Ivanovich Nozhkin sang more than half a century ago, “everything is calm in the cemetery.” Twenty thousand killed in civil war, apparently, not enough. I am sure that our Liberoids, even after such revelations, will have enough conscience to continue howling about “Russia’s fault for starting the war.”

SGA against the Russians

And more about beauty. On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman SGA Nauert said that diplomatic missions are instructed to dissuade their host countries from developing business contacts with the Russian Federation - primarily in the defense industry. And economic entities and even entire countries that do not comply with the recommendations of the CGA may themselves fall under sanctions.

Isn’t this wonderful “if they don’t take it, we’ll turn off the gas” a declaration of a trade war?

Isn't there pressure on the sovereign right to decide for themselves: with whom to cooperate and with whom not to cooperate?

Americans have openly allowed themselves to do everything that they forbid others to do. They constantly interfere in elections around the world - but we are accused of choosing Trump for president.

They supply terrorists with weapons - and we are criticized for fighting these same terrorists.

They close their market to everything that they want to produce themselves - but they demand from us complete freedom import of their products.

Do you know why?

Six decades ago, Washington officially announced that they would not tolerate the existence in the world of anyone capable of disobeying them.

In the nineties, the Russian Federation adopted these rules. It’s not for nothing that we called those years dashing. In the house of the government of the Russian Federation, an entire floor was allocated for agents (!) of the SGA, who were engaged in only one thing - the destruction of the remnants of the great country that frightened them so much.

As always, delusions of grandeur are harmoniously combined with delusions of persecution. President Yeltsin was received overseas like family. A little more, and there would be nothing left of Russia.

It didn't work out. We have understood a lot about what SUCH friendship with the overseas region leads to. Now, to put it mildly, we are not friends. Or maybe for the better? After all, we need both gas and oil. And our MiG and Su have not become worse during this time - which means they will be bought.

And all these ultimatums cause a Russian smile. The United States of America is younger than our Bolshoi Theater. Even before them - during the great Russian history - there were countless such ultimatums. And nothing. We survived. Russians don't give up!

Munich turned its back on Kyiv

At the next Munich International Security Conference, another performance by Poroshenko broke down. Although he brought a visual aid - a bullet-ridden EU flag that allegedly hung on the front line near the Donbass Avdeevka.

One problem, Comrade Poroshenko: in the civil war you unleashed, there are completely different flags on your side of the front line. Here are these, for example: Poroshenko, shaking his stars, said that the flag Russian Federation should not hang anywhere in the world “while Russia continues to incite a worldwide hybrid war and Russian bullets are aimed at our symbols.” That’s what he said, “our symbols.” But by this moment there were almost no “ours” left in the hall.

Poroshenko, unlike state leaders and ministers, was given only fifteen minutes to speak. The hall was half empty at the beginning of his speech, and by the middle of it almost all the listeners had left.

Those who nevertheless sat through to the end clearly indicated that Poroshenko did not say anything new. The main thing is that he did not even hint at how he hopes to make Ukraine itself, if not prosperous, then at least safe. But his main disappointment is not even the contempt of the conference participants, but the disruption of the meeting in the Normandy format, with representatives of Germany, France, and the Russian Federation.

German Foreign Minister Gabriel on Friday evening, just in time for the scheduled meeting, flew from Munich to Berlin for several hours for a press conference of journalist Yucel, released from a Turkish prison. Again, the meeting time was not agreed upon.

I explain in plain text: Gabriel represents the junior coalition partner in the government - the Social Democrats. And they are far from delighted with the sanctions against the Russian Federation, which are ruining the European Union under the pretext of supporting Ukraine. Gabriel's refusal to meet is a hint to Christian Democrats that they will have to moderate their inflexibility.

And not everyone in the Social Democratic Party itself is ready to vote for extending the coalition if nothing changes in the country’s politics. In a word, as usual since the coup in Ukraine, Poroshenko is being used as an instrument of intra-European disputes. And the more acute they are, the closer the end of Western support for Kyiv terrorists is.

In September 1941, the Germans launched an offensive. The 1st Tank Group and the motorized division of the 11th Army almost immediately broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops and reached the area of ​​​​the city of Osipenko. With this maneuver they surrounded units of the 18th and 9th Armies. The fighting in the encirclement continued until October 10.

Defense of Donbass

The Cossack troops were reorganized.

The first steps have been taken to organize new branches of the military. The created railway troops were supposed to speed up mobilization and ensure the rapid delivery of units to the combat area.

Improving the military education system. Military gymnasiums were created. Representatives of different classes had the right to enter some of them. In 1864, the first cadet schools were opened to train junior officers.

A gradual reduction in the size of the army (from 1864 to 1867 by an average of 30%).

Changing the system of combat training of troops. Much more attention began to focus on activities simulating the situation of a real battle, various options for the behavior of officers and soldiers in difficult situations, the interaction of adjacent branches of the military was worked out. At the same time, D.A. Milyutin demanded from his subordinates that they instill in the soldiers self-respect, initiative, and a sense of responsibility for completing the task.

The old military uniform has been replaced with new option, much more convenient and practical in real combat.

crown military reform YES. Milyutina became the introduction On January 1, 1874, the law abolished conscription and introduced universal military service. From now on valid military service passed by men who had reached 20 years of age. In the army the service life was 6 years, and in the navy - 7 years. Persons with higher and secondary education “pulled the burden” for 0.5 and 1.5 years, respectively. There were also family benefits. The only son in the family, the breadwinner, etc., were not accepted into the army.

Reassess the importance of the military reform of 1861 - 1874. difficult. With a general reduction in spending on the army, it was possible to create modern armed forces that have proven their high combat effectiveness in Russian-Turkish war 1877 - 1878

Donbass operation ( September 29 - November 4, 1941) - defensive operation on the territory of Donbass during the Great Patriotic War.

By the end of September 1941, the approaches to Donbass were defended:

· Southwestern Front (Marshal Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko):

· Southern Front (Lieutenant General D. I. Ryabyshev, from October 5 Colonel General Ya. T. Cherevichenko):

12th Army (USSR) (Gen. G. N. Ponedelin)

18th Army (USSR) (Lieutenant General A.K. Smirnov)

9th Army (USSR)

The attacking forces consisted of troops from Army Group South:

· 17th Army (Stülpnagel)

1st Panzer Group (Kleist)

· part of the 11th Army (Manstein)

· main forces of the 3rd Romanian army

The enemy's superiority over Soviet troops was:

· in manpower and aviation - 2 times

· in guns and mortars - 3 times

The 12th Army took up defensive positions at the Pavlograd, Vasilkovka, Gavrilovka line to contain the enemy’s advance and ensure the withdrawal of the remaining troops. At the same time, the Taganrog combat sector was created consisting of 3 rifle divisions to organize defense on the eastern bank of the Mius River from Uspenskaya to Taganrog and cover the approaches to Rostov-on-Don. The 383rd particularly distinguished itself in battles rifle division(miners of Stalino).

October 14 The 9th Army and the Taganrog combat sector (troops of the Southern Front) launched a counterattack and pushed back the enemy’s advanced units by 10-15 km. However, with the approach of the main forces of the 1st German Tank Army, Soviet troops were again forced to retreat. The troops of the right wing of the front, by order of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, retreated to the line Krasny Liman, Debaltsevo, and the left wing (18th and 9th Armies), under pressure from superior German forces, retreated to the line Debaltsevo - Krasny Luch - Bolynekrepinskaya - Khapra, where they took up defensive positions.

The enemy managed to defeat the remnants of the Southern Front of the Red Army, reach the Sea of ​​Azov and enter Crimea. The southwestern part of Donbass, Rostov-on-Don, was also occupied. Soviet troops the Rostov offensive. Rostov was recaptured from the enemy, German units retreated to the river line. Mius, where they settled until July 1942.

¨ The occupied territory of Donbass was included by the Nazis in the so-called “military zone” (or “front-line”), subordinate to the command of the German army, which pursued a policy of cruel terror against the civilian population

¨ In the city of Stalino (renamed by the Germans to Yuzovka), on the territory of the Palace of Culture of Metallurgists and adjacent territories, a concentration camp for Soviet prisoners of war was created, in which more than 25 thousand people were kept. The dead were buried in the park near the Palace of Culture of Metallurgists. Nowadays there is a monument to the “Victims of Fascism” in this place.

¨ Punitive bodies of the armies, commandant's offices, punitive detachments, several special teams and gendarmerie groups under the leadership of the Gestapo operated. A system of collective responsibility was introduced. For the murder of a German soldier, 100 local residents were shot, and for the murder of a policeman, 10.

¨ The pit of the 4-4-bis Kalinovka mine (Donetsk) became a place of execution and a mass grave. Of the 365 meters deep in the mine shaft, 310 meters were filled with the corpses of tens of thousands of people. Caustic soda was added to the mine pit to compact and compact the bodies. During the retreat, the Germans blocked the mine shaft. There is now a memorial complex at the site of the tragedy.

¨ At all enterprises that were not evacuated, serious underground activity developed. The underground members collected information about the movement, composition, and armament of enemy units, the plans of the invaders, and the location of their headquarters and warehouses. They carried out sabotage operations.

¨ In only 12 cities of regional subordination (Artemovsk, Gorlovka, Druzhkovka, Debaltsevo, Enakievo, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, Makeevka, Mariupol, Slavyansk, Stalino, Chistyakovo) the Germans destroyed 6035 residential buildings and damaged 9631 residential buildings, destroyed 17 higher buildings educational institutions, 234 theaters and clubs, 31 cinemas, 300 buildings for children's institutions, 844 shops, 210 vegetable stores, 30 mills, 347 km of tram lines, 565 km of tram power networks, etc.

¨ The Nazi invaders plundered livestock and poultry farms, as well as collective farm apiaries. They destroyed breeding and draft cattle.

¨ During the period of occupation, the Nazis destroyed, plundered and exported to Germany from collective farms cattle - 192,272 heads, pigs - 194,675 heads, sheep and goats - 404,588 heads, horses - 96,696 heads, various birds - 1,260,169 pieces, etc. The occupiers are completely 22,361 residential buildings and 12,978 outbuildings were destroyed. They plundered from the civilian population 80,020 cars and agricultural implements, 83,667 heads of cattle, 6,438 bee colonies, 174,161 roots of perennial plantings, 1,269,781 centners of grain, 74,189 centners of flour, 813,690 centners of potatoes, 63,453 centners of other agricultural products.

¨ Damage caused Nazi invaders citizens, collective farms, public organizations and institutions of the Stalin region is 30,707,926,285 rubles.