Transcript The Great Patriotic War, Part II

The Great
Patriotic War,
Part II
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July 1942: Massive German offensive in southern Russia
The city of Stalingrad is besieged
The focal point of the entire war
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
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Stalingrad: the battle that decided the
outcome of World War II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BikV_
37Lv0U
Stalingrad before the war
Stalingrad, September 1942
Women volunteers signing Oath of Allegiance
Red Army infantry
counterattack at Stalingrad
Stalingrad
worker
militia
“The Pavlov House”: 24 Soviet soldiers defended this block
of flats in downtown Stalingrad for 2 months, surrounded by
the Germans
Sergeant
Yakov Pavlov
Soviet “Katyusha” rocket attack
Stalingrad: street fighting
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The architects of victory at
Stalingrad
General Georgiy Zhukov
General Aleksandr Vasilevsky
General Konstantin Rokossovsky
General Ivan Konev
1943: German troops surrender at Stalingrad
Stalingrad: surrender of German Field Marshal von Paulus
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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:
 Soviets: 1,290,000
 Germans and allies: 850,000
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July 1943: The Battle of Kursk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awRhSozctvs
German POWs in Russia
German POWs outside Moscow
The Big Three: Churchill, Roosevelt and
Stalin at Yalta, Feb.1945
The Big Three: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta, Feb.1945
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Major decisions of the Yalta Conference
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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 government 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.
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US and British aid to the Soviet ally, 1941-45:
 Food - $1.5 bln. in contemporary prices
 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.
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The Battle of Berlin: April-May 1945
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IwmY
AdgU18&feature=related
Red flag over Berlin, May 1945
Berlin, 1945:
after the
capture of
Hitler’s
headquarters
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
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Berlin in ruins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
OLMAEhVq2ok&feature=related
June 24, 1945: Marshal Zhukov leads Victory Parade in Red Square
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Victory Parade in Moscow’s Red Square,
June 24, 1945:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDQ2
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
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 – 9-11 mln. (Germany lost 3.25 mln.)
 5.8 mln. POWs (of them 3 mln. died in concentration
camps)
 1710 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
The war took
all nine of her
sons
Nazi war criminals on trial at
Nuremberg, November 1945