Italian Bersaliers (arrows of elite units) in the street of the Serbian city, April 1941
For some reason, the capture of Yugoslavia prompts Hitler to provide more effective assistance to the Italian allies. And, on April 6, 1941, from the territory of Bulgaria, German troops invade Greece. Athens surrenders on April 27th. After three more days Greece surrenders. A month later, the Wehrmacht occupied the island of Crete, considered primarily as an airfield to control the waters of the Mediterranean. Photography Greek city after shelling. April 1941
Brave but poorly armed Greek soldiers prepare to meet German troops. April 1941, Greece
Serious losses among parachutists do not allow further operations to capture Cyprus and the Suez Canal immediately. Losses of Greece: 14,000 killed, allies 900, with 14,000 prisoners. The Wehrmacht is losing 1,500 soldiers, Italy is about 20,000. It is believed that the need to seize Yugoslavia, as well as the stubborn resistance of Greece, postponed the time of invasion of the USSR from May 15, 1941 to June 22, and these five weeks had a decisive effect on the course of the war. Photography German soldiers deployed a flag near the Acropolis. May 1941
In the battle for Crete (May 2031, 1941) elite skydivers are the decisive force. On both sides die 5 thousand people. More than 5 thousand Greeks and 12 thousand allies (British, New Zealanders, Australians) are captured. The operation is generally successful. However, since then the German command has abandoned the practice of large landing forces. This decision allows the UK to preserve the strategically important island of Malta
Calculate the forces of the parties in the Battle of the Titans. The population of the Soviet Union in the census of 1939 is 170 million. The census leaders of 1937, which showed the result of «only» 162 million for the «undercounting» of the population were shot. In 1940, territories with a population of 18 million people, which were not always loyal to the new system, were attached to the USSR. We will assume that the results of the «firing» population census are correct. Then, by 1941, the population of the colossus was 180 million people. The Third Reich, 1941, i.e., Germany, Austria, the Sudetenland and other territories inhabited by ethnic Germans subject to conscription 90 million people. Hungary 9.3 million (800,000 Hungarians were killed on the Eastern Front), Romania 20 million (453,000 died). These two countries are the unconditional allies of Germany, whose human reserves she is free to dispose of as her own. The contingent of volunteers in 64 thousand is allocated by 44 million Italy (during the war years the corps was updated several times, 374 thousand died), and also 25 million Spain 18 thousand (15 thousand dead). Slovakia 36 thousand, 3 thousand died, Croatia 2 thousand people, the number of dead is unknown, Finland 300 thousand people, 70 thousand losses (against 108 thousand Soviet casualties on this front, including 18 thousand dead in captivity)The Wehrmacht also owns the resources and industry of France, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Poland, Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and the Czech Republic. Photography German soldiers on the border with the Soviet Union are conducting a reconnaissance, June 21, 1941. On the left 20 mm. automatic anti-aircraft gun 2 cm FlaK 30, on the right an early-release T-4 tank, with 75 mm. the instrument
The only ally of the USSR at this moment is the 47-million Great Britain with 1.2 million (including the units located in the colonies), the army pretty battered after Dunkirk. Her war with Germany until 1944 is similar to a ritual battle, a knightly tournament, where, according to the established rules, knights hung with glands seize. England has one and a half thousand aircraft, a dozen aircraft carriers, many cruisers, destroyers and submarines. After Dunkirk, the British have no more than 100 tanks left, but, thanks to developed industry, their number is constantly increasing. Fighting here rather technique, not people. The interest of Germany, whose spirit is now ruled by the ancient Germanic gods, lies in the Northeast. According to the plans of the command, German colonies should be organized in the USSR on the model of Ancient Sparta, with an autochthonous population reduced to 50 million. In the photo Soviet pilots near fighters I-16.
On June 22, 1941, Germany and Romania entered the war with the USSR. The basis of military operations for Bucharest is the rejection of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina a year earlier. A day later, Slovakia is included in the war. On the night of June 26, the Hungarian city of Kosice, three years previously owned by Slovakia, was bombarded by unmarked aircraft. 27 tons of bombs dropped. It is still not known whether the Soviet air force that bombed the city because of the confusion was German or even Romanian (to push an ally to action), but on June 27, Hungary declares war on the USSR. At the same time, on June 25, Soviet aviation strikes 18 Finnish airfields. Some of them are really based on German aircraft. On the same day, Suomi declares war. By the end of the year, it is occupying a significant part of Karelia, including the capital Petrozavodsk (which has become Eyslynnom). About 70,000 civilians from non-Finnish peoples fall into concentration camps. One third of them will die of malnutrition, disease, and mistreatment. A photograph is a Soviet I-16 fighter that failed to take off (or made an emergency landing). The curb weight of the aircraft 1,300 kg., The speed of 450 km. hours, the range of 480 km., weapons two machine guns 7.62 mm. Produced about 10,000 units. The second half of June 1941, USSR
Soviet fighters shot down at takeoff, I-15 and I-16, June 22, 1941
The «Decree of military jurisdiction of the Barbarossa Plan dated May 13, 1941 states: For the actions that Wehrmacht officials and allies will perform against the enemy civilian population, no prosecution is provided, also if this action is simultaneously a war crime or misdemeanor I release you from the chimera called conscience. "Further: «I reject Christianity, because it is a product of Judaism, because it is internationalistic and because it preaches peace on earth.»(Adolf Gitler). In the pre-war photo military pilots of the USSR near the I-15. These people will have to understand what a total war is and do the impossible.
On June 23, 1941, the battle for Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (320 km west of Kiev) starts. G. Zhukov, who came to the scene of the events, rejects the idea of the chief of staff of the South-Western Front about withdrawing troops. The new plan is a strike by five mechanized corps of 2,800 (later 3,100) tanks in four (later five) German tank divisions, 720 tanks and 70 assault guns. Photography German soldiers inspect abandoned heavy tank T-35. Weight 50 tons, 11 crew members, booking 30 mm front body., 20 mm board., 20 mm towers. The speed over rough terrain is 1012 km. h. Armament one 76.2 mm., two 45 mm. guns and six-seven machine guns. Made 59 units. Until June 1941, these tanks were not involved in the fighting, limited only by the demonstration of the power of the Soviet Union at military parades.