Hot August 13, 1941 Odessa leaves the last train echelon. The defense of a large Black Sea town is successful, but the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief decides on the evacuation of troops to the Crimea. The losses of the Soviet and allied German-Romanian troops are equal 18 thousand people each
The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran (Operation Consent) will take place on August 25, 1941. Without declaring war, the forces of the British Empire attack the Shahs army from the Persian Gulf. Soviet units invade Transcaucasia. The main strike force of the Red Army is a thousand T-26 tanks, the Caspian flotilla, the British the fire of naval artillery and the Air Force. Major cities, including Tehran, are being bombarded. Hundreds of civilians die. The Iranian army is densely saturated with money, but it is even more corrupt. Iranian divisions lose control (senior officers tend to leave the battlefield), crumble, surrender. Some units intend to fight to the end. However, on August 29, the Shah gave the order to lay down their arms. In the photo the Soviet military convoy enters the city of Tabriz.
Already on September 17, the Red Army and British units occupy Tehran. A month later, having formed a loyal government (now no side unrelated to the Germans), the Allies leave the capital. The country is divided into Soviet and British zones of influence. According to the treaty, Iran is declared an ally of Britain and the USSR. The parties pledge to withdraw troops within six months after the cessation of all hostilities. This operation has a background. Great Britain is occupying Iraq. The course of action. May, 1941, landing of the expeditionary corps in Basra, air force strikes on airfields. The Germans are trying to come to the aid of the allies, but without the proper enthusiasm and scale. As a result, the British establish control over the oil fields, and in the future they get the opportunity to conduct a corridor for deliveries to the USSR. Photography Soviet and British officers (in characteristic shorts and cork helmets) communicate near the armored car. Iran, August 1941
The loss of the parties in the Anglo-Iraq war. Britain 1,200 people, 30 aircraft, Iraqis 8,500 troops, 20 German, 4 Italian aircraft. Losses during the occupation of Iran: the USSR 50 people irrevocably, 3 aircraft. Britain 25 fighters, 8 aircraft. Iran 800 soldiers, 300 civilians. The result of the operation «Consent» is unhindered delivery of more than 5 million tons of military cargo to the USSR. A small bonus a significant part of the grain harvest in Northern Iran is being used by the army. But now, in the autumn of 1941, the capture of a considerable country of the East seems only a small drop of honey in a huge barrel of tar.Photography British correspondent talks with a Soviet officer who was injured during the battle with Iranians
The defense of Soviet troops near Smolensk, 1941, July 10 September 10. T-26 tanks in the background
The onset of the fascist German troops near Smolensk, autumn 1941. Infantry with all the tackle equipment, mortar gunners and the first T-4 tank releases
Soviet gunners with 45 mm. a cannon. The outskirts of Smolensk, autumn 1941. In the background a padded German self-propelled gun
German military inspect the Soviet KV-2 tank with a broken chassis. Even without enemy shells, the overloaded KV-1 and KV-2 chassis often fail. Memories of German corporal Helmut Claussmann: « Once in our division a soldier was shot, who wrote a defeat letter home in which he scolded Hitler. And after the war, I learned that during the war years, for such letters, several thousand soldiers and officers were shot! One of our officers was demoted to the rank and file for defeatist talk. Especially feared members of the NSDAP. They were considered informers, because they were very fanatically minded and could always submit a report to you on command. There were not very many of them, but they were almost always not trusted. Attitude to the local population, to the Russians, to the Belarusians was restrained and suspicious, but without hatred. We were told that we must defeat Stalin, that our enemy is Bolshevism. But, in general, the attitude towards the local population was correctly called colonial. We looked at them in the 41st as a future labor force, as in the territory that would become our colonies. Ukrainians treated better. Because the Ukrainians greeted us very cordially. Almost like liberators. Ukrainian girls easily romances with the Germans. In Belarus and Russia, this was rare. There were contacts on the ordinary human level. In the North Caucasus, I was friends with the Azerbaijanis, who served as auxiliary volunteers (khivi). In addition to them in the division served Circassians and Georgians. They often cooked kebabs and other dishes of Caucasian cuisine. I still love this kitchen very much. From the beginning, they took a little. But after Stalingrad, every year they became more and more. And by the 44th year they were a separate large auxiliary unit in the regiment, but they were commanded by a German officer. We called them Schwarze for their eyes black. They explained to us that it was necessary to them, as comrades, that they were our assistants. But a certain distrust of them, of course, remained. They were used only as providing soldiers »
Overwhelmed, probably by a bomb hit, KV-1. The advantage of the Wehrmacht at this stage is high coordination between the branches of the military. As part of the infantry, tank, and other units necessarily have aircraft manufacturers, guiding the Luftwaffe on target.
Vyazemsky defensive operation, October 213, 1941. Catastrophe. To the west of Vyazma, the forces of Army Group «Center» surround four Soviet armies. The irretrievable loss of the Red Army 250 thousand people, and 600 thousand prisoners. Losses Wehrmacht unknown. Now only scattered small Red Army detachments remain before Moscow
Carried in freight cars like cattle, soldiers captured in the Vyazma boiler. Photo on the cover of a German newspaper. October 1941
Captured from Vyazemsky boiler. Autumn 1941
Soldiers of Army Group North in the suburbs of Leningrad. The offensive is somewhat delayed. Residents of the city manage to create the necessary fortifications. Defense effectively keep heavy tanks KV-1 and KV-2, manufactured by the Kirov plant
September 8, 1941 Leningrad, the second largest and most important city of the USSR, as well as the surrounding areas are surrounded. The rates of distribution of bread, the main or only food in the first two months are reduced five times. Since November 20, the minimum bread-making rate (for employees, children and dependents) is 125 g. We will read several pages from the story of front-line writer Nikolai Nikulin («Memories of War»). « In the spring of 1941 in Leningrad, many felt the approach of war. Informed people knew about her preparation, the inhabitants were alarmed by rumors and gossip. But no one could have imagined that within three months after the invasion the Germans would be at the walls of the city, and in six months every third inhabitant would die a terrible death from exhaustion. Moreover, we, yellow-headed chicks, who had just left the school, did not think about what was coming. But the majority was destined to die in the swamps near Leningrad soon. Others, those few who return, waited a different fate to remain crippled, legless, armless, or turn into neurasthenics, alcoholics, forever lose composure. The declaration of war, I, and, as it seems, the majority of the inhabitants met, not so indifferently, but somehow alienated. We listened to the radio, talked. We expected quick victories of our army, invincible and the best in the world, as it was constantly written in the newspapers. Battles so far played out somewhere far away. About them came less news than about the war in Europe. In the first days of war, a peculiar holiday atmosphere developed in the city. It was clear, sunny weather, green gardens and squares, there were a lot of flowers. The city was adorned with ineptly executed posters on military themes. The streets came to life. Many new recruits in a new form were busily walking along the sidewalks. Everywhere you could hear singing, the sounds of phonographs and accordions: the mobilized hurried to get drunk one last time and celebrate their departure for the front. There was still food in the stores, and the queues did not look gloomy.»