A general assembly war after the outbreak of the Soviet-German war. Hitler tried to destroy the main force of the Red Army, occupy Moscow and defeat the Soviet Union before winter. Assemble 80 divisions with 6.5438+0.8 million people, and Boucher will command the attack. The Soviet Union concentrated 6.5438+0.25 million troops under the command of Stalin. 10 year 10 2, the German general attack began. Hitler arrogantly declared that Moscow would be occupied in 10 days. Goebbels, his propaganda minister, actually asked the major newspapers in Berlin to leave an important position on the front page of 65438+ 10/2 to prepare to publish "particularly important news". The Soviet Red Army struggled to resist, and Moscow citizens mobilized urgently. 450,000 people participated in the construction of more than 300 kilometers of fortifications around the capital, and citizens organized national guard camps to destroy tanks and street fighting classes. 101October 12, the Germans have not yet approached the suburbs. 10 10 14, the Germans only captured Kalinin in the north, only approached Tula in the south, and only captured Borodino in the middle, but were immediately blocked. 165438+1October 15, 5 1 German divisions launched a new offensive in an attempt to encircle the north and south and make a breakthrough in the middle. The three armies of the Red Army stubbornly resisted, and the most prominent German army advanced to 30 kilometers away from Moscow. At the beginning of February, 65438, it was already a cold winter in Moscow, and the temperature dropped to MINUS 20 ~ 30 degrees Celsius. Hitler was unprepared for the winter campaign. Germans don't have cotton-padded clothes and warm equipment. The motors of planes and tanks can't be started, the bolt can't be pulled, and the weapons are out of order. The Soviets have put on warm cotton-padded clothes, leather boots and winter hats to protect their ears. The guns are covered with warm sleeves and coated with antifreeze lubricating oil. On February 6, 65438, the Red Army began to counterattack and constantly broke through the German lines. By the middle of 1942 10, the Red Army had wiped out 550,000 enemy troops and destroyed and captured 1500 tanks. The Germans retreated westward 150-300 km. Hitler's blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union was completely shattered.
2. Normandy landing
Within a month, the Allies established a solid front in the western European continent, extending from Caen to Saint Laurent, and all allied landing troops had landed in Normandy. The Normandy landing was the most crucial battle in World War II, which was of decisive significance for opening up the second battlefield in Western Europe.
1944 1 year1October 2 1 day, Eisenhower held the first meeting of the Allied Supreme Command in London, and formally determined the Normandy landing operation plan named "Overlord". [Transferred from Iron Blood Community/]
There were 39 allied divisions and about 2.88 million people involved in the landing. There are more than 0/5700 planes/KLOC-and more than 6000 ships, including landing ships, warships and merchant ships. At that time, the Germans deployed in the western front were 58 divisions, more than 500 planes, 100 submarines and more than 500 light ships. However, the German high command was deceived by the allied action codenamed "Resolute Plan", thinking that the allied forces would land along the coast of the Calais Strait, so the main force 15 Army was deployed along the coast of the Calais Strait, while the Seventh Army had only six infantry divisions stationed in Normandy and nearby areas, with less than 90,000 troops.
The only problem Eisenhower needed to solve was the choice of D-Day. According to the advice of meteorologists, the number of days that basically met the requirements of landing operations of the three armed forces in early June was only 5, 6 and 7 days. He initially chose June 5 as the landing day. However, the wind and waves were quite strong in early June, and the weather continued to be cruel on the 3 rd and 4 th. Eisenhower decided to postpone the attack for 24 hours, that is, on June 6. On the evening of June 4, Colonel Steiger, the meteorological director, reported that the weather might suddenly improve briefly from the night of June 5, and it would soon get worse by the night of June 6. Shall we take action on June 6, or continue to postpone it? Eisenhower also difficult to decide at the moment. Chief of Staff Smith said: "This is a gamble, but it may be the best gamble"; Montgomery, commander of the ground forces, said firmly, "Do as I say!" Finally, Eisenhower finally made up his mind and made the most important decision in his life. Operation Overlord will be implemented as planned on June 6th. Eisenhower later wrote in his memoirs that after the landing operation was ordered, he drafted two telegrams at the same time, one to congratulate the successful landing and the other to make an announcement to the press who was once forced to retreat. In the second telegram, Eisenhower took all the responsibility for the failure on himself. Fortunately, however, he finally won the gamble.
1in the early morning of June 6, 944, the weather was unexpectedly good, but the Germans did not expect that the allies would choose to land here and now. Rommel, who was in charge of the western defense, even left the front line to celebrate his wife's birthday. On the evening of the 6th, 35,000 troops of the 5th Army of the United States successfully landed on Omaha Beach, and then the allied forces of Utah, Juneau, Gold and Sod successfully consolidated the beachhead position with the support of the navy and air force and developed in depth.
By June of 12, Montgomery's 2 1 army group had established a continuous landing site in an area 80km ahead and13km-19km in depth, and transported 500,000 allied troops, 330,000 vehicles and 6,543,800 tons of combat materials ashore. On June 25th, American troops captured the port fortress Cherbourg.1On July 8th, 8, British troops captured the port city and American troops occupied San-Los Angeles. In this way, within a month, the Allies established a solid front extending from Caen to St. Los in the western European continent, and all the allied landing troops had landed in Normandy. The Normandy landing was the most crucial battle in World War II, which was of decisive significance for opening up the second battlefield in Western Europe. Stalin praised, "According to its careful planning, grand scale and ingenious implementation, there is no such precedent in the history of war."
3. Battle of Midway Island
Although Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was a great victory, the American aircraft carrier was not in the harbor at that time, so none of them suffered losses. Japan decided to concentrate its superior forces again and completely annihilate the American aircraft carrier. To realize this plan, we must first take Midway Island, an important American aviation base located in the northeast of the Hawaiian Islands, and use it as the operational base of the Japanese army. The Japanese navy that attacked Midway Island was still led by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned and directed the attack on Pearl Harbor. The fleet is divided into eight task forces: the first, under the command of Lieutenant General Nan Yun, attacked Midway Island from the northwest; The second to seventh sub-bureaus are responsible for covering, reconnaissance, vigilance and other tasks respectively, and cooperate with offensive operations. Isoroku Yamamoto personally led the Eighth Task Force, waiting for you in the northwest sea of Midway Island to command the whole operation.
The Japanese navy never dreamed that their sneak attack would not succeed! American intelligence agencies not only deciphered Japanese coded telegrams, but also designed and clarified the "A" in coded telegrams. The goal of "e" refers to midway island. The United States decided to cooperate, set an ambush and let the Japanese navy trap itself.
On June 4, in the dawn, the Japanese fleet hidden in the scheduled sea area began to attack. "The fighter plane takes off!" Lieutenant General Nan Yun's command came from the loudspeaker. Four giant aircraft carriers, Chicheng, Kaga, Dragonfly and Black Dragon, are brightly lit. /kloc-within 0/5 minutes, 108 plane flew off the deck and roared to the southeast midway island.
Soon, the loudspeaker issued an order again: "Prepare for the second attack!" "The elevator immediately put another plane on the deck. Nan Yun stood at the window of the command module, eagerly waiting for the news of the victory of the first batch of aircraft attacks.
At 00 o'clock, an interception team consisting of 25 wildcat fighters appeared in front of the Japanese fleet. The "Zero" fighter escorted by Japan immediately stepped forward.
Entangled with the "wildcat style", the two sides launched a fierce battle, and the Japanese bombers continued to fly to Midway Island. Through the violent barrage of American anti-aircraft guns, a bomb weighing 250 kilograms was dropped from the Japanese plane. 12 horizontal bombers began bombing airports and runways with bombs weighing 800 kilograms. However, the airport and runway are empty and American planes are ready. Some fly into the air, some intercept attacks, and some hide. After returning to China, the commander in charge of bombing reported the bombing situation to Nanyun and requested a second bombing of Midway Island. At this time, the second batch of planes that rose to the deck had been hit by torpedoes and were ready to bomb American warships. Nan Yun ordered the soldiers to unload the torpedo and load the bomb. The deck was in a hurry.
At this time, the Japanese reconnaissance plane reported that it had found 10 American warship 200 miles northeast. Nan Yun was surprised. He knew that such a large fleet had at least one aircraft carrier. He quickly ordered the fighter plane to unload the bomb again, put on the torpedo and attack the American fleet instead. Just then, the first planes that bombed Midway Island came back. Nan Yun had to order the flight deck to be vacated again to let the returning plane land. As time went on, the plane full of torpedoes was quickly ready to go, and the signalman sent out the signal of take-off order. However, it was this short delay that fundamentally changed the battlefield situation!
"American bomber!" With the cry of the lookout, three American "fearless" bombers swooped down vertically towards Nanyun's flagship "Chicheng". The Japanese ship's cannon pounded the bomber violently, but it was too late. I saw a black bomb falling from the wing of an American plane. After a sharp whistle, "Chicheng" flashed a dazzling flash, followed by a huge explosion. The cannon is dumb. Shrapnel flew everywhere, and the fire spread on the deck, causing the torpedo just installed on the plane to explode. The whole hangar was in flames. Nan Yun was stunned. In desperation, he had to leave the fiery red "Chicheng". At this time, Isoroku Yamamoto was sitting majestically on the battleship Yamato, which was the largest warship in the world at that time. The news of Nanyun's fiasco stunned Yamamoto. Looking at the "Chicheng" where the fire spread, Yamamoto reluctantly gave the order to blow it up. The destroyer Yefen launched a powerful new torpedo, and Chicheng was buried at the bottom of the sea in a violent explosion. This turned out to be the first shooting target of Ye Fen in this naval battle. Yamamoto finally became red-eyed. He knew that the fate of the Japanese fleet's fiasco was inevitable, but he still had to struggle to death. He ordered all the fleets to concentrate on him and plotted to induce the American fleet to move westward within the range of his fleet's heavy artillery fire. But the Americans saw through Yamamoto's trick.
At noon on June 4, Japan was left with only the aircraft carrier Dragonfly. Under the cover of six zero fighters, the 18 bomber on the Dragonfly hit the American aircraft carrier Jockton, and the Jockton slowly sank to the bottom of the sea. "Dragonfly" became the target of fierce attack by American fleet. Although it successfully escaped 26 torpedoes and about 70 bombs, it was eventually sunk by the Japanese fleet's own torpedoes in a fire.
In the early morning of the 5 th, the Japanese fleet heard Yamamoto's order: "Cancel the midway operation." In the Battle of Midway, the US military lost only one aircraft carrier, 1 destroyer and 147 aircraft, while Japan lost four aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser, 330 aircraft, hundreds of experienced pilots and thousands of crew members. The Japanese navy has since failed. In order to cover up his fiasco and avoid damaging the morale of the troops, on June 10, Japan Radio broadcasted a resounding naval song, claiming that Japan had "become the most powerful country in the Pacific". When the fiasco fleet returned to the station exhausted, Tokyo held a lantern parade to celebrate the victory. The U.S. Navy commented after taking charge of personnel: "The Battle of Midway was the first decisive failure of the Japanese Navy in 350 years. It ended Japan's long-term offensive and restored the balance of naval power in the Pacific. "
4. Battle of Berlin
The Germans suffered a heavy blow from the superior allied forces, and then retreated to the vicinity of Berlin. Soviet troops invaded Berlin at all costs based on political considerations, the Third Reich was declared dead, and the European part of World War II ended successfully.
1945 65438+1From October to mid-April, the Germans suffered heavy blows from the superior forces of the Allied forces on the east and west battlefields. On the eastern front, the Soviet army has surrounded Berlin from the east and south, and the nearest distance from Berlin is only 60 kilometers. On the western front, the United States and Britain reached the Elbe River and attacked Hamburg, Leipzig and Prague, which are only100km away from Berlin. Although Germany has completely lost hope of winning, Hitler is still determined to carry the war to the end. The German high command deployed two army groups in Berlin, with a total of about 1 10,000 men, 1 10,000 guns,10.5 million tanks and 3,300 combat aircraft. Eight reserve divisions of the army headquarters were also used for Berlin defense, and there were 200,000 garrison troops in Berlin.
Stalin believed that it was of great political significance for the Soviet Union to capture Berlin after paying a heavy price, so it was necessary to attack Berlin first at all costs. To this end, the Soviet army mobilized about 2.5 million troops from three fronts, as well as 42,000 artillery pieces, 6,250 tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces, and 7,500 combat aircraft to gather in Berlin. 1In mid-April, 945, the Soviet high command decided to launch a general attack on Berlin: Marshal zhukov's Belarusian First Army attacked from the east as the vanguard, and Marshal konev's Ukrainian First Army attacked from the south; At the same time, the Belarusian Second Army in northern rokossovsky contained the German army group "Vistula River" in northern Berlin and prevented it from reinforcing Berlin.
At 5 am on April 16, zhukov issued the general attack order. After breaking through the first German defense zone, the First Belarusian Army arrived at the second German defense zone at noon that day. However, in the battle for the highland in Zerov, known as the "Berlin Lock", the Soviet army could not open the situation for a long time. Stalin personally issued a military order that the position must be captured before the evening of 17. Zhukov sent an old soldier, Cui Kefu, to lead the Eighth Guard to launch a fierce attack. At last, Zerov highland was captured on 17, and the Soviet army then put all tank corps into battle. On the morning of the 20th, the vanguard troops of the First Army of Belarus led by General Kuznetsov arrived in the suburbs of Berlin. On the night of April 20th, the Ukrainian First Army in southern konev also invaded the southern suburbs of Berlin. At this point, the German defense system on the Oder-Nice River was completely broken by the Soviets.
On April 24th, the left-wing troops of the First Belarusian Army and the First Ukrainian Army joined forces in the southeast of Berlin, cutting off the connection between the Ninth German Army and Berlin. On April 25th, the troops of Belarus 1 Army bypassed Berlin from the north and joined the 4th Tank Army of Ukrainian 1 Army in the west of Berlin, thus completing the complete encirclement of Berlin. On the same day, the 5th Army of the Guards, belonging to the First Army of Ukraine, marched westward to the Elbe River and joined forces with the US 1 Army on the western line of Tolgoi. This is the first time in more than three years that Soviet troops and allied forces have joined hands in the anti-fascist war on three major battlefields. To celebrate this historic meeting, Stalin ordered 324 cannons to fire 24 salutes in Moscow.
On April 27th, Soviet troops invaded Berlin, and on the 28th, Soviet troops advanced to the government office building, parliament building and Thiel Garden where the High Command was located. At 3: 30 pm on the 30th, both Hitler and his wife committed suicide by taking poison in the underground bunker. At 6 pm, Soviet soldiers began to attack the parliament building, which was the last stronghold of the Russian army. At 2 1: 50, Staff Sergeant yegorov and Corporal Cantalia of Soviet 150 Division planted the red flag of victory on the dome of the main building of the Parliament Building, and the battle in Berlin was actually over. At 7 o'clock on May 2, the German Berlin Yugoslav capital commander went to the Cui Kefu command post to sign the surrender order, and the battle of Berlin ended successfully.
In the Battle of Berlin, the Soviets captured 380,000 Germans, seized more than 0.5 million tanks/KLOC-0, more than 4,500 self-propelled guns and more than 4,500 planes. The Soviet army also paid a high price of 300,000 people. On May 9th, entrusted by Hitler's successor, Deng Nici, representatives of the German High Command formally signed the unconditional surrender to the Soviet Union and its allies, and the Third Reich was declared dead, and the European part of World War II ended successfully.