Seven of the bloodiest battles in history. Major battles of World War II

World War II, Great Patriotic War. It was the most brutal and bloody war in human history.

During the period of this massacre, more than 60 million citizens of various countries of the world died. Historians have calculated that every military month, an average of 27,000 tons of bombs and shells fell on the heads of military and civilians on both sides of the front!

Come on today, on Victory Day, let's remember the 10 most formidable battles of World War II.

Source: realitypod.com/

It was the largest air battle in history. The aim of the Germans was to gain air superiority over the British Royal Air Force in order to invade the British Isles unhindered. The battle was fought exclusively by combat aircraft of the opposing sides. Germany lost 3,000 of its pilots, England - 1,800 pilots. Over 20,000 British civilians were killed. The defeat of Germany in this battle is considered one of the decisive moments in World War II - it did not allow the elimination of the Western allies of the USSR, which later led to the opening of a second front.

Source: realitypod.com/

The longest long battle of World War II. During the naval battles, German submarines tried to sink Soviet and British supply ships and warships. The allies responded in kind. Everyone understood the special significance of this battle - on the one hand, Western weapons and equipment were delivered by sea to the Soviet Union, on the other hand, the UK was supplied with everything necessary mainly by sea - the British needed up to a million tons of all kinds of materials, food, in order to survive and continue the fight . The price of the victory of the members of the anti-Hitler coalition in the Atlantic was huge and terrible - about 50,000 of its sailors died, the same number of German sailors lost their lives.

Source: realitypod.com/

This battle began after the German troops at the end of World War II made a desperate (and, as history shows, the last) attempt to turn the tide of hostilities in their favor, organizing an offensive operation against the Anglo-American troops in the mountainous and wooded terrain in Belgium under the code called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine). Despite all the experience of British and American strategists, the massive German attack caught the Allies by surprise. However, the offensive ultimately failed. Germany in this operation lost more than 100 thousand of its soldiers and officers killed, the Anglo-American allies - about 20 thousand soldiers killed.

Source: realitypod.com/

Marshal Zhukov wrote in his memoirs: "When they ask me what I remember most from the last war, I always answer: the battle for Moscow." Hitler considered the capture of Moscow, the capital of the USSR and the largest Soviet city, as one of the main military and political goals of Operation Barbarossa. It is known in German and Western military history as "Operation Typhoon". This battle is divided into two periods: defensive (September 30 - December 4, 1941) and offensive, which consists of 2 stages: the counteroffensive (December 5-6, 1941 - January 7-8, 1942) and the general offensive of the Soviet troops (January 7-10 - April 20, 1942). The losses of the USSR - 926.2 thousand people, the losses of Germany - 581 thousand people.

LANDING OF THE ALLIES IN NORMANDY, OPENING OF THE SECOND FRONT (FROM JUNE 6, 1944 TO JULY 24, 1944)

Source: realitypod.com/

This battle, which became part of Operation Overlord, marked the beginning of the deployment of the strategic grouping of the Anglo-American allied forces in Normandy (France). British, American, Canadian and French units took part in the invasion. The landing of the main forces from the warships of the Allies was preceded by a massive bombardment of German coastal fortifications and the landing of paratroopers and gliders on the positions of selected units of the Wehrmacht. Allied marines landed on five beaches. Considered one of the largest amphibious operations in history. Both sides lost over 200,000 of their troops.

Source: realitypod.com/

The last strategic offensive operation of the armed forces of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War turned out to be one of the bloodiest. It became possible as a result of a strategic breakthrough of the German front by units of the Red Army that carried out the Vistula-Oder offensive operation. It ended with a complete victory over Nazi Germany and the surrender of the Wehrmacht. During the battles for Berlin, the losses of our army amounted to more than 80 thousand soldiers and officers, the Nazis lost 450 thousand of their military personnel.

War is the worst thing that can happen in our life. This must not be forgotten.

1. Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943

Opponents: Nazi Germany vs. the USSR
Losses: Germany 841,000; Soviet Union 1,130,000
Total: 1,971,000
Outcome: Victory of the USSR

The German advance began with a devastating series of Luftwaffe raids that left much of Stalingrad in ruins. But the bombing did not completely destroy the urban landscape. As they advanced, the German army became embroiled in fierce street fighting with the Soviet forces. Although the Germans took control of more than 90% of the city, the Wehrmacht forces were unable to dislodge the remaining stubborn Soviet soldiers from it.

The cold began, and in November 1942, the Red Army launched a double attack of the 6th German Army in Stalingrad. The flanks collapsed, and the 6th Army was surrounded, both by the Red Army and by the harsh Russian winter. Hunger, cold, and sporadic Soviet attacks began to take their toll. But Hitler did not allow the 6th Army to retreat. By February 1943, after an unsuccessful German attempt to break through when food supply lines were cut, the 6th Army was defeated.

2. Battle of Leipzig, 1813

Opponents: France vs. Russia, Austria and Prussia
Losses: 30,000 French, 54,000 allies
Total: 84000
Outcome: Victory of the Coalition Forces

The Battle of Leipzig was the largest and most powerful defeat suffered by Napoleon, and the largest battle in Europe before the outbreak of the First World War. Faced with attacks from all sides, the French army performed remarkably well, keeping the attackers at bay for more than nine hours before they were outnumbered.

Realizing the imminent defeat, Napoleon began to withdraw his troops in an orderly manner across the only remaining bridge. The bridge was blown up too soon. Over 20,000 French soldiers were thrown into the water and drowned while trying to cross the river. The defeat opened the doors to France for the allied forces.

3. Battle of Borodino, 1812

Opponents: Russia vs. France
Losses: Russians - 30,000 - 58,000; French - 40,000 - 58,000
Total: 70,000
Outcome: Various interpretations of the results

Borodino is considered the bloodiest one-day battle in history. Napoleon's army invaded the Russian Empire without declaring war. The rapid advance of the powerful French army forced the Russian command to retreat inland. Commander-in-Chief M.I. Kutuzov decided to give a general battle not far from Moscow, near the village of Borodino.

During this battle, every hour on the battlefield, about 6 thousand people died or were injured, according to the most conservative estimates. During the battle, the Russian army lost about 30% of its composition, the French - about 25%. In absolute numbers, this is about 60 thousand killed on both sides. But, according to some reports, up to 100 thousand people were killed during the battle and died later from wounds. Not a single one-day battle that took place before Borodino was so bloody.

Opponents: Britain vs. Germany
Casualties: Britain 60,000, Germany 8,000
Total: 68,000
Outcome: Inconclusive

The British Army experienced the bloodiest day in its history in the opening stages of a battle that would last for several months. More than a million people were killed as a result of the hostilities, and the original military tactical situation remained largely unchanged. The plan was to pulverize the German defenses with artillery bombardment to the point where the attacking British and French forces could simply move in and occupy the opposite trenches. But the shelling did not bring the expected devastating consequences.

As soon as the soldiers left the trenches, the Germans opened fire from machine guns. Poorly coordinated artillery often covered their own advancing infantry with fire or was often left without shelter. By nightfall, despite the massive loss of life, only a few targets were occupied. Attacks continued in this manner until October 1916.

5. Battle of Cannae, 216 BC

Opponents: Rome vs. Carthage
Losses: 10,000 Carthaginians, 50,000 Romans
Total: 60,000
Outcome: Carthaginian victory

The Carthaginian commander Hannibal led his army through the Alps and defeated two Roman armies on Trebia and Lake Trasimene, sought to involve the Romans in the last decisive battle. The Romans concentrated their heavy infantry in the center, hoping to break through the middle of the Carthaginian army. Hannibal, in anticipation of a central Roman attack, deployed his best troops on the flanks of his army.

As the center of the Carthaginian forces collapsed, the Carthaginian parties closed in on the Roman flanks. The mass of legionnaires in the back ranks forced the front ranks to march irresistibly forward, not knowing that they were driving themselves into a trap. Eventually, the Carthaginian cavalry arrived and closed the gap, thus completely encircling the Roman army. In close combat, the legionnaires, unable to flee, were forced to fight to the death. As a result of the battle, 50 thousand Roman citizens and two consuls were killed.

Although it is not easy to say this, no one can deny that wars have played an important role in shaping our world. This determined our history, whole nations were born and destroyed for thousands of years. Although history is replete with battles large and small, there are still only a few that have played a large role in shaping the course of human history. The following list consists of the ten most important ones. There are battles that may not have been major battles in the history of warfare in terms of numbers involved and not all of them even land battles, but each of them had serious consequences in history that continue to reverberate today. If any of them had a different outcome, the world we live in today would look very different.

Stalingrad, 1942-1943


This is the battle that effectively ended Hitler's strategic initiative for world domination and Germany was on the long road to final defeat in World War II. The battle lasted from July 1942 to February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad is the bloodiest battle in the history of mankind, both sides in total lost over 2 million people killed and wounded, about 91,000 Germans were captured. The Germans suffered serious losses from which the German army never fully recovered and was forced to largely go on the defensive until the end of the war. While it is unlikely that a possible German victory at Stalingrad would have cost the Russians the war, it would certainly have extended it by many months, perhaps even giving the Germans the time they needed to perfect their own atomic bomb.

Midway, 1942



What Stalingrad was to the Germans, to the Japanese was a major naval battle that raged between Japan and the United States for three days in June 1942. Admiral Yamamoto's plan was to capture the Midway Islands, a tiny atoll about four hundred miles west of the Hawaiian Islands, which he planned to use as a springboard to attack the strategic islands later. To his surprise, he was met by a group of American carriers under the command of Admiral Chester Nimitz, and in a battle that could have easily gone one way or another, he lost all of his four carriers, as well as all of his aircraft, some of his best pilots. The defeat effectively meant the end of Japanese expansion across the Pacific, and Japan would never recover from that defeat. It is also one of the few battles in World War II in which the Americans won, despite the fact that the Japanese outnumbered the Americans and still won.

Battle of Actium



The Battle of Actium (lat. Actiaca Pugna; September 2, 31 BC) is the last great naval battle of antiquity between the fleets of Ancient Rome at the final stage of the period of civil wars. The decisive naval battle near Cape Actium (northwestern Greece) between the fleets of Mark Antony and Octavian Augustus ended the period of civil wars in Rome. Octavian's fleet was commanded by Mark Vipsanius Agrippa, and Antony's ally was the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. The ancient accounts of this battle are probably not entirely objective: most of them state that at the climax of the battle, Cleopatra fled with her fleet to Egypt, and Antony followed her. However, the main goal that Antony set for himself when entering the battle could be to break the blockade, but the idea was extremely unsuccessful: a smaller part of the fleet broke through, and the main part of the fleet and the land army of Antony, being blocked, surrendered and went over to the side of Octavian. Octavian won a decisive victory, achieved unconditional power over the Roman state and eventually became the first Roman emperor from 27 BC. e. under the name of August.

Waterloo, 1815



The Battle of Waterloo is the last major battle of the French Emperor Napoleon I, the greatest commander of the 19th century. The battle was the result of Napoleon's attempt to regain power in France, lost after the war against a coalition of major European states and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in the country ("Hundred Days"). The Seventh Coalition of European Monarchs acted as an opponent of Napoleon.
Waterloo (Dutch. Waterloo) is a village on the territory of modern Belgium, 20 km from Brussels, on the high road from Charleroi. At the time of the battle, the territory of modern Belgium was part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The battle took place on June 18, 1815. The Prussian troops also called this battle - the battle of Belle Alliance (Schlacht bei Belle-Alliance), and the French - at Mont Saint-Jean.

Gettysburg, 1863



If this battle had been lost, General Lee would have reached Washington, putting Lincoln and his army to flight and forcing a confederation on the country. In a battle that lasted 3 sweltering days in July 1863, 2 massive armies came together, pulverizing each other. But the Union was still in a better position, and General Lee's wrong decision to send General Picket to the Union's center line ended in the biggest defeat in Confederate history. Although Union losses were also significant, the North was able to recover quickly, which was not the case with the South.

Battle of Poitiers, 732

Maybe you have never heard of this battle, but if the Franks lost it, perhaps now, we would bow to Mecca 5 times a day and study the Koran. At the Battle of Poitiers fought about 20,000 Carolingian francs under the command of Charles Martel and 50,000 soldiers under the command of Abdur-Rahman ibn Abdallah. Although the enemy forces outnumbered the army of the Franks, Martel proved himself a capable commander and defeated the invaders, pushing them back to Spain. After all, if Martel had lost the battle, Islam would most likely have settled in Europe, and maybe in the world.

Battle of Vienna, 1683


As in the previous case, the Muslims again tried to take over Europe. This time, under the banner of the Ottoman Empire. The army of 150,000-300,000 soldiers of the vizier Kara-Mustafa met with the army of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski of 80,000 people on one fine day in September 1683 ... and lost. This battle marked the end of Islamic expansion in Europe. If the vizier had attacked Vienna when he first approached the city in July, Vienna would have fallen. But since he waited until September, he unwittingly gave the Polish army and its allies time to break through the siege and defeat the Turks.

Siege of Yorktown, 1781


By the numbers, it was a rather modest battle (8,000 American soldiers and 8,000 French against 9,000 British army), but when it ended in October 1781, it changed the world forever. The indomitable British Empire should have easily defeated some of the colonists under the command of George Washington, and for most of the war it was. By 1781, however, the new Americans understood how to wage war and, having asked for help from England's eternal enemy, France, turned into a small but very effective force. As a result, the British under Cornwallis were trapped on a peninsula between the determined Americans and the French fleet. After 2 weeks of fighting, the British troops surrendered. Thus, the Americans defeated the world's military power and won the independence of the future USA.

Battle of Salamis, 480 BC

Imagine a battle involving 1,000 ships. Then it becomes clear the scale of the battle of the Greek fleet under the command of Themistocles and the sea force, which was controlled by the king of Persia - Xerxes. The Greeks, by cunning, lured the Persian fleet into the narrow straits of Salamis, where the numerical superiority of the enemy was leveled. As a result, Xerxes was forced to retreat back to Persia, thus leaving Greece to the Greeks. Some historians believe that the victory of the Persians would have stopped the development of ancient Greece, as well as the entire Western civilization.

Battle of Adrianople


What the Battle of Poitiers meant to Western Europe, and the Battle of Vienna to Central Europe, the Battle of Adrianople meant the same to Eastern Europe. Islamic troops were stopped while trying to conquer all of Europe. If this battle had been lost and Constantinople captured by the Muslims, the Islamic armies would have crossed the Balkan Peninsula unhindered and set foot in Central Europe and Italy. However, Constantinople played the role of a buffer, preventing the Muslim army from crossing the Bosporus and taking over Europe, a role that lasted for 700 years until the fall of the city in 1453.

Some facts about the Great Patriotic War are becoming known only today. In the Tver region, historians and local historians claim that the battles for Rzhev, called "battles of local importance" in official documents, were in fact one of the largest operations in the entire history of the war. This is confirmed by the results of the excavations.

The ground here is literally strewn with the remains of soldiers. A section of the front three hundred kilometers long is like a huge mass grave. And 62 years later, search engines find dozens of dead here almost daily. “Very close, in this forest, we raised 84 fighters. Three chains of fighters. That is, in the ranks, as they walked, they remained lying,” says Tatyana Kukharenko, head of the Ugra search detachment.

The finds of search engines in the Tver region can serve as a basis for taking a different look at the history of the Great Patriotic War. Excavations show that the scale of the battles for Rzhev was much greater than previously thought. The battles that took place on these fields in 1942-1943 are listed in the archives as "battles of local significance." And now, both search engines and historians agree that, in fact, it was the second battle for Moscow. And the bloodiest in the history of mankind. For 17 months, Soviet troops continuously attacked, trying to push the Nazis further to the West. For the victory, here near Rzhev, almost one and a half million of our soldiers paid with their lives. This is more than in the battles for Stalingrad.

The official military-historical science in Soviet times could not accept such a version. Our offensive was unsuccessful, and failures were not recognized as heroism. In textbooks, even such a name - the Battle of Rzhev - does not exist so far.

The liberators of Rzhev, there are less than two dozen of them left in the city itself, do not agree with this. Nurse Faina Sobolevskaya - she was 17 years old in 1942 - never saw so many wounded again: “We didn’t have to sleep. When the battles go on, we don’t sleep at all. not enough. Not only tents, but also dugouts, sheds."

Scientists will argue about the scale of losses for a long time. At the Rzhev memorial complex, meanwhile, thousands of soldiers are buried every year. “There must be an understanding that these are not bones, but these are people whom relatives are still looking for,” says Sergey Petukhov, head of the Rzhev city public organization Search Center.

Most of those killed near Rzhev are nameless. But today, the search engines found a medallion, the inscription on which they could read. The Red Army soldier Fedot Pchelkin was somehow more fortunate than his colleagues - now they will report to the Kursk region that in 1942 he did not go missing, but died with a weapon in his hands.

WWII 1941-1945

And from the book of memoirs of Peter Mikhin:

Under Rzhev, from the blood, the grass turned red for centuries,
Under Rzhev, nightingales still sing crazy
About how near Rzhev, under the small town of Rzhev
There were great, long, hard battles.

Mikhail Nozhkin (from the song)

IA TASS

On January 5, 1942, Joseph Stalin gave the order to free Rzhev from the Nazis within a week. It was completed only after 14 months.

R Zhev was occupied by German troops on October 24, 1941. The city was liberated from January 1942 to March 1943. The battles near Rzhev were among the most fierce, groups of fronts carried out offensive operations one after another, the losses on both sides were catastrophic.

The Rzhev battle, despite the name, was not a battle for the city itself, its main task was to destroy the main forces of the German group on the Rzhev-Vyazma bridgehead, 150 km from Moscow. The fighting took place not only in the Rzhev region, but also in the Moscow, Tula, Kalinin, Smolensk regions.

It was not possible to throw back the German army, but Hitler was unable to transfer reserves to Stalingrad.

The Battle of Rzhev is the bloodiest battle in the history of mankind. “We flooded them with rivers of blood and covered them with mountains of corpses,” the writer Viktor Astafiev characterized its results in this way.

Was there a battle

Official military historians have not recognized the existence of the battle and avoid this term, arguing their opinion by the lack of continuous operations, as well as by the fact that it is difficult to separate the end and results of the Moscow battle from the battle of Rzhev. In addition, to introduce the term "Battle of Rzhev" into historical science means to record a major military tactical failure.

Veteran and historian Pyotr Mikhin, who went through the war from Rzhev to Prague, in the book “Artillerymen, Stalin gave the order! We died to win,” claims that it was he who introduced the term “Rzhev battle” into public use: “Today, many authors speak of the Rzhev battle as a battle. And I am proud that in 1993-1994 I was the first to introduce the concept of the “Battle of Rzhev” into scientific circulation.

He considers this battle the main failure of the Soviet command:

• “If it weren’t for Stalin’s haste and impatience, and if instead of six unsecured offensive operations, each of which lacked just a little bit for victory, one or two crushing operations would have been carried out, there would have been no Rzhev tragedy.”

Artillerymen at their starting positions in the battles near Rzhev in 1942 © Viktor Kondratiev/TASS

In the people's memory, these events were called the "Rzhev meat grinder", "breakthrough". Until now, there is an expression "drove under Rzhev." And the very expression “driven” in relation to soldiers appeared in popular speech precisely during those tragic events.

“Rus, stop dividing crackers, we will fight”

In early January 1942, the Red Army, having defeated the Germans near Moscow and freed Kalinin (Tver), approached Rzhev. On January 5, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command discussed the draft plan for the general offensive of the Red Army in the winter of 1942. Stalin believed that it was necessary to go over to a general offensive in all main directions - from Lake Ladoga to the Black Sea. An order was given to the commander of the Kalinin Front: “In no case, no later than January 12, capture Rzhev. … Receipt to confirm, execution to convey. I. Stalin”.

On January 8, 1942, the Kalinin Front began the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation. At that time, not only was it possible to interrupt the German defense 15-20 km west of Rzhev, but also to free the inhabitants of several villages. But then the fighting dragged on: the Germans fiercely resisted, the Soviet army suffered huge losses, the solid front line was torn apart. Enemy aircraft almost continuously bombed and fired at our units, and at the end of January the Germans began to encircle: their advantage in tanks and aircraft was great.

Gennady Boytsov, a native of Rzhevity, who was a child at the time of those events, recalls: back in early January, a “maize man” flew in and dropped leaflets - news from his native army: “From the text of the leaflet, the following lines were forever remembered: “Mash beer, kvass - we will be with you on Christmas ". The villages were stirred up and agitated; the residents' hopes for a speedy release after Christmas gave way to doubts. They saw Red Army soldiers with red stars on their caps on the evening of January 9th.”

Writer Vyacheslav Kondratiev, who participated in the battles: “Our artillery was practically silent. The gunners had three or four shells in reserve and saved them in case of an enemy tank attack. And we were advancing. The field along which we were moving forward was under fire from three sides. The tanks that supported us were immediately put out of action by enemy artillery. The infantry remained alone under machine-gun fire. In the very first battle, we left a third of the company killed on the battlefield. From unsuccessful, bloody attacks, everyday mortar attacks, bombing, the units quickly melted away. We didn't even have trenches. It's hard to blame anyone. Because of the spring thaw, food was bad for us, hunger began, it quickly exhausted the people, the exhausted soldier could no longer dig the frozen ground. For the soldiers, everything that happened then was difficult, very difficult, but still everyday life. They didn't know it was a feat."

Battle in the city of Velikie Luki photo: © V.Grebnev/TASS

The writer Konstantin Simonov also spoke about the difficult battles at the beginning of 1942: “The second half of winter and the beginning of spring turned out to be inhumanly difficult for our further offensive. And repeated unsuccessful attempts to take Rzhev became in our memory almost a symbol of all the dramatic events experienced then.

From the memoirs of Mikhail Burlakov, a participant in the battles for Rzhev: “For a long time, we were given crackers instead of bread. They were divided as follows - they were laid out in equal piles. One of the soldiers turned around and was asked to whom, pointing to one or another pile. to joke in the morning, they used to shout to us over the loudspeaker: “Rus, stop dividing the crackers, we will fight.”

It was very important for the Germans to keep Rzhev: from here they planned to make a decisive breakthrough to Moscow. However, holding the Rzhev bridgehead, they could transfer the rest of the troops to Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Therefore, it was necessary to block as many German troops as possible west of Moscow, exhausting them. Decisions on most operations were made personally by Stalin.

Armament and training

Good technical equipment gave the Germans a multiple advantage. The infantry was supported by tanks and armored personnel carriers, with whom there was communication during the battle. On the radio, it was possible to call and direct aircraft, to correct artillery fire directly from the battlefield.

The Red Army lacked either the means of communication or the level of training for combat operations. The Rzhev-Vyazemsky bridgehead became the site of one of the largest tank battles of 1942. During the summer Rzhev-Sychevsk operation, a tank battle took place, in which up to 1,500 tanks participated on both sides. And during the autumn-winter operation, 3,300 tanks were involved from the Soviet side alone.

During the events in the Rzhev direction, a new fighter, created in the design bureau of Polikarpov I-185, was undergoing military tests. In terms of the power of a second salvo, the later modifications of the I-185 were significantly superior to other Soviet fighters. The speed and maneuverability of the car turned out to be quite good. However, he was never put into service in the future.

Many outstanding military leaders passed through the Rzhev Academy: Konev, Zakharov, Bulganin ... Zhukov commanded the Western Front until August 1942. But the Rzhev battle became one of the most inglorious pages in their biographies.

"The German could not stand our stupid stubbornness"

The next attempt to capture Rzhev was the Rzhev-Sychevskaya offensive operation - one of the most fierce battles of the war. Only the top leadership knew about the offensive plans, radio and telephone conversations and all correspondence were prohibited, orders were transmitted orally.

The defense of the Germans on the Rzhevsky ledge was organized almost perfectly: each settlement was turned into an independent defense center with pillboxes and iron caps, trenches and communications. In front of the front edge, 20–10 meters, solid wire fences were installed in several rows. The arrangement of the Germans could be called relatively comfortable: birch trees served as railings for stairs and passages, almost every department had a dugout with electrical wiring and bunk beds. Some dugouts even had beds, good furniture, crockery, samovars, rugs.

Soviet troops were in much more difficult conditions. A participant in the battles on the Rzhev salient, A. Shumilin, recalled in his memoirs: “We suffered heavy losses and immediately received new replenishment. Every week new faces appeared in the company. Among the newly arriving Red Army soldiers were mostly villagers. There were also city employees among them, the smallest ranks. The arriving Red Army soldiers were not trained in military affairs. Soldier skills they had to acquire during the fighting. They were led to the front line and hurried."

• “... For us, the comfrey, the war was not fought according to the rules and not according to conscience. The enemy, armed "to the teeth", had everything, and we had nothing. It was not a war, but a massacre. But we climbed forward. The German could not stand our stupid obstinacy. He abandoned villages and fled to new frontiers. Every step forward, every inch of the earth cost us, comfrey, many lives.

Some fighters left the front line. In addition to the detachment of about 150 people, special groups of submachine gunners were created in each rifle regiment, who received the task of preventing the retreat of the fighters. At the same time, a situation arose that the detachments with machine guns and machine guns were inactive, since the fighters and commanders did not look back, but the fighters on the front line lacked the same machine guns and machine guns. This is evidenced by Peter Mikhin. He also clarifies that the Germans dealt with their retreating no less cruelly.

German troops in Rzhev photo: © AP Photo

“We often found ourselves without food and ammunition in deserted swamps and without any hope of our own help. The most offensive thing for a soldier in a war is when, with all his courage, endurance, ingenuity, dedication, selflessness, he cannot defeat a well-fed, arrogant, well-armed enemy, occupying a more advantageous position - for reasons beyond his control: due to lack of weapons, ammunition, food, aviation support, the remoteness of the rear, ”writes Mikhin.

A participant in the summer battles near Rzhev, the writer A. Tsvetkov, in his front-line notes, recalls that when the tank brigade in which he fought was transferred to the near rear, he was horrified: the whole area was covered with the corpses of soldiers: “There is a stench and stench all around. Many are sick, many are vomiting. So the smell from smoldering human bodies is unbearable for the body. A terrible picture, having never seen such a thing ... "

Mortar platoon commander L. Volpe: “Somewhere ahead to the right, [the village] Deshevka was guessed, which we got at an extremely high price. The whole glade was littered with bodies... I remember the completely dead crew of an anti-tank gun lying near its cannon turned upside down in a huge funnel. The commander of the gun was visible with binoculars in his hand. Loader with a cord clamped in his hand. The carriers, forever frozen with their shells that never hit the breech.

“We advanced on Rzhev through dead fields,” Pyotr Mikhin exhaustively describes the summer battles. He tells in the book of memoirs: “Ahead is the“ valley of death ”. There is no way to bypass or bypass it: a telephone cable is laid along it - it is interrupted, and by all means it must be quickly connected. You crawl over the corpses, and they are piled up in three layers, swollen, teeming with worms, emitting a sickening sweetish smell of decomposition of human bodies. The explosion of a shell drives you under the corpses, the soil trembles, the corpses fall on you, showering with worms, a fountain of pernicious stench beats in your face ... It's raining, in the trenches of water knee-deep. ... If you survived, look again, hit, shoot, maneuver, trample on the corpses lying under water. And they are soft, slippery, it is disgusting and regrettable to step on them.

The offensive did not bring great results: only small bridgeheads on the western banks of the rivers were captured. The commander of the Western Front, Zhukov, wrote: “In general, I must say that the Supreme Commander understood that the unfavorable situation that developed in the summer of 1942 was also the result of his personal mistake made when approving the plan of action for our troops in the summer campaign of this year.”

Fights "for a tiny tubercle"

The chronicle of tragic events is sometimes shocking with surprising details: for example, the name of the Boinya River, along the banks of which the 274th Infantry Division advanced: in those days, according to the participants, it was red with blood.

From the memoirs of veteran Boris Gorbachevsky "Rzhev meat grinder": "Ignoring the losses - but they were huge! - the command of the 30th Army continued to send more and more new battalions to the slaughter, that's the only way to call what I saw on the field. Both the commanders and the soldiers more and more clearly understood the meaninglessness of what was happening: whether the villages for which they laid their heads were taken or not taken, this did not help in the least to solve the problem, to take Rzhev. More and more often, the soldier was seized with indifference, but they explained to him that he was wrong in his too simple trench reasoning ... "

As a result, the bend of the Volga River was cleared from the enemy. From this bridgehead, our troops will move on to pursue the fleeing enemy on March 2, 1943.

Veteran of the 220th Rifle Division, teacher of the Vesyegonskaya school A. Malyshev: “Right in front of me is a dugout. A burly German jumped out to meet him. Hand-to-hand combat began. Hatred has multiplied tenfold my not at all heroic strength. Indeed, we were then ready to bite the throat of the Nazis. And then a friend died.”

On September 21, Soviet assault groups broke into the northern part of Rzhev, and the "urban" part of the battle began. The enemy repeatedly rushed into counterattacks, individual houses and entire neighborhoods passed from hand to hand several times. Every day German aircraft bombed and fired at Soviet positions.

The writer Ilya Erenburg wrote in his book of memoirs Years, People, Life:

• “I will not forget Rzhev. For weeks there were battles for five or six broken trees, for the wall of a broken house, and a tiny hillock.

The summer-autumn offensive ended with street fighting in mid-October on the outskirts of Rzhev in 1942. The Germans managed to keep the city, but it could no longer be used as a supply base and a railway junction, as it was constantly under fire from artillery and mortars. The lines conquered by our troops ruled out the possibility of an offensive by German troops from Rzhev to Kalinin or Moscow. Moreover, in the attack on the Caucasus, the Germans managed to concentrate only 170 thousand soldiers.

Hundreds of thousands of square kilometers captured by the Germans in the southern direction were not provided with troops capable of holding these territories. And against the Western and Kalinin fronts, exactly at the same time, a million-strong group stood and could not move anywhere. According to a number of historians, this is precisely the main result of the Rzhev battle, which only outwardly represented a long positional struggle for insignificant spaces.

Pyotr Mikhin: “And when our troops, embracing Rzhev in a semicircle, became on the defensive, our division was sent to Stalingrad. The decisive battle of the entire war was brewing there.”

City under occupation

The 17-month occupation of Rzhev is the greatest tragedy in its centuries-old history. This is the story of the resilience of the human spirit, and meanness and betrayal.

The occupiers placed in the city three companies of the field gendarmerie, a secret field police and a department to combat espionage. The city was divided into four districts with police stations in which traitors served. There were two labor exchanges, but the Germans had to use military forces to attract the population to work. Gendarmes with weapons and policemen with whips went from house to house every morning and all able-bodied people were expelled to work.

But labor discipline was low. According to Mikhail Tsvetkov, a resident of Rzhev, who worked at the depot, “they knocked with hammers when the Germans were watching, but they didn’t see, we stood and did nothing.”

The Nazis attached great importance to propaganda - for this, the newspapers "New Way" and "New Word" were published. Propaganda radio worked - cars with loudspeakers. In the Manual on Our Propaganda Work, the Germans called for combating rumors: “What should we say to the Russian population? The Soviets tirelessly spread various rumors and give false information. The Soviets are suffering heavy losses in manpower, they are increasing terribly, as their commanders force their troops to attack well-fortified German positions. It is not the Germans who are in a hopeless situation, but the Soviets. The German army in all its decisions and measures has in mind only the good of the civilian population entrusted to it. Therefore ... expects full support for all ongoing activities that have the ultimate goal of destroying a common enemy - Bolshevism.

With every day spent in the occupation, for thousands of townspeople and villagers, a slow and painful death from starvation became more and more real. Stocks of products, including grain from the echelon, which they did not have time to take out of Rzhev before the occupation, could not be stretched for a long time. The grocery store sold only for gold, most of the crop was taken by the Germans. Many were forced to sew, wash floors, wash, wait for a jar of contaminated grain.

The Rzhev city concentration camp operated in the city. The writer Konstantin Vorobyov, who went through the hell of the camp, wrote: “By whom and when is this place cursed? Why is there no snow in this strict square framed by rows of thorns in December? The cold fluff of December snow is eaten with crumbs of the earth. The moisture has been sucked out of the pits and grooves throughout this damned square! Patiently and silently waiting for a slow, cruelly inexorable death from starvation, Soviet prisoners of war ... "

The head of the camp police was Senior Lieutenant Ivan Kurbatov. Subsequently, not only was he not accused of treason, but he also served in the counterintelligence department in the 159th Infantry Division until 1944. Kurbatov contributed to the escape from the camp of several Soviet officers, helped scouts survive in the camp, and hid the existence of an underground group from the Germans.

But the main tragedy of Rzhev was that the inhabitants died not only from overwork on the construction of enemy defensive fortifications of the city, but also from shelling and bombing by the Soviet army: from January 1942 to March 1943, the city was shelled by our artillery and bombed by our aircraft. Even in the first directive of the Headquarters on the tasks of capturing Rzhev, it was said: "to smash the city of Rzhev with might and main, not stopping before serious destruction of the city." The "Plan for the use of aviation ..." in the summer of 1942 contained: "On the night of July 30-31, 1942, destroy Rzhev and the Rzhev railway junction." Being a major German stronghold for a long time, the city was subject to destruction.

"Russian human skating rink"

On January 17, 1943, the city of Velikiye Luki was liberated, 240 kilometers west of Rzhev. The threat of encirclement was becoming real for the Germans.

The German command, having used up all its reserves in the winter battles, proved to Hitler that it was necessary to leave Rzhev and shorten the front line. On February 6, Hitler gave permission for the withdrawal of troops. One can make assumptions whether the Soviet troops would have taken Rzhev or not. But the historical fact is this: on March 2, 1943, the Germans themselves left the city. For withdrawal, intermediate defensive lines were created, roads were built along which military equipment, military equipment, food, and livestock were exported. Thousands of civilians were driven to the west, allegedly of their own free will.

The commander of the 30th Army, V. Kolpakchi, having received intelligence data about the withdrawal of the Nazi troops, for a long time did not dare to give the order for the army to go on the offensive. Elena Rzhevskaya (Kagan), headquarters translator: “Our offensive was broken so many times about Rzhev, and now, after the victory in Stalingrad, when all Moscow’s attention is riveted here, he could not miscalculate and hesitated. He needed guarantees that this time Rzhev will succumb, will be taken ... Everything was resolved by Stalin's night call. He called and asked the commander if he would soon take Rzhev ... And the commander replied: "Comrade Commander-in-Chief, tomorrow I will report to you from Rzhev."

On one of the streets of the liberated Rzhev, photo: © Leonid Velikzhanin/TASS

Leaving Rzhev, the Nazis rounded up almost the entire surviving population of the city - 248 people - into the Intercession Old Believer Church on Kalinina Street and mined the church. For two days in hunger and cold, hearing explosions in the city, the Rzhevites were waiting for death every minute, and only on the third day did Soviet sappers remove explosives from the basement, find and clear the mine. The released V. Maslova recalled: “I left the church with a 60-year-old mother and a daughter of two years and seven months. Some junior lieutenant gave her daughter a piece of sugar, and she hid it and asked: “Mom, is this snow?”

Rzhev was a continuous minefield. Even the ice-bound Volga was heavily littered with mines. Sappers walked ahead of the rifle units and subunits, making passages in the minefields. Signs began to appear on the main streets with the inscriptions “Checked. Min is not.

On the day of liberation - March 3, 1943 - in the city destroyed to the ground with 56,000 pre-war population, 362 people remained, including prisoners of the Intercession Church.

In early August 1943, a rare event happened - Stalin left the capital for the only time towards the front. He visited Rzhev and from here gave the order for the first victorious salute in Moscow in honor of the capture of Orel and Belgorod. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief wanted to see with his own eyes the city, from where for almost a year and a half the threat of a new Nazi campaign against Moscow had emanated. It is also curious that the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union was awarded to Stalin on March 6, 1943, after the liberation of Rzhev.

Losses

The losses of both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht in the Battle of Rzhev have not really been calculated. But obviously they were just gigantic. If Stalingrad went down in history as the beginning of a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War, then Rzhev - as a bloody struggle of attrition.

According to various historians, the irretrievable losses of the Soviet army, including prisoners, during the Battle of Rzhev ranged from 392,554 to 605,984 people.

From the book of memoirs of Peter Mikhin: “Ask any of the three front-line soldiers you met, and you will be convinced that one of them fought near Rzhev. How many of our troops have been there! ... The generals who fought there were bashfully silent about the Rzhev battles. And the fact that this hushing up crossed out the heroic efforts, inhuman trials, courage and self-sacrifice of millions of Soviet soldiers, the fact that this was a desecration of the memory of almost a million dead - this, it turns out, is not so important.

Reference

Until today, it is not known exactly how many lives the liberation of the Rzhev-Vyazemsky bridgehead cost.

Fifty years after the liquidation of the Rzhev ledge, the book “Secrecy Removed” was published - a statistical study of the losses of the USSR Armed Forces in wars, hostilities and military conflicts. It contains the following data:

• Rzhev-Vyazemskaya operation (January 8-April 20, 1942) :
  • irretrievable losses of the Red Army - 272320 people,
  • sanitary - 504569 people,
  • total - 776889 people.
• Rzhev-Sychevsk operation (July 30-August 23, 1942) :
  • irretrievable losses of 51482 people,
  • sanitary - 142201 people,
  • total -193383 people.
• Rzhev-Vyazemskaya operation (March 2-31, 1943) :
  • irretrievable losses - 38862 people,
  • sanitary - 99715 people,
  • total - 138577 people.
• In all three operations :
  • irretrievable losses - 362664 people,
  • sanitary - 746485 people,
  • total - 1109149 people.

Reviews (42) on "The Battle of Rzhev is the bloodiest battle in the history of mankind"

I like the efforts you have put in this, thank you for all the great posts.

Very interesting topic, thanks for putting up.

I went over this website and I conceive you have a lot of wonderful information, bookmarked (:.

I wanted to create you that bit of note just to give many thanks once again relating to the splendid solutions you"ve featured on this site. It"s simply incredibly generous of you to present publicly all that a number of people would have sold as an e book to help make some dough on their own, chiefly seeing that you could possibly have done it if you decided. The strategies in addition acted to provide a fantastic way to recognize that the rest have the identical interest similar to my personal own to find out more and more on the subject of this matter. I believe there are some more fun times in the future for people who check out your site.

I was examining some of your blog posts on this website and I believe this web site is rattling informative! Retain posting.

You are my aspiration , I possess few blogs and occasionally run out from to post .

I dugg some of you post as I cogitated they were very beneficial very beneficial

I am glad for commenting to let you be aware of the impressive encounter my wife"s child going through your web site. She even learned lots of things, with the inclusion of how it is like to have an excellent coaching mood to get other folks without hassle comprehend a number of problematic subject matter.Thanks for offering these informative, dependable, informative as well as unique tips on your topic to Julie.

you are in reality an excellent webmaster. The site loading pace is amazing. It kind of feels that you are doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you have performed a magnificent process on this matter!

Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently rapidly.

Utterly written written content , thankyou for selective information .

I like this site so much, saved to favorites. "To hold a pen is to be at war." by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire.

I like this post, enjoyed this one thank you for posting. "We are punished by our sins, not for them." by Elbert Hubbard.

you are in reality a just right webmaster. The web site loading speed is incredible. It seems that you are doing any distinctive trick. Furthermore, The contents are masterwork. you"ve performed a magnificent job on this topic!

you"re in point of fact a good webmaster. The site loading speed is amazing. It seems that you"re doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are a masterpiece. you"ve done a magnificent process on this matter!

I like what you guys are up also. Such intelligent work and reporting! Carry on the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website :).

I like this weblog very much, Its a rattling nice billet to read and receive information. "Nunc scio quit sit amor." by Virgil.

Wow! This could be one particular of the most useful blogs Basically Magnificent. I "m also an expert in this topic so I can understand your hard work.

you"re truly a excellent webmaster. The web site loading speed is incredible. It kind of feels that you are doing any unique trick. Also, The contents are a masterpiece. you"ve done a wonderful activity on this matter!

I¡¦ve recently started a site, the info you provide on this website has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.

Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification seemed to be on the internet the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they plainly don't know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more.

Very excellent information can be found on website. "Education is what most receive, many pass on, and few possess." by Karl Kraus.

I"ve recently started a web site, the information you offer on this website has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work. "Quit worrying about your health. It"ll go away." by Robert Orben.

you"re in reality a just right webmaster. The website loading pace is amazing. It kind of feels that you are doing any distinctive trick. Moreover, The contents are a masterpiece. you have done a magnificent task in this subject!

It "s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it"s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you a few interesting things or tips. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read more things about it!

I "ve recently started a website, the information you provide on this site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work. "If you see a snake, just kill it. Don"t appoint a committee on snakes." by H. Ross Perot.

I would like to convey my admiration for your kind-heartedness in support of people who really want guidance on this one content. Your special dedication to getting the message up and down has been amazingly significant and has without exception encouraged associates like me to reach their objectives. Your own warm and friendly useful information implies a lot to me and additionally to my fellow workers. warm regards; from all of us.

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is excellent blog. An excellent read. I will certainly be back.

I just want to say I am newbie to blogs and absolutely savored you"re blog site. More than likely I’m going to bookmark your blog post . You really have wonderful posts. Kudos for revealing your website page.

Hello to all, how is everything, I think every one is getting more from this site, and your views are nice in favor of new users.