On June 22, 1941, at 4 a.m., without a declaration of war, after artillery and air preparation, the main forces of the Wehrmacht and the troops of the German allies (about 190 divisions) suddenly launched a powerful offensive along the entire western border of the USSR from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.
Kyiv, Riga, Kaunas, Vindava, Libau, Siauliai, Vilnius, Minsk, Grodno, Brest, Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Zhitomir, Sevastopol and many other cities, railway junctions, airfields, and naval bases of the USSR were bombed. Artillery shelling of border fortifications and areas of deployment of Soviet troops near the border was carried out. At 5–6 a.m., fascist German troops crossed the state border of the USSR and launched an offensive deep into Soviet territory. Only an hour and a half after the start of the offensive, the German Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Count Werner von Schulenburg, made a statement declaring war on the USSR.
At 12 noon, all radio stations of the Soviet Union broadcast a government message about the attack on our country by Nazi Germany. The statement made by People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet government indicated that the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR was a treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples.
Following the government message, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the mobilization of citizens liable for military service in 1905–1918 was transmitted. birth. On June 23, the Headquarters of the Main Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR (later the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command) was created, headed by the People’s Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko.
In border battles and in the initial period of the war (until mid-July), the Red Army lost 850 thousand people killed and wounded; 9.5 thousand guns, over 6 thousand tanks, about 3.5 thousand aircraft were destroyed; About 1 million people were captured. The German army occupied a significant part of the country and advanced inland to 300–600 km. However, the plan for a lightning war, during which the German command intended to capture the entire Soviet Union in a few months, failed.
Today, every Belarusian family pays a debt of memory and gratitude to everyone who took the first blow of the enemy, who did not live to see the bright Victory Day, but believed in it, taking on the unequal battle with the fascists. Today the whole country says in unison: “The feat of the people is immortal!”
On this Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people, we bow our heads to all those who died in a tough battle with the enemy, to the generation of Soviet people who brought us Victory and gave us a future. We will never forget this and will not let anyone forget it!
