🕯 June 22 marks the Day of Memory and Sorrow in Russia.

At dawn on June 2️⃣2️⃣, 1941, enemy aviation launched massive attacks on airfields, railway stations, Soviet naval bases and numerous cities along the entire western state border to a depth of up to 250-300 km.

This opened one of the most tragic chapters in our country’s history. The Great Patriotic War broke out.

Hitler had a lightning war in mind. Operation Barbarossa implied a crushing defeat of the Red Army and the defeat of the Soviet Union within a few months with the help of the hitherto faultless blitzkrieg tactics.

Romania, Italy and other countries joined Germany to form a united front against the Soviet Union.

However, the Red Army’s fierce resistance and the efforts of all Soviet people foiled the Third Reich’s plans.

🎙 The news about German invasion and the beginning of the war was announced over the radio. At noon on June 22 the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.Molotov addressed the Soviet citizens with a phrase that went down in history:

“Ours is a righteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours”.

The Great Patriotic War lasted 1418 days and nights and ended on May 9, 1945 with the victory of the Soviet Union and the complete rout of the Nazi bloc.

❗️ The Soviet losses amounted to 40% of all human losses in WWII, 26.6 million people. Of them, more than 8.7 million died in combat, 7.42 million were intentionally exterminated by the Nazis in the occupied territories, and over 4.1 million died from the atrocious conditions of the occupation regime.

• Since 2009, the day marked by the Candle of Memory nationwide action. Candles are lit throughout Russia in the silence of the night in memory of all those who died during the Great Patriotic War protecting our peaceful life.

Since 2020, an annual nationwide minute of silence has been held at 12:15 Moscow time the exact time when the Soviet government announced Nazi Germany’s invasion.

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🕯 On the Day of Memory and Sorrow, President of Russia Vladimir Putin per a long-standing tradition laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The ceremony was attended by combat veterans, servicemen and graduates of military universities. Flowers to the Eternal Flame were also laid by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.

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🗓️ On June 23, 1944, 80 years ago, one of the most large scale & successful strategic offensives of the World War II began — Operation Bagration. In two months of fighting along a front line of more than 1100 km the Red Army reached the Elgava — Dobele — Siauliai — Suwalki — Prague (suburb of Warsaw) — Vistula River line by August 29, liberating the Belarusian SSR, parts of the Lithuanian & Latvian SSRs, and eastern areas of Poland from the Nazi invaders.

By the summer of 1944, the Red Army had managed to push German forces away from Leningrad, liberate Crimea & right-bank Ukraine, and reach the Romanian border. However, the Nazi occupiers still controlled a significant part of Belarus, where they had spent three years committing atrocities: burning entire villages with their inhabitants, systematically exterminating millions of civilians & prisoners of war.

🔴 From June 23 to 28, 1944, Soviet Army began an offensive along the front line from Polotsk to Mozyr. It was carried out simultaneously in six sectors.

🔴 Red Army units successfully broke through the German defences and began rapid advances. By July 3, Minsk and Vitebsk were liberated.

🔴 By the end of July, almost all of Belarus was liberated.

⚔️ Several large German groups were surrounded and destroyed: Vitebsk & Bobruisk, then Orsha & Mogilev troops, causing enormous irreparable losses to the enemy.

☝️ As a result of the operation, Army Group Centre was defeated, major rivers Berezina, Neman, & Vistula were crossed, and important bridgeheads on their western banks were captured. The front line moved westwards up to 550–600 km.

🎖 Soviet soldiers and commanders who took part in the operation demonstrated mass heroism, brilliant preparation, & the highest level of military art. Over 1,500 Red Army soldiers of various nationalities were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and hundreds of thousands received orders and medals.

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