Great Patriotic War

War between the USSR and Germany during World War II.

When Germany invaded the USSR in June 1941, the Soviet troops retreated, carrying out a scorched earth policy and relocating strategic industries beyond the Ural Mountains. Stalin remained in Moscow and the Soviet forces, inspired to fight on by his patriotic speeches, launched a counter-offensive. The Allies tried to provide the USSR with vital supplies through Murmansk and Archangel despite German attempts to blockade the ports. In 1942 the Germans failed to take Leningrad and Moscow, and launched an attack towards the River Volga and to capture oil wells at Baku. In August 1942 the Germans attacked Stalingrad but it was held by the Russians. A substantial German force was forced to surrender at Stalingrad in January 1943. The Red Army, under the command of Marshal Zhukov, gradually forced the Germans back and by February 1945 the Russians had reached the German border. In April 1945 the Russians, who had made tremendous sacrifices (20 million dead and millions more wounded) entered Berlin. In May 1945 the war ended.