Russia at war 1941-1945

including Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible) are the outstanding documentaries on The German Rout outside Moscow, on Leningrad, Sebastopol and Stalingrad and One Day of War, all produced in 1942. These are not to be confused with the absurd "war films"

produced towards the end of the war or soon after (such as The Third Blow—reconquest of the Crimea—or The Fall of Berlin) the main purpose of which is to demonstrate the military genius of Stalin always coming to the rescue of the flummoxed generals.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

1939

March 10 Stalin's survey of international situation since Munich.

March 15 Germans invade "post-Munich" Czechoslovakia.

March 31 British guarantee to Poland.

April 17 "Litvinov Plan", soon rejected by Chamberlain.

April 27 Hitler denounces Anglo-German naval agreement and non-aggression pact with Poland. No attacks on Russia in his speech.

May 4 Molotov replaces Litvinov as Foreign Commissar.

June 12 Strang goes to Moscow.

July 9 Churchill again urges immediate military alliance with Russia.

August 12 Anglo-French Military Mission arrives in Moscow.

August 20 Hitler's telegram to Stalin.

August 23 Soviet-German non-aggression pact signed.

August 25 Anglo-Polish mutual assistance pact signed.

September 1 Germany invades Poland.

September 3 Britain and France declare war on Germany. Germans sink SS Athenia off Ireland.

September 1 to 9 Germans overrun western Poland.

September 17 Germans reach Brest-Litovsk. Russians invade Eastern Poland.

September 28 Warsaw surrenders.

October 14 HMS Royal Oak sunk at Scapa Flow.

November 30 Russians invade Finland.

December 13 Battle of River Plate; scuttling of Graf Spee (17th) 1940.

1940

February 11 Russians launch decisive attack on Mannerheim Line.

March 12 Soviet-Finnish peace treaty signed.

April 9 Germans invade Denmark and Norway. British troops land in Norway.

May 2 Allies evacuate Namsos.

May 10 Germans invade Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg. Chamberlain resigns.

Churchill becomes Prime Minister.

May 14 Dutch army surrenders.

May 14 German sweep into France begins.

May 21 Germans capture Amiens, Arras and Boulogne.

May 29 to June 3rd Dunkirk evacuation.

June 10 Italy declares war on Britain and France.

June 14 Germans enter Paris.

June 17 Petain seeks Franco-German armistice, signed 22nd.

June 17-23 Russians occupy Baltic States.

June 27-30 Russians occupy Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.

Jul 15-21 Ninety German bombers shot down over Britain.

August 11-18 Peak of Battle of Britain.

September 7 First great blitz over London.

September 13-16 Italians cross Egyptian frontier and take Sidi Barrani.

October 7 Germans seize Rumanian oilfields.

November 11 Attack on Taranto cripples Italian navy.

November 12-14 Molotov's visit to Berlin.

December 9 Eighth Army opens offensive in North Africa.

December 18 Hitler finally decides on invasion of Soviet Union (Plan Barbarossa).

1941

January 3 Italians surrender Bardia.

January 30 Eighth Army takes Derna and advances towards Benghazi. Tobruk captured.

February 6 Benghazi captured.

March 11 Lend-Lease Bill signed.

March 28 Battle of Cape Matapan.

March 31 German counter-offensive in North Africa begins.

April 5 Soviet-Yugoslav non-aggression pact signed.

April 6 Germans invade Greece and Yugoslavia; Britain sends 60,000 men to Greece.

April 7 British evacuate Benghazi.

April 13 Germans surround Tobruk and recapture Bardia. Soviet-Japanese non-

aggression pact signed.

April 22 British evacuation of Greece begins.

May 6 Stalin becomes head of Soviet Government. Molotov remains Foreign Commissar.

May 10 Rudolf Hess lands in Scotland.

May 20 German invasion of Crete.

May 28 to June 2. British evacuate Crete.

June 14 Tass communique ambiguously denies danger of German invasion.

June 22 Germany invades Soviet Union.

June 28 Germans capture Minsk, capital of Belorussia and large parts of Lithuania,

Latvia and Western Ukraine.

July 3 Stalin's broadcast to the Russian people.

July 12 Anglo-Soviet mutual assistance agreement signed.

July 14 Germans reach Luga river on way to Leningrad.

July 16 Germans reach Smolensk on way to Moscow.

July 25 Germans capture Tallinn.

July 30 Harry Hopkins in Moscow.

August — Germans overrun large parts of Ukraine, capturing Dniepropetrovsk on 17th.

August 30 Germans capture Mga, Leningrad's last railway link.

September 8 Germans capture Schiilsselburg, thus completing Leningrad's land blockade.

September 17 End of "Battle of Kiev" resulting in encirclement of large Russian forces.

September 29 German penetration of Donbas begins. Beaverbrook and Harriman arrive

in Moscow.

September 30 German offensive against Moscow begins.

October 2 Germans capture Orel.

October 6 to 12 Battle of Viazma, ending in encirlement of large Russian forces west of Moscow.

October 12 Germans capture Kaluga.

October 13 Germans capture Kalinin.

October 14-16 Further German advances towards Moscow.