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On July 3, 1941, a little more than a week after thei German invasion of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin spoke for the first time to the Soviet people about the progress of the war. He called the citizens of his nation "brothers and sisters," a term he had never used before.
It was an intimacy born of the terrible crisis they shared. Stalin admitted that the enemy had succeeded in breaking through, and he urged his compatriots to annihilate the intruders with every means possible. The Soviet people were urged to rouse themselves for what was to become the largest military contest of all time.
The Axis assault on June 22, 1941, had caught Soviet forces almost entirely unprepared. Finnish armies in the north, Romanian armies in the south, and a 3-million strong German force between them drove forward at a relentless pace, encircling whole Soviet armies.
On June 28, 1941, German forces reached the Belorussian capital of Minsk. Riga was captured three days later, and by the first week of July German armies were approaching the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
It was an intimacy born of the terrible crisis they shared. Stalin admitted that the enemy had succeeded in breaking through, and he urged his compatriots to annihilate the intruders with every means possible. The Soviet people were urged to rouse themselves for what was to become the largest military contest of all time.
The Axis assault on June 22, 1941, had caught Soviet forces almost entirely unprepared. Finnish armies in the north, Romanian armies in the south, and a 3-million strong German force between them drove forward at a relentless pace, encircling whole Soviet armies.
On June 28, 1941, German forces reached the Belorussian capital of Minsk. Riga was captured three days later, and by the first week of July German armies were approaching the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.