#Victory81
🌟 On April 9, 1945, the Red Army captured the Nazi fortress city — Königsberg — during the East-Prussian offensive. The German Wehrmacht’s troops in East Prussia — powerful fascists' units on the Eastern Front — were totally destroyed once and for all.
The 3rd Belarussian Front of the Red Army carried out the Königsberg operation and crushed the Nazis withinjust three days. The first line of the enemy defences was breached within the first 24 hours, the fortress city surrounded the next day, with the last pockets of Nazi resistance being eliminated on April 9.
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#Königsbergserved as a ToO with fierce and bloody battles during #WWII. The city itself, which was regarded as the most impregnable citadel of the Third Reich, was fortified with then cutting-edge military technology and prepared for long-term resistance in conditions of complete isolation. The city area of about 200 square kilometres was turned into a complicated network of fortifications, which, combined with numerous stone buildings in the suburbs, provided conditions for long-term defence.
The citadel was termed by the Nazis the “iron door of Germany.” The Red Army soldiers and officers who took part in the assault on Königsberg recalled that only the 305mm artillery guns could penetrate the several-metres thick walls. The fall of Königsberg delivered a heavy blow to the Nazi war machine — the enemy lost the strategic Pillau naval base on the Baltic Sea, with the main German troops of the Samland and East Prussian armies being completely defeated.
🔉Excerpt from the Soviet "Sovinformburo" communique on April 9, 1945:
On April 9, the forces of the 3rd Belarussian Front stormed and captured <...> the Königsberg fortress — the capital of East Prussia and a strategic hub of Nazi defences on the Baltic Sea.
By 8 pm, our armies took as prisoners over 27'000 Nazi soldiers and officers, seized a large amount of weapons and various military equipment.
👉The fall of Königsberg and East Prussia accelerated the defeat of the Nazi war machine. The end of the Third Reich was a foregone conclusion, but the enemy, fearing just retribution for the numerous crimes it had committed, continued to fight desperately.
#LestWeForget: The Red Army soldiers and officers demonstrated high combat readiness and mass heroism: 235 soldiers were later awarded the title of #HeroOfTheSovietUnion. To commemorate their feat, the 'Medal For the Capture of Königsberg' was established and awarded to 760'000 Soviet soldiers and officers.
By decisions of the Potsdam Conference following the end of WWII in Europe, a large part of East Prussia was assigned to Poland, while a third of its territory with Königsberg was incorporated into the Soviet Union and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the Kaliningrad Region).
🎖 On November 17, 2025, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on establishing a new commemorative date — April 9, Day of the Heroic Assault and Capture of Königsberg.
#WeRemember
USSR Collapse
#video#SovietUnion
Exactly 30 years ago, the collapse of the Soviet Union began. Tanks rumbled through the streets of Moscow, and state TV and radio announced the formation of new leadership under the auspices of the State Committee for the State of Emergency. Communist hardliners decided it was time to save the Union and overthrow Gorbachev, revered in the west and widely unpopular at home.
Tensions rose, anti-coup demonstrators flocked to central Moscow and formed human chains. Then, the Russian leader, Boris Yeltsin arrived in Moscow, joined the protesters near the White House and denounced the GKChP's activity as a ‘reactionary coup’.
The failed coup precipitated the end of the union. By the end of 1991, the USSR had disintegrated into 15 republics.
Check out the online premiere of our new documentary to hear first-hand accounts from participants in the 1991 events.It is starting right now - https://youtu.be/-EjWcpOIZa4
Follow: https://t.me/rtdocumentary
The Great Purge (1936-1938) was when Stalin arrested, sent to labor camps, and murdered many people in the Soviet Union. On January 23, 1937, during the Second Moscow Trial, old Bolsheviks were forced to confess to fake crimes and punished. From June 1937 to November 1938, about 35,000 people were removed. Thousands of soldiers, leaders, and regular people suffered or died. ⚰️🔒⚖️
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@googlefactss#GreatPurge#MoscowTrials#Stalin#SovietUnion#History
Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper credited with 309 kills during WWII. She became one of the deadliest snipers in history. Many women also served as pilots, snipers, and medics in the Soviet military. Their bravery played a huge role in the war.
🎯👩✈️🇷🇺
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@googlefactss
#WWII#WomenInWar#LyudmilaPavlichenko#SovietUnion#History#WorldWarII
Soviet anti-tank dogs carried explosives to destroy enemy tanks by crawling under them. Thousands were trained and many died in WWII. Early attacks failed, but later missions damaged German tanks. Handlers suffered emotionally, sometimes even shooting their own dogs to prevent accidents. The program ended by 1943 when better weapons arrived. German soldiers shot dogs on sight, harming many civilian dogs too.🐕💣🚫
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@googlefactss#WWII#History#AnimalsInWar#SovietUnion#MilitaryFacts#WarSucks
Operation Osoaviakhim was a secret Soviet program after World War II. Over 2,500 German scientists, engineers, and technicians and their families were taken from the Soviet zone of Germany to the USSR.
They worked on Soviet military, weapons, and rocket technology. The goal was to use German expertise to strengthen the USSR and keep it from falling into Western hands.
Basically the Soviet version of operation Paperclip📎
🇷🇺🔬🚀
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@googlefactss
#OperationOsoaviakhim#ColdWar#HistoryFacts#WWII#SovietUnion#Science#operationpaperclip
#Victory80
🌟 February 2, 1943, one of the most brutal battles of #WWII and all of history — the Battle of Stalingrad — concluded.
For 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ days and nights the Battle of Stalingrad raged on the banks of the Don and the Volga rivers, and in the city proper, or rather what was left of it following merciless Nazi bombardments and stubborn defender fighting for every street, alley and house. The battle itself surpassed in scope and intensity all prior battles of #WWII. During that battle, more than 2.1 million people fought on both sides.
By the end of June 1942, the Nazis concentrated in the strip of land from Kursk to Taganrog on the front of 600-650 kilometers up to 35% of infantry, over 50% of armour and motorized divisions of the total number of Wehrmacht troops deployed on the Soviet-German front.
During the planning of the Stalingrad operation, the enemy had several objectives: to gain a foothold on the Volga River and thus deprive the #SovietUnion of control over one of the most important transportation arteries of the country. The capture of #Stalingrad, according to the assessment of the Nazi military command, would open the way for the Wehrmacht to the Caucasus, where the Germans hoped to obtain the most important resource for making the war machine continue — oil fields.
Traditionally, according to the historians, the Battle was divided into two stages:
• Defensive phase: from July 17 to November 18, 1942;
• Offensive phase: from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943.
During the first stage, July 17 - November 18, 1942, the Red Army had to conduct defensive operations and engaged the enemy in fierce street battles directly in the city. The forces of the 62nd and 64th Soviet armies, led by Vassily Chuikov, commander of the 62nd Army, engaged the troops of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht under the command of Lieutenant General Paulus.
By mid-November 1942, as a result of stubborn resistance and the deployment of the Red Army reserves favorable conditions were created for launching the counteroffensive. The plan for the operation code-named#Uranus was developed under the leadership of Army General Georgy Zhukov and Colonel General Alexander Vasilevsky.
During the large-scale counteroffensive at Stalingrad (November 19, 1942 — February 2, 1943), Soviet forces conducted the operation #Ring, during which the Red Army managed to drive Paulus's 6th Army into a “cauldron” between the Don and Volga rivers. Realizing the futility of further action, by the end of January the Nazi units began to surrender en masse.
On January, 31, General Paulus (promoted by Hitler to to General-Field Marshal), together with other German generals and officers at Stalingrad finally surrendered. OnFebruary 2, the last pockets of Nazi resistance were eliminated.
The #BattleOfStalingrad ended with a complete victory of the Red Army. For the first time ever the all-consuming Nazi war machine was weighed, measured and found wanting. This marked a turning point not only in the the Great Patriotic War, but that of the entire #WWII.
In Stalingrad, Wehrmacht and its auxiliary forces from the Axis lost 1/4 of all troops deployed by the Reich on the Eastern front. Total enemy losses amount to ~1.5 million soldiers and officers.
From that moment forward thestrategic initiative was on the side of the Red Army. The Victory in Stalingrad created favourable conditions for further full-scale counteroffensive of Soviet forces to expel the enemy from the Nazi-occupied territory of the USSR.
🌐 The defeat of the bulk of the enemy troops not only shocked the world and significantly raised the international prestige of the Soviet Union and its Armed Forces, but also contributed to the strengthening and tightening of the anti-Hitler coalition.
🎖 Victory in the Battle of Stalingrad was in large achieved through superior strategy and tactics, but also due to mass heroism of Soviet soldiers, officers and hard work of all those on the home front. 112 participants of the Battle were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
#WeRemember
Georgy Zhukov was a Soviet military leader and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He was born to a poor peasant family in Strelkovka, Kaluga Province, Russia. He served in the Imperial Russian Army in World War I. After the Russian Revolution, he joined the Red Army and rose quickly through the ranks. He commanded Soviet forces at major battles, including Khalkhin Gol, Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, and the final assault on Berlin. He became Marshal of the Soviet Union in January 1943. After World War II, he was the first military governor of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. He later served as Chief of the General Staff and Minister of Defence. He was removed from top posts because Soviet political leaders feared his popularity and power. Zhukov is remembered as one of the most celebrated Soviet commanders of the 20th century.
🪖⚔️🇷🇺
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@googlefactss
#GeorgyZhukov#SovietUnion#WorldWarII#Marshal#MilitaryHistory#EasternFront
📜 В Кейптауне открылась архивно-документальная выставка «Солидарность в действии: признание роли Советского Союза и Кубы в поддержке борьбы против апартеида»
Архивно-документальная выставка «Солидарность в действии: признание роли Советского Союза и Кубы в поддержке борьбы против апартеида» открылась в Кейптауне. Экспозиция организована Российским государственным гуманитарным университетом (РГГУ) при поддержке Музея Роббен-Айленд.
Выставка будет работать в течение шести месяцев в галерее Музея Роббен-Айленд на набережной Виктории и Альфреда — одной из самых популярных и посещаемых частей города.
В церемонии приняли участие ветераны АНК, российские учёные, представители Генерального консульства РФ в Кейптауне, африканские дипломаты и члены «Общества дружбы Кубы».
Генеральный консул Российской Федерации в Кейптауне Р. Ю. Голубовский отметил:
«В современном мире, когда объём и разнообразие информационных потоков постоянно возрастают, особенно важно обеспечить общественности доступ к достоверным историческим сведениям. Совместная работа Российского государственного гуманитарного университета и музея Роббен-Айленд в рамках этой выставки направлена на сохранение объективного взгляда на события прошлого и предотвращение их искажения. Размещение экспозиции в одном из наиболее значимых и посещаемых музеев Южной Африки создаёт возможность донести историческую правду до широкой аудитории — от представителей академических кругов до студентов и туристов. Это станет значимым вкладом в сохранение памяти о нашем общем наследии».
Профессор В. И. Заботкина, и. о. проректора по международной работе РГГУ, и директор Центра африканистики РГГУ Александр Зотин подчеркнули, что выставка является уникальным исследовательским проектом, направленным на сохранение исторической памяти о роли СССР и Кубы в поддержке народов Юга Африки в их борьбе против колониализма и апартеида.
Команда проекта, в состав которой вошли учёные Института Африки РАН, представила уникальные материалы, фотографии и свидетельства из личных архивов ветеранов борьбы с апартеидом — как российских, так и южноафриканских.
По словам эксперта Центра африканистики РГГУ и заведующей Центром изучения африканской стратегии БРИКС Института Африки РАН Дарьи Зеленовой:
«Многие материалы имеют уникальную историческую ценность. Например, впервые рассказано о гуманитарной помощи, которая была собрана школьниками из Екатеринбурга для детей бойцов АНК, обучающихся в колледже им. Соломона Махлангу. Благодаря совместной работе архивистов и историков удалось найти не только личные фотографии участниц этой акции, но и газетные вырезки, в которых задокументирована эта фантастическая акция солидарности советских детей с южноафриканским народом».
#CapeTown#RSUH#RussiaSouthAfrica#RobbenIsland#HistoricalMemory#SolidarityInAction#SovietUnion#Consulate#RussianMFA