Wars of the 20th century with the participation of the USSR. Do Russians want war?
The Second World War did not become the final point in the development of armed confrontation. According to statistical data, USSR troops became direct participants in about 30 local wars both on the territory of the state and beyond its territorial boundaries. Moreover, the form of participation was both indirect and direct.
What are local wars
The foreign and domestic policies of a state can be carried out using various methods. Some resort to peaceful settlement of controversial issues, others to armed confrontation. Speaking about military conflict, it should be noted that this is a policy that is carried out with the help of modern weapons. An armed conflict includes all confrontations: large-scale clashes, interstate, regional, local wars, etc. Let us consider the latter in more detail.
Local wars take place between a limited circle of participants. In the standard classification, this type of confrontation implies the participation of two states that pursue certain political or economic goals in this confrontation. At the same time, the military conflict unfolds on the territory of only these subjects, affecting and violating their interests. Thus, local wars and armed conflicts are specific and general concepts.
| Name of the armed conflict | date |
| in China | 1946-1950 |
| Korean War | 1950-1953 |
| Hungarian crisis | 1956 |
| War in Laos | 1960-1970 |
| Demining of Algerian state territories | 1962-1964 |
| Caribbean crisis | 1962-1963 |
| Civil war in Yemen | 1962-1969 |
| Vietnam War | 1965-1974 |
| Middle Eastern conflicts | 1967-1973 |
| Czechoslovak crisis | 1968 |
| Civil War in Mozambique | 1967, 1969, 1975-79 |
| War in Afghanistan | 1979-1989 |
| Chadian-Libyan conflict | 1987 |
The role of the USSR in the Korean War
Local conflicts of the Cold War, the table of historical dates includes the most diverse. However, this list opens from 1950 to 1953. This war is a confrontation between South Korea and North Korea. South Korea's main ally was providing the army with the latest equipment. In addition, the United States had to form 4 offensive divisions that supported its Korean ally.
The USSR initially took a passive part in the armed conflict, but after secret US plans became available, the war phase moved into a more active direction. The USSR not only supported the DPRK, but also planned to transfer its own contingent to the territory of its ally.
According to official data, the losses of the Soviet military in this conflict reached from 200 to 500 thousand personnel. Veterans of local wars, in particular in Korea, received the honorary title of Hero of the USSR. Among the most famous personalities are Evgeniy Georgievich Pepelyaev and Sergei Makarovich Kramarenko, who showed boundless bravery and courage.
The role of the USSR in the Vietnam War
Speaking about Russia's wars, we should not forget about the role of the Soviet state in the Vietnam War. The military conflict dates back to 1959-1975. The determinant of the conflict was the claim of the Republic of Vietnam to the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. With all possible assistance from the United States, which supplied equipment and financial resources, the southerners began punitive operations on the territory of the neighboring state.
In 1964, the United States began to actively participate in the armed conflict. A colossal American contingent was transferred to the territory of Vietnam, which used prohibited weapons in the fight against the enemy. When using napalm, biological ones, shelling of residential areas was carried out, which caused numerous casualties among the civilian population.
Despite the efforts of patriotic forces, the air battle against the United States was lost. The strategic and military assistance of the USSR made it possible to correct the situation. Thanks to the support, air defense was deployed, which made it possible to transfer local wars in Vietnam to a more passive form. As a result of the war, a single state was recreated, called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The final date for the end of the confrontation is considered to be April 30, 1975.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Kolesnik, a sergeant of the Soviet army, as well as senior lieutenants Vladimir Leonidovich Bulgakov and Valentin Nikolaevich Kharin, distinguished themselves in the Vietnam conflict. The fighters were presented with the Order of the Red Banner.
The role of the USSR in the Middle East conflict
The Arab-Israeli confrontation is the longest local conflict of the Cold War. The table of dates indicates that the confrontation is not over until today, periodically manifesting itself in fierce battles between states.
The beginning of the conflict dates back to 1948, after the new state of Israel was formed. On May 15, an armed clash occurred between Israel, whose ally was the United States, and Arab countries supported by the USSR. The main conflict was accompanied by the transfer of territories from one state to another. Thus, in particular, Israel was able to capture the province of Jordan, which was important from a religious point of view for the Palestinians.
The USSR played the most active role in this conflict. Thus, at the request of high-ranking officials of the Arab countries, the Soviet Union provided significant military assistance to the allied countries. An air defense division was deployed on the territory of the states, thanks to which it was possible to hold back the onslaught of Israel and the United States. As a result, Popov K.I. and Kutyntsev N.M. were nominated for valor and courage to the rank
The role of the USSR in the war in Afghanistan
The year 1978 was marked by a coup in Afghanistan. The Democratic Party, which was supported in every possible way by the Soviet Union, came to power. The main course was taken to build socialism in the likeness of the USSR. However, such events caused a negative response among the local population and the Muslim clergy.
The United States acted as a counterweight to the new government. It was with American help that the National Front for the Liberation of Afghanistan was created. Under their auspices, numerous coups were carried out in the largest cities of the state. This fact became the reason for a new Russian war in Afghanistan.
According to evidence, the Soviet Union lost more than 14 thousand people in the Afghan War. 300 soldiers are considered missing. About 35 thousand people were seriously injured in the fierce fighting.
Features of local conflicts during the Cold War
To summarize, we can draw some conclusions.
Firstly, all armed confrontations were of a coalition nature. In other words, the warring parties found allies in the person of two major hegemons - the USSR and the USA.
Secondly, during local conflicts, more modern methods of warfare and unique weapons began to be used, which confirmed the policy of the “arms race.”
Thirdly, all wars, despite their local nature, brought significant economic, cultural and human losses. The states participating in the conflicts were slowed down in their political and economic development for a long time.
Participation of the USSR in local military conflicts of late times
For the first time, the Soviet Union was faced with the need for large-scale use of anti-radar equipment during the Korean War, which began in 1950. MIG-15 aircraft fighting in the air with American Sabers turned out to be defenseless from the rear hemisphere, which was colloquially called “from the tail” . To reduce combat losses of fighter aircraft, the 108th Institute developed, manufactured and put into operation a large batch of Siren radiation warning stations. I talked about this story in more detail in the section dedicated to the development manager A.G. Rapoport.
The massive use of electronic warfare equipment occurred in Southeast Asia during the US war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Soviet Union actively helped the DRV in creating the country's air defense, trained national personnel to work on air defense systems, sent equipment to the DRV and formed the crews of the complexes, which at first consisted of Soviet officers and soldiers. There is literature dedicated to this period, which contains numerous episodes of military cooperation between the USSR and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, from which I will select only the most characteristic ones.
At the beginning (July 1965 - first half of 1966), the main attention was paid to covering objects with individual air defense systems from ambushes. The SA-75 "Dvina" and S-75M "Volkhov" air defense systems began to appear - the first mobile Soviet systems. Already on July 24, 1965, Soviet crews shot down three American planes flying to bomb Hanoi with the first missile salvos. July 24 is celebrated in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as the day of anti-aircraft missile forces. By August 25, 5 combat operations were carried out, 14 American aircraft were shot down, 18 missiles were expended (1.3 missiles per aircraft). So, in the initial period of the war there were only one or two missiles per aircraft shot down. Why? The preparedness of Soviet crews and training at training grounds in the USSR had an effect. In addition, American planes flew at medium altitudes, favorable for shooting. After the loss of hundreds of aircraft in February 1966, flights were stopped. The American command began to prepare air raids more carefully. They conducted reconnaissance, competently assessed the anti-aircraft missile fire system, took into account the characteristics of low altitudes, looked for gaps, corridors, and vulnerable spots. But, most importantly, they began to intensively use electronic warfare equipment. In April 1966, air raids resumed. Attack aircraft were equipped with high-power active jamming transmitters. The raid was supported by jammers patrolling outside the air defense missile zones. The Shrike missile's PRL was used. Flight altitudes dropped to 1 km and even lower. If the launch was detected, an anti-missile maneuver was used: diving to a height of 100–150 m with a turn of 90 and even 180 degrees. It was a different opponent. The firing efficiency decreased: the consumption per shot down aircraft increased to 12–15 missiles.
In the second period (July 1966 - June 1967), the air defense system of the DRV was improved. The level of Vietnamese fighter aviation has increased. Thus, the basis of the Hanoi air defense group was 4 anti-aircraft missile regiments of 4 divisions each. Significant improvements were made to the complexes themselves. The height limit was reduced to 300 m, and the range limit to 5 km. A new modernized radio fuse was created and the warhead was modified with a wider angle of dispersion of fragments. The guidance system's noise immunity has been increased. A “false launch” signal was introduced, simulating the launch of an anti-aircraft missile. If unfinished air defense systems consumed 8–10 missiles, then after modification the efficiency increased to 4–5 missiles per downed aircraft.
Finally, the third stage (from July 1967) is characterized by the transfer of hostilities to South Vietnam. The modernized S-75 Desna and SA-75M Volkhov air defense systems were delivered to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. During the period of the end of hostilities, in 1972, the DRV troops conducted 1,155 shootings with a consumption of 2,059 missiles for 421 downed aircraft. Among them are 51 B-52 bombers. Georgy Filippovich Baidukov, head of the 4th Main Directorate of the Moscow Region (customer of the air defense missile system) and a former associate of V.P. Chkalov in his historical flights, said: “I believe that world history should preserve the name of A.A. Raspletin, and his photograph, as in icon, must be prayed in every Vietnamese home.” One can only agree with this recognition.
After the 1967 war, when Israel captured large areas, outbreaks of Arab-Israeli armed conflict continued in 1969–1970. At the request of the Egyptian President G. A. Nasser, S-75 air defense systems began to be supplied to Egypt, Egyptian crews began to be trained, and the Egyptian armed forces began to be recreated on a new basis. However, American specialists, having experience of combat operations in Vietnam, well mastered the features of the Dvina (S-75) systems and worked out new tactics for overcoming air defense. In Moscow it became known that the Dvina complexes were suffering serious losses. Israeli planes crossed the Suez Canal at low altitude, turned on active jamming when approaching Cairo, jammed the Dvina receivers and bombed Egyptian divisions. The Phantoms flew at a very low altitude, so the problem of protecting Egypt’s air defense can be solved, as Moscow believed, by supplying S-125 systems. An air defense division was formed under the leadership of General A.G. Smirnov. In addition to the S-125, for the first time, for each division of the S-75 air defense system, a cover platoon was allocated with the Shilka and Stela-2 complexes operating at short ranges. The Israelis, in response, A.G. Smirnov later said, used not only strong interference, but also struck during the raid from different directions.
Of course, the Israeli Air Force suffered losses, planes were shot down and knocked out, and captured pilots were handed over to the Egyptian authorities. But the air defense missile systems also suffered losses, especially Egyptian ones. Ours are significantly smaller thanks to the training of Soviet calculations and, importantly, the competent creation of reserve and false positions. According to experts, it was precisely because of the high combat effectiveness of the S-125 (Pechora) systems that the war was stopped in the summer of 1970.
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1. Soviet-Polish war, 1920 It began on April 25, 1920 with a surprise attack by Polish troops, who had more than a two-fold advantage in manpower (148 thousand people versus 65 thousand for the Red Army). By the beginning of May, the Polish army reached Pripyat and the Dnieper and occupied Kyiv. In May-June, positional battles began, in June-August the Red Army went on the offensive, carried out a number of successful operations (the May operation, the Kiev operation, the Novograd-Volyn operation, the July operation, the Rivne operation) and reached Warsaw and Lvov. But such a sharp breakthrough resulted in a separation from supply units and convoys. The First Cavalry Army found itself face to face with superior enemy forces. Having lost many people as prisoners, the Red Army units were forced to retreat. Negotiations began in October, which five months later ended with the signing of the Riga Peace Treaty, according to which the territories of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were torn away from the Soviet state.
2. Sino-Soviet conflict, 1929 Provoked by the Chinese military on July 10, 1929. In violation of the 1924 agreement on the joint use of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which was built at the end of the 19th century by the Russian Empire, the Chinese side seized it and arrested over 200 citizens of our country. After this, the Chinese concentrated a 132,000-strong group in close proximity to the borders of the USSR. Violations of Soviet borders and shelling of Soviet territory began. After unsuccessful attempts to peacefully achieve mutual understanding and resolve the conflict, the Soviet government was forced to take measures to protect the territorial integrity of the country. In August, the Special Far Eastern Army was created under the command of V.K. Blucher, which in October, together with the Amur military flotilla, defeated groupings of Chinese troops in the areas of the cities of Lakhasusu and Fugdin and destroyed the enemy’s Sungari flotilla. In November, the successful Manchu-Zhalaynor and Mishanfu operations were carried out, during which the first Soviet T-18 (MS-1) tanks were used for the first time. On December 22, the Khabarovsk Protocol was signed, which restored the previous status quo.
3. Armed conflict with Japan at Lake Khasan, 1938 Provoked by the Japanese aggressors. Having concentrated 3 infantry divisions, a cavalry regiment and a mechanized brigade in the area of Lake Khasan, the Japanese aggressors at the end of June 1938 captured the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya heights, which were of strategic importance for the area. On August 6-9, Soviet troops, with the forces of 2 rifle divisions and a mechanized brigade advanced to the conflict area, knocked out the Japanese from these heights. On August 11, hostilities ceased. The pre-conflict status quo was established.
4. Armed conflict on the Khalkhin Gol River, 1939 On July 2, 1939, after numerous provocations that began in May, Japanese troops (38 thousand people, 310 guns, 135 tanks, 225 aircraft) invaded Mongolia with the goal of seizing a bridgehead on the western bank of Khalkhin Gol and subsequently defeating the Soviet group opposing them (12.5 thousand people, 109 guns, 186 tanks, 266 armored vehicles, 82 aircraft). During three days of fighting, the Japanese were defeated and driven back to the eastern bank of the river.
In August, the Japanese 6th Army (75 thousand people, 500 guns, 182 tanks), supported by over 300 aircraft, was deployed in the Khalkhin Gol area. Soviet-Mongolian troops (57 thousand people, 542 guns, 498 tanks, 385 armored vehicles) with the support of 515 aircraft on August 20, forestalling the enemy, went on the offensive, surrounded and by the end of the month destroyed the Japanese group. Air combat continued until September 15. The enemy lost 61 thousand people killed, wounded and prisoners, 660 aircraft, the Soviet-Mongolian troops lost 18, 5 thousand killed and wounded and 207 aircraft.
This conflict seriously undermined Japan's military power and showed its government the futility of a large-scale war against our country.
5. Liberation campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. The collapse of Poland, this “ugly brainchild of the Versailles system,” created the preconditions for the reunification of Western Ukrainian and Western Belarusian lands, seized in the 1920s, with our country. On September 17, 1939, troops of the Belarusian and Kyiv special military districts crossed the former state border, reached the line of the Western Bug and San rivers and occupied these areas. During the campaign there were no major clashes with Polish troops.
In November 1939, the lands of Ukraine and Belarus, liberated from the Polish yoke, were accepted into our state.
This campaign contributed to strengthening the defense capability of our country.
6. Soviet-Finnish war. It began on November 30, 1939 after numerous unsuccessful attempts to achieve the signing of a territory exchange agreement between the USSR and Finland. According to this agreement, an exchange of territories was envisaged - the USSR would transfer part of Eastern Karelia to Finland, and Finland would lease the Hanko Peninsula, some islands in the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus to our country. All this was vital to ensure the defense of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). However, the Finnish government refused to sign such an agreement. Moreover, the Finnish government began to organize provocations at the border. The USSR was forced to defend itself, as a result of which on November 30 the Red Army crossed the border and entered the territory of Finland. The leadership of our country expected that within three weeks the Red Army would enter Helsinki and occupy the entire territory of Finland. However, a fleeting war did not work out - the Red Army stalled in front of the “Mannerheim Line” - a well-fortified strip of defensive structures. And only on February 11, after the reorganization of the troops and after strong artillery preparation, the Mannerheim line was broken through, and the Red Army began to develop a successful offensive. On March 5, Vyborg was occupied, and on March 12, an agreement was signed in Moscow, according to which all the territories required by the USSR were part of it. Our country received a lease on the Hanko Peninsula for the construction of a naval base, the Karelian Isthmus with the city of Vyborg, and the city of Sortavala in Karelia. The city of Leningrad was now reliably protected.
7. Great Patriotic War, 1941-45. It began on June 22, 1941 with a sudden attack by the troops of Germany and its satellites (190 divisions, 5.5 million people, 4,300 tanks and assault guns, 47.2 thousand guns, 4,980 combat aircraft), which were opposed by 170 Soviet divisions, 2 brigades, numbering 2 million 680 thousand people, 37.5 thousand guns and mortars, 1475 T-34 and KV 1 tanks and over 15 thousand tanks of other models). At the first, most difficult stage of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942), Soviet troops were forced to retreat. In order to increase the combat effectiveness of the armed forces, 13 ages were mobilized, new formations and units were formed, and a people's militia was created.
In border battles in Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, the Baltic States, Karelia, and the Arctic, Soviet troops bled the enemy's strike forces dry and managed to significantly slow down the enemy's advance. The main events unfolded in the Moscow direction, where, in the battles for Smolensk that unfolded in August, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and forced German troops to go on the defensive for the first time in World War II. The battle for Moscow, which began on September 30, 1941, ended in early 1942 with the complete defeat of the German forces advancing on the capital. Until December 5, Soviet troops fought defensive battles, holding back and crushing selected German divisions. On December 5-6, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and pushed the enemy back 150-400 kilometers from the capital.
The successful Tikhvin operation was carried out on the northern flank, which contributed to the diversion of German forces from Moscow, and the Rostov offensive operation was carried out in the south. The Soviet army began to wrest the strategic initiative from the hands of the Wehrmacht, but it finally passed to our army on November 19, 1942, when the offensive at Stalingrad began, ending in the encirclement and defeat of the 6th German army.
In 1943, as a result of the fighting on the Kursk Bulge, Army Group Center was significantly defeated. As a result of the offensive that began, by the fall of 1943, Left Bank Ukraine and its capital, the city of Kyiv, were liberated.
The next year, 1944, was marked by the completion of the liberation of Ukraine, the liberation of Belarus, the Baltic states, the entry of the Red Army to the border of the USSR, the liberation of Sofia, Belgrade and some other European capitals. The war was inexorably approaching Germany. But before its victorious end in May 1945, there were also battles for Warsaw, Budapest, Koenigsberg, Prague and Berlin, where on May 8, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed, putting an end to the most terrible war in the history of our country. A war that claimed the lives of 30 million of our compatriots.
8. Soviet-Japanese War, 1945 On August 9, 1945, the USSR, faithful to its allied duty and obligations, began a war against imperialist Japan. Conducting an offensive on a front of over 5 thousand kilometers, Soviet troops, in cooperation with the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Military Flotilla, defeated the Kwantung Army. Having advanced 600-800 kilometers. They liberated Northeast China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The enemy lost 667 thousand people, and our country returned what rightfully belonged to it - South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which are strategic territories for our country.
9.War in Afghanistan, 1979-89. The last war in the history of the Soviet Union was the war in Afghanistan, which began on December 25, 1979 and was caused not only by our country’s obligation under the Soviet-Afghan treaty, but also by the objective need to protect our strategic interests in the Central Asian region.
Until mid-1980, Soviet troops did not directly participate in hostilities, being engaged only in protecting important strategic facilities and escorting convoys with national economic cargo. However, with the increase in the intensity of hostilities, the Soviet military contingent was forced to be drawn into battle. To suppress the rebels, large military operations were carried out in different provinces of Afghanistan, in particular, in Panjshir against the gangs of the field commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, to release the large provincial center - the city of Khost and others.
Soviet troops courageously completed all the tasks that were assigned to them. They left Afghanistan on February 15, 1989, leaving with banners flying, music and marches. They left as winners.
10. Undeclared wars of the USSR. In addition to the above, parts of our armed forces took part in local conflicts in hot spots of the world, defending their strategic interests. Here is a list of countries and conflicts. Where our soldiers participated:
Chinese Civil War: 1946 to 1950.
Fighting in North Korea from Chinese territory: from June 1950 to July 1953.
Fighting in Hungary: 1956.
Fighting in Laos:
from January 1960 to December 1963;
from August 1964 to November 1968;
from November 1969 to December 1970.
Fighting in Algeria:
1962 - 1964.
Caribbean crisis:
Fighting in Czechoslovakia:
Fighting on Damansky Island:
March 1969.
Combat operations in the area of Lake Zhalanashkol:
August 1969.
Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic):
from October 1962 to March 1963;
June 1967;
from March 1969 to July 1972;
Fighting in the Yemen Arab Republic:
from October 1962 to March 1963 and
from November 1967 to December 1969.
Combat in Vietnam:
from January 1961 to December 1974.
Fighting in Syria:
June 1967;
March - July 1970;
September - November 1972;
October 1973.
Fighting in Mozambique:
1967 - 1969;
Fighting in Cambodia:
April - December 1970.
Fighting in Bangladesh:
1972 - 1973.
Fighting in Angola:
from November 1975 to November 1979.
Fighting in Ethiopia:
from December 1977 to November 1979.
Fighting in Syria and Lebanon:
June 1982.
In all these conflicts, our soldiers showed themselves to be courageous, selfless sons of their Fatherland. Many of them died defending our country on the distant approaches to it from the encroachments of dark enemy forces. And it is not their fault that the line of confrontation now runs through the Caucasus, Central Asia and other regions of the former Great Empire.
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1. Soviet-Polish war, 1920 It began on April 25, 1920 with a surprise attack by Polish troops, who had more than a two-fold advantage in manpower (148 thousand people versus 65 thousand for the Red Army). By the beginning of May, the Polish army reached Pripyat and the Dnieper and occupied Kyiv. In May-June, positional battles began, in June-August the Red Army went on the offensive, carried out a number of successful operations (the May operation, the Kiev operation, the Novograd-Volyn operation, the July operation, the Rivne operation) and reached Warsaw and Lvov. But such a sharp breakthrough resulted in a separation from supply units and convoys. The First Cavalry Army found itself face to face with superior enemy forces. Having lost many people as prisoners, the Red Army units were forced to retreat. Negotiations began in October, which five months later ended with the signing of the Riga Peace Treaty, according to which the territories of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were torn away from the Soviet state.
2. Sino-Soviet conflict, 1929 Provoked by the Chinese military on July 10, 1929. In violation of the 1924 agreement on the joint use of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which was built at the end of the 19th century by the Russian Empire, the Chinese side seized it and arrested over 200 citizens of our country. After this, the Chinese concentrated a 132,000-strong group in close proximity to the borders of the USSR. Violations of Soviet borders and shelling of Soviet territory began. After unsuccessful attempts to peacefully achieve mutual understanding and resolve the conflict, the Soviet government was forced to take measures to protect the territorial integrity of the country. In August, the Special Far Eastern Army was created under the command of V.K. Blucher, which in October, together with the Amur military flotilla, defeated groupings of Chinese troops in the areas of the cities of Lakhasusu and Fugdin and destroyed the enemy’s Sungari flotilla. In November, the successful Manchu-Zhalaynor and Mishanfu operations were carried out, during which the first Soviet T-18 (MS-1) tanks were used for the first time. On December 22, the Khabarovsk Protocol was signed, which restored the previous status quo.
3. Armed conflict with Japan at Lake Khasan, 1938 Provoked by the Japanese aggressors. Having concentrated 3 infantry divisions, a cavalry regiment and a mechanized brigade in the area of Lake Khasan, the Japanese aggressors at the end of June 1938 captured the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya heights, which were of strategic importance for the area. On August 6-9, Soviet troops, with the forces of 2 rifle divisions and a mechanized brigade advanced to the conflict area, knocked out the Japanese from these heights. On August 11, hostilities ceased. The pre-conflict status quo was established.
4. Armed conflict on the Khalkhin Gol River, 1939 On July 2, 1939, after numerous provocations that began in May, Japanese troops (38 thousand people, 310 guns, 135 tanks, 225 aircraft) invaded Mongolia with the goal of seizing a bridgehead on the western bank of Khalkhin Gol and subsequently defeating the Soviet group opposing them (12.5 thousand people, 109 guns, 186 tanks, 266 armored vehicles, 82 aircraft). During three days of fighting, the Japanese were defeated and driven back to the eastern bank of the river.
In August, the Japanese 6th Army (75 thousand people, 500 guns, 182 tanks), supported by over 300 aircraft, was deployed in the Khalkhin Gol area. Soviet-Mongolian troops (57 thousand people, 542 guns, 498 tanks, 385 armored vehicles) with the support of 515 aircraft on August 20, forestalling the enemy, went on the offensive, surrounded and by the end of the month destroyed the Japanese group. Air combat continued until September 15. The enemy lost 61 thousand people killed, wounded and prisoners, 660 aircraft, the Soviet-Mongolian troops lost 18, 5 thousand killed and wounded and 207 aircraft.
This conflict seriously undermined Japan's military power and showed its government the futility of a large-scale war against our country.
5. Liberation campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. The collapse of Poland, this “ugly brainchild of the Versailles system,” created the preconditions for the reunification of Western Ukrainian and Western Belarusian lands, seized in the 1920s, with our country. On September 17, 1939, troops of the Belarusian and Kyiv special military districts crossed the former state border, reached the line of the Western Bug and San rivers and occupied these areas. During the campaign there were no major clashes with Polish troops.
In November 1939, the lands of Ukraine and Belarus, liberated from the Polish yoke, were accepted into our state.
This campaign contributed to strengthening the defense capability of our country.
6. Soviet-Finnish war. It began on November 30, 1939 after numerous unsuccessful attempts to achieve the signing of a territory exchange agreement between the USSR and Finland. According to this agreement, an exchange of territories was envisaged - the USSR would transfer part of Eastern Karelia to Finland, and Finland would lease the Hanko Peninsula, some islands in the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus to our country. All this was vital to ensure the defense of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). However, the Finnish government refused to sign such an agreement. Moreover, the Finnish government began to organize provocations at the border. The USSR was forced to defend itself, as a result of which on November 30 the Red Army crossed the border and entered the territory of Finland. The leadership of our country expected that within three weeks the Red Army would enter Helsinki and occupy the entire territory of Finland. However, a fleeting war did not work out - the Red Army stalled in front of the “Mannerheim Line” - a well-fortified strip of defensive structures. And only on February 11, after the reorganization of the troops and after strong artillery preparation, the Mannerheim line was broken through, and the Red Army began to develop a successful offensive. On March 5, Vyborg was occupied, and on March 12, an agreement was signed in Moscow, according to which all the territories required by the USSR were part of it. Our country received a lease on the Hanko Peninsula for the construction of a naval base, the Karelian Isthmus with the city of Vyborg, and the city of Sortavala in Karelia. The city of Leningrad was now reliably protected.
7. Great Patriotic War, 1941-45. It began on June 22, 1941 with a sudden attack by the troops of Germany and its satellites (190 divisions, 5.5 million people, 4,300 tanks and assault guns, 47.2 thousand guns, 4,980 combat aircraft), which were opposed by 170 Soviet divisions, 2 brigades, numbering 2 million 680 thousand people, 37.5 thousand guns and mortars, 1475 T-34 and KV 1 tanks and over 15 thousand tanks of other models). At the first, most difficult stage of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942), Soviet troops were forced to retreat. In order to increase the combat effectiveness of the armed forces, 13 ages were mobilized, new formations and units were formed, and a people's militia was created.
In border battles in Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, the Baltic States, Karelia, and the Arctic, Soviet troops bled the enemy's strike forces dry and managed to significantly slow down the enemy's advance. The main events unfolded in the Moscow direction, where, in the battles for Smolensk that unfolded in August, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and forced German troops to go on the defensive for the first time in World War II. The battle for Moscow, which began on September 30, 1941, ended in early 1942 with the complete defeat of the German forces advancing on the capital. Until December 5, Soviet troops fought defensive battles, holding back and crushing selected German divisions. On December 5-6, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive and pushed the enemy back 150-400 kilometers from the capital.
The successful Tikhvin operation was carried out on the northern flank, which contributed to the diversion of German forces from Moscow, and the Rostov offensive operation was carried out in the south. The Soviet army began to wrest the strategic initiative from the hands of the Wehrmacht, but it finally passed to our army on November 19, 1942, when the offensive at Stalingrad began, ending in the encirclement and defeat of the 6th German army.
In 1943, as a result of the fighting on the Kursk Bulge, Army Group Center was significantly defeated. As a result of the offensive that began, by the fall of 1943, Left Bank Ukraine and its capital, the city of Kyiv, were liberated.
The next year, 1944, was marked by the completion of the liberation of Ukraine, the liberation of Belarus, the Baltic states, the entry of the Red Army to the border of the USSR, the liberation of Sofia, Belgrade and some other European capitals. The war was inexorably approaching Germany. But before its victorious end in May 1945, there were also battles for Warsaw, Budapest, Koenigsberg, Prague and Berlin, where on May 8, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed, putting an end to the most terrible war in the history of our country. A war that claimed the lives of 30 million of our compatriots.
8. Soviet-Japanese War, 1945 On August 9, 1945, the USSR, faithful to its allied duty and obligations, began a war against imperialist Japan. Conducting an offensive on a front of over 5 thousand kilometers, Soviet troops, in cooperation with the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Military Flotilla, defeated the Kwantung Army. Having advanced 600-800 kilometers. They liberated Northeast China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The enemy lost 667 thousand people, and our country returned what rightfully belonged to it - South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, which are strategic territories for our country.
9.War in Afghanistan, 1979-89. The last war in the history of the Soviet Union was the war in Afghanistan, which began on December 25, 1979 and was caused not only by our country’s obligation under the Soviet-Afghan treaty, but also by the objective need to protect our strategic interests in the Central Asian region.
Until mid-1980, Soviet troops did not directly participate in hostilities, being engaged only in protecting important strategic facilities and escorting convoys with national economic cargo. However, with the increase in the intensity of hostilities, the Soviet military contingent was forced to be drawn into battle. To suppress the rebels, large military operations were carried out in different provinces of Afghanistan, in particular, in Panjshir against the gangs of the field commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, to unblock a large provincial center - the city of Khost and others.
Soviet troops courageously completed all the tasks that were assigned to them. They left Afghanistan on February 15, 1989, leaving with banners flying, music and marches. They left as winners.
10. Undeclared wars of the USSR. In addition to the above, parts of our armed forces took part in local conflicts in hot spots of the world, defending their strategic interests. Here is a list of countries and conflicts. Where our soldiers participated:
Chinese Civil War: from 1946 to 1950.
Fighting in North Korea from Chinese territory: from June 1950 to July 1953.
Fighting in Hungary: 1956
Fighting in Laos:
from January 1960 to December 1963;
from August 1964 to November 1968;
from November 1969 to December 1970.
Fighting in Algeria:
1962 - 1964.
Caribbean crisis:
Fighting in Czechoslovakia:
Fighting on Damansky Island:
March 1969.
Combat operations in the area of Lake Zhalanashkol:
August 1969.
Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic):
from October 1962 to March 1963;
June 1967;
from March 1969 to July 1972;
Fighting in the Yemen Arab Republic:
from October 1962 to March 1963 and
from November 1967 to December 1969.
Combat in Vietnam:
from January 1961 to December 1974.
Fighting in Syria:
June 1967;
March - July 1970;
September - November 1972;
October 1973.
Fighting in Mozambique:
1967 - 1969;
Fighting in Cambodia:
April - December 1970.
Fighting in Bangladesh:
1972 - 1973.
Fighting in Angola:
from November 1975 to November 1979.
Fighting in Ethiopia:
from December 1977 to November 1979.
Fighting in Syria and Lebanon:
June 1982.
In all these conflicts, our soldiers showed themselves to be courageous, selfless sons of their Fatherland. Many of them died defending our country on the distant approaches to it from the encroachments of dark enemy forces. And it is not their fault that the line of confrontation now runs through the Caucasus, Central Asia and other regions of the former Great Empire.
Wartime economic conditions. The general crisis that gripped the Soviet Union by the end of the 1980s was determined primarily by the weakness of its economy, destroyed by unsustainable military expenditures. During the last 25 years of the USSR's existence, we lived not just in a war economy, but in a wartime economy. It was hidden from the people that during this period more than one trillion five hundred billion rubles were spent on military needs.
All our official propaganda during the “stagnant years” trumpeted to the whole world that “the USSR is a stronghold of peace and socialism.” Meanwhile, the “champions of peace” fulfilled and exceeded plans for the production of weapons and military equipment, built tanks and airplanes in 2-3 shifts, launched 5-6 military aircraft into space every month, exploded 15-20 atomic or hydrogen bombs annually and largest arms seller in the world. According to American experts, in total there are about 50 million Kalashnikov assault rifles and about 8 million units of the American M-16 rifle in different countries of the world.
Confrontation between the USA and the USSR. Regional wars and military conflicts using conventional weapons have continued from the end of World War II to the present. In a number of cases, they were the result of military confrontation between two great powers, the USA and the USSR, in various parts of the globe. By the beginning of 1990, the total number of deaths during these regional wars reached 17 million people.
Our leaders verbally swore day and night that they were peaceful, but in reality everything was not like that. Stalin's socialism, with its belligerence, always instilled fear in people and posed a threat to the whole world. Stalinism and neo-Stalinism are saber rattling and interference in the internal affairs of not only bordering sovereign states, but also distant overseas countries.
Chronicle of military actions of the USSR. Below is a list of the main military actions carried out both directly by the USSR and with its participation against its closest neighbors for “our interests” in the post-war decades.
- 1948 - “siege” of West Berlin.” Blocking by Soviet troops of land transport links between Germany and West Berlin.
- 1950-1953 - War in Korea.
- 1953 - Soviet troops suppressed the uprising in the GDR.
- 1956 - Soviet troops suppressed the anti-communist revolution in Hungary.
- 1961 - construction of the 29-kilometer Berlin Wall in one night on August 13th. Berlin crisis.
- 1962 - secret import of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads into Cuba. Caribbean crisis.
- 1967 - participation of Soviet military specialists in the “seven-day war” between Israel and Egypt, Syria, Jordan.
- 1968 - invasion of troops of the USSR, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria into Czechoslovakia.
- 1979 - entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The beginning of the ten-year Afghan war.
Countries where Soviet soldiers fought. In addition to the military operations known to the whole world with the official participation of the Soviet Army, either in the form of “liberation campaigns”, or as part of a “limited contingent of troops”, our “internationalist warriors” in civilian dress or in the uniform of “natives”, or in repainted tanks and aircraft were in the army in North Korea, Laos, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Vietnam, Syria, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba. Bolivia, Grenada - in total more than twenty countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
On May 21, 1991, the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper published, with the permission of the USSR Ministry of Defense, a far from complete list of countries where Soviet military personnel - “internationalist warriors” - took part in hostilities, indicating the time of the fighting. It is shown below in Table 1 with the addition of a column about the debt of these countries to the Soviet Union for military assistance.
The price of “selfless help.”“Unselfish help,” according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR E.A. Shevardnadze, who spoke at the XXVIII Congress of the CPSU, amounted to 700 billion rubles over 20 years. This means that we wasted 35 billion rubles annually on military supplies alone to former socialist countries and third world countries in order to convert them to the communist faith.
Handouts to “our friends” with planes, tanks, helicopters, missiles, mines cost the USSR too much: Egypt, Somalia, Ghana, Congo, Grenada, having walked a little shoulder to shoulder with our military specialists “along the path of socialist orientation”, returned to the path of normal development . In February 1990, as a result of general free elections and the defeat of the Sandinistas in the elections, Nicaragua turned away from “our” path. Well, when the USSR disappeared, almost all other regimes of “socialist orientation” were defeated or transformed.
Tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers in civilian dress laid mines, set up ambushes and raised Kalashnikovs and the banner of the national liberation struggle against “world imperialism” in dozens of “third world” countries. Not all of these volunteers returned home healthy and unharmed. Many of them were destined for the fate of the “unknown soldier” with an unmarked grave either in the African jungle, or in the sands of the Sahara or on the Golan Heights.
Table 1
Participation of USSR military personnel in hostilities
after World War II
| Countries in which Soviet military personnel were stationed | Time of fighting (months, years) | The country's debt to the Soviet Union, billion rubles |
| North Korea | June 1950 - July 1953 | 2,2 |
| Laos | 1960-1963, August 1964-November 1968, November 1969-December 1970 | 0,8 |
| Algeria | 1962—1964 | 2,5 |
| Egypt | October 18, 1962 - April 1, 1963, October 1, 1969 - June 16, 1972, October 5, 1973 - April 1, 1974 | 1,7 |
| Yemen | October 18, 1962 – April 1, 1963 | 1,0 |
| Vietnam | July 1, 1965 – December 31, 1974 | 9,1 |
| Syria | June 5-13, 1967, October 6-24, 1973 | 6,7 |
| Cambodia | April-December 1970 | 0,7 |
| Bangladesh | 1972-1973 | 0,1 |
| Angola | November 1975-1979 | 2,0 |
| Mozambique | 1967-1969, November 1975-November 1979 | 0,8 |
| Ethiopia | December 9, 1977 – November 30, 1979 | 2,8 |
| Afghanistan | April 1978-May 1991 | 3,0 |
| Nicaragua | 1980-1990 | 1,0 |
This conclusion is confirmed by data from the financial management of the USSR Ministry of Defense for 1989. 2.4 billion rubles were allocated for the pension benefits of 1 million 280 thousand veterans of the armed forces and war participants. Of these veterans, 832 thousand receive long-service pensions. 111 thousand people received disability pensions - among them those who “sniffed gunpowder abroad”, and, finally, 239 thousand people received pensions for the loss of breadwinners - those “unknown soldiers” with unmarked graves.
"Volunteers under duress." The surviving “volunteers under duress” gave the “competent authorities” a subscription not to disclose “state secrets” - about “their business trips” to Somalia, Mozambique, Grenada, etc. Only on June 30, 1989, the veil of secrecy surrounding our “internationalist warriors” was slightly lifted and the government decided to extend to them the benefits and benefits provided for participants in the Great Patriotic War and for military personnel who served in the Republic of Afghanistan.
USSR as a weapons supplier. In the last 25 years of its existence, the Soviet Union was the largest arms supplier in the world. The USSR's share in the total volume of arms supplies to all countries of the world reached 40% in the early 1980s, and for some types of military equipment and weapons reached 50% (Kalashnikov assault rifles and tanks). In the early 1980s. 25% of all weapons and military equipment produced in the USSR were exported. Our competitors - the USA, France, Great Britain, China - recognized arms suppliers - are left far behind. For example, in 1985, the US share in world arms supplies was 27%, France - 12%, Great Britain - 5%, China - 3%.
Numbers. An analysis of product supplies from all industrial complexes (metallurgical, fuel and energy, engineering, etc.) for enterprises of the military-industrial complex, military science, armed forces, KGB, Ministry of Internal Affairs and other special calculations showed that in 1989 “for defense “485 billion rubles were allocated. Knowing that military-industrial complex enterprises produced consumer goods (TVs, radios, tape recorders, etc.) worth 30 billion rubles, we believe that industry spent 455 billion rubles on defense.
Let's add to this amount of expenses the funds allocated for military construction - at least 10 billion rubles and for military science - at least 15 billion rubles. We find that the total military expenditures of the USSR (without transport and communications) amounted to no less than 480 (455 + 10 + 15) billion rubles in just one year.
According to official data, in 1989 the gross national product was 924 billion rubles, and the national income generated was 656 billion rubles. Then our “defense” expenses reached mind-boggling figures - 51.9% of the gross national product or 73.1% of the national income generated, which confirms the complete collapse of the Soviet economy, strained by unsustainable military expenses.
This insane arms race in the last quarter of a century of the existence of the USSR and the reckless (rather criminal towards its own people) assistance to everyone and everything contributed to the ruin of our country and bringing the people to complete impoverishment.
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