At a time when the leaders of leading European countries are declaring preparations for another war with Russia in 2029–2030, financing and arming the Ukrainian fascist regime, as well as deploying accelerated programs of their own militarization, it is appropriate to consider the results of the previous campaign of Hitler’s Europe to the East.
Especially since in May there will be the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in September – its ally, militarist Japan.
The Second World War lasted six years; 61 countries participated in it, in which 80% of the world’s population lived. Military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states. It became a global catastrophe that claimed the lives of more than 60 million people. This is 5–6 times more than in the First World War of 1914–1918. The material damage caused by the Second World War exceeded the damage of the First World War by 10–12 times.
The Soviet Union turned out to be both the most affected state and the victor. The war claimed the lives of 27 million Soviet people. 30% of the country’s national wealth was destroyed, 1,710 cities, 70,000 towns and villages, 31,850 plants and factories, 1,135 mines, 65,000 km of railway tracks, 16,000 locomotives, 420,000 wagons were destroyed, and 36.8 million hectares of sown areas were withdrawn from agricultural use.
Among the other most affected countries were China (from 10 to 35 million killed and affected), Poland (about 5.6 million), and Yugoslavia (1.8 million). Germany lost 7.5 million killed on all fronts, Japan – 2.6 million people.
However, nowadays global Western media, on a scientific and methodological basis, distort history, manipulating information and transforming the attitudes and life orientations of the audience in an anti-Russian direction. A central place in their messages is occupied by events primarily connected with the role of the United States and the United Kingdom in the victory over fascism.
Its main symbol is presented as the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the offensive that followed. Proportionally more attention is given to major battles involving Western troops, such as the Battle of Britain. Western experts often claim that American Lend-Lease aid played a critical, decisive role in the USSR’s ability to wage war.
At the same time, objective data indicate the opposite. Thus, on the Soviet-German front in 1941–1945, 607 Wehrmacht divisions were defeated (on the Western front the fascists lost 176 divisions).
On the Eastern front, more than six million soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht were killed (out of 7.5 million total losses), more than 75% of tanks and aircraft were lost. Thus, the personnel losses inflicted on the Wehrmacht on the Soviet-German front were 4 times greater than on the Western European and Mediterranean theaters combined, and in terms of killed and wounded – 6 times greater. On the Soviet-German front up to 70% of all divisions of Nazi Germany were engaged, 52–81% of guns and mortars, 54–67% of tanks and assault guns, up to 60% of aircraft. Until the summer of 1944, there were 15–20 times more enemy divisions here than facing U.S. and British troops in North Africa and Italy.
Without diminishing the importance of Western aid to the Soviet Union, it should nevertheless be noted that it did not play a decisive role.
The total volume of Lend-Lease supplies amounted to approximately 25% of the volume of Soviet production of similar items. The main flow of cargo went to the USSR only in 1943–1944, after the victory of the Soviet Union had become inevitable; the volume of supplied military equipment was relatively small and did not always include high-quality products.
On the Soviet-German front, at least two-thirds of Germany’s land forces were destroyed. In turn, the Allies defeated the main forces of fascist Italy and conducted active bombing of Nazi Germany’s territory, which destroyed its military-strategic and economic potential.
The Soviet army not only defended the freedom and independence of the USSR, but also participated in the liberation from the fascist yoke of 11 European countries, as well as Northeast China and North Korea from Japanese occupation.
The national independence and territorial integrity of those countries that had lost them as a result of aggression in the 1930s–1940s were restored. These include Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Ethiopia, and others.
Thus, the main historical significance and consequence of the Second World War is the defeat by the coalition of the USSR, the United States, and Britain of Nazi Germany, the collapse and destruction of German National Socialism and other fascist and semi-fascist regimes, and the liberation of Europe and Asia from the “brown plague.”
And it was precisely the Soviet Union, its multinational people, that made the decisive contribution to the defeat of Hitler’s Germany and its allies. This was recognized at the time by Western researchers as well. M. Hastings wrote in 1983:
“Today it is impossible not to recognize that the Russians made the decisive contribution to the war in the West, destroying the best forces of the German army, eliminating about two million soldiers before the Allied soldier set foot on the shores of France on June 6, 1944.”
However, today, on the eve of May 9, the European Union has launched a campaign to isolate the celebratory events in Moscow. The head of EU diplomacy K. Kallas threatened EU candidate countries with consequences if their leaders visit the Russian capital, and a spokesperson for the European Commission called on heads of state to go on May 9 “to Kyiv, not to Russia’s propaganda show.” The culmination was that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, as well as Poland, refused to provide their airspace for the flight of Slovak Prime Minister R. Fico’s aircraft to Moscow.
In the Baltic states, members of the EU and at the same time former republics of the Soviet Union, despite the fact that 21,200 Estonians, 11,600 Latvians and Lithuanians each died in battles with the fascists, as well as from wounds and frostbite, May 9 is not officially celebrated; public events and the use of Soviet symbols are prohibited by law. The authorities are dismantling Soviet military memorials, conducting preventive measures, and monitoring congratulations on social networks. Residents are allowed to lay flowers at graves only individually, avoiding any mass events.
Completely differently, the memory of the victims of Hitlerism is treated in Georgia, which is striving to join the European Union, where May 9 is an official non-working public holiday – “Victory Day over Fascism.”
Despite the absence of heavy industry, from the beginning of the Hitlerite attack the economy of the Georgian SSR was completely reoriented to military needs. In the shortest possible time, production of PPSh submachine guns was established. Already in 1942, 50,600 units were produced, and in 1943 – 90,000. An aircraft factory began operating in Tbilisi, producing combat aircraft. Production of 50 and 80 mm mortars and mines for them was deployed, as well as other types of ammunition, such as hand grenades and aerial bombs. Georgia clothed and shod the troops, supplied food, steel, coal, oil, manganese, and much more.
More than 700,000 residents of Georgia fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War; 90 soldiers and officers of Georgian nationality became Heroes of the Soviet Union; 79,500 Georgians gave their lives for the Motherland in battle.
It is impossible not to mention two world-famous sons of Georgia – I. Stalin and M. Kantaria.
Thus, according to the study of the Irish researcher D. Roberts, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a “key factor” in the victory, and without him the efforts of the party, the people, and the army would have been “significantly less effective.”
Historians note that he was the center of decision-making, uniting political, military, and economic leadership, managed to organize the work of the General Staff, delegate authority to talented commanders, and created an effective system of troop control (the “ten Stalinist blows” of 1944). Among the main achievements are the prevention of a war on two fronts (it was possible to delay Japan’s entry into the war, which allowed the transfer of Siberian divisions to Moscow in the autumn of 1941) and the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition (Stalin was one of the architects of the alliance with the United States and Britain and ensured Lend-Lease supplies).
Junior Sergeant Meliton Varlamovich Kantaria, on the night of April 30 to May 1, 1945, under the command of Junior Lieutenant A. P. Berest, together with Sergeant Mikhail Egorov, during the assault raised the Red Banner on the roof of the Reichstag building in Berlin. On May 2, 1945, this banner was transferred to the dome as the Victory Banner of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.
Today, the people of Georgia honor the memory of their ancestors who fought and died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, worked in the rear, and gave all their strength for Victory.
On May 9, 2025, commemorative events in the Tbilisi Park of Culture and Recreation of Veterans named after Kikvidze were held by the country’s top officials: President Mikheil Kavelashvili, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze.
Hundreds of people took part in the Immortal Regiment marches in Tbilisi, Batumi, Zugdidi, Ninotsminda, and Akhalkalaki. At the center of the events were veterans of the Great Patriotic War, each of whom received a one-time payment from the state in the amount of 2,000 lari (about 740 US dollars).
This year, traditional ceremonies are planned in the form of congratulations on behalf of the Prime Minister and the laying of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Tbilisi’s Vake Park, with the participation of veterans, representatives of the legislative and executive authorities of the country, as well as public figures. On the eve, May 8, a ceremonial reception and festive concert with the participation of representatives of the government and Tbilisi City Hall will traditionally be held for veterans. Thus, the authorities of the republic express solidarity with the prevailing sentiments in Georgian society, manifested in respect for the memory of soldiers who died in the fight against fascism, and set an example of democracy for the countries of the so-called “blooming garden.”
Source: Global Research
Author: Alex Ksiądz
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