Sholohkov, M, Nauka nenavisti. Moscow, 1942.
Sholokhov, M., Oni srazhalis' za rodinu. 1959 (reprint).
Tolstoi, A. N., Polnoye sobraniye sochinenii, vol. 14. Moscow, 1950.
Tolstoi, A. N., Ivan Groznyï, Dramaticheskaya povest'. Moscow, 1945.
Vasilevakaya, V., Raduga. Moscow, 1942.
More recent novels on the war years are too numerous to list, but the most important from a documentary standpoint are K. Simonov's Zhivyie i mertvyie (Moscow, 1958) and Soldatami ne rozhdayutsya (published in Znamya, 1963-4), novels and stories by Yu.
Bondarev, Yu. Nagibin, L. Volynsky, V. Grossman, V. Nekrasov, Yu. German, O.
Bergholz (Dnevnyie zvezdy), B. Polevoi, etc.
WARTIME POETRY
Akhmatova, A., Izbrannoye. Tashkent, 1943.
Aliger, M., Zoya. Moscow, 1942. (Also in form of a play, Moscow, 1943.)
Bergholz, O., Stikhi. Moscow, 1962. (Includes most of her war poems.)
Ehrenburg, I., Svoboda. Moscow, 1943.
Inber, V., O Leningrade, poemy i stikhi. Leningrad, 1943.
Pasternak, B., Zemnoi prostor. Moscow, 1945.
Selvinsky, I., Krym, Kavkaz, Kuban. Moscow, 1947.
Simonov, K., Stikhi. Moscow, 1942.
Surkov, A., Stikhi. Moscow, 1943.
Tikhonov, N., Kirov s nami. Moscow, 1942.
Tvardovsky, A., Vasili Terkin. Moscow, 1942.
Most of the less conventional poetry on the war was not published until after Stalin's death; see, in particular, Literaturnaya Moskva annual, 1955 and 1956, and the Den'
Poezii annual since 1955, particularly that of 1962. These contain much poetry by
"soldier poets" like S. Gudzenko and also many poems, "unpublishable" under Stalin, by older writers like S. Kirsanov, N. Tikhonov, A. Tvardovsky, etc., some of them written during the war.
MUSIC
Music holds an important place in wartime art and propaganda. Of the innumerable
symphonies, oratorios, cantatas, etc., directly inspired by the war the most striking are D.
Shostakovich's celebrated 7th Symphony and the even more poignant (though grossly underrated) 8th Symphony, besides his chamber music, especially his Piano Trio of 1944.
Important are also a number of war-time compositions by N. Myaskovsky, e.g. his
cantata, Kirov s nami. Of S. Prokofiev's principal works written during the war, only his opera War and Peace has an obvious and direct connection with the War.
There was an enormous output of wartime songs, many included in selections like
Krasnoarmeisky pesennik (Moscow, 1942), Pesni by M. Blanter (Moscow, 1942), Pesni by D. and D. Pokrass (Moscow, 1942) and many other later collections.
CINEMA
More important than the feature films produced during the war (mostly historical,
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.
October 16 Height of "Moscow panic". Germans and Rumanians capture Odessa.
October 20 State of siege declared in Moscow.
October 24 Germans capture Kharkov.
October 25 Failure of first German offensive against Moscow.
October 30 Nine-month siege of Sebastopol begins.
November 3 Germans capture Kursk.
November 9 Germans take Tikhvin, thus almost completely isolating Leningrad.
November 12 HMS Ark Royal sunk.
November 6 and 7 Stalins two "Holy Russia" speeches.
November 16 Second German offensive against Moscow begins.
November 18 British offensive in Western Desert begins.
November 19 Germans take Rostov.
November 20 to Dec 25 All-time low in Leningrad rationing.
November 22 Germans break into Klin and Istra.
November 29 Russians recapture Rostov.
December 5 Eden arrives in Moscow.
December 6 Russian Moscow counter-offensive begins.
December 7 Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour, and raid British Malaya.
December 8 Britain and USA declare war on Japan. Japanese air-raids on Guam,
Midway, Philippines and Hong Kong.
December 9 Japanese land on Luzon. Russians recapture Tikhvin, thus saving
Leningrad.
December 11 Hitler declares war on USA.
December 10 HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse sunk by Japanese.
December 15 Russians recapture Klin, Istra and relieve Tula.
December 19 Penang evacuated.
December 24 British recapture Benghazi.
December 25 Hong Kong surrenders.
December 25-30 Russians establish bridgehead in East Crimea.
December 30 Russians recapture Kaluga.
January-March Russian offensive west of Moscow continues.
January 10 Japanese invade Dutch East Indies.
January 11 Japanese take Kuala Lumpur.
January 21 German counter-offensive in Western Desert begins.
January 28 Germans retake Benghazi.
1942
February 1 British forces in Malaya withdraw to Singapore.
February 15 Singapore surrenders.
February 24 US task force raids Wake Island.
February 28 Japanese land in Java.
March 10 Rangoon falls to Japanese.
March 28 Commando raid on St. Nazaire
April 9 Surrender of Bataan.
May 1 Japanese take Mandalay.
May 6 Corregidor surrenders.
May 8 Germans attack in Eastern Crimea.
May 12 Russian offensive opens in Kharkov area.
May 17 German counter-offensive begins; Russian defeat in Kharkov area.
May 20 Germans take Kerch peninsula.
May 26 Molotov signs Anglo-Soviet twenty-year Alliance in London, then visits
Washington. Rommel resumes offensive in Western Desert.
May 30 Thousand-bomber raid on Cologne.
June 3 Battle of Midway Island begins.
June 7 Germans and Rumanians launch final attack on Sebastopol.
June 11 Publication of the "Second-Front" communique.
June 19 British withdraw to Egyptian frontier.
June 21 Rommel takes Tobruk.
June 28 Eighth Army retreats to El Alamein. Beginning of great German offensive in the South.
July 3 Fall of Sebastopol.
July 19 Germans take Voroshilovgrad.
July 28 Germans retake Rostov.
July 30 Stalin's "Not another step back" order to the Army.
August 3 Germans reach Kotelnikovo.
August 7 Americans land in Guadalcanal.
August 11 Fall of Maikop and Krasnodar.
August 12-15 Churchill, Harriman and Stalin confer in Moscow.
August 19 Dieppe raid.
August 23 Germans break through to Volga, north of Stalingrad. 40,000 killed in air-raid on Stalingrad.
August 25 Germans held at Mozdok on way to Grozny and Baku.
August 31 Battle of Alam Haifa begins.
September 3 German breakthrough to Volga south of Stalingrad.
September 13 German all-out attack on Stalingrad begins.
September 24 Most of central Stalingrad in German hands.
October 14-15 Failure of most concentrated German attack on northern Stalingrad
October 23 Battle of El Alamein begins.
November 4 Rommel in full retreat.
November 8 Allied landings in French North Africa.
November 13 Sea battle of Guadalcanal.
November 19 Russian counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins.
November 22 Over 300,000 Germans surrounded at Stalingrad.
December 12-23 Manstein's abortive attempt to relieve Stalingrad.
December 16-20 Rout of Italians on Don.
December 21 Eighth Army reaches Benghazi.
1943
January 2 German withdrawal from Caucasus begins.
January 23 Eighth Army reaches Tripoli.
January 26 Russians liberate Voronezh.
January 31 Paulus surrenders at Stalingrad.
February 2 Final German surrender at Stalingrad.
February 8 Russians take Kursk.
February 14 Russians take Rostov.
February 16 Russians take Kharkov.
March 3-12 Russians liberate Gzhatsk-Viazma-Rzhev triangle.
March 15 Germans recapture Kharkov.
March 29 Eighth Army takes Mareth Line.
April 14 Eighth Army reaches Enfidaville.
April 20 Massacre in Warsaw Ghetto.
April 26 USSR breaks off relations with London Polish Government following Katyn
"bombshell".
May 7 Allies take Tunis and Bizerta.
May 11 US troops land on Attu, Aleutian Islands.
May 12 German Army in Tunisia surrenders.
May 22 Comintern dissolved.
June 29 US forces land in New Guinea.
July 5 Battle of Kursk begins.
July 10 Allies land in Sicily.
July 12-15 Russian counter-offensive against Orel salient begins.
July 26 Mussolini falls from power.
August 5 Russians take Orel and Belgorod.
August 16 Americans enter Messina.
August 23 Russians retake Kharkov.
August 27 Japanese evacuate New Georgia Island.
August 30 Taganrog recaptured.
August 31 Glukhov recaptured.
September 3 Allies invade Italy.
September 8 Russians liberate Donbas.
September 10 Mariupol taken.
September 16 Novorossisk taken.
September 25 Smolensk taken.
September 30 Fifth Army takes Naples.
October 7 Russians clear the Taman Peninsula; Dnieper forced.
October 13 Italy declares war on Germany.
October 14 Zaporozhie recaptured.
October 18 Foreign Ministers' conference opens in Moscow.
October 19 Germans in Italy retire from Volturno river.
October 25 Dnepropetrovsk recaptured.
November 1 Americans land on Bouganville in Solomons.
November 4 Eighth Army takes Isernia.
No
vember 6 Russians recapture Kiev.
November 12 Bridgehead established across the Sangro. Russians take Zhitomir.
November 19 German counter-offensive retakes Zhitomir.
November 20 Americans land on Tarawa and Makin Islands.
November 28 Teheran conference begins.
December 7 Fifth Army take Monte Camino.
December 26 Scharnhorst sunk.
1944
January 4 Fifth Army launches attack east of Cassino.
January 27 Leningrad completely relieved.
January 15 Americans complete reconquest of Solomon Islands.
February 17 German rout in Korsun salient in central Ukraine.
February 22 Krivoi Rog taken.
March 4 Russian spring offensive opens in Ukraine.
March 12 Uman recaptured.
March 19 Russians force the Dniester.
April 2 Russians enter Rumania.
April 11 Liberation of Crimea begins.
April 15 Tarnopol liberated.
April 22 Allies land at Hollandia, New Guinea.
May 9 Sebastopol taken.
May 12 Allies in Italy assault the Gustav Line.
May 13 Crimea cleared of Germans.
May 18 Cassino taken.
May 23 Anzio break-out.
June 4 Fifth Army enters Rome.
June 6 Allies invade Normandy.
June 10 Russians begin offensive against Finland.
June 13 First V1 bomb on London.
June 15 First Super-Fortress raid on Japan.
June 19 Americans take Saipan.
June 20 Viborg taken by Russians.
June 23 Russians begin offensive in Belorussia.
June 23-28 Germans encircled at Vitebsk and Bobruisk.
June 27 Cherbourg captured.
July 3 Russians take Minsk. About 100,000 Germans captured.
July 6 Russians take Kovel.
July 9 Caen captured.
July 13 Vilno captured.
July 18 Rokossovsky's troops enter Poland. Pskov liberated.
July 20 Attempt to assasinate Hitler.
July 23 Lublin taken.
July 25 Americans break through at St. Lo.
July 28 Brest Litovsk taken.
July 31 Russians reach outskirts of Praga, opposite Warsaw. Avranches entered.
August 1 Beginning of Warsaw Rising.
August 11 Eighth Army reaches Florence.
August 15 Allies land in south of France.
August 16 Americans near Chartres and Dreux.
August 20 Russians begin offensive in Bessarabia and Rumania.
August 23 King Michael of Rumania interns Antonescu and forms new "peace
Government.
August 25 Paris liberated.
August 26 Eighth Army opens attack in Adriatic sector.
August 30 Russians enter Bucharest and Ploesti.
Russia at war Page 119
