📅 1 September 1939
The invasion began the European war. The Soviet-German pact’s secret arrangements shaped the partition of Polish territory, while civilians faced invasion, occupation, and displacement.
📅 22 June 1941
Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, opening a war of annihilation across Soviet territory. Occupation, mass shootings, starvation, forced labor, and the Holocaust devastated civilians; Soviet...
📅 12 May 1942
The Red Army launched an offensive that was encircled and defeated by German forces. The failure cost lives and equipment and left a large area of Ukraine exposed to occupation and further atrocities.
📅 23 August 1942
A major German air raid destroyed much of the city and killed civilians. The battle that followed transformed an urban industrial center into a battlefield and became a turning point in the war.
📅 5 July 1943
Germany launched a major offensive against the Soviet salient at Kursk. Soviet defenses and counterattacks stopped the advance and helped secure the strategic initiative, at immense human and material...
