Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters!
Men of our army and navy!
I am addressing you, my friends!
The perfidious military attack on our Fatherland, begun on June 22nd
by Hitler Germany, is continuing. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Red Army,
and although the enemy's finest divisions and finest airforce units have already been
smashed and have met their doom on the field of battle, the enemy continues to push
forward, hurling fresh forces into the attack. Hitler's troops have succeeded in
capturing Lithuania, a considerable part of Latvia, the western part of Belorussia,
part of Western Ukraine. The fascist airforce is extending the range of operations of
its bombers, and is bombing Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilev, Smolensk, Kiev, Odessa and
Sebastopol. A grave danger hangs over our country.
How could it have happened that our glorious Red Army surrendered a
number of our cities and districts to fascist armies? Is it really true that German
fascist troops are invincible, as is ceaselessly trumpeted by the boastful fascist
propagandists?
Of course not! History shows that there are no invincible armies and
never have been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible but it was beaten
successively by Russian, English and German armies. Kaiser Wilhelm's German Army in
the period of the first imperialist war was also considered invincible, but it was
beaten several times by the Russian and Anglo-French forces and was finally smashed by
the Anglo-French forces. The same must be said of Hitler's German fascist army today.
This army had not yet met with serious resistance on the continent of Europe. Only on
our territory has it met serious resistance. And if, as a result of this resistance,
the finest divisions of Hitler's German fascist army have been defeated by our Red
Army, it means that this army too can be smashed and will be smashed as were the
armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm.
As to part of our territory having nevertheless been seized by
Germany fascist troops, this is chiefly due to the fact that the war of fascist
Germany on the U.S.S.R. began under conditions favourable for the German forces and
unfavourable for Soviet forces. The fact of the matter is that the troops of Germany,
as a country at war, were already fully mobilized, and the 170 divisions hurled by
Germany against the U.S.S.R. and brought up to the Soviet frontiers, were in a state of
complete readiness, only awaiting the signal to move into action, whereas Soviet
troops had still to effect mobilization and move up to the frontier. Of no little
importance in this respect is the fact that fascist Germany suddenly and
treacherously violated the Non-Aggression Pact she concluded in 1939 with the U.S.S.R.,
disregarding the fact that she would be regarded as the aggressor by the whole world.
Naturally, our peace-loving country, not wishing to take the initiative of breaking
the pact, could not resort to perfidy.
It may be asked how could the Soviet Government have consented to
conclude a non-aggression pact with such treacherous fiends as Hitler and Ribbentrop?
Was this not an error on the part of the Soviet Government? Of course not.
Non-aggression pacts are pacts of peace between states. It was such a pact that
Germany proposed to us in 1939. Could the Soviet Government have declined such a
proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state could decline a peace treaty
with a neighbouring state, even though the latter was headed by such fiends and
cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. Of course only on one indispensable condition,
namely, that this peace treaty does not infringe either directly or indirectly on
the territorial integrity, independence and honour of the peace-loving state. As is
well known, the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR is precisely such
a pact.
What did we gain by concluding the Non-Aggression Pact with
Germany? We secured our country peace for a year and a half, and the opportunity of
preparing its forces to repulse fascist Germany should she risk an attack on our
country despite the Pact. This was a definite advantage for us and a disadvantage
for fascist Germany.
What has fascist Germany gained and what has she lost by
treacherously tearing up the Pact and attacking the U.S.S.R.? She has gained a certain
advantageous position for her troops for a short period, but she has lost
politically by exposing herself in the eyes of the entire world as a blood-thirsty
aggressor. There can be no doubt that this short-lived military gain for Germany is
only an episode, while the tremendous political gain of the U.S.S.R. is a serious
lasting factor that is bound to form the basis for development of decisive military
successes of the Red Army in the war with fascist Germany.
That is why our whole valiant Red Army, our whole valiant Navy, all
our falcons of the air, all the peoples of our country, all the finest men and women
of Europe, America and Asia, finally all the finest men and women of Germany -
condemn the treacherous acts of German fascists and sympathize with the Soviet
Government, approve the conduct of the Soviet Government, and see that ours is a
just cause, that the enemy will be defeated, that we are bound to win.
By virtue of this war which has been forced upon us, our country
has come to death-grips with its most malicious and most perfidious enemy - German
fascism. Our troops are fighting heroically against an enemy armed to the teeth
with tanks and aircraft. Overcoming innumerable difficulties, the Red Army and Red
Navy are self-sacrificingly disputing every inch of Soviet soil. The main forces of
the Red Army are coming into action armed with thousands of tanks and airplanes.
The men of the Red Army are displaying unexampled valour. Our resistance to the
enemy is growing in strength and power. Side by side with the Red Army, the entire
Soviet people are rising in defence of our native land.
What is required to put an end to the danger hovering over our
country, and what measures must be taken to smash the enemy?
Above all, it is essential that our people, the Soviet people,
should understand the full immensity of the danger that threatens our country and
should abandon all complacency, all heedlessness, all those moods of peaceful
constructive work which were so natural before the war, but which are fatal today
when war has fundamentally changed everything. The enemy is cruel and implacable.
He is out to seize our lands, watered with our sweat, to seize our grain and oil
secured by our labour. He is out to restore the rule of landlords, to restore
tsarism, to destroy national culture and the national state existence of the
Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Lithuanians, Letts, Esthonians, Uzbeks,
Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaidzhanians and the other free
people of the Soviet Union, to germanize them, to convert them into the slaves of
German princes and barons. Thus the issue is one of life or death for the Soviet
state, for the peoples of the U.S.S.R.; the issue is whether the peoples of the Soviet
Union shall remain free or fall into slavery. The Soviet people must realize this
and abandon all heedlessness, they must mobilize themselves and reorganize all
their work on new, wartime bases, when there can be no mercy to the enemy.
Further, there must be no room in our ranks for whimperers and
cowards, for panicmongers and deserters. Our people must know no fear in fight
and must selflessly join our patriotic war of liberation, our war against the
fascist enslavers. Lenin, the great founder of our state, used to say that the
chief virtue of the Bolshevik must be courage, valour, fearlessness in struggle,
readiness to fight, together with the people, against the enemies of our country.
This splendid virtue of the Bolshevik must become the virtue of the millions of
the Red Army, of the Red Navy, of all peoples of the Soviet Union.
All our work must be immediately reconstructed on a war footing,
everything must be subordinated to the interests of the front and the task of
organizing the demolition of the enemy. The people of the Soviet Union now see
that there is no taming of German fascism in its savage fury and hatred of our
country which has ensured all working people labour in freedom and prosperity.
The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise against the enemy and defend their
rights and their land.
The Red Army, Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union must
defend every inch of Soviet soil, must fight to the last drop of blood for our
towns and villages, must display the daring initiative and intelligence that are
inherent in our people.
We must organize all-round assistance for the Red Army, ensure
powerful reinforcements for its ranks and the supply of everything it requires,
we must organize the rapid transport of troops and military freight and extensive
aid to the wounded.
We must strengthen the Red Army's rear, subordinating all our
work to this cause. All our industries must be got to work with greater intensity
to produce more rifles, machine-guns, artillery, bullets, shells, airplanes; we
must organize the guarding of factories, power-stations, telephonic and
telegraphic communications and arrange effective air raid precautions in all
localities.
We must wage a ruthless fight against all disorganizers of the
rear, deserters, panicmongers, rumormongers; we must exterminate spies,
diversionists and enemy parachutists, rendering rapid aid in all this to our
destroyer battalions. We must bear in mind that the enemy is crafty, unscrupulous,
experienced in deception and the dissemination of false rumors. We must reckon
with all this and not fall victim to provocation. All who by their
panic-mongering and cowardice hinder the work of defence, no matter who they are,
must be immediately haled before the military tribunal.
In case of forced retreat of Red Army units, all rolling stock
must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway
car, not a single pound of grain or a gallon of fuel. The collective farmers must
drive off all their cattle, and turn over their grain to the safe-keeping of
State authorities for transportation to the rear. All valuable property,
including non-ferrous metals, grain and fuel which cannot be withdrawn, must
without fail be destroyed.
In areas occupied by the enemy, guerrilla units, mounted and
on foot, must be formed, diversionist groups must be organized to combat the
enemy troops, to foment guerrilla warfare everywhere, to blow up bridges and
roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set fire to forests, stores,
transports. In the occupied regions conditions must be made unbearable for
the enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and annihilated at
every step, and all their measures frustrated.
This war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary
war. It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of the
entire Soviet people against the German fascist forces. The aim of this
national war in defence of our country against the fascist oppressors is not
only elimination of the danger hanging over our country, but also aid to all
European peoples groaning under the yoke of German fascism. In this war of
liberation we shall not be alone. In this great war we shall have loyal allies
in the peoples of Europe and America, including the German people, who are
enslaved by the Hitlerite despots. Our war for the freedom of our country will
merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their
independence, for democratic liberties. It will be a united front of peoples
standing for freedom and against enslavement and threats of enslavement by
Hitler's fascist armies. In this connection the historic utterance of the
British Prime Minister Churchill regarding aid to the Soviet Union and the
declaration of the United States government signifying its readiness to
render aid to our country, which can only evoke a feeling of gratitude in the
hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are fully comprehensible and
symptomatic.
Comrades!
Our forces are numberless. The overweening enemy will soon
learn this to his cost. Side by side with the Red Army many thousands of
workers, collective farmers, intellectuals are rising to fight the enemy
aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up in their millions. The
working people of Moscow and Leningrad have already commenced to form vast
popular levies in support of the Red Army. Such popular levies must be raised
in every city which is in danger of enemy invasion, all working people must
be roused to defend our freedom, our honour, our country - in our patriotic
war against German fascism.
All our forces for support of our heroic Red Army and our
glorious Red Navy! All forces of the people - for the demolition of the
enemy! Forward, to our victory!
(Soviet official English language version)
VOICES OF THE 'PEACE-LOVING' SOVIET UNION DEEPLY HURT |
