Almost forgot. On June 22 1941 at 4:00 am Germany invaded Soviet Union. Many lives were lost on both sides. It is time to forgive and build new friendships but it is our responsibility to know what happened and remember what happened and never let it happen again. According to Russian tradition we always drink "the third toast" standing up, without cheering. "The third toast" is the toast in honor of all fallen soldiers. Tonight I'll take a shot in memory of all who died in that horrible war.
I placed these details in History last night however they should have been here. The old saying that what goes around - comes around is no more evident than right here. Check out the numbers. Hi all, It is always a big topic of conversation. Operation Barbarossa: - 64th anniversary June 22nd, 1941: Beginning of OPERATION BARBAROSSA, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. At 3:15 a.m. CET, German, Rumanian and Finnish forces comprising 183 divisions (3,500,000 men), 3,350 tanks, 7,184 guns and 1,945 aircraft launch the biggest military operation in history on an 1,800-mile front from 'Finland to the Black Sea' (title of the German Army campaign song). Three army groups supported by powerful Panzer armies and Luftwaffe bomber fleets, Heeresgruppe Süd (von Rundstedt) with Panzergruppe 1 (von Kleist), Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Bock) with Panzergruppen 2 (Guderian) and 3 (Hoth), and Heeresgruppe Nord (von Leeb) with Panzergruppe 4 (Hoepner) go into action against 132 Soviet divisions (2,500,000 men), 20,000 tanks and 7,700 aircraft. The overall objective of the campaign is to destroy the Soviet forces in western Russia by fall and to occupy the European part of the Soviet Union up to the line Archangelsk - Urals - Volga - Astrachan. In the first few hours of the attack, the Luftwaffe destroys 1,500 Soviet aircraft on the ground at 60 airfields and 300 in the air. The Red Army forces along the border seem unprepared for the assault and offer only limited resistance. At London, Winston Churchill announces Britain's support for the Soviet Union, thus making the Bolshevik state her much-needed ally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operation Bagraton: 61st Anniversary June 22nd, 1944: On the central front in the East, the Soviet 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts (Vassilevsky) and the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts (Zhukov) begin Operation Bagraton, a massive offensive against Heeresgruppe Mitte (Busch) on a 300-mile front between Polotsk and Bobruysk. The German forces of 63 divisions, 900 tanks and 10,000 guns are facing vastly superior Soviet forces of 124 divisions, 5,200 tanks, 30.000 guns and 6,000 aircraft. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ France & Germany sign Armistice - 65th Anniversary June 22nd, 1940: An armistice between France and Germany is signed at Compiegne. Its terms, read out loud to the French delegation by Generaloberst Keitel, provide for the occupation of the entire Channel and Atlantic coastlines, all major industrial areas, Alsace-Lorraine (to be returned to Germany). Most of southern France will remain unoccupied, with a French administrative center at Vichy; the French Army and Navy is to be demobilized and disarmed; France is to bear the cost of the German occupation, and all French prisoners of war are to remain in Germany until a peace treaty is signed.
Originally posted by Gnomey@Jun 23 2005, 06:23 AM Agreed, may it never happen again. [post=35711]Quoted post[/post] Hear, hear. I'll drink the toast as well.
