We will therefore now consider the main events of each of these periods, emphasizing, of course, the most characteristic moments of these.
The first period of the war was more hard for the Soviet people. It was a time of great trials and difficulties resulting from the temporary setbacks and the setback of the Red year.
A particularly difficult situation had arisen during the summer and fall of 1941 From the first hours of the war, the enemy had taken the strategic initiative and had literally imposed its will on the Red Army in the air and on the ground. The first surprise attacks on Soviet airfields by the German air force had taken our air force unawares, many aircraft had been destroyed on the ground. By the end of the first day of the war, our air forces had lost nearly 1,200 aircraft, of which 738 were under the command of the Western Front. Enemy tanks and motorized columns had broken through Soviet infantry lines, outflanking and encircling entire units. The German attacks developed along three main axes:Army Group North had taken Daugavpils and Leningrad as objectives; Army Group Centre, Minsk and Smolensk; Army Group South, Kyiv. For their part, the forces of Germany's allies had gone on the offensive on the flanks of the immense front:Finland to the north, Romania to the south.