Memories of veterans or back to the Who Started the Second World debate

Abstract

This publication concerns the beginning of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. For a long time in historical literature (especially in the USSR), analyzing the events of World War II, focused exclusively on the figure of the insidious and bloody aggressor Adolf Hitler, who sought to rule the world and put millions of victims on the altar of this ardent desire. He, he and he alone is to blame for fanning the world's fire. But is Hitler solely responsible for killing millions of people? On the eve of the war, what was the position of the world community, the leaders of other countries, and what was really done to stop the criminal dictator, to cancel his manic plans forever? Let's analyze this question. Before the war, Ukrainian lands were divided between several states: the USSR, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. Countries had different socio-political system. However, each of them tried to conduct its own political game, aimed at at least not to lose the state borders that already exist, and under favorable circumstances to increase their territories by joining new lands. All this did not add stability to interstate relations, increased tensions in Europe. The "Ukrainian question" was a problem not only of the Ukrainian people, but also one of the key ones in international politics. At the same time, it is an active tool of international blackmail and openly provocative bidding. The initiator of such a bargain in the diplomatic market was Germany, which planned to solve several important tasks at once, to implement its conquest plans. The military units that were in the Gorokhiv region, in particular the 124th Rifle Division, are mentioned. The author collected the memories of individual soldiers and commanders, the local population. He raises a debatable question about June 22, 1941, which was the beginning of the Nazi attack on the USSR, as well as about the readiness of the USSR to launch an offensive itself.