22 June 1941: Hitler invades the Soviet Union

This day in 1941, at 04:00 am, German forces invaded the Soviet Union breaking the non-aggression pact signed by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. Against the Soviet Union were also Italy, Finland, Hungary and Romania. The war lasted till 1945 and resulted in more than 25 million deaths (it is believed that there were killed nearly 29 million people).

There were 61 countries involved in the WWII including Armenia. Armenia’s forces were equal to 300,000 militaries, while in total there were 500,000 Armenian soldiers in the Soviet forces, and the number increased to 600,000 since 1939 – a great number for a small nation.

The six Armenian national divisions were sent to battle; Armenian division 89 has reached Berlin passing the territories from Caucasus.

Among 11,600 heroes who were awarded with titles of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, 106 were Armenians, of these two were awarded twice as heroes of the country. 27 Armenian military were awarded with Order of Honor of all three decrees; 4 military received rank of Marshal, 160 others got rank of Generals.

The June 22 has been marking as day of mourning for victims of the WWII since 1996 when Russia’s President signed the appropriate decree.