Molotov did not doubt that the Soviet armed forces would do their duty and smash the aggressor. He recalled that Russia had been invaded before, that, in the great patriotic war of 1812, the whole Russian people had risen as one man to crush Napoleon. The same
would happen to "arrogant Hitler".
The Government of the Soviet Union is deeply convinced that the whole population
of our country will do their duty, and will work hard and conscientiously. Our
people must be more united than ever. The greatest discipline, organising ability and selflessness worthy of a Soviet patriot must be demanded of everybody to meet the needs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and to secure victory.
The Government calls upon you, men and women citizens of the Soviet Union, to
rally even more closely round the glorious Bolshevik Party, around the Soviet
Government and our great leader, Comrade Stalin. Our cause is good. The enemy
will be smashed. Victory will be ours.
There were a few catch phrases that stuck—about this being another "patriotic war" after the model of 1812; as well as the last paragraph: "Our cause is good. The enemy will be smashed. Victory will be ours (pobeda budet za nami)." But the general tone of the broadcast, and especially the complaint that the Germans had
"made no demands" on Russia, left an uneasy, almost humiliating, feeling. It took twelve incredibly long and anxious days before Stalin himself broadcast to the
Russian people.
In the midst of the conflicting, reticent and, to all appearances, untrue military
communiqués, the Russian people derived what cheer they could from Churchill's
historic broadcast on the night of June 22, less than twenty-four hours after the German invasion.
These were the passages that made a particularly strong impression on the Russians. He admitted that: "No one has been a more consistent opponent of communism than I have in the last twenty-five years. I will unsay no word that I have spoken about it." But then he went on, as only he could do:
I see the Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land... I see them guarding their homes where their mothers and wives pray—ah, yes, for there are
times when all pray—for the safety of their loved ones... I see the ten thousand
villages of Russia where the means of existence is wrung so hardly from the soil, but where there are still primordial joys, where maidens laugh and children play. I see advancing on all this in hideous onslaught the Nazi war machine... I see the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of
crawling locusts. I see the German bombers and fighters in the sky, still smarting from many a British whipping, delighted to find what they believe is an easier and safer prey...
And then—the assurance that there would never be a deal with Hitler, and the promise that Britain would support Russia, and finally, the conviction that: "He [Hitler] wishes to destroy the Russian power because he hopes that if he succeeds in this, he will be able to bring back the main strength of his Army and Air Force from the East and hurl it upon this Island... "
The comments I heard from Russians were almost all along these lines: "We had heard about Hess; we suspected that there might well be a deal between Britain and Germany.
We remembered Munich and those Anglo-Franco-Soviet talks in the summer of 1939.
We had felt deeply about the bombing of London, but had, all along, been taught to
distrust England. One of our first thoughts, when Germany invaded us, was that it had perhaps been done by agreement with England. That England should be an Ally—yes, an
Ally—was more than we had ever hoped for..."
At last Stalin spoke. It was an extraordinary performance, and not the least impressive thing about it were these opening words: "Comrades, citizens, brothers and sisters, fighters of our Army and Navy! I am speaking to you, my friends!" This was something new. Stalin had never spoken like this before. But the words fitted perfectly into the atmosphere of those days.
Stalin began by saying that the Nazi invasion was continuing, despite the heroic defence of the Red Army, and although "the best German divisions and air force units had already been smashed and had found their grave on the field of battle". Understating the territorial losses already suffered, Stalin then said that the Nazi troops had succeeded in capturing Lithuania, a large part of Latvia, the western part of Belorussia and parts of the western Ukraine. German planes had bombed Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilev, Smolensk,
Kiev, Odessa and Sebastopol. "A serious threat hangs over our country."
Did this mean, Stalin asked, that the German-Fascist troops were invincible? Of course not! The armies of Napoleon and of William II also used to be considered invincible; yet they were smashed in the end. And the same would happen to Hitler's army. "Only on our territory has it, for the first time, met with serious resistance." That a "part of our territory" had, nevertheless, been occupied, was chiefly due to the fact that the war had begun in conditions favourable to the Germans and unfavourable to the Red Army:
At the time of the attack, the German troops, 170 divisions in all, had been fully mobilised and were in a state of military preparedness along the Soviet frontier, merely waiting for the signal to advance. The Soviet troops had not been fully
mobilised, and had not been moved to the frontier. Important, too, was the fact that Fascist Germany unexpectedly and perfidiously violated the 1939 Non-Aggression
Pact between herself and the USSR, wholly indifferent to the consideration that she would be branded as the aggressor by the whole world.
Stalin then proceeded to justify the Soviet-German Pact.
One might well ask: How was it possible for the Soviet Government to sign a non-
aggression pact with such inhuman scoundrels as Hitler and Ribbentrop? Had not a
serious mistake been made? Of course not! A non-aggression pact is a peace pact
between two states, and that was the pact that Germany proposed to us in 1939. No peace-loving state could have rejected such a pact with another country, even if
scoundrels like Hitler and Ribbentrop stood at its head. All the more so, as this Pact did not in any way violate the territorial integrity, independence or honour of our country."
Stalin went on to say that the Pact had given the Soviet Union time to prepare against a German attack should Nazi Germany decide to embark on one.
This war has been inflicted on us, and our country has entered into a life-and-death struggle against its most wicked and perfidious enemy, German Fascism. Our
troops are fighting heroically against heavy odds, against an enemy heavily armed with tanks and aircraft... The main forces of the Red Army, armed with thousands
of tanks and planes, are now entering the battle... Together with the Red Army, the whole of our people are rising to defend their country.
The enemy is cruel and merciless. He aims at grabbing our land, our wheat and oil.
He wants to restore the power of the landowners, reestablish Tsarism, and destroy the national culture of the peoples of the Soviet Union... and turn them into the slaves of German princes and barons.
There should be no room in our ranks for whimperers and cowards, for deserters