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Stalin's Call to Arms Comrades, citizens, brothers and
sisters, men of our Army and Navy! It is to you I am speaking dear friends! The perfidious military attack by Hitlerite Germany on our Motherland begun on 22 June, is
continuing. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Red Army, and although
the enemy's finest divisions and finest air force units have already been
smashed and have found their graves on the field of battle, the enemy
continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces to the front. Hitler's troops
have succeeded in capturing Lithuania, a considerable part of Latvia, the
western part of Belorussia and part of Western Ukraine. The Fascist aircraft
are extending the range of their operations. . . . Grave danger overhangs our
country. How could it have happened that
our glorious Red Army surrendered a number of our cities and districts to the
Fascist armies? Is it really true that the German-Fascist troops are
invincible, as the braggart Fascist propagandists are ceaselessly trumpeting?
Of course not! History shows that
there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoleon's army was
considered invincible, but it was beaten successively by the armies of
Russia, England and Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm's German army in the period of
the First Imperialist War was also considered invincible, but it was beaten
several times by Russian and Anglo-French troops, and was finally smashed by
the Anglo-French forces. The same must be said of Hitler's German-Fascist
army of today. . . . [I]t too can be smashed and will be smashed, as were the
armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm. . . . The Red Army, Red Navy, and all
citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet soil, must
fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages, must display the daring, initiative, and mental alertness
characteristic of our people. . . . We must strengthen the Red Army's
rear, subordinating all our work to this end; all our industries must be got
to work with greater intensity, to produce more rifles, machine-guns,
cartridges, shells, planes; we must organize the guarding of factories, power
stations, telephonic and telegraphic communications, and arrange local
air-raid protection. We must wage a ruthless fight
against all disorganizers of the rear, deserters, panic-mongers and rumor
mongers; we must exterminate spies, sabotage agents and enemy parachutists, rendering
rapid aid in all this to our extermination battalions. We must bear in mind
that the enemy is treacherous, cunning, experienced in deception and the
dissemination of false rumors. We must reckon with all this, and not fall
victims to provocation. All who by their panic-mongering and cowardice hinder
the work of defense, no matter who they may be, must be immediately hauled
before a military tribunal. In case of a forced retreat of Red
Army units, all rolling-stock must be evacuated, the
enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway truck, not a single
pound of grain or gallon of fuel. Collective farmers must drive off all their
cattle and turn over their grain to the safe keeping of the State
authorities, for transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including
non-ferrous metals, grain, and fuel that cannot be withdrawn, must be
destroyed without fail. In areas occupied by the enemy,
partisan units, mounted and foot, must be formed; sabotage groups must be
organized to combat enemy units, to foment partisan warfare everywhere, blow
up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set fire to
forests, stores and transports. In occupied regions conditions must be made
unbearable for the enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and
annihilated at every step, and all their measures frustrated. The war with Fascist Germany
cannot be considered an ordinary war. It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of the entire Soviet people
against the German-Fascist troops. The aim of this people's war in defense of
our country against the Fascist oppressors is not only to eliminate the
danger hanging over our country but also to aid all the European peoples
groaning under the yoke of German Fascism. . . . |
