The Great Patriotic War began at dawn on on 22 June 1941, when Nazi Germany, violating the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty of 1939, attacked the USSR. The number of Soviet Union casualties in WWII are estimated to have exceeded 27 million.
The USSR's military casualties exceeded 8.7 million, which is more than half of the total allied death toll.
Soldiers training before being sent to the frontlines in the barracks of the regiment of Voroshilov, Moscow, in August 1941.
Odessa citizens read fresh newspapers during the war.
On 22 June 1941, German aviation bombed Soviet cities starting the war against the USSR. A shot from the documentary "The Great Victory of the Soviet People".
Nurses tending to the first wounded soldiers after a Nazi air raid near Chisinau.
People gathered on 23 June 1941 in District Grushki, Kiev.
Graduates of the J.V. Stalin Military Academy, Moscow, June 1941.
Rays of searchlights of the air defence troops illuminated the sky of Moscow in June 1941.
German plane downed by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners in the woods outside Moscow.
Children in the streets of Moscow, 23 June 1941.
Anti-aircraft gunners defended the sky of the Soviet capital.
A family leaving their home in July 1941.
Mobilisation of recruits in Moscow, on 23 June 1941.
Collective farmers built defensive lines in the front line in June 1941.
A scout from Odessa speaks to soldiers in the area of Krasnyy Dalnik during World War II, July 1941.
Columns of soldiers move to the frontline from Moscow on 23 June 1941
