On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union

J. V. Stalin

ON THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR OF THE SOVIET UNION

SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE RED ARMY PARADE ON THE RED SQUARE

MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 7, 1941

Comrades, Red Armymen and Red Navymen, Commanders and political instructors, working men and working women, collective farmers -- men and women, workers engaged in intellectual pursuits, brothers and sisters in the rear of our enemy who have temporarily fallen under the yoke of the German brigands, and our valiant partisans, men and women, who are destroying the rear of the German invaders!
On behalf of the Soviet Government and our Bolshevik Party, I greet and congratulate you on the 24th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
Comrades! It is in strenuous circumstances that we are today celebrating the 24th Anniversary of the October Revolution. The perfidious attack of the German brigands and the war which has been forced upon us have placed our country in jeopardy. We have temporarily lost a number of regions, the enemy has appeared at the gates of Leningrad and Moscow. The enemy calculated that after the very first blow our Army would be dispersed, and our country would be forced to her knees. But the enemy sadly miscalculated. In spite of temporary reverses, our Army and our Navy are heroic-

ally repulsing the enemy's attacks along the whole front and inflicting heavy losses upon him, while our country -- our entire country -- has formed itself into a single fighting camp in order, together with our Army and our Navy, to encompass the defeat of the German invaders.
There have been times when our country was in even more difficult straits than it is today. Recall the year of 1918, when we celebrated the first anniversary of the October Revolution. Three-fourths of our country was at that time in the hands of foreign invaders. The Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East were temporarily lost to us. We had no allies, we had no Red Army -- we had only just begun to form it; there was a shortage of bread, of armaments, of clothing for the Army. Fourteen states were encroaching on our country. But we were not dismayed, we did not lose heart. In the fire of war we forged the Red Army and converted our country into a military camp. Then the spirit of the great Lenin inspired us in the war against the invaders. And what happened? We routed the invaders, recovered all our lost territory, and achieved victory.
Today the position of our country is far better than it was twenty-three years ago. Our country is now ever so much richer than it was twenty-three years ago as regards industry, food and raw materials. We now have allies, who together with us are maintaining a united front against the German invaders. We now enjoy the sympathy and support of all the nations of Europe who have fallen under the yoke of Hitler's tyranny. We now have a splendid Army and a splendid Navy, which are staunchly defending the liberty and independence of our country. We experience no serious shortage of food, or of armaments, or of army clothing. Our entire country all the peoples of our country, support our Army and our Navy and are helping them to smash the invading hordes of German fascists. Our reserves of manpower are inexhaustible. The spirit of the great Lenin and his victorious banner now inspire us in this Patriotic War just as they did twenty-three years ago.

Can there be any doubt that we can and are bound to defeat the German invaders?

The enemy is not so strong as some frightened little intellectuals imagine. The devil is not so terrible as he is painted. Who can deny that our Red Army has time and again compelled the vaunted German troops to flee in panic? If we judge, not by the boastful utterances of the German propagandists, but by the actual position of Germany, it will be easily seen that the German fascist invaders are now on the brink of disaster. Hunger and poverty reign in Germany today; in the four months of war Germany has lost 4,500,000 men; Germany is bleeding at every pore, her reserves of manpower are giving out, the spirit of indignation is spreading not only among the peoples of Europe who have fallen under the yoke of German invaders, but also among the German people themselves, who can see no end to the war. The German invaders are exerting their last efforts. There can be no doubt that Germany will he unable to stand such a strain for long. Another few months, a half-year, a year, perhaps, and Hitler Germany is bound to collapse beneath the weight of its crimes.
Comrades, Red Armymen and Red Navymen, commanders and political instructors, men and women parti-

sans, the whole world is looking to you as the force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of German invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe who have fallen under the yoke of the German invaders look to you as their liberators. A great liberating mission has fallen to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war. Let the heroic images of our great forebears -- Alexander Nevsky, Dimitri Donskoi, Kuzma Minin, Dimitri Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov -- inspire you in this war! May you be inspired by the victorious banner of the great Lenin!
Fight until the German invaders are utterly routed!
Death to the German invaders!
Long live our glorious motherland, her liberty and her independence!
Under the banner of Lenin -- forward to victory!

ORDER OF THE DAY

OF THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSAR OF DEFENCE OF THE U.S.S.R.

No. 55

MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 23, 1942

Comrades, Red Armymen and Red Navymen, commanders and political instructors, partisans, men and women!
The peoples of our country are celebrating the 24th Anniversary of the Red Army amidst the stern conditions of our Patriotic War against fascist Germany, which is brazenly and despicably encroaching upon the life and freedom of our country. Along a vast front, stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, the men of the Red Army and Navy are waging a bitter fight to drive the German fascist invaders from our country and to uphold the honour and independence of our motherland.

This is not the first time that the Red Army has had to defend our native land against enemy attack. The Red Army was formed twenty-four years ago to combat the troops of the foreign interventionists and invaders who were endeavouring to dismember our country and destroy its independence. Though going into battle for the, first time, the newly formed units of the Red Army utterly crushed the German invaders at Pskov and Narva in February 23, 1918. It was for this reason that February 23, 1918 was proclaimed the birthday of the Red Army. From then on the Red Army grew and gained strength in the struggle with the foreign interventionists and invaders. It successfully defended our country in the battles with the German invaders in 1918 and drove them beyond the borders of the Ukraine and Byelorussia. It successfully defended our country in the battles with the foreign troops of the Entente in 1919-1921 and drove them too beyond the borders of our country.

The rout of the foreign interventionists and aggressors during the Civil War secured for the peoples of the Soviet Union a long period of peace and the opportunity of engaging in peaceful construction. During these two decades of peaceful construction socialist industry and collective farming arose in our country, science and culture flourished, and the ties of friendship between the peoples of our country were strengthened. But the Soviet people always bore in mind the possibility of another enemy attack on our country. Therefore, simultaneously with the growth of industry and agriculture, of science and culture the military might of the Soviet Union grew too. Some of those who covet the lands of others, have already felt the weight of this might. The vaunted German fascist army is feeling it now.
Eight months ago fascist Germany wantonly attacked our country, grossly and basely violating the non-aggression pact. The enemy calculated that the Red Army would be shattered at the very first blow and would lose its power of resistance. But the enemy sadly miscalculated. He failed to take into account the strength of the Red

Army, failed to take into account the stability of the Soviet rear, failed to take into account the determination of the peoples of our country to achieve victory, failed to take into account the unreliability of the Europe rear of fascist Germany, and, lastly, he failed to take into account the inherent weakness of fascist Germany and her army.

Owing to the surprise and suddenness of the German fascist attack, the Red Army, during the first months of the war, found itself compelled to retreat, to withdraw from a part of our Soviet territory. But while retreating the Red Army wore down the forces of the enemy and inflicted severe blows upon him. Neither the men of the Red Army nor the peoples of our country doubted that the withdrawal was but temporary, that the enemy would be checked and then routed.

In the course of the war the Red Army was infused with new vital forces; it received replenishments of men and equipment; new reserve divisions came to its aid and the time came when the Red Army was able to assume the offensive on the main sectors of the vast front. In a brief space of time the Red Army dealt successive blows at the German fascist troops -- at Rostov-on-Don and Tikhvin, in the Crimea and near Moscow. In the fierce battles near Moscow the Red Army routed the German fascist troops which threatened to surround the Soviet capital. The Red Army threw back the enemy from Moscow and is still continuing to push him westward. The Moscow and Tula regions, as well as dozens of towns and hundreds of villages of other regions temporarily captured by the enemy have been completely freed of German invaders.

The Germans now no longer have the military advantage they possessed during the first months of the war as a result of their treacherous and sudden attack. The element of surprise and suddenness, as a reserve of the German fascist troops, is completely spent. This removes the inequality in fighting conditions created by the suddenness of the German fascist attack. Now the outcome of the war will be decided not by such a fortuitous element as surprise, but by permanently operating factors: stability of the rear, morale of the army, quantity and quality of divisions, equipment of the army and organizing ability of the commanding personnel of the army. At this point one circumstance ought to be noted: the element of surprise had only to disappear from the Germans' stock-in-trade for the German fascist army to find itself faced with disaster.

The German fascists consider their army invincible; they assert that in single combat it would unquestionably smash the Red Army. At the present time the Red Army and the German fascist army are engaged in single combat. Moreover, the German fascist army has the direct support at the front of Italian, Rumanian, and Finnish troops. So far the Red Army has had no support of this kind. And what do we find? The vaunted German army is suffering defeat while the Red Army has major successes to its credit. Under the sledge-hammer blows of the Red Army the German troops are reeling back to the West, sustaining huge losses in men and equipment. They cling to every line of defence, trying to defer the day of their rout. But the enemy's efforts are in vain. The initiative is now in our hands, and no matter how much Hitler's rusty, ramshackle machine may exert itself, it cannot withstand the pressure of the Red Army. The day is not far distant when the Red Army, with a mighty blow, will hurl back the brutal enemy from Leningrad, clear him out of our towns and villages in Byelorussia and the Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia, Estonia and Karelia and free Soviet Crimea, and when the Red Flag will wave triumphantly again all over our Soviet land.

It would be unpardonable shortsightedness, however; to rest content with the successes we have achieved and to think that the German troops are already done for. That would be empty boasting and conceit unworthy of Soviet people. It should not be forgotten that many difficulties still lie ahead. The enemy is suffering defeat, but he is not yet defeated, let alone crushed. The enemy is still strong. He will strain his last efforts to attain success. And the more he suffers defeat, the more ferocious will he become. Therefore, it is essential that in our country the training of reserves in aid of the front should not be relaxed for a moment. It is essential that more and more units should march to the front to forge victory over the infuriated enemy. It is essential that our industry, particularly our war industry, should work with redoubled energy. It is essential that with every passing day the front should receive ever more tanks, aircraft, guns, mortars, machine guns, rifles, automatics and ammunition.

This is one of the main sources of the strength and power of the Red Army.

But the strength of the Red Army lies not only in this.

The strength of the Red Army lies, primarily, in the fact that it is waging, not a predatory, not an imperialist war, but a Patriotic War, a war of liberation, a just

war. The Red Army's task is to free our Soviet territory of the German invaders; to liberate from the yoke of the German invaders the people of our villages and towns who were free and lived like human beings before the war, but are now oppressed and suffering from rapine, pillage and famine; and, finally, to liberate our women from the outrage and violence to which they are being subjected by the German fascist monsters. What could be more noble, more lofty, than such a task? No German soldier can say that he is waging a just war, because he cannot fail to see that he is forced to fight for the plunder and oppression of other peoples. The German soldier has no lofty and noble aim in the war to inspire him and rouse his pride. Every Red Armyman, however, can proudly say that he is waging a just war for liberation, a war for the freedom and independence of his country. The Red Army has a noble and lofty aim in the war, which inspires it to perform great deeds. This is why the Patriotic War we are waging gives rise to thousands of heroes and heroines who are ready to lay down their lives for the freedom of their country.

Herein lies the strength of the Red Army.

And herein lies the weakness of the German fascist army.
Sometimes the foreign press publishes twaddle to the effect that the Red Army's aim is to exterminate the German people and to destroy the German state. This, of course, is a silly fable and stupid calumny against the Red Army. The Red Army has not and cannot have such idiotic aims. The Red Army's aim is to drive the German invaders from our country, and to clear our Soviet soil of the German fascist aggressors. It is highly probable that the war for the liberation of our Soviet soil will lead to the expulsion or destruction of Hitler's clique. We would welcome such an outcome. But it would be ludicrous to identify Hitler's clique with the German people, with the German state. The experience of history shows that Hitlers come and go, but the German people and the German state live on.

The strength of the Red Army lies, finally, in that it does not and cannot feel racial hatred for other peoples, including the German people; that it has been trained to recognize the equality of all peoples and races, and to respect the rights of other peoples. The Germans' racial theory and their practice of racial hatred have led all freedom-loving peoples to become enemies of fascist Germany. The U.S.S.R.'s theory of racial equality and its practice of respecting the rights of other peoples have led all freedom-loving peoples to become the friends of the Soviet Union.

Herein lies the strength of the Red Army.
And herein lies the weakness of the German fascist army.

Sometimes the foreign press publishes twaddle to the effect that the Soviet people hate the Germans as Germans, that the Red Army exterminates German soldiers as Germans, out of hatred for everything German, and that, therefore, the Red Army does not take German soldiers prisoner. This, of course, is another silly fable and stupid calumny against the Red Army. The Red Army is free of such sentiments as racial hatred. It is free of such degrading sentiments because it has been trained in the spirit of racial equality and respect for the rights of other people. Nor should it be forgotten that in our country any manifeslation of racial hatred is punishable by law.

Of course, the Red Army has to destroy the German fascist invaders inasmuch as they are out to enslave our country; or when, on being surrounded by our troops, they refuse to lay down their arms and surrender. The Red Army annihilates them, not because of their German origin, but because they want to enslave our country. The Red Army, like the army of any other people, has the right and is in duty bound to annihilate those who want to enslave its country, irrespective of their nationality. Not long ago the German garrisons in the towns of Kalinin, Klin, Sukhinichi, Andreapol and Toropets were surrounded by our troops. They were called upon to surrender, and promised that their lives would be spared if they did. The German garrisons refused to lay down their arms and be made prisoners of war. Obviously, they had to be forcibly dislodged, in the course of which quite a few Germans were killed. War is war. The Red Army takes German soldiers and officers prisoner if they surrender, and spares their lives. The Red Army annihilates German soldiers and officers if they refuse to lay down their arms and try to enslave our country by force of arms. Remember the words of Maxim Gorki, the great Russian writer: "If the enemy does not surrender he must be annihilated."

Comrades, Red Armymen and Red Navymen, commanders and political instructors, partisans, men and women! I congratulate you on the 24th Anniversary of the Red Army! I wish you complete victory over the German fascist invaders.
Long live the Red Army and Navy!

Long live the men and women partisans!
Long live our glorious motherland, her freedom and her independence!
Long live the great Bolshevik Party which is leading us to victory!
Long live the invincible banner of the great Lenin!
Under the banner of Lenin -- forward to the defeat the German fascist invaders!

J. Stalin
People's Commissar of Defence
of the U.S.S.R.

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ORDER OF THE DAY

OF THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSAR OF DEFENCE OF THE U.S.S.R.

No. 130

MOSCOW, MAY 1, 1942

Comrades, Red Armymen and Red Navymen, commanders and political instructors, partisans, men and women, working men and working women, peasants, men and women, men and women engaged in intellectual pursuits, brothers and sisters on the other side of the front, in the rear of the German fascist troops, who have temporarily fallen under the yoke of the German oppressors!
On behalf of the Soviet Government and of our Bolshevik Party, I greet and congratulate you on the occasion of the First of May!
Comrades! This year the peoples of our country are celebrating International May Day amidst our Patriotic War against the German fascist invaders. The war has laid its impress on every phase of our life. It has laid its impress also on this day, the May First holiday. In view of the fact that we are at war, the working people of our country have waived their holiday in order to spend the day in intensive work for the defence of our country.

Living at one with our fighters at the front, they have made the May First holiday a day of toil and struggle in order to render the front the greatest possible assistance and to supply it with the largest possible quantities of rifles, machine guns, artillery, mortars, tanks and aircraft, ammunition, grain, meat, fish and vegetables.

This means that in our country front and rear constitute a single, indivisible fighting camp, ready to overcome all obstacles on the road to victory over the enemy.

Comrades! More than two years have elapsed since the German fascist invaders plunged Europe into the abyss of war, subjugated the freedom-loving countries of the European continent -- France, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece and began to suck their blood for the enrichment of the German bankers. More than ten months have elapsed since the German fascist invaders wantonly and perfidiously attacked our country and began to pillage and lay waste to our villages and cities, to outrage and murder the peaceful population of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, the Ukraine and Moldavia. For more than ten months the peoples of our country have been waging a Patriotic War against a brutal enemy, defending the honour and freedom of their country. During this period we have been able to take a good look at the German fascists, to discern their real intentions, to ascertain what they really are, not from verbal declarations, but from the experience of the war, from commonly known facts.
What are these enemies of ours, the German fascists? What kind of people are they? What has the experience of the war taught us about them?

It is said that the German fascists are nationalists who are defending the integrity and independence of Germany against the encroachments of other states. This is a lie, of course. Only swindlers can assert that Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, the Soviet Union or other freedom-loving countries had encroached on the integrity and independence of Germany. In actual fact the German fascists are not nationalists but imperialists, who seize foreign countries and drain them of their blood in order to enrich the German bankers and plutocrats. It is common knowledge that Goring, the head of the German fascists, is himself one of the leading bankers and plutocrats, who exploits dozens of factories and mills. Hitler, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Himmler and the other rulers of present-day Germany are the watchdogs of the German bankers, and place the interests of the latter far above all others. In the hands of these gentlemen the German army is a blind tool for the purpose of shedding its own blood and that of others and of crippling itself and others not in the interests of Germany, but for the enrichment of the German bankers and plutocrats.

This is what the experience of the war tells us.

It is said that the German fascists are socialists who seek to defend the interests of the workers and peasants against the plutocrats. This is a lie, of course. Only swindlers can assert that the German fascists, who have instituted slave labour in factory and mill and have restored serfdom in the villages of Germany and in the subjugated countries, champion the interests of the workers and peasants. Only brazen-faced swindlers can deny that the system of slavery and serfdom which the German fascists have established benefits the German plutocrats

and bankers and not the workers and peasants. In actual fact the German fascists are feudal reactionaries, and the German army a feudal army which is shedding blood for the enrichment of the German barons and for the restoration of the power of the landlords. This is what the experience of the war tells us.
It is said that the German fascists are vehicles of European culture who are waging war to spread this culture to other countries. This is a lie, of course. Only professional swindlers can assert that the German fascists, who have covered Europe with gallows, who are plundering and outraging the peaceful population, who are setting fire to and blowing up cities and villages and destroying the cultural treasures of the peoples of Europe, can be vehicles of European culture. In actual fact the German fascists are enemies of European culture, and the German army is an army of mediaeval obscurantism, whose function it is to destroy European culture for the sake of implanting the slaveholders' "culture" of the German bankers and barons.

This is what the experience of the war tells us.
Such is the face of our enemy, unmasked and exposed to the light by the experience of the war.
But these are not the only conclusions to be drawn from the experience of the war. The experience of the war also shows that during the war important changes have taken place both in the state of fascist Germany and its army, and in the state of our country and the Red Army.
What are these changes?
It is undoubtedly true, in the first place, that during this period fascist Germany and its army have become

weaker than they were ten months ago. The war has brought the German people great disillusionment, the loss of millions of human lives, starvation and impoverishment. The end of the war is not in sight, yet the reserves of manpower are giving out, oil is giving out, raw materials are giving out. The German people are becoming more and more aware of the inevitability of Germany's defeat. It is becoming ever clearer to the German people that the only way of escape from the situation that has arisen is the liberation of Germany from the adventurist Hitler-Göring clique.

The Hitler imperialists have occupied extensive territories in Europe, but they have not broken the will to resistance of the European peoples. The struggle the enslaved peoples are waging against the regime of the German fascist brigands is beginning to assume a universal character. Sabotage at war plants, the blowing up of German ammunition stores, the wrecking of German troop trains and the killing of German soldiers and officers have become everyday occurrences in all the occupied countries. All Yugoslavia and the German-occupied Soviet areas are enveloped in the flames of guerilla warfare.

All these circumstances have led to a weakening of the German rear, which means a weakening of fascist Germany as a whole.

As regards the German army, it has grown much weaker than it was ten months ago, despite the stubbornness of its defence. Its old and experienced generals, such as Reichenau, Brauchitsch, Todt and others, have either been killed by the Red Army or cashiered by the German fascist higher clique. Its seasoned officers have in part been exterminated by the Red Army and in part demoralized by the looting and violence which they practised on the civilian population. Its rank and file, seriously weakened in the course of military operations, is receiving fewer and fewer reinforcements.

It is undoubtedly true, in the second place, that during the period of the war our country has grown stronger than it was at the beginning of the war. Not only is this admitted by our friends, but even our enemies are compelled to recognize the fact that our country is today more united and more solidly behind its Government than ever before, that the rear and the front of our country are united in a single fighting camp which is aiming at a single objective, that the Soviet people in the rear are supplying our front with steadily increasing quantities of rifles and machine guns, mortars and artillery, tanks and aircraft, foodstuffs and ammunition.

As regards the international ties of our country, they have grown stronger and have expanded more than ever of late. All the freedom-loving peoples have united against German imperialism. Their gaze is turned towards the Soviet Union. The heroic fight which the peoples of, our country are waging for their freedom, honour and independence evokes the admiration of all progressive mankind. The peoples of all freedom-loving countries regard the Soviet Union as the force that is capable of delivering the world from the Hitlerite plague. First among these freedom-loving countries stand Great Britain and the United States of America, to which we are linked by bonds of friendship and alliance, and which are affording our country ever increasing military assistance against the German fascist invaders.

All these circumstances indicate that our country has become much stronger.

It is undoubtedly true, finally, that during the period which has elapsed the Red Army has become more organized and stronger than it was at the beginning of the war. It is common knowledge that after the temporary retreat called forth by the perfidious attack of the German imperialists, the Red Army managed to bring about a decisive change in the course of the war and went over from active defence to a successful offensive against the enemy troops. This must not be attributed to mere accident. The fact of the matter is that thanks to the successes of the Red Army the Patriotic War has entered a new period -- the period of liberation of Soviet territory from the Hitlerite scum. True, the Red Army began to accomplish this historic task under the difficult conditions of a grim winter with heavy snowfalls; nevertheless it achieved great success. Taking the initiative in military operations into its own hands, the Red Army inflicted a number of severe defeats on the German fascist troops and compelled them to withdraw from a considerable area of Soviet territory. The invaders' expectations that the winter would afford them a respite in which to entrench themselves in their defence line came to naught. In the course of its offensive the Red Army has destroyed a vast amount of enemy man power and material, has captured no small quantity of the enemy's material and has compelled him to expend prematurely reserves brought up from the rear and intended for spring and summer operations.

All this indicates that the Red Army has become more organized and stronger, that its officers have become

steeled in battle and that its generals have become more experienced and farsighted.

A radical change has also been effected in the rank and file of the Red Army.
The complacence and carelessness towards the enemy that could be observed among the men during the first months of the Patriotic War have disappeared. The atrocities, the robberies and acts of violence perpetrated by the German fascist invaders against the civilian population and Soviet war prisoners have cured our men of this ailment. The men have become more embittered and more ruthless. They have learnt to hate the German fascist invaders in earnest. They have realized that you cannot defeat an enemy without having learnt to hate him from the bottom of your heart.

All the idle talk about the invincibility of the German troops that could be heard at the beginning of the war and that served to screen fear of the Germans is now a thing of the past. The famous battles of Rostov and Kerch, of Moscow and Kalinin, of Tikhvin and Leningrad, in which the Red Army put the German fascist invaders to flight, have convinced our men that this talk about the invincibility of the German troops is a fable concocted by the fascist propagandists. The experience of the war has convinced our men that the so-called bravery of the German officer is quite a relative matter, that the German officer is brave when dealing with unarmed war prisoners and civilians; but his bravery oozes out when he comes face to face with the organized might of the Red Army. Recall the popular saving: "Brave before a lamb, but a lamb before the brave."

Such are the conclusions to be drawn from the experience of the war with the German fascist invaders.
What do they imply?
They imply that we can beat and must go on beating the German fascist invaders until they are completely exterminated, until all our Soviet territory has been completely cleared of the Hitlerite scoundrels.

Comrades! We are waging a just war for our country and our freedom. It is not our aim to seize foreign lands or to subjugate foreign peoples. Our aim is clear and noble. We want to free our Soviet land of the German fascist scoundrels. We want to free our Ukrainian, Moldavian, Byelorussian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Karelian brothers from the outrage and violence to which they are being subjected by the German fascist scoundrels. To achieve this aim we must rout the German fascist army and exterminate the German invaders to the last man, except for such of them as may surrender. There is no other alternative.

We can and must do this at all costs.
The Red Army possesses all that is needed to accomplish this lofty task. It lacks only one thing -- the ability to utilize to the full against the enemy the first-class material with which our country supplies it. Hence, it is the task of the Red Army, of its men, of its machine-gunners, its artillerymen, its mortar men, its tankmen, its airmen and its cavalrymen to study the art of war, to study assiduously, to study the mechanism of their weapons to perfection, to become expert at their jobs and thus learn to strike the enemy with unerring aim. Only thus can the art of defeating the enemy be learnt.

Comrades, men of the Red Army and Red Navy,

commanders and political instructors, partisans, men and women!
Greeting you and congratulating you on the occasion of this First of May, I hereby order:
1. That the rank and file study the mechanism of their rifles to perfection, become expert in handling their weapons, hit the enemy with unerring aim as our valiant snipers, the destroyers of the German invaders, hit them!
2. That the machine-gunners, artillerymen, mortar men, tankmen and airmen study the mechanism of their weapons to perfection, become experts at their jobs, hit the fascist German invaders point-blank until they are completely exterminated!
3. That general commanders learn to perfection the art of co-ordinating the operations of the various arms of the service, become expert in the leadership of troops, and show the whole world that the Red Army is capable of fulfilling its great mission of liberation!
4. That the entire Red Army make 1942 the year of the final defeat of the German fascist troops and the liberation of our Soviet soil from the Hitler scoundrels!
5. That the men and women partisans intensify their partisan warfare in the rear of the German invaders, destroy the enemy's communications and transport facilities, destroy his headquarters and equipment and spare no bullets against the oppressors of our motherland!
Under the invincible banner of the great Lenin -- forward to victory!

J. Stalin
People's Commissar of Defence
of the U.S.S.R.