12 July — Signing of an agreement between the USSR and the United Kingdom on joint actions in the war against Germany.
21 June, 21:00 In the sector of the Sokal commandant’s office, a German soldier, Lance Corporal Alfred Liskof, was detained after swimming across the Bug River.
21:30 In Moscow, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov held a conversation with the German ambassador Schulenburg. Molotov lodged a protest over numerous violations of the USSR border by German aircraft. Schulenburg evaded an answer.
22 June, 00:30
Directive No. 1 was sent out to the military districts, containing an order to covertly occupy firing positions on the border, not to give in to provocations, and to bring the troops to combat readiness.
03:07 The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Oktyabrsky, called the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Georgy Zhukov, and reported that a large number of unknown aircraft were approaching from the sea; the fleet was at full combat readiness. The admiral proposed meeting them with the fleet’s air defense fire. He was instructed: “Act and report to your commissar.”
03:30 The Chief of Staff of the Western District, Major General Vladimir Klimovskikh, reported a German air raid on cities in Belarus. Three minutes later, the Chief of Staff of the Kiev District, General Purkayev, reported an air raid on cities in Ukraine. At 03:40, the commander of the Baltic District, General Kuznetsov, reported a raid on Kaunas and other cities.
03:40 People’s Commissar of Defense Timoshenko asks Zhukov to report to Stalin about the start of hostilities. Stalin, in response, ordered all members of the Politburo to assemble in the Kremlin. By that moment, Brest, Grodno, Lida, Kobryn, Slonim, Baranovichi, Bobruisk, Volkovysk, Kiev, Zhytomyr, Sevastopol, Riga, Vindava, Libava, Siauliai, Kaunas, Vilnius, and many other cities had been bombed.
04:10 The Western and Baltic Special Districts reported the start of hostilities by German forces on the land sectors.
04:12 German bombers appeared over Sevastopol. The enemy raid was repelled and the attempted strike on ships was thwarted; however, residential buildings and warehouses in the city were damaged.
04:15 The defense of the Brest Fortress began. With the very first attack, by 04:55 the Germans had occupied almost half of the fortress.
05:00 Moscow time: Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop summoned Soviet diplomats to his office. When they arrived, he informed them that the war had begun. The last thing he told the envoys was: “Tell Moscow that I was against the attack.” After that, the embassy’s telephones stopped working, and the building itself was surrounded by SS units.
05:30 Schulenburg officially informed Molotov that war between Germany and the USSR had begun, reading out a note: “Bolshevik Moscow is preparing to strike national-socialist Germany, which is waging a struggle for existence, in the back. The German government cannot remain indifferent to the serious threat on the eastern border. Therefore, the Fuehrer has given the order to the German armed forces, by all forces and means, to remove this threat…”
07:15 Directive No. 2 was issued, ordering the USSR troops to destroy enemy forces in areas where the border had been violated, destroy the enemy’s авиаtion, and also “bomb Koenigsberg and Memel” (present-day Kaliningrad and Klaipeda). The USSR Air Force was permitted to go “to a depth of 100–150 km into German territory.” At the same time, the first counterattack by Soviet troops took place near the Lithuanian town of Alytus.
09:30 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Kalinin signed a number of decrees, including a decree introducing martial law, forming the Headquarters of the Main Command, establishing military tribunals, and instituting general mobilization, which applied to all persons liable for military service born between 1905 and 1918.
10:00 German bombers carried out a raid on Kiev and its suburbs. The railway station, the Bolshevik plant, an aircraft factory, power stations, military airfields, and residential buildings were subjected to bombing. According to official data, 25 people were killed; unofficially, the number of victims was far higher. However, for several more days peaceful life continued in the capital of Ukraine. Only the stadium opening scheduled for 22 June was canceled; a football match Dynamo (Kiev) – CSKA was to be held there that day.
10:00 German bombers carried out a raid on Kiev and its suburbs. The railway station, the Bolshevik plant, an aircraft factory, power stations, military airfields, and residential buildings were subjected to bombing. According to official data, 25 people were killed; unofficially, the number of victims was far higher. However, for several more days peaceful life continued in the capital of Ukraine. Only the stadium opening scheduled for 22 June was canceled; a football match Dynamo (Kiev) – CSKA was to be held there that day.
12:30 At the same time, German troops entered Grodno. A few minutes later, the bombing of Minsk, Kiev, Sevastopol, and other cities began again.
13:15 To take the Brest Fortress, the Germans committed new forces of the 133rd Infantry Regiment on the Southern and Western Islands; however, this “did not bring changes to the situation.” The Brest Fortress continued to hold the defense. The 45th Infantry Division of Fritz Schlieper was thrown into this sector of the front. It was decided that only infantry would take the Brest Fortress—without tanks. No more than eight hours were allotted to capture the fortress.
14:30 Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano informed the Soviet ambassador in Rome, Gorelkin, that Italy had declared war on the USSR “from the moment German troops entered Soviet territory.”
15:00 Pilots of German bombers reported that they had nothing left to bomb: all airfields, barracks, and concentrations of armored vehicles had been destroyed.
16:30 Stalin left the Kremlin for the Near Dacha. Until the end of the day, even members of the Politburo were not allowed to see the leader.
18:30 The commander of the 4th Army, Ludwig Kubler, issued an order to “pull back our own forces” near the Brest Fortress. This was one of the first orders for a retreat by German troops.
19:00 The commander of Army Group Center, General Fedor von Bock, ordered an end to the shootings of Soviet prisoners of war. After that, they were kept in hastily fenced fields of barbed wire. Thus the first POW camps appeared.
23:00 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill delivered a radio address stating that England “will give Russia and the Russian people all the help it can.”
23:50 The Main Military Council of the Red Army sent out Directive No. 3, ordering counterblows against enemy groupings on 23 June.
Midnight& In radio news, the first front-line report appeared, stating that the German offensive had been stopped and the Red Army had gone over to a counteroffensive.
23 June — Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on the creation of the Headquarters of the Main Command (from 8 August 1941 — the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command) of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
29 June — Directive of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to the party and Soviet organizations of the frontline regions on mobilizing all forces and means to defeat the fascist invaders.