The offensive military doctrine of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants envisaged aggressive foreign policy and permanent military readiness of the whole Soviet society. Schools were required to study arms. Active among the population were “voluntary” societies – the Society to Aid the Army, Aviation and Navy, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. State-sponsored physical education and sports classes also aimed to prepare young people for service in the Armed Forces. Propaganda poster “Each female member of the Komsomol must master Soviet military defense techniques” in the exposition demonstrates active involvement of women in military affairs.
The signing of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939, paved the way for a World War. The main component of the Treaty was the secret protocol on the distribution of spheres of influence in Europe between the aggressors. Eastern Poland, Baltic countries, Finland and Romania all fell under the influence of the USSR, while Nazi Germany obtained freedom of action in Western and Southern Europe. Popular propaganda explanation of the Soviet military aggression against Poland as “liberation of her working people” is shown in a well-known poster by Victor Koretsky.
For the next two years, fights took place far from Shostka. These were briefly reported upon in the local Zorya newspaper, but the local population was actively involved in preparations for the war. The war changed or affected everyone’s life. The new law “On General Military Service” reduced the age of draftees to 18 and increased the duration of active military service to 3 years. These measures indicated secret partial mobilization of the Red Army.
Under the new ammunition mobilization plan, Shostka enterprises had a dramatic increase in their military production output.
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- Text of a secret supplementary protocol to the Non-aggression Agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). August 23, 1939 The protocol divided the spheres of influence between the two states in Eastern Europe and the division of Poland between them. The secret protocol was first published in the USSR in 1989.
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- Text of the secret protocol to the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). August 23, 1939.
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- The map is a supplement to the secret protocol to the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union signed by Stalin and Ribbentrop. August 23, 1939
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- Soviet propaganda poster “Our army is an army of liberating workers. Stalin ” by Victor Koretsky. 1939
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- The Soviet propaganda poster “Every Komsomol should master the military technique of defense of the USSR.” by Maria Bree-Bane). 1932
