The traitor Vlasov: what is still not clear to historians

History 16/01/20 Traitor Vlasov: what is still not clear to historians

Andrei Vlasov is one of the most controversial personalities of the great Patriotic war. Today, almost all see him as a traitor, but it does not deprive the Vlasov matter of questions to which there is no clear answer.

not willing to Fight!

Vlasov was among the most successful commanders of the great Patriotic war. One of the first he met German troops near Lviv, in a challenging environment led the defense of Kiev and led the rest of its parts from the environment, and in December 1941 on the outskirts of Moscow stopped the Panzer army Walter Model.

the Appointment to the post of the commander of Vlasov’s 2nd shock army, which was under threat of encirclement in the Leningrad direction, it was understandable: the rate seen in the General commander, is able to solve a difficult task. However, according to many historians, his mission was not feasible initially. “He got the troops, are practically no longer able to fight the army, which had to be rescued,” wrote Vladimir Beshanov in the book “defense of Leningrad”.

There is a theory that it was a cunning plan to get rid of unwanted warlord, which allegedly stood a group of generals, jealous of the glory of Vlasov. Among other envious and Zhukov called, but the real evidence for this version not found.

the story of the capture Vlasov is quite confusing. There is no information about where he was for two and a half weeks, starting on 24 June 1942, when was made the last attempt to break out of encirclement. It is known that only 12 of July, he came to the old believers ‘ village Tohawaii, where he was handed over to the Gestapo by the local headman.

Some sources claim that Vlasov immediately after an unsuccessful attempt to break through to her decided to surrender the German command. There is a more bold assumption. Soldier Ivan Stadnyuk, referring to the generatorsAla Alexander Saburov, wrote that the Germans Vlasov enlisted in the fall of 1941, when it was encircled near Kiev. But why in this case, it is needed to roam “recruited General” 18 days in the Novgorod forests and swamps, instead of having to give up the first met a German patrol?

Even during the war one of the Soviet Newspapers published an article under the headline “Who is the Vlasov?”. It was argued that the Vlasov — a staunch Trotskyist, planned to sell Siberia to the Japanese. According to the author, the General was exposed, however, in the future, the party forgave him, and entrusted important parts of the front. The first time, to avoid suspicion, he well showed, but then the “specially brought the army into the environment.”

the Vlasov on the question of the NKVD, why he surrendered, he replied: “Fainthearted!”. During interrogations, the former General admitted that while surrounded by it escalated anti-Soviet sentiment and he decided he did not want to fight for the interests of others. Taking advantage of the arrival of the Germans in the village, he surrendered.

Against all

the Goals pursued by Vlasov, rather vague, but his anti-Soviet position quite clearly while on the other side of the front line. During their promotional visits, including in the German-occupied territories of the USSR, he called to follow his example and resist the Stalinist regime.

the Program is organized by the Vlasov “Russian Committee”, most likely written under the dictation of the ideologists of the Reich, declared the creation instead of the Soviet Union a new state based on entirely different principles, where to eliminate forced labour, and the land transferred to the peasants as private property, where instead of terror and violence would flourish freedom of religion, and the government guaranteed the inviolability of person and domicile.

the Principles expounded Vlasov, was in many respects similar to the ideas that were expressed by the representatives of the white emigre movement, but the General himself, inapparently, were far from the Russian abroad generated a wave of post-revolutionary emigration. This is evidenced by the fact that in the ranks of ROA, virtually no ex-white.

In a personal Vlasov, had the German leadership, it was emphasized that it is not the Tsar, and the Bolshevik officer, and hostility to the Soviet power due solely to ideological motivations.

on the other hand, Vlasov was very negative and against the Nazi regime. He repeatedly indulged in criticism of the policies of Hitler, in particular, for the genocide of the Jewish population, which clashed with the German authorities. The Ministry of propaganda of the Reich, in turn, accused the Vlasov movement in “Anglophile sympathies” and called him “a Jewish superstructure of the Bolsheviks.”

“Stalin’s agent”

“Vlasov was not a traitor, and deep undercover spy”, such a version, though not supported by most historians, but is entitled to consideration. In 1938, the then Colonel Andrei Vlasov sent to China as an adviser to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, but some researchers believe that he was entrusted with other tasks.

In particular, Leo Gitsevich in the book “General Vlasov — intelligence agent of the Kremlin” believes that Vlasov was sent to China, teeming with German spies, in the hope that it will be recruited by the Abwehr or the Gestapo. According to the writer, Beria needed its own man in Berlin, but then the Germans the bait is not pecked. The purpose of the Vlasov to the position of commander of the 2 shock army and became a successful attempt to slip an agent into the bowels of the Third Reich, writes Gitsevich.

In the mid-2000s there appeared a number of publications that claimed that the operation on the introduction Vlasov was the initiative of Stalin. The leader allegedly hoped that his pet will be able to gain the confidence of the Supreme command of the German and at the right time to intercept the leaders of the Eastern formations of the Wehrmacht and the SS. That is why, according to the conspiracy theorists, on Volhovskthe third front, Vlasov was seen off personally Beria and Voroshilov.

What could be the arguments of the defenders version of “Vlasov — agent of the Kremlin”? One of the major — General after the death of his family, not repressed as it was with the families of other “traitors”. There is a version that Vlasov himself was not executed. So, Grand-niece of General Nina she later recounted to his countrymen the words of the famous ACE Alexander Pokryshkin (it shared Vlasov relative) present at the execution of “traitor.” Legendary pilot allegedly admitted that on the gallows instead of the nearly two-meter Vlasov hung some diminutive man.

the Official story, of course, sharply opposed alternative biography of Andrei Vlasov. The head of the Department of registration and archival funds of FSB of Russia Vasily Khristoforov said that the results of the painstaking work of archivists has not been found a single document, at least indirectly confirming “such an interpretation of the epic of General Vlasov”.

Taras Repin

Source:
© Russian Seven

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