History 27/01/20 Whom Stalin made a “scapegoat” for the defeat of the Western front
a few weeks after the German invasion on the Soviet territory to be shot, was sentenced Dmitry G. Pavlov, the commander of the Western front. Someone still believes that the General got what he deserved, and someone, on the contrary, I am sure that warlord who in the late 1930s he was regarded as the homeland of the hero, was simply made a scapegoat.
Before world war
Dmitry Grigorevich Pavlov was born in 1897 in Kostroma region (in the province). If you believe the jury Repenko, author of the book “Not only the power of weapons and number of troops,” Pavlov his military career began during the First World war: on the front, he went voluntarily. In 1916, as a non-commissioned officer, Dmitry Pavlov ended up in captivity. After a few years, this fact of his biography will be mentioned in the judgment. Anyway, Pavlov returned home after 3 years. Then he was back in the army, this time in red. Before the fatal 1941, Dmitry Grigoryevich took part in the Civil war in the homeland and in Spain, in the fighting on Khalkhin-Soviet-Finnish war.
In the same period, Pavlov was educated, becoming a graduate from the Military Academy named after Frunze. Interestingly, in spite of this, Nikita Khrushchev declared that Pavlov seemed “underdeveloped” and “poor training”. Meanwhile, according to William Taubman, author of “Khrushchev”, it was Nikita in 1940, the exercises in Kharkov admired as a tank commander Pavlov “was flying through the swamps and sand”. By the way, thanks to the perseverance of Pavlov and his Spanish experience in the Soviet Army it became a legendary tank T-34. According to Michael Tokarev, the author of the book “General Pavlov”, Dmitry Pavlov has played a huge role in the fact that the tank was first installed powerful dieselspacious the engine.
the Defeat of the Western front and the sentence
Apparently, confident in his military experience, on June 22, 1941 in 5 hours and 25 minutes General put his signature under the order: “to Raise troops and to act in combat”. However, as noted in his book “June 1941. The defeat of the Western front” Dmitry Egorov, this is a Pavlov abolished the Stalin’s order “Not to engage in provocation.” In addition, according to Viktor Suvorov, the author of the book “Shadow of victory”, the order “to act in combat” is called such a term as “loss of control”. And really the Western front, troops which was headed by Pavlov, started to literally crumble. On 28 June, the Germans took Minsk. Already two days later the General was dismissed from his post. 4 Jul Pavlova, brought to Moscow.
Dmitry G. accused of “cowardice, inaction, mismanagement, the assumption of the collapse of command and control, surrender of weapons to the enemy without a fight, and unauthorized abandonment of military positions by the red Army.” Excerpts from the relevant documents provided on the pages of his publications “the War. Myths of the USSR. 1939-1945” and Vladimir Medinsky. But, according to Oleg Kozinkina, author of the book “Stalin. Who betrayed the leader on the eve of war?” in the case mentioned Pavlov and the prisoner, and his stay in Spain (supposedly there commander was preparing an anti-Soviet conspiracy and “selling the interests of the Republicans”), as well as the General recognition that he is “out of revenge for the defeat of the conspiracy opened the front of the enemy.”
a Lesson from Stalin or incompetence?
Despite the fact that Pavlov was shot nearly 80 years ago, historians are still arguing about who was General: indeed guilty of the above actions or simple a “scapegoat”. Jeffrey Roberts, author of “Joseph Stalin. From the Second world war to the cold war. 1939-1953”, believes that using the death penalty commanders, executed in the beginning of the great Patriotic war, the leader would like to achieve discipline in the army ranks. As proof that Pavlov was a kind of “visual aid” Roberts cites the fact that the resolution of t-bills from July 16 to report arrests, Stalin made it clear that this is a lesson for the whole command.
But Vladimir Soloviev, the author of the book “History and culture of Russia”, convinced that Dmitri Pavlov and other commanders shot was given unfounded the responsibility for the blunders committed by Stalin himself. Anthony Tucker-Jones in the pages of his book “the Great tank robbery. Trophy armor Hitler” also claims that Pavlov suffered from incompetence, but only on its own. The fact that, according to Tucker Jones, in 1939, Dmitry Grigorievich proposed to disband the tank corps, while the opposite views Tukhachevsky was recognized as alien. In the end, dispersed the Soviet tanks were easily destroyed by the powerful troops of the Wehrmacht.
Yulia Popova
Source:
© Russian Seven
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