During the years of the Great Patriotic War v Soviet captivity about three and a half million soldiers were killed, who were later tried for various war crimes. This number included both the military of the Wehrmacht and their allies. At the same time, more than two million are Germans. Almost all of them were found guilty and received substantial prison sentences. Among the prisoners came across and " big fish"- high-ranking and far from ordinary representatives of the German military elite.

However, the vast majority of them were kept in quite acceptable conditions and were able to return to their homeland. The Soviet troops and the population treated the defeated invaders quite tolerantly. "RG" tells about the highest-ranking Wehrmacht and SS officers who went through Soviet captivity.

Field Marshal Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus

Paulus was the first of the German senior military officials to be taken prisoner. Together with him, during the Battle of Stalingrad, all members of his headquarters were captured - 44 generals.

On January 30, 1943, the day before the complete collapse of the encircled 6th Army, Paulus was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. The calculation was simple - not a single top commander in the entire history of Germany surrendered. Thus, the Fuhrer intended to push his newly minted field marshal to continue resistance and, as a result, commit suicide. After reflecting on such a prospect, Paulus decided in his own way and ordered an end to resistance.

Despite all the rumors about the "atrocities" of the Communists in relation to the prisoners, they treated the captured generals with dignity. All were immediately taken to the Moscow region - to the Krasnogorsk operational transit camp of the NKVD. The Chekists intended to win over a high-ranking prisoner to their side. However, Paulus resisted for quite some time. During interrogations, he declared that he would forever remain a National Socialist.

It is believed that Paulus was one of the founders of the National Committee "Free Germany", which immediately launched an active anti-fascist activity. In fact, when the committee was set up in Krasnogorsk, Paulus and his generals were already in the generals' camp at the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal. He immediately regarded the work of the committee as a "betrayal." He called the generals who agreed to cooperate with the Soviets traitors, whom he "can no longer consider his comrades."

Paulus changed his point of view only in August 1944, when he signed the appeal "To German prisoners of war soldiers, officers and the German people." In it, he called for the elimination of Adolf Hitler and an end to the war. Immediately after that, he joined the anti-fascist Union of German Officers, and then the Free Germany. There he soon became one of the most active propagandists.

Historians are still arguing about the reasons for such a sharp change in position. Most attribute this to the defeats that the Wehrmacht had suffered by that time. Having lost the last hope of Germany's success in the war, the former field marshal and current prisoner of war decided to take the side of the winner. The efforts of the NKVD officers who methodically worked with Satrap (Paulus' pseudonym) should not be dismissed either. By the end of the war, they practically forgot about him - he could no longer help much, the Wehrmacht front was already cracking in the East and West.

After the defeat of Germany, Paulus came in handy again. He became one of the main witnesses for the Soviet prosecution at the Nuremberg trials. Ironically, it was captivity that may have saved him from the gallows. Before his capture, he enjoyed the Fuhrer's great confidence, he was even predicted to replace Alfred Jodl, the chief of staff of the operational leadership of the Wehrmacht High Command. Jodl, as you know, was one of those whom the tribunal sentenced to hang for war crimes.

After the war, Paulus, along with other "Stalingrad" generals, continued to be in captivity. Most of them were released and returned to Germany (only one died in captivity). Paulus, on the other hand, continued to be kept at a dacha in Ilyinsk, near Moscow.

He was only able to return to Germany after Stalin's death in 1953. Then, on the orders of Khrushchev, the former military man was allocated a villa in Dresden, where he died on February 1, 1957. It is significant that, in addition to relatives, only party leaders and generals of the GDR were present at his funeral.

Artillery General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach

The aristocrat Seydlitz in the army of Paulus commanded a corps. He surrendered on the same day as Paulus, though on a different sector of the front. Unlike his commander, he began to cooperate with counterintelligence almost immediately. It was Seydlitz who became the first chairman of the "Free Germany" and the Union of German Officers. He even offered the Soviet authorities to form units from the Germans to fight the Nazis. True, prisoners were no longer considered as a military force. They were used only for propaganda work.

After the war, Seydlitz remained in Russia. At a dacha near Moscow, he advised the creators of the film about Battle of Stalingrad and wrote memoirs. Several times he asked for repatriation to the territory of the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany, but each time he was refused.

In 1950 he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison. former general kept in solitary confinement.

Seydlitz was released in 1955 after a visit to the USSR by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. After returning, he led a reclusive life.

Lieutenant General Vinzenz Müller

For some, Muller went down in history as the "German Vlasov." He commanded the 4th German Army, which was completely defeated near Minsk. Müller himself was taken prisoner. From the very first days, as a prisoner of war, he joined the work of the Union of German Officers.

For some special merits, he not only was not convicted, but immediately after the war he returned to Germany. That's not all - he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense. Thus, he became the only major Wehrmacht commander who retained his rank of lieutenant general in the GDR army.

In 1961, Müller fell from the balcony of his house in the suburbs of Berlin. Some claimed it was suicide.

Grand Admiral Erich Johann Alber Raeder

Until the beginning of 1943, Raeder was one of the most influential military men in Germany. He served as commander of the Kriegsmarine (German navy). After a series of failures at sea, he was removed from his post. He received the position of Chief Inspector of the Fleet, but had no real authority.

Erich Raeder was taken prisoner in May 1945. During interrogations in Moscow, he spoke about all the preparations for the war and gave detailed testimony.

Initially, the USSR intended to try the former grand admiral himself (Reder is one of the few who were not considered at the conference in Yalta, where they discussed the issue of punishing war criminals), but later it was decided that he would participate in the Nuremberg trials. The tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment. Immediately after the announcement of the verdict, he demanded that the punishment be replaced by execution, but was refused.

He was released from Spandau prison in January 1955. The official reason was the state of health of the prisoner. The illness did not stop him from writing his memoirs. He died in Kiel in November 1960.

SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohncke

The commander of the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" is one of the few SS generals who were captured by Soviet troops. The overwhelming number of SS men made their way to the west and surrendered to the Americans or the British. On April 21, 1945, Hitler appointed him commander of a "battle group" for the defense of the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker. After the collapse of Germany, he tried with his soldiers to break out of Berlin to the north, but was taken prisoner. By that time, almost his entire group had been destroyed.

After signing the act of surrender, Monke was taken to Moscow. There he was held first in Butyrka, and then in Lefortovo prison. The verdict - 25 years in prison - was heard only in February 1952. He served his term in the legendary pre-trial detention center No. 2 in the city of Vladimir - "Vladimirsky Central".

The former general returned to Germany in October 1955. At home he worked as a sales agent for the sale of trucks and trailers. He died quite recently - in August 2001.

Until the end of his life, he considered himself an ordinary soldier and actively participated in the work of various associations of SS military personnel.

SS-Brigadeführer Helmut Becker

SS man Becker was taken to Soviet captivity by his place of service. In 1944, he was appointed commander of the Totenkopf (Dead Head) division, becoming its last commander. According to the agreement between the USSR and the USA, all servicemen of the division were to be transferred to the Soviet troops.

Before the defeat of Germany, Becker, being sure that only death awaited him in the east, tried to break through to the west. Having led his division through all of Austria, he capitulated only on May 9th. A few days later he ended up in the Poltava prison.

In 1947, he appeared before the military tribunal of the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kiev military district and received 25 years in the camps. Apparently, like all other German prisoners of war, he could return to Germany in the mid-50s. However, he became one of the few top military commanders german germany who died in the camp.

The cause of Becker's death was not hunger and overwork, which was common in the camps, but a new accusation. In the camp he was tried for sabotage construction works. On September 9, 1952, he was sentenced to death penalty. Already February 28 next year was shot.

Artillery General Helmut Weidling

The commander of the defense and the last commandant of Berlin was captured during the assault on the city. Realizing the futility of resistance, he ordered the cessation of hostilities. He tried in every possible way to cooperate with the Soviet command and personally signed the act of surrender of the Berlin garrison on May 2.

The general's tricks did not help to escape from the court. In Moscow, he was kept in Butyrka and Lefortovo prisons. After that, he was transferred to the Vladimir Central.

The last commandant of Berlin was sentenced in 1952 to 25 years in the camps (the standard sentence for Nazi criminals).

Weidling was no longer able to get out. He died of heart failure on November 17, 1955. He was buried in the prison cemetery in an unmarked grave.

SS-Obergruppenführer Walter Krüger

Since 1944, Walter Krüger led the SS troops in the Baltics. He continued to fight until the very end of the war, but in the end he tried to break into Germany. With fights he reached almost to the very border. However, on May 22, 1945, the Kruger group ran into a Soviet patrol. Almost all Germans died in the battle.

Kruger himself was taken alive - after being wounded, he was unconscious. However, it was not possible to interrogate the general - having come to his senses, he shot himself. As it turned out, he kept a pistol in a secret pocket, which they could not find during the search.

SS Gruppenführer Helmut von Pannwitz

Von Pannwitz is the only German who was tried along with the White Guard generals Shkuro, Krasnov and other collaborators. Such attention is due to all the activities of the cavalryman Pannwitz during the war years. It was he who supervised, on the German side, the creation Cossack troops in the Wehrmacht. In the Soviet Union, he was also accused of numerous war crimes.

Therefore, when Pannwitz, together with his brigade, surrendered to the British, the USSR demanded his immediate extradition. In principle, the Allies could refuse - as a German, Pannwitz was not subject to trial in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, given the severity of the crimes (there were reports of numerous executions of civilians), the German general was sent to Moscow along with the traitors.

In January 1947, the court sentenced all the defendants (six people were in the dock) to death. A few days later, Pannwitz and other leaders of the anti-Soviet movement were hanged.

Since then, monarchist organizations have regularly raised the issue of rehabilitating the hanged. Time after time, the Supreme Court decides in the negative.

SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche

By his rank (the army counterpart is major), Otto Günsche, of course, did not belong to the army elite of Germany. However, due to his position, he was one of the most knowledgeable people about the life of Germany at the end of the war.

For several years Günsche was Adolf Hitler's personal adjutant. It was he who was instructed to destroy the body of the Fuhrer who committed suicide. This became a fatal event in the life of a young (at the end of the war he was not even 28 years old) officer.

Günsche was captured by the Soviets on May 2, 1945. Almost immediately, he got into the development of SMERSH agents, who found out the fate of the missing Fuhrer. Some of the materials are still classified.

Finally, in 1950, Otto Günsche was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, in 1955 he was transferred to serve his sentence in the GDR, and a year later he was completely released from prison. Soon he moved to Germany, where he remained until the end of his life. Died in 2003.

In the 1960s-1990s, domestic publications called different numbers of losses of Soviet generals and admirals in 1941-1945. In 1991-1994 an updated list was published in the Military Historical Journal containing 416 names of senior officers of the army and navy 1 ; military historian A.A. Shabaev wrote about 438 generals and admirals who died during the war 2 , and finally, I.I. Kuznetsov cited new data - 442 people 3 .

The study of military-historical literature, documents of the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA) and the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (TsAMO RF) allowed the author to include in the list, in addition to 416, another 42 names of generals and admirals who died in 1941-1945. Taking into account the identified surnames, more than full list generals and admirals (458 people) indicating the last name, first name, patronymic, rank, last position, date and circumstances of death 4 . It should be noted that in the military-historical and memoir literature other names of the dead generals are also mentioned. Since writers and memoirists sometimes give erroneous information about the time and circumstances of the death of one or another general, each surname had to be checked against the documents of the RGVA and TsAMO of the Russian Federation, eliminating obvious errors and making the necessary clarifications.

Having established the total number of losses, it is necessary to consider them by periods of war and circumstances of death. According to the order of the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense dated February 4, 1944, the irretrievable losses include those who died in battle, went missing at the front, died from wounds on the battlefield and in medical institutions, died from diseases received at the front, or died at the front from other causes. who were taken prisoner. By their nature, losses are divided into combat and non-combat. Combat - these are those killed on the battlefield, who died from wounds at the stages of sanitary evacuation and in hospitals, who went missing in battle and were captured. Non-combat losses include losses not related to the direct performance of a combat mission, including in the troops leading fighting: those who died due to careless handling of weapons, in accidents, catastrophes and as a result of other incidents, who died of illness in medical institutions (at home), who committed suicide, who were shot by the verdict of military tribunals for various military and criminal offenses 5 .

In 1993 and 2001 A statistical study on the losses of the Soviet Armed Forces in the 20th century was published in two editions 6 . If in the first edition the number 421 generals was called, then in the second it was reduced to 416 people, although it should have been the other way around, since during the time elapsed between the two editions, additional information about the generals who died in the war 7 was revealed, and the total number of losses should have increased. However, the authors of the statistical study, citing the figure of 416 people, stated that “this number did not include Colonel General A.D. Loktionov, G.M. Stern, Lieutenant General P.A. Alekseev, F.K. Arzhenukhin, I.I. Proskurov, E.S. Ptukhin, P.I. Pumpur, K.P. Pyadyshev, P.V. Rychagov, Ya.V. Smushkevich, major generals P.S. Volodin, M.M. Kayukov, A.A. Levin, who were repressed before the war and shot during the war years” 8 .

But, firstly, generals Volodin, Proskurov, Ptukhin and Pyadyshev were arrested not before the war, but at the beginning of the war, i.e. took part in it. Secondly, in my opinion, there is no reason to exclude from the list of non-combat losses the generals who died or died during the war under the pretext of their non-participation in hostilities. Therefore, in accordance with the mentioned order, it seems expedient to include in the list of irretrievable losses all generals and admirals whose lives were cut short in the period from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945. Of course, some of them will be included in the category of combat losses, others - non-combat.

Counting results irretrievable losses Soviet senior officers are presented in Table. one.

Table 1.

* Russia and the USSR in the wars of the twentieth century. Losses of the Armed Forces: A Statistical Study. M.: OLMA-PRESS, 2001. S. 432.

As you can see, major generals suffered the greatest losses - 372 people, i.e. more than 80 percent, 66 lieutenant generals (about 14 percent), colonel generals - 6 (1.3 percent), rear admirals - 7 (1.5 percent), the rest (marshals, army generals and vice admirals) - less than 1 percent.

It is natural that the greatest combat losses took place in 1941, when the Red Army retreated, entire armies were surrounded, hundreds of thousands of people were captured, including dozens of generals. If during the 46 months of the war 15 generals went missing, then more than 73 percent. this amount was in the first six months. Combat losses during this time (June 22 - December 31, 1941) amounted to 74 people, i.e. 12-13 generals died monthly (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Combat losses of senior officers in the Great Patriotic War

Causes of losses	years					in the period from 1941 to 1945.
	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945
Died in battles	48	41	40	37	16	182
Died of wounds	10	10	13	17	12	62
Missing	11	2	2	-	-	15
Died in captivity	3	6	6	5	3	23
Shot to avoid capture	1	3	-	-	-	4
Exploded by mines	0	1	2	6	-	9
Killed by saboteurs	1	-	-	-	-	1
Total:	74	63	63	65	31	296

Already on the second day of the war, June 23, 1941, the Soviet generals suffered their first losses. During a German air raid on the command post, Major General I.P., assistant commander of the Western Front, was killed by a fragment of an air bomb. Mikhailin. Until the end of June 1941, division commanders Major General V.P. Puganov and D.P. Safonov, corps commanders S.M. Kondrusev, M.G. Khatskilevich, V.B. Borisov and other formation commanders. On July 8, the Messerschmitt fired at the car of the commander of the 13th Army, P.M. Filatov. The seriously wounded general was evacuated to a Moscow hospital, where he died. Lieutenant General Filatov became the first army commander to die in the Great Patriotic War.

The difficult situation of the retreat often forced the generals to mind other than their own business. There are cases when military leaders, instead of directing the battle from the command post, personally led the fighters into the attack and died on the battlefield. In conditions of encirclement, many of them found themselves under enemy fire and died like ordinary soldiers. An example is the death of the commander of the Southwestern Front, Colonel General M.P. Kirponos and chief of staff of the front, Major General V.I. Tupikov, who died in the Shumeikovo tract on September 20, 1941.

Dozens of commanders of divisions, corps, army commanders died. In the first year of the war, 4 generals, being surrounded and not wanting to surrender, shot themselves: the commander of the 33rd Army, Lieutenant General M.G. Efremov, Chief of Staff of the 57th Army, Major General A.F. Anisov, generals S.V. Verzin and P.S. Ivanov.

During the war years, over 70 Soviet generals were captured (the vast majority - in 1941-1942). Well-known generals in the army were captured: the former commander of the troops of the Ural Military District, Lieutenant General F.A. Ershakov, Head of the Department of the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army, Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops D.M. Karbyshev, several army commanders and dozens of corps and division commanders. The vast majority of the captured generals behaved with dignity, remained faithful to the oath. Only a few agreed to cooperate with the enemy. In total, 23 Soviet generals died in German captivity.

Several generals, finding themselves in the territory occupied by the enemy, continued to fight as part of partisan detachments. On December 10, 1941, the head of the Bakhchisarai partisan region, Major General D.I. Averkin, who previously commanded the 48th Cavalry Division. In June 1942, the commander of the partisan detachment, General N.V., died in hand-to-hand combat. Kornev (former chief of staff of the Air Force of the 20th Army of the Western Front). Commander of the 10th Panzer Division of the Southwestern Front, General S.Ya. Ogurtsov was captured in August 1941, and in April 1942 he escaped from captivity, fought in a partisan detachment and died in battle in October 1942.

Unfortunately, a number of losses are due to ordinary carelessness. So, on November 9, 1943, the commander of the 44th Army, Lieutenant General

B. A. Khomenko and the chief of artillery of this army, Major General S. A. Bobkov, having lost their bearings, drove a car into the enemy’s location and were shot at point-blank range 9 .

In the section of combat losses, the proportion of those who died in battle and died from wounds ranged from 77 to 90 percent. About 5 per cent. total losses (or about 8 percent of combat) were losses in captivity. 11 generals went missing in 1941 (about 15 percent of combat losses), in 1942 and 1943. two generals each (less than 1 percent). Out of 458 total casualties, combat losses for the entire period of the war amounted to 296 people (64.6 percent).

Thus, irretrievable losses among the Soviet generals amounted to 107 people in 1941, 100 in 1942, 94 in 1943, 108 in 1944, 49 in 1945; only 458 people.

An analysis of non-combat losses (see Table 3) shows that in 1941, out of 33 people, three died of illness, two shot themselves, one died in a crash, and 27 generals (almost 82 percent) were shot. In 1942, the share of repressed generals in the number of non-combat losses decreased to 56.8 percent. This is also a lot 10 . In 1943-1945. the picture has changed. The main part of non-combat losses were already those who died from diseases. And it wasn't always the elderly. Many of the dead generals (about 60 percent) were not even 50 years old. In addition, there were losses as a result of various accidents and accidents. So, the commander of the squadron of the Baltic Fleet, Vice Admiral V.P. Drozd died on January 29, 1943, while driving a car on the ice of the Gulf of Finland. The car fell into a hole, and the honored admiral died. Head of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Navy Engineer-Vice Admiral A.G. Orlov died in a plane crash on April 28, 1945. In 1944 and 1945, 15 people died in automobile and aviation accidents, and in total during the war years - 19 generals and admirals.

table 3 .

Non-combat losses of senior officers in the Great Patriotic War

table4

Distribution of losses of senior officers by years and military ranks

						Between 1941 and 1945
Marshal of the Soviet Union
Army General
General - floor to the n and k
General - lieutenant
Major General
Vice Admiral
rear admiral

Table 5

Distribution of losses of senior officers by position

Position	Combat losses	non-combat losses	Are common irrevocable losses
front commander
Commander of the military district
Deputy and assistant commander of the front and military district
Army commander
Deputy Commander of the Army
Corps commander
Deputy corps commander
Division commander, his deputy
brigade commander
Commander of a special (separate) group
Chief of staff of the front, military district, army , corps, divisions, his deputy
Commander of the artillery of the front, army, corps
Commander of Armored and Mechanized troops of the front, military district, army
Commander of the Air Force of the front, military district, army, his deputy
Member of the military council of the front, army
Head of logistics (communications, engineering troops, military communications) front, army, his deputy
Generals of the main and central departments of the NPO
Employees of design bureaus, research institutes and military educational institutions
Admirals and generals of the NKVMF
Other officials

The share of non-combat losses in 1941-1943 fluctuated within 27-30 percent, and in 1944-1945. - 36-39 percent. If at the beginning of the war there were many repressed generals, then at the end of it, the mortality rate from diseases increased, amounting to 85 percent in 1943, 75 percent in 1944, and 66.6 percent in 1945. non-combat losses of the corresponding year.

For 46 and a half months of the war, 458 people of the highest command personnel perished and died, i.e. about 10 people per month on average (see Table 4). But these losses were unevenly distributed over the years of the war. They were the highest in 1941 - 107 people in 6 months, i.e. about 18 people per month. V

1942-1944 losses were halved (8 - 9 people per month). And in the last months of the war, January-May 1945, an increase in losses was again observed: 49 people in 4 months (12 per month). However, in 1945 this figure increased mainly due to the increased number of deaths from diseases and those killed in disasters.

The largest number of irretrievable losses of senior officers in the army and navy falls on the first year and a half of the war. So, the losses of 1941-1942. accounted for more than 45 percent. all the losses of generals and admirals during the war. In 1943, 94 generals were killed (about 20 percent), two-thirds of this number were combat losses. In 1944, with an increase in overall losses, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of combat losses of the generals, which was the result of an increase in the technical equipment of the army and an increase in combat skills and organizational abilities of command personnel. However, even then the losses continued to remain large. During the year, our army and navy lost 65 generals killed. The total losses of generals in 1944, taking into account those who died from diseases and died in accidents, amounted to 108 people.

In the last 4 months of the war (January-April 1945), an increase in combat losses was again observed - 31 generals (that's more than 7 people per month) 11 .

It is important to analyze what positions the fallen Soviet generals held and under what circumstances they died (see Table 5).

Thus, during the war years, 4 front commanders, 22 army commanders and 8 their deputies, 55 corps commanders and 21 deputy corps commanders, 127 division commanders and 8 brigade commanders died (died from wounds and diseases). If combat commanders died mainly on the battlefields (85 percent of all irretrievable losses), then the main causes of death of generals who served in the central apparatus of the People's Commissariat of Defense, in military schools, design bureaus, research institutes and other institutions located in the rear, were diseases (about 60 percent) and repressions (over 20 percent). Every third general of the central office of the NPO was repressed or died of illness, 16 percent. died in accidents and only 20 percent. - in the course of hostilities (during business trips to the fronts).

The losses of the senior officers of the Navy were relatively small - 17 people, of which 12 people were non-combat losses. During the entire period of the war, the Navy lost two vice admirals and seven rear admirals. Both vice admirals died in accidents. Four rear admirals died of disease, and one shot himself. Combat losses include three generals of naval aviation (F.G. Korobkov, N.A. Ostryakov, N.A. Tokarev) and two rear admirals (B.V. Khoroshkhin and N.I. Zuykov).

In total, during the war, 458 people died, died from wounds and diseases, went missing, died in captivity, in car and plane crashes, shot 458 people, or about 10 percent. the total number of generals and admirals who were on military service in the personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The combat losses of generals (who died in battle, in captivity, died from wounds, went missing, were blown up by mines and shot themselves to avoid capture) amounted to 64.6 percent, while 44.5 percent were lost in battles. (182 out of 458), 62 people died from wounds (13.5 percent) and 5 percent died in captivity. Non-combat losses reached 35.4 percent, of which 17.9 percent. (82 people) - died from diseases. The greatest monthly losses occurred in June-December 1941 and January-April 1945.

The irretrievable losses of generals and admirals by composition, type and type of troops (services) were distributed in the following ratio: command staff - 88.9 percent, political - less than 2 percent, technical - 2.8 percent, administrative - 4.6 percent ., medical - about 1 percent, legal - 0.65 percent. The distribution of generals' losses by type of the Armed Forces is shown in Table. 6.

Analyzing the given data, we can conclude that among the dead and missing senior officers, a large proportion falls on the command staff of the active army and navy, commanders of fronts and armies, their deputies and chiefs of staff of formations and formations, commanders of corps, divisions, brigades , and most of all - on the commanders of divisions.

Table 6

Losses of senior officers of the Ground Forces, Navy and Air Force

Table 7

Losses of generals and admirals of Nazi Germany

	Land
Deaths due to accidents
Those who committed suicide
Executed by the Germans
Executed by the Allies
Those who died in captivity
Died from the consequences of the war
Missing

Compiled according to: Yakovlev B. New data on the casualties of the German armed forces in World War II // Voen.-historical. magazine. 1962. No. 12. S. 78.

Table 8

Losses of generals and admirals of Nazi Germany (by rank)

In this regard, it is interesting to compare the scale of the losses of the Soviet and German generals. The fact is that the Germans half a century ago summed up the losses of their generals and admirals. In 1957, a study by Voltmann and Müller-Witten on this topic was published in Berlin 12 . In the early 60s, in the works of L.A. Bezymensky 13 and B. Yakovlev, the figures from this book were used, including the published final table on the losses of the German generals.

As can be seen from Table. 7 and 8, the total losses of the German generals are twice the number of dead Soviet senior officers: 963 versus 458. Moreover, for certain categories of losses, the excess was much greater. So, for example, as a result of accidents of German generals on
two and a half times more died, 3.2 times more went missing, and eight times more died in captivity than the Soviet ones. Finally, 110 German generals committed suicide, which is 11 times (!) more than the Soviet ones. This testifies to the catastrophic drop in the morale of the Nazi generals at the end of the war. I believe these figures indicate the superiority of our generals over the generals of the enemy, more high level Soviet military art, especially at the final stage of the war.

NOTES

1 Military history magazine. 1991. No. 9-12; 1992. No. 6-12; 1993. No. 1-12; 1994. No. 1-6.

2 Shabaev A.A. Losses of officers of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War // Military Historical Archive. 1998. No. 3. S. 180.

3 Kuznetsov I.I. Generals' fates. The highest command cadres of the Red Army in 1940-1953. Irkutsk: Publishing House of Irkutsk University, 2000. S. 182.

4 Pechenkin A.A. The highest command staff of the Red Army during the Second World War. M.: Prometheus, 2002. S. 247-275.

5 Russia and the USSR in the wars of the twentieth century. Losses of the Armed Forces: A Statistical Study. M.: OLMA-PRESS, 2001. S. 8.

6 The classification was removed: Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts: Statistical study/ V.M. Andronikov, P.D. Burikov, V.V. Gurkin and others; Under total ed. G.F. Krivosheev. Moscow: Military Publishing House, 1993, p. 321; Russia and the USSR in the wars of the twentieth century ... S. 430.

7 They gave their lives for their Motherland // Voen.-histor. magazine. 2000. No. 5. S. 24-28; Kuznetsov I.I. Decree. op. S. 182; Shabaev A.A. Decree. op. S. 180.

8 Russia and the USSR in the wars of the twentieth century ... S. 432.

9 Kuznetsov I.I. Decree. op. S. 68.

10 If out of 72 captured generals in the Nazi camps, every third died, then out of a hundred generals arrested by the NKVD, almost two-thirds died - 63 generals, of which 47 were shot, and 16 died in prison in 1942-1953. Calculated by the author.

11 The dynamics of losses among Wehrmacht generals was quite different: in 1941-1942. only a few German generals died, and in 1943-1945. 553 Nazi generals and admirals were captured; the overwhelming majority of the irretrievable losses of the senior officers of the "Third Reich" fell on the same years.

12 Folttmann J., Moller-Witten H. Opfergang der Generale. Die Verluste der Generale und Admirale und der im gleichen Dienstgrad stehenden sonstigen Offiziere und Beamten im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Berlin, 1957.

13 Bezymensky L.A. German generals - with and without Hitler. M., 1964. S. 399-400.

During the Great Patriotic War, not only ordinary soldiers and commanders perished on the fields of fierce battles, but also their senior commanders, generals and admirals.
So in the early 1990s, a list containing 416 names of Soviet generals and admirals who died during the war was published in the Military History Journal.

Brief information about the dead.
The losses of generals by military ranks, positions held and circumstances of death are characterized by the following data:
Marshal of the Soviet Union 1
Army Generals 4
Colonel Generals 4
Lieutenant Generals 56
Major Generals 343
Vice Admirals 2
Rear admirals. 6
Total: 416 people.

Among the dead and deceased generals and admirals (416 people) the following were taken into account:
Marshal of the Soviet Union Shaposhnikov Boris Mikhailovich, former chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, died of illness on March 26, 1945, while head of the Academy of the General Staff. Buried in Moscow.

Army generals:
Apanasenko Iosif Rodionovich, Deputy Commander of the Voronezh Front. He died of wounds on August 5, 1943. He was buried in Belgorod.
Vatutin Nikolai Fedorovich, commander of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front. He died of wounds on April 15, 1944. He was buried in Kiev.
Pavlov Dmitry Grigorievich, commander of the troops of the Western Front. Shot by military tribunal in 1941. Rehabilitated on July 31, 1957.
Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich, commander of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front. Died February 18, 1945. Buried in Vilnius, reburied in Voronezh.

Colonel generals:
Zakharkin Ivan Grigoryevich, Commander of the Odessa Military District. Died October 15, 1944 in a car accident. Buried in Odessa.
Kirponos Mikhail Petrovich, Commander of the Southwestern Front. Killed in action on September 20, 1941. Reburied in Kiev.
Leselidze Konstantin Nikolaevich, commander of the 18th Army on the North Caucasian Front. He died of illness on February 21, 1944. He was buried in Tbilisi.
Pestov Vladimir Ivanovich, commander of the artillery of the Transcaucasian Front. He died of illness in April 1944. He was buried in Tbilisi.

This number did not include Colonel-General A.D. Loktionov, who did not take part in the war. G. M. Stern, Lieutenant General P. A. Alekseev, F. K. Arzhenukhin, I. I. Proskurov, E. S. Ptukhin. P. I. Pumpur, K. P. Pyadyshev, P. V. Rychagov, Ya. V. Smushkevich, major generals P. S. Volodin, M. M. Kayukov, A. A. Levin, repressed before the war and shot during the war years.

Generals (admirals) by position:

Front commanders 4
Deputy and assistant commanders of fronts 3
Front Chiefs of Staff 5
Commanders of military districts 1
Deputy commanders of military districts 1
Chiefs of Staff of Military Regions 2
Members of the military councils of fronts 2
Members of military councils of armies 4
Army commanders 22
Deputy commanders of armies 12
Army Chiefs of Staff 12
Corps commanders 54
Deputy corps commanders 19
Corps Chiefs of Staff 4
Division commanders 117
Deputy commanders of divisions 2
Brigade commanders 9
Squadron commanders. Air Force commanders of armies, fronts, fleets 9
Heads of communications, engineering troops, rear and VOSO fronts 2
Chiefs of rear services of armies 9
Commanders of artillery, armored and mechanized troops of fronts, armies, corps 41
Chiefs of Engineering Troops, Army Communications 3
Deputy chiefs of staff of fronts, fleets, armies 6
Generals of the central and main departments of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR, military academies, schools, research institutes 45
Other officials 28
Total 416

Among them:
The commanders of the troops of the fronts, army generals N.F. Vatutin, D.G. Pavlov, I.D. Chernyakhovsky, Colonel General M.P. Kirponos.

Deputies and assistants to the commanders of the fronts, General of the Army I.R. Apanasenko, Lieutenant General F.Ya. Kostenko, Major General L.V. Bobkin.

The chiefs of staff of the fronts, Lieutenant General P.I. Bodin, P.S. Klenov, Major General V.E. Klimovskikh, G.D. Stelmakh, V.I. Tupikov.

Commander of the Odessa Military District, Colonel-General I.G. Zakharkin. Chiefs of Staff of the Military Districts, Major General A.D. Korneev, N.V. Pastushikhin. Members of the military councils of the fronts, Lieutenant General K.A. Gurov and K.N. Zimin. Members of the military councils of the armies, Major General A.F. Bobrov, I.V. Vasiliev, I.A. Gavrilov, B.O. Galstyan.

Army commanders, Colonel General K.N. Leselidze, Lieutenant General S.D. Akimov, A.M. Gorodnyansky, F.A. Ershakov, M.G. Efremov, A.I. Zygin, V.Ya. Kachalov, P.P. Korzun, V.N. Lvov, I.F. Nikolaev, K.P. Podlas, P.S. Pshennikov, A.K. Smirnov, P.M. Filatov, F.M. Kharitonov, V.A. Khomenko, Major General K.M. Kachanov, A.A. Korobkov, A.V. Lapshov, A.I. Lizyukov, M.P. Petrov, K.I. Rakutin.

By circumstances of death (death)
Killed in action 185
Died from their wounds 61
Missing 14
Killed or died while in captivity 23
Exploded by mines 9
Died in a plane crash 12
Died in a car accident 6
Died in an accident 2
Died from disease 79
Shot and posthumously rehabilitated 18
Committed suicide to avoid captivity 4
committed suicide 3
Total 416

In addition, during the war, 2 corps and 5 divisional commissars, who served in the military in political positions, died, died or went missing:
members of the military councils of fronts 2
members of military councils of armies 3
head of the political department of the army 1
Deputy division commander for political affairs 1

However, not all researchers and historians agree with the number 416, for example, the military historian Shabaev is convinced that there were 438, Kuznetsov - 442.

Military historical literature and documents from the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA) and the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (TsAMO) provide grounds for including in the list - in addition to 416 - the names of 42 more generals and admirals who died from 1941 to 1945. Given the new data, a list of 458 people is obtained.

In 1993 and 2001, a team led by Colonel General Krivosheev published in two editions a statistical study on the losses of the Soviet Armed Forces (AF) in the 20th century. If in the first edition the number 421 (general) was called, then in the second it dropped to 416.

The authors, citing a figure of 416 people, stated that this number did not include Colonel Generals Alexander Loktionov, Grigory Stern, Lieutenant Generals Alekseev, Arzhenukhin, Proskurov, Ptukhin, Pumpur, Pyadyshev, Rychagov, Smushkevich, General Majors Volodin, Kayukov, Levin, repressed before the war and shot during the war.

This statement is not entirely correct. Firstly, Generals Volodin, Proskurov, Ptukhin and Pyadyshev were arrested not before the war, but at the beginning of the war, which means they took part in it. Major General Aviation Volodin at the end of June 1941 was the chief of staff of the Red Army Air Force, Lieutenant General Pyadyshev fought as deputy commander of the Northern Front and commanded the Luga Operational Group, and Heroes of the Soviet Union Aviation Lieutenant Generals Proskurov and Ptukhin participated in the war as commanders Air Force of the 7th Army and the Air Force of the Southwestern Front. Secondly, among the 416 listed in the official list there are several dozen generals and admirals who were not in the army for a single day and died from illness and accidents in the rear.

The greatest combat losses took place in 1941. This is when in six months (June 22 - December 31, 1941) the Red Army lost 74 generals - that is, it lost 12-13 people every month. representatives of their senior leadership.

According to other sources, the losses in 1941 were even higher (for six months - 107 people) - 18 people per month. True, already in 1942-1944, the losses became half as much (from 8 to 9 people per month). http://sary-shagan.narod.ru/esse/esse011.htm

In the first year of the war, four generals, being surrounded, did not want to surrender and shot themselves, it is known that in the whole war, 11 Soviet generals did not want to surrender alive to the enemy and shot themselves.

In terms of categories, the command staff suffered the most damage during the war (almost 89%), while political - less than 2%, technical - 2.8%, administrative - 4.6%, medical - about 1%, legal - 0.65%. generals Air force(Air Force) accounted for 8.73% of the dead, and admirals and generals of the Navy - 3.71% of the total number of losses of senior officers. The Ground Forces had heavy losses - 87.56% of the dead generals belonged to them. one%.

During the Great Patriotic War, 162 generals of the Red Army were killed in battle. Here are some examples of the heroic death of top commanders. Among the high-ranking generals at the beginning of the war, the commander of the Southwestern Front, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General M. Kirponos, died. The troops of the front fought heavy defensive battles in the Right-Bank Ukraine. Defensive actions on important operational-strategic lines and directions were combined with counterattacks. During the Kiev operation, despite the fact that Kirponos, Vasilevsky, Shaposhnikov and Budyonny insisted on the immediate withdrawal of troops from Kiev, permission to retreat from the operational bag around Kiev was not given by the Headquarters. By September 14, 4 were surrounded Soviet armies. Kirponos M.P. died while leaving the encirclement. The death of a soldier ended the life of the army generals, the commander of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the commander of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Chernyakhovsky I.D. , two young talented generals.

At the beginning of 1942 Zhukov G.K. began to advance on Vyazma with the forces of the Cavalry Corps Belov P.A. and the 33rd Army, Lieutenant General Efremov M.G. The offensive was not properly prepared, what is the fault of Efremov M.G. no, only the front commander Zhukov. On February 4, 1942, "... the enemy, having struck under the base of the breakthrough, cut off the group and restored the defense along the Ugra River," Zhukov wrote. Until July, having nine armies at his disposal, Zhukov was unable to connect with this part of his front, which fought in encirclement near Vyazma. But according to the directive of the Stavka, this was the main blow that the Western Front was supposed to deliver. For two and a half months, without tanks and artillery, units of the 33rd Army of Lieutenant General Efremov fought in the ring, longer than Paulus's army in the Stalingrad cauldron. Efremov M.G. repeatedly appealed to the command of the Western Front and even twice to Stalin with a request to be allowed to break through on their own. In April 1942, near Vyazma, Stalin personally sent a plane for General Efremov, in which the general refused to board: "I came here with the soldiers, I will leave with the soldiers."

The headquarters finally gave permission to leave the encirclement, which was belated - the personnel were exhausted, having eaten all their boiled waist belts and the soles of the boots they found. The ammunition has run out. The snow has already melted. The soldiers were in boots. During the breakthrough, General Efremov was seriously wounded (received three wounds), lost the ability to move and, not wanting to be captured, shot himself. The body of Efremov was the first to be found by the Germans, having deep respect for the courageous general, they buried him with military honors. The Armed Forces have lost a brave warrior and a talented commander. Out of 12 thousand people, 889 fighters left the encirclement. On July 18, parts of Belov's corps broke out of the encirclement in a roundabout way.

Hero of the Soviet Union Major General Shepetov I.M. - Commander of the 14th Guards Rifle Division as part of the 57th Army of the Southern Front, which fought near Kharkov, on May 26, 1942, when leaving the encirclement, he was wounded and captured. For anti-fascist agitation in the Hammelburg prisoner of war camp, Shepetov I.M., who was extradited as a traitor (Major General Naumov), was captured by the Gestapo and thrown into the Flossenburg concentration camp (Germany). Here, for attempting to escape, the courageous general was executed on May 21, 1943. Lieutenant General Ershakov F.A., the former commander of the troops of the 20th Army, flatly refused to cooperate with the Nazis and died while being transported from the "special facility" from a broken heart. Major General Ogurtsov S.Ya., the former commander of the 49th Rifle Corps, fled from the stage and joined the Polish partisan detachment, fought bravely and died in battle with the Nazis.

In total, during the years of World War II, 83 generals of the Red Army were captured by the Germans. Survivors, 57 generals after the Victory were deported to Soviet Union. Of these, 32 people were repressed (7 were hanged in the Vlasov case, 17 were shot on the basis of the order of the Headquarters No. 270 of August 16, 1941 "On cases of cowardice and surrender and measures to suppress such actions") and for "wrong" behavior in captivity 8 generals were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. The last 25 people, after more than a six-month check, were acquitted, but then gradually transferred to the reserve.

Historian Arsen Martirosyan talks about the facts of the betrayal of the Soviet military command on June 22, 1941.

FILM WITH UNIQUE FACTS ABOUT THE BETRAYAL OF THE SOVIET GENERALS!http://

The well-known historian and writer Martirosyan frankly talks about the betrayal of Soviet generals in 1941. His new book is dedicated to this betrayal.
It is this film that should be shown to all those who doubt the betrayal of the generals.
On the basis of the documents of all intelligence agencies of the USSR, three directions of strikes according to the Barbaros plan were precisely established: the army groupings North, Center and South.
Marshal Zhukov is the originator of the lie that intelligence failed to determine the direction of the main attacks. Zhukov had to justify how the general staff, which was headed by Zhukov, "missed" the central blow. In this regard, he invented a legend that allegedly Stalin ordered the center of gravity of all efforts to be transferred to the Kiev district. There is no confirmation of Stalin's instructions for this, not even a shadow. Therefore, everything that the generals tell about the allegedly having an order is a heinous lie and slander.

Martirosyan gives an explanation why the "Kiev mafia" of the generals slandered Stalin.
As a result of the actions that the Soviet generals allowed in 1940-1941, the entire official defense system was replaced,
moreover, the main attention should be paid to the protection and defense of the Minsk direction. All this disappeared from the defense plan due to the betrayal of the generals.
The second thing that the generals did was to change the very principle of repelling aggression, they illegally replaced active defense with a counteroffensive.
It is on the conscience of the generals of 27 million dead Soviet people.
Soviet intelligence was able to establish either relatively or absolutely exactly the date of the attack by fascist Germany. Martirosyan cites many facts. Soviet intelligence reported the date of the attack 29 times either relatively or absolutely accurately.
According to the documents of the special departments, it was established that the commanders of the units on June 18 and 19 were warned about the need to bring the troops to full combat readiness.
by 3:30 a.m. June 22.
On June 18, Stalin ordered a comprehensive check of the border of the Western Military District. A flight over the border showed that on the adjacent side it was clearly visible that the troops had begun to advance. The border guards had previously reported twice on the advance of German troops on June 13, but an order was given to withdraw German troops, and on June 18.
After the receipt of these data, Stalin on the same day, June 18, gave a directive to bring the troops to full combat readiness. This is recorded in the documents of all districts.
None of the commanders of the Western, Central and South-Western Fronts did not comply with this directive, due to sloppiness or outright betrayal.
Only 38 divisions out of 150 divisions of the first defense echelon moved forward on the 3,375 km invasion site of the German troops (a total of about 180 divisions invaded).

As a result, the Germans outnumbered the defending fighters of the Red Army in some areas by dozens, and in some cases several thousand times.

And to the issue of betrayal.
If three district commanders at once on the eve of the war withdraw all the artillery to the ranges and, despite the directive to bring the troops to full combat readiness, do not return the artillery back to the districts, this means - ONLY TREASON!!!
In all three districts, orders were given to drain gasoline, remove weapons, and remove ammunition from aircraft.
And this is despite the fact that there were two directives on bringing the troops to full combat readiness, but at that time they were removing weapons from aircraft.
HOW TO CALL THIS - ONLY CHANGE!!!
Martirosyan gives many facts about the betrayal of the generals.

The Brest Fortress and the non-withdrawal of troops from the barracks - THIS IS A PERSONAL CRIME OF ZHUKOV AND THE TRAITOR PAVLOV!
Moreover, they warned about this a year in advance, warned General Chuikov, the future hero of the defense of Stalingrad, but Zhukov personally
instructed to leave divisions in a trap Brest Fortress, and General Chuikov was sent to the Far East.

It was DIRECT TREASON AND TREASON, the purpose of which was to defeat the Red Army, followed by a coup d'état and the overthrow of Soviet power. Soviet intelligence repeatedly warned about this development scenario, based on information from the Germans, that the Russian army would be exposed to defeat.
Martirosyan cites all this with many documents in his new book.
The Soviet opposition, even from prison, was able to contact the German command.
The generals were unable to transfer 28 divisions to the front by June 22 at a distance of 300 km, and the Germans transferred 50 divisions from France over 2500 km.

MANY FACTS OF GENERAL BETRAYAL ARE GIVEN!
Order to drain gasoline.
Order to ban the shelling of groups of German aircraft.
An order to remove sights, panoramas and compass, without which the gun is just a steel cylinder.
And first of all, they filmed in howitzer artillery regiments and in all districts.
V total lost 20 regiments of heavy artillery).
(I will add that in the books of the writer Drozdov, facts are mentioned about the removal of engines from all bombers of the three western districts on June 20-22!).
Moreover, the Germans were well aware of the betrayal of the Soviet generals. When the German archives were opened after the war, it turned out that Zhukov knew everything and the Germans knew about Zhukov's betrayal.
And Zhukov lied to everyone about Stalin's guilt for many decades.

After Stalin's death, Zhukov and many generals slandered Stalin, claiming that there were no orders to bring the troops to full combat readiness.
Martirosyan proves that there were directives, and Zhukov and the generals are JUST BRASSLY LIE!!!

All these Jews, academics, pseudo-historians and traitor generals lied to us about the beginning of the war and Stalin's fault.

Judging by the story of an experienced historian, I am once again convinced that Stalin is a figure of a worldwide scale, he outlived the entire Leninist guard, turned the country into a superpower, commanded an army among traitor generals, more than once outwitted the world bankers, who for 150 years destroyed Russia as the state. I knew that the successors were traitors and I was able to do everything in the end. Now and in the future, we are required to at least respect him as a person and tell the truth about him.

And I didn’t know such a truth about the generals ...
It turns out, traitors:
People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Timoshenko,
Chief of the General Staff of the Army General G.K. Zhukov,
Khrushchev, Voznesensky, Vatutin,
Commander of the Moscow Military District until June 22, General of the Army I.V. Tyulenev.

Investigate betrayal in 1941 is not given after the assassination of Stalin ......
Investigate the betrayals in 1941 by Jewish academicians, pseudo-historians do not give, since the evidence of these facts will confirm that:
1. There was a conspiracy in the Red Army.
2. That the dismissal, conviction and execution of a number of Red Army commanders were justified.
3. He will reveal a conspiracy among the generals appointed by the executioner Leiba Bronstein (hiding under the Russian surname Trotsky).
4. It will establish pseudo-scientific historians of Jews in the USSR and Russia, who for almost 70 years have not allowed to conduct research on this issue and distort the history of the Great Patriotic War.
5. Refute the myths about the repressions of I. Stalin against the Red Army.

But the truth about the conspiracy and betrayal will still be known.
Payback is inevitable!

Was there a betrayal in the summer of 1941 or not?

But most difficult question in the study of the causes of the defeats of the Red Army in the summer of 1941, the question remains - was there or was there an organized betrayal in the Red Army? And if it was - wasn't it, this betrayal, and was the cause of those defeats? And to what extent the same G.K. Zhukov and S.K. Timoshenko?

Some minds in Russia are dominated by the conviction that there was no conspiracy of the military in "1937", that in general in the USSR in those years there was neither a military, nor an economic, nor a general political conspiracy. Stalin invented all this in order to “illegally” destroy the “brilliant” generals, the “brilliant” lyric physicists and other creative intelligentsia. Also, at the same time, Stalin killed a bunch of working people in the person of, first of all, the “most hardworking” peasants (probably wanted everyone to die quickly in Russia). In the USSR, there was no "opposition" at all to Stalin's course aimed at the development of the country. There were disputes between the Bukharins on minor and insignificant issues in the economy (and Bukharin himself actually wrote the "Constitution of 1936"!), And there was timid disagreement between the Tukhachevskys against the "dominance" of Budenovism and Voroshilovism in the Red Army. And in the West, no one wanted to attack the USSR-Russia. They called on Stalin to be “more democratic”, but they did not even think of attacking the USSR. But the Tyrant himself only thought of killing more people and attacking someone. That in fact, everyone without exception dreamed of the prosperity of Russia and everyone supported Stalin. But Stalin, due to his tyranny (and possibly insanity), was always looking for "dissenters". It's that simple.

Why are all these military, political, economic sabotage being denied? Yes, because recognizing the fact that there was an anti-Stalinist opposition in the USSR-Russia during all the years of his reign (on one scale or another), one will have to explain not only on the basis of what laws this “opposition” was persecuted and why they were “imprisoned”, but and what they really did and in whose interests, what the “opposition” wanted to achieve and achieved in its struggle against the “hated regime”.

The denial of the existence of an anti-Stalinist opposition in general, as well as any conspiracy of the military before the war, and even more so at the beginning of the war, plays into the hands of all "historians". And officialdom, and haters of Stalin, and some "objective" historians of the new generation. There is an immutable dogma - Stalin is a villain (or simply - not very good man), he shot all the “oppositionists” back in the “37th”, therefore there were no opponents of Soviet power in the country, which means that he alone is to blame for everything (in different options) - and this is the primitivization of the historical model to the 1st order of consideration of activity only in the pair "crowd - leader". For historians, of course, it is easier to describe such a primitive model than to try to understand all the sub-processes in the global historical process. But just all the facts of those years, all the logic political life in the USSR says that this very “opposition” to the Stalinist course did not disappear anywhere even with the arrival of Beria in the NKVD in 1938.

This opposition, which had been active throughout the years of Stalin's rule, subsided somewhat during the war. But not because the conscience woke up, but because in the conditions of "wartime" they could be put up against the wall much faster. And most importantly, none of this fraternity was capable of fighting Hitler on equal terms, especially after they realized that the Germans in the occupied territories of 1941 were somewhat different from the Germans of 1914 and were not going to deal with the "opposition ”, as with the future “ruling elite” after the destruction of the USSR-Russia. But after the war, and even more so in last years Stalin's life, the "opposition" revived again. And after his death, all his reforms began to be curtailed simply openly (this is a series of articles “The coup d'état of 1953” http://inance.ru/2015/02/iuda/). What did Stalin and his team proclaim back in 1925, at the XIV Congress of the CPSU(b)?