Who was General Vlasov
Such contemptuous symbolism came from the surname of Andrei Vlasov, a General of the Red Army in the first months of the war, who, being surrounded in 1942, surrendered and switched to the side of the Germans. The transition of the commander of the 2 th strike army Vlasov to the Germans, of course, was one of the most unpleasant episodes of the war for our country. There were other officers who became traitors, but Vlasov was the most senior and most famous. Naturally, it is interesting what kind of man this general was, how he stood out from the top command staff of the Red Army and what made him take the path of betrayal.
Personnel Officer of the Red Army
Vlasov, the future cadre officer of the Red Army, was born into a poor peasant family in the Nizhny Novgorod region, with difficulty he managed to enter a seminary, in which training was interrupted by the revolution. In 1918 he entered to study as an agronomist, in 1919 he was mobilized into the Red Army. After the commanding courses, he commanded a platoon, company, with 1929, after completing the Shot courses, he commanded a battalion, and served as chief of staff of the regiment. Member of the CPSU (b), with 1933 in senior positions at the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District, member of the district tribunal. Student of the Frunze Military Academy with 1935, commander of the 215th Infantry Regiment of the 72th Division with 1937, commander of this division with 1938. From October, 1938 was seconded to China to work in a group of military advisers; from May to November, 1939 was the main military adviser in China.
Upon his return from China, he inspected the 99 rifle division, in his report noted that the division commander was intensively studying the Wehrmacht experience, he was soon arrested, and Vlasov in January 1940 was appointed commander of the 99 rifle division, which was deployed in the area of Przemysl.
Under the command of Vlasov, the division was recognized as the best in the Kiev military district, he achieved a high level of tactical training of personnel and the strict implementation of the charter standards. For his success, Vlasov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Red Star wrote about him as a capable commander taking care of his subordinates. According to the results of military exercises in September 1940, with the participation of Marshal Tymoshenko, the division was awarded the Red Banner, and the marshal named it the best in the Red Army. In the first days of the war, the 99 Division, already without Vlasov, was one of the few that offered organized and persistent resistance to the enemy.
As can be seen from his track record, he went all the steps from the platoon commander to the division commander, proved to be an intelligent commander, and enjoyed authority among his subordinates and command.
The commander of the 4 mechanized corps in battles on the Lviv ledge
In January, 1941 Vlasov was appointed commander of the 4 th mechanized corps of the Kiev military district. A month later, he was awarded the Order of Lenin, apparently for China. The corps was deployed in Lviv and was part of the 6 Army of the Kiev District, which, with the outbreak of war, was transformed into the Southwestern Front.
Of all the mechanized corps of the Red Army, the 4th mechanized corps was one of the most powerful and equipped formations; it was constantly replenished with military equipment, including the latest. The structure of the body included the 8th tank division. 32nd Panzer Division, 81st Motorized Division, motorcycle regiment, two artillery regiments, aviation squadron, engineering support units.
The corps was located on the most important operational area on the Lviv ledge, deeply wedged to the west. The command attached particular importance to the manning of the corps and combat training of personnel.
At the beginning of the war, there were 33734 personnel in the corps, an 892 tank (T-34 -313, KV-1 - 101, BT-7 - 290, T-26-103, T-28 - 75, T-40 - 10) , 198 armored vehicles, 2918 vehicles, 1050 motorcycles, 134 guns. 152 mortar. Only the latest T-34 and KV-1 tanks in the hull were more than 400, the hull was impressive in its equipment and numerical strength.
By order of the commander of the 6 Army Muzychenko, the corps was put on alert on June 20 in accordance with the plan for covering the border. On alarm, the 8 Panzer and 81 Motorized Divisions were recalled from the camps, and the 32 Panzer Division at two o'clock in the morning on June 22 were put forward to Yavorivskoye Shosse. The Corps met the beginning of the war prepared and put on alert.
By order of the Chief of the General Staff Zhukov on June 23, the 4 mechanized corps together with the 15 mechanized corps were to launch a counterattack on German troops in the direction of Lublin.
But the counterattack was unsuccessful, since orders to the corps came from Zhukov without coordinating with the actions of the commander of the 6 Army Muzychenko, they often contradicted each other and the actions of the corps were directed in diverging directions and lacked unified control.
Hull divisions were used in isolation from the main forces and made long marches on 75-100 km per day, leading to equipment breakdowns and the consumption of motor resources, hulls lost more equipment from malfunctions than from enemy fire. The orders of the higher command were often canceled and new ones arrived related to the relocation to other areas.
There was also a seizure by the higher command of motorized rifle units from the 4 mechanized corps, which negatively affected the results of hostilities of tank units forced to operate without the support of infantry, and often artillery.
Parts of the corps suffered losses from the attacks of Ukrainian nationalist units from the UPA, clashes with these units flashed on the streets of Lviv and in the vicinity, so on June 24 the commander of the 81 division went missing with his headquarters.
General Vlasov tried to straighten out the position created by the conflicting orders of the command. Parts of the corps in the first battles with the enemy, despite the difficult situation, showed skill and stamina.
Despite the successful actions of individual units and subunits, the 4 and 15 mechanized corps did not cause significant damage to the enemy. By the end of the day, the connections of the German 1-th tank group captured Radzekhov and Berestechko.
Zhukov ordered the June 24 to withdraw from the 8 tank division, it was transferred to the submission of the 15 mechanized corps for delivering a tank attack near Brody and was not returned to the corps.
At the approaches to Lviv, the 68th German infantry division was operating against the corps, which suffered significant losses and was put into reserve. The corps provided the defense of Lviv and successfully held it, but due to the deep penetration of the enemy in the Kiev direction on June 27, an order was issued to withdraw and on June 29 Lviv was abandoned. Units of the 32th Panzer Division covered the withdrawal of troops and suffered heavy losses.
Parts of the corps retreated to Berdichev, the 6 Army rolled back east, the stubborn battles for Chudnov began on July 8, despite the small numbers, the 81 Division waged fierce battles with the enemy and held its positions until July 10 and retreated by order.
The 4th mechanized corps, before 12 July, covered the withdrawal of the 6th army and was withdrawn for reformation in the area of the city of Priluki. A detachment of 32 tanks and an infantry battalion was formed from the units of the 5th Panzer Division, which was subordinated to the 16 mechanized corps and defeated in the Uman's Cauldron as part of the 6 Army.
The remnants of the 4th mechanized corps were concentrated in the Priluk area, on 15 on July there were 68 tanks left (T-34 - 39, KV-1 - 6, BT-7 - 23). By directive of the Stavka, the corps was disbanded, equipment and personnel were transferred to form other compounds.
During the first weeks of battles, the 4th mechanized corps under the command of Vlasov proved to be a well-trained and combat-ready unit capable of successfully solving assigned tasks. The actions of the corps to cover the withdrawal of troops of the 6 Army were included in the post-war textbooks of tactics, as an example of the competent organization of defensive battles in tank units
Command of the 37-th Army in the defense of Kiev
By mid-July, the Germans broke through the defenses of the Soviet troops, captured Berdichev, Zhytomyr and by the 11 of July reached the approaches to Kiev. For the defense of Kiev, from the units and formations of the Kiev fortified area and reserves of the Headquarters, the 37 Army was formed, the command of which on July 23 was appointed Vlasov, who showed himself well in defensive battles near Lviv.
The 37 Army included the 3 Airborne Corps, eight poorly equipped infantry divisions, and a number of artillery and other formations from the remnants of the broken formations of the Kiev fortified area. The army was poorly equipped and not well armed, but Vlasov managed to assemble the broken units into a cohesive army, which successfully opposed the well-armed and trained units of the Wehrmacht.
Vlasov demanded from his subordinate commanders:
The army occupied the defense west of Kiev and, despite powerful blows of superior enemy forces, coped with the task and did not allow the Germans to take Kiev with a frontal strike.
The troops of the 6 Army of the Wehrmacht on July 30 struck the joint of the Kiev fortified area and the 26 Army and forced the Soviet forces to retreat, while the 1 Army Group launched an offensive, bypassing Kiev from the south. The Germans of 10 of August broke into the southwestern suburbs of Kiev, but the troops of the 37 Army put up fierce resistance and forced them to retreat. The German command reported that the attack on Kiev had stopped. Moreover, the 37 Army managed to organize a counterattack, threw the enemy back and, by August 16 in general, restored its original position. Throughout August and September, the Germans, having suffered serious losses, were forced to keep 13 divisions and 4 brigades in the Kiev region, not daring to storm the city.
Vlasov prevented the surrender of Kiev in August, out of a relatively small number of troops in the army, he gave the units maximum mobility. They were transferred from one section of the front to another with the help of specially formed transport convoys, trains and city transport, trams delivered reserves and ammunition almost to the front line.
Khrushchev then noted:
The enemy could not break the resistance of the troops defending Kiev, he took possession of it only by making a deep detour from the flanks and encircling to the east most of the forces of the entire South-Western Front. On 15 of September, German tank wedges connected beyond the Dnieper in the Lokhvitsy area and four armies (5, 21, 26, 37) were in the boiler.
Once surrounded, the Military Council of the 37 Army telegraphed September 17 at Headquarters:
The September 19 Headquarters issued an order to the 37 Army to leave Kiev and leave the encirclement in the direction of Yagotin - Piryatin. Having received the order, the army on the night of September 19 began to withdraw from positions in Kiev and after stubborn battles left the city.
Together with the troops of the Southwestern Front, the 37 Army was surrounded, more than 600 of thousands of Soviet soldiers and officers were killed or captured, the front commander Kirponos shot himself, only a small scattered part of the 37 Army without heavy weapons and vehicles broke through in separate groups from encirclement and connected with the Soviet troops. Vlasov, with a part of the army’s fighters, after long wanderings surrounded by the 1 of November, went to Kursk held by Soviet troops and immediately ended up in the hospital. By order of the Bet, the 37-I Army of the 25 of September was disbanded.
Commanding the 37 Army, Vlasov proved himself a capable military leader, correctly organized the defense of Kiev and kept him from attacks of superior Wehrmacht forces for almost two months, left the city on the orders of the Headquarters and left the encirclement with the remnants of the army.
Command of the 20 Army in the Battle of Moscow
In November 1941, a difficult situation developed near Moscow. Headquarters decided to form another army and transfer it to the subordination of the Western Front. On the basis of the Bet Directive of November 29, the 20 Army was formed on the basis of the operational group of Colonel Lizyukov. Vlasov was personally invited to an appointment with Stalin, and on November 30 he was appointed army commander. Colonel Sandalov was appointed chief of staff of the army, before that he was chief of staff of the Bryansk Front and one of the best staffers in the Red Army since the Great Patriotic War.
Sandalov in his memoirs described how he had been invited by the chief of the General Staff Shaposhnikov before his appointment and said that General Vlasov, one of the commanders of the South-Western Front who had recently left the encirclement, was appointed to command the army, but he is sick and Sandalov will have to do without him in the near future .
The 20 Army included the 331 and 352 I rifle divisions, 28 I, 35 and 64 I rifle brigades, 134 and 135 separate tank battalions, artillery and other units. In total, the army had 38 239 fighters and commanders, the army was well equipped with tanks, artillery, mortars and rifle weapons.
As part of the troops of the right flank of the Western Front, the 20 Army took part in the Moscow Battle. Three stages of the participation of the 20 Army in the counter-offensive near Moscow can be distinguished: from 5-8 December to 21 December — the beginning of the offensive and the liberation of Volokolamsk, from 21 December to 10 January 1942 — the preparation of a breakthrough of the fortified enemy front at the border of the Lama River and from January 10 - a breakthrough of the enemy’s line on the Lama River, with the pursuit of the enemy and exit to the area northeast of Gzhatsk by the end of January.
During the counterattack in early December, the key to the entire army operation was Krasnaya Polyana, with the capture of which the conditions were created for the defeat of the enemy’s Solnechnogorsk grouping. The units of the 20 Army all day 7 and the night of December 8 fought fierce battles with the enemy for Krasnaya Polyana and, despite stubborn resistance of the enemy, by the morning of December 8 Krasnaya Polyana was taken and this opened the way to Volokolamsk
Sovinformburo 13 December announced the repulsion of the German offensive near Moscow. The message was printed in the central newspapers Pravda and Izvestia, in which photographs of particularly distinguished commanders, including Vlasov, were given. On December 14, he gives an interview to BBC correspondents, indicating a high level of confidence in Vlasov from Stalin.
For the battles near Moscow, Vlasov on January 24 of 1942 of the year was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and promoted to lieutenant general, in addition, on February 11 he was awarded a personal audience with Stalin, which lasted more than an hour.
After successes near Moscow and enthusiastic responses to him by Stalin, Vlasov is called “the savior of Moscow”, leaflets about the victory near Moscow with portraits of Vlasov are distributed in the cities, he becomes one of the most popular Soviet military leaders. Specialist in stories World War II John Erickson called Vlasov "one of Stalin's favorite commanders." There is a version that after the appointment of Vlasov as the deputy commander of the Volkhov Front in Stavka, it was decided to confer upon him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the next rank of Colonel General and Stalin as if signed a decree, but this is not confirmed by documents.
Also, Vlasov’s direct participation in the command of the 20 Army at the beginning of the counterattack of the head of the Sandalov Army’s headquarters, who in a letter to Marshal Zakharov in the 1964 year, when many of the participants in the battle for Moscow were still alive, does not confirm how Vlasov commanded the army.
Before the liberation of Volokolamsk, Vlasov did not essentially command the army, declared himself ill and lived in a hotel in Moscow, and then he was transferred from one army command post to another under the protection of a doctor and adjutant. Sandalov sent all the documents for signature to Vlasov through his adjutant, and he returned them signed without a single correction. For the first time, headquarters officers saw Vlasov only on 19 of December, when Volokolamsk was taken. The operations of the army were led by Sandalov and the deputy commander, Colonel Lizyukov, all telephone conversations with Zhukov and Shaposhnikov were conducted only by Sandalov. The title “Major General” was assigned to Sandalov on December 27 immediately after the liberation of Volokolamsk and the award sheet for his presentation to the Order of the Red Banner indicates “for the development and organization of military operations in the battles for Krasnaya Polyana, Solnechnogorsk and Volokolamsk”, which confirms it command and control of the 20 Army in December 1941.
If this is so, then Stalin undeservedly extolled Vlasov’s successes and the high command of the Red Army could not have known this, but no one dared to object to the Supreme Commander.
Be that as it may, at the initial stage of the war, Vlasov proved to be a talented commander of the corps and armies, the troops entrusted to him successfully completed the tasks assigned to them, and no one could have predicted how his last appointment as commander of the 2th Shock Army would end. The heroic pages of his biography near Moscow ended and the biography of the traitor, who went over to the side of the enemy, began.
To be continued ...
- Yuri Apukhtin
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