Major Vlasov. General vlasov and roa. Appointment to the Volkhov front

It was about how Andrey Vlasov was considered a talented and promising general in the Red Army. After commanding (often successful) a number of units, on April 20, 1942, Vlasov was appointed commander of the 2nd Shock Army. This army, intended to break the blockade of Leningrad, by the end of spring found itself in a difficult situation. In June, the Germans closed the "corridor" linking army units with the main front line. About 20 thousand people remained surrounded, along with the commander, General Vlasov.

Salvation of General Afanasyev

Both the Germans and ours, knowing that the command of the 2nd Shock Army remained surrounded, tried at all costs to find it.

Vlasov's headquarters, meanwhile, tried to get out. The few surviving witnesses claimed that a breakdown had occurred in the general after the failed breakthrough. He looked indifferent, did not hide from the shelling. The command of the detachment took over chief of Staff of the 2nd Shock Army Colonel Vinogradov.

The group, wandering around the rear, tried to reach their own. She entered into skirmishes with the Germans, suffered losses, gradually decreasing.

The key moment occurred on the night of July 11. Chief of Staff Vinogradov proposed to split into groups of several people and go out to their own. Objected to him army communications chief Major General Afanasyev... He suggested that everyone walk together to the Oredezh River and Lake Chernoe, where they can feed themselves by fishing, and where partisan detachments should be. Afanasyev's plan was rejected, but no one interfered with his movement on his route. 4 people left with Afanasyev.

Literally a day later, Afanasyev's group met with the partisans, who contacted the “mainland”. A plane arrived for the general, which took him to the rear.

Alexei Vasilievich Afanasyev turned out to be the only representative of the highest command staff of the 2nd Shock Army who managed to get out of the encirclement. After the hospital, he returned to duty, and continued service, ending his career as the chief of communications of the artillery of the Soviet Army.

"Don't shoot, I'm General Vlasov!"

Vlasov's group was reduced to four people. He parted ways with Vinogradov, who was ill, which is why the general gave him his greatcoat.

On July 12, Vlasov's group split up to travel to two villages in search of food. I stayed with the general the cook of the canteen of the military council of the army Maria Voronova.

They entered the village of Tukhovezhi, posing as refugees. Vlasov, who identified himself as a school teacher, asked for food. They were fed, after which they suddenly pointed their weapons and locked them in a barn. The local headman turned out to be a "hospitable host", who summoned local residents from the auxiliary police to help.

It is known that Vlasov had a pistol with him, but he did not resist.

The headman did not identify the general, but considered the newcomers partisans.

In the morning the next day, a German special group drove into the village, which the headman asked to pick up the prisoners. The Germans dismissed it because they were following ... General Vlasov.

The day before, the German command received information that General Vlasov had been killed in a skirmish with a German patrol. The corpse in the general's overcoat, which was examined by the members of the group, upon arriving at the scene, was identified as the body of the commander of the 2nd shock army. In fact, Colonel Vinogradov was killed.

On the way back, having already passed Tukhovezhi, the Germans remembered their promise and returned for the unknown.

When the barn door opened, a phrase in German sounded out of the darkness:

- Don't shoot, I am General Vlasov!

Two fates: Andrey Vlasov versus Ivan Antyufeev

At the very first interrogations, the general began to give detailed testimonies, reporting on the state of the Soviet troops, and giving characteristics to the Soviet military leaders. And already a few weeks later, being in a special camp in Vinnitsa, Andrei Vlasov himself would offer the Germans his services in the fight against the Red Army and Stalin's regime.

What made him do this? Vlasov's biography testifies that from the Soviet system and from Stalin he not only did not suffer, but received everything he had. The story about the abandoned 2nd Shock Army, as shown above, is also a myth.

For comparison, one can cite the fate of another general who survived the Myasny Bor disaster.

Ivan Mikhailovich Antyufeev, commander of the 327th Infantry Division, took part in the battle for Moscow, and then with his unit was transferred to break the blockade of Leningrad. The 327th division achieved the greatest success in the Luban operation. Just as the 316th Rifle Division was unofficially called "Panfilov", the 327th Rifle Division was named "Antiufeevskaya".

Antyufeev received the rank of major general in the midst of the battles near Lyuban, and did not even manage to change the colonel's shoulder straps to generals, which played a role in his further fate. The division commander also remained in the "cauldron" and was wounded on July 5 while trying to escape.

The Nazis, taking the officer prisoner, tried to persuade him to cooperate, but were refused. At first he was held in a camp in the Baltic States, but then someone reported that Antyufeev was in fact a general. He was immediately transferred to a special camp.

When it became known that he was the commander of the best division in Vlasov's army, the Germans began to rub their hands. It seemed to them self-evident that Antyufeev would follow the path of his boss. But even having met with Vlasov face to face, the general refused the offer of cooperation with the Germans.

Antyufeev was shown a fabricated interview in which he declared his readiness to work for Germany. It was explained to him - now for the Soviet leadership he is an undoubted traitor. But here, too, the general said no.

General Antyufeev stayed in the concentration camp until April 1945, when he was liberated by American troops. He returned to his homeland, was reinstated in the personnel of the Soviet Army. In 1946, General Antyufeev was awarded the Order of Lenin. He retired from the army in 1955 due to illness.

But here's a strange thing - the name of General Antyufeev, who remained faithful to the oath, is known only to fans of military history, while everyone knows about General Vlasov.

"He had no convictions - there was ambition"

So why did Vlasov make the choice he made? Maybe because in life he loved fame and career growth most of all. Suffering in the captivity of lifetime glory was not promised, let alone comfort. And Vlasov stood, as he thought, on the side of the strong.

Let's turn to the opinion of a person who knew Andrei Vlasov. Writer and journalist Ilya Ehrenburgmet with the general at the peak of his career, in the midst of a successful battle for him near Moscow. Here is what Ehrenburg wrote about Vlasov years later: “Of course, someone else's soul is dark; yet I dare to state my guesses. Vlasov is not Brutus or Prince Kurbsky, it seems to me that everything was much simpler. Vlasov wanted to complete the task assigned to him; he knew that Stalin would congratulate him again, he would receive another order, rise, amaze everyone with his art of interrupting quotations from Marx with Suvorov jokes. It turned out differently: the Germans were stronger, the army was again surrounded. Vlasov, wanting to be saved, changed his clothes. Seeing the Germans, he was frightened: a simple soldier could be killed on the spot. Once captured, he began to think about what to do. He knew political literacy well, admired Stalin, but he had no convictions - he had ambition. He understood that his military career was over. If the Soviet Union wins, it will be demoted at best. This means that only one thing remains: to accept the offer of the Germans and to do everything so that Germany can win. Then he will be the commander-in-chief or minister of war of the decimated Russia under the auspices of the victorious Hitler. Of course, Vlasov never told anyone that, he announced on the radio that he had long hated the Soviet system, that he longed to “free Russia from the Bolsheviks,” but he himself gave me a proverb: “Every Fedorka has his own excuses.” Bad people it is everywhere, it does not depend on the political system or upbringing. "

General Vlasov was wrong - betrayal did not lead him to the top again. On August 1, 1946, in the courtyard of the Butyrka prison, Andrei Vlasov, stripped of his rank and awards, was hanged for treason to the Motherland.

VLASOV.

Brief help.

VLASOV Andrey Andreevich (1901-1946). Lieutenant General, Chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the KONR. Creator and commander-in-chief of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). Born in the village. Lomakino of the Nizhny Novgorod province in a large peasant family, the thirteenth child. After the village school he graduated from a religious school in Nizhny Novgorod. He studied at the theological seminary for two years. After the October Revolution, he entered the Nizhny Novgorod Unified Labor School, and in 1919 - at the Nizhny Novgorod State University at the Faculty of Agronomy, where he studied until May 1920, when he was drafted into the Red Army. In 1920-1922. studied at the commanding courses, participated in the battles with the White Guards on the Southern Front. From 1922 to 1928 Vlasov held command positions in the Don Division. After graduating from the Higher Army Shooting Courses. Comintern (1929) taught at the Leningrad School of Tactics. IN AND. Lenin. In 1930 he joined the CPSU (b). In 1933 he graduated from the higher courses of command personnel "Shot". In 1933-1937. served in the Leningrad Military District. In 1937-1938. was a member of the military tribunal in the Leningrad and Kiev military districts and, as he himself wrote, "always stood firmly on the general line of the party and always fought for it." From April 1938 - assistant commander of the 72nd Infantry Division. In autumn 1938 he was sent as a military adviser to China (pseudonym "Volkov"). Since May 1939 - Chief Military Adviser. Awarded by Chiang Kai-shek with the Order of the Golden Dragon and a gold watch.

Since January 1940, Vlasov, with the rank of major general, commanded the 99th division, which in a short time he turned into the best of all three hundred divisions of the Red Army. The newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda" in a series of articles (September 23-25, 1940) glorified the division, noting the high combat training of its personnel and the skillful exactingness of the command. These articles were studied in political studies throughout the Red Army. The outstanding services of General Vlasov were especially emphasized. People's Commissar Tymoshenko awarded the divisional commander a gold watch. Later, Stalin himself ordered to award Vlasov the Order of Lenin (February 1941), and the 99th division - the challenge Red Banner of the Red Army. During the war, the division was the first of all to receive the order (Strizhkov YK Heroes of Przemysl. M, 1969).

In January 1941, Vlasov was appointed commander of the 4th Mechanized Corps of the Kiev Special Military District. The war for Vlasov began near Lvov. For skillful actions when leaving the encirclement, he received gratitude and was appointed commander of the 37th Army that defended Kiev. As you know, the entire Kiev grouping (five armies, about 600 thousand people) was surrounded. After fierce fighting, the scattered formations of the 37th Army managed to break through to the east, and the soldiers carried the wounded commander in their arms.

On November 8, 1941, after receiving from Stalin, he was appointed commander of the 20th Army of the Western Front. Under his command, the 20th Army distinguished itself in the December offensive near Moscow, liberating Volokolamsk and Solnechnogorsk. In January 1942, Vlasov was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. G.K. Zhukov, who had supported Vlasov since 1940, gave him the following characterization: “Personally, Lieutenant General Vlasov is well prepared in operational terms and has organizational skills. He copes well with command and control of troops. "

On March 9, 1942, he was appointed deputy commander of the Volkhov front. The front was created by the Headquarters for the release of Leningrad in December 1941. After the evacuation of the wounded commander of the 2nd Shock Army, Vlasov was appointed to his post (April 16, 1942).

The 2nd Shock Army was encircled in January 1942 as a result of, mainly, the mediocre actions of the Headquarters of the High Command. In turn, the front commander K.A. Meretskov, only recently freed by Stalin from the dungeons of the NKVD (and miraculously survived), was afraid to report to the Kremlin about the real situation at the front. Almost without food and ammunition, having no means of communication, the 2nd shock suffered huge losses. Finally, in June 1942, Vlasov gave the order to break through to his small groups.
In the evening of July 13, 1942 near the village. Tukhovezhi of the Leningrad region Vlasov fell asleep in some shed, where he was taken prisoner: apparently, the peasants reported about him (Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt V. Against Stalin and Hitler. General Vlasov and the Russian liberation movement. M., 1993. S. 106 ). While in the Vinnitsa military camp for captured officers, he agreed to cooperate with the Wehrmacht and lead the Russian anti-Stalinist movement.

In response to Stalin's order, declaring him a traitor, Vlasov signed a leaflet calling for the overthrow of the Stalinist regime and unite in a liberation army under his leadership, Vlasov. The general also wrote an open letter "Why did I take the path of fighting Bolshevism." Leaflets were scattered from planes at the fronts, distributed among prisoners of war. On December 27, 1942, Vlasov signed the so-called Smolensk Declaration, in which he outlined the goals of the Vlasov movement. In mid-April 1943, Vlasov visited Riga, Pskov, Gatchina, Ostrov, where he spoke to residents of the occupied regions. Until July 1944, Vlasov enjoyed the strong support of German officers opposed to Hitler (Count Stauffenberg and others). In September 1944, he was accepted by Himmler, the chief of the SS, who at first was against the use of Vlasov, but, realizing the threat of defeat, in search of available reserves, agreed to create formations of the Armed Forces of the KONR under the leadership of Vlasov. On November 14, 1944, the Prague Manifesto, the main programmatic document of the Vlasov movement, was proclaimed. Vlasov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) created by him. Hitler was against the creation of the ROA and changed his mind only in September 1944, when the situation of the fascists on the Eastern Front deteriorated catastrophically. Most of the prisoners of war entered the ROA in order to save their lives and not die in the camps. In February 1945, the first ROA division was formed, then the second1. However, the Vlasovites did not actually fight on the Eastern Front - Hitler ordered to send all Russian and other national formations of the German army to the Western Front. Many soldiers and officers of such units voluntarily surrendered to the Americans and British. On April 14, 1945, the 1st ROA Division was ordered to hold back the Red Army's offensive on the Oder, but the division, ignoring the order, moved south to Czechoslovakia. In early May 1945, responding to a call for help from the insurgent inhabitants of Prague, this division helped the insurgents to disarm parts of the German garrison. Upon learning of the approach of Marshal Konev's tanks, the division, leaving Prague, headed west to surrender to the Americans. On April 27, 1945 Vlasov rejected the offer of the Spanish diplomats General Franco to emigrate to Spain. On May 11, 1945, he surrendered to the Americans at the Schlosselburg castle, and on May 12, he was unexpectedly captured in the headquarters column by SMERSH officers of the 162th tank brigade of the 25th Panzer Corps. At closed meetings of the Military Collegium (May 1945 - April 1946), without lawyers and witnesses, he gave extensive testimony about his activities, but did not plead guilty to treason. This behavior of his (and of some other Vlasovites) did not allow an open trial against them. The military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, headed by General of Justice V.V. Ulrich was sentenced to death by hanging. Executed on the night of August 1, 1946 (Izvestia. 1946, August 2). According to some reports, the remains were buried in Moscow at the Donskoy cemetery.

The Vlasovites, who failed to escape, were extradited by the allies to SMERSH in the period 1945-1947.

The fate of General Vlasov continues to cause heated debate. Many agree with the official condemnation of him as a traitor, others consider Vlasov one of the countless victims of the Stalinist regime. He could have become a hero if he had shot himself - let us recall General Samsonov, commander of the 2nd Shock Army in World War I, who, being surrounded in 1914 in a similar situation in the forests of East Prussia, committed suicide. After a long ban, the name of Vlasov appeared in the Russian press (Kolesnik A.N., General Vlasov - a traitor or a hero? M., 1991; Palchikov P.A. History of General Vlasov // New and Contemporary History. 1993. No. 2; Solzhenitsyn A. Archipelago GULAG. M., 1993; Vronskaya Doc. Traitors? // Capital. 1991. No. 22; Trushnovich Ya.A. Russians in Yugoslavia and Germany, 1941-1945 // New watch. 1994. No. 2. P. 160- 161; Tolstoy N. Victims of Yalta. M., 1995).

Notes
1) At the end of April 1945, Lieutenant General A.A. Vlasov had the following Armed Forces under his command: 1st Division of Major General S.K. Bunyachenko (22,000 people), 2nd Division of Major General G.A. Zverev (13,000 people), the 3rd Division of Major General M.M. Shapovalov (not armed, there was only a headquarters and 10,000 volunteers), a reserve brigade of Colonel ST. Koidy (7000 people), Air Force General Maltsev (5000 people), anti-tank defense division, officer school, auxiliary units, Russian Corps of Major General B.A. Shteyfon (4500 people), the Cossack camp of Major General T.I. Domanov (8,000 people), the group of Major General A.V. Turkul (5,200 people), the 15th Cossack Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant General H. von Panwitz (over 40,000 people), the Cossack reserve regiment of General A.G. ... Shkuro (more than 10,000 people) and several small formations of less than 1,000 people; more than 130,000 people in total, but these units were scattered at a considerable distance from each other, which became one of the main factors of their tragic fate (Trushnovich Ya.A. Russians in Yugoslavia and Germany, 1941-1945 // New watch. 1994. no. 2.S. 155-156).

Used materials of the book: Torchinov V.A., Leontyuk A.M. Around Stalin. Historical and biographical reference book. Saint Petersburg, 2000

Counselor to the Chinese Marshal.

Vlasov Andrey Andreevich (Volkov) - was born on 1.09.1901 in the village. Lomakino, Pokrovskaya volost, Sernachevsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province in a peasant family. Russian. In 1919 he graduated from the 1st year of the agronomic faculty of the Nizhny Novgorod State University. In the RKKA since 1920. Member of the RKP (b) since 1930. He graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod infantry courses (1920), higher tactical rifle courses for advanced training of the command staff of the RKKA. Comintern (1929). He held various positions from platoon commander to chief of the 2nd department of the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District. From January 1936 - Major, from August 16, 1937 - Colonel. At the end of October 1938 he was sent to China as a military adviser. He served in Chongqing. Until February 1939, he trained at the headquarters of the chief military adviser (division commander A. Cherepanov). He lectured to the ranks of the Chinese army and gendarmerie on the tactics of rifle units. From February 1939 he was an advisor to the headquarters of Marshal Yan Xi-shan, who headed the 2nd military region (Shanxi province) and later entered the bloc for joint actions against the "red danger". In August 1939 he was transferred to the border regions of Mongolia "for violating the norms of behavior of the Soviet communist abroad." On November 3, 1939 he returned to the USSR. After China, he held positions: commander of the 72nd rifle and 99th rifle divisions of KOVO. From 02/28/1940 - brigade commander, from 06/05/1940 - major general. Was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. From 01/17/1941 - the commander of the 4th mechanized corps KOVO. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was surrounded with corps units. After leaving, he was appointed commander of the 37th Army of the Southwestern Front. Again he was surrounded. After leaving and a corresponding check, he was appointed commander of the 20th Army, with which he took part in the defense of Moscow. Was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. From 01.24.1942 - Lieutenant General. Later he held the posts of deputy commander of the Volkhov front and commander of the 2nd Shock Army. On July 12, leaving the encirclement, he was taken prisoner. After interrogations and conversations with representatives of the German command, he agreed to cooperate with the Germans. He became the organizer of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). At the end of 1944 he headed the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), became commander of the KONR Armed Forces. In May 1945, he was arrested by Soviet authorities and taken to Moscow. On the night of August 1, 1946, he was hanged by the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Used materials from the book by A. Okorokov Russian volunteers. M., 2007.

Here is how the front-line writer, Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Karpov writes about General Vlasov: " From 25 to 27 September in the 99 and the rifle division, which was part of the Kiev Special Military District, commanded by Zhukov, observation exercises were held in the presence of the new People's Commissar of Defense. In many exercises in other districts, shortcomings were most often noted, the commanders were punished by weakening their subordinates. And then, for the first time, the very high preparedness of the division was noted and the skillful exactingness of the command "Krasnaya Zvezda" was for several days filled with articles about the successes of the 99th infantry division. I re-read these September issues of the newspaper for 1940, such articles as "New Methods of Combat Training", "Party Conference of the 99th SD," "Commander of the Forward Division." The order of the People's Commissar of Defense of September 27, 1940 was published, among other things it contained said: “The Red Army men and the commanding staff of the division during the exercise showed the ability to solve combat missions in difficult conditions.
For success in combat training and exemplary actions at a tactical observation exercise I award:
1.99th Infantry Division - the Challenge Red Banner of the Red Army;
2 Artillery of the 99th Rifle Division - the Challenging Red Banner of the Red Army artillery "
At political studies throughout the Red Army, articles about this then-famous division were studied. Here is one of them in front of me - "Commander of the Red Banner Division" This article paid tribute to the division commander, who, in conditions of incredible exactingness, distinguished himself in front of all others by his super-demanding nature. I deliberately do not mention his last name for now, so that it becomes more unexpected for readers. Here is what was written in that article about the division commander: “For twenty-one years of service in the Red Army, I have acquired the most valuable quality for a military leader - an understanding of the people he is called upon to educate, teach, prepare for battle. This understanding is not bookish, uninvolved, but real.“ I love service, ”the general often says. he knows how to reveal and encourage in people zeal for service He seeks in a man and develops military abilities in him, tempering them in constant exercises, tests of field life. a new direction in the combat training of troops. A military professional, he has long been convinced in practice of the mighty strength of demand ... The general led the division into the swamp and forests under the open sky. He taught for battle, for the warrior. "
The People's Commissar of Defense awarded the commander of the 99th division with a gold watch, and the government - the Order of Lenin. The 99th Rifle Division became the model for the entire Red Army. And now I will tell the readers who this illustrious and demanding commander was - Major General AA Vlasov. Yes, the same Vlasov, who would later become a traitor. The commander of the district Zhukov also highly appreciated the efficiency and exactingness of Vlasov. That's what he signed his certification in those days. I consider it necessary to acquaint readers with it, because "Vlasovism" is not such a simple phenomenon as it is interpreted in our literature, we will have to deal with this matter in more detail and deeper. "

Certification for the period from 1939 to October 1940 for the commander of the 99th Infantry Division, Major General Andrei Andreyevich Vlasov.

1. Year of birth - 1901

2. Nationality - Russian

3 Party membership - member of the CPSU (b) since 1930

4 Soc. position - employee.

5. General and military education - general secondary, military - 1 course of the evening military academy.

6. Knowledge of foreign languages \u200b\u200b- German, reads and writes with a dictionary.

7.Since when in the Red Army - 1920

8From what time in the posts of command personnel - 1920; in office - since 1940

9. Participation in the civil war - participated in the civil war.
10. Awards - jubilee medal of XX years of the Red Army.
11. Service in white and bourgeois-nationalist armies and anti-Soviet gangs - did not serve
Lost to the party of Lenin - Stalin and the socialist homeland.
Excellent all-round development, loves military affairs, works a lot, studies and knows military history well, is a good leader and methodologist, has high operational and tactical training.
General Vlasov successfully combines high theoretical training with practical experience and the ability to transfer his knowledge and experience to his subordinates.
High exactingness towards himself and his subordinates - with the constant care of his subordinates. He is energetic, courageous in decisions, initiative.
He knows the life of the units well, knows the fighter and skillfully guides their education, starting with the little things; he loves the military economy, knows it and teaches him to study it frequently.
The division, which General Vlasov has been in command since January 1940, under his direct leadership, has been working hard and hard to develop a detachment, platoon, company, battalion and regiment, and has achieved great success in this.
By delving into all the details of working out small units, General Vlasov made the division strong, highly tactically developed, physically hardened and fully combat-ready.
Discipline in parts of 99 DS is at a high level.
Major General Vlasov directly supervises the preparation of the headquarters division and regiments. He pays a lot of attention to the state of registration and storage of secret and mobilization documents and is well aware of the technology of the staff service.
His authority among the commanders and soldiers of the division is high. Physically healthy for a camping life is quite fit.
Conclusion: The position held is quite consistent. In wartime, he can be used as a corps commander.

Commander of the 8th Rifle Corps, Major General Snegov

Senior executives' conclusion:
I agree
Commander of the KOVO troops
Army General Zhukov
Member of the Military Council KOVO
Corps Commissioner

Source: "Roman-Gazeta" 1991
Vladimir Vasilievich Karpov
MARSHAL ZHUKOV, HIS COMPANIES AND ENEMIES IN THE YEARS OF WAR AND PEACE
Book 1. Website: http://lib.ru/PROZA/KARPOW_W/zhukow.txt

“In the days of the battle for Moscow,” Vladimir Karpov writes further, “a legend about General Vlasov began to emerge. In this battle he did nothing special, and on the contrary, he almost did not participate in it due to illness. But after Vlasov went over to the side of the Nazis and began to claim the role of "liberator of the peoples of Russia", he needed a prestigious biography. So they began to invent patriotic exploits for him. One (rather talented writer) wrote a whole book about him, in which he passes Vlasov as the main defender of Moscow.

Since we will have to come into contact with this person more than once, I consider it necessary to dot the "and" at the very beginning of myth-making.

I first heard about Vlasov back in the pre-war years, when I was a cadet at the Lenin Tashkent Infantry School. After failures in the Finnish war, the new People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal Timoshenko, issued an order for combat training, the main idea of \u200b\u200bwhich was the principle: to teach what is needed in war, under conditions close to a combat situation. This meant that we would spend most of our studies and lives in the field.

And there were endless exercises, entrenchments, multi-kilometer day and night marches, independent cooking (porridge) in the field or eating dry rations for several days. The disciplinary screws were tightened to the last degree: for being late from dismissal for several minutes - arrest, for several hours - a tribunal. Some cadets, even in our school, where there was still a regime of the educational institution, could not withstand such torturous exactingness, and there were cases of suicide.

In such draconian conditions, General Vlasov stood out for his cruelty. During an autumn inspection of Red Army units, his 99th Infantry Division was recognized as the best in the ground forces ...

It is probably not difficult to imagine what this general was, who distinguished himself in this way in those incredibly difficult conditions of service.

Then Vlasov was awarded the Order of Lenin. And the People's Commissar of Defense Tymoshenko felt so much at the exercises from Vlasov's exactingness that he immediately handed him a gold watch. Krasnaya Zvezda published articles praising and promoting the unyielding exactingness of the commander of the best division. The 99th Infantry Division received the challenge Red Banner of the Red Army.

Vlasov was then considered a crystal clear in origin and exemplary of the party side as an officer. True, he had a small sin: he was preparing to become a priest in his youth - he graduated from a two-year spiritual school in Nizhny Novgorod and then entered a theological seminary, where he studied for another two years. But who could blame the general for this? General Secretary Stalin himself was once the same seminarian. This similarity, perhaps, worked for the authority of Vlasov. All certifications and characteristics emphasize his political maturity and loyalty to the party. He himself writes in his autobiography (in the same 1940):

"He joined the CPSU (b) in 1930 ... He was repeatedly elected a member of the party bureau of the school and regiment. He was the editor of the school newspaper. He always took an active part in public work, was elected a member of the military tribunal of the district."

Pay attention - he sat in the tribunal during the years of the most severe repressions (1937-1939). I do not have materials about who exactly the future fighter with Bolshevism condemned and sent to the other world for anti-Soviet activities, but probably very many, because the sentence to the highest punishment - execution - was the most frequent in those years. (I leave the opportunity to search the archives and highlight this side of Vlasov's activities to other researchers, since I do not have the time and documents for this).

Here are the elephants that Vlasov ends with the description of his party portrait:

"I had no party penalties. He never was a member of other parties and oppositions and did not take any part, did not hesitate. He always stood firmly on the party's general line and fought for it. He was never brought to court by the organs of the Soviet power. I was never abroad." ...

In general, a crystal clear, recklessly devoted communist. Vlasov is disingenuous about "not being abroad". He was abroad, in China, a little more than a year, from September 1938 to December 1939.

On this account, I have an interesting document:

REFERENCE

Secret

The candidacy of Colonel Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov was checked through the NKVD through the Intelligence Directorate for sending on a business trip abroad. Check No. 167 of August 11, 1938 was received, which compromising
no materials.

What task Vlasov did, I also leave for clarification to other authors. At the end of this episode from Vlasov's life, I will only say that he signed a nondisclosure agreement, and therefore had the legal right not to mention the assignment. However, I will add such a touch to give readers food for thought. The intelligence department, using Vlasov only once, for some reason did not leave him in their cadres, but wrote a good description of his loyalty to the party and, as they say, peacefully returned the service to the troops. The conclusion in the characteristic is as follows: "Comrade Vlasov, being on a business trip, did the job."

I have served for more than one year in this respected department, and I know: getting into intelligence is a very difficult business, but leaving it is even more difficult. When an officer is returned to the army after the first test, there is something behind this that does not favor this person.

I am writing about this not because it is supposed to write about a traitor - there is no Internet. The very fact speaks for itself: for some reason Vlasov did not come to the court in intelligence.

Thus, Vlasov could not complain about the difficult promotion in the service. On the contrary - a dizzying take-off: an incomplete year commanded a division (from January to October 1940), an incomplete month in a corps (from 22.6 to 13.7.41), from September 1941 he commanded the 37th Army until the day Kiev was surrendered. Then he left the encirclement, and November appointed commander of the 20th Army,
which defended Moscow as part of the Western Front.

Much has been written in Western and our publications about this period of Vlasov's "military leadership".

I do not want to burden my readers with the refutation of all these fables, citing several documents that cancel out all tendentious inventions. In his memoirs, General Sandalov, who was then chief of staff of the 20th Army, writes that Vlasov was only appointed commander, but at the first stage of the battle for Moscow he practically did not enter the command of the army - he was
far from the front line, in the hospital.

The military council of the army, quite naturally, asked different authorities - when will the commander appear? Here is one of the telegraph responses:

Head of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Red Army

Major General Vlasov can be sent no earlier than November 25-26 communications
ongoing inflammation of the middle ear.

Chief of Staff of Yu.Z.F. Bodin Beginning voeisanupra y.z.f. Bialik

General Sandalov writes in his memoirs that when he was appointed chief of staff of the 20th Army, he asked Marshal Shaposhnikov: "Who is appointed commander of the army?"

General Vlasov, the commander of the 37th Army of the South-Western Front, who recently left the encirclement, replied Shaposhnikov. - But keep in mind that he is sick now. In the near future we will have to do without it ...

Consequently, Vlasov practically did not take over the command of the 20th Army in November 1941, when the defensive period of the battle for Moscow was going on. This month the army was just forming and was in the reserve of the Headquarters.

Vlasov's absence in the "near future," which Shaposhnikov said, stretched out, in fact, for the entire period of the counteroffensive near Moscow.

Here is what General Sandalov writes about Vlasov's first visit to the headquarters of the 20th Army: "The crushing blow of the Kings division and the groups of Remizov and Katukov cost the enemy great losses, crushed his defending units and forced them to go to eastern suburbs of Volokolamsk.
At noon on December 19 in the village. Chismeny began to deploy an army command post. When I and a member of the Military Council, Kulikov, were clarifying the last position of the troops on the communications center, the adjutant of the army commander entered and informed us of his arrival. Through the window one could see a tall general in dark glasses coming out of a car that stopped at the house. He was wearing a furback with a raised collar, he was shod in cloaks. It was General Vlasov. He went to the communications center, and here we had our first meeting with him. Showing the position of the troops on the map, I reported that the front command was very slow in the offensive of the army and to help us sent Katukov's group from the 16th Army to Volokolamsk. Kulikov supplemented my report with the message that General of the Army Zhukov pointed out the passive role of the army commander in the leadership and requires his personal signature on the operational
documents. Silently, frowning, Vlasov listened to all this. He interrogated us several times, referring to the fact that due to ear disease he does not hear well. Then he grunted to us with a sullen look that he felt better and in a day or two he would take control of the army completely ...
In the evening, General Remizov's group and a naval brigade occupied the suburban settlement of Pushkari and reached the northwestern outskirts of Volokolamsk. A few later Siberians of the 331st division of the King, in cooperation with the tankmen of General Katukov's group, made their way to the eastern and southeastern outskirts of the city. The storming of the city began at night. "

One thing is clear from the cited quotations: Vlasov has nothing to do with the capture of Volokolamsk, because he was not there and did not command the army.

As for Solnechnogorsk, the liberation of which is also recorded for the merits of Vlasov, this city was liberated on December 12, long before the first arrival - 19.12 - and the quick departure of Vlasov, about which General Sandalov writes.

They may object to me: but General Vlasov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the battles near Moscow! It's right. And it happened like this: all the commanders of the armies for the victory near Moscow were presented with a list to be awarded with such an order. General Vlasov was also on this list - by job, not by business.

But Zhukov was not on the list, and he was not awarded for this brilliant victory in the defense of the capital, and then for a decisive counteroffensive. There was no list ...

The list of army commanders was compiled by Zhukov as the commander of the Western Front, he could not include himself.

But the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin was also not awarded for this great battle won. Apparently, there was no time ... ".

To the begining

He and eight other generals became heroes of the Battle of Moscow. How does the story of the betrayal of General Vlasov begin? His personality is as legendary as it is mysterious. Until now, many facts related to his fate remain controversial.

The case from the archives, or the dispute of decades

The criminal case of Andrey Andreevich Vlasov consists of thirty-two volumes. For sixty years, there was no access to the history of General Vlasov's betrayal. She was in the archives of the KGB. But now she was born without a stamp of secrecy. So who was Andrei Andreevich? A hero, a fighter against the Stalinist regime, or a traitor?

Andrey was born in 1901 in a peasant family. The main occupation of his parents was agriculture. First, the future general studied at a rural school, then at a seminary. Passed through the Civil War. Then he studied at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. If you trace his entire service, then it can be noted that he was a man who was incredibly lucky. The history of General Vlasov's betrayal in this case, of course, is not meant.

Highlights in a military career

In 1937, Andrei Andreevich was appointed commander of the 215th rifle regiment, which he commanded for less than a year, since already in April 1937 he was immediately appointed assistant division commander. And from there he went to China. And this is another success of Andrey Vlasov. He served there from 1938 to 1939. Three groups of military specialists were active in China at that time. The first is illegal immigrants, the second is those working under cover, and the third is military specialists in the troops.

They worked simultaneously for both Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek's troops. This part of the gigantic Asian continent, for which all the intelligence services of the world fought then, was so important for the USSR that intelligence worked in both opposing camps. Andrei Andreevich was appointed to the post of department adviser in the troops of Chiang Kai-shek. Further, General Vlasov, whose history of betrayal today causes a huge amount of controversy, again falls into a streak of luck.

Lucky General's awards

In November 1939 Vlasov was appointed commander of the 99th division in the Kiev military district. In September 1940, observation district exercises were held here. They were chaired by the new People's Commissar of Defense Tymoshenko. The division was declared the best in the Kiev district.

And Andrei Andreevich became the best division commander, a master of training and education. And it was presented in the fall at the end of the school year to What happens next defies any explanation. Because, contrary to all rules and regulations, he is awarded

Two patrons and a political career

All these events could be explained by another fortunate coincidence. But it is not so. Andrey Andreevich made great efforts to create his own positive image in the eyes of the leadership. Andrei Vlasov's political career was launched by two people. This is the commander of the Kiev military district Tymoshenko and a member of the military council, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Nikita Khrushchev. It was they who proposed him for the post of commander of the 37th Army.

At the end of November 1940, Andrei Vlasov was awaiting another certification. His next promotion to a higher position was being prepared. How did the story of the betrayal of General Vlasov begin? Why did a person with such a fate become a dark spot in the history of the USSR?

The beginning of hostilities, or errors of leadership

The war began. Despite stubborn resistance, the Red Army suffers serious defeats in major battles. Hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers are captured by the Germans. Some of them volunteer for the German army, either for political reasons or in order to avoid starvation and death, like millions of Nazi prisoners.

In the Kiev cauldron, the Germans killed more than six hundred thousand Soviet soldiers. Many front commanders and chiefs of staff of the army were shot at that time. But Vlasov and Sandalov will remain alive, and fate will bring them together in the battle near Moscow. In the archival documents of those years, it is written that on August 23, due to a mistake made by the command of the southwestern front and the commander of the 37th army, General Vlasov, the Germans managed to force the Dnieper in his sector.

The death of an army, or the possibility of being captured

Here Andrei Andreevich is surrounded for the first time, abandons his positions and hastily tries to get out of it. What, in fact, is destroying his army. Which is amazing. Despite the difficulties of getting out of the encirclement, the general confidently walked along the enemy's rear. He could easily have been captured. But, apparently, he did not take advantage of even the slightest opportunity for this. The story of General Vlasov's betrayal is still ahead.

In the winter of 1941, German troops came close to Moscow. Stalin announces Commander, he appoints Andrei Andreevich. It was Khrushchev and Timoshenko who proposed Vlasov for this position. In the winter battle near Moscow, the myth of the invincibility of the German army disappears. The troops of the four Soviet fronts managed to inflict the first crushing blow on the Germans, more than one hundred thousand Wehrmacht soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. The 20th army under the leadership of General Vlasov also contributed to this victory.

New appointment and captivity

Stalin promotes Andrei Andreevich to the rank of lieutenant general. So he becomes famous among the troops. After the Battle of Moscow, he reaps the fruits of glory. He is lucky all the time. His finest hour is coming, but all luck comes to an end. Now the reader will be presented with General Vlasov, whose history of betrayal has crossed out all previous achievements.

Andrei Andreevich becomes deputy commander of the 2nd Shock Army, and then heads it. During heavy bloody battles, a significant part of it perishes in the forests. But those who tried to get out of the encirclement could break through the front line in small groups. However, Vlasov deliberately remained in the village. The next day, when the German patrol began to find out his identity, he suddenly unexpectedly introduced himself: Lieutenant General Vlasov, commander of the 2nd Shock Army.

The subsequent fate and history of Andrei Vlasov. Anatomy of Betrayal

After his capture, Andrei Andreevich ends up in a special camp of the propaganda department in Vinnitsa, where German specialists work with him. He surprisingly quickly accepted the offer of the Nazis to lead the non-existent Russian army of the ROA. In mid-1943, the Wehrmacht propaganda spreads information that a Russian liberation army and a new Russian government were created. This is the so-called "Smolensk Appeal", in which Vlasov promises the Russian people democratic rights and freedom in Russia liberated from Stalin and Bolshevism.

In the spring of 1944, Andrei Andreevich spent under house arrest at his villa in Dahlem. He was sent there by Hitler for a memorable trip through the occupied territories, where he showed too much independence. But November 14, 1944 became the day of Andrei Vlasov's triumph as the commander of the ROA. The entire political elite of the Wehrmacht arrived at the official ceremony on the occasion of the formation of the committee for the liberation of the peoples of Russia. The event culminates in the announcement of the political program of this committee.

The last years of the war

What was General Vlasov thinking at that time? Did the story of betrayal, Russia and the people, who would never forgive him for this act, frighten him? Did he really believe in the victory of Germany? The turn of 1944 and 1945 is marked by numerous events in Berlin. On them, he chooses Soviet prisoners of war and osterbayters for his political goals. In early 1945, Goebbels and Himmler met with him.

Then on January 18, he signs a loan agreement between the German government and Russia. As if the final victory of the Germans is only a matter of time. In the spring of 1945 things were going very badly for Germany. In the west, the Allies are advancing, in the east, the Red Army does not leave a single chance of victory for the Wehrmacht, occupying one German city after another. So what could have ended for such a person as General Vlasov, the story of betrayal? The epilogue awaits the reader.

First division or endless defeats

Andrei Andreevich does not seem to notice the events taking place. Everything seems to be going well for him again. On February 10, he solemnly receives his first division, which is sent to the Eastern Front for testing. The clashes here were short. The Red Army cannot be stopped. ROA soldiers flee, abandon positions. The last attempt to somehow rehabilitate themselves in the war was made by the Vlasovites in Prague. But there, too, they were defeated.

Fearing capture by Soviet troops, the Vlasovites, together with the Germans, hastily left Prague. Separate groups are surrendered to the Americans. General Vlasov himself had done this two days earlier. The tank corps of the Fominykh and Kryukov was tasked with breaking through to the base where Andrey Andreyevich and his closest associates were being held, capturing them and delivering them to Moscow.

Then an investigation will take place at Lubyanka within a year. Eleven officers and Vlasov himself, whose history of betrayal has been thoroughly studied by Lubyanka specialists, on July 30, 1946, are sentenced to death by hanging on charges of high treason.

There is no "third force" in World War II

The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) issued a statement at the beginning of September, over which fierce controversy has already erupted. This statement concerns the history of our Fatherland, that is, all of us. Moreover, the questions are very important for the national identity. And the reason for the speech was the book by Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov "Forbidden Topics of the History of the 20th Century". Its author is the head of the department of church history disciplines of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He calls in his book, at least, to reconsider the unambiguous attitude towards General Vlasov, as well as towards other well-known Russian collaborators (first of all, towards the White Cossack generals P.N. Krasnov and A.G. Shkuro) as traitors to the Motherland.

“” Was General A.A. Vlasov and his associates - traitors to Russia? ”, We answer - no, not at all. Everything that was undertaken by them was done specifically for the Fatherland, in the hope that the defeat of Bolshevism would lead to the re-creation of a powerful national Russia. Germany was considered by the "Vlasovites" exclusively as an ally in the struggle against Bolshevism, but they, the "Vlasovites" were ready, if necessary, to resist any kind of colonization or dismemberment of our Motherland by armed force.

Attempts to rehabilitate collaborators have been going on for several years. As recently as last January, one of the Don Cossack societies headed by the “Don ataman” and the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from “United Russia” Viktor Vodolatsky undertook a failed demarche to rehabilitate Krasnov. This year, the idea of \u200b\u200bVlasov's rehabilitation is being actively promoted. In his native village Lomakino, in the Gaginsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, they are going to open the Vlasov museum. And here is the statement of the ROCOR.

For people who are well acquainted with the mood in ROCOR, this statement did not come as a surprise. Indeed, during the Second World War, many ROCOR hierarchs collaborated with the occupying Hitlerite authorities. And the flock of this church has always consisted of anti-Soviet emigrants, including former collaborators who fled to the West after the war.

We cannot do without an analysis of the historical role of the personality of General Vlasov and the very phenomenon of collaborationism in the USSR. And I'm not going to touch on aspects of Vlasov's personal life (his love affairs, etc.) here. Here is just the field for church leaders - to assess the moral character of a person who did not miss the opportunity to have mistresses (including minors during a business trip to China), an actual bigamist (with a living and undivided wife in the USSR, Vlasov married in 1944 in Germany ). Our subject is a political portrait of the commander of the ROA ("Russian Liberation Army"). We will try to draw it without the intention to put some kind of stigma in advance.

At the beginning of 1942, there were probably few Soviet commanders who were just as kind to the Supreme Commander, who made such an impressive career in six months of the war as Andrei Andreevich Vlasov. From corps commander to deputy front commander, it was not easy during those difficult months when Soviet troops were more likely to be defeated than achieved success. What is it - luck? For the time being, luck smiled at the general - in the fall of 1941 he left the encirclement near Kiev unharmed. Having been appointed commander of the 20th Army on the outskirts of Moscow, he spent the most difficult period of the defensive battle in the hospital and actually took over command of the army when it was already advancing.

But there is no doubt that he also had military leadership abilities. In any case, not below the average level of the then generals of the Red Army. Otherwise, the Headquarters would hardly have promoted him so hard.

Obviously, Vlasov also had a strong grasp of a careerist. He used every opportunity to advance to a prominent role. He hated being an extra.

This character trait subsequently will not allow him to be content with the role of a simple captive general. He considered himself capable of influencing the course of historical events, skillfully applying them to his advantage.

So, before the war, Vlasov did not arouse any suspicions in terms of political loyalty to the top of the CPSU (b). His origin - from the middle peasants - was class impeccable. True, her studies at the theological seminary spoiled her a little, but in the end Stalin himself also studied at the seminary. And both did not finish it: Stalin was busy preparing the revolution, and the teenager Vlasov was captured by the revolution taking place. In 1930 he joined the party and kept his party card even in captivity. In 1937-1938. took an active part in the political "cleansing" of the ranks of the Red Army.

In his “open letter” “Why did I take the path of fighting Bolshevism?” Written in March 1943 and distributed in the form of a leaflet, Vlasov stated: “From 1938 to 1939 I was in China as a military adviser to Chiang Kai-shek. When I returned to the USSR, it turned out that during this time the top commanding staff of the Red Army had been destroyed without any reason on Stalin's orders. Here the truth is only the first sentence. The rest is a lie. First, the repressions against the command staff of the Red Army began in 1937. And at this time Vlasov was in the USSR. Moreover, before his assignment as an adviser to the Chinese leader, Vlasov was a member of the military tribunal of the Kiev military district. Historians testify: in the cases in which he took part, there is not a single acquittal issued on his initiative. A closed orientation characterized him in the most positive way before "responsible comrades in the authorities": "He is working a lot on the question of eliminating the remnants of sabotage."

Not evasion, but the most active participation in the repressions against the command staff allowed Vlasov in 1938 to receive such a prestigious appointment as a military adviser to China.

From there he returned with the Order of the Golden Dragon, bestowed on him by the Chinese generalissimo, and with three suitcases of every kind. In captivity, according to his apologist V. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt (the author of the famous book about Vlasov "Against Hitler and Stalin"), he often recalled with resentment that these three suitcases were confiscated from him by customs, and he could not openly in the USSR wear. Here the motive of a petty resentment of an utterly vain person, in addition to an outspoken money-grubber, clearly slips.

Did Vlasov even then formulate all those claims to the Soviet system, which he later stated in his programs of the ROA and KONR ("Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia")? Was his appearance of a communist, selflessly devoted to the cause of Lenin-Stalin, a mask under which an ideological enemy was hiding? Or did he criticize the "Stalinist regime" in captivity only in order to ingratiate himself with his German patrons? I'm leaning towards the second option. After all, if Vlasov was a staunch anti-Stalinist at the very beginning of the war, this would certainly have manifested itself in something. And he had opportunities for treason even before the summer of 1942. But, as we shall see, until the last moment he did not think about surrender. And he had to invent a legend on the fly. Obviously, neither before nor after he had definite convictions. Rather, he had one conviction - he, Vlasov, a life-lover and a woman-lover, under all circumstances should not only live, but also live well. Even in captivity.

Upon his return from China, Vlasov was sent to inspect the 99th Infantry Division. Vlasov discovered shortcomings in her training, the most significant of which was that ... her boss "is studying the tactics of the Wehrmacht's military operations." The chief was arrested, and Vlasov was appointed in his place.

In the summer of 1940, Vlasov received his first general rank, and in the winter of 1940/41 he was appointed commander of the 4th mechanized corps. This corps took part in the famous tank battle of the first week of the war at Brody in Western Ukraine. Despite the huge losses that the corps suffered, Vlasov was appointed commander of the 37th Army, which was defending the strategically important Kiev fortified area.

We must pay tribute to the troops led by Vlasov - the Germans failed to take Kiev on the move.

In mid-September 1941, the Southwestern Front, and with it the 37th Army, was surrounded. Several hundred thousand Soviet soldiers and officers then died or were taken prisoner, the front commander M.P. Kirponos shot himself, and Vlasov wandered around for a long time, but still went to the location of the Soviet troops. If he had harbored some anti-Stalinist plans earlier, he probably would have tried to implement them even then - the situation allowed.

In those difficult months, the NKVD was not yet engaged in a super-tough check of those who escaped from the encirclement (he would start it later - from the beginning of the counter-offensive near Moscow) - every soldier, and even more so a general, was dear to the front. Vlasov was soon assigned to lead the 20th Army, which was concentrated north-west of Moscow for a future counteroffensive. But, due to illness, he was able to actually take over command only in mid-December 1941.

In the aforementioned "open letter" he told about this period: "I did everything in my power to defend the capital of the country. The 20th Army stopped the offensive on Moscow and then went on the offensive itself. It broke through the front of the German army, took Solnechnogorsk, Volokolamsk, Shakhovskaya, Sereda, ensured the transition to the offensive along the entire Moscow sector of the front, approached Gzhatsk. "

In fact, during the defensive battle near Moscow, Vlasov was completing an inflammation of the middle ear, which he received during a month and a half of wandering around Ukraine after the defeat of the Southwestern Front. He arrived at the army command post on December 19, 1941. Under the leadership of Vlasov, the 20th Army successfully continued the offensive for some time.

Vlasov became one of the heroes of the battle for Moscow glorified throughout the country.

His portraits were published in newspapers. On February 6, 1942, Andrei Vlasov was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and received a 70-minute audience with Stalin.

Vlasov expressed his impressions of the first meeting with the Supreme Commander in letters to his wife and mistress in approximately the same terms:

“… You won't believe, dear Anya! [wife] What a joy in my life! I spoke with our biggest Master. This honor fell to me for the first time in my life. You cannot imagine how worried I was and how I left him inspired. You, apparently, will not even believe that such a great person has enough time even for our personal affairs. So believe me, he asked me where my wife is and how she lives .. "

“Dear and sweet Alichka! [a mistress from the Southwestern Front, with whom he left the encirclement together] ... I was summoned by the largest and most important Boss. Imagine, he talked with me for an hour and a half. You yourself can imagine how happy I was ... And now I don't know how it is possible to justify the trust that HE has in me ... "

Presumably, Vlasov here is quite sincere in his enthusiasm for meeting with the leader. Why would he pretend ?! Although he clearly took into account the possibility of perlustration, he really had reasons for joy.

The career was going well. Our troops drove the enemy away from Moscow, and 1942 promised to be a turning point in the war. In any case, this is what the Supreme Commander himself said, promising on the day of the anniversary of the Red Army, February 23, 1942, that by the end of the year the enemy would be driven out of the Soviet country. And on the eve of this day, Vlasov was awarded the Order of Lenin!

Perhaps Vlasov would have reached the head of the army, or even the front, to Berlin, would have remained in history one of the famous military leaders of the Soviet Union, if not for the fatal appointment near Leningrad.

But then it was perceived as another promotion, as another opportunity to win an impressive victory. On March 8, 1942, Lieutenant General Vlasov was appointed deputy commander of the Volkhov Front.

This front was given decisive importance in the defeat of the German Army Group North. In January 1942, the front's 2nd shock army crossed the Volkhov between Chudovo and Novgorod and advanced almost to Lyuban, creating a bridgehead that threatened the rear of the enemy grouping near Leningrad. But then our advance stalled. The flanking armies were unable to support the 2nd shock. Probably the best way out would be to withdraw this army to its initial lines in advance, but the Headquarters still hoped for a renewed offensive. To "strengthen" the command staff of the front, Vlasov and another "group of comrades" were sent there.

However, the coming spring did not bring relief to our troops on the Chudov-Lyuban bridgehead. The Germans managed to extremely narrow, and then cut the corridor connecting the 2nd Shock Army with the main forces of the front. The army began to be supplied by air, which was not an easy task in the conditions of the domination of German aviation.

April 20 A.A. Vlasov, deputy front commander K.A. Meretskov, was appointed concurrently and commander of the 2nd Shock Army instead of N.K. Klykov. Going to the bridgehead, Vlasov probably hoped to free the army from a difficult situation and thus earn another triumph. However, there is another version of this appointment. Vlasov's apologists believe that a conflict of ambition arose between Meretskov and Vlasov, and the front commander decided to get rid of Vlasov, sending him into the surrounded army and then not giving her help. What speaks against this version is that Meretskov's inaction, if it were in fact, would not have passed the attention of the Supreme Commander, and if so, it would not have gone unpunished. But Vlasov himself, for the second time in the war, being surrounded with an entire army, could believe that he was deliberately "set up".

There was something to despair of: instead of the expected triumphal march to Berlin, awards and honors as the most successful Soviet general (or maybe a marshal?), They had to hide from the Germans. According to some reports, when it became clear that the army could no longer be surrounded, an airplane was sent for Vlasov from the "mainland". But the commander categorically refused to fly, allegedly saying: "What kind of commander leaves his army?" This legend looks believable. If Vlasov had already decided to surrender, he would have carried out this intention without putting it on the back burner. But for almost three weeks he wandered through the woods (together with his new "front-line girlfriend"), and only then gave up when he was betrayed by the head of the village, where Vlasov hid in a barn.

Obviously, the decision to surrender was made by Vlasov spontaneously, when he realized that he was caught and the only alternative to captivity was death. But I didn't want to die - humanly understandable. At this moment (if not even earlier) in Vlasov, a whole wave of annoyance could rise at its own unsuccessful fate and at the leadership, which sent one of its best military leaders to meet the shame. This was also mixed with the memories of the fall of 1941, when I had already experienced the death of the army and the exit from the encirclement. In a word, a man broke down (he said at the trial that he was “faint-hearted”).

But, having broken down once, he then tried with all his might to convince himself and the others that it was a conscious, and ideological choice.

I didn't want to be just a captured Soviet general, to go to a hungry, lice-ridden concentration camp. In addition, it was necessary to somehow compensate for the lost vain hopes. The winner failed to enter Berlin. So ... you have to enter Moscow as a winner!

In the elite layers of the Third Reich, opposition to the methods of warfare by the Nazi leadership has long been formed. This opposition was fragmented, pursued different goals, and several groups existed in it. Some groups considered it necessary to use the potential of anti-Bolshevik sentiments on a part of the Soviet people in the interests of Germany's victory. As the defeat of the Soviet Union became an increasingly vague prospect, these sentiments took possession of an increasing number of people involved in the development and implementation of policy in the occupied eastern territories.

Back in 1941, groups of people close to the OKH (High Command of the German Ground Forces) and the command of army groups in the East tried to create something like "national liberation committees" urging the peoples of the USSR to turn their weapons against the "Stalinist regime." There were no committees in reality, the whole idea was purely propaganda, but it was also disavowed by the Nazi leadership. Hitler wanted the victory over Soviet Russia to be won exclusively by the Germans, without any, even fictitious, political role of the Russians.

But these groups of people did not give up their attempts. Noteworthy is their connection with the future organizers and participants in the conspiracy against Hitler on July 20, 1944. They wanted, as you know, to conclude peace with the Western powers and a war to a victorious end against the USSR. The "Liberation Army" made up of Russian defectors could come in handy in this case. But in order to lead such an army, a Soviet general with a loud, glorified name was needed. And then Vlasov just turned up.

It is not clear whether Vlasov soon realized that he was drawn into a complex internal political game of "groups of influence" in the leadership of the Third Reich, being only a bargaining pawn in it.

But the fact that the Germans are interested in him, he, thanks to his remarkable mind and natural peasant instinct, felt immediately. And I decided to take advantage of this. He understood exactly what kind of words the Germans were expecting from him. And he tried to make the most of the situation for himself. He began to create a noble halo of "the savior of the Fatherland", "the fighter against the regime." The Germans, interested in playing the "Russian card" for their showdowns, began to play along with him.

It is not so important whether Vlasov was sincere when, in conversations with the Germans who patronized him, he spoke of his desire to save the Russian people from the "Stalinist tyranny" and at the same time not let them be enslaved by Hitler. As a military man, he was obliged to understand (and understood, of course) that there could be no "third force" in that war. Having crossed over to another front line and accepting the help of the Hitler regime, he could in no way be against it. He could think anything he wanted, but someone is being judged for his actions.

And his words were not distinguished by principles. The ROCOR Synod calls on us to see a patriot in Vlasov, assures us that “everything that was undertaken by them [the Vlasovites] was done specifically for the Fatherland, in the hope that the defeat of Bolshevism would lead to the re-creation of a powerful national Russia ... The Vlasovites were ready, with the need to resist by armed force any kind of colonization or dismemberment of our Motherland. " And here is what the representative of the then German Foreign Ministry G. Hilger writes about his conversation in August 1942 with Vlasov and two other Soviet prisoners of war, who expressed their readiness to cooperate with the Reich:

“… I directly told the Soviet officers that… it is not in Germany's interests to assist in the restoration of independent Russian statehood on the basis of Great Russian aspirations. Soviet officers objected that various other solutions are possible between an independent Russian state and a colony, for example, the status of a dominion, protectorate or a state to which assistance is provided, with its temporary or permanent German occupation. "

And this, in the opinion of some, is a "powerful national Russia": a protectorate of Germany, and even forever occupied by the Wehrmacht ?!

Even if we make allowances for what we now call a real-politician, such statements are openly groveling. Nobody pulled them by the tongue - they themselves spoke. They could have looked for a softer expression, especially since this conversation did not oblige them to anything. And the word is not a sparrow. And even if we imagine that the Nazi leadership would have relied on the ROA, changed its eastern policy and won the war (though it is not clear how), then the fate of Russia in an alliance with such Germany would just be - a puppet state, a protectorate of the Reich. And this, in the opinion of the ROCOR, "was done for the Fatherland" ?!

Sometimes you can hear that Vlasov's model of behavior was the only possible one for a person of such convictions (unless, of course, what he expressed while in captivity was his sincere conviction, and not a reaction to the conjuncture). But was it really Vlasov who saw the shortcomings of the Stalinist model of socialism? And many other Soviet military leaders who were taken prisoner and critically assessed the Stalinist regime, but, nevertheless, did not cooperate with Vlasov, how much did he not beg them ?!

Take, for example, General Mikhail Lukin, the former commander of the 19th Army, who was captured at Vyazma in October 1941, who lost an arm and a leg. The already mentioned Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt reports about Vlasov's conversation with him:

“... He asked Vlasov:

You, Vlasov, are you officially recognized by Hitler? And have you been given guarantees that Hitler will recognize and observe Russia's historical borders?

Vlasov had to give a negative answer.

You see! - said Lukin, - without such guarantees, I cannot cooperate with you. From my experience in German captivity, I do not believe that the Germans have the slightest desire to free the Russian people. I do not believe that they will change their policy. And from here, Vlasov, any cooperation with the Germans will benefit Germany, not our homeland. "

It is said very accurately. Let me remind you that these words are conveyed by the apologist Vlasov. Most likely, in reality, this conversation was much sharper. It is known that General Ponedelin, sentenced to death in absentia in the USSR (and he was still shot in 1950) and who knew about this, spat in Vlasov's face in response to an offer to cooperate. And Lukin, even after the war, was confined for several months, but still not convicted.

Having agreed to the use of his name in the propaganda actions of the Wehrmacht, but having no real power, no influence behind him, Vlasov twice became a traitor, deceiving the tortured Soviet prisoners of war who believed this propaganda.

Many of them, perhaps, joined the ROA even for ideological reasons. But, finding themselves there, they simply became Wehrmacht servicemen forced to shoot at their compatriots.

Having found himself in captivity for the second time - now in the Soviet Union - Vlasov did not lose his inherent optimism in life. He hoped that at the trial he would be credited with "saving servicemen from hunger and humiliation ... They will remember this merit of mine." I was probably extremely surprised that this did not happen.

In order to put all the dots over the “i”, it is appropriate to offer such an analogy. After the war, the leaders of the collaborationist regime were tried in France. Its nominal head - Marshal Petain - was sentenced to death, replaced by the then interim president of the Fourth Republic, General de Gaulle, due to the advanced age of the convict, by life imprisonment. The actual head of the Vichy regime, Laval, was shot.

At the same time, Petain was in 1914 one of the authors of the "miracle on the Marne", the man who saved Paris. And in 1940, many considered him to have saved the Fatherland again - this time from the horrors of war. Did not help. Like Laval, his "merits" in reducing the quotas of French workers who were forcibly taken to work in Germany and sent from France to concentration camps of Jews were not credited.

Decades have passed. The scale of collaboration in France was many times higher than in our country. There are no fewer descendants of the Vichy in France than the descendants of the Resistance fighters. However, it is imperceptible that someone tried to start a campaign to rehabilitate "the fighters against the rotten and corrupt regime of the Third Republic - Petain and Laval." The nation has already given an assessment of their treasonous activities - in the form of a death sentence, and no longer intends to return to this.

And we should learn from this.

Especially for the Century

A tall man in round glasses has been unable to sleep for several days. The main traitor, General of the Red Army Andrei Vlasov, is interrogated by several investigators of the NKVD, replacing each other day and night for ten days. They are trying to understand how they could miss the traitor in their slender ranks, devoted to the cause of Lenin and Stalin.

He had no children, he never had a spiritual attachment to women, his parents died. All he had was his life. And he loved to live. His father, the church chief, was proud of his son.

Parental traitorous roots

Andrei Vlasov never dreamed of being a military man, but as a literate person who graduated from a religious school, he was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet commanders. He often came to his father and saw how the new power was destroying his family strong nest.

He used to betray

Analyzing archival documents, traces of Vlasov's military operations on the fronts of the Civil War cannot be found. He was a typical staff "rat" who, by the will of fate, ended up at the top of the country's command pedestal. One fact speaks about how he moved up the career ladder. Arriving with an inspection in the 99th Infantry Division and having learned that the commander was engaged in a thorough study of the methods of action of the German troops, he immediately wrote a denunciation against him. The commander of the 99th Infantry Division, which was one of the best in the Red Army, was arrested and shot. Vlasov was appointed to his place. This behavior became the norm for him. This man was not tormented by any remorse.

First environment

In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Vlasov's army was encircled near Kiev. The general leaves the encirclement not in the ranks of his units, but together with a combat friend.

But Stalin forgave him this offense. Vlasov received a new appointment - to lead the main attack near Moscow. But he is in no hurry to go to the troops, citing pneumonia and poor health. According to one version, the entire preparation of the operation near Moscow fell on the shoulders of the most experienced staff officer Leonid Sandalov.

"Star fever" - the second reason for betrayal

Stalin appoints Vlasov as the main winner of the Battle of Moscow.

The general begins "star fever". According to his colleagues, he becomes rude, arrogant, mercilessly curses his subordinates. He constantly trumpets his closeness to the leader. Does not obey the orders of Georgy Zhukov, who is his immediate superior. The transcript of the conversation between the two generals shows a fundamentally different attitude to the conduct of hostilities. During the offensive near Moscow, Vlasov's units attacked the Germans along the road, where the enemy's defense was extremely strong. Zhukov, in a telephone conversation, orders Vlasov to counterattack, off-road, as Suvorov did. Vlasov refuses, referring to the high snow - about 60 centimeters. This argument infuriates Zhukov. He orders to attack in a new way. Vlasov again disagrees. These disputes last for more than one hour. And at the end, Vlasov still surrenders and gives the order Zhukov needs.

How Vlasov surrendered

The second shock army under the command of General Vlasov was surrounded in the Volkhov swamps and gradually lost its soldiers under the pressure of superior enemy forces. Along a narrow corridor, shot from all sides, scattered units of Soviet soldiers tried to break through to their own.

But General Vlasov did not go along this corridor of death. By unknown means on July 11, 1942, Vlasov deliberately surrendered to the Germans in the village of Tukhovezhi, Leningrad Region, where the Old Believers lived.

For some time he lived in Riga, the local policeman brought food. He told the new owners about the strange guest. A car drove up to the barn. Vlasov came out to meet them. He said something to them. The Germans saluted him and left.

The Germans were unable to determine the exact position of a person wearing a shabby jacket. But the fact that he was dressed in riding breeches with generals stripes indicated that this bird was very important.

From the first minutes he begins to lie to the German investigators: he introduced himself as a certain Zuev.

When German investigators began questioning him, he almost immediately confessed who he was. Vlasov said that in 1937 he became one of the participants in the anti-Stalinist movement. However, at this time Vlasov was a member of the military tribunal of two districts. He always signed under the execution lists of Soviet soldiers and officers convicted under various articles.

Women have been betrayed countless times

The general always surrounded himself with women. He officially had one wife. Anna Voronina from her native village led her weak-willed husband mercilessly. They did not have children because of an unsuccessful abortion. Young military doctor Agnes Podmazenko - his second common-law wife came out with him from the encirclement near Kiev. The third - nurse Maria Voronina was captured by the Germans when she was hiding with him in the village of Tukhovezhi.

All three women ended up in prison, endured the brunt of torture and humiliation. But General Vlasov did not care anymore. Agenheld Bidenberg, the widow of an influential SS man, became the general's last wife. She was the sister of Himmler's adjutant and helped her new husband in every possible way. Their wedding on April 13, 1945 was attended by Adolf Hitler.

Tacking the general's fox

Vlasov desperately wanted to live. He maneuvered between circumstances with the cunning of a dodgy fox. I tried to shift the blame onto others. Himmler also got it. During interrogations by the NKVD to the head of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "SMERSH" Abakumov, he said that the proposal to create the Russian Liberation Army came directly from Himmler. But a number of close German generals say the opposite: it was Vlasov who imposed the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating his own army on the German command.

The two main betrayals of the general

He indulged always and everywhere. When the outcome of the war was already clear in 1945, he revolts in Prague in the hope of pleasing American troops. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe Ruzin military airfield in Prague, the German units were attacked by the Vlasovites. The Germans were very surprised at this turn of events.

But this last ruse of the general ended in failure. Driven into a deadly corner, he begins to rush. Tries to negotiate with Sweden. I refuse him. Tries to fly to Spain to General Franco. And again failure. Tries to flee, hides under the carpet in the car. But battalion commander Yakushev with his reconnaissance group pulled him out of there by the collar.

Two-faced convict at number 31

Secret prisoner number 31 was hanged along with his 12 accomplices on the verdict of the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court under the leadership of Colonel-General of Justice Ulrich.