October 18th, 2015 , 01:40 am
Here he is still a lieutenant colonel. One of many, Stalin does not yet know anything about his future favorite.
"Now hold on to the wall"
Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun
Lieutenant General Karbyshev is considered a model of heroism and loyalty. Lieutenant General Vlasov is an example of cowardice and betrayal. Everyone, including the liberal public, which is simply too lazy to clarify this issue, even for its own propaganda purposes. No, even these people prefer to stupidly repeat late Soviet inventions. Why "late"? Because under Stalin, this name was never mentioned in any way after the announcement of the execution. Under Stalin, no one shouted about any "coward and traitor". Stalin did not agree with this assessment of his faithful and steadfast soldier. It is likely that even his agent behind enemy lines speaks quite a lot in favor of this unexpected version.
Yes, and everything doesn’t fit at all, completely heroic
biography of Andrei Andreevich with concepts "coward" And "traitor".
It doesn't fit at all! Judge for yourself. I will only list the main milestones on his path as a soldier of that war before the advent of the ROA. She never took part in the battles against the USSR.
On the contrary, it liberated Prague from the Germans. Until that moment, Hitler’s nerves were mostly frayed. Andrei Andreevich knew how to get on his nerves. But first, a short story about what anyone can double-check for themselves; this is no longer a secret.
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As you know, on June 22, 1941, only a few units offered adequate resistance to the invading Germans. You can list them on your fingers. For example, I can’t name much offhand: the 1st Anti-Tank Brigade of General Moskalenko (the future Marshal of the Soviet Union), the 16th Army of General Rokossovsky (the future too), the division of Colonel Dementyev (I won’t say about the future) and the 4th Mechanized Corps of General Vlasov near Lvov. Could the general surrender on the first day, as many did in his place? Could. But for some reason he started to make a fuss. He gave the Germans a happy life, after which he began to lead the mechanized corps out of encirclement. The Germans advanced rapidly, and similar encirclements could barely keep up with them. Specifically, Vlasov also fought with them at every opportunity. By the time the heroic 4th mechanized corps was withdrawn from encirclement (and this happened already near Kiev!), one and a half to two million had already surrendered. But for some reason Vlasov did not give up. Probably out of timidity. "I have enough courage to escape"“, Count Cagliostro’s servant Margadon boasted, but he didn’t have the courage to escape. So, and Vlasov too.
Seeing such resignation and devotion to the Master, Stalin threw himself on his neck: Andrei Andreich, save Kyiv for me! The 37th Army is in charge of this matter. The army completed its task, did not withdraw from the lines, and Vlasov again did not have the courage to succumb to the terrible German onslaught. Then came the all-clear and a general belated order to retreat - the Germans were closing the encirclement east of Kyiv, creating the famous Kiev cauldron - the greatest encirclement in history. Only Vlasov did not leave (he finally wanted to give up!), and therefore did not end up in the general gigantic environment, but ended up in his own, personal one. Now, that’s where he should give up! But no, the courage again left the pathologically cowardly general, and he again, like an infection, led the 37th out of encirclement. Of course, with battles, annoying the Germans in every possible way, but with minimal losses, which was especially noted at the same time. It was from that moment that the soldier’s legend about the new great commander began to take shape.
Stalin, again, was on his neck... But, seeing the condition of the army commander, he put him in the hospital, and ordered the doctors to work a miracle. Otherwise, they say, Lavrenty will deal with the enemies of the people. The forced doctors performed a miracle. But Moscow is not waiting - things are bad near Moscow. Absolutely a nightmare! The undertreated Vlasov received a simple order: save Moscow. “Andrey Andreich, I don’t even shout, I ask you like a brother, dear, save me Maskva!”."Unshot" He first carried out the order - he stopped Model in Krasnaya Polyana (30 km from the Kremlin), and then, during the December counter-offensive, he exceeded it, driving the German farthest beyond the Lama River. It has nothing to do with married lamas, it has nothing to do with the city of Volokolamsk. Look at the map.
Since then it was Vlasov "for some reason" began to bear the title "Savior of Moscow", and this despite the fact that their saviors, even officially, were nine pieces. And the names are increasingly legendary! However, not Lelyushenko, not Govorov, not GRU chief Golikov, not Rokossovsky (!) and not even "myself" Zhukov, and for some reason Vlasov is considered the savior of Moscow, and home-made soldiers’ songs are already being written about him. And the proud term has already gone for a walk: "We are Vlasovites!" An analogue of the then Airborne Forces and Marine Corps combined: “Nobody but us!”, “Where we are, there is victory!”. Elite of the Red Army. Vlasovites. Guard!
Stalin's order to the pest doctors is brief: I have to finish treating the great commander! The pests got scared and managed. After the hospital, Vlasov had a new simple super task - to break the blockade of Leningrad. For this purpose, he is sent as Meretskov’s deputy (an amazing figure!) to the Volkhov Front. Trouble is already brewing there - the 2nd strike force is almost surrounded. A whole group of experts, led by the deputy front commander, is sent to the army to decide what to do. They come to the conclusion that the army is screwed. In this regard, Vlasov sends everyone back, but he himself remains with the doomed army. He is a specialist in getting out of encirclements. And he was always looking for opportunities to surrender gracefully to the enemy.
His latest self-will is immediately approved by Zhukov. He gives Stalin an idea: to save the 2nd Shock, a genius is needed, no less! Stalin has a genius, and he is already in place, Zhukov’s proposal is approved, Vlasov is appointed commander, despite the fact that he remains Meretskov’s deputy. Right now he will withdraw the army cleanly again, and then immediately begin his main responsibilities - liberation "Cities of Lenin".
The Germans are tightly closing the ring. The Second Shock is starting to get into trouble, everyone knows about it. The bark from the trees was gnawed, all the belts and boots were welded. The birds flew in and immediately flew away. Who made it and not a penguin. Even spider beetles are afraid to crawl into Myasnoy Bor - the Red Army soldiers will eat them like the Papuans. At some point, it seemed to Stalin that he was about to lose his brilliant commander, or that he was about to fulfill his cherished dream and surrender with a calm soul. And he’ll sell everyone out like Blotter. Wow, wolf!
Therefore, a U-2 plane urgently sends for him. But at the wheel of that plane was not some lieutenant, but an experienced pilot with "sleepers", with a package, with orders, with powers, "The monster yawns and barks". Let it be Major Bulochkin himself, I’m shielding! He is not married, "he - ha-ha! on his U-2!.." and the archangel flew in for General Vlasov. He pressed and pressed on his throat, but did not squeeze it out. He threatened with authority to immediately shoot the scoundrel general for refusing to carry out the order to evacuate - it did not help. Vlasov really wanted to finally surrender to the enemy. Well, very much! Therefore, instead of himself, he put a wounded captain-military doctor (she is still alive and testifying) on the plane with Major Bulochkin and promised to shoot the fool-flyer, since he, anyway, is not carrying her and there is no use from him. And he wrote a note of apology to Stalin: "True commanders do not abandon their armies". He’s already started to get cocky, the ungrateful rude guy.
This is where the heroic part ends and it’s time for awesome stories!
bratkov 06/04/2003 at 13:15
Let us dwell only on individual milestones in Vlasov’s fate. In pre-war times, he was a typical Soviet general, devoted, as it is written in his certification, to “the cause of Lenin-Stalin and the Communist Party.” At every opportunity, especially at the Academy, he tried to look like an ideological, convinced communist. He enjoyed the full confidence of the Soviet leadership and army command. Doesn't the fact that he was one of the first to be recommended as an adviser to Chiang Kai-Shek's army speak volumes about trust?
Further, he was clearly forgiven for his mistakes in leading the army in the first days of the war and his merits in organizing the counter-offensive near Moscow were overestimated, for which he received the rank of “lieutenant general” and the Order of Lenin. (By the way, he was sick at that time). Thus, there is no reason to say that he was offended by Soviet power. He was neither an anti-Stalinist nor an anti-communist, as some sensationalist journalists wrote about, trying to make him a national hero, “a victim of the Stalinist regime.” Just as “you can’t wash a black dog white,” so no one will ever be able to make a national hero out of General Vlasov, unless, of course, one treats the facts honestly.
Thus, there is no reason to say that he went over to the enemy’s side for political reasons based on a hostile attitude towards Soviet power, the communist system and personally towards J.V. Stalin.
What really happened? Vlasov's 2nd Army was surrounded. Now no one can reliably say whether this could have been prevented - during the war, especially at the initial stage, this was not the only case when entire armies of our troops found themselves surrounded. Chief of Staff Vinogradov, Commissar Zuev and head of the special department of the army Shashkov chose death over captivity (they all committed suicide). But Vlasov disappears for some time from the field of view of the people surrounding him, and then ends up with the Germans. But to put it bluntly, he simply ran away to the Germans, abandoning his soldiers and officers to the mercy of fate, and did not share their fate, as befits a real commander. And the fate of those abandoned was catastrophic: hungry, cold, in a swampy area, they were doomed to a slow, painful death.
So, having gone over to the side of the enemy, General Vlasov thus commits a serious criminal offense - TREASON TO THE MOTHERLAND. All subsequent behavior of Vlasov leaves no doubt among the Germans that he is a traitor. To save his own skin, from the very first days he has been publishing leaflets and appeals in which he swears allegiance to the fascists and calls for intensifying the fight against the “communist regime.” And soon he took practical steps in this direction: in 1943 he began to form the “Russian Liberation Army” (ROA) to fight his people. Frankly speaking, the “birth” of the army was not easy: the first division was formed by the brigade of the former active punitive officer Kaminsky, who was shot by the Germans in 1943, the second was staffed by prisoners of war who were recruited in concentration camps. It is appropriate to note here that many prisoners of war were faced with a choice - either to go to the gas chamber or to Vlasov’s army, in order to, at the right opportunity, go over to the side of the Soviet army. And there were many of them.
If the first division had 15 thousand people, and the second - about 13 thousand, then the third was never completed, since there were no longer anyone willing to serve in the army of the traitorous general. At the very peak of the Vlasov movement, which was April 1945, the “Russian Liberation Army” numbered about 50 thousand people. This figure was mentioned by Trukhin during the interrogation of the chief of staff of the ROA, and it was confirmed by Rossiyskaya Gazeta on April 11, 1995. The name Vlasov even then became odious for many Russians, a symbol of betrayal. That is why the bulk of the white emigration did not recognize Vlasov as a banner and leader and went to the Resistance Movement. Vlasov was supported only by such sworn enemies of the Soviet regime, who loyally served the Nazi Reich, as former ataman P. Krasnov, General A. Shkuro, T. Domanov and some others.
As you know, Vlasov’s zeal in the field of betrayal was not adequately appreciated by the leaders of Nazi Germany. Why didn't the Germans trust him? No, not just because they were guided by the Bible's warning about the one-time betrayer. The mentioned Trukhin testified during interrogation that Vlasov already in 1943 tried to establish contacts with the Americans and British behind the backs of the Germans, and in 1945 there were already more than ten such attempts. Seeing the imminent end of his masters, the traitor decided to defect to others. By the way, he did not intend to go to the Americans empty-handed: to transfer the entire intelligence apparatus he created to work against the Soviet Union, official employees of his intelligence, as well as youth camps and associations of Russian teenagers (Vityazi, Yunkazaki, etc. ).
Further, the Germans did not want to have large units in their rear under the leadership of a man who was not trusted and who was constantly kept under control. Vlasov and his entourage put a lot of effort into provoking a war between the USSR and its Western allies immediately after the defeat of Germany. In order to preserve his army for later use on the side of the British, he ordered the ROA to be withdrawn to the south of Germany, to the foothills of the Alps. Regarding this, Trukhin shows:
Taking advantage of natural conditions, we had to hold out there until the British arrived, and then together continue the fight against the USSR. Vlasov said that then each division would be worth its weight in gold. By coming out with our own forces, we will be able to seize power into our own hands.
And just a few words about the moral qualities of this person. According to his adjutant, Vlasov was a two-faced, unprincipled and deceitful person, ready to walk over the corpses of people he disliked, although sometimes close to him, for his own selfish purposes. He was a man with a double bottom, both selfish and vain.
Having driven himself into a corner, when the Germans did not trust him, and our Western allies did not make contact with him - but he wanted to live, Vlasov makes a last attempt to save his life: from near Prague he telegraphs his conditions to the Soviet command: “I can strike "to the rear of the enemy group of Germans. The condition is forgiveness for me and my people." As one would expect, he did not receive an answer and soon, while trying to get through to the Americans, he was captured by captain M.I. Yakushev. The reader probably noticed the word “forgiveness”. Forgiveness is usually asked when they are trying to smooth out or atone for guilt. And one more point to characterize Vlasov: upon returning from China, among his entourage he uncontrollably boasted that Chiang Kai Shek’s wife was his mistress...
To summarize, it should be said that Vlasov was tried and found guilty under a number of articles of the criminal code: treason, collaboration with the enemy, creation of a military organization to fight his former Motherland, and practical struggle against it. Thus, this is not a victim of the communist regime, but the most ordinary criminal. Just as Judas Iscariot entered history with a minus sign, so Vlasov became synonymous with betrayal. The only thing I had to regret was that in the first post-war years, many prisoners of war were completely unreasonably called “Vlasovites” by the people.
Dealing with the problems of rehabilitation of victims of political repression during the years of work in the Voronezh department of the KGB, I quite often had to get acquainted with filtration materials on our former prisoners of war, including the “Vlasovites,” that is, those who served in the 2nd Army of General Vlasov, who were tested after liberation from concentration camps. So, I responsibly declare that those of them who did not go to serve in the ROA did not take part in hostilities against the Red Army and in punitive operations against partisans, and also did not cooperate with the intelligence services of Nazi Germany, that is, they did not commit criminal acts. punishable actions, as a rule, after filtering they returned home, and not “in trains to Magadan,” as the falsifiers of history claim.
Moreover, I had the opportunity to meet those who, after filtering, already entered Voronezh State University in 1946. One of these is Ivan Fedorovich Sokolov, who, after graduating from the Faculty of Physics, worked for a long time as a teacher in one of the technical schools near Moscow.
In conclusion, I want to say that during the war years in our army, unfortunately, there were not only such generals as Karbyshev and Lukin, who preferred death to betrayal of the Motherland - one was turned into a block of ice alive, and the second received a bullet in the back of the head, but also Vlasov...
This is also the truth about war.
Anatoly Nikiforov
Newspaper "Commune", No. 80 31 05.03.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, General Vlasov stood on a par with the best commanders-in-chief of the Red Army. General Vlasov distinguished himself in the Battle of Moscow in the fall of 1941. By mid-summer 1942, when Vlasov surrendered to the Germans, the Germans held a large number of soldiers and officers of the Red Army captive. A large number of the population of Ukraine, Russia, the Baltic states and the Cossack formations of the Don Cossacks went over to the side of the Germans. After Vlasov was interrogated by German Field Marshal Theodore von Bock, the Russian Liberation Army, or ROA, began its life. Andrei Vlasov, together with like-minded people (naturally also with the Germans), wanted to start a new civil war on the territory of the USSR.
Meanwhile, the general was one of Joseph Stalin's favorites. Vlasov first distinguished himself in the Battle of Moscow, when the Red Army created a layered defense on the approaches to the capital, and then repelled the German attacks with counterattacks.
General Andrei Vlasov
On December 31, 1941, a photograph of General Andrei Vlasov was placed on the front page of the Izvestia newspaper, along with other military leaders (Zhukov, Voroshilov, etc.). The very next year, Vlasov was awarded the Order, and later he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Joseph Stalin gives the task to Soviet writers to write a book about General Vlasov, “Stalin’s Commander.” After this promotion by Stalin, Vlasov became very popular in the country. People send him greeting cards and letters from all over the country. Vlasov often gets caught on camera.
General Andrei Vlasov
Andrei Vlasov was drafted into the armed forces of the Red Army in 1920. In 1936, Vlasov was awarded the rank of major. The following year, the rapid growth of Andrei Vlasov’s career began. In 1937 and 1938, Vlasov served in the military tribunal of the Kyiv Military District. He was a member of the military tribunal and signed death sentences.
Vlasov's excellent career was the result of the massive repressions carried out by Stalin in the Red Army command staff in the mid-30s. Against the backdrop of these events in the country, the careers of many military men were very rapid. Vlasov was also no exception. At the age of 40 he becomes a lieutenant general.
According to many historians, General Andrei Vlasov was an excellent and strong-willed commander, at the same time he was a diplomat and had an excellent understanding of people. Vlasov gave the impression of a strong and demanding personality in the Red Army. Thanks to the good qualities of a commander, Joseph Stalin was loyal to Vlasov, and always tried to promote him up the career ladder.
General Andrei Vlasov
When the Great Patriotic War began, it found Vlasov while he was serving in the Kiev Military District. He and many commanders and soldiers of the Red Army retreated to the east. In September 1941, Vlasov emerged from encirclement in the Kiev cauldron. Vlasov escaped from encirclement for two months, and he retreated not with Red Army soldiers, but with a female military doctor. In those days of the difficult retreat of the Red Army, General Vlasov sought to break through to his own people as quickly as possible. Having changed into civilian clothes with a military doctor in one of the settlements, Andrei Vlasov left the encirclement near the city of Kursk by the beginning of November 1941. After leaving the encirclement, Vlasov fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. Unlike other officers and soldiers of the Red Army who emerged from encirclement, Vlasov was not interrogated. He still enjoyed Stalin's loyalty. Joseph Stalin remarked on this matter: “Why bother a sick general.”
General Andrei Vlasov
With the onset of winter 1941, Guderian's German units rapidly advanced towards the capital of the USSR. The Red Army, in layered defense, has difficulty resisting the Germans. A critical situation for the Soviet Union is about to begin. At that time, the defense of Moscow in the “Battle of Moscow” was commanded by Georgy Zhukov. To carry out the combat mission, Zhukov specially selected, in his opinion, the best army commanders. At the time when these events took place, General Vlasov was in the hospital. Vlasov, like other army commanders, was appointed to the lists of commanders in the Battle of Moscow without his knowledge. General Sandalov developed the operation to counter-offensive the Red Army near Moscow. The counteroffensive operation of the Red Army, when Vlasov arrived at headquarters, was fully developed and approved. Therefore, Andrei Vlasov did not take part in it. On December 5, 1941, the 20th Shock Army delivered a counterattack to the Germans, which drove them back from Moscow. Many people mistakenly believe that this army was commanded by General Andrei Vlasov. But Vlasov returned to headquarters only on December 19. Only two days later he took command of the army. By the way, Zhukov more than once expressed his dissatisfaction due to Vlasov’s passive command of the army. After this, the Red Army successfully counterattacked the Germans and Vlasov was promoted to rank. But Vlasov made almost no effort to implement these events.
General Andrei Vlasov
Many historians seriously argue that Vlasov, even before the start of the war with Germany, was an ardent anti-Stalinist. Despite this, in February 1942 he attended a meeting with Joseph Stalin and was very impressed by his strong personality. Vlasov was always in good standing with Stalin. Vlasov's army always fought successfully. Already in April 1942, Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov was appointed commander of the 2nd Shock Army by Stalin.
General Andrei Vlasov
On April 19, 1942, Vlasov first appeared before the 2nd Shock Army with a speech: “I will start with discipline and order. No one will leave my army simply because he wanted to leave. The people of my army will either leave with orders for promotion or to be shot... Regarding the latter, I was of course joking.”
General Andrei Vlasov
At that moment, this army was surrounded and something urgently needed to be done to get it out of the cauldron. The army was cut off by the Germans in the Novgorod swamps. The army's situation became critical: there was not enough ammunition and food. Meanwhile, the Germans systematically and cold-bloodedly destroyed Vlasov’s encircled army. Vlasov asked for support and help. At the beginning of the summer of 1942, the Germans blocked the only road (it was also called the “Road of Life”), along which the 2nd Shock Army was supplied with food and ammunition. The Red Army soldiers were leaving the encirclement along this same road. Vlasov gave his last order: everyone should break through to their own people on their own. Together with the breakthrough group, Lieutenant General Vlasov headed north in the hope of breaking out of the encirclement. During the retreat, Vlasov lost his composure and was absolutely indifferent to the events taking place. Many surrounded officers of the 2nd Shock Army shot themselves when the Germans tried to take them prisoner. Systematically, soldiers from Vlasov’s 2nd Shock Army came out of the encirclement to their own small groups. The 2nd Shock Army consisted of several hundred thousand soldiers, of which no more than 8 thousand people escaped. The rest were killed or captured.
General Andrei Vlasov
Against the backdrop of the encirclement of the 2nd Shock Army, General Vlasov’s anti-Soviet sentiments worsened. On July 13, 1942, Vlasov voluntarily surrendered. Early in the morning a German patrol passed through the village. Local residents told the Germans that a Russian military man was hiding with them. A German patrol captured Vlasov and his companion. This happened in the village of Tukhovezhi, Leningrad region. Before surrendering, Vlasov communicated with local residents who were in contact with Russian partisans. One of the residents of this village wanted to hand over Vlasov to the Germans, but did not have time to do so. According to local residents, Vlasov had the opportunity to go to the partisans and then return to his own. But for unknown reasons he did not do this.
General Andrei Vlasov
On July 13, a secret note was brought to the NKVD headquarters, which mentioned that the commanders of the 2nd Shock Army Vlasov, Vinogradov and Afanasyev went to the partisans and were safe with them. On July 16, they found out that there was a mistake in the message and Vlasov and the surviving commanders were not there. And Army Commander Vinogradov did not escape the encirclement. To search for Vlasov and other army commanders, on Stalin’s instructions, sabotage detachments were sent to the German rear. Almost all search groups died.
General Andrei Vlasov
Vlasov decided to surrender to the enemy for many reasons. Firstly, he assumed that the Soviet Union was not able to destroy the German army, against the backdrop of the events that took place on the Volkhov front in Myasny Bor. He decided that it would be better for him that he surrender to the Germans. Vlasov planned that after the defeat of the Soviets, he would become the head of the leadership of the conquered country.
General Vlasov was transported to Germany, to Berlin. Vlasov’s headquarters was located in one of the houses on the outskirts of Berlin. The Germans needed this kind of figure from the Red Army. Vlasov was offered to lead the army in the liberation from Bolshevism in Russia. Vlasov begins to travel to concentration camps in which Soviet military personnel are imprisoned. He begins to create the backbone of the ROA (Russian Liberation Army) from captured Russian officers and soldiers. But not many join this army. Later, in the occupied city of Pskov, a parade of several ROA battalions takes place, at which Vlasov takes part in the parade. At this parade, Andrei Vlasov declares that there are already half a million soldiers in the ranks of the ROA, who will soon fight against the Bolsheviks. But in reality this army did not exist.
Throughout the existence of the ROA, German officers, and even Hitler himself, treated this formation with disdain and distrust.
General Andrei Vlasov
After the defeat of the Wehrmacht at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, General Vlasov decides to act actively and decides to offer the Germans to lead a five hundred thousandth army of Russian prisoners of war who will take up arms and rise up against the USSR. After a meeting between Hitler and the senior command of the Wehrmacht, it was decided not to create a combat-ready Russian ROA army. Hitler categorically prohibited the formation of military units from Russian volunteers, due to distrust of them.
After Vlasov was refused the creation of his army, he was placed under house arrest. During a period of idleness, Vlasov often indulged in drinking and other entertainment at his residence. But at the same time, with the leaders of the ROA, Vlasov planned an action plan for various events. Realizing that nothing could be expected from the Germans in terms of helping to create an army, the leaders of the ROA planned to take refuge in the Alps and hold out there until the Allies arrived. And then surrender to them. This was their only hope at that time. Moreover, Vlasov has already contacted MI6 (British military intelligence). Vlasov believed that by going over to England, he and his army would fight the USSR when England entered Europe and started a war with Russia. But the British did not negotiate with Vlasov, considering him a war criminal who was acting contrary to the interests of the allies.
In the summer of 1944, Andrei Vlasov married the widow of a murdered SS man, Adella Billingberg. Thus, he wanted to gain the loyalty of the Germans towards himself. Moreover, by this act he wanted to reach Himmler, who received Vlasov in the summer of 1944. Hoping for help from Vlasov's formations, Himmler allows the creation of the Vlasov army. As a result, General Vlasov achieves his goal: the first ROA division is formed under his leadership. The preparation of sabotage detachments to overthrow the government in Russia begins immediately. It was planned to carry out terrorist acts on the territory of Moscow against the Soviet government. Vlasov also wanted to create underground organizations in large Russian cities with the aim of counteracting Soviet power.
General Andrei Vlasov
After creating his army, General Vlasov moved to the Czech Republic. In November 1944, the first congress of the Committee for the Liberation Peoples of Russia took place in Prague. The Germans, and Vlasov himself, seriously planned that if they won the war, Vlasov would become the head of the government governing Russia.
But events unfold differently. The Red Army moves west and systematically destroys the scattered German army. Soviet troops are approaching the borders of Czechoslovakia. Vlasov understood that the only chance for his salvation was to surrender to the Americans.
There is no “third force” in the Patriotic War
The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) issued a statement in early September, which has already sparked fierce debate. This statement concerns issues of the history of our Fatherland, that is, all of us. Moreover, issues that are very important for national identity. And the reason for the speech was the book of Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov “Forbidden Topics in the History of the 20th Century.” Its author is the head of the department of church historical disciplines at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He calls in his book, at a minimum, to reconsider the unambiguous attitude towards General Vlasov, as well as other famous Russian collaborators (primarily the White Cossack generals P.N. Krasnov and A.G. Shkuro), as traitors to the Motherland.
“”Was General A.A. Are Vlasov and his associates traitors to Russia?”, we answer – no, not at all. Everything that they undertook 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 fight against Bolshevism, but they, the “Vlasovites” were ready, if necessary, to resist with armed force any kind of colonization or dismemberment of our Motherland.”
Attempts to rehabilitate collaborators have been going on for several years now. As recently as January last year, one of the Don Cossack societies, led by the “Don Ataman” and State Duma deputy from United Russia Viktor Vodolatsky, launched an unsuccessful demarche to rehabilitate Krasnov. This year, the idea of rehabilitating Vlasov is being actively promoted. In his native village of Lomakino, in the Gaginsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, they are going to open a Vlasov museum. And here is the statement of the ROCOR.
For people who are well acquainted with the mood in the ROCOR, this statement did not come as a surprise. Indeed, during the Second World War, many hierarchs of the ROCOR collaborated with the Nazi occupation authorities. And the flock of this church has always largely consisted of anti-Soviet emigrants, including former collaborators who fled to the West after the war.
We cannot do without analyzing the historical role of the personality of General Vlasov and the very phenomenon of collaboration in the USSR. Moreover, I am not going to touch here on aspects of Vlasov’s personal life (his love affairs, etc.). This is precisely the field for church leaders to evaluate the moral character of a man who never missed an opportunity to have mistresses (including minors - during a business trip to China), an actual bigamist (with a living and undivorced wife in the USSR, Vlasov married in Germany in 1944 ). Our subject is a political portrait of the commander of the ROA (“Russian Liberation Army”). Let's try to draw it without the intention of putting some kind of stigma in advance.
At the beginning of 1942, there were probably few Soviet military leaders who were as favored by the attention of the Supreme Commander, who made such an impressive career during the six months of war as Andrei Andreevich Vlasov. From corps commander to deputy front commander - it was not easy in those difficult months when Soviet troops suffered defeats more often than they achieved success. What is this - luck? For the time being, luck smiled on the general - in the fall of 1941, he emerged unharmed from encirclement near Kiev. 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 command of the army when it was already advancing.
But there is no doubt that he also possessed military leadership abilities. In any case, not below the average level of the then Red Army generals. Otherwise, it is unlikely that Headquarters would have pushed him so hard.
Obviously, Vlasov also had the strong grip of a careerist. He took every opportunity to advance to a prominent role. He couldn't stand being a statist.
This character trait will subsequently 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 benefit.
Thus, before the war, Vlasov did not arouse any suspicion in terms of political loyalty to the top of the CPSU (b). His origins - from middle peasants - were impeccable in class. True, her studies at the theological seminary were a little spoiled, but in the end, Stalin himself also studied at the seminary. And both did not finish it: Stalin began 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 senior command staff of the Red Army was destroyed without any reason on the orders of Stalin.” Here the truth is only the first sentence. The rest is a lie. Firstly, repressions against the command staff of the Red Army began in 1937. And at this time Vlasov was in the USSR. Moreover, before his business trip as an adviser to the Chinese leader, Vlasov was a member of the military tribunal of the Kyiv Military District. Historians testify: in the cases in which he took part, there is not a single acquittal pronounced on his initiative. The closed orientation characterized him in front of “responsible comrades in the authorities” in the most positive way: “He works a lot on the issue of eliminating the remnants of sabotage.”
It was not evasion, but the most active participation in repressions against command personnel that allowed Vlasov to receive such a prestigious appointment in 1938 - a military adviser to China.
From there he returned with the Order of the Golden Dragon, granted to him by the Chinese Generalissimo, and with three suitcases of all sorts of goods. In captivity, according to his apologist V. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt (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 receive the Chinese order in the USSR wear. Here the motive of petty resentment of an extremely vain person, in addition to an outright money-grubber, clearly slips through.
Did Vlasov even then formulate all those claims against the Soviet system that he later set out in his programs of the ROA and KONR (“Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia”)? Was his appearance as a communist, selflessly devoted to the cause of Lenin-Stalin, a mask under which an ideological enemy was hidden? 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 convinced 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 will see, until the last moment he did not think about surrendering. And he had to come up with a legend on the fly. Obviously, neither before nor after he had any definite beliefs. Or 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 returning 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 was “studying the tactics of Wehrmacht combat operations.” The division commander 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 near Brody in Western Ukraine. Despite the huge losses that the corps suffered, Vlasov was appointed commander of the 37th Army, which defended the strategically important Kiev fortified area.
We must pay tribute to the troops led by Vlasov - the Germans did not manage to take Kyiv on the move.
In mid-September 1941, the Southwestern Front, and with it the 37th Army, found itself surrounded. Several hundred thousand Soviet soldiers and officers then died or were captured, the front commander M.P. Kirponos shot himself, and Vlasov wandered around for a long time, but finally reached the location of the Soviet troops. If he had previously harbored some anti-Stalinist plans, he probably would have already tried to bring them to life - the situation allowed.
In those difficult months, the NKVD had not yet engaged in super-rigid checking of those who had escaped the encirclement (he would begin it later - from the beginning of the counter-offensive near Moscow) - every soldier, and even more so the general, was precious at the front. Vlasov soon receives an appointment to lead the 20th Army, which was concentrating north-west of Moscow for a future counter-offensive. But, due to illness, he was able to actually take command only in mid-December 1941.
In the aforementioned “open letter,” he talked about this period: “I did everything in my power to defend the country’s capital. The 20th Army stopped the attack on Moscow and then went on the offensive itself. She broke through the front of the German army, took Solnechnogorsk, Volokolamsk, Shakhovskaya, Sereda, ensured the transition to the offensive along the entire Moscow section of the front, and approached Gzhatsk.”
In fact, during the defensive battle near Moscow, Vlasov was recovering from an inflammation of the middle ear 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 outlined his impressions of his first meeting with the Supreme Commander in letters to his wife and mistress in approximately the same terms:
“...You won’t believe it, dear Anya! [wife] What joy I have in my life! I talked with our greatest Master. This was the first time in my life that I had such an honor. You can’t imagine how worried I was and how inspired I came away from it. You probably won’t even believe that such a great man has enough time even for our personal affairs. So believe me, he asked me where my wife was and how she lived..”
“Dear and sweet Alichka! [mistress from the South-Western Front, with whom he left the encirclement] ...The biggest and most important Master called me to him. Imagine, he talked with me for a whole hour and a half. You can imagine how lucky I was... And now I don’t know how I can justify the trust that HE places in me..."
One must think that Vlasov is quite sincere here in his delight at meeting the leader. Why did he have to pretend?! Although he clearly took into account the possibility of perlusration, he actually had reasons for joy.
My career was going well. Our troops drove the enemy back from Moscow, and 1942 promised to be a turning point in the war. In any case, this is what the Supreme Commander himself said, who promised on the anniversary of the Red Army, February 23, 1942, that by the end of the year the enemy would be expelled from the borders of the Soviet country. And on the eve of this day, Vlasov was awarded the Order of Lenin!
Perhaps Vlasov, at the head of the army, or even the front, would have reached Berlin, and would have remained in history as one of the famous military leaders of the Soviet Union, if not for the fatal appointment to 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. The 2nd Shock Army of the Front in January 1942 crossed the Volkhov between Chudovo and Novgorod and advanced almost to Lyuban, creating a bridgehead that threatened the rear of the enemy group near Leningrad. However, then our advance stalled. The flank armies failed to support the 2nd strike. Probably the best solution would have been to withdraw this army to its original lines in advance, but Headquarters still hoped for a resumption of the offensive. To “strengthen” the front command staff, Vlasov and another “group of comrades” were sent there.
However, the coming spring did not bring relief to our troops on the Chudovsko-Luban 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 under the dominance of German aviation.
April 20 A.A. Vlasov, deputy front commander K.A. Meretskov, was appointed part-time commander of the 2nd Shock Army instead of the seriously ill N.K. Klykova. Going to the bridgehead, Vlasov probably hoped to rescue the army from a difficult situation and thus earn another triumph. However, there is another version of this purpose. Vlasov’s apologists believe that a conflict of ambitions arose between Meretskov and Vlasov, and the front commander decided to get rid of Vlasov by sending him to the encircled army and then not giving it any help. What speaks against this version is that Meretskov’s inaction, if it were real, would not have passed the attention of the Supreme Commander, and if so, it would not have gone unpunished. But Vlasov himself, finding himself surrounded for the second time during the war along with an entire army, could believe that he was deliberately “framed.”
There was something to despair about: instead of the expected triumphal march to Berlin, awards and honors as the most successful Soviet general (and maybe a marshal?), I had to hide from the Germans. According to some reports, when it became clear that the army could no longer remain surrounded, a plane was sent for Vlasov from the “mainland”. But the army commander categorically refused to fly, allegedly saying: “What kind of commander leaves his army?” This legend seems plausible. If Vlasov had already decided to surrender, he would have carried out this intention without delay. But he wandered through the forests for almost three weeks (together with his new “front-line girlfriend”), and only 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 spontaneously by Vlasov, when he realized that he was caught and the alternative to captivity was only death. But I didn’t want to die – that’s humanly understandable. At this moment (if not even earlier), a whole wave of frustration could rise in Vlasov at his own unfortunate fate and at the leadership, which sent one of its best military leaders to face shame. Mixed in here are the memories of the autumn of 1941, when I had already experienced the death of the army and the escape from encirclement. In a word, the man broke down (he even 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 others that this was a conscious, and ideological choice.
I didn’t want to be just a captured Soviet general or go to a hungry, lice-infested concentration camp. In addition, it was necessary to somehow compensate for the lost vain hopes. The winner was unable to enter Berlin. So... we must enter Moscow as a winner!
In the elite layers of the Third Reich, opposition to the methods of warfare by the Nazi leadership had long been developing. This opposition was fragmented, pursued different goals, and there were several groups in it. Some groups considered it necessary to use the potential of the anti-Bolshevik sentiments of part of the Soviet people in the interests of victory for Germany. As the defeat of the Soviet Union became an increasingly vague prospect, these sentiments took hold 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 leadership of the OKH (High Command of the German Ground Forces) and the commands of army groups in the East tried to create something like “national liberation committees” calling on the peoples of the USSR to turn their arms against the “Stalinist regime.” There were no committees in reality, the whole idea was purely propaganda, but it was 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 for the Russians.
But these groups of people did not give up their attempts. Their connection with the future organizers and participants in the conspiracy against Hitler on July 20, 1944 is noteworthy. They wanted, as is known, to conclude peace with the Western powers and war to a victorious end against the USSR. The “Liberation Army,” composed of Russian defectors, could be useful in this case. But in order to lead such an army, a Soviet general with a big, famous name was needed. And just then Vlasov turned up.
It is not clear how soon Vlasov realized that he was drawn into a complex internal political game of “influence groups” in the leadership of the Third Reich, being only a pawn in it.
But thanks to his remarkable intelligence and natural peasant instinct, he immediately sensed that the Germans were interested in him. And I decided to take advantage of this. He understood exactly what words exactly what Germans expected from him. And he tried to make the most of the situation for himself. He began to create a noble aura of “savior of the Fatherland”, “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 about his desire to save the Russian people from “Stalin’s tyranny” and at the same time prevent them from being enslaved by Hitler. As a military man, he was obliged to understand (and he did understand, of course) that there could be no “third force” in that war. Having moved to another front line and accepting the help of the Hitler regime, he could not possibly be against it. He could think whatever he wanted, but a person is judged for his actions.
And his words were not distinguished by their principles. The Synod of the ROCOR calls on us to see a patriot in Vlasov, assures that “everything that they [the Vlasovites] undertook 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, the need to resist by armed force any 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 captured Soviet officers who expressed their readiness to cooperate with the Reich:
“...I directly told the Soviet officers that... it was not in Germany’s interests to promote the restoration of independent Russian statehood on the basis of Great Russian aspirations. Soviet officers objected that various other solutions were possible between an independent Russian state and a colony, such as dominion, protectorate, or aided state status with its temporary or permanent German occupation.”
And this, according to some, is “powerful national Russia”: a protectorate of Germany, and even forever occupied by the Wehrmacht?!
Even if we make allowances for what we now call realpolitik, such statements are undisguised servility. No one pulled their tongue - they spoke out themselves. They could have looked for softer expressions, 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 Russia’s fate in an alliance with such a Germany would have been exactly that - 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 one possible for a person of such convictions (if, of course, what he expressed while in captivity was his sincere conviction, and not a reaction to the situation). But was Vlasov the only one who saw the shortcomings of the Stalinist model of socialism? And many other Soviet military leaders who were captured and critically assessed the Stalinist regime, but, nevertheless, did not cooperate with Vlasov, no matter how much he begged them?!
Here, for example, is General Mikhail Lukin, the former commander of the 19th Army, who was captured near Vyazma in October 1941, losing an arm and a leg. The already mentioned Strik-Strikfeldt 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 respect the historical borders of Russia?
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 don't believe they will change their policy. And from here, Vlasov, any cooperation with the Germans will serve the benefit of Germany, and not our homeland.”
Exactly what was said. Let me remind you that these words are conveyed by Vlasov’s apologist. Most likely, in reality this conversation took place much more harshly. It is known that General Ponedelin, who was sentenced to death in absentia in the USSR (and was still shot in 1950) and knew about this, spat in Vlasov’s face in response to an offer to cooperate. And Lukin, although after the war he was marooned for several months in prison, was still not convicted.
Having agreed to use his name in Wehrmacht propaganda campaigns, but having no real power or influence behind him, Vlasov became a double traitor, deceiving the exhausted Soviet prisoners of war who believed this propaganda.
Many of them, perhaps, joined the ROA even for ideological reasons. But once there, they became simply Wehrmacht soldiers, forced to shoot at their compatriots.
Having found himself in captivity for the second time - now in Soviet captivity - Vlasov did not lose his inherent optimism in life. He hoped that at the trial he would be credited with “saving military personnel from hunger and humiliation... They will remember this merit of mine.” He was probably extremely surprised that this didn’t happen.
In order to dot all the i's, it is appropriate to offer the following 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 provisional president of the Fourth Republic, General de Gaulle, due to the old age of the convicted person, with life imprisonment. The actual head of the Vichy regime, Laval, was shot.
At the same time, Petain was one of the authors of the “miracle on the Marne” in 1914, 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. Just as Laval was not credited for his “merits” in reducing the quotas of French workers forcibly taken to work in Germany and sent from France to Jewish concentration camps.
Decades have passed. The scale of collaboration in France was many times higher than in our country. There are no fewer descendants of the Vichyists in France than there are descendants of Resistance fighters. However, it is imperceptible that anyone 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 assessed their treasonous activities - in the form of a death sentence, and does not intend to return to this anymore.
And we should learn this.
Special for the Centenary
The captivity and betrayal of General Vlasov is one of the most discussed issues relating to the Great Patriotic War. Moreover, the action of one of Stalin’s favorites does not always cause negative assessments.
Inevitable outcome
In January 1942, during the Lyuban offensive operation, troops of the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front successfully broke through the German defenses. However, lacking the strength for a further offensive, they were thoroughly bogged down in the German rear, exposed to the threat of encirclement.
This situation remained until April 20, when Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov was appointed commander of the 2nd Shock Army, while retaining the post of deputy commander of the Volkhov Front. “He received troops that were practically no longer capable of fighting, he received an army that had to be saved,” writes publicist Vladimir Beshanov in the book “Leningrad Defense.”
All further attempts by the 2nd Army to break out of the German clutches, as well as by the 52nd and 59th armies to break through to meet it, were unsuccessful. The only thing our troops managed to do was punch a narrow gap in the German redoubts and save a significant part of the 2nd Shock Army. On June 25, the enemy eliminated the corridor and the encirclement ring closed tightly: about 20 thousand Soviet soldiers remained in it.
Military writer Oleg Smyslov has no doubt that the main blame for the current situation lies with the headquarters of the 2nd Shock Army, and specifically with its commander, General Vlasov, who was confused and lost the ability to control not only the troops, but also his headquarters.
By order of Headquarters, a plane was sent to evacuate Vlasov, but he refused. Why did the army commander not want to resort to the help of the government, as General Alexei Afanasyev, who was breaking out of encirclement, later did? The most obvious answer is that Vlasov refused to abandon his own soldiers to the mercy of fate. But there is another version, according to which Vlasov unraveled Stalin’s trick: the head of the USSR allegedly intended to take the unwanted military leader to the rear in order to immediately bring him to trial.
No one can say for sure where Vlasov was from June 25, 1942, for almost three weeks. But it was established that on July 11, in search of food, the general, together with his companion, cook Maria Voronova, went to the Old Believers village of Tukhovezhi. The house they entered turned out to be the home of the local elder - it was he who handed over the guests to the German auxiliary police.
According to Voronova, Vlasov persistently posed as a refugee teacher, and only the next day he was identified from a photograph in the newspaper. According to other information, when the police entered the prisoners locked in the barn, a voice came out of the darkness in German: “Don’t shoot, I’m General Vlasov!”
For reasons of ambition
Already during the first interrogations, Vlasov showed his willingness to cooperate with the German leadership, providing information about the deployment of troops and characterizing the Soviet military leaders. But, given that the general was not aware of the plans of the General Staff for a long time, the information could be unreliable. A few weeks later, while in the Vinnitsa camp for captured officers, he is already offering his services in the fight against the Soviet regime.
What prompted the general, who enjoyed the favor of Stalin himself, to embark on the path of treason? The traditional version says that General Vlasov personally disliked Stalin and the dictatorship he created, and therefore decided that serving the Nazis was a choice of the lesser of two evils. Vlasov’s supporters, mainly from among the post-war emigration, argued that the hero of the defense of Moscow took an anti-Soviet position even before the war. He was allegedly pushed to this by the sad results of Stalin’s collectivization, which affected his native village.
After the war, Vlasov himself admitted during interrogations to MGB investigators that he reacted extremely hard to the purges in the ranks of the Red Army that took place in 1937-38. In many ways, this fact pushed him to betrayal.
The editor of the “Society” section of the Internet portal “Arguments and Facts,” Andrei Sidorchik, is not inclined to believe Vlasov’s statements. He believes that the true reason for the general’s betrayal should be sought in his insatiable love for fame and career growth. Having been captured, Vlasov could hardly count on a decent career and lifelong honors in his homeland, and therefore the only way out for him was to take the side of the enemy.
Similar thoughts were expressed by writer and journalist Ilya Erenburg. Vlasov is not Brutus or Prince Kurbsky, writes Ehrenburg, everything is much simpler: he expected to complete the task entrusted to him, accept Stalin’s congratulations, receive another order and, ultimately, rise. But it turned out differently. Once captured, he was afraid - his career was over. If the Soviet Union wins, at best he will be demoted. So, there is only one thing left: accept the Germans’ offer and do everything so that Germany wins. Ambition prevailed, the journalist concludes.
By the will of fate
There is information that despite the encirclement of the 2nd Shock Army, Stalin still trusted Vlasov and even before the general’s capture, he intended to give him an important section of the front in the Stalingrad area. It was for this reason that a plane was sent for Vlasov. Perhaps if Vlasov had returned to the Soviet rear, everything would have turned out just like that. And it is possible that a talented military leader could get the laurels of the winner, which were later given to Zhukov and Rokossovsky. But fate decided otherwise.
One of the few pieces of evidence telling about Vlasov’s time in captivity is the words of the German captain Wilfried Strik-Strikfeldt. On behalf of the head of the intelligence service of the German General Staff, Colonel Reinhard Gehlen, he searched among Soviet prisoners of war for a person who could lead the anti-Stalinist movement. It is noteworthy that Shtrikfeldt was a Russian German, originally from St. Petersburg, who served in the imperial army.
According to the captain, conversations with Vlasov were extremely confidential. He asked the general questions like these: “Is the fight against Stalin a matter not only of the Germans, but also a matter of the Russians themselves and other peoples of the Soviet Union?” Vlasov seriously thought about this, and after painful reflection, he made a choice in favor of the fight against Bolshevism, stated Strikfeldt.
If the German officer did not play a key role in Vlasov’s decision, he at least pushed him to such a choice. Inflated self-esteem, painful pride, stress, and confusion of the Soviet general contributed well to this.
An important fact that suggests that Vlasov was by no means an ideological fighter against Stalinism. During the trial in 1946, he did not even try to defend his convictions, although he had nothing to lose: he understood perfectly well that in any case he would be shot. On the contrary, Vlasov repented of the complete betrayal.
Stalin's agent
Recently, a version has become popular that Vlasov was in fact a strategic agent of the Kremlin, sent to the very heart of the Third Reich. The ultimate goal of this action is to intercept the leadership of the Eastern formations of the Wehrmacht and the SS.
For example, Russian military historian Viktor Filatov in his book “How many faces did General Vlasov have?” writes that sending Vlasov to the Volkhov Front was part of a special operation planned by Stalin and Soviet intelligence. According to the writer, Stalin knew that the Germans were preparing to form units from millions of Soviet prisoners of war to use them on the fronts against the Red Army. In order not to let the process take its course, Vlasov was sent to the place of the leader of this “foreign legion”.
To confirm his theory, Filatov refers to the entire subsequent course of military operations with the participation of the ROA. So, during the Berlin operation, Zhukov struck precisely in that sector of the defense where the 1st ROA division of Colonel Bunyachenko was located. The offensive began on April 16, 1945, and on the eve of April 15, the Vlasovites, allegedly by prior agreement, abandoned their positions.
Former Soviet intelligence officer Stanislav Lekarev claims that the Soviet command also used Vlasov units to confront the allies. According to him, Stalin understood that Anglo-American troops could pass through all of central and eastern Europe without resistance and block the Soviet army within the borders of the USSR in 1939-40. That is why at the Tehran Conference the Soviet leader insisted that the Allies land not in the south of France, but in Normandy. After all, a significant part of the western Atlantic Wall was defended by the eastern battalions of the Wehrmacht, under the control of General Vlasov.
Supporters of the official version - the betrayal of General Vlasov - have many questions about this openly conspiracy theory. Chief among them, why then did Stalin execute his protege? The most popular answer: “Vlasov was executed so as not to violate the conspiracy.”