In the hot July of 1941, the front of the Soviet army, located in the west, was completely defeated by the Nazis. The total number of enemy troops was significantly inferior to ours in number. In those days, namely 74 years ago, this front practically ceased to exist.
Secret Ordinance and Death List
In those difficult days when these events took place, all the soldiers were read the text of an extremely classified decree under No. 169. Its publication dates from July 16, 1941. For a long time, the content of this document was top-secret. And only during the reign of Gorbachev, when the supreme authority of the country made a statement that there were no prohibited topics in the history of the Second World War, the contents of this document were published.
The essence of the decision
In this decision, it was said that all alarmists, cowards and deserters were considered worse than enemies. Because they not only undermine the common cause, but also significantly hurt the honor of the army. Therefore, the ruthless reprisal against them, which allows restoring discipline in the military ranks, is considered the military duty of the entire command. And all this was done in order to maintain the name of a fighter of the Red Army in an appropriate light.
After this text, the document listed 9 names of generals and commissars of the Western Front. They were supposed to appear before a military court for allegedly disgracing the title they wore. They were also credited with cowardice, the voluntary transfer of weapons to enemies, and the fact that they arbitrarily left their positions. The first on this terrible death row was General Pavlov, commander of the Western Front.
The beginning of a military career
Dmitry Grigorievich Pavlov was from the Kostroma province. There, in 1897, the future colonel general was born into the family of a poor peasant.
He received his first education first in a rural school, and then in a classroom school. After that, in 1914, he voluntarily joined the army of the Russian Empire. This was the beginning of the First World War. During his service, he rose very much in rank. Pavlov came to the front as a simple private, and after a while he became a senior non-commissioned officer. In 1916 he fell into German captivity and remained there as a forced labor until 1919, and after the surrender of Germany he returned to his homeland.
Soon after his return, he becomes a Bolshevik. His career as a red commander begins in the 56th food battalion of the Red Army and is rapidly developing. He fought with the Makhno units, and also participated in the fighting of the Southern Front. Pavlov occupies all the highest posts, but the war is nearing completion, the army begins to decline. Opportunities for further career advancement are also being lost.
Military education Pavlova
For a period of almost 15 years, Dmitry Grigoryevich remains in the position of regiment commander. All this time he was actively engaged in his military education, since the family of General Pavlov was very poor and could not give him this education earlier. First, the Omsk Joint Higher Military School of Siberia, where he is engaged in improving the skills of a cavalry officer, then - the Frunze Military Academy. In between studies, Pavlov fought with the Basmachi gangs in Central Asia. There he was an assistant regiment commander. After graduation, Dmitry Grigoryevich takes part in the hostilities taking place in Manchuria.
He gained his first skills in controlling armored vehicles in 1931 in courses. They were conducted by the Leningrad Military Transport Academy. It was this type of military equipment that became very popular at that time, and Pavlov linked his further career with it. After that, the future general again takes the post of commander of the 6th mechanized regiment, which was stationed in Gomel.
Only at the beginning of 1934, he finally became the leader of the brigade, the place of deployment of which was the city of Bobruisk. After that, a little more than two years passed, and Pavlov fell into the Civil War in Spain. There he found his pseudonym - General Pablo.
General Pablo's participation in hostilities in Spain
In the Spanish war, Pavlov Dmitry Grigoryevich, who had the pseudonym General Pablo, participated only for eight months. There, he was not only the commander of his mechanized brigade, but also coordinated the actions of combat groups in 9-11 brigades. After that, his active career growth begins. During the fighting on Spanish territory, Pavlov received the title of Hero of the USSR. After that, he was awarded the rank of comcor. He became the head of ABTU. Virtually all historians recognized the mite that Pavlov Dmitry Grigoryevich contributed to the material development of the armored forces under his command.
Pavlov and the Great Patriotic War
Even before World War II, Pavlov was appointed commander of the Western Special Military District. This event occurred in the summer of 1940. And already in 1941, Pavlov, Hero of the Soviet Union, became a general in the army.
It was precisely on the military district subordinate to him in 1941 that the main offensive of the Third Reich troops came. If we take into account the correlation of the experience of forces at that time, we can conclude that the Red Army had no chance of winning this resistance. Despite this fact, the top leadership of the Soviet Union decided to significantly aggravate the situation thanks to the actions taken by General Pavlov, commander of the Western Front.
Pavlov's arrest and sentencing
General Pavlov was arrested on July 4, 1941. At first they wanted to charge him with treason as an accusation. But a little later it was decided that the guilt of General Pavlov is that he showed cowardice, inaction and indiscretion. These “sins” were attributed to all those who were on the death row list together with Dmitry Grigoryevich. The execution of General Pavlov was scheduled for July 28, 1941.
A number of reasons can be given to explain such a severe punishment. First of all, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the disaster in the Western District was significant. Colonel General Pavlov was a protege of Uborevich and Meretskov. Therefore, his actions were particularly suspicious. In addition, one of the reasons why they shot General Pavlov was his successful political career.
Find the beautiful before meeting the terrible
Most modern historians and publicists are inclined to believe that it was Pavlov, the army general, who did everything so that the Nazis instantly captured bridges and crossings and destroyed a significant part of Russian aviation.
It should be noted that his guilt is really significant. Even when he already knew about the attack of Hitler’s troops on the Soviet Union, he did not consider it necessary to cancel the performance of the Moscow Art Theater, which was to be held in Minsk on June 22 on a stage belonging to the garrison house of the Red Army. Moreover, just a few hours before this fateful event, General Pavlov was at the same death in Moscow.
And even when the people who went to the theatrical performance heard radio announcements about the air attack, sounding vying from all sides, they didn’t understand anything and thought that the military had not chosen a very good time for training. And only after the end of the first act of death, the people were announced from the scene that military operations had begun and that all employees in the hall should immediately appear at the military registration and enlistment office. As for everyone else, they can watch the performance and then go home.
This indicates that even high military ranks did not predict what the scale of this disaster would be.
Activities in the troops of the Western District
At the disposal of the troops of the Western Front was a fairly large number of tanks, manpower and aircraft, which significantly exceeded the strength of the enemy. But Soviet generals were not familiar with military history and did not take into account the fact that representatives of the Prussian military school use a predictable raid even when the enemy outnumbers them. German troops possessed the highest technical and tactical combat training, and the Soviet army was completely unprepared for war. She did not have clear ideas about how to conduct strategic defense, which was inevitable in this situation.
Significant errors of Pavlov and his subordinates
But General Pavlov and his subordinates also made a large number of mistakes. Almost all artillery was sent to training firing, which took place in the rear. From the training site to the future front line was several hundred kilometers. The construction of alternate aerodromes was very slow, on which combat aircraft should be located if the Germans attacked the country. Because of this, the Nazis very quickly destroyed all Soviet aircraft on the ground.
Tank-dangerous directions were not closed with the help of minefields, although there was talk of this among the military authorities. Bridges were also not prepared for a meeting with the Nazis. Not mined, they simplified the crossing of water barriers by German tankers, as they had the ability to simply move along bridges. Not protected and communication lines. They were destroyed in one night by German saboteurs, members of the Brandenburg 800 division.
Who is to blame for the defeat?
Pavlov realized the insolvency of the Soviet army on the first day and quickly reported it to the authorities. But the command was firmly convinced that no one would outwit Stalin, and even Hitler could not do it. It should be noted that representatives of the Soviet military elite (not all, of course) were not ready to make independent decisions and organize defense. There was a large deficit in courage and a willingness to surrender. Pavlov suggested that the war could not begin so quickly, and there is still time to prepare for it.
In the history of World War II, another general Pavlov is mentioned. The 25th tank corps, which dealt a terrible blow to Hitler's shelter, was under the command of Major General Pyotr Petrovich Pavlov. This is a man on whose account a very large number of brave and wise military actions. Both commanders are not interconnected by anything except their last name and rank.
In 1957, the case of General Pavlov was again examined, and he was rehabilitated posthumously. He was also restored to his rank. Stalin was found guilty of all this. But this did not happen because the innocence of General Pavlov was established, but because it was just necessary to blame Stalin for something and prove his guilt of the unpreparedness of the Soviet army for military operations. Although, most likely, the time to objectively evaluate the activities of the general has not yet come.