After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the “secret report” published lists of innocent victims of Stalinist terror. The conclusion was drawn that as a result of the violation of the Leninist norms of party and country leadership, many talented commanders died, whose managerial skills in the Great Patriotic War could become invaluable. The names of Gamarnik, Tukhachevsky, Yakir were mentioned. Marshal Blucher, a hero of the civil war , also suffered .
The surname is non-Russian, although its owner is a peasant son from the Yaroslavl province. The fact is that in the era of the Napoleonic wars there was such a Prussian field marshal, who played a significant role in the defeat of Bonaparte's army at Waterloo. The landowner, the owner of the great-grandfather of the future commander, gave one of his peasants this nickname because of the heroic participation of the latter in the Crimean War. Great-grandson was born either in 1889, or in 1890.
Vasily Blyukher, when he grew up, worked in Petersburg first at the errands in the store, then at the car-building plant. He had a restless disposition, joined the class struggle early on, and was even sentenced to 32 months in prison.
With the outbreak of World War II, Blucher was mobilized, but did not immediately get to the front. At first he served in the Kremlin guard, and once on the front line, distinguished himself in battles, for which he was awarded a medal and two St. George crosses. In the non-commissioned officer’s rank, having been seriously wounded, Vasily was thoroughly commissioned and, working at the shipyards in Sormovo, joined the RSDLP.
The career that Blucher Vasily Konstantinovich made during the Civil War is amazing. The biography, which became available to a wide circle of readers after 1956, contains scant information that he, having started from a modest post of clerk of the 102nd reserve, has so far grown up for several months to a member of the Samara Revolutionary Military Committee.
Taking an active part in the Civil War, he became the most awarded Order Bearer of the Red Army. On his chest there were as many as four “Red Banners”, so many had none.
The Far East in 1921 became the place where Marshal Blucher reached the peak of his career. Numerous armed clashes with Japanese militarists, White Chinese and White Guard military units operating from the territory of Manchuria usually ended normally for the red commander. Actually, he was awarded the title of Marshal for the victory of the troops of the Far Eastern District in the battles for the CER.
Then there was the trial of Tukhacheshevsky and other "conspirators" (Eideman, Uborevich, Feldman, Putnoy and Cork), in which Marshal Blucher, along with Ulrich and Budyonny, took an active part. The honored hero of the Civil War stigmatized traitors and traitors, not realizing that he would soon take their place. Having proved his loyalty, he returned to his official duties, but the conflict on Lake Hassan of 1938 and its results alerted JV Stalin. Formally, everything was fine, the aggressor was defeated, but some circumstances, reported by "whoever needs it" to Moscow, revealed a number of shortcomings in command and control.
Stalin became aware that Marshal Blucher drinks a lot, and by no means tea. In his work, he took a passive position, does little to do business, and more and more settles personal problems. In those harsh times, leaders of this rank were not sent to retire. It was much simpler to accuse the objectionable commander of criminal negligence or espionage, which was done.
Marshal Blucher was lucky in a way. His health, undermined by a wound and really immoderate consumption of alcohol, could not stand the Lefortovo torture, he died in 1938, on November 9, without waiting for trial. The sentence was announced posthumously on March 10, 1939.