In the history of the Second World War, if you want to choose the most warlike general, it is difficult to choose between Manstein, Zhukov, Guderian and others.
But to elect the most incompetent general, pavlov of the Soviet Union basically deserved it.
The Soviet "genius" general, who was on a par with Zhukov before the war, sent more than 600,000 Soviet troops into the Encirclement of the Germans in just eight days.
As a result, 290,000 Red Army soldiers were taken prisoner by the Nazis and 130,000 were killed or missing, marking the second defeat in the War of David after the Battle of Kiev.
in Pavlov
After such an unimaginable defeat, Stalin issued an arrest warrant for the former beloved general, and Pavlov was taken from the front and imprisoned and tried.
After receiving the verdict, Stalin took up his pen and crossed out 7 of them, but still executed Pavlov and relevant senior generals. Afterwards, Stalin also said 7 words in a meaningful way, and the words were intriguing.
(Stalin)
Why, then, did Stalin, as an outstanding statesman, make an immeasurable mistake in the selection and appointment of commanders, and as a general who was personally promoted by the leaders of the Soviet Union and had high hopes, why was Pavlov beaten to a crush in the early days of the Great Patriotic War, lost his division, and finally went to the execution ground? To clarify this question, we must start with the promotion of Pavlov the person!
< H1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > and Zhukov's equal name of the Soviet Gemini Pavlov's rocket promotion path</h1>
Born in 1897, Pavlov was a veteran of World War I and the Russian Civil War, and a graduate of the Frunze Military Academy, so he was able to do both practical and theoretical things.
In the late 1920s, under tukhachevsky's auspices, the Soviet Union organized two tank regiments of an experimental nature, and Pavlov, together with Zhukov, became the regimental commander after layers of screening.
If nothing else, they will be the two shining stars of the Red Army. Moreover, in 1936, Pavlov went to the battlefield of the Spanish Civil War as a military adviser and was awarded the honorary title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" for commanding a Soviet tank brigade unit.
in Tukhachevsky
Since then, Pavlov has soared. In 1940, he became commander of the Special Military District in the West (or Belarus). A year later, he was promoted to general, becoming the second largest figure in the Soviet military circles at that time after the "marshal", and was an extremely hot figure in the Soviet Red Army.
So why was Pavlov so discerned by Stalin?
In fact, militarily, Pavlov was one of the few experts in tank warfare. He was not only one of the first generals to participate in the formation of tank units, but also had experience in actual tank warfare command in the Spanish Civil War. Therefore, in Stalin's view, Pavlov was a tank warfare master with both theoretical knowledge and practical combat experience.
(Soviet T34 tank)
Politically, Pavlov had a high level of emotional intelligence and obedience. The report he wrote was clear and well-organized, and the discussion was old and heavy, unlike Zhukov, who was honest and did not show mercy to the leaders. At that time, the idea of tank group warfare put forward by Marshal Tukhachevsky was criticized as a bourgeois military idea.
At this time, Pavlov was firmly on Stalin's side, advocating the division of tanks into infantry divisions, and drew a line with the so-called "wrong thinking" of The Commander. Such an act of "knowing the times" allowed Pavlov to win the trust of the top leaders of the Soviet Union.
So Stalin boldly placed Pavlov in the position of commander of the crucial Belorussian Military District, putting him in charge of the Western Special Military District with 30 tank regiments, more than 2,500 tanks, and 625,000 men, hoping that Pavlov would be able to resist the invincible Nazi army in the coming Soviet-German war.
(Picture of the situation on the eve of the Soviet-German war)
However, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The self-righteous Stalin completely miscalculated ...
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > "Arson Captain" Pavlov – 1 man buried more than 400,000 Red Army troops</h1>
During World War II, Zhukov had the famous nickname "Captain of the Fire Brigade", which meant that he repeatedly saved the Soviet Union in the most critical times. The complete opposite is Pavlov, the arson captain, whose presence not only did not play a positive role, but because of his stupid command deployment, dull and backward tactical thinking, and sluggish response, the Soviet Union suffered a major defeat as soon as the war with the Nazis began.
(Barbarossa Project)
As early as the first half of 1941, a series of information on the possibility of a German attack on the Soviet Union was continuously transmitted to the Soviet high-level, but Stalin believed that this was a "provocation" between Britain and the United States, and he did not believe that the Germans would tear up the treaty so quickly.
However, in line with the principle that it is better to trust the intelligence rumors than to believe in them, he still warned his subordinates: If you have not received an order, you must not act rashly!
Therefore, under Stalin's admonition, the "political" officials and generals understood, and pavlov, a "highly disciplined" person, strictly obeyed Stalin's orders. Not only did he let down the necessary guard against the Germans, he didn't even believe that the Germans would attack.
So, the day before the Germans attacked, he did not forget to sing dogs and horses, and enjoyed a comedy by the famous playwright Alexander Kaonechuk in an officers' club, unaware at all that a terrible catastrophe was coming.
In fact, Pavlov, who occupied favorable terrain and had superior troops, would not have had a big problem even if he did not discount his execution of Stalin's orders, because what really caused the loss of the Western Front was not Stalin's orders, but Pavlov's stupid way of arranging troops.
Long before the Soviet-German war, the territory of the Soviet Union formed a "Białystok bulge" in the Belarusian region, which became a nail next to the Mouth of the German Army. At that time Pavlov believed that the Germans would fight a tough battle as in the first world war, so that they could only build a large number of strong fortifications in this place, and lay the 3rd, 4th, and 10th armies on this protrusion in a row, so that they could block the eastward German army.
In fact, this deployment is very good, and the good is good in the commander's wishful thinking. Because this deployment self-righteously believed that the German army would rampage, ignoring the possibility that the other side would directly bypass this difficult bone and send troops from other directions to wipe out the Soviet army.
(Białystok Protrusion)
It turned out that the Germans did not attack from the front as Pavlov had expected. Because on June 22, 1941, the powerful armored units of the Nazi German army quickly attacked, lightning attacked, one south and one north, two arrows fired in unison, straight into the Soviet hinterland, in just 5 days, the two major assault groups successfully met in Minsk (the distance from the border to Minsk was equivalent to one-third of Moscow), and most of the Soviet Western Front was encircled in one fell swoop in the pocket array from Białystok to Minsk.
(Schematic of the Battle of Minsk)
However, when the staff officer hurriedly reported to Pavlov the news that the German army had launched an offensive from the north and the south, Pavlov went so far as to say: "This is impossible, this news is boring." ”
In fact, as early as the third day of the German offensive, the situation on the battlefield was already in trouble. At that time, the Intention of the German Army to encircle the Soviet Army was already very clear. It is said that in this case, we should concentrate our superior weapons to break through, and we must not be wrapped in dumplings by the opponent.
But Pavlov did not do this, arrogant and arrogant, he overestimated his own strength, sent out his strongest cards, the 6th Mechanized Army and the 11th Mechanized Army, pavlov ordered them to launch a counterattack with the 6th Cavalry Army against the German army in Grodno.
Unexpectedly, the 6th Mechanized Army, equipped with 1,021 tanks (352 KB-1 and T-34 tanks), 229 armored vehicles, 163 mortars, and 172 artillery pieces, was cleanly destroyed by the Germans. Moreover, due to the lack of aviation coordination, air supremacy fell into the hands of the enemy, and this elite unit that gathered the soviet union on the western front was not an enemy of the Germans at all, and finally ended up with the total annihilation of the army.
(Old photos of the Soviet-German War)
Moreover, due to the failure of this counterattack, not only the elite tanks of the Soviet army were sent, but also because the troops took the initiative to move forward, and "cooperated" with the encirclement operation of the Germans, the Western Front army was completely plunged into the pocket of death that was difficult to escape.
Therefore, Pavlov, who knew that the tide was over, could only make the last decision - all the troops should collect any vehicles and horses and retreat across the board. However, in the face of the German mechanized forces with intensive firepower, the Red Army infantry and cavalry retreating on the eastern European plains became the living targets of the German army. As a result, a large number of soldiers shouted "Ulla" and fell into groups under enemy fire.
Finally, in less than half a month of fighting, 24 divisions of Pavlov's more than 600,000-strong Western Front were completely destroyed, the remaining 20 divisions lost 30-90% of their personnel and equipment, 290,000 were captured, 50,000 soldiers were missing, 80,000 soldiers were killed, and 1,500 artillery and more than 500 tanks were destroyed by the Germans.
(Captured Red Army)
This defeat also created a huge gap in the Soviet border, which finally forced the Soviet Union to transfer the army groups on other fronts to fill it, which also put it into a passive situation at the beginning of the war.
Such a major defeat plunged Stalin into a state of rage. He did not understand why his hand-drawn love would be so overwhelmed, and why the Belorussian theater of operations, which he had painstakingly managed, had been occupied by the enemy so quickly. However, no one was able to give him the answer.
Pavlov, who made a major mistake in the battle, was also uneasy after the war, fearing that he would be severely punished. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a warrant came into Pavlov's eyes, and he was arrested.
So, what would Stalin do with this beloved general?
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the first Soviet general to be executed</h1>
After seeing the cruel reality that the Western Front in the Belarusian region was basically ruined by Pavlov, Stalin, who could not bear it, arrested a group of senior western front generals, including Pavlov, for "participation in the anti-Soviet conspiracy" and "battlefield command mistakes" and sent them to a military court.
In court, Pavlov and others confessed their unshirkable responsibility for command, but did not believe that they were involved in the so-called anti-Soviet conspiracy.
Moreover, Pavlov, anxious to exonerate himself, even hoped that he would be able to go to the front line in any capacity and prove with his life his loyalty to the obligations of the Soviets and the soldiers.
But Stalin ignored this request, and he quickly sent the verdict to the major fronts after he crossed out the phrase "participant in the anti-Soviet conspiracy" on the verdict.
Thus, on the night of 22 July, Pavlov and three of his men were shot. He himself became the first senior Soviet military general to be executed since the beginning of the Soviet-German war.
However, Stalin's shooting of Pavlov did not prevent a series of defeats. After the crushing defeat in Belarus, the Soviet Union suffered one of the largest encirclement and annihilation battles in the history of human warfare in Kiev, in which more than 600,000 Red Army troops were annihilated, and the Soviet Union ushered in the most dangerous moment.
In fact, Pavlov's defeat certainly had the reasons for his own lack of command ability, poor combat readiness, and inability to adapt to the German blitzkrieg, but there were also many objective factors.
Stalin actually knew this. Therefore, after Pavlov was shot, when he spoke again about the reasons for this, Stalin said, "He was promoted too quickly!" This is the most fair sentence.
Thus, in the wars of the following years, Stalin, who realized his own problems, reduced his blind intervention in the front line, and at the same time his attitude towards the generals who made mistakes improved much, and quite a few generals who had lost battles continued to be entrusted with heavy responsibilities.
(Khrushchev)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > conclusion</h1>
Immediately after Stalin's death, Khrushchev, who was in power, set up an investigation team to retry the cases of Pavlov and others.
The investigation team believes that although Pavlov did make many major mistakes in the mobilization of the combat readiness of the troops of the military region, he did not commit the crime of greed for life and fear of death, deliberately undermining the command of the troops and surrendering to the enemy without fighting", so the previous charges against Pavlov were cancelled and his reputation was restored.
But in fact, the most fair evaluation actually came from the Soviet military history expert Volkogonov, who said of Pavlov:
Due to the shortage of cadres, they were appointed to many intermediate links and directly to senior positions, and they lacked experience and the wisdom of commanders (which could only be accumulated over time), but they were loyal to the motherland, bold, heroic, and true patriots.
Unfortunately, however, history has always sympathized only with the victors, and Pavlov and others have no choice but to interpret this ancient maxim at the cost of their lives.