Stalin (71 page)

3

. Zhukov,

vol. 1, p. 260.

4

. Ibid, p. 264

5

. Cited in a speech written by Zhukov in May 1956 to be given at a Central Committee plenum that was to be devoted to the Cult of Personality but never took place; cited in

no. 2 (1995): 147.

6

. Chernobaev,

p. 337.

7

. Cited in Zhukov,

vol. 1, p. 265.

8

. Cited in L. E. Reshin et al., comps.,

(Moscow, 1998), vol. 2, p. 432.

9

. Chernobaev,

p. 337.

Lev Zakharovich Mekhlis (1889–1953) was one of Stalin’s assistants in the 1920s, after which he held a number of senior posts and enjoyed Stalin’s wholehearted trust. After war with Germany broke out, Stalin put Mekhlis in charge of the political offices within the Red Army that were supposed to exercise political control over commanders. Mekhlis’s bungling at the front infuriated Stalin but did not undermine his trust in his faithful helper. Mekhlis went on to hold a number of senior posts on various fronts. After the war, he was put in charge of the Ministry of State Control. Poor health forced him into retirement. He died several weeks before Stalin and was buried at the foot of the Kremlin walls, alongside other Soviet leaders and heroes.

10

. Cited in Zhukov,

vol. 1, p. 265.

11

. Reshin et al.,

p. 431.

12

. For versions of Molotov’s speech, see

no. 2 (1995): 34–39.

13

. John Erickson,

(London, 2003), p. 177.

14

. Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov (1882–1945) was one of the few Red Army officers to retain Stalin’s trust even as he reached a position of seniority. On the eve of the war with Germany and during its initial phase Shaposhnikov was head of the army’s General Staff and deputy defense commissar, but he had to resign due to illness. He died a few weeks before the fall of Berlin.

15

. Reshin et al.,

pp. 439–440.

16

. Zhukov,

vol. 1, p. 268.

17

.

no. 4 (2005): 4.

18

. M. I. Mel’tiukhov,

(Moscow, 2002), p. 413.

19

. Zhukov,

vol. 1, p. 340.

20

. Memoirs of Chadaev published in

no. 2 (2005): 7.

21

. Semen Mikhailovich Budenny (1883–1973) commanded the First Cavalry Army during the Civil War and was a supporter of Stalin during this period. He went on to become a marshal and held top military posts, including first deputy people’s commissar of defense.

22

. Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (1902–1974) was head of the naval commissariat and commander in chief of the navy from 1939 to 1946. After the war he fell into disfavor and was demoted, but in 1951–1953 he was again placed in charge of the naval ministry. He lost command of the navy for good in 1955 after the loss of a battleship.

23

. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 36, l. 22;

no. 6 (1990): 196–197.

24

. N. G. Kuznetsov,

(Moscow, 1989), p. 327.

25

. N. V. Petrov,

(Moscow, 2011), p. 85–93.

26

.

no. 2 (1995): 29–32;

no. 6 (1990): 208–209, 212–214.

27

. Interview by Georgy Kumanev of I. V. Kovalev, who was serving as deputy commissar for state control when the war broke out and was in charge of rail transport.

no. 3 (2005): 149–150.

28

. Reshin et al.,

p. 497; F. Chuev,

(Moscow, 1991), p. 52.

29

. In his memoirs Zhukov states that Stalin came to the defense commissariat twice (

vol. 1, p. 287); however, there are no other sources to corroborate this assertion.

30

. Mikoyan’s recollections are reported in Reshin et al.,

pp. 497–498.

31

. Letter to the Soviet leadership from Lavrenty Beria after his arrest in 1953; published in

no. 4 (1994): 7; recollections of Anastas Mikoyan published in Reshin et al.,

pp. 498–499.

32

. Cited in Reshin et al.,

p. 498.

33

. Cited in Chuev,

p. 330.

34

. Recollections of Anastas Mikoyan published in Reshin et al.,

pp. 498–499.

35

. The original text is among Mikoyan’s personal papers, which are held by RGASPI.

36

. Mikoian,

p. 391.

37

. Iu. A. Gor’kov,

(Moscow, 2002), pp. 30–31.

38

.

no. 7 (1990): 208, and no. 8 (1990): 208; RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 1319, l. 93.

39

. Interview of Ivan Peresypkin, wartime communications commissar, by Georgy Kumanev;

no. 3 (2003): 65.

40

. The speech is cited in

3 July 1941.

41

. Order by People’s Commissar for Defense Stalin, 28 June 1941. In V. A. Zolotarev, ed.,

vol. 13 (2–2) (Moscow, 1997), pp. 37–38.

42

. G. F. Krivosheev et al.,

(Moscow, 2009), pp. 60–61.

43

. Conversations between Stalin and commanders in the Western Direction, 26 July 1941; cited in V. A. Zolotarev, ed.,

vol. 16 (5–1) (Moscow, 1996), pp. 92–93.

44

. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 167, d. 60, l. 49.

45

. D. A. Volkogonov,

vol. 2, pt. 1 (Moscow, 1989), p. 167.

46

. Cited in Zolotarev,

vol. 16 (5–1), p. 361.

47

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 492, l. 35;

no. 9 (1990): 213.

48

. V. N. Khaustov et al., comps.,

(Moscow, 2006), pp. 317–318.

49

. For the texts of these decisions with changes entered by Stalin, see

(Moscow, 2010), pp. 37–40.

50

. Khaustov et al.,

pp. 317–318.

51

. Reshin et al.,

pp. 476–479.

52

. Cited in

no. 7 (1990): 209.

53

.

no. 1 (1993): 45–46.

54

. Interview of I. V. Kovalev by Georgy Kumanev published in

no. 3 (2005): 160–161.

55

. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 235, l. 123.

56

. Zhukov,

vol. 1, pp. 350–353.

57

. Krivosheev et al.,

p. 84.

58

. Cited in Zolotarev,

vol. 16 (5–1), pp. 108–109;

no. 9 (1990): 199–200.

59

. A. M. Vasilevskii,

(Moscow, 1978), p. 132.

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Vasilevsky (1895–1977) was a renowned Soviet marshal and leading figure in the Great Patriotic War who served as deputy chief and then chief of the General Staff and commanded Soviet troops in the Far East during the war with Japan. After the war he served as minister of defense.

60

. Krivosheev et al.,

p. 85.

61

. Interview with Zhukov published in K. Simonov,

(Moscow, 1989), p. 361.

62

. Zolotarev,

vol. 16 (5–1), pp. 175.

63

. Simonov,

pp. 361–363.

64

.

no. 1 (1992): 77, and nos. 6–7 (1992): 17; Zolotarev,

vol. 16 (5–1), pp. 378–379.

65

. A. E. Golovanov,

… (Moscow, 2004), p. 78.

66

.

no. 12 (1990): 210–211.

67

. Mikoian,

p. 417. Mikoyan writes that this was on 16 October, but he definitely refers to the discussion of the order to evacuate Moscow that was actually adopted on 15 October. This meeting evidently took place in Stalin’s apartment.

68

.

no. 12 (1990): 217.

69

. Interview with Aleksandr Vasilevsky in Simonov,

p. 446.

70

. NKVD report dated 21 October 1941; published in

no. 5 (1995): 152.

71

. M. M. Gorinov et al., comps.,

(Moscow, 1995), p. 550;

no. 1 (1991): 217.

72

. Gorinov et al.,

pp. 111, 116–119; Mikoian,

pp. 419–420.

73

. A. I. Shakhurin,

(Moscow, 1990), pp. 156–157.

74

.

no. 1 (1991): 215–216, and no. 4 (1991): 210–214;

no. 3 (1997): 92.

75

. S. V. Tochenov, “Volneniia i zabastovki na tekstil’nykh predpriiatiiakh Ivanovskoi oblast osen’iu 1941 goda,”

no. 3 (2004): pp. 42–47;

no. 2 (1994): 111–136.

76

. Cited in G. K. Zhukov,

(Moscow, 2002), vol. 2, pp. 26–27.

77

. Cited in

7 November 1941.

78

. S. V. Deviatov et al.,

(Moscow, 2010), p. 87.

79

. Ibid., pp. 57–61, 64.

80

.

8 November 1941.

81

. Deviatov et al.,

p. 61.

82

. K. M. Anderson et al., comps.,

(Moscow, 2005), p. 639.

83

. Cited in V. A. Zolotarev, ed.,

vol. 16 (5–2) (Moscow, 1996), pp. 33–35.

84

. R. V. Mazurkevich, “Plany i real’nost’,”