German chronicle of the capture of General Vlasov. From heroism to betrayal. The true story of General Vlasov. If Vlasov is innocent, then who

If any of the participants in the events of those years are listed as living, it is most likely due to a coincidence of extraordinary circumstances. By a similar coincidence, this material on yellowed handwritten sheets came to me ten years ago when I was working as a field journalist in several Kharkov publications. An elderly woman, a veteran of the Second World War, who handed over the material, said that it was sent by “her friend Senya, who left for Israel” with a request to publish it in the city of his childhood and youth.

This is the story told by Captain Mikhail Yakushev, who captured the commander-in-chief of the ROA, General Vlasov, on May 12, 1945.

Military journalist Semyon Kremerman, who wrote down Captain Yakushev’s story, which did not coincide too closely with the official version of the Soviet years, in his front-line notebook, was born in 1918 in Sumy, lived and studied in Kharkov, and later moved to Israel.

Alternative version: Capture of General Vlasov

On May 12, 1945, the order to dissolve the ROA was signed and the song of Vlasov’s army “We are marching across wide fields” was sung for the last time.

According to military journalist Semyon Kremerman, who once met with Mikhail Yakushev, the man who captured General Andrei Vlasov, there was no brilliantly carried out disarmament operation developed by the SA General Staff. And this is what happened:

“For more than half a century, I have repeatedly come across descriptions of the captivity of General Vlasov. The legend grew more and more new facts, as if new names and surnames of supposedly real participants emerged from a thick fog.

This could not help but worry me, who, by the will of fate, was one of the few who knew the truth of those May days of the victorious year, when the organizer of the so-called Vlasov army was captured.

Unlike my friend, also a military journalist for our newspaper, Guard Captain Stepan Khudayev, who worked in the 162nd Tank Brigade, where the main events of this story unfolded, I was not personally acquainted with the commander of the motorized rifle battalion, Captain Mikhail Yakushev. The 175th Brigade was assigned to me.

It just so happened that Stepan himself, after the capture of that general, did not have a chance to talk to Yakushev face to face. And we were both content with the information about what happened from the operatives. There were rumors that Yakushev was nominated for the highest award of the Motherland. Once we told our editor that it was time to tell the soldiers of our unit about how Vlasov’s army ceased to exist, but he ordered to wait, allegedly for reasons of censorship.

Yakushev Mikhail Ivanovich

Fate brought me together with the hero of this whole story, Mikhail Yakushev, in July 1945. In the Hungarian town of Körmend, where our unit was stationed, Khudaev and I rented half of a small house, in the other half of which lived a Hungarian tailor. One evening, Mikhail Yakushev, whom Khudaev knew well, came to our owner of the house to receive an order.

You, Misha, were sent to us by God himself,” said Stepan, pouring into a glass the best wine that we kept for our closest and dearest guests. – You know us, we are journalists, meticulous people. I would like to get everything first hand with all the details. Tell me everything from the heart.

By the way, I intervened, “Haven’t you received the Hero Star yet?”

Stop doing that! You never know what they are chattering about. As for how it all happened, I don’t believe it myself, there was some kind of excitement, but rather, luck that happens once in a lifetime. I forgot about the fear of dying after the Victory, about everything in the world. You guys probably knew the situation at the beginning of May as well as I did.

Towards the end of the battles for Berlin, our formation received a new combat mission: operating on the flanks of the troops, to rush to the aid of the rebellious Prague. They drained the fuel from most of the vehicles, refueled some of the tanks with it, and - forward to the capital of Czechoslovakia. But on the march, an order was received for individual units of the corps to come into contact with the main forces of the American troops in the Nepomuk area, where Vlasov’s army was concentrated in the forests.

“It was sunny, the smell of young grass was intoxicating,” the captain continued his story. “I was sitting on a hill not far from the commander of my 162nd tank brigade, Colonel Mishchenko. We were expecting the second pair of envoys to emerge from the forest. But the return did not bring any consolation. Like the first couple, the Vlasovites sent them away.

These are idiots,” the colonel spat out the newly lit cigarette. - Well, not all of them are inveterate bandits. Many were recruited among prisoners of war, and not for the sake of an idea, but, perhaps, because of a piece of bread, and with the hope of defecting to their own people, they went under the banner of Vlasov’s army. At least go and persuade him.

Maybe I'll try, I said then.

And without waiting for an answer, he took off his belt and holster, rushed to his car and stepped on the gas. The brigade commander shouted something after him, but I no longer heard anything. The forest clearing along which I was driving quickly ended. In a large clearing, groups of Vlasovites stood, sat, and lay down. Braked sharply...

Another agitator has appeared, not dusty, I hear behind me. He clenched his teeth and said nothing. He jumped out of the car, opened the trunk and pulled out an almost untouched box of cognac onto the grass.

Help yourself! - I say. And he himself - to the captain, who stood silently not far away:

Help, I guess, like me, I’m tired of fighting and want to go home?! I guarantee life and forgiveness. Order your people to come out of the forest and lay down their weapons. If you are hoping to go over to the Americans, you are mistaken. Our commander has already had a conversation with them. Even though they are rich, judge for yourself: why the hell should they feed you for free?

“I think so too,” answered the Vlasovite. - But do you see the log house between the birches? The regiment commander is there. As soon as he notices something wrong, we are all screwed.

And you,” I say, “send your people in small groups along this clearing, not far from here.” And together, let’s figure out how to deliver your regiment commander to us in person.

ADN-ZB. World War II, 1939-1945. General Vlasov speaks to the soldiers.

We just didn’t have time to discuss this plan. Through another clearing there was an overview of the Prague-Pilsen highway, and on it the Vlasov captain (as I later learned, a battalion commander named Kuchinsky) saw an armored car with an American flag. A large convoy followed him towards the Allies.

“Our headquarters,” he blurted out, and, shouting to the driver: “Start it!”, he dragged me to his car. We rushed along the clearing. Several cars managed to pass in front of us. The decision came at the same time.

Place it across the road and cut through the column! – we shouted to the driver. And as soon as by some miracle we managed to overcome the ditch with a steep slope, we jumped out of the car. At the same time, Kuchinsky threw his machine gun to me as I ran. The cars that were in front accelerated and disappeared around a bend in the road, while the others slowed down. I didn't even have time to think that a hail of bullets could be fired from each one. All that was buzzing in my head was: Vlasov! Vlasov!

The drivers got out of their cars and, according to German training, lined up at the wings. Kuchinsky and I ran along the column. A nod from one of the drivers made us stop. I understood: General Vlasov is here. He pulled the door open and pointed the machine gun inside. I pulled the general out from under the unnaturally folded carpet, and the two of us dragged him to our car. Everything happened like in a movie, like in a dream. The entire column rushed from its place. Not a single shot was fired. Hell knows, maybe they were disarmed, but, most likely, saving their own skins and spitting on the fate of their commander, the staff officers were glad to be in American captivity.

ADN-ZB. Meeting of Joseph Goebbels with General Vlasov and Lieutenant General Zhilenkov in Berlin, 28.2.1945.

That's probably all. We took Vlasov to corps headquarters by another route. At first the prisoner did not want to talk to our commander, but he managed to convince him to sign an order to his subordinates to surrender their weapons. Vlasov did this with a trembling hand and said:

It would be better to shoot yourself.

Well, then, accompanied by a tank company with a landing party, Vlasov was taken to the front headquarters.

That’s the whole story,” Yakushev said, smiling.

Semyon Kremerman, guard captain, military journalist.

What about the General Staff operation? We will not get an answer to this question. Just as we will never know how many new names at different levels of the military pyramid appeared in the lists of those awarded, how many new stars sparkled on the shoulder straps of those who were included in the capture of General Vlasov ... "

Updated: April 18, 2019 by: Marko Bayanov

Video site

Don't forget to follow our news on social networks.

Much has been written about General Vlasov, but for some reason, not a single source speaks in any way about how the general ended up in captivity. This moment is always described in general terms. This is despite the fact that there is a specific witness to this arrest who testified about how it happened.

From the protocol of interrogation on September 21, 1945 of Maria Ignatievna VORONOVA, born in 1909, who arrived from Berlin and settled in the city of Baranovichi.

Question: Tell me, do you know the former Lieutenant General of the Red Army Vlasov?

Answer: Yes, I know Andrei Andreevich Vlasov, a former lieutenant general of the Red Army, from 1942 through the 20th and then the 2nd Shock Army.

Question: Under what circumstances did you meet Vlasov and what do you know about his capture by German troops?

Answer: In 1942, around February, I entered service in the 20th Army as a civilian. She served in the military trade system as a chef of the 20th Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Andrey Andreevich Vlasov.

In the field, approximately after Novo-Petrovsk, I was transferred to work in the canteen of the military council of the 20th Army and then I personally met Vlasov.

At the beginning of March 1942, Vlasov was summoned to Moscow, where, in addition to his direct subordinates, he took me as a cook. In view of Vlasov’s appointment to the Volkhov Front, he left Moscow, I went with him, and subsequently he was appointed deputy commander of the 2nd Shock Army.

Being in the 2nd Shock Army at the headquarters as a chef, I, together with the army headquarters, found myself surrounded, where Vlasov also found himself.

Being surrounded, Vlasov, among 30-40 staff members, tried to connect with units of the Red Army, but nothing worked. Wandering through the forest, we connected with the leadership of one division, the commander of which was Cherny, and there were already about 200 of us.

Around June 1942, near Novgorod, the Germans discovered us in the forest and forced a battle, after which Vlasov, I, soldier Kotov and driver Pogibko escaped into the swamp, crossed it and reached the villages. Killed with the wounded soldier Kotov went to one village, and Vlasov and I went to another.

When we entered a village, I don’t know its name, we went into one house, where we were mistaken for partisans, the local “self-defense” surrounded the house, and we were arrested. We were put in a collective farm barn, and the next day the Germans arrived, showed Vlasov a portrait of him in a general’s uniform cut out from a newspaper, and Vlasov was forced to admit that he was really Lieutenant General Vlasov. Previously, he had been recommended by a refugee teacher.

The Germans, making sure that they had caught Lieutenant General Vlasov, put us in a car and brought us to the Siverskaya station, to the German headquarters. Here I was put in a prisoner of war camp located in Malaya Vyra, and two days later Vlasov was taken to Germany...

The protocol from my words was recorded correctly and read by me.

VORONOVA.

Interrogated by: Head of the 10th Department of the 2nd UNKGB

Baranovichi region

Major VINOKUROV.

So a very interesting picture emerges: Vlasov was arrested not by the Germans, but by ordinary Russian peasants from the “self-defense” of the village. They preferred to hand over unknown people to the Germans, fearing reprisals against them for being accused of helping the partisans.

I am sure that the Germans thanked these “self-defense men” well. Well, the Soviet authorities, after the war, even more so, did not forget about their “gratitude.”

Another interesting point. During a search of Vlasov in the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 13th Army on May 13, 1945, the following were confiscated: thirty thousand German Reichsmarks; serviceman's book "ROA"; certificate of awarding a German medal; an open letter from ROA soldiers and officers to the governments of the USA and Great Britain about granting them political asylum; pay book of the commanding staff of the Red Army; identity card of the Red Army general No. 431 dated February 13, 1941; party card of a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) No. 2123998 - all in the name of Andrey Andreevich Vlasov.

Save it just in case...

From the editor:

Every year on May 9, our country celebrates Victory Day and pays tribute to the valiant defenders of the Fatherland - living and dead. But it turns out that not everyone who should be remembered with a kind word is remembered and known by us. The lies of totalitarian ideology have given rise to myths for many years. Myths that became truth for several generations of Soviet people. But sooner or later the truth becomes known. People, as a rule, are in no hurry to part with myths. It’s more convenient and familiar this way... Here is one of the stories about how a national hero, a favorite of the authorities, “became a traitor.” This story happened with the combat lieutenant general of the Red Army Andrei Vlasov.

Who are you, General Vlasov?

So, autumn 1941. The Germans attack Kyiv. However, they cannot take the city. The defense has been greatly strengthened. And it is headed by a forty-year-old Major General of the Red Army, commander of the 37th Army, Andrei Vlasov. A legendary figure in the army. Came all the way - from private to general. He went through the civil war, graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, and studied at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. Friend of Mikhail Blucher. Just before the war, Andrei Vlasov, then still a colonel, was sent to China as military advisers to Chiang Kai-shek. He received the Order of the Golden Dragon and a gold watch as a reward, which aroused the envy of the entire Red Army generals. However, Vlasov was not happy for long. Upon returning home, at Almaty customs the order itself, as well as other generous gifts from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, were confiscated by the NKVD...

Returning home, Vlasov quickly received general's stars and an appointment to the 99th Infantry Division, famous for its backwardness. A year later, in 1941, the division was recognized as the best in the Red Army and was the first among the units to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle. Immediately after this, Vlasov, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense, took command of one of the four created mechanized corps. Headed by a general, he was stationed in Lvov and was practically one of the very first units of the Red Army to enter hostilities. Even Soviet historians were forced to admit that the Germans “got punched in the face for the first time,” precisely from the mechanized corps of General Vlasov.

However, the forces were unequal, and the Red Army retreated to Kyiv. It was here that Joseph Stalin, shocked by Vlasov’s courage and ability to fight, ordered the general to gather the retreating units in Kyiv, form the 37th Army and defend Kyiv.

So, Kyiv, September-August 1941. Fierce fighting is taking place near Kyiv. German troops are suffering colossal losses. In Kyiv itself... there are trams.

Nevertheless, the well-known Georgy Zhukov insists on the surrender of Kyiv to the attacking Germans. After a small intra-army “showdown,” Joseph Stalin gives the order: “Leave Kyiv.” It is unknown why Vlasov’s headquarters was the last to receive this order. History is silent about this. However, according to some as yet unconfirmed reports, this was revenge on the obstinate general. The revenge of none other than Army General Georgy Zhukov. After all, just recently, a few weeks ago, Zhukov, while inspecting the positions of the 37th Army, came to Vlasov and wanted to stay the night. Vlasov, knowing Zhukov’s character, decided to joke and offered Zhukov the best dugout, warning him about night shelling. According to eyewitnesses, the army general changed his face after these words and hastened to retreat from his position. It’s clear, said the officers present, who wants to expose their heads... On the night of September 19, practically undestroyed Kyiv was abandoned by Soviet troops.

Later, we all learned that 600,000 military personnel ended up in the “Kiev cauldron” through Zhukov’s efforts. The only one who withdrew his army from encirclement with minimal losses was “Andrei Vlasov, who did not receive the order to withdraw.”

Having been out of the Kyiv encirclement for almost a month, Vlasov caught a cold and was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of inflammation of the middle ear. However, after a telephone conversation with Stalin, the general immediately left for Moscow. The role of General Vlasov in the defense of the capital is discussed in the article “The failure of the German plan to encircle and capture Moscow” in the newspapers “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “Izvestia” and “Pravda” dated December 13, 1941. Moreover, among the troops the general is called nothing less than “the savior of Moscow.” And in the “Certificate for Army Commander Comrade. Vlasov A.A.,” dated 24.2.1942 and signed by deputy. head HR Department of the NPO Personnel Directorate of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Zhukov and head. The Sector of the Personnel Administration of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) reads: “By working as a regiment commander from 1937 to 1938 and by working as a rifle division commander from 1939 to 1941, Vlasov is certified as comprehensively developed, well prepared in operational and tactical terms commander."

(Military Historical Journal, 1993, N. 3, pp. 9-10.). This has never happened in the history of the Red Army: possessing only 15 tanks, General Vlasov stopped Walter Model’s tank army in the Moscow suburb of Solnechegorsk and pushed back the Germans, who were already preparing for a parade on Moscow’s Red Square, 100 kilometers away, liberating three cities... It was from which he received the nickname “the savior of Moscow.” After the battle of Moscow, the general was appointed deputy commander of the Volkhov Front.

What remains behind the Sovinformburo reports?

And everything would be just great if, after the completely mediocre operational policy of the Headquarters and the General Staff, Leningrad found itself in a ring akin to Stalingrad. And the Second Shock Army, sent to the rescue of Leningrad, was hopelessly blocked in Myasny Bor. This is where the fun begins. Stalin demanded punishment for those responsible for the current situation. And the highest military officials sitting on the General Staff really did not want to hand over their drinking buddies, the commanders of the Second Shock, to Stalin. One of them wanted to have absolute command of the front, without having any organizational abilities for this. The second, no less “skillful”, wanted to take this power away from him.

The third of these “friends,” who drove the Red Army soldiers of the Second Shock Army in front under German fire, later became the Marshal of the USSR and the Minister of Defense of the USSR. The fourth, who did not give a single clear command to the troops, imitated a nervous attack and left... to serve in the General Staff. Stalin was informed that “the group’s command needs to strengthen its leadership.” Here Stalin was reminded of General Vlasov, who was appointed commander of the Second Shock Army. Andrei Vlasov understood that he was flying to his death. As a person who went through the crucible of this war near Kiev and Moscow, he knew that the army was doomed, and no miracle would save it. Even if he himself is a miracle - General Andrei Vlasov, savior of Moscow.

One can only imagine that the military general changed his mind « Douglas », flinching from the explosions of German anti-aircraft guns, and who knows, if the German anti-aircraft gunners had been luckier, they would have shot down this « Douglas » .

Whatever grimace history would make... And now we would not have the heroically deceased Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Andrei Andreevich Vlasov. According to existing, I emphasize, information that has not yet been confirmed, there was a proposal against Vlasov on Stalin’s table. And the Supreme Commander-in-Chief even signed it...

Official propaganda presents further events as follows: traitor general A. Vlasov voluntarily surrendered. With all the ensuing consequences...

But few people to this day know that when the fate of the Second Shock became obvious, Stalin sent a plane for Vlasov. Of course, the general was his favorite! But Andrei Andreevich has already made his choice. And he refused to evacuate, sending the wounded on the plane. Eyewitnesses of this incident say that the general threw through his teeth « What kind of commander abandons his army to destruction? »

There are eyewitness accounts that Vlasov refused to abandon the fighters of the 2nd Shock Army who were actually dying of hunger due to the criminal mistakes of the Supreme Command and fly away to save his life. And not the Germans, but the Russians, who went through the horrors of the German and then Stalinist camps and, despite this, did not accuse Vlasov of treason. General Vlasov with a handful of fighters decided to break through to his...

Captivity

On the night of July 12, 1942, Vlasov and a handful of soldiers accompanying him went to the Old Believer village of Tukhovezhi and took refuge in a barn. And at night, the barn where the encirclement found shelter was broken into... no, not the Germans. To this day it is unknown who these people really were. According to one version, these were amateur partisans. According to another - armed local residents, led by the church warden, decided to buy the favor of the Germans at the price of the general's stars. That same night, General Andrei Vlasov and the soldiers accompanying him were handed over to regular German troops. They say that before this the general was severely beaten. Please note, your...

One of the Red Army soldiers who accompanied Vlasov then testified to SMERSHA investigators: “When we were handed over to the Germans, the technical officers, without talking, shot everyone. The general came forward and said: “Don’t shoot!” I am General Vlasov. My people are unarmed!’” That’s the whole story of the “voluntary departure into captivity.” By the way, between June and December 1941, 3.8 million Soviet troops were captured by the Germans, and in 1942, more than a million, for a total of about 5.2 million people.

Then there was a concentration camp near Vinnitsa, where senior officers of interest to the Germans - prominent commissars and generals - were kept. Much was written in the Soviet press that Vlasov, they say, chickened out, lost control of himself, and saved his life. The documents say otherwise.

Here are excerpts from official German and personal documents that ended up in SMERSH after the war. They characterize Vlasov from the point of view of another side. These are documentary evidence of Nazi leaders, whom you certainly would not suspect of sympathizing with the Soviet general, through whose efforts thousands of German soldiers were destroyed near Kiev and Moscow.

Thus, the adviser to the German embassy in Moscow, Hilger, in the protocol of the interrogation of the captured General Vlasov dated August 8, 1942. briefly described him: “He gives the impression of a strong and straightforward personality. His judgments are calm and balanced” (Archive of the Institute of Military History of the Moscow Region, no. 43, l. 57.).

Here is the opinion of General Goebbels. Having met with Vlasov on March 1, 1945, he wrote in his diary: “General Vlasov is a highly intelligent and energetic Russian military leader; he made a very deep impression on me” (Goebbels J. Latest entries. Smolensk, 1993, p. 57).

Vlasov’s attitude seems clear. Maybe the people who surrounded him in the ROA were the last scum and slackers who were just waiting for the start of the war to go over to the side of the Germans. Annette, here the documents give no reason to doubt.

...and the officers who joined him

General Vlasov's closest associates were highly professional military leaders who at various times received high awards from the Soviet government for their professional activities. Thus, Major General V.F. Malyshkin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the medal “XX Years of the Red Army”; Major General F.I. Trukhin - the Order of the Red Banner and the medal “XX Years of the Red Army”; Zhilenkov G.N., Secretary of the Rostokinsky District Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Moscow. - Order of the Red Banner of Labor ( Military-historical magazine, 1993, N. 2, p. 9, 12.). Colonel Maltsev M. A. (ROA Major General) - commander Air Force by KONR forces, was at one time pilot-instructor the legendary Valery Chkalov (“Voice of Crimea”, 1944, N. 27. Editorial afterword).

The Chief of Staff of the VSKONR, Colonel A.G. Aldan (Neryanin), received high praise upon graduation from the General Staff Academy in 1939. The then Chief of the General Staff, Army General Shaposhnikov, called him one of the brilliant officers of the course, the only one who graduated from the Academy with excellent marks. It is difficult to imagine that they were all cowards who went to serve the Germans in order to save their own lives. Generals F. I. Trukhin, G. N. Zhilenkov, A. A. Vlasov, V. F. Malyshkin and D. E. Purchase during the signing ceremony of the KONR manifesto. Prague, November 14, 1944.

If Vlasov is innocent, then who?

By the way, if we are talking about documents, then we can remember one more. When General Vlasov ended up with the Germans, the NKVD and SMERSH, on behalf of Stalin, conducted a thorough investigation of the situation with the Second Shock Army. The results were put on the table to Stalin, who came to the conclusion: to admit the inconsistency of the accusations brought against General Vlasov for the death of the 2nd Shock Army and for his military unpreparedness. And what kind of unpreparedness could there be if the artillery did not have enough ammunition for even one salvo... The investigation from SMERSH was headed by a certain Viktor Abakumov (remember this name). Only in 1993, decades later, Soviet propaganda reported this through clenched teeth. (Military Historical Journal, 1993, N. 5, pp. 31-34.).

General Vlasov - Hitler is kaput?!

Let's return to Andrey Vlasov. So did the military general calm down in German captivity? The facts speak differently. It was possible, of course, to provoke a guard into firing a burst of automatic fire, it was possible to start an uprising in the camp, kill a couple of dozen guards, flee to your own people and... end up in other camps - this time Stalin’s. It was possible to show unshakable convictions and... turn into a block of ice. But Vlasov did not experience any particular fear of the Germans. One day, the concentration camp guards who “took their breasts” decided to organize a “parade” of captured Red Army soldiers and decided to put Vlasov at the head of the column. The general refused this honor, and several “organizers” of the parade were knocked out by the general. Well, then our camp commandant arrived in time.

The general, who has always been distinguished by his originality and unconventional decisions, decided to act differently. For a whole year (!) he convinced the Germans of his loyalty. Then, in March and April 1943, Vlasov made two trips to the Smolensk and Pskov regions, and criticized ... German politics in front of large audiences, making sure that the liberation movement resonated with the people.

Noza's "shameless" speeches frightened the Nazis send him under house arrest. The first attempt ended in complete failure. The general was eager to fight, sometimes committing reckless acts.

All-seeing eye of the NKVD?

Then something happened. Soviet intelligence came out to the general. In his circle appeared a certain Melenty Zykov, who held the position of divisional commissar in the Red Army. The personality is bright and... mysterious. General, he edited two newspapers...

To this day it is not known for certain whether this man was who he said he was. Only a year ago, circumstances “surfaced” that could turn all ideas about the “case of General Vlasov” upside down. Zykov was born in Dnepropetrovsk, a journalist, worked in Central Asia, then at Izvestia with Bukharin. He married the daughter of Lenin's comrade-in-arms, People's Commissar of Education Andrei Bubnov, and was subsequently arrested in 1937. Shortly before the war he was released (!) and the army was called up to serve as a battalion commissar (!).

He was captured near Bataysk in the summer of 1942, being the commissar of an infantry division, whose numbers he never named. They met Svlasov in the Vinnitsa camp, where they kept Soviet officers of particular interest to the Wehrmacht. From there Zykov was brought to Berlin by order of Goebbels himself.

The stars and commissar insignia of Zykov, delivered to the military propaganda department, remained unbroken on his tunic. Melenty Zykov became the general's closest adviser, although he received only the rank of captain in the ROA.

There is reason to believe that Zykov was a Soviet intelligence officer. And the reasons are very compelling. Melenty Zykov was very actively in contact with senior German officers who, as it turned out, were preparing an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. For this they paid. It remains a mystery what happened on a June day in 1944 when he was called to the telephone in the village of Rasndorf. ROA captain Zykov left home, got into his car and... disappeared.

According to one version, Zykov was kidnapped by the Gestapo, who uncovered the assassination attempt on Hitler, and then shot in Sachsenhausen. A strange circumstance, Vlasov himself was not very concerned about Zykov’s disappearance, which suggests the existence of a plan for Zykov’s transition to an illegal position, that is, to return home. In addition, in 1945-46, after the arrest of Vlasov, SMERSH was very actively looking for traces of Zykov.

Yes, so actively that it seemed like they were deliberately covering their tracks. When in the mid-nineties they tried to find the criminal case of Melenty Zykov from 1937 in the FSB archives, the attempt was unsuccessful. Strange, isn't it? After all, at the same time, all of Zykov’s other documents, including the reader’s form in the library, and the registration card in the military archive, were in place.

General's family

There is one more significant circumstance that indirectly confirms Vlasov’s cooperation with Soviet intelligence. Usually, relatives of “traitors to the Motherland,” especially those occupying a social position at the level of General Vlasov, were subjected to severe repression. As a rule, they were destroyed in the Gulag.

In this situation, everything was exactly the opposite. Over the past decades, neither Soviet nor Western journalists have been able to obtain information that would shed light on the fate of the general’s family. Only recently it became clear that Vlasov’s first wife Anna Mikhailovna, arrested in 1942, after serving 5 years in a Nizhny Novgorod prison, was living and thriving in the city of Balakhna several years ago. The second wife, Agnessa Pavlovna, whom the general married in 1941, lived and worked as a doctor in the Brest regional dermatovenerological dispensary, died two years ago, and her son, who achieved a lot in this life, lives and works in Samara.

The second son, illegitimate, lives and works in St. Petersburg. At the same time, he denies any relationship with the general. He has a son growing up, very similar to his wife... His illegitimate daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren also live there. One of his grandchildren, a promising officer in the Russian Navy, has no idea who his grandfather was. So decide after this whether General Vlasov was a “traitor to the Motherland.”

Open action against Stalin

Six months after Zykov’s disappearance, on November 14, 1944, Vlasov proclaimed the manifesto of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia in Prague. Its main provisions: the overthrow of the Stalinist regime and the return to the people of the rights they won in the 1917 revolution, the conclusion of an honorable peace with Germany, the creation of a new free statehood in Russia, “approval national labor building”, “full development of international cooperation”, “elimination of forced labor”, “liquidation of collective farms”, “granting the intelligentsia the right to create freely”. The very familiar demands proclaimed by political leaders of the last two decades are not true.

Why is there treason here? KONR receives hundreds of thousands of applications from Soviet citizens in Germany to join its armed forces.

Star...

On January 28, 1945, General Vlasov took command of the Armed Forces of the KONR, which the Germans authorized at the level of three divisions, one reserve brigade, two squadrons of aviation and an officer school, a total of about 50 thousand people. At that time, these military formations were not yet sufficiently armed.

Lieutenant General A. A. Vlasov and representatives of the German command inspect one of the Russian battalions as part of Army Group North, May 1943. In the foreground is a Russian non-commissioned officer (deputy platoon commander) with shoulder straps and buttonholes of the Eastern troops, introduced in August 1942.

The war was ending. The Germans were already under-generalized by Vlasova; they were saving their own skins. February 9 and April 14, 1945 were the only occasions when the Vlasovites took part in battles on the Eastern Front, forced by the Germans. In the first battle, several hundred Red Army soldiers went over to Vlasov’s side. The second one radically changes some ideas about the end of the war.

On May 6, 1945, an anti-Hitler uprising broke out in Prague... Upon the call of the rebel Czechs, Prague entered... The first division of the army of General Vlasov. She enters the battle with units of the SSivermacht armed with teeth, captures the airport, where fresh German units arrive and liberates the city. The Czechs are rejoicing. Very eminent commanders of the Soviet army are beside themselves with fury of wickedness. Of course, again it’s the upstart Vlasov!

Then strange and terrible events began. Those who yesterday begged for help come to KVlasov and ask the general... to leave Prague, since his Russian friends are unhappy. IVlasov gives the command to withdraw. However, this did not save the walkers; they were shot... by the Czechs themselves. By the way, it was not a group of impostors who asked for Vlasov’s help, but people who carried out the decision of the highest body of the Czechoslovak Republic.

...And the death of General Vlasov

But this did not save the general, Colonel General Viktor Abakumov, the head of SMERSH, gave the command to detain Vlasov. The SMERSHists took the show. On May 12, 1945, the troops of General Vlasov were squeezed between the American and Soviet troops of the southwestern Czech Republic. The “Vlasovites,” who fell into the hands of the Red Army, are shot on the spot... According to the official version, the general himself was captured and arrested by a special reconnaissance group that stopped the convoy of the first division of the ROA and SMERSH. However, there are at least four versions of how Vlasov ended up behind the Soviet troops. We already know the first one, but here is another one, compiled on the basis of eyewitness accounts. Indeed, General Vlasov was in that very ROA column.

Only he wasn’t hiding on the carpet on the floor of the Willis, as stated by Captain Yakushov, who allegedly took part in that operation. The general sat calmly in the car. And the car was not a Willys at all. Moreover, this same car was of such a size that the two-meter tall general simply could not fit inside, wrapped in a carpet... And there was no lightning attack by the scouts on the convoy. They (the scouts), dressed in full uniform, calmly waited on the side of the road for Vlasov’s car to catch up with them. When the car slowed down, the leader of the group saluted the general and invited him to get out of the car. Is this how they greet traitors?

And then the fun began. There is evidence from the military prosecutor of the tank division to which Andrei Vlasov was taken. This man was the first to meet the general after his arrival at the location of the Soviet troops. He claims that the general was dressed in... a general's uniform of the Red Army (old style), with insignia and orders. The stunned lawyer could not find anything better than to ask the general to produce documents. This is what he did, showing the prosecutor the pay book of the commanding staff of the Red Army, the identity card of the Red Army general No. 431 dated 02.13.41. and party card of a member of the CPSU (b) No. 2123998 - everything is in the name of Andrey Andreevich Vlasov...

Moreover, the prosecutor claims that the day before Vlasov’s arrival, an unimaginable number of army commanders came to the division, who did not even think of showing any hostility or hostility towards the general. Moreover, a joint lunch was organized.

On the same day, the general was transported to Moscow by transport plane. I wonder if this is how traitors are greeted?

Very little is known further. Vlasov is located in Lefortovo. “Prisoner No. 32” was the name of the general in prison. This prison belongs to SMERSH, and no one, not even Beria and Stalin, has the right to enter there. They didn’t come in - Viktor Abakumov knew his business well. Why then I paid, but that was later. The investigation lasted more than a year. Stalin, or maybe not Stalin at all, thought about what to do as a sleepy general. Elevate the rank of a national hero? It’s impossible: the military general did not sit quietly, he spoke a lot. Retired NKVD officers claim that they bargained with Andrei Vlasov for a long time: repent, they say, before the people and the leader. Admit mistakes. And they will forgive. May be…

They say that it was then that Vlasov met again with Melenty Zykov...

But the general was consistent in his actions, as when he did not leave the soldiers of the Second Shock to die, as when he did not abandon his ROA in the Czech Republic. Lieutenant General The Red Army, holder of the Order of Lenin and the Red Banner of Battle, made his last choice...

August 2, 1946 official TASS message published in all central newspapers: August 1, 1946 lieutenant general The Red Army A. A. Vlasov and his 11 comrades were hanged. Stalin was cruel to the end. After all, there is no death more shameful for officers than the gallows. Here are their names: Major General of the Red Army Malyshkin V. F., Zhilenkov G. N., Major General of the Red Army Trukhin F. I, Major General of the Red Army Zakutny D. E, Major General of the Red Army Blagoveshchensky I. A, Colonel of the Red Army Meandrov M. A, Colonel of the USSR Air Force Maltsev M. A, Colonel of the Red Army Bunyachenko S. K, Colonel of the Red Army Zverev G. A, Major General of the Red Army Korbukov V. D. and Lieutenant Colonel of the Red Army Shatov N. S. It is unknown where the bodies of the officers were buried. SMERSH knew how to keep its secrets.

Forgive us, Andrey Andreevich!

Was Andrei Vlasov a Soviet intelligence officer? There is no direct evidence of this. Moreover, there are no documents indicating this. But there are facts that are very difficult to argue with.

The main one among them is this. It is no longer a big secret that in 1942 Joseph Stalin, despite all the successes of the Red Army near Moscow, wanted to conclude a separate peace with Germany and stop the war. Having given up Ukraine, Moldova, Crimea...

There is even evidence that Lavrenty Beria “ventilated the situation” on this issue.

IVlasov was an excellent candidate to conduct these negotiations. Why? To do this, you need to look at the pre-war career of Andrei Vlasov. You can come to some startling conclusions. Back in 1937, Colonel Vlasov was appointed head of the Second Department of the Leningrad Military District headquarters. Translated into civilian language, this means that the brave Colonel Vlasov was responsible for all the security work of the district. And then repressions broke out. Colonel Vlasov, who received the first pseudonym “Volkov”, was... safely sent as an adviser to the already mentioned Chiang Kai-shek... Further, if you read between the lines of the memoirs of the participants in those events, you come to the conclusion that someone else worked in China as... Colonel Volkov, a Soviet intelligence officer.

It was he, and someone else, who made friends with German diplomats, took them to restaurants, gave them vodka until they fainted, and talked for a long, long time. It is unknown, but how can an ordinary Russian colonel behave this way, knowing what is happening in his country, that people were arrested only because they were explaining to foreigners on the street how to get to the Alexander Garden. Where does Sorge go with his efforts at undercover work in Japan? All of Sorge’s female agents could not supply information comparable to that of Chiang Kai-shek’s wife, with whom the Russian colonel had a very close relationship... The seriousness of Colonel Vlasov’s work is evidenced by his personal translator in China, who claims that Volkov ordered him to shoot him at the slightest danger.

Another argument. I saw the document marked “Top Secret.” Ex. No. 1" dated 1942, in which Vsevolod Merkulov reports to Joseph Stalin on the destruction work traitor general A. Vlasova. So, Vlasov was hunted by more than 42 reconnaissance and sabotage groups with a total number of 1,600 people. Believe that in 1942 such a powerful organization as SMERSH could not “get” one general, even if he was well guarded. I don't believe. The conclusion is more than simple: Stalin, knowing full well the strength of the German intelligence services, tried in every possible way to convince the Germans of the general’s betrayal.

But the Germans turned out to be so simple. Hitler did not accept Vlasov that way. Andrei Vlasov fell in line with the anti-Hitler opposition. It is now unknown what prevented Stalin from completing the job - either the situation at the front, or the too late or unsuccessful attempt by the Naführer. IStalin had to choose between destroying Vlasov or kidnapping him. Apparently, we stopped last. But... This is the most Russian “but”. The whole point is that at the time of the general’s “transition” to the Germans in the USSR, there were already three intelligence agencies operating: the NKGB, SMERSH and the GRU of the General Staff of the Red Army. These organizations competed fiercely with each other (remember this). IVlasov, apparently, worked for the GRU. How else can one explain the fact that the general was brought to the Second Shock by Lavrentiy Beria and Kliment Voroshilov. Interesting, isn't it?

Further, the trial against Vlasov was carried out by SMERSH and did not allow anyone to be involved in this case. Even the trial took place behind closed doors, although logically, the trial of a traitor should be public and open. You need to see photographs of Vlasov in court - eyes expecting something, as if asking: “How long will it take, stop the clownery.” But Vlasov did not know about the secret services. He was executed... People present at the scene claim that the general behaved with dignity.

The scandal began the day after the execution, when Joseph Stalin saw the latest newspapers.

It turns out that SMERSH had to ask for written permission to punish from the Military Prosecutor's Office and the GRU. They asked, and they answered: “The execution will be postponed until further notice.” This letter remains in the archives to this day.

But Abakumov did not see the answer. Why did I pay? In 1946: the year Stalin personally ordered Viktor Abakumov to be arrested. They say that Stalin visited him in prison and reminded him of General Vlasov. However, these are just rumors...

By the way, in the indictment against Andrei Vlasov there is no article incriminating treason against the Motherland. Only terrorism and counter-revolutionary activities.

Vlasov was captured on May 12, 1945. Already on May 15 he ended up in Lubyanka. After a short stay in the box “for new arrivals,” Vlasov was escorted to the office of the chief Abakumov V.

He stayed there for about 40 minutes. After which the head of the internal Lubyanka prison received a written instruction: “I ask you to include the half of the food card you have for additional food for prisoner No. 31.”

This same number 31 was Andrei Vlasov. As an honored visitor, he was given a separate cell. All the rest went under their own names, were in common cells, and were not entitled to any additional rations. And the ration card of the highest command staff in a country living from hand to mouth was very non-symbolic (oranges, cervelat, chocolate, and so on). Amazingly reverent attitude towards a traitor to the Motherland!

On August 1, 1946, the prisoner was sentenced to death by hanging. But Vlasov’s story does not end there.

Since Vlasov’s death is shrouded in a shadow of doubt. Nina Mikhailovna, a relative of the general, without knowing it, gave out sensational news. In her opinion, Andrei Vlasov was not hanged in Lefortovo according to the verdict. Instead of her great-uncle, a stranger ascended the scaffold. “After the war, I went to Leningrad, where I met with the Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot Alexander Pokryshkin,” she says.

Pokryshkin was a distant relative of Aunt Valya’s husband, Andrei Vlasov’s niece. Alexander Ivanovich said that he went with his wife Alexandra to the public execution of the Vlasovites. So he claimed that instead of Andrei’s godfather, they executed some little man, probably a jailer. Pokryshkin knew Vlasov well and met him more than once. And he was sure that it was not him who was hanged. And in Lomakino no one believed in Vlasov’s execution: good people, they say, are not killed. And one collective farmer, Pyotr Vasilyevich Ryabinin, also from Lomakin, after the war often went to his daughter in the Far East to sell tobacco. One day, his daughter Nastya took him to an amateur concert. And suddenly Ryabinin saw that Andrei Vlasov came on stage to play the accordion. He shouted: “Andrey! I’m Lomakinsky, I’m here!” The artist turned pale, crumpled up the end of the performance and ran away.

They ran to look for him behind the scenes, but did not find him. Then Ryabinin told me and Aunt Valya that he immediately recognized Andrey as soon as he played the instrument. And he sang his favorite song then... It is possible that Vlasov was not executed after the war, he remained alive, and moreover, died a natural death.

Nothing to add here. If you believe this evidence, then Vlasov’s “execution” was public. How then to explain the fact that the traitor was deprived of all awards by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 16, 1990. It is possible that this was indeed a well-directed performance. Let us at least remember the “executed Mikhail Koltsov,” who back in 1943 was met at the front under a false name by people who knew him well. Her Majesty History is very good at keeping her secrets.

A photograph has been preserved - Vlasov in a prisoner of war camp. In a tunic without insignia, with a crew cut of barely grown hair, with protruding ears... He stands with his hands behind his back... His appearance is very peaceful, almost indistinguishable from a village teacher. But this is at first glance... It’s worth taking a closer look, and you notice bitter folds in the corners of the mouth. Why the folds... All the muscles of the face seem to have petrified... This is a terrible photograph of a man who will take up arms against the Russian people and will not yet retain hope of salvation...

“I will fight against Bolshevism until the last drop of blood.” These words were terrible in their consequences, everyone who spoke them doomed themselves to the path to camps and prisons.

General Vlasov is responsible for tens of thousands of soldiers. But wasn’t he thinking about them when the death sentence was handed down? Wasn’t it these soldiers that A.A. Vlasov saw when an awkward loop moved his glasses and the NKVD soldier tore them off the former general? Was it not these soldiers that the former seminarian prayed for when the bench was knocked out from under his feet? And immediately the brick walls jerked sharply upward, and then seemed to fall down. When there were no walls around, only the blue sky, only a cloud floating below.

On September 1, 1901, perhaps the most famous traitor in the modern history of our country, Andrei Vlasov, was born. It would seem that the negative image of this historical...

On September 1, 1901, perhaps the most famous traitor in the modern history of our country, Andrei Vlasov, was born. It would seem that the negative image of this historical figure is quite clear. But Andrei Vlasov still meets with different assessments even from domestic historians and public figures. Someone is trying to present him not as a traitor to the Motherland, but as a fighter against Bolshevism and “Stalinist totalitarianism.” The fact that Andrei Vlasov created an army that fought on the side of our country’s most fierce enemy, who committed genocide against the peoples of the USSR and destroyed millions of ordinary Soviet people, is for some reason not taken into account.

Andrei Vlasov, in a matter of four years, went from one of the most promising and respected Soviet generals to the hanged man - “traitor number one” of the Soviet Union. Having joined the Red Army at the age of 18, during the Civil War, Andrei Vlasov already held staff and command positions from the age of 21. At the age of 39, he was already a major general, commanding the 99th Infantry Division. Under his command, the division became the best in the Kiev Military District, Vlasov himself received the Order of the Red Banner. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Vlasov commanded the 4th mechanized corps, stationed near Lvov. Then Joseph Stalin personally summoned him and ordered him to form the 20th Army, which then operated under the command of Vlasov. Vlasov’s fighters especially distinguished themselves in the battles near Moscow, after which, on a special assignment from the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, they even wrote a book about Vlasov, “Stalin’s Commander.” On March 8, 1942, Lieutenant General Vlasov was appointed deputy commander of the Volkhov Front, and a little later, retaining this position, became commander of the 2nd Shock Army. Thus, in the first year of the war, Andrei Vlasov was considered one of the most capable Soviet military leaders, benefiting from the personal favor of Joseph Stalin. Who knows, if Vlasov had not been surrounded, maybe he would have risen to the rank of marshal and would have become a hero, not a traitor.

But, having been captured, Vlasov eventually agreed to cooperate with Nazi Germany. For the Nazis it was a huge achievement - to win over to their side an entire lieutenant general, the commander of the army, and even one of the most capable Soviet military leaders, the recent “Stalinist commander”, who enjoyed the favor of the Soviet leader. On December 27, 1942, Vlasov proposed to the Nazi command to organize the “Russian Liberation Army” from among former Soviet prisoners of war who agreed to go over to the side of Nazi Germany, as well as other elements dissatisfied with the Soviet regime. The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was created for the political leadership of the ROA. Not only high-ranking defectors from the Red Army, who went over to the side of Nazi Germany after being captured, but also many White emigrants, including Major General Andrei Shkuro, Ataman Pyotr Krasnov, General Anton Turkul and many others, who became famous during the Civil War, were invited to work in KONR. In fact, it was KONR that became the main coordinating body of the traitors who went over to the side of Hitler’s Germany, and the nationalists who joined them, who were already in Germany and other European countries before the war.

Vlasov’s closest ally and chief of staff was former Soviet Major General Fyodor Trukhin, another traitor who, before his capture, was the deputy chief of staff of the Northwestern Front, and after his capture agreed to cooperate with the German authorities. By April 22, 1945, the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia included a whole motley conglomerate of formations and units, including infantry divisions, a Cossack corps, and even its own air force.

The defeat of Nazi Germany put former Soviet Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov and his supporters in a very difficult position. As a traitor, especially of such a rank, Vlasov could not count on leniency from the Soviet authorities and understood this perfectly well. However, for some reason he refused several times the asylum options offered to him. One of the first to offer Vlasov refuge was the Spanish caudillo Francisco Franco. Franco's proposal came at the end of April 1945, when only a few days remained before Germany's defeat. Caudillo was going to send a special plane for Vlasov, which would take him to the Iberian Peninsula. Although Spain did not actively participate (with the exception of sending volunteers from the Blue Division) in World War II, Franco was positive towards Vlasov, as he saw him as a comrade-in-arms in the anti-communist struggle. It is possible that if Vlasov had accepted Franco’s offer then, he would have lived safely in Spain to a ripe old age - Franco hid many Nazi war criminals, much more bloody than Vlasov. But the commander of the ROA refused Spanish refuge, because he did not want to abandon his subordinates to the mercy of fate.

The next proposal came from the opposite side. After the victory over Germany, Andrei Vlasov found himself in the occupation zone of American troops. On May 12, 1945, Captain Donahue, who held the position of commandant of the zone where Vlasov was located, invited the former commander of the ROA to secretly travel deep into the American zone. He was ready to provide Vlasov with asylum on American territory, but Vlasov also refused this offer. He wanted asylum not only for himself, but also for all the soldiers and officers of the ROA, which he was going to ask the American command for.

On the same day, May 12, 1945, Vlasov headed deep into the American zone of occupation, intending to achieve a meeting with the American command at the headquarters of the 3rd US Army in Pilsen. However, along the way, the car in which Vlasov was located was stopped by soldiers of the 25th Tank Corps of the 13th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The former commander of the ROA was detained. As it turned out, former ROA captain P. Kuchinsky informed the Soviet officers about the possible whereabouts of the commander. Andrei Vlasov was taken to the headquarters of the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal Ivan Konev. From Konev's headquarters, Vlasov was transported to Moscow.

As for Vlasov’s closest associates in the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia and the command of the Russian Liberation Army, generals Zhilenkov, Malyshkin, Bunyachenko and Maltsev were able to reach the American occupation zone. However, this did not help them. The Americans successfully handed over the Vlasov generals to Soviet counterintelligence, after which they were all also transferred to Moscow. After the detention of Vlasov and his closest henchmen, KONR was headed by ROA Major General Mikhail Meandrov, also a former Soviet officer, a colonel who was captured while serving as deputy chief of staff of the 6th Army. However, Meandrov did not manage to walk free for long. He was interned in an American prisoner of war camp and remained there for a long time, until on February 14, 1946, almost a year after the end of the war, he was handed over to the Soviet authorities by the American command. Having learned that he was going to be extradited to the Soviet Union, Meandrov tried to commit suicide, but the guards of the high-ranking prisoner managed to stop this attempt. Meandrov was transported to Moscow, to the Lubyanka, where he joined the rest of the defendants in the Andrei Vlasov case. Vladimir Baersky, also a general of the ROA and deputy chief of staff of the ROA, who, together with Vlasov, stood at the origins of the Russian Liberation Army, was even less fortunate. On May 5, 1945, he tried to travel to Prague, but on the way, in Pribram, he was captured by Czech partisans. The Czech partisan detachment was commanded by a Soviet officer, Captain Smirnov. The detained Baersky began to quarrel with Smirnov and managed to slap the commander of the partisan detachment in the face. After this, the Vlasov general was immediately captured and hanged without trial.