The story of the betrayal of General Vlasov. The film "General Vlasov: The Story of Betrayal" (Russia)

At the beginning of the war, this man was in the forefront of the best commanders of the Soviet Army. He and eight other generals became heroes of the battle of Moscow. How does the story of the treachery of General Vlasov begin? His personality is so legendary, so mysterious. Until now, many facts related to his fate remain controversial.

The Case of the Archives, or The Dispute of the Decades

The criminal case of Andrey Andreevich Vlasov consists of thirty two volumes. Sixty years to the history of the treachery of General Vlasov there was no access. She was in the archives of the KGB. But now she was born without secrecy. So who was Andrei Andreyevich? A hero, a fighter against the Stalinist regime or a traitor?

Andrey was born in 1901 in the family of a peasant. The main occupation of his parents was farming. First the future general studied at a rural school, then in a seminary. Passed the Civil War. Then he studied at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army. If you follow his entire service, then it can be noted that he was a man who was incredibly lucky. The story of the betrayal of General Vlasov in this case, of course, is not meant.

Highlights in the military career

In 1937 Andrei Andreevich was appointed commander of the 215th Infantry Regiment, which he commanded for less than a year, since already in April 1937 he was immediately appointed as an assistant to the division commander. And from there he went to China. And this is another luck of Andrei Vlasov. There he served from 1938 to 1939. In China, then, there were three groups of military specialists. The first - illegal immigrants, the second - is working under cover, the third - military specialists in the troops.

They worked simultaneously both with Mao Zedong and with the troops of Chiang Kai-shek. This part of the gigantic Asian continent, for which all intelligence services of the world fought then, was so important for the USSR that intelligence worked in both opposing camps. Andrei Andreevich was appointed to the post of adviser to the department in the troops of Chiang Kai-shek. Further, General Vlasov, the history of betrayal of which today causes a huge number of disputes, again falls into the band of luck.

Awards of the lucky general

In November 1939 Vlasov was appointed commander of the 99th Division in the Kiev Military District. In September 1940, the region's observation exercises were held here. They were held by the new People's Commissar of Defense Tymoshenko. The division was declared the best in the Kiev district.

And Andrei Andreevich became the best division commander, master of education and upbringing. And was presented in the autumn on the basis of the academic year to the Order of the Red Star. What happens next can not be explained. Because, contrary to all the rules and regulations, he is awarded the Order of Lenin.

Two patrons and a political career

All these events could be explained by another lucky coincidence. But it is not so. Andrei Andreevich made great efforts to create his positive image in the eyes of the leadership. The start of the political career of Andrei Vlasov was given by two people. This is the commander of the Kiev Military District Tymoshenko and a member of the military council first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine Nikita Khrushchev. It was they who proposed him to the post of commander of the 37th Army.

At the end of November 1940, Andrei Vlasov was waiting for another attestation. His next nomination for a higher position was being prepared. How did the story of the treachery of General Vlasov begin? Why did a man with such a fate become a dark spot in the history of the USSR?

The beginning of hostilities, or the mistakes of leadership

The war began. Despite stubborn resistance, the Red Army suffers serious defeats in major battles. Hundreds of thousands of Red Army men are captured by the Germans. Some of them volunteer for the German army either for political reasons or to avoid starvation and death like millions of prisoners of Nazi camps.

In the Kiev boiler, the Germans destroyed more than six hundred thousand Soviet soldiers. Many commanders of the fronts, army chiefs of staff were then shot. But Vlasov and Sandalov will remain alive, and fate will bring them to the battle near Moscow. The archival documents of those years record that on August 23, due to an error committed by the command of the southwestern front and the commander of the 37th army of General Vlasov, the Germans managed to cross the Dnieper on its section.

The death of the army, or the possibility of falling into captivity

Here Andrei Andreyevich first gets into the environment, throws up his positions and hastily tries to get out of it. What, in fact, is killing his army. What is surprising. Despite the difficulties of getting out of the encirclement, the general walked confidently along the enemy's rear. He could easily fall into captivity. But, apparently, even the slightest opportunity for this did not take advantage. The story of the treachery of General Vlasov is yet to come.

In winter 1941 the German troops came close to Moscow. Stalin declares a state of emergency. Commander of the 20 Army, he appoints Andrei Andreyevich. It was Khrushchev and Tymoshenko who offered Vlasov to this post. In the winter battle near Moscow, the myth of the invincibility of the German army disappears. The troops of the four Soviet fronts managed to inflict the first shattering blow on the Germans, more than one hundred thousand Wehrmacht soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. A contribution to this victory was made by 20 army under the leadership of General Vlasov.

New appointment and captivity

Stalin promotes Andrei Andreyevich in rank to lieutenant-general. So he becomes famous in the troops. After the battle near Moscow, reaps the fruits of glory. He is always lucky. Its finest hour comes, but all luck comes to an end. Now before the reader will appear General Vlasov, the history of betrayal of which has crossed out all previous achievements.

Andrei Andreevich becomes deputy commander of the 2nd Shock Army, and then leads it. In the course of heavy bloody battles, a large part of it is killed in the forests. But those who sought to get out of the environment, in small groups could break through the front line. However, Vlasov deliberately stayed in the village. The next day, when the German patrol began to find out his identity, he suddenly introduced himself: Lieutenant-General Vlasov, commander of the 2nd Shock Army.

The subsequent fate and history of Andrei Vlasov. Anatomy of betrayal

After the capture, Andrei Andreevich gets to the special camp of the propaganda department in Vinnitsa, where German specialists work with him. He surprisingly quickly accepted the Nazi proposal to lead the non-existent Russian army of the ROA. In mid-1943, Wehrmacht propaganda spread information that the Russian liberation army and the new Russian government had been created. This is the so-called "Smolensk appeal" in which Vlasov promises the Russian people democratic rights and freedom in the liberated from Stalin and Bolshevism of Russia.

In the spring of 1944 Andrei Andreevich spent under house arrest in his villa in Dahlem. He was sent there by Hitler for a memorable trip to the occupied territories, where he showed too much independence. But November 14, 1944 was the day of triumph of Andrei Vlasov as commander of the ROA. The entire political elite of the Wehrmacht arrived at the official ceremony on the occasion of the formation of the committee for the liberation of the peoples of Russia. The culmination of the event is the proclamation of the political program of this committee.

The last years of the war

What was General Vlasov thinking about at that time? The story of betrayal, Russia and the people, who will never forgive him for this act, did not frighten him? Did he really believe in Germany's victory? The boundary of 1944 and 1945 is marked by numerous events in Berlin. On them he chooses for his political purposes Soviet POWs and Ostberbaiters. In early 1945 he meets Goebbels and Himmler.

Then on January 18 he signs a loan agreement between the German government and Russia. As if the final victory of the Germans is only a matter of time. In the spring of 1945, things are very bad for Germany. In the west, the Allies are advancing, in the east the Red Army does not leave a single chance to win the Wehrmacht, occupying one German city after another. So what could have ended for a man like General Vlasov, the story of betrayal? Epilogue is waiting for the reader.

First division or endless defeats

Andrei Andreyevich does not seem to notice the events taking place. For him, it seems, everything is going well again. On February 10, he solemnly accepts his first division, which for verification is sent to the Eastern Front. The clashes here were short. The Red Army can not be stopped. The soldiers of the ROA are running, dropping their positions. The last attempt to at least somehow rehabilitate themselves in the war Vlasovtsy took in Prague. But even there they were defeated.

Fearing the capture of Soviet troops, Vlasovites, along with the Germans, hastily left Prague. Individual groups surrender to the Americans. Two days earlier, General Vlasov himself had done it. Before the tank corps of Fominykh and Kryukov, the task is to break through to the base, where they keep Andrei Andreyevich and his closest associates, capture them and deliver them to Moscow.

Then the investigation will take place on the Lubyanka for a year. Eleven officers and Vlasov himself, whose history of betrayal was thoroughly studied by the Lubyanka experts, are sentenced to death on July 30, 1946, by hanging on charges of high treason.