The transfer of the commander of the 2nd Shock Army A. A. Vlasov to the service of the Germans, of course, was one of the most unpleasant episodes of the war for our country. There were other Red Army officers who became traitors, but Vlasov was the most senior and most famous.
To say that Vlasov's colleagues who wrote their memoirs after the war were put in an awkward position is to say nothing. If you write about the former commander, they will say well, “How could you not see such a bastard?”. If you write badly, they will say: “Why didn't you ring the bells? Why didn't you report and tell where you should go?"
In the simplest case, they simply preferred not to mention the name of Vlasov. For example, one of the officers of the 32nd Panzer Division of the 4th Mechanized Corps describes his meeting with him as follows: “Leaning out of the cockpit, I noticed that the regimental commander was talking to a tall general with glasses. I recognized him immediately. This is the commander of our 4th Mechanized Corps. I went up to them, introduced myself to the corps commander "(Egorov AV With faith in victory (Notes of the commander of a tank regiment). M.: Voenizdat, 1974, p. 16). The surname "Vlasov" is not mentioned at all throughout the story of the battles in Ukraine in June 1941. In the case of the 4th Mechanized Corps, the taboo imposed on the name of the traitor-general played into the hands of Soviet historiography. By the beginning of the war, 52 KV and 180 T-34s had been assembled in the 4th mechanized corps, and it was not easy to explain where they went against the background of stories about their "invulnerability".
The silence was widespread. M. E. Katukov also simply chose not to mention that his brigade was subordinate to the army commanded by A. A. Vlasov. One could assume that the brigade commander did not encounter the commander of the army, but there were photographs of A. A. Vlasov's visit to the 1st Guards. tank brigade. The commander then congratulated the Katukites on their next success.
However, even if Katukov wrote about this visit of Vlasov, it is unlikely that the mention would correspond to the actual impression of December 1941. If the name “Vlasov” was mentioned in his memoirs, it was more likely with a minus sign. For example, the cavalryman Stuchenko writes:
“Suddenly, three or four hundred meters from the front line, the figure of the army commander Vlasov in an astrakhan gray hat with earflaps and an invariable pince-nez appears from behind a bush; behind the adjutant with a machine gun. My irritation was overflowing:
- What are you walking around here? There is nothing to watch here. Here people are dying in vain. Is that how a fight is organized? Is that how they use cavalry?
I thought: now he will be removed from office. But Vlasov, feeling unwell under fire, asked in a not quite confident voice:
- Well, how do you think it is necessary to attack? (Stuchenko A. T. Enviable our fate. M.: Voenizdat, 1968, S. 136-137).
Meretskov spoke in about the same spirit, retelling the words of the chief of communications of the 2nd Shock Army, General Afanasyev: “It is characteristic that the commander-2 Vlasov did not take any part in the discussion of the planned actions of the group. He was completely indifferent to all changes in the movement of the group "(Meretskov KA At the service of the people. M.: Politizdat, 1968, p. 296). To believe or not to believe this image is a personal affair of the reader. It is possible, by the way, that it was Afanasyev who witnessed the breakdown of Vlasov's personality, which led to betrayal. The commander of the 2nd shock was taken prisoner just a few days after the "discussion of the planned actions."So this description can be relatively accurate and objective.
Against this background, when Vlasov was either not mentioned at all, or was mentioned unequivocally with a minus sign, it was necessary to do something with the period when he commanded the 20th Army. This army was advancing quite successfully, and in an important direction. If Katukov could keep silent on the pages of his memoirs, then in more general descriptions it was already impossible to ignore the role of the 20th Army and its commander. Therefore, a version was put forward that Vlasov, being formally the commander of the army, did not take real part in hostilities due to illness.
In the photo: Commander of the 20th Army, Lieutenant General Vlasov and Divisional Commissar Lobachev present awards to tankmen of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade who distinguished themselves in battle. Western Front, January 1942. After Vlasov's betrayal, his face was painted over with ink. Source: "Front illustration" 2007-04. "1st Guards Tank Brigade in the Battles for Moscow".
Actually, the first version that A. A. Vlasov was sick and did not command the 20th Army during the December counteroffensive of Soviet troops near Moscow was voiced by L. M. Sandalov. At that time he himself was the chief of staff of the 20th Army. In a collection of articles and memoirs published for the anniversary of the Battle of Moscow, Sandalov wrote:
“- Who is appointed commander of the army? I asked.
“One of the commanders of the Southwestern Front, General Vlasov, who recently left the encirclement,” replied Shaposhnikov. “But keep in mind that he is sick now. In the near future, you will have to do without it. You no longer have time to go to the front headquarters. In addition, I have a concern that the troops of your army may be distributed to new task forces. The commanders of these groups have neither a headquarters, nor communications for commanding the battle, nor a rear. As a result, such improvised operational groups become incapable of combat after a few days in combat.
“There was no need to disband the corps administrations,” I remarked.
“This is my parting word to you,” Shaposhnikov interrupted me, “to quickly form an army administration and deploy the army. Not a step back and prepare for the offensive (Battle for Moscow. M.: Moskovsky worker, 1966).
Accordingly, Sandalov dates the appearance of AA Vlasov on December 19: “At noon on December 19, an army command post began to unfold in the village of Chismene. When I and a member of the Military Council, Kulikov, were checking the position of the troops at the communications center, the adjutant of the army commander came in and reported to us about his arrival. Through the window, a tall general wearing dark glasses was seen coming out of a car parked at the house. He was wearing a fur bekesha with a raised collar. It was General Vlasov”(Ibid.). It is impossible to get rid of the thought that this description reveals the gloomy future of the "man in the bekesh" - dark glasses, a raised collar.
The former chief of staff of the 20th Army does not stop there and shifts the time of the transition of the command to the "man in the bekesh" to December 20-21, 1941: "Vlasov listened to all this in silence, frowning. He asked us several times, referring to his hearing problems due to ear disease. Then, with a sullen look, he grunted to us that he was feeling better and in a day or two he would take control of the army completely”.
If you call a spade a spade, then Vlasov, in the memoirs of his chief of staff, takes up his duties at the time of the stabilization of the front. The most significant achievements were left behind, and a stubborn and slow gnawing of the German front began at Volokolamsk and on the Lama River.
The practice of silence has become a system. In 1967, the book "The Moscow Battle in Figures" in the "Index of the command staff of the fronts, armies and corps that participated in the battle of Moscow" as the commander of the 20th army instead of Vlasov named Major General A. I. Lizyukov. There is a double mistake here: by the beginning of the battle, A. I. Lizyukov was a colonel and received a major general only in January 1942. Sandalov in this respect, as a person well acquainted with the realities of war, is more consistent. Lizyukov is mentioned in his memoirs as a colonel and is the commander of the task force. A colonel as an army commander is absurd even by 1941 standards.
Lieutenant General A. A. Vlasov (right) presents the Order of Lenin to the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade, Major General of Tank Forces M. E. Katukov. Western Front, January 1942. Source: "Front illustration" 2007-04. "1st Guards Tank Brigade in the Battles for Moscow".
Nowadays, in an article in Voenno-Istoricheskiy Zhurnal (2002. No. 12; 2003. No. 1), dedicated to L. M. Sandalov, his version of the time frame for the absence of A. A. Vlasov was presented. The authors of the article, Generals V. N. Maganov V. T. They wrote: “The appointed commander of the army, Lieutenant-General A. A. Vlasov was ill and until December 19 was in Moscow, therefore the whole burden of work on the formation of the army, and later on the control of its military operations fell on the shoulders of the chief of staff L. M.. Sandalova.
However, if in the 1960s, when access to the documents of the Second World War was practically closed for independent researchers, it was possible to write about sore ears and the arrival at the command post on December 19, nowadays it is already unconvincing. Each army commander left a trail in the form of a host of orders with his signature, by which it is possible to track the periods of active command and the date of taking office.
In the fund of the 20th army in the Central AMO of the Russian Federation, among the orders, the author managed to find only one, signed by A. I. Lizyukov. It is dated November 1941 and Lizyukov is designated as the commander of the task force. This is followed by the December orders, in which Major General A. A. Vlasov is named as the commander of the army.
(TsAMO RF, f.20A, op.6631, d.1, l.6)
The most surprising thing is that one of the first combat orders of the 20th Army was not signed by Sandalov. A certain Colonel Loshkan appears as the chief of staff. The surname "Sandalov" appears on orders starting from December 3, 1941. True, with the advent of Sandalov, the orders of the army began to be typed on a typewriter.
(TsAMO RF, f.20A, op.6631, d.1, l.20)
As we can see, there are two signatures on the document - the army commander and his chief of staff. The signature of a member of the Military Council appears somewhat later. A situation similar to some of the orders of the 4th Army in the summer of 1941, when orders were signed by one chief of staff, is not observed. Then, despite the presence of the commander (General Korobkov), some of the orders remained only with Sandalov's signature. Here we have a situation that is strikingly different from that described in the memoirs. "The man in the bekesh" was not a guest, but a master at the headquarters of the 20th Army by the time LM Sandalov arrived at it.
Maybe A. A. Vlasov was listed as the commander of the 20th Army, and a completely different person put the signature on the orders? For comparison, take a document that was guaranteed to be signed by Vlasov - the report of the 4th Mechanized Corps to the commander of the 6th Army (July 1941).
(TsAMO RF, f.334, op.5307, d.11, l.358)
If we take the signature of the commander of the 4th mechanized corps and the signature taken at random on the order of the 20th army and use a graphic editor to put them side by side, we will see that they are similar:
With the naked eye, the characteristic features of the two signatures are visible: the beginning of the painting similar to "H", clearly visible "l" and "a". It can be concluded that A. A. Vlasov signed orders of the 20th Army starting at least from December 1, 1941. Even if he was ill during this period, he did not leave the location of the headquarters for a long time. The style of orders is approximately the same, corresponding to the then accepted norms and rules for writing orders. First, information about the enemy is given, then the position of the neighbors, then the task of the army troops. A characteristic feature of the 20 A orders, which somewhat distinguishes them from similar documents of other armies, is the entry of the time of the beginning of the attack into the finished document.
Attempts to erase from the history of the war the activities of A. A. Vlasov as a corps commander and army commander are understandable, but useless. Especially in the current environment. At the end of 1941 and at the beginning of 1942 Andrei Andreevich Vlasov was in good standing. This is a historical fact. Suffice it to say that following the results of the offensive near Moscow, GK Zhukov gave AA Vlasov the following description: “Lieutenant-General Vlasov has been in command of the 20th Army since November 20, 1941. He supervised the operations of the 20th Army: a counterattack on the city of Solnechnogorsk, an offensive by army troops in the Volokolamsk direction and a breakthrough of the defensive line on the Lama River. All the tasks assigned to the troops of the army, comrade. Vlasov are carried out in good faith. Personally, Lieutenant General Vlasov is well prepared in operational terms, he has organizational skills. He copes well with the command and control of the army. The position of army commander is quite consistent. As we can see, Zhukov directly points out that in the first half of December 1941, the leadership of the 20th Army was carried out by Vlasov. The fighting near Solnechnogorsk and the outbreak of battles near Volokolamsk took place at this time.
The history of the Soviet General A. A. Vlasov, which led him to the well-deserved scaffold, remains one of the mysteries of the Second World War. The author of the open letter "Why I took the path of fighting Bolshevism" for a long time was quite an ordinary person who did not stand out in any way. Attempts to simply delete his activities from the history of the war rather hindered the elucidation of the reasons for the breakdown, which so miserably broke the personality of General Vlasov.
