Before starting a detailed conversation about how Stalin received this title and how he treated him, we recall that in world practice, as a rule, it was assigned not to generals, but rather to the most significant statesmen, those who led not only the army, but and the entire belligerent power as a whole. However, this was not the case in Russia. Stalin was the only Soviet generalissimo, the fifth person on Russian soil with such a rank. The fourth was the deeply revered Supreme Alexander Suvorov.
There is a mass of evidence that Joseph Vissarionovich fought off such an honor as best he could. The highest military rank, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, was awarded to him as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on June 27, 1945. However, according to available data, the first attempts to do this were made from the beginning of 1943.
In any case, the archives allegedly contain a cipher telegram, in which several well-known commanders of the Great Patriotic War are addressing comrades Malenkov, Molotov and Beria with a similar proposal. Then it was not without the "voice of the people" - a proposal to confer the highest rank on Stalin was made by a team of workers, engineers and technicians and employees of the Moscow plant "Resora".
However, until the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Supreme and did not want to hear about anything like that. He became a marshal six months later than Zhukov, 11th in a row in the USSR, and not the first. Moreover, such inclinations generally aroused the most negative emotions in the leader, sometimes driving him almost to white heat. One of his authentic monologues on this particular topic has survived, cited by a witness more than worthy of trust, Marshal Konev, in which Stalin swears abusively about the fact that they are trying to slip Generalissimos Franco and Chiang Kai-shek into his company, and also “want to put from marshals to some generalissimo. " At the same time, the following phrase was also heard: "You need titles for authority, and not for Comrade Stalin!" On the "initiative" of well-wishers from "Resora" and similar messages from the front, there is invariably a resolution made by the beloved red pencil of the Supreme: "To the archive!" Iosif Vissarionovich was not categorically going to give them a go and implement them.
According to one of the versions, it was possible to "persuade" him during an impromptu banquet held on June 24, 1945 after the Victory Parade in a tiny room near the Mausoleum, where the country's leaders usually hid from the weather during festive events, and here, on a wave of overwhelming feelings, they decided to celebrate hastily the greatest event. Some researchers are trying to argue that it was among this feast in a narrow circle that the Supreme gave the slack, agreeing to the second Order of Victory, the title of Hero, and even to the heap of the Generalissimo.
Hence, they say, and such "super-efficiency" with the introduction of this title by the Supreme Soviet and conferring it on Stalin. Let me doubt it. Those who later tried to give him the Star of the Hero, Stalin simply swore from the bottom of his heart. And I never put it on in my life. As, by the way, and the uniform of the Generalissimo, an attempt to present it to him for approval almost ended tragically for all participants. Seeing the completely phantasmagoric attire with epaulettes instead of epaulets on which the coat of arms of the USSR flaunted for presentation on the Chief Quartermaster of the Red Army Pavel Drachev, and with gold stripes, the supreme asked only one question: "Who exactly are you going to dress in this ?!" It was said in such a tone that the topic was closed by itself once and for all. Until the end of his life, Stalin wore a marshal's uniform, in which he left this world.
That version of Joseph Vissarionovich's acceptance of the rank of generalissimo seems to be extremely similar to the truth, according to which the companions desperate to "roll" the leader to this turn to Stalin's favorite commander - Marshal Rokossovsky for help. And he, taking advantage of the moment, dared to “let the hairpin go”: “Like, what is this, Comrade Supreme? You are a marshal, so am I a marshal! In which case, in truth, according to the statute, you won't be able to punish me …"
Of course, only Konstantin Konstantinovich could afford such a thing. To someone else, perhaps, Iosif Vissarionovich would quickly explain what he can and what not. And then he simply waved his hand - do what you want. In the end, it was 1945, the greatest war in the history of mankind was won, the country was saved. Had every right! We always remember and honor the marshals of Victory, and let us not forget about its generalissimo.
