On 22 July 1941, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front of the Soviet Union, General Dmitry Grigolyevich Pavlov, as a result of a rout caused by poor combat, was sentenced to death, along with several of his senior generals. This incident caused a huge sensation at the time, including Marshal Timoshenko, a large number of high-ranking officials tried to intercede for Pavlov, but the supreme leader was desperate. Even today, there are many scholars who believe that the symbolic significance of shooting Pavlov is far greater than the practical significance—yes, Stalin just wanted to kill chickens for monkeys to show, to kill people in the most difficult moments.
However, if we fully understand Pavlov's performance before and after the Battle of Minsk, we will find that this old brother died without any injustice.
It is well known that Pavlov, who came from a tanker, was favored by senior leaders compared to Zhukov, who came from a cavalry background. Although the two were promoted at about the same rate, Pavlov apparently gained many opportunities that the former did not have. For example, in 1936, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Pavlov was sent to Spain to be gilded, and upon his return he received the Order of the Golden Star and was appointed Director of the Armored Corps of Automobiles and Tanks. In addition, compared with Zhukov's personality, who can't rub sand in his eyes, Pavlov is more liked by his colleagues and has a much better reputation than the former.
However, we cannot be deceived by the illusion, in fact, in this process, Pavlov has already behaved very "villainous". Let's start with two vignettes.
Don't look at the Soviet tank unit in World War II, it also became a trump card in the hands of the Soviet Union after the war, and the Soviet army encountered a sinister "throbbing" period in the process of establishing an armored force. The older generation of generals, such as Voroshilov and Budyonny, could not foresee the position of the tank as a new weapon in future wars, and could not accept the idea that tanks would replace traditional troops as the protagonists of the battlefield. The two groups had engaged in sharp confrontation over whether or not to establish an armored corps, and they had completely torn each other's faces. Fortunately, the persistence of Tukhachevsky and others finally impressed Stalin, and with the support of the Supreme Leader, the Soviets finally established two tank regiments.
It can be said that without the efforts of Tuha and others, Pavlov would not have achieved such a rapid promotion. However, when the political catastrophe of the 1930s came, Pavlov firmly drew a line with the "teacher", and even deliberately rejected the idea of "concentrating on the use of tank troops", and directly did the opposite, proposing to "disperse the trial tank troops". To this end, he also slyly argued: How do you know that the enemy will definitely fight according to your ideas?
Pavlov did this simply for fear that the iron fist smashed on Tukhachevsky might drag him down. It can be seen that his character is highly questionable. But then again, it is human instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, and the next incident is enough to show that he is a narrow-minded villain at all.
In 1941, the Soviet army's tank drill can be described as very famous. In this exercise, the Blue Army commanded by Zhukov easily defeated Pavlov's Red Army. In accordance with the former's usual temper, after the exercise, Zhukov ruthlessly pointed out Pavlov's obvious and fatal shortcomings in deployment. In fact, pavlov is not the first time he has made such a mistake, and Meletskov, a former chief of the general staff, has also mentioned him. Pavlov's first reaction, however, was to disobey; instead of trying to correct his mistakes in order to make up for his mistakes, he made a small report afterwards and slandered Zhukov's surprise victory in the exercise as "undermining the discipline of the exercise."
Interestingly, the angry Zhukov once made a cruel remark, which was probably like this: If it were those famous German generals who called, you Pavlov would not know why he died. At first glance, it sounds like an angry word, who expected that in the future it will become a slur.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" >After talking about character, let's talk about the key points: Pavlov's business ability, what is the level? </h1>
Now there is a view that Pavlov is not as bad as people think, at least he did everything he could in the Battle of Minsk, but the enemy was too strong. You know, the German army quietly prepared for this battle for more than a year, and the military intelligence alone was as many as hundreds of times, and even knew the specific conditions around Minsk than the Soviet generals.
In my opinion, this view is very unreliable, or it can be said that Pavlov can be replaced by another Soviet general or general, and the Battle of Minsk can never be lost so badly; even if the German army eats this battle, it will at least lose a few teeth. The main reason why the Battle of Minsk became a one-sided annihilation war was that Pavlov's military brilliance was a nightmare.
It turned out that this Soviet general had almost no merit in construction, but he was quite successful in squandering good things.
Pavlov was surprisingly stubborn, and in the course of his participation in the Spanish Civil War, he had seen a small number of light tanks easily destroyed, so that man-made tanks were simply unable to fight alone. This preconceived notion was so highly regarded by him that he accompanied him throughout his life, so much so that after being promoted to inspector general of tank troops, he reduced the size of the Soviet army's armored army to pieces, personally destroying the achievements of the efforts of a generation of outstanding Soviet military experts.
Pavlov's stupidity was taken to the next level < H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="28" > and as commander of the Western Front. </h1>
First of all, the Western Front has 6 mechanized armies under its command, of which the 6th Mechanized Army has a strong book strength, with 1131 tanks of various types, and the tank fully equipped rate has reached 2 to 3 times that of the general mechanized army. What is more noteworthy is that about 1/5 of this batch of tanks are advanced T-34 tanks and KV series heavy tanks. Not only that, the mechanized army is also equipped with more than 6,000 auxiliary vehicles of various kinds, which has been seriously oversized. With such a strong combat strength, Pavlov locked the "steel torrent" in the garage on the grounds of "reducing the wear and tear of equipment".
The 6th Mechanized Army consumed a lot of resources, resulting in several other mechanized armies being somewhat malnourished. Take the worst 17th mechanized army as an example: the army only has 63 tanks, and it is basically old obsolete goods, with a full staff rate of only 12.2%; the whole army has only 12 guns, and its book strength is not as good as a tank regiment. What high-ranking general with a normal head would arrange this? It can be said that when the Soviet high-level met such a "Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick" and placed him in a key position in army building, it was absolutely eight lifetimes of mold.
On June 20, 1941, Pavlov took part in a teleconference as usual. On the phone, Marshal Timoshenko, then People's Commissar for National Defense, expressed his concerns about the Germans to his subordinates, because many intelligence showed that the Germans were massing on the Soviet-German border and were still dismantling the roadblocks on the border, as if they were going to make some "big moves". Although the soviet army was not allowed to move first, Timoshenko specifically advised that he must closely observe the situation and report immediately as soon as there was a disturbance. Subsequently, Marshal Voroshilov personally called and gave Pavlov a "strengthening injection".
After the meeting, Pavlov also called a meeting of his subordinates, and the leaders of the various ministries provided information ranging from each other, but from a lot of intelligence, the situation on the border was indeed not optimistic. However, the view was expressed that the Germans had assembled these units in order to transfer them to France on 22 June for the ensuing landings in Britain. Relieved to hear this, Pavlov ordered 3 more truckloads of ammunition per unit, each of which was given three more truckloads of ammunition, and at the same time arranged for more manpower to patrol the border — pavlov was prepared only for a major battle that could erupt at any time, involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. Not only that, but he also ordered various entertainment events on the weekend, and on June 21, he went to the Minsk Theater to see an opera.
At 1:15 a.m. on 22 June, Pavlov received an urgent order from Moscow to prepare himself for battle immediately. As a result, when he opened the door, he found that the 6th Mechanized Army, which he had carefully built, had a large number of tanks lying directly in the nest due to lack of maintenance—before the battle was fought, the strength of the Western Front was greatly reduced. Ironically, Pavlov estimated that the Germans would first launch a feint on both flanks to attract the attention of the Soviets, and then concentrate their forces to break through the middle road. However, as he himself said: "How do you know that the enemy will fight according to your ideas?" The Germans did exactly the opposite, sacrificing one of the most representative pincer offensives in the history of human warfare, and highlighting the art of war to the extreme.
Moscow said not to act first, Pavlov did not fight; Moscow said to quickly return fire, Pavlov fought. If this is the so-called "obedience to orders", then the commander-in-chief of this front is also too good. Pavlov's stubbornness and arrogance led to a serious retreat in the western front's combat strength, so that the Germans had little resistance after the attack. The so-called "one general is incompetent and exhausts the three armies", because of his vanity and stubbornness, disregarded the lives of hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers, which is his biggest crime. In this way, the judgement handed down by the military tribunal on July 22, 1941, did not exaggerate at all. If he humbly listened to the guidance of his colleagues, did a good job in army building, and actively prepared for war, even if he could not rewrite the defeat after the German army came, but after full resistance, he withdrew in an orderly manner, so that the enemy could win a crushing victory after paying a certain price, such a result would be comparable to a victory.
History gave Pavlov the opportunity to rise to the occasion, and it also gave him the opportunity to rewrite the course of human history, but he personally nailed his name to the pillar of shame. Therefore, it is not easy to be famous for eternity, and Pavlov was "sacrificed", which is really unjust.