After the start of the Soviet-German war, the German army was unstoppable, and the Soviet army was gradually defeated in passive defense.
In the Battle of Minsk, the Soviet Western Front was encircled by the Germans, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops were captured. Their equipment supplies also became the spoils of war for the German army.
A powerful front that resisted the Germans for only a week made Stalin unable to accept it. In order to eliminate the military appearance, Stalin executed four commanders, including the great general Pavlov, on charges of "panic, lack of command, abandonment of troops, and collaboration with the enemy and treason."
Pavlov and others, of course, did not collude with the enemy to commit treason. Stalin's move was more or less a factor in shirking responsibility. But pavlov and others were defeated after all, and had nothing to say, but they could only helplessly carry this black cauldron.
(Image of a department nir husband)
Why, then, was It that the same defeat led to the mass capture of the army, so why was Marshal Konev unscathed and even promoted later?
In the early days of the Battle of Moscow in 1941, Konev, who was still a great general at the time, also suffered a crushing defeat. In the Battle of Vyazma-Bryansk, the Western Front led by Konev was helpless in the face of the German army's large-depth encirclement tactics, which eventually led to the capture of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops.
After this battle, the furious Stalin sent a special investigation team of the Supreme Commander to the xingshi to ask for guilt. Molotov and Voroshilov rebuked Konev. However, Konev argued that he had already reported to Stalin that the main force of the Western Front might be encircled, but the High Command did not give any orders. Moreover, the form of war defended by the Soviet army actually had serious problems at all.
For this matter, Konev had a big quarrel with Voroshilov. Finally Voroshilov was so angry that he wanted to send Konev to court-martial, and he was to be held responsible for this defeat.
Just when the two sides were at a stalemate, Zhukov, who had been defending Leningrad, came to the Western Front. Zhukov spoke to Stalin in front of the two men. In his opinion, although Konev did lose the battle, he was able to react in time and mobilize his troops to successfully carry out a counter-assault, and also showed good command ability. And in the midst of the Moscow crisis, the shooting of Konev did not change the situation today.
(Zhukov's old photo)
Finally, Zhukov told Stalin that he had spent some time with Konev in the Belorussian Military District, that he considered Konev a talented general, and asked Stalin to appoint Konev as his deputy and assist him in his work.
Because of Zhukov's miraculous performance in Leningrad, Stalin also relied on Zhukov to defend Moscow, so after some consideration, Stalin finally agreed to Zhukov's request. And Konev saved his life.
In fact, apart from the reason for Zhukov's intercession. In fact, Konev's ability was also recognized by Stalin.
During the period when the Soviet-German war had just broken out, the major units of the Soviet army were not adapted to the offensive of the German blitzkrieg and were basically in a passive state of being beaten. However, Konev, a political commissar, led his troops in the Smolensk region and fought tenaciously against the German army, and he was also called "the general who never retreated". From that time on, Konev began to attract Stalin's attention.
In the battle of Vyazma-Bryansk, where Konev failed, Stalin did receive early warning reports from Konev, but he himself failed to react in any way.
Compared with Pavlov's complete ignorance of the situation of the German army and his blind command of an army group position, Konev was much better.
With Zhukov's intercession, Stalin went with the flow. He knew that in this way, he could also reap the gratitude of Zhukov and Konev at the same time, and the deal was certainly a very good deal.
(Stalin's old photo)
Konev did not disappoint Stalin either. Soon after becoming Zhukov's deputy, Konev was transferred by Stalin to Kalinin as commander of the Front. Later in the Battle of Moscow, the Kalinin Front performed well and successfully defeated the German offensive.
However, during the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalin transferred Konev to the commander of the Steppe Military District, that is, the reserve army, on the grounds that he could not contain the German army.
By 1942, Zhukov and Vaduddin were promoted to marshals for their exploits, but Konev remained at the rank of grand general due to lack of opportunities.
However, Konev was not discouraged. By the time of the Battle of Kursk in 1943, When Konev successfully broke through Kharkov, he finally proved his worth.
In the counter-offensive stage, Konev led the Second Ukrainian Front, killing the Germans all the way and abandoning their armor. After Vadudin's accidental death, Konev took over the Ukrainian First Front. In his hands, the First and Second Ukrainian Fronts became the most feared units of the German army.
Konev was promoted to field marshal in 1944, and together with Zhukov and Rokossovsky, he was known as the "field troika" of the Soviet Army.
(References: History of the Second World War, Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union)