Dmitry Grigoryevich Pavlov (; 22 July 1941) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

general who commanded the key

Soviet Western Front The Western Front was a front of the Red Army, one of the Red Army Fronts during World War II. The Western Front was created on 22 June 1941 from the Western Special Military District (which before July 1940 was known as Belorussian Special ...

during the initial stage of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

) in June 1941. After his forces were heavily defeated within the first few days of the campaign, he was relieved of his command, arrested, charged with military incompetence, and executed.

Military career

Pavlov was a veteran of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, as well as the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, serving in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

since 1919. He graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

in 1928. He then commanded various mechanised and

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

units. As one of the Soviet military advisers, in 1936–37 he took part in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

on the Republican side (using the

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

''Pablo'') and commanded a brigade of Soviet tanks, for which he was made a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

. In contrast to many other officers who took part in that war, he was not

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

d after his return to the Soviet Union,Constantine Pleshakov, ''Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War II on the Eastern Front'',

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

, 2005. Relevant page available from Google Book Search:
Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten ... – Google Book Search
at books.google.ca and was made the Head of the Directorate of Tank and Armoured Car Troops of the Red Army which gave him considerable influence on its development. In particular he insisted that tanks be shifted to infantry support roles,Joseph Page and Tim Bean, ''Russian Tanks of World War II'', Zenith Imprint, 2002, Relevant page available via Google Book Search
Russian Tanks of World War II ... – Google Book Search
at books.google.ca which in hindsight turned out to be incorrect. He participated in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, as well as the border clashes with Japan. In 1940, Pavlov became the commander of the Western (Belorussian) Special Military District, which became the

bearing the brunt of German attack during

in June 1941. On 22 February 1941, he was one of the first Soviet generals to receive the new rank of

General of the Army Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

, inferior only to the rank of

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (, ) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wore the uniform and insignia of Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in ...

Downfall

In the fall of 1940,

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...

started preparing the plans for the

military exercise A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in Military education and training, training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of ...

concerning the defence of the Western border of the Soviet Union, which at this time was pushed further to the west due to the annexation of eastern Poland. In his memoirs, Zhukov reports that in this exercise he commanded the Western or Blue forcesthe supposed invasion troopsand his opponent was Colonel General Dmitry Pavlov, the commander of the Eastern or Red forcesthe supposed Soviet troops. Zhukov describes the exercise as being similar to actual events during the German invasion. At the time, the Eastern, Pavlov's forces had a numerical advantage, but they nonetheless lost the military exercise. On the night of 21 June 1941, Pavlov was watching a comedy in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

when Moscow sent a directive to all military councils in the Western Military Districts of a possible German invasion. Pavlov chose to watch the comedy to its end and this proved to be a fatal mistake in the eyes of his superiors in Moscow. During the first days of Operation Barbarossa his command,

, suffered a disastrous defeat in the

Battle of Białystok–Minsk The Battle of Białystok–Minsk was a German strategic operation conducted by the Wehrmacht's Army Group Centre under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock during the penetration of the Soviet border region in the opening stage of Operation Barbaros ...

. During the first days of the invasion, Pavlov was relieved of his command, replaced by Andrey Eremenko (and again by

Semyon Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko (; ; – 31 March 1970) was a Soviet military commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union, and one of the most prominent Red Army commanders during the Second World War. Born to a Ukrainian family in Bessarabia, ...

), arrested and accused of criminal incompetence and treason. He was the only arrested commander of any Soviet front during Operation Barbarossa. He and his chief of staff

Vladimir Klimovskikh Vladimir Yefimovich Klimovskikh (; May 27, 1885July 27, 1941) was a Soviet Union, Soviet general who served as the Chief of Staff of the Western Special Military District and the Western Front under General of the Army (Soviet Union), General of ...

were first accused of: Pavlov and his deputies were accused of "failure to perform their duties" rather than treason. On 22 July 1941, the same day the sentence was handed down, Pavlov's property was confiscated, and he was deprived of military rank, shot, and buried in a

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

near Moscow by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. Death penalties were also passed down for other commanders of the Western Front, including the Chief of Staff, Major General Vladimir Klimovskikh; the chief of the communications corps, Major General A. T. Grigoriev; the Chief of Artillery, Lieutenant General of Artillery A. Klich; and Air Force Deputy Chief of the Western Front (who, after the suicide of Major General Aviation I.I. Kopets, was, nominally at least, Chief of the Air Force of the Western Front), Major General Aviation A. I. Tayursky. Also, the commander of the 14th Mechanized Corps, Major General

Stepan Oborin Stepan Ilyich Oborin (; 15 August 1892 – 16 October 1941) was a Red Army major general. Oborin served as a gunner in the Imperial Russian Army in World War I and subsequently joined the Red Army. He fought in the Russian Civil War and became a ...

, was arrested on 8 July and shot. The commander of the 4th Army, Major General

Aleksandr Korobkov Aleksandr Andreyevich Korobkov (; 20 June 1897 – 22 July 1941) was a Red Army major general who commanded the 4th Army (Soviet Union), 4th Army in the early stages of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). Early life, Wor ...

, was dismissed on 8 July, arrested the next day, and shot on 22 July. On the other hand, Pavlov's deputy commander, Lieutenant General

Ivan Boldin Ivan Vasilievich Boldin (; in Vysokaya – 20 March 1965 in Kiev) was a senior Red Army general and war hero during the Second World War. Early military and political career A son of a landed peasant, Boldin was fortunate enough to attend prima ...

, at the head of a small group, became a popular hero at the time after spending 45 days fighting for survival behind enemy lines, and finally, on 10 August, leading a total of 1,650 officers and men through to Soviet lines near

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

. ''

Stavka The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка, ) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrat ...

'' Order No. 270 praised the feat of Boldin's "division".

David Glantz David M. Glantz (born January 11, 1942) is an American military historian known for his books on the Red Army during World War II and as the chief editor of '' The Journal of Slavic Military Studies''. Born in Port Chester, New York, Glantz ...

, "Ivan Vasilievich Boldin", in ''Stalin's Generals'', (Harold Shukman, Ed.), Phoenix Press, 2001, p 49 Pavlov and other commanders of the Western Front were rehabilitated for lack of evidence in 1956. On 25 November 1965, the title of

, and other honours, were posthumously returned to him. It was not until the

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Commu ...

era that it was declared that Pavlov was not the main culprit in the defeat and that the orders given to him could not have been fulfilled by anyone.

References

Bibliography

External links

Biography on warheros.ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlov, Dmitry 1897 births 1941 deaths People from Kologrivsky District People from Kologrivsky Uyezd Candidates of the Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Members of the Central Executive Committee of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Army generals (Soviet Union) Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet people of the Spanish Civil War Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Frunze Military Academy alumni Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm Executed people from Kostroma Oblast Executed military leaders Russian people executed by the Soviet Union Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations