List of captured German and Romanian military leaders. Soviet generals-traitors who began to fight for Hitler

Generals who died in captivity during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, but did not repeat the “feat” of General Vlasov

Major General Alaverdov Christopher Nikolaevich.

Born on May 25, 1895 in the village of Ogbin in Armenia in a peasant family. Labored. Didn't finish school, self-taught. In 1914 he was mobilized into the tsarist army, until 1917 he participated in the 1st World War as a private, non-commissioned officer, and second lieutenant.
Since February 1918 - voluntarily in the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1918, as a private in the Kuban against Kaledin’s troops; in 1919 in Ukraine as a platoon commander of an Armenian regiment against the Germans and Skoropadsky’s troops. He was wounded in the head. In 1920-1921, on the Eastern Front, he was a squadron commander and commander of the 2nd Petrograd Regiment against Kolchak’s troops; in 1921-1924 in Ukraine, commander of a cavalry regiment of the 9th Cavalry Division against Makhno and other gangs. He studied at the Kyiv United Military School for two years, and then fought in Tajikistan for another year as the chief of staff of a cavalry regiment against the Basmachi. In this position, he served another four years in the Moscow Military District and two years as a regiment commander of the 2nd Armenian Cavalry Division in the Transcaucasian Military District. In 1935, Alaverdov graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, for a year he commanded a Cossack cavalry regiment in the Kuban, and then for two years he was a student at the Military Academy of the General Staff and for another three years he taught at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. From February 1940 he became commander of the 113th Infantry Division of the Belarusian Special Military District. On June 5, 1940, Alaverdov was awarded the rank of major general. From March 21, 1940, he was a brigade commander, and from February 22, 1938, a colonel. From the end of 1939 until March 1940, the division took part in the war with Finland, then returned to its district.
From June 22, 1941, Alaverdov, at the head of his division, participated in the border battle on the South-Western Front, then in the Kyiv defensive operation. Together with other front troops, the division was surrounded by superior enemy tank forces. While trying to escape the encirclement, Alaverdov and a group of commanders and fighters came across an ambush by significant Nazi forces. A firefight ensued. Alaverdov fired back with a machine gun, then with a pistol, but was still captured. He was taken to Germany, to the Hammelburg camp. He immediately began conducting anti-fascist agitation among prisoners of war, calling for action against the cruel regime of the camp. For this he was transferred to Nuremberg prison. But even here Alaverdov continued his campaigning, repeatedly saying that he was convinced of the victory of the Red Army. At the end of 1942, the Nazis took him out of his cell and shot him. General Alaverdov was awarded the orders: 2 Red Banners (1938 and 1940), Red Banner of Labor (1938).

Major General of Technical Troops Baranov Sergei Vasilievich.

Born on April 2, 1897 in the village of Sistovo, Leningrad Region, into a working-class family. He graduated from the 6th grade vocational school in St. Petersburg and in -1917 - the school for warrant officers.
From July 23, 1918 - in the Red Army, he worked in the military registration and enlistment office. In 1919-1921 - on the fronts of the Civil War as a platoon commander and head of battery communications. In 1923 he graduated from the infantry command school. Until 1930, he commanded transport units, then completed advanced training courses for command personnel. He commanded a rifle battalion for two years. In 1933 he graduated from the school of tank technicians and for six years commanded a battalion of cadets there. Since 1939 - commander of the 48th motor transport brigade. In 1940 - assistant inspector general of the armored department of the Red Army. On June 4, 1940, Baranov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a brigade commander from September 11, 1939, a colonel from April 4, 1938. From March 11, 1941, he commanded the 212th motorized rifle division in the Belarusian Special Military District, and entered into battle with it on the very first day of the Great Patriotic War in the Western front. The division, under pressure from large tank forces, retreated to the old border. Here it was surrounded east of Minsk and suffered heavy losses. While trying to escape the encirclement, General Baranov was wounded and captured in mid-July.

He was in a German hospital in Grodno, and after recovery - in the Zamosc prisoner of war camp in Poland. In February 1942, he fell ill with typhus here and died from exhaustion. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1919).

Major General Danilov Sergei Evlampievich.

Born on September 5, 1895 in the village of Nechaevka, Yaroslavl region, in a peasant family. In 1915 he graduated from the Moscow Real School, and in 1916 from the Alekseevsky Military School of the Tsarist Army. He took part in the battles of the 1st World War as a company commander and lieutenant.
In July 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1919 - on the Northern Front as a company commander against Yudenich’s troops; in 1920 on the Western Front as a battalion commander and assistant regiment commander against the White Poles. Was injured. Until 1930 he commanded a rifle battalion. Then he worked in the combat training department of the Belarusian Military District. In 1933 he graduated from the M.V. Frunze Military Academy and in 1934 became the head of the tactics department at the Military Academy of Communications. In 1938-1939 he was an assistant division commander, and then commander of the 280th Infantry Division of the 50th Army. On June 4, 1940, Danilov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a colonel since August 27, 1938.
From August 1941, he took part in battles on Bryansk, then on the Western Front, in the battle of Moscow. In March 1942, during the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation, Danilov's division was surrounded by the enemy east of Rzhev. While escaping from encirclement in one of the battles, Danilov was wounded and, together with a group of commanders of his headquarters, captured. He lay in a German hospital, then was taken to Germany to the Flessenburg camp. For refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, he was transferred to Nuremberg prison.
From chronic malnutrition, illness and frequent beatings, he died on March 1, 1944 and was burned in a crematorium. General Danilov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1938).

Lieutenant General Ershakov Philip Afanasyevich.

Born in October 1893 in the village of Taganka, Smolensk region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school and worked on his father's farm. In 1912 he was drafted into the tsarist army and took part in the 1st World War. In 1916 he graduated from the regimental training team and became a senior non-commissioned officer.
In 1918 he joined the Red Army. Participant of the Civil War in 1918-1920 on the South-Western and Southern Fronts as a platoon, company, and battalion commander. Until 1924 he was assistant regiment commander. He graduated from the higher command courses "Vystrel" and from 1924 to 1930 commanded a rifle regiment. For two years he was an assistant, and from 1932 - commander of a rifle division. In 1934, in a special group of senior commanders, he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, then again commanded a division for two years, and then a corps for two years. In 1938, Ershakov became deputy commander of the troops of the Ural Military District, and at the end of the year, commander this district. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
Since September 1941, on the Western Front, General Ershakov commanded the 20th Army, participated in the Battle of Smolensk and in the Vyazemsk defensive operation. At the beginning of October, during this operation, his army, along with other armies of the front, was surrounded by the enemy. On October 10, 1941, while escaping from encirclement, Ershakov was captured after a firefight. He was taken to Germany, to the Hammelburg camp.

Ershakov refused all offers from the Nazis to cooperate with them. He was subjected to systematic beatings, from which he died in July 1942.
General Ershakov was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner (1919, 1920).

Major General Zusmanovich Grigory Moiseevich.

Born on June 29, 1889 in the village of Khortitsa, Dnepropetrovsk region, in the family of a craftsman. He graduated from the 4th grade of a rural school. For five years he worked at a steam mill. He served in the tsarist army from 1910 to 1917. Since 1914, he participated in the 1st World War as a senior non-commissioned officer.
In December 1917 he joined the Red Guard, in February 1918 - the Red Army. He took part in the Civil War: in 1918, as the head of a detachment in Ukraine against the Germans and white gangs, then on the Eastern Front as the head of food supplies for the army against the Czech formations and Kolchak’s troops. In 1919, on the Southern Front - the head of the 47th Infantry Division of the 12th Army, and later the head of the 2nd Tula Infantry Division, he fought against Denikin's troops. In 1920 he was military commissar of the Oryol Military District. In 1921-1922 - the Dagestan Republic, and until 1925 - the Stavropol Territory and the Don District.
In 1926, Zusmanovich completed advanced training courses for senior command personnel at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy and worked as a military commissar of the Karachay Republic for two years. From 1928 to 1935 he was commander and commissar of the 2nd Ukrainian Convoy Division of the Ukrainian Military District. Then for two years he commanded the 45th Infantry Division in the Kiev Military District, being at the same time the commandant of the Novograd-Volyn fortified region. In 1937-1940 he served in the Transcaucasian Military District as chief of logistics and chief of supply for the district. On June 4, 1940, Zusmanovich was awarded the rank of major general. Before that, from June 1937, he was a division commander.
He worked for a year as a senior teacher and assistant to the head of the quartermaster academy, and in September 1941 he became deputy commander for logistics of the 6th Army of the Southwestern Front. During the Kyiv defensive operation, the army was surrounded. The troops received orders to leave the encirclement in separate groups. Zusmanovich brought one out for them. Army control was restored, it received divisions from the Southern Front and Headquarters reserves. Zusmanovich remained the head of the army's logistics and participated in the Donbass and Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya offensive operations of the Southwestern Front. In the Battle of Kharkov in May 1942, the army, along with the rest of the front troops, was surrounded east of Krasnograd. This time, Zusmanovich failed to escape the encirclement. In a firefight with the group he led, he was wounded in the leg and could not move. While lying down he fired back with a pistol, but several German soldiers fell on him and took him prisoner.
He was in a hospital in the Polish city of Kholm, then in a prisoner of war camp there. In July 1942 he was taken to Germany, to the Hammelburg camp.

For refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, he was transferred to Nuremberg prison and then to Weißenburg fortress. He died from exhaustion and continuous beatings in July 1944. General Zusmanovich was awarded the orders of the Red Banner (1924) and the Red Banner of Labor of Ukraine (1932).

Lieutenant General Karbyshev Dmitry Mikhailovich.

Born on October 27, 1880 in Omsk in the family of a military official. He graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps and in 1900 from the Military Engineering School in St. Petersburg. Served in the military. In 1911 he graduated from the Military Engineering Academy. Participated in the 1st World War as a lieutenant colonel.
In February 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1918-1920 on the Eastern Front as head of defensive construction and chief of army engineers; in 1921 on the Southern Front - deputy head of the front engineering service. Until 1924, he served in the military development department of the Red Army, then as a teacher at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, and from 1936 at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Author of over 100 scientific works, professor (1938), Doctor of Military Sciences (1941). On June 4, 1940, Karbyshev was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Before that, from February 22, 1938, he was a division commander.
In June 1941, Karbyshev conducted an inspection of defensive structures in the Belarusian Special Military District. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he retreated to the east along with the troops and in July was surrounded in Western Belarus. Coming out of it, on August 8, he was seriously wounded in battle and captured. He was treated in a German hospital. Then he was sent to the Zamosc camp in Poland. He repeatedly refused to go into the service of the Nazis and cooperate with them. Conducted anti-fascist underground work among prisoners of war.

He passed through the camps of Hammelburg, Nuremberg, and Lublin, where he was systematically beaten. On February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen camp on the parade ground, he was tied to a post and, while being doused with water, was frozen to death.
General Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union (1946), he was awarded the orders of Lenin (1946), Red Banner (1940), Red Star (1938). Monuments to him were erected in Mauthausen and in Karbyshev’s homeland in Omsk.

Major General Kuleshov Andrey Danilovich.

Born on August 11, 1893 in the village of Semenkovo, Moscow Region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a 4-year zemstvo school and worked on his father’s farm. In 1914 - mobilized into the tsarist army, until 1917 he participated in the 1st World War as a private and non-commissioned officer.
Since February 1918 - in the Red Army. In 1918-1922 he fought on the fronts of the Civil War as a commissar of a regiment, brigade and division. Then he served as commander of a rifle regiment for two years, then studied at the higher command courses of the Red Army for a year. From 1925 to 1933 he was commander of a rifle division, then for three years he was a student at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy. After graduating from the academy, he commanded a division for another year, and from 1937, a special rifle corps. In 1938, he was arrested and spent a year in prison under investigation, after which he was dismissed from the Red Army. In 1940, he was rehabilitated, reinstated in the army and appointed senior lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general.
At the beginning of 1941, Kuleshov was appointed commander of the 64th Rifle Corps of the North Caucasus Military District, and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, deputy commander of the 38th Army of the Southwestern Front. He took part in the defense on the Dnieper and in the Kyiv defensive operation. In December 1941, Kuleshov was appointed commander of the 175th Infantry Division of the 28th Army.
After the Battle of Kharkov in 1942, during the retreat of troops to the east, enemy tanks in the area of the village of Ilyushevka near Olkhovatka on the Chernaya Kalitva River on July 13, 1942 broke through the division’s battle formations and attacked its command post. In a firefight, Kuleshov was captured.
From continuous beatings and hunger in the spring of 1944 he died in the Flessenburg concentration camp. General Kuleshov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1922).

Major General Kulikov Konstantin Efimovich.

Born on May 18, 1896 in the village of Vitomovo, Tver Region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a 4-grade rural school and worked on his father’s farm. From 1914 to 1917 he participated in the 1st World War as a soldier and non-commissioned officer.
In 1917 he joined the Red Guard detachment of the Moscow Railway. Since April 1918 - in the Red Army. Until 1920 - on the fronts of the Civil War as a platoon, company, and battalion commander. The next two years - assistant regiment commander. Then he graduated from the infantry school and until 1927 was an assistant regiment commander for economic affairs. In 1928 he graduated from the higher command courses “Vystrel”, after which he was an assistant division commander for two years. In 1931-1937 he commanded a rifle regiment. In 1938, as commander of the 39th Infantry Division, he took part in battles with the Japanese on Lake Khasan. He was arrested, but after a year-long investigation he was released for lack of evidence of a crime. In 1939 - appointed head of the Dnepropetrovsk advanced training courses for command personnel. On June 5, 1940, Kulikov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a brigade commander from February 17, 1938, and a colonel from February 17, 1936.
In March 1941, Kulikov was appointed commander of the 196th Infantry Division of the Odessa Military District. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, as part of the 9th Army of the Southern Front, he participated in the border battle, in defensive battles on the Dniester, Southern Bug and Dnieper. On September 15, when the enemy broke through into the depths of our defense, the division was surrounded, and Kulikov was captured.

At first he was in a prisoner of war camp in Vladimir-Volynsky, from there he was taken to Germany to the Hammelburg camp, and at the end of 1942 to the Flessenburg camp, where he died of hunger and beatings.

General Kulikov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1938).

Major General Pyotr Grigorievich Makarov.

Born on June 29, 1898 in the village of Kudiyarovka, Tula region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a parish school and worked as a farm laborer and laborer. From February 1917 he served as a private in the tsarist army.
In October 1918, he joined the Red Army upon conscription. From 1919 to 1922 - on the fronts of the Civil War: in 1919, as a platoon commander of the 11th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army in battles against Denikin's troops. In 1920, he was a squadron commander of the same division against Wrangel's troops. In 1921-1922 - in Ukraine, commander of the 13th cavalry regiment of the 1st cavalry brigade of the 1st Cavalry Army against Makhno and other gangs. Until 1931 he commanded various cavalry units, then until 1937 he was the chief of staff of a cavalry regiment, then for a year he was a regiment commander and another year he was an assistant commander of the 6th Cavalry Division of the Belarusian Special Military District. In 1939, Makarov became the commander of this division. On June 9, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general. From October 31, 1938, he was a brigade commander, and from January 5, 1937, a colonel.
In March 1941, Makarov became deputy commander of the 11th Mechanized Corps. On the second day of the Great Patriotic War on the Western Front, the corps, together with two other corps, took part in a counterattack against the enemy in the Grodno direction. Despite stubborn fighting, the front troops failed to stop the enemy, and with the permission of Headquarters, they began to retreat to Minsk. But the Nazi tank forces moved faster - and the 11th Mechanized Corps, along with other formations of the 3rd and 10th Armies, found themselves surrounded east of Minsk. On July 8, while trying to fight his way out of encirclement, General Makarov was captured.

He was stationed in the Zamosc camp in Poland, then in Germany in the Hammelburg camps and, from December 1942, in the Flessenburg camps. From overwork, beatings and hunger he fell ill with tuberculosis. In the fall of 1943, he was stoned to death by the Nazis.

General Makarov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1930).

Major General Nikitin Ivan Semenovich.

Born in 1897 in the village of Dubrovka, Oryol region, in the family of an employee. He graduated from elementary school and worked as a clerk. From 1916 to 1917 he served in the tsarist army. Participated in the 1st World War.
In the Red Army - since June 1918. He graduated from cavalry courses and until 1922, as a platoon, squadron, and cavalry regiment commander on various fronts, he participated in the Civil War. Until 1924 he commanded a regiment and a brigade. In 1927 he graduated from the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, then was chief of staff for six years and commander of a cavalry division for three years. In 1937-1938 he was under investigation, but the case was dropped due to the lack of evidence of a crime. Since 1938, Nikitin was a senior teacher at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, and in 1940 he was appointed commander of the 6th Cavalry Corps of the Belarusian Special Military District. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the corps took part in the border battle on the Western Front, and in July 1941 it was surrounded by the enemy. When trying to break out of it to the east, after a stubborn battle, Nikitin was captured. He was taken to Germany to the Hammelburg camp.

He repeatedly rejected the Nazis’ offers to cooperate with them and convinced the prisoners of the victory of the Red Army. In April 1942, he was taken from the camp and shot.

General Nikitin was awarded two Orders of the Red Star (1937 and 1941).

Major General Novikov Petr Georgievich.

Born on December 18, 1907 in the village of Luch in Tatarstan in a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school and primary school.
In 1923, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, becoming a cadet at the Kazan Higher Infantry School. After graduation, he commanded various rifle units until 1937. In 1937-1938, he fought as a battalion commander in Spain on the side of the Republican Army. Upon his return, he commanded a rifle regiment, including in 1939-1940 during the war with Finland. In May 1940, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Cavalry Division. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he fought on the Southern Front. In October 1941, he became commander of the 109th Infantry Division of the Primorsky Army, which defended Sevastopol. The stubborn defense lasted until July 4, 1942. On this day, General Novikov, among the last defenders of the city, was captured at Cape Chersonese.

He was sent to Germany and remained in the Hammelburg camp until the end of the year. Then transferred to the Flessenburg camp. Due to the cruel regime, hunger, and beatings, he became very thin. Without any reason, he was killed by camp guards in August 1944.

General Novikov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1940).

Major General Novikov Timofey Yakovlevich.

Born on September 7, 1900 in the village of Zagorye, Tver Region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school and a 4-grade teachers' seminary. In 1917-1918 he served as a private in the tsarist army.
Since July 1918 in the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1919-1920 on the Western Front as a detachment commander, against the troops of Denikin and the White Poles; in March 1921, as a cadet at an infantry school, he took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion. Until 1932 he commanded rifle units. Then for five years he was an assistant and chief of the operations department of the division headquarters. For two more years he worked as head of the intelligence department of the corps headquarters. For three years he commanded the 406th Infantry Regiment of the 124th Infantry Division.
On June 22, 1941, he entered into battle with the Nazis. Participated in a border battle. The division was surrounded, but Novikov managed to withdraw 2 thousand people from the encirclement on July 25, 1941 to the location of the 5th Army with a roundabout maneuver, first to the enemy rear, and then to the front line. At the same time, on July 5 he was wounded in the leg. From October 1941, he commanded the 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Division on the Western Front. On January 10, 1942, Novikov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a colonel since November 28, 1940.
In January 1942, he became commander of the 222nd Infantry Division. During the Rzhev-Sychevsk operation, the division, having taken the lead, was surrounded by the enemy. Novikov organized a breakthrough, but was blocked by the Nazis at the observation post and, after a short firefight, was captured on August 15, 1942.

He was in the Nuremberg camp, and from February 1945 in the Weißenburg fortress. In April 1945 he was transferred to the Floessenburg camp, where he died of exhaustion.

General Novikov was awarded the Order of Lenin (1942).

Major General Presnyakov Ivan Andreevich.

Born in 1893 in the village of Gridino, Nizhny Novgorod region. He graduated from a teacher's seminary and worked for hire. In 1914 he was drafted into the tsarist army and took part in the 1st World War. In 1915 he graduated from the school of warrant officers, in 1917 - from the military school.
In the Red Army from 1918 he was an employee of the military registration and enlistment office. In 1919-1921, he commanded a company, battalion and regiment on the fronts of the Civil War. For two years he was the chief of reconnaissance of a brigade, then for six years he commanded a rifle regiment. In 1929 he graduated from the higher command courses “Vystrel”. Then Presnyakov taught at the Omsk Infantry School for five years. In 1934-1938 he headed the military department of the Moscow Institute of Physical Education, and for the next two years he served as a senior assistant inspector of the Red Army infantry. In 1940, he was the head of the combat training department of the Moscow Military District. On June 4, 1940, Presnyakov was awarded the rank of major general.
In May 1941, he was appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Division of the Kyiv Special Military District. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War met with this division. During the border battle, the division was surrounded by large enemy forces and suffered heavy losses. When leaving the encirclement, Presnyakov was ambushed by the Nazis at the end of July and, after a short fire resistance, was captured.

He was stationed in the Zamosc camp in Poland. Then in Nuremberg prison in Germany. Here, on January 5, 1943, he was shot by the Nazis for pro-Soviet agitation.

After the end of the war, for many German prisoners of war and their allies, their stay in Soviet and Anglo-American captivity lasted for 10-15 years.

About 4.2 million Wehrmacht soldiers were captured by the Soviets, and 2 million people died in captivity. Almost 5 million prisoners of war ended up in Anglo-American camps and more than 1.5 million people died.

German troops captured 80 Soviet generals and brigade commanders, of whom 23 died. All 37 Red Army generals who returned from captivity fell into the hands of state security agencies, 11 of them were convicted as traitors to the motherland.

There were 5 times more Wehrmacht generals captured than Soviet ones, many were captured after the German surrender or were captured in the following months.

Official NKVD statistics - 376 German prisoners of war generals and 12 Austrian ones) were declassified and published quite recently. However, these data need to be verified and clarified due to the peculiarities of the registration of prisoners of war carried out by the NKVD Directorate.

Many were executed or imprisoned in NKGB-MGB prisons. Traces of some of them are lost.

A number of generals captured by Soviet troops were transferred for trials to the communist governments of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, some were transferred by the Anglo-Americans, 2 generals came from Yugoslavia.

The information published in this directory, identified on the basis of archival data, includes information about 403 generals (including 3 field marshals and 8 admirals) of the Wehrmacht and persons equivalent to them. Among them are 389 Germans, 1 Croatian, 13 Austrians. 105 people died in captivity, 24 of them were executed, 268 generals were sent to long terms of hard labor or imprisonment, 11 people were transferred to Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and executed. The fate of 9 people still needs clarification; 278 generals were released mainly in 1953-1956.

The operational bodies of the NKVD were preparing open demonstration trials. They took place in Mariupol and Krakow, 81 of the 126 generals were sentenced to death and most of them were publicly executed.

The trials were organized, first of all, as political actions, the candidacies of the accused and the penalties were agreed upon at the level of Stalin and Molotov, and a confession obtained after appropriate processing of the defendant was considered evidence of guilt. However, the political response from the public trials was not clear. Fear of the death penalty could deter German soldiers from surrendering. Apparently that is why the show trials were stopped for some time. Mass executions of German prisoners of war officers and generals began much later, mainly after the end of the war.

Millions of prisoners of war from European and Asian countries, among whom were representatives of the highest military circles, scientists, diplomats and even members of the imperial dynasty, princes and other influential persons in their countries, were of significant political and military interest to the Soviet leadership.

In November 1945, the Operations Directorate launched work to conduct open trials of soldiers of the German army in December 1945 - January 1946 in 7 cities: Smolensk, Leningrad, Nikolaev, Minsk, Kiev, Riga and Velikiye Lukah. During the trials, 84 Wehrmacht soldiers, 18 of them generals, were sentenced to death and publicly hanged.

The reaction of prisoners of war to such trials was unambiguous. Thus, Major General Helmut Eisenstuck said: “I have given up on my life. If in Smolensk they are trying ordinary soldiers who only followed orders, then they will probably find enough materials against the generals to try them.” He was right; the vast majority of German generals were convicted in the following years.

At the end of 1947, 9 open trials were held in Bobruisk, Stalin, Sevastopol, Chernigov, Poltava, Vitebsk, Chisinau, Novgorod and Gomel. 143 people were put on trial, of which 23 were generals, 138 were convicted. More than 3 thousand German, Hungarian and Romanian prisoners of war were transferred to closed trials, usually in group trials.

All these numerous trials caused shock among a large part of the prisoners of war, since army generals and officers, ordinary soldiers who had been in captivity for several years were brought to trial. Many of them believed that the military personnel, even generals, were following orders and should not be judged for this. The processes continued in 1948, but less actively. In particular, a number of cases were organized on charges of sabotage and sabotage in production.

More than 30 thousand German prisoners of war and internees alone were convicted, mostly in the post-war years.

Many prisoners of war, especially generals and officers, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the issue of Germany's borders, reparations, and dismemberment of the country was resolved; delay in repatriation, the policy of the Soviet Union in Europe. This played a decisive role in their future fate. The vast majority of generals were sentenced to long terms during the 1947-1950s.

Of the 357 generals of the German army registered by the NKVD in August 1948, only 7 were repatriated (former members of the National Committee of Free Germany and the Union of German Officers), 68 had been convicted by this time, 5 people were transferred to Poland and Czechoslovakia, 26 died. In 1949, the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed to repatriate 76 generals, adding to the 23 loyalists the elderly and retired who were arrested in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany after the war. As a result of long showdowns and discussions, several generals died, several were put under investigation, but 45 were still repatriated. At this time, a number of generals were sent to prison for investigation, which made a depressing impression on those who remained. For example, Lieutenant General Bernhard Medem said, as the agent immediately reported: “It’s just terrible that there is no end to the processes... This is the sword of Damocles that hangs over all the generals.”

In December 1949, in connection with the decision on the repatriation of prisoners of war generals, Deputy Minister I. Serov and A. Kobulov proposed completing the investigation of 116 generals by April 1, 1950, detaining 60 generals in captivity, including General Seidlitz, the former president Union of German Officers.

After the publication of the TASS report on the completion of the repatriation of prisoners of war from the Soviet Union, not only those convicted remained in the camps, as was stated, but also a significant number of persons on whom the operational authorities simply had some kind of incriminating evidence, since despite the record number of trials carried out in the previous period, not all cases were completed by the spring of 1950. Interdepartmental commissions and military tribunals continued to operate.

In the summer of 1950, 118 generals of the German army and 21 generals of the Japanese army were brought to justice 45.

In 1951-1952 After the removal from office and arrest of the Minister of State Security Abakumov, Field Marshals Kleist and Scherner, German military diplomats and intelligence officers, several generals, witnesses to Hitler's death, and other persons, who had been held for a long time in MGB prisons without trial, were put on trial.

In 1950-1952 a series of repeated trials of German prisoners of war took place, tightening the punishment; during these years the death penalty, abolished in 1947, began to be used again. Thus, in 1952, Major General Helmut Becker, who had already been sentenced to 25 years in 1947, was retried; This time sentenced to capital punishment, in 1953 Major General Hayo Herman, previously sentenced to 10 years in the labor camp, was re-sentenced to 25 years. In total, 14 German generals were convicted in 1951-1953.

In October 1955, after the visit of Chancellor K. Adenauer to the Soviet Union and his negotiations with Khrushchev and Bulganin, who then held the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, on the establishment of diplomatic relations with Germany, more than 14 thousand German prisoners of war were repatriated. In 1956, German generals Helmut Nikkelman, Werner Schmidt-Hammer, Otto Rauser, Kurt von Lützow, Paul Klatt and others were released.

The history of the stay of prisoners of war in the NKVD-MVD camps has not yet been sufficiently studied. Many documents characterizing the policy of the CPSU towards prisoners of war and the working methods of operational agencies still remain inaccessible to researchers.

Not all of them were traitors. Based on the Headquarters order of August 16, 1941, “On cases of cowardice and surrender and measures to suppress such actions,” 13 people were shot, another eight were sentenced to imprisonment for “improper behavior in captivity.”

But among the senior officers there were also those who, to one degree or another, voluntarily chose to cooperate with the Germans. Five major generals and 25 colonels were hanged in the Vlasov case. There were even Heroes of the Soviet Union in the Vlasov army - senior lieutenant Bronislav Antilevsky and captain Semyon Bychkov.

The case of General Vlasov

They are still arguing about who General Andrei Vlasov was, an ideological traitor or an ideological fighter against the Bolsheviks. He served in the Red Army since the Civil War, studied at the Higher Army Command Courses, and moved up the career ladder. In the late 30s he served as a military adviser in China. Vlasov survived the era of great terror without shocks - he was not subjected to repression, and even, according to some information, was a member of the district military tribunal.

Before the war, he received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Lenin. He was awarded these high awards for creating an exemplary division. Vlasov received under his command an infantry division that was not distinguished by any particular discipline or merit. Focusing on German achievements, Vlasov demanded strict compliance with the charter. His caring attitude towards his subordinates even became the subject of articles in the press. The division received a challenge Red Banner.

In January 1941, he received command of a mechanized corps, one of the most well-equipped at that time. The corps included new KV and T-34 tanks. They were created for offensive operations, but in defense after the start of the war they were not very effective. Soon Vlasov was appointed commander of the 37th Army defending Kyiv. The connections were broken, and Vlasov himself ended up in the hospital.

He managed to distinguish himself in the battle for Moscow and became one of the most famous commanders. It was his popularity that later played against him - in the summer of 1942, Vlasov, being the commander of the 2nd Army on the Volkhov Front, was surrounded. When he reached the village, the headman handed him over to the German police, and the arriving patrol identified him from a photo in the newspaper.

In the Vinnitsa military camp, Vlasov accepted the Germans’ offer of cooperation. Initially, he was an agitator and propagandist. Soon he became the leader of the Russian Liberation Army. He campaigned and recruited captured soldiers. Propagandist groups and a training center were created in Dobendorf, and there were also separate Russian battalions that were part of different parts of the German armed forces. The history of the Vlasov Army as a structure began only in October 1944 with the creation of the Central Headquarters. The army received the name “Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.” The committee itself was also headed by Vlasov.

Fyodor Trukhin - creator of the army

According to some historians, for example, Kirill Alexandrov, Vlasov was more of a propagandist and ideologist, and the organizer and true creator of the Vlasov army was Major General Fyodor Trukhin. He was the former head of the Operations Directorate of the North-Western Front and a professional general staff officer. Surrendered himself along with all the headquarters documents. In 1943, Trukhin was the head of the training center in Dobendorf, and from October 1944 he took the post of chief of staff of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. Under his leadership, two divisions were formed, and the formation of a third began. In the last months of the war, Trukhin commanded the Southern Group of the Committee's armed forces located in Austria.

Trukhin and Vlasov hoped that the Germans would transfer all Russian units under their command, but this did not happen. With almost half a million Russians who passed through the Vlasov organizations in April 1945, his army de jure amounted to approximately 124 thousand people.

Vasily Malyshkin – propagandist

Major General Malyshkin was also one of Vlasov’s associates. Finding himself captured from the Vyazemsky cauldron, he began to collaborate with the Germans. In 1942, he taught propaganda courses in Vulgaida, and soon became assistant to the head of training. In 1943, he met Vlasov while working in the propaganda department of the Wehrmacht High Command.

He also worked for Vlasov as a propagandist and was a member of the Presidium of the Committee. In 1945 he was a representative in negotiations with the Americans. After the war, he tried to establish cooperation with American intelligence, even wrote a note on the training of Red Army command personnel. But in 1946 it was still transferred to the Soviet side.

Major General Alexander Budykho: service in the ROA and escape

In many ways, Budykho’s biography was reminiscent of Vlasov’s: several decades of service in the Red Army, command courses, command of a division, encirclement, detention by a German patrol. In the camp, he accepted the offer of brigade commander Bessonov and joined the Political Center for the Fight against Bolshevism. Budykho began to identify pro-Soviet prisoners and hand them over to the Germans.

In 1943, Bessonov was arrested, the organization was disbanded, and Budykho expressed a desire to join the ROA and came under the control of General Helmikh. In September he was appointed to the post of staff officer for training and education of the eastern troops. But immediately after he arrived at his duty station in the Leningrad region, two Russian battalions fled to the partisans, killing the Germans. Having learned about this, Budykho himself fled.

General Richter – sentenced in absentia

This traitor general was not involved in the Vlasov case, but he helped the Germans no less. Having been captured in the first days of the war, he ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Poland. 19 German intelligence agents caught in the USSR testified against him. According to them, from 1942 Richter headed the Abwehr reconnaissance and sabotage school in Warsaw, and later in Weigelsdorf. While serving with the Germans, he wore the pseudonyms Rudaev and Musin.

The Soviet side sentenced him to capital punishment back in 1943, but many researchers believe that the sentence was never carried out, since Richter went missing in the last days of the war.

The Vlasov generals were executed by the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court. Most - in 1946, Budykho - in 1950.

In General's destinies during the Second World War.

During military operations, for one reason or another, military personnel are sometimes captured, so according to archival data from the Federal Republic of Germany, during all the years of World War II, a total of almost 35 million people were captured; according to researchers, officers from this total number of prisoners amounted to about 3%, and the number of captured military officers with the rank of generals was less, just a few hundred people. However, it is precisely this category of prisoners of war that has always been of particular interest to the intelligence services and various political structures of the warring parties, and therefore most of all experienced ideological pressure and other various forms of moral and psychological influence.

In connection with which the question involuntarily arises, which of the warring parties had the largest number of captured senior military officials with the rank of generals, in the Red Army or in the German Wehrmacht?

From various data it is known that during the Second World War, 83 generals of the Red Army were captured in German captivity. Of these, 26 people died for various reasons: shot, killed by camp guards, or died from disease. The rest were deported to the Soviet Union after the Victory. Of these, 32 people were repressed (7 were hanged in the Vlasov case, 17 were shot on the basis of Headquarters order No. 270 of August 16, 1941 “On cases of cowardice and surrender and measures to suppress such actions”) and for “wrong” behavior in captivity 8 generals were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. The remaining 25 people were acquitted after more than six months of inspection, but then gradually transferred to the reserve (link: http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2004-04-30/5_fatum.html).

The vast majority of Soviet generals were captured in 1941, a total of 63 generals of the Red Army. In 1942, our army suffered a number of defeats. And here, surrounded by the enemy, 16 more generals were captured. In 1943, three more generals were captured and in 1945 - one. In total during the war - 83 people. Of these, 5 are army commanders, 19 corps commanders, 31 division commanders, 4 chiefs of army staff, 9 chiefs of army branches, etc.

In the book of modern researchers of this issue, F. Gushchin and S. Zhebrovsky, it is stated that allegedly about 20 Soviet generals agreed to cooperate with the Nazis; according to other sources, there were only 8 generals who agreed to cooperate with the Germans (http://ru.wikipedia.org /wiki) if this data corresponds to reality, then of these 20 only two generals are known who voluntarily and openly went over to the side of the enemy, this is Vlasov and another of his fellow traitors, the former commander of the 102nd Infantry Division, brigade commander (major general) Ivan Bessonov is the one who in April 1942 proposed to his German masters to create special anti-partisan corps, and that’s it, the names of the traitor generals are not specifically mentioned anywhere.

Thus, the majority of Soviet generals who fell into the hands of the Germans were either wounded or unconscious and subsequently behaved with dignity in captivity. The fate of many of them still remains unknown, just as the fate of Major General Bogdanov, commander of the 48th Rifle Division, Major General Dobrozerdov, who headed the 7th Rifle Corps, is still unknown, the fate of Lieutenant General Ershakov, who in September 1941 took command of the 20th Army, which was soon defeated in the battle of Smolensk.

Smolensk became a truly unlucky city for Soviet generals, where Lieutenant General Lukin commanded at the beginning the 20th Army, and then the 19th Army, which was also defeated there in the battle of Smolensk in October 1941.

The fate of Major General Mishutin is full of secrets and mysteries, an active participant in the battles at Khalkhin Gol, at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he commanded a rifle division in Belarus, and there he disappeared without a trace during the fighting.

Only at the end of the 80s was an attempt made to pay tribute to generals Ponedelin and Kirillov, who flatly refused to cooperate with the Germans.

The fate of Major General Potapov of the tank forces was interesting; he was one of the five army commanders whom the Germans captured during the war. Potapov distinguished himself in the battles at Khalkhin Gol, where he commanded the Southern Group, and at the beginning of the war he commanded the 5th Army of the Southwestern Front. After his release from captivity, Potapov was awarded the Order of Lenin, and later promoted to the rank of Colonel General. Then, after the war, he was appointed to the post of first deputy commander of the Odessa and Carpathian military districts. His obituary was signed by all representatives of the high command, which included several marshals. The obituary said nothing about his capture and stay in German camps. So it turns out that not everyone was punished for being in captivity.

The last Soviet general (and one of two Air Force generals) captured by the Germans was Aviation Major General Polbin, commander of the 6th Guards Bomber Corps, which supported the activities of the 6th Army, which surrounded Breslau in February 1945. He was wounded, captured and killed, and only then did the Germans establish the identity of this man. His fate was completely typical of everyone who was captured in the last months of the war.(link: http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2004-04-30/5_fatum.html).

What about the captured German generals? How many of them ended up at Stalin's grubs under the protection of NKVD special forces? If, according to various sources, there were from 4.5 to 5.7 million Soviet soldiers and commanders captured by the Germans, and there were almost 4 million Germans and their allies captured in the USSR, a difference of a whole million in favor of the Germans, then As for the generals, the picture was different; almost five times more German generals were captured by the Soviets than Soviet ones!

From the research of B.L. Khavkin it is known:

The first captured generals ended up in the GUPVI (Main Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internees (GUPVI) of the NKVD-MVD of the USSR) in the winter of 1942-1943. These were 32 prisoners of Stalingrad led by the commander of the 6th Army, Field Marshal General Friedrich Paulus. In 1944, another 44 generals were captured. 1945 was especially successful for the Red Army, when 300 German generals were captured.
According to information contained in a certificate from the head of the prison department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Colonel P.S. Bulanov dated September 28, 1956, in total there were
376 German generals, of which 277 were released from captivity and repatriated to their homeland, 99 died. Among the dead, the official statistics of the GUPVI included those 18 generals who were sentenced to death by the Decree of April 19, 1943 and hanged as war criminals.
The number of captured generals and admirals included the highest ranks of the ground forces, Luftwaffe, navy, SS, police, as well as government officials who received the rank of general for services to the Reich. Among the captured generals, most were representatives of the ground forces, as well as, oddly enough, retirees(link: http://forum.patriotcenter.ru/index.php?PHPSESSID=2blgn1ae4f0tb61r77l0rpgn07&topic=21261.0).

There is practically no information that any of the German generals were captured wounded, shell-shocked, or with weapons in their hands, and surrendered in a civilized manner, with all the attributes of the old Prussian military school. More often than not, Soviet generals burned alive in tanks, died on the battlefield and went missing.

Captured German generals were kept practically in resort conditions, for example, in camp No. 48, founded in June 1943 in the former rest home of the Central Committee of the Railway Trade Union in the village of Cherntsy, Lezhnevsky district, Ivanovo region, in January 1947 there were 223 captured generals, of which 175 Germans, 35 Hungarians, 8 Austrians, 3 Romanians, 2 Italians. This camp was located in a park in which linden trees grew, there were walking paths, and flowers bloomed in the flower beds in the summer. The zone also had a vegetable garden, occupying about 1 hectare of land, in which the generals worked at will and vegetables, from which they went to their table in addition to the existing food standards. Thus, the generals' nutrition was improved. The patients were given an additional ration, which included meat, milk and butter. However, there were also hunger strikes in the camp, the participants of which protested against poor service in the canteen, under-delivery of rationed food, blackouts, etc. There were no attempts to escape from captivity, or attempts to raise any kind of riot or uprising among the German generals.

A completely different picture was observed with the Soviet generals, 6 of them, risking their lives, escaped from the camp in order to continue to fight in the ranks of the partisans, these are Major Generals I. Alekseev, N. Goltsev, S. Ogurtsov, P. Sysoev, P. Tsiryulnikov and brigade commissar I. Tolkachev (link: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki). Another 15 Soviet generals were executed by the Nazis for preparing escapes and underground activities.

Much is known about the cooperation of German generals with the Soviet authorities; facts confirm that the generals collaborated with the Soviets very actively and willingly, for example, in February 1944, Generals Seidlitz and Korfes took a personal part in agitation work in German military units surrounded in the area Korsun-Shevchenkovsky. Seidlitz and Korfes even met with Army General Vatutin, with whom a plan of action was agreed upon. 500 thousand copies of Seidlitz’s appeal to the officer corps and soldiers of the encircled group with a call to stop resistance in order to avoid senseless casualties were printed and dropped from airplanes. The German general Seidlitz apparently dreamed of becoming the new liberator of Germany and even asked the Soviet leadership to give him permission to form German national units, but the Russians, like the Germans, did not trust defectors; captured Germans were allowed mainly to engage in propaganda work to disintegrate the enemy troops at the front and nothing more, and Vlasov received the Germans’ go-ahead to actually form ROA troops only in the fall of 1944. right before the start of the catastrophe of the Third Reich, when the Germans no longer had anyone to send to the front line.

Soon in the summer of 1944, immediately after the last attempt on Hitler's life, realizing that the Reich was coming to an end, almost all the generals led by Paulus rushed to cooperate with the Soviet administration. From that moment on, Paulus reconsidered his position in relation to the anti-fascist movement and on August 14 he entered to the Union of German Officers and makes an appeal to the German troops at the front, the appeal was broadcast on the radio, leaflets with its text were thrown into the location of the German troops, apparently this had an impact on many soldiers and officers. Goebbels’ department even had to launch a counter-propaganda campaign to prove that this appeal was a falsification.

War is a cruel test, it does not spare even generals and marshals. A general in the army is a very big power, and with it a very big responsibility. Every military leader has ups and downs, each has his own destiny. One becomes a national Hero forever, and the other disappears into oblivion.

During the Great Patriotic War, 78 Soviet generals were captured by the Germans. 26 of them died in captivity, six escaped from captivity, the rest were repatriated to the Soviet Union after the end of the war. 32 people were repressed.
Not all of them were traitors. Based on the Headquarters order of August 16, 1941, “On cases of cowardice and surrender and measures to suppress such actions,” 13 people were shot, another eight were sentenced to imprisonment for “improper behavior in captivity.”