Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky (February 16, 1893 - June 12, 1937) - Soviet military leader, military leader of the Red Army of the times Civil War, military theorist, Marshal Soviet Union(1935). He was repressed in 1937 due to the “military case”, rehabilitated in 1957.

Born into the family of an impoverished Smolensk hereditary nobleman Nikolai Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky, his mother was Mavra Petrovna, a peasant woman. The origin of the Tukhachevsky surname has not been reliably determined. Biographer of M. Tukhachevsky B.V. Sokolov reports that the origin of the Tukhachevsky family (from the group of alleged descendants of Indris) is shrouded in legends no less than the death of M. Tukhachevsky. The version about Tukhachevsky’s Polish origin has no documentary basis.

He voluntarily joined the Red Army, worked in the Military Department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, joined the RCP (b) in the early spring of 1918, and was appointed military commissar of the Moscow defense region.

In June 1918, he was appointed commander of the newly created 1st Army of the Eastern Front. He was almost shot during the July mutiny raised by the commander of the Eastern Front, M. A. Muravyov. In August, he commanded the 1st Soviet Army, which attempted to take Simbirsk, occupied by the Whites, and in a fierce battle on August 27 (14) - 30 (17) on the approaches to the city, he was defeated by the units of Colonel of the General Staff V. O. Kappel, as a result of which 1 -I soviet army was forced to retreat 80 versts west of Simbirsk. At the beginning of September, he prepared and carried out a successful operation with the army to capture Simbirsk, in which he showed his leadership qualities for the first time. Military historians note “a deeply thought-out plan of the operation, the bold and rapid concentration of the main forces of the army in the decisive direction, the timely delivery of tasks to the troops, as well as their decisive, skillful and proactive actions.” For the first time in the Civil War, one regiment (5th Kursk Simbirsk Division) was transported to the concentration area in vehicles.

As in subsequent army and front-line operations, Tukhachevsky demonstrated “the skillful use of decisive forms of maneuver during the operation, courage and swiftness of action, the correct choice of the direction of the main attack and the concentration of superior forces and means on it.”

From July 25, 1921, Tukhachevsky was the head of the Military Academy of the Red Army, from January 1922 to March 1924 - again commander Western Front. After the conflict between Tukhachevsky and the party committee of the Polar Front, the Chief of Staff of the Red Army M.V. Frunze appointed him as his deputy, and in November 1925, after the death of Frunze, Tukhachevsky became the Chief of Staff of the Red Army.

On December 26, 1926, Tukhachevsky, Deputy People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, stated the absence of an army and logistics in the country in the report “Defense of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”:

Tukhachevsky believed that, unlike the First World War, aviation and tanks ceased to be an auxiliary means of conducting infantry-artillery combat and saw “the opportunity, through the massive introduction of tanks, to change the methods of combat and operations, ... the ability to create for the enemy sudden conditions for the development of an operation through these innovations. » He proposed “a completely new approach to planning the entire weapons system, organizations, tactics and training of troops. Underestimation of these capabilities could cause even greater shocks and defeats in a future war.”

Tukhachevsky developed the theory of deep combat, the theory of continuous operations in one strategic direction; already in 1931 he spoke about the actions of mechanized formations. Tukhachevsky is a supporter of the offensive strategy; he defended unity of command, independence and initiative of the smallest units and criticized “waiting for orders”; he considered chemical weapons as a full-fledged means of warfare (apparently, based on the experience of the First World War). He critically assessed the role of battleships in a future war and positively assessed the role of aircraft carriers.

Tukhachevsky “back in November 1932 achieved the start of work on the construction of rocket engines using liquid fuel, and in September 1933 he achieved the creation of the Jet Research Institute, which was engaged in the development of rocket weapons in the USSR.”

Confrontation in the command of the Red Army

Tukhachevsky’s activities in reforming the armed forces and his views on preparing the army for a future war met resistance and opposition in the People’s Commissariat of Defense. For various reasons, Marshals Voroshilov, Budyonny, Egorov, and army commanders Shaposhnikov, Dybenko, Belov treated Tukhachevsky with hostility. In turn, a number of military leaders (Tukhachevsky, Gamarnik, Uborevich, Yakir) developed a sharply critical attitude towards Voroshilov’s activities as People’s Commissar of Defense. Marshal Zhukov told the writer Simonov: “It must be said that Voroshilov, the then People’s Commissar, was an incompetent person in this role. He remained an amateur in military matters to the end and never knew them deeply and seriously... And practically a significant part of the work in the People's Commissariat at that time lay with Tukhachevsky, who really was a military specialist. They had clashes with Voroshilov and generally had hostile relations. Voroshilov did not like Tukhachevsky very much... During the development of the charter, I remember such an episode... Tukhachevsky, as the chairman of the commission on the charter, reported to Voroshilov as the People's Commissar. I was present at this.
And Voroshilov, on some point... began to express dissatisfaction and propose something that did not go to the point. Tukhachevsky, after listening to him, said in his usual calm voice:
- Comrade People's Commissar, the commission cannot accept your amendments.
- Why? - asked Voroshilov.
- Because your amendments are incompetent, Comrade People's Commissar.

Relations between the two groups worsened in May 1936; Voroshilov's opponents raised the question of replacing Voroshilov as People's Commissar to Stalin.
“Tukhachevsky and his group, in the struggle for influence on Stalin, fell for his bait. During frequent meetings with Stalin, Tukhachevsky criticized Voroshilov, Stalin encouraged this criticism, calling it “constructive,” and liked to discuss options for new appointments and removals... The materials of Tukhachevsky’s case contain various kinds of documentary evidence regarding plans for reshuffling in the country’s military leadership.

Stalin took the side of Voroshilov, who was absolutely devoted to him, and already in August 1936 the first arrests of military leaders followed as part of the Great Purge Armed Forces: Corps commanders V.M. Primakov and V.K. Putna were arrested. On May 10, 1937, Tukhachevsky was transferred from the post of first deputy people's commissar of defense to the post of commander of the Volga Military District.
On May 22 he was arrested in Kuibyshev, on May 24 he was transported to Moscow, and on May 26, after confrontations with Primakov, Putna and Feldman, he gave his first confession.

During the preliminary investigation, Tukhachevsky pleaded guilty to preparing a military conspiracy in the Red Army, the purpose of which was the violent overthrow of the government and the establishment of a military dictatorship in the USSR. To realize success, it was planned to prepare for the defeat of the Red Army in a future war with Germany and, possibly, Japan. Tukhachevsky also admitted that they, as well as other participants in the conspiracy, were transferred to German intelligence with information constituting a state secret about the number and places of concentration of the Red Army in the border areas.

On June 11, 1937, the case accusing Marshal of the Soviet Union Tukhachevsky, 1st-rank army commanders Uborevich and Yakir, 2nd-rank army commander Kork, corps commanders Feldman, Eideman, Primakov and Putna of espionage, treason and preparation of terrorist acts was considered behind closed doors court hearing without the participation of defense lawyers and without the right to appeal the verdict.

“Ulrich informed I.V. Stalin about the progress of the trial. Ulrich told me about this. He said that there were instructions from Stalin to apply capital punishment to all defendants - execution."
I. M. Zaryanov, court secretary

At 23:35 the verdict was announced - all eight were sentenced to death penalty. Immediately after this, Tukhachevsky and the rest of the accused were shot in the basement of the building of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. Whether this happened before or after midnight is not known for sure, so the date of Tukhachevsky’s death can be indicated as either June 11 or June 12. According to the recollections of one of the executioners, Tukhachevsky allegedly managed to exclaim: “Now you are not shooting at us, but at the Red Army!”

The trial in the Tukhachevsky case marked the beginning of mass repressions in the Red Army in 1937-1938.

Rehabilitation

In 1956, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office and the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR checked the criminal case of Tukhachevsky and other persons convicted with him and found that the charges against them were falsified.
The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, having examined on January 31, 1957 the conclusion of the Prosecutor General of the USSR, determined: the verdict of the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated June 11, 1937 in relation to Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Uborevich, Kork, Eideman, Primakov, Putna and Feldman should be canceled and the case for lack of corpus delicti in their actions, the proceedings should be stopped.

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia.

The purpose of this article is to find out how the tragic death of Marshal MIKHAIL TUKHACHEVSKY is included in his FULL NAME code and determine the exact DATE OF DEATH.

Watch "Logicology - about the fate of man" in advance.

Let's look at the FULL NAME code tables. \If there is a shift in numbers and letters on your screen, adjust the image scale\.

19 39 61 62 86 92 95 113 124 134 144 157 167 189 190 200 212 226 236 247 262 274 275 281 284 294 318
T U K H A C H E V S K I Y M I K H A I L N I K O L A E V I C H
318 299 279 257 256 232 226 223 205 194 184 174 161 151 129 128 118 106 92 82 71 56 44 43 37 34 24

13 23 45 46 56 68 82 92 103 118 130 131 137 140 150 174 193 213 235 236 260 266 269 287 298 308 318
M I K H A I L N I K O L A E V I C H T U K H A C H E V S K I Y
318 305 295 273 272 262 250 236 226 215 200 188 187 181 178 168 144 125 105 83 82 58 52 49 31 20 10

TUKHACHEVSKY MIKHAIL NIKOLAEVICH = 318 = 223-KILLED BY A SHOT IN... + 95-BACK OF THE NAD.

318 = 92-KILLED IN... + 226-BACK OF THE NAD BY SHOT.

318 = 187-KILLED IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD + 131-SHOT.

318 = 134-TERMINATION OF LIFE + 184-DEATH PENALTY.

137 = KILLED BY A BULLET TO THE HEAD

187 = KILLED BY A BULLET TO THE HEAD

(At 23:35 the verdict was announced - all eight were sentenced to death. Immediately after this, Tukhachevsky and the rest of the accused were shot in the basement of the building of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. It is not known exactly whether this happened before or after midnight, so the date Tukhachevsky’s death may be indicated either on June 11 or 12).

We have the opportunity to accurately determine the TIME and DATE OF EXECUTION:

TWELVE = 98 = IN THE BACK OF THE NAKE = 87-ONE HOUR + 11-K\end\.

318 = 87-ONE HOUR + 69-END + 64-BULLETS + 98-BACK OF THE NAD.

318 = 98-TWELVE + 87-ONE HOUR + 64-EXECUTION + 69-END.

318 = 151-\ 87-ONE HOUR + 64-EXECUTION\ + 167-\ 98-TWELFTH + 69-END\.

318 = 185-TWELFTH OF JUNE, MURDER + 64-EXECUTION + 69-END.

189 = 87-ONE HOUR + 102-SHOT DOWN = SHOT IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD\ to\
____________________________________________________

189 = HOMICIDE
________________________________
151 = 87-ONE HOUR + 64-EXECUTION

92 = TWELVE \ e \ = KILLED IN \ head \
_______________________________________________
232 = KILLED IN THE HEAD AT POINT POINT

Code for the number of full YEARS OF LIFE = 76-FORTY + 100-FOUR = 176 = SHOT IN THE HEAD \.

176 = 87-ONE HOUR + 89-KILLED.

Let's look at the column in the top table:

226 = SHOT IN THE HEAD
__________________________________
106 = FORTY-FOUR\

226 - 126 = 120 = END OF LIFE = DEATH \penalty\.

We look at the column in the lower table:

213 = KILLED BY A BULLET IN THE ZAT\ lock \ = 69-END + 144-SHOT \ th\
_____________________________________________________
125 = FORTY-FOUR\

213 - 125 = 88 = DEATH penalty.

Font:

100% +

© Smirnov G.V., 2007

© Algorithm-Book LLC, 2007

* * *

Crafty rehabilitation

Forbidden in the 1940s, the name of Marshal Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky, who was shot in 1937 on charges of treason, began to be increasingly extolled by means mass media from October 1961, after XXII Congress CPSU N.S. Khrushchev first published the version of the death of the commander, which then became widely circulated abroad. According to this version, Tukhachevsky and his associates - I. E. Yakir, I. P. Uborevich, A. I. Kork, R. P. Eideman, B. M. Feldman, V. M. Primakov, V. K. Putna and Ya. B. Gamarnik - were not traitors to the motherland, enemies of the people and German spies, as their accusers claimed, but fell victims of Hitler’s special services, who fabricated false documents about the existence of a “military conspiracy” in the Red Army and planted them with I.V. Stalin through the Czechoslovakian President E. Benes...

This statement by Khrushchev, one might say, opened the floodgates of glasnost in relation to the once repressed military leaders, and in just five or six years the press, radio and television in our country created a real cult of personality for Tukhachevsky and his accomplices.

The secret meaning of this propaganda campaign, conducted under the noble slogan of restoring historical truth and trampled justice, remained hidden from the uninitiated for a long time. And only with the onset of Gorbachev’s perestroika it became clear: in the early 1960s, Khrushchev began a long-term campaign to distort the history of the Great Patriotic War. It was carried out carefully, gradually, not through open attacks, but by shifting assessments and accents, by exorbitantly praising some and deliberately silencing others. And in this company, the military leaders repressed in 1937 were given an important place...

In 1969, when the first edition of Marshal G. K. Zhukov’s “Memories and Reflections” was published, about a dozen biographies of Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, Yakir and Gamarnik were published in the USSR with a total circulation of about one and a half million copies. And not a single one was published then about Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Vasilevsky, Konev and other great commanders who won the greatest war in history! – books. Moreover, L. Nikulin (Olkonitsky) in his book “Tukhachevsky” has already thrown up the provocative idea that repressed military leaders could have won this war faster and with fewer losses...

And although in the 70-80s, along with books about the repressed Red generals, works about the commanders of the Great Patriotic War began to appear, in the public consciousness the repressed Kraskomovs, who had never fought with a serious enemy, were already eclipsing the real outstanding commanders, who mastered an enemy of unprecedented strength!

Struck by this revealed result of Khrushchev’s crafty rehabilitation, I began to critically re-read the panegyric articles and books about Tukhachevsky and was amazed to discover in them a lot of unfounded praise, obvious absurdities, suspicious omissions and distorted information.

But when Major D. Zenin and I wrote an article “Tukhachevsky: Legends and Reality,” in which we pointed out all these absurdities, many editors indignantly rejected it, regarding it as an attempt to cast a shadow on the memory of a worthy person. Thanks to the determination of the editor-in-chief " Literary Russia", the now deceased E. Safonov, this article was published in 1990 and caused a flurry of indignant letters. Their analysis showed: although the inventions of perestroika publicists were widely circulated among the readership, they do not have a serious justification and are easily refuted.

After the publication of the article “Disputes about Tukhachevsky” (“LR” No. 3, 1991), in which I honestly and in detail answered all the reader’s letters of objection, the figure of Tukhachevsky in the media seemed to fade into the shadows. The perestroika democratic press stopped singing his praises, since it was at this time that revealing materials began to be published about Tukhachevsky’s inept and even provocative actions in the Polish campaign of 1920, as well as about his atrocities against the Russian people during the suppression of the Kronstadt and Antonov uprisings. Finally, the Military Historical Journal published for the first time the handwritten testimony during the interrogations of Tukhachevsky himself, where he outlined the plan developed by the conspirators for the defeat of the USSR in the war with Germany with such details that no investigator could come up with...

Since all these materials are scattered in relatively inaccessible periodicals, I had the idea to collect them in one collection, which is now offered to the attention of readers. For those of them who find this book one-sided and will cause irritation or even rejection, I recommend reading the panegyric biographies of repressed military leaders, a list of which is given on last page this collection.

German Smirnov

Boris Viktorov
How we rehabilitated the “conspirators”
Notes of the military prosecutor

I celebrated New Year 1955 on the plane on the way from Novosibirsk to Moscow. Of course, the question bothered me: why did the Prosecutor General summon me, the prosecutor of the West Siberian Military District? USSR R. A. Rudenko? Roman Andreevich opened the folder lying on the table, I saw my personal file. He said:

– You are appointed to the position of Deputy Chief Military Prosecutor. It is urgent to form a special group of military prosecutors and investigators from those who have not had anything to do with special jurisdiction in the past. The group should consider complaints and letters regarding the rehabilitation of those wrongfully convicted, and above all the case of the “military-fascist conspiracy.”

* * *

So, a special group of military prosecutors and investigators of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office (GVP), intended to review cases based on “newly discovered circumstances”... Who was included in it? Nikolai Grigorievich Savinich, before the war he graduated from the Minsk Law Institute, participated in the war with the White Finns, in the Great Patriotic War... Nikolai Lavrentievich Kozhura, a graduate of the Military Law Academy, has positively established himself in practical work as a military investigator... Their immediate superior was Dmitry Pavlovich Terekhov, who had experience working not only in military justice agencies, but also in the central party apparatus.

Before us on the table is a criminal case against M. N. Tukhachevsky, I. E. Yakir, I. P. Uborevich, A. I. Kork, R. P. Eideman, B. M. Feldman, V. M. Primakov and V.K. Putny in crimes under Articles 58 1 b, 58 8 and 58 11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. All of these are especially dangerous state crimes: treason, espionage, terror, creation of a counter-revolutionary organization. Just by listing the articles of the Criminal Code, one could judge the severity of the crimes of the persons named on the cover.

The first pages of the case... Certificates for arrest: “The NKVD bodies have data on hostile activities...” Nothing specific about the activities themselves... And where are the prosecutor’s authorizations for arrest? There are no sanctions... It can’t be! We are looking. We are sure not! How is this possible?.. After all, only six months have passed since the new Constitution was adopted!

We continue to think: who are they, the conspirators?.. Tukhachevsky is the Marshal of the Soviet Union, the rest are also military leaders of the highest rank. But literally nothing about their life and battle path. Traitors, traitors. That's all.

I’ll be honest: we didn’t really know much about these people! Actually, we did not see a civil war. Then, when they grew up, all they heard was: there was a civil war, there was a fierce battle with the White Guards, with the interventionists, all these victories belonged to Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Among the heroes of the Civil War, Voroshilov and Budyonny were most often named. They sang songs about them. Of course, they knew Chapaev, Shchors, Parkhomenko. That's all... And these? What did they do?

My colleagues looked through a lot of documents, books, newspapers, magazines, and the writer Lev Nikulin came to the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office, laid out his archive on the table, and said:

– I was familiar with the “leader”, Marshal Tukhachevsky. I know his whole life journey well...

Briefly, in just a few words, about Tukhachevsky and his “fellow businessmen.”

MIKHAIL NIKOLAEVICH TUKHACHEVSKY: born in 1893, member of the Bolshevik Party since April 1918, commander of armies and fronts during the Civil War, awarded with orders Lenin and the Red Banner, candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, until May 11, 1937, first deputy people's commissar of defense of the USSR, and from May 11 - commander of the Volga Military District, arrested on May 26, 1937.

IONA EMMANUILOVICH YAKIR: born in 1896, member of the Bolshevik Party since April 1917, awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, commander of the Kyiv Military District, commander of the 1st rank.

JERONIM PETROVICH UBOREVICH: born in 1896, member of the Bolshevik Party since April 1917, awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, commander of the Belarusian Military District, commander of the 1st rank.

AUGUST IVANOVICH KORK: born in 1887, party member since 1927, awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, head of the Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze, commander of the 2nd rank.

ROBERT PETROVICH EIDEMAN: born in 1895, party member since March 1917, awarded two Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star, member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, chairman of the Central Council of Osoaviakhim of the USSR, corps commander.

BORIS MIRONOVICH FELDMAN: born in 1890, party member since 1919, head of one of the Main Directorates of the Red Army, corps commander.

VITALY MARKOVICH PRIMAKOV: born in 1897, party member since 1914, awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, member of the USSR Central Executive Committee, deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, corps commander.

VITOVT KAZIMIROVICH PUTN: born in 1893, party member since February 1917, awarded the Order of the Red Banner, military attaché in Great Britain (until 1936), corps commander.

In a word, these were vivid images of real Bolshevik-Leninists. It seemed completely impossible to doubt the devotion of these people to Soviet power. But lawyers can't rely on emotions. In the meantime, we had a case in front of us, the final document of which was the verdict of the Special Judicial Presence, which said: all of them are enemies of the people... The certificates of arrest were followed by interrogation reports. With one voice, without any contradictions, all those arrested admitted that they were engaged in sabotage, espionage, organized in a conspiracy, and set as their goal the overthrow of Soviet power.

The final document - the indictment - stated:

“Investigative materials have established the participation of the accused, as well as Ya. B. Gamarnik, who committed suicide, in anti-state ties with the leading military circles of one of the foreign states pursuing an unfriendly policy towards the USSR. While in the service of military intelligence of this state, the accused systematically delivered espionage information to the military circles of this state, committed acts of sabotage in order to undermine the power of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, prepared in the event of a military attack on the USSR the defeat of the Red Army and had as their goal the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the restoration of the power of the landowners in the USSR and capitalists."

“The case of M. N. Tukhachevsky, I. E. Yakir, I. P. Uborevich, A. I. Kork, R. P. Eideman, B. M. Feldman, V. M. Primakov and Putny V.K. the investigation has been completed and submitted to court...”

This is what immediately caught my attention: the discrepancy between the dates of the arrests and the dates of the first interrogations, which were carried out a few days later. Could it be that those arrested were not interrogated? It was assumed that interrogations were conducted, but the testimony did not satisfy those who initiated this case. Testimony was certainly needed, but what kind? Only and only grateful. We had to get them at any cost...

We noticed gray-brown stains on several pages of the protocol... Such stains are left by drops of blood... Maybe this is also blood? After consulting with specialists, they ordered a forensic chemical examination... It turned out that there was indeed blood.

It became increasingly clear that it was necessary to ask the investigators for clarification on all these issues. But where are these investigators? After all, almost twenty years have passed. GVP employees began searching for them...

* * *

But let's return to the materials for now. Here is the transcript of the meeting of the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR. It took place on June 11, 1937 and began at 9 o’clock in the morning.

Armed defense lawyer V.V. Ulrich presided. It was explained to the defendants: the case was being heard in the manner established by the law of December 1, 1934. This meant: the participation of the defense attorney in trial excluded, the verdict is final and not subject to appeal...

The transcript was only a few pages long. This testified to the primitiveness of the proceedings with such serious and numerous charges. And the fact that the whole “process” lasted one day spoke for itself. There is no need to recount the entire contents of the transcript. In order to better imagine what kind of testimony the defendants gave on this or that charge, they were grouped. And this is what happened.

Tukhachevsky first of all stated: “I had an ardent love for the Red Army, an ardent love for the Fatherland, which I defended since the Civil War... As for meetings, conversations with representatives of the German General Staff, their military attache in the USSR, they were, wore official character, took place during maneuvers and techniques. The Germans were shown our military equipment, they had the opportunity to observe the changes taking place in the organization of troops and their equipment. But all this took place before Hitler came to power, when our relations with Germany changed dramatically ... "

Similar testimony was given by Uborevich, Kork, Feldman, Yakir, and Putna. In addition, Yakir studied at the Academy of the German General Staff in 1929, lectured there on the Red Army, and Cork for some time served as military attaché in Germany.

What exactly are the types? military equipment or was the information disclosed by the defendants and did it really constitute a military secret? There was no answer in the case. Yes, they didn’t look for him then...

The following question was also clarified at the trial: did the defendants share the views of the leaders of Trotskyism, right-wing opportunists, and their platforms? To this question, Tukhachevsky replied: “I always, in all cases, opposed Trotsky, when there was a discussion, I spoke out against the right in the same way.”

This statement has not been refuted by anyone. Putna admitted “the presence of connections” with I.N. Smirnov, Feldman - with Pyatakov.

However, no clarity was introduced into the nature of these connections. The court was informed that these people spoke out against the policies of our party and hinted at possible cooperation between their opposition and the military, but it did not take place...

Another serious charge is sabotage to weaken the power of the Red Army. Regarding this point of accusation, Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Kork, Uborevich explained that yes, the pace of construction of military facilities, reconstruction of railway junctions, formation of airborne units, etc. was slowing down. Yes, there were many shortcomings and omissions in the combat training of troops, in which they accepted their responsibility.

At the same time, Tukhachevsky stated the following: “If they pushed a little and gave additional funds, then I believe that there will be no difficulties in this, our position will greatly benefit and we can defeat the Polish-German bloc.”

Their persistent advocacy of the concept of accelerated formation of tank formations by reducing the number and costs of cavalry was regarded as sabotage on the part of Tukhachevsky and Uborevich and Yakir, who actively supported him. S. M. Budyonny sharply condemned this concept at the trial. And other members of the presence asked questions to the defendants, trying to expose them in betraying the interests of the Red Army: both Blucher and Belov, especially Alksnis, seeking, for example, from Cork an answer to a question about the transfer of information to representatives of the German General Staff about the troops of the Moscow Military District. Cork replied that he had repeatedly met with the Germans at diplomatic receptions, had conversations, but provided information that could be given. Ulrich invariably asked: “Do you confirm the testimony you gave during interrogation by the NKVD?” When Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Kork, Uborevich tried to explain something, Ulrich interrupted: “You don’t give lectures, but give testimony.” However, the defendants continued to claim that they were right, that the future war would be a war of engines...

Finally, the question became clear: did the defendants conspire to remove K. E. Voroshilov from the leadership of the Red Army? Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, Kork, Putna admitted that there were discussions between them about Voroshilov’s removal. Uborevich clarified: when they decided to raise the issue of Voroshilov in the government, “they essentially agreed to attack Voroshilov with Gamarnik, who said that he would strongly oppose Voroshilov.”

Why did they want to oppose Voroshilov? What errors and omissions could be blamed on the People's Commissar? This was not clarified at the trial. The defendants’ intention to appeal to the government was regarded as harboring terrorist intentions against Comrade Voroshilov.

Now about the “last word” of the defendants. All of them, with the exception of Primakov, declared their devotion to the cause of the revolution, the Red Army, and personally to Comrade Stalin. They asked for leniency... They repented if they were guilty of something.

Primakov’s “last word” turned out to be, in fact, an accusatory speech addressed to all the other defendants. He stated:

“I must tell the last truth about our conspiracy. Neither in the history of our revolution, nor in the history of other revolutions was there such a conspiracy as ours, neither in terms of goals, nor in composition, nor in the means that the conspiracy chose for itself. Who is the conspiracy? Who was united by the fascist banner of Trotsky? It united all counter-revolutionary elements, everything that was counter-revolutionary in the Red Army gathered in one place, under one banner, under the fascist banner of Trotsky. What means did this conspiracy choose for itself? All means: treason, betrayal, defeat of one's country, sabotage, espionage, terror. For what purpose? To restore capitalism. There is only one way - to break the dictatorship of the proletariat and replace it with a fascist dictatorship. What forces did the conspiracy gather to carry out this plan? I named to the investigation more than 70 conspirators whom I recruited myself or knew during the course of the conspiracy... I made a judgment about the social face of the conspiracy, that is, what groups our conspiracy, the leadership, the center of the conspiracy consists of. The conspiracy consists of people who do not have deep roots in our Soviet country because each of them has their own second homeland. Everyone personally has family abroad. Yakir has relatives in Bessarabia, Putna and Uborevich have relatives in Lithuania, Feldman is connected with South America no less than with Odessa, Eideman is connected with the Baltic states no less than with our country ... "

Frankly speaking, the GVP were amazed. What did we know about Primakov? Born into a poor peasant family in Ukraine. IN adolescence joined the fight against autocracy. He experienced torture in the royal dungeons, went through an unfair trial, and all the hardships of exile. A brave cavalryman, he commanded the glorious cavalry corps of the Red Cossacks, about which songs were composed as about Budyonny’s cavalry. Primakov and Budyonny competed in fame... An important circumstance is that Primakov was arrested a year earlier than Tukhachevsky. All this time they “worked” with him. So, it turns out that the will has been suppressed in a year? Has the person become obedient?.. Precise answers were needed to these still unclear questions.

* * *

Employees of the State Security Committee, which by that time had been significantly updated, joined the work of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office. The joint investigation deepened in the following direction: were there any materials before the “military-fascist conspiracy” case arose?

In one of the old cases, they found the testimony of two officers who had served in the tsarist army in the past, who called ... Tukhachevsky the inspirer of the activities of their anti-Soviet organization. It turned out that copies of the protocols of these interrogations were forwarded to Stalin and reported to him. Stalin sent them to Mr. K. Ordzhonikidze with the following note: “Please read. Since it is not impossible, it is possible.”

We found no traces of Ordzhonikidze’s response to this note. But they suggested that Ordzhonikidze treated these statements as slander. He knew Tukhachevsky well, knew that he did not join any oppositions, and was constantly being promoted in positions. However, a shadow of suspicion still remained... Even earlier, the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs received information from the secretary of the party committee of the Western Military District, in which Tukhachevsky was accused of improper attitude towards communists, subordinates, and even immoral behavior. M.V. Frunze imposed a resolution on the information: “The party believed comrade. Tukhachevsky, believes and will continue to believe.” However, the denunciation was preserved, and the surveillance proceedings against Tukhachevsky, as we see, were replenished.

It also contained a note from the testimony of the arrested brigade commander Medvedev, who was expelled from the party for belonging to Trotskyism. Medvedev stated that back in 1931, he “became aware” of the existence of a counter-revolutionary Trotskyist organization in the central departments of the Red Army.

Medvedev gave this testimony on May 8, 1937, and on May 13, 1937, on the instructions of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Yezhov, Dzerzhinsky's closest associate Artur Khristianovich Artuzov, one of the leading officials of the NKVD, was arrested. During one of the interrogations, Artuzov “showed” that in the 1930s, information received from Germany reported that a conspiracy was being prepared in the Red Army, led by General Turguev. Artuzov explained to the investigator that an investigation carried out at the same time revealed that Tukhachevsky traveled to Germany under the name Turguev in 1931. Artuzov reported this information to Yezhov’s predecessor Yagoda. He said: “This is frivolous material, put it in the archive.”

It was this testimony of Artuzov that was reported to Yezhov. And then events developed this way: Tukhachevsky was arrested. At the same time, those who were later classified as the organizers of the “military-fascist conspiracy” were arrested. Incredible short terms a team of investigators conducted a preliminary investigation.

It was possible to find out how the NKVD generally conducted the investigation in those years, and, in particular, how it began and continued in the Tukhachevsky case.

Shneideman, a former investigator of the central apparatus of the NKVD, brought to justice in the 1950s, gave the following explanations:

“Yezhov’s authority in the NKVD was so great that I, like other workers, had no doubt about the guilt of the person arrested on Yezhov’s personal instructions, although the investigator did not have any materials incriminating this person. I was convinced of the guilt of such a person even before his interrogation and therefore during the interrogation I tried to obtain a confession from this person in any way.”

We looked at the case of another convict - investigator Radzivilovsky. Here is his own testimony:

“I worked in the NKVD of the Moscow region. Frinovsky called me and asked: do I have any major military personnel on business? I replied that I was conducting a case against the former brigade commander Medvedev, who held a high position in the General Staff, was dismissed from the army and expelled from the party for belonging to the Trotskyist opposition. Frinovsky gave me the task: “We need to develop a picture of a large and deep conspiracy in the Red Army, the disclosure of which would reveal huge role and Yezhov’s merit to the Central Committee.” I accepted the task. Not immediately, of course, but I obtained from Medvedev the required testimony about the existence of a conspiracy in the Red Army and about its leaders. The evidence received was reported to Yezhov. He personally summoned Medvedev for questioning. Medvedev told Yezhov that his testimony was fictitious. Then Yezhov ordered Medvedev to be returned to his previous testimony by any means, which was done, and his statement of refusal not to be recorded. The protocol with Medvedev’s testimony, obtained under physical influence, was reported by Yezhov to the Central Committee. This was followed by the arrests of Tukhachevsky and other conspirators... I’m not trying to completely absolve myself of blame, but I want them to know about the situation in which I had to work... We had a banquet to celebrate the awarding of a large group of security officers. Yezhov in his speech said the following: “We must now educate the security officers in such a way that they are a tightly knit and closed sect that unconditionally carries out my instructions.” I couldn’t do anything else..."

Using Medvedev’s testimony, B. M. Feldman was arrested. A special investigator was assigned to interrogate him. important matters Ushakov (aka Ushiminsky). In his explanation, Ushakov later wrote:

“The arrested Feldman categorically denied any participation in any conspiracy, especially against Voroshilov. He referred to the fact that Kliment Efremovich taught, educated and raised him. I took Feldman’s personal file and, as a result of studying it, came to the conclusion that Feldman is connected by personal friendship with Tukhachevsky, Yakir and a number of major commanders. I realized that Feldman must be linked in a conspiracy with Tukhachevsky. He called Feldman into his office, locked himself in the office with him, and by the evening of May 19, Feldman wrote a statement about a conspiracy involving Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Eideman and others.”

In the same explanation, Ushakov made an accusation against investigator Glebov, who began to pressure Yakir into refusing to testify.

“I,” writes Ushakov, “restored Yakir. He returned him to his previous confession, and Glebov was removed from further participation in the investigation... I was allowed to interrogate Tukhachevsky, who confessed on May 26... Literally from the first days of work, I diagnosed the existence of a military-Trotskyist organization in the Red Army and the Navy, and developed a clear plan her autopsy and was the first to receive such testimony from the former commander of the Caspian military flotilla Zakupnev... I also confidently went to Eideman and was not mistaken here either..."

Then Ushakov lists his other “merits.” But there turned out to be quite a few criminal investigators like Ushakov... Continuing the search, we came across one who was healthy and successful in his career, but who worked in a different, as they say, system. They called him in for an explanation (I don’t mention his last name because he wrote a truthful explanation). Here are the excerpts:

“Primakov sat as an active Trotskyist. Then they gave it to me. I began to get evidence from him about the conspiracy. He didn't give it. Then he was personally interrogated by Yezhov, and Primakov gave detailed testimony about himself and about all the other organizers of the conspiracy. Before taking the defendants to trial, all of us who took part in the investigation received instructions from the management to talk with the defendants and convince them to confirm the testimony given during the investigation in court. I personally talked with Primakov. He promised to confirm his testimony. In addition to the guards, we, the investigators, also accompanied the arrested. Each of the defendants and their investigator sat separately from the others. I convinced Primakov that his confession in court would make his fate easier. This was the instruction of the management...”

Due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, this investigator could not be prosecuted. But he was severely punished: he was deprived of the military rank of general and brought to party responsibility.

* * *

So, those investigators were personally led by Yezhov and Frinovsky. Both of them, as is known, were also arrested in 1938 and convicted. This is the testimony they gave at the time in court.

Frinovsky: “Yezhov demanded that I select investigators who were either completely connected with us or who had some sins behind them and they knew that these sins were behind them, and on the basis of these sins to completely control them... In my opinion, I will be telling the truth if, to generalize, I will say that very often the investigators themselves gave testimony, and not the defendants. Did the leadership of the People's Commissariat, that is, me and Yezhov, know? They knew and encouraged. How did you react? Honestly, I couldn’t, but Yezhov even encouraged it...”

Yezhov did not deny this. He explained in court:

“The procedure for considering cases has been simplified to the extreme. It was simpler and in this sense even more uncontrolled than in ordinary criminal cases... The USSR Prosecutor's Office could not, of course, ignore all these perversions. I explain the behavior of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, and in particular the USSR Prosecutor Vyshinsky, by the same fear of quarreling with the NKVD and showing oneself no less “revolutionary” in the sense of carrying out repressions. Only these reasons can I explain the actual absence of any prosecutorial supervision over these cases and the absence of protests against the actions of the NKVD to the government”...

We also became acquainted with the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union K. E. Voroshilov No. 96 dated June 12, 1937. The order stated:

“From June 1st to June 4th. In the presence of members of the government, the Military Council under the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR was held. At the meeting of the Military Council, my report was heard and discussed about the treacherous counter-revolutionary military fascist organization discovered by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, which, being strictly undercover, existed for a long time and carried out vile, subversive, sabotage and espionage work in the Red Army.

On June 11, 1937, the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR found all the defendants “guilty of violating military duty (oath), treason against the Workers’ and Peasants’ Army, treason against the Motherland and decided: to deprive all defendants military ranks; defendant Tukhachevsky - the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union and sentence everyone to capital punishment - execution."

Four days later, brigade commander Medvedev was also shot. In his case, apart from the so-called confessions that he shared the views of the Trotskyists, there was no other “evidence”. And in the Military Collegium, which, under the chairmanship of the same Ulrich, considered his case, Medvedev did not admit guilty of counter-revolutionary crimes at all. He said about the conspiracy in the Red Army that he was forced to give false testimony. Nevertheless, an unjust verdict was passed.

A. Kuznetsov:“The bloody verdicts in Moscow are horrifying. You can't make out anything there anymore. Everyone there is sick. This is the only explanation for what is happening there. A huge shock throughout the world." Two days later: “The dance of death in Moscow arouses disgust and indignation. The published list of those executed in a short time shows the full depth of the disease.”

These are the memoirs of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, which he recorded in his diary two days after the execution of Tukhachevsky and other military leaders.

S. Buntman: Who would say, of course...

A. Kuznetsov: Agree. Among researchers, controversy surrounding this case still does not subside. In particular, one of the foreign historians writes that despite the fact that both regimes (Nazism and Stalinism) are essentially very similar, Hitler and Stalin built their relations with the generals differently. The first, for example, did this through complex intrigues, by building a system of checks and balances. The main goal of his activities, as the above-mentioned historian writes, was the desire to divert the military from politics, to direct their energy into a “military channel.”

Gamarnik, Tukhachevsky, Voroshilov, Egorov and Yagoda, 1935. (gazeta.ru)

Stalin went through the Red Army like a skating rink. What is the point of this action? Most likely, with this process and the avalanche of judicial and extrajudicial reprisals against the leadership of the Red Army that would follow it, he wanted to solve two problems. First, to eliminate, as it seemed to him, the “red Bonapartist conspiracy” that had long been brewing among high-ranking military personnel. And secondly, he apparently believed that a victorious army is a completely obedient, controlled army.

S. Buntman: So let's start with who judged?

A. Kuznetsov: Military. Almost all of them are figures of the first magnitude. Armed military lawyer Vasily Vasilyevich Ulrich, two marshals - Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher and Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny, five army commanders - Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov, Yakov Ivanovich Alksnis, Ivan Panfilovich Belov, Pavel Efimovich Dybenko, Nikolai Dmitrievich Kashirin and division commander Elisey Ivanovich Goryachev. Five of them (except Ulrich, Budyonny, Shaposhnikov and Goryachev) subsequently became victims of repression and were shot.

Even before the trial began, an official order was issued by the People's Commissar of Defense Kliment Efremovich Voroshilov, which read: “June 7, 1937. Comrade Red Army soldiers, commanders, political workers of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army!

From June 1 to June 4 this year, in the presence of members of the government, the Military Council under the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR was held. At the meeting of the Military Council, my report was heard and discussed about the treacherous, counter-revolutionary military fascist organization discovered by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, which, being strictly undercover, existed for a long time and carried out vile subversive, sabotage and espionage work in the Red Army.

The Soviet court has more than once deservedly punished the terrorists, saboteurs, spies and murderers identified from the Trotskyist-Zinovievite gangs, who carried out their treacherous work with the money of German, Japanese and other foreign intelligence services under the command of the brutal fascist, traitor and traitor to the workers and peasants of Trotsky. The Supreme Court pronounced its merciless verdict on the bandits from the gang of Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Pyatakov, Smirnov and others.

Tukhachevsky, Voroshilov, Egorov, Budyonny and Blucher, 1935. (milportal.ru)

However, the list of counter-revolutionary conspirators, spies and saboteurs was far from exhausted by previously convicted criminals. Many of them, hiding behind a mask honest people, remained free and continued to do their dirty work of treason and betrayal.

Among these traitors and traitors who remained unexposed until recently are members of the counter-revolutionary gang of spies and conspirators who built their nest in the Red Army. The leadership of this military fascist-Trotskyist gang consisted of people who held high command positions in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.<…>

The ultimate goal of this gang was to liquidate the Soviet system in our country at any cost and by any means, to destroy Soviet power in it, to overthrow the workers' and peasants' government and to restore the yoke of landowners and factory owners in the USSR.

To achieve this treacherous goal, the fascist conspirators did not hesitate in their choice of means: they prepared the murders of party and government leaders, carried out all kinds of malicious sabotage in national economy and in the defense of the country, they tried to undermine the power of the Red Army and prepare for its defeat in the event of war. They hoped that through their treacherous actions and sabotage in the field of technical and material supplies to the front and in the management of military operations, in the event of war they would be able to achieve the defeat of the Red Army and the overthrow of the Soviet government...”

S. Buntman: That's for sure. But that’s not why Tukhachevsky was shot?

A. Kuznetsov: Well, how can I tell you? Here, in fact, is his testimony given at the investigation: “In 1928 and 1929, I worked a lot on the combat training of the district and, studying the problems of the five-year plan, came to the conclusion that if this plan was implemented, the character of the Red Army should change dramatically. I wrote a note on the reconstruction of the Red Army, where I argued for the need to develop metallurgy, automotive and tractor manufacturing and general mechanical engineering in order to prepare for the war a reconstructed army consisting of up to 260 divisions, up to 50,000 tanks and up to 40,000 aircraft.

The sharp criticism that my note was subjected to from the army leadership outraged me extremely, and therefore, when at the XVI Party Congress Enukidze had a second conversation with me, I very willingly accepted his instructions. Enukidze, calling me over during a break, said that although the rightists were defeated, they did not lay down their arms, transferring their activities underground. Therefore, Enukidze said, I also need to secretly move from probing the command and political cadres to their underground organization on the platform of fighting the general line of the party for the installations of the right. Enukidze said that he is connected with the leadership of the right and that I will receive further directives from him ... "

Marshal Tukhachevsky, 1936. (wikipedia.org)

So, let's figure it out. Tukhachevsky is often called the “red Bonaparte,” hinting at his colossal ambitions. It is quite possible that Mikhail Nikolaevich had private conversations with people known to him from the Civil War, but it is unlikely that these conversations had any specifics in terms of action, since in the 30s not two, but several positions took shape in the leadership of the Red Army regarding the direction in which military development should go on the eve of the obviously approaching huge war.

S. Buntman: But Tukhachevsky was accused that his plan, had it been accepted, that is, the production of a gigantic amount of weapons, could have broken the still fragile Soviet industry.

A. Kuznetsov: It is quite possible to assume that Tukhachevsky was really interested in the ideas of making as much as possible more military equipment and other weapons, but this was a trend of that time, and not only in the Soviet Union.

S. Buntman: The second figure who fell under the “skating rink” was Jerome Petrovich Uborevich.

A. Kuznetsov: Yes. Like Tukhachevsky, a junior officer of the First World War, a man who quickly jumped into the army commanders during the Civil War, a man who, according to the reviews of many people who served under his command in the 30s, was a brilliant military specialist.

As for Ion Emmanuilovich Yakir, who at the time of his arrest was the commander of the troops of the Kyiv Military District, his participation in the Civil War is assessed more carefully. But be that as it may, then he was also a man of his own business.

S. Buntman: And yet, by the Decision of January 31, 1957, all the defendants were acquitted and rehabilitated for lack of corpus delicti.

A. Kuznetsov: Yes. This decision was based on the fact that the conviction was based on the confessions of the defendants, obtained through torture, beatings, and so on. In particular, the Determination states: “The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court, having studied the materials of the case and additional verification, considers it indisputably established that the criminal case against Tukhachevsky, Kork, Yakir and others on charges of anti-Soviet activities was falsified.”

Well, in conclusion, it should be said that one of the many consequences of this case was the absolute paralysis of the slightest initiative in the leadership and middle command of the Red Army. When, literally a few months later, they began to report to Stalin that in units captains commanded regiments, and majors commanded brigades, he asked: “Why don’t you appoint someone?” - “Honestly, we are looking. There is no better."

This year marks eighty years since the day when the prominent Soviet military leader Mikhail Tukhachevsky was sentenced to death and executed. During the first twenty years of Soviet power, he was considered one of the key Red military commanders and was part of the highest layer of the Soviet military hierarchy. Much has been written about Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but there is still ongoing debate about whether he really was preparing a conspiracy to overthrow Joseph Stalin, or was he illegally repressed? And if he was preparing a conspiracy, then was this conspiracy so dangerous for the country, since it could have benefited from the military coming to power? But I might not have won.

There are more questions than answers.

For the Red Marshal, Mikhail Tukhachevsky did not have a very suitable biography. Not only does he come from a noble family, but he is also a career officer in the tsarist army. He received his education at cadet corps, then at the Alexander Military School, where he demonstrated great academic success. Before young second lieutenant Tukhachevsky had time to receive an appointment as a junior officer in the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, the First world war. Second Lieutenant Tukhachevsky managed to receive five orders, but in February 1915 he was captured, where he spent two and a half years. In September 1917, he managed to escape, and in October he showed up in Russia. The empire had already fallen, and Tukhachevsky had to decide who to be with in the unfolding political confrontation. Yesterday's tsarist officer chose the Reds. Thus began his career as a Red commander, which was fast, dizzying and within literally a year or two brought Mikhail Tukhachevsky to the top of the Soviet military Olympus. At the same time, Tukhachevsky was still a very young man. He became an army commander in 1918 at the age of 25.

As you know, Mikhail Tukhachevsky had his own opinion about the development of the Red Army, very different from the opinion of most other representatives of the Soviet military elite of that time. Back in the 1920s. The first information about the opposition sentiments of the Soviet military leader began to appear, which were reported to the leadership of the party and state. However, Tukhachevsky’s authority among the troops was very high and party leaders, until a certain time, did not dare to get involved with the hero of the Civil War. However, since 1929, the Soviet leadership began to regularly receive reports from various agents about the development of opposition sentiments among part of the command staff of the Red Army, led by Mikhail Tukhachevsky. In the spirit of the time, they were viewed as “Trotskyist.” It is known that Tukhachevsky’s main opponent in the army was Marshal Kliment Voroshilov. He enjoyed Stalin’s trust, but it is unlikely that Voroshilov’s machinations could have influenced Stalin so much that he would have decided to repress one of the most famous Soviet military leaders at that time. However, on May 10, 1937, Mikhail Tukhachevsky was relieved of his post as First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR and transferred to a significantly lower position - appointed commander of the Volga Military District. However, Tukhachevsky failed to command them. Just twelve days after the new appointment, on May 22, 1937, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky was arrested in Kuibyshev and two days later brought to Moscow.

The circumstances of the Tukhachevsky case are well known, but few people paid attention to the figures of the investigators who were involved in developing the marshal and conducting his case. It would seem that the effectiveness of their work is impressive - the most serious case against one of the most important Soviet military leaders lasted less than a month. On May 22, Tukhachevsky was arrested, and on June 12, 1937, he was shot. It took twenty days to prove his guilt, try him, find him guilty and execute him. What kind of investigative geniuses are these, capable of solving the most complex case in the shortest possible time?
If you look at the figures of the investigators in the Tukhachevsky case more closely, you can doubt the veracity of the acts accused of the marshal. Moreover, most of the investigators followed Tukhachevsky himself a year later. The overall leadership of the investigative actions against the Red Marshal was carried out by Israel Leplevsky. The son of worker Moisei Leplevsky from Brest-Litovsk, Israel Moiseevich was born in 1896 - he was almost the same age as Tukhachevsky, three years younger. Only when Tukhachevsky was studying in the cadet corps and military school, Leplevsky was already studying political activity. At the age of fourteen he joined the Jewish Bund party, and in 1917 he defected to the Bolsheviks.

From 1918, Israel Leplevsky served in the Soviet security forces, quickly rising to leadership positions. By the mid-1930s, Israel Leplevsky already held very important positions in the NKVD system of the USSR. From December 1934 to November 1936 he was people's commissar Internal Affairs of Belarus. In 1935, he received the rank of State Security Commissioner 2nd Rank, similar to the army rank of Army Commander 2nd Rank (roughly equivalent to the later rank of Lieutenant General).

It is possible that the “stellar” career of his older brother Girsh Leplevsky also contributed to the advancement of Israel. He went through the same political path - from the Bundists to the Bolsheviks, then served in the NKVD, and in the second half of the 1930s. served as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union. However, it is possible that Israel could have promoted Hirsch - who will understand all the intricacy of the career vicissitudes of the old Bolsheviks.

Israel Leplevsky, as an old and skilled security officer, quickly “stacked up” Tukhachevsky’s case. Moreover, Leplevsky was not the first to lead similar investigations. Back in 1930-1931. Leplevsky, at the suggestion of Yagoda, led the investigation into the famous “Spring” case. As a result of the investigation into this case, over 3,000 people were arrested, most of whom were Red Army soldiers who had previously served as officers in the tsarist army. Soviet power she did not fully trust them, and enterprising security officers used the opportunity of repression against former tsarist officers to strengthen their own positions. By the way, then, in 1930-1931. repressions had not yet reached the same scale as in 1937-1938, so a significant part of those arrested were later released. Among those released was, for example, Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich, a major general in the tsarist army, the brother of Vladimir Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich himself, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s closest assistant and secretary. He was lucky - they didn’t bother him anymore, he was given the opportunity to work in peace, and already in 1944 he was even awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

Nevertheless, although not all those arrested in the Viasna case were convicted, Israel Leplevsky could be considered after this case as a serious specialist in organizing repressions against former and current military personnel. Later, Leplevsky participated in the direct organization of the trials of Zinoviev, Kamenev, and later of Martemyan Ryutin. That is, Israel Moiseevich already had experience in conducting investigative actions against significant figures of the Communist Party - old and authoritative revolutionaries of the Leninist Guard. Such a specialist was quite capable of “splitting” Tukhachevsky. Especially considering the fact that the actual conduct of interrogations was entrusted to no less experienced security officers.

Direct supervision of investigative actions in the Tukhachevsky case was carried out by Zinovy ​​Ushakov-Ushimirsky. He, too, was an exemplary peer of both his boss Israel Leplevsky and the defendant Tukhachevsky. Zinovy ​​Ushakov was born in 1895 in the town of Khabnoye, in the Kyiv province. His father Mark worked as a carpenter. It would seem that Zinovy ​​Markovich also faced the fate of an ordinary small-town Jewish artisan. In 1905-1909 the teenager studied at a cheder, a local Jewish school, and in 1909, at the age of fourteen, he went to work in a textile shop. Later, Zinovy ​​followed in his father’s footsteps - he became a carpenter, and in 1916, upon reaching the age of 21, he was drafted into military service. tsarist army. But the conscientious soldier did not leave Zinovy. The young man deserted, was caught and imprisoned in Radomysl prison. From there, Zinovy ​​Ushakov safely escaped after fifty days. However, apparently, Ushakov did not want to serve only in the tsarist army.

In March 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Zinovy ​​served there for more than two years, and in December 1920 he joined the Cheka. The operational activities of Zinovy ​​Ushakov took place in the Kyiv, Volyn, Zhitomir, Donetsk and Odessa provincial emergency commissions. It was during his service in the Cheka-OGPU that Zinovy ​​Ushakov met Israel Leplevsky. When the latter became the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Byelorussian SSR in 1934, Zinovy ​​Ushakov received the post of deputy head of the special department of the NKVD of the BSSR. Then he was transferred to Moscow - to the position of assistant to the head of the 5th department of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR. Zinovy ​​Markovich received the special rank of captain of state security (until 1940, this rank corresponded to the rank of colonel of the Red Army).

Apparently, Zinovy ​​Markovich Ushakov was not just a tough investigator, but a natural sadist. Without physical impact, which took the form of not only beatings, but also savage torture, Zinovy ​​Markovich could not get by. Even many colleagues were surprised at the methods of work of this “investigator.” Many prominent people became victims of the bloody interrogations of state security captain Ushakov. Soviet military leaders. It is obvious that he was specifically assigned to this difficult task - to interrogate the Red commanders, brave and decisive people, for whom “special methods of investigative influence” were required. The list of those under investigation by Zinovy ​​Markovich is impressive - these are Marshal Alexander Egorov and Army Commander 2nd Rank Pavel Dybenko, Politburo member Stanislav Kosior and Army Commander 2nd Rank Yakov Alksnis, Corporal Commander Boris Feldman and candidate member of the Politburo Pavel Postyshev. And these are only the most “famous”.
In Zinovy ​​Ushakov’s book, the bravest heroes of the Revolution and Civil War fell apart like little ones. You can imagine what this “investigator” did with his subjects. There are memories that one of Zinovy ​​Markovich’s favorite “interrogation techniques” was placing the defendant with his bare bottom on an overturned stool. No comments needed. As well as questions about why so quickly famous Soviet military leaders who went through the First World War and the Civil War, who had injuries, signed confessions. For example, the famous corps commander Robert Eideman was subjected to this torture.

It was with State Security Captain Zinoviy Markovich Ushakov that Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky was to meet. This circumstance in itself becomes the answer to the question why a major Soviet military leader, within a few days after his arrest, confessed and reported that he had participated in a military-political conspiracy against Stalin.
Together with Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, those under investigation in the case were the commander of the Kyiv Military District, commander of the 1st rank Iona Yakir, the commander of the Belarusian Military District, commander of the 1st rank Ieronim Uborevich, the head of the Military Academy. Frunze, Army Commander 2nd Rank August Kork, Deputy Commander of the Leningrad Military District, Corporal Commander Vitaly Primakov, Head of the Political Directorate of the Red Army and First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Army Commissar 1st Rank Jan Gamarnik, Head of the Directorate for Command and Command of the Red Army, Corporal Corps Boris Feldman, Chairman of the Central Council of Osoaviakhim, Corporal Commander Robert Eideman and the military attache of the USSR in Great Britain, Corporal Commander Vitovt Putna.

On June 9, 1937, the indictment recognized all the accused as members of an anti-Soviet Trotskyist organization, and also indicated the collaboration of military leaders with the General Staff of the German Wehrmacht. The only one who managed to avoid arrest and execution was Jan Gamarnik, who shot himself shortly before they were supposed to “come for him.” On June 11, 1937, the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced all defendants to death. On the night of June 12, 1937, the sentence was carried out. This is how Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky and other prominent Soviet military leaders of the first two decades of Soviet power ended their lives.
It is noteworthy that the fate of the investigators in charge of the Tukhachevsky case was quite predictable. At first, Israel Leplevsky seemed to have a brilliant career ahead of him. Right after the verdict against Tukhachevsky, he was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Ukrainian SSR, where he launched large-scale repressions. But already in April 1938, less than a year after Tukhachevsky’s arrest, State Security Commissioner 2nd Rank Leplevsky was dismissed from the NKVD of the USSR. On April 28, 1938, he was arrested, and on July 28, 1938, he was shot at the Kommunarka training ground. State Security Major Zinovy ​​Markovich Ushakov did not outlive his boss by much. He continued to serve as assistant chief of the 5th department of the GUGB NKVD of the USSR until September 1938. The new People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, Lavrentiy Beria, decided to arrest Ushakov. He was imprisoned for a year and a half, and on January 21, 1940 he was sentenced to death and executed on January 26, 1940.

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There are individuals in history whose biographies contain so many oddities that the devil himself would break his leg...
Once upon a time there lived a boy Misha. He told everyone that he was from the Polish gentry, although this has not been documented anywhere. The boy was assigned to the Moscow Cadet Corps of Catherine the Great, after which he was transferred to the Alexander Military School.
Misha studied well, went in for sports - and as an excellent student in combat and political training, he rose to the rank of sergeant major in school, something like a modern sergeant major.
In this rank, he distinguished himself by his integrity and “demandingness towards his subordinates.” Because of which one of his subordinates shot himself, another was close to suicide. But such “demandingness” was more like the usual sergeant tyranny and the desire to deal with undesirables with the help of official position. However, for unknown reasons, the young man in sergeant's uniform got away with all this. There was an investigation, all the subordinates of the “principled sergeant major” described him as a complete moral monster. But the matter was put on hold, and in 1914, the newly promoted second lieutenant Misha Tukhachevsky, having graduated from college with the first category (and third in academic performance), was released into the holy of holies - the Semenovsky regiment, as a junior commander in the 7th company.
The Semenovsky regiment is not just a guard, it is an elite. The officers in it were examined from all sides, starting from their academic performance during their studies, their origin, and ending with the amount of cash in their wallet. What the not very distinguished boy Misha forgot there, God knows. Usually poor excellent students sought to get into the cavalry or artillery (which was prestigious), in more or less large city. The expenses of an officer of the Semenovsky regiment on uniforms and any representation were not affordable for every young man. But it seems that Tukhachevsky had money in his pocket, otherwise he would have chosen a simpler place of service - fortunately, as the best graduate, he had the right to choose.
The officers' meeting accepted Misha. Although the guards did not particularly like such overly “demanding” officers. But they really loved those who knew how to have a good drink and snack in a restaurant...
And in 1914, Second Lieutenant Tukhachevsky became deputy commander of the 7th company of the Semenovsky Guards Regiment. But war broke out, and the company, along with the entire regiment, was sent to the front.
Here the first real strange thing happened to Misha. On February 19, 1915, near the village of Piaseczno near Lomza, a German assault detachment at night bypassed the company's position from the rear, removed the sentries and massacred the entire company. Company commander Veselago was cut with bayonets, received more than 20 wounds and was identified only by St. George's Cross. The rest of the soldiers were killed... And Second Lieutenant Tukhachevsky spent the entire battle... sleeping in the dugout. And he was captured in a uniform that was not even soiled, as his biographers shyly noted - that is, without using all the opportunities for resistance. Strange, isn't it?
Conditions in German captivity during the First World War were very different from the conditions of the Second World War. The soldiers were kept in barracks (where the contents were quite decent), and the officers were accommodated in dorms - with the right to go into the city, on their word of honor not to run away until official release. Misha also gave this word - and immediately tried to escape. He was caught, and after his escape the other officers were moved from their dorms to barracks so they wouldn’t run away...
And here's a new strangeness. According to German law, a prisoner of war was sent to prison for escaping, as this was considered a criminal offense. Misha escaped this fate as many as four times - that’s exactly how many times he tried to escape. In the end, he was sent to prison, where he met the future President of France, Charles De Gaulle, who at that time had only one unsuccessful escape attempt to his credit. By the way, De Gaulle later tried to escape five more times - but all was unsuccessful. He couldn't even get out of the gate.
According to the recollections of other captives, Misha was an ardent monarchist. And suddenly, from mid-1917, he began to declare that he was a convinced Leninist and Marxist (although he had hardly read Marx himself). This despite the fact that in 1917 the Bolsheviks and Lenin were openly called German spies, and their party was considered to have little influence. And suddenly the future marshal became an ardent Bolshevik. Although he simply could not have been familiar with the political system of Russia in 1917, since he was in captivity until September of that year. But further details of his biography are even stranger.
In September, Tukhachevsky escaped from a military prison for the fifth time. And the escape succeeds. The strange thing here is not even that, unlike De Gaulle, such luck smiled on him, but that this happened exactly before the events of October 1917. He somehow cunningly materialized in the location of his Semenovsky regiment, where no one began to go into the details of that night battle near the village of Pyasechnaya... Misha immediately went on vacation - and wandered around somewhere until March 1918. At the same time, they manage to elect him as a company commander and give him captain’s shoulder straps...
Why the nobleman and guardsman of the Semenovsky regiment went to the Bolsheviks is a mystery of riddles. His lifetime biographers explained this by “ideological considerations.” But from all of the above, something else arises - if we remember that the Germans, through Lenin and the Bolsheviks, wanted to overwhelm Russia...
At first, Tukhachevsky revolved around supporting figures - Proletkultists, intellectuals who stood closer to Trotsky than to Lenin. They recommended him to his “superior” patron - after which the real rise of “Comrade Tukhachevsky” began.
First, on the recommendation of the prominent Bolshevik Valerian Kuibyshev, who in his youth also sinned by studying in the cadet corps and the Military Medical Academy, Misha is appointed to the grain (especially during the period of mobilizations) post of military commissar of Moscow.
Moreover, he, a nobleman and a former guards officer, that is, a three-time class enemy, was immediately accepted into the CPSU (b) without any probationary period. And Trotsky already in August 1918 trusted him with an entire army! This is despite the fact that by mid-1918 the Red Army did not experience a shortage of military experts. The elite of the former Russian army fought on her side, from Brusilov and Shaposhnikov to Bonch-Bruevich (brother of the famous Bolshevik-Leninist and head of military intelligence Russian Empire). There were three or four generals and colonels with an academic education for each army. But for some reason they trust the 1st Army of the Eastern Front to Tukhachevsky, who served in total for less than a year. It’s as if a lieutenant was now put in command of a military district...

He fights, despite the fact that his headquarters was “reinforced” by military experts, it sucks. Near Simbirsk, Kappel bludgeons him, and Tukhachevsky, together with his army, flees 80 versts from small Motherland Ilyich... Kolchak’s men beat him in the tail and mane... And only the general collapse in the ranks of the Whites, who have lost all support from the population, allows Tukhachevsky to solemnly “liberate” Simbirsk, abandoned by the Whites. After which he is recommended for the position of commander.
He became famous not for his military exploits, but for introducing the ancient decimation in his units - the execution of every tenth soldier and commander of a retreating unit in front of the formation.
Then there was a campaign against Kronstadt, for which Tukhachevsky received an order - and a war with the Tambov men using chemical weapons. But he mediocrely leaked the Polish War. He looked for the enemy, but did not find him, but the enemy found him. And he crushed it. More than 60 thousand Red Army soldiers did not return from that war, and more than 80 thousand were captured...
IN post-war years Tukhachevsky enthusiastically kicked Budyonny at all meetings. And he was afraid to touch Voroshilov - for one reason: Voroshilov somehow, in response to his attacks, reminded him of the Polish campaign. Tukhachevsky understood everything, shut up and kept quiet. And Budyonny was being delicate...
Marshal Tukhachevsky also loved to read magazines about culture and art, and play music (five hours a day). I wonder when, with such a schedule, he had time to resolve official issues? Well, he was also interested in technology. How much was infused? folk remedies in the development on his initiative there are countless “death rays” and “unmanned aircraft”. Particularly shocking is his idea - to build a tank capable of riding on rails, flying, swimming, including under water. It was built by the “self-taught inventor” Comrade Dyrenkov, who fully lived up to his name - instead of creating a tank, he created a giant hole in the defense budget...
So that's where I'm going with all this. Could a former guards officer with such a biography enter into a conspiracy against Stalin in order to take power in the country himself? In my opinion – quite.
Let's go through his biography again, this time from this angle.
They recruited Misha, it seems, while he was still studying. The motto of German intelligence at that time was “There are no scum, there are cadres.” Therefore, an excellent student in combat and political training with this approach was an ideal candidate for recruitment. It was German intelligence that guaranteed payment of the young guardsman’s considerable expenses, since the obligatory expenses of a Semyonov officer at the beginning of the 20th century were several times higher than the amount of his salary.
At the same time, the Semyonovites were the elite, moreover, they were included in the court of Nicholas II. And to have an agent in this environment would be a huge success for German intelligence.
Then it’s understandable why the Germans were able to massacre the entire seventh company of the Semenovsky regiment, approaching it secretly (which means they knew where the patrols and secrets were), and Misha sat out the entire battle in the dugout...
It also becomes clear why Misha fled from the camp four times without any special consequences. Escapes were “organized” for him, but they failed for various reasons. And his fifth escape was “made” exactly before the events of October 1917. And they clearly instructed him on the procedure for further actions. During the period of revolutionary confusion, Tukhachevsky hid on vacation, and then, through the “right people”, perhaps also recruited by the Germans at different times, he climbed into the top leadership of the Red Army.
That is why Tukhachevsky behaved so strangely on the fronts of the Civil War. With Kolchak he openly fought the war until he was kicked properly, to the Poles military company completely leaked. But he proved himself to be a “brave” punisher of Tambov men and Baltic sailors.
Then Germany was brought to its knees at Versailles. And the curators had no time for Tukhachevsky, because there was no intelligence in the Reichswehr. And in the mid-30s they remembered when he reached enormous heights in the Red Army. But, probably, the new owners were unable to come to an agreement with the arrogant Tukhachevsky, whom Bukharin, who admitted to the anti-Stalin conspiracy, called “our Napoleon.” And they handed him over to Stalin...
By the way, many of Tukhachevsky’s seemingly illogical plans are then explained. For example, when Germany openly began to be put under economic pressure in the late 20s, he suddenly began pedaling a “campaign” with the aim of causing a “world fire” in Europe. The USSR had no resources for this in those years, but Tukhachevsky was ready to rush to Europe even on armored tractors. Moreover, he called England and France the main opponents of the USSR at that time.
Or the same colossal waste of the defense budget on useless toys like “death rays” or remote-controlled tanks. Tukhachevsky actually deprived the Red Army of normal artillery, pushing in every possible way a dynamo-reactive cannon designed by Kurchevsky, which was shoved everywhere, from airplanes to ships - and was removed from service in July 1941. All the famous "Katyushas", guns designed by Grabin, 57-mm anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns and even submachine guns began to be adopted AFTER Tukhachevsky's removal from office.
Both the KV-1, -2, and T-34 tanks were created not under Tukhachevsky, but after him. And the Red Army fought the entire war with weapons that they managed to design either BEFORE or AFTER Marshal Misha...
That is, this is a traitor in any case, famously infiltrating the highest echelon. And if he had not been eliminated in time, it is still unknown how the Great Patriotic War would have turned out for us.