Stalin полностью

Two of the five marshals (Voroshilov and Budyonny) were civil-war-era cavalrymen who defended the role of horse-riding troops deep into the era of tanks and planes. The strategically literate Shaposhnikov—the highest-ranking former tsarist officer still around—had not been able to block the wrongheaded breakup of mechanized divisions, but he had closely advised Stalin on the military operations to recover the old tsarist borders.²⁸⁹ Nevertheless, the despot soon replaced him as chief of staff with, of all people, the Finnish-war failure Meretskov.²⁹⁰

The big story was Timoshenko: the defense of the socialist motherland now rested upon his shoulders. On May 7, 1940, at a celebration of Tchaikovsky’s centenary, Timoshenko appeared in the imperial box at the Bolshoi in a threesome with Stalin and Molotov—a Kremlinological signal to the elite, whose whispers could be counted on to spread word of the coronation. With the transfer of the defense portfolio, a chastened Stalin also allowed Timoshenko to conduct a genuine investigation into the state of the Red Army.²⁹¹ He sent Timoshenko to inspect key Soviet military districts in person. The despot and his new defense commissar forced through sweeping reforms, including greater discipline and genuine basic training.²⁹² Military production, already immense, was savagely ramped up, including the mass manufacture of machine guns, which Stalin’s idiot cronies had dismissed but the Finns had put to devastating use. Mikoyan negotiated new defense-related trade pacts with more than a dozen countries, which forced still deeper shortages on the Soviet populace in order to free up resources for export.²⁹³ Timoshenko oversaw a hasty expansion of officer training: in 1940, the Soviet Union counted eighteen military academies, plus eight military departments at various civilian universities, as well as 214 schools (uchilishche) for the army and six for the navy. Training courses lasted from forty-five to ninety days. The defense commissar also rushed to extend rail lines and build airports—a target of 950 by the end of 1941, meaning more than 300 new ones.²⁹⁴

Stalin approved the reintroduction of the ranks of admiral and general on May 7, 1940, as well. Meretskov would be among those promoted to full general, while naval commissar Kuznetsov became a new admiral. “Stalin by that point did not entertain objections,” Kuznetsov recalled. “A kind of thick cloud had formed around him of bootlickers and obsequious types who blocked the necessary people from accessing him. For us, young people raised up by the ‘unquiet’ 1937–38 period and striving out of inexperience to ‘develop our own views,’ we quickly learned that our part was to listen more and speak less.” Still, Kuznetsov noted that “back then I bowed before Stalin’s authority, not doubting anything that emerged from him.”²⁹⁵

There were some 1,000 senior officer promotions altogether. Zhukov, who had remained in Mongolia and missed the Finnish campaign, was among those elevated. Voroshilov recalled him from Ulan Bator, and Stalin summoned him to the Little Corner. “I had never met Stalin before and I went to the meeting very agitated,” Zhukov recalled. “Greeting me, Stalin, puffing his pipe, immediately asked, ‘How do you assess the Japanese army?’” Zhukov gave a detailed answer, after which Stalin inquired about the performance of Soviet troops and the Soviet commanders Kulik, Dmitry Pavlov, and Nikolai Voronov. Zhukov claimed he had praised the latter two, but not Kulik. After further discussion, Stalin said, “Now you have combat experience. Take over the Kiev military district”—which Timoshenko was relinquishing—“and use your experience in the training of the troops.” Zhukov returned to the Hotel Moskva but could not fall asleep. “Stalin’s external appearance, his soft voice, his concreteness and depth of thinking, his attentiveness in listening to the report, impressed me greatly.”²⁹⁶