Chapter 83: Stalin's Wrath (Part 2)

In this short telegram, Zhukov used the most concise words to ask Pavlov, the commander of the Western Front, again.

"So is the report on the Western Front mentioned in the German radio broadcast true?!"

Pavlov, who was frightened and uneasy by the name of Stalin, naturally did not dare to hide anything about Zhukov's second call.

"It should be true, Comrade Zhukov."

Holding this telegram from Pavlov, which was even more concise and efficient than his own call, Zhukov, who was so excited that his head was spinning, naturally knew what the content of the telegram meant. After calming down a little, Zhukov quickly called Stalin again after sorting out his mood.

"Comrade Stalin, the current situation of the Western Front has been determined."

Hearing Zhukov's tone, which was so flat that no emotion could be heard, Stalin, who had already guessed the worst result, spoke calmly.

"Go ahead, Zhukov, I can accept the worst result."

When Zhukov, holding the microphone, narrated the entire process of his telegram exchange with Pavlov to Stalin, he was extremely annoyed and didn't understand why Pavlov, whom he trusted deeply, had lost the entire Western Front in such a short time. Stalin, like a volcanic eruption, almost roared and gave orders to Zhukov, who was waiting on the other end of the phone.

"Tell Pavlov, Zhukov! He is no longer the commander of the Western Front from now on! Let him and his staff leadership team return to Moscow to report and inspect immediately!"

When the special plane carrying Pavlov and his command leadership team and staff group arrived in Moscow and landed slowly, the special operations team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were assigned special tasks, immediately stepped forward and surrounded Pavlov and his party in an iron barrel-like manner and took them away.

During the period of being investigated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Staff Headquarters and waiting for trial, Marshal Timoshenko, who was appointed by Stalin as the new commander of the Western Front, met Pavlov for the last time before taking office.

Pavlov, who regarded Timoshenko as his last straw, was obviously unwilling to give up this opportunity. Pavlov, who was almost begging in his words, spoke to Timoshenko first.

"Do I need to report to you, Comrade Timoshenko?"

"Forget it, everything is over."

Timoshenko, who had learned everything at the General Staff Headquarters, was obviously unwilling to mention the disastrous defeat of the Western Front in response to Pavlov's almost pleading words.

Facing Timoshenko's gloomy face, Pavlov, who knew that he had committed a heinous crime, continued to plead.

"Comrade Marshal, you have to consider my situation as the commander of the Western Front at that time. I think that in the same situation, even if I were replaced by someone else, it would be of no use!"

Timoshenko, who originally wanted to expose the matter, instantly became angry after hearing Pavlov's sophistry. The furious Timoshenko immediately stood up from his chair and loudly questioned Pavlov in front of him.

"I know that many of the troops under the Western Front are new recruits who lack training, and we still have many problems to solve."

"But the losses of tanks, aircraft, artillery, and technical equipment are so great, and such a vast territory of the great motherland has been lost in your hands. As the commander of the front, don't you have any responsibility at all!?"

Facing Timoshenko's angry questioning like a volcanic eruption, Pavlov, who knew that he was in great trouble, continued to speak with a sad face.

"But I only have 7 divisions in Brest, while those Germans have 15 divisions, including 5 armored divisions. With such a huge disparity in strength, the quality of the troops is not as good as theirs. How can you let me defend?"

I was extremely disgusted with Pavlov's all-out sophistry. I had nothing to say to this guy who had no sense of responsibility and commander's responsibility. Timoshenko left angrily and left after leaving the last sentence.

"Forget it, I don't want to do elementary school math with you here! You should figure these out slowly!"

Soon after Timoshenko left angrily, a lieutenant general who came from the Supreme Command opened the door again with two guards and appeared in front of Pavlov.

"General Pavlov, please take a look at the documents, and then come with us."

Before he finished speaking, an "arrest warrant" signed by Comrade Stalin was handed to Pavlov by the lieutenant general with one hand. Pavlov, who was so scared that he could not speak on the spot.

The arrest warrant signed by Stalin, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, undoubtedly played a decisive role in Pavlov's case.

On July 22, the Soviet military court pronounced the final verdict:

The four defendants, Commander of the Western Front Pavlov, Chief of Staff of the Front Klimovsky, Director of Communications of the Front Grigoriev, and Commander of the 4th Army Kolobkov, were participants in the anti-Soviet conspiracy and traitors to the great motherland. They should be sentenced to death by firing squad and executed immediately.

After hearing the judge's verdict on him, Pavlov, who had thought a lot during the days of waiting for the trial, seemed unusually calm and did not get emotional. Pavlov, who had long known what verdict he would face, did not dare to have any extravagant hopes for his life. He just hoped in court that the four of them could be sent to the front line to fight in any capacity, and atone for their sins to the motherland by shedding blood on the battlefield.

When Pavlov's request was sent to Stalin along with the verdict, the iron leader who personally instructed to execute Pavlov and his party made a decision that was a little unexpected to others.

"Delete the nonsense such as "conspiracy" and "betrayal" in the verdict, and then copy it to all fronts and ask all officers and soldiers to learn and reflect. In addition, their request to go to the front line to atone for their sins is rejected, and it is agreed to be shot immediately!"

On the night when Stalin issued such an order, Pavlov and other four members of the Western Front Command were shot together, and their bodies were buried on the spot in a landfill.

At this point, the commander of the front, who enjoyed the reputation of "the father of tanks" in the entire Soviet armored forces sequence, but at the same time took a big step backward in the development of the Soviet armored forces, finally came to the most tragic end.

Pavlov, who never believed in the powerful power of tank clusters, always regarded tanks as a secondary branch of the army to assist infantry, but the most direct cause of Pavlov's death was the powerful blitzkrieg power of the German armored clusters, which is a great irony.

Since then, the Soviet armored forces, which have eliminated Pavlov, an important stumbling block to the development of the Soviet tank forces, have finally embarked on a correct development path.

Under the subsequent leadership of many outstanding Soviet generals such as Zhukov and Rokossovsky who believed in the powerful force of tank troops fighting in groups, the Soviet Red Army, which had been tempered by the brutal flames of the Great Patriotic War, eventually transformed into a powerful armored elite strong enough to sweep the German armored forces. In the decades of the Cold War after the end of World War II, it became the most terrifying "steel nightmare" hanging over the entire NATO, and composed the armored legend from "the coast of Britain to Siberia".