Zhukov followed Stalin’s order at once. Of course, measures such as courts of honor could not help, and a month later a plenum of the Supreme Court in Moscow issued a directive with the long, cumbersome title ‘On the responsibility of servicemen of the Occupational Troops for Committing Crimes, According to Wartime Laws.’23 It ordered the court martial of any serviceman who left the barracks for more than three hours without official permission. But the civilian complaints continued, and to stem the flow, a year later Serov simply ordered the organization of several show trials against complainants in each German province with the sentences published in the local press.24 After this, Germans were afraid to report the atrocities.
Besides the atrocities, in 1945 looting in Germany by Soviet servicemen, including SMERSH operatives, became almost epidemic. Strictly speaking, Stalin’s policy created this problem. In December 1944, Stalin issued the first order regulating the sending of parcels by servicemen from occupied territories.25 A private was allowed to send parcels up to 5 kg in weight each month, while an officer could send 10 kg, and a general, 16 kg. From June 9, 1945 onwards, privates were permitted to take whatever they could carry in their arms, officers could utilize a bicycle or motorcycle, and generals could use a car to transport whatever they wanted.26 Moreover, officers and generals could buy pianos, radios, hunting guns, watches, furs, rugs, cameras, and so on, for almost nothing. Even so, the looting continued. On September 25, 1945, Abakumov ordered:
The Main Directorate ‘SMERSH’ has information that some counterintelligence units have considerable quantities of unofficially acquired vehicles and various trophy properties.
These properties were not registered with and evaluated by ‘SMERSH’ organs. This leads to their inappropriate usage and storage and creates the conditions for violations of the law.
To establish order in the keeping, accounting, and use of properties in ‘SMERSH’s’ possession, I order:
The immediate organization of all SMERSH properties. Detailed descriptions should be reported to the Main Directorate ‘SMERSH.’ All properties should be sealed and their use forbidden…
Heads of ‘SMERSH’ organs who continue to hold unaccounted properties, or to embezzle valuables, will be court-martialed regardless of their positions.27
Abakumov did not apply this order to himself: a search of his two huge apartments after his arrest in 1951 yielded a long list of items stolen in Germany.
Despite a clear preference for Abakumov, Stalin did not dismiss Serov, and Serov continued to report on SMERSH in Germany. In September 1946, he described the situation during 1945 in a letter to Stalin claiming that Abakumov ‘used to call Vadis or his deputy Sidnev on the phone and demand that they not report to [Serov] or follow his orders. [Abakumov] threatened them with reprimands and even arrest.’28 Serov also complained about SMERSH’s activity:
During the last period, when ‘Smersh’ was no longer subordinate to me in operational work, I received numerous reports about its outrageous activities, and I always informed Zelenin [head of the UKR of GSOVG] about these cases and even reported common occurrences to the Ministry [MGB]…
For instance, in the evening, drunken ‘Smersh’ officers went to a field near the city of Halle to carry out death sentences decreed by the Military Tribunal. Because the officers were drunk, they buried the bodies carelessly. Germans passing along on a nearby road in the morning saw two hands and a head sticking out of the ground. They dug out the corpses, saw bullet holes in the backs of their heads [a Soviet method of execution], gathered witnesses, and reported to the local police. We were forced to take urgent measures.
The same year two German women, arrested [i.e., kidnapped] in the British zone of Berlin, escaped from ‘Smersh’s’ custody in the division commanded by General V.[asilii] Stalin [Stalin’s son]. After their escape, they told the British that they had been arrested by the Russians. ‘Smersh’ officers tried to conceal this fact, but General V. Stalin found out and informed me about the situation. We took the necessary measures.29
Although Serov did not identify the particular ‘urgent measures’ that were taken in the first case, the Germans who found the bodies were most likely arrested and sent to a concentration camp. In the second case, since Vasilii Stalin was involved and had probably told the story to his father, the guilty SMERSH officers were most likely arrested and tried.
Zhukov Leaves Germany
Vasilii Stalin’s complaints to his father about the poor quality of Soviet planes compared with American aircraft led to SMERSH’s last arrests of high-ranking generals, to Zhukov’s downfall and to the discrediting of Georgii Malenkov.30 The story began in 1943 when air force commander in chief Aleksandr Novikov complained to Stalin about the undisciplined behavior of Vasilii, Stalin’s 21-year-old son, who was a military pilot. Vasilii was unhappy with Novikov’s order that he fly only one plane as the other pilots did, and not three planes, as he wanted.
That year Stalin promoted Vasilii from captain to colonel—two ranks higher. Soon Vasilii was appointed commander of an air force corps, but three months later the Air Force Military Council dismissed him when an officer was killed during one of his drinking parties, and eight others, including Vasilii, were wounded. Stalin approved the dismissaclass="underline" ‘Colonel Stalin is dismissed from the position of corps commander for drunkenness and debauchery and for corrupting the corps.’31 Vasilii continued his service in 1944, but Stalin did not talk to him until the Potsdam Conference. Vasilii accompanied his father to Potsdam and used that opportunity to complain about Novikov.
In early December 1945, Novikov (now Chief Marshal of Aviation and Commander of the Air Force, having been twice awarded the Gold Star for Hero of the Soviet Union) did not sign a document approving the promotion of the 24-year-old Vasilii to the rank of major general. On New Year’s Eve, Stalin suddenly called Novikov at home to ask why.33 Novikov explained that Vasilii was too young and had a poor professional education, having graduated from an aviation school rather than the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. Stalin ordered Novikov to put Vasilii’s name on the general list of promotions.
After this conversation, the frustrated Novikov called Zhukov and told him of Stalin’s demand. Zhukov said: ‘You can’t do anything, this is an order!’ Since Zhukov’s telephone was tapped, SMERSH now knew there was a connection between Novikov and Zhukov.
As a first step, SMERSH operatives arrested Marshal Sergei Khudyakov while he was on his way to Moscow from the Far East.34 Khudyakov was an Armenian, and his real name was Armenak Khanferyants. During the war with Germany, he had been Novikov’s deputy; then he had commanded the 12th Air Force Army that successfully fought against the Japanese. During the investigation, SMERSH operatives put Khudyakov in Sukhanovo Prison. Accused of having been a British spy, Khudyakov (under torture) signed testimony that Aviation Industry Commissar Aleksei Shakhurin and his subordinates had conducted activities to sabotage aircraft production. His statement also mentioned Novikov, Zhukov, and some others.