14. Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov (1882–1945) was one of the few Red Army officers to retain Stalin’s trust even as he reached a position of seniority. On the eve of the war with Germany and during its initial phase Shaposhnikov was head of the army’s General Staff and deputy defense commissar, but he had to resign due to illness. He died a few weeks before the fall of Berlin.
15. Reshin et al., 1941 god, pp. 439–440.
16. Zhukov, Vospominaniia i razmyshleniia, vol. 1, p. 268.
17. Rodina, no. 4 (2005): 4.
18. M. I. Mel’tiukhov, Upushchennyi shans Stalina. Sovetskii Soiuz i bor’ba za Evropu. 1939–1941 (Moscow, 2002), p. 413.
19. Zhukov, Vospominaniia i razmyshleniia, vol. 1, p. 340.
20. Memoirs of Chadaev published in Otechestvennaia istoriia, no. 2 (2005): 7.
21. Semen Mikhailovich Budenny (1883–1973) commanded the First Cavalry Army during the Civil War and was a supporter of Stalin during this period. He went on to become a marshal and held top military posts, including first deputy people’s commissar of defense.
22. Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (1902–1974) was head of the naval commissariat and commander in chief of the navy from 1939 to 1946. After the war he fell into disfavor and was demoted, but in 1951–1953 he was again placed in charge of the naval ministry. He lost command of the navy for good in 1955 after the loss of a battleship.
23. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 36, l. 22; Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 6 (1990): 196–197.
24. N. G. Kuznetsov, Nakanune (Moscow, 1989), p. 327.
25. N. V. Petrov, Palachi (Moscow, 2011), p. 85–93.
26. Otechestvennye arkhivy, no. 2 (1995): 29–32; Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 6 (1990): 208–209, 212–214.
27. Interview by Georgy Kumanev of I. V. Kovalev, who was serving as deputy commissar for state control when the war broke out and was in charge of rail transport. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, no. 3 (2005): 149–150.
28. Reshin et al., 1941 god, p. 497; F. Chuev, Sto sorok besed s Molotovym (Moscow, 1991), p. 52.
29. In his memoirs Zhukov states that Stalin came to the defense commissariat twice (Vospominaniia i razmyshleniia, vol. 1, p. 287); however, there are no other sources to corroborate this assertion.
30. Mikoyan’s recollections are reported in Reshin et al., 1941 god, pp. 497–498.
31. Letter to the Soviet leadership from Lavrenty Beria after his arrest in 1953; published in Istochnik, no. 4 (1994): 7; recollections of Anastas Mikoyan published in Reshin et al., 1941 god, pp. 498–499.
32. Cited in Reshin et al., 1941 god, p. 498.
33. Cited in Chuev, Sto sorok besed s Molotovym, p. 330.
34. Recollections of Anastas Mikoyan published in Reshin et al., 1941 god, pp. 498–499.
35. The original text is among Mikoyan’s personal papers, which are held by RGASPI.
36. Mikoian, Tak bylo, p. 391.
37. Iu. A. Gor’kov, Gosudarstvennyi Komitet Oborony postanovliaet (1941–1945) (Moscow, 2002), pp. 30–31.
38. Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 7 (1990): 208, and no. 8 (1990): 208; RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 1319, l. 93.
39. Interview of Ivan Peresypkin, wartime communications commissar, by Georgy Kumanev; Otechestvennaia istoriia, no. 3 (2003): 65.
40. The speech is cited in Pravda, 3 July 1941.
41. Order by People’s Commissar for Defense Stalin, 28 June 1941. In V. A. Zolotarev, ed., Russkii arkhiv. Velikaia Otechestvennaia. Prikazy narodnogo komissara oborony SSSR. 22 iunia 1941 g.–1942 g., vol. 13 (2–2) (Moscow, 1997), pp. 37–38.
42. G. F. Krivosheev et al., Velikaia Otechestvennaia bez grifa sekretnosti. Kniga poter’ (Moscow, 2009), pp. 60–61.
43. Conversations between Stalin and commanders in the Western Direction, 26 July 1941; cited in V. A. Zolotarev, ed., Russkii arkhiv. Velikaia Otechestvennaia. Stavka VGK. 1941 g., vol. 16 (5–1) (Moscow, 1996), pp. 92–93.
44. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 167, d. 60, l. 49.
45. D. A. Volkogonov, Triumf i tragediia, vol. 2, pt. 1 (Moscow, 1989), p. 167.
46. Cited in Zolotarev, Russkii arkhiv. Velikaia Otechestvennaia. Stavka VGK. 1941 g., vol. 16 (5–1), p. 361.
47. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 492, l. 35; Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 9 (1990): 213.
48. V. N. Khaustov et al., comps., Lubianka. Stalin i NKVD-NKGB-GUKR “Smersh.” 1939–1946 (Moscow, 2006), pp. 317–318.
49. For the texts of these decisions with changes entered by Stalin, see Vestnik arkhiva Preszidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii. Voina. 1941–1945 (Moscow, 2010), pp. 37–40.
50. Khaustov et al., Lubianka. Stalin i NKVD-NKGB-GUKR “Smersh,” pp. 317–318.
51. Reshin et al., 1941 god, pp. 476–479.
52. Cited in Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 7 (1990): 209.
53. Istoricheskii arkhiv, no. 1 (1993): 45–46.
54. Interview of I. V. Kovalev by Georgy Kumanev published in Novaia i noveishaia istoriia, no. 3 (2005): 160–161.
55. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 235, l. 123.
56. Zhukov, Vospominaniia i razmyshleniia, vol. 1, pp. 350–353.
57. Krivosheev et al., Velikaia Otechestvennaia bez grifa sekretnosti, p. 84.
58. Cited in Zolotarev, Russkii arkhiv. Velikaia Otechestvennaia. Stavka VGK. 1941 g., vol. 16 (5–1), pp. 108–109; Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 9 (1990): 199–200.
59. A. M. Vasilevskii, Delo vsei zhizni (Moscow, 1978), p. 132.
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Vasilevsky (1895–1977) was a renowned Soviet marshal and leading figure in the Great Patriotic War who served as deputy chief and then chief of the General Staff and commanded Soviet troops in the Far East during the war with Japan. After the war he served as minister of defense.
60. Krivosheev et al., Velikaia Otechestvennaia bez grifa sekretnosti, p. 85.
61. Interview with Zhukov published in K. Simonov, Glazami cheloveka moego pokoleniia (Moscow, 1989), p. 361.
62. Zolotarev, Russkii arkhiv. Velikaia Otechestvennaia. Stavka VGK. 1941 g., vol. 16 (5–1), pp. 175.
63. Simonov, Glazami cheloveka moego pokoleniia, pp. 361–363.
64. Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, no. 1 (1992): 77, and nos. 6–7 (1992): 17; Zolotarev, Russkii arkhiv. Velikaia Otechestvennaia. Stavka VGK. 1941 g., vol. 16 (5–1), pp. 378–379.
65. A. E. Golovanov, Dal’niaia bombardirovochnaia … (Moscow, 2004), p. 78.
66. Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 12 (1990): 210–211.
67. Mikoian, Tak bylo, p. 417. Mikoyan writes that this was on 16 October, but he definitely refers to the discussion of the order to evacuate Moscow that was actually adopted on 15 October. This meeting evidently took place in Stalin’s apartment.
68. Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 12 (1990): 217.
69. Interview with Aleksandr Vasilevsky in Simonov, Glazami cheloveka moego pokoleniia, p. 446.
70. NKVD report dated 21 October 1941; published in Istochnik, no. 5 (1995): 152.
71. M. M. Gorinov et al., comps., Moskva voennaia. 1941–1945. Memuary i arkhivnye dokumenty (Moscow, 1995), p. 550; Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 1 (1991): 217.