Chapter 655: German-Soviet War (12)

Mahlis had not expected that Comrade Stalin would be so decisive in executing Pavlov. He thought that at most Pavlov's command would be revoked and his official position would be demoted. After all, Pavlov was also Stalin's trusted general, otherwise he would not have sat on the throne of the commander-in-chief of the Western Front.

Moreover, the verdict included not only Pavlov, but also more than ten people including the Chief of Staff of the Western Front, Major General Klimovsky, the Director of Communications of the Front, Major General Grigoriev, the Director of Artillery, Major General Klich, and the Commander of the 4th Army, Major General Kolobkov.

"..."Mahlis silently flipped through all the verdict documents. He couldn't help but wonder. I remember reading a book on military strategy before, which said that "changing the commander before the battle is a taboo for military strategists", not to mention that now it is to kill the commander before the battle, will it cause any problems?

But he did not dare to question Comrade Stalin's decision, and immediately ordered people to arrest all the people on the verdict. And he came to the detention room where Pavlov was temporarily detained.

Pavlov had panda eyes, and his pupils were full of bloodshot, but he couldn't fall asleep. He kept pacing back and forth in the narrow cell, muttering to himself.

"Comrade Political Commissar." The two soldiers guarding Pavlov saluted Mehlis. Mehlis nodded and waved. "You go out first, I'll talk to Comrade Pavlov."

After the two soldiers left, Mehlis walked to the iron bars. "Comrade Pavlov, the verdict on you has come down."

Pavlov seemed to have just realized that there was one more person in the room and two less; he looked at Mehlis with a blank face. "Verdict? What verdict!"

Mehlis coughed lightly and patted the file bag in his hand. "The Supreme Military Court has ordered your execution."

"Death penalty?" Pavlov seemed to be struck by lightning. He stood there in a daze, and it took him a long time to recover and he yelled hysterically. "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible! I want to see Comrade Stalin! This must be a conspiracy!"

Mahlis quickly stepped back a few steps, avoiding Pavlov's hand stretched out from the gap in the iron fence, and curled his lips in disdain. Still want to see Comrade Stalin? Without Comrade Stalin's instruction, would the Supreme Military Court dare to issue such a verdict? Comrade Stalin didn't want to see you, so he didn't take you to Moscow, but executed you here immediately.

At this time, several soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs came in. "Comrade Political Commissar, everyone has been taken to the execution ground and is ready."

Mahlis nodded and looked at Pavlov, who was in a semi-crazy state behind the iron bars, with some pity. "Comrade Pavlov, it's time to go."

"What road, I won't go! I want to see Comrade Stalin! I am the commander of the front, you can't..."

Several soldiers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened the iron bars and rushed in to take Pavlov out. Pavlov was only 44 years old at this time, in his prime, and several soldiers couldn't hold him for a while after desperately resisting.

Several people tore and wrestled together. One of the soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs pulled his hands off the rifle on his back and smashed Pavlov's head with the butt of the rifle. Blood flowed out instantly. Under the heavy blow, Pavlov's body did not fall down, but just staggered to one side for two steps, and then stood steadily again. It can be said that he was very tough. However, he also lost the ability to continue to resist. He was dragged out of the cell by several soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and dragged all the way to an open space behind the headquarters, where there was a row of wooden stakes, and more than a dozen people were tied to the stakes.

After Mehlis went forward to verify the identity of each person, a colonel read out the verdict.

Some people were silent with a dead face, some struggled desperately and yelled, and some begged with tears and snot, which can be said to show all kinds of human nature.

"Listen to my command! Ready! Raise your guns!" The colonel who read the verdict ordered the row of soldiers holding rifles in front of him expressionlessly.

"Fire!"

"Bang!" The uniform sound of gunfire resounded through the sky. The dozen or so people who were tied up seemed to have their souls taken away by something. They trembled, struggled a few times, and then dropped their heads powerlessly.

After Pavlov was executed, the Military Court of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested Pavlov's family according to the Soviet Military Criminal Law: his father George Vasilyevich Pavlov, his mother Ekaterina Stepanovna Pavlova, and Pavlov's sister Maria Pavlov. They were not military personnel, but they were still sentenced to exile by the military court.

Pavlov's parents were exiled to Siberia-Krasnoyarsk Territory to serve 5 years in prison. This territories is nearly 4,000 kilometers away from Moscow, with vast land and sparse population, and the famous Yenisei River flows through it. The local economy mainly relies on animal husbandry, firewood, and minerals. Agriculture mainly grows cold-resistant and flood-resistant crops, and mechanical processing can only be regarded as a second-rate industry in the local area. Pavlov's sister was exiled to Arkhangelsk. Although it was better than Siberia, her situation was not much better than her parents.

A month later, Pavlov's wife Alexandra and her mother Karavidiya Mikhailovna Kuznetsova, as well as Pavlov's son Boris Dmitrievich Pavlov and daughter Ada Dmitrievna Pavlova were also arrested and sentenced to five years in exile to Uralsk. But because Ada was only 12 years old, she was given to a military care institution for upbringing and education, which was a blessing in disguise.

The next day, General Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko came to take over as the commander of the Western Front, and he brought with him the transfer letter of Mekhlis.

Timoshenko's fame was mainly due to Stalin's feelings for the cavalry. This can be seen from the fact that after the Great Purge, there were only three people left in the top leadership of the Soviet Red Army. Among these three people, only Voroshilov and Budyonny were left from the first batch of the five marshals of the Soviet Army, plus Shaposhnikov was left in the first-level army group. All three were cavalrymen. Timoshenko also grew up from a cavalry officer, so not only was he not purged, but he also quickly gained Stalin's trust and love during this high-level vacancy in the Red Army.

Timoshenko was very disgusted with Mekhlis's character and naturally did not want to work with him, so he asked Stalin to transfer Mekhlis away and appointed Yafominykh as the political commissar of the Western Front.

When he arrived at the headquarters, Timoshenko did not care about resting and immediately devoted himself to work.

After sorting out the casualty reports submitted by various armies, Timoshenko could not help but sigh. "Pavlov, you idiot deserved to die! Do you think the German defense line is made of paper?! You can't even see such an obvious trap?!" The loss of nearly 700,000 elite troops in just one day is probably a record in military history.

It took several months for a small Finland to fight. Pavlov, this idiot, did not doubt the German defense line that collapsed at the touch of a button. He broke through two defense lines in succession, and let his own large troops fall into the encirclement of the German army. "He is simply a sinner of the Soviet Union!"

It's a pity that Pavlov has been shot, and no matter how much he curses, it will be useless. The most urgent task is how to rescue the troops in the German encirclement, which is also the order of Comrade Stalin.