Clement Voroshilov. The story of the most slandered Soviet Marshal

February 4 of this year marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Kliment Efremovich Voroshilov, a man who went down in history as the "first red marshal." This figure is so outstanding, or, as they say now, significant for its time and the history of our Fatherland, that it is simply impossible to overestimate it in this respect. Not to mention the enormous role of Voroshilov in the Civil War, the creation, formation and development of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, the Great Patriotic War would be the meanest of crimes against our common memory. No less than attempts to "blot out" the names of Stalin, Beria, or Trotsky from the descriptions of all these fateful landmarks.

It is clear that in the crazy "perestroika times", when the blame and distortion of Soviet history were put on stream and raised to the rank of state policy, the name of the glorious marshal was smeared with mud no less than the names and deeds of the absolute majority of his contemporaries and associates. Around Voroshilov, whose popularity among the Soviet people was only slightly inferior to admiration for Stalin himself, it is quite natural and vile myths heaped up, perhaps a little less than they were invented about the Leader. In my opinion, the best tribute to the blessed memory of this great man on his anniversary will be the exposure of at least the main and most common inventions.

"A military dilettante and a sycophant of Stalin ..."

To begin with, let's try to briefly summarize the main essence of the monstrous lie erected on Kliment Efremovich. We will deal with the particulars separately and in detail a little later. So, according to our dear "historians" of the liberal wing, Voroshilov was, in fact, an empty place. He did not win any "significant military victories", his high position - both rank and positions, was exclusively due to "the acquaintance with Stalin brought together during the Civil War, personal devotion to him and unbridled praise of the leader, which went beyond all the limits of flattery." For the Red Army, he did absolutely nothing good (being in the post of People's Commissar of Defense more than anyone else, who held this position for 15 years), but, on the contrary, in every possible way "slowed down technical development of the Soviet armed forces, resisting the introduction of any innovations into them, first of all - technical ones. " Indeed, he was “completely illiterate” in military affairs, and he didn’t know a damn thing about weapons and equipment. He only knew how to ride a horse and swing a sword. After the Finnish war from the post of People's Commissar he was "driven out in disgrace. During the Great Patriotic War, again, he did not show himself in anything, except perhaps for stupid attacks on foot with a Nagant against German tanks. Positions in this harsh time, again, occupied completely unimportant, he made practically no contribution to the Victory, for which he remained a marshal until the end of his life and, in addition, received the Hero's Stars - it is completely incomprehensible. Perhaps, as a "symbol of communist propaganda." This is such a simple and even, at first glance, a foldable characteristic. What's in it - a shameless lie? Yes, you already guessed, probably ... That's it! From the first to the last word.

Let's start with the fact that Kliment Voroshilov was not just an old party member - one of the oldest. He joined the RSDLP (b) back in 1903 - before the first Russian revolution. He went through all the circles of hell that fell to the lot of real Bolsheviks - arrests, prisons, exile right up to the Arctic Circle itself. In the First World War, he did not fight, because he was not subject to conscription, as an employee of a defense enterprise (remember this!), But in the Civil War he joined the ranks of the Red Army almost from the first days of its creation. Actually, he put more efforts and labor to the birth of the world's first army of workers and peasants. In particular, the legendary 1st Cavalry Army of Budyonny, in which he was later a member of the military council, was created with his very active participation. In general, during the years of the Troubles raging in the country, Voroshilov, as befits a real soldier, went wherever he was sent and did what he was ordered to do. He commanded armies, entire military districts and even spent a little time as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs in Ukraine. Even then, Voroshilov's main, perhaps, business feature was manifested - the talent of an organizer. He really was not a brilliant commander (yes, in fact, he did not pose as such), but he knew how to work for ten, like few others - and forced others to do it. But the army, you know, does not rest on Napoleons alone. A hungry soldier in bad uniform and with unusable weapons - he will, perhaps, fight ... It is for this very ability - to plow like a damned one in the place where the party will put, Stalin appreciated Voroshilov. And not at all for his article and the book "Stalin and the Red Army", as the foolish liberals are trying to assert. Iosif Vissarionovich saw millions of similar opuses of varying degrees of talent and toadying, but he had a handful of efficient people. And, by the way, about the "sycophancy" that allegedly took place. The authentic words of not just anyone have survived, but Molotov himself, who sneered at Stalin against Voroshilov: he de "your leadership is insulting"! This is how we “sneak” ... You know, very few people could afford such a thing.

"Genius" and "horseman"

Now let's move on to almost the main part of the lies about Kliment Efremovich. Here the imagination of our liberal "exposers of Stalinism" takes on especially violent forms and they take on the most complete nonsense. Voroshilov hindered the development of the Red Army? It was he who was the People's Commissar for Naval Affairs and the People's Commissar of Defense from 1925 to 1940 ?! Yes, if at the head of our army there really was a brainless dunduk, a mossy retrograde and an "illiterate horseman" whom some particularly rabid clever men try to paint the marshal with, the Red Army on June 22, 1941 would have met the Wehrmacht on half-dead nags, in sandals and budenovkas. And not with tank corps, air divisions, with MLRS and automatic rifles, which the Fritzes did not have at all. It's okay that it was under Voroshilov that the Red Army finally moved from the territorial-militia to the cadre principle of formation (that is, in fact, it took shape as an army in general), it finally introduced normal military ranks, uniforms, and created a new commanding staff. generations? For a detailed listing of all the merits of Kliment Efremovich in this area, no article will be enough, and neither will the book. Only such a moment should be mentioned separately: Voroshilov did not entrust anyone with the development and introduction of new types of weapons and equipment (not new breeds of horses!). He personally wound around laboratories, design bureaus, training grounds and military units. He poked his head into the barrel of each new weapon, personally checked and rechecked the conclusions of the commissions that conducted their tests. Still - after all, they just knew this business from his youth - he himself stood at the machine at the tool factory. But what about his "conflict with the technocrats?" - you ask, yes, yes, how did it happen ... I mean the most severe confrontation between Voroshilov and Tukhachevsky, who could not bear this "genius". He, I must say, responded with complete reciprocity and arrogant nastiness about the "oaky horseman" said a lot. This, however, is emotions, and would you like to get acquainted with the facts?

Liberal "historians" willingly cite Voroshilov's words addressed to Tukhachevsky that, to put it mildly, he stretches his legs beyond his clothes and tries to bite wider than his mouth. In other words, it makes plans for the "technical development" of the Red Army, which, not only are absolutely unrealizable, but also when trying to implement them will ruin the country clean, literally let it go around the world. At the same time, the conclusion is drawn: the "brainless horseman" wanted to continue forming horse armies instead of armored units. Would you like to know exactly what kind of lies of Tukhachevsky that Clement Efremovich reacted so sharply? There are no problems with this - the "Plan for the Development of the Red Army", drawn up by this figure when he was the head of the Leningrad Military District, is an unclassified document a long time ago. So - in this opus, Tukhachevsky proposed to churn out tanks in the amount of ... 100 thousand a year! This was in 1930, when the domestic heavy industry was still in its infancy. Everything is clear with the "genius" or is it still necessary to explain? It was thanks to Voroshilov, and not by anybody Tukhachevsky, that the Red Army had more than 15 thousand tanks by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Despite the fact that at the time of his entry into the post of People's Commissar, there were about a dozen of them in our country, and even then they were all trophy, foreign ones. The same story with rocket weapons - while its development was supervised by Tukhachevsky associates, absolutely nothing came of it. As soon as it was entrusted to Voroshilov, the Red Army soon received the Katyusha ... Here we come to another, extremely important point. They are trying to blame Voroshilov for "participation in the Stalinist repressions against the command staff of the Red Army." Here, really, it is also worth digging deeper.

Irreplaceable Voroshilov

In this case, the falsehood being raised is based, in fact, on a couple of pieces of paper - the "execution lists" of representatives of the army elite approved by Kliment Efremovich. On one (the one where Tukhachevsky was listed), he allegedly inscribed with his own hand: "Take all the scoundrels." It is clear that, as Messrs. Liberals explain, the People's Commissar sent absolutely innocent people to certain death "out of cowardice and weakness, because he knew that if he did not endorse such lists, then he himself would be in the next." All ... I can no longer express myself with restraint! This is bullshit - that's what it is! Firstly, the lists were not "firing squad" - Voroshilov simply, as the head of the military department, agreed to bring his high-ranking subordinates to justice. Secondly, no podmahivaniya such papers saved anyone and from anything. An example of this is the fate of Yagoda and Yezhov, the People's Commissars of Internal Affairs, not only who signed, but who personally made up the actual execution lists, so much that Voroshilov never dreamed of. Both ended up with a "wall", because there was a reason. Well, and, finally, thirdly, and, in fact, "in the main": let's dare to assume that Voroshilov sent the same Tukhachevsky and his entire company on trial not out of selfish motives, but because he clearly knew that they were enemies and pests ?! Can't you let this happen? And in vain, because this is how it probably was. Who, if not Kliment Efremovich, knew how much real damage these "geniuses" caused the Red Army and understood what would happen if they remained in positions and power? No, you can, of course, continue to believe the liberals tweeting that "Voroshilov hated Tukhachevsky because he undermined his authority" and was his "competitor." Only then I do not recommend reading further.

For whom the truth was - for Stalin, Beria and Voroshilov, or for the executed "innocent marshals", the summer of 1941 showed. Those who are trying to present Voroshilov's actions at the initial period of the Great Patriotic War as "talentless" are simply silent about the fact that in the North-West direction he led, there were no such horrific devastations, "cauldrons" and columns of prisoners, as, for example, in the West the military district, which was led by Tukhachevsky's comrades-in-arms who just avoided a timely "landing". The first counterattack against the advancing Wehrmacht was inflicted not by Zhukov, but by troops led by Voroshilov near the village of Soltsy, Novgorod Region. And here's another thing - Kliment Efremovich never went into an attack with a Nagan at the ready during the command of the defense of Leningrad! This is definitely known from the recollections of eyewitnesses, including his personal adjutant. This episode, either to heighten the drama, or because of bad zeal, was invented by the creators of the film "Blockade". There, I remember, Voroshilov was even wounded in this stupid attack. The marshal was not injured. And not at all because he was hiding from bullets - the desperate bravery of the Marshal was confirmed even by the Sami by his fierce ill-wishers. The man was just so lucky. And he commanded, as befits a marshal - from the command post, and not running across the field like a platoon. Subsequently, in the process of the Great Patriotic War, as the "chroniclers" of a quite definite sense write again, "Stalin did not entrust Voroshilov with significant tasks." Yes of course. The regiment or division did not trust - it's true. But otherwise ...

The Marshal played a "completely unimportant" role as a representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, and in the "hottest" sectors of the front - near Leningrad during the breakthrough of the blockade, in the Crimea before the general offensive. He was involved in the formation of reserve armies, whose forces reached a turning point in the course of the war in 1943, led the partisan movement, created and headed the Trophy Committee. At the same time, he was also very active in the diplomatic field - Kliment Efremovich accompanied Stalin at almost all the most important meetings and negotiations with the leaders of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition, in particular at the famous Tehran conference, carried out a lot of other assignments that the Supreme would definitely not entrust " illiterate "or" mediocre ". Surely we will never know about many of them due to their secrecy ... In order to put an end to the question of Voroshilov's competence, it is enough to remember that Stalin changed the heads of the NKVD more than once, and in the most radical way. Voroshilov had to vacate the post of the People's Commissar of Defense in 1940 - after the Finnish War, when the question arose about the radical transformations of the Red Army and the "rejuvenation" of its leadership. At the same time, no one personally blamed the People's Commissar for the miscalculations and failures of that campaign, and certainly did not "expel in shame." Accordingly, they did not touch him with a finger. And with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, they were immediately introduced to the highest body - the State Defense Committee.

In conclusion, a few more touches. In the famous "trophy case", according to which the generals were imprisoned and even shot, it was not Voroshilov, the "main trophy officer" of the USSR, who was "smeared", but Marshal Zhukov. Kliment Efremovich (unlike, alas, from the heroic Georgy Konstantinovich) was not in the least tainted with money-grubbing. Until the end of his life, in fact, he did not have his own apartment - he lived in the state, however, in the Kremlin. He was almost the only one who was not afraid to support Stalin's son Vasily, who was released from prison, and later took part in an unsuccessful, alas, attempt to oust Khrushchev. For this he gets special respect. Voroshilov did not win the battles of the Great Patriotic War. However, the system of pre-conscription youth training he created gave the Red Army millions of fighters when the time came. "Voroshilov Riflemen" became that inexhaustible reserve, on which the steel waves of the Wehrmacht crashed. It was they, boys and girls, who dreamed of being like the "first red marshal" Voroshilov who saved the world and won the war. For this alone, Kliment Efremovich deserves our eternal memory and gratitude.