Stalin’s son Vasily: He flew a plane, served as a commander, was in prison, and knelt before Khrushchev

Vasily Dzhugashvili is Stalin’s youngest son and an air force officer with outstanding military capabilities. He participated in the Patriotic War and was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner for his service. However, after Khrushchev came to power, he blamed him a lot and even sent him to prison. What happened? The reasons Khrushchev gave were unexpected.

In June 1941, Germany tore up the "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact" and launched a massive attack on the Soviet Union. Relying on the all-conquering blitzkrieg, the German army quickly reached the city of Moscow. Inspired by Stalin, people across the country devoted themselves to this war that was related to the survival of the country in order to defend their homeland.

At this time, Stalin's eldest son Yakov had become a prisoner of the German army and was being held in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Therefore, when Vasily repeatedly requested to go to the front line to kill the enemy, Stalin did not immediately agree, but said to Vasily in great pain: "I have a prisoner-of-war son, which is enough."

Compared with Jako After her husband came, Stalin loved Vasily even more. On the one hand, Vasily grew up beside him, and on the other hand, Vasily’s mother, Nadezhda Alliluyena, was also Stalin’s favorite wife. Therefore, when raising Vasily, although Stalin rarely had time to accompany him, he still had great hopes for him.

According to Stalin’s daughter Svetlana, she and Vasily had been living together with their mother since childhood, so Vasily was very dependent on his mother. When her mother committed suicide, she was only 6 years old and Vasily was 12 years old. The death of their mother had a great impact on them, especially Vasily, who almost collapsed. Since then, Vasily has had difficulty concentrating on his studies and his grades have been poor. Stalin also wrote a special letter to his tutor for this purpose, and said in the letter: "Please be as strict as possible with Vasily. Don't be afraid of that wayward boy threatening you with mistakes and blackmail, or even being afraid of him threatening you with suicide." . ”

However, although Vasily’s grades were not good, he was very fascinated by being a soldier. Therefore, after graduating from middle school, he did not apply for the Moscow Institute of International Relations and the Institute of Foreign Trade, which are most highly regarded by the children of cadres. Instead, he chose the Kacha Military Flying School and became a pilot. After graduation, he went to the Command Department of the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy for further studies.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Vasily served at the Moscow Air Force Command. His flying skills were already very good at the time, so when the war broke out, he always urged to fight on the front line.

Due to Vasily’s special status, no one dared to meet his request. So Vasily called Stalin, hoping to get his father's permission.

However, at that time, Vasily's brother Yakov had been captured on the front line and was imprisoned in a German concentration camp, which made Stalin both heartbroken and helpless. So when Vasily proposed to go to the front again, he did not agree. But the more he disagreed, the more Vasily felt that he would be discriminated against. He didn't want others to think that because he was the leader's son, he didn't have to go to the front line.

In the end, under Vasily's hard work, Stalin still met his request.

In fierce air battles, Vasily relied on his superb flying skills to shoot down German planes alone several times. Of course, he also did reckless things because of his bravery. In order to pursue a German aircraft, he once broke away from the aircraft formation without permission. As a result, he was surrounded by German aircraft and almost died.

Soon, Vasily was promoted to the commander of the 32nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment due to his merit. At the same time, because of his righteousness and approachability, he also gained everyone's love and respect.

At the end of World War II, Vasily had been promoted to commander of the 286th Fighter Aviation Division of the 15th Army based on his military exploits. Under his command, the 286th Fighter Aviation Division flew 18,132 fighter sorties in the battle to capture Berlin alone, with a total combat flight time of 20,000 hours, shooting down 558 enemy aircraft and blowing up enemy steam engines. 115 vehicles, 1008 cars, 31 ammunition depots, 1351 German officers and soldiers were annihilated... Due to his brilliant achievements, Vasily was awarded the Order of the Red Banner twice.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, Vasily was promoted to the position of commander of the 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Corps stationed in Germany and was awarded the rank of major general. By 1948, 37-year-old Vasily had been promoted to commander and to lieutenant general.

Vasily was promoted so quickly not just because he was Stalin's son. After all, in addition to his military exploits, he was also very capable. Not only was he excellent in the military, he also played a supervisory role in post-war reconstruction and the construction of airports and related facilities. Under his supervision, not only the airport in Moscow was quickly repaired and put into use, but also the airports in Bronsk Oblast, Tula Oblast and other regions were built successively.

In addition, Vasily also attached great importance to cultivating the quality of the air force. He will hold regular military meetings, review the army, and optimize the training of the air force. He also greatly improved the living conditions of flight technicians. For example, he presided over the construction of 500 houses in Finland, which solved the housing problems of some flight technicians. In addition, at his request, all officers above the non-commissioned level must go to night school to learn cultural knowledge, thereby ensuring that all cadres have a high school education.

In 1950, Vasily was ordered to support the brotherly country North Korea. Throughout the battle, Vasily stayed at the front line, personally commanding the battle and achieving victory. After returning in triumph, Yevgeny Pepelyayev, whom he trained with his own hands, was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" for hitting 23 enemy aircraft. With his military exploits and prestige, he was also elected as the Supreme Commander of the Russian Federation. Soviet representative and received the title "First Class Pilot".

However, the high-spirited Vasily also encountered a career setback.

In 1952, the Soviet Union held a military parade on Labor Day in order to demonstrate its powerful military power. The weather conditions did not allow the plane to take off that day, but in order to express himself in front of his father, Vasily forced the plane to take off regardless of the objective conditions. As a result, due to insufficient visibility, the two planes collided and fell in the air, and the pilots on board were also unfortunately killed.

After the incident, Stalin was furious. In front of everyone, he not only cursed Vasily as an uneducated fool, but also dismissed Vasily from his post.

This incident hit Vasily hard. For a long time, he was depressed and drank to drown his sorrows. Until Stalin's death, Vasily's position was not restored, which made Vasily very desperate.

One time after drinking, Vasily told Artem (Stalin’s adopted son) painfully that there were only two paths he could take. "How about this!" He picked up the pistol and pointed it at his temple. "How about this!" He picked up the wine glass again and poured the wine into his mouth.

No one expected that Vasily’s words came true. On the 21st day after Stalin's death, he was kicked out of the army on the grounds that he was "morally corrupt, drunk and troublesome."

Shortly after he was forced to take off his military uniform, he was imprisoned and examined. . There were many accusations against him at that time, such as malpractice, abuse of power, embezzlement of public funds, etc. Although Vasily refused to plead guilty, the charges against him continued unabated.

So, why did Vasily encounter such injustice after Stalin’s death?

This has to talk about Khrushchev.

Khrushchev once publicly blamed Vasily: "You volunteered to go to the front line, causing the entire Politburo's sons to follow."

It turns out that in Wei During the Korean War, Stalin's eldest son Yakov was tortured by the German army because he refused to be a prisoner. Later, the German army once wanted to replace their senior generals with Yakov, but Stalin refused. In the end, Yakov died in the concentration camp.

This incident had an unprecedented impact at the time, and it also won Stalin the love of his countrymen. Stalin originally didn't want to lose Vasily again, so he delayed letting him go to the battlefield, but he couldn't help Vasily's hard request, and finally he got what he wanted.

Since Stalin sent his two sons to the battlefield, it is natural that the sons of the leaders of the Soviet Union should also go to the battlefield to kill enemies for the country. Therefore, Mikoyan, Kaganovich and others also asked their sons to carry guns and go to the battlefield.

For Khrushchev, his son Leonid was his heart and soul. Leonid was a playboy. In his early years, he was arrested for killing a Soviet Red Army officer due to drunkenness. Later, through the mediation of Khrushchev, he was able to regain his freedom. As a result, he got involved with bandits again and caused trouble. Originally, according to the law, Leonid should be executed, but Khrushchev begged Stalin in every possible way. Stalin was moved by his love for his son and spared him, but asked Leonid to go to the front line to serve his crime.

Unexpectedly, Leonid defected to Germany by plane shortly after he went to the front line. This made Stalin furious and demanded that the "anti-corruption team" bring Leonid back to the Soviet Union at all costs. At the expense of a large number of troops, the "anti-corruption team" really captured Leonid.

Due to conclusive evidence, the military court sentenced Leonid to death in accordance with the law.

Malenkov, Monotov and others also believe that everyone should be equal before the law. Stalin even wrote a note to Khrushchev, saying that he should agree with the opinions of his comrades. If this happened to his son, he could only accept it with the grief that a father should have. A fair verdict.

After Khrushchev came to power, his "hatred of killing his son" made him eager for revenge. Almost none of those who decided Leonid's fate could escape his revenge. Once, Vasily wrote a letter to Khrushchev from prison, hoping that he would not be too harsh on him for his father's sake. But after reading the letter, Khrushchev angrily accused: "It was you who volunteered to go to the front line, so that all the sons of the Politburo had to follow you."

In the end, Vasily did not He was able to escape the bad luck. According to the files that were later released, a special military committee was set up to try the "Vasily Incident", but lawyers were not allowed to participate.

These people claimed that after Vasily was dismissed from his post in the Soviet Army, he had been very hostile to the party and the government, and had repeatedly spread reactionary language after being drunk.

They also said that Vasily established a "cult of personality" in the army and used his power to squander and embezzle state property.

For example, during his tenure as commander, someone sent him a large amount of feed, and his assistants used the feed to feed horses, turkeys, etc.

They also made a list of 76 bribes that Vasily accepted, including saddles and checkers given by friends on his birthday. The most precious thing is a shotgun given by Stalin. Others include motorcycles, eye cameras, kayaks, etc.

In short, Vasily was imprisoned in Vladimir Prison for multiple crimes and punishments. Although he repeatedly emphasized that his detention was "illegal," no one dared to speak for him.

In prison, Vasily suffered from two serious illnesses, which caused a large amount of muscle atrophy in his legs and extreme pain. He could only walk with the help of crutches.

In 1960, Vasily's condition reached a very serious stage and he had to lie in a bed in the prison hospital all day long. Someone wrote to Khrushchev reporting this situation. Subsequently, Vasily was escorted to the Kremlin and received an audience with Khrushchev.

According to the memories of those present at the time, Vasily was in poor spirits and very haggard. After seeing Khrushchev, he suddenly fell to his knees and begged Khrushchev to release him. Khrushchev also called his nickname with excitement and asked him with concern, what did those people do to him?

Three months later, Vasily was pardoned, but after regaining his freedom, Vasily often drank heavily and drove under the influence. At the suggestion of Politburo member Sheleping and Marshal Rudenko, Khrushchev withdrew the amnesty order and Vasily was imprisoned again.

After serving his second sentence, Vasily was exiled to Kazan, where he died soon after. According to the archives, he "died of alcoholism" at the age of 41. After Vasily's death, the Soviet government allocated 426 rubles to pay for his funeral expenses.