Kirill Meretskov
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Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov was a Soviet military commander. Having joined the Communist Party in 1917, he served in the Red Army from 1920. During the Winter War of 1939–1940 against Finland, he ha
Meretskov in 1945
Meretskov, after landing at the Khvoynaya airfield, 1942
Operation Iskra, January 1943
Meretskov (left) with Marshals Rodion Malinovsky (center) and Aleksandr Vasilevsky, at an airfield in Dalian, China
1940–1942 Red Army purges
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Between October 1940 and February 1942, Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, ordered purges against the Red Army and associated military-related industries. Many of those who were purged wer
Kirill Meretskov
…Barbarossa started, Meretskov was appointed permanent adviser to Stavka. However, on June 23 he was arrested by the NKVD as a member of an alleged anti-Soviet military conspiracy. The exact reasons are unknown, and the case file was destroyed in 1955. Meretskov's close friendship with General Dmitry Pavlov, the Soviet Commander…
Beria's proposal of 29 January 1942 to execute 46 generals. Stalin's resolution: "Shoot all named in the list. – J. St."