Kill the pilots who defected to the United States with their comrades
Every nation and country has its own heroes who respect and admire, and it is inevitable that there will also be outrageous and despicable traitors, and the Soviet Union is no exception.
In the late 60s and early 70s of the 20th century, the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union entered a white heat, and the focus of the struggle for hegemony was in the air. In order to plot against the Soviet Air Force, the US authorities solemnly promised that anyone who successfully defected would receive a reward of $600,000 each, and would also give them a mansion and arrange a job, and provide a 24-hour arrangement.
For the materially scarce Soviet troops, this condition was so favorable and attractive that many people were shaken by their hearts, and the pilot, Belenko, the deputy commander of the 16th Air Force Army, Lieutenant General Koshelev, and others defected to the United States by plane. The United States did what it said and fulfilled its promises in full, so that there were more Soviet soldiers who yearned for life in the United States.
In order to avoid the endless occurrence of defections, the Soviet authorities, while improving the remuneration of pilots and strengthening ideological education, have also made great efforts in the supervision mechanism and implemented a "two-length system": that is, one main pilot is assigned to a co-pilot, and one chief navigator is assigned to a co-pilot. Either they defected together, or they restrained each other, or even killed each other.
This trick really worked, and the number of defectors dropped significantly, but it could not be completely eliminated. In order to defect, the two pilots actually stabbed three comrades to death with daggers.
On May 13, 1965, the crew of Alexander Butkov and Pyotr Bakharov prepared to fly a Tu-16 bomber to the vicinity of the Barents Sea for long-distance training. The two of them, who had already had the intention of defecting, couldn't help but be overjoyed, the training site was very close to Denmark, and the plane was full of fuel, as long as it was handled properly, the successful defection was nine times out of ten.
At that time, the situation between the United States and the Soviet Union near the border between East and West Germany was highly tense, and they often misfired, and it was extremely difficult and risky to defect from East and West Germany to the United States, and the direction from Poland to Denmark was the weak link in the defense of the two camps.
The emperor lived up to his wishes, waiting, waiting, waiting
In addition to Boutkov (the main pilot) and Bakharov (the main navigator), there were also three co-pilots, co-pilots, and communicators on the plane. Boutkov and Bakharov agreed to try to win them out together first, and if that didn't work, kill them in the cabin.
On May 13, shortly after the plane took off, the two began to rebel against them, but the three were determined and unmoved, and they still had to fight against them. Annoyed and angry, Butkov and Bakharov struck first, stabbed them to death with daggers, and threw their bodies directly from the plane.
They then lied to the ground tower that they had encountered extreme weather during the exercise and needed to land at an alternate airfield near Denmark, but the tower personnel agreed to their request without much thought. The two then increased the throttle and flew directly to Denmark, successfully landed in Denmark, and then came to the United States.
Although the Tu-16 bomber piloted by Butekov and Bakharov was not the most advanced fighter of the Soviet Union at that time, it was the main battle bomber of the Soviet army, with a carrying capacity of 9 tons and a nuclear bomb with a yield of 5 million tons. The Americans have always been concerned about the core parameters of this aircraft, and of course they can't help but be happy about their defection.
Brezhnev, who had just come to power, was extremely angry at the defection of Butkov and Bakharov, and roared "to kill those two shameful scum at all costs, and let them pay with blood!."”
The KGB was moved when it heard the news, but due to the tight security of the US side and the fact that the two traitors were very cautious, the KGB was helpless and had no choice but to start.
Five years passed, the two gradually relaxed their vigilance, and the bodyguards began to relax, and the KGB finally had a chance, and on a dark and windy night, they sneaked into the residence of the two of them, stabbed them dozens of times with knives in hand, and successfully killed them. Then the death sentence of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, and a note with the names of the three comrades-in-arms written on it, were placed next to the corpses and walked away.
Soviet "number one traitor".
Andrei Vlasov joined the Red Army in 1919 and from July 1924 to 1925 studied at the Leningrad Higher Cavalry School, where he was a classmate of Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Bagramyan and Yeremenko.
Speaking of which, this old Red Army, who participated in the Soviet Russian Civil War and the Soviet-Polish War and had outstanding performances on the battlefield, still has a certain relationship with China, and was sent to China in 1938 to help Chiang Kai-shek train the army. After returning home, Vlasov was promoted to commander of the 99 Infantry Division and commander of the 4th Mechanized Army. Who would have thought that such a figure would later become the "number one traitor" of the Soviet Union.
In 1941, the Soviet-German war broke out, and in July, Vlasov was ordered by the Supreme Command to lead the 37th Army to rescue Kiev.
In the face of the crisis, Vlasov showed his outstanding military talent and superhuman courage, and successfully led his troops to break out of the encirclement completely, rescuing more than 30,000 Soviet troops in a prisoner of war camp along the way.
Stalin greatly appreciated, personally awarded Vlasov the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner, and entrusted the commander of the Twentieth Army with the responsibility of defending Moscow. In the Battle of Moscow, Vlasov once again showed his skills, leading his troops to drive the Germans to the west bank of the Moscow Canal in one fell swoop.
After the Battle of Moscow, Vlaso became the second largest general in the Soviet army after Zhukov, and he was in high demand. In March 1942, Stalin transferred Vlasov to commander of the 2nd Assault Corps and ordered him to attack the German forces besieging Leningrad.
Due to the slow march of the troops, the 2nd Assault Corps, which penetrated deep into the enemy's depth, became a lone army, deeply encircled, and Vlasov failed to stage the glory of a successful breakthrough again, and only more than 30,000 people of the entire army group of 130,000 people successfully broke through, and Vlasov himself was captured by the Germans in the process of breaking through.
The German army's efforts to co-opt and Stalin's refusal to allow him to retreat in time made Vlasov resentful of Stalin and defected shortly after being captured. After the mutiny, he established the "Russian Liberation Committee", which wrote articles all day long attacking and smearing the Soviet Union and Stalin, and persuading Soviet soldiers to surrender.
In the blink of an eye, in 1944, the German fascists were already in the twilight, and Vlasov, who saw it in his eyes, began to be half-hearted, made a small calculation, and was ready to find an opportunity to bite the German army back at any time, so as to "make up for the merits". At the end of April 1945, an anti-fascist armed uprising broke out in Prague, which was quickly suppressed by the German army due to its lack of strength, but the German army also suffered great losses.
Vlasov saw the opportunity and led the "Russian Liberation Army", which was composed of Soviet prisoners, to storm the rear of the German army, and the German army was caught off guard and fled from Prague in disarray. The German army fled from Prague on the front foot, and the Soviet army hit Prague on the back foot, and the "Russian Liberation Army" had no choice but to follow in the footsteps of the German army and flee.
In June 1945, Vlasov led his troops to surrender to the American army, but the American side returned him to the Soviet Union overnight. On March 10, 1946, Vlasov was sentenced to death by a Soviet military tribunal for immediate execution.
Extended reading:
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