Stalin's artillery chief from Tsaritsyn: Marshal who blocked the T-34, KV-1 and Katyusha
What the hell do we need rocket artillery for? The main thing is the horse-drawn gun.
A Stalin favourite since the Battle of Tsaritsyn, Kulik headed the Red Army's artillery directorate from 1937 to 1941, where his extreme conservatism led him to block the T-34 and KV-1 tanks, Katyusha rockets, and submachine guns, the very weapons that later saved the Soviet Union. His disastrous field commands in the Winter War and against Germany brought court-martial, demotion from Marshal to major-general in 1942, and eventual execution for treason in 1950.
Career Timeline
- 1918–1920Chief of Artillery, 1st Cavalry Army
- 1926–1929Chief, Main Artillery Directorate (GAU)
- 1932–1936Commander-Commissar, 3rd Rifle Corps
- 1937–1941Chief, Main Artillery Directorate (GAU)
- 1939–1941First Deputy People's Commissar for Defence
- 1941Commander, 54th Army
- 1943Commander, 4th Guards Army
- 1944–1945Deputy Chief, Main Directorate for Formation & Manning
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign Intervention1st Cavalry Army artillery chief
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarDeputy Defence Commissar · directed the Mainila shelling provocationPer Khrushchev's memoirs, Kulik directed the Mainila shelling: the false-flag pretext for invading Finland. Made Hero of the Soviet Union, though the artillery preparation was abysmal.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarChief of the Main Artillery Directorate
Weapons Rejection and Military Conservatism
The period from 1937 to 1941 when Kulik headed the Red Army's Main Artillery Directorate (GAU) coincided with a decisive turning point in Soviet military technology, yet he consistently blocked the adoption of new weapons. His military outlook had stopped evolving after the defence of Tsaritsyn in 1918, and he fiercely opposed Mikhail Tukhachevsky's deep operations theory, which called for mechanized forces organized as independent armoured units.
T-34 and KV-1 Tanks. Together with Voroshilov, Kulik opposed the decision to mass-produce the T-34 medium tank and the KV-1 heavy tank. When Stalin overruled him, he deliberately delayed production of 76.2mm ammunition, leaving only 12% of T-34s and KV-1s with full ammunition loads at the start of the war. Moreover, although Vasiliy Grabin's F-34 76.2mm tank gun had proven superior and cheaper than the existing L-11 in testing, Kulik, as political patron of the Leningrad Kirov Plant that produced the L-11, blocked its adoption. When the German invasion began, the L-11 could not reliably penetrate even the lightly armoured Panzer III; a rushed retrofit with the F-34 had to be carried out using guns Grabin had secretly stockpiled.
Katyusha Rocket Artillery. The BM-13 Katyusha multiple rocket launcher was ready for deployment as early as 1938–39, yet Kulik refused to approve production, declaring: "What the hell do we need rocket artillery for? The main thing is the horse-drawn gun." Despite his opposition, the Katyusha was adopted in a rush in June 1941, days before the German invasion.
Submachine Guns. Even as the Wehrmacht was equipping its shock troops with the MP40 submachine gun, Kulik insisted that submachine guns were "only suitable as police weapons," claiming they encouraged poor marksmanship and wasted ammunition. He blocked the issue of the PPD-40; the PPSh-41, born from frontline demand, emerged only after the matter had been taken out of his hands.
Minefields. Kulik disparaged anti-tank minefields as "a weapon of the weak," arguing they were incompatible with an offensive spirit. This stance allowed German armoured spearheads to bypass Soviet defensive lines almost at will during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa. After Kulik's removal, minefields played a decisive role in the defence of Leningrad and at the Battle of Kursk.
Chief Marshal of Artillery Nikolai Voronov recalled of Kulik: "He considered all his actions infallible and believed the best method of work was to keep his subordinates in fear. His favourite saying when giving orders was: 'Prison or medals.'"