The marshal tortured by the NKVD, reinstated to break the Leningrad siege
"It took me many years to understand everything that happened to me." — in his 1968 memoirs
Born a poor peasant's son, he became a Moscow factory worker at twelve and joined the Bolsheviks in 1917. He broke the Mannerheim Line in the Winter War, earning Hero of the Soviet Union. As Chief of the General Staff he was arrested and tortured two days into the German invasion, yet Stalin freed him. He then commanded the Volkhov and Karelian Fronts, shattering the Leningrad blockade in Operation Iskra and leading the main strike against the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Made Marshal in 1944, he remained on active duty until his death.
Career Timeline
- 1917Organises Bolshevik cell in Sudogda; Red Guard chief of staff
- 1918–1921Civil War service, wounded three times; graduates Frunze Academy
- 1932–1937Chief of staff Belorussian MD & Far East; advisor in Spain
- 1939–1940Commands 7th Army in Winter War, breaks Mannerheim Line; HSU
- 1940–1941Chief of General Staff. Arrested June 1941, tortured, freed Sept
- 1942–1944Volkhov & Karelian Fronts; breaks blockade; Marshal 1944
- 1945Commands 1st Far Eastern Front; defeats Kwantung Army; Order of Victory
- 전후Commands military districts; General Inspector, Defence Ministry
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionParticipated in the Civil War
- 1936–1939The Spanish Civil WarSoviet military adviserTook part in the operation that stopped the Italian expeditionary corps at Guadalajara
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarCommander of the 7th Army, breaker of the Mannerheim LineLeading the Leningrad Military District and the 7th Army on the isthmus, he was stalled at first, but after the reorganization broke through the Mannerheim Line and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarCommander, Volkhov & Karelian Fronts; 1st Far Eastern FrontArrested and tortured two days into the war, he was freed in September 1941 and returned to the front. As commander of the Volkhov Front he broke the Leningrad blockade in Operation Iskra (January 1943); as commander of the Karelian Front he led the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation and ended the war in Norway. Promoted to Marshal in October 1944. In August 1945 he commanded the 1st Far Eastern Front, delivering the main blow against the Kwantung Army and receiving the Order of Victory.
- 1945.08The Soviet Entry into the War against JapanCommander of the 1st Far Eastern FrontLed the eastern attack as commander of the 1st Far Eastern Front. At the June 26-27 conference he proposed occupying Hokkaido, opposed by Zhukov and Molotov.
The 1941 Arrest and NKVD Torture
On June 23, 1941, the day after Operation Barbarossa began, Meretskov was summoned to Moscow and arrested by the NKVD. The arrest was based on testimony from already-purged commanders who named him as a participant in an alleged "anti-Soviet military conspiracy." Held in Lefortovo Prison, he was interrogated by notorious investigators Vlodzimirsky, Schwartzman, Rodos, and Ivanov. He was beaten with rubber rods, and under torture by Boris Rodos, who broke one of his ribs, he signed a false confession.
Khrushchev recalled in his memoirs that before his arrest Meretskov had been "a strapping young general, very strong and impressive-looking," but after his release "he was a shadow of his former self. He had lost so much weight he could hardly speak." During his imprisonment, he confided to a comrade that NKVD officers had urinated on his head.
After two months, Meretskov wrote to Stalin from his cell asking to be sent to the front. On September 6, 1941, he was abruptly released on Stalin's oral order. Presented to Stalin in full army dress, he was immediately appointed commander of the 7th Army. His case file was destroyed in 1955 on the orders of KGB chairman Serov, leaving the full story of his ordeal unknown. In his 1968 memoirs, Meretskov addressed the episode in a single sentence: "It took me many years to understand everything that happened to me."