Stavka

Establishment and renaming

The Stavka was the extraordinary supreme military command organ that exercised strategic leadership of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Great Patriotic War. On 23 June 1941, by resolution No. 825 of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Headquarters of the Main Command of the Armed Forces was established, comprising Timoshenko (chairman), Zhukov, Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Budyonny and Kuznetsov; the Main Military Council of the Red Army was abolished the same day. On 10 July 1941, by a decree of the State Defense Committee, it became the Stavka of the High Command and then the Stavka of the Supreme High Command, with Stalin as chairman and Shaposhnikov newly introduced. On 17 February 1945 the State Defense Committee fixed the final composition, and in October 1945 the Stavka was abolished.

Place in the command system

The Stavka carried out its work under the leadership of the State Defense Committee (GKO). Its role was to evaluate military-strategic situations, adopt strategic and operational decisions, and organize, coordinate and support action among field, naval and partisan commands. The General Staff served as its planning and executive agent, while Stavka representatives, including Zhukov and Vasilevsky, were frequently dispatched as intermediaries between the Moscow headquarters and major field commands. Subordinated to it were the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement, rocket artillery formations, long-range aviation and the Guards armies.

Why it stayed in Moscow

Throughout the war the Stavka did not leave Moscow. Its members met in Stalin's Kremlin office; when the bombing of Moscow began, work moved to a small mansion at Kirov Street 37, and during raids to an underground strategic centre prepared at the Kirovskaya metro station. From 1942 the Kremlin was used again.

Famous orders

On 16 August 1941 the Stavka issued Order No. 270, "On the Responsibility of Servicemen for Surrendering and Leaving Weapons to the Enemy", and on 17 November 1941 Order No. 428, "Destroy and Burn to the Ground All the Settlements in the Rear of the German Troops". The first defined surrender and capture as a matter of military responsibility; the second directed scorched-earth measures.

A note on the name

"Stavka" is also used for the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Russian armed forces in World War I (1914–1918, successively at Baranovichi, Mogilev and Orel); Lenin abolished that body in March 1918 on conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk agreement. The Soviet Stavka of 1941–1945 was a distinct institution, marked by its mixed military-civilian composition.