Iona Yakir
Encyclopedia
Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir ' onMouseout='HidePop("17211")' href="/topics/Chisinau">Kishinev
, Bessarabia
, Russian Empire
– June 11, 1937, Moscow
, Soviet Union
) was the Red Army
commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I
and World War II
.
. During World War I
, he returned to the Russian Empire
and worked in a military factory in Odessa
, Ukraine. In 1915 - 1917 he was a student of Kharkiv Technological Institute. Like millions of other people in the Russia Empire, he was radicalized by the war and became a follower of Vladimir Lenin
. In 1917 he returned to Kishinev, became a member of the Bolshevik party and took active part in the Bolshevik seizure of power in Bessarabia
. When in 1918 Romania
intervened to annex Bessarabia, Yakir led Bolshevik resistance but his small force was overwhelmed by the regular Romanian army.
and fought against Austro-Hungarian occupation forces as a commander of a Chinese regiment of the Red Army
. In March 1918 he was wounded. At the beginning of the Russian Civil War
between Bolshevik forces, the White Army, and various other anti-Bolshevik movements, Yakir was member of the Bolshevik party committee in Voronezh
province and started his service in the Red Army as commissar
. He showed military talent and was assigned as a field commander. In October 1918 he served as a member of the Revolutionary Council
of the 8th army in the Southern Front
and simultaneously commanded Southern Front's several key formations in operations against the Don Cossacks
of Pyotr Krasnov
. He carried out Lenin's order of persecution of Cossack civilian population. The war against armed combatants and terror against the civilian population were coming together in the Russian civil war. Encouraged by the Bolshevik theory of class struggle
, Yakir, like other members of the Communist party, took part in terror
. For his services, he became the second individual to receive the highest Soviet military award of that time the Order of the Red Banner
(engraved as No. 2).
In the summer of 1919 Yakir was sent to Ukraine to command the 45th rifle division, and in August 1919 he became the commander of the Southern Group of the 12th army which included the 45th and 58th rifle divisions. Both divisions were surrounded in Odessa by the White forces. Yakir undertook one of the most remarkable Civil War military operations. He breached the encirclement and led his forces through the enemy rear for a distance of 400 kilometers to join the Red Army in Zhitomir. Like other Bolshevik commanders who did not have military education, he was assisted in this operation by former tsarist army officers on his staff but this fact does not negate his own role in planning and leading the campaign. For this campaign he received his second Order of the Red Banner, and both of his divisions received Red Banners of Honor. Yakir took part in actions against the White forces of Nikolai Yudenich in defense of Petrograd, in suppression of Ukrainian anarchist guerrilla forces of Nestor Makhno
and in the Polish-Soviet War
. He was awarded 3 times the Order of the Red Banner and became one of the most decorated Red Army commanders.
and belonged to his inner circle of innovative Red Army officers who assisted Frunze in starting far-reaching military reform. Among these reformers was Mikhail Tukhachevsky
who became Yakir's friend. In April 1924 Yakir was appointed a head of Main Directorate of Military Academies of the Red Army and simultaneously editor of major military periodical devoted to development of military theory "Voennyi Vestnik."
In November 1925, after Frunze's death Yakir was appointed commander of the most powerful territorial formation of the Red Army, the newly reorganized Ukrainian military district (see Kiev Military District
). Yakir, in close coordination with Tukhachevsky and other reformers, made his district into a laboratory of wide-ranging experiments in strategy, tactical and operational techniques, army formations, and equipment. In training his troops, Yakir encouraged his officers' initiative and ability to make their own judgments. In 1928-1929 Yakir studied at the Higher Military Academy in Berlin, this was possible because the intensive military cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany. Yakir's innovative approaches to the military art impressed his German colleagues. German Field Marshal of World War I fame, Paul von Hindenburg
, praised him as one of the most talented military commander of the post-World War I era.
After returning to his district Yakir continued military reform. He was one of the creators of the first large tank and air force formations in the world. Not a military theorist in his own right, Yakir strongly supported Tukhachevsky's endeavor in developing the theory of deep operations
. Military historians across the world now consider this theory the most outstanding theoretical innovation in the entire history of military art. In 1934 Yakir requested that Tukhachevsky would be appointed to conduct advanced courses on operational theory for high-ranking officers of the Red Army General Staff
and commanders of military districts. He did it even though he knew about Joseph Stalin
's dislike of Tukhachevsky. In retribution, Stalin instructed his crony, Kliment Voroshilov
, who was a Peoples Commissar of Defense, to bar Yakir from membership in the prestigious Advisory Council of the Defense Commissariat. In 1935, in order to diminish Yakir's power, the Ukrainian military district was divided into two new districts, Kiev
, under Yakir's command, and Kharkov.
In 1935 Yakir conducted military maneuvers in Kiev with the Kiev and Kharkov military districts' forces. The major aim of these maneuvers was to test the theory of deep operations and the latest technology. 65,000 troops, including 1,888 paratroopers, 1,200 tanks and 600 aircraft participated in these maneuvers. These were first maneuvers in the world that used combined operations of large tank, airforce and airborne formations. The troops acted on front of 250 kilometers and a depth of 200 kilometers. The representatives of major world armies attended the maneuvers. The British General Archibald Wavell reported to his government: "If I had not witnessed this myself I would never have believed such an operation possible." The German Wehrmacht
copied Soviet innovations in preparation for World War II. The reform started by Frunze and continued by Yakir, Tukhachevsky and many other commanders made the Red Army into most advanced army in the world. During these years Yakir regularly gave lectures to the Red Army General Staff Academy, informing the students about the newest developments in military affairs. In 1935 he was promoted to Comandarm
, first rank, the second highest military rank in the Soviet Union at the time.
to become friends with Yakir and to report about his activities. Yakir, who was a true believer in the Communist cause, was actively involved in internal politics. He was member of the party Central Committee
in Moscow and member of the Politburo
of the Communist Party of Ukraine. While ingenious and independent in his thinking as a military commander, in Soviet politics he was a docile party member and followed the party Stalinist line. During the famine in Ukraine caused by Stalin's "forced collectivization" of agriculture during 1932-1933, Yakir was alarmed by the tragedy and approached Stalin with a request to soften official policies. Stalin was outraged and instructed Kaganovich to advise Yakir to limit his activities to his party assignment which was military service. Yakir obeyed. As a party member he lacked the power of conviction and independent thinking to defy Stalin.
His blind obedience did not spare Yakir. Stalin would not allow to his military commanders any independent thinking even in area of their professional expertise. While on the surface Stalin's attitude toward Yakir was friendly, the dictator could not tolerate people like Yakir in the Stalinist totalitarian state. With start of the Great Purge
in 1936 NKVD
arrested many close associates and subordinates of Yakir. Yakir was one of few top Soviet commanders who appealed to Stalin, claiming the innocence of these officers. Yakir's appeals alienated Stalin even more and Yakir was marked for persecution. To remove Yakir from his power base in June 1937 Stalin sent him to command the Kiev
military district. During the Great Purge it was a clear sign of forthcoming persecution.
. Charged with, among other things, being a Nazi
agent, he maintained his innocence both in correspondence to Joseph Stalin
and at his trial, but Stalin wrote on his letter: "Rascal and prostitute". Kliment Voroshilov
and Vyacheslav Molotov
added: "A perfectly accurate definition". Lazar Kaganovich
wrote: "The only punishment for the scoundrel, riffraff and whore is death penalty". Yakir was executed together with Tukhachevsky and several other Soviet officers immediately after the trial that was held on June 11, 1937. His wife was subsequently arrested and executed, as were several of his relatives. His son, then fourteen years old, was arrested shortly after his father's execution and spent a number of years in prison camps. Yakir's military writings were banned.
, Front
commanders Andrei Yeremenko
and Ivan Chernyakhovsky
, and Army commander Alexander Gorbatov
.
During Nikita Khrushchev
's de-Stalinisation Yakir was rehabilitated on January 31, 1957.
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
– June 11, 1937, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) was the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Early years
Yakir was born in the well-to-do family of a Jewish pharmacist. Because of governmental restriction on Jewish access to higher education, he studied abroad at the University of Basel in SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he returned to the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and worked in a military factory in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, Ukraine. In 1915 - 1917 he was a student of Kharkiv Technological Institute. Like millions of other people in the Russia Empire, he was radicalized by the war and became a follower of Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. In 1917 he returned to Kishinev, became a member of the Bolshevik party and took active part in the Bolshevik seizure of power in Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. When in 1918 Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
intervened to annex Bessarabia, Yakir led Bolshevik resistance but his small force was overwhelmed by the regular Romanian army.
In the Civil War
Yakir retreated to UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and fought against Austro-Hungarian occupation forces as a commander of a Chinese regiment of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. In March 1918 he was wounded. At the beginning of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
between Bolshevik forces, the White Army, and various other anti-Bolshevik movements, Yakir was member of the Bolshevik party committee in Voronezh
Voronezh
Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...
province and started his service in the Red Army as commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
. He showed military talent and was assigned as a field commander. In October 1918 he served as a member of the Revolutionary Council
Revolutionary Council
Revolutionary Council may refer to:* Council of Islamic Revolution, a group of clerics and experts who chose by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 to manage Islamic revolution of Iran and then legislate for the Interim Government of Iran...
of the 8th army in the Southern Front
Southern Front
The Southern Front is a geographical area where armies are engaged in conflict* The Soviet Southern Front was one of the Soviet Fronts in WWII*Southern Front...
and simultaneously commanded Southern Front's several key formations in operations against the Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....
of Pyotr Krasnov
Pyotr Krasnov
Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov , 1869 – January 17, 1947), sometimes referred to in English as Peter Krasnov, was Lieutenant General of the Russian army when the revolution broke out in 1917, and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement afterward.- Russian Army :Pyotr Krasnov...
. He carried out Lenin's order of persecution of Cossack civilian population. The war against armed combatants and terror against the civilian population were coming together in the Russian civil war. Encouraged by the Bolshevik theory of class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
, Yakir, like other members of the Communist party, took part in terror
Red Terror
The Red Terror in Soviet Russia was the campaign of mass arrests and executions conducted by the Bolshevik government. In Soviet historiography, the Red Terror is described as having been officially announced on September 2, 1918 by Yakov Sverdlov and ended about October 1918...
. For his services, he became the second individual to receive the highest Soviet military award of that time the Order of the Red Banner
Order of the Red Banner
The Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...
(engraved as No. 2).
In the summer of 1919 Yakir was sent to Ukraine to command the 45th rifle division, and in August 1919 he became the commander of the Southern Group of the 12th army which included the 45th and 58th rifle divisions. Both divisions were surrounded in Odessa by the White forces. Yakir undertook one of the most remarkable Civil War military operations. He breached the encirclement and led his forces through the enemy rear for a distance of 400 kilometers to join the Red Army in Zhitomir. Like other Bolshevik commanders who did not have military education, he was assisted in this operation by former tsarist army officers on his staff but this fact does not negate his own role in planning and leading the campaign. For this campaign he received his second Order of the Red Banner, and both of his divisions received Red Banners of Honor. Yakir took part in actions against the White forces of Nikolai Yudenich in defense of Petrograd, in suppression of Ukrainian anarchist guerrilla forces of Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
and in the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
. He was awarded 3 times the Order of the Red Banner and became one of the most decorated Red Army commanders.
Military reformer
After the war, Yakir commanded army formations in Ukraine. Yakir was a close associate of Mikhail FrunzeMikhail Frunze
Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917.-Life and Political Activity:Frunze was born in Bishkek, then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Turkestan, to a Moldovan medical practitioner and his Russian wife...
and belonged to his inner circle of innovative Red Army officers who assisted Frunze in starting far-reaching military reform. Among these reformers was Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Tukhachevsky
Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander in chief of the Red Army , and one of the most prominent victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.-Early life:...
who became Yakir's friend. In April 1924 Yakir was appointed a head of Main Directorate of Military Academies of the Red Army and simultaneously editor of major military periodical devoted to development of military theory "Voennyi Vestnik."
In November 1925, after Frunze's death Yakir was appointed commander of the most powerful territorial formation of the Red Army, the newly reorganized Ukrainian military district (see Kiev Military District
Kiev Military District
The Kiev Military District was a Russian unit of military-administrative division of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Ukrainian Army, RKKA, and Soviet Armed Forces...
). Yakir, in close coordination with Tukhachevsky and other reformers, made his district into a laboratory of wide-ranging experiments in strategy, tactical and operational techniques, army formations, and equipment. In training his troops, Yakir encouraged his officers' initiative and ability to make their own judgments. In 1928-1929 Yakir studied at the Higher Military Academy in Berlin, this was possible because the intensive military cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany. Yakir's innovative approaches to the military art impressed his German colleagues. German Field Marshal of World War I fame, Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
, praised him as one of the most talented military commander of the post-World War I era.
After returning to his district Yakir continued military reform. He was one of the creators of the first large tank and air force formations in the world. Not a military theorist in his own right, Yakir strongly supported Tukhachevsky's endeavor in developing the theory of deep operations
Deep operations
Deep battle was a military theory developed by the Soviet Union for its armed forces during the 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by a number of influential military writers, such as Vladimir Triandafillov and Mikhail Tukhachevsky who endeavoured to create a military strategy with its own...
. Military historians across the world now consider this theory the most outstanding theoretical innovation in the entire history of military art. In 1934 Yakir requested that Tukhachevsky would be appointed to conduct advanced courses on operational theory for high-ranking officers of the Red Army General Staff
General Staff
A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units...
and commanders of military districts. He did it even though he knew about Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's dislike of Tukhachevsky. In retribution, Stalin instructed his crony, Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military officer, politician, and statesman...
, who was a Peoples Commissar of Defense, to bar Yakir from membership in the prestigious Advisory Council of the Defense Commissariat. In 1935, in order to diminish Yakir's power, the Ukrainian military district was divided into two new districts, Kiev
Kiev Military District
The Kiev Military District was a Russian unit of military-administrative division of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Ukrainian Army, RKKA, and Soviet Armed Forces...
, under Yakir's command, and Kharkov.
In 1935 Yakir conducted military maneuvers in Kiev with the Kiev and Kharkov military districts' forces. The major aim of these maneuvers was to test the theory of deep operations and the latest technology. 65,000 troops, including 1,888 paratroopers, 1,200 tanks and 600 aircraft participated in these maneuvers. These were first maneuvers in the world that used combined operations of large tank, airforce and airborne formations. The troops acted on front of 250 kilometers and a depth of 200 kilometers. The representatives of major world armies attended the maneuvers. The British General Archibald Wavell reported to his government: "If I had not witnessed this myself I would never have believed such an operation possible." The German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
copied Soviet innovations in preparation for World War II. The reform started by Frunze and continued by Yakir, Tukhachevsky and many other commanders made the Red Army into most advanced army in the world. During these years Yakir regularly gave lectures to the Red Army General Staff Academy, informing the students about the newest developments in military affairs. In 1935 he was promoted to Comandarm
Comandarm
Comandarm was a military rank in the Red Army until the end of the 1930s....
, first rank, the second highest military rank in the Soviet Union at the time.
Political involvements
Stalin, who was consolidating his power over country, approved Yakir's appointment to Ukrainian Military District in 1925, but he did not trust him fully and instructed his political ally Lazar KaganovichLazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
to become friends with Yakir and to report about his activities. Yakir, who was a true believer in the Communist cause, was actively involved in internal politics. He was member of the party Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
in Moscow and member of the Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
of the Communist Party of Ukraine. While ingenious and independent in his thinking as a military commander, in Soviet politics he was a docile party member and followed the party Stalinist line. During the famine in Ukraine caused by Stalin's "forced collectivization" of agriculture during 1932-1933, Yakir was alarmed by the tragedy and approached Stalin with a request to soften official policies. Stalin was outraged and instructed Kaganovich to advise Yakir to limit his activities to his party assignment which was military service. Yakir obeyed. As a party member he lacked the power of conviction and independent thinking to defy Stalin.
His blind obedience did not spare Yakir. Stalin would not allow to his military commanders any independent thinking even in area of their professional expertise. While on the surface Stalin's attitude toward Yakir was friendly, the dictator could not tolerate people like Yakir in the Stalinist totalitarian state. With start of the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
in 1936 NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
arrested many close associates and subordinates of Yakir. Yakir was one of few top Soviet commanders who appealed to Stalin, claiming the innocence of these officers. Yakir's appeals alienated Stalin even more and Yakir was marked for persecution. To remove Yakir from his power base in June 1937 Stalin sent him to command the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
military district. During the Great Purge it was a clear sign of forthcoming persecution.
Trial and death
In 1937 the NKVD accused him of participating in the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military OrganizationCase of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization
The Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization was a 1937 secret trial of the high command of the Red Army, orchestrated by Joseph Stalin as part of the Great Purge.-Defendants:...
. Charged with, among other things, being a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
agent, he maintained his innocence both in correspondence to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and at his trial, but Stalin wrote on his letter: "Rascal and prostitute". Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military officer, politician, and statesman...
and Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
added: "A perfectly accurate definition". Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
wrote: "The only punishment for the scoundrel, riffraff and whore is death penalty". Yakir was executed together with Tukhachevsky and several other Soviet officers immediately after the trial that was held on June 11, 1937. His wife was subsequently arrested and executed, as were several of his relatives. His son, then fourteen years old, was arrested shortly after his father's execution and spent a number of years in prison camps. Yakir's military writings were banned.
Yakir's legacy
After Yakir's execution the purge wiped out large number of the officers who had served under him. Much of Yakir's work, including his reforms and preparations for guerrilla activities in the event of an invasion of Ukraine were dismantled. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 the Red Army was incapable of modern warfare and unprepared to face an enemy who used military art which Yakir and other Soviet innovators were greatly familiar with. The Soviets suffered terrible defeats and huge human and territorial losses before mastering modern operational approaches and tactics. Yakir's disciples who survived the purge used the experiences which they had gained under Yakir to make a vital contribution to Soviet victory over Germany. Among them were Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Aleksei AntonovAleksei Antonov
Aleksei Innokentievich Antonov was a General of the Soviet Army, awarded the Order of Victory for his efforts in World War II.-Career:...
, Front
Front (Soviet Army)
A front was a major military organization in the Soviet Army during many wars. It was roughly equivalent to an army group in the militaries of most other countries except Germany...
commanders Andrei Yeremenko
Andrei Yeremenko
Andrey Ivanovich Yeryomenko or Yeremenko or Eremenko was a Soviet general during World War II, Marshal of the Soviet Union.-Draft and early service:...
and Ivan Chernyakhovsky
Ivan Chernyakhovsky
Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, also Cherniakhovsky, ; Oksanina, Uman, Russian Empire , - Mehlsack, today Pieniężno, Poland, 18 February 1945) was a Soviet General of the Army , twice Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, who died from wounds received outside...
, and Army commander Alexander Gorbatov
Alexander Gorbatov
Alexander Vasilyevich Gorbatov was a Russian and Soviet officer who served as an officer in the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War and as a Colonel-General in the Red Army during the Second World War...
.
During Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
's de-Stalinisation Yakir was rehabilitated on January 31, 1957.
Sources
- A. V. Gorbatov, Years of My Life. The Memoirs of a General of the Soviet Army (New York, 1964)
- Harold Shukman, Stalin's Generals (New York, 1993)