Vasily Mikhailovich Blokhin was son of a Russian muzhik born on January 1895. In 1921 he became a Cheka member and six years later he was promoted to superintendent of NKVD, the Soviet Intelligence agency. Rapidly he became chief of the new Kommandatura, NKVD special unit. It was an elite group organized in military fashion; in fact NKVD was more or less a military group. I task was to perform the "black work". This work included murders, spying, interrogation with using torture, and night arrests which would later perfect Gestapo under program called "NACHT UND NEBEL" when people were grabbed silently at night and hauled to strict isolation so that they could not be traced for months, years or never. The purpose of this method was intimidation of the relatives and creation of insecurity and fear.
He worked at the notorious Lubyanka prison and later reported directly to Stalin from he was taking his orders which explains his survival during frequent elimination of security personnel. Unlike Yezhov and Henry Yagoda, the two heads of NKVD, in Soviet hierarchy practically ministers of Security, he was not persecuted; on the opposite, Blokhin with his own hand executed both by shot into the back of the head for which Germans invented technical term Genickschuss. Blokhin might have killed three security heads: Yagoda, Yezhov, and Beria, although there are some doubts about the last one. The fourth, Menzhinski died of angina although Yagoda insisted he had killed him.
It is noteworthy to describe my confusion with Henry Yagoda' name. "Henry" is Anglicized Russian name Genrikh which can be affectingly changed to Zhenya or Zhenka; In Russian it is pronounced like German “Heinrich", and since Russian does not has H, it is replaced by G. I remember his condemnation by one of his close female relatives who knew the crimes he had committed; ”Zhenka was arrested. Serves him right". I also remember this phrase from fellow traveler Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon where a prisoner is brought to a cell in Lubyanka and by knocking on the wall made a contact with a prisoner in the next room. They conversed through a knocking on the wall. In Soviet prisons the inmates used a slow, complicated system developed before the revolution while we adopted the fast and simple Morse code. One knock meant dot and two quickly following each other signified dash. One had to learn the code, but it was easy. After more than fifty years I have forgotten the code, yet I still remember my call signal three dots and two dashes which I inherited from my cellmate Mirek Seferovich who was pilot of one of the three aircraft that flew together to freedom and returned in order to steal another one, but was caught. My dot dot dot dotdot dotdot or ... -- meant “three."
After some time new prisoner described himself and his neighbor identified him or he introduced himself as Nikolai Bukharin, an elite bolshevik. He received an appreciative message: "Serves you good." Sentenced to death in one of the show trials, Bukharin was shot by Blokhin.
Back to Zhenka Yagoda. In one of my sources appeared repeatedly the name "Berry". In no other book I discovered "Berry". I thought it was his baptismal name not realizing that in social science resources the given name is employed only together with family name. I do not know how it came to my mind whether it was not his nickname, yet in history articles nicknames are used as illustration, not frequently. I look at "Yagoda" and had an explanation ready, not understanding how I could have missed it. "Yagoda" with slight derivation means ”strawberry" in Slavic languages: for example, in my native language is it "Yahoda". Had I seen "strawberry" instead of ”berry" I would understand the meaning immediately. Obviously, the essay was translated inaccurately by a computer which cannot realize names of persons are not to be translated at all Most of the political murders were committed by district or provincial Cheka, a security organization committed to battle counterrevolution with wide discretion and unlimited power. The difference between NKVD and Cheka was that this was an independent body while that was Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the results of their activities were identical: annihilation of political enemies. If there were some rules or laws both services were allowed to disregard them and both operated without any responsibility. At least one member of an occasional tribunal was member of either organization, a superficial point since the sentence was predetermined; there were neither counsels nor witnesses for defense. Besides Yagoda and Yezhov Blokhin shot to death Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamensky, and all the prominent political celebrities sentenced in Moscow show trials in the thirties. He did not hesitate to execute Yezhov under whom he had started working, and shortly before the fatal shot Yagoda beat him. When twenty-three months later it would come Yagoda's turn, in show of revenge or solidarity with Yezhov he ordered the guards to beat Yagoda just before his end. Or as many criminals his act has no purpose; like Leopold and Loeb he murdered on whim or thrill; the opening sentence of biography of Henry Desire Landru, the Bluebeard of Gambais who in France killed eleven women points to possible Blokhin's motive, or better, lack of motive: "Nobody brought this man on the path of crime which has not equal in history of crime." As a killer, he was working like a mason or tailor; they come, punch in their timecard, build a wall or sew a vest, take break, eat and then punch out and go home. Blokhin put on an apron - several sources mention the apron - as not to soil his uniform and as the mason takes a trowel, he took the pistol. Although he was not paid by number of products he had manufactured, he was piece work laborer. One source mentions that he calculated number of his victims precisely. It took three minutes to kill the prisoner and clean the sound insulated execution cell. It had sloping floor and water hose so the side job was easy and might have been tidied by assistants. Sixty minutes makes one hour, sixty divided by three makes twenty dead in one hour; multiplied by eight working hours would give one hundred and sixty altogether; but in work like Blokhin people stay usually overtime without pay, and if propped by ardor, might ignore time. His reward was sufficient; the Badge of Honor in 1937 and four years later the Order of the Red Banner, the first not very distinguished since more than one and a half million Russians of lower ranks were displaying them on their rubashkas; they were awarded regularly to shock workers, sovchozniky, kolkhozniky, and Stakhanovs. The last was named after labour hero Aleksi Stakhanov. The Order of the Red Banner was a reward for bravery in combat or for twenty years of service which was later increased to thirty years. There is no record of Blokhinservice in Red Army, only in the Tsarist unit. He joined the Cheka in 1921 and was eligible for the Order in 1941; nevertheless, the rule of twenty years service was established three years later, in 1944. At that time Blokhin was recognized as Lubyanka official executioner who had shot all prominent prisoners sentenced in the show trials. Among them the crying Zinoviev asking the executioner to call Stalin, Kamenev, Radek, Piatakov, Bukharin, Yagoda, Yezhov, Tukhachevski, Muralov, and eight generals and marshals sentenced with Tukhachevski. After the trials from the prominent old Bolsheviks only Stalin and his enemy Trocki remained but Stalin would have Trocki murdered in Mexico. From the 32 passengers in the Sealed Train bringing Lenin to start the revolution in 1917, all living adults were whipped out. It is hard to ascertain the reliable numbers for among the passengers were wives and children, though such details did not mean much for Stalin. In 1936 when the first trial took place the kids were nineteen years older and susceptible to repression. Blokhin received his Order in the same year as two of the four major trials came about. From 62 indicted men 55 were sentenced to death, 21 of them in 1937 so it is possible he was rewarded for having shot the leading Soviet figures. It is true that had executed thousands of victims before, yet never of that distinction. In Kalinin prison in less than a month he shot more than 7000 Polish Prisoners of War from Ostaskhov camp. Certainly he murdered much more men -in fact among his victims at Katyn was a woman. Second lieutenant herself, wife of a colonel, and daughter of a general she possessed all the attributes of a potential victim and Russians could not pass the opportunity. Janina Lewandovska's father was General Jozef Dowbor Muscinski, who at the time of his daughter's murder he was dead, otherwise he would have been the fifteenth Polish general exterminated in the Katyn forest by Smolensk. She was a glider pilot, gliding planes having been popular in her country, an all-around talented sportswoman, married to colonel Lewandowski. At her death she was 32 years old. Protecting his major's uniform from the Polish blood with butcher style apron, with helmet and gauntlets he was producing corpses of innocent men like a mill machine operator produces part. They were loaded on trucks and brought to the mass graves in the Katyn forest. He carried number or Walter pistols since the almost incessant firing caused the weapon overheat. That was the reason he stopped shooting with the soviet Nagant which overheated after short time. Simple four grade mathematics shows that he could not execute seven thousand people in a month. He calculated three minutes per murder; at this rate he killed 20 prisoners each hour or 160 in an eight hours long working day. That makes 4800 dead in one month. It is possible that he had some help working in another execution cell or to the 4800 were added his victims from another NKVD prison; in Ostashkov camp where he worked there were 30 agents assigned to the massacre. He himself murdered more prisoners than the rest of his comrades in execution. Some sources note that his goal was 300 dead per night which means longer hours or less time per murder. With this speed in the 28 days of shooting he would have killed 8400 victims. It seems unlikely one man could kill 300 persons during night; obviously, there were others participating in the extermination. The 28 days period of Katyn murders is firmly established; it occurred in April and May 1940 so that it is excluded that the time for execution was extended and made possible Blokhin had killed in Ostashkov more than the accepted number of 7000 victims. Maybe the missing 2200 dead were shot by Blokhin before after the victorious yet disastrous soviet war in Finland in 1939-1940 when many officers were executed for some erroneous decision, but mostly for nothing. Among the victims were several generals. If he was not involved in the Winter War, there were quite enough NKVD prison available where he could easily fulfill his quota. He leads to killers league by high margin. Recently arrested Antonio Acosta Hernandez one of the leaders of La Linea Cartel in Juarez is responsible for more than 1500 murders, however, he by himself killed few, if any; the rest was killed on his orders. The person who murdered most victims by own hand is Amelia Dyer, a British woman who operated for about 30 years in the second half of nineteen century and killed more than 400 babies she had contracted to raise for single mothers for pay. This business was called baby farm and there were few other women executed for the same type of murders. It is not surprise that the second most prolific murderer was a female. In the lists of mass killers females are represented quite well.
Three years after Katyn he was promoted to general and assigned to political department of army in high function: he became Head of Political Officers Administration; these officers were called commissars or politruks. Their rank was equal to the highest ranked officer of the unit where the commissar was assigned. He was representative of the Party in the Army. Many conflicts issued from this arrangement and finally it was the commander who was given power to overrule the politruk, but still, their power was enormous. In Spanish war in the Interbrigade the commissars had unheard power over lives unknown in armed forces. After major Red Army disaster in Crimea where he completely failed as field commander he was demoted to Corps Commander. In Crimean campaign. Not too much publicized fact is that in Crimea Soviet loses exceeded that of in Stalingrad. Never before nor after, including battle for Berlin Red Army collapsed with more catastrophic results and Blokhin carried his part of responsibility. It is significant that in Moscow chain of command the appointment to such high position is considered a punishment. It shows the superiority of political regards over the army. Politruk with the rank of captain could overrule colonel. Hitler's "Commissars Order" proves that Germans were well aware of commissars' importance. Hated by from rank and file to marshals for their arrogance and fanatism it was they who were responsible for execution of numerous troops, again, from the rank and file to generals. One of the first generals shot in the first weeks of hostilities was Dimitry Pavlov plus eight others; from infantry commanders to air force generals Stalin continued to deprive himself of those whom he needed most: officers. He had shot numerous general after the Finnish debacle. He continued where he interrupted his terror on June 11, 1937,when one hour after the sentence shortly after midnight of June 10 captain Vassily Blochin executed marshal Tukhachevsky. General Pavlov and eight officers were sentenced on July 22, 1941. "Pablo", as he was known in Spain where he commanded a tank unit was sentenced for various crimes, but main charge was his incompetency. Several others high officers had to die after their return from Spain, yet at that time "Pablo" was spared. Many communists who sought asylum in Russia were never heard of again, among them Hungarian Bela Kun, leader of armed insurrection in Czechoslovakia. It seems a general had more chances survived on the battlefield than Stalin's disfavour. There exists evidence to this assumption. The top political commissar in the Interbrigade, the unit of deceived, sacrificed, betrayed, and disappointed young men who believed they defend paradise against Antichrist, was Hungarian communist, Slovakia born Dr. Erno Gero at various times the head of Hungarian government. His original name was Erno Singer. It is peculiar that another number one in Hungary, Janos Kadar who categorically requested Russian forces to suppress the 1956 revolution-and they obliged with political pleasure was born in Slovakia. To Gero we will return. Spanish war would be a lie without Interbrigade ineffectiveness and total confusion, and Interbrigade would be a lie without this commissar, "The butcher of Barcelona." The most common charges against the officers was incompetence; Stalin did not realize that it was hard to be competent against Fedor von Bock; under his command Germans executed a brilliant pincer movement in the area of Minsk and Bialystok. His attack opened on June 22, the very first day of war and one week later the operation was accomplished. It was such a success that the best German strategists believed the war was over. With the resources, manpower and configuration of the landscape in question no Napoleon or Alexander could have achieved more than Soviet generals did. As a prelude for the future but not coda to the past Soviet massacres of both civilians and soldiers, the army on the run recklessly exterminated inhabitants of Polish Bialystok including women and children as if playing the Lord: "And the Lord will call people from faraway country, from the last lands of the earth who will not forgive the old man nor show mercy to a baby. " Almost three hundred thousand Russian troops were taken prisoner, practically all of the two thousand five hundred tanks were destroyed. Among the dead was cavalry captain Zemljansky whose first and last son Victor will be born few months later and as an adult will become one of my best friends. Among the shot was Air Force general Tayurski, who had replaced his predecessor major general Kopec who committed suicide after his planes were exterminated in first days, if not hours, of the conflict. As Soviet infantry was ran over by German tanks so Rata was helpless against Messerschmidt, as was any fighter in the world until Spitfires stunned their adversaries. Given this situation it is incomprehensible Stalin would have executed his Air Force. Whom he did not execute was Air Force general Vasili Stalin, at the age of 27 the commander of Moscow Military District and alcoholic. He was cruel, rude, reckless, and vulgar as his father and thus he became his favored son. During war in 27 sorties he had shot down one German plane. After Stalin’s death he was charged with serious crimes including disappearance of people and under an anonym served term in prison. He died of alcoholism at the age of 42. After the war a German officer wrote his memoirs. With a moving compassion for his fellows in air, although enemies, he reminiscences how sorry he felt for his adversaries in hopelessly "lumbering" slow, unmaneuverable aircraft, waiting for their inevitably fatal end. The word "lumbering" I remember for decades. To win against stronger opponent is reason to be proud, but where the odds are zero to ten, it is pervert fighter who does not feel sorry for the antagonist, and the German writer was in full of sympathy with the Soviet pilots. Was Major General Tayurski responsible for this non-existent aircraft ? Russian Lavochkin, Rata or the lauded MiG were not match to Willi Messerschmidt product. Blame generals for the disaster is an insulting injustice and cruelty. It is as making general Gamelin or Weygand responsible for French defeat when the European power lasted only little longer than military modest Poland. United States delivered Soviet Union nearly 30000 fighters, mostly Aircobras and Kingcobras, yet they arrived much later. Most of the Luftwaffe aces flew on Eastern front. It must seem illogical that Erich Hartmann shot down 352 Soviet planes and Gerhard Barkhorn 301 when after few weeks of war an enemy plane was rarely seen on the sky: it can be compared the German skies empty of Messerschmidts, Heinkels and Focke Wulf towards the end of the war, during the invasion, and the Battle of Bulge. Similarly, after the plan to invade Britain was dropped, German aircraft might have appeared over England only when it got lost. It is possible to explain the rapid reappearance of Soviet planes which would enable German pilots reach the high scores. to Like Ford in an incredible short time converted the conveyors from producing cars to manufacturing tanks so Russians started production of planes in the safety of trans Ural territory that was beyond reach of German bombers. Coupled with the incessant convoys bringing the American Lend and Lease fighters, soon there were enough targets for German pilots. American planes were superior to Soviet and still, the later losses were awfully high. The most probable explanation is not lack of bravery on the part of Russian pilots, but rather lack of training and non-existent tactic in formation. One of my often remembered quotations I have read is "It is the bravest who die first." The success of Hartmann and Barkhorn shook my conviction: neither of them lost his life: or were there some more brave men than these two, but were shot down in combat before realizing their potential that was higher than that of "Bubi" Hartman and Gerhard Barkhorn? British criminologist Colin Wilson in several of his 114 fiction and non-fiction books that were translated into 14 languages, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic included proposes the idea of the "dominant 10 per cent. He had written a cycle of books under the title "Outsider." Here he suggests that in each specific group there is a 10 per cent collective that by far surpass the average of the rest of the assembly. For example, among a thirty murderers there are three whose crimes are more sophisticated or more cruel than those of the rest; they prepare the crime more subtly, and take care not to leave to much evidence. In a group of teachers there is 10 percent of eminent scholars while the rest is average; the principal will be chosen from these 10 per cent. Wilson's theory should not be confused with 10 per cent theory of Harvard professors Will James and Boris Sids whose study indicates that humans use only 10 per cent of its capacity. Wilson's conclusion is enormously supported by the war experience of British pilots. As only fraction of police officers shoot their weapons during their career and it is almost unknown that some of them use them twice, so most of the fighter pilots never shoot down an enemy plane, although they might have used their weaponry. Based on stunning, but incontrovertible statistics it was found that ten per cent of English pilots were responsible for ninety per cent kills while the remaining ninety per cent of German losses were shared among hundreds of pilots; the dominant theory need not any better support. As could be expected, in the age of equality there are detractors of the mathematical fact and various reason are offered but there is hard to parallel Mother Theresa and Joseph Stalin-they are not equal. Among German fighters, most of the scores were achieved on Eastern front against inferior opponents, but to reach eighteen kills in one day, or better half day since there was very little action in air during night, is amazing; from his 173 kills Emil Lang achieved 18 in one day. It is safe to assume that Bubi Hartman would have never shoot down 352 planes in the Western area of operation fighting Spitfires instead of Lavochkins, but it is as safe to assume he would be still ahead of his fellows. In WWII 101 pilots shot down more than 100 enemy aircraft each: 13 downed more than 200 each and two achieved more than 300 kills. It stresses the importance of the dominant ten per cent: for example, 101 men together managed to destroy more than 10.000 airplanes which represents considerable part of production, but the main loss were the thousands of killed or captured trained pilots; for better comparison 10.000 thousand aircraft represents one third of all American planes delivered to Russia in the Land-and-Lease program. Thirteen men in the more than two hundred kills category plus two with more than three hundred kills downed together 3579 aircraft; in average, 238 per pilot. In regard to war in the air there is no way to deny the dominant ten per cent theory was confirmed. Before we deal with Erno Gero/born Singer/ we have to mention shortly the communist equivalent of current international drug cartels-the Communist Internationale, better known as Comintern. As United Nation is organization of countries so Comintern was organization of communist parties. Its role was support anti government actions in particular countries, to undermine legal authorities, and spread communism by propaganda and violent acts. To become a member the Party had to fulfill 21 conditions. Its first head was Zinoviev, the one who at the execution was desperately kissing Blokhin's shoes and with moans begging him to call comrade Stalin. In Lyublanka Blokhin overruled comrade Stalin. Komintern was openly directed by Soviet Union. When in at that time Czechoslovakian parliament was raised the question of the party allegiance to Russia, the communist deputy Klement Gottwald explained the relation: "Yes, we visit Moscow; we go there to learn how to hang you." In 1948 after the communist putsch he would become president of the country whose government he had threaten with death. He had honor to die at the same time as Stalin. Or there is a more precise qualification aimed on the West: "We will hang you and you will hand us the rope." To some extent amusing was the resolution of a guard in maximum security: "One day I will march on New York Broadway. " Here the question is in which fog he had learned that a Broadway existed and that it was located in New York beside in hundreds of American cities with population from two hundred up. The International was dissolved in 1943 after pressure from Soviet war allies, namely Britain and the United States.
Three years after Katyn he was promoted to general and assigned to political department of army in high function: he became Head of Political Officers Administration; these officers were called commissars or politruks. Their rank was equal to the highest ranked officer of the unit where the commissar was assigned. He was representative of the Party in the Army. Many conflicts issued from this arrangement and finally it was the commander who was given power to overrule the politruk, but still, their power was enormous. In Spanish war in the Interbrigade the commissars had unheard power over lives unknown in armed forces. After major Red Army disaster in Crimea where he completely failed as field commander he was demoted to Corps Commander. In Crimean campaign. Not too much publicized fact is that in Crimea Soviet loses exceeded that of in Stalingrad. Never before nor after, including battle for Berlin Red Army collapsed with more catastrophic results and Blokhin carried his part of responsibility. It is significant that in Moscow chain of command the appointment to such high position is considered a punishment. It shows the superiority of political regards over the army. Politruk with the rank of captain could overrule colonel. Hitler's "Commissars Order" proves that Germans were well aware of commissars' importance. Hated by from rank and file to marshals for their arrogance and fanatism it was they who were responsible for execution of numerous troops, again, from the rank and file to generals. One of the first generals shot in the first weeks of hostilities was Dimitry Pavlov plus eight others; from infantry commanders to air force generals Stalin continued to deprive himself of those whom he needed most: officers. He had shot numerous general after the Finnish debacle. He continued where he interrupted his terror on June 11, 1937,when one hour after the sentence shortly after midnight of June 10 captain Vassily Blochin executed marshal Tukhachevsky. General Pavlov and eight officers were sentenced on July 22, 1941. "Pablo", as he was known in Spain where he commanded a tank unit was sentenced for various crimes, but main charge was his incompetency. Several others high officers had to die after their return from Spain, yet at that time "Pablo" was spared. Many communists who sought asylum in Russia were never heard of again, among them Hungarian Bela Kun, leader of armed insurrection in Czechoslovakia. It seems a general had more chances survived on the battlefield than Stalin's disfavour. There exists evidence to this assumption. The top political commissar in the Interbrigade, the unit of deceived, sacrificed, betrayed, and disappointed young men who believed they defend paradise against Antichrist, was Hungarian communist, Slovakia born Dr. Erno Gero at various times the head of Hungarian government. His original name was Erno Singer. It is peculiar that another number one in Hungary, Janos Kadar who categorically requested Russian forces to suppress the 1956 revolution-and they obliged with political pleasure was born in Slovakia. To Gero we will return. Spanish war would be a lie without Interbrigade ineffectiveness and total confusion, and Interbrigade would be a lie without this commissar, "The butcher of Barcelona." The most common charges against the officers was incompetence; Stalin did not realize that it was hard to be competent against Fedor von Bock; under his command Germans executed a brilliant pincer movement in the area of Minsk and Bialystok. His attack opened on June 22, the very first day of war and one week later the operation was accomplished. It was such a success that the best German strategists believed the war was over. With the resources, manpower and configuration of the landscape in question no Napoleon or Alexander could have achieved more than Soviet generals did. As a prelude for the future but not coda to the past Soviet massacres of both civilians and soldiers, the army on the run recklessly exterminated inhabitants of Polish Bialystok including women and children as if playing the Lord: "And the Lord will call people from faraway country, from the last lands of the earth who will not forgive the old man nor show mercy to a baby. " Almost three hundred thousand Russian troops were taken prisoner, practically all of the two thousand five hundred tanks were destroyed. Among the dead was cavalry captain Zemljansky whose first and last son Victor will be born few months later and as an adult will become one of my best friends. Among the shot was Air Force general Tayurski, who had replaced his predecessor major general Kopec who committed suicide after his planes were exterminated in first days, if not hours, of the conflict. As Soviet infantry was ran over by German tanks so Rata was helpless against Messerschmidt, as was any fighter in the world until Spitfires stunned their adversaries. Given this situation it is incomprehensible Stalin would have executed his Air Force. Whom he did not execute was Air Force general Vasili Stalin, at the age of 27 the commander of Moscow Military District and alcoholic. He was cruel, rude, reckless, and vulgar as his father and thus he became his favored son. During war in 27 sorties he had shot down one German plane. After Stalin’s death he was charged with serious crimes including disappearance of people and under an anonym served term in prison. He died of alcoholism at the age of 42. After the war a German officer wrote his memoirs. With a moving compassion for his fellows in air, although enemies, he reminiscences how sorry he felt for his adversaries in hopelessly "lumbering" slow, unmaneuverable aircraft, waiting for their inevitably fatal end. The word "lumbering" I remember for decades. To win against stronger opponent is reason to be proud, but where the odds are zero to ten, it is pervert fighter who does not feel sorry for the antagonist, and the German writer was in full of sympathy with the Soviet pilots. Was Major General Tayurski responsible for this non-existent aircraft ? Russian Lavochkin, Rata or the lauded MiG were not match to Willi Messerschmidt product. Blame generals for the disaster is an insulting injustice and cruelty. It is as making general Gamelin or Weygand responsible for French defeat when the European power lasted only little longer than military modest Poland. United States delivered Soviet Union nearly 30000 fighters, mostly Aircobras and Kingcobras, yet they arrived much later. Most of the Luftwaffe aces flew on Eastern front. It must seem illogical that Erich Hartmann shot down 352 Soviet planes and Gerhard Barkhorn 301 when after few weeks of war an enemy plane was rarely seen on the sky: it can be compared the German skies empty of Messerschmidts, Heinkels and Focke Wulf towards the end of the war, during the invasion, and the Battle of Bulge. Similarly, after the plan to invade Britain was dropped, German aircraft might have appeared over England only when it got lost. It is possible to explain the rapid reappearance of Soviet planes which would enable German pilots reach the high scores. to Like Ford in an incredible short time converted the conveyors from producing cars to manufacturing tanks so Russians started production of planes in the safety of trans Ural territory that was beyond reach of German bombers. Coupled with the incessant convoys bringing the American Lend and Lease fighters, soon there were enough targets for German pilots. American planes were superior to Soviet and still, the later losses were awfully high. The most probable explanation is not lack of bravery on the part of Russian pilots, but rather lack of training and non-existent tactic in formation. One of my often remembered quotations I have read is "It is the bravest who die first." The success of Hartmann and Barkhorn shook my conviction: neither of them lost his life: or were there some more brave men than these two, but were shot down in combat before realizing their potential that was higher than that of "Bubi" Hartman and Gerhard Barkhorn? British criminologist Colin Wilson in several of his 114 fiction and non-fiction books that were translated into 14 languages, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic included proposes the idea of the "dominant 10 per cent. He had written a cycle of books under the title "Outsider." Here he suggests that in each specific group there is a 10 per cent collective that by far surpass the average of the rest of the assembly. For example, among a thirty murderers there are three whose crimes are more sophisticated or more cruel than those of the rest; they prepare the crime more subtly, and take care not to leave to much evidence. In a group of teachers there is 10 percent of eminent scholars while the rest is average; the principal will be chosen from these 10 per cent. Wilson's theory should not be confused with 10 per cent theory of Harvard professors Will James and Boris Sids whose study indicates that humans use only 10 per cent of its capacity. Wilson's conclusion is enormously supported by the war experience of British pilots. As only fraction of police officers shoot their weapons during their career and it is almost unknown that some of them use them twice, so most of the fighter pilots never shoot down an enemy plane, although they might have used their weaponry. Based on stunning, but incontrovertible statistics it was found that ten per cent of English pilots were responsible for ninety per cent kills while the remaining ninety per cent of German losses were shared among hundreds of pilots; the dominant theory need not any better support. As could be expected, in the age of equality there are detractors of the mathematical fact and various reason are offered but there is hard to parallel Mother Theresa and Joseph Stalin-they are not equal. Among German fighters, most of the scores were achieved on Eastern front against inferior opponents, but to reach eighteen kills in one day, or better half day since there was very little action in air during night, is amazing; from his 173 kills Emil Lang achieved 18 in one day. It is safe to assume that Bubi Hartman would have never shoot down 352 planes in the Western area of operation fighting Spitfires instead of Lavochkins, but it is as safe to assume he would be still ahead of his fellows. In WWII 101 pilots shot down more than 100 enemy aircraft each: 13 downed more than 200 each and two achieved more than 300 kills. It stresses the importance of the dominant ten per cent: for example, 101 men together managed to destroy more than 10.000 airplanes which represents considerable part of production, but the main loss were the thousands of killed or captured trained pilots; for better comparison 10.000 thousand aircraft represents one third of all American planes delivered to Russia in the Land-and-Lease program. Thirteen men in the more than two hundred kills category plus two with more than three hundred kills downed together 3579 aircraft; in average, 238 per pilot. In regard to war in the air there is no way to deny the dominant ten per cent theory was confirmed. Before we deal with Erno Gero/born Singer/ we have to mention shortly the communist equivalent of current international drug cartels-the Communist Internationale, better known as Comintern. As United Nation is organization of countries so Comintern was organization of communist parties. Its role was support anti government actions in particular countries, to undermine legal authorities, and spread communism by propaganda and violent acts. To become a member the Party had to fulfill 21 conditions. Its first head was Zinoviev, the one who at the execution was desperately kissing Blokhin's shoes and with moans begging him to call comrade Stalin. In Lyublanka Blokhin overruled comrade Stalin. Komintern was openly directed by Soviet Union. When in at that time Czechoslovakian parliament was raised the question of the party allegiance to Russia, the communist deputy Klement Gottwald explained the relation: "Yes, we visit Moscow; we go there to learn how to hang you." In 1948 after the communist putsch he would become president of the country whose government he had threaten with death. He had honor to die at the same time as Stalin. Or there is a more precise qualification aimed on the West: "We will hang you and you will hand us the rope." To some extent amusing was the resolution of a guard in maximum security: "One day I will march on New York Broadway. " Here the question is in which fog he had learned that a Broadway existed and that it was located in New York beside in hundreds of American cities with population from two hundred up. The International was dissolved in 1943 after pressure from Soviet war allies, namely Britain and the United States.
Sometime after the eruption of Spanish war Communist Internationale decided to help Spanish communists, for the purpose glamorously baptized to "republicans" which sounded more democratic, against generals Mola and Franco. In Paris , under leadership of Thorez and Togliatti was established a committee helping volunteers to get to Spain. Communists maintain that the interbrigade consisted of 60.000 men from 17 countries. As for countries, among the 17 are countries whose party might have managed to send a token number of ten or twenty. Surprisingly, many of the volunteers were masons. Many of the interbrigade soldiers were from Canada and USA. Americans were organized in Lincoln Brigade, Germans in Thalman Brigade named after imprisoned leader of the German party and others named after prominent leaders.
The most influential men of Interbrigade were commissars. They served the same purpose as the politruks in Red Army with all rights but not responsibility. Generals could be demoted but commissars were only transferred to other units. The first top commissar was Giuseppe di Vittorio/Nicoletti/, the most bloodthirsty Hungarian Erno Gero better known as "butcher of Barcelona". The culmination of his career came in so called "Barcelona May Days". Between May 3, and May 5, 1937 Stalinists were fighting anarchists and their allies POUM, Partido Obrero de Unification Marxista-Workers Party of Marxist Unification. POUM fundamentally opposed Moscow communism and Russian leadership of the war against Republicans. It was basically a Trockist branch allied with anarchist. In any case there was little difference between them and Moscow communist; maybe POUM was worse, In the end POUM was brutally liquidated, its head Andreu Nin Y Perez arrested and most probably murdered.
There is well founded suspicion that after some battles more volunteers were shot on Gero's orders than had been killed during the fighting. The charge was uniformly cowardice, the term in itself one of the most open to different explanation. It is cowardice to lay down weapon when the odds are 100 to 1? Were the French of Polish cowards when abandoning their indefensible capitals or Germans when capitulating in Stalingrad; certainly, it is loathsome to maintain that courage is "treasonable behaviour" or to teach children that there is nothing wrong with being scared, but there are circumstances that the only way is to run or give up. "Irresonable behaviour" created the United States and won the two world wars. How will react American soldiers fighting Taliban when the commanding officer would recommend them be afraid? In 1956 during the revolution in Hungary Dr. Gero was named head of the revolutionary government that was fighting Russians and he was as red as a lobster; the Hungarians were puzzled that the most hated politician could lead the government. I predicted he would not last twenty-four hours; he did not. It was his political end.
The elite of communist party either worked in Paris smuggling volunteers to Spain or directly in Interbrigade, mostly as generals and commissars. One of the first commissars was French sadist Andre Marty whom in cruelty bested only Gero; Very active was Karol Svierczevski/Walter/ who in 1947 as general in the Polish army would be assassinated by enemies of the regime or for foggy reasons by the regime. His death led to a curious development; In order to deal with anticommunist partisans who were suspected of Swierczewski's death the minister of interior security was named Soviet marshal Rokossovski, born in Warsaw, but whole his life he was living in Russia as career officer and did not speak Polish. He remained in his post years after the partisans were eliminated. Among prominent involved in the Interbrigade were current or future communist or socialist nobility Hungarian minister of interior Laszlo Rajk, later executed by his comrades, and still later rehabilitated and honestly reburied in mass manifestation of silliness by the new regime that thought that by having been hanged, all his crimes were expiated; nevertheless, even with the progress of medicine, it is nearly impossible to resuscitate the victims of Rajk's victims; now, when he is one of them, he certainly tried; next of future politician who served in Spain was Willly Brand, socialist chancellor of Germany 1969-1974 and Nobel Prize laureate 1974 whose post-war attitudes were much more acceptable than his teenage radicalism and to rank him with Arafat or Rigoberta Menchu Tum gives him bad name; that happened when in the one of the most cretin vote the peace prize was awarded to one of the most intelectually illiterate Menchu Tum; and in the history of the peace prize the awards went to some people. Among the Interbrigade intellectuals was Nordhal Grieg, Norwegian poet and writer, relative of Edvard Grieg, the composer of Peer Gynt and thus of Solveig Song who would be killed over Berlin when his Lancaster was shot down before Christmass 1943: George Orwell. Other future celebrities in Spain included Ferenc Munich, a commissar and future president of Hungary: Mehmet Shehu, mass murderer and future Albanian Prime minister, minister of Interior, war Minister and Chief of Staff. On December 17, 1981 he either committed suicide or was committed to it. Another fighter who died under unexplained circumstances-he commissars do not explain anything- was Hans Beimler, a fanatic communist who never recognized anybody but communists. As former deputy in Reichstag
he was sent to Dachau where he strangled a camp guard and escaped in his uniform. As a commissar, he was killed in Barcelona, or according to grapevine like Mehmet Shehu he was had help in his death. There were two Hungarian generals, Janos Galics/Gal/ and Zalka Lukacs/Bela Frankel/. From Russian volunteers the highest rank reached member of Soviet Military Intelligence Emilio Kleber/Manfred Stern plus two other names of Stern with different first names/. It was never explained by neither by him nor anybody else why he had chosen Napoleon's marshal name for his cover name; the closest suggestion would be he liked the marshal or less acceptable yet more probable case of megalomania. Largo Caballero named Kleber general. He was recalled to Moscow in 1939, sentenced to 15 years in prison and died in his fifteenth year in Siberia, but he would not have been allowed to return from Siberia. After expiration of sentence, the convicts had to stay as free settlers for the rest of their life. Only prisoners with short sentences were allowed to serve it in prison in continental Russia and at the end of the term were permitted to go home. Josip Broz Tito was active in organizing the Interbrigade in Paris, but there is evidence that few times he travelled to Spain. None of the most internationally known leaders of European communist Parties/not counting Soviet, fought in Spain; neither Thorez, nor Togliatti, nor Tito. The last can be excused since before the war Tito was only Josip Broz and not of big stature. But the other two deserve more credit for being in Paris than in Teruel . Their organization of the Interbrigade was perfect. Without Thorez and Togliatti the Interbrigade would never exist or if, then like a group of adventurers and worse. There is some doubt about Thorez whose instruction to French party gave impression he was in France while in fact part of the time he was living in Soviet Union. Commander of the Thalman Battalion was Richard Stammer/General Hoffmann/. He was suspected of several murders in Spain. Commissar of Thalman battalion was Heinrich Rau. Interbrigade is generally considered a communist enterprise, but reading lists of volunteers casts doubt on this notion. Orwell of Hemingway supported Interbrigade and certainly were not communists, nor were too many communists among Americans. It is important to ascertain against whom the action is aimed, but not less important is to know for whose benefit it is taken. Czech poet said: "For everything is possible to fight, but not for everything is right to die". Socialist propaganda machine overwhelmed the world with simplifying the Spanish issue to a dilemma: black or white, democracy or dictature. Russian involvement should have been an indicator of truth; Soviet Union would never support democracy. The Ribbentrop pact with Stalin opened many eyes, yet at that time Madrid was in Franco's hands. Volunteers believed they were saving Spain from dictature; no one asked about the alternative to Franco. The republicans were further from democracy than Franco or Mola. Had they won the war Spain would have become more than later Finland; Madrid would turn to Havana or maybe Soviet Republic of Hungary. Only Germany and Italy saw around the corner. There is no doubt neither of them intended to make Spain after their model, but could not allow to have one Autostrada away communist regime. Like U.S. is not happy with Castro whose support brought Chavez, Morales and other socialist leaders to power too few freeways from us, so neither Germany nor Italy could afford to have base of communist propaganda next door. Legitimate question is which country would have been so foolish as to choose communism; Czechoslovakia, Hungary-any East European country. Who would have expected few years before the civil war that the traditional monarchy would have approach so close to communism; who expected that Castro would turn communist? Who expected revolution in France? Did ever occurred to the King that colonies would rise against the Crown? Did Kerensky believe that Matyuska Rossija would change the color to red? Who in the world would have warned Hungary in WWI that after 1000 years they will lose Slovakia, the Felvidek which they were determined to Magyarize as soon as possible History is full of roulettes as well as other territories to Lloyd George and Clemenceau with Wilson wisely silent. Franco disappointed the liberal world when he refused Hitler's request for participation in attack against Russia. He took away from them the eternal annoying axiom "I told you so". Had Franco lost the civil war and republican government were established, it would have been a communist government. Two years after fall of Madrid Germany invaded Russia. Although all commissars and officers of Interbrigade were communists, most of the volunteers were idealists who believed Nationalists were inherently bad and that by fighting against them they were helping good cause. So did Girondins and they were first to go: Robespierre was too romantic for politics of violence and Thermidor storm caught up with him. Remember Paul Vergniaud analogy of Saturn: "Citoyens, il est craindre que la Revolution,comme Saturn ne devore successivement tous ses enfants..."- "Citizens, we have reason to fear that the Revolution, like Saturn, will successively devore all its children..."
Maybe best known of Interbrigade general was Enrique Lister; he was also general of Yugoslav partisan army and Red Army. During the WWII he took part of successful attempt by Soviets to break the blockade of Leningrad.
The insistent question is whether Interbrigade was a purely communist enterprise and an unavoidable answer is a categorical no. George Orvell had no one cell of communism in his character although he risked his comfortable life for communist goal nor was Ernest Hemmingway communist although he worked for the same goal. Majority of Lincoln Brigade were not communists-at that time besides Paul Robeson there were shamelessly few communist in our country. Most volunteers were victims of masterfull worldwide propaganda against Franco; they knew against whom they were fighting without knowing for whom they were fighting. Let us presume Republicans would have one and we need not go further to find out what regime would have ruled in the country: Cuba, Chavez, Morales and others come to mind. In case of Nationalists' victory there was no danger of King Alfonso's return from the exile in Prague, a favored bugaboo of communists; it took decades till the monarchy was restored; it is dangerous to maintain that Spain was lucky Republicans lost, but they are still people who believed the earth is flat and that Armstrong never set his foot on moon.
Although all generals and more important, the all commissars were communists Interbrigade was under communists' fist, but not communist; and if it were close, beasts like Marty and Gero took care by their execution orders to extend the distance between communists and the idealists. It does not matter if they put the faces of criminals from Spain on post stamps and presidents in long speeches celebrate Teruel or Toledo, Barcelona or Madrid, if the master sculptors create their sculptures from Carrara marble, and if, than only their hearts and souls, if any.
he was sent to Dachau where he strangled a camp guard and escaped in his uniform. As a commissar, he was killed in Barcelona, or according to grapevine like Mehmet Shehu he was had help in his death. There were two Hungarian generals, Janos Galics/Gal/ and Zalka Lukacs/Bela Frankel/. From Russian volunteers the highest rank reached member of Soviet Military Intelligence Emilio Kleber/Manfred Stern plus two other names of Stern with different first names/. It was never explained by neither by him nor anybody else why he had chosen Napoleon's marshal name for his cover name; the closest suggestion would be he liked the marshal or less acceptable yet more probable case of megalomania. Largo Caballero named Kleber general. He was recalled to Moscow in 1939, sentenced to 15 years in prison and died in his fifteenth year in Siberia, but he would not have been allowed to return from Siberia. After expiration of sentence, the convicts had to stay as free settlers for the rest of their life. Only prisoners with short sentences were allowed to serve it in prison in continental Russia and at the end of the term were permitted to go home. Josip Broz Tito was active in organizing the Interbrigade in Paris, but there is evidence that few times he travelled to Spain. None of the most internationally known leaders of European communist Parties/not counting Soviet, fought in Spain; neither Thorez, nor Togliatti, nor Tito. The last can be excused since before the war Tito was only Josip Broz and not of big stature. But the other two deserve more credit for being in Paris than in Teruel . Their organization of the Interbrigade was perfect. Without Thorez and Togliatti the Interbrigade would never exist or if, then like a group of adventurers and worse. There is some doubt about Thorez whose instruction to French party gave impression he was in France while in fact part of the time he was living in Soviet Union. Commander of the Thalman Battalion was Richard Stammer/General Hoffmann/. He was suspected of several murders in Spain. Commissar of Thalman battalion was Heinrich Rau. Interbrigade is generally considered a communist enterprise, but reading lists of volunteers casts doubt on this notion. Orwell of Hemingway supported Interbrigade and certainly were not communists, nor were too many communists among Americans. It is important to ascertain against whom the action is aimed, but not less important is to know for whose benefit it is taken. Czech poet said: "For everything is possible to fight, but not for everything is right to die". Socialist propaganda machine overwhelmed the world with simplifying the Spanish issue to a dilemma: black or white, democracy or dictature. Russian involvement should have been an indicator of truth; Soviet Union would never support democracy. The Ribbentrop pact with Stalin opened many eyes, yet at that time Madrid was in Franco's hands. Volunteers believed they were saving Spain from dictature; no one asked about the alternative to Franco. The republicans were further from democracy than Franco or Mola. Had they won the war Spain would have become more than later Finland; Madrid would turn to Havana or maybe Soviet Republic of Hungary. Only Germany and Italy saw around the corner. There is no doubt neither of them intended to make Spain after their model, but could not allow to have one Autostrada away communist regime. Like U.S. is not happy with Castro whose support brought Chavez, Morales and other socialist leaders to power too few freeways from us, so neither Germany nor Italy could afford to have base of communist propaganda next door. Legitimate question is which country would have been so foolish as to choose communism; Czechoslovakia, Hungary-any East European country. Who would have expected few years before the civil war that the traditional monarchy would have approach so close to communism; who expected that Castro would turn communist? Who expected revolution in France? Did ever occurred to the King that colonies would rise against the Crown? Did Kerensky believe that Matyuska Rossija would change the color to red? Who in the world would have warned Hungary in WWI that after 1000 years they will lose Slovakia, the Felvidek which they were determined to Magyarize as soon as possible History is full of roulettes as well as other territories to Lloyd George and Clemenceau with Wilson wisely silent. Franco disappointed the liberal world when he refused Hitler's request for participation in attack against Russia. He took away from them the eternal annoying axiom "I told you so". Had Franco lost the civil war and republican government were established, it would have been a communist government. Two years after fall of Madrid Germany invaded Russia. Although all commissars and officers of Interbrigade were communists, most of the volunteers were idealists who believed Nationalists were inherently bad and that by fighting against them they were helping good cause. So did Girondins and they were first to go: Robespierre was too romantic for politics of violence and Thermidor storm caught up with him. Remember Paul Vergniaud analogy of Saturn: "Citoyens, il est craindre que la Revolution,comme Saturn ne devore successivement tous ses enfants..."- "Citizens, we have reason to fear that the Revolution, like Saturn, will successively devore all its children..."
Maybe best known of Interbrigade general was Enrique Lister; he was also general of Yugoslav partisan army and Red Army. During the WWII he took part of successful attempt by Soviets to break the blockade of Leningrad.
The insistent question is whether Interbrigade was a purely communist enterprise and an unavoidable answer is a categorical no. George Orvell had no one cell of communism in his character although he risked his comfortable life for communist goal nor was Ernest Hemmingway communist although he worked for the same goal. Majority of Lincoln Brigade were not communists-at that time besides Paul Robeson there were shamelessly few communist in our country. Most volunteers were victims of masterfull worldwide propaganda against Franco; they knew against whom they were fighting without knowing for whom they were fighting. Let us presume Republicans would have one and we need not go further to find out what regime would have ruled in the country: Cuba, Chavez, Morales and others come to mind. In case of Nationalists' victory there was no danger of King Alfonso's return from the exile in Prague, a favored bugaboo of communists; it took decades till the monarchy was restored; it is dangerous to maintain that Spain was lucky Republicans lost, but they are still people who believed the earth is flat and that Armstrong never set his foot on moon.
Although all generals and more important, the all commissars were communists Interbrigade was under communists' fist, but not communist; and if it were close, beasts like Marty and Gero took care by their execution orders to extend the distance between communists and the idealists. It does not matter if they put the faces of criminals from Spain on post stamps and presidents in long speeches celebrate Teruel or Toledo, Barcelona or Madrid, if the master sculptors create their sculptures from Carrara marble, and if, than only their hearts and souls, if any.
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