Vitebsk, 16th of July 1941

[Thomas McCall]

Does anyone have any information on the capture of Josef Stalin's son Yakov around the Vitebsk area on the 16th of July 1941?

Do you know what regiment he served in or the nature in which he was captured?

As a result of his son's capture Stalin disowned his son as a traitor to the motherland and a coward. If Yakov had survived the war as a POW he probably would have been interoggated by SMERSH and the NKVD and placed in a Gulag.

Thanks

[Wise1]

He was captured by the Nazis in 41 near Vitebsk, in Belor, They offered his son in a trade for the release of a German, A general I think. Stalin always took the stance that if any of his people were captured they were traitors so the trade never took place.

He served as an artillery officer not sure which regiment though.

He died sometime in 1943 while trying to escape the nazi concentration camp of Sachshausen (not sure of spelling)

His brother died in 1962, he was an alchoholic.

[Thomas McCall]

Thanks Lee,

In Berlin the downfall 1945 Antony Beevor says that Yakov was executed by the SS near the end of the war for not showing respect to the camp guards by not standing as they entered the room and for trying to upset camp life as much as he could

After trying to make life diffucult for the camp guards and being executed Joseph Stalin still did not forgive his son.

[Erwin Rommel]

Originally posted by Thomas McCall@May 1 2004, 10:22 PM
Thanks Lee,

In Berlin the downfall 1945 Antony Beevor says that Yakov was executed by the SS near the end of the war for not showing respect to the camp guards by not standing as they entered the room and for trying to upset camp life as much as he could

After trying to make life diffucult for the camp guards and being executed Joseph Stalin still did not forgive his son.

Right on. That, by the way, is an excellent book! I just finished reading it last month. Beevor is a fantastic writer.

[bigd]

a guy who likes to add to the casualties to sell a book not someone i read for information. in other words blowes things out of proportion. danzig is my example.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally posted by bigd@Aug 22 2005, 10:09 PM
a guy who likes to add to the casualties to sell a book not someone i read for information. in other words blowes things out of proportion. danzig is my example.

Quoted post

I'm not sure I follow you Bigd. Are you saying that Beevor inflated the number of casualties suffered during the capture of Danzig? Can you be more specific please?

Beevors Book may not be the most perfect book on the Fall of Berlin, but in my view it is better than others such as Cornelius Ryans "The Last Battle", even though that was a good book too. Beevor had access to declassified Russian documents that Ryan didnt and thus his book has a more complete feel to it. I also feel that the Halbe pocket is dealt with very well and gives a better picture of the plight of the 9th Army than The Last Battle.

In short I wouldnt completely denigrate Beevor's work. I think it stands up to better scrutiny than some of Ambrose's work, for example.

[Ed_Merryweather]

According to Simon Sebag Montefiore, Yakov was serving with the 14th Howitzer Regiment of 14th Armoured Division. Stalin had Yakov's wife arrested (because prisoners were regarded as deserters, and the families of deserters were to be arrested under Order 270), and apparently said to Vassily (other son),'The fool - he couldn't even shoot himself!', meaning that Yakov should not have allowed himself to be taken. However, Vassily was banned from flying combat missions as a result of Yakov's misfortune.