Biography of Andrey Vlasov: Hitler’s Russian General (1901-1946)

You probably knew there were ample defectors from the Soviet Union to Nazi Germany during the Second World War... but did you know high-ranking officers, even generals defected? Andrey Vlasov was one of the most senior commanders to defect to Nazi Germany. Andrey Vlasov was a Lieutenant General of the Soviet Union’s Red Army. During the Second World War, he was given command of entire armies, tasked with the defence of Moscow and with organising the relief of Leningrad. But it was during his attempts to relieve the siege that the Germans encircled and captured him and his army. This man was a Soviet hero-general, which makes what followed all the more surprising. Because before too long Vlasov openly collaborated with Nazi Germany, established the so-called Russian Liberation Army, and managed to convert a dozen other Soviet generals and thousands of former Red Army soldiers to defect and side themselves on the German side. These men took up arms against the Red Army, which they had been c