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America Accidentally Attacked the Soviet Union and Other Lesser Known History Moments

Khalid Elhassan February 27, 2020 34 min

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star - Aircraft — American F-80s in action during the Korean War. Squdron

6. Starting Off As a Hero

Soviet troops during the Battle of Moscow. History Images

When the Nazis invaded in 1941, Andrey Vlasov was a mechanized corps commander in the Ukraine. He was one of the few generals who managed to get his unit to safety, by successfully fighting his corps out of multiple encirclements. His skill and aggressiveness brought him to Stalin’s attention. Valasov was summoned to Moscow in November of 1941, and promoted to command an army in the Soviet capital’s defenses.

Vlasov played a key role in keeping the Germans out of Moscow. In January of 1942, his army spearheaded the counteroffensive that pushed the Germans 100 miles from the Soviet capital. He earned decorations and acclaim, plus Stalin’s admiration, who promoted him to deputy commander of the Volkhov Front, 300 miles northwest of Moscow.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.