Yakir's Legacy
After Yakir's execution, the Purge wiped out large number of the officers who had served under him. Many tasks 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 Antonov, Front commanders Andrei Yeremenko and Ivan Chernyakhovsky, and Army commander Alexander Gorbatov.
During Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation, Yakir's image was rehabilitated on January 31, 1957.
Read more about this topic: Iona Yakir
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
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