TOP SECRET

IN PERSON ONLY

I would like to set forth to you my impressions about the trial that took place on June 11, 1937 of the counterrevolutionary military fascist organization at the special session of the Supreme Court of the Union of SSR concerning the accusation of treason to the nation, espionage, sabotage and diversionist activity of TUKHACHEVSKY, YAKIR, UBOREVICH, KORK, EIDEMAN, FEL’DMAN, PRIMAKOV, PUTNA.

At the opening of the court session the indictment was read to the defendants, which produced in them an extremely powerful, overwhelming impression. Eideman and Fel’dman were especially despondent, although all the defendants from the viewpoint of courage presented an extremely pitiable impression. Externally they all looked like pitiable, insignificant weaklings.

The interrogation began in the following order: Yakir, Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, Kork, Eideman, Putna, Primakov, Fel’dman. In that same order also they had their last concluding words.

In his speech at the court session Yakir dealt with the essence of the conspiracy, which were the tasks of the restoration of capitalism in our country on the basis of a fascist dictatorship. They were to come to this goal by two routes: first, by the overthrow of the existing political power through internal forces, with the help of a military coup and, second, if the first was not accomplished, then with the help of a military defeat with the participation of intervention by German fascism, Japanese imperialism, and Poland. In this last variant, as compensation to the interventionists, they would cede a part of the territory of our state: the Ukraine to

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Germany; the Far East – to Japan.

For the defeat of the Soviet armies the conspirators had an agreement with the German General Staff in the person of general Rundstedt and general Köstring and a plan for the defeat of the RKKA during wartime had been specially put together.

In both the first and second cases all means were to be used in order to overthrow the Soviet government and the party leadership. They shrank at nothing: violence [terror], espionage, diversion, sabotage, provocation, the compromising of the leaders of the party, government, army, and Soviet power.

In the words of Yakir they had determined that in this affair all means were acceptable.

The origins of the conspiracy go back in essence to 1934, but before that, beginning in 1925, as Yakir said, there had been an “business of an unprincipled grouping.” In other words there were discussion about unsatisfactory leadership of the army, an incorrect treatment by the part of the party leadership and government towards “well-known”, “great” men of the Zinoviev-Trotsky and Right Opposition. The measures taken by the party and government in the collectivization of 1930-31 were also subjected to sharp criticism.

In 1934 from these “unprincipled talks” they went over to the unification of like-minded persons and in his office Tukhachevsky stated that it was time to move from words to deeds and then and there it was decided that the recruitment of like-minded persons in the Red Army should become the business of their work. For this the most suitable persons in the army were the Trotskyites, Zinovievites, and Rights. It was decided to popularize these people by any means in public and military opinion and move them ahead in their service into responsible posts in the military, political and economic lines, and also in rearming and organizational-mobilization work.

As a political figure the conspirators were oriented towards Trotsky and his bloc, in which were included Trotskyites, Zinovievites, Rights, nationalists, Mensheviks, S-Rs, etc.

They considered that in order to carry out all these tasks they needed above all the strictest military conspiracy. Toward this goal they adopted the tactic of double-dealing towards the party and deception in their work.

Towards the end Yakir stated that within him there were two Yakirs. One, he said, was a Soviet man, and the other – an enemy of the people, a spy, a traitor, diversionist, murderer – everything you could name.

In the statements that followed by the accused, in essence they all remained within the framework of Yakir’s statement.

Tukhachevsky in his statement at first tried to recant his confessions that he gave at the preliminary investigation. Tukhachevsky began that before Hitler’s fascist coup in Germany the Red Army was preparing itself against the Poles and was capable of defeating the Polish state. However, with the coming to power in Germany of Hitler, who made a bloc with the Poles and turned 32 German divisions into 108 divisions, the Red Army in comparison with the German and Polish armies was 60 – 62 divisions smaller in number. This obvious discrepancy in the armed forces of the probable opponents of the USSR had an influence on himself, Tukhachevsky, so he said, and in view of that he foresaw the inevitable defeat of the USSR, and this was the basic reason he turned towards a counterrevolutionary military fascist conspiracy.

Tukhachevsky attempted to create sympathy for himself among those present in the auditorium on the court as though his professional conceptions in the sense that he had foreseen everything, he tried to prove to the government that the situation that had been created would lead the country to defeat and that, supposedly, no one listened to him. But com. Ul’rikh, upon the advice of several members of the special

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session, interrupted Tukhachevsky and asked the question: How then can Tukhachevsky connect this motivation with what he confessed at the preliminary investigation, namely that he was tied to the German General Staff and had worked as an agent of German intelligence since 1925. – Then Tukhachevsky stated that of course he could be considered a spy, but that in fact he had not given any information to German intelligence besides conversations in words, although he did admit here that that is also espionage.

After that com. Ul’rikh read to him his own confessions where Tukhachevsky had written that he personally had given written material to an agent of the German General Staff on the organization, dislocation, and grouping of the motorized and mechanized and cavalry parts of the BVO [Belorussian Military District] and UVO [Ukrainian Military District] and that on his, Tukhachevsky’s, own instruction Appoga had transmitted to a German agent a diagram with the carrying capacity of military communications, and Sablin, on his instruction too, transmitted a drawing of the northern part of the Letichev fortified area.

After the aforesaid Tukhachevsky confessed more or less what Yakir had already said with a few differences.

Uborevich in his statement kept to the same outline of presentation as did Yakir. He did not add anything new, but tried to deny his participation in the conspiracy before 1934 and to say that until 1934 he, that is, Uborevich, had worked honestly. Meanwhile, when Tukhachevsky was asked how their conspiratorial center was formed and who was in that center, Tukhachevsky answered that they had not written down any specific constitution about the center of conspirators, but that the active members of the center were: Tukhachevsky, Gamarnik, Yakir, Uborevich, Kork, Fel’dman, and Primakov, i.e. that this was a criminal collusion.

The conspiratorial activity between Tukhachevsky and Gamarnik was divided up in the following manner: Tukhachevsky, Yakir,

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Uborevich, and Kork worked in the West, and Gamarnik, in the East. Yakir stated that he had been especially closely tied to Gamarnik by mutual information and that Yakir informed Gamarnik about his activities in the UVO, and Gamarnik informed Yakir about the Far East. Yakir confessed that he did not remember any case in which Gamarnik had discussed questions together with Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, Yakir, and Kork. Uborevich confirmed this also, adding that he, Uborevich, did not talk with Gamarnik about conspiratorial questions at all, but knew that he was a member of the center.

Kork in his statement confessed that he had been a participant in the conspiracy and a member of its center since 1931. In that connection Kork expressed his amazement that Tukhachevsky, Yakir and Uborevich had know about the Kremlin conspiracy from 1931, the one led by Enukidze, and had even know all the details of the plan of this conspiracy, but for some reason had not said anything about this to the court and considered themselves conspirators only since 1934.

Kork confessed that he, Kork, had reported to Tukhachevsky about the Kremlin conspiracy in 1931 in the presence of Yakir and Uborevich and therefore Kork drew the conclusion that Tukhachevsky, Uborevich, and Yakir had officially entered into a conspiracy in 1931 and not in 1934. – “Is it possible that they,” – said Kork – “hearing my report about the Kremlin conspiracy were still not members and participants in a conspiracy? They are concealing all this from the court, and concealed it from the investigation.”

Further Kork confessed about how the conspiracy in the Kremlin itself was supposed to have developed, into which were drawn: himself – Kork, Gorbachev, Egorov – the former head of the school in the name of the VTsIK [All-Union Central Executive Committee, the executive branch of the Soviet Union until 1934] and Imeninnikov – the “pompolit” [ assistant to the commander for political matters] of the school of the VTsIK.

For the rest Kork said the same things that he had already confessed at the preliminary investigation. But Kork especially emphasized the question of the plan for

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defeat in relation to the Red Armies during wartime and, in connection with this plan, he talked about the last military games carried out by the General Staff of the RKKA where it was considered that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia would be neutral states during wartime, when in fact the Germans were supposed to organize the main grouping of their forces with the plan to strike the Red Armies in the right flank precisely through these neutral countries.

To my question – why did Kork consider that the Germans were supposed to strike their main blow from the territory of neutral states, where he knew this from, and whether Kork knew if an agreement between the neutral states and the Germans exists at this time, or whether he himself was simply presupposing that the Germans would not observe the neutrality of these states – Kork answered that he knew that from the words of Tukhachevsky and did not know any other sources. However he, Kork, considers that this version is obviously subversive and defeatist precisely because the General Staff of the RKKA in its plans proceeds from the assumption that the neutrality of the aforementioned states would not be violated by the Germans. In the military games Tukhachevsky had played on the “blue” side and deliberately held himself to the stated views of the General Staff of the RKKA, i.e. that the neutrality of these states would not be violated by Germany and therefore Tukhachevsky directed the main blow of the German armies somewhat more to the south, so as not to give the impression that Germany would fight from the direction of the neutral states.

Despite the fact that this extremely important current question was not touched on in any supplementary confessions of Tukhachevsky’s, nevertheless the members of the court decided that Tukhachevsky ought not to be asked about this question. However, I personally think that this question is extremely interesting from the point of view that, evidently, Tukhachevsky was aware of an German agreement on this question with the so-called neutral in wartime, Baltic states.

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After these games, as Kork confessed, the conspirators considered that they had achieved the main thing in their sabotage in pursuing their goal of the defeat of the Red Army.

Further Kork confessed that he, being the commander of the armies of the Moscow Military District, carried out, with the help of Enukidze, Yagoda, Gorbachev, Veklichev, Aronshtam, Germanovich, Egorov, and Imeninnikov, the selection of the command and leadership forces such that the Moscow garrison, besides the Kremlin conspiracy, would be able to carry out a military coup. Towards this goal Tukhachevsky, Gamarnik, Uborevich, Yakir, and he, Kork, had selected special cadre. They tried to appoint their people to the positions of commanders of the fighting sections and units, chiefs of magazines, of construction, workers in armaments, in mobilization work, in military preparedness, etc. Among other things Kork stated that he learned about a number of questions only at the trial itself, that before this they had been unknown to him. Obviously, Kork suggested, the leaders of the conspiracy, specifically Tukhachevsky, had hidden many matters from him, like, for example, Gamarnik’s work in the East and the contact with Trotsky, Bukharin, and Rykov. However Kork confessed that he was aware all the same that the leaders of the military-fascist counterrevolutionary organization regarded the contact with Trotsky and the Rights as a temporary phenomenon. Concerning this Tukhachevsky had told Kork, in the sense that the Trotskyites, Rights et al. were only fellow travelers for the time being, but when the military coup had taken place then he, Tukhachevsky, would play the role of Bonaparte. And on November 29, 1934, as Kork confessed, Tukhachevsky had in his apartment stated this completely and categorically, in the presence of all those who were there.

Eideman could not say anything at the trial, but simply stood up and said that he, Eideman, had nothing more to confess other than what he had confessed at the preliminary investigation, and that he confessed that he was guilty.

Putna – that patented spy, devoted Trotskyite of the contemporary form of Trotskyism, acting under the flag of fascism, confessed that, in joining this organization, he had always remained faithful to the principles of honest working for the conspirators while at the same time he himself, supposedly, did not believe in the justice of his actions. To the question by com. Dybenko about his mockery of c. Belov in Berlin – Putna answered that this had been only one small episode from among the more significant and serious crimes he had committed.

Primakov comported himself at the trial, from the viewpoint of manliness, if you please, better than the rest. But in his statement he added nothing to what he had confessed at the preliminary investigation. Primakov very insistently denied the allegation that he had led a terrorist group against com. Voroshilov made up of Shmidt, Kuz’michev, and others, and likewise that he had supposedly before his arrest led a Leningrad terrorist group made up of Bakshi, the former chief of the staff of the mechanized corps, and Ziuk. He denied that on the basis that supposedly he, Primakov, had been entrusted by Trotsky with a more serious task – to raise an armed insurrection in Leningrad, for which he Primakov must keep himself strictly apart from any terrorist groups, break his ties with all Trotskyites and Rights, and at the same time win for himself authority and absolute trust from the party and the army command.

Primakov however did not deny that he had earlier led a terrorist group and for that purpose had asked that Shmidt be appointed to the position of commander of the mechanized corps.

In connection with this special assignment of Trotsky’s, Primakov had worked on the 25th cavalry division headed by the commander of the division. Zybin. According to his words Zybin had been supposed to meet Trotsky at the border

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once the rebels had taken over Leningrad. For this same purpose he was preparing one SD [?????????? ???????, infantry division] and an MK [either ‘mechanized’ or ‘motorized’ corps]. Exactly which SD – I don’t know, but we can figure that out from what he said.

Fel’dman confessed the same thing as had Kork in the sense that Fel’dman also had not known everything about the plans of the conspirators and he learned much that was new to him from the indictment and during the course of the trial. Nevertheless Fel’dman confessed that he had been an active member of the center since 1934 but emphasized that Tukhachevsky had been working on him since he had served in the Leningrad Military District that Tukhachevsky had commanded.

Fel’dman admitted that it was at that time that he had become close to Tukhachevsky and when Tukhachevsky, having already become vice-commissar [of defense] disclosed to Fel’dman the existence of the conspiracy Fel’dman hesitated whether to take Tukhachevsky by the collar and turn him in, or to join himself to the conspirators. He chose the latter.

Further Fel’dman confessed that on instructions from Tukhachevsky and Gamarnik he had chosen members of the organization for corresponding posts. In addition when he had once reported to Tukhachevsky about the results of his work Tukhachevsky had been very dissatisfied with it, since Fel’dman had still not recruited anyone who was more or less well known. And therefore, when Fel’dman had personally recruited Appoga, Ol’shansky, Vol’pe and others, Tukhachevsky was satisfied with this.

Fel’dman admitted that he had not succeeded in appointing many of the candidates chosen by the organization to responsible positions, because the People’s Commissar for Defense often did not agree with his, Feld’man’s, proposals, although these proposals had been put to the Commissar with great pressure from Yakir, Uborevich, Gamarnik, and Fel’dman.

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THE FINAL WORDS OF THE ACCUSED

YAKIR:

Yakir spoke for 5 – 7 minutes. He stated that he had been an honest warrior until 1934, after which he had changed and became an enemy of the revolution, of the party, of his people and of the Red Army, but that within him the whole time there were two men: one Yakir – a Red Army man, the other Yakir – an enemy. At the same time Yakir considered that these two men – one an enemy, the other a Soviet man – ruled within him until he had been within the walls of the NKVD, and when he, Yakir, having been arrested, had told the whole truth to the investigation, and was speaking the whole truth to the court and to all those who were present at the trial, that he, Yakir, having disarmed himself as a counterrevolutionary, had become a real citizen of the Soviet Union, that he “loved” the army, “loved” the country of the Soviets, “his” people and was once again red to work “honestly”, as a “Bolshevik”, that he was “devoted” without reserve to com. Voroshilov, to the party, and to com. Stalin, -- therefore he asked that we look on him now as he had been before.

As concerns his sabotage in the RKKA he confessed the same thing that he had said at the preliminary investigation.

TUKHACHEVSKY:

Tukhachevsky did not add anything besides what he had confessed to at the preliminary investigation, but at the same time he tried to say, very darkly, that within him there had also been two men: one – Soviet, the other – an enemy, and that he likewise asked the court to consider that until 1934 he had worked as “an honest Bolshevik and warrior.”

Tukhachevsky from the very start of the trial at court, during the reading of the indictment and during the confessions of all the other defendants shook his head, emphasizing by doing that that, supposedly, the court, the investigation, and everything that was written in the indictment, all this

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was not at all true, did not correspond to reality. In other words he adopted the pose of a person who had not been understood and who was undeservedly insulted, although from his exterior he produced the impression of a person who was very confused and frightened. Obviously he had not expected such a rapid exposure of the organization, such a quick end to it, and such a rapid investigation and trial.

At the end Tukhachevsky confessed himself guilty.

UBOREVICH;

Uborevich in his concluding words spoke briefly, like a military man.

The essence of his speech consisted in the following words which he spoke: “I ask you, citizen judges, to take into account, that I honestly worked until 1934 and my sabotage in aviation and in the choice of fortified areas, from the point of view of their tactical usefulness, did not spread, because the fortified areas were chosen when I was not yet a saboteur and enemy. Afterwards, I sabotaged in that I did not see that they were really fortified and a few of the embrasures at the points of the fortified regions were directed not in the direction of the enemy but in a direction disadvantageous for the defender, i.e. I followed the aim of sabotaging the fortified regions.

As for the plan for defeat, Uborevich proposed to build the echelons of attack in such a way that they would be destroyed in the first days of the war, especially the cavalry.

Further Uborevich said: “I, Uborevich, have committed a crime against the party and the Soviet people that cannot be redeemed. If I had a thousand lives, even they could not redeem my crimes. I betrayed my oath as a soldier. For that I must be punished with all the severity of Soviet laws. But I also ask you to consider that I repented in the walls of the NKVD, when I confessed honestly and completely all my crimes.”

KORK:

In his concluding words Kork said:

“I have committed a crime against the government and the people, against the country of the Soviets. Until 1931 I was an honorable warrior and commander, and then became an enemy, a spy, an agent, a diversionist, a traitor…”. When Kork pronounced these words, a sob could be heard in his voice, tears came to his eyes, after which he paused for half a minute and continued: “… I ask you to take into account that I was an honorable warrior until 1931 and have now disarmed and consider myself a Soviet citizen and will die like a Soviet citizen. Let our party, the Soviet power, and our people know that. I have committed such a great crime that it cannot be redeemed with one life. Let others learn from my example. Let them know that one should never betray Soviet power. We see how socialism is growing in our country. During the period of collectivization of agriculture I hesitated and fell into the camp of fascism.

I hope that Soviet power on the basis of the Stalin constitution, where it says in one of its articles that the Soviet people are great-hearted and that can have mercy even on its enemies – let it consider this.

EIDEMAN:

In order to say his concluding words Eideman could hardly stand on his own legs, he leaned with both hand on the railing that stood in front of him and began his speech by saying that he, Eideman, fell by chance into this organization, having been insulted in being awarded his military rank, having been dissatisfied with the leadership of the army, and also with the politics of the party in the countryside during collectivization, that he, Eideman, unwillingly attached

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himself to this counterrevolutionary organization and at its behest (and before all at the behest of Tukhachevsky and Gamarnik) committed unbelievable crimes.

He said: “I, Eideman, have fallen into an abyss without bottom. I gave assignments to people who had been recruited by me and they are listed by me in the materials of the preliminary investigation, -- I gave the assignment to blow up the bridge over the Don. This assignment I have through Ivanov; the assignment to blow up the bridge across the Volga I gave through the chairman of the Gor’ky krai Osoaviakhim. The blowing up of the bridges were to have been carried out during wartime. These assignments I received directly from Tukhachevsky. I planted counterrevolutionary groups that would lead uprisings among the Don and Kuban Cossacks upon the assignment of Tukhachevsky and Gamarnik. Who specifically prepared these uprisings, the vice-chairman of Osoaviakhim in Rostov and the vice-chairman of the OSO in Gor’ky krai know about that.

In me, Eideman, there were also two persons. It was not easy to give these assignments, when I saw the development of the victorious march of socialism. I thought many times: who am I – more of a Soviet man or more of an enemy? And sometimes our counterrevolutionary organization pressured me and I fulfilled its assignments. At the same time, when I gave assignments, I almost wept. I understood that I was an enemy of the people, the people that loved me and trusted me.

I ask the court to consider that I was a devoted warrior before 1934 and then became an enemy. I think that my counterrevolutionary work still had fewer results than my Soviet work. I ask the court to consider this.”

PUTNA:

Putna in his final word said: “Of course, I don’t ask for any mercy from the court, but I do ask the court to consider that I was a commander of the RKKA, during the revolution I fought for it. Nevertheless, after the civil

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war I became a firm supporter of Trotsky. I thought: everything that Trotsky says is the truth. Obviously, I did not understand the Bolshevik essence of revolution although organically I felt that I was with the Bolsheviks, but nevertheless I remained a Trotskyite. I never thought about where my Trotskyite position was going to lead me. I must honestly confess before the court that just as with the other defendants a determined faith in “our” great Bolshevik state has been established within me. I honestly repented within the walls of the NKVD and became an honest Soviet citizen. In me also there were two persons: one a Red Army man, the other a traitor, a criminal – whatever you want. I violated our Red Army oath, in which it states, that “he who has betrayed Soviet power, government, and the Red Army, will be punished with a merciless revolutionary hand.” Therefore I do not ask any mercy, but I hope that the citizen judges will consider my honest service as a commander of the RKKA and will draw from that the appropriate conclusions.”

PRIMAKOV:

Primakov in his concluding word spoke as follows:

“I, Primakov, want the court and the judges to know with whom they are dealing. I wish to do an analysis of us eight defendants: first, as a defendant; second, of our counterrevolutionary fascist organization; third, under whose flag we served.

Who are the defendants according to their social position?

These men in their social relation constitute riffraff. Who is Tukhachevsky? This type belongs to the remains of the counterrevolutionary officer conspiracies against the Soviets. His homeland is fascist Germany.

Kork, Uborevich, Eideman and Putna have their homeland in their

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countries. There they have their families and their relatives. That is their homeland.

Yakir – this merchant of the second guild in Rumania, that is where his family is. That is his homeland.

Fel’dman – an American merchant. His homeland, family and relatives are in America. That is his homeland too.

And I, Primakov, am the tail end of a so-called petty bourgeoisie with Trotskyite leanings, having passed through the school of Trotskyism from beginning to end in the course of 18 years. In this school the rejects of human society were concentrated. The Trotskyite opposition and the people who take part in it are the most evil and confirmed enemy .

Tell me, citizen judges, where is there homeland, and where is mine? The Soviet Union is for them a temporary shelter. The homeland of the defendants is where their families, with whom they are tied, live. That is where their homeland is, and not the USSR.

I do not wish that anyone in the world should fall into this fascist-Trotskyite pit.

I must say honestly and openly before the court that we have violated our Red Army oath and you should shoot and annihilate all of us like vermin, criminals, and traitors to the Soviet people. We all know that the Soviet people and its party, the Bolsheviks, are leading the country toward happiness – towards communism.

I, like the others, was a person with two faces.

I must also tell the court my opinion about the social face of the counterrevolutionary organization in which I participated. Who were these people? I know half of the people of this organization like I know myself – that is 400 people. I also know the second half, but somewhat less. And in all that is 800 – 1000 people in our army and outside it.

If we give a social characterization of these people then, however strange it may seem, I tried to recruit people from among the workers, but nothing came of this. In our organization there is not a single real worker.

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This is important for the court to know. And from this I draw the conclusion that we, the conspirators, imagined that we would be able to lead this huge country and the Soviet people and that to do this we would need a half-dozen or dozen Napoleons. We were Napoleons without an army. We were working for fascist Germany. But it is completely clear that of this half-dozen Napoleons there would remain only one Napoleon and that would be the one who most slavishly carried out the will of Hitler and of fascist Germany.

FEL’DMAN:

Fel’dman in his final word emphasized the fact that their center had not formed in 1934 but in 1931, and could not confess to any more than he had confessed to at the preliminary investigation.

Nevertheless Fel’dman tried to explain how he got involved in this business and pointed out that Tukhachevsky first worked on his when he was still in the Leningrad Military District, and then he took a counterrevolutionary position and carried out Tukhachevsky’s assignments.

Concerning his own homeland Fel’dman said until Soviet power came he never had any homeland and was driven as a Jew. In the old army he served as a corporal and in the Red Army earned the rank of Corps Commander (Komkor), which corresponds to the rank of General-Leutnant. And all the same this did not stop him from becoming a counterrevolutionary. He was the man nearest to the People’s Commissar of Defense [Marshal Voroshilov], invested with power and trust, and yet he lied and deceived the People’s Commissar of Defense like an enemy.

Further Fel’dman said that he had worked like an honest Red Army man until he had transformed himself into a counterrevolutionary, and asked the court, before all those present in the courtroom, to have mercy upon him, that he, supposedly, got tangled up and fell into this affair completely unconsciously. Instead of taking Tukhachevsky by the collar and bringing him to the People’s Commissar he lost heart.

Fel’dman asked the court to forgive him, promised to work honestly, said that he had exposed everything in the walls of the NKVD, had taken all the filth upon himself and wanted to wash it off with his blood through service, to be to the end devoted to the party and to Soviet power.

CONCLUSION:

1. Tukhachevsky, Gamarnik, Kork, Yakir, Uborevich, Primakov, Putna, Fel’dman, and Eideman – these are patented spies and not since 1934 but since 1931, and a few of them even earlier were worming their way into our ranks ever since the beginning of the revolution. In order to hide their espionage and counterrevolutionary activity until 1934 the accused, exposed in this by Kork, tried to paint Kork as a liar and confounder.

2. All the accused unquestionably tried to hide the participation of Gamarnik in the conspiracy, evidently because Gamarnik, who presented himself as a political figure, recruited among the political staff of the army and, obviously, was tied not only to the leadership of the Rights, Trotskyites and Zinovievites who are known to us but with a number of other high-ranking civilian workers.

3. From the confessions of defendants Tukhachevsky, Kork, Yakir and Uborevich it may be seen that they had decided to develop on their own initiative a plan for the defeat of the Red Armies during wartime and only after that coordinated it with the German General Staff.

In this connection, during the operational games led by the General Staff of the RKKA they made, for their plan for defeat, corresponding remarks, but in view of their arrests they did not have time to completely work it out and, supposedly, did not have time to pass it to the German General Staff.

From general Rundstedt Tukhachevsky received the assignment to foresee the probable direction of the main blows of the German armies in their plan for defeat: one on the Ukraine – Lvov, Kiev, and the second – the taking of Leningrad by an uprising, which would be extremely beneficial to Germany since the latter could render help to the rebels with their rather significant aviation, and that aviation was to advertise itself as an aviation that had gone over to the rebels from the side of the Soviet forces.

Besides the help of aviation German help was proposed in weaponry and in everything necessary for the successful development of the operation for the seizure of Leningrad.

The accused, though they stated that they did not succeed in passing their plan for defeat to the German General Staff, I consider that the plan for the defeat of the Red Armies, perhaps not very detailed, but nevertheless was transmitted to German intelligence. This was made easier since Köstring was almost always in Moscow and could receive it immediately upon the conclusion of the operational war games of the General Staff of the RKKA. It was not essential to transmit written material when this could have been done verbally.

4. Will the territory of neutral states, the Baltic governments, be used during wartime for a concentration and blow of German armies on the right flank of our armies of the Western front?

It seems to me that this is beyond doubt. I consider that the Germans will unquestionably use them. All the facts of an intelligence nature with which I have been able to acquaint myself, speak of this. It is sufficient to just rapidly study the net of landing fields of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which has been developed at a rapid rate in recent years, to understand that these landing fields in both their quantity and their size are not designed for the small air forces of the Baltic states, but are calculated for the large-scale aviation of Germany.

Therefore I consider it essential to look over the operational-

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strategic plans once again and to note down the measures that flow from that.

I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion in relation to the “friendly” arrival of Munters in connection with the exposure of this counterrevolutionary and espionage gang. It seems to me that his arrival is connected like a mask to the failure and exposure of this organization and, evidently, comes at the behest of Hitler.

Hence I consider it absolutely indispensable to verify this matter with all possible means.

26. June 1937

No. 0039