On 16 March 1946, the Council of Ministers decided to remove Air Chief Marshal Alexander Novikov from the post of commander of the Soviet Air Force for failing his duty. He would soon be arrested, along with Aleksey Shakhurin, people’s commissioner of the aviation industry, and several officers from the Air Force Headquarters. The rationale was that the Air Force was being supplied with poor quality aircraft and engines.
In the light of evidence obtained, all the key Soviet aircraft constructors were at risk of being arrested. However, the real reason for the “aviation case” was to hunt down a “bigger fish.” In the middle of World War Two, the state security services hinted to Joseph Stalin that the authority of Marshal Zhukov was growing and that he was a potential threat to his leadership. The Ministry of State Security (MGB) was closely involved in the operation targeting Zhukov.
Arrested Marshal Novikov signed a testimony stating that Zhukov tried “to belittle the leading role in the war of the Supreme High Command, and at the same time (...) shamelessly overemphasises his role in the war as a military commander, and even states that all major plans of military operations have been developed by him.”
On 1 June 1946, at a meeting of the Supreme Military Council, Zhukov was stripped of his posts as commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces and deputy minister of the Armed Forces, and sent to command the Odessa Military District.
On 20 January 1948, a special resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party would issue Zhukov “a final warning, giving him one last opportunity to mend his ways and become an honest member of the Party.” At the same time, he would be removed from his post as commander of the forces of the Odessa Military District. On 4 February 1948, Zhukov would be appointed to the Ural Military District. Against that backdrop, officers and generals close to Zhukov were arrested. About a hundred generals would end up in the dungeons of the Ministry of State Security. These arrests would continue until Stalin's death in 1953.
On 11 May 1946, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union sentenced Alexander Novikov to five years in prison: he would be deprived of the title of air chief marshal, the title of twice hero of the Soviet Union, and all decorations and medals. He was released and rehabilitated in 1953 at the initiative of Georgy Zhukov and returned to service.
Source:
Leonid Mlechin, “Smert Stalina: Vozhd I ego soratniki” [The Death of Stalin: The Leader and His Comrades-in-Arms] (Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2003)
