Viktor Suvorov

Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (Russian: Владимир Богданович Резун; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov (Виктор Суворов), became known as a Russian writer on Soviet military history after he defected to the United Kingdom in 1978. Of Russian-Ukrainian ancestry, Suvorov attended Russian military schools, was a veteran of the armed forces (including the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia), and had worked as a Soviet military intelligence officer in the Soviet Union.

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Bogdanovich and the family name is Rezun.
Viktor Suvorov
(2007)
Native name
Владимир Богданович Резун
Виктор Суворов
BornVladimir Bogdanovich Rezun
(1947-04-20) 20 April 1947
Barabash, Primorsky Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)
ResidenceBristol, England, UK
Notable worksAquarium, Icebreaker

While next working as an intelligence agent for the UK, Suvorov began his writing career, publishing his first non-fiction books in the 1980s about his own experiences and the structure of Soviet military, intelligence, and secret police. He writes in Russian. A number of his books have been translated into English, including his semi-autobiographical The Liberators (1981).

Among his works is Icebreaker (1980s), based on an analysis of Soviet military investments, diplomatic maneuvers, Politburo speeches and other circumstantial evidence. He argued that Operation Barbarossa was a preemptive strike by Hitler as a response to Stalin's plans for invasion; this claim has been disputed by many historians in Germany.[1]

Suvorov has also written a number of subsequent books about the war.[2]

Early life

Suvorov, born Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun, comes from a military family of mixed Ukrainian-Russian descent. He may have been born and was definitely raised in Ukraine's Cherkasy, where his Ukrainian father served. The family subsequently settled in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after the father's retirement. According to Suvorov, he studied in Suvorov Military Schools in Russia: one in Voronezh (from 1958 to 1963), and later transferring to one in Kalinin (from 1963 to 1965).[2]

Career

From 1965 to 1968, Suvorov completed courses at what he called the Frunze Red Banner Higher Military Command School in Kiev. This is confusing, as names have changed and the M. V. Frunze Military Academy is located in Moscow. He may have attended a regional command school in Kiev.

In 1968, he served in the 145th Motorized Rifles Regiment of the Carpathian Military District in Ukraine, participating in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1970 and 1971, he served in the Volga Military District Headquarters, and later with the 808th Independent Army Reconnaissance Company (Spetsnaz).

After attending the Military Diplomatic Academy from 1971 to 1974, Suvorov joined the Soviet mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva, working undercover for the Soviet military intelligence service (Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye; GRU). He was promoted to the rank of Captain.[2] He drew from all these experiences in his later writing about the institutions.

Defection

On 10 June 1978, Suvorov defected to the United Kingdom. At the time, he was married to Tatiana Korzh. The couple had a son, Aleksandr, and a daughter, Oksana. They were smuggled out of Switzerland to England by British intelligence. There Suvorov worked as an intelligence analyst for the government and as a lecturer.[2][3]

Personal life

Since the late 20th century, Suvorov has been an occasional columnist for the Ukrainian UNIAN news agency's web site.[4]

Publications

Suvorov soon drew from his experience and research to write non-fiction books in Russian about the Soviet Army, military intelligence, and special forces. He used the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov" when he published these works.

His published books include

  • The Liberators,[5], includes his eyewitness account about the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces
  • Inside the Soviet Army,[6]
  • Inside Soviet Military Intelligence[7]
  • Aquarium,[8], his memoir, and
  • Spetsnaz,[9], about Special Forces units

Suvorov also wrote several fiction books set in the pre-World War II era in the Soviet Union. The first one, Control, was followed by Choice, and the last and most recent title was Snake-eater (2010).

The Third World War: The Untold Story According to Suvorov, he was among the military and intelligence experts consulted by British General Sir John Hackett as he was writing his alternate history novel, The Third World War: The Untold Story (1982).[10] This book was the sequel to the 1978 original The Third World War: August 1985 and incorporated political and technological changes that had been underway since Hackett's first novel.[11] Hackett wrote it in the style of non-fiction, and based in an alternative history in which a Soviet/NATO war takes place in Germany, beginning in 1985 before reunification.

Works about World War II
Main article: Icebreaker (Suvorov)

Suvorov has written ten books about the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War in 1941 and the circumstances related to it. The first such work was Icebreaker (1980s), followed by M Day, The Last Republic, Cleansing, Suicide, The Shadow of Victory, I Take it Back, The Last Republic II, The Chief Culprit, and Defeat.

According to Suvorov, Stalin planned to use Nazi Germany as a proxy (the "Icebreaker") against the West. Although Stalin provided significant material and political support to Adolf Hitler, he was preparing the Red Army to take over control of Europe from the Nazis and establish dominance there of the Soviet Union. As it turned out, by the end of the war, Stalin achieved only some of his initial objectives: he established Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and North Korea. According to Suvorov, Stalin was still the primary winner of World War II.

Suvorov's conclusions on this topic are disputed by numerous historians. German historians particularly disputed the assertion that Operation Barbarossa was a preemptive strike by Hitler.[1]

Works

About the Cold War-era Soviet Union
  • The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army, 1981, Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-10675-3
  • Inside the Soviet Army, 1982, Macmillan Publishing.
  • Inside Soviet Military Intelligence, 1984, ISBN 0-02-615510-9
  • Aquarium (Аквариум), 1985, Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-11545-0, memoir
  • Spetsnaz. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS, 1987, Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-11961-8
  • Devil's Mother (Майката на дявола), 2011, Sofia, Fakel Express, ISBN 978-954-9772-76-0

About the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War
  • Icebreaker (Ледокол) (1980s), Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-12622-3
  • Day "M" (День "М")
  • Suicide. For what reason did Hitler attack the Soviet Union? (Самоубийство), Moscow, ACT, 2000, ISBN 5-17-003119-X
  • The Last Republic, ACT, 1997, ASIN B00271256C
  • Cleansing (Очищение). Purification. Why did Stalin behead his army?, Moscow, 2002, ISBN 5-17-009254-7
  • Last Republic II. Why did the Soviet Union lose the Second World War? (Последната република II), Sofia, Fakel Express, 2007, ISBN 978-954-9772-51-7
  • The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II.. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008 (hardcover, ISBN 978-1-59114-838-8).
  • Defeat. Why was the "great victory" worse than any defeat? (Разгромът), Sofia, Fakel Express, 2009, ISBN 978-954-9772-68-5

About Soviet historical figures
  • Shadow of Victory (Тень победы), 2003. This questions the status and image of General Georgy Zhukov, known for his defense of the Soviet Union and later victory in the Battle of Berlin. The first book of a trilogy under the same name.
  • I Take It Back (Беру свои слова обратно), is also about Georgy Zhukov. this is the second book of the "Shadow of Victory" trilogy.

Fiction
  • Control (Контроль), novel
  • Choice (Выбор), novel
  • Snake-eater (Змиеядеца), novel (Sofia, Fakel Express, 2010), ISBN 978-954977269-2

See also

References

Notes

  1. Müller, Rolf-Dieter (2009). Hitler's war in the east, 1941-1945 : a critical assessment. Berghahn. ISBN 978-1-84545-501-9. OCLC 836636715.
  2. Виктор Суворов, Биография. Internet Archive.
  3. Obituary: "Sir Dick Franks". Saboteur with the Special Operations Executive who went on to become Chief of MI6 during the Cold War, Daily Telegraph, 19 October 2008
  4. Суворова наградили Золотой медалью Кафки : Новости УНИАН(in Russian)
  5. The Liberators, 1981, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-10675-3
  6. Inside the Soviet Army, 1982, Macmillan Publishing Co.
  7. Inside Soviet Military Intelligence, 1984, ISBN 0-02-615510-9
  8. Aquarium (Аквариум), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11545-0
  9. Spetsnaz. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS, 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8
  10. The Third World War: The Untold Story ISBN 0-283-98863-0
  11. The Third World War ISBN 0-425-04477-7

Bibliography

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