12. The USSR’s Most Notorious Traitor
Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov (1900 – 1946) was once one of Joseph Stalin’s favorite Red Army generals. He repaid his tyrannical master by turning on him and the Soviet Union during WWII, and switching sides to join the Germans. Throwing in his lot with the Nazis, Vlasov turned coat and fought against the Soviet Union at the head of the so-called Russian Liberation Army. Stalin did not forget and made it a high priority to visit payback upon his traitorous general.
Vlasov was drafted into the Red Army in 1919, and fought in its ranks during the Russian Civil War. He distinguished himself, rose steadily through the officer ranks, and earned a reputation for his ability to whip poor units into shape. In 1930, Vlasov gave his career a boost by joining the Communist Party, and in 1938, he was sent to China as a Soviet military advisor to its generalissimo, Chiang Kai-Shek.