Editing Nikita Khrushchev (section)

== World War II ==
[[File:Nikita Khrushchev in WW2.jpg|thumb|left|Nikita Khrushchev posing in a Red Army uniform following the Soviets' entry into the conflict.]]

=== Invasion of Poland and subsequent occupation ===
When Soviet troops, pursuant to the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invaded the eastern portion of Poland]] on 17 September 1939, Khrushchev accompanied the troops at Stalin's direction. A large number of ethnic Ukrainians lived in the invaded area, much of which today forms the [[Western Ukraine|western portion of Ukraine]]. Many inhabitants initially welcomed the invasion, though they hoped that they would eventually become independent. Khrushchev's role was to ensure that the occupied areas voted for union with the USSR. Through a combination of propaganda, deception as to what was being voted for, and outright fraud, the Soviets ensured that the assemblies elected in the new territories would unanimously petition for union with the USSR. When the new assemblies did so, their petitions were granted by the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|USSR Supreme Soviet]], and Western Ukraine became a part of the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] on 1 November 1939.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=135–137}} Clumsy actions by the Soviets, such as staffing Western Ukrainian organizations with [[Eastern Ukraine|Eastern Ukrainians]], and giving confiscated land to collective farms (''[[kolkhoz]]es'') rather than to peasants, soon alienated Western Ukrainians, damaging Khrushchev's efforts to achieve unity.{{sfn|Tompson|1995|p=72}}

=== War against Germany ===
When [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi Germany invaded the USSR]], in June 1941, Khrushchev was still at his post in Kiev.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|p=149}} Stalin appointed him a political commissar, and Khrushchev served on a number of fronts as an intermediary between the local military commanders and the political rulers in Moscow. Stalin used Khrushchev to keep commanders on a tight leash, while the commanders sought to have him influence Stalin.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|p=150}}

As the Germans advanced, Khrushchev worked with the military to defend and save Kiev. Handicapped by orders from Stalin that under no circumstances should the city be abandoned, the Red Army was soon [[Battle of Kiev (1941)|encircled by the Germans]]. While the Germans stated they took 655,000&nbsp;prisoners, according to the Soviets, 150,541&nbsp;men out of 677,085 escaped.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|p=163}} Primary sources differ on Khrushchev's involvement. According to Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]], writing some years after Khrushchev fired and disgraced him in 1957, Khrushchev persuaded Stalin not to evacuate troops from Kiev.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=162–164}} However, Khrushchev noted in his memoirs that he and Marshal [[Semyon Budyonny]] proposed redeploying Soviet forces to avoid the encirclement until Marshal [[Semyon Timoshenko]] arrived from Moscow with orders for the troops to hold their positions.{{sfn|Khrushchev|2004|p=347}} Early Khrushchev biographer Mark Frankland suggested that Khrushchev's faith in his leader was first shaken by the Red Army's setbacks.{{sfn|Whitman|1971}} Khrushchev stated in his memoirs:

{{blockquote|But let me return to the enemy breakthrough in the Kiev area, the encirclement of our group, and the destruction of the 37th Army. Later, the Fifth Army also perished&nbsp;... All of this was senseless, and from the military point of view, a display of ignorance, incompetence, and illiteracy.&nbsp;... There you have the result of not taking a step backward. We were unable to save these troops because we didn't withdraw them, and as a result, we simply lost them.&nbsp;... And yet it was possible to allow this not to happen.{{sfn|Khrushchev|2004|pp=349–350}}}}

In 1942, Khrushchev was on the Southwest Front, and he and Timoshenko proposed a massive counteroffensive in the [[Kharkov]] area. Stalin approved only part of the plan, but 640,000&nbsp;Red Army soldiers were involved in the offensive. The Germans, however, had deduced that the Soviets were likely to [[Second Battle of Kharkov|attack at Kharkov]], and set a trap. Beginning on 12 May 1942, the Soviet offensive initially appeared successful, but within five days the Germans had driven deep into the Soviet flanks, and the Red Army troops were in danger of being cut off. Stalin refused to halt the offensive, and the Red Army divisions were soon encircled by the Germans. The USSR lost about 267,000&nbsp;soldiers, including more than 200,000 captured, and Stalin demoted Timoshenko and recalled Khrushchev to Moscow. While Stalin hinted at arresting and executing Khrushchev, he allowed the commissar to return to the front by sending him to [[Stalingrad]].{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=164–168}}

[[File:RIAN archive 882837 The defenders of Stalingrad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Khrushchev (left) on the Stalingrad Front]]
Khrushchev reached the [[Stalingrad Front]] in August 1942, soon after the start of [[Battle of Stalingrad|the battle for the city]].{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=168–171}} His role in the Stalingrad defense was not major—General [[Vasily Chuikov]], who led the city's defense, mentions Khrushchev only briefly in a memoir published while Khrushchev was premier—but to the end of his life, he was proud of his role.{{sfn|Tompson|1995|p=81}} Though he visited Stalin in Moscow on occasion, he remained in Stalingrad for much of the battle and was nearly killed at least once. He proposed a [[counterattack]], only to find that [[Georgy Zhukov]] and other generals had already planned [[Operation Uranus]], a plan to break out from Soviet positions and encircle and destroy the Germans; it was being kept secret. Before ''Uranus'' was launched, Khrushchev spent much time checking on troop readiness and morale, interrogating Nazi prisoners, and recruiting some for propaganda purposes.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=168–171}}
[[File:Член военного совета Южного фронта Н.С. Хрущев выступает на митинге в Сталинграде.jpg|thumb|Khrushchev (right) speaking at a victory rally of Red Army soldiers in Stalingrad, 4 February 1943]]
Soon after Stalingrad, Khrushchev met with personal tragedy, as his son [[Leonid Khrushchev|Leonid]], a [[fighter pilot]], was apparently shot down and killed in action on 11 March 1943. The circumstances of Leonid's death remain obscure and controversial,{{sfn|Birch|2008}} as none of his fellow fliers stated that they witnessed him being shot down, nor was his plane found or body recovered. One theory has Leonid surviving the crash and collaborating with the Germans, and when he was recaptured by the Soviets, Stalin ordering him shot despite Khrushchev pleading for his life.{{sfn|Birch|2008}} This supposed killing is used to explain why Khrushchev later denounced Stalin.{{sfn|Birch|2008}}{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=157–158}} While there is no supporting evidence for this account in Soviet files, some historians allege that Leonid Khrushchev's file was tampered with after the war.{{sfn|Tompson|1995|p=82}} In later years, Leonid Khrushchev's wingmate stated that he saw his plane disintegrate, but did not report it. Khrushchev biographer Taubman speculates that this omission was most likely to avoid the possibility of being seen as complicit in the death of the son of a Politburo member.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|p=158}} In mid-1943, Leonid's wife, Liuba Khrushcheva, was arrested on accusations of spying and sentenced to five years in a labor camp, and her son (by another relationship), Tolya, was placed in orphanages. Leonid's daughter, Yulia, was raised by Nikita Khrushchev and his wife.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=158–162}}

After ''Uranus'' forced the Germans into retreat, Khrushchev served on other fronts of the war. He was attached to Soviet troops at the [[Battle of Kursk]], in July 1943, which turned back the last major German offensive on Soviet soil.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=171–172}} Khrushchev related that he interrogated an [[SS]] defector, learning that the Germans intended an attack—a claim dismissed by his biographer Taubman as "almost certainly exaggerated".{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=177–178}} He accompanied Soviet troops as they took Kiev in November 1943, entering the shattered city as Soviet forces drove out German troops.{{sfn|Taubman|2003|pp=177–178}} As Soviet forces met with greater success, driving the Nazis westwards towards Germany, Nikita Khrushchev became increasingly involved in reconstruction work in Ukraine. He was appointed Premier of the Ukrainian SSR in addition to his earlier party post, one of the rare instances in which the Ukrainian party and civil leader posts were held by one person.{{sfn|Tompson|1995|pp=81–82}}

According to Khrushchev biographer William Tompson, it is difficult to assess Khrushchev's war record, since he most often acted as part of a military council, and it is not possible to know the extent to which he influenced decisions. However, Tompson points to the fact that the few mentions of Khrushchev in military memoirs published during the [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev]] era were generally favorable, at a time when it was "barely possible to mention Khrushchev in print in any context".{{sfn|Tompson|1995|p=73}} Tompson suggests that these favorable mentions indicate that military officers held Khrushchev in high regard.{{sfn|Tompson|1995|p=73}}