I think that's debatable when it comes to WW2, especially the years when the Germans were on Soviet soil, roughly 1941-1943, otherwise you are of course correc

I think that's debatable when it comes to WW2, especially the years when the Germans were on Soviet soil, roughly 1941-1943, otherwise you are of course correct. What I found very interesting about Stalin is that he knew what people to choose. For example he got rid of Budyonny [1] pretty fast after the disaster in Kyiv, even though Budyonny had been one of his protégées and had helped him (Stalin) get rid of Tukhachevsky in the Great Purge. Not only that, but pretty soon Budyonny's place was taken by Rokossovsky [2], who in early 1940 was still actually in the Gulag but by late 1941 had successfully defended Moscow against the Germans, was there when von Paulus surrendered at Stalingrad and was in this famous photo [3] walking triumphantly near the Brandenburg gate in July 1945. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyon_Budyonny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyon_Budyonny [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rokossovsky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rokossovsky [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rokossovsky#/media/File:Allies_at_the_Brandenburg_Gate,_1945.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Rokossovsky#/media/...