Telegram of the State Defense Committee on the Defense of the Right Bank of the Dnieper, 11 July 1941

Source: Tom 18

Source: Tom 18

Kiev, to Comrade Khrushchev.

Reliable information has been received that all of you, from the Commander of the Southwestern Front to the members of the Military Council, are in a panicked mood and intend to withdraw your troops to the left bank of the Dnieper.

I warn you that if you take even one step toward withdrawing troops to the left bank of the Dnieper, if you do not defend the fortified regions on the right bank of the Dnieper to the last possibility, a severe punishment will befall all of you as cowards and deserters.

Chairman of the State Defense Committee

I. Stalin

Izvestiya TsK KPSS. 1990. No. 7. P. 209.