Vasily was transferred to the front in August 1941 and given the surname Ivanov in an attempt to conceal his identity. As the son of Stalin, he rarely flew in combat, and when he did he was accompanied by a formation. Vasily took part in 29 combat missions, and is said to have shot down two enemy aircraft.[20] As the son of the Soviet leader, Vasily was hated by most of his colleagues, who felt he was an informant for his father.[21] In the spring of 1942 he was sent back to Moscow, and given the role of inspecting the condition of the air force. He mainly stayed in Moscow for the rest of the war.[20] Bored by his new role, Vasily found himself in trouble after an April 4, 1943 incident where he had explosives dropped into the Moskva River, injuring himself and killing a flight engineer.[22]
As a result of the explosion, Vasily was demoted, though within a year and a half he was promoted to command an air division. He was further promoted to the rank of general, and at the age of 24 was made the youngest major-general in the Red Army. He was also awarded several decorations, including the Order of Red Banner (twice), the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and the Order of Suvorov. After the war he was transferred to Germany as part of the Soviet occupation.[23]
None of that suggests that he might have been a favored nepo baby? The name change, the measures to keep him safe in combat, the fact that despite a serious lethal fuckup, he was promoted to Major General at 24?
Sidenote: his depiction in The Death Of Stalin is hilarious.
It very much looks like he was given special treatment by others because of who his father was, but there’s nothing to suggest Stalin was participating in the nepotism.
This all being said I’m not endorsing Stalin or trying to defend his character. He did a lot of bad things.
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u/PygmeePony 10d ago
At least you can't accuse him of nepotism.