Plot synopsis

The next episode of the documentary series is dedicated to 1944 and Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (December 21, 1896 — August 3, 1968) — Marshal of the Soviet Union (1944), Marshal of Poland (1949), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945).

The film uses Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky’s life as a lens on the Soviet war. In July 1944, the huge march of German POWs through Moscow illustrates the turning of the tide: with Operation Bagration, the Red Army liberates Belorussia and destroys major German army groups. Rokossovsky forces Stalin to accept an unorthodox plan with two main attacks, despite Zhukov’s opposition, showing both his military stature and the friction among Soviet commanders.
Alongside this, the narrative exposes the regime’s brutality: penal battalions thrown into the deadliest sectors, the poorly armed “black infantry” of peasants, and the mass deportations of entire peoples accused of collaboration. Rokossovsky himself had earlier been arrested and tortured by the NKVD, then abruptly rehabilitated and promoted.
The Polish section highlights Stalin’s political calculation: Radio Moscow encourages the Warsaw Uprising, then the Soviets delay real help, allowing the Germans to crush a non-communist resistance. Rokossovsky, a native of Warsaw’s Praga district, is unable to free his hometown at the decisive moment and is moved off the main axis. After the war he is imposed on Poland as defense minister and marshal, regarded as a foreigner in both Poland and the Soviet Union.

Commentaries

Сценарии телесериала «Исторические хроники с Николаем Сванидзе», с 1934го по 1953 год. [Scénarios de la série télévisée « Chroniques historiques avec Nikolaï Svanidzé », de 1934 à 1953], Marina ZHUKOVA, Амфора, 2014

- Screenplay

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, (kinoglaz.fr), 2026

Photos, videos, texts

Konstantin ROSSOVSKI (Константин Константинович РОКОССОВСКИЙ) 1896-1968