The Red Army and the Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Soviet MilitaryOn June 11, 1937, a closed military court ordered the execution of a group of the Soviet Union's most talented and experienced army officers, including Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevskii; all were charged with participating in a Nazi plot to overthrow the regime of Joseph Stalin. There followed a massive military purge, from the officer corps through the rank and file, that many consider a major factor in the Red Army's dismal performance in confronting