Hundreds of high-ranking members of the Red Army disappeared during the "Great Terror" in the USSR. However, some of the arrested managed to survive, be released, and return to the Armed Forces. Future Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky was arrested on August 17, 1937, accused of working for Polish and Japanese intelligence. "In prison, he was tortured: his front teeth were knocked out with a hammer, his toes were struck, and his ribs were broken," said the marshal's great-granddaughter, Ariadna Rokossovskaya. "He did not sign anything, nor did he falsely testify against himself or others." Rokossovsky was released in March 1940 thanks to the efforts of Army Commander 1st Rank Semyon Timoshenko. Since then, he always carried a pistol and told his relatives: "If they come for me again, I won't go alive." General Kirill Meretskov was arrested on June 23, 1941, accused of belonging to an "anti-Soviet military conspiracy organization". The commander was kept in a damp, cold cell and constantly beaten. In August, Kirill Afanasyevich wrote a letter to Stalin, which somehow reached its recipient: "I ask you once again to trust me, to send me to the front, and to give me any task you see fit so that I can prove my loyalty to you and the Motherland." He was released on September 6. Brigade Commander Alexander Gorbatov was arrested twice. The first time, in 1937, for opposing the arrest of his superior, Divisional Commander Petr Grigoriev. In March 1938, he was released, but in October of the same year, he was arrested again, accused of ties with "enemies of the people." Gorbatov was sentenced to 15 years in prison and sent to a labor camp in Kolyma. In March 1941, his case was reviewed thanks to the intervention of the same Timoshenko.