Crisis Manager of the Red Army
Marshal Zhukov with officers on the steps of the Reichstag
We don't have any Hindenburgs in reserve.
J. Stalin
J. Stalin
Cavalryman and hero of Khalkin-Gol
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov has come a long way. A peasant's son who worked as a furrier, that is, a furrier's apprentice. At the age of 16, he received the title of master and had his own small workshop. If not for the world war and revolution, he would have become a clerk, a petty bourgeois. And he hardly thought that he would become a great and world-famous military leader.
The war changed everything. “But the war, as always happens, confused all our hopes and calculations,” Zhukov recalled.
On August 7 (20), 1915, Zhukov was called up to the Tsarist army. He was enlisted in the cavalry. In his declining years, the marshal told the writer Konstantin Simonov:
"I could have ended up in a school for ensigns. I graduated from a four-year school in Gazetny Lane, which provided a sufficient educational qualification for admission to this school. But I thought: now I'll graduate from the school for ensigns and, as a 19-year-old boy, I'll command seasoned soldiers - bearded men. I didn't want that, it was awkward. And who knows what would have happened if I had turned out to be not a soldier, but an officer... and by that time the revolution had broken out... Maybe I would have lived out my days somewhere in exile..."
Novgorod Dragoon Georgy Zhukov. Late 1915 – early 1916.
After training as a cavalry non-commissioned officer, Georgy ended up on the Southwestern Front in the 1916th Novgorod Dragoon Regiment at the end of August 10. The young cavalryman fought bravely, but not for long.
In September, he was slightly wounded during a cavalry attack in the mountainous region of Bystrica. He was awarded the St. George Cross for capturing a tongue. However, in October, Georgy stepped on a mine and suffered a severe concussion, as a result of which he partially lost his hearing. He had to recover for a long time. He never returned to the front.
Georgy met the February Revolution in a marching squadron. Zhukov was elected chairman of the squadron committee and a member of the regimental council. After the October Revolution, his squadron, stationed in Kharkov province, went over to the Bolsheviks. After the unit was disbanded, he returned home.
He volunteered for the Red Army. He fought on the Eastern, Southern and Western fronts against the White Cossacks, Denikin's men and Wrangel's men.
After completing the Ryazan Cavalry Courses in the fall of 1920, he was appointed platoon commander, then squadron commander. After the end of the Time of Troubles, he commanded a cavalry regiment, cavalry brigade, cavalry division and corps.
He became famous as the commander of the special 57th corps, which defeated the Japanese at Khalkin-Gol. For this operation, Corps Commander Zhukov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1940, he received the rank of Army General.
Russian military historian A. Isaev noted in his work “Myths and Truth about Marshal Zhukov”:
"Usually, Zhukov's name is associated only with the final phase of the conflict - the offensive of the Soviet troops at the end of August 1939. However, in reality, he had to play out a rather complex combination during three months of fighting. Zhukov managed to bring the Soviet troops in Mongolia out of a deep crisis, repel the Japanese offensive, accumulate forces and defeat the opposing Japanese troops in a decisive encirclement battle."
Hero of the Soviet Union, Corps Commander G.K. Zhukov, 1939
The Stalin Butcher
During the rewriting stories Soviet civilization and the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov became one of the main targets for liberals and revisionist researchers. He was called "Stalin's butcher", accused of unprofessionalism, tyranny, cruelty and indifference to soldiers' lives. In the "millions of lives" of soldiers that he laid on the altar of Victory.
The purpose of such works is obvious: by blackening the Marshal of Victory, who became one of the symbols of our Great Victory (Stalin himself noted: "Zhukov is our Suvorov"), one can slander the Soviet period of our history with impunity. To smear with dirt the true heroes and great statesmen and military figures, and to make "heroes" out of the scum, for example, Bandera and Shukhevych.
According to anti-Sovietists, the Soviet commander is remembered more for "his swearing and executions of his own soldiers on all fronts" than for his military victories. Allegedly, Georgy Konstantinovich is responsible for the catastrophic defeats of 1941, when the Red Army was not ready for war. On his conscience are the huge "cauldrons" of the initial period of the war, including Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, Kyiv, Vyazma and Bryansk, in which hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers died or were captured.
It was concluded that Stalin's marshal, as Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army in the summer of 1941 and a member of the Headquarters, was one of the main culprits of the most terrible catastrophe in world military history.
Zhukov was especially slandered in the new "independent" Ukraine. It was emphasized that Zhukov sent hundreds of thousands of mobilized Ukrainians to their deaths. That the Ukrainians, due to the mistakes of "Stalin's butchers," survived the terrible German occupation and then liberated their own land at the cost of enormous losses.
Allegedly, the Soviet marshal ordered "no mercy" for the recruits from Ukraine sent to the four Ukrainian fronts. They were considered "suspicious elements" living under Nazi rule. Allegedly, this is the reason for the high losses of Ukraine in World War II among the republics of the USSR (only in the RSFSR more died).
Although the reasons for the high losses of the population of the Ukrainian SSR are quite objective: the front line passed there, the region was under fascist occupation, the Nazis carried out a policy of physical destruction of Slavic-Russians, "cleansed" the lands for German "supermen". Some of the bloodiest battles of the Great Patriotic War took place in Little Russia, Hitler tried at any cost to hold on to the region, which was strategically and economically important for the Third Reich.
Thus, we see another attack in the direction of the USSR, the Great Patriotic War and its heroes. Like, the enemy "filled up with corpses." But the Victory Marshal was in fact a “Stalinist butcher” who destroyed hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens and especially Ukrainians.
Marshal G.K. Zhukov (right) conferring with the commander of the Steppe Front, General of the Army I.S. Konev (center) and the commander of the 53rd Army I.M. Managarov on the eve of forcing the Dnieper. September 1943
Crisis Manager of the Red Army
In order to understand the stupidity and falsity of such “works”, it is simply necessary to read and analyze historical sources and objective historical research.
Thus, a very good work on this topic is by the military historian, specialist in the history of the Great Patriotic War A. Isaev, "Myths and Truth about Marshal Zhukov". Alexey Isaev notes that Stalin's military leader knew how to fight, since 1939 he was the "crisis manager" of the Red Army, "the man who was thrown into the most difficult and dangerous section of the front". Zhukov "was a kind of "commander of the RGC", capable of fencing armies and divisions better than his colleagues".
The headquarters sent Georgy Konstantinovich to a section of the front that was in crisis or required increased attention. This guaranteed the high command increased effectiveness of the Red Army's actions in this section. At the same time, Zhukov was not an "invincible" commander. Often, he had to emerge from an approaching catastrophe into a "draw", a "Pyrrhic victory", establish a fragile balance of power from chaos, and pull other commanders out of a crisis.
The Soviet commander usually got the most difficult sections of the front and dangerous enemies. Sometimes, on orders from the Headquarters, he had to hand over the work he had started, and others reaped the fruits of his efforts, moving to new sections of the front.
Zhukov came from a poor peasant family, never had high patrons, but thanks to his talents and iron will he became the most outstanding and famous Soviet marshal. During the war he became Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Minister of Defense, member of the highest military-political leadership of the USSR, four times Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of two Orders of Victory and many other Soviet and foreign orders and medals. Georgy Konstantinovich did nothing vile, did not humiliate himself before the highest leadership. He forever remained the people's Marshal of Victory.
Zhukov led the largest masses of Soviet troops and inflicted the largest defeats on the Wehrmacht. From the very beginning of the war, he showed the ability to deliver powerful counterattacks in defensive operations. He showed that it is necessary to attack even in the most difficult conditions in order to survive and defeat a terrible enemy tomorrow. He showed himself as a person who knows how to manage large masses of people. As a military leader, able to make tough decisions necessary to maintain the common good and preserve the power. His life is an example of the highest demands on himself and others.
Unfortunately, Zhukov turned out to be a bad politician. After Stalin's death, he got involved in political games, supported Khrushchev with his authority first against Beria, then helped Khrushchev defeat his other opponents. This was his huge mistake. The state pygmy Khrushchev could not tolerate such a titan as Zhukov next to him. The marshal could also lead the opposition. Khrushchev "optimized" (destroyed) the Armed Forces of the USSR with all his might. Therefore, in 1957, Zhukov fell into disgrace, was dismissed, and was deprived of all state and military posts.
In the photo, from left to right: Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974), British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (1896-1968), General of the Army Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky (1897-1968), Colonel General Mikhail Sergeyevich Malinin (1899-1960) walk through the streets of Berlin after awarding Soviet military leaders with British awards. G. K. Zhukov - Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, K. K. Rokossovsky - Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, V. D. Sokolovsky and M. S. Malinin - Knights of the Order of the British Empire (military). July 12, 1945
Why hate Zhukov
Why is Zhukov the subject of more mud than Stalin's other military leaders? It's all about Georgy Konstantinovich's personality. He is a symbol of the Red Empire. A peasant's son, an iron soldier who went from being a Tsarist non-commissioned officer to a great marshal who defeated the Third Reich. A national hero, a military leader who rightfully stands among the other great military figures of Russian civilization, in the same row as Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov.
Stalin himself said: “Zhukov is our Suvorov.”
A widely known statement about Georgy Zhukov, attributed to Adolf Hitler, is: "If the German army had at least one general like Zhukov, Germany would have long ago conquered world domination." Whether the Fuhrer said this or not is not exactly known, but in the Wehrmacht Zhukov's abilities were indeed highly valued.
As in other armies allied with the USSR during the Second World War, American General William Spahr noted:
“In the year of the struggle of the Russian people with new disasters, Zhukov is raised as an icon embodying the spirit of the Russian people, able to nominate a leader-savior in extreme conditions. Zhukov is the embodiment of Russian honor and valor, Russian sovereignty and the Russian spirit. No one can erase or stain the image of this man on a white horse who has done so much to raise his country to shining heights. "
Thus, attempts to overthrow Georgy Zhukov from the Victory podium are an informational, ideological war against our history, Russian and Soviet civilization. The blackening of the Marshal of Victory is the blackening of our entire history, the history of the USSR, the history of the Great Patriotic War, and the Great Victory.
Victory Parade. Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov takes the parade of the troops of the Active Army, the Navy Fleet and the Moscow garrison to commemorate the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War. June 24, 1945
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