Posted on 06/25/2012 8:11:18 AM PDT by C19fan
"Willful. Decisive. Has initiative and knows how to apply it to his work. Disciplined. Persistently demanding. Personally a little cold and insufficiently tactful. Has a significant streak of obstinacy. Painfully proud. In military matters well prepared. . . . Loves military affairs and is constantly striving for perfection."
This assessment of the talents and traits of Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, the future World War II hero of the Soviet Union, was made by a superior officer not long after the 34-year-old cavalry officer assumed command of his first brigade in 1930. In 1946, still basking in the public's adulation after the Great Patriotic War that many credited him with winning, Zhukov was denounced as "an exceptionally power-loving and self-obsessed person, who loves glory, demands respect, expects submissiveness and cannot bear dissent" and shipped off by Stalin to a minor post in the provinces. Rehabilitated after Stalin's death in 1953, he was condemned in 1957 and demoted for the second time for "vanity, egoism, limitless arrogance and narcissism," as well as "stubbornness, despotism, ambition, and search for self-glorification."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
A strong willed Army commander serving under Stalin and living after that many years is a story to be told.
Heavens, but isn't that just the perfect description of the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
Marshall Zhukov went through Russian troops like we went through gasoline.
I don’t think “military genius” applies to him.
Promotions were very fast after Stalins purge of general officers.
He was very adept at deep operations as the Japanese first discovered in Manchuria when Zhukov kicked their arse. But as you mentioned much easier to be a “military genius” when you don’t have to worry about casualty figures unlike the Western Allied commanders.
“We’re told that “his talent was for deployment...”
That’s just as well, because everything I read about the history of Russian infantry over centuries says they were not good at getting themselves deployed....for what ever reasons.
They always had masses of nearly indestructible and dogged troops, decent weapons (sometimes superior), stamina, and endurance, will.... but were never good at mobilizing.
I saw a news reel of Zhukov in a post war parade, on a breathtaking white horse.... just WOW!
The Japanese in Manchuria were easy pickins.
Japanese in Manchuria:
- No real tanks
- No real anti-tank guns
- Very little mechanization
- Extremely obsolete and small airforce
- Short on supplies with no hope of resupply
Soviets in Manchuria:
- Vast mechanized army of world class tanks and guns
- More troops than the Japanese
- Vast stockpiles of supplies and steady resupply
- Vast air armada vastly superior in capability.
Terrain:
-Open and rolling.
-Not suitable for point-defense holding/attrition tactics used on small, rocky Pacific islands
I think a TSA agent might have been able to have taken over as Grand Soviet Marshall at that point and had the same results.
When it came to getting his men slaughtered to achieve a goal. he makes Grant look like a piker.
There is a very interesting story about Zhukov on the white horse I read if my memory is right from Antony Beevor’s The Fall of Berlin. Stalin was suppose to ride the white horse but the horse threw him off in practice. Stalin then remarked let Zhukov ride the horse. Stalin’s son told Zhukov what happened and after that he made sure he got in a lot of practice before the parade.
There is a very interesting story about Zhukov on the white horse I read if my memory is right from Antony Beevor’s The Fall of Berlin. Stalin was suppose to ride the white horse but the horse threw him off in practice. Stalin then remarked let Zhukov ride the horse. Stalin’s son told Zhukov what happened and after that he made sure he got in a lot of practice before the parade.
Do not confuse the first combat Russians had with the Japanese from May to September 1939 in Mongolia, with later combat in 1945. Apples and oranges.
In Mongolia, the Soviets kicked the arrogant Jap’s arses very severely and crushing them in the final battle. This forced the Japanese to call for and getting an armistice which held until just before the Japanese were defeated. No further combat took place between the two countries until just before the Japanese surrendered It was then when Russia went on their land grab rampage in Manchuria, Korea &c, even after the Japanese surrendered, Soviets continued to attack them and invading more territory.
In the winter of 1941-42, Stalin recalled Zhukov, along with many of the Siberian troops from Mongolia to defend Moscow, and Zhukov gave the Nazis one hell of a shock, forcing them to retreat.
From the Wikipedia:
On 26 June 1953, a special meeting of the Soviet Politburo was held by Malenkov. Beria came to the meeting with an uneasy feeling because it was called hastily—indeed, Zhukov had ordered General K. S. Moskalenko to secretly prepare a special force and permitted the force to use two of Zhukov's and Bulganin's special cars (which had black glass) in order to safely infiltrate the Kremlin. Zhukov also ordered the NKVD Guard replaced by the guard of the Moscow Military Zone. In this meeting, Khrushchev, Malenkov, and their allies denounced "the imperialist element Beria" about his "anti-Party", "anti-socialist" activities, "sowing division", and "acting as a spy of England", together with many other crimes. Finally, Khrushchev suggested expelling Beria from the Communist Party and bringing him before the military court. Immediately, Zhukov's Guard rushed in. Zhukov himself went up to Beria and shouted: "Hands up! Follow me!". Beria replied, in a panic, "Oh Comrades, what's the matter? Just sit down." Zhukov shouted again, "Shut up, you are not the commander here! Comrades, arrest this traitor!". Moskaleno's Guard obeyed.[54][55]
I recall reading somewhere that, at the appropriate moment, Khrushchev pushed a button hidden under the table to signal Zhukov and his soldiers to join the meeting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.