Posted on Jun 18, 2020
Biography of Georgy Zhukov, World War II Soviet General
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On June 18, 1974, Georgy Zhukov, Russian deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Army during WWII (Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin) and Minister of Defense, died at the age of 77. From the article:
"Marshal Georgy Zhukov (December 1, 1896–June 18, 1974) was the most important and most successful Russian general in World War II. He was responsible for the successful defense of Moscow, Stalingrad, and Leningrad against German forces and eventually pushed them back to Germany. He led the final attack on Berlin, and he was so popular after the war that Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, feeling threatened, demoted him and moved him to obscure regional commands.
Fast Facts: Marshal Georgy Zhukov
•Rank: Marshal
•Service: Soviet Red Army
•Born: Dec. 1, 1896 in Strelkovka, Russia
•Died: June 18, 1974 in Moscow Russia
•Parents: Konstantin Artemyevich Zhukov, Ustinina Artemievna Zhukova
•Spouse(s): Alexandra Dievna Zuikova, Galina Alexandrovna Semyonova
•Conflicts: World War II
•Known For: Battle of Moscow, Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Berlin
Early Life
Georgy Zhukov was born on December 1, 1896, in Strelkovka, Russia, to his father, Konstantin Artemyevich Zhukov, a shoemaker, and his mother, Ustinina Artemievna Zhukova, a farmer. He had an elder sister named Maria. After working in the fields as a child, Zhukov was apprenticed to a furrier in Moscow at age 12. Completing his apprenticeship four years later in 1912, Zhukov entered the business. His career proved short-lived because in July 1915, he was drafted into the Russian Army to honorably serve during World War I.
Following the October Revolution in 1917, Zhukov became a member of the Bolshevik Party and joined the Red Army. Fighting in the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), Zhukov continued in the cavalry, serving with the famed 1st Cavalry Army. At the war's conclusion, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his role in putting down the 1921 Tambov Rebellion. Steadily rising through the ranks, Zhukov was given command of a cavalry division in 1933 and later was named deputy commander of the Byelorussian Military District.
Far East Campaign
Evading Russian leader Joseph Stalin's "Great Purge" of the Red Army (1937-1939), Zhukov was selected to command the First Soviet Mongolian Army Group in 1938. Tasked with stopping Japanese aggression along the Mongolian-Manchurian border, Zhukov arrived after the Soviet victory at the Battle of Lake Khasan. In May 1939, fighting resumed between Soviet and Japanese forces. They skirmished through the summer, with neither gaining an advantage. Zhukov launched a major assault on August 20, pinning down the Japanese while armored columns swept around their flanks.
After encircling the 23rd Division, Zhukov annihilated it, forcing the few remaining Japanese back to the border. As Stalin was planning the invasion of Poland, the campaign in Mongolia ended and a peace agreement was signed on September 15. For his leadership, Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union and was promoted to general and chief of general staff of the Red Army in January 1941. On June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany, opening the Eastern Front of World War II.
World War II
As Soviet forces suffered reverses on all fronts, Zhukov was compelled to sign the Directive of Peoples' Commissariat of Defense No. 3, which called for a series of counterattacks. Arguing against the plans in the directive, he was proven correct when they suffered heavy losses. On July 29, Zhukov was sacked as chief of general staff after recommending to Stalin that Kiev be abandoned. Stalin refused, and more than 600,000 men were captured after the city was encircled by the Germans. That October, Zhukov was given command of the Soviet forces defending Moscow, relieving Gen. Semyon Timoshenko.
To aid in the city's defense, Zhukov recalled Soviet forces stationed in the Far East, quickly transferring them across the country. Reinforced, Zhukov defended the city before launching a counterattack on December 5, pushing the Germans 60 to 150 miles from the city. Afterward, Zhukov was made deputy commander-in-chief and was sent to the southwestern front to take charge of the defense of Stalingrad. While the forces in the city, led by Gen. Vasily Chuikov, battled the Germans, Zhukov and General Aleksandr Vasilevsky planned Operation Uranus.
A massive counterattack, Uranus was designed to envelop and surround the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. Launched on November 19, Soviet forces attacked north and south of the city. On Feb. 2, the encircled German forces finally surrendered. As operations at Stalingrad concluded, Zhukov oversaw Operation Spark, which opened a route into the besieged city of Leningrad in January 1943. Zhukov was named a marshal of the Soviet military, and that summer he consulted for the high command on the plan for the Battle of Kursk.
Correctly guessing German intentions, Zhukov advised taking a defensive stance and letting the German forces exhaust themselves. His recommendations were accepted and Kursk became one of the great Soviet victories of the war. Returning to the northern front, Zhukov lifted the siege of Leningrad in January 1944 before planning Operation Bagration. Designed to clear Belarus and eastern Poland, Bagration was launched on June 22, 1944. It was a stunning triumph, Zhukov's forces stopping only when their supply lines became overextended.
Then, spearheading the Soviet thrust into Germany, Zhukov's men defeated the Germans at Oder-Neisse and Seelow Heights before encircling Berlin. After battling to take the city, Zhukov oversaw the signing of one of the Instruments of Surrender in Berlin on May 8, 1945. To recognize his wartime achievements, Zhukov was given the honor of inspecting the Victory Parade in Moscow that June.
Postwar Activity
Following the war, Zhukov was made supreme military commander of the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany. He remained in this post for less than a year, as Stalin, threatened by Zhukov's popularity, removed him and later assigned him to the unglamorous Odessa Military District. With Stalin's death in 1953, Zhukov returned to favor and served as deputy defense minister and later defense minister.
Though initially a supporter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Zhukov was removed from his ministry and the Communist Party Central Committee in June 1957 after the two argued over army policy. Though he was liked by Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Soviet leader Aleksei Kosygin, Zhukov was never given another role in the government. He remained in relative obscurity until Khrushchev fell from power in October 1964.
Death
Zhukov married late in life, in 1953, to Alexandra Dievna Zuikova, with whom he had two daughters, Era and Ella. Following their divorce, in 1965 he married Galina Alexandrovna Semyonova, a former military officer in the Soviet Medical Corps. They had a daughter, Maria. The World War II hero was hospitalized after suffering a serious stroke in 1967 and died after another stroke on June 18, 1974, in Moscow.
Legacy
Georgy Zhukov remained a favorite of the Russian people long after the war. He was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union four times in his career—1939, 1944, 1945, and 1956—and received many other Soviet decorations, including the Order of Victory (twice) and the Order of Lenin. He also received numerous foreign awards, including the Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur (France, 1945) and the Chief Commander, Legion of Merit (U.S., 1945). He was allowed to publish his autobiography, "Marshal of Victory," in 1969."
"Marshal Georgy Zhukov (December 1, 1896–June 18, 1974) was the most important and most successful Russian general in World War II. He was responsible for the successful defense of Moscow, Stalingrad, and Leningrad against German forces and eventually pushed them back to Germany. He led the final attack on Berlin, and he was so popular after the war that Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, feeling threatened, demoted him and moved him to obscure regional commands.
Fast Facts: Marshal Georgy Zhukov
•Rank: Marshal
•Service: Soviet Red Army
•Born: Dec. 1, 1896 in Strelkovka, Russia
•Died: June 18, 1974 in Moscow Russia
•Parents: Konstantin Artemyevich Zhukov, Ustinina Artemievna Zhukova
•Spouse(s): Alexandra Dievna Zuikova, Galina Alexandrovna Semyonova
•Conflicts: World War II
•Known For: Battle of Moscow, Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Berlin
Early Life
Georgy Zhukov was born on December 1, 1896, in Strelkovka, Russia, to his father, Konstantin Artemyevich Zhukov, a shoemaker, and his mother, Ustinina Artemievna Zhukova, a farmer. He had an elder sister named Maria. After working in the fields as a child, Zhukov was apprenticed to a furrier in Moscow at age 12. Completing his apprenticeship four years later in 1912, Zhukov entered the business. His career proved short-lived because in July 1915, he was drafted into the Russian Army to honorably serve during World War I.
Following the October Revolution in 1917, Zhukov became a member of the Bolshevik Party and joined the Red Army. Fighting in the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), Zhukov continued in the cavalry, serving with the famed 1st Cavalry Army. At the war's conclusion, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his role in putting down the 1921 Tambov Rebellion. Steadily rising through the ranks, Zhukov was given command of a cavalry division in 1933 and later was named deputy commander of the Byelorussian Military District.
Far East Campaign
Evading Russian leader Joseph Stalin's "Great Purge" of the Red Army (1937-1939), Zhukov was selected to command the First Soviet Mongolian Army Group in 1938. Tasked with stopping Japanese aggression along the Mongolian-Manchurian border, Zhukov arrived after the Soviet victory at the Battle of Lake Khasan. In May 1939, fighting resumed between Soviet and Japanese forces. They skirmished through the summer, with neither gaining an advantage. Zhukov launched a major assault on August 20, pinning down the Japanese while armored columns swept around their flanks.
After encircling the 23rd Division, Zhukov annihilated it, forcing the few remaining Japanese back to the border. As Stalin was planning the invasion of Poland, the campaign in Mongolia ended and a peace agreement was signed on September 15. For his leadership, Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union and was promoted to general and chief of general staff of the Red Army in January 1941. On June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany, opening the Eastern Front of World War II.
World War II
As Soviet forces suffered reverses on all fronts, Zhukov was compelled to sign the Directive of Peoples' Commissariat of Defense No. 3, which called for a series of counterattacks. Arguing against the plans in the directive, he was proven correct when they suffered heavy losses. On July 29, Zhukov was sacked as chief of general staff after recommending to Stalin that Kiev be abandoned. Stalin refused, and more than 600,000 men were captured after the city was encircled by the Germans. That October, Zhukov was given command of the Soviet forces defending Moscow, relieving Gen. Semyon Timoshenko.
To aid in the city's defense, Zhukov recalled Soviet forces stationed in the Far East, quickly transferring them across the country. Reinforced, Zhukov defended the city before launching a counterattack on December 5, pushing the Germans 60 to 150 miles from the city. Afterward, Zhukov was made deputy commander-in-chief and was sent to the southwestern front to take charge of the defense of Stalingrad. While the forces in the city, led by Gen. Vasily Chuikov, battled the Germans, Zhukov and General Aleksandr Vasilevsky planned Operation Uranus.
A massive counterattack, Uranus was designed to envelop and surround the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. Launched on November 19, Soviet forces attacked north and south of the city. On Feb. 2, the encircled German forces finally surrendered. As operations at Stalingrad concluded, Zhukov oversaw Operation Spark, which opened a route into the besieged city of Leningrad in January 1943. Zhukov was named a marshal of the Soviet military, and that summer he consulted for the high command on the plan for the Battle of Kursk.
Correctly guessing German intentions, Zhukov advised taking a defensive stance and letting the German forces exhaust themselves. His recommendations were accepted and Kursk became one of the great Soviet victories of the war. Returning to the northern front, Zhukov lifted the siege of Leningrad in January 1944 before planning Operation Bagration. Designed to clear Belarus and eastern Poland, Bagration was launched on June 22, 1944. It was a stunning triumph, Zhukov's forces stopping only when their supply lines became overextended.
Then, spearheading the Soviet thrust into Germany, Zhukov's men defeated the Germans at Oder-Neisse and Seelow Heights before encircling Berlin. After battling to take the city, Zhukov oversaw the signing of one of the Instruments of Surrender in Berlin on May 8, 1945. To recognize his wartime achievements, Zhukov was given the honor of inspecting the Victory Parade in Moscow that June.
Postwar Activity
Following the war, Zhukov was made supreme military commander of the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany. He remained in this post for less than a year, as Stalin, threatened by Zhukov's popularity, removed him and later assigned him to the unglamorous Odessa Military District. With Stalin's death in 1953, Zhukov returned to favor and served as deputy defense minister and later defense minister.
Though initially a supporter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Zhukov was removed from his ministry and the Communist Party Central Committee in June 1957 after the two argued over army policy. Though he was liked by Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Soviet leader Aleksei Kosygin, Zhukov was never given another role in the government. He remained in relative obscurity until Khrushchev fell from power in October 1964.
Death
Zhukov married late in life, in 1953, to Alexandra Dievna Zuikova, with whom he had two daughters, Era and Ella. Following their divorce, in 1965 he married Galina Alexandrovna Semyonova, a former military officer in the Soviet Medical Corps. They had a daughter, Maria. The World War II hero was hospitalized after suffering a serious stroke in 1967 and died after another stroke on June 18, 1974, in Moscow.
Legacy
Georgy Zhukov remained a favorite of the Russian people long after the war. He was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union four times in his career—1939, 1944, 1945, and 1956—and received many other Soviet decorations, including the Order of Victory (twice) and the Order of Lenin. He also received numerous foreign awards, including the Grand Cross of the Legion d'Honneur (France, 1945) and the Chief Commander, Legion of Merit (U.S., 1945). He was allowed to publish his autobiography, "Marshal of Victory," in 1969."
Biography of Georgy Zhukov, World War II Soviet General
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The Great Commanders - 106 - Georgy Zhukov | FULL LENGTH | MagellanTV
Episode 6: Georgy Zhukov Following the Russian Revolution, Georgi Zhukov rose to become Stalin’s deputy in the war against Hitler. Though an innovative, he w...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) that June 18 is the anniversary of the death of Russian deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Army during WWII (Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin) and Minister of Defense Georgy Zhukov.
The Great Commanders - 106 - Georgy Zhukov | FULL LENGTH | MagellanTV
Episode 6: Georgy Zhukov
Following the Russian Revolution, Georgi Zhukov rose to become Stalin’s deputy in the war against Hitler. Though an innovative, he was a single-minded soldier whose abilities helped turn the war around.
https://youtu.be/9RNmz8ARKc8?t=57
Images:
1. Georgy Zhukov, the Marshal of the Soviet Union.
2. portrait of Georgi Zhukov, 1916;
3. Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Colonel General Nikolay Voronov, and Marshal Kliment Voroshilov inspecting a captured German Tiger I heavy tank, 1943
4. George Patton and Georgy Zhukov, Berlin, Germany, 7 Sep 1945
Biographies
1. ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=A27
2. russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/military/georgy-zhukov
1. Background from {[https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=A27]}
Georgy Zhukov
Born 2 Dec 1896
Died 18 Jun 1974
Country Russia
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
Born in the village of Strelkovka sixty miles south west of Moscow, Russia to a shoemaker, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was a member of a poor family. In his teenage years he was an apprentice furrier to his uncle before being drafted into the Russian Imperial Cavalry. During WW1, Sergeant Zhukov was twice decorated with the Cross of St. George for his bravery. During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, he led the Red Army's cavalry; in Mar 1919, he officially joined the Communist Party and became deeply indoctrinated in the communist ideals. Even during his friendship with Dwight Eisenhower immediately after the end of WW2, Eisenhower noted his sincere devotion to Marxist ideals during their philosophical discussions. Zhukov's quickness to react on the battlefield led him to be noticed by Joseph Stalin, then a member of the Revolutionary Council. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was regularly given coveted roles in the Red Army, such as being one of the first tank commanders in the Soviet Union.
During the conflict with Japan, the stocky Zhukov with his closely cropped hair led a mixed Russian and Mongolian unit in a successful defense against Japanese troops at Khalkin Gol in Jul and Aug of 1939. In Mongolia and Manchuria regions, Zhukov's units inflected significant Japanese casualties, halting the Japanese advance, and might have contributed to Japan's fundamental change in philosophy, expanding across the Pacific instead of deeper into continental Asia. At the end of the war with Japan, Zhukov was promoted to the rank of general, commanding the Kiev Military District.
Zhukov met Stalin in Jan 1941 after a war game exercise, in which he won a mock battle that he was not supposed to win. Zhukov's leadership abilities and his popularity with the common soldiers made Stalin's feelings toward him uneasy. However, Zhukov kept his rank due to his impressive skills. He was one of the very few men who could voice opinions against the Soviet premier and live to tell the tale. Zhukov was a decisive leader who took the time to study battle details and was the type of leader who required absolute and unquestioning loyalty from his troops. He was also known to be an absolutely ruthless commander when he needed to be; for instance, he did not think twice when he sent entire penal battalions marching across a minefield as a method to clear enemy mines. He was also known for once dropping paratroopers from low altitude without parachutes into a snowy field, rationalizing that enough of them should survive the fall to cause menace behind enemy lines.
After leading units in the successful defense of Moscow, Zhukov wanted to launch a counteroffensive, but Stalin overruled his recommendation. He would not have his chance to successfully assault and defeat the Germans until winter of 1942-43, where a series of battles resulted in the first surrender by a German field marshal. In summer of 1943, he defeated the Germans in a tank battle at Kursk. Zhukov later led a successful campaign that eventually brought the Soviet troops deep into Germany, and capturing Berlin. Along with Field Marshal Ivan Koniev, he accepted the German surrender on behalf of the Soviets on 9 May 1945, two days after Germany surrendered to the western Allies.
Throughout the war, Zhukov maintained a girlfriend (Russian: pokhodno-polevaya zhena, or PPZh, "campaign wife"), Lidia Zakharova. He bestowed her, a junior officer in the Red Army, many medals and honors.
Zhukov remained in Berlin after the war as a leader of the Soviet occupation forces. He became a friend of Eisenhower, and received the Chief Commander grade of the Legion of Merit from the American government for his contributions against the German forces. "I though Marshal Zhukov an affable and soldierly-appearing individual", said Eisenhower, who held the utmost respect for Zhukov as a soldier. "One day there is certain to be another order of the Soviet Union. It will be the Order of Zhukov, and that order will be prized by every man who admires courage, vision, fortitude, and determination in a soldier." Their friendship grew throughout the remainder of 1945, where Zhukov invited American representatives, including Eisenhower and his son John, to visit various locations in Russia, including the Kremlin museum. In Nov 1945, US-Soviet relations grew cold, and Zhukov turned down Eisenhower's invitation for him to visit the United States as the Soviet government returned to their state of distrustfulness toward the west. Very soon after, Stalin grew weary of Zhukov's popularity, and exiled him to a minor military district. He "was Stalin's favourite general - and also the stuff of which his nightmares were composed", said historians Anthony Read and David Fisher. Nevertheless, Zhukov briefly returned to a major post after Stalin's death in 1953, but his career once again hit a brick wall during Nikita Khrushchev's reign. Khrushchev accused him of disloyalty, and placed him under virtual house arrest in Moscow.
Zhukov spent his final years writing his experiences in WW2 and the post-war period, but many of his writing were censored by the Soviet government. He passed away on 18 Jun 1974 at the age of 78.
Sources:
Vadim Birstein, SMERSH
Dwight Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe
Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Fall of Berlin
Georgy Zhukov Timeline
2 Dec 1896 Georgy Zhukov was born in the village of Strelkovka, Russia.
31 Aug 1922 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the first time.
16 Aug 1936 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time.
5 Jun 1939 Corps commander Lieutenant General Georgy Zhukov arrived in the Mongolia Area of China, bringing reinforcement of armored cars, light tanks, and aircraft.
5 Jul 1939 Georgy Zhukov's counterattack forced the northern prong of the Japanese offensive to retreat across river Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia Area of China.
20 Aug 1939 Georgy Zhukov commenced a large-scale surprise offensive against Japanese forces in the Mongolia Area of China.
29 Aug 1939 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the first time and was awarded the Order of Lenin for the second time.
26 Apr 1941 General Georgy Zhukov, the recently appointed Soviet Chief of Staff, ordered a creeping mobilization to begin, in response to widespread evidence that German forces were moving eastward.
12 May 1941 Despite Joseph Stalin's continual refusal to accept the numerous intelligence warnings that Germany was about to invade the Soviet Union, the Soviet Chief of Staff General Zhukov, on his own authority, ordered four Soviet Armies (8oo,ooo men) to forward positions at the border.
29 Jul 1941 Marshal Georgy Zhukov resigned as Chief of Staff of the Soviet forces.
13 Sep 1941 General Georgy Zhukov arrived in Leningrad, Russia to replace Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as the commanding officer of the city's garrison.
28 Sep 1941 Georgy Zhukov announced to his troops that family members of those who become captured by the enemy would be arrested and shot.
6 Oct 1941 In Russia, Georgy Zhukov departed Leningrad for Moscow to take command of Soviet Western Front. General Ivan Fedyuninsky assumed command at Leningrad.
10 Oct 1941 General Zhukov took command of a new Soviet Western Front, which was made up of the remnants of the former Western Front, the Southwestern Front, and the Reserve Front. He immediately called for the formation of a new defensive Mozhaysk Line to protect Moscow, Russia, stretching from Tula south of the city to Volokolamsk to the northwest.
22 Oct 1941 Georgy Zhukov took command of Soviet central sector.
27 Nov 1941 Franklin Roosevelt traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia, United States for a belated Thanksgiving holiday break.
28 Jan 1942 Georgy Zhukov was promoted, with responsibility growing to include the Bryanksk, Kalinin, and West Fronts.
27 Aug 1942 In addition to being responsible for the defense of Stalingrad in southern Russia, Georgy Zhukov was appointed as Stalin's First Deputy Commissar for Defense.
28 Jan 1943 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st Class for the first time; this was the very first Order of Suvorov given out by the Soviet Union. 22 more Suvorov 1st Class medals were given out on this date after Zhukov's award.
28 Jul 1943 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st Class for the second time.
10 Apr 1944 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Victory for the first time; this was the very first Order of Victory given out by the Soviet Union.
29 Jul 1944 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time.
3 Nov 1944 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the second time.
21 Feb 1945 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time.
30 Mar 1945 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Victory for the second time.
1 Jun 1945 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time.
10 Jun 1945 Montgomery and Eisenhower were decorated with the Order of Victory by Marshal Zhukov in Germany.
24 Jun 1945 General Zhukov took the salute in the Victory Parade in Moscow, Russia.
12 Jul 1945 Bernard Montgomery awarded Georgy Zhukov Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany.
9 Sep 1945 Georgy Zhukov ordered his troops to stop committing crimes against the German civilian population; this order would be countermanded by Joseph Stalin on 20 Sep 1945 as the order was perceived to have failed to improve discipline.
1 Jun 1946 During a Soviet High Military Council meeting Joseph Stalin accused Georgy Zhukov of plotting. Zhukov was in turn demoted to head the Odessa Military District.
9 Jun 1946 Joseph Stalin issued a secret order to denounce Georgy Zhukov.
20 Jun 1949 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the third time.
1 Dec 1956 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the fourth time and was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fourth time.
1 Dec 1966 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fifth time.
22 Jan 1968 Georgy Zhukov was awarded a sword bearing a gold emblem of the Soviet Union.
22 Feb 1968 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
1 Dec 1971 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the sixth time.
18 Jun 1974 Georgy Zhukov passed away in Moscow, Russia."
2. Background from {[https://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/military/georgy-zhukov/]}
Prominent Russians: Georgy Zhukov
December 1, 1896 – June 18, 1974
Georgy Zhukov, also known as the ‘Victory Marshall,’ was a life long professional soldier and the recipient of many of Russia's top honorary titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union three times.
Zhukov was born in the village of Strelkovka, not far from Moscow, to a poor family of farmers. After finishing school in 1906 he was sent to Moscow to become a furrier. He fought in World War I and was awarded the Cross of St George twice and promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for his bravery in battle. He joined the Red Army in 1918. During the Russian Civil War (1917 – 1921) the decisive and brave soldier became a troop commander and was later put in charge of the 1st Cavalry Army.
He then joined the Communist Party. When he was not engaged in battle, he attended military school. A fellow student remembers: “Zhukov, like no other, studied hard. Each time we walked into his room, there he was crawling over a map, sprawled over the floor. Already then his work and duty were of the utmost importance to him.”
In 1939 he was asked to lead a battle against the Japanese in Mongolia. After two days of carefully exploring the surroundings, he sent an urgent message to Moscow – asking the Soviets to strengthen their aviation and to send not less then three infantry divisions and a tank brigade. His mission was to prepare for a counterattack and the Soviet government granted his requests. On the night of 3 June the Japanese cut across Khalkhin Gol and occupied the Bain-Tsagan Mountain. But before they could settle in, Zhukov began his attack with two tank brigades. Supported by infantry they encircled the Japanese army. Within a few days the Japanese troops were defeated. Zhukov was awarded his first title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the operation.
He was then assigned by Stalin in October 1941 to defend Moscow. With Zhukov at their lead, his troops not only hold their position and defended the capital, but launched an extreme counterattack on the German army.
In 1942 a division of the German army, the best of its time was approaching Stalingrad. A knockdown battle on the outskirts of the city ensued and lasted more then 3 months. Under Zhukov’s command, the enemy was surrounded and destroyed. It was the most catastrophic defeat in German history up until that time.
In 1943 Zhukov coordinated the Battle of Kursk with his classic tactic, first defence. Zhukov followed the battle carefully and knew the exact moment the German army was out of breath and at that time launched his attack.
In 1941 Russian troops were unable to keep the Germans from closing in on Leningrad, now St. Petersburg.
By launching attacks on the enemy Zhukov's army prevented them from creating new penetrating forces and completely taking over the city. For 900 days the city stood and survived the blockade. In
1943 the siege was lifted. In all his operations he showed his adamant will, courage and organisational talent.
Zhukov's troops suffered heavy losses but captured Berlin in 1945; the historical battle earned him his third title of Hero of the Soviet Union honour. On 8 May, the Germans signed an act of capitulation. World War II was over.
Speaking in June, the commander of the Allied offensive on the Western Front, US General Dwight Eisenhower said« »The war in Europe has been won and to no man does the United Nations owe a greater debt than to Marshal Zhukov."
Zhukov led the Victory Parade in Moscow riding a white stallion through the parade ground on Red Square. Stalin himself intended to lead the parade but because of his poor riding skills gave the honour to Zhukov. This only added to Stalin’s feelings of jealousy towards him. Stalin hated that Zhukov's name was behind all the major victories of the war. He was adored and hailed by the whole of the USSR as a hero that never lost a battle. Later, however, a range of authors described him as a cruel general, who achieved success in his missions at any cost, without thought or sympathy for human life.
After the war, Zhukov was the supreme military commander of the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany. He was removed from the post after a year, as
Stalin felt threatened by his popularity. Zhukov was later assigned to the relatively insignificant Odessa Military District. After Stalin's death in 1953 Zhukov was returned to favour and became Deputy Defence Minister and then Defence Minister in 1955. In 1957 he was removed from his ministry by Nikita Khrushchev and was never given another role in the government.
Georgy Zhukov was married twice and had three daughters. He died 18 June 1974 and was buried on the Red Square next to the Kremlin walls.
Written by Masha Aprelenko, RT"
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The Great Commanders - 106 - Georgy Zhukov | FULL LENGTH | MagellanTV
Episode 6: Georgy Zhukov
Following the Russian Revolution, Georgi Zhukov rose to become Stalin’s deputy in the war against Hitler. Though an innovative, he was a single-minded soldier whose abilities helped turn the war around.
https://youtu.be/9RNmz8ARKc8?t=57
Images:
1. Georgy Zhukov, the Marshal of the Soviet Union.
2. portrait of Georgi Zhukov, 1916;
3. Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Colonel General Nikolay Voronov, and Marshal Kliment Voroshilov inspecting a captured German Tiger I heavy tank, 1943
4. George Patton and Georgy Zhukov, Berlin, Germany, 7 Sep 1945
Biographies
1. ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=A27
2. russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/military/georgy-zhukov
1. Background from {[https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=A27]}
Georgy Zhukov
Born 2 Dec 1896
Died 18 Jun 1974
Country Russia
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
Born in the village of Strelkovka sixty miles south west of Moscow, Russia to a shoemaker, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was a member of a poor family. In his teenage years he was an apprentice furrier to his uncle before being drafted into the Russian Imperial Cavalry. During WW1, Sergeant Zhukov was twice decorated with the Cross of St. George for his bravery. During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, he led the Red Army's cavalry; in Mar 1919, he officially joined the Communist Party and became deeply indoctrinated in the communist ideals. Even during his friendship with Dwight Eisenhower immediately after the end of WW2, Eisenhower noted his sincere devotion to Marxist ideals during their philosophical discussions. Zhukov's quickness to react on the battlefield led him to be noticed by Joseph Stalin, then a member of the Revolutionary Council. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was regularly given coveted roles in the Red Army, such as being one of the first tank commanders in the Soviet Union.
During the conflict with Japan, the stocky Zhukov with his closely cropped hair led a mixed Russian and Mongolian unit in a successful defense against Japanese troops at Khalkin Gol in Jul and Aug of 1939. In Mongolia and Manchuria regions, Zhukov's units inflected significant Japanese casualties, halting the Japanese advance, and might have contributed to Japan's fundamental change in philosophy, expanding across the Pacific instead of deeper into continental Asia. At the end of the war with Japan, Zhukov was promoted to the rank of general, commanding the Kiev Military District.
Zhukov met Stalin in Jan 1941 after a war game exercise, in which he won a mock battle that he was not supposed to win. Zhukov's leadership abilities and his popularity with the common soldiers made Stalin's feelings toward him uneasy. However, Zhukov kept his rank due to his impressive skills. He was one of the very few men who could voice opinions against the Soviet premier and live to tell the tale. Zhukov was a decisive leader who took the time to study battle details and was the type of leader who required absolute and unquestioning loyalty from his troops. He was also known to be an absolutely ruthless commander when he needed to be; for instance, he did not think twice when he sent entire penal battalions marching across a minefield as a method to clear enemy mines. He was also known for once dropping paratroopers from low altitude without parachutes into a snowy field, rationalizing that enough of them should survive the fall to cause menace behind enemy lines.
After leading units in the successful defense of Moscow, Zhukov wanted to launch a counteroffensive, but Stalin overruled his recommendation. He would not have his chance to successfully assault and defeat the Germans until winter of 1942-43, where a series of battles resulted in the first surrender by a German field marshal. In summer of 1943, he defeated the Germans in a tank battle at Kursk. Zhukov later led a successful campaign that eventually brought the Soviet troops deep into Germany, and capturing Berlin. Along with Field Marshal Ivan Koniev, he accepted the German surrender on behalf of the Soviets on 9 May 1945, two days after Germany surrendered to the western Allies.
Throughout the war, Zhukov maintained a girlfriend (Russian: pokhodno-polevaya zhena, or PPZh, "campaign wife"), Lidia Zakharova. He bestowed her, a junior officer in the Red Army, many medals and honors.
Zhukov remained in Berlin after the war as a leader of the Soviet occupation forces. He became a friend of Eisenhower, and received the Chief Commander grade of the Legion of Merit from the American government for his contributions against the German forces. "I though Marshal Zhukov an affable and soldierly-appearing individual", said Eisenhower, who held the utmost respect for Zhukov as a soldier. "One day there is certain to be another order of the Soviet Union. It will be the Order of Zhukov, and that order will be prized by every man who admires courage, vision, fortitude, and determination in a soldier." Their friendship grew throughout the remainder of 1945, where Zhukov invited American representatives, including Eisenhower and his son John, to visit various locations in Russia, including the Kremlin museum. In Nov 1945, US-Soviet relations grew cold, and Zhukov turned down Eisenhower's invitation for him to visit the United States as the Soviet government returned to their state of distrustfulness toward the west. Very soon after, Stalin grew weary of Zhukov's popularity, and exiled him to a minor military district. He "was Stalin's favourite general - and also the stuff of which his nightmares were composed", said historians Anthony Read and David Fisher. Nevertheless, Zhukov briefly returned to a major post after Stalin's death in 1953, but his career once again hit a brick wall during Nikita Khrushchev's reign. Khrushchev accused him of disloyalty, and placed him under virtual house arrest in Moscow.
Zhukov spent his final years writing his experiences in WW2 and the post-war period, but many of his writing were censored by the Soviet government. He passed away on 18 Jun 1974 at the age of 78.
Sources:
Vadim Birstein, SMERSH
Dwight Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe
Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Fall of Berlin
Georgy Zhukov Timeline
2 Dec 1896 Georgy Zhukov was born in the village of Strelkovka, Russia.
31 Aug 1922 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the first time.
16 Aug 1936 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time.
5 Jun 1939 Corps commander Lieutenant General Georgy Zhukov arrived in the Mongolia Area of China, bringing reinforcement of armored cars, light tanks, and aircraft.
5 Jul 1939 Georgy Zhukov's counterattack forced the northern prong of the Japanese offensive to retreat across river Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia Area of China.
20 Aug 1939 Georgy Zhukov commenced a large-scale surprise offensive against Japanese forces in the Mongolia Area of China.
29 Aug 1939 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the first time and was awarded the Order of Lenin for the second time.
26 Apr 1941 General Georgy Zhukov, the recently appointed Soviet Chief of Staff, ordered a creeping mobilization to begin, in response to widespread evidence that German forces were moving eastward.
12 May 1941 Despite Joseph Stalin's continual refusal to accept the numerous intelligence warnings that Germany was about to invade the Soviet Union, the Soviet Chief of Staff General Zhukov, on his own authority, ordered four Soviet Armies (8oo,ooo men) to forward positions at the border.
29 Jul 1941 Marshal Georgy Zhukov resigned as Chief of Staff of the Soviet forces.
13 Sep 1941 General Georgy Zhukov arrived in Leningrad, Russia to replace Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as the commanding officer of the city's garrison.
28 Sep 1941 Georgy Zhukov announced to his troops that family members of those who become captured by the enemy would be arrested and shot.
6 Oct 1941 In Russia, Georgy Zhukov departed Leningrad for Moscow to take command of Soviet Western Front. General Ivan Fedyuninsky assumed command at Leningrad.
10 Oct 1941 General Zhukov took command of a new Soviet Western Front, which was made up of the remnants of the former Western Front, the Southwestern Front, and the Reserve Front. He immediately called for the formation of a new defensive Mozhaysk Line to protect Moscow, Russia, stretching from Tula south of the city to Volokolamsk to the northwest.
22 Oct 1941 Georgy Zhukov took command of Soviet central sector.
27 Nov 1941 Franklin Roosevelt traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia, United States for a belated Thanksgiving holiday break.
28 Jan 1942 Georgy Zhukov was promoted, with responsibility growing to include the Bryanksk, Kalinin, and West Fronts.
27 Aug 1942 In addition to being responsible for the defense of Stalingrad in southern Russia, Georgy Zhukov was appointed as Stalin's First Deputy Commissar for Defense.
28 Jan 1943 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st Class for the first time; this was the very first Order of Suvorov given out by the Soviet Union. 22 more Suvorov 1st Class medals were given out on this date after Zhukov's award.
28 Jul 1943 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Suvorov 1st Class for the second time.
10 Apr 1944 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Victory for the first time; this was the very first Order of Victory given out by the Soviet Union.
29 Jul 1944 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time.
3 Nov 1944 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the second time.
21 Feb 1945 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time.
30 Mar 1945 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Victory for the second time.
1 Jun 1945 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time.
10 Jun 1945 Montgomery and Eisenhower were decorated with the Order of Victory by Marshal Zhukov in Germany.
24 Jun 1945 General Zhukov took the salute in the Victory Parade in Moscow, Russia.
12 Jul 1945 Bernard Montgomery awarded Georgy Zhukov Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany.
9 Sep 1945 Georgy Zhukov ordered his troops to stop committing crimes against the German civilian population; this order would be countermanded by Joseph Stalin on 20 Sep 1945 as the order was perceived to have failed to improve discipline.
1 Jun 1946 During a Soviet High Military Council meeting Joseph Stalin accused Georgy Zhukov of plotting. Zhukov was in turn demoted to head the Odessa Military District.
9 Jun 1946 Joseph Stalin issued a secret order to denounce Georgy Zhukov.
20 Jun 1949 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the third time.
1 Dec 1956 Georgy Zhukov was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the fourth time and was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fourth time.
1 Dec 1966 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fifth time.
22 Jan 1968 Georgy Zhukov was awarded a sword bearing a gold emblem of the Soviet Union.
22 Feb 1968 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
1 Dec 1971 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the sixth time.
18 Jun 1974 Georgy Zhukov passed away in Moscow, Russia."
2. Background from {[https://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/military/georgy-zhukov/]}
Prominent Russians: Georgy Zhukov
December 1, 1896 – June 18, 1974
Georgy Zhukov, also known as the ‘Victory Marshall,’ was a life long professional soldier and the recipient of many of Russia's top honorary titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union three times.
Zhukov was born in the village of Strelkovka, not far from Moscow, to a poor family of farmers. After finishing school in 1906 he was sent to Moscow to become a furrier. He fought in World War I and was awarded the Cross of St George twice and promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for his bravery in battle. He joined the Red Army in 1918. During the Russian Civil War (1917 – 1921) the decisive and brave soldier became a troop commander and was later put in charge of the 1st Cavalry Army.
He then joined the Communist Party. When he was not engaged in battle, he attended military school. A fellow student remembers: “Zhukov, like no other, studied hard. Each time we walked into his room, there he was crawling over a map, sprawled over the floor. Already then his work and duty were of the utmost importance to him.”
In 1939 he was asked to lead a battle against the Japanese in Mongolia. After two days of carefully exploring the surroundings, he sent an urgent message to Moscow – asking the Soviets to strengthen their aviation and to send not less then three infantry divisions and a tank brigade. His mission was to prepare for a counterattack and the Soviet government granted his requests. On the night of 3 June the Japanese cut across Khalkhin Gol and occupied the Bain-Tsagan Mountain. But before they could settle in, Zhukov began his attack with two tank brigades. Supported by infantry they encircled the Japanese army. Within a few days the Japanese troops were defeated. Zhukov was awarded his first title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the operation.
He was then assigned by Stalin in October 1941 to defend Moscow. With Zhukov at their lead, his troops not only hold their position and defended the capital, but launched an extreme counterattack on the German army.
In 1942 a division of the German army, the best of its time was approaching Stalingrad. A knockdown battle on the outskirts of the city ensued and lasted more then 3 months. Under Zhukov’s command, the enemy was surrounded and destroyed. It was the most catastrophic defeat in German history up until that time.
In 1943 Zhukov coordinated the Battle of Kursk with his classic tactic, first defence. Zhukov followed the battle carefully and knew the exact moment the German army was out of breath and at that time launched his attack.
In 1941 Russian troops were unable to keep the Germans from closing in on Leningrad, now St. Petersburg.
By launching attacks on the enemy Zhukov's army prevented them from creating new penetrating forces and completely taking over the city. For 900 days the city stood and survived the blockade. In
1943 the siege was lifted. In all his operations he showed his adamant will, courage and organisational talent.
Zhukov's troops suffered heavy losses but captured Berlin in 1945; the historical battle earned him his third title of Hero of the Soviet Union honour. On 8 May, the Germans signed an act of capitulation. World War II was over.
Speaking in June, the commander of the Allied offensive on the Western Front, US General Dwight Eisenhower said« »The war in Europe has been won and to no man does the United Nations owe a greater debt than to Marshal Zhukov."
Zhukov led the Victory Parade in Moscow riding a white stallion through the parade ground on Red Square. Stalin himself intended to lead the parade but because of his poor riding skills gave the honour to Zhukov. This only added to Stalin’s feelings of jealousy towards him. Stalin hated that Zhukov's name was behind all the major victories of the war. He was adored and hailed by the whole of the USSR as a hero that never lost a battle. Later, however, a range of authors described him as a cruel general, who achieved success in his missions at any cost, without thought or sympathy for human life.
After the war, Zhukov was the supreme military commander of the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany. He was removed from the post after a year, as
Stalin felt threatened by his popularity. Zhukov was later assigned to the relatively insignificant Odessa Military District. After Stalin's death in 1953 Zhukov was returned to favour and became Deputy Defence Minister and then Defence Minister in 1955. In 1957 he was removed from his ministry by Nikita Khrushchev and was never given another role in the government.
Georgy Zhukov was married twice and had three daughters. He died 18 June 1974 and was buried on the Red Square next to the Kremlin walls.
Written by Masha Aprelenko, RT"
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LTC Stephen F.
The Conquerors: Georgi Zhukov - Conqueror of Berlin
Marshal Zhukov stood ready to conquer Berlin in April of 1945 but first he had to get the go ahead from Stalin. SUBSCRIBE, COMMENT, LIKE, FAV, SHARE !!!!
Marshal Zhukov stood ready to conquer Berlin in April of 1945 but first he had to get the go ahead from Stalin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCFUEOan8o
Images:
1. Grigori Shtern, Choibalsan, and Georgy Zhukov in Mongolia Area of China, 1939
2. Marshal Zhukov and Joseph Stalin.
3. Bernard Montgomery awarding Georgy Zhukov Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany, 12 Jul 1945
4. Georgy Zhukov (left among the central three) with Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery and Soviet military commanders in Berlin.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCFUEOan8o
Images:
1. Grigori Shtern, Choibalsan, and Georgy Zhukov in Mongolia Area of China, 1939
2. Marshal Zhukov and Joseph Stalin.
3. Bernard Montgomery awarding Georgy Zhukov Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany, 12 Jul 1945
4. Georgy Zhukov (left among the central three) with Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery and Soviet military commanders in Berlin.
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LTC Stephen F.
Georgy Zhukov: General Of The Red Army And Hero Of The Soviet Union
Georgy Zhukov was born in 1896 to an incredibly poor peasant family in the Kaluga Province, roughly 80 miles from Moscow. His family had a small house in the...
Georgy Zhukov: General Of The Red Army And Hero Of The Soviet Union
Georgy Zhukov was born in 1896 to an incredibly poor peasant family in the Kaluga Province, roughly 80 miles from Moscow. His family had a small house in the relatively poor town of Strelkovka, which Zhukov was quoted once as saying “looked the worst in the village”. His family was rather tough when it came to discipline, and floggings with a belt by his father Konstantin, were quite common in order to whip his boy into the shape he wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g476q-3DL-U
Images:
1. Khrushchev and Zhukov.
2. Marshal Georgy Zhukov with wife Galina 1971
3. Georgy Zhukov 'There's no smoke without fire'
4. Portrait of Georgi Zhukov, 1940
Background from {[{[ https://www.rbth.com/history/330500-georgy-zhukov-wwii-stalin]}
How Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet Union’s greatest military leader, confronted Stalin after WWII HISTORY
JUNE 11 2019
OLEG YEGOROV
Georgy Zhukov fought back the Nazis and captured Berlin, but the great marshal fared worse in the dirty power struggle between communist bosses that came after the war.
When Georgy Zhukov, the most prominent Soviet marshal during World War II, died in 1974 after 15 years in retirement and away from public life, the émigré poet Joseph Brodsky wrote a poem called “On the Death of Zhukov.” In the poem, Brodsky called him one of those who “in military formation marched boldly into foreign capitals but returned in fear to their own.”
Perhaps the term “fear” is a bit of poetic license in this case since it’s unlikely that Zhukov, who defeated the Japanese in the battles of Khalkhyn Gol in 1939 and was one of the most successful military commanders throughout the war against Germany, was actually afraid of anything.
Brodsky did have a point though because after the war Joseph Stalin stabbed Zhukov in the back like no foreign adversary could have even dreamed of.
Shooting down a rival
By 1946, Zhukov was appointed to command the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and served as commander-in-chief of the Soviet ground forces. He seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. But then everything changed later that year when Stalin stripped Zhukov off all his posts and sent to the remote southern city of Odessa to head a local military district. Quite a humiliating exile for a war hero of this magnitude.
Stalin had a flimsy excuse of sorts: Marshal Alexander Novikov, who headed the Air Forces, had claimed Zhukov was conspiring against him. In fact, Novikov was forced to sign this “testimony” against Zhukov under torture. “They broke my morals, I was desperate… sleepless nights… so I signed it, just to stop it,” Novikov would later confess. But this forced testimony is what provided Stalin grounds for accusing Zhukov of “Bonapartism” and sending him into exile.
What really happened is that Stalin wanted to get rid of a potential rival whom he was suspicious and afraid of. Zhukov had become enormously popular during the war--to such an extent that he could have potentially posed a challenge to Stalin’s monopoly on power. As Zhukov himself said when asked why Stalin used false accusations as an excuse to send him into exile, “He was jealous of my glory. And [Interior Minister Lavrenty] Beria fueled that feeling even more.”
Quiet service
During 1946-1948, Zhukov lived in Odessa and spent his time fighting crime–a major step down for a man who led the army that crushed Nazism. Nevertheless, Zhukov showed no signs of insubordination. In 1947, the local authorities announced that organized crime, which thrived following the war, had been defeated. Rumors circulated that Zhukov had sanctioned shooting criminals on sight and without trial. While this could well be just an urban legend, it does reflect the attitude people had towards Zhukov at the time.
In 1948, Stalin sent Zhukov even deeper into the provinces, appointing him commander of the Ural Military District in Sverdlovsk (1700 km east of Moscow). That same year, Zhukov was accused of looting during the capture of Berlin and had to make excuses: “I shouldn't have collected that useless junk and put it into some warehouse, assuming nobody needs it anymore.” He remained in Sverdlovsk until 1953, the year Stalin died.
Back in power
Just a month before his death, Stalin ordered Zhukov to return to Moscow. Zhukov figured that Stalin needed his military experience to prepare for a potential war against the West and that this was why his exile had come to an end. Either way, after Stalin’s death Zhukov was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense and played a crucial role in Soviet politics.
He was the one to arrest Lavrenty Beria, one of Stalin’s most powerful and sinister henchmen who is deeply associated with the NKVD--the Soviet Union’s almighty and oppressive secret service. Other officials, including future leader Nikita Khrushchev and lesser-known Georgy Malenkov, who had formed a triumvirate with Beria, plotted against him. Zhukov’s authority in the army helped enormously.
He arrested Beria personally with the help of armed soldiers. “I came from behind, shouted ‘Rise! You are under arrest and pinned his arms as he was rising,” Zhukov recalled his memoirs. Beria was later executed (without Zhukov’s participation).
Against Stalinism
Much like Khrushchev, Zhukov was loyal to Stalin while the leader was alive but went even further in denouncing Stalin’s mistakes and unnecessary and brutal repressions after his death. As historian Leonid Maximenkov notes, Zhukov, while serving as Minister of Defense from 1955-1957, “had his own plan of fighting Stalinism and Stalinists.”
He reopened the cases of military commanders who had been sentenced to death based on false accusations in the 1930s. Several times he managed to punish generals who were responsible for these, firing them from their posts.
This, Maximenkov believes, is what prompted Khrushchev to force Zhukov into retirement. Khrushchev knew perfectly well how many officials, including ones at the highest posts and he himself, were involved in the dirty business of the 1930s. Purging members of the apparatus who were implicated in the crimes of the 1930s would risk damaging the entire Soviet system. So in 1957, the new leadership forced Zhukov to retire, accusing him of having consolidated his power too much.
This time his military career actually did come to an end. He spent the rest of his life writing memoirs and giving occasional interviews, mostly about the war and hardly mentioning the period of unscrupulous intrigues that came afterwards.
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Georgy Zhukov was born in 1896 to an incredibly poor peasant family in the Kaluga Province, roughly 80 miles from Moscow. His family had a small house in the relatively poor town of Strelkovka, which Zhukov was quoted once as saying “looked the worst in the village”. His family was rather tough when it came to discipline, and floggings with a belt by his father Konstantin, were quite common in order to whip his boy into the shape he wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g476q-3DL-U
Images:
1. Khrushchev and Zhukov.
2. Marshal Georgy Zhukov with wife Galina 1971
3. Georgy Zhukov 'There's no smoke without fire'
4. Portrait of Georgi Zhukov, 1940
Background from {[{[ https://www.rbth.com/history/330500-georgy-zhukov-wwii-stalin]}
How Georgy Zhukov, the Soviet Union’s greatest military leader, confronted Stalin after WWII HISTORY
JUNE 11 2019
OLEG YEGOROV
Georgy Zhukov fought back the Nazis and captured Berlin, but the great marshal fared worse in the dirty power struggle between communist bosses that came after the war.
When Georgy Zhukov, the most prominent Soviet marshal during World War II, died in 1974 after 15 years in retirement and away from public life, the émigré poet Joseph Brodsky wrote a poem called “On the Death of Zhukov.” In the poem, Brodsky called him one of those who “in military formation marched boldly into foreign capitals but returned in fear to their own.”
Perhaps the term “fear” is a bit of poetic license in this case since it’s unlikely that Zhukov, who defeated the Japanese in the battles of Khalkhyn Gol in 1939 and was one of the most successful military commanders throughout the war against Germany, was actually afraid of anything.
Brodsky did have a point though because after the war Joseph Stalin stabbed Zhukov in the back like no foreign adversary could have even dreamed of.
Shooting down a rival
By 1946, Zhukov was appointed to command the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and served as commander-in-chief of the Soviet ground forces. He seemed to have a bright future ahead of him. But then everything changed later that year when Stalin stripped Zhukov off all his posts and sent to the remote southern city of Odessa to head a local military district. Quite a humiliating exile for a war hero of this magnitude.
Stalin had a flimsy excuse of sorts: Marshal Alexander Novikov, who headed the Air Forces, had claimed Zhukov was conspiring against him. In fact, Novikov was forced to sign this “testimony” against Zhukov under torture. “They broke my morals, I was desperate… sleepless nights… so I signed it, just to stop it,” Novikov would later confess. But this forced testimony is what provided Stalin grounds for accusing Zhukov of “Bonapartism” and sending him into exile.
What really happened is that Stalin wanted to get rid of a potential rival whom he was suspicious and afraid of. Zhukov had become enormously popular during the war--to such an extent that he could have potentially posed a challenge to Stalin’s monopoly on power. As Zhukov himself said when asked why Stalin used false accusations as an excuse to send him into exile, “He was jealous of my glory. And [Interior Minister Lavrenty] Beria fueled that feeling even more.”
Quiet service
During 1946-1948, Zhukov lived in Odessa and spent his time fighting crime–a major step down for a man who led the army that crushed Nazism. Nevertheless, Zhukov showed no signs of insubordination. In 1947, the local authorities announced that organized crime, which thrived following the war, had been defeated. Rumors circulated that Zhukov had sanctioned shooting criminals on sight and without trial. While this could well be just an urban legend, it does reflect the attitude people had towards Zhukov at the time.
In 1948, Stalin sent Zhukov even deeper into the provinces, appointing him commander of the Ural Military District in Sverdlovsk (1700 km east of Moscow). That same year, Zhukov was accused of looting during the capture of Berlin and had to make excuses: “I shouldn't have collected that useless junk and put it into some warehouse, assuming nobody needs it anymore.” He remained in Sverdlovsk until 1953, the year Stalin died.
Back in power
Just a month before his death, Stalin ordered Zhukov to return to Moscow. Zhukov figured that Stalin needed his military experience to prepare for a potential war against the West and that this was why his exile had come to an end. Either way, after Stalin’s death Zhukov was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense and played a crucial role in Soviet politics.
He was the one to arrest Lavrenty Beria, one of Stalin’s most powerful and sinister henchmen who is deeply associated with the NKVD--the Soviet Union’s almighty and oppressive secret service. Other officials, including future leader Nikita Khrushchev and lesser-known Georgy Malenkov, who had formed a triumvirate with Beria, plotted against him. Zhukov’s authority in the army helped enormously.
He arrested Beria personally with the help of armed soldiers. “I came from behind, shouted ‘Rise! You are under arrest and pinned his arms as he was rising,” Zhukov recalled his memoirs. Beria was later executed (without Zhukov’s participation).
Against Stalinism
Much like Khrushchev, Zhukov was loyal to Stalin while the leader was alive but went even further in denouncing Stalin’s mistakes and unnecessary and brutal repressions after his death. As historian Leonid Maximenkov notes, Zhukov, while serving as Minister of Defense from 1955-1957, “had his own plan of fighting Stalinism and Stalinists.”
He reopened the cases of military commanders who had been sentenced to death based on false accusations in the 1930s. Several times he managed to punish generals who were responsible for these, firing them from their posts.
This, Maximenkov believes, is what prompted Khrushchev to force Zhukov into retirement. Khrushchev knew perfectly well how many officials, including ones at the highest posts and he himself, were involved in the dirty business of the 1930s. Purging members of the apparatus who were implicated in the crimes of the 1930s would risk damaging the entire Soviet system. So in 1957, the new leadership forced Zhukov to retire, accusing him of having consolidated his power too much.
This time his military career actually did come to an end. He spent the rest of his life writing memoirs and giving occasional interviews, mostly about the war and hardly mentioning the period of unscrupulous intrigues that came afterwards.
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