Georgi Zhukov


Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (December 1, 1896 - June 18, 1974) was a
Soviet military commander and politician. One of the finest and certainly
toughest and most overtly successful army commander during World War II.

Born into a peasant family in Strelkovka, Kaluga Province. He was
apprenticed to work in Moscow and in 1915 was conscripted into the dragoon
regiment as a private. During World War I Zhukov was awarded St.George Cross
(twice) and promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer for his bravery
in the battle. He joined the Bolsheviks Communist Party after the October
Revolution and his poor background became an asset. After recovering from
typhus he fought in the civil war (1918-20). Zhukov received the award of
the Order of the Battle Red Banner for subduing a peasant revolt. By 1923 he
was commander of a regiment and in 1930 of a brigade. He was a keen
proponent of the new tank warfare and was noted for his detailed planning,
tough discipline and strictness. He also survived the massive and grim
purges of the army command institued by Stalin in the 1930s. He left the
dangerous environment of Moscow to command the First Soviet Mongolian Army
Group and saw action against the Japanese on the Manchurian border
(1938-39). On August 15,1939 he ordered the both-flanks' attack, spearheaded
by Soviet tank groups, against the 6th Japanese army. Within several days
the Japanese troops were defeated. For this operation Zhukov was awarded the
title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Promoted to full general in 1940 he was briefly chief of STAVKA before a
disagreement with Stalin led to him being replaced in June with Marshal
Boris Shaposhnikov (replaced by Alexander Vasilevsky in November).

In October, 1941, he replaced Semyon Timoshenko in command of the central
front and directed the defense of Moscow. He also directed the transfer of
troops from the far East, where 2/3 of Soviet ground forces had been
stationed on the day of Hitler's invasion, which had surprised Stalin. This
feat of logistics is considered by some to be his greatest achievement. Most
analysts believe that Moscow would certainly have fallen without it.

In 1942 he was made Deputy Commander-in-Chief and sent to the southwestern
front to save Stalingrad, capturing the German Sixth Army in 1943 at the
cost of maybe a million dead. In January 1943 he orchestrated the
break-through of the German blockade of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). He
gave General Vatutin command in the Battle of Kursk. Following the failure
of Marshal Voroshilov he lifted the siege of Leningrad in mid-1944.

He led the offensive of 1944 and the final assault on Germany in 1945,
capturing Berlin in April and becoming the first commander of the Soviet
occupation zone in Germany.

But in 1947 he was demoted to command the Odessa military district. After
Stalin's death, Zhukov became deputy defense minister (1953) then defense
minister (1955). He supported Nikita Khrushchev in 1957, and was made in
June, 1957 a full member of the Central Committee. Just four months later he
was relieved of his ministry and dropped from the central committee by
Khrushchev. After Khrushchev was deposed (1964) Zhukov could appear in
public again.

He was buried with full military honours.