On December 1, 2016, Russia celebrates the 120th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest commanders in the history of the Fatherland - Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov - the legendary Marshal of Victory, who is one of the symbols of the defeat of fascism.
Georgy Konstantinovich was born in the village of Strelkovka, Kaluga province in 1896 into a family of peasants. Until 1974 (the year of Zhukov's death), the settlement bore the name Ugodsky Plant, after which it was renamed Zhukovka. In the year of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the commander of the Great Patriotic War (1996), the settlement received city status and the corresponding name - the city of Zhukov. In the center of the 12 thousandth town there is a monument erected in honor of the victory. The words of the legendary marshal are carved on it:
For me, the main thing was serving the Motherland, my people. And with a clear conscience, I can say: I did everything to fulfill this duty.
On August 20, 1915, young Yegor (as his parents called him then) was drafted into the Imperial Army. Biographers of Georgy Konstantinovich report that Zhukov was selected for the cavalry and was sent to the 5th cavalry regiment, which was at that time in Kaluga. By the time the First World War ended for Russia, he was awarded two St. George's Crosses.
In 1917, a new government came to the country. Since August 1918, Georgy Konstantinovich - as part of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. During the years of the Civil War, the Red Army soldier Zhukov managed to take part in numerous operations on its most diverse fronts: Southern, Eastern and Western. In his memoirs, Georgy Konstantinovich described in detail the battles of his unit with the Cossack cavalry detachments, about the courage of whose representatives he spoke very flatteringly. The ability of the Cossacks to fight the enemy to the last, not sparing himself, was taken into account by Georgy Konstantinovich during the Great Patriotic War, when he became one of the initiators of the creation of units from the Cossacks of the lower Volga, Kuban and Don.
In the biography of Georgy Konstantinovich there is also an episode of the suppression of the notorious Antonov uprising in the Tambov region. For his participation in the suppression of the revolt, Zhukov was awarded a high award - the Order of the Red Star (1922). The wording was presented as follows:
In a battle near the village of Vyazovaya Pochta, Tambov province, on March 5, 1921, despite enemy attacks with a force of 1500-2000 sabers, he and a squadron held back the enemy's onslaught for 7 hours and, then going over to a counterattack, after 6 hand-to-hand fights, he defeated the gang.
But it was not the battles of the First World War and the Civil War that brought fame to Georgy Konstantinovich, but his talent as a leader during the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that, despite the indisputable fact of the huge role of G. K. Zhukov in the defeat of the Nazi hordes, the liberation of the USSR and the countries of Europe from Nazi occupation, the fate of the marshal is by no means cloudless. Over the years, there were enough of those who attempted either to belittle the degree of Zhukov's contribution to the Great Victory, or even tried to "mold" the image of a "butcher" who did not reckon with losses and was ready to take any steps just to satisfy his own vanity.
Attacks pursued Georgy Konstantinovich during his lifetime and did not leave him even after his death. All sorts of "mouthpieces of history" appeared, which, in pursuit of a sensation, one by one began to issue "historiographical works", which had as their goal not at all an objective presentation of the biography of Marshal Zhukov, and altering figures and facts up to attempts to engage in "hanging", so to speak, dirty laundry. The fact that with some effort this very “dirty linen” can be found in the biography of virtually any person, and even more so a famous person, pseudo-historians, whose works gave a clear yellowness, was not particularly worried.
The perestroika and post-perestroika eras have shown numerous examples of "journalism" that looks more like not the result of a professional's work, but an attempt to achieve personal fame at the cost of disinformation and outright lies, elevated to the rank of freedom of speech. Under the "label" of freedom of speech, books began to be published by the notorious Mr. Rezun (Suvorov), in which the author "exposed myths." Then these publications caused a real shock among many members of the public and professional historians. They cause a shock even today, but already to a lesser extent, since the "Rezuns-Suvorovs" and Co. set and continue to pose as their goal the blurring of the truth about the Great Patriotic War, the truth about Victory. In fact, we are talking about a targeted campaign to make Russian citizens feel not a sense of pride in their ancestors, but a sense of shame. In whose interest is it? Well, certainly not in the interests of the Russian people.
It should be noted that the followers of these "historians" came to schools and universities in the 90s. And lessons on the history of the Great Patriotic War in some of them turned into a real bacchanalia, which fit into one single direction: "In unleashing the war, Stalin was guilty along with Hitler." And the theses "Zhukov is a Stalinist butcher", "one rifle for three" and "if it were not for the general frost …" turned into real diagnoses for those who today can be called a "liberal get-together."
But this very "liberal get-together", like any foam, subsided earlier and will subside now, and the magnitude of Marshal Zhukov, as the blacksmith of the victory of the Soviet people over fascism, will forever remain in history.
Yes, every person interested in the issue can relate to the methods and practices of conducting military operations by G. K. Zhukov in their own way. Everyone can think of himself as a strategist, declaring that "here I would be in his place …" to preserve this Fatherland for all of us.
