Zhukov is our Suvorov
I. V. Stalin
At the time of the struggle of the Russian people with new disasters, Zhukov is raised as an icon that personifies the spirit of the Russian people, who knows how to put forward a savior-leader in extreme conditions. Zhukov is the embodiment of Russian honor and valor, Russian sovereignty and Russian spirit. No one can erase or tarnish the image of this man on a white horse who has done so much to raise his country to shining heights.
American Brigadier General William Spar
40 years ago, on June 18, 1974, the great commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union, four times Hero of the USSR, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, died. Zhukov went a long and difficult path from a cavalry non-commissioned officer of the 10th Novgorod Regiment to the Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief during the Great Patriotic War.
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was born (November 19) on December 1, 1896 in the village of Strelkovka, Kaluga province. His father was a shoemaker, Konstantin Zhukov. After the events of 1905, he was expelled from Moscow for participating in demonstrations. From that time until his death in 1921, Konstantin Zhukov lived in the village, doing shoemaking and peasant work. George's mother, Ustinya Artemieva, was born and raised in the neighboring village of Chernaya Gryaz in a poor peasant family. The family was poor. Parents worked very hard, but received little. Life was difficult. George from an early age was accustomed to stubborn and hard work.
In 1903, Georgy Zhukov entered the parish school. After finishing three years of school, Georgy began his career as an apprentice in a furrier's workshop in Moscow. He worked in the workshop of his uncle - his mother's brother Mikhail Pilikhin. He was able to accumulate money by hard work and start his own business. A twelve-year-old boy had a difficult time - they got up to work at six in the morning and went to bed at eleven in the evening (in the village they got up early in the morning, but also went to bed early). For the slightest offense, they beat me (then it was the usual procedure). They were allowed to go home on leave only in the fourth year of study.
At the same time, Georgy tried to study, used small crumbs of free time to read books from the library, study with the owner's son. Then the young man entered the evening general education courses, which gave education at the level of the city school. Successfully passed the exams for the full course of the city school. In 1911, after three years of study, he moved to the category of senior students and had three boy students under his command. In 1912, he visited home for the first time, returning as an adult youth. At the end of 1912, George's apprenticeship ended, he became a young master (apprentice).
In May 1915, due to large losses at the front, an early call for youth born in 1895 was made. In the summer, they announced an early call for young people born in 1896. George made the decision to go to the front, although the owner offered to "grease" a capable and honest master. Zhukov was summoned to the town of Maloyaroslavets, Kaluga province. George was selected into the cavalry and taken to his destination - in the city of Kaluga. Here Georgy with other recruits underwent training in a reserve infantry battalion. In September 1915, they were sent to Little Russia in the 5th reserve cavalry regiment. It was located in the city of Balakleya, Kharkov province. Service in the cavalry turned out to be more interesting than in the infantry, but more difficult. In addition to general studies, they taught equestrianism, the use of melee weapons, and had to look after the horses.
By the spring of 1916, Georgy completed his training. He was among the most trained soldiers selected for training as a non-commissioned officer. Zhukov did not want to continue his studies, but his platoon commander, senior non-commissioned officer Durakov, a very demanding and intelligent person, said: “You will still be at the front, friend, but now you better study military affairs, it will come in handy. I am convinced that you will be a good non-commissioned officer. As a result, Zhukov remained in the training team, which was located in the city of Izyum, Kharkov province.
Having passed the exams, Zhukov became a non-commissioned officer. Evaluating the training team of the Russian imperial army, Zhukov noted that they taught well in it, especially with regard to drill training. Each graduate was fluent in equestrianism, weapons and methods of training soldiers. It is not for nothing that in the future many non-commissioned officers of the tsarist army will become excellent commanders of the Red Army. However, the weakness of the old school was educational work, the soldiers were made obedient performers, often disciplinary practice reached the point of cruelty. And formal church rituals could not give real faith. There was no unity between the mass of soldiers and officers, they were from different social classes. Only individual officers were knocked out of general practice.
At the end of August 1916, a young non-commissioned officer was sent to the South-Western Front in the 10th Novgorod Dragoon Regiment. In October, during reconnaissance, the lead patrol ran into a mine. Zhukov received a severe concussion and was evacuated to Kharkov. This injury led to hearing impairment. By the time of registration, George already had two St. George's crosses - for the capture of a German officer and concussion during reconnaissance.
After leaving the hospital, Zhukov felt unwell for a long time, so the medical commission sent him to a marching squadron in the village of Laregi. After the February Revolution, Georgy Zhukov was elected chairman of the squadron soldiers' committee and one of the delegates to the regimental council. In the process of the collapse of the army, when part of the formations began to go over to the side of the Ukrainian nationalists, Zhukov's squadron decided to disband. The soldiers returned home.
The end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918 Georgy spent at home. He wanted to join the ranks of the Red Guard, but fell seriously ill with typhus. As a result, Zhukov was able to fulfill his desire only in August 1918, when he entered the 4th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Moscow Cavalry Division. During the Civil War, the Red Army soldier Georgy Zhukov first fought on the Eastern Front against Kolchak's army. In March 1919 he became a member of the RCP (b). In the summer of 1919 Zhukov took part in battles with the Cossacks in the vicinity of the Shipovo station, in the battles for Uralsk, then in the battles in the area of Vladimirovka station and the city of Nikolaevsk.
In September-October 1919, Zhukov's regiment fought on the Southern Front, took part in the battles near Tsaritsyn, at Bakhtiyarovka and Zaplavny. In the battle between Zaplavny and Akhtuba, during hand-to-hand combat with the White Kalmyk units, he was wounded by a grenade splinter. Shrapnel wounded his left leg and left side. In addition, already in the hospital, Zhukov once again contracted typhus. After a month's vacation, Zhukov came to the military registration and enlistment office to be sent back to the active army.
But he had not yet recovered from his illness and Georgy was sent to Tver to a reserve battalion with the subsequent direction to the courses of the red commanders. The cavalry courses were located in Starozhilov, Ryazan province. The combat cadres consisted mainly of old military specialists. They taught well, conscientiously. Zhukov was promoted to cadet foreman of the 1st squadron. In the summer, the cadets were transferred to Moscow and included in the 2nd Moscow cadet brigade, which was sent against Wrangel's army. Consolidated cadet regiment in August 1920took part in the fight against the landing of Ulagaya near Yekaterinodar, then fought against Fostikov's gangs.
The release took place in Armavir and Zhukov arrived in the 14th cavalry brigade, he was sent to the 1st cavalry regiment. Zhukov was appointed commander of a platoon and then a squadron. At the end of 1920, the brigade was transferred to the Voronezh province to fight the uprising and Kolesnikov's gang. Then the unit took part in the liquidation of the Tambov uprising ("Antonovshchina"). In the spring of 1921, near the village of Vyazovaya Pochta, the brigade entered into a heavy battle with the Antonovites. Zhukov's squadron was in the very epicenter of the battle and distinguished itself, holding back the superior enemy forces for several hours. According to Zhukov, the squadron was saved only by skillful maneuvering and fire control of several machine guns and one gun, which were in service with the unit. Under Zhukov himself, two horses were killed, and political instructor Nochevka rescued him twice. The first time the horse fell, he crushed Zhukov, and the bandit wanted to hack him to death. But the political instructor managed to kill the enemy. The second time, several bandits surrounded Zhukov and tried to take him alive. An overnight stay with several soldiers helped the commander out. The squadron suffered significant losses, but a large bandit formation was also defeated. For this feat, most of the commanders and soldiers were awarded government awards. Zhukov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
After the end of the Civil War, Zhukov continued his military education and went from the regiment commander to the corps commander. In 1923, Zhukov led the 39th Regiment of the 7th Samara Cavalry Division. In 1924 he was sent to the Higher Cavalry School. Since 1926, he taught military pre-conscription training at the Belarusian University for several years. In 1929 he graduated from the courses of the senior commanding staff of the Red Army. Since 1930, the brigade commander in the 7th Samara Cavalry Division (then headed by Rokossovsky). Then Zhukov served in the Belarusian Military District, was an assistant inspector of the Red Army cavalry, commander of the 4th cavalry division, 3rd and 6th cavalry corps. In 1938 he rose to deputy commander of the Western Special Military District.
Zhukov's finest hour came in the summer of 1939, when he led a special rifle corps, then transformed into an army group of the Red Army in Mongolia. In August, Zhukov conducted a successful operation to encircle and defeat the Japanese army on the Khalkhin-Gol River. In this case, Zhukov made extensive use of tank units to encircle and defeat the enemy. This victory was one of the decisive factors that forced the Japanese Empire to abandon its plans to attack the Soviet Union. Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Soon Zhukov was promoted to General of the Army.
In the summer of 1940, the general headed the Kiev Special Military District. In January 1941, Georgy Zhukov took part in two two-way operational-strategic map games. His success was marked by the fact that Stalin appointed Zhukov the head of the General Staff (he held this post until July 1941).
During the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov acted as the "crisis manager" of the Red Army. He was sent to the most difficult and dangerous sectors of the front to stabilize the situation or for the success of a decisive offensive. According to the military historian Alexei Isaev ("Georgy Zhukov: The King's Last Argument"), "Zhukov was a kind of" commander of the RGK "(Reserve of the High Command). His arrival on a sector of the front that was in crisis or requiring special attention guaranteed the Stavka an increased efficiency of Soviet troops in a dangerous direction. Even during the battles of Mongolia with the Japanese army, Zhukov's decisive actions prevented the encirclement and defeat of Soviet troops at Khalkhin Gol and led to a heavy defeat for the Japanese troops. In 1941, Zhukov saw the main weak link of the German "blitzkrieg" the gap between the armored and motorized "wedges" that had rushed forward and the Wehrmacht infantry corps moving behind them, as well as the stretched and weak flanks of the enemy. Zhukov understood that it was necessary to inflict counterattacks in this interval and on the flanks with all the forces that could be assembled. However, the indecision of the command of the Southwestern Front, which was deprived of strong-willed support from Zhukov, led to a disaster.
At the same time, it cannot be said that Zhukov was a commander who did not suffer a single defeat, like Suvorov. He bears on his shoulders part of the responsibility, as chief of the General Staff in the pre-war period, for the hardest first stage of the Great Patriotic War. During the war, he often had to rectify the situation from an almost inevitable catastrophe to a simple defeat or return the situation to a delicate balance. Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov got the most powerful opponents and the most difficult sectors of the front.
It happened that Zhukov had to give up a successfully started business and leave others to reap the fruits of his efforts, again heading to other areas. So, in November 1942, Zhukov was forced to abandon the implementation of the counteroffensive plan at Stalingrad (Operation Uranus) and be responsible for the Mars operation prepared by Konev and Purkaev (the Second Rzhev-Sychev operation), where he was forced to take responsibility for the blunders in planning that he himself would hardly have allowed. On July 13, 1943, instead of reaping the fruits of the successful operation "Kutuzov" on the Western and Bryansk fronts (Oryol strategic offensive operation), Zhukov was forced to leave for the Voronezh front, which was drained of blood by a heavy defensive battle. However, even under these conditions, Zhukov was able to prepare the operation "Commander Rumyantsev" (Belgorod-Kharkov operation), during which Soviet troops liberated Belgorod and Kharkov.
Unfortunately, it was customary in the USSR to keep silent about failures and crises, which was a mistake. As a result, this allowed the enemies of the Russian civilization to create a black myth about the "butcher" Zhukov, who, together with Stalin, "filled up" the Wehrmacht with "corpses" and only at the cost of millions of senselessly ruined "lives defeated Germany. However, the effectiveness of the political and military leadership of the USSR was proven by the flag over the Reichstag and the creation of the best armed forces in the world. And the myth about "filling up with corpses" does not stand up to any criticism. Honest researchers have repeatedly shown that the USSR lost more people in the war than Germany, not because of the mediocrity and bloodthirstiness of the Soviet military-political leadership, but because of several objective factors. Among them are the deliberate destruction of prisoners of war by the Nazis, the genocide of the Soviet population in the occupied regions, etc.
Whether the enemies of the Russian people want it or not, Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov is the national hero of the USSR-Russia. He rightfully entered the ranks of the heroes and great commanders of our civilization, and is on a par with Svyatoslav, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov.
It is not for nothing that on the 30th anniversary of the Victory in Paris there were posters with a portrait of Georgy Zhukov and the signature: "The man who won the Second World War." It is clear that this is an exaggeration, but there is a reasonable beginning in this phrase. Zhukov is the commander who broke the victorious Wehrmacht machine and took Berlin. This is an iron soldier who has come a long way from the tsarist non-commissioned officer to the marshal and minister of defense of the USSR. Attempts to overthrow him from the Victory Pedestal are a war against our historical memory, a blow to our civilization.
Zhukov drank to the bottom and a bitter cup. He experienced envy, mistrust, betrayal and oblivion. Georgy Konstantinovich made a big mistake when he got into politics and supported Khrushchev, first against Beria, and then helped Khrushchev win in the fight against other opponents. This was his mistake. Khrushchev could not tolerate the victorious marshal next to him, who could become the head of the opposition. Which posed a great threat due to Khrushchev's reforms aimed at "optimizing" the armed forces. In addition, Zhukov was one of the few people who forever retained respect for Stalin and defended the Supreme even in the period of the later "de-Stalinization", urging not to go too far and pay tribute to the outstanding organizational skills of the great leader. In October 1957, by order of Khrushchev, Zhukov was removed from all party and government posts. And in March 1958, he was dismissed from the armed forces, to which Zhukov gave almost his entire life. Only when Brezhnev came to power was Zhukov's disgrace partially removed.
K. Vasiliev. Marshal Zhukov
