North King said:
1st rate, smashed his opponents many times with the use of a smaller force. Excellent grasp of tactics and logistics. Rarely defeated.
9/10
General!
Georgi Zhukov
Excellent as I've read his autobiography, amongst other books on his life.
Well, lets start with a nice quote, that I agree with...ah, hmm:
Born on December 2, 1896, in the village of Stelkovka, about sixty miles east of Moscow, to peasant parents, Zhukov became an apprentice furrier at age fifteen. In 1915 he was drafted into the Russian Imperial Cavalry, advanced to the rack of sergeant, and earned several awards for valor fighting against the Germans in the early stages of World War I. During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Zhukov served in the Red Army as a cavalry officer and in March 1919 joined the Communist Party.
http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military/zhukov.html
Right, essentially he was from a tough background working on a poor farm, living in a hovel. He eventually went to Moscow and worked his butt off in a furrier, earning good money and teaching himself various things. Later in life he got stuck in the military, fought well, chose the right side in the revolution and moved up the ranks using that thing inbetween his ears.
Zhukov is known as the general who has never lost a battle, a major advantage he had being the huge resources Russia had to offer in terms or men and material and that his master, Stalin didn't care too much about losses as long as the job got done.
Zhukov's first triumph was in 1939 in Manchuria facing off against the Japanese at Khalkin Gol. Zhukov had 50,000 men Vs 70,000, more tanks and a comparable no. of planes. As per usual, the Russians had loads of artillery. In essence, the Russians smashed the Japanese and got a peace that lasted until Russia attacked Japan in 1945. In this battle, the Russians faced off against the Japanese whilst Zhukov encircled the Japanese with his superior armour reserves...hey presto, a victory, who'd have thunk war could be so simple
Zhukov next major task was to organise the defences of Leningrad after Stalin felt that local commanders would give in too easily. Zhukov did what he did best...organise and bully others into getting their act together. It seemed like in Russia people needed to have the threat of death to do what was necessary and people like Stalin, Beria and Zhukov were good at prompting the right people whilst being amazing administrators into the bargain. Zhukov for his next party piece had the battle of Moscow, in which he threw in the reserves and brought the Germans to a standstill, again a matter of will, vast amounts of effort and having the men to throw in. An interesting side-note is that the reserves included the transfer in a matter of days of the Siberian forces in the East, a Soviet spy in Japan determining that the Japanese had their eyes on other targets away from Manchuria, a vital discovery and incredibly, believed and taken full advantage of.
Zhukov was absolutely shattered after the battle, even Stalin let him sleep rather than answer his phonecall as he felt the chap had earnt it
Throughout the war Zhukov commanded with distinction the Russian forces, be it at Stalingrad or Kursk...but later on in the fight for Berlin, he showed his competitive nature and ruthlessness by his blunt application of force getting access to Berlin and in the taking. He cost many a Russian life through ambition.
Zhukov was very much like Stalin and in turn was respected by Stalin. He was honest, forthright (standing up to Stalin and cronies when critised by essentially giving a version of "if you can do it better, you do it better"), capable, ruthless (he had many shot for incompetance and as an example and would bleed 100,000s of thousands to achieve his goals even if it were but a race against other generals), intelligent (he often avoided simple use of blunt force) and he never lost and kept his head.
Zhukov survived a hard upbringing, the Germans, the Civil War, the Soviet Purges, WW2 and then survived Stalin and removed Beria who was a very dangerous man indeed. The man was incredible, to my mind, I consider him in many respects like Stalin, but with an aptitude for actually running the military and the wealth of military experience Stalin never had.
Rating 9/10 - the 1 removed, was for being too happy to lose men to compete against other generals and to achieve political targets. Otherwise, he is as good as it gets. God, it is 3:35 am, I should go to bed.
7/10
