WWII Marshals of the Soviet Union

[anselmo1]

I would have to say that Marshal Zhukov impressed me the most out of any WWII Soviet Marshal!

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translat.../BIOS/Zhukov.html&lp=ru_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

 

[anselmo1]

His resume as a Marshal impressed me! "Where you find Zhukov, you find victory"!

http://worldatwar.net/biography/z/zhukov/

 

[cooncatbob]

He's lucky that Stalin didn't have him killed after the war as Stalin was jealous of his popularity and people Stalin was jealous of had short life span.
Zhukov was a great commander, he had an order shoot anyone who retreats. WW2 on the Russian front was war at it's most brutal. There were many battle where the Russians lost more men then the USA lost in the entire war.
Bob.

 

[cookie]

The Kursk Salient

This battle was the largest tank battle in history so far right?? It was as crucial to winning the War as the Coral Sea or Midway no?

 

[anselmo1]

Kursk 1943

For more images check this link out:

http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/wwii/photos/gallery_003/page_01.htm

 

[mikepara]

Thats a nice print anselmo1

Any Marshall who survived both WW2 and Stalin I must tip my hat to. Thats lady luck and guardian angels working overtime, that is.

 

[MaximOfSurrey]

"Komrad Zhukov, I still see a spot of fabric that doesn't have some form of medal or badge on it."

Not to say he wasn't a good general or anything... but damn were the Soviets ever crazy about awarding medals. I wonder if some of those have chocolate centers?

 

[anselmo1]

You should see how many medals he had on backside of his uniform.

 

[dhermann1]

I remember when he was kicked out of the party and sent off to run a power station in the Ukraine in 1957. It was a big deal. Being only 10 years old, I didn't understand the significance of the whole thing. I think it could be said that his non fatal ouster was something of a step forward for communist government. He was lucky he didn't have an "accident".
They say he used to sleep only two hours a night for months on end. He must have had a truly iron physical constitution as well as an iron will.

 

[RudyN]

Thanks for the link on the Kursk Battle photos, they are great.

 

[JimInSoCalif]

"Komrad Zhukov, I still see a spot of fabric that doesn't have some form of medal or badge on it."

Not to say he wasn't a good general or anything... but damn were the Soviets ever crazy about awarding medals. I wonder if some of those have chocolate centers?

He only seems to have only one hanging from his belt, so he could have worn just a few more. Of course, if he wore fewer he would not look so ridiculous.

 

[dr greg]

Tactics?

I read a dissertation on Zhukov that analysed his actual generalship in the battles of Khalkin Gol against the Japanese, and basically his tactics weren't much more sophisticated that Haig in WW1, he just had more troops and considered them expendable. His ruthlessness towards his own men seems to have been pretty much his major strength, like Giap, whether he was in the league of say Guderian or Patton, or even a textbooker like Monash, is debatable. That he held the Wehrmacht at bay is not disputed, but how much of that was just collective will personified is another question.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Tactics vs Strategy

I read a dissertation on Zhukov that analysed his actual generalship in the battles of Khalkin Gol against the Japanese, and basically his tactics weren't much more sophisticated that Haig in WW1, he just had more troops and considered them expendable. His ruthlessness towards his own men seems to have been pretty much his major strength, like Giap, whether he was in the league of say Guderian or Patton, or even a textbooker like Monash, is debatable. That he held the Wehrmacht at bay is not disputed, but how much of that was just collective will personified is another question.

It's important to consider the distinction between strategy and tactics, Zhukov's strength was as an overall Strategist, much like Eisenhower, Marshall, or U.S. Grant. Overall commanders frequently posses the ability to see the bigger picture, but are not alway gifted battlefield commanders. Also, much like Patton, Zhukov was came from a horse cavalry background - which would possibly explain his aggressive tactics.

Zhukov did much more then simply hold the Wehrmacht - owing to the losses of 1941, by 1942 Germany no longer possessed the ability to launch theater-wide strategic offensives - it was the beginning of the end, much in the same way as Midway was in the Pacific.

 

[Chas]

I think that the Red Army of WWII was the army I would least want to fight. Not only were there so darn many of them, but they had such kick-butt artillery that was truly something out of another world.

 

[MPicciotto]

The Red Army also was fighting in the same way the Japanese were fighting near wars end. On their own land. Their home. Given the tenacity with which the British, Commonwealth nations and America fought I would like to believe that it would have been on par with the Red Army had the war been on British or American soil. I don't mean this post to demean the exploits of the Red Army. Just to say that they had some additional motivation. "Mother Russia" I've been to Russia twice now and the Russians tend to be fiercely protective of their country. They often don't like how it is being governed and may have all manor of disparaging things to say about the Government and how roads are not maintained etc. But in the end the Russian wants to keep Russia Russian. After all the Germans were the "Fascist Invaders"

Matt

P.S. The RKKA was comprised of the "Workers and Peasants". The "workers" were often followers of the Soviet system, the "Peasants"...even thru the collectivism of farms still considered the land theirs and not for Germany to take.

 

[filfoster]

Soviet WW2 Marshals

Any Marshall who survived both WW2 and Stalin I must tip my hat to. Thats lady luck and guardian angels working overtime, that is.

Amen to this thought. It was an easy choice to be ruthlessly successful because their boss didn't allow mulligans.