Georgy Zhukov - Controversy and Praise

Controversy and Praise

After the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov's fame was not really well known by the world, since he was mistreated even in USSR, the country which he fought wholeheartly to protect. Till today, appraisals of Zhukov's career vary. For example, historian Konstantin Zaleski claimed that Zhukov exaggerated his own role in the Patriotic War. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky said that the planning and decisions for the Battle of Kursk were made without Zhukov, that he only arrived just before the battle, made no decisions and left soon after. Andrei Mertsalov stated that Zhukov was rude and wayward. Mertsalov further accused Zhukov of setting unnecessarily and terribly strict rules toward his subordinates.

Others note Zhukov's "dictatorial" approach. For example, Major General P. G. Grigorienko stated that Zhukov demanded unconditional compliance with his orders. Some notable examples for these points include the time, on 28 September 1941, that Zhukov sent ciphered telegram No. 4976 to commanders of the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Navy, announcing that returned prisoners and families of soldiers captured by the Germans would be shot. This order was published for the first time in 1991 in the Russian magazine Начало (Beginning) No. 3. In the same month, Zhukov apparently ordered that any soldiers who left their positions would be shot.

Some historians stated that Zhukov was a typical "squander-soldier general" who was unmoved by his forces' loss of life. Others such as Isaev reject this idea, and quote some of Zhukov's orders stored by the Russian Ministry of Defence and Government of Moscow to prove that Zhukov did care about the lives of his soldiers.

The reason why 49th Army failed to accomplish the attacking mission and suffered heavy loss of lives is because the commanders of the units terribly violated the regulations of using artillery in preparing shot in order to persecuted and broke the enemy's lines and did not pay attention to reinforcing the shelters and trenches for the soldiers to take cover in. The units of 49th Army repeated many useless head-on assaults toward Kostino, Ostrozhnoye, Bogdanovo, Potapovo; that lead to heavy loss of lives and failure of the mission.

Even a person with a primary education level can understand that these strong points are very suitable for defence and shelter. The area in front of these strong points was arranged with many perfect firing posts. Repeating many assaults in winter condition is the result of the indiscipline and the lack of preparing to the idiotic extent that led to heavy and useless loss of lives of the Motherland and for thousands of Mothers.

If you still want to stay at your commanding positions, execute my following order:

Stop immediately the head-on assaults. Terminate instantly the pointless bombardment of artillery in the front. When moving, soldiers must make full use of mountain creeks and forests in order to reduce casualties. Secretly isolate the strong points and do not stop in order to assault Sloboda and Rassvet and develop to Levshina.

I demand you to execute the order before 24:00 of 27 January. —Order of G. K. Zhukov to the High Command of 49th Army on 27 January 1942 You have created such a useless thinking that victory can be achieved by tactic of "using meat to crush people." Victory can only achieved by combat arts and fighting skills, not by people's lives. —Order of G. K. Zhukov to Zakharkin on 7 March 1942 Tactics of Western Front recently indicated a completely unacceptable attitude about saving forces. Commanders of armies, corps, and divisions just threw the units into the battlefields, however they were irresponsible about preparing medical care for the soldiers. Recently, casualty rates of Western Front was two or three times more than other areas; however wounded soldiers were still abandoned. It seems to be that saving lives of the wounded and maintaining health of the soldiers was only considered as a petty problem. —Order of G. K. Zhukov on 15 March 1942

Zhukov also received many positive comments, mostly from his Army companions, from the modern Russian Army, and from his Allied contemporaries. General of the Army Eisenhower stated that, because of Zhukov's achievements fighting the Nazi's, the United Nations owed him much more than any other military leader in the world.

The war in Europe ended with victory and nobody could have did that better than Marshal Zhukov - we owed him that credit. He is a modest person, and so we can't undervalue his position in our mind. When we can come back to our Motherland, there must be another type of Order in Russia, an Order named after Zhukov, which is awarded to everybody who can learn the bravery, the far vision, and the decisiveness of this soldier. —Dwight D. Eisenhower

Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky commented that G. K. Zhukov is one of the most outstanding and brilliant military commanders of the Soviet Military Force. Major General Sir Francis de Guingand, Chief of Staff of Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, described Zhukov as a friendly person. US writer John Gunther, who met Zhukov many times after the war, said that Zhukov was more friendly and honest than any other Soviet leaders. John Eisenhower - Dwight Eisenhower's son - claimed that Zhukov was really ebullient and was a friend of his. Albert Axell in his work "Marshal Zhukov, the one who beat Hitler" claimed that Zhukov is a military genius like Alexander the Great and Napoléon. Axell also commented that Zhukov is a loyal communist and a patriot.

At the end of his work about Zhukov, Otto Chaney concluded:

But Zhukov belongs to all of us. In the darkest period pf World War II his fortitude and determination eventually triumphed. For Russians and people everywhere he remains an enduring symbol of victory on the battlefield. —Otto Chaney