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MARSHAL GEORGI KONSTANTINOVICH ZHUKOV

Reference:

A. CLM EX 5-7 dated 1 Apr 11.

INTRODUCTION

1. According to Oxford Dictionary; Command means an authoritative order and

Leadership means the action of leading a group of people or an organization whereas

Management brought the meaning of the process of dealing with or controlling things or

people1. These three words are synonym with a role of a person as a commander, Marshal

Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov who succeeded in leading Soviet Union and managed to lead

other nations from the Axis Powers and conquered Berlin as well.

2. Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov was a Russian military leader of the Second

World War. He was a one of the talented, greatest and the most decorated general in the

history of both Russia and the Soviet Union. His stature was so great at the end of the war

that Stalin rusticated him lest his enormous popularity prove a rallying point for the creation

of a Russian Napoleon.2 During his services, high level of military leadership skill and merit

were confirmed by numerous victory battles and operations. He served in the Russian

Imperial Army during World War 1.

3. During the World War II, Zhukov commanded the defence of Moscow which he was

involved in the most important Soviet battles and led the final attack on Berlin. He was
1
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition accessed on 25th May 2011.
2
Harison E Salisbury, Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles, London, Unwin Brothers Limited, 1969, p. 3.
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promoted to Marshal in 1943 and remained in Germany to head the Soviet Occupation

Forces. Shortly after his triumphant return to Moscow in 1946, he was demoted to a regional

post by Premier Joseph Stalin, who resented the Marshal`s prestige. Following the death of

Stalin in 1953, Zhukov became first deputy minister of defence in 1955 and a member of the

executive committee of the Communist Party in 1957. Three months later, he was dismissed

from both offices for allegedly giving military affair priority over the party concerns. His

death in 18 June 1974 was marked by burial with full military honours in Red Square at the

Kremlin Wall. A phrase coined in the Red Army during the war was “Where you find

Zhukov, you find victory”.

4. John Keegan wrote, that is in Marshal Georgi Zhukov, were united all the necessary

qualities of a great military leader. Strategic and tactical knowledge, along with courage,

leadership, and political influence during the Great Patriotic War, made Zhukov one of the

most respected military commanders on both sides of that conflict 3. Writing at the time of

Zhukov’s fall from grace under Nikita S. Khrushchev, the Indian ambassador to Moscow,

Krisha Menon, wrote the following in his personal diary in November 1957:

No star shone in the Russian firmament after Stalin’s death with greater lustre than
Zhukov’s. The attempts that are now being made to blot it out can only be called pitiful. The
Party may succeed in keeping Zhukov’s figure out of the public eye, but it will not succeed in
keeping his memory out of the hearts of men… Ultimately truth will triumph, and Clio will
place Zhukov by the side of such favorites as Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov, and
Alexander Nevsky…4

AIM

3
Albert Axell, Marshal Zhukov, The Man Who Beat Hitler (London: Pearson Longman, 2003), p. 8.
4
Axell, 169. See also K.P.S., Delhi-Chungking (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957).
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5. The aim of this paper is to critically examine the Comd, Leadership and Mngt style of

Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov

SCOPE

6. The paper will cover the scope as follows:

a. Background.

b. Leadership Qualities.

c. Strategist and Tactical Ability.

d. Lesson Learnt.

e. Conclusion.

DISCUSSION

BACKGROUND

7. Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov was born on 12 January 1896 in Strelkova of

Maloyaroslavets Raion Kaluga, southwest of Moscow. 5, Russia to a small family of peasants.

His family was desperately poor; his lived in the flat, wooden and old house with one room

5
Wikipedia/Georgi Zhukov/htm. accessed on 25th May 2011.
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and two windows. Zhukov studied for seven years in parish school and receiving excellent

grades and making the honors list. At the age of eleven, he moved to Moscow, where he

became an apprentice in fur trading and continued working until 1915. His career in military

was begun in the same year when he was selected for the Cavalry. He joined the Red Army in

1918 and fought as a cavalry commander in the Russian Civil War. 6Due to First World War

on same year in 7 August, he joined the Imperial Army and selected for the 106th Reserve

Cavalry Regiment, then the 10th Dragoon Novgorod Regiment. Zhukov was served with

pride, he was awarded the Cross of St. George twice and promoted to the rank of non-

commissioned officer for his bravery in battle 7 and then promoted to officer status. He

continued serving until the Russian Revolution8.

8. After the Russian Revolution, Zhukov abandoned the Imperial Army to join the new

Red Army and the communist party. His leadership abilities and knowledge of military

tactics distinguished him from his fellow soldiers that proponent of the new theory of

armored warfare and was noted for his detailed planning, tough discipline and strictness, and

a "never give up" attitude. Because of that, in 1923 Zhukov was commander of the Thirty-

Ninth Bazuluksk Cavalry Regiment9 and in 1930 he was given command of the 2nd Cavalry

Brigade, which allowed him to experiment with mechanized tanks.

9. He went to China with the Soviet military mission attached to Chiang Kai Shek and

had a look at the techniques of the Japanese Kwantung Army. 10 Later, Zhukov became a

leading proponent of mechanization and modernization of the Red Army. 11 In 1939, he was

6
www.exordio.com/1939-1945/zhukov.html accessed on 25th May 2011.
7
www. freeinfosociety.com/site accessed on 25th May 2011.
8
Jonathan Dunder, Articles/Biographies/Military Leaders/Zhukov, Georgi.
9
Otto Preston Chaney, Marshal Georgi Zhukov, United States, University of Oklahoma Press, 1969, p 13.
10
Harison E Salisbury, Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles, p. 8.
11
Ibid, p 15.
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sent to Mongolia, where he managed to gain command of the First Soviet Mongolian Army

when the Japanese invaded. He quickly organized defences and conducted highly skilled

offenses using artillery, aircraft, and tanks. After launching a three-pronged attack, the

Japanese were caught by surprise and retreated to the safety of the Khalkin Gol River.

Zhukov used massive force of tanks and strengthened his defensive line while planning an

offensive to destroy the Japanese. He was awarded with the title “Hero of the Soviet Union”

and his victory in the games convinced Stalin to promote him to Chief of General Staff. In

1941, Stalin was forced Zhukov to resign from his position in the general staff because of he

pushed forward a proposal that involved withdrawing Russian forces from Kiev and

reorganizing the front line. Zhukov returned to the front lines in Leningrad, helping to restore

confidence and morale in the troops and then promoted to General of the Army and command

of the Kiev Military District. In 1943, he was promoted to a Marshall and remained in

Germany to lead Soviet Forces. He returned to Moscow in 1946.12

10. During World War II, Zhukov involved in major Soviet battles and he won all the

battles. Although he did well in the battles, his relationship with Joseph Stalin, Premier of the

Soviet Union was not in healthy situation. This happens owing to Stalin jealousy of Zhukov`s

military successes and feared it will abate his popularity. Zhukov became the first Deputy

Minister of Defence in 1955 and a member of the executive committee of the Communist

Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in July 1957. Khrushchev, successor of Stalin felt threaten

by Zhukov popularity, accused Zhukov of disloyalty and stripped him of his military and

political authority. He spent his life, writing his version of World War II and Post War. He

died on 18 June 1974 at the age of seventy-seven. Zhukov is buried in the Kremlin Wall, and

as remembrance of his honour, an equestrian statue was built outside Red Square in front of

12
Concise.britaninica.com/ebe/article/georgy Zhukov.
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the State Historical Museum. In 1996, the Order of Zhukov was establish in the Armed

Forces of the Russian Federation in honour of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

11. Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, a great character as the Military

commander has the charisma, various experiences both as the Commander, Leader and

Manager of not only battle force but also managing such a huge military force during Second

World War. His character traits, courage and wisdom are admired and aspired by many as

written in his memoirs, Reminiscences and Reflections. It is worthy knowing this eminent

leader, Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov for his Command, Leader and Management

Style.

12. Command Style. Marshall Zhukov has been frequently described and well-known for

his outspoken nature and his disagreements and confrontations with his superior, Stalin. He

was skilled, decisive, demanding, energetic, but authoritarian, stubborn, morbidly proud and

insufficiently sensitive commander who conducted military operations with dogged

determination. He served most of his early years in the Red Army with the cavalry. Wherever

he commanded, he made sure the soldiers under his command were the best-trained, most-

disciplined troops in the Red Army13. Zhukov was determined not to change his command

style even though exiled to a post of less importance than his postings in Moscow. He stayed

as vigilant and demanding as ever 14. Soldier and officers under Zhukov trained for long hard

hours and discipline was harsh for those who stepped out of line.

13
Albert Axell, Marshal Zhukov, The Man Who Beat Hitler (London: Pearson Longman, 2003), 41-43
14
Viktor Anfilov, “Georgii Konstantinovich Zhukov,” in Stalin’s Generals, by Harold Shukman (London:
Phoenix, 1977), 357.
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13. Leadership Style. Marshal Zhukov was the most influential individual in the

military leadership of the Soviet Union. He was recognized by the Soviet as the greatest

heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Until now, he remains a controversial figure whose career

saw him drift from fame to obscurity and back again on multiple occasions. He stayed in the

memory of common folks in Belarus especially during serve, as a military commander in

Byelorussian. Even though was the embodiment of the uncompromising, ironhanded success

that Russians so admire in their leaders. He respected Belarusian culture, spoke fluent

Belarusian language and respect to different ethnic cultures was also exhibited in his position

against anti-Semitism. His instrumental role in winning victory and honesty despite his brash

personality makes him a successful general.

14. Management Style. Marshall Zhukov was a keen proponent of the new theory of

armoured warfare and was noted for his detailed planning. He was tough, quick-tempered,

perseverance but yet impose strict discipline based on brutal force and fear, penal battalions

and companies and blocking detachments. He has ability to take responsibility, for instance

during the invasion of Hungary in October 1956, following an uprising there against Soviet

interference. He is also involved in the formulation of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons

policy. He also survived from Joseph Stalin purges of military commanders of Red Army in

1937.

STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL ABILITY

15. Strategic, Operation and Tactical Ability. Marshall Zhukov was the strategic

planning and tactical leadership of the Soviet high command and manoeuvre warfare

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advocate that develop military tactics including the use of tanks and mobile units in offensive

manoeuvres. He participates in regular war-game exercises, writes manuals and textbooks on

military subjects. He also desires to emphasize military strategy and training at the expense

that political agitation was made necessary by the significance of newly applied military

technologies. Marshall Zhukov saw the rapid development in military technology and

implementation of a new strategic doctrine and military as he thought to incorporate the new

technologies of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, coupled with ballistic rocketry. He also

believed that the beginning of new military thinking within the Soviet Union 15 had a role to

play on a nuclear battlefield and saw nuclear weapons as complements to traditional

conventional armaments men and tanks.

16. Thinking and Cognitive Skills. Zhukov was an instrumental in bringing changes

and newly fresh thinking into Soviet strategic doctrine and believed that the only way of

winning a future war was with combined arms and not reliance on nuclear weapons. As

Minister of Defense, Zhukov modernized the Soviet military, a military that was used on one

occasion in combat while he was in power. Zhukov and the Soviet high command, including

the General Staff, formulated Soviet military strategy, but it had to be accepted by the

political leadership the CPSU16. Coincidentally, the rise of Zhukov both in the military and in

the decision-making institutions simplified the process of formulating and accepting strategic

doctrines in the Soviet Union.

17. Decision Making. The main thinking of Marshall Zhukov had been characterized as a

victory at any cost, casualties meant little for him even to the scarified Russian people. His

15
David Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939-1956 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1994), 331.
16
Kolkowicz, 76. At the 19th Party Congress of the CPSU an unusually large amount of military professionals
were given membership in the Central Committee.
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military leadership skill is the greatness of the victories that he sustained and feats of arms

that he accomplished. During the battles, his decisions were well, thought-off and can execute

in order to achieve the victory. Examples of his strategic and tactical plans are in the Battle of

Khalkin Gol. The Japanese plan was for a two-pronged assault. Four regiments of the 23rd

Division would advance across the Khalkin Gol, destroy Communist forces on Baintsagan

Hill on the west bank, then make a left turn and advance south to the Kawatama Bridge. The

second prong of the attack would be the task of the Yasuoka Detachment, commanded by

Major General Yasuoka Masaomi17. Marshall Zhukov decided it was time to break the

stalemate. He deployed approximately 50,000 Soviet and Mongolian troops of the 57th

Special Corps to defend the east bank of the Khalkhin Gol, then crossed the river on 20

August to attack the elite Japanese forces with three infantry divisions, massed artillery, a

tank brigade, and the best planes of the Soviet Air Force. 18 Once the Japanese were pinned

down by the advance of the Soviet centre units, the armoured units swept around the flanks

and attacked the Japanese in the rear, cutting lines of communication, overcoming desperate

Japanese counterattacks (one Japanese officer drew his sword and led an attack on foot

against Soviet tanks), and achieving a classic double envelopment. When the two wings of

Zhukov's attack linked up at Nomonhan village on the 25th, the Japanese 23rd division was

trapped. On 26 August, an attack to relieve the 23rd division failed. On 27 August the 23rd

attempted to break out of the encirclement, but failed. When the surrounded forces refused to

surrender, Zhukov wiped them out with artillery and air attacks. The battle ended 31 August

with the complete destruction of the Japanese forces. Remaining Japanese units retreated to

east of Nomonhan.

LESSON LEARNT

17
www.time.com/magazine/article/html 25th May 2011..
18
Ibid.
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18. The conflict at Nomonhan grew out of the running conflict between Russia and Japan

over influence in China and Mongolia, especially Manchuria, the northeastern-most part of

China. Manchuria was rich in grain, coal and iron, and was also blessed with warm water

ports, eagerly coveted by the Russians for their Pacific fleet. In the Russo-Japanese War

(1904-05) the Japanese humiliated the Russians, driving them from the richest parts of

Manchuria. It was the turn of the Japanese to be humiliated at the hands of General Zhukov,

the Soviets used the lessons learned in this conflict to defeat the Germans, and the Japanese

did not learn any lessons and went on to an even bigger humiliation at the hands of the USA.

Zhukov went on to use these tactics against the Germans and routed them all the way to

Berlin and victory, unfortunately he spent his final years of his life in Siberia apparently he

was too successful and liked by all in the armed forces.

CONCLUSION

19. Marshall Zhukov career can tell us much about the nature of the Great Patriotic War.

As a Stalin’s deputy, he played a uniquely influential role and understanding, which is

essential in understanding Soviet strategy and tactics during the World Wars and brilliant

military commander that brought tremendous victories from Moscow to Berlin. Other than

that, Marshall Zhukov career arc was shaped irrevocably by the nature of the system he

served, and his fall from grace at the end of the war was a notable.

20. He proved to Khrushchev (First Secretary of the CPSU) for a time as well,

successfully assisting in the arrest and execution of Beria and the defence of Khrushchev

from his political opponents, but he eventually proved too much for Khrushchev to tolerate

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and was sent into a second period of obscurity. With the release of further documents in the

glasnost era, a truer picture of Zhukov is beginning to emerge, with both unnecessary polish

and unfair tarnish removed, and he is regaining his proper place in history.

21. The Russo-German War of 1941-45 was the greatest military conflict ever fought, and

Zhukov was one of the most crucial elements in the Soviet victory. He used his role within

the successful Soviet command structure, born from the harsh experiences of the first months

of war, to conduct a well-planned, unquestionably victorious campaign against Nazi

Germany, and it is unfortunate that the system he fought for with such distinction has clouded

understanding of the man for so long. As a capable and intelligent commander, Zhukov led

Soviet forces to victory in the Great Patriotic War, and led a revolution in military thought

and strategy in the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

RECOMMENDATIONS

22. The only recommendation that can be put forth is the idea to be nationalistic and be

proud to serve in the military. In today’s world, it is getting harder to get the young people to

join in the military and serve the country because of pure enthusiasm. People are more

concerned to make money and personal comfort than being nationalistic for the sake of the

country and its sovereignty. Finally we will need to consider the modern environment in

which we will have to exercise our leadership skills. Studies of lessons from the past are only

useful when they are use with considerations of the future. We will need to study carefully

the future events to identify the difficulties and to determine how we will exert influence on

our men and our mission.

(2845 Words)

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Jun 11

GREAT PATRIOTIC HERO

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Book

Albert Axell, Marshal Zhukov, The Man Who Beat Hitler (London: Pearson Longman, 2003).

Albert Axell, Marshal Zhukov, The Man Who Beat Hitler (London: Pearson Longman, 2003).

Axell, 169. See also K.P.S., Delhi-Chungking (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957).

David Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939-1956
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).

Harison E Salisbury, Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles, London, Unwin Brothers Limited,
1969.

Harison E Salisbury, Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles.

Kolkowicz, 76. At the 19th Party Congress of the CPSU an unusually large amount of
military professionals were given membership in the Central Committee.

Otto Preston Chaney, Marshal Georgi Zhukov, United States, University of Oklahoma Press,
1969.

Viktor Anfilov, “Georgii Konstantinovich Zhukov,” in Stalin’s Generals, by Harold

Internet

Concise.britaninica.com/ebe/article/georgy Zhukov taken May 2011.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition taken May 2011.

Jonathan Dunder, Articles/Biographies/Military Leaders/Zhukov, Georgi

Wikipedia/Georgi Zhukov/htm. taken May 2011.

www. freeinfosociety.com/site taken May 2011.

www.time.com/magazine/article/html taken May 2011.

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