Stalin's General (51 page)

  2
The letter is reproduced in E. Zhukova, “Interesy Ottsa,” in
Marshal Zhukov: Polkovodets i Chelovek
, vol. 1 (Moscow: APN, 1998), pp. 52–53. In his memoirs Zhukov wrote that he saw Voroshilov on June 2 and arrived in Mongolia on June 5. He also implies that he was sent to Khalkhin-Gol with a view to taking over command rather than just conducting an inspection. The documentary record shows otherwise. See Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 1, pp. 177–78.

  3
See E. O. Clubb, “Armed Conflict in the Chinese Borderlands, 1917–1950,” in R. L. Garthoff (ed.),
Sino-Soviet Military Relations
(New York: Praeger, 1966); J. Colvin,
Nomonhan
(London: Quartet, 1999); and G. Lenson,
The Damned Inheritance: The Soviet Union and the Manchurian Crisis, 1924–1935
(Tallahassee, Fla.: Diplomatic Press, 1974).

  4
J. Haslam,
The Soviet Union and the Threat from the East, 1933–1941
(London: Macmillan Press, 1992), pp. 93–94.

  5
Krasnov,
Zhukov
, pp. 100–101.

  6
Ibid., pp. 101–2.

  7
V. Daines,
Zhukov
(Moscow: Molodaya Gvardia, 2005), p. 95.

  8
Krasnov,
Zhukov
, pp. 112–14. This section of Krasnov's book contains the text of a number of orders issued by Zhukov during this period. The originals (seen by me) may be found in RGVA, F. 32113, Op. 1, Dd. 3, 5.

  9
Krasnov,
Zhukov
, pp. 118–20, cites the text of Zhukov's conversation with Shaposhnikov and Voroshilov with Kulik as well as Voroshilov's instruction to Kulik not to interfere.

10
Daines,
Zhukov
, pp. 114–16.

11
V. A. Afanas'ev,
Stanovlenie Polkovodcheskogo Iskusstva G. K. Zhukova
(Moscow: Svyatigor, 2006), p. 83; J. Erickson,
The Soviet High Command: A Military-Political History
, 1918–1941, 3rd ed. (London: Frank Cass, 2001), p. 533.

12
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 1, pp. 185–86.

13
Ibid., pp. 186–88.

14
The text of the order may be found in Afanas'ev,
Stanovlenie Polkovodcheskogo Iskusstva G. K. Zhukova
, pp. 233–34.

15
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 1, p. 192.

16
Krasnov,
Zhukov
, p. 137.

17
Cited by B. V. Sokolov,
Georgy Zhukov
(Moscow: Ast, 2003), p. 143.

18
K. Simonov,
Glazami Cheloveka Moego Pokoleniya
(Moscow: APN, 1989), pp. 319–20.

19
Further evidence of strained relations between Shtern and Zhukov can be found in Major General Petro G. Grigorenko's memoirs. Grigorenko, a Soviet dissident in the 1960s and 1970s, spent several years in psychiatric confinement, imprisoned by the authorities on the grounds that if he opposed the communist system he must be mad. Grigorenko died in 1987—a decade after his enforced emigration to the United States. In June 1939 Grigorenko had been among recent graduates of the Red Army's General Staff Academy who were posted to the Far East, where he served in Shtern's Front Group. Grigorenko paints a very unflattering portrait of Zhukov as a military commander, claiming that during the June battles Zhukov responded to successive Japanese attacks by transferring elements from one sector to another, thus creating a front line consisting of a confusion of temporary detachments. This elementary error Grigorenko attributed to the fact that Zhukov had not attended the General Staff Academy and lacked a military education. He reports, too, that the problem was only sorted out after Shtern's intervention. It has to be said that this story is most unlikely to be true. Zhukov had not been educated at the General Staff Academy but he had attended plenty of other command courses and was an experienced senior officer who would not have made such a gross error. In truth, Grigorenko's memoirs are extremely biased against Zhukov. Shtern, by contrast, comes across as an almost saintly figure and is given credit for the victory at Khalkhin-Gol. The difference in Grigorenko's attitude toward Shtern and Zhukov may be partly related to the subsequent fate of the two men. While Zhukov became the Soviet Union's most famous soldier, Shtern fell victim to a Stalinist purge in October 1941 and was executed. See P. G. Grigorenko,
Memoirs
(New York: Norton, 1982), pp. 105–29.

20
The letter is reproduced in E. Zhukova, “Interesy Ottsa,” pp. 53–54.

21
Daines,
Zhukov
, pp. 126–27.

22
A. D. Coox,
Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939
(Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1990), p. 572. The battle of Cannae took place in 216
B.C
. during the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage.

23
W. J. Spahr,
Stalin's Lieutenants: A Study of Command Under Stress
(Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1997), p. 213.

24
O. P. Chaney,
Zhukov
, rev. ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), pp. 68, 72, 74.

25
Simonov,
Glazami Cheloveka Moego Pokoleniya
, pp. 309–10. Another journalist present was D. I. Ortenberg, who was editor of
Krasnaya Zvezda
during the Great Patriotic War. His memoir of Zhukov at Khalkhin-Gol, which conveys a similar impression to Simonov's, may be found in his “Nezabyvaemoe,” in S. S. Smirnov et al. (eds.),
Marshal Zhukov: Kakim My Ego Pomnim
(Moscow: Politizdat, 1988).

26
K. Simonov,
Tovarishchi po Oruzhiu
(Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo Khudozhestvennoi Literatury, 1961). The novel was first published in 1952.

27
“O Kampanii 1939g v Raione r.Khalkhin-Gol,” RGVA, F. 32113, Op. 1, D. 2. The report was co-signed by political commissar M. S. Nikishev.

  1
For Stalin's speech, see O. A. Rzheshevsky and O. Vekhvilyainen (eds.),
Zimnyaya Voina, 1939–1940
(Moscow: Nauka, 1999), pp. 272–82. An English translation may be found in A. O. Chubaryan and H. Shukman (eds.),
Stalin and the Soviet-Finnish War, 1939–1940
(London: Frank Cass, 2002).

  2
“Zimnyaya Voina”: Rabota nad Oshibkami, Aprel'-Mai 1940g
. (Moscow: Letnii Sad, 2004), doc. 82; and
Glavnyi Voennyi Sovet RKKA, 1938–1941: Dokumenty i Materialy
(Moscow: Rosspen, 2004), p. 5. A good summary of the Timoshenko reforms may be found in W. J. Spahr,
Stalin's Lieutenants: A Study of Command Under Duress
(Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1997), chap. 10. Zhukov became a member of the Main Military Council on July 24, 1940.

  3
J. Colvin,
Nomonhan
(London: Quartet, 1999), p. 13.

  4
See V. Anfilov, “Timoshenko,” in H. Shukman (ed.),
Stalin's Generals
(London: Phoenix, 2001). Timoshenko published no memoirs.

  5
Na Priyome u Stalina
(Moscow: Novyi Khronograf, 2008), p. 300. The next day Zhukov met Stalin again for a much longer meeting, but in the company of a number of other senior officers (p. 301). In his memoirs Zhukov mistakenly dated the meeting with Stalin and his posting to Kiev to early May 1940.

  6
Zhukov,
Vospominaniya
, vol. 1, p. 287.

  7
“O Prisvoenii Voinskikh Zvanii Vyeshemu Nachal'stvuushemu Sostavu Krasnoiarmii,”
Pravda
, June 5, 1940.

  8
Many details may be found in R. S. Irinarkhov,
Kievskii Osobyi
(Minsk: Harvest, 2006), and M. Mel'tukhov,
Upushchennyi Shans Stalina
(Moscow: Veche, 2000).

  9
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 1, pp. 227–28.

10
R. R. Reese,
Stalin's Reluctant Soldiers: A Social History of the Red Army, 1925–1941
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996), pp. 175–85. Reese's treatment is based on the Kiev District's records in RGVA.

11
The Soviet invasion was mostly peaceful and incident-free but in his memoirs Zhukov described an episode in which he ordered two airborne brigades
supported by two tank brigades to seize control of bridges over the Prut River. His aim was to prevent the Romanians from violating an agreement that prohibited the removal of equipment and supplies from the occupied territories. The next day Stalin telephoned Zhukov and told him the Romanian ambassador had complained that Soviet tanks had landed on the Prut River. Stalin wanted to know how that was possible and laughed when Zhukov explained that only the airborne troops had flown to the bridges; the tanks had made their way there separately by road. The humor seems to have been lost on the Soviet censors, who had the whole passage expunged from Zhukov's memoirs. After the Second World War communist-controlled Romania became a Soviet ally but the loss of Bessarabia and North Bukovina remained a sore point for many Romanians. The offending passage did not reappear in Zhukov's memoirs until the tenth edition published in 1990. Zhukov,
Vospominaniya
, vol. 1, pp. 289–91.

12
The text of this directive is reproduced in V. Krasnov,
Zhukov: Marshal Velikoi Imperii
(Moscow: Olma-Press, 2005), pp. 150–54. See also: Reese,
Stalin's Reluctant Soldiers
, p. 184.

13
K. Rokossovsky,
A Soldier's Duty
(Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970), p. 5.

14
O. P Chaney,
Zhukov
, rev. ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), pp. 81–82. An extract from Kalashnikov's memoir may be found in
Marshal Zhukov: Moskva v Zhizni i Sud'be Polkovodtsa
(Moscow: Glavarkhiv, 2005), pp. 97–99.

15
Khrushchev Remembers
(London: Sphere, 1971), p. 144.

16
See O. Rzheshevsky “Shaposhnikov,” in H. Shukman (ed.),
Stalin's Generals
.

17
1941 God
, vol. 2 (Moscow: Demokratiya, 1998), pp. 557–71.

18
Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 95.

19
Ibid., doc. 117.

20
Ibid., doc. 134.

21
G. Gorodetsky,
Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999), pp. 121–24.

22
M. V. Zakharov,
General'nyi Shtab v Predvoennye Gody
(Moscow: Ast, 1989), pp. 220–24.

23
1941 God
, vol. 1, doc. 224.

24
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 1, p. 121.

25
I. Kh. Bagramyan,
Tak Shli My k Pobede
(Moscow: Voenizdat, 1977), pp. 7–9.

26
V. A. Afanas'ev,
Stanovlenie Polkovodcheskogo Iskusstva G. K. Zhukova
(Moscow: Svyatigor, 2006), pp. 110–13.

27
The record of the conference proceedings may be found in “Nakanune Voiny: Materialy Soveshchaniya Vyschego Rukovodyashchego Sostava RKKA 23–31 Dekabrya 1940g,”
Russkii Arkhiv: Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voina, 1941–1945
, vol. 12 (1) (Moscow: Terra, 1993).

28
G. Zhukov, “Kharakter Sovremnnoi Nastupatel'noi Operatsii,” in ibid., pp. 129–51.

29
Ibid., pp. 152–72.

30
D. G. Pavlov, “Ispol'zovanie Mekhanizirovannykh Soedinenii v Sovremennoi Nasupatel'noi Operatsi i Vvod Mekhanizirovannogo Korpusa v Proryv,” in ibid., pp. 252–300. On Pavlov's role in the development of Soviet tank doctrine, see M. R. Habeck,
Storm of Steel: The Development of Armour Doctrine in Germany and the Soviet Union, 1919–1939
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2003), passim.

31
“Zakluchitel'naya Rech' Narodnogo Komissara Oborony Souza SSR Geroya i Marshala Sovetskogo Souza S.K. Timoshenko na Voennom Soveshchanii 31 Dekabrya 1940g,”
Russkii Arkhiv: Velikaya Otechestven naya Voina, 1941–1945
, vol. 12 (1) (Moscow: Terra, 1993), pp. 338–72.

32
Na Priyome u Stalina
, p. 322.

33
The fullest version of this episode may be found in the unexpurgated edition of Zhukov's memoirs: Zhukov,
Vospominaniya
, vol. 1, pp. 291–92. It seems that Stalin's corrections were taken into account by Timoshenko prior to the publication of his speech as a booklet for internal circulation with the armed forces. See
1941 God
, vol. 1, p. 498, no. 2. A copy of Timoshenko's speech as published in 1941 may be found in the Volkogonov Papers in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.

34
On the war games, see Zakharov,
General'nyi Shtab v Predvoennye Gody
, pp. 239–50; Gorodetsky,
Grand Delusion
, pp. 127–29; P. N. Bobylev, “K Kakoi Voine Gotovilsya General'nyishtab RKKA v 1941 godu,”
Otechestvennaya Istoriya
, no. 5, 1995; and B. Fugate and L. Dvoretsky,
Thunder on the Dnepr: Zhukov-Stalin and the Defeat of Hitler's Blitzkrieg
(Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1997), chap. 1. Fugate and Dvoretsky's treatment of the war games is commensurate with their hypothesis that the Soviet plan for coping with a German attack involved the deliberate sacrifice of Pavlov's Western District with the aim of drawing the Wehrmacht deep into Russia before the launch of a counteroffensive, which finally came at Moscow in December 1941. In this connection they posit a third war game in February 1941, from which Pavlov was excluded, in which this scenario was played out. It is an intriguing, speculative idea but there is no direct evidence to support it; it gives Stalin, Zhukov, and Timoshenko far too much credit for prescience.

35
Cited by Chaney,
Zhukov
, p. 89.

36
E. Mawdsley, “Crossing the Rubicon: Soviet Plans for Offensive War in 1940–1941,”
International History Review
, December 2003, pp. 826–27.