Stalin's General (55 page)

Read Stalin's General Online

Authors: Geoffrey Roberts

BOOK: Stalin's General
5.57Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

39
Ibid., p. 586. A copy of the directive may be found in the Volkogonov Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.

40
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, p. 395.

41
See L. Bezymenksi,
The Death of Adolf Hitler
(London: Michael Joseph, 1968).

42
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, p. 401.

43
Zhukov's meetings in Stalin's office in May–June 1945 are recorded in
Na Priyome u Stalina
, pp. 454–57. On Stalin and the Far Eastern War see T. Hasegawa,
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005), and G. Roberts,
Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953
(London: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 279–95. There are unconfirmed reports that the invasion and occupation of Hokkaido—the northern Japanese home island—was also under discussion and that Zhukov dismissed the idea as an “escapade.” See: J. Haslam,
Russia's Cold War
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2011), p. 60.

44
“Press-Konferentsiya u Marshala G. Zhukova,”
Pravda
, June 10, 1945. Zhukov was accompanied at the press conference by Deputy Foreign Commissar A. Y. Vyshinsky.

45
A. Werth,
Russia at War, 1941–1945
(London: Pan, 1965), pp. 889–93.

46
Zhukov's timing is about right. On June 19 he attended a military conference in Stalin's office that discussed the Soviet entry into the Far Eastern war, scheduled to begin with an attack on the Japanese in Manchuria in August:
Na Priyome u Stalina
, p. 457.

47
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 423–24.

48
W. J. Spahr,
Zhukov, The Rise and Fall of a Great Captain
(Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1993), pp. 192–93.

49
Ibid., p. 194. Patton was killed in a road accident in December 1945.

50
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 442, 449–51.

51
The two classic studies of the Soviet occupation regime in Germany are J. P. Nettl,
The Eastern Zone and Soviet Policy in Germany, 1945–1950
(London: Oxford University Press, 1951), and N. M. Naimark,
The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995).

52
B. R. von Oppen,
Documents on Germany Under Occupation, 1945–1954
(London: Oxford University Press, 1955), pp. 29–35.

53
R. Murphy,
Diplomat Among Warriors
(New York: Doubleday, 1964), pp. 258–59.

54
Zhukov,
Vospominaniya
, vol. 3, pp. 317, 350–51.

55
Cited by Chaney,
Zhukov
, p. 347.

56
Eisenhower Papers, Pre-Presidential Principal File, Box 110, File on Joseph Stalin, Deane to Eisenhower, August 28, 1945, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas.

57
Sovetsko-Amerikanskie Otnosheniya, 1939–1945
(Moscow: Materik, 2004), doc. 346.

58
Ibid., doc. 8.

59
Ibid., docs. 104, 107.

60
Spahr,
Zukhov: The Rise and Fall of a Great Captain
, pp. 185–86.

61
G. Zhukov,
Vosominaniya i Razmyshleniya
, vol. 3 (Moscow: APN, 1992), p. 35.

62
G. P. Kynin and J. Laufer (eds.),
SSSR i Germanskii Vopros, 1941–1949
, vol. 2 (Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya, 2000), doc. 54.

63
“Stenogramma Vystupleniya Glavnonachal'stvuushchego SVAG—Glavnokomanduushchego GSOVG G.K. Zhukova,”
Sovetskaya Voennaya Administratsiya v Germanii, 1945–1949
(Moscow: Rosspen, 2005), pp. 90–100.

64
See Naimark,
The Russians in Germany
, chap. 2.

65
SSSR i Germanskii Vopros
, doc. 42.

66
Naimark,
The Russians in Germany
, p. 77.

67
G. Roberts,
Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953
(London: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 264.

68
“Marshal G. K. Zhukov u Svoikh Izbiratelei,”
Pravda
, January 28, 1946.

69
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo (1957g.) Plenuma TsK KPSS i Drugie Dokumenty
(Moscow: Democratiya, 2001), doc. 1.

CHAPTER 11:
EXILED TO THE PROVINCES

  1
G. Zhukov, “Korotke o Staline,”
Pravda
, January 20, 1989.

  2
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo (1957g.) Plenuma TsK KPSS i Drugie Dokumenty
(Moscow: Democratiya, 2001), part one, doc. 2 and n. 2, p. 640.

  3
Ibid., pp. 586–91.

  4
Ibid., doc. 3.

  5
See P. Sudoplatov,
Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness—A Soviet Spymaster
(London: Warner, 1994), pp. 313–14, 328.

  6
See G. Roberts,
Molotov: Stalin's Cold Warrior
(Washington, D.C.: Potomac, 2012), pp. 17–18.

  7
See G. Roberts,
Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953
(London: Yale University Press, 2006), chap. 11.

  8
Marshal Zhukov: Polkovodets i Chelovek
, vol. 2 (Moscow: APN, 1988), p. 70.

  9
Zhukov,
Vospominaniya
, vol. 3, p. 364; Zhukov, “Korotke o Staline.”

10
K. Simonov,
Glazami Cheloveka Moego Pokoleniya
(Moscow: APN, 1989), p. 330. This passage was brought to my attention by O. P. Chaney,
Zhukov
, rev. ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), pp. 373–74.

11
S. P. Markov, “Poslevoennye Gody,” in
Marshal Zhukov: Polkovodets i Chelovek
, vol. 1 (Moscow: APN, 1988), p. 21.

12
Document in V. Krasnov,
Zhukov: Marshal Velikoi Imperii
(Moscow: Olma-Press, 2000), p. 463.

13
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo
, part one, docs. 6, 8, n. 11, p. 643. According to Stalin's appointments diary his last meeting with Zhukov was on April 29, 1946. Contrary to some reports, Zhukov did not attend the 1947 Central Committee meeting that excluded him from membership.

14
Ibid., doc. 9, and n. 13, p. 643; W. J. Spahr,
Zhukov: The Rise and Fall of a Great Captain
(Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1993), pp. 206–207.

15
A. Mirkina,
Vtoraya Pobeda Marshala Zhukova
(Moscow: Vniigmi-Mtsd, 2000), p. 24.

16
Document in Krasnov,
Zhukov
, pp. 467–70.

17
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo
, pp. 591–93.

18
Ibid., part one, doc. 10.

19
Zhukov, “Korotke o Staline.”

20
“Pavel Semenovich Rybalko,”
Pravda
, August 28, 1948.

21
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo
, pp. 641–42.

22
Reabilitatsiya: Kak Eto Bylo
, vol. 1 (Moscow: Materik, 2000), docs. 26–27.

23
“F. I. Tolbukhin,”
Pravda
, October 19, 1949.

24
Bol'shaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya
, 2nd ed. (Moscow: Ogiz, 1952), pp. 222–23.

25
Spahr,
Zhukov
, p. 209.

26
Chaney,
Zhukov
, p. 380.

27
Marshal Zhukov: Polkovodets i Chelovek
, vol. 2, p. 70.

28
I. Mastykina,
Zheny i Deti Georgiya Zhukova
(Moscow: Komsomol'skya Pravda, 1996), pp. 78–79.

29
Marshal Zhukov: Moskva v Zhizn i Sud'be Polkovodtsa
(Moscow: Glavarkhiv, 2005), pp. 491. The quote is from a “diary” of Zhukov's in his daughter Maria's possession. The diary appears to be retrospective rather than contemporary and the date of its composition is unknown.

30
Ibid., pp. 493–94.

31
Ibid., pp. 495–503.

32
Mastykina,
Zheny i Deti Georgiya Zhukova
, passim.

33
“Posle Smerti Stalina,”
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo
,
pp. 620–39. The original of this document may be found in RGVA, F.41107, Op. 2, D. 1. It consists of an unsigned, undated, and uncorrected typescript. As the editors of this volume say, it appears to have been composed not by Zhukov but by someone else on the basis of conversations with him. The editors date the document c. 1963–1964.

34
“Posle Smerti Stalina,” p. 621.

35
“U Groba Velikogo Vozhdya,”
Krasnaya Zvezda
, March 9, 1953.

36
“Posle Smerti Stalina,” p. 622.

37
Ibid., pp. 623–24. According to Khrushchev, Zhukov entered the room and shouted “hands up” to Beria. When Beria reached for his briefcase, Khrushchev, fearing there was a gun in it, grabbed his arm.
Khrushchev Remembers
(London: Sphere, 1971), pp. 303–304.

38
Chaney,
Zhukov
, p. 388.

39
This section is based on D. Holloway,
Stalin and the Bomb
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994), p. 325ff. A few documents relating to the Totskoe test/exercise may be found in the Volkogonov Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.

40
In the 1980s, some soldiers who had taken part in the exercise claimed their ill health was a result of exposure to radiation. There were also reports of a higher than normal incidence of cancers in the Totskoe region. These claims and reports provided further ammunition for Zhukov's critics. Victor Suvorov, for example, rather distastefully compared “Zhukov's experiment” at Totskoe with Nazi medical experiments conducted on camp inmates during World War II. More balanced was the view of David Holloway, the leading western expert on the Soviet atomic bomb program, who pointed out that the Americans had conducted similar exercises and commented: “It is clear that measures were taken to protect the troops and the villagers; but it is also clear that the High Command took a harsh view of what troops would face on the nuclear battlefield and wanted to create those conditions in the exercise.” Holloway,
Stalin and the Bomb
, p. 328.

CHAPTER 12:
MINISTER OF DEFENSE

  1
Prezidium TsK KPSS, 1954–1964
, vol. 1 (Moscow: Rosspen, 2004), p. 40.

  2
See G. Roberts, “Stalin and the Katyn Massacre,” in G. Roberts (ed.),
Stalin: His Times and Ours
(Dublin: IAREES, 2005).

  3
On Khrushchev: W. Taubman:
Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
(London: Simon & Schuster, 2003).

  4
Khrushchev Remembers
(London: Sphere, 1971), p. 144.

  5
Author interview with Era Zhukova, Moscow, April 2010.

  6
“Marshal G. K. Zhukov Interviewed by William Randolph Hearst, Jr., J. Kingsbury Smith, and Frank Conniff, February 7, 1955,”
New Times
, no. 8, 1955. The interview was published in
Pravda
on February 13.

  7
See M. Evangelista,
“Why Keep Such an Army?”: Khrushchev's Troop Reductions
, Cold War International History Project Working Paper No. 19, December 1997.

  8
Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament
(London: André Deutsch, 1974), p. 15.

  9
“Proposal of the Soviet Government on the Reduction of Armaments, Prohibition of Atomic Weapons, and Elimination of the Threat of Another War,”
New Times
, no. 20, pp. 2–6.

10
See G. Roberts,
A Chance for Peace? The Soviet Campaign to End the Cold War, 1953–1955
, Cold War International History Project Working Paper No. 57, December 2008.

11
“Protokol: O Sozdanii O'bedenennu Komandovaniya Vooruzhennyi Sila Gosudarst-uchastnik Dogovora o Druzhbe, Sotrudnichestve i Vzaimoi Pomoshi,” Arkhiv Vneshnei Politiki Rossiiskoi Federatsi, F. 6, Op. 14, Pap/4, D. 54, Ll. 68–74.

12
“Russia's Marshal Zhukov,”
Time
, May 9, 1955.

13
Bohlen's report to U.S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles, June 10, 1955, Eisenhower Papers, Anne Whitman Files, International Series, Box 49, USSR 1953–55, File 1, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas.

14
Cited by O. P. Chaney,
Zhukov
, rev. ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), p. 400.

15
Bohlen's record of the two meetings may be found in the Eisenhower Presidential Library: Dulles Papers, General Correspondence and Memoranda Series, Box no. 3, File: Strictly Confidential U-Z (2). Troyanovsky's record:
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo
, part two, docs. 11–12. Archive copies of Troyanovsky's record may be found in Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Noveishei Istorii, F. 5, Op. 30, D. 116. The two sets of minutes do not differ in any significant detail. It was common practice for Soviet and western interpreters to compare notes after the meeting. My summary combines elements of both.

16
O. Troyanovsky,
Cherez Gody i Rasstoyaniya
(Moscow: Vargrius, 1997), p. 191.

17
Cited by Chaney,
Zhukov
, p. 402.

18
A. Gromyko,
Memories
(London: Hutchinson, 1989), pp. 166–67.

19
Troyanovsky,
Cherez Gody i
, pp. 193–94.

20
Ibid.

21
Prezidium TsK KPSS, 1954–1964
, vol. 1, pp. 41–42; A. Fursenko and T. Naftali,
Khrushchev's Cold War
(New York: Norton, 2006), pp. 28–29.

Other books

Take Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates
Tunnel of Night by John Philpin
4 Buried Secrets by Leighann Dobbs
Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan
And Be Thy Love by Rose Burghley
City of Echoes by Robert Ellis
Deathstalker by Green, Simon R.
C.R.O.W. (The Union Series) by Richards, Phillip
Kill You Last by Todd Strasser
A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch