Stalin's General (53 page)

37
Vasilevsky,
A Lifelong Cause
, p. 121.

38
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 44–46.

39
Na Priyome u Stalina
, p. 355.

40
G. K. Zhukov v Bitve pod Moskvoi
, doc. 62.

41
D. Glantz,
Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia, 1941
(Stroud, U.K.: Tempus, 2001), p. 188.

42
Cited by E. Mawdsley,
December 1942: Twelve Days That Began a World War
(London: Yale University Press, 2011), pp. 219–20.

43
Bitva za Moskvu: Moskovskaya Operatsiya Zapadnogo Fronta, 16 Noyabrya 1941g.–31 Yanvarya 1942g
(Moscow: Tranzitkniga, 2006), p. 240. This is the Soviet General Staff's own study of the Moscow counteroffensive. It was one of a number of such studies written and circulated in secret during the war with the aim of distilling and disseminating the experience of major operations. These studies are invaluable for the clarity of their description of the course of battles from the Soviet point of view and for references to important archive documents that cannot be found anywhere else.

44
A. Werth,
The Year of Stalingrad
(London: Hamish Hamilton, 1946), p. 99.

45
Cited by Vasilevsky in
A Lifelong Cause
, p. 152.

46
My summary of the Rzhev-Viazma operations of 1942 is based on S. Gerasimova,
Rzhev 42: Pozitsionnaya Boinya
(Moscow: Yauza-Eksmo, 2007). The book contains a number of maps and an appendix with the relevant Stavka orders. Gerasimova's casualty figures have been challenged by General M. A. Gareev: “O Nashikh Poteryakh podo Rzhevom i Vyaz'moi,”
Voenno-Istoricheskii Zhurnal
no. 3, 2002.

47
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, p. 62. In an unpublished interview with the editors of
Voenno-Istoricheskii Zhurnal
in the 1960s Zhukov was more critical of Efremov's conduct than he was in his memoirs but he accepted his own responsibility for the failure and pointed out that this was far from being the only operation during which mistakes were made (
Kommunist
no. 14, 1988, p. 96).

48
See V. Mel'nikov,
Ikh Poslal na Smert' Zhukov? Gibel' Armii Generala Efremova
(Moscow: Eksmo, 2009). Also: Krasnov,
Zhukov
, pp. 304–31; Spahr,
Zhukov
, pp. 84–87; and Chaney,
Zhukov
, pp. 197–200.

49
A copy of this document may be found in the Volkogonov Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.

50
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 52–55.

51
Ibid., p. 86.

52
Khrushchev Remembers
(London: Sphere, 1971), pp. 536–37.

53
K. S. Moskalenko,
Na Ugo-Zapadnom Napravlenii
, 2nd. ed., vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka, 1975), pp. 168–213.

54
Vasilevsky,
A Lifelong Cause
, pp. 163–64.

55
I. K. Bagramyan,
Tak Shli My k Pobede
(Moscow: Voenizdat, 1998), pp. 305–53.

56
These documents may be found in D. M. Glantz,
Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster Through Soviet Eyes
(Shepperton, U.K.: Ian Allan, 1998). Glantz's invaluable book also contains a detailed narrative of the battle and an extensive account of the Soviet discussion of the disaster.

57
Ibid., pp. 224–25.

58
Ibid.

59
See M. N. Ramanichev, “Nevidannoe Ispytanie,” in G. N. Sevast'yanov (ed.),
Voina i Obshchestvo, 1941–1945
, vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka, 2004), p. 88.

60
Vasilevsky,
A Lifelong Cause
, p. 157.

61
See P. P. Chevela, “Novye Ispytania,” in V. A. Zolotarev and G. N. Sevast'v yanov (eds.),
Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voina, 1941–1945
, vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka, 1998–99), pp. 325–27. Also Ramanichev, “Nevidannoe Ispytaniye.”

62
Stalin,
On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union
, pp. 32, 34.

  1
B. Wegner, “The War Against the Soviet Union, 1942–1943,” in H. Boog et al. (eds.),
Germany and the Second World War
, vol. 6 (Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 2001).

  2
H. R. Trevor-Roper,
Hitler's War Directives, 1939–1945
(London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1964), p. 117.

  3
J. Stalin,
On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union
(London: Hutchinson, 1943–44), p. 38.

  4
Trevor-Roper,
Hitler's War Directives
, pp. 129–30.

  5
Extensive extracts from the Soviet General Staff's daily briefing reports may be be found in
Stalingradskaya Bitva
, 2 vols. (Moscow: Olma-Press, 2002). The volumes also contain reprints of many articles from the Soviet press as well as Stavka directives, Front and army reports, and many other documents.

  6
Stalingrad, 1942–1943: Stalingradskaya Bitva v Dokumentakh
(Moscow: Biblioteka, 1995), docs. 109–10, 120.

  7
Khronika Ognenykh Dnei, 17 Iulya 1942, 2 Fevralya 1943
, Volgograd, 2002. The date derives from the Soviet General Staff's study of the Stalingrad battle prepared in 1943. See L. Rotundo (ed.),
Battle for Stalingrad: The 1943 Soviet General Staff Study
(London: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1989), pp. 12–13.

  8
A full English translation of Order No. 227 is appended to G. Roberts,
Victory at Stalingrad: The Battle That Changed History
(London: Pearson/Longman, 2002).

  9
A. Werth,
Russia at War, 1941–1945
(London: Pan, 1965), part 4.

10
“Na Uge,”
Krasnaya Zvezda
, July 19, 1942.

11
“Ob Ustanovlenii Polnogo Edinonachaliya i Uprazdnenii Instituta Voennykh Komissarov v Krasnoi Armii,”
Krasnaya Zvezda
, October 10, 1942.

12
On the Stalin-Churchill conversations of August 1942, see G. Roberts,
Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953
(London: Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 134–43.

13
J. Erickson, “Zhukov,” in M. Carver (ed.),
The War Lords: Military Commanders of the Twentieth Century
(Barnsley, U.K.: Pen & Sword, 2005), pp. 251–52.

14
On Chuikov: R. Woff, “Chuikov,” in H. Shukman (ed.),
Stalin's Generals
(London: Phoenix, 2001).

15
On the battle for Stalingrad see Roberts,
Victory at Stalingrad
; A. Beevor,
Stalingrad
(London: Penguin, 1999); W. Craig,
Enemy at the Gates
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973); M. Jones,
Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed
(Barnsley, U.K.: Pen & Sword, 2007); D. M. Glantz & J. M. House,
Armageddon at Stalingrad
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009); and J.S.A. Hayward,
Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942–1943
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).

16
In his memoirs Zhukov wrote that he went to Stalingrad on August 27. However, Stalin's appointments diary and other documentation indicates that he was in Moscow until August 31.

17
G. K. Zhukov v Stalingradskom Bitve: Sbornik Dokumentov
(Moscow: Biblioteka, 1996) pp. 66–67.

18
Stalingrad, 1942–1943
, doc. 220.

19
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 93–99.

20
Rotundo (ed.),
Battle for Stalingrad
, p. 415.

21
See
Stalingrad, 1942–1943
, docs. 221, 225, 227, 228, 229, 231, 258.

22
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, p. 129.

23
Various articles, editorials, and statements published in
Izvestiya, Pravda
, and
Krasnaya Zvezda
from November 29, 1942, onward.

24
D. M. Glantz,
Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War
(London: Frank Cass, 1989), chap. 5.

25
D. M. Glantz,
After Stalingrad: The Red Army's Winter Offensive, 1942–1943
(Solihull, U.K.: Helion, 2009), p. 391.

26
O. P. Chaney,
Zhukov
, rev. ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), p. 237.

27
Na Priyome u Stalina
(Moscow: Novyi Khronograf, 2008), pp. 396–98.

28
Glantz,
After Stalingrad
, p. 426. This document is one of many by Zhukov cited verbatim by Glantz in this volume. My treatment of Polar Star and Zhukov's role in the operation is based almost wholly on Glantz's book.

29
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 150–52.

  1
Ella Zhukova, “Interesy Ottsa,” in
Marshal Zhukov: Polkovodets i Chelovek
, vol. 1 (Moscow: APN, 1998), p. 55.

  2
Era Zhukova, “Otets,” in ibid., p. 43.

  3
Ibid., p. 56.

  4
Letters of October 1943 and February 1944, cited by V. Daines,
Zhukov: Rozhdennyi Pobezhdat'
(Moscow: Yauza/Eksmo, 2008), pp. 384–85, 406–407.

  5
I. Mastykina,
Zheny i Deti Georgiya Zhukova
(Moscow: Komsomol'skya Pravda, 1996), pp. 86–87. Photographic reproductions of Zhukov's letters to Margarita may be found in
Georgy Zhukov: Al'bom
(Moscow: Poligrafresursy,
1995). The Douglas referred to by Margarita would have been the version of the American plane manufactured by the Soviets under license. During the war these planes—designated the Lisunov Li-2—were converted for military use and equipped with armaments.

  6
When preparing the second edition of his memoirs Zhukov wrote several pages thanking various members of his support team. For some reason the acknowledgment pages were not published (RGVA, F. 41107, Op. 1, D.52, Ll. 72–76).

  7
Bedov's memoir may be found in his “Ryadom s Marshalom” and in V. Peskov, “Govoryat Sputniki Zhukova,” both in
Marshal Zhukov: Polkovodets i Chelovek
.

  8
A. N. Buchin,
170 000 Kilometrov s G. Zhukovym
(Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya, 1994), p. 42. This memoir consisted of a series of interviews with N. N. Yakovlev, who published the first serious Russian biography of Zhukov in 1992.

  9
B. V. Sokolov,
Georgy Zhukov: Triumf i Padeniya
(Moscow: Ast, 2003), pp. 433–42; “Zheny i Docheri Marshala Zhukova,”
Komsomol'skaya Pravda
, June 7, 1996, August 22, 1996, September 30, 1996. I am grateful to Boris Sokolov for giving me the reference to these interviews by Mastykina, which were reproduced in her
Zheny i Deti Georgiya Zhukova
.

10
Georgy Zhukov: Stenogramma Oktyabr'skogo (1957g.) Plenuma TsK KPSS i Drugie Dokumenty
(Moscow: Democratiya, 2001), p. 593.

11
R. R. Reese,
Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011), pp. 300–301.

12
W. J. Spahr,
Zhukov: The Rise and Fall of a Great Captain
(Novato, Calif: Presidio, 1993), p. 133.

13
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, pp. 150–52.

14
S. M. Shtemenko,
The Soviet General Staff at War, 1941–1945
, vol. 1 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970), pp. 152–53. See also the documents in “Podgotovka k Kurskoi Bitve,”
Voenno-Istoricheskii Zhurnal
, no. 6, 1983.

15
Zhukov,
Reminiscences
, vol. 2, p. 160. Zhukov dates these discussions April 11–12 but Stalin's appointments diary indicates that the critical meetings with Stalin took place on April 16–18. See
Na Priyome u Stalina
, pp. 403–404.

16
Ibid., pp. 211, 159. On Antonov, see Richard Woff's essay in H. Shukman (ed.),
Stalin's Generals
(London: Phoenix, 1997). Rokossovsky admired Antonov, too, describing him as “a master of operational art” but complained that he never pressed an objection with Stalin.

17
Shtemenko,
The Soviet General Staff at War
, vol. 1, p. 90; vol. 2 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1985), p. 473.

18
A copy of this order may be found in the Volkogonov Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.

19
On Soviet plans and preparations see D. M. Glantz and J. M. House,
The Battle of Kursk
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999).

20
D. M. Glantz,
Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War
(London: Frank Cass, 1989), pp. 146–82.

21
K. Rokossovsky,
A Soldier's Duty
(Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970),
p. 202. An expanded version of Rokossovsky's memoirs published in 2002 contained additional material that criticized Stavka's use of representatives such as Zhukov as an unnecessary barrier between Front commanders and Stalin and the General Staff (K. Rokossovsky,
Soldatskii Dolg
[Moscow: Olma-Press, 2002], pp. 265–66). This seems to have been a common, and predictable, complaint by Front commanders, who naturally wanted direct access to the High Command in Moscow. Those like Zhukov and Vasilevsky who served as Stavka representatives defended the system as a necessary link in the chain of command. That seems to have been the view of Stalin and the General Staff as well, since the trend during the war was toward ever more strengthening of the authority of Stavka's representatives in the field.

22
Cited by Daines,
Zhukov
, p. 358.