Soviet Military Commanders

Zhukov is synonomous when it comes to discussing military leaders of the Soviet Union, but to spark up a discussion, I felt it necessary to mention a few more.

The Stalinist purges of the '30s left the USSR with only 2 of its 5 Marshalls of the Soviet Union. One of which was Voroshilov (or as Krushev rightly put him, "The biggest bag of shit in the Army"), who is probably most noted for his disasterous failure during the first half of the Winter War. When the Germans invaded, he was put in command of the Soviet armies around Leningrad, but once again his military incompetence got the better of him and after several more defeats, he was removed of command.

On the other hand, Timoshenko was a competent professional soldier, but many of his ideas and thoughts went back to the Tsarist days. It was he who re-instituted the egregious treatment of soldiers in the armies. However, he is also responsible for the Red Army's modernization after the German invasion, which is regarded as the key to Soviet military victory in WWII. After his failed offensive around Krakov in 1942, he was replaced by Georgi Zhukov and placed commander of various locations for the remainder of the war.

Koniev is another Russian General that deserves merit. During the intial German invasion, his forces retreated towards Moscow, battling the entire journey, and drawing blood from the invaders for every inch they took. After the Soviet victory at Kursk, he and his armies took the fight to the Germans, liberating many cities in the Ukraine, Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. He was promoted to Marshall in 1944.

That's all for now, I must be going, but if anyone has anything to add, please do.

 

hey what about Rokossowski
he was arrested in 1937 during Stalins clean out and after his release he led the 16th Army do defend Moscow wounded seriusly in march 1942 he took command over the don front and operated against the german 6th army in Staligrad his unit was renamed and dispatched to kursk in 1943 to counter the german offensive
later he Liberated Minsk and took part in the destruction of the german army group middle in summer 1944 after he reached warzaw he conquerd east preussia to lead the right wing of the operation berlin
after ww2 he even became to polish secretary of defense

 

The real sad part of these Generals' stories is that after the war, they were all either fired/demoted, thrown in a gulag, or forced to command some measly army group on a meaningless frontier (this is what happened to Zhukov). Stalin was so afraid that these men would pose a threat to them that he ruined their careers. Pathetic.

 

Not really. Stalin was probably aware that in the Roman empire it was a habit of popular generals who claimed the loyalty of the armies they commanded, and were familiar with the people as victorious leaders, to simply have a shot at absolute power by using "their" armies against the government. In a political system as personalized and informal (Stalin himself never actually held the official leading position in the Communist party for example) as that of the Soviet Union in these days, it is perfectly imaginable that a general like Zhukov would pull such a coup.

 

I would expect such from a general like Zhukov, but Stalin knew that the purges in the 1930s was the major factor in the Red Army's initial defeat, yet failed to learn from it. After the War, US and Soviet relations continued to rapidly deteriorate, for there was no common ground (ie Hitler) to warrant further cooperation. War could have, in Stalin's view, broken out any day between the US and USSR, so to once again cripple the Soviet military command was idiotic, but fortunate for the rest of the world.

I see this as pathetic because the other Allied generals came home to celebration, promotions, and retirements, while Soviet generals are demoted, killed or imprisoned. But that's war, or post-war, something like that.

 

The Allies made their generals into heroes, Stalin feared them too much to do this as they would probably become more popular than him!

 

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though call but on the front level ,first, off course is zuhkov by far the best
"operational" general , rokossovsky , a pole from nobility with a personnal
experience of the inside of a NKVD jail was one of Stalin favorite ,
Koniev was one too, the killer general, who loved crushing retreating
germans under tanks tracks and did not bother with prisonners once they
had talked themselves dry
cherniakovsky ,38 years old and a front commander !
the russian mac pherson , the best, who got killed stupidly during a stupid
counter-attack
vasilievsky the great chief of staff , timochenko who held when everything
was turning to shit , all the good generals who died with their men in the
mad battles of 41 while the NKVD was shooting anyboby who had a clue
chiukov the commander ,who on being asked where he was, answered than
he was in the middle of the flammes , he was simply describing the location
of his HQ in stalingrad fuel depot, erroneously though to be empty


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