Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov

by Georgi K. Zhukov, Marshal G. Zhukov

Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, hero of Leningrad, defender of Moscow and Stalingrad, commander of the victorious Red Army at Berlin, was the most decorated soldier in Soviet history. Zhukov's career spanned most of the Soviet period, reflecting the turmoil of the civil war, the hardships endured by the Russian people in World War II, the brief postwar optimism evidenced by the friendship between Zhukov and Eisenhower, repression in Poland and Hungary, and the rise and fall of such political figures as Stalin, Beria, and Krushchev.

Genres: History, Biography, Russia, World War II, Military Fiction, Russian Literature, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Георгий Константинович Жуков; 1 December 1896 – 18 June 1974), was a Soviet career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army drive through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union from the occupation of the Axis Powers and to conquer other nations, and ultimately, to conquer the capital of Germany itself, Berlin. He is the most decorated general officer in the history of the Soviet Union and Russia.

Amongst many notable generals in the World War II, G. K. Zhukov was placed at the top in the respect of number and scale of victories and his talent in operational and strategical command was recognized by many people. Many famous military leaders in the world such as Bernard Law Montgomery, Dwight David Eisenhower and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny had already recognized Zhukov's great contributions in many important victories in the Second World War. His combat achievements became valuable heritages in humanity's military knowledge, exerted great influence on both the Soviet and the whole world's military theory.

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was quite a chore to read this all the way through. Its hard to separate, the man from the propaganda. And theres a lot of propaganda in the text. There are only small details about Zhukov's private life, allegedly most of it was censored by the Soviet Press as anti-patriotic. Some of the dialogue between Zhukov and Stalin is interesting, at some point Zhukov locks horns with Stalin and accepts a lesser position because he knows the Stavka, and Stalin are wrong. All the statistics are there and he does refer to a lot of different commanders, mostly upper brass, and the occasional grunt. Its hard to picture the various commanders, generals, etc...Because he doesn't talk too much about them individually, almost no faces to a name. He tries to bring some order to the chaos of the Russian Front but we rarely get a sense of how intense the battles really were. Only toward the closing chapters does he defend loosely his position during the Stalin purges of the late 30s, and his disrepute with the Khrushchev administration. The publisher neglected to correct a few typos that occur every few chapters. There are some interesting strategic ideas here but what interested me more was Zhukov's personal discipline. At some point in order to stay awake, he asks his driver to stop the car and runs instead just to stay awake. Overall there isn't too much you wouldn't find online but the dialogue between Zhukov, and Stalin were interesting enough. The statics you can find anywhere though. I imagine if Zhukov had lived longer the text would have been more personal and private about his life and not just about the famous general he was.

[Leah G]

Memoirs of Zhukov. What you'd expect, honestly. Lots of battles fought and lost and won. Thanking soldiers who helped him. Praising the Soviet people. He seems like a tough guy who knew what he was doing. Has a couple of pretty good stories worth reading. Also gives the Russian perspective on a number of incidents often written about by Brits and Americans. I will include one of the more important quotes.

"In the course of the [Potsdam] Conference the head of the American delegation, President Truman, made an attempt to mount a psychological attack on Stalin with the objective of political blackmail...Truman informed Stalin that the United States now possessed a bomb of exceptional power, without, however, naming it the atomic bomb.
As was later written abroad, at that moment Churchill fixed his gaze on Stalin's face, closely observing his reaction. However, Stalin did not betray his feelings...both Churchill and many other Anglo-American authors subsequently assumed that Stalin had really failed to fathom the significance of what he had heard.
In actual fact, on returning to his quarters after this meeting Stalin, in my presence, told Molotov about his conversation with Truman. The latter reacted immediately: "Let them. We'll have to talk it over with Kurchatov and get him to speed things up."
I realized they were talking about research on the atomic bomb." (pgs. 674-675)

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

مارشال گئورگی ژوكف فاتح برلن ، نابغه نظامی روسیه و قهرمان شوروی است كه ۱۱ دسامبر سال ۱۸۹۶ به دنیا آمد. ژوكف كه پدرش یك كشاورز فقیر بود ، یك سرباز وظیفه در ارتش تزاری بود كه در انقلاب بلشویكی اكتبر ۱۹۱۷ شركت كرد و وارد حزب كمونیست شد. او سپس به عنوان یك سرباز ارتش سرخ در جنگ با ضد انقلابیون شركت كرد .
در سال ۱۹۳۹با واحدهای تحت فرمان خود نیروهای ژاپنی را كه پس از اشغال منچوری چین به مغولستان تجاوز كرده بودند از انجا اخراج كرد .
پس ازرسیدن نیروهای ارتش آلمان به دروازه مسكو ، خود فرماندهی دفاع از پایتخت را به دست گرفت و با بكار گرفتن آتش وسیع و بی سابقه توپ، در دسامبر۱۹۴۱ آلمانی ها را با تحمل تلفات سنگین مجبور به عقب نشینی كرد و با این كه رئیس ستاد ارتش شوروی بود شخصا به آزاد ساختن استالینگراد پرداخت و موفق شد كه بهترین افراد و ژنرالهای آلمان را در آنجا به اسارت بگیرد . سپس به یاری مارشال وروشیلوف در شكستن محاصره طولانی لنینگراد ( سن پترز بورگ ) شتافت و پس از رفع محاصره ، از اوكراین حمله همه جانبه خود به نیروهای آلمان را آغاز كرد كه به حمله نهایی سال ۱۳۴۵ انجامید و در آوریل همین سال برلن را تصرف كرد و در آلمان شرقی مستقر شد . ژوكف با وجود انعقاد یك پیمان عدم تعرض میان آلمان و شوروی ، تعرض آلمان به شوروی را پیش بینی كرده بود وهمراه با دلایل خود، در این زمینه به استالین هشدار داده بود.
ژوكف به تجربه تاریخ عقیده خاص داشت و می گفت كه نباید ترتیبات صلح مانع تمهیدات دفاعی یك كشور شود . ژوكف می گفت كه نیروهای بالقوه دشمن باید به مسافت بسیار دور از مرزهای اصلی وطن باشند و با این استدلال با تخلیه شرق المان و كشورهای حد فاصل اروپای غربی و روسیه مخالف بود .آن چه كه از سال ۱۹۸۹در اروپا با موافقت سران مسكو انجام شده است درست عكس عقاید ژوكف بوده است . مطبوعات غرب كه روانشناسی استالین را می دانستند در بزرگ كردن ژوكف و این كه او برنده جنگ با هیتلر بود تلاش بسیار كردند و به وسیله اورا از چشم استالین كه می خواست پیروزی به نام او در تاریخ ثبت شود انداختند و استالین برای كوچك كردن ژوكف اورا بركنار و به یك كار كوچك در «اودسا» گمارد .
پس از درگذشت استالین ، ژوكف به قدرت باز گشت و در سال ۱۹۵۵ وزیر دفاع و در سال ۱۹۵۷ عضو كمیته مركزی حزب كمونیست شد. ژوكف كه عقیده به نوسازی لاینقطع تسلیحات و باز نایستادن از كار ساختن سلاحهای هرچه پیشرفته تر داشت راه را برای برتری تسلیحاتی روسیه باز كرد .او بود كه گفت سلاحهای پیشرفته به خودی خود مانع جنگ می شوند زیرا كه یك دولت تا مطمئن به پیروزی نشود دست به نعرض نمی زند.
به گفته ژوكف كه نظرات او در آكادمی های نظامی تدریس می شود اگر همه كشورها بتوانند ازسلاحهای دفاعی لازم برخوردار شوند ، دیگر جنگی روی نخواهد داد .« ضعف نظامی » باعث جنگ می شود.
وی گفته است كه هیچ كس نمی تواند پایان یك جنگ و نتایج آن را پیش بینی كند. ژوكف در جنگ تعرضی معتقد به نیروی ورزیده ، متحرك ، كم و سرباز حرفه ای بود و در جنگ دفاعی عكس این نظر را داشت . از او نقل كرده اند كه تا دست یافتن به سلاحهای برتر ، می توان برای بازداشتن حریف به دروغ و خدعه هم متوسل شد و خود را دارای این نوع سلاحهایی وانمود كرد . از گزارش هایی كه در باره ژوكف نوشته شده چنین بر می آید كه اوضاع امروز جهان را كه قدرتهای بزرگ مانع از دسترسی كشورهای كوچكتر به سلاحهای پیشرفته و موثر خواهند شد پیش بینی كرده بود. وی همچنین اواخر عمر ابر قدرت شدن چین و اروپای غربی را پیش بینی كرده بود و گفته بود كه رقابت های اقتصادی شدیدا افزایش خواهد یافت .
ژوكف در دوران خروشف چندی مورد توجه او بود كه چون با برنامه همزیستی مسالمت امیز خروشچف با غرب میانه خوبی نداشت و می گفت كه یكی از دو قدرت بالاخره از سر راه دیگری باید كنار برود از چشم وی افتاد .
پس از بر كناری خروشچف دوباره مورد توجه قرار گرفت و سپس باز نشسته شد و به نوشتن كتاب از جمله خاطرات خود روی آورد و در سال ۱۹۷۴ در گدشت و شاهد كنار رفتن شوروی از برابرغرب و فروپاشی آن نشد.

[Joshua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very very disappointing i couldnt even finish it . It was my first attempt to read a Soviet memoir.


Zhukov likes to play with history facts alot to twist to his own view or ignore them completely
The Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939? not even mentioned. He talks about how the USSR needed to gear up to fight the Nazis.....in the late 1920s when both the Nazi party and future Chancellor
Adolf Hitler havent even been elected yet. The purges of the Red Army in 1930s? not mentioned either.

The clash with Imperial Japan in 1939? to his mind the whole reason for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and China was to invade the Soviet Union and of course they were no match for the Red army....

But the all of his own arse licking combined with the above made me give this book the boot. To him the Soviet Union and the Red Army can do no wrong, they are simply the best.

Even with my years of reading Axis memoirs where they give credit when credit is due and also the faults, i have never seen so ,much arse licking then in this book, very very disappointed. Now that i think of i dont remember any arse licking in memoirs of Manstein or Kesselring for example .

[Michael Linton · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was actually two volumes combined in one book. Well over a 1,000 pages. The GREAT majority of the book was worthless. So much propaganda for Russia, Stalin, the army and on and on. In addition, tt wasn't really an autobiography, it was a retelling of events of his time in the army for the most part. And it was so basic in the things he wrote. The army went here, they defeated the enemy and blah, blah, blah. The hypocrisy about the Nazi's was annoying as if the Soviet Union was high and mighty like a true democracy.

The reason I was interested in reading this book was because when I read the Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan, it was about how Stalin pitted Zhukov against the other general. There was no mention of that other than in the section about Stalin's death.

I think I learned about 5% of new information in this book.

[gaverne Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[tom cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, my dissertation was about Zhukov so I read as many books about him as I could.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read although very dense in parts. You have to read between the lines a bit to figure out which battles ended disastrously because he doesn’t explicitly say it. He gives quite a balanced opinion of Stalin, which is refreshing. The end of the book touches on his life after the war and under Khrushchev which was interesting. It’s quite funny that most of the reviews online are from people who can’t seem to grasp that maybe Zhukov just had a genuine affection for the Soviet people and socialist system, a lot of people in the West seem to think Russians are robots who can’t form their own opinions or something. I’d highly recommend this book if you’re interested in the Red Army and WWII.

[Ahmad Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally have a strong affinity for Zhukov but regardless, the image of the early Soviet Union and his rise through the ranks is riveting and incredibly insightful. There is a noticeable tinge of propaganda but the reading is worthwhile.

[paul russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding

Very good up to the chapter about how the Russian army behaved in Berlin .And the obvious crap on communist brain washing that is than God not practisted today

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book on the Soviet efforts during the war. However, you have to get past all of the communism is great throughout the book.

[Nathaniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It ended up being a lot drier of a book than I thought it would. The most interesting part to me was Zhukov's childhood. That was quite informative. The other main tidbit I found interesting was Zhukov mentioning how all of the ammo depots were moved too close to the front before the German invasion, which sounded oddly familiar.

Zhukov was tremendously dismissive of lend lease in this book. I think this was largely politically motivated given the Cold War climate. He mentioned how few airplanes, tanks, and artillery were sent. What he failed to mention was the food, raw materials, radios, and trucks. It seemed a bit suspect, given I would expect someone who was a former cavalry officer would vaguely be aware that having 2/3rds of your trucks (about 400,000) be given to you, and the remaining one third being a domestic Ford design, might in fact be useful. In general he was completely dismissive of the Western allies.

Not the worst book I've read, but I was expecting a bit more than political propaganda. If you still want to read this book, be ready for a healthy dose of political propaganda. Uncle Joe can do little wrong, after all.

[Drake Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated reading Marshall Zhukov's recollections of major battles on the Eastern front during the Second World War such as: Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, and Berlin. Much of the understanding of these for those of us in the West comes from a Western perspective rather than from those who fought in the actual conflict.

I was surprised that the book read fairly easily, also. The chapters were manageable and not too lengthy. It was a bit detailed at points. There were a lot of names of Russian generals. Many of them were familiar from previous understanding of Russian history, but many others were not.

At times, it seemed as if his memoirs were overseen by communist officials. His writing seemed to praise the Communist establishment and shared less about the hardships of the Soviet soldier.

I was glad to read something from a Russian perspective and would recommend the book for those who are looking for such a viewpoint.

[Rm102]

The portions covering the Second World War helped greatly to drive home both the preeminent scale of the Eastern Front and the shared tentative nervousness of both Western and Soviet allies.

While as politically orthodox as can be expected of a 1960s edition translated into English by the official press agency, panegyrics are fairly low-key and mostly saved for colleagues, subordinates, and the populace as a whole.

[Pablo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia fascinante, de ser un campesino pobre a jefe del mayor ejercito del planeta. Zhukov demuestra que no solo era distro como general, sino que sorprende lo bien escrito y lo agil del relato. Datos interesantisimos de la guerra asi como de Stalin

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting memoir by the great Soviet Marshal. Written under the Soviet regime, though, as well as an autobiography, so these must be taken into account.

[Gary Bono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and comprehensive.

[Debbie Seton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew next to nothing of Geisha before listening to this booking and found it fascinating.

A very enjoyable story.