The Memoirs of Marhal Zhukov

by Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov

Virtually the entire Soviet effort on the Eastern Front of World War II bears the stamp of Georgy Zhukov, chief of staff of the Red Army and deputy supreme commander under Stalin.

*Fascinating self-portrait of one of the most remarkable generals of the twentieth century

*Indispensable source for the Eastern Front, including the early battles for Kiev, Smolensk, and Leningrad

*Covers Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kursk, the final offensive into Germany and Berlin, and more

*Important insights into Stalin's decision-making, based on hundreds of personal meetings

Genres: History, World War II, Biography, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War

700 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1971

About the author

Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, Soviet army officer, as chief of staff during World War II directed the counteroffensive at Stalingrad, relieved Leningrad from 1942 to 1944, and captured Berlin in April 1945.

From the occupation of the Axis powers, Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (Russian: Георгий Константинович Жуков), marshal of the union, in the course of a Red career played a pivotal role in leading the drive through much Eastern Europe to liberate and to conquer other nations and ultimately to conquer the capital of Germany. Russia most decorated this general in the history.

Amongst many notable generals, many people placed the Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov at the top in the respect of number and scale of victories and recognized his talent in operational and strategical command. Many famous military leaders as Bernard Law Montgomery, Dwight David Eisenhower, and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny already recognized great contributions of Zhukov in many important victories. His combat achievements, valuable heritages in military knowledge of humanity, exerted great influence on the whole theory.

Reviews

[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)

[Nat · 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.