Von Leeb (right foreground) and von Küchler (facing camera) at a forward observation post. The officer wearing little more than a peaked cap lying on the mound behind them is making himself a good target for enemy snipers. (Topfoto)
German Commanders
Army Group North
Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, age 64, commanded Army Group North. A Bavarian artillery officer, he served in China in the Boxer Rebellion. During the Great War he earned the Bavarian Max Josef Order and the non-hereditary title of Ritter(knight). During the interwar years he authored the book Defense, which even the German editor of his diary called “essentially unnoticed then and forgotten today.” Von Leeb was a devout Catholic and anti-Nazi. He asked to be relieved of his command on January 16, 1942 and Hitler never recalled him. The Nuremberg tribunal sentenced von Leeb to three years in prison and he died in 1956.
Colonel General Georg von Küchler, 60 years old, another career artillery officer, commanded the Eighteenth Army. During the campaign in the West the Eighteenth captured Dunkirk. Von Küchler succeeded von Leeb but his command of Army Group North was uninspired. After the war he served six years in prison and died in 1969.
The 55-year-old Sixteenth Army commander, Colonel General Ernst Busch, is considered pro-Nazi. After commanding VIII Corps in Poland and the Sixteenth Army for four years, he took over Army Group Center, presiding over that organization’s destruction in the summer of 1944. He died of a heart attack in British captivity in July 1945 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
A lifelong cavalry officer, Colonel General Erich Hoepner, age 54, commanded von Leeb’s mobile formation, Fourth Panzer Group. In 1938 anti-Hitler army leaders earmarked his 1st Light Division to hold off SS units in Munich if the Czech crisis went badly for Germany. Hoepner commanded the XVI Panzer Corps in Poland and France. For Operation Typhoon, his Fourth Panzer Army transferred to Army Group Center and bore the brunt of the fighting for Moscow.
Hoepner has an anti-Nazi reputation but nevertheless on May 2, 1941 wrote the obligatory letter to his troops describing the upcoming “Battle for the existence of the German Volk against Jewish Bolshevism.” In January 1942 he disobeyed Hitler’s “No Retreat” order. The Führer accused him of “disobedience before the enemy,” in addition to “endangering my authority as Supreme Commander” and ordered Hoepner “cashiered with all the resulting consequences.” Implicated in the conspiracy surrounding the July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler, he was hanged by SS men that August.
Colonel General Nikolas von Falkenhorst was 56 years old when he commanded German forces operating from Norway and Central Finland. In 1918 he served in Finland as part of the German forces sent there to ensure the country’s independence. In 1940, von Falkenhorst led the joint conquest of Scandinavia. The Nuremberg tribunal condemned him to death but commuted the sentence.
Two corps commanders are especially noteworthy: General of Infantry Erich von Manstein, commander of LVI Panzer Corps, had a superlative reputation well before Barbarossa and went on to become one of the most highly regarded German generals of World War II. Bavarian General of Mountain Troops Eduard Dietl joined the pre-Nazi German Workers’ Party in 1919, before Hitler did. The “Hero of Narvik” died in an air crash in June 1944.
Among the Luftwaffe generals supporting Army Group North, Luftflotte 1 commander Colonel General Alfred Keller was an “old eagle” (a pre-1914 aviator, born in 1882). He joined the new Luftwaffe in 1935 and rose through various high commands only to retire in 1943. Lieutenant General Helmuth Förster, also a decorated World War I aviator, took command of I Fliegerkorps after the Royal Air Force shot down his predecessor shortly before Barbarossa. He left operational command for an Air Ministry staff position in 1942. Luftflotte 5 commander Colonel General Jürgen Stumpff was a World War I staff officer who became Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff during the interwar years. He commanded in the far north, attacking Arctic convoys such as PQ17 until November 1943, when he was reassigned to command the Reich’s air defense. Stumpff represented the Luftwaffe at the May 8, 1945 surrender ceremony. He died in 1974.
Army Group Center
The 64-year-old Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commanding Army Group Center, has been described as a “difficult man.” In April 1918 Major von Bock had earned the Pour le Mérite for “reckless bravery.” He spoke French fluently and English and Russian well. He seems to have been neutral about the Nazi seizure of power. Von Bock led Army Group North in 1939 and Army Group B in Holland and Belgium. Usually “the stoic guardsman,” he was the only senior leader to question Barbarossa when briefed on its plan in January 1941. Hitler relieved him of command of Army Group Center on December 19, 1941, but a month later recalled him to lead Army Group South. Unsatisfactory progress in Operation Blau caused Hitler to relieve von Bock for good in July 1942. He was killed along with his wife and stepdaughter when Royal Air Force aircraft strafed road traffic on May 2, 1945.
Von Bock gets smiles from passing German soldiers. (Topfoto)
Colonel General Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs, age 59, commanded Second Army. A Bavarian cavalry captain in World War I, he was the first commander of 1st Panzer Division. Von Weichs commanded XIII Corps during the Anschluss, against Czechoslovakia and in Poland, then led the Second Army in France and the Balkan campaigns. He later led the northern wing of Operation Blau against Stalingrad, earning promotion to field marshal in February 1943 despite his questionable leadership during the Stalingrad crisis. Thereafter he commanded the German defense of Greece and Yugoslavia through 1944, until sent to Führer Reserve in March 1945. He died of natural causes in 1954.
Field Marshal Günther von Kluge (center) was a solid if unspectacular performer, but troublesome as both a superior and a subordinate. He earned his well-deserved reputation for deliberate and old-fashioned (i.e., non-blitzkrieg) leadership in France and the USSR, to the frustration of more decisive commanders. He still managed to get into the thick of battle, however, and like the more venturesome Guderian he was sometimes forced to draw his personal weapon for self defense. (MHI)
One of two field marshals to command a field army during Barbarossa, the 58-year old Günther Hans von Kluge led Fourth Army as he had in Poland and France. An artillery officer since the Great War, he resigned in 1938–39 over Hitler’s aggressive policies. Recalled, he took command of Army Group Center upon von Bock’s removal and undoubtedly came under the spell of the anti-Hitler conspirators rampant there. He led that organization in Operation Citadel, but was severely injured in an automobile crash in October 1943. He came out of hospital the following July just in time to replace Gerd von Rundstedt as Supreme Commander/West. He lasted in that post only until the next month when, suspected by Hitler of negotiating peace with the Western Allies, he swallowed poison.
Colonel General Adolf Strauss, age 61, had commanded Ninth Army under von Bock since the Western campaign. He trained his army to be the first wave of the stillborn Operation Sealion against Great Britain, until transferred east for Barbarossa. He led the Ninth with ability until January 12, 1942, when he asked to be relieved “for health reasons.” Thereafter he sat out the rest of the war. He spent four years in POW camps and died in 1973.
Colonel General Heinz Guderian, 53 years old on Barbarossatag, commander of the Second Panzer Group, is one of the war’s best-known generals. During the Great War and the Weimar period his experiences in Jäger units, his signal and transport duties, service with the Freikorps, and training at Kazan, USSR all prepared him to become one of the world’s foremost theorists and practitioners of armored warfare. Perhaps because of this, he could act like a prima donna who refused to subordinate his desire for personal glory to the higher strategic purpose. He commanded XIX Motorized (Panzer) Corps in Poland and France. At von Kluge’s urging, Hitler relieved him of command of Second Panzer Group on Christmas Day 1941. Guderian became Inspector General of Panzer Troops in February 1943. The Führer made him Chief of the German General Staff the day following the July 1944 Attentat, a position he held until March 1945. He died in 1954 after three years of captivity.
Third Panzer Group commander Colonel General Hermann Hoth, age 56, is one of the Wehrmacht’s most underrated generals. He commanded XV Motorized (Panzer) Corps with distinction during the Polish and Western campaigns. In October 1941 he took over Seventeenth Army in the Ukraine. Starting in July 1942, he commanded Fourth Panzer Army, which he led toward Stalingrad, in the subsequent attempted relief of Sixth Army, in Operation Backhand Blow and as the Schwerpunkt of Operation Citadel’s southern wing in July 1943. Hitler relieved Hoth in December 1943, making him a scapegoat for the loss of Kiev, and did not recall him. He was a POW until 1954 and died in 1971.
Colonel General Hermann “Papa” Hoth proved himself to be an exceptionally reliable commander from the outbreak of the war until 1943. A team player and a good man in a crisis, the commander of the Third Panzer Group suffered from few of Guderian’s prima donna tendencies, and adhered better to Barbarossa’s plans and von Bock’s orders. (MHI)
Fifty-five-year-old Second Air Fleet commander Field Marshal Albert Kesselring started as a Bavarian artillery officer during the Great War, rising to the rank of army colonel in 1931. He transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1933 and within two years he became its chief of staff. He led Germany’s largest aerial formations from Poland throughout Barbarossa. In November 1941 he (and many of his units) transferred to Italy, where he became the Axis Supreme Commander/South. He held this position, very ably, through the North African, Sicilian, and most of the Italian campaigns. His final assignment as Supreme Commander/West came in January 1945 after Hitler relieved von Rundstedt for the last time. The death sentence from his war crimes trial was commuted and he was released from captivity in 1952 and died eight years later.
Colonel General Wolfram von Richthofen (in the leather coat) and his VIII Fliegerkorps set the standard for CAS by any air force during World War II; he had been specializing in such operations since the Spanish Civil War. A hands-on leader comfortable near the fighting, von Richthofen often landed in his Fieseler Storch liaison aircraft to confer directly with the army commanders he was supporting. (Podzun)
Colonel General Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, only 50 years old in 1941, commanded the elite VIII Fliegerkorps. A World War I cavalry officer, he was a civilian engineer during the Weimar years and transferred to the new Luftwaffe in 1933, within two years serving as the Condor Legion’s chief of staff. Judging that strategic bombing would not win the war for Franco, he perfected CAS instead, developing and improving its planning, communications, and liaison with ground troops. He led his air corps from Poland through Barbarossa, served in the Mediterranean theater, in the Crimea, and during the Stalingrad relief effort, and became a field marshal in February 1943. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in October 1944, and died in captivity nine months later.
The smaller II Fliegerkorps was commanded by Colonel General Bruno Loerzer, a 44-victory World War I ace and Pour le Mérite recipient. A lifelong personal friend of Hermann Göring, he was a leader of average talents, who did show some intelligent interest in ground support operations. His air corps was transferred to the Mediterranean in October 1941.
Army Group South
Army Group South commander Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt enjoyed respect from friend and foe throughout World War II. Von Rundstedt was 65 years old in June 1941. During the Great War he had served on divisional and corps staffs. Twice superiors nominated him for the Pour le Mérite. He commanded the Wehrmacht’s main efforts during the Polish and Western campaigns.
At the end of Barbarossa Hitler accepted von Rundstedt’s resignation on December 1, 1941. In four months the Führer recalled him to command in northwest France. Frustrated and arguing with Hitler over the conduct of the fighting in Normandy, von Rundstedt again resigned. Two months later Hitler ordered him back to duty to command the Ardennes offensive, only to relieve him one last time in March 1945. Perhaps the worst black mark on his otherwise impressive career followed the July 1944 assassination attempt against Hitler when he presided over the cynically named “Court of Honor,” which removed suspected conspirators from the Army to be tried by the People’s Court. He was spared a war crimes trial due to age and poor health, served in POW camps until 1949 and died in 1953.
Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau commanded the Sixth Army. He was 57 years old and had commanded this formation (named Tenth Army during the Polish campaign) for two years. Von Reichenau offered army assistance to Nazi Party elements purging the Sturmabteilung (SA) in June 1934, and authored the personal oath to Hitler sworn by all members of the Wehrmacht. Von Reichenau’s men occupied Paris on June 14, 1940, and Hitler promoted him to field marshal the following month. After von Rundstedt’s departure in December he simultaneously commanded Army Group South. He died of a heart attack in January 1942 while jogging in the Russian winter, becoming the first field marshal to die in World War II.
Eleventh Army commander was the 58-year-old Bavarian Colonel General Eugen Ritter von Schobert. He stood firmly in the pro-Hitler camp during the interwar intrigues that dominated the Army. He commanded the VII Corps in Poland and France. He was killed on September 12, 1941 when his liaison aircraft landed in a Soviet minefield.
Colonel General Von Kleist did an outstanding job leading his First Panzer Group (later First Panzer Army) to Rostov. He wears the Knight’s Cross awarded at the beginning of the 1940 campaign. (NARA)
General of Infantry Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, 55 years old, commanded the Seventeenth Army, having led the II Corps in France. Colonel General Hermann Hoth replaced him as Seventeenth Army commander on October 10, 1941. Actively opposed to Hitler since 1938, von Stülpnagel became entangled in the July 1944 assassination plot. He tried committing suicide in the aftermath of the plot’s failure, but only managed to blind himself. He was subsequently tried and hanged on August 30, 1944.
Colonel General Ewald von Kleist, age 60, led the First Panzer Group. He had served on the Eastern Front in World War I, fighting in the German victory at Tannenberg in 1914. Another long-time von Rundstedt subordinate, he commanded a panzer corps in Poland and panzer groups in France and the Balkans. In 1942 his First Panzer Army won a victory at Kharkov then raced to the Caucasus as part of Operation Blau. He defended first Kuban, then the Crimea, and finally Rumania. He demonstrated expertise in both offense and defense. Von Kleist died in Soviet captivity in 1954, the only field marshal to do so.
A number of Army Group South corps commanders achieved notoriety. Soviet aircraft killed General of Infantry Kurt von Briesen of LII Corps southeast of Kharkov on November 20. The Bavarian General of Mountain Troops Ludwig Kuebler was executed in Yugoslavia for war crimes in 1947. General of Infantry Hans von Salmuth served as Field Marshal Fedor von Bock’s chief of staff in Poland and France. After commanding XXX Corps he led the Seventeenth, Fourth, Second, and Fifteenth Armies.
Some of Barbarossa’s division commanders also had interesting careers. Austrian Lieutenant General Max de Angelis, 76th Infantry Division, commanded his country’s army, the Bundesheer, after the Anschluss with Germany in 1938. Major General Ludwig Cruewell gave up command of 11th Panzer Division on September 1, to take command of the Afrika Corps, only to be captured by the British on May 29, 1942. The 16th Panzer Division commander, one-armed Major General Hans Hube, was among the first German soldiers to reach the Volga River north of Stalingrad in 1942. As First Panzer Army commander he died in an airplane crash the day after receiving the Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross on Hitler’s birthday in 1944. Lieutenant General Hans Graf von Sponeck initially led the 22nd Infantry Division. On December 31, 1941 General Erich von Manstein relieved him as XXX Corps commander for making an unauthorized withdrawal in the Crimea. Herman Göring presided over his court martial and the SS shot him on July 23, 1944.
Luftwaffe commanders included Luftflotte 4 chief Colonel General Alexander Lohr, age 56. He served on the Austrian General Staff in World War I and prior to 1938 commanded the Austrian Air Force. He supported von Rundstedt in both Poland and the West and was in charge of all Luftwaffe forces during the 1941 Balkan campaign. After commanding Luftflotte 4 in 1942 in the Crimea and at Stalingrad he became Commander-in-Chief South East. Yugoslavia executed him for war crimes in 1947.
Lohr’s principal subordinates from Poland through Operation Blau were World War I pilot Lieutenant General Kurt Pflugbeil (IV Fliegerkorps) and Lieutenant General Robert Ritter von Greim (V Fliegerkorps). Von Greim succeeded Göring as head of the Luftwaffe on 26 April 1945 and committed suicide less than a month later.
A number of Army Group North commanders earned the Pour le Merite: Busch and Keller mentioned above, plus Siegfried Haenicke (61st Infantry Division), Otto Lancelle (121st Infantry Division), and Ferdinand Schörner (6th Mountain Division). In addition to von Bock and Loerzer, Army Group Center commanders Wilhelm von Ditfurth (403rd Security Division) and Hermann Wilck (161st Infantry Division) received the award. No commanders from Army Group South earned it.
Soviet Commanders
Baltic Special and Leningrad Military Districts
Lieutenant General F.I. Kuznetsov commanded the Northwest Front. He was one of Stalin’s most senior generals and although a well-regarded theoretician, had no combat experience since participating in the Civil War in 1920. The official Soviet history of the war dryly noted that Kuznetsov suffered from liabilities common to most other Front commanders: he was “unprepared to cope with the exceptionally complicated task” and “lacked the necessary operational and strategic preparation and practice.” He commanded the Front only until June 30. He later commanded the Central Front in July, until German forces destroyed it a month later, and led the ill-fated 51st Army defending the Crimea in September. After he failed in that mission, Stalin shifted him to command of the 61st Army until he lost that job because of his alcoholism.
Marshal K.E. Voroshilov replaced Kuznetsov as commander of the Northwest Front. He had joined the Communist Party in 1903 and was active in the October Revolution and Russian Civil War. During the latter he served in the 1st Cavalry Army with Stalin at Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad). This association protected Voroshilov from the consequences of his own mistakes and Stalin’s paranoia. He held the position of Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs (renamed Commissar for Defense) from 1925–40. Never known for his intelligence, much of the USSR’s ill-preparedness is directly attributed to Voroshilov’s incompetence.
Colonel General F.I. Kuznetsov barely lasted a fortnight before being relieved of command. The Soviets’ prewar assumption was that the Germans would largely bypass Kuznetsov’s Northwest Front as they drove for Moscow; thus, he was ill-prepared for Army Group North’s onslaught. (David Glantz)
Voroshilov did bring new spirit to the Northwest Front when he first arrived. As the situation deteriorated and Stalin contemplated relieving him, the Marshal behaved recklessly at the front, seemingly wanting a hero’s death. This was not to be and in September Zhukov replaced him. Stalin kept him in various high-visibility, but menial, positions until turning against him after the war. Voroshilov fell further from grace during the Nikita Khrushchev era, but Leonid Brezhnev rehabilitated the old marshal.
Lieutenant General V.A. Frolov was one of the few Red Army leaders to survive Barbarossa. His command of Soviet forces in the far north benefited from a number of factors: unity of command, superior logistics, a relatively large naval contingent, and good lateral rail lines. (David Glantz)
Lieutenant General M.M. Popov commanded the Northern Front from the Arctic Ocean to Leningrad’s southern approaches. A former Tsarist colonel, he fought for the Red Army in the Crimea during the Russian Civil War. He is generally credited with steady leadership of his front despite Voroshilov’s incompetence. Popov commanded in the Voronezh sector during the German 1942 campaign, an overambitious mobile attack group as part of Operation Saturn, and led the Bryansk Front during the 1943 Kursk battles. He ended the war commanding the 2nd Baltic Front.
Lieutenant General P.P. Sobennikov led the 8th Army. In August he took over the Northwest Front when Voroshilov was kicked upstairs to a new position coordinating Leningrad’s defense. When the Northwest Front dissolved, Sobennikov became commander of the 43rd Army defending the northern Moscow area. He survived the war.
In command of the 11th Army was Lieutenant General V.I. Morozov. The historian Albert Seaton considered him one of the Red Army’s most experienced generals. Morozov contributed to the design of the T-34 tank. Although Barbarossa’s opening blows almost annihilated the 11th Army, Morozov managed to maintain it in the field and the 11th was counterattacking near Staraya Russa in 1942.
In the far north, Lieutenant General V.A. Frolov commanded the 14th Army (later the Karelian Front) against Dietl’s Gebirgsjäger. He did such a good job that in 1944 when the time came to take the offensive, Stalin considered Frolov too defensively minded.
Another significant Soviet leader was Vice Admiral V.F. Tributs, commanding the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, the Soviet’s largest. In contravention of Stalin’s orders he took preparatory measures prior to Barbarossa that very likely saved his fleet. As Axis ground forces gobbled up its forward bases, the Baltic fleet was finally trapped on the island base of Kronshtadt. He planned to scuttle the fleet in September but Army Group North ran out of steam before he gave the orders. Tributs commanded the fleet until the end of the war.
The cruel realities of Barbarossa completely outclassed Lieutenant General D.G. Pavlov who was equivalent to a man who brought a knife to a gun fight. Within a month Stalin had Pavlov, Pavlov’s chief of staff, and 4th Army commander Korobkov standing before firing squads. (Corbis)
Western Special Military District
Lieutenant General D.G. Pavlov, the luckless commander of WSMD and the 671,165-man Western Front, was cruelly nicknamed “the Soviet Guderian.” A World War I cavalry officer, he had served in the Spanish Civil War, but mislearned its lessons: he judged that armored forces were not suited for employment in large formations and that the Red Army’s tanks should supplement rifle divisions in battalion strength. He did lead Soviet armor against Vyborg in the closing days of the Winter War in Finland. During the last hours of peace he was enjoying comedy theater at the Minsk Officers Club, and dismissed (literally) eleventh-hour warnings that night as rumors. He was arrested for “disgraceful cowardice, negligence, breakdown in command and control”; Stalin had Pavlov shot in late July, but Khrushchev posthumously rehabilitated his reputation in 1956.
The 3rd Army commander, Lieutenant General V.I. Kuznetsov, managed to survive Barbarossa. He went on to lead the 21st, 58th, 1st Shock, 4th Reserve, 63rd (at Stalingrad), 1st Guards, and 3rd Shock armies. In this final assignment his soldiers captured the Reichstag in May 1945.
The 4th Army commander, Major General A.A. Korobkov, suffered the same fate as his superior Pavlov; Korobkov never had control over his organization, but was executed as a traitor nonetheless.
Major General K.D. Golubev initially commanded 10th Army. Later in Barbarossa he took over 43rd Army, remaining in command until severely wounded in action in 1944.
Lieutenant General I.V. Boldin, Commander of the 50th Army. Boldin escaped from the Minsk pocket in July 1941 and the Vyazma pocket in October 1941. His dogged defense of Tula and persistent counterattacks against Guderian’s left flank doomed the German southern pincer against Moscow. (David Glantz)
The following corps commanders did not survive Operation Barbarossa: Major Generals V.B. Borisov (21st Rifle); M.P. Petrov (17th Mechanized, died of wounds); F.D. Rubtsev (1st Rifle, died in German captivity); A.V. Garnov (5th Rifle); I.S. Nikitin (6th Cavalry, executed in German captivity for “organizing an underground organization”); and M.G. Khatskilevich (6th Mechanized, dead before the end of June).
In the wake of the unmitigated disasters which immediately befell the leaders of the West Front, a second echelon of commanders rose up. These included Red Army luminaries Budenny, Timoshenko, and Zhukov. Unknown in 1941, but also significant later were the following:
Lieutenant General I.V. Boldin, Pavlov’s deputy, was enjoying the same comedy play as his commander on June 21, but he managed to escape serving in close proximity to his superior. Boldin had served on the Turkish Front during World War I; he commanded mechanized forces that occupied eastern Poland in 1939, and the 9th Army which invaded Bessarabia a year later. During Operation Typhoon he commanded 50th Army, frustrating Guderian’s attempts to take Tula. His soldiers recaptured Bryansk in 1943. Boldin is considered a mediocre general who used political acumen to keep his job until 1945.
The pitiless realities of the attempts to halt von Bock’s assaults almost cost 19th Army commander Lieutenant General I.S. Konev his job (and perhaps his life) within weeks of his arrival on the Moscow axis. He soon regained his balance, and went on to become one of Stalin’s best operational commanders. (Elukka)
Ukrainian Lieutenant General A.I. Yeremenko arrived at the West Front on June 29 and immediately went to work. Wounded in action in October, he spent nearly a year in hospital, and was then almost captured by German tanks near Stalingrad. After Barbarossa he went on to command the Southeast, Stalingrad, Southern, Kalinin, 2nd Baltic, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts. Yeremenko earned promotion to marshal in 1958.
Soviet Generals
G.K. Zhukov, 1896–1974, Marshal of the Soviet Union
Arguably the most successful general of World War II, the peasant Zhukov began his military career as a cavalry trooper during Word War I. He was twice awarded the Cross of St George. During the Russian Civil War he served in the fabled 1st Cavalry Army, earning the Order of the Red Banner. He climbed through the ranks of Red cavalry and managed to avoid persecution during Stalin’s purges.
Commanding Soviet forces in Mongolia in 1938, Zhukov faced off against the rogue Japanese Kwantung Army. He patiently built up his forces to a 3:2 superiority in manpower, a 2:1 ratio in artillery and aircraft, and a 4:1 advantage in armor. He launched his attack supported by mechanized attacks on the Japanese flanks. John Erickson described the battle of Khalkin Gol (Nomonhan to the Japanese) as “a brilliant but costly operation” because of Zhukov’s lavish expenditure of manpower.1 For Zhukhov Khalkin Gol became the blueprint for his future operations. Strategically the battle had immense import. The victory occurred during negotiations of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, but due to the state of communications at the time only the Soviet leadership knew of its outcome. Ultimately Stalin could be fairly sure he would have no more trouble from the Japanese.
Zhukov’s victory brought him notoriety, a Hero of the Soviet Union medal and promotion to command of the Kiev Military District. Here he demonstrated high-level administrative skills to match his battlefield abilities. In June 1940 he led the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia. His star continued to rise during the Kremlin wargames seven months later and Stalin named him Chief of Staff, Deputy Defense Minister, and therefore member of the Supreme Soviet in February 1941; he was now also a political leader.
Harrison Salisbury called Zhukov, “… the master of disaster … the general who was sent in when all else failed, whose terrible temper, iron will and savage determination … wore men down (and condemned not a few to the firing squad).”2 Regarding his October defense of Leningrad Zhukov said, “I have cobbled together a reasonable organization and have virtually stopped the enemy advance; and you know how I propose to go on: I will wear him out and then beat him.” On more than one occasion he did exactly that.
It seems Zhukov could get away with conduct others could not. A Red Army colonel who observed Zhukov in November 1941 observed, “I was surprised by Zhukov’s behavior. He spoke in a sharp, commanding tone. It looked as if Zhukov were really the superior officer here. And Stalin accepted this as proper. At times a kind of bafflement even crossed his (Stalin’s) face.”
Even Zhukov was guilty of missteps, most notably his poor performance west of Moscow in a November 1942 offensive meant as a bookend to operations against Stalingrad. He is also criticized for being careless with the lives of his men, but his meticulous operational planning saved many Red Army soldiers. He was personally involved in every major Soviet operation of the war; in addition to those already mentioned, the liberation of the Ukraine in 1943 and Belorussia in 1944 as well as the capture of Berlin in 1945.
Fearing Zhukov’s popularity, after the war Stalin banished him to Odessa. The marshal nevertheless venerated Stalin, even after the dictator’s disgrace in the late 1950s. To this day the Russian people continue to have immense respects for Zhukov’s accomplishments.
Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, 1895–1977, Chief of Soviet General Staff and Deputy Minister of Defense
As the son of an Orthodox priest, a seminary student and cultured World War I infantry captain and battalion commander, Vasilevsky was an unlikely choice for Stalin’s World War II Red Army chief of staff. In 1936 he earned selection to the new General Staff Academy; three-quarters of his class fell afoul of Stalin’s purges and did not graduate. While at the academy Vasilevsky caught the attention of then-chief of staff General B.M. Shaposhnikov (himself a Tsarist colonel) who became the junior officer’s mentor. After graduating he headed the general staff section responsible for operational training of senior officers; this position put him into close contact with the Red Army leaders who would eventually defeat Hitler.
On August 1, 1941 Vasilevsky became the head of the general staff operations section so therefore accompanied Shaposhnikov to daily meetings with Stalin. The two generals tried unsuccessfully to convince the dictator to evacuate Kiev and save Kirponos’ command. When most of the general staff evacuated Moscow on October 16–17, Vasilevsky became Stalin’s closest military confidant, earning promotion to lieutenant general by the end of the month. He worked closely with Zhukov on the defense of Moscow. In May 1942 he was Stavka representative at the Northwestern Front when Stalin recalled him to Moscow. Despite his protests, on June 26 he took Shaposhnikov’s chief of staff position in place of the ailing marshal.
Vasilevsky’s baptism of fire in his new job came two days later when Hitler launched Operation Blau toward Stalingrad and the Caucasus oil region. During this campaign he began to work more closely with Zhukov. Later that summer, along with Stalin the two conceived the subsequent Soviet counteroffensive and the following year the defensive operation at Kursk. Vasilevsky was promoted to marshal in February 1943. Harrison E. Salisbury noted that Zhukov’s “closest and most important collaborator was his brilliant general staff colleague, General Vasilevsky.”3
Stalin leaned heavily on the chief of staff and his “intellectual acuteness.” But Vasilevsky also did double duty as Stavka representative on far-flung theaters and Stalin sorely missed him when he was absent from Moscow. On February 17, 1945 Vasilevsky gave up his chief of staff job to command the Soviet Manchurian offensive against the Japanese. After the war he served as Defense Minister from 1949–53, when, upon Stalin’s death, Vasilevsky’s closeness to the dictator became a political liability.
1 Erickson, Road to Stalingrad.
2 Salisbury’s introduction to Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles, p.12.
3 Salisbury (ed.), Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles, p.111.
Major General I.S. Konev spent Barbarossa’s first weeks away from the fighting, until called to command 19th Army. After his initial poor performances there, only Zhukov’s personal intervention saved Konev from Stalin’s wrath. By Operation Citadel he had regained the dictator’s confidence, and he too commanded a large number of fronts after Barbarossa: West, Steppe, Northwest, 2nd and 1st Ukrainian. He and Zhukov raced for Berlin in 1945. Promoted to marshal in 1956, Konev commanded Soviet forces that crushed the Hungarian Uprising of that year.
Kiev Special and Odessa Military Districts
Lieutenant General M.P. Kirponos ably led the Southwest Front through the battle of Kiev. He served in World War I, the Russian Civil War, and at Khalkin Gol in 1939. He rose to prominence when his 70th Rifle Division captured the Vyborg fortress in the closing days of the Winter War. Shortly afterwards Stalin rewarded him with command of the Leningrad Military District. As part of the Red Army command shakeup following the January 1941 wargames, Kirponos took over the Kiev Special Military District. He died trying to escape the Kiev pocket.
Marshal S.M. Budenny, aged 58, gained prominence as a crony of Stalin while commanding the 1st Cavalry Army during the Russian Civil War (guaranteeing his safety during the purges). After commanding the doomed South West Direction destroyed at Kiev he led the North Caucasus Front until relieved in September 1942. The following year Stalin appointed him to the largely ceremonial position of Commander of Red Army Cavalry.
Marshal S.K. Timoshenko was born in 1895. An NCO in World War I and another 1st Cavalry Army veteran, he oversaw the occupation of eastern Poland in 1939 and the climax of the war against Finland in 1939–40. Stalin thereupon appointed him Defense Commissar. Timoshenko initiated Red Army reforms in view of the early blitzkrieg victories and had the unenviable job of preparing for Barbarossa. Considered the most competent prewar Soviet marshal, he commanded numerous fronts throughout the war and occupied Vienna in 1945.
Lieutenant General I.V. Tyulenev commanded the Southern Front until wounded in September 1941. He was a cavalry officer in World War I and commanded a brigade in the 1st Cavalry Army. He presented a paper on defensive operations during the January 1941 wargames and subsequently commanded the prestigious Moscow District. On June 22 Stalin sent him and his staff to the Odessa Military District that two days later became the Southern Front.
In his postwar memoirs Zhukov singled out army commanders Kostenko, Muzychenko, and Potapov for special praise. In 1938 the 5th Army leader, Major General M.I. Potapov, graduated from the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization. His skillful defense on the Southwest Front’s northern wing created the salient in the Soviet lines that became the Kiev pocket. He later commanded the 61st Army in its defense of Moscow.
The 6th Army commander, Major General I.N. Muzychenko, had previously commanded the 15th Corps in the Winter War against Finland in 1939–40. Captured at Uman, he survived and returned home in 1945. Major General F.Y. Kostenko of the 26th Army went on to command a rebuilt Southwest Front in January 1942. He died in action near Kharkov four months later. Lieutenant General Y.T. Cherevicenko eventually succeeded Tyulenev and subsequently led the Bryansk Front near Moscow in early 1942 and the Coastal Group against Operation Blau. Major General A.K. Smirnov served as interwar Inspector General of Infantry and spoke on rifle division defense as part of the January wargames. He died in action when von Manstein crushed his 18th Army against the Sea of Azov in October 1941.
Two naval leaders excelled in land combat during Barbarossa. Vice Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky, Black Sea Fleet commander, was in charge of the besieged city of Sevastopol. Rear Admiral G.V. Zhukov (no relation of the Red Army chief of staff) ably defended Odessa against the Rumanians. Both survived to command beyond 1942. Red Army Air Force commanders during Barbarossa were Lieutenant General F. Astakov (Southwest Front) and Major General M.V. Zakharov (Southern).
Some mechanized corps commanders deserve mention: Major General A.A. Vlasov (4th Mechanized Corps), a Russian Civil War veteran, went on to lead the 38th Army in Moscow’s defense and near Leningrad. Captured near Volkov in July 1942, he created the three-division-strong Russian Liberation Army, a force of former Red Army POWs fighting for Germany. Vlasov was captured, tried for treason and hanged in 1946. The 9th Mechanized Corps commander, Major General K.K. Rokossovsky, was a World War I NCO and Civil War cavalryman who had been jailed during the purges. Interestingly, he was Zhukov’s superior during the 1930s while commanding 7th Samara Cavalry Division. Later in the war he commanded the 16th Army, the Don, Central, and 1st and 2nd Byelorussian Fronts. After the war he served as Poland’s Defense Minister. Within six months of Barbarossatag 16th Mechanized Corps leader Brigadier General A.D. Sokolov was promoted to Lieutenant General and commanded 2nd Shock Army near Moscow. Major General N.V. Feklenko of the 19th Mechanized Corps had served under Zhukov at Khalkin Gol.