First published in Russian in 1974
This edition published in Great Britain in 2013 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright main text estate of Georgy Zhukov, 1974
Copyright editorial text Geoffrey Roberts, 2013
ISBN 978-1-78159-291-5
eISBN 9781473831834
The right of Georgy Zhukov to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Typeset by Concept, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD4 5JL.
Printed and bound in England by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY.
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Archaeology,
Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime,
Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Social History, Transport, True
Crime, and Claymore Press, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press,
Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.
For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The second English edition of Zhukovs memoirs is reproduced with the permission of his daughter Maria.
Geoffrey Roberts would like to acknowledge the collaboration of his co-translator Svetlana Frolova and the editorial input of his partner Celia Weston. He would also like to thank Rupert Harding and his team at Pen & Sword for taking on this project and making Zhukovs memoirs available again to a new generation of readers.
The preparation of this volume was aided greatly by the financial support of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork, Ireland.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE AND CAREER OF GEORGY ZHUKOV
1896 | 1 December : Birth of Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov in Strelkovka, Kaluga Province, Russia. |
1915 | August : Conscripted into the Tsars Army and assigned to the cavalry. |
1918 | 1 October : Joins the Red Army. |
1919 | March : Becomes a candidate member of the Soviet communist party. |
1920 | Marries Alexandra Dievna Zuikova. |
1923 | July : Appointed commander of the 39th Buzuluk Cavalry Regiment. |
1924 | October : Attends Higher Cavalry School in Leningrad. |
1928 | Birth of daughter Era. |
1929 | Birth of daughter Margarita. |
Attends Frunze Military Academy in Moscow. |
1930 | May : Promoted to command of 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the 7th Samara Division. |
1931 | February : Appointed Assistant Inspector of the Cavalry. |
1933 | March : Appointed commander of the 4th (Voroshilov) Cavalry Division. |
1937 | Birth of daughter Ella. |
July : Appointed commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps in Belorussia. |
1938 | June : Appointed Deputy Commander of the Belorussian Military District. |
1939 | May : Posted to the MongolianManchurian border. |
June : Appointed commander of the 57th Special Corps at Khalkhin-Gol. |
20 August : Launch of attack on Japanese forces at Khalkhin-Gol. |
1940 | May : Appointed commander of the Kiev Special Military District. |
2 June : First meeting with Stalin. |
5 June : Promoted to General of the Army. |
25 December : Delivers report on The Character of Contemporary Offensive Operations to Higher Command conference in Moscow. |
1941 | January : Takes part in General Staff war games. |
14 January : Appointed Chief of the General Staff. |
February : Elected to the central committee at the 18th party conference. |
22 June : German invasion of the Soviet Union. |
29 July : Transferred from Chief of the General Staff to command of the Reserve Front. |
August : Leads counter-offensive at Yelnya. |
11 September : Appointed commander of the Leningrad Front. |
11 October : Appointed commander of the Western Front. |
5 December : Beginning of Moscow counter-offensive. |
1942 | 17 July : Beginning of the battle for Stalingrad. |
26 August : Appointed Stalins Deputy Supreme Commander. |
19 November : Operation Uranus Red Army counter-offensive at Stalingrad. |
1943 | January : Supervises operation to end the German blockade of Leningrad. |
18 January : Promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union. |
July : Kursk battle. |
1944 | Death of Zhukovs mother. |
June : Operation Bagration. |
12 November : Appointed commander of 1st Belorussian Front. |
1945 | January : Launch of Vistula-Oder Operation. |
16 April : Launch of attack on Berlin. |
May : Red Army captures Berlin and Zhukov accepts German surrender. |
30 May : Appointed commander of Soviet occupation forces in Germany. |
24 June : Leads Victory Parade in Red Square. |
1946 | February : Elected to the Supreme Soviet. |
22 March : Appointed Commander-in-Chief of Soviet ground forces. |
June : Dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of Soviet ground forces and posted to Odessa. |
1947 | February : Expelled from membership of the party central committee. |
1948 | January : Censured for extracting war booty from Germany. |
February : Transferred to the command of the Urals Military District. |
1952 | October : Attends 19th party congress and is re-elected to central committee. |
1953 | March : Returns to Moscow and is appointed Deputy Defence Minister. |
June : Arrests Beria. |
1954 | Death of Zhukovs sister Maria. |
1955 | February : Appointed Minister of Defence. |
July : Attends Geneva Summit and meets President Eisenhower. |
1956 | February : Elected to the Presidium at the 20th party congress. |
November : Oversees Soviet military intervention in Hungary. |
1957 | June : Leads defence of Khrushchev against attempted coup by Molotovs anti-party group. |
June : Birth of daughter Maria. |
October : Central Committee dismisses Zhukov for distancing army from the party. |
1958 | February : Retires from the armed forces. |
1965 | Divorces Alexandra Dievna. |
1966 | Marries Galina Semonovna. |
1967 | December : Death of Alexandra Dievna. |
1968 | January : Suffers stroke. |
1969 | April : Publication of 1st edition of Zhukovs memoirs. |
Next page