Although it suffered heavy losses in World War II, the Soviet army at the end of the war was enough to describe it as "like a cloud of stars". Throughout World War II, the Soviet military leadership awarded the rank of marshal to 11 outstanding military commanders, from Zhukov to Meretskov, these famous generals were more and more famous, and their merits were indistinguishable. Throughout the short decades of existence in the Soviet Union, 40 marshals, 13 service commanders, 3 admirals and 60 service marshals have been born.
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The marshal is the highest achievement and honor of a soldier, and it is always superior to be able to mix this step. However, the group of Marshals of the Soviet Union is not only more clearly hierarchical, but also the gap in ability and status between them may be very large, and many of them simply do not deserve this honor. In addition to the more political marshals such as Beria and Voroshilov, and Kulik, who are completely nepotistic, the real level of Vasily Sokolovsky that we will talk about in this article is a mystery. No one dares to say that he is a mediocre, but few people put him with Konev and Rokossovsky.
As is customary, Sokorovsky was officially highly regarded as an outstanding military commander with outstanding command and organizational talent and high attainments in military theory. Objectively speaking, however, the Soviets were visibly reticent in blowing up Rokossovsky, saying that he was a good commander, but unwilling to call him a "strategist"; even if they were given the title, they were reluctant to easily add the word "outstanding" to him. Why, exactly? Let's take a look at the life of this gentleman first.
Sokolovsky joined the Soviet Army in 1918 and served as a regimental commander during the Russian Civil War, and was repeatedly promoted to the level of division commander and group commander for his military achievements. During this period, he did not show a very outstanding military talent, but because he commanded the operation actively and bravely, completed the tasks sent down from above and at the same time fought some fairly beautiful victories, he also won the favor of the Soviet high-level. So after the end of the Civil War, Sokorovsky went one step further, and at one point rose to the rank of Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, where he soon met his immediate superior, Zhukov, who was also the hitman.
At the beginning of the Soviet-German war, the Soviet army most longed for victory, and it was precisely the combination of Zhukov, Sokorovsky and Konev that could bring it to the Soviet army. In Yenilla, Zhukov changed the tactics used by the Soviet advance, concentrated a large number of infantry and artillery to attack the weak links of the German army, pushed the front back 25 kilometers in one fell swoop, and killed 45,000 German troops. This battle was also the first decent victory of the Soviet army after the outbreak of the war, and as one of the most important think tanks around Zhukov, Sokorovsky naturally played a great role.
During the Battle of Moscow, the Soviet army stubbornly resisted under the command of Zhukov and forced the German offensive, and in the days that followed in the general staff of the Western Front, Zhu and Suo complemented each other, fought a beautiful counterattack, and were deeply favored by the Soviet high-level. At the end of August 1942, Zhukov was appointed Deputy Commander of the Supreme High Command and sent to the Southern Front, while Konev took over the post of Commander of the Western Front. However, the troops were then caught in a bitter battle with the Germans, and the Soviets were unable to break through the German lines and suffered heavy casualties, which made Stalin very dissatisfied. Even though the High Command repeatedly urged Konev to continue to fight back, he openly disobeyed after suffering a big loss of hasty attack, which made Stalin furious and immediately put Konev on the cold bench.
Although Konev made several mistakes in his career, some of which seemed to be of low rank, Stalin knew in his heart that Konev was always a capable man, and that Zhukov personally handed over his troops to him when he left the Western Front, which was enough to explain the problem. At present, there are not many generals in the Soviet army who can match him, and the choice to find someone who can replace him is very limited. At this moment, the High Command remembered Sokorovsky, who was serving as chief of staff in the Western Front.
It depends on whether a Soviet general is favored by the top and whether he has commanded the main front. The promotion to commander of the Western Front shows that Stalin attached enough importance to Sokorovsky. However, it was very different from his previous performance, which almost ruined his future with his own hands.
Sokorovsky soon encountered a difficult opponent, Gothad Heinrich, a well-known german expert in defensive warfare. The two sides had actually met as early as the summer of 1942, when Heinrich had just been promoted from commander to commander of the army group for only a few months, but he thwarted the Soviet counterattack with a wonderful defensive battle. After the war, Sokorovsky wrote in his diary: "We were sometimes at a disadvantage, the front line was lengthened, in some places it fell apart, and it was repeatedly overwhelmed by the enemy. ”
Unfortunately, after working with Zhukov and Konev for many days, Sokorovsky did not seem to have grown much. Beginning in November 1943, Sokolovsky launched a strong offensive against the German 4th Army. According to records, the Soviet army launched at least five attacks, each attack lasted for nearly a week, including the Western Front, the Soviet army put in as many as twenty or thirty divisions in each attack. However, under the indiscriminate bombardment, the Soviets failed to push the front forward by several kilometers, in other words, after paying a terrible price, Sokorovsky almost did not gain anything.
It is worth mentioning that in the course of the campaign, the Soviet army has the advantage in both strength and firepower, and the strange thing is that unlike his former superiors, Sokorowski not only did not try to concentrate his superior forces to launch a fatal blow against the enemy's weak ring, but also did not know how to use the advantages of artillery fire to suppress the enemy's firepower, but compressed the large troops into an area of more than ten kilometers wide and no more than three or four kilometers deep to launch a charge with limited threat to the enemy. This round of attack and defense further made Heinrich the "master of defense", and Sokorowski seemed to have forgotten how to fight overnight, and his command aroused questions from the top, even when Malenkov and others were sent to the front to investigate the reasons for the defeat in the battle, the latter described Sokorovsky's command as a "crime" in his report.
In April 1944, Sokorovsky met again with Heinrich, when the Soviet army was already victorious and the pressure on the other side was great, but Sokorowski's performance this time was even more disappointing, and he even forgot how to make the infantry tanks attack in coordination, and the superior artillery was once again reduced to a pendulum. To put it simply, in the middle of 1944, when most Soviet troops had long been accustomed to the intensity of the war and were familiar with the tactics of the other side, Sokorovsky rushed an entire front army into an army group, and the other side remained motionless. The post-war report said Sokorowski was probably "inexperienced in breaking through enemy lines in narrow areas." Imagine that Konev was swept to the second line by Stalin just because he did not want to take the initiative to attack, and Sokorovsky performed such an indescribable performance, the high command would give him a good look? He was removed from his post not long after.
According to the custom, Sokorovsky is likely to fade out of the Stage of World War II, and it is also a great fortune to continue to be appointed to play on the battlefield, but as we have just said, as his fate nobleman, Zhukov pulled the old subordinate at a critical moment. Zhukov, as deputy commander-in-chief, transferred Sokorovsky to the First Ukrainian Front as chief of staff, which was one of the main forces advancing in the direction of Berlin. The immortal Sokorowski seems to have regained his wisdom and rationality overnight, and in the process of going all the way west, Sokorowski made an important contribution.
During the Battle of Berlin, Sokorowski was quickly transferred to the First Belorussian Front as deputy commander, in order to receive the historic honor of invading Berlin. Soon after the end of World War II, he was awarded the rank of field marshal, and he made outstanding contributions to the modernization of the Soviet army with his rich staff experience and profound military theory. When Sokorowski died in 1968, not only was he buried under the walls of the Kremlin, but the Soviet hierarchy cast busts of him; a monument to the headquarters of the Ural Military District was housed, and a high communications command school was named after him.
With these bonuses, Sokorowski seems to be a famous general, but even today, it is difficult to make a conclusion about his true level: even if it may be more suitable for staff work, such a battle-hardened senior military commander is promoted to the position of commander as if he has forgotten how to fight, and such a frightening gap is still difficult to understand.