When it comes to the famous Soviet generals in World War II, Zhukov should be the first name that most people think of. As a famous Soviet military and strategist, Zhukov commanded hundreds of large and small battles in his lifetime, he was recognized as one of the best generals in The Second World War, and he was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union four times, and he was also known as the "God of War" of the Soviet Union.
(Zhukov's old photo)
In addition to the "God of War", Zhukov also had a resounding name, called "General of Hundred Battles and Hundred Victories".
But in fact, Zhukov did not win every battle. For example, in the "Operation Mars" after the end of the Moscow Defense War, Zhukov mobilized 7 Soviet armies with a total of more than 1.9 million people to fight in order to annihilate the German 9th Army in Lezhev's salient.
However, under the command of Marshal Modell of the German army, although the German defense line was severely oppressed, it was never broken by the Soviet army. Later, Marshal Modell also successfully counter-encircled the Soviet armored forces, causing more than 700,000 Soviet casualties.
There are also some battles like this, and the so-called Zhukov's "hundred battles and hundred victories" is actually just an adjective praising his good command of the big war.
Zhukov has been most criticized for the number of deaths he killed in each battle. Some scholars have counted that in the battles commanded by Zhukov, the number of Soviet casualties was very large. Even if it is clear that it is some big victory, the number of Soviet casualties will be higher than that of the Germans. What's going on here?
First of all, we must understand that in most of the operations, the Soviet army had a numerical superiority. Although the German army marched east in 1941, it claimed to have mobilized 5.5 million troops, and later invested several million more. However, under Stalin's call, the number of Soviet troops has always exceeded that of the German army, and even the total number has always increased.
(Battle of Kiev)
The German army fought the war with their best armored forces in Europe, and its core tactical idea was the theory of blitzkrieg. In the early days of World War II, the Germans swept half of Europe in less than a year. France, known as the "world's first army power", lost its strength in just a few dozen days. If it were not for the existence of the English Channel, the German army would not be able to exert the strong advantages of the army, and I am afraid that even the British would not be able to escape the poisoners.
Turning east, the Germans were equally unstoppable at the beginning of the Soviet-German war. For example, in the more typical Battle of Kiev, the number of Soviet troops participating in the battle was as high as 850,000, while the German army only invested 500,000 troops. But the end result was that the Soviets were captured by more than 600,000 people.
This ratio of the number of people involved in the war between the two sides was a normal part of the Soviet-German war. But the Germans were always able to crush the Soviets with ease, even all the way to Moscow. If it were not for the cold winter that the German army had not encountered in thirty years, coupled with Stalin's desperate perseverance, I am afraid that the fate of the Soviet Union would have changed.
Moreover, even if the Soviets repelled the Germans in Moscow, the situation on the entire battlefield was still under the control of the Germans. The problem facing the Soviet army has always been the same: how to defeat the Germans?
Compared with the German army, the Soviet army had some gaps in weapons and equipment, the quality of soldiers, and the discipline of the army. The only advantage is the number of people. How to turn numerical superiority into victory became an urgent problem for the Soviet army to solve.
At this time, Zhukov, who was good at "deceiving the less with the more", played his important role.
(Battle of Stalingrad)
As early as 1939, in the Battle of Nomonhan with the Japanese army, the Soviet army commanded by Zhukov finally won the war with more mortality and death toll than Japan. This is also typical of the Zhukov style.
After the victory at the Battle of Moscow, Zhukov, together with Marshal Vasilevsky, instigated the Defense of Stalingrad and later operation Uranus, which finally changed the situation in the Soviet-German War. The Battle of Belarus and the subsequent Great Counteroffensive became the stage for Zhukov to give full play to his strength.
Because the Soviet army always fought more and less, and the death rate remained high. In modern times, some scholars have evaluated Zhukov's tactics as a "man-sea tactic" without technical content, and the final victory was all based on the flesh and blood of soldiers.
But war is always a consequentialism. Zhukov was able to command the army to give full play to its own advantages, make full use of its strong points and avoid its weaknesses, successfully repel the invaders, and defend the national territory when the Soviet army was in an all-round weak situation.
Because he never dropped his chain in every major war, and eventually led the Soviet Red Army to capture Berlin, Zhukov's reputation in the Soviet army once surpassed Stalin's. Zhukov's four "Heroes of the Soviet Union" are more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people than the four "Heroes of the Soviet Union" that Brezhnev later conferred on himself. It is not too much for the Soviet people to love him and call him the "God of War" and the "General of All Battles and Victories".
(Reference: History of the Second World War)