Zhukov was a famous general in the Soviet Union during World War II, and it is a bit exaggerated to say that he turned the tide with his own strength, but during the Soviet-German war, he did make indelible contributions to the final victory of the Soviet Union, and thus he was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union four times; many people questioned Zhukov's ability, thinking that he would only "man-sea tactics", but as a famous general, fully and rationally allocating his own resources should be a necessary basic ability.
Under the leadership of Zhukov's organization, the Soviet army changed from a rout to an orderly retreat, to a difficult defense and local counter-offensive, and finally to Germany, and more than 2.6 million troops besieged Berlin, thus ending the most brutal European battlefield during World War II. However, Zhukov's life was not without defeat; in Zhukov's life, the biggest failure was caused by the newly rising German general Modell at that time.
Although Modell was a very talented general, because there were too many talented and capable generals in the German Army, Modell, who was relatively young and lacked the opportunity to perform, never had the opportunity to show his talents. Zhukov's confrontation with Modell took place in the winter of 1942, when Zhukov had become deputy commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army by commanding the defense of Moscow, while Modell was only the commander of the Ninth Army.
After the end of the battle for Moscow, Zhukov and the Soviet top brass began to plan a major counteroffensive and planned a large -- "Mars Plan"; after the main German army retreated, the first to face the main Soviet army was the 9th Army stationed in the Lezhev salient and the 3rd Panzer Army in Vyazma; the center of gravity was the 9th Army, because the Lezhev salient was too close to Moscow.
Zhukov and the Soviet top brass gathered the strength of the two fronts, a total of 1.9 million people, as well as 24,000 artillery, 3,300 tanks, and 1,100 fighters; 7 of which the army groups would launch a centripetal attack on the German 9th Army in the east, west, and north directions with the pressure of Mount Tai; we had to admire the Soviet Union's great skill, and we had to admire the ability of the Soviet generals to execute, and even more admired Zhukov's ability to deploy and plan, if it was an ordinary opponent, there was basically no possibility of defense.
However, Zhukov's opponent was Modell, who was famous for his defense during World War II; at first, when laying out the Lezhev-Sechovka defense line, Modell asked for the command of an additional armored army, and when it came to the specific arrangement of defenses, Adolf's old mistake was repeated, and he asked Modell to arrange the defensive points according to his instructions; but Modell refused, insisting on arranging the defensive front with his own opinion, so the two had a fierce quarrel, and surprisingly, Adolf finally gave in.
It was Adolf's concession that made Modell a "defensive master"; although the Soviet army was several times stronger than himself, Modell was not panicked, because the 9th Army had been holding the Lezhev salient for nearly a year and knew the battlefield very well. Relying on the terrain, the German army built a defense in depth, built towns and villages into fortress strongholds to support the defensive line, and accurately deployed a crossfire network to kill and break through the enemy.
In addition, the German Army Group Center had a strong strategic reserve, and after the outbreak of the battle, Modell was continuously reinforced, and 5 armored divisions and 1 motorized infantry division were also ordered to help. In the end, under the stubborn resistance of Modell, the Soviet army had to choose to retreat, and when it retreated, it was pursued by the Ninth Army, with heavy losses; according to post-war statistics, the German casualties were only about 40,000, while the Soviet army was killed and captured more than 260,000 people, 500,000 wounded, 1847 tanks and 1100 artillery.
When the war reached this point, Zhukov also knew that he could not take the Ninth Army, so he had no choice but to withdraw; fortunately, the Battle of Stalingrad, which broke out at the same time, won a great victory, so Stalin did not hold Zhukov responsible for his defeat. But Zhukov buried this shame in his heart until more than a year later, Zhukov planned "Operation Bagration" in the process of the Soviet counterattack, annihilating the German 9th Army and the 3rd Panzer Army in one fell swoop, and finally took revenge with an arrow. But by this time Modell had already been promoted to marshal and had become commander-in-chief of the Western Front, responsible for resisting the Attack of the British and American Allies, so Zhukov's revenge could only be regarded as half of the retribution.