Editing Georgy Zhukov (section)

=== The Eastern front ===
==== Germany invades the Soviet Union ====
[[File:RIAN archive 2410 Marshal Zhukov speaking.jpg|thumb|upright|Zhukov speaking in 1941]]
On 22 June 1941, Germany launched [[Operation Barbarossa]], an invasion of the Soviet Union. On the same day, Zhukov responded by signing the "Directive of Peoples' Commissariat of Defence No. 3", which ordered an all-out counteroffensive by Red Army forces. He commanded the troops to "encircle and destroy [the] enemy grouping near [[Suwałki]] and to seize the Suwałki region by the evening of 24 June" and "to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping invading in [the] Vladimir-Volynia and Brody direction" and even "to seize the [[Lublin]] region by the evening of 24 June".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Operation Barbarossa|url=https://codenames.info/operation/barbarossa/|last=Chant|first=Christopher|date=2020|access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref> This manoeuvre failed and disorganized Red Army units were destroyed by the Wehrmacht.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kashuba|first=Steven|title=Destination Gulag|publisher=Trafford Publishing|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4669-8312-0|location=Bloomington|pages=260}}</ref>  Furthermore the subsequent [[Battle of Kiev (1941)|Battle of Kiev]] in September, where over 600,000 Soviet troops were captured or killed, lowered his standing with Stalin. Zhukov subsequently claimed that he was forced by [[Joseph Stalin]] to sign the directive, supposedly written by [[Aleksandr Vasilevsky]],<ref>P. Ya. Mezhiritzky (2002), ''Reading Marshal Zhukov'', Philadelphia: Libas Consulting, chapter 32.</ref> despite the reservations that he raised.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=269}}

When Stalin arrived unannounced at command headquarters on 29 June, demanding to know why he was not being told what was happening at the front, Zhukov courageously told him: "Comrade Stalin, our duty is first of all to help the front commanders and only then to inform you." But when he had to admit that they lost contact with the front commanders in Belarus, Stalin lost his temper and called him "useless".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pleshakov |first1=Constantine |title=Stalin's Folly: The Secret History of the German Invasion of Russia, June 1941 |date=2005 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-297-84626-0 |page=214}}</ref>

On 29 July, Zhukov was removed from his post of chief of the general staff. In his memoirs he gives his suggested abandoning of [[Kiev]] to avoid an encirclement as a reason for it.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=353}} On the next day the decision was made official and he was appointed the commander of the [[Reserve Front]].{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=353}} There he oversaw the [[Yelnya offensive]], delivering the Red Army's first victory over the Germans. On 10 September, Zhukov was made the commander of the [[Leningrad Front]].{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=382}} There he oversaw the [[Siege of Leningrad|defense of the city]].

On 6 October, Zhukov was appointed the representative of [[Stavka]] for the [[Reserve Front|Reserve]] and [[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Fronts]].{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=8}} On 10 October, those fronts were merged into the Western Front under Zhukov's command.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=16}} This front then participated in the [[Battle of Moscow]] and several [[Battles of Rzhev]].

In late August 1942, Zhukov was made deputy commander in chief, subordinate only to Stalin, and sent to the southwestern front to take charge of the [[defence of Stalingrad]].{{sfn|Chaney|1996|pp=212–213}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Taylor |first=Blaine |date=July 2003 |title=Marshal Georgi Zhukov: Hero of the Soviet Union |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/marshal-georgi-zhukov-hero-of-the-soviet-union/ |magazine=WWII History |location=McLean, Virginia |publisher=Warfare History Network |access-date=17 February 2025}}</ref> He and Vasilevsky later planned the [[Operation Uranus|Stalingrad counteroffensive]].{{sfn|Chaney|1996|p=224}}{{additional citations needed|date=February 2025}} In November, Zhukov was sent to coordinate the Western Front and the [[Kalinin Front]] during [[Operation Mars]]. In January 1943, he—together with [[Kliment Voroshilov]]—coordinated the actions of the [[Leningrad Front|Leningrad]] and [[Volkhov Front]]s and the [[Baltic Fleet]] in [[Operation Iskra]].<ref name="Gareev_Zhukov_1996">Махмут А. Гареев ''Маршал Жуков. Величие и уникальность полководческого искусства''. М.: – Уфа, 1996.</ref> On January 18, 1943, Zhukov was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ziemke |first1=Earl Frederick |last2=Bauer |first2=Magna E. |date=1987 |title=Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjOxtqM8768C&pg=PA507 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |page=507 |isbn=978-0-1608-0081-8 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

==== Battle of Kursk ====

[[File:Жуков и Конев.jpg|thumb|left|Zhukov and [[Ivan Konev]] during the Battle of Kursk, 1943]]
Zhukov was a [[Stavka]] coordinator at the [[battle of Kursk]] in July 1943. He was considered the main architect of the Soviet victory together with Vasilevsky.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |date=2006 |pages=159 |isbn=0-300-11204-1}}</ref> According to Zhukov's memoirs, he played a central role in the planning of the battle and the hugely successful offensive that followed. Commander of the Central Front [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]], said, however, that the planning and decisions for the Battle of Kursk were made without Zhukov, that he only arrived just before the battle, made no decisions and left soon afterward, and that Zhukov exaggerated his role.<ref name="ReferenceB">Военно-исторический журнал, 1992 N3 p.&nbsp;31.</ref> A sense of the nature of the beginning of Rokossovsky's famous World War II rivalry with Zhukov can be gathered from reading Rokossovsky's comments in an official report on Zhukov's character:<ref>{{cite book|last=Kokoshin|first=Andreĭ Afanas'evich|title=Soviet Strategic Thought, 1917–1991|year=1998|publisher=MIT Press|page=43}}</ref>

<blockquote>Has a strong will. Decisive and firm. Often demonstrates initiative and skillfully applies it. Disciplined. Demanding and persistent in his demands. A somewhat ungracious and not sufficiently sympathetic person. Rather stubborn. Painfully proud. In professional terms well trained. Broadly experienced as a military leader... Absolutely cannot be used in staff or teaching jobs because constitutionally he hates them.</blockquote>

From 12 February 1944, Zhukov coordinated the actions of the [[1st Ukrainian Front|1st Ukrainian]] and [[2nd Ukrainian Front|2nd Ukrainian]] Fronts.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=205}} On 1 March, Zhukov was appointed the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front until early May following the ambush of [[Nikolai Vatutin]], its commander, by the anti-Soviet [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] near [[Ostroh]].{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|pp=209–217}} During the Soviet offensive named [[Operation Bagration]], Zhukov coordinated the [[1st Belorussian Front|1st Belorussian]] and [[2nd Belorussian Front|2nd Belorussian]] Fronts, and later the 1st Ukrainian Front as well.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=222}} On 23 August, Zhukov was sent to the [[3rd Ukrainian Front]] to prepare for the advance into Bulgaria.{{sfn|Zhukov|2003|p=246}}