General G.K. Zhukov

"If we come to a minefield, our infantry attacks exactly as it were not there."

          General Zhukov was one of the rare individuals whom Stalin absolutely needed and therefore trusted. Zhukov had clearly demonstrated his tactical abilities in the war games of early 1941, and Stalin was beginning to see the reason behind the Zhukov-Timoshenko strategy.

          Zhukov never underestimated the need for fallback defence strategy, even when initiating an offensive or counter-offensive. His routine was to wear down the enemy in a hard-fought battle, drain its energy, let it run out of supplies, and then launch a counterattack. His combination of offensives and defensives was employed throughout the war and was significant in ensuring the victory for the defence of the Soviet Union.

Against the Japanese at Khalkhin-Gol

          At Khalkhin-Gol in 1939, Zhukov was appointed corps commander for the Soviet side. Here, he demonstrated his effectiveness as a military leader and the starting point of his development of strategy. He held the right bank of the Khalkhin-Gol River and at the same time moved forces for a counter-attack. The overconfident Japanese felt that they would win – the Japanese forces greatly outnumbered those of the Soviets.

          In June, Zhukov employed tanks to attack Japanese troops when they were on the march and could not build antitank defences. This resulted in the defeat of the Japanese and an important lesson for himself, “The experience of the battle…showed that tank and mechanized units in coordination with aviation and mobile artillery are a decisive means for conducting rapid combat operations to achieve decisive goals”. This is the main idea behind combined-arms tactics.

          Secrecy was a factor that Zhukov used to his advantage. He relied on strategic surprise that would not allow the enemy to counter his forces. In addition, Zhukov kept military activities and operations highly confidential to prevent the enemy from discovering the Soviet plans. He even used false information that was easily decipherable through radio or telephone to convey the message that the Soviets were only conducting defensive maneuvers and were not preparing to attack. Movements were only done at night hidden behind the noise of heavy machinery and artillery. Loudspeakers were even installed in order to imitate the sounds of construction of mechanical units. On August 20, 1939, Mongolian and Soviet forces began attacking the Japanese forces. With the series of coordinated offensives initiated by artillery, machine guns, and infantry, they managed to encircle all Japanese forces by August 26.

Zhukov's style

          The battle at Khalkhin-Gol revealed Zhukov’s command style. Unlike many other commanders, he personally visited the front and performed reconnaissance operations on the terrain and enemy forces. He skilfully coordinated operations between the ground and air, and offensives and defensives. He was also willing to face heavy casualties when necessary, and frequently launched bold offensives. His use of innovation allowed him to quickly and effectively deal with one situation to the next. All these tactics and abilities proved useful on the outbreak of the Second World War.