Marshal Zhukov's Greatest Battles Author:Georgi K. Zhukov, Edited by Harrison E. Salisbury, Translated by Theodore Shabad From the dust cover: Marshal Zhukov was Russia's greatest World War II general and probably the greatest military figure to emerge from that war. — In this account he tells for the first time the story of four of the most colossal military engagements of our day-the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the little-known, yet crucial Battle... more » of Kursk-Orel, and the climactic battle of Berlin. But this is not military history. Marshal Zhukov reveals the inside story of conflicts and controversy between himself and Josef Stalin. He writes in intimate detail of discussions in the Kremlin leading to critical decisions in World War II.
Marshal Zhukov is not only a towering military figure. He has participated in some of the most dramatic political events of the past quarter century. At the end of World War II he was hailed as Russia's hero, the "spasitel" or savior of Moscow. He was a friend and comrade-in-arms of General Eisenhower's and was even called "Russia's Eisenhower." Many thought he might succeed Stalin. Instead, Stalin sent him to the provinces, where he rusticated until the dictator's death in 1953.
Zhukov immediately reappeared in the center of the Russian stage, and he remained there, playing a major role in such events as the arrest of Stalin's sinister secret police chief, Lavrenti P. Beria, and Beria's principal lieutenants. Having helped Khrushchev fend off a Politburo effort to oust him in 1957, for his pains, Zhukov was removed from office by Khrushchev and again sent into forced retirement. There he stayed until Khrushchev was deposed. Since that time he has begun to publish his version of many important happenings in Russia during the past three or four decades.
The Marshal's account of his greatest battles not only illuminates of the history and course of World War II. It throws penetrating light on the murderous quarrels which raged with the Kremlin even while Russia's fate hung in the balance and Hitler's armies swept to the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow and surged across the Ukraine, capturing Kiev and driving on to Stalingrad.
Marshal Khukov's narrative is present with an introductory analysis and commentary by Harrison E. Salisbury, author of The 900 Days.« less