History 19/01/20 As Zhukov defeated the Red Army in January 1941
the Tension in the international arena has grown since the mid-1930s, After 1939 there were only two major powers – the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. It was clear that sooner or later a collision will be unavoidable, the only question is, who starts the conflict and when. In these circumstances, the red army gave the Soviet leadership a concern, especially after the failures of the Winter war against Finland.
In April-may 1940, examining the results of the campaign, the Main military Council of red army have acknowledged that clash with the more serious opponent of the army have yet to learn and prepare. The people’s Commissar of defense, Marshal Voroshilov said that “we have there the case was weak, poorly organized”. The war has exposed flaws in the weapons, uniforms, training, discipline and, equally important, in the management of troops and the interaction of different types of weapons. In General, do not have enough good generals, capable of complex operations.
to fix this, to exercise Supreme command staff and to better imagine how this can develop a possible clash with Germany, in December 1940 – January 1941 was arranged major military strategic game on the cards. The games were invited and the General of the army Georgy Zhukov, the well-proven Soviet-Japanese conflict at Khalkhin Gol, then commander of the Kiev special military district.
Besides him, were the Soviet generals Pavlov, Fedor Kuznetsov, Grigory Kulik, and others. As the historian Alexei Isaev in the biography of the commander in the book “Georgy Zhukov: the last argument of the king”, these exercises were opened by the future Marshal of the Victory road “to the summit of the military hierarchy”.
the exercise was designed possible deployment options and actions of the red army in the war with the Germans. Objectives were: “to give you practiceschema command in the organization and planning of the front and army operations, its military and financial support to the entire depth; in the management of the operation, organization and maintenance of interaction of armed forces and arms of troops and control the rear.” First and foremost, to recoup the repel German attacks on the border and the counter-offensive of the red army.
bugs should have been to counter the actions of Pavlov and Kuznetsov and “play for the Germans”. He played better, so was better prepared operationally – more skillfully chose tactics and maneuvers for the encirclement of the enemy. The games were held on the basis of input – known information about the composition and capabilities of the Wehrmacht and the red army and the current operational environment.
Zhukov forced the Red army to stop the offensive in East Prussia, with short shots draining her, and then struck with accumulated reserves powerful flank attacks on troops Pavlova, thus breaking them, reaching operational victories and advantages for future military operations. This is despite the fact that the forces of the red army in the game which is called “Eastern” and designated on the map in red, outnumbered the forces of “Western” (blue) in the quarter, and three times surpassed them in tanks!
the Only thing that “forces” Zhukov had a slight advantage – it’s anti-tank guns and the skills of their commander. In the future he could not defeat the “East”. The commander used the development of the road network in the border and maneuvering, held important positions. As a result, he not only defended East Prussia and not made to break its force, but also created a threat to the environment 20 infantry divisions and 4 tank brigades of the red army. The game was stopped. “East” was lost.
Stalin was dissatisfied with this outcome of the game. It became clear that the war, if the main theater will unfold in the North-West, might become protracted and even bad. Although the game only partially and very tentatively fromreflect the real situation during the war, much was not only exemplary, and influenced the next six months of preparation for war, but prophetically accurate.
In many respects the Germans acted in the operational plan as anticipated beetles. However, disaster 1941 went much further. But this time Zhukov was on the side of “red”. Stalin praised his ability to command, as demonstrated during the January games, and trusted Zhukov, the most important operations of the great Patriotic war.
Konstantin Dmitriev
Source:
© Russian Seven
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