Page 20 - History of War - Issue 29-16

Frontline
COMMANDERS BARBAROSSA

OF

After invasion began, military leaders on both sides rose
to prominence and also fell from grace

GEORGY ZHUKOV the con ict, and was forced to sit back and
watch his nation slowly brought to its knees
YEARS ACTIVE: 1915-1957 by a German hammer that crushed Russian
ALLEGIANCE: SOVIET UNION resistance at every encounter. By September,
Hitler was directing most of his forces in Russia
When Hitler greenlit the invasion of the Soviet towards Moscow, and Zhukov was soon sent
Union in June 1941, Zhukov was one of the back in the eld to safeguard the city.
high-ranking Russian commanders that signed Zhukov’s impact on the defences of the city
the of cial military countermeasures to drive out was immediate. His decision to recall Soviet
the invaders and restore order to the fringes of forces stationed in the Far East bolstered the
the nation. The plan was to take a large force resistance effort, with many hailing his tactical
of Russian armour and infantry and encircle the direction to get them to the city in record time
German force, but despite superior numbers the as a key in uence on the siege’s eventual
Soviets were routed by Axis forces. outcome. The German attempt to overrun the
In August 1941, when the Axis surrounded city was hampered reinforcements pouring in
Kiev and besieged the city, Zhukov had and the end of the year, Zhukov organised a
advised Stalin to evacuate the city rather than counterattack on 6 December that drove the
risk the lives of its inhabitants. Stalin refused Axis out of the city.
and when the city fell 600,000 men were
taken into captivity. Right: Zhukov would continue to play a pivotal role in
The advice to withdraw from Kiev saw Stalin the Allied war effort and would become one of the Soviet
withdraw Zhukov from the opening months of Union’s most decorated commanders

WALTHER VON BRAUCHITSCH
YEARS ACTIVE: 1900-1941
ALLEGIANCE: THIRD REICH
Following his pivotal status during the Battle of
France and the successful invasions of Greece
and Yugoslavia, Hitler was quick to promote von
Brauchitsch in July 1940. As the director of the
Axis ground forces, he was central to Germany’s
early success prior to Moscow.
In June 1941, when Hitler ordered the
systematic invasion of the Soviet Union, von
Brauchitsch was one of a handful of high-ranking
of cials who assisted in re ning the original plan
and tactics.
His direction of the Axis ground forces helped
Germany crush Soviet forces across Russia,
however, Hitler’s decision to push all Panzer
battalions towards Moscow proved a grave error Brauchitsch spent the rest of the war in enforced
and von Brauchitsch was soon blamed for the retirement before being arrested for war crimes.
He died of a heart attack in 1948
asco and pulled from his position of power.
ALEKSANDR VASILEVSKY

YEARS ACTIVE: 1915-1918; 1919-1959 ALLEGIANCE: SOVIET UNION
An experienced soldier in World War I and in powerful military leads in the Red Army. Two
the Civil War, Aleksandr Mikhaylovich months later, he was transferred to Moscow to
Vasilevsky famously worked alongside Georgy help coordinate the defence of the city. He
Zhukov in the Allied ght against the Axis in the helped organise the three fronts of the city, a job
latter years of the war, but he would still play a that often kept him working until 4am each day.
signi cant part in the 1941 invasion. A bomb injured Vasilevsky in late October,
In August 1941, Vasilevsky was appointed but he continued to assist overseeing
Chief of the Operations Directorate of the Moscow’s defences up until the counter-
Above: Vasilevsky would remain an important gure in the
Red Army’s ght against the Axis, and was present during General Staff and Deputy Chief of the General offensive that drove the Germans out of the
the Japanese surrender in 1945 Staff, positioning him as one of the most city on 6 December.

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