#hero of the soviet union

[playitagin]

1968 – Fyodor Okhlopkov

Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov (Russian: Фёдор Матве́евич Охло́пков; 3 March 1908 – 28 May 1968) was a Soviet sniper during World War II credited with 429 kills. Nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1944 after tallying his first 420 sniper kills but rejected for unclear reasons, he was belatedly awarded the title in May 1965 over twenty years later to coincide with the anniversary of Victory Day.

#May.28.1968 #date of death #Fyodor Okhlopkov #Soviet sniper #Order of Lenin #Hero of the Soviet Union #history today

[aiiaiiiyo]

#Natalya Fyodorovna Kravtsova née Meklin #born in Lubny #Ukraine #Flight Commander of the Night Witches and Hero of the Soviet Union awarded for completing 840 sorties #1945 #EZX0 #oldschool

[awesomehistoryloverblog]

The Japanese Holocaust Hero, Chiune Sugihara

Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara Heroes are often born unexpectedly from dire circumstances. Confronted with an intolerable situation, they choose to act with humanity, rather than meekly back down, or join the angry mob.  Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara, and his wife Yukiko, when confronted with the Nazi Holocaust rapidly encroaching upon Lithuania, followed their hearts in direct defiance of…

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#hero #Hitler #Holocaust #Japan #Jews #Lithuania #Nazi #Soviet Union #World War II

[solarisdreamweavervt]

Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Soviet sniper.

“How many men have you killed?”

“Men? Not a single one. Fascists? 309.”

This absolute madlass is a hero and a legend.

The Nazis called her the “Russian bitch from hell”

And she was particularly brutal to the fascist pigs.

Her memory will never be forgotten

#hero #soviet union

[biglisbonnews]

20th Century Men brilliantly flips the Cold War on its head, with superheroes 20th Century Men is a sprawling new alternate history comic book series from Deniz Camp and S. Morian. The official synopsis gives you a vague idea of what you're in for: At the end of the 20th Century, superheroes, geniuses, madmen and activists rush towards WWIII! — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/01/16/20th-century-men-brilliantly-flips-the-cold-war-on-its-head-with-superheroes.html

#Post #Video #20th century men #afghanistan #american imperialism #antiimperialism #cold war #Comic Books #empire #empire in decline #fall of empire #graveyard of empires #happy mutants #image comics #imperial zuckerberg #imperialism #Soviet Union #Soviets of the 80s #super heroes #super soldiers #superheroes #ussr #war #Thom Dunn #Boing Boing

[politicoscope]

They're NOT Hiding It: Ukraine Street Renamed to Honor Neo-Nazis

They’re NOT Hiding It: Ukraine Street Renamed to Honor Neo-Nazis

A street in Kiev previously named in honor of Soviet Marshal Rodion Malinovsky was officially renamed on Wednesday to celebrate the “heroes” of the notorious Azov Battalion, many of whose members openly proclaim neo-Nazi ideology. Malinovsky, a Ukrainian by origin, liberated much of southern Ukraine, including his home city of Odessa, from the Nazis in 1943-1944. Twice a Hero of the Soviet Union,…

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#Andrey Biletsky #Azov #Azov Battalion #Azov Regiment #Heroes of the Azov Regiment #Neo-Nazis #Soviet Marshal Rodion Malinovsky #Soviet Union #Ukraine #Vladimir Zelensky #Volodymyr Zelensky

[look-sharp-notes]

History in color.

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak

Soviet fighter ace pilot, aviation flight commander, guard junior lieutenant, the most successful female pilot of World War II, Hero of the Soviet Union. Known by the nickname "White Lily". She died at the age of less than 22 years in a battle over the Mius Front.

[pettytiredandjewish]

antizionism is not antisemetism and you are delusional for believing so. the victim complex is strong

Well….it seems that you really don’t know the history of the term anti Zionism. Let me help you out a bit. The term anti Zionism was created by the Russians during the Soviet Union. The Russians hated jews. During that time period they wanted to find a way to destroy jews and their culture. That’s where anti Zionism comes in.

If you haven’t read Dara Horn’s people loves dead jews, she does an amazing job with going into detail about what happened- I’m gonna summarize it (I may not do it justice)…

During the 1920’s and 30’s the USSR was “supporting” Yiddish culture- they would pay for Yiddish language schools, theaters, publishing houses, etc. A lot of Russian jews were thriving in Russia during this time period due to the USSR “support”. But the Soviets wasn’t doing all of this to be kind and good. This was part of a larger plan to brainwash the jews so that they would submit to the Soviet regime. It came with a price.

The Soviets would eliminate anything in the celebrated jewish “nationality” that didn’t suit soviet needs. If you DIDNT practice your religion, study traditional Jew texts, Spoke Hebrew, or support Zionism- you were awesome. The soviets pioneered a well known slogan- which has spread all over the world and which it remains popular today: “it was not antisemitic, merely anti- Zionist”. The Soviets managed to persecute, imprison, torture, and murder thousands of Jews….

The only reason that the Soviets allowed Yiddish was so that they could continue their Jew hating game. Soviet Yiddish schools changed the language to get rid of biblical and rabbinic Hebrew. Why? Because Hebrew was and is still part of Jewish culture. The Soviets also forced Russian “anti-Zionism” Jews (who was brainwashed into hating their own Jewishness) to write stories and plays that would show how “horrible” traditional Jewish practice was. They would create these happy heroes who would reject both religion and Zionism.

This continued until the Soviets moved on to the next phase- purging Russian jews. If you were caught in a synagogue, a Jewish centered club, etc. you would be imprisoned, murdered, or exiled. This went on until the Soviets started to do the same thing to the anti Zionist jews.

Y’all this is why anti Zionism is antisemitic. Please know a terms history before you start spitting it out- thinking you know what it means. Anti Zionism is literally rooted into antisemitism. And the reason why a lot of countries and people use this term is because- (drum roll please)- they hate jews. This is why I keep telling y’all to please read up on history. Don’t get your info from social media or random websites. Just pick up a book, journals, or sourced papers and read them. It’s not that hard…

#jumblr #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #anti zionism = antisemitism #holy crap #y’all really need to read #i’m so tired of this shit

[lookninjas]

So I was curious as to why exactly Russia was calling for the arrest of Estonian PM Kaja Kallas, and it turns out they're pissed off at her for taking down Soviet monuments in Estonia.

As a reminder, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia in 1939 as part of a joint operation with Nazi Germany for the two countries to divide Europe between them (the Molotov-Ribbentrof pact). They briefly lost control when Germany decided they could have all Europe, not just half, but reoccupied the Baltic nations as the war turned against the Nazis. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania remained occupied by the USSR until 1991.

Just. The unmitigated gall of it. Claiming that the warrant is about her removing tributes to the "heroes" that "denazified" Estonia. Charging the leader of a sovereign nation with committing an offense against Russian laws, as though she's somehow subject to them.

If there was ever any doubt in you -- if ever for a second you thought that maybe the Russian government could be stopped from invading other countries by any means other than overwhelming force -- I need you really to think hard about what this means. That they're still acting like Estonia is their territory to occupy. That they think their laws apply to the leaders of other nations.

Russia will not stop until they are stopped. That's it. That's all.

#russia #estonia #kaja kallas #stand with ukraine

[captain-price-unofficially]

A Soviet 45-mm anti-tank gun under the command of Guards Captain, Hero of the Soviet Union Konstantin Matveevich Boboshko (1918-1994),17th Guards Rifle Division, 39th Army, changes its firing position. 1st Baltic Front, photo by Mikhail Savin, 1944

#wwii #eastern front

[majorhortonisonleaveinlondon]

An updated (April 3, 2024 7:48am pst) list of WW2 movies and TV shows in chronological order

thought out WW2 -(Imitation Game 2014) -(The Book Thief 2013) -(The Zookeeper’s Wife 2017) -(The Pianist 2002)

1937

October 26, 1937 Defence of Sihang Warehouse (The Eight Hundred 2020)

December 13, 1937 Nanjing Massacre - (John Rabe 2009) - (The Flowers of War 2011)

1938

Fall of 1938 (Munich – The Edge of War 2022)

1939

Summer 1939 (Six Minutes to Midnight 2020)

September 3, 1939 King George VI first wartime speech (King’s Speech 2010)

September 17, 1939, Soviet Union Invitation of Poland (The Way Back 2010)

November 30, 1939 Soviet Union invades Finland (The Winter War 1989)

1940

April 9, 1940 Operation Weserübung -(April 9th [movie] 2015) -(King’s Choice 2016) -(Narvik 2022) -(War Sailors 2023)

April 27, 1940 (Into the White 2011)

June 4, 1940 -Churchill gives “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech (Darkest Hour 2017) -Dunkirk Evaluation (Dunkirk 2017)

July 10-October 31, 1940 Battle of Britain (Battle of Britain 1969)

1941

May 1941 (Call to Spy 2019)

June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa -(Fortress of War [The Brest Fortres 2010) -(Defiance 2008)

September 8, 1941, Siege of Leningrad begins. -(Battle of Leningrad [Saving Leningrad] 2019) -(Leningrad 2009)

October 1941 Battle of Moscow (The Last Frontier [The Final Stand] 2020)

October 1941 Battle of Sevastopol (Battle for Sevastopol 2015)

December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970)

December 8, 1941 Japan invades Shanghai International Settlement (Empire of the Sun 1987)

1942

January 20, 1942, Wannsee Conference (Conspiracy 2001)

February 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Greyhound 2020)

February 1942 (The Railway Man 2013)

February 19, 1942, Bombing of Darwin (Australia 2008)

Spring 1942 (U-571 2000)

April 18, 1942 The Doolittle Raid (In Harm’s Way 2018)

June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway (Midway 2019)

1942 Summer Occupation of Jersey Island (Another Mother’s Son 2017 Prime)

July, 10 1942 Easy Company Trains in Camp Tocca (Band of Brothers 01x10 Currahee 2001)

July 21, 1942, Kokoda Track Campaign (Kokoda: 39th Battalion 2006)

August 7, 1942, 1st Marine Division land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 1 Guadalcanal/Leckie 2010)

August 19, 1942, Dieppe Raid (Dieppe 1993)

August 23, 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins (Stalingrad 1993)

September 1942 Formation of Troop 30 (Age of Heroes 2011)

September 18, 1942, 7th Marines Land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 2 Basilone 2010)

Autumn of 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Das Boot 1981)

October 18, 1942, Operation Grouse (Heavy Water War Ep. 2 2015)

November 8, 1942, Operation Torch (The Big Red One 1980)

November 10-17 1942 Vasily Zaytsev kills 225 German Soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates 2001)

December 1942 The 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal is relieved (The Pacific Ep. 3 Melbourne 2010)

December 15, 1942, Battle of Mount Austen (Thin Red Line 1998)

1943

March 13-14 1943, liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto -(Schindler’s List 1993)

April 17, 1943 Operation Mincemeat (Operation Mincemeat 2021)

April 19, 1943, beginning of the Warsaw Uprising (Uprising 2001)

May 4, 1943, Final Mission of The Memphis Bell (Memphis Bell 1990)

May 15, 1943, Salamo Arouch and his family arrive in Auschwitz Concentration Camp (Triumph of the Spirit 1989)

May 27, 1943 Louis Zamperini plane crashes on a search and rescue mission (Unbroken 2014)

May 30, 1943 first All-American Girls Professional Baseball League game played (A League of Their Own 1992)

June 25, 1943, 100th Bomb Group flew its first 8th Air Force combat mission (Master of the Air: Part One 2024)

July 1943 -(The Tuskegee Airmen 1995) -(The Liberator Ep. 1 2020) -(Heavy Water War Ep. 5 2015)

July 16, 1943, The 100th Bomb Group bombed U-Boats in Tronbhdim (Masters of the Air: Part Two 2024)

August 17, 1943 the 4th Bomb Wing of the 100th Bomb Group bombed Regenberg (Masters of the Air: Part Three 2024)

September 16, 1943, William Quinn and Charles Bailey leave Belgium (Masters of the Air: Part Four 2024)

September 18, 1943 John ‘Bucky’ Egan returns from leave to join the mission to bomb Munster (Master of the Air: Part Five 2024

October 14, 1943, John ‘Bucky’ Egan interrogated at Dulag Lut, Frankfurt Germany (Masters of the Air: Part Six 2024)

December 26, 1943, 1st Marine Division lands on Cape Gloucester (The Pacific Ep. 4 Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika 2010)

1944

January 22, 1944, Battle of Anzio -(The Liberator Ep. 2 2020) -(Red Tails 2012) -(Anzio 1968)

February 20, 1944, Hydro Ferry bombing (Heavy Water War Ep. 6 2015)

March 7, 1944, Stalag Luft III Sagan, Germany, Germans find the concealed radio Bucky was using to learn news of the War (Master of the Air: Part Seven 2024)

March 24/25, 1944 Allied Mass Escape of Stalag Luft III (The Great Escape 1963)

June 1944 (Cross of Iron 1977)

June 6, 1944, 00:48 & 01:40 First airborne troops begin to land on Normandy (Band of Brothers 02x10 Day of Days 2001)

June 6, 1944, 06:30 D-Day landings -(Storming Juno 2010)

-(Saving Private Ryan 1998)

June 10, 1944, Easy Company Takes Carentan (Band of Brothers 03x10 Carentan 2001)

June 15-July 9, 1944 Battle of Saipan

-(Windtalkers 2002)

-(Oba: The Last Samurai 2011)

July, 1944 The Monuments Men land in Normandy (The Monuments Men 2014)

July 20, 1944 Operation Valkyrie (Valkyrie 2008)

August 12, 1944, The 332nd Fighter Group attack Radar stations in Southern France (Masters of the Air: Part Eight 2024)

September 15, 1944, U.S. Marines landed on Peleliu at 08:32 (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 16, 1944, U.S Marines take Peleliu Airfield (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 17, 1944, Operation Market Garden

-(Band of Brothers 04x10 Replacements 2001)

-(A Bridge Too Far 1977)

October 2, 1944 Battle of Scheldt (Forgotten Battle 2021)

October 12, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, Assault on Bloody Nose Ridge (the Pacific Ep. 7 Peleliu Hills 2010)

October 13, 1944, Rovaniemi public buildings were destroyed (Sisu 2022)

October 14, 1944, Erwin Rommel is arrested (Rommel 2012 Prime)

October 22/23, 1944, 2100 – 0200 Operation Pegasus (Band of Brothers 05x10 Crossroads 2001)

November 1944 middle of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest (When Trumpets Fade 1998)

December 16, 1944, Battle of the Bulge (Band of Brothers 06x10 Bastogne 2001)

December 1944 (Hart’s War 2002)

1945

January 2, 1945 (The Liberator Ep 3 2020)

January 10, 1945 (Attack Force Z)

January 13, 1945, Battle of Foy (Band of Brothers 07x10 The Breaking Point 2001)

January 30, 1945 The Raid at Cabanatuan (The Great Raid 2002)

February 14, 1945, David Webb rejoins the 506th in Haguenau (Band of Brothers 08x10 The Last Patrol 2001)

February 19, 1945, Battle of Iwo Jima starts. - (Letters from Iwo Jima 2006) - (The Pacific Ep. 8 Iwo Jima 2010) - (Flags of our Fathers 2006)

March 21, 1945, Operation Carthage (The Bombardment 2021)

April, 1945 (Fury 2014)

April 5, 1945, 506th Finds abandoned Concentration Camp (Band of Brothers 09x10 Why We Fight 2001)

April 26, 1945, near the end of the war in Europe (A Woman in Berlin 2008)

April 29, 1945, 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau Concentration camp (The Liberator Ep. 4 2020)

May 2, 1945, Fall of Berlin -(Downfall 2004) -(Jojo Rabbit 2019)

May 1945 Battle of Okinawa -(Hacksaw Ridge 2016) -(The Pacific Ep. 9 Okinawa 2010)

May 7, 1945, Germany Surrenders V-E Day - (Master of the Air: Part Nine 2024) - (Band of Brothers 10x10 Points 2001)

July 30, 1945, USS Indianapolis sank. (USS Indianapolis 2016)

August 15, 1945, The Empire of Japan surrenders end of the War. -(Oppenheimer 2023) -(The Pacific Part Ten: Home 2010)

September 11, 1945 US Military search and Arrest Japanese Leaders for war crimes (Emperor 2012)

1946 April 29, 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (Tokyo Trial 2016)

#band of brothers #masters of the air #the pacific #hbo war fandom #WW2 movies

[playitagin]

1973 – Ivan Konev

Ivan Stepanovich Konev (Russian: Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев, IPA: [ɪˈvan sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ˈkonʲɪf]; (28 December 1897 – 21 May 1973) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, responsible for taking much of Axis-occupiedEastern Europe.

#May.21.1973 #date of death #Ivan Kone #Marshal of the Soviet Union #Hero of the Soviet Union #history today

[girlactionfigure]

I had to backup quite a ways, because understanding the Arab Israeli conflict without the wider context of the Cold War makes no sense. 

Yeah, so, after World War 2, the former big swinging dick countries of the world were too stressed out to manage any of their colonies. So they threw up their hands and walked away. Power hating a vacuum, the US was prevailed upon to take over, though having an empire seemed like a lot of bother to us. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was sucking countries close to them into their stupid-ass idea that if we all pool our resources and sing Kum-By-Ya, everyone will get rich. This idea was invented by a Joo, Karl Marx, number one crime of the Joos of all time. 

I could go on for a bit about how stupid this idea was, but let's just throw out the tidbit that they didn't have any weekends for 11 years. 

One of the things the British "owned" was this area formerly "owned" by the Ottoman empire, that had about 17 different names. Because the British Foreign office was a hot-bed of the flavor of anti-semitism that believes Joos were secretly running the world, they felt if they proposed this area as a "homeland" for the Joos, the secret masters, the Joos would favor them. (See The Peace to End All Peace, a boring ass book, but explains a lot of why the Middle East is all screwed up.)

So after WW2, there were a bunch of Joos and some Arabs living in this area. 

In the meantime, the Arab nations in the Area, annoyed at the presence of these Joos on their doorstep, looked at their own Joos and said "See Ya, oh and leave all your shit behind, so we can give it to some of the Arabs after we take our cut". Some more Joos came from Europe, but not as much as you might think. They said See Ya to some of their own Arabs too, but the Arabs got to keep their stuff, and got some of the Joos stuff (I'm a little fuzzy on where the Palestinians came from exactly, but it seems like everyone is.) It was sort of the reverse of Exodus where the Joos are leaving Egypt and the Egyptians give them a bunch of stuff to get them to leave faster, except this time it was the Joos giving stuff to the Arabs. 

The Joos and the Arabs didn't like the British being in charge, so they started doing shitty things to each other, and the British. The British had at that point decided that "owning" this particular patch of dirt wasn't worth it, it was a bunch of desert with no resources, except this one spot that had a magic rock that someone touched, but you had to leave the magic rock there. 

So they went to the UN, the newly formed revision of the League of Nations, and said "Hey, get us out of here". So the UN came up with a plan that gave most of the Arabs in the area most of the land. The Arabs in the area didn't like the deal, because they figured they could kill all the Joos when no one was looking. Except at this point, the local Joos were pretty stubborn and pissed off at being robbed by Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabic, etc., and they had an influx of Joos from Europe, so you can imagine that "pissed off Joos, willing to die where they stood" versus a bunch of spoiled Arabs who had been told "Just go over there, and we'll give you free stuff", didn't go so well for the Arabs.

So the British leave, the Joos take over after killing a few Arabs, and they declare independence. The US got on the Israel side early, because we're suckers for folks that say "Hey, we want to be a democracy like you, you're our hero.". Israel gets invaded by all the Arab nations around her, and fights them back, because they're all pretty grumpy, and they feel cornered. 

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union, they want to get people on their side. They don't really care about truth, because if they cared about truth, they'd have to admit this idea of Karl Marx, the Joo, wasn't working out so well. Turns out when everyone pools their resources, well, who decides how to divide it up? Also, they didn't believe in God, so they were obviously not very observant. 

So the Soviets want the Arab nations on their side, so they went up to the Arab nations and said "Hey, the US is on Israel's side, we want you to be on our side, we'll sell you weapons and stuff, those US folks are colonialist, they just want more colonies." This sounded good to the Arabs, not realizing that as hard core atheists, the Soviets had no shame about lying. So the Soviet Union traded some obsolete weapons to the Arabs, told them they were the best weapons ever, and got the Arabs to give them cash. 

Ironically, in the meantime, Israel starts transforming large swatches of the desert into usable land, by organizing farms around a system very similar to that Joo Karl Marx's idea, but it was local, tied to a single extended family, and didn't extend to the whole country, just one farm. The Joos from Europe who went to the US instead of Israel send them money, which helps, though that's strictly voluntary and unofficial. But American's like people who work hard so they even get some money from non-Joos in America. 

The Arabs get some money too, from the other Arabs, but mostly their leaders steal it. 

Time passed, eventually the Arabs got bored or something and decided to invade Israel again. Or maybe, the Soviet Union encouraged them? I dunno, never made much sense to me. I was a baby, don't remember. 

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union had recruited a prominent Egyptian, Yasser Arafat, living among the Arabs in Israel. Having a real sense of history would be too confusing to get the Israeli Arabs to rally behind, so the KGB, past masters of making shit up, came up with this whole imaginary history for the Palestinians so that Arafat, despited being from Egypt, could claim history in Israel, and so the Palestinians could whine about how mistreated they were.  

The Arabs learned the hard way "buy American" when their fighter planes wouldn't work because the planes the Russians had sold them actually needed a part they stole from America, because they couldn't make it themselves. So after 6-days, the second war was over.

The imaginary history the KGB had written stuck around, even though Arafat eventually died as we all must someday. It's taught to Palestinians so they can feel properly victimized and oppressed. Though its easily disproved if you browse around Wikipedia for a bit, with a skeptical mind.  

Did that help?

#Israel #KGB #palestine #History

[phantomrin]

Товарищей с Днём космонавтики! Отдельные поздравления всем причастным!

Congratulating all friends - especially those involved - with the Cosmonautics Day!

On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin - the USSR cosmonaut, the "Hero of Soviet Union" - became the first man to enter space on "Vostok-1" spaceship.

#День космонавтики #Юрий Гагарин #Cosmonautics Day #Yuri Gagarin #space #праздник #art #illustration #PhantomRin

[ketrindoll]

Today Lithuania marks Freedom Defenders' Day to commemorate the 14 victims that lost their lives during Soviet aggression on January 13, 1991.

Fourteen civilians (some underaged and one woman) were killed and hundreds more were wounded when the Soviet troops stormed the TV Tower and the Radio and Television Committee building in Vilnius, the offices of present-day LRT, in the early hours of January 13, 1991.

The Soviet Union used military force in an attempt to overthrow the government of Lithuania, which declared independence on March 11, 1990.

Today we remember our heroes and stand united for the freedom and victory of Ukraine.

Russia was the same then as it is now, and if they're not stopped, there will be another January 13th and another Ukraine.

#stand with ukraine #we remember why we are free #russia #ukraine #russian aggression #lithuania #january 13

[radiofreederry]

Happy birthday, Georgy Zhukov! (December 1, 1896)

One of the highest-ranking members of the Red Army during World War II, Georgy Zhukov served as Chief of the General Staff, Minister of Defense, and Marshal of the Soviet Union at various points throughout an illustrious and decorated military career. Drafted into the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, Zhukov joined the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution and fought for the Red Army in the Russian Civil War. Rising through the ranks, Zhukov received the Hero of the Soviet Union award, the first of four he would earn, at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 and was made a General the next year. Zhukov helped to organize the defense of the Soviet Union from the Wehrmacht during World War II, frequently clashing with Stalin on matters of strategy. He helped lead the Red Army to victory in the bloody Siege of Leningrad, and commanded the 1st Belorussian Front during the capture of Berlin. Zhukov personally accepted the instruments of German surrender. The military governor of the Soviet Occupation Zone after the war, Zhukov’s popularity and acclaim made him a potential threat to Stalin, and so he was removed from many of his positions. After Stalin’s death, Zhukov became a political ally of Nikita Khrushchev, and regained a great deal of influence once Khrushchev took power. However, Zhukov ultimately overplayed his hand and by 1957 had once again fallen out of favor and been removed from his posts. He retired from military and political life, and died an old man in 1974.

“Nazis did not expect Soviet resistance to be so strong. The deeper they moved into this country’s territory, the more fierce it became. When Hitler’s armies approached Moscow, every man and woman here thought it imperative to resist the enemy. And that resistance grew by the day. The enemy was sustaining heavy losses, one after another. In fact, Hitler’s best troops perished here. Nazis believed the Red Army was not capable of defending Moscow, but their schemes failed.”

#birthdays #georgy zhukov