Georgy Zhukov
Germany invades the Soviet Union

On 22 June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, an invasion of the Soviet Union. On the same day, Zhukov responded by signing the "Directive of Peoples' Commissariat of Defence No. 3", which ordered an all-out counteroffensive by Red Army forces. He commanded the troops to "encircle and destroy enemy grouping near Suwałki and to seize the Suwałki region by the evening of 24 June" and "to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping invading in Vladimir-Volynia and Brody direction" and even "to seize the Lublin region by the evening of 24 June". This manoeuvre failed and disorganized Red Army units were destroyed by the Wehrmacht. Furthermore the subsequent Battle of Kiev in September, where over 600,000 Soviet troops were captured or killed, lowered his standing with Stalin. Zhukov subsequently claimed that he was forced by Joseph Stalin to sign the directive, supposedly written by Aleksandr Vasilevsky, despite the reservations that he raised.

When Stalin arrived unannounced at command headquarters on 29 June, demanding to know why he was not being told what was happening at the front, Zhukov courageously told him: "Comrade Stalin, our duty is first of all to help the front commanders and only then to inform you." But when he had to admit that they lost contact with the front commanders in Belarus, Stalin lost his temper and called him "useless".

On 29 July, Zhukov was removed from his post of chief of the general staff. In his memoirs he gives his suggested abandoning of Kiev to avoid an encirclement as a reason for it. On the next day the decision was made official and he was appointed the commander of the Reserve Front. There he oversaw the Yelnya offensive, delivering the Red Army's first victory over the Germans. On 10 September, Zhukov was made the commander of the Leningrad Front. There he oversaw the defense of the city.

On 6 October, Zhukov was appointed the representative of Stavka for the Reserve and Western Fronts. On 10 October, those fronts were merged into the Western Front under Zhukov's command. This front then participated in the Battle of Moscow and several Battles of Rzhev.

In late August 1942, Zhukov was made deputy commander in chief and sent to the southwestern front to take charge of the defence of Stalingrad. He and Vasilevsky later planned the Stalingrad counteroffensive. In November, Zhukov was sent to coordinate the Western Front and the Kalinin Front during Operation Mars. In January 1943, he—together with Kliment Voroshilov —coordinated the actions of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts and the Baltic Fleet in Operation Iskra. On January 18, 1943, Zhukov was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union.
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