Of Men and Cardboard

A historian of note, whose name my vodka-addled brain cannot recall, once said that “All history is essentially biography.” Debatable, but an interesting point nonetheless.

The two military leaders included in Defiant Russia have certainly been the subjects of biography, so much that anything my meager pen could add would be superfluous. Still, a few comments about both are in order.

Colonel-General Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (1888-1954)

Born in Kulm, 17 June 1888, Guderian received his military education in cadet schools
in Karlsruhe and Berlin from 1901 to 1907. He served mainly on the Western Front in the Great War as a signal and staff officer, though he also served a stint on the Italian front in 1918. Guderian even fought the Bolsheviks earlier than 1941 as a staff officer of the "Iron Division" in Latvia, 1919.

Between the World Wars is when Guderian made his mark on military history. Fortunate to be one of the 4,000 officers permitted in the army under the Versailles Treaty, Guderian became an enthusiast of tanks as the main weapon in a future war. Training in this banned weapon system occurred at times secretly in the Soviet Union. After Hitler's rise to power, it was Guderian who organized Germany's first three Panzer Divisions. He also authored a book, Achtung! Panzer!

When war broke out he commanded an armored corps with great distinction in both
Poland and France. In the campaign of my game, he was a major reason that Army
Group Center outperformed both its southern and northern partners. Thus he gets a counter in Defiant Russia in an effort to recreate this advance. He would not survive in field command beyond the end of Defiant Russia. He was relieved on Christmas Day, after refusing to obey Hitler's Halt Order issued on the 17th.

Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974)

Born into extreme poverty in Stretkovka (near Moscow), Zhukov was conscripted in the Dragoons during the Great War, where he was wounded in Romania, in October 1916. In the turmoil of the Civil War he joined the Red Army in 1918 and became a member of the Communist Party a year later. He served as a cavalry commander and was wounded yet again near Tsaritsyn.

After the Civil War he remained in the army, attending formal cavalry schools and rising through the ranks in that branch of the army (cavalry being still quite important in the Soviet Union), until reaching corps and then district command. Like Patton, he had a love of horses that blossomed into a love of tanks.

Posted as commander-in-chief in the Far East, Zhukov defeated the vaunted Kwantung Army of Imperial Japan in the undeclared Sino-Soviet border war in the summer of 1939. This defeat would keep Japan out of Operation Barbarossa, freeing many Siberian troops to meet the Axis before Moscow.

Zhukov is present from the start of Defiant Russia. He doesn't magically appear on turn three! He was Chief of the Army General Staff at the outbreak of the war. It wasn't until he was sent to the Leningrad Front to personally take charge, however, that he began to have a direct impact of events, and thus my game. His greater command responsibilities give him the ability to project his modifiers beyond his own hex.

Beyond Defiant Russia

Military greatness is inherent in the mere mention of their names. What sets Guderian and Zhukov apart from other military commanders under their respective dictatorships was their ability to survive. Even after death, their individual reputations are held in esteem despite the evil masters they served.

After his dismissal in 1941, Guderian was recalled in March 1943 as Inspector General of Armored Forces. In this capacity he worked wonders in getting Germany's depleted panzer divisions reorganized. He was appointed Chief of the General Staff following the “Bomb Plot” of 1944. Always frank and willing to speak his mind, he was finally dismissed by Hitler in March 1945. His remarkable memoir, Panzer Leader (1952), was the first adult WWII book I ever read as an 11-year-old boy.

Zhukov's success against Japan may have been the only thing that saved him from the last of Stalin's military purges. He was often as blunt with Stalin as Guderian was with Hitler. Success gives one a lot of leeway, however, and Zhukov certainly enjoyed success on the battlefield.

He was forced out by Stalin after the war, as Uncle Joe feared his popularity with the Red Army. Zhukov was later “rehabilitated” by Khrushchev and restored to command in 1953. He was cashiered by that erratic premier once more in 1957 and this time stayed retired. His own memoir, Reminiscences and Reflections (1969) is one of the better literary works from the Soviet era.

A Passing Point to Ponder

History is full of “What If's.” I certainly love them! Between the wars both Guderian and Charles de Gaulle were major proponents of armored warfare. De Gaulle was an even more prolific writer and theorist, having written Edge of the Sword (1932), The Future of the Army (1934), and France and its Army (1938). France, however, having won the Great War saw no reason to expand its armored forces beyond simple infantry support. Germany, having lost, was looking for a radical solution to win the next one. Thus it was Guderian, not De Gaulle, who became famous in this sphere. Imagine history if Guderian had been ignored and De Gaulle heeded!

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William Sariego
April 2005