Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

He really is that stupid.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Come on, man.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

You can’t love your country only when you win.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 394: Bakhmut Still Holds!

War for Ukraine Day 394: Bakhmut Still Holds!

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Just a quick housekeeping note: thank you to Another Scott who helped identify Oleksandra Olishevska as the artist of the image of Ukraine being hugged that I used to start the update the other night. This is Ms. Olishevska’s description of that image:

as much as possible 💙💛
Hold on, dear, victory is coming!
we love you and will not give you to anyone

Thanks again, now I can properly attribute the next time I use the image.

Russia opened up just about everywhere in Ukraine it could easily reach today:

We’ll have more after the jump.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:

The enemy must know: Ukraine won’t forgive offenses against our people, won’t forgive these deaths and injuries – address of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

24 March 2023 – 20:10

Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health!

Today, I took part in two events of gratitude and respect for our soldiers – our defenders.

Young officers graduated from the educational institutions of the National Guard of Ukraine. All of them go to the permanent defense and security forces, the units of our National Guard, which, together with all our soldiers, defend Ukraine.

I am grateful to our boys and girls who have chosen such a path of service to Ukraine, to the future of the Ukrainian people – the path of officers. Thanks to all the families of our young professional soldiers for such sons and daughters.

Patriotic, brave and effective, those who chose the opportunity to act for the defense of our state and people as their profession.

Today, on the eve of the Day of the Security Service of Ukraine, I congratulated the staff of the Security Service of Ukraine, all our security service personnel.

It is definitely worth noting: the Security Service of Ukraine is undergoing a fundamental internal transformation.

The service was fully mobilized for the real defense of the state. And it is now giving Ukraine such results that each of us can only be proud of.

The SSU staff is fighting the external enemy, neutralizing internal threats, putting a historical end to any attempts by Russia to manipulate Ukraine through agents.

Today, I thanked all the SSU employees. And I am sure that the Service will give Ukraine even more results in defending the state.

I had the honor to present state awards to soldiers from the SSU and National Guard ranks.

I am sincerely grateful for the strength that can be felt in the eyes of our fighters. The strength of those who are able to win for Ukraine.

I met today with a delegation from the World Bank. We do not lose a single day for international contacts, we work at all levels.

The current support programs for Ukraine and promising new ones were discussed.

Of course, we focused on reconstruction – everything that needs to be done in many Ukrainian cities and villages that suffered terrorist attacks by the occupier.

Residential buildings, social infrastructure, the economic basis of life – all this needs to be rebuilt. And I thank the partners for understanding that timing and coordination of efforts are crucial.

As always, today I will mention our fighters, who gave the best result in the past day.

First of all, in Donetsk region.

Glorious 72nd separate mechanized brigade named after the Black Zaporozhians – thank you, guys! Marines of the 36th brigade – well done! The 55th Separate Artillery Brigade Zaporizka Sich – thank you, soldiers, for your constant accuracy, real battle-hardened deeds!

Marines of the 35th brigade and the 79th separate air assault brigade – thank you!

Zaporizhzhia direction: the 44th Artillery Brigade named after Hetman Danylo Apostol – thank you for the accuracy!

I would like to mention all our fighters who strike at the occupier in response to terror, who identify the enemy’s positions from which they attack our cities. Each destroyed terrorists’ position is the saved life of our people.

I thank the Armed Forces, intelligence, and Security Service personnel – everyone who is involved in performing this task… The fair fire response to those who are the source of terror.

Such strikes as on Kostiantynivka today, as many other of our cities… The enemy must know: Ukraine won’t forgive offenses against our people, won’t forgive these deaths and injuries.

All Russian terrorists will be defeated.

Thanks to everyone who brings the Ukrainian victory closer! Glory to everyone who is fighting for Ukraine!

Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by Russia and its terrorist war!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is the machine translation of the Ukrainian MOD’s latest operational update from their Telegram channel:

Ministry of Defence Ukraine✔
‼️Operational information as of 18.00 on 24.03.2023 regarding the Russian invasion

▪️During the day, the enemy carried out 40 air strikes and 5 missile strikes , carried out more than 20 attacks from rocket salvo systems on the positions of our troops and the civilian infrastructure of populated areas. Civilians died.

▪️The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiiv, Marin, and Shakhtar directions. Ukrainian soldiers repelled more than 38 enemy attacks on them.

▪️On the Kupyansk and Lymansk directions, the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the Serebryansk forestry area and near the settlements of Hryanikyvka and Bilogorivka. He carried out artillery shelling in the areas of Kamianka, Dvorichna, Hryanivikka, Zapadne, Kupyansk and Pishchane settlements of Kharkiv region; Stelmakhivka, Nevske, Dibrova and Bilogorivka – Luhansk region, as well as Terny and Spirne in Donetsk region.

▪️In the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy continues its assault on the city of Bakhmut, which is held by our defenders, as well as in the areas of Orihovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, Ivanivske and Stupochki settlements of the Donetsk region . Shelled the settlements of Minkivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Hryhorivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Stupochki, Predtechyne, Oleksandro-Shultyne, Zalizne, Severny and Toretsk.

▪️On the Avdiivsk, Marynsk and Shakhtarsk directions, the enemy carried out offensive actions in the direction of Keramik, Stepove, Avdiivka, Severna, Pervomaiske and Pobyeda settlements of the Donetsk region. There was no success . Avdiivka, Tonenka, Netaylove, Lastochkina, Georgiivka, Maryinka, Pobieda, Novomykhailivka, Vugledar, Prechistivka and Zolota Niva in Donetsk region were subjected to numerous enemy attacks.

▪️In the temporarily captured settlements of Luhansk region, the invaders continue to put pressure on civilians . It is becoming more and more difficult to move between settlements. In particular, the village of Plugatar can be accessed only by local residents with special passes.

✈️Aviation of the Defense Forces per day carried out 16 strikes on the areas of concentration of personnel and military equipment of the occupiers.

✅Our defenders shot down enemy unmanned aerial vehicles Shahed-136 and Lancet.

🇺🇦At the same time, Ukrainian missile and gunners hit 2 control points, 4 areas of concentration of enemy manpower, weapons and military equipment, 2 anti-aircraft missile systems, an ammunition depot, an artillery unit on a firing position and 2 electronic warfare stations.

support🇺🇦Armed forces! Let’s stand and win!
Glory to Ukraine!🇺🇦

🇺🇦General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
🚀 Ministry of Defence Ukraine👆

And here is a machine translation of their announcement about UAV development as a follow on from last night’s update:

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of the situations in Avdiivka, Kreminna, and Bakhmut:

The Donbas:

Kharikiv:

Donetsk:

Bilopilya:

Kostiantynivka:

Vodyane:

CNN has new reporting about a Ukrainian orphanage and the Russian re-invaders:

Kherson, Ukraine CNN — A boom of artillery fire shook the ground as Olena opened the gate to the Kherson Children’s Home.

She barely flinched.

Russian positions are just across the Dnipro River and Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, is under regular attack.

Like many Ukrainians during this war, Olena prefers not to share her last name. She has worked at the orphanage for more than 17 years.

Olena said she loved all the children at the home, but she was closest to Arkasha. “Of course, everyone has their favorite, but he was mine,” she said.

Five-year-old Arkasha’s locker is orange – with a sticker of a rooster on it. His name is neatly printed in Cyrillic script.

Inside the rooms, there are paintings of bunnies holding balloons, floating through the sky; play areas for toddlers; cupboards stacked with toys. In the bedrooms, sparkling clean cots and tiny bunk beds with brightly colored mattresses.

But the 48 children who lived here are gone – seized by Russian officials during the city’s months-long occupation.

“I feel emptiness, emptiness. Everything has stopped,” said Olena. “The children were happy. They had everything!”

Hidden in a basement
When the war began in February last year, the staff at the children’s home came up with a plan.

They spirited all the children, mostly under 5, to the Holhofa church on the other side of town, Olena recounted.

The church and caregivers from the home kept the children safe and warm in the basement. They hid them to keep them safe from the fighting and to escape the Russians, said Olena.

Kherson fell to the Russian forces in the early days of the war. The invading troops moved swiftly over the Dnipro River; it was the first major city to be taken and the only regional capital.

“Yes, the children were here,” Victor, the 74-year-old caretaker of the church, told CNN. “But after the Russians occupied this city, they started asking questions.”

After a few weeks, he said, agents from Russia’s security service, the FSB, came to the church and demanded that the caregivers transport the children back to the orphanage.

The caregivers felt they didn’t have a choice. And it was then that Olena realized that the Russians wanted to take the children away.

“They kept saying, ‘these are our children,’” she said of the FSB agents.

In October, Russian officials informed the orphanage that they were coming for the children.

“They warned us to collect their clothes. The Russians called in the evening and said we should prepare the children for the next morning. The buses arrived at eight,” she said.

In occupied Kherson, the Russians didn’t hide their actions in taking the children from the Kherson Children’s Home.

In fact, they widely advertised the move and used it for propaganda purposes. Eventually, the incident could be used as evidence in a war crimes trial.

Shared on Telegram, the footage of that October morning shows bewildered children being shunted onto buses – away from their beloved nurses.

Olena said the nurses wrote the children’s names on their jackets or on their hands – so that at least they would be called by their real name wherever they went. The organizers said they were taking them to occupied Crimea. It’s not clear exactly where they ended up.

Ukrainian investigators have said orphans taken from occupied territory also ended up in Russia, where they were given citizenship and handed to Russian couples.

“They do not deserve our children. They should bring them back. They do not deserve them,” said Olena.

One nurse at the hospital took such efforts to thwart the Russians’ actions a step further.

Tetiana Pavelko kept going back to see a newborn called Kira, who’d won her heart. “From the beginning, I really loved her. She was such a beautiful child,” she told CNN.

Pavelko begged the hospital doctors and administrators to keep Kira off the list of children that collaborators regularly checked.

“Every day, the list was updated. And they made that list twice a day. I made sure that Kira was never on that list,” she recalled.

When Ukrainian soldiers took back Kherson from the Russians in November, Pavelko was allowed to take Kira home. She has started adoption proceedings, she said.

More at the link!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

Як вам такий поворот?😁 #песпатрон

♬ Pes Patron – Fan Karta Svitu

For whatever reason none of my browsers – Brave, Firefox, or Safari will let my highlight the caption for machine translation. This appears to be a TikTok issue as I can still highlight and machine translate on other sites.

Open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  2. 2.

    Anonymous At Work

    For when you get back, an important question first raised by Chuck Pfarrer:

    Which do you prefer: Moscow Balcony Sky-Diving Club or Acute Windowitis?

  4. 4.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Adam L Silverman: Obviously not you, but for Russians who apparently like opening windows in sub-zero temperatures and falling 20 stories.  You know, the idiots formerly considered useful.

  5. 5.

    West of the Rockies

    A thousand dead Russians in one battle in one day?  I wonder how that plays in Russia, even with their limited information resources.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    @West of the Rockies: I’ve seen guesstimates that Russia, and by that I mostly mean Wagner, has had several tens of thousands of KIAs over the last several months trying to grind out something resembling a victory in Bakhmut. Which puts it at maybe 10-15% of Stalingrad (so far), and that it’s even within shouting distance is appalling.

  7. 7.

    HumboldtBlue

    O/T, a bunch of new names for Army bases go into effect tomorrow, including Forts Cavazos and Barfoot.

     

    • Fort Benning, Ga. – rename Fort Moore after Lt. Gen. Hal and Julia Moore.
    • Fort Bragg, N.C. – rename Fort Liberty after the value of liberty.
    • Fort Gordon, Ga. – rename Fort Eisenhower after General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower.
    • Fort A.P. Hill, Va. – rename Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Walker.
    • Fort Hood, Texas – rename Fort Cavazos after Gen. Richard Cavazos.
    • Fort Lee, Va. – rename Fort Gregg-Adams after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.
    • Fort Pickett, Va. – rename Fort Barfoot after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot.
    • Fort Polk, La. – rename Fort Johnson after Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
    • Fort Rucker, Ala. – rename Fort Novosel after Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr.
  8. 8.

    Alison Rose

    russia wants to claim that they’re big and tough and great, yet they murder the elderly, kidnap and psychologically torture children, and their orcs keep making whiny videos about how much everything sucks. If putin was capable of shame, he’d die from it, and I God damn wish he would.

    This is pretty neat:

    The Czech initiative “Gift for Putin” collected 30 million crowns (over 1.2 mln Euro) to purchase a RM-70 multiple rocket launcher for Ukraine. The transfer is planned in the coming weeks.

    There’s a photo of it and it looks pretty bad-ass. Nice job, Czechs!

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    @HumboldtBlue: That’s great. We have a Fort Bragg in California (my parents lived there for a couple years) and unfortunately last I saw about a year ago, they’d decided to keep the name. I was upset but not that surprised. We might be a liberal state but people get so weirdly stuck on this shit. The fact that the missions are still fodder for school field trips where they gloss over the horrors of them is another example.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    Ukraine now sounding a little more positive about Bakhmut than I can recall over the last several weeks.

    The battle for Bakhmut, the Ukrainian city which Russia has spent months trying to capture, is “stabilising”, says Ukraine’s commander in chief.

    Earlier this month, Western officials estimated between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops had been killed or injured in Bakhmut since last summer. But despite that, Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian troops’ “tremendous efforts” were holding back Russia.

    Moscow is eager for a victory after failing to make major recent gains. Despite this, military analysts believe Bakhmut has little strategic value, with the city’s importance now symbolic.

    On Facebook, Lt Gen Zaluzhnyi said that while the situation on Ukraine’s frontlines “is the toughest in the Bakhmut direction…due to the tremendous efforts of the defence forces, we are managing to stabilise the situation”.

    Lt Gen Zaluzhnyi posted after speaking to the UK’s Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about the situation in Ukraine. His comments are the latest positive signal from Ukrainian officials about the long battle for Bakhmut.

    On Thursday, Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the country’s ground forces, said that Russian troops were “exhausted” near Bakhmut. Mr Syrsky added that while Russia “has not given up hope of taking Bakhmut at all costs despite losses in manpower and equipment… they are losing significant strength”.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65072173

  15. 15.

    Jay

    Prigozhin denied the Kremlin's claim that Russia is fighting NATO in Ukraine and questioned whether there are really N*zis in Ukraine, as the Kremlin has consistently claimed.Probably, Russia cannot conduct large-scale simultaneous offensive campaigns on several fronts. pic.twitter.com/ok5nCtg72m— Bakhmut Avdiivka HOLDS 🇺🇦 Збагачений Украніюм (@Heroiam_Slava) March 24, 2023

  19. 19.

    Chetan Murthy

    @West of the Rockies: [fixed] Politkovskaya (sp?) Skripal, Navalny, Litvinenko, and the list just goes on and on and on.

    Oh, and the head of the Council of Europe’s anti-money-laundering unit is (wait for it) the FUCKING SON OF A FUCKING RUSSIAN GENERAL, THE HEAD OF THE FUCKING SVR.  The bastards who poisoned Skripal, his daughter, Dawn Sturgess, Charlie Rowley, and IIRC a police constable Nick Bailey.

    I don’t know when the Europeans will fucking learn, but I have a suspicion it will be when the CEE countries take their place as the motor and steering-wheel of Europe, and not until.

    https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/news/2023/03/15/7158034/

  20. 20.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jay:

    Prigozhin denied the Kremlin’s claim that Russia is fighting NATO in Ukraine and questioned whether there are really N*zis in Ukraine,

    He has occasionally praised Ukrainian soldiers over the past 6 months, including last fall. Still scum (the suicide attacks in particular though Wagner group is war-crimey everywhere it operates.) and a frequent liar, but more honest than many.

  24. 24.

    Captain C

    @Alison Rose: I would guess not as long as whatever passes for his personal Praetorian Guard stays loyal/bought.  That wouldn’t preclude more remote means.

  27. 27.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Bill Arnold:

    1. Has Russia ever in living memory even remotely pretended to abide by the laws of war (sure/sure, “such as they are”)?  [bear with me, this is going somewhere ….]
    2. From all accounts, he equips his Wagner forces well, even as he treats his “penal battalions” like cannon-meat
    3. but then, Russia used penal battalions in WWII, and IIRC they didn’t treat them any better, so that doesn’t make him any worse than other Russian military commanders
    4. Sooo …. perhaps Prigozhin is what passes for a competent Russian military leader ?

    Which is (in a way) completely consistent with him getting defenestrated with extreme prejudice: the last thing a Russian autocrat has ever tolerated (unless absolutely put to it (e.g. by Zhukov)) is a *competent* general.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    @Cameron:

    @Bill Arnold:

    It would seem that Bakhmut broke the propaganda bubble for him, and he has realized that Putin and the Stafka have not embraced reality, Girkin has done the same. He and Girkin have realized that Russia is going to lose the war badly, if some things don’t change.

    Are they positioning themselves for post Putin politics, who knows, who cares.

    For Rucists, all roads in Ukraine lead to the Hague.

  29. 29.

    Jay

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Which is (in a way) completely consistent with him getting defenestrated with extreme prejudice: the last thing a Russian autocrat has ever tolerated (unless absolutely put to it (e.g. by Zhukov)) is a *competent* general.

    Unlike Rucist mil bloggers, I am pretty sure his security protocols will keep an accidental FSB pistol discharge to the back of his head at a checkpoint at bay for a while.

  30. 30.

    Jay

    ⚡️Intelligence: Russian occupying authorities in Crimea sell their property, take families away.The Russian command and Moscow-installed proxies in Crimea have begun evacuation from the occupied peninsula, said Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence.— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 24, 2023

  32. 32.

    Urza

    @Alison Rose: Highly likely.  The regular military is doing its best to grind down the Wagner Group so it loses the fame it won earlier.  Plus Prigozhin at least being rumored to want to take over after Putin puts him high on the list for defenestration just as soon as he’s not delivering on the battlefield.

  35. 35.

    Alison Rose

    @Urza: Like, imagine being as evil as prigozhin and yet not evil enough for putin. If I had a time machine, I’d figure out exactly when and where putin’s parents met and kidnap one of them and dump ’em off in Australia or something so they can never breed together.

    maybe then they’d each have kids with other people, and instead of one super evil maniac we’d have two just real assholes in middle management

  36. 36.

    Shalimar

    @Chetan Murthy: Is there any reason to believe Prigozhin is a military leader at all?  I know he cos-plays with his Putin-allowed fortune, but he also has access to retired Russian officers to lead his units and pays better than the Russian army.  I assume the best of the professionals actually lead the military operations.  Maybe someone is aware of what Prigozhin adds to Wagner other than money.

  37. 37.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Shalimar:

    Is there any reason to believe Prigozhin is a military leader at all?

    I guess, if you compare him with what passes for “military leader” in Russia, he comes off looking pretty good.  He takes care of (some of) his troops, equipping them well, and from UA soldiers’ accounts, the regular Wagner troops are pretty decent (again, by comparison with RU MOD troops).  So in that sense, yeah, he’s a military leader.

    I mean, when your bar is “does better than just pound them back into the Stone Age”, it doesn’t take much to be a winner.

  38. 38.

    Jay

    @Shalimar:

    he is a military leader in the sense that as CEO he built Wagner PMC from basically a minor for hire Mall Security Guard company, into a Global PMC.

    Leading a combined arms team is far different from building, staffing and arming a PMC and landing contracts all over the globe, and not just with the Russian MOD.

  40. 40.

    bbleh

    @HumboldtBlue: whoa. fer realz? this is gonna cause a lotta hospital visits and traffic accidents, and … oh boy.

    Not that I disapprove, but I expect a significant number of people — sometimes violent people — will.

  43. 43.

    Chetan Murthy

    My god!  If only the Czar knew!

    Russian soldiers from the “Storm” unit, consisting of both convicts (and likely some mobilised), formed by Russian MoD, published a video revealing they were purposefully sent into slaughter during the assault of Vodyane while blocking units prevented their retreat. The unit… pic.twitter.com/J3citHJOpQ
    — Dmitri (@wartranslated) March 24, 2023

  45. 45.

    Hangö Kex

    Prigozhin’s denying Kremlin claims about Russia fighting NATO and n*zis in Ukraine could be chest thumping of a sort: look what I dare / can do (i.e. everyone knows these things, but to say it out loud you have to be really powerful and important).

  46. 46.

    Betty

    Every time I watch the Zelenskyy videos, I am so touched by the clear cost of the war on his face. I pray that he soon has lots of days to smile and laugh with family and friends.

  47. 47.

    EntroPi

    @Alison Rose:

    There’s probably a workable short story based on that concept, with the twist at the end being that the two asshole middle-managers somehow meet and end up breeding the Antichrist and bringing about Armageddon.

  48. 48.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Chetan Murthy: Has Russia ever in living memory even remotely pretended to abide by the laws of war (sure/sure, “such as they are”)?

    It might be noted that during WW2 the Third Reich justified its refusal to treat Soviet prisoners according to the Geneva Convention on the grounds that the USSR had never signed or ratified the Geneva Convention & thus was not a party to it. (Which of course does not justify leaving hundreds of thousands if not millions of captured soldiers to die of starvation, disease and/or exposure to the elements. Just saying.)

  49. 49.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Chetan Murthy: ​[T]he last thing a Russian autocrat has ever tolerated (unless absolutely put to it (e.g. by Zhukov)) is a *competent* general.

    Were you aware that in the g(l)ory days of the USSR, upper-level Soviet military officers (who retired on substantial pensions) could settle wherever they liked except Moskva, Leningrad or Kiev**? The apparatchiks were terrified that a critical mass of top brass collected in those cities could organize a successful coup. (or in the case of Kiev** a successful breakaway from the central authorities).

    ** I’m deliberately transliterating from Russian because that was the official language of the time and place. So don’t no one get his nose outa joint, OK?

  50. 50.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Uncle Cosmo: ISTR Zhukov had been sent off to some frozen hellhole in Siberia, by the time of Stalin’s demise.  Maybe I’m misremembering.

  51. 51.

    Andrya

    @Chetan Murthy:  You’re basically on target, but according to Wikipedia it was more complicated than that.  (I know, Wikipedia is not infallible.)  Very complicated interactions with Khrushchev and Brezhnev, for example.

    I have always assumed that Zhukov, who was a brilliant strategist and a hell of a lot smarter than Stalin, arranged  his chess pieces so he would not be subjected to a 1937 style show trial.

    Touching bit from the Wikipedia article:  when Eisenhower was president, he heard that Zhukov was an avid fisherman, so he (Eisenhower) sent Zhukov a set of fishing gear.  Zhukov used them for the rest of his life.

    If any jackal can recommend a good biography of Zhukov, please do.  That would be something I would really want to read.

Comments are closed.