Allied Commanders of World War Two/Marshal Zhukov, Part Two

"Georgi Zhukov" Part 2

Zhukov moved up through the ranks and remained an officer in various cavalry units until he was sent to command some Soviet forces in Mongolia in the late 1930s. At that time, Japan occupied Korea and an undeclared war flared between Japan and the Soviet Union. Zhukov launched an offensive operation against the Japanese, in what was something of a Blitzkrieg operation, just a week or so before the German Blitzkrieg against Poland in 1939.* The Soviets defeated the Japanese, who were far more reluctant to cross the border thereafter. Zhukov became an instant hero in the Soviet Union. In 1940, Zhukov took command of Soviet forces along the border with Rumania, where Stalin moved forces into Rumanian territory to claim the area known as Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which then became part of the Soviet Union.

Zhukov was promoted to Chief of the General Staff and he intensified efforts to prepare for a German invasion.** On June 22, 1941 Hitler launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed "Operation Barbarossa."

* Just very briefly, a Blitzkrieg, literally "lightening war," was an offensive which used air power to strike enemy supply, communications, command and staging areas in the rear areas, as well as on the front lines, while fast moving armored vehicles and motorized artillery and motorized infantry were concentrated at key points to break through enemy positions, bypassing strong points, which were then taken on by the slower moving infantry, who consolidated the gains made by the motorized units. The fast moving motorized units disrupted enemy rear areas, spreading confusion and terror among enemy troops. The motorized columns often had the purpose of encircling large concentrations of enemy forces. Zhukov employed similar tactics against the Japanese.

** In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin reached agreement on a "non-aggression" pact, which also contained provisions for a division of Poland between the two dictators, as well as plans for other countries and territories in eastern Europe.

WORD HISTORY:
Snide-This word goes back to Indo European "sneit," which meant "to cut." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "snithanan," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "snithan," which then became "snithen," and which retained the "to cut" meaning. This gave English the now obsolete verb "snithe," meaning "to cut," and an adjectival form "snithe" which meant "cutting, sharp." "Snide" developed from these forms, and the meaning once meant "tricky," apparently from the idea of a person "being sharp, cunning." Today it is most commonly heard, at least in American English, in "snide remark(s);" that is "a sharp or cutting remark(s)." English borrowed "cut" which overtook forms of "snide" as the main word for "use of a sharp instrument to make an incision;" thus the little usage of the word. Not so in other Germanic languages (except Norwegian) where forms are quite common and usage much more prevalent: German has "schneiden," Low German has "snieden," Dutch has "snijden," West Frisian has "snije," Icelandic has "sníða" (essentially like "snitha"), Swedish has "snida," and Danish has "snide." All have a meaning "to cut," "to carve," or "to trim." Apparently a verb form has died out in Norwegian, as I could not find it, although I did find "snitt," a noun form, but it seems little used anymore. There are noun forms in other Germanic languages. German, for example, makes fairly extensive use of the base word in various forms: "Schnitt," means "a cut," and in the north of Germany a "Schnitte" means "a slice of something (often bread)," "Schneider" is a "tailor" ("cutter of cloth"), "Schneide" is the "blade of a knife," and "Schnitzel" means "clipping, chip, slice," and is famous as the "slice of meat, pounded thin, breaded and fried, with "Wiener Schnitzel" being specifically veal prepared that way.