Pictured: Colonel-General V. I. Chuikov speaking to a group of soldiers, 1948. From the publication titled “Glorified Warriors of the Red Army—Candidates of the People to the Supreme Council of the USSR.” A popular behavior assessment tool, the DiSC assessment, is based on Dr. William Marston’s theories  as well as his publication titled Emotions of Normal People . DiSC assessments are used in organizations with team members to improve communication and cohesion and reduce conflict. Understanding one’s personal DiSC profile is helpful in leadership effectiveness. The letters of DiSC represent the following traits: (D)ominance, (i)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness. When participants take the assessment, there are times when their results are a combination of traits. After reviewing various resources focusing on Marshal Chuikov, including his memoirs, speeches, and reflections of those who knew him, it is my assessment that he fits the Di combination profile, which is known as the “Achiever.” Achievers think  quickly and are great communicators, and debate and competition are enjoyable activities for them. Many of them become notable leaders due to their "force of nature" personalities. Both empathetic and resolute, they adapt swiftly to different scenarios and act effectively. Moreover, Achievers inspire their teams to accomplish more than previously thought possible, which certainly fits the situation of the 62nd Army Commander and his soldiers in Stalingrad. When Lieutenant-General Chuikov was appointed to command the 62nd Army, he encountered demoralized troops who were under-supplied and psychologically overwhelmed, with questionable combat effectiveness due to prior ineffective leadership. In his book titled Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed , Michael Jones shares an anecdote about Achiever Vasily Ivanonvich’s immediate effect on his troops. He went about the task of raising his soldiers’ morale quickly—and set the tone for his leadership very early on: “Feodor Shatravko remembers meeting the newly appointed Commander of the 62nd Army, Vasily Chuikov, at this time. He was part of the so-called ‘northern group’ based around the Stalingrad suburb of Spartanovka, and he accompanied his own commander to Chuikov’s HQ on the Mamaev Kurgan. ‘Chuikov asked us how things were,’ he related. ‘Well, we were honest with him—the mood of the men was terrible because of the drastic shortages in equipment and ammunition. The atmosphere was really ugly.’ […] For the defending 62nd Army the shortage of supplies was a fearful handicap. A different spirit of leadership was needed to counter it, and to maintain the will to resist. Shatravko recalled personal assurance on the slopes of the Mamaev Kurgan. ‘He spoke to us frankly, in man-to-man fashion. He told us that the present supply situation was completely unacceptable and promised us he would do everything in his power to improve it. We believed him and we felt for the first time that we had a commander who really cared about his soldiers.’”

Pictured: Group of military advisors in China, 1927. V. I. Chuikov is seated third from left, bottom row. In a another blog entry , I explored Marshal Chuikov’s studies of the Chinese language and culture through Frunze Military Academy. An accomplished student, Vasily Ivanovich was invited to spend a year of intense study with the Oriental Faculty of Frunze in preparation to be a diplomatic courier and military advisor. Chuikov later traveled to China for the first time in 1926 for a short internship. During the summer of 1927 after finishing at Frunze, he returned to China for a lengthier stay to serve as a military advisor. On this second eastern business trip, he learned to speak Chinese quite fluently, having traveled almost every corner of North and South China. In 1928, his daughter Ninel (a backward spelling of Lenin) was born in Harbin. The Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) was the focus of a notorious conflict in 1929, provoked by the Kuomintang military. Marshal Zhang Xueliang attempted to seize  the CER, which was built by Russian engineers under Tsar Nicholas II. Vasily Ivanovich detailed the location of the contested railway in Mission to China : “As you know, almost from Chita (in southeastern Siberia) to Vladivostok, for several thousand kilometers along the Chinese border, the Trans-Baikal Railway stretches. It connects our Far East with the center of the country. Throughout its length, this road in some places passes several kilometers from the Chinese border. In addition, the navigable Amur and Ussuri rivers, which are our natural border with China, link many regions of Transbaikalia and the Soviet Far East as water communications.” V. I. Chuikov, head of the intelligence school in Zagoryanka, 1933. If you look closely, the photo of the military advisors to China is on the mantle behind him. During a raid  of the Soviet Consulate General in Harbin on 27 May 1929, the Chinese police arrested 80 people and seized documents. The Special Far Eastern Armies were being formed in Khabarovsk to combat Chinese aggression with the support of Russians and Western powers. Chuikov returned to the Soviet Union via Japan, after which he was sent to Khabarovsk. About this time period, Russian researcher Viktor Gavrilovich  wrote the following: “In 1929, during the CER incident, Chuikov was forced to leave China after the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on 13 July. [Chuikov wrote,] ‘In August 1929, my comrades and I arrived in Vladivostok. On behalf of the headquarters of the Special Far Eastern Army, we were immediately sent to Khabarovsk, where the Special Far Eastern Army was being formed. By that time, an alarming situation had developed on the Soviet-Chinese border, and an armed conflict was brewing.’ Chuikov, who by this time had received the rank of Commander with his Chinese experience, was appointed to the newly created Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (ODVA) in Khabarovsk as the head of the intelligence department of the headquarters. The Soviet Far Eastern Army defeated Zhang Xueliang's Northeastern Army, and Chuikov participated in the negotiations that restored Soviet control over the CER.” As a representative of the ODVA headquarters, Chuikov presented  the Chinese parliamentarians with the Soviet terms of capitulation. Taking a car owned by the Japanese consulate, Vasily Ivanovich departed for the city of Manchuria to receive the surrender.

Pictured: The 1957 visit of the Chinese delegation to the Kiev Military District, when Marshal V. I. Chuikov was the Commander there. He is to the right of Peng Dehuai, the former Defense Minister of the People’s Republic of China. In considering various avenues for researching Marshal Chuikov’s life and work, one tactic is to examine his focus on being a life-long learner in a series of posts exploring his academic preparation, teaching and training duties, and leadership practices. As a fellow educator, life-long learner, and researcher, it is interesting to discover Vasily Ivanovich’s learning style and approach. Considering the number of years he spent in formal education after his Civil War experience in the Red Army, it is no wonder that he was considered to be a cultured intellectual. As part of his educational experiences at Frunze Military Academy where he proved to be a stellar student, he was invited to enter Chinese language and culture studies. Various sources confirm that the Chinese languages of Mandarin and Cantonese are two of the most difficult languages to learn. A young Chuikov spent an intensive time memorizing characters and learning proper pronunciations to prepare for his diplomatic service in the late 1920s. He wrote about this time in his book titled Mission to China : “My first business trip to China in 1926 was not accidental. At twenty-six, I experienced a lot: behind my back were the Southern, Eastern, and Western fronts of the Civil War, [4] wounds, and command of a regiment. Like many active participants in the Civil War, in 1922 I went to study at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy. After graduating in 1925, I was offered to continue my studies at the Chinese Department of the Oriental Faculty of the same Academy. […] We studied hard, with great enthusiasm. Day and night we crammed Chinese characters, tried to master their correct pronunciation, painstakingly studied the history of China, the traditions and customs of its people. I still remember our teachers - V. S. Kolokolov, Liang Kun, professor-historian A. E. Khodorov, and others. Our faculty was often visited by comrades who had already been to China. They told us a lot about the situation in that country. […] Frankly speaking, it was not easy for us, then still poorly acquainted with the situation in that country, to understand all the vicissitudes of the revolutionary storm in China, to imagine the ways of its further development. In 1926, some students of the Oriental Faculty of the Academy were given the opportunity to visit China. I was sent to practice with the duties of a diplomatic courier.”

Pictured: Colonel-General V. I. Chuikov, Poland, 1945. In a previous blog entry , I focused on the supply chain situation leading up to the events at Poznan in western Poland. The Soviet advance on Germany was swift, and it was often difficult for the supply chain to match the pace. Taking Poznan was a strategic objective of the 1st Belorussian Front due to its proximity to the Polish-German border. During my time researching this battle of the Vistula-Oder Operation, I found varying accounts regarding the circumstances surrounding the 8th Guards Army taking of Poznan in February 1945. This blog entry is an attempt at reconciling these accounts. First, Marshal Chuikov wrote in his volume titled From Stalingrad to Berlin : “Suddenly an order from the front, unexpected for us, followed by phone. In connection with the encirclement of the enemy troops in Poznan and the possible delay in the battles for the city, the commander of the front forces [Zhukov] ordered me to unite the actions of the 1st Guards Tank Army and the approaching units of the 69th Army and by the joint efforts of these troops by 25 January 1945, be sure to capture the city of Poznan. Prior to this, Poznan was not included in the boundaries of the actions of the 8th Guards. The 69th Army was to attack Poznan. We did not expect that she was so far behind that we had to close our flank from the danger of a blow from Poznan, where a strong enemy garrison was concentrated. It was necessary to urgently turn the army around, which was by no means easy, given the inertia it had acquired in moving west along previously set directions. I immediately contacted the headquarters of the 1st Guards Tank Army. It turned out that the tankers have already approached the banks of the Varta River and even captured a bridgehead. Therefore, they had already pierced with their blow, like a spear, the Varta defensive line. They even tried to break into Poznan on the move but were stopped in the eastern part of the city. The reconnaissance of the tankers claimed that it would not be easy to take Poznan. Wasn't that also the directive of the front? The liberation of Poznan grew into a complex military task.” Author and historian Anthony Beevor wrote the following in his book titled The Fall of Berlin 1945 , including impressions and recollections from journalist Vasily Grossman who was attached to the 8th Guards Army at the time: “Poznan was not like Lodz. On reaching Poznan on 25 January, Katukov [Commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army] saw that it could not be captured off the march and pushed straight on as Zhukov had instructed. Poznan was left to Chuikov, closely following with the 8th Guards Army, to sort out. He was not pleased, and it seems only to have increased his dislike for Zhukov. […] ‘It really is amazing,’ Chuikov remarked sarcastically in one of his jibes against Zhukov, ‘when you consider our battle experience and our wonderful intelligence, that we failed to notice one little detail. We didn’t know there was a first-class fortress at Poznan. One of the strongest in Europe. We thought it was just a town which we could take off the march, and now we’re really in for it.’” In Total War , Michael Jones shared statements from Anatoly Merezhko, who worked as an 8th Guards HQ staff member: “’We were racing across Poland,’ Captain Anatoly Merezhko said, ‘and we had been allocated a clear line of advance—a corridor—that we would push forward along, without straying into the path of other armies. But Chuikov had already developed a habit of disobeying these instructions.’ Chuikov had ordered the 8th Guards Army to seize the Polish town of Lodz, although it was 6 kilometers inside the 69th Army’s own corridor…’” Jones wrote that the liberation of Lodz was a successful offensive, and according to Merezhko, Vasily Ivanovich continued on the path he elected to take inside the 69th Army’s corridor to the fortress city of Poznan closer to the Polish/German border. Swift nighttime action might be undertaken to free the city of Poznan from the German occupiers. However, Chuikov and the 8th Guards Army were met with stubborn resistance. It was thought that 20,000 soldiers were in Poznan’s citadel and surrounding forts; in truth, there were over 40,000 (and probably closer to 60,000) German troops stationed there: “To his credit, Chuikov […] reorganized his forces, deployed storm groups and assault forces in Poznan, and found the right tactical methods to combat the Germans. [Later,] Chuikov was criticized for creating a situation where two different Soviet forces—the 8th Guards and 69th Armies—were both fighting for the city without proper coordination and cooperation.” Instead of seeing these as conflicting accounts, perhaps synthesis is a more appropriate response. All sources agree that Kolpachki’s 69th Army was lagging behind in their advance to Germany. Chuikov was an aggressive commander who pushed forward and moved quickly, much like General George Patton, Commander of the US 3rd Army. Since the 8th Guards were so far ahead of their slower neighbors—and Marshal Zhukov as the 1st Belorussian Front Commander knew this—it could have been a combination of Chuikov’s 8th Guards side-stepping into the 69th Army’s corridor ahead of them and Zhukov, seeing this to be the case, ordering Chuikov to take the city by default. In defense of Chuikov’s actions to enter into the 69th Army’s corridor, he thought that it was important to protect the flank which should have been covered by the neighboring army, as he indicated in his memoirs. Either way, reconnaissance was lacking details on the sheer size of the German forces at the citadel. And, due to Chuikov’s strong leadership and ability to adapt quickly and fight without a template, the 8th Guards and 69th Armies eventually liberated the city of Poznan in time for the Red Army Day holiday on 23 February 1945. An official review of the actions at Poznan occurred, and though there were concerns about the initial failure to take Poznan due to a lack of coordination, Chuikov was praised for his ability to adapt quickly when faced with challenging circumstances.

Pictured: An award list for Colonel Sergey Borisovich Vil’din, a Belarussian who served in Lieutenant-General Pozharsky’s artillery of the 8th Guards Army; the second page of the award list, which includes Colonel-General V. I. Chuikov’s signature to the left (the original month for the signature was anticipated as being January 1945, but it appears that Chuikov wrote ‘February’ over it, indicating a date of 24 February 1945, following the taking of Poznań); photos of Colonel-General Chuikov commanding the 8th Guards Army at the front near Germany. A popular course of study in US colleges and universities focuses on Supply Chain Management (SCM). Planning, procurement, manufacturing, fulfillment, inventory management, logistics, returns from suppliers, and returns from consumers are all components of the supply chain . These are the operational components which are responsible for receiving and filling orders for replenishment. Logistics and the supply chain not only apply to for-profit businesses, but an effective system is also crucial to a nation’s military needs. During the Great Patriotic War, the swift movement of the Red Army and the necessity for supplies put a constant strain on the Soviet supply chain. Marshal Chuikov made sure to recognize the stalwart efforts of the supply chain workers, especially for the railway transportation of tanks and artillery to keep the soldiers at the front ready for combat conditions. Western Poland was no exception—before the advance on Germany, one of the Nazi strongholds to be conquered was the Polish citadel of Poznań. This German-occupied military fortress was difficult to overcome as there were 3 times more enemy soldiers  there than previously realized. However, the final assault on the citadel took place on 22 February 1945, and divisions from Chuikov’s 8th Guards Army took an active role in the Battle for Poznań. He shared about the heroes of the supply chain in his book titled From Stalingrad to Berlin : “The battles for Poznań only partly delayed, slowed down our forward movement. The main trouble was in the supply. The lack of fuel and shells was not replenished by courage and audacity. Heroic efforts were made by our Soviet railway workers to establish an uninterrupted supply of the front. The scale of transportation of military cargo was grandiose. When I had to meet a man in a railway uniform, I looked at him as a front-line soldier, as a fighter from the front line. […] We entered the bands of the most powerful fortifications. Only the most powerful artillery could bring us victory, only the interaction of infantry and armor could suppress the firepower of the enemy. We needed shells, shells ... The logic of military operations is merciless, [as] it does not accept any excuses, any good reasons, if in battle the rear service failed to provide the fighter with everything necessary. The rear service of the 1st Belorussian Front was just a rear service and acted in accordance with the instructions of the Military Council of the front. The January offensive operation, as we already know, was planned by the front headquarters for 10-12 days, with a depth much less than what actually happened. Reorienting the rear service to a more accelerated advance of troops and to a deeper one is not an easy task. Within a few days, the supply arm for the troops was significantly lengthened. Vehicles have lengthened the mileage. The run time was multiplied by the increased fuel consumption. In a word, the front, the battle at the front, required the strict fulfillment of obligations by the suppliers, and another mistake, inaccuracy could cost the lives of thousands of soldiers... The offensive demanded, no matter what—no matter what the circumstances... But the closer we moved to the Oder [River], the deeper we penetrated into the heart of Germany, the more difficult the supply situation became. Especially began to lag behind the means of reinforcement—artillery, engineering units, aviation. […] For the sake of saving gasoline, half of the vehicles returning empty from the front were transported on trailers. All captured fuel was taken into account and spent under strict control. The alcohol we captured was mixed with other ingredients and used as fuel. We collected captured guns and shells and used everything that was fit and serviceable to fight the enemy.”

Colonel-General V. I. Chuikov Published in the Stalingradskaya Pravda, 2 February 1948 Dear comrades, workers of Stalingrad! On 2 February 1943 at 16 o'clock, the last shot announced to the whole world about the brilliant victory of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad, about the end of that heroic battle that predetermined the further outcome of the war. Five years have passed since that day, and the hero-city once again rises from ruins and ashes, proud and majestic, as a symbol of the victory of culture and progress over the black forces of fascism. The wars of the former 62nd Army, from an ordinary soldier to a general, participants in the heroic epic, are forever connected with the Stalingrad people by close ties of friendship. What could be nobler and stronger than friendship born in battles and welded together by shed blood. Our common glory was born in the city that bears the name of the great leader. No matter where our wars fought after Stalingrad, they sacredly cherished this friendship, the military glory of Stalingrad. They were recognized by their grip, endurance, courage and resourcefulness, not only by their brothers in arms, but also by the fiercely resisting Germans on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, on the Dnieper and on the Bug, in Poland and in Germany itself. The Nazis knew that they were beaten by the Stalingraders. The Nazis felt the punishing hand of those whose hatred was boiling in the fierce battles of Stalingrad. The legendary glory of the Stalingradites, which thundered all over the world, lives and will live on for centuries. In your heroic work, dear friends, our wars now see this glory. She is in thousands of tons of rolled metal and steel, given out by you beyond the plan, in new powerful tractors plowing the vast fields of our Motherland, She is in the bloom of wonderful gardens, in rich harvests, in slender lines of buildings rising from ruins and chaos. On 2 February, we bow our victorious banners and bare our heads over the graves of those who fell for Stalingrad, for the honor and independence of our Motherland, for our happiness and our generations. On this day, we glorify our Motherland, the Soviet people - the victorious people, our party and the greatest of the great commanders of our native Stalin, who ensured our victory. All the fighters of the former 62nd Army, those who have been demobilized and are now working in factories and plants, and those who now bear a combat watch abroad, their native land, proudly call themselves Stalingradites. We all closely follow your work on the labor front. With the greatest sense of pride and joy, we read in the newspapers about your commitments to fulfill the post-war Stalinist five-year plan in four years ahead of schedule. I, the former commander of the 62nd Army, on the momentous day of the fifth anniversary of the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad, send you my sincere greetings, dear friends. I wish you to successfully fulfill and overfulfill the plan of the post-war Stalinist five-year plan in four years, so that the workers, collective farmers and working intelligentsia of Stalingrad were, as they should be, in the vanguard of the great socialist construction project. I wish the Stalingrad people that the squares of Stalingrad, the Mamayev Kurgan and the islands "Zaitsevsky" and "Golodny" and others were covered with blossoming gardens and parks for recreation of Stalingrad citizens, that the Stalingrad river docks would turn into a powerful port on the Volga, so that the fields, gardens, meadows of Stalingrad the regions, abundantly watered with blood, brought the richest harvests, so that big herds grazed on the meadows and in the steppe. I congratulate you on the day of victory over the enemy! Once again I wish you the best and, most importantly, to be the same vanguard in the struggle for communism, which you were in the days of the Great Patriotic War. V. Chuikov, Colonel General, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Translated by Igor Musienko

Pictured: General of the Army V. I. Chuikov and the President of the German Democratic Republic Wilhelm Pieck during Pieck’s 75th birthday, 3 January 1951, Bundesarchiv. Number 56 of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany Lifting the Berlin Blockade Effective 12 May, Issued 9 May 1949 Pursuant to instructions issued by the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the lifting of restrictions which, from 1 March 1948 onwards, have been imposed on communications, transport and commerce between Berlin and the Western Zones as well as between the Eastern zone and the Western zones of Germany, I hereby order: 1. That the arrangement in force up to 1 March 1948, for communications, transport and commerce between Berlin and the Western Zones as well as between the Eastern zone and the Western zones of Germany be re-implemented. 2. That railway services on the Berlin-Magdeburg-Helmstedt section be resumed with 16 trains, according to the Control Council decision of 10 September 1945, for the supply of the population of the Western sectors of Berlin as well as for the occupation troops of the U.S.A., Great Britain, and France, stationed in Berlin. 3. That the Autobahn Berlin-Michendorf-Magdeburg (bridge 8 km north of Magdeburg)-Helmstedt be reopened to highway traffic with the Western zones of Germany for British, United States and French occupation troops stationed in Berlin. 4. That the procedure in force for military and civil personnel of the British, American and French occupation troops, before 1 March 1948, be restored. Accordingly, the line of demarcation can be crossed at the checkpoints Marienborn and Nowawes without permits, and at other checkpoints with permits issued by the Soviet Military Administration Staff. 5. That the procedure in force before 1 March 1948, for the importation of goods into the Soviet zone of occupation and Berlin as well as for the export of goods from the Soviet zone and Berlin into the Western zones of Germany, based on commercial agreements and arrangements, with fixed permits be restored. Military freight belonging to the British, French, and United States Military Administration or to the occupation troops as well as the baggage and personal effects of the military and civil personnel of the said administrations is to be allowed to pass at the checkpoint Marienborn to Berlin and from Berlin without control and inspection. 6. Persons and freight have to pass the line of demarcation of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany at the following control points: a) for railway and highway traffic: Herrnburg, station Schwanheide, 8 km North of Boizenburg; Bergen, 10 km west of Salzwedel; Oebisfelde, Marienborn, Ell rich, Arendshausen (Kirchgandern), Wartha, Facha, Sonneberg Probstzella, Gutenfürst; b) for waterways: Wittenberge (on the Elbe), Kolonie Buchhorst (Ems-Weser-Elbe-Canal). 7. That pending the solution of the currency problem in Berlin, the existing procedure be upheld for taking marks of the German Notenbank, Westmarks and foreign money as well as other legal tender across the line of demarcation. 8. That in the area of Greater Berlin inter-sectoral police control be suspended. 9. That mail services between Berlin and the Soviet zone on the one side and the Western zones on the other on the railway lines Berlin-Helmstedt-Hanover, Berlin-Leipzig-Hof and Schwerin Lübeck be restored. At the same time, all mail services, admitted by the Control Council between Berlin and the Western zones as well as between the Soviet zone and the Western zones are to be restored. Packages, parcels and mail to be sent from Berlin to the Western zones, must be accepted at all post offices and railway stations of all Berlin sectors. 10. That the head of the transport administration of the Soviet Military Administration increase the number of repair shops and petrol stations on the Autobahn Berlin-Helmstedt. 11. The heads of the administration for telecommunication, traffic, commerce and finance as well as the Military Commandant of the Soviet sector of Berlin are instructed: a) to issue, by 12 May, technical instructions in accordance with this order guaranteeing the execution of the instructions, issued by the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, on the lifting of restrictions on communication, transportation and trade between Berlin and the Western zones as well as between the Eastern zone and the Western zones of Germany, as well as control over the lifting of all restrictions which from 1 March 1948, onwards have been imposed by the occupation authorities of France, Great Britain and the United States of America or by any one of them on communications, transportation and trade between Berlin and the Eastern zone of Germany 12. This order will become effective on 12 May, 0.01 am. The Chief of the Soviet Military Administration and Commander of the Group of Soviet Occupation Troops in Germany V. I. CHUIKOV General of the Army Chief of Staff of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany G. S. LUKJANCHENKO Lieutenant-General Source: Chuikov, V.I. and Lukjanchenko, G.S. “Order Number 56 of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany Lifting the Berlin Blockade Effective May 12, 1949, Issued May 9, 1949.” In Documents on Germany, 1944-1985, 258-260. Washington, D.C.: US Department of State, Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, 1985.

Pictured: Lieutenant-General V. I. Chuikov, Stalingrad, 1943. Eighty-four years ago, during the summer of 1942, the Germans were engaged in their campaign deep into southern Russia. Codenamed Case Blue , Army Group South’s main strategic objective was to capture the oil-rich Caucasus region, a resource the Germans desperately needed to continue the war. Before the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Germans bought oil supplies from Russia to support their blitzkrieg tactics. However, once Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941, the Germans had to depend upon only Romania for their petroleum supply. After plans for Case Blue were set into action, Hitler decided that he also wanted to capture Stalingrad , a city on the Volga River named after his arch-nemesis. The city was located along the western bank of the river and was the home of several factories, namely the Red October (Krasny Oktyabr) Tractor Plant. In my studies of the Battle for Stalingrad, opinions about the city's strategic importance differ. In some instances, Stalingrad was considered a point on the Volga at which the Germans could halt Russian shipment of supplies. However, there are historians who view the city as having little to no strategic value, but a political value instead. Taking the city of Stalingrad would have dealt a significant blow to the morale of the Soviets and Russians in particular, as the river has often been referred to as “Mother Volga.”  The river not only fed the local population, but it provided a means for expansion and trade. The importance of Stalingrad's defense was felt throughout the Soviet Union. Hitler's declaration that every male resident of Stalingrad would be killed and every woman deported, according to The History Channel , set the stage for a bloody, hard-fought battle. As a means of defense, Stalin instructed all Russians who were strong enough to hold a rifle to take up arms.  Protecting the city was a high priority and was eventually entrusted to Lieutenant-General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov. Chuikov was a literal force of nature, a strong-willed warrior who never surrendered to an enemy during his military career. In his book titled The Battle for Stalingrad , Vasily Ivanovich recalled the day in 1942 when he was almost paralyzed due to a drunk driving accident caused by his driver. Despite this severe injury, his strength of will and sheer physicality allowed him to return to duty quickly, in time to take decisive action during the Great Patriotic War in the pivotal battle on the Volga. “In May I was appointed Acting Commander of the reserve army spread out over the Tula region, where, during May, June, and early July it underwent intensive military training. One day I stayed on at H.Q. until midnight and then set off back to my quarters. I did not notice what state the driver, Grinev, was in. He started up the car with a jerk, and it rapidly began to gather speed. ‘Grinev, don’t drive so fast,’ I warned him, but he appeared not to understand me. The car was gaining in speed all the time, and at a bend in the road, it overturned. Trying to crawl out from under the wreckage I lost consciousness. Who picked me up and how I was taken home I don’t remember. ‘You have injured your spine,’ the doctor told me. ‘You’ll have to stay on your back.’ For a few days, I lay on a special bed, strapped down by the shoulders and legs, being given traction treatment. However, healthy and hardy by nature, I was on my feet again in a week, though I walked with a stick. At the beginning of July, an order came through from G.H.Q. renaming the reserve army the 64th Army, and transferring it to the Don” (18-19).

Pictured from left to right:  adviser N.T. Fedorenko, military attaché N. V. Roshchin (Ruzankov), plenipotentiary A. S. Panyushkin, chief military adviser Karpov (Lieutenant General V. I. Chuikov), representative of the Comintern P. P. Vladimirov (Vlasov), Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, unidentified persons. 1942. On 22 June 1941 at 4 AM, three million Axis forces —Germany and her allies—invaded the Soviet Union along the vast border. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty was signed in August 1939 with the intent of delaying, if not preventing, an invasion of Germany into the Soviet Union. However, Hitler was infamous for breaking promises. During the months prior to the invasion, Axis forces were being transferred to the Eastern Front to build up along the Soviet Western boundary. Codenamed Operation Barbarossa, the Germans caught the Red Army by surprise. In the summer of 1941, Marshal Chuikov was still serving as Soviet military attaché to Chiang Kai-Shek in China. Chuikov’s work in the Far East was important to the defense of the Soviet Union. His task was to advise and assess Chinese forces’ readiness; moreover, he served to encourage Chiang Kai-Shek and his Kuomintang (KMT) armies to unite with Mao  Zedong’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces against the Imperial Japanese forces and to prevent civil war. It is claimed that WW2 actually began when the Japanese invaded China in 1937 , instead of the 1 September 1939 date of the German invasion of Poland. To avoid a two-front war, the Soviet Union needed to protect its eastern border from direct conflict with Japan. When the Soviets were assured that Japan did not plan to attack, Red Army troops were diverted from the Far East and sent to the West. Vasily Ivanovich wrote that once the invasion occurred, he requested on more than one occasion to be sent to the battlefront in the Soviet West. Eventually, his wish was granted. He was recalled to Moscow to provide a report of the activities in China. When Chuikov was recalled home at the beginning of 1942, he knew in his heart that he would never return to China. In reflection of Marshal Chuikov’s personal experience against the backdrop of the Second World War, I pondered a few things. First, he must have felt a heightened sense of frustration of being stationed in the Far East when he was anxious to return to the Soviet Union to do battle with the Germans and their allies. After the 1941 invasion, his family evacuated to Kuibyshev (modern-day Samara), located on the Volga north of Stalingrad. No doubt this weighed heavily on his mind. Kuibyshev was also the location selected as an alternate capital  should Moscow fall into German possession. Today, tourists can visit an underground bunker  that would have served as Stalin’s HQ in Samara had he chosen to relocate. However, Stalin decided instead to remain in Moscow and mandated that the citizens  and the Red Army stay and defend the city. His decision to stay also helped curb the panic people were experiencing as they rushed to leave. Next, Vasily Ivanovich knew he had the ability to observe and analyze the enemy to find vulnerable areas and develop a plan of attack. His years of training and experience in the field prepared him well to be an offensive, fighting general. The Germans were a force to be reckoned with— their Blitzkrieg tactics  of coordinating their forces to swiftly overwhelm enemy armies often meant that the Germans took thousands of prisoners of war. If a weakness could be exploited, it would mean that the Germans would be rendered ineffective. Chuikov’s talents and abilities proved essential to the Red Army’s success at Stalingrad. Interestingly enough, right around the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Chuikov traveled from Chongqing to Chengdu to receive medical treatment for an old wound that reopened. Which wound is not specified in his account  shared in his book titled Mission to China , for he was wounded four times during the Russian Civil War 20 years earlier. One of those old wounds (in the left arm) resulted in a bullet remaining embedded due to the risk of severing a nerve during surgery. According to Michael Jones, author of Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed , this same wound would later cause complications ending Marshal Chuikov’s life at the age of 82.

Pictured: Colonel-General V. I. Chuikov, 1945. He was photographed wearing the Victory Day Parade ceremonial uniform. The Distinguished Service Cross is displayed to the right of the Victory Over Germany medal, bottom row. In organizational behavior, recognizing employees  for their excellence in contributions is one proven way to motivate team members to achieve even greater heights. Acknowledging and praising employees in front of their peers helps to lift morale, and it encourages others to achieve so that they too may be recognized. The military is one example of an organization where leaders understand the importance of recognition through the recommendation for citations and for promotions. Marshal Chuikov himself signed many of these citation documents during his lengthy career. Vasily Ivanovich was also a much-lauded and decorated military figure who received high awards from numerous countries. His contributions were so significant that he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross  by President Roosevelt in 1944. Second only to the Medal of Honor in terms of military valor, the DSC has been awarded to honor exceptional acts of heroism for US and foreign military heroes. The US Army presented 440 Distinguished Service Crosses to foreign soldiers, with a significant majority of those medals awarded during World War II. Countries represented by these recipients are France, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, India, Russia, and Brazil. In recognition for his significant contributions the following citation was presented: Distinguished Service Cross AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING World War II Service: Foreign GENERAL ORDERS: War Department, General Orders No. 3 (January 6, 1944) CITATION: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant-General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, Army of the U.S.S.R., for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy, in action against our common enemy, Germany, in World War II. Lieutenant-General Chuikov's outstanding accomplishments, personal bravery, and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces of the Allied Nations.

Pictured: Colonel Ivan Lyudnikov in Stalingrad; In the Commander's dugout, 62nd Army. From left to right: K. A. Gurov, V. I. Chuikov. N. I. Krylov, I. I. Lyudnikov. Forbes  Council member Haseeb Tariq  recently shared a timeless truth: “Communication is a critical part of any organization’s success.” The focused use of messaging to fulfill organizational goals is known as strategic communication. For example, in the realm of marketing, messages must “cut through” the static, or noise, of a vast number of messages to reach a potential customer in a meaningful way. Effective communication is essential in other functional areas of an organization as well—human resources, operations, etc. When one considers strategic communication during times of heavy combat as faced by military personnel, the noise of battle greatly intensifies the effort to reach the recipient with a timely message. It is imperative that the commander and his staff are of one mind, reading “between the lines” of communication to see a deeper meaning. Marshal Chuikov mentioned in his book The Battle for Stalingrad  the context of a conversation with Colonel Ivan Lyudnikov, who served as his subordinate commander for the 138 Rifle Division. Lyudnikov and his soldiers were hanging on by a literal thread during a most difficult stage of the battle—in November 1942 just before the Red Army counteroffensive was launched in Operation Uranus. Cut off from the rest of the 62nd Army, the tiny strip of land the 138th Rifle Division held at the Barrikady Factory was known as “Lyudnikov’s Island.” "In these weeks there were several critical moments  for  the defending Russian troops : October 14 and November 11 were especially difficult days for them. Pressed against a narrow strip  of territory, with the Volga behind them , they  had no choice but to surrender  the  city or stubbornly defend every inch of land west of the river. ...    On November 11 at 6.30 a.m. , after air and artillery training, the enemy went  on  the offensive. Participation in this was five  infantry divisions of the enemy (389th, 305th, 79th, 100th and 44th) and two tank divisions (24th and 14th), reinforced by separate units of  the  294th Infantry Division, transferred by aircraft from Rossosh, and parts of the 161st Rifle Division, also transferred by aircraft from Millerovo.     A three-kilometer front, on which  the offensive was conducted, was  launched from Volkhovstroyevskaya Street to Banna Ravine. Although most  of these German divisions were unable (they were given a strong shake in recent  battles ), the number of  enemy formations was surprising.    Paulus clearly intended to crush Lyudnikov, the Division of Gorishny, Sokolov, Guryev and Batyuk with one blow, and reach the Volga. Exceptionally stubborn battles went on all day for every yard of land, for every brick and stone. The fight against hand grenades and bayonets went on for several hours. At the same time, our northern group under the command of Colonel Gorokhov counterattacked from the railway bridge at the mouth of the River Mechetka, south towards the Tractor Plant. On Mamayev Kurgan, Batyuk's division clashed head-on with the advancing enemy forces.   I cannot fail to mention the courage of the encircled division commanders led by Colonel Ivan Ilyich Lyudnikov. Despite the extremely difficult situation, they remained calm and confident. Telephone communications, of course, were broken. We only had a radio  connection . I had a personal unencrypted conversation with Lyudnikov on  the radio. We recognized each other's voices and didn't call each other by name. I didn't hesitate  to  tell him that help would be near, and that we would soon be able to help. I was hoping that he would understand why I spoke to him openly, and that our troops could in fact give him no help. He also said he hoped we would meet soon. Thus, we tried to mislead the enemy…”

Pictured: An article written by A. Gurevich for the Soviet chess periodical 64, dated February 1975. The full text of the article is translated below: "It was a special spring--victorious spring of 1945. At noon on 2 May, there was an unusual silence in Berlin. The rumble of guns ceased, bomb explosions, the rattle of tank tracks, the chirp of machine guns became inaudible. Downcast, devastated, having abandoned their machine guns, the columns of the Nazis wandered. The mass surrender of the German troops began. And in the evening, when Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov went out onto the square in front of the former imperial chancelry, he suddenly heard a thunderous Russian Hurrah! which expanded and grew every minute. And now he, lifted by the strong hands of the jubilant guardsmen, flew high above their heads... There are people who, even during their lifetime, become a legend. Among them is the famous hero of the Great Patriotic War, Marshal of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuikov. It was he who at the head of the 62nd Army, which later became the 8th Guards, stood to death in Stalingrad and did not let the Nazis cross the Volga. It was he who then drove them to the west, liberating Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Lublin and dozens of other large and small cities, crossed the Vistula, stormed the Poznan fortress and the impregnable forts of the Kustrin citadel. It was his guardsmen, who broke through the enemy defenses on the Seelow Heights, broke into the capital of the Third Reich, attacking the buildings of the Reichstag, the Imperial Chancellery, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was to him that the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces G. Krebs, who appeared as a negotiator to ask for a truce, told him about Hitler's suicide... The whole life of V.I. Chuikov is connected with our Armed Forces. The son of a poor peasant with many children, from the first days of the creation of the Red Army - in its ranks, he actively participated in the Civil War. Service in the army became his university. Here he received a higher military education, and showed a rare military leadership gift. In the army, the Marshal got acquainted with chess, falling in love with [the game] for life. [Chess] became his faithful companion in battles and campaigns. Writer Ivan Paderin in the collection 200 Fiery Days  tells about such a curious episode: In the midst of the battle for Stalingrad, when the Nazis, regardless of losses, rushed to the Volga, a rumor spread among the defenders that Chuikov was badly wounded and someone else was in command of the army. And now Private of the 284th division Ivan Krushinsky (formerly the Donbass chess champion) receives instructions from his regiment commander to go to the army command post, by the way, located next to the front line, hand over a package with a report, and at the same time find out if the commander is really injured. 'It was already evening, or maybe even daytime. The sky was covered with black clouds of smoke. I went down from Mamaev Kurgan, walked along the coast and there, not far from the Bannoy ravine, I found the command post of the army. The sentry stopped me at the entrance: - Here's the package. Ordered to hand over personally to the commander. - Come on.    I enter the dugout. There is a map and... chess on the table. A sullen man walks along the wall. Whether he is or not, I cannot determine: in the dugout, a front-line oil lamp burns dimly.   I hand him the package, and I myself look at the chess. The general pointed this out: - Do you play? - Haven't played in a long time... - Sit down  As soon as I had time to make a move, the dugout swayed, and something creaked in the corners. - Go, go...  I made another move, and I myself look: is he or not? Somewhere, it seems, before the tenth move, he thought. And at that moment the ceiling trembled, crumbs of earth fell down. The adjutant ran in: - Comrade General, tanks... My partner did not even look at the adjutant, he was silent, thought, and made a move: - Shah .. So, tanks, then? - Here, right on the Command post breakthrough. - That's the way it should be. Paulus is exhausted, he wants to scare us with tanks at night. Go and see how ours work, take an anti-tank grenade with you. - And he turns to me: - Go, go ... I had no time for chess. I felt that something was wrong near the dugout. A few more minutes passed. I made two or three obviously bad moves. The adjutant returned without a grenade, covered in dust. Reported: - One tank is hit, on fire, the rest turned back ... I came to the commander of the unit already late at night, and reported everything as it was. He breathed a sigh of relief and said: - You were lucky, you ran into two Chuikovs at once. The adjutant's name is Fedor, the commander's younger brother. I've known him since childhood... And you, Ivan Krushinsky, are a chess player of the first category, and you lost, on the fifteenth move you got a mate. Not ashamed? But it's okay, now I'm sure you'll play with him more than once." Further, the author writes that he does not know if the soldier had a chance to play again with the commander. 'I remember that during the days of the battles near the Volga, Krushinsky dreamed of entering the streets of Berlin and playing his best game of chess there. A German bullet cut short the life of a communist. Somewhere in the steppes near Zaporozhye, a grave mound was lost ...' After the end of the war, the 8th Guards Army was stationed in the Weimar area. At the initiative of the commander, a garrison championship tournament was held, and a chess room was opened in the House of Officers. Chuikov also visited it sometimes. 'Once,' recalls master Boris Pavlovich Naglis, who was then the champion of the local garrison, 'a messenger came for me and gave the order: immediately report to the commander. I entered the room and saw chess on the table, understood what was the matter. Chuikov greeted me cordially: - Let's play, Botvinnik! Until five in the morning light burned in the windows. The army commander played recklessly, worried about every game. Apparently, he was not very familiar with chess theory, but he had no wits--when the opportunity presented itself, he attacked very skillfully. With his help, in the spring of 1946, the first army tournament was organized (nowhere in other armies were such competitions held). I was lucky to win the first prize in it and receive a hunting rifle from the hands of the commander himself. The second was Lieutenant Monastyrsky. About the chess battles of the guards learned not only in our army units, but also in the units of the allies. There was an idea to hold a match with the team of the American military administration. Chuikov, who by that time was Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, supported this proposal and, for his part, did everything to make the meeting take place. The match, which took place in the American occupation zone, ended, as is known, with the victory of our chess players. The Soviet team was led in board order by Major I. Lipnitsky (later a well-known master and theorist), Major B. Naglis, Junior Lieutenant R. Nezhmetdinov, who a few years later became the champion of the Russian Federation.' ... A long life path has been passed, hard trials, heavy, bloody battles are behind. In books, speeches, the Marshal conveys his accumulated experience to young people. His memoir The End of the Third Reich published in 1973 by the publishing house "Soviet Russia," received universal recognition. It is curious that chess terms are often encountered in them. Talking about the actions of the army led by him to eliminate the enemy’s Lodz grouping, Chuikov writes: 'The tank group, consisting of the 11th tank brigade and three separate tank regiments under the overall command of General Weinrub, swiftly enters the western outskirts of the city and closes the enemy’s escape routes. The 1st Guards Rifle Corps in reserve is castling  to the right flank of the army. And here is how the author describes his conversation with G. Krebs on the eve of the complete surrender of the Nazis in Berlin. 'I sit down at the table opposite Krebs. I feel that during my absence (V.I. Chuikov went to the communication center to inform Marshal G.K. Zhukov about the statement of parliamentarians by phone) he pondered the situation and prepared some new arguments in defense of his own, or rather Goebbels', proposals. He spoke first, again insisting on a temporary truce. - I do not have the opportunity to conduct other negotiations, I am only authorized and cannot be responsible for my government. It is in your interest to lead them with the new German government... This is already a queen move. Krebs puts the main figure into action. It is impossible to give him a descent for obsession. He clearly wants to draw me into the discussion of the issue of a truce./ Recently twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov celebrated his 75th birthday. As before, he is in the ranks of the defenders of the Motherland. Translated by Igor Musienko