Rokossovsky - Ostfront Ace in the Hole of the Red Army 

Rokossovsky has always been of interest wme, outstanding presentation, thank you both.

I have a soft spot for Rokossovsky. I believe he is the soviet general, who had a reputation for looking after his men, and, unlike Zhukov, was reknowned for not squandering their lives without a second thought.

Rokossovsky was always making sure his men had what they needed in the 1943 early 1944 campaign in belurus he used ski troops to do hit and run attacks in the german rear usually when he attacked he made good results

USSR-Polish General Konstantin Rokossovsky (became a Marshal at 1944) was the greatest military commander of WW2 who deserved the ultimate respect because of his crucial role in the brilliant victory in winter 1942-1943 in the battle of Stalingrad forcing to surrender the whole Wehrmacht 6th Army and its commander-in-chief Fieldmarshal Friedrich von Paulus personally. The battle of Stalingrand was a decisive battle which turned the entire course of events of WW2. From Stalingrad the retreat of the German army has started, which finally terminated in 1945 in Berlin. After this brilliant victory Rokossovsky declared that Stalingrad will unquestionably lead to Berlin, and the fall of the Third Reich. History has proved that he was right!!!❤

Very informative presentation/discussion, I learned a great deal. Rokossovsky certainly stands out amongst his peers--although the record is limited. I appreciate the work Ollie is doing and thank Paul for bringing his perspective to the table. Frontlinetofrontpage looks interesting.

Another phenomenal presentation. Thanks for bringing Ollie on. I have no further questions. Everything has been asked and answered.

A very important contribution that Rokossovsky made to WW2 and its history is that Bagration moved so fast it upset the timetable for the SS concealing the evidence of the Holocaust. They captured Lublin and Maydenek intact and so you can give him a lot of credit for exposing the Genocidal secrets of Nazism. Many bad things can be said against the Soviets, the Nazis learnt a lot their nasty habits from them, but outright genocide isn't one (not after the Holodomor anyway); the Soviets weren't genocidal like the Nazis were, just look at them sharing their rations with Berlin civilians; not like the Nazis in Minsk or Kiev starting to starve them all to death.

Unless I’m mistaken, he also seems to have been the only handsome bloke amongst ( as far as I can tell ) the entire array of commanders from both the Soviet and Allied armed forces.

Rokossovsky was one of only two generals, Shapshnikov was the other, that Stalin addressed by first name and patronymic. Rokossovsky earned that at the battle of Kursk.

The best soviet general of ww2

Wait?! You mean Zhukov didn't win the war on the Eastern front single handed?! Excellent presentation yet again.

Also agree The Death Of Stalin is a brilliant movie. 👍👍

Great guest, great show....always!!

The best large formation commander of WW2. Bagration was a masterclass.

Just caught this episode.paul your channel is fantastic.unbiased history.I wish one day you could bring Bernhard last and Nicolas Moran on your channel.the 3 of you have really unlearned everything I studied for 50 years.and that's a good thing.also drachnifel.sorry forgot him. Semper Fi Paul

The Roc was tough. After getting his teeth knocked out and replaced with stainless steel teeth, he was the REAL man of steel , not Stalin !! How many other Soviet generals ( including Stalin) could have went through what he did and come out on top. He was the right man at the right time at the right place. Also you'd be lucky to serve under him rather some other Soviet general, as he didn't use his soldiers as human battering rams , but wait for the proper equipment to be brought up to get the job done. Does anyone know if his autobiography "A Soldiers Duty " is available in English ??

To answer an unanswered question from the video. From August 1941 Rokossovskys chief of staff was Mikhail Malinin until November 1944 when Zhukov took over central front (Malinin remained as cos)

Rokossovsky and Ridgway are the two most under-rated generals of the 20th century.

30:38 It's actually the opposite. "He cannot be appointed to staff and teaching jobs - he organically hates it" - Rokosovsky about Zhukov, when he was Zhukov superior in the 1930s. By the way, Rokossovsky, in Russia had a reputation as an intelligent and polite commander, unlike Zhukov and, for example, Chuikov. This, however, did not prevent Rokossovsky from screwing up in 1941 under the Istria River, infuriating Zhukov when he turned directly to Stalin, who agreed with the withdrawal of troops. This led to a hole in the front, into which the German stream poured.

Rokossovsky wasn't born in Warsaw but in Pinsk in present Belarus. You have also omitted his best friend in the Red Army, general Pavel Batov. Rokossovsky was always his superior but prior to any action took his advice very seriously and they were in good friendly relations. Batov commanded various units and during Vistula-Oder offensive in 1945 commanded 65 Army which captured Stettin ( now Szczecin ).

I must admit that Rokossovsky is one of the most fascinating of the wartime Red Army generals. My impressions: 1. Rokossovsky was not as hot-headed like Zhukov. This can be seen from his handling of the Battle of Brody, the Soviet counterattacked against the German forces advancing towards Kiev once Zhukov flew to the Southwestern Front's HQ. After having no success with the initial counterattack, Rokossovsky switched to setting up ambushes which succeeded in damaging the German armored strength, although this could be considered as an insubordination from his part. The same applies to the Battle of Moscow, in which Rokossovsky wanted to obtain the permission to pull back 10 km and use the Iskra River to improve his defense line. However, even after going over Zhukov's head to obtain the permission to pull back, Zhukov, once finding out what had just happened, immediately rescinded the permission. 2. Compared to many of his peers, Rokossovsky paid more attention to casualties. He seemed to be a very good organizer as can be seen from the Siege of the German 6th Army in which he painstakingly took the time to reinforce his armies with a plenty of artillery before storming the 6th Army with the help of Marshal of Artillery Voronov. He did something similar in the Battle of Kursk; he judiciously set up antitank strongpoints, tank and SPG reserves, and field artillery to erode the German strength. The failures from appallingly costly and hasty counterattacks from 1941-42 must have deeply impressed him as to how not to launch offensive operations. 3. Many of his colleagues and subordinates have praised Rokossovsky. Unlike Zhukov, Rokossovsky was polite and approachable, which made it easier to put the skills and expertise of his subordinates to work. 4. During the Russian Civil War, Rokossovsky was a member of the 1st Cavalry Army under Budenny's command. Back then, the chain of command went something like Budenny-Timoshenko-Rokossovsky-Zhukov, with Voroshilov as the political commissar. Rokossovsky might have been reinstated thanks to the fact that all of these senior officers were familiar with him. Also, Stalin was close to Budenny, Voroshilov, and Timoshenko which might have helped out Rokossovsky, although only after losing all of his teeth while undergoing torture. 5. Things become much more controversial after the German capitulation, as Rokossovsky became the Minister of Defense of Poland, which has already been commented. Rokossovsky, behavior was consistent with his peers stationed in the other Soviet-occupied Eastern European countries. None of them had any illusion as to who was their boss. I am not trying to put Rokossovky off the hook, but the fate of Poland would not have been much different had someone other than Rokossovsky were in charge. Notice that the Soviet Union did not have to go all the way to appoint its own marshal to become the minister of defense of another country in other Soviet-occupied countries. Take North Korea as an example. Since the Soviets had already groomed a Korean to lead North Korea (i.e., Kim Il-Sung), it was not necessary to pull off another Rokossovsky on North Korea, let alone maintain a permanent Soviet military presence in North Korea.

you miss out if you skip over michael k jones and his instrumental work Stalingrad: How The Red Army Triumphed, based on russian sources and archives the story of how rodimtsev’s introduction to chuikov on mamayev kurgan immediately after the former had made his way off the beach on broad daylight was illuminating rokossovky gets some mentions in the jones book…in 1965 rokossovsky published the first russian book about the battle

Rokossovsky was best general of WW2 period !

As I dance all over the place here to watch all of your OST front Presentations, from an overview look The impending invasion of France in 1944, the ongoing battles in Italy and that Italy has been knocked out of the war really does put a huge strain on Germany to fight a multifront war. Too many irons in the fire and not enough kindling to keep it going. Bagration was in my opinion the best offensive operations from the Soviets. A lot of the remaining battles after did return to the brute force save for Rokossovsky's operation in Prussia which again showed his abilities as a planner who took into consideration the need to minimize losses in order to keep a continued pressure on the Germans. That's not to downplay that their were many other leaders who were very skilled.

Thank you very much

THE great problem was severe air inferiority which meant inability to block brilliant WERMACHT tank tactics especially by Guderian .

This young Officer is worthy of praise,,,

The whole conversation around East Prussia was rather confusing, but the whole operation became very complex. East Prussia was initially entered in 1944 by Ivan Chernyakhovsky's 3rd Belorussian Front and was tasked with pushing through extensive and heavy German defensive belts to Koenigsburg. On 20 January 1945 with Berlin the primary objective, Stavka ordered Rokossovky to re-direct four of his armies northwest on in the direction of Marienburg when originally he was expecting to follow a more westerly course and cover Zhukov's right flank. Stavka intended that Rokossovsky's new direction would sever the German forces in East Prussia and allow them to be crushed separately. Subsequent orders by Stavka would see four armies transferred away from Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front, namely 3rd, 48th, 50th and 5th Guards Tank that went over to 3rd Belorussian Front. That made it considerably more difficult to cover Zhukov's movements as he pressed on in the direction of Berlin. To his credit, Rokossovsky pulled all of this off well under the circumstances and this is perhaps where you were trying to go. But it would be a mistake to credit Rokossovsky with the successful operations in East Prussia as that really ignores the fact that Chernyakhovsky's and later Vasilevsky's 3rd Belorussian Front did much of the work in this area.

Steven Kotkin of Princeton. Probably has the ultimate biography of Stalin. I hope you like reading, because the first two volumes run at about 1800 pages. It's on Audible with a great narrator if you want to finish it this year. Can't wait for the final volume!

Excellent stuff

Very good thanks

Erickson's two volumes on the Eastern Front are definitive imo.

The older historians did not have access to the Russian archives, a big disadvantage compared to the more modern ones.

Konstanty Ksawierowicz Rokosowki his correct name and surname in his native language. He born in Warsaw.

As far as sources I’d suggest Alexei Isaev’s books. He’s the best Russian modern day historian and he debunks most of the propaganda people have been fed in the west

David glantz stalingrad trilogy along with the companion book to the set is the best stalingrad sets

ESSE MERECE O MEU RESPEITO I ADMIRAÇÃO MUITO BRABO

Kutikov (the guy in charge of the first tank brigade) has all the bragging rights in his work of 1941. Defensive god and a solid attacker.

Agreed with the comments about the older historians, but they were writing for a less enlightened reader, the passage of time has given us insights that the last generation reader just didn't have

Correction.Even though he was Polish origin, doesn't mean he was connected to Polish state at all. He was born in Congress of Warsaw Part of Russian Empire, He was drafted as a Russian Imperial Army. He was Russian , with mixed Polish ethnicity. His mother was Russian and Belarusian. Same as Stalin , He was Georgian ethnicity, born he was born and raised into the Russian empire. Ethnicity was meaningless at that time.

Автор, попроси этого молодого человека, чтобы он сделал обзор на маршала Александра Михайловича Василевского. Спасибо

Rokossovsky was a soldiers general, far better than Zhukov who didn't care about his soldiers. History needs to be changed as to who really was the better general between the two.

My "ROK" 🌟🌟🌟🌟 ʸᵉᵃʰᵎᵎ े ̡̡⍤⃝  ̢̢ेे ꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎ ❤️❤️❤️❤️

BEEVOR is brilliant still now . Stalingrad was a masterpiece and included the Battle for Moscow .

If you're thinking of doing an episode on Zhukov, there's an excellent biography by Geoffrey Roberts called Stalin's General.

I enjoy re-reading Antony Beevor’s STALINGRAD every two years or so, but that certainly doesn’t mean that the history is the best available . But it IS rollicking good read.

You forget the battle of the Brody, tankbattle, southern front 1941.

We Poles do not hate or feel ashamed of Marshal, He was one of the greatest Poles.

Rokossosky brilliant soviet general another brilliant marshal was Alexander vasilessky who is never mentioned

The Germans also counter-attacked and destroyed 3rd Tank Corps during the Battle of Radzymin, but it seems unclear as to whether this also contributed towards bringing the Soviet offensive toward Warsaw to a close.

Walter Model disliked this video

Airpower was critical -battles of mobile forces need Tanks and Air forces

Better than the desert fox

Soy el mariscal más desafortunado de la Unión Soviética. En Rusia me veían como un polaco, y en Polonia como un ruso”, se lamentaba Konstantín Rokossovski

I agree that he was a great general. But - Could Bargration have succeeded without the 30,000 American trucks the USSR was receiving due to lend lease? Or the aircraft? Or the aluminium? Or the power plants? Or the know how and specialised equipment that enabled the Soviet war effort to actually work?

Voice coaching, if heeded, would make each speaker more intelligible and pleasant to listen to.

How come some sources say that Rokossovsky was born in Velikie Luki while others say that he was born in Warsaw?

To add insult to injury, after the war Stalin made "Rokossowski" the Marshal of (Soviet occupied) Poland. The poor man helplessly "supervised" repressions against his own country, which claimed 1.8M people.

Would love to have enjoyed this, but the appallingly bad sound provision on this programme resulted in me giving up watching it..

Two words, Zhukov and Rzhev

33:54 Rokossovsky organized four fronts? No he didn't. Operation Bagration was conceived, planned and executed by the Stavka. Rokossovsky simply followed the plan in his role as commander of 1st Belorussian Front.

sure i agree he is a good commander. however the standard of soviet officers below was poor. 27 million dead. yes hes an excellent front commander but so were ivan bagramion malinovsky and when he got a front command after chernikovskys death good commander too alexander vasilevsky. my favourite soviet general. zhukov was a brutal map bund commander a political general who cost th lives of millions of men and women . however he was a military professional and he got the red army as efficient as he could and bagration is the greatest victory of the red army and the allies combined.

The guy with the hat bringing Montgomery at every turn is super annoying.

Trotsky though an egomaniac and ruthless ought have ordered a coup de ta by the Army in 1926 but was not ruthless enough .

17:00 MOTIVATION. You miss the most important factor. His motivation was Polish patriotism on which he joined Imperial army in August 1914 along with his Polish cousins and backyard friends. The 1941-45 campaign was just 27 year delay of his dream come true, overcome main enemy of Poland which was Germany, who at this time was executing its extermination plan against Polish nation, and he succeeded in it perfectly. Rokossowski first delayed, put a stop and finally dismantled German plan against Poland.

This guest speaks too rapidly and slurs about 40% of his speech. Absurd. Click off.

Rokossowski was a Soviet viceroy, thoroughly Russified. Nothing Polish about him apart from genes. As minister of defense and vice premiere of Poland he talked with his soldiers and CC members in Russian, making it clear where his allegiances were (he did know Polish because he finished high school in Warsaw). He is also complicit and/or directly responsible in the violent suppression of Poznań riots - tanks in the streets mowing down protesters. He completely sovietized the Polish army and is also complicit in the treatment of war heroes who had served in the underground or the west - many of whom died horribly. And we could mention what happened with the Warsaw Uprising with Rokossowski sitting outside it. A terrible terrible man who might have been a great military leader but so was Genghis Khan and Atilla the Hun. He brought liberation from one gangster band of murderers to change it into oppression by a slightly less genocidal gangster band of murderers.