Introduction

An interesting sketch of Marshal Timoshenko by a famous German dissident who fled to Russia when the Nazis came to power in his homeland.

About the Book

This book is not a biography.

A final judgment cannot be reached about Timoshenko because, unlike the work of an artist or scientist who can be judged by a single accomplishment, the work of a general depends on the final result.

This book is an attempt to study the Russian soldier from a socio-psychological viewpoint.

It is not so much the history of an individual as of a type. Timoshenko is for us a characteristic product of Bolshevik militarism, a man who has lived through the entire development of the Soviet regime, from the initial overthrow of Tsarism to the present life and death struggle against the German invader.

—From the Author’s Foreword, 1942