Soldier's Duty

The holder of the Order of Victory, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (1896–1968) was respected by Stalin and Zhukov, revered by soldiers and officers, feared by enemies and allies, and he, who commanded the Victory Parade on Red Square, remained a simple soldier until the end of his life, which is why he named his memoirs "Soldier's Duty." For more than half a century, K.K. Rokossovsky was in service, since the moment he volunteered for World War I in 1914, where he was awarded the Order of St. George. One of the most celebrated commanders of the Great Patriotic War was distinguished by his unique talent for conducting maneuver operations and his readiness to take justified risks. In these famous memoirs, the Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland (the only marshal of two states in the 20th century) recounts the early period of the war, how large-scale battles were planned and fought, changing the course of world history (the destruction of the Wehrmacht grouping at Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, the liberation of Belarus, the East Prussian, East Pomeranian, and Berlin operations), and how relationships were formed between the High Command and the front. K.K. Rokossovsky recalls his meetings with the top leadership of the USSR and, of course, his combat comrades.