Georgy Zhukov killed at Khalkhin Gol

Georgy Zhukov was one of the greatest commanders of the red army during WW2, leading the USSR to victory. However a routine border skirmish against Japan in 1939 turned into the battle of Khalkhin Gol. Zhukov led a great victory against Japanese forces in the undeclared war.

But lets say for the sake of AH that Georgy was killed fairly early on in the battle when he led two tank brigades around both flanks and wiped out a large portion of the Japanese force. Maybe a sniper got him, perhaps a artillery shell hit his command base or maybe his position got strafed by a few Ki-27's.

What would be the immediate implications for the battle of Khalkhin Gol? What are the near term implications for the eastern front as a whole?

 
Thing is, I'm not sure I'm a massive Zhukov fanboy in terms of his skill and competence. Yes, he presided over some of the Soviet's most victorious campaigns--but it hardly means that he was really the equal of a Von Manstein, so much as the situation on the ground strongly favored his actions.

The Japanese aren't going to win in Kahklin Gol--they're going to get hammered by Soviet Firepower. And Stalin will assign the defense of Moscow to someone else, who, because of the weather and the Siberian Reinforcements, will win anyway.
 
The Red Army probably still wins that battle although his death will be a blow to morale. As for Stalin, he'll be happy to be rid of him as he was becoming too popular anyway. It might have some effects on the Battle of Moscow but with the Russian winter, overstretched German supply lines and the fact that they know Japan won't attack, my guess is that the Soviets keep Moscow (barely) after a Stalingrad-esque battle. Zhukov's counter offensives may not happen, resulting in a frontline closer to Moscow.

With Hitler's failure here, I see Fall Blau (Case Blue) still happen, drawing the 6th army out into a long salient. Any general with a brain can see that so the Battle of Stalingrad or something like it is likely to happen. In the end, the USSR's sphere of influence might be a bit smaller with more mistakes made by Stalin in the early phases of the war (e.g. silly and badly prepared counteroffensives as per OTL but more of them). Maybe we'll see an East and West Poland and a united but demilitarized Germany after Germany gets nuked in 1945. Perhaps Czechoslovakia is divided too with Czechia remaining capitalist and Slovakia going commie. The rest stays the same although I could see Stalin snatching Finland as a puppet out of frustration (after all, Finland fought alongside Germany and they have just as much reason to do so now).

Btw, Zhukov is overrated IMHO. Sure, his offensives achieved their objectives but at the cost of many men. The Red Army suffered a similar amount of casualties as the Germans did at Stalingrad (about 800.000) but they fortunately had more men to throw at it.
 
It was however Zhukov who wanted more Siberian troops to come to the main front line while Stalin was paranoid of a Japanese counter attack. His differing opinions got him kicked out of the soviet command at one point and while he may not have been the best commander on a global level, he was probably one of the best in the Soviet command structure.

I wasn't able to confirm this, but I heard it was actually a strategy of his to bring forces in from Siberia gradually as opposed to cramming them into a thin frontline, thus avoiding more large scale encirclements than already happened.

Kahklin Gol would have still been a Japanese defeat, I agree with you there. Perhaps however it could have been a different degree of defeat. Had the soviet forces focused all there forces on a all out frontal assault instead of encircling Japanese forces, they could have had there own flanks threatened and hit by superior Japanese air forces. Instead of a total defeat for the Japanese, they could have withdrawn and continued to threaten the region more, resulting in more paranoia for Stalin and an increased likeliness that Siberian forces would have stayed put.
 
I have often wondered what part in Zhukov's victories Aleksandr Vasilevsky played. Was he the Brooke to Zhukov's Monty - a commander who supported and advocated him but didn't get involved in his plan - or was he more hands on than that?
 
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