The Two Eagles (An Avalon1 TL)

november 1939

Georgy Zhukov was on his way to Moscow. He was delighted, and rightly so. Zhukov had taken command of a joint Soviet/Mongolian force, and had defeated the Japanese. The Japanese had already been in the middle of an imperialist campaign in China, and the last thing they wanted was the protector of the proletariat and the oppressed getting involved. Imperialist nations always picked on the weaker ones because they dare not take on powers that can actually defeat them.

Apparently, Stalin wanted a word with him in the Kremlin, so Zhukov departed for Moscow. But there was a problem. Just before getting into Irkutsk, a group of armoured cars pulled over. Zhukov knew those cars. They were of the NKVD. Stalin was ordering a great purge. Already, Lavrentiy Beria had deposed Yezhov as head of the NKVD. Rumours were already abound of a purge in the military. It seems that Zhukov was going to vanish in the night.

"Open up! We are here for Georgy Zhukov!" Declared a tall man. The soldiers, knowing what was good for them pulled him out of his car, and the NKVD dragged him away. Zhukov knew what his meant. Either a bullet to the skull, or a show trial, then being shipped to the Gulags, where he knew he would die. A ten year sentence was effectively a death sentence. He only hoped that his wife and Children would not suffer the shame of him being a "Vrag Narodya"
 
Zhukov knew what his meant. Either a bullet to the skull, or a show trial, then being shipped to the Gulags, where he knew he would die. A ten year sentence was effectively a death sentence. He only hoped that his wife and Children would not suffer the shame of him being a "Vrag Narodya"

Not necessarily, Rokossovsky was also arrested and had the double disadvantage of also being both of Polish descent and from an aristocratic family.
Yet he managed to survive the Purges (although without his own teeth) and was reinstated in time to recuperate and then fight the Germans.

If Zhukov gets arrested and doesn't survive the Purges, we might see another general in his place.

Maybe instead of him someone who is slightly less of the brute force approach then him? It'd save possibly tens of thousands of lives. Example: Seelöwe Heights.
AFAIK there isn't a victory fought by Zhukov where he didn't lose more men then the opposing side. (with the possible exception of Khalkin Gol).
 
perhaps butterflies means that Moscow falls in 1941.

More to come.

Any ideas are welcome. I am going to go full depth into a very different world.
 
Zhukov was taken to the lubiyanka by the NKVD, and sent to an old cell. It was decrepit. Rats were scurrying around everywhere and there was no heating. Basically, it was freezing cold in the winter and scorching hot in the summer. The only toilet was a bucket in the corner.

Dinner came. It was a lone cook with a bowl of soup and some bread. Georgy took the bowl and looked in. It was watery, and looked half-cooked, while the bread was stale and mouldy. Knowing that he would surely go hungry otherwise, zhukov wolfed it down.

At Dawn, he heard the lock being opened. Two NKVD officers walked in and dragged him out to a van with several other prisoners. They were being led to a show trial. There they were taken to the main court room by a pair of policemen.

"today, comrades and citizens, we have before us, enemies of the people!". Zhukov stood up and replied: "I have spent my entire life serving the soviet union and the workers and peasants of this nation!"

"Silence! you have been charged with attempting to give the Japanese military secrets!"

Zhukov knew he was going to die, but at least he hoped to go down in glory, not in tears while making false confessions like the many people before him. Defiance was the ultimate revenge against stalin.

"Those were ruses, to distract the Japanese army. Psychological warfare, if you will."

"You knowingly disseminated secrets about military movements and other preparations. For that, as well as your defiance, i hereby sentence you to death, by firing squad! Take him away!"
 
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