A common phrase that characterizes its author as a cruel military leader is usually attributed to Marshal Zhukov. We checked if he said that.

Over the past decades, the quote has firmly settled in literature, the media and social networks. In connection with Zhukov, not only civilian people cited it: "Gazeta.ru", journalist Dmitry Gordon, prose writer Alexander Bushkov, but also such front -line soldiers as a writer Boris Vasiliev and colonel Vladimir Safir.

And here is what the scriptwriter of the cult at the time of the series "Penettlement" Eduard Volodarsky in his interview 2004 "Moscow Komsomolets":

“General Eisenhower writes in his memoirs how he saw a huge field under Potsdam, covered with corpses of Russian soldiers. Fulfilling the order of Zhukov, they stormed the city in the forehead - under the German dagger fire. The view of this field was struck by Eisenhower. He felt uneasy, and he asked Zhukov (not literally, but I vouch for the meaning):

“Did this Potsdam surrender to you?” Why did you put so many people for him?

In response, Zhukov smiled and said (these words reproduced by Eisenhower, I remembered for sure):

“Nothing, Russian women are still inflated.”

In many sources The emphasis is not on this episode not on the oncoming fire, but on the minefields, which supposedly had to overcome the penalants by order of Zhukov.

On the portal "Free Press" phrase attributed Another Marshal - Voroshilov - with reference to the director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation Sergey Mironenko. Mironenko himself in interview “Komsomolskaya Pravda” in 2001 called the phrase “We must save the technique, and the soldiers of the woman’s new ones are inflated” with “the famous words of the Soviet commander” without specifying which one. Another probable author of the quote is Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev, who in the joint book of Alexander Bushkov and Andrei Burovsky “Russia, which was not-2” reassures Peter I after the unsuccessful assault of Narva (1703): “Do not cry, sovereign! What you! Babs of new ones give birth to new ones! "

To begin with, consider the version of the origin of the phrase that Edward Volodarsky quoted. In his interview, he talks about the assault on Potsdam. However, a serious contradiction immediately arises here. The fact is that in fact, George Zhukov met his American colleague Eisenhower after the victory over Germany, in early June 1945 in the Berlin district of Vendenheloss. That's what Writes Zhukov himself about this:

“We met in a soldier, one might say, friendly. D. Eisenhower, taking my hands, looked at me for a long time, and then said: "So what you are!" "

As for the aforementioned memoirs of Dwight Eisenhower, they were considered by the famous journalist and expert on Anatoly Wasserman in his article “The women are still pounding: where and why this Russophobic fake came”:

“As expected, in the memoirs of Eisenhower there is also nothing similar. There is no episode there, where Zhukov allegedly told Eisenhower how he drove his soldiers to cleanse minefields with his feet. In fact, the author recalls how he discussed with Zhukov some battles in which they had to participate, and how both of them came to the conclusion that not only military theory, but also their own combat experience prove: in the event that the troops entered the minefield and on the opposite side of this field, the enemy conducts shelling, then the immediate attack entails less losses Stop and wait for the approach to sappers. And both were glad that they had to make such difficult decisions extremely rarely. ”

And indeed, if you look into the chapter called "Russia" of the translation of the Eisenhower memories, then we will not see anything suspicious there. More precisely, the lack of even the human -loving discussion that Wasserman writes about, not to mention Zhukov’s cynical phrase, will be suspicious. However, if you turn to original, it turns out that the head of Russia is much more voluminous than its Russian translation. In particular, it contains the following fragments:

“For me, his description of the Russian method of advance through minefields was a great revelation. <...> Marshal Zhukov casually remarked to me: "There are two types of mines: anti -personnel and against cars and tanks. When we rest on the minefield, our infantry continues the offensive as if it were not there. We consider the losses carried from anti -personnel mines, as equal to those that we would have to protect this area with dense concentration instead of minefields. The advancing infantry does not detonate anti -marine and anti -tank mines, so after it passes the minefield and is strengthened on the opposite side, sappers follow them and harrowing passages along which cars can pass. ”

I introduced me a distinct picture of what would happen to any American or British commander who would try to resort to such tactics, and an even brighter picture of what people would have stated in any of our divisions if we tried to make such a practice part of our tactical doctrine. ”

Thus, although the version of Volodarsky is not confirmed, however, Eisenhower, contrary to the statement of Wasserman, was indeed shocked by the Soviet tactics of passing minefields in his memoirs. At least claimed this. Another mistake made by Anatoly Alexandrovich applies to the primary source of the quote. Wasserman writes that they became the 1937 film “Peter the First”, and then gives the aforementioned conversation of Peter and Boris Sheremetev. However, if you open the corresponding episode, it turns out that the commander tells the sovereign another phrase: “God is merciful, Peter Alekseevich! There is enough people! "

Therefore, it is not surprising that the article by Wasserman today has been deleted from the website of the Russian Military Historical Society, although it has managed to take roots on many other resources.

As for the source where the quote was first attributed to Zhukov, in the post -Soviet time, two key publications can be distinguished. In 2001, the fantastic story of Mikhail Weller was published in the Ogonka "Tribunal", Where the Marshal pronounces these words in the presence of Gorky, Budyonny and several Decembrists. The latter Marshal sucks for a failed operation to overthrow the king. The story of Weller can be considered the most massive source of error.

And even earlier, on November 30, 1996, in the newspaper Kommersant was released article Maxim Sokolov “Bay, the drum, and a military flute, whistle loudly in the manner of the bullfinch”, dedicated to the Marshal of Victory. There is such a fragment: “Napoleon proceeded from the fact that cannon fodder, Chair a Canon, costs nothing or almost nothing. <...> Zhukov in this sense was no less brilliant than Napoleon, for the problem of saving his soldiers was thrown back in principle - "the war will write off everything," as well as "women give birth to new ones."

The article by Sokolov is, quite possibly, the earliest source of binding the quote to Zhukov. However, did Sokolov invent the phrase himself? Definitely no. Even a superficial search convinces that similar statements existed before - both in fiction and in documentary. We will not linger on all the variety of similar quotes in the literature of the middle of the 20th century, and immediately we will be transferred during the time of the Russian Empire. That's what He wrote In his diary, Russian General Andrei Snesarev December 4, 1916, characterizing the situation at the front: “After all, with such losses, we will destroy the entire male population, and our brilliant strategist, a Russian woman, will not be able to nap new people to fill the empty rows.”

IN memories Metropolitan Elogy of the winter of 1904-1905 (the time of the Russian-Japanese war) read: “But the patient cannot be convinced. "The children give birth to as many people, and the rifle - one ..." - he objected gloomily. "

Alexey Suvorin in his letters of 1889-1903 He wrote: "Let the bread crisis are not beneficial to the landowners, but the people are undoubtedly more fed up and the women give birth to more healthy guys."

And finally, the most similar episode applies to the same Russian-Japanese war and Memories One correspondent about the words of Rear Admiral Pavel Ukhtomsky: “The admiral replied that such a loss means nothing. The division is 16,000 people, and as statistics shows, Russian women give birth to this number of children within two weeks; Therefore, this damage will be replenished soon ... "

Well, they build all similar phrases to quote Prince Conde from the work of Friedrich Schiller “Thirty -year War”: “One night in Paris gives life to more people than killed in this battle.” Perhaps this work was not the first of his kind, but Marshal Georgy Zhukov did not utter anything like this. And if he pronounced, then no one documented this.