From now on, in Moscow, anxiety reigned. Despite precise intelligence on Japan's long-range plans from his undercover spymaster Richard Sorge in Tokyo, Stalin was understandably beginning to contemplate the dreaded possibility of a war on two fronts, against Germany and against Japan. Consequently, nothing should be overlooked to nip the Japanese adventure in the bud, before it threatened all of Siberia beyond Lake Baikal. First decision to be made, assign to this task troops taken from the interior of the country; second decision, to appoint a new, high-class, confidence-inspiring and ambitious man to lead them. Stalin's choice fell on Georgi Contantinovitch Zhukov, then a general of the army corps.
In 1939, Zhukov was forty-three years old and had a reputation for being tough. A former cavalryman turned tanker, he was second in command of the military district of Belarus, a key district for the defense of Russia. Stocky, corpulent, with thick eyebrows, he had built his career on the strength of his wrist. (Jouk, the root of his name, means stunner). Coming out of the ranks during the Revolution, he had subsequently distinguished himself in each of the commands he had exercised in peacetime. He had served in China, and possibly in Spain, had survived the bloody purges of 1937, and the Red Army was already familiar with his bad temper and unfailing common sense.
As “a general who has never lost a battle,” Zhukov took on tasks of exceptional magnitude. Responsible for the direction of forces and operations in the German-Russian conflict, he succeeded, in 1941, in stopping Hitler's offensive at the gates of Moscow; in 1942, it was Stalingrad and, in 1945, the junction with the Allied forces in the ruins of Berlin, which gave Westerners a glimpse of the overwhelming power of the Soviet war machine. But on that day in June 1939 when he was flying towards Outer Mongolia with his small staff, his future and perhaps his life depended on the victory of the Khalkhin-Gol. Only the annihilation of the Japanese would satisfy Stalin.
Zhukov arrived on June 5 at the headquarters of the 57th Special Corps of the Red Army, the only major Soviet unit present in the area. The mood was not happy. The command felt isolated from the front. There was not a single kilometer of telegraph wire for the whole sector, the coordination of the units was bad and, despite the poverty of the means available, the reconnaissances clearly signaled Japanese preparations out of proportion to those required for a simple incident of border. In addition, the Japanese took advantage of their air superiority to observe and bombard. Armed with the document that officially conferred on him the position of Commander-in-Chief - to be used only when necessary - Zhukov immediately took matters into his own hands. The corps commander was sent back and the new commander used his famous energy to organize the defence.