Photo from The Second Great War journal dated 15 February 1944.
After spending the past two years reading Marshal Chuikov's works and reviewing the impressions his peers and subordinates have of him, my assessment of his personality type is that of an ENTJ Commander. Each of the four letters represents four different traits: Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging. Commanders are decisive people who thrive on accomplishment and momentum. To build their creative visions, they gather information, then act on it quickly.
Essentially, Commanders are naturally born leaders. Characteristics of this personality type include charisma and confidence, and the ability to project authority in such a way as to unite large groups of people to achieve a common goal. Those who lead succeed where others might give up and move on, and a Commander’s nature allows them to motivate everyone along with them, resulting in significant achievements. Michael Jones shared that Vasily Ivanovich has been described as having “a much stronger will than his [62nd Army Commander] predecessors Kolpachki and Lopatin.” In his book titled Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed, Jones shared 62nd Army HQ officer Anatoly Mereshko’s account of General Chuikov’s response to an officer who retreated to the east bank of the Volga without permission:
“’Chuikov warned him that he would regard any similar act in future as desertion on the field of battle and ordered him back to his original command post. […] Mereshko remembered how the atmosphere in the bunker was tense and sullen: no one really knew their new commander and the officer wanted to justify himself. All around them bomb explosions were reverberating as the enemy moved ever closer. ‘This was the crucial moment,’ Mereshko continued. ‘Chuikov suddenly and dramatically pointed at the city map, speaking with real authority: ‘Here is my HQ - on this side of the river – 800 metres from the Germans. Here is the position you will occupy – 500 metres from the Germans.’
Suddenly everyone, including the recalcitrant officer, got the point: they were all in this mess together. The mood completely changed and a new sense of purpose and urgency arose. ‘Chuikov had the necessary toughness,’ Mereshko added, ‘but it was his leadership through example which made all the difference. The story of what happened quickly spread throughout the entire army.’”
Comments