Vasily Blyukher

"War as a whole, and each operation taken separately, are first of all mathematics and calculations."

"War is not included in the Second Five-Year Plan."

"A shark has appeared and he wants to devour me. Either he devours me or I eat him. The latter is very unlikely."

"What dirt, what bitterness, what meanness..."

"An outstanding Russian general as well as a reasonable man and a good friend. What was most unusual about him was that he had none of the traits associated with Bolsheviks."

"Thousands of miles from Moscow, commanded - apparently with a free hand - by the most capable of all Soviet generals, Marshal Vasili Galen-Blücher, the Far Eastern Army is easily the most efficient and the most formidable military force at the command of the Soviet government."

"The raid made by Comrade Blyukher's forces under impossible conditions can only be equated with Suvorov's crossings in Switzerland."