| Original caption: “Marshal Zhukov decorates Field Marshal Montgomery with the Russian Order of Victory. Allied chiefs who attended the ceremony at General Eisenhower’s Headquarters at Frankfurt are about to drink a toast. British Official.” General Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), 1st Military Governor of the American-occupied Zone of Germany, had established the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in Frankfurt before it was dissolved on July 15, 1945. Here, in ceremony on June 10, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy K. Zhukov (December 1, 1896 – June 18, 1974) conveys the Soviet Order of Victory on Eisenhower and United Kingdom Royal Army Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery (November 17, 1887 – March 24, 1976), Facing the camera, from left to right: Montgomery; Eisenhower; Zhukov; United Kingdom Royal Air Force Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder (July 11, 1890 – June 3, 1967), Deputy Supreme Commander at SHAEF; Behind Eisenhower is Lieutenant Colonel Oleg I. Pantuhoff Junior (later named John L. Bates 1910 – September 20, 1995), his translator. After their 1st meeting in Berlin on June 5, 1945, just before Eisenhower left, Zhukov told him that he had just received a message from Stalin instructing him to confer upon Eisenhower and Field Marshal Montgomery the Russian Order bf Victory. The award had never before been presented to a foreigner. Zhukov asked Eisenhower when he would like the decoration bestowed upon him, and Eisenhower suggested that Zhukov conduct the ceremony at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) headquarters in Frankfurt. Zhukov agreed, and Montgomery said that, since he had served under Eisenhower’s command throughout the European campaign, he too would like to receive his decoration at Eisenhower’s headquarters. Eisenhower recalled in his memoirs: “Because of the marshal’s hospitable gesture toward his Allies I regretted my inability to stay. The singing of the Red Army chorus was remarkable, and the table was piled with Russian delicacies. Before I left Marshal Zhukov announced that he had just received a message from Moscow instructing him, with the approval of Generalissimo Stalin, to confer upon Field Marshal Montgomery and me the Russian Order of Victory, a Soviet decoration that had never previously been given to a foreigner. The marshal asked me when I should like to have the decoration presented and I invited him to visit my headquarters at Frankfurt for the ceremony. He accepted and I was pleased when Montgomery tactfully suggested that since he had served throughout the European campaign under my command he would also like to receive his decoration in my headquarters.” Montgomery recalled in his memoirs: “Apart from the honor, the decoration is of great intrinsic value, being in the form of a 5-pointed star beautifully set with rubies and diamonds. After some discussion Eisenhower invited Zhukov to visit his headquarters at Frankfurt for the presentation ceremony. I said that as I had served throughout the campaign in Europe under Eisenhower’s command, I would like to receive the decoration at the same time, and this was agreed…Eisenhower had his headquarters at the I.G. Farben building in Frankfurt, a magnificent modern building on high ground overlooking the desolate and bombed city; the building itself had received practically no damage. On arrival there early on June 10 I had a short private talk with Eisenhower, during which he gave me the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest American decoration which can be conferred on a soldier of another nation. I had already been made a Chief Commander of the American Legion of Merit, Eisenhower having pinned that Presidential order on me in Sicily in 1943. On June 10, Zhukov received red carpet treatment after flying into Frankfurt-am-Main, and the meeting between him, General Eisenhower and Field Marshal Montgomery promised to be unforgettable. The London Times newspaper said Zhukov was “royally received” at Eisenhower’s headquarters which was housed in the Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farben (“Syndicate of Dyestuff Industry Corporations”) building, a large modern edifice set amidst green gardens. It was 1 of the few buildings that escaped the bomb damage that marked much of the city of Frankfurt. Zhukov’s party arrived early, soon after Montgomery had flown in from his own headquarters in his Douglas Dakota III (American-built C-47) aircraft and driven from the airfield. Equal military honors were accorded to Zhukov and Montgomery, including the firing of salutes and the presence of an immaculately turned out composite guard of troops from the best British and American contingents. Eisenhower called the diplomatic arrangements in his memoirs: “I invited Zhukov to bring to the ceremony at Frankfurt a number of staff assistants and to stay as long as he pleased, with the assurance of a warm welcome. He replied that he would come on June 10 and would be accompanied by no more than ten staff officers, but could stay for the day only. Consequently I planned a state luncheon for him and his party. Just a few hours before his arrival I received a telegram saying that in addition to the ten staff officers he was bringing five officer bodyguards. An officer bodyguard was a functionary of whom I had never heard and I was somewhat puzzled as to what to do with five at a luncheon. I directed the mess officer to keep his arrangements flexible and said I would let him know what to do after the marshal arrived. We met Zhukov at the airport with a guard of honor and the United States Army Band, and we then, with an interpreter, got into my car for the trip back to headquarters. I promptly brought up the question of the proper place for officer bodyguards at a luncheon. I told him that he could have them seated immediately around him, standing behind him, or at the far end of the table. When all this was interpreted to him he blurted out: ‘Please tell the general he can put them wherever he pleases. I brought them along because I was told to do so.’ That settled the question of the officer bodyguards very satisfactorily.” Besides a staff of 20, Zhukov was accompanied by his crusty Commissar, Andrei Vyshinsky (December [10, 1883 – November 22, 1954), sent along by Soviet Premier and Dictator Joseph Stalin (December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953) to be his political mentor. Vyshinsky had been Stalin’s chief prosecutor at the Great Purge Trials in 1937-39 – also known as the Great Terror — for the numberless victims it devoured. Vyshinsky was also Moscow’s 1st ambassador to the United Nations. But in the eyes of observers, Vyshinsky’s presence did not crimp Zhukov’s style of impromptu chats and genial toasts with his British and American counterparts. During 1 of these chats, Zhukov told Eisenhower about the high cost of Russia’s victory. Ike relates that Zhukov told him that so many women, children and old men had been killed by Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler’s (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) marauding armies that the Russian government would never be able to estimate the precise total. The 1st thing Zhukov did after greeting his hosts was to bestow decorations on Eisenhower and Montgomery, giving them Russia’s Order of Victory. After the 3 commanders had exchanged autographed photos of their earlier meeting in Berlin, Zhukov presented the decorations, uttering the simple words, “I congratulate you from my heart,” and then the 3 chatted for a time about the war in the Pacific and Asia, with the Russian marshal recollecting memories of the defeat he had meted out to a sizable Japanese invasion force in Mongolia in the summer of 1939. It was this stunning victory that 1st brought him to Stalin’s attention. As Zhukov presented the decorations, Eisenhower and Montgomery stood side by side rigidly at attention. Then Zhukov delivered a speech stressing the need for unity among the former Allies in the postwar world. More than half a century before the world came face-to-face with international terrorism, the marshal said – and he later spelled it out in private talks with Eisenhower – that solidarity among the powers could prevent future outbreaks of violence. It is noteworthy that each year on Victory Day in Moscow (May 9) the Russian president, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces, invariably uses words which echo Marshal Zhukov’s recommendations for Allied unity in 1945. The opulent Order of Victory presented to Eisenhower and Montgomery for their outstanding success in the war, is a 5-pointed red, blue and gold platinum star encrusted with 135 diamonds and 5 rubies. In the centre of the star was a small enameled image of the Kremlin. Eisenhower wrote in his memoirs: “The decorations presented to Montgomery and me were among the few I have seen that have great intrinsic rather than exclusively sentimental and symbolic value. Designed in the form of a star, each contains some eighty or ninety diamonds surrounding a group of synthetic rubies, in the center of which is a small enameled representation of the Kremlin. On the part of Zhukov and his assistants there was discernible only an intense desire to be friendly and co-operative. Looking back on it, that day still seems to have held nothing but bright promise for the establishment of cordial and close relations with the Russians. That promise, eventually lost in suspicion and recrimination, was never to be fulfilled. But so far as the friendly association between Marshal Zhukov and myself was concerned, it continued to grow until the moment I left Europe in November 1945. That friendship was a personal and individual thing and unfortunately was not representative of a general attitude.” Montgomery recalled in his memoirs: “I had one further experience of ceremonial Russian visits; this took place on June 10 at Supreme Headquarters at Frankfurt. A few days earlier, on the sth June, the Allied Commanders-in-Chief had met in Berlin to sign a declaration regarding the defeat of Germany and the assumption of joint responsibility with regard to that country by the Governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France. At that meeting Zhukov informed Eisenhower and myself that Stalin had conferred on each of us the Order of Victory, a Soviet decoration which had never been given previously to any foreigner.” Only 5 non-Russians were awarded the medals: Eisenhower, Montgomery, Yugoslavian Marshal Josip Broz Tito (May 7, 1892 – May 4, 1980), Polish Marshal Michał Rola-Żymierski (September 4, 1890 – October 15, 1989), and King Michael I of Romania (October 25, 1921 – December 5, 2017). A few days before the Frankfurt meeting, Eisenhower had flown to Berlin to present an American medal to Zhukov – the Order of the Legion of Merit Commander in Chief, awarded to the Soviet Marshal by the United States government. Montgomery had also presented a British decoration to Zhukov – the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Bath. Major General John R. Deane (March 18, 1896 – July 14, 1982) believed that the United States bungled the presentation of awards to foreign powers. Less than a week earlier, the American government had presented Zhukov with a Legion of Merit, hardly comparable to the Order of Victory. Rather late in the war American authorities decided that the highest decoration which could be given to foreigners was Chief Commander Grade of the Legion of Merit. The decision was not made, however, until several British officers had been presented with the more-coveted Distinguished Service Medal. Deane comments: The Russians set much store on decorations in general and are the greatest students in the world on the relative importance of each. They had presented Eisenhower with the Order of Victory,” their super-super award, and I suspect they were a little hurt when their leaders such as Zhukov, Konev, Rokossovsky, and Antonov were awarded something that was not considered by Americans to be the best they had in the bag. After the Order of Victory was presented to Eisenhower and Montgomery, the 3 commanders clinked glasses in a toast to the victory of the United Nations. It was a beautiful summer day, recalls Eisenhower, and after pre-luncheon refreshments and wines, and then a grand luncheon, there was a series of toasts. Zhukov was an accomplished speaker, says Eisenhower, and the sentiments he expressed during a luncheon speech ‘were complimentary to the Allies and hopeful of success in our co-operative purposes. In his speech Zhukov used no notes. Probably if he had made the same remarks a year, or even a few months later, he would have got a stiff reprimand from Moscow for being too lavish in praising the Allies. He began: “Everyone knows that our people have carried the mass of the weight of the war on their shoulders. The people of the Soviet Union have suffered the greatest losses of the war and their country has been burned and ravished more than the countries of any other of the belligerent powers. But our people believed that they would not be alone in battle and in the rightiousness of their cause. They fought cleanly and honestly, so that now they can look into the eyes of their allies.” Zhukov then spoke candidly about wartime help from London and Washington: “Great Britain and the United States supported the Soviet Union when such support was hard to give. Our people will never forget that help. In future, all of us will have to carry out their obligations in regard to the protection of the world of tomorrow from further acts of aggression.” After the ceremony, a luncheon was held, during which toasts were raised to various leaders and the Allied victory. Eisenhower recalled in his memoirs: “Conforming to the Russian custom, as far as we knew it, the luncheon period included a series of toasts. The marshal was an accomplished speaker, or at least he sounded so to us, and the sentiments he expressed through the interpreter were complimentary to the Allies and hopeful of success in our co-operative purposes. Everybody had his turn at offering a toast-British, Americans, Russians, and French. We must have risen to our feet at least a dozen times but I noticed that most of the Americans soon followed my example and filled their glasses with water, colored only sufficiently with red wine to give the drink an appropriate appearance.” Marshal Zhukov 1st toasted General Eisenhower: “Here is a man with the heart of a soldier and the mind of a diplomat – the man who has been able to organize the many different nationalities under his command and lead them to victory. I want to raise a glass to General of the Army Eisenhower, due to whose abilities and talents the Allied armies attained their great and brilliant successes.” He said that he had watched Eisenhower’s brilliant campaigns “with amazement.” He was especially impressed by the massive use of planes, artillery, tanks, and naval forces. He added: “Our Soviet officers and generals are watching and studying all the operations that General Eisenhower has conducted. I personally, and the forces under my command, have the deepest respect for General Eisenhower, and I am expressing the hope that in the future work of the four Allied Commanders in the Control Council, that we will be just as unified in our future work. If we had good cooperation in time of war, I am sure that the same cooperation that was shown before will show itself in peace. To General Eisenhower — to his health, his success, and his future work.” In reply, Eisenhower said that, although he raised his glass primarily to speak a word of admiration for Marshal Zhukov on behalf of the Allied forces, he was “going to wander a bit afield” before arriving at his final toast. He noted that Zhukov had praised him in extravagant terms, but, he said, his success had been due in part to skillful soldiers and diplomats who, realizing that only in unity is there strength, had subordinated themselves to his commands with perfect loyalty, “regardless of the claims made upon them from within their own countries.” He declared that those who had fought now wanted peace and an opportunity for their peoples to live a little better: “All of us who are right-thinking want the common man of all United Nations to have the opportunities that we fought to preserve for him. They want the opportunities that will let all nations that have been engaged in this war go forward together to greater prosperity — not for us, sitting around this table, but for the masses that we represent. That means peace. Speaking for the Allied forces, we are going to have peace if we have to fight for it.” He had, Eisenhower continued, met high Soviet officials and “in this basic desire” for peace had found them 1 with the Western Allies. “Regardless of the methods by which we arrive at that goal, that is what we are struggling for.” Glancing around him, the general declared: “There is not a single man around this table that would not give back all the honors, all the publicity, and everything else that this war has brought to him if he could have avoided the misery and suffering and debt that have been brought to the populations by reason of this war.” Yet, he noted, the war was a holy war, with forces of evil arrayed against those of righteousness. No matter what the cost, the war had to be won. Concluding his speech, Eisenhower heaped praise on Zhukov: “To no 1 man do the United Nations owe a greater debt than to Marshal Zhukov. As our honored guest today he has come down and very courteously conferred certain honors of the Soviet Union upon members of the Allied forces. But Marshal Zhukov, a modest man, probably underrates the standing that he holds in our hearts and minds. 1 day, when all of us here at this board are gathered to our fathers, there is certain to be another order of the Soviet Union. It will be the Order of Zhukov, and that order will be prized by every man who admires courage, vision, fortitude, and determination in a soldier. Gentlemen, I deem it a very great honor to ask you to rise and drink to Marshal Zhukov. After Eisenhower’s words, everybody at the luncheon who wanted had their turn at offering a toast – British, Americans, Russians and French. Earlier, Montgomery spoke formally when he was presented with the Order of Victory by Zhukov: “I regard it as a high honor to receive this award from such a renowned marshal of the Soviet Union as Marshal Zhukov. But later, Montgomery, in an expansive mood, was seen slapping Zhukov on the back, reportedly telling him, “You’ve got to come around [to British headquarters], old boy!” Actually, the Eisenhower-Zhukov singing duet was sparked by the arrival of a troupe of black singers from America who had volunteered to perform for the Allied ceremony in Frankfurt. Fond of spirituals, Eisenhower had broken the ice and he and Zhukov joined with the professionals, harmonizing to the guitar strains of “Old Black Joe,” “Old Folks at Home,” and “Ol’ Man River.” 2 months later, when Eisenhower and his staff, with Ambassador Harriman, were guests in Moscow, and Japan’s unconditional surrender was announced at a gala reception at the Grand Palace in the Kremlin, Eisenhower – as well as the other guests – overcome by the spontaneous gaiety – sang the “Song of the Volga Boatman.” Adding to the merriment, recalls Eisenhower’s deputy, Lieutenant General Lucius D. Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978), were the never-ending toasts accompanied by the clinking of glasses of vodka which the attendants, adds Clay, were pouring out assiduously. Following the awards ceremony and luncheon there was a parade and an air show. Under the approving eye of United Kingdom Royal Air Force Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris (April 13, 1892 – April 5, 1984), guests craned their necks to watch a fly-past in close formation of 1,700 British and American fighters and bombers. Zhukov, Eisenhower later wrote, seemed much impressed. Eisenhower recalled in his memoirs, “The luncheon at Frankfurt was a great success. It was a beautiful summer day and we first took our guests to a large gallery, open to the sky, where wines and pre-luncheon refreshments were served. For this interval we had arranged a parade of a large segment of our Air Force, on the assumption that Marshal Zhukov would consider it a compliment. From nearby fields we brought over hundreds of fighter planes, followed by bombers ranging in size from the lighter types on up to the heaviest equipment we possessed. In the bright sunlight it was a tremendous show and Zhukov seemed much impressed.” Montgomery later reacalled in his memoirs: “Before lunch some seventeen hundred American and British aircraft flew past in formation giving an impressive display of Western air power — which was not lost on the Russians. During lunch the Americans produced a colored cabaret show, with swing music and elaborate dancing by negro women who were naked above the waist line. The Russians had never seen or heard anything like this before and their eyes almost popped out of their heads! Nonetheless they enjoyed it thoroughly and encored every time. The whole organization of the day was on a most elaborate scale, so was the lavishness of the welcome extended by the Americans. It was a day which revealed undeniably the wealth and power of the United States.” Afterwards, Zhukov made more awards presentations, handing out to 20 British and American officers the Order of the Red Banner or the Medal for Battle Merit. Montgomery later recalled in his memoirs: “Later in the morning Zhukov arrived with a large entourage, composed mostly of photographers and pressmen. The decoration ceremony took place in Eisenhower’s office. Then on a large balcony outside Zhukov presented medals to twenty-four British and American officers of Supreme Headquarters; this was a most disorganized and undignified spectacle, the photographers all jockeying for position. However, the decorations were in the end conferred without mishap although it seemed to me that some may easily have got handed medals who were not meant to get them!” After Eisenhower had said farewell to Zhukov and his party, he looked back with satisfaction on the events of the day. Zhukov’s friendliness and apparent sincerity had impressed the Americans in Frankfurt, and Eisenhower himself had great hopes for closer relations with the Russians, which might bring about a better world. He wrote: “On the part of Zhukov and his assistants there was discernible only an intense desire to be friendly and cooperative. Looking back on it, that day still seems to have held nothing but bright promise for the establishment of cordial and close relations with the Russians. That promise, eventually lost in suspicion and recrimination, was never to be fulfilled. But so far as the friendly association between Marshal Zhukov and myself was concerned, it continued to grow until the moment I left Europe in November 1945. That friendship was a personal and individual thing and unfortunately was not representative of a general attitude.” Zhukov had been completely relaxed and appeared to enjoy himself to the hilt, especially during the entertainment that followed the luncheon, when he and Eisenhower sang songs together despite the difference in language. Eisenhower had learned, meanwhile, that all too often, before Zhukov at his post in Berlin could act on minor details, including making personal visits, or answering the simplest questions from his Allied counterparts, he had to ask for instructions from Moscow. However, Ike says that Zhukov showed more “independence in action” after he told him: “If I sent such small details to Washington for decision I would be fired and my government would get someone who would handle these things himself.” The American General later recalled in his memoirs: “From the record of Russian contacts with the Western Allies during the war, Generals Smith, Clay, and I believed in the early summer of 1945 that success in joint government of Germany would be measured almost exclusively by the degree to which the Western Allies, both generally and locally, overcame Russian suspicion and distrust.” Eisenhower an interesting observation about Zhukov in 1967: “The Marshal had scant patience with political men. Once, when I told him that I wanted to talk about a military matter and had not brought along my political adviser [Robert D. Murphy (October 28, 1894 – January 9, 1978) of the State Department], I added that he could have his present if he liked. “No,” he replied, “if you’re not going to have yours, I’m going to throw mine out.” He turned to Andrei Vyshinsky, his adviser, and said, “Get out, I don’t want you here.” Eisenhower sized up Zhukov as a commander. Eisenhower told Montgomery that the Russian Marshal was in a class all by himself, that his account of his campaigns (and how he was always present at the critical point) plus his reasons for each action that he took, including his use of weapons in which he had a superiority, his concern for the weather, and his care in providing the organization and equipment before he delivered his blow, “all added up to making him a standout.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0876.jpg |
| Image Size | 913.93 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2916 x 2221 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Office of War Information |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 10, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Frankfurt |
| State or Province | Hesse |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-208-AA-342BB(1) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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