[jb6]

Stalin's strong point was he pretty much stayed out of Zukov's and Stavka's way. He made the noises of decision maker but other then that let them plan and carry out. Hitler after the 1941-42 Soviet counter offensive, declared himself the Furher of the Wehermacht too.

[SaltyJoe]

You bring up some interesting points.

Stalin "purged" (murdered) most of his flag officers due to a successful German ruse. German spy masters convinced Stalin that Nazi's had infiltrated the Soviet Army before their gigantic invasion into Russian occupied territories (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, etc.).

During Stalin's rise to absolute rule (sometimes called the "Great Terror"), he had successfully replaced (purged/murdered) anyone with charismatic and quality leadership traits with miniatures of himself. His underlings pretty much wet themselves whenever Stalin gave them a personal call on the phone.

That Stalin used other generals during the great patriotic war was a buffering tactic no different than what he used during his purges. Stalin always had a henchman do his bloody work. That's why millions cried out, "If Stalin only knew!" Many Russians (and probably many Western socialist too) still won't accept the fact that Stalin was the central decision maker and mass murderer demanding the shootings, purges, mass movement of populations, starvation's, and working to death of these peoples before, during and after WW2.

Stalin was many times worse than Hitler. Hitler's Nazism (and some historians can successfully accuse socialist leaning Western powers) made Stalin a world power. The world still suffers Stalins legacy.