A particularly graphic example of Zhukov's vaunted "love" of his homeland and the soldiers under his command, Suvorov reveals, occurred in September 1954 in a military exercise reported decades after the event. For the purpose of studying the effects of a nuclear blast on ground forces, an experiment was conducted at 0953 hours on September 14, 1954. Under the direction of Marshal Zhukov, a bomber flying at an altitude of 13 kilometers dropped a 40-kiloton nuclear bomb (the explosive power of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined) timed to detonate at a height of 350 meters over 45,000 maneuvering troops (blue forces defending, red forces attacking). At the time, the medical facilities in the Soviet Union had no means whatsoever of protecting against or treating the consequences of exposure to a nuclear blast. At the instant of the blast, Suvorov recounts, some 45,000 young men were rendered sterile, countless numbers suffered radiation sickness, bloody flux, leukemia, and other debilitating and fatal diseases. The troops involved in the experiment were sworn to secrecy. Most were subsequently released from the army as unfit for military service. Zhukov chose as the site for the experiment the Totskoye test range situated in the Southern Urals Military District - an especially fertile agricultural area between the Volga River and the Urals on the Samara River. The farming folk who lived in the surrounding area were not evacuated before the experiment and suffered the same dire consequences as the troops. Marshal Zhukov was commended for his bold leadership. Some proposed he be awarded a fifth Hero of the Soviet Union medal.
