Age of Rebirth

Stalin, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and "Chairman" of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, has such magical powers. When he does not speak, he exerts full coercion on the members of the Politburo of the CPSU present, as if the air is frozen, imprisoned in the All the space around, because I always can't figure out Comrade Stalin's real thoughts, which is very dangerous, maybe because of one sentence or one thing, a member of the Politburo who used to be aloof is on the way to a concentration camp , or, have been secretly executed.

This is the case now. After the report, Marshal Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff, first came Comrade Stalin's angry accusation, and then the leader's long silence. The angry accusation is not terrible, even if it is scolded by the blood sprayer, it is not terrible. The most frightening thing is not knowing Comrade Stalin's innermost thoughts, perhaps, Comrade Stalin's murderous intent, perhaps. . . . . . , anyway, there are any possible surnames.

This kind of silence, like a mountain whose peak cannot be seen, rushes towards the face. Marshal Petroshilov, who bears the brunt, feels almost suffocated. Fine beads of sweat ooze from his forehead and back, but he still maintains the silence. The posture of a soldier, the silence in the office is terrifying.

Finally, when a group of Politburo members almost collapsed, Stalin spoke, and then, the frozen air in the office loosened a bit, "Comrade Petroshilov, I don't need to listen to the complaints of the General Staff , What I need is to gather no less than 150 million troops west of the Ural Mountains in late March, as well as all the weapons and equipment and various supplies for the offensive."

"In mid-April, the second batch of troops to be transferred to the East should not be less than 150 million troops and corresponding weapons and equipment. The last batch of 100 million troops must be assembled by the end of April at the latest. Petro Comrade Shirov, there is not much time left for your General Staff. What you have to do is how to assemble the troops as quickly as possible and prepare for the attack, instead of complaining endlessly at the Politburo meeting .”[

The words have been said to this level. If Marshal Petroshilov doesn’t know the depth, he will be asking for trouble. He hastened to say: “Comrade Stalin, the General Staff must follow your order to complete the third battle of the Outer Mongolia War.” All deployed, but, in two batches before and after, we have assembled 300 million troops to attack Tang Qiuli's reading division troops in Outer Mongolia, more than enough, do we need to continue to mobilize the last batch of 100 million troops?"

Marshal Petroshilov asked this question, which is quite solid. From another perspective, it is also to reduce the pressure on himself. It is now mid-February. Before the end of April, all 400 million troops will be assembled in place. It will take more than two months The time required is not so difficult. If one million fewer people are mobilized, the pressure will be reduced a lot. At least there will be time to breathe. I know that if I fail to complete the task assigned by Comrade Stalin, the consequences will be very serious.

Stalin shook his head inscrutablely, and said in a rare, murderous tone: "Comrade Petroshilov, I must correct one of your points of view. We have used such a huge force in the East this time. The goal is not only Who is Tang Qiuli, the hated Chinese, and the Japanese Kwantung Army occupying the Far East? We must use the most ferocious attack in the shortest time to completely defeat the Chinese and Japanese, and permanently eradicate the Soviet Union’s eastern territories There is a Chinese idiom called 'once and for all', and what we have to do is to achieve this effect."

All the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the senior generals of the General Staff who attended the meeting were impressed by Comrade Stalin's courage and foresight. A burst of warm and orderly applause rang out in the office. Brothers, take this opportunity to move your stiff body.

Stalin waved his hand, and the applause stopped, "Comrade Pandelev, what progress has your air force made in building field airfields in the east? At the end of March, when the ground forces start to attack, can your air force provide no less than five thousand dollars?" A combat aircraft to support the attack on Tang Qiuli's Lidu division?" This question was asked by the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Air Force, General Pandelev, who was in charge of everything with wings in the Soviet sky.

General Pandelev stood up and replied succinctly: "No problem, Comrade Stalin, when the ground troops attack those Chinese, I can take out at least [-] combat aircraft to provide air firepower for the infantry comrades." Support, including [-] fighter jets and [-] bombers, this is just the initial deployment, and more than [-] combat aircraft will be deployed to the east in the future, because we have enough field airfields, To accommodate, our aircraft fleet is almost overwhelming the sky over the Outer Mongolia region."

"Good! Very good! Comrade Pandelev, the comrades in the Air Force have done a very good job!" Stalin praised with a smile on his face. This is also an extremely rare move. Under normal circumstances, Comrade Stalin would never, at a meeting of the Politburo, In front of so many members of the Politburo, he praised someone, "Comrades in the Air Force have set an example for us. In comparison, the actions of the General Staff seem too procrastinated and sluggish," he said, His eyes seemed to have deliberately glanced at Marshal Petroshilov, the chief of the general staff.

Just this one glance made the hairs all over Marshal Petroshilov explode, and the sweat that had just dissipated on his forehead oozes out again. There are warnings, and there are dissatisfaction, which is very complicated anyway, but there is no satisfaction and appreciation.

Stalin paced around for a while, then sat back at the table, put on fresh tobacco, and after lighting his pipe, took a puff comfortably and exhaled light blue smoke, "Comrade Beria, you all Soviet Union General Coordinating Committee Member of the Intelligence System, tell us about the situation of the Germans, what is that lunatic Hitler doing now?" Stalin's eyes turned to Beria, the "Chairman" of the All-Soviet Soviet Counter-Committee.

During the recent period, Comrade Beria's mental state is very full, and he feels refreshed on happy occasions. Although he failed to "intervene" in the army's intelligence system in the end, he also won a very important title. General Coordinating Committee Member of the All-Soviet Intelligence System.

This is a newly added position proposed by Stalin to the Politburo. According to Comrade Stalin, the Soviet intelligence system operates in its own way, and each operates a separate system behind closed doors. , the responsibility is to coordinate the relationship between the various intelligence systems of the Soviet Union, mediate internal disputes, and summarize the important strategic information of each intelligence system, and directly present it to Comrade Stalin.

Don't look at it just for coordination, which has the meaning of harmony. It has no power to directly participate in the specific business and personnel appointment and dismissal of various intelligence systems, and has the right to interfere in the daily work of various intelligence agencies. But there is no vain job at all.

But in Beria's view, this is an excellent opportunity to control the intelligence system of the entire Soviet Union. Since it is coordination, he has a reasonable identity to "intervene" in other intelligence agencies. It can be created, with the art of political struggle that has been perfected by oneself, the means of overturning clouds and rain, coupled with a ruthless style, the one who is not open-eyed dares not to bow his head and obey orders. It won't take long for him to become the well-deserved leader of the entire Soviet intelligence system. In charge, red agent No.1!

Seeing Stalin talking to himself in such a friendly tone, which was completely different from his previous attitude towards Petroshilov, Beria secretly felt relieved, but at the same time felt a little flattered.

Beria hurriedly stood up and replied respectfully: "Comrade Stalin, according to your instructions, all our intelligence systems will focus on two directions, one is the Chinese Tang Qiuli troops in the east, and the other It is on the Germans in the West. According to the information we have so far, the war between the Germans in the British Isles and the British and American coalition forces has come to an end!"

The tone is full of confidence, and of course, Beria's complacency is indispensable.

"Oh?" Stalin leaned forward suddenly, his eyes flickered, and he asked with surprise and fear: "Comrade Beria, according to your statement, the Germans will soon end the war against the British and American coalition forces?"

If this is the case, my battle plan in the east must be abandoned. One side is the arrogant and vigorous German army sweeping across the European continent, and the other side is the Chinese and Japanese. Judging from the current situation, the threat of the Germans, It is far more threatening than the Chinese and Japanese. "The two evils are the lesser," and I will have to make a choice. With the current national strength of the Soviet Union, it is still impossible to defend against the Germans in the west and attack Tang Qiuli and Heilongjiang in the east. The Japanese Kwantung Army fought two wars at the same time.

Therefore, Beria's intelligence is so important that if he needs to change the Politburo resolution three months ago, he will be forced to change the country's strategic direction again. Although, the Soviet Union will pay a huge economic price for this. The price, the mobilization of millions of troops, would be an astonishing amount of money, and it would involve the issue of one's own authority, but the face and rubles were not as painful as the subjugation of the country. [

Unlike Stalin, the members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the military's heavyweight generals who participated in the meeting had another idea. Those who knew Beria well even thought viciously, "This guy won't Did you get the definite information that the Germans had an absolute upper hand in the war against the British and American allied forces, and you didn’t say it for a while, in order to show your superiority?”

Therefore, not only was there suspicion in Stalin's eyes, but all the members of the Political Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee and the important generals of the General Staff who participated in the meeting all shot viciously at the somewhat complacent Beria.

((To be continued.)

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