Struggle in Soviet Russia

13 Granovsky Avenue, a two-story ordinary building along the street.

It was early in the morning when the rising sun was lazily peeking out a layer of scalp from the sky, and the municipal sprinklers slowly drove past the street downstairs with a roar.

On the second floor of the small building, on the easternmost balcony, a yellow-haired fat cat squatted lazily on the rusty balcony guardrail. The thick fluff made it feel the cold of early spring. , I was able to doze off under the rain canopy of gray canvas.

A slowly approaching black Volga car stopped downstairs. The person in the car honked the horn. With a beep, the fat cat, who was closing his eyes and rested, was startled. He was chubby. After shaking his body, he fell straight from the balcony guardrail and into the balcony.

In the room on the balcony, the heavy curtain was gently torn open a gap, a bright woman's face poked out from the gap, glanced downstairs quickly, and then quickly retracted.

In the room, Valentina, wearing a purple silk pajamas, ran all the way to the bathroom door. She glanced into the misty bathroom and urged: "Hurry up, the car is here."

Her words were only finished, a shower of water splashed out from the bathroom door, scattered drops of water splashed all over her, scared her exclaimed, and quickly hid to the side, and then, a woman laughed in the bathroom. , But the laughter soon stopped again, as if the woman's mouth was blocked by something.

Valentina scolded with a smile, and walked out of the bedroom on her own. After a while, she returned with her clothes and tidy up on the bedside of the bedroom.

About ten minutes later, the naked Victor walked out of the bathroom, holding Qiu Lina, who was also naked, in his arms.

The house at the moment is a government apartment, which belongs to the Moscow City Party Committee, to be precise, to the Propaganda Department of the Moscow City Party Committee. Qiu Lina belongs to a foreigner in Moscow. She is a refugee. She does not have her own residence in this city, but the house is temporarily allocated to her. However, according to Victor's estimation, she shouldn't live in this house for long.

Since March, after completely defeating the German Army Group North in the outskirts of Leningrad, the Soviet army has shifted its strategic focus to the southern line, that is, the Ukrainian region.

In the previous Battle of Right Bank Ukraine, the Soviet Army achieved great results. For the German Army, the loss of the Right Bank Ukraine area not only meant the loss of important grain and coal, iron ore and other raw material producing areas, but also a strategy. The extremely important locations of the Crimean Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula were completely lost and exposed to the threat of Soviet troops.

Faced with this situation, in the past two months, on the one hand, the Soviet army carried out an offensive on the northern line of Leningrad's peripheral areas, on the other hand, it urgently adjusted its deployment on the southern line to supplement logistical materials for the front-line combat troops.

By the beginning of March, the war on the northern line had come to an end, and the deployment of the southern line had been successfully completed. Therefore, with the approval of Comrade Stalin, the campaign aimed at liberating Odessa and the Crimean Peninsula was officially launched.

Today, the initiative of the war has completely fallen into the hands of the Soviet Red Army. On the long front of more than 1,400 kilometers, the Soviet army has the final say on where and how the battle is initiated. The German army has the final say. Outside of defense, there is no longer any counterattack capability or plan.

Victor has seen the next battle plan proposed by the General Staff. In Vasilevsky’s battle plan, the battle to liberate Odessa and the Crimean Peninsula will take three months. The purpose of the campaign is to liberate Odessa. In addition to Desa and the Crimean Peninsula, they must also seize control of the Black Sea, and in the process of pursuing enemy forces, seizing the outer areas of the Balkan Peninsula, thereby creating conditions for subsequent attacks on Romania and Bulgaria.

In addition, the Soviet army chose to liberate Odessa and the Crimean Peninsula at this time in order to attract the main force of the German army to the southern front, creating the illusion that the Soviet army will attack Romania in the next battle. In fact, after the end of the Battle of Odessa, the Soviet army will attack Belarus. Its purpose is to defeat the only remaining central group of the German army and open up shortcuts to East Prussia and the German mainland.

It can be seen that if there is no major accident, Minsk will return to the Soviet army in a few months. At that time, Qiu Lina should be returning home with the exiled Minsk Song and Dance Troupe.

In fact, Qiu Lina wanted to stay in Moscow. In the past period of time, she had hinted to Victor several times. According to her idea, she wanted to leave the Minsk Song and Dance Troupe and transfer to the Moscow Red Army Song and Dance Troupe, which is later generations. The famous "Alexander Red Flag Singing and Dance Ensemble".

Victor is not unwilling to help Qiu Lina's request, he just hasn't made up his mind yet-whether or not to maintain a long-term relationship with Qiu Lina and Valentina is something he has been hesitating.

After eating breakfast at Qiu Lina's residence, Victor, who put on a military uniform, left this gentle den. When he got in the car upstairs, he looked at his watch. It was just 8:15.

Varenka, who was in charge of driving, started the car and drove straight to the right side of the street-if it is going to the boulevard, the car should turn around and go to the left. However, according to Victor's schedule, he will not go to the national security people this morning. The committee department went to work, but went to Leningrad Railway Station to pick up people.

The Leningrad railway station does not refer to the Leningrad railway station, but the railway station where the train from Leningrad to Moscow stops. This is the oldest railway station in Moscow, in the Kalanchevsk district.

Today is the day when Comrade Zhdanov and his staff returned to Moscow. Yesterday afternoon, Victor received a notice from Comrade Poskrebeshev, saying that Comrade Stalin appointed several people to pick him up at the Leningrad railway station.

Yes, in Comrade Stalin’s mind, Comrade Zhdanov is so special. When he left Moscow, Comrade Stalin personally sent him to the railway station, and when he came back from Leningrad, Comrade Stalin Instead of picking him up in person, a group of people were arranged to pick him up.

As far as Viktor knew, in addition to him, Kaganovic, Andreev, Voroshilov, Malinkov, Beria, Mikoyan, it can be said that all of the Politburo members who are in Moscow need to be present, and the few who have not come are not in Moscow.

Like Victor, among those who are not members of the Politburo, there are a few including Ignatiyev, Kussinen, Sabrov, and Shvernik.

Among those who are not members of the Politburo, Victor pays more attention to only two people, namely Ignatiyev and Sabrov, and the remaining two people are not worthy of attention in his opinion.

Cousinen is a Finn. Although he now holds the post of the Supreme Soviet Chairman of the "Karelia-Finnish Republic", which seems to be a high-powered person, in fact, he is a puppet at best. Actual power will not have any future.

As for Shvernik, although he now has the title of an alternate member of the Politburo, as an old man born in 1888, he himself is not an old comrade that Comrade Stalin valued, and his future is very limited.

The first thing that is really valued by Viktor is Ignatiyev. This person was transferred from Bashkir not long ago. Before that, he was the first secretary of the regional party committee of the Bashkir region. When he was the first secretary of the state party committee, he was not yet forty years old.

This time he was transferred back to Moscow and he was appointed as the first deputy director of the Bureau of Party Member and Cadre Inspection of the Central Committee. Note that although he is only the first deputy director, because of the vacancy of the director, he is also the director of the first deputy director. It is estimated that it will not be long before this deputy's hat will be taken off.

Viktor didn't know much about Ignatiyev. He only knew that he was more capable and his position was very vague.

As for Sabrov, he is also very young. He is only forty-four years old this year, but he is already the vice chairman of the People’s Committee and chairman of the State Planning Commission. That’s right, Voznesensky’s chair of the State Planning Commission. It was snatched from his hand.

As far as Victor knew, this person was a follower of Molotov, and his personal relationship with Molotov was also very close.

The car was driving slowly on the street in the early morning. Sitting in the car, Victor looked out to the street through the window, but he was thinking about his own business.

Yes, today is the day when Comrade Zhdanov returned to Moscow. Although he has returned to Moscow several times in the past two years or so, his momentum has never been as grand as it is today. Comrade Stalin came out of it. Judging from the battle, Comrade Zhdanov seems to have become the greatest contributor to the victory of the Leningrad battle.

Victor didn’t know what other people were thinking. At least in his opinion, there was no need to make such a big show. What's more, Zhdanov was only a military commissar of the Leningrad Front. During the siege of more than two years, he had one. He was recuperating for four months in the year and four months. What does Leningrad’s victory have to do with him? He would make such a big show in Moscow, what about Govorov, the commander of the Leningrad Front?

Of course, if you consider it from another angle, Victor can somewhat understand Comrade Stalin's thoughts.

The reason why Zhdanov returned to Moscow to create such a big momentum, to put it bluntly, was to divide the reputation of military generals. This was the most fundamental starting point for Comrade Stalin to consider issues.