The Rise of the Third Reich

Listening to Molotov's words, Joseph Stalin's thick eyebrows frowned slightly, and he kept smoking his pipe, as if he was thinking.

It is a trivial matter for France to compensate for the losses caused by the Batumi incident. The losses suffered by the Batumi refinery were not too large, only tens of millions of rubles. Signing the "Mutual Non-Aggression Agreement" with Japan is not a big deal. The situation on the East Asian continent is not good for Japan. If Japan insists on moving west or north, Stalin will not be afraid and will just teach it a lesson. What really worries him now is Germany's tendency to contain the Soviet Union.

Germany now proposed the abolition of the Treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain, Trianon, Sèvres, and Lausanne. In Stalin's view, this was not to deal with Britain, but to contain the Soviet Union.

Because the abolition of the Treaty of Saint-Germain and the Treaty of Trianon meant that Western Ukraine (which was an Austrian crown territory) could be legally annexed to Germany and the re-emergence of the Kingdom of Greater Hungary.

The annexation of Western Ukraine to Germany was, of course, intended to be a reactionary bastion to contain the Soviet Union.

A Greater Hungary with a population of more than 20 million, including Croatia, Transylvania and the Banat, will definitely become Germany's watchdog in the Balkans.

Now, while Germany recognizes that the Treaty of Bessarabia is illegal, it also proposes to consider the current situation in Bessarabia!

This meant that Germany was trying to pull Romania into their European Community - which was very possible in Stalin's mind, as the surname of King Carol II, who now ruled Romania, was Hohenzollern, a descendant of Emperor Wilhelm. relative.

If Emperor Wilhelm had reserved some interests for Romania on the Transylvanian issue and supported Romania on the Bessarabia issue, Carol II would probably have turned to Germany.

Germany's proposal to abrogate the Treaty of Sèvres and the Treaty of Lausanne was also aimed at the Soviet Union in Stalin's view. Because these two treaties dismembered the Turkish Empire, the former enemy of Russia. If they are abolished, although the Turkish Empire will not be resurrected, the current Turkish Republic may still gain huge benefits from it, such as merging with Syria under French rule to form a federation. Of course, such benefits are not obtained in vain and must be obtained in the form of a federation. At the expense of Turkey joining the military bloc led by Germany!

Once Türkiye becomes an ally of Germany, Iraq and Iran will inevitably follow suit. The Soviet Union's southward passage to the Middle East and the Indian Ocean would also be completely blocked.

In addition, Germany repeatedly stated its attitude of mediating the Soviet-Finnish war, which in Stalin's view was also to contain the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's attack on the Mannerheim Line of Defense has been going on for some time. Although it did not achieve a final breakthrough, Finland has shown signs of fatigue. It is only a matter of time before it finally fails, and in this case, what is the purpose of German mediation?

Isn’t it to preserve the reactionary white Finland? Then build White Finland into another White Poland to block the socialist Soviet Union from entering Northern Europe!

"Germany's victory on the Western Front is undoubtedly a great victory of socialism over capitalism, a victory achieved with the joint efforts of the two countries and two parties."

Stalin was silent for a long time, but when he opened his mouth, he was full of colorful words, as if he was having a cordial meeting with Comrade Hitler.

He said: “Our Soviet Union also participated in the war against British and French imperialism. It not only supported Germany materially, but also sent aircraft to bomb Syria, which severely dealt a blow to the arrogance of French imperialism and eliminated a large number of French air and ground forces. , effectively supported the German army on the main battlefield on the Western Front.”

What Stalin said at today's enlarged meeting of the political situation is naturally defining the Western Front campaign - although the Soviet Union is about to become the target of German containment, Stalin still wants to maintain the good situation from victory to victory. We must not be so quick to deny the previous line of cooperation with Germany, otherwise it will appear that he, a great leader, is not wise enough.

"But we cannot be one-sided and pro-German in our diplomatic line. Certain capitalist countries such as the United States are still progressive. In many aspects, the United States is no worse than Germany."

Stalin took a few puffs of cigarette, and then said: "Therefore, in the next stage, we must focus on developing friendly relations with the United States... In the future world, it is likely that socialism will not immediately defeat capitalism, but that socialism and capitalism will continue to work together." Competition in the field of productivity. It is very likely that there will be a situation where two to three big socialist countries and two to three big capitalist countries will coexist peacefully. This is a new situation that we need to pay attention to! "

The faces of the political bureau members in the conference room changed slightly. Stalin's speech today seems to be very important! The Soviet Union's foreign policy is about to undergo a major change!

Moreover, "one-sided pro-Germany" has never existed. The Soviet Union has always been swinging between Britain, France and Germany. Now Stalin has proposed "focusing on developing friendly relations with the United States" and "peaceful coexistence between big socialist countries and big capitalist countries", which has obviously blocked the possibility of forming a socialist axis on the side of Germany.

If necessary and the conditions are right, the possibility of establishing an anti-German alliance with the United States and Britain is not even ruled out!

Of course, the Soviet Union's asking price is quite high, but the land in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, which were under German control and had to be captured at the cost of the blood of millions of communist fighters, cannot be regarded as Britain and the United States' bid.

"Comrade Molotov," Stalin said after a pause, "send electricity to Comrade Litvinov (ambassador to the United States) and ask him to purchase the latest fighter jets and aircraft engines from the U.S. government."

"Okay." Molotov immediately wrote down Stalin's order in his notebook - Stalin's request was not a price in favor of Britain and the United States, but just a test of the water temperature.

If we are not even willing to sell new fighter jets and engines, there will be nothing left to talk about.

"In addition," Stalin said after taking a few more puffs of cigarette, "Comrade Molotov, you will personally lead the team to Geneva. The focus will be on discussing with Germany the abolition of the Treaty of Bessarabia, the armistice in Finland, and the Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Agreement. Treaty these three issues.”

Molotov asked: "Comrade Stalin, if Germany makes a request to conclude an alliance treaty, how should it respond?"

Stalin held his pipe and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "This is impossible. Now they will not form an alliance with us. They will only consider containing us."

…

"Two marshals, the Soviets fought badly on the Mannerheim Line, didn't they?"

On the special train bound for Switzerland, Hitler suddenly asked about the Soviet-Finnish war.

Hersmann and the sickly Marshal Margrave Hammerstein looked at each other.

Hammerstein had always been an important figure in Schleicher-Hersmann's group, which allowed him to serve as chief of the general staff for a long time. However, he was a bit old and had been in poor health. Because he was too overworked as the commander-in-chief of the Western Front these days, he suffered a small stroke at the end of the French Campaign. It was not until early June that he recovered.

However, his age and physical condition were obviously not suitable for serving as chief of staff, so Hessmann took over. This time the old marshal went to Switzerland in the name of a member of the peace delegation. In fact, it was Emperor William who made him stand out.

However, Hitler, who knew little about military affairs, respected Marshal Harmanstein very much and regarded him as a great soldier comparable to Moltke (both of them defeated France). Therefore, on military issues, the old Marshal could still deceive Hitler with his words. of.

"Leader," Harmanstein said, "actually the Soviet Red Army did not fight badly. It is normal to lose 100,000 or more lives after breaking through a solid and dangerous position like the Mannerheim Line of Defense."

"But you only lost 35,000 people in conquering Belgium and France." Hitler said.

The losses in the Western Front campaign have been calculated. About 20,000 people were killed and about 15,000 were seriously injured or missing. Another 100,000 people were not seriously injured and could return to the military camp, so it was not considered a loss.

The Germans are cheating! Hersmann wanted to tell Hitler this, but in the end he analyzed it very seriously: "Leader, the setbacks the Soviets encountered on the Mannerheim Line were mainly due to their lack of technical weapons for attacking fortresses, such as super-large caliber artillery. We sold a few Big Bertha to them at the beginning of the year, but we didn’t give them many shells. They ran out of shells when they attacked the Brest Fortress in Poland, so they could only use 305mm. Artillery went to bombard the Mannerheim Line. The Finns also had artillery of the same caliber, so the Soviet Red Army suffered more heavy casualties, but they were still able to capture the Mannerheim Line. "

"Furthermore, the terrain of the Karelia Isthmus is very dangerous, and there is no room for detours." Marshal Harmanstein had similar opinions with Hessmann on the issue of dealing with the Soviet Union - they both won't fight if they can. After all, The Soviet Union was a large country with a large population and a harsh environment, making it uncertain to fight.

"But some people say that Stalin's purges seriously damaged the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Red Army, which is why they fought so hard in Poland and Finland."

Hitler said that he didn't know where he heard things from. Hersman smiled and shrugged, and said: "Leader, Stalin's Great Purge did damage the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Red Army to a certain extent, but it is not a few officers and soldiers that determine a country's combat effectiveness, but the fighting will of the entire nation. The French had very good officers, and no one arrested them and shot them, and they also had very good weapons and equipment. But the spirit of the entire nation was broken, and people were no longer willing to go out and die for the country. But in the Soviet Union. "The situation is completely different. The Russians have always had a fighting spirit, and Soviet propaganda and brainwashing have strengthened their fighting spirit. They will not collapse when they encounter setbacks like France, but will fight us to the end."

"So, how are we going to deal with the Soviet Union?" Adolf Hitler asked.

Hirschman whispered, "Contain!"