The Rise of the Third Reich

After sending Molotov away from his office, the more Stalin thought about it, the more he realized that he could not take the Belarusian threat lightly - when Comrade Lenin returned from Switzerland in April 1917, the Bolshevik Party was equally weak and not worth mentioning. But a few months later the Bolsheviks seized power!

And now Olga's White Russian power is much stronger than the Bolshevik Party in April 1917. Moreover, she also received strong support from the European reactionary forces led by Germany. She was really the most dangerous enemy of the Bolshevik Party.

When Stalin was getting more and more frightened as he thought about it, the secretary came to inform him that Beria, Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers, member of the National Defense Commission and NKVD, wanted to see him.

Beria is now increasingly becoming Stalin's most trusted assistant. He is not only responsible for intelligence and counter-revolutionary work, but also fortification construction, factory evacuation and weapons production. Even the Soviet Union's most secret nuclear weapons research and development was carried out by Beria. directly responsible.

Because he was responsible for more and more work, Beria reported to Stalin more and more frequently, and he met with Stalin several times almost every day.

"Comrade General Secretary, experts from the People's Commissariat of Tank Industry have recently completed tests of Project 233 and Project 234, and the results are satisfactory. The weight of these two tanks is similar to the KV-85, but in terms of firepower and defense But it is even better, especially the 122mm cannon owned by Project 234, which is enough to destroy Tiger tanks at a distance of 1,000 meters..."

As soon as Beria saw Stalin, he excitedly reported the good news. The development of Soviet heavy tanks has once again achieved a breakthrough! Two new tanks based on the KV-85 made breakthroughs at the same time, and Project 233 was the JS-1.

Project 234 is the famous JS-2 heavy tank. This tank can be said to be tailor-made for the Tiger tank. It has a 122mm gun with a caliber of 43 times, which is enough to destroy the Tiger at a distance of 1,000 meters. tank. Moreover, the armor of this tank is also very strong. The upper front armor of the vehicle body is made of sloped homogeneous steel (or 120mm cast iron), and the side armor plates are also thick. The defense capability is quite impressive.

Hearing the 122mm caliber tank gun, Stalin showed a satisfied expression. The Soviet tank industry finally produced a satisfactory product!

"These two tanks should be put into production as soon as possible, especially the 122mm No. 234." Stalin ordered while smoking his pipe. "You can give them my name, and call them the Joseph Stalin No. 1 tank and the Joseph Stalin No. 2 tank. "

"Okay," Beria replied with a smile, "these two tanks will definitely become a weapon that scares the Nazi enemies."

Stalin nodded, "Then let the Ministry of Tank Industry arrange production as soon as possible. I hope they can be used in the Fourth Battle of Leningrad soon."

Since the German army counterattacked into the Soviet Union, Leningrad has been the focus of repeated tug-of-war. According to Soviet calculations, three battles have occurred. The first time was the German army's siege of Leningrad, the second time was the rescue operation in the winter of 1942, the third time was the rescue operation not long ago, and what is being brewed now is the fourth Battle of Leningrad.

The High Command of the Red Army is preparing to launch a major counterattack on the Leningrad-Smolensk line before the main force of the German army pacifies left-bank Ukraine (including Crimea).

"But General Secretary... It's already late May." Beria knew some of the counterattack plans. The preparation time was early June 1943. There is not much time left now. How could he have time to arrange the Stalin series of tanks? Production?

"The Fourth Battle of Leningrad will be postponed for half a month," Stalin said, "and will not be launched until late June."

"Delayed for half a month?" Beria didn't understand why, and he had never heard of it.

Stalin smoked his pipe as if he was making a great determination, "This is necessary. We must first complete various preparations before we can win the Fourth Battle of Leningrad. And among all the preparations, the most The important thing is to eliminate the reactionaries and unsteady elements in Leningrad!”

Purging counter-revolutionaries in Leningrad?

Beria kind of understood. He is the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, so of course he knows that Leningrad is now a "city of families of anti-GM elements." And he also knew that during the siege of Leningrad, many traitors and anti-GM elements were dug out!

"During the siege, we dug out many anti-GM and traitor groups in Leningrad," Stalin said solemnly, smoking a cigarette, "but compared with after Comrade Kirov was killed, this time we found many anti-GM and traitor groups in Leningrad. Le's cleanup efforts are too weak. I think there must be many traitors and anti-GM elements that have not been discovered... These people may have sent letters of allegiance to the queen outside the city, and were awarded some titles. , and we know nothing about it.

If we don't find them all now, it will be impossible to win the Fourth Battle of Leningrad! Comrade Beria, do you understand what I mean? "

"General Secretary, I understand." Beria nodded and replied, "We must find out all the anti-GM elements lurking in Leningrad City, otherwise they are likely to be killed during the Fourth Battle of Leningrad. Make trouble."

"That's right!" Stalin nodded approvingly, "The enemies lurking within us are the most dangerous enemies! They must be eliminated first, and then the White Russian and German troops outside Leningrad can be eliminated. Comrade Beria, who do you think Is it suitable to eliminate the reactionaries in Leningrad? "

"Comrade Abakumov can be appointed as the leader of the Leningrad branch of the NKVD." Beria immediately recommended his right-hand man Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov.

"Okay, let Comrade Abakumov go to Leningrad." Stalin said, "At this time tomorrow, you take Comrade Abakumov to the Kremlin. I want him to see Leningrad. Comrade Kuznetsov is the most capable comrade in Leningrad City. As long as Comrade Abakumov can cooperate with him, there will be no room for anti-GM elements in Leningrad.”

Of course, this Kuznetsov is not the People's Commissar of the Red Navy. He is the second secretary of W in Leningrad City, Zhdanov's right-hand man, and the actual person in charge of Leningrad City during the siege - because Zhdanov had been ill at that time and could not work normally, so his deputy Kuznetsov took on most of the leadership work. Now he also serves as a member of the Leningrad Front Military Commission (deputy political commissar), and with Vladimir Putin General Rasov became a partner.

Just when Stalin wanted Kuznetsov to cooperate with Abakumov in suppressing counter-revolutionaries, he was talking to General Vlasov, the commander of the Leningrad Front, in his office.

It was Vlasov who took the initiative to come to Kuznetsov to explain the problem - it was not that General Vlasov made a mistake, but that he received a letter of persuasion to surrender written by the Russian Empress Olga.

The content of the letter certainly shocked Vlasov. The evil queen did not put forward any "recruitment conditions" in the letter, and did not even mention Vlasov's surrender. But discussing the future of the Russian nation with him!

The Empress believes the Soviet Union has been defeated! Losing the war is inevitable. If you want to prolong the war, you must cede Ukraine and Belarus... This is fatal to the Soviet economy!

Because the Soviet economy is "self-sufficient", once it loses Ukraine's food, coal and industry, the Soviet economy will be unable to maintain its current self-sufficiency, and to develop Siberia's resources requires massive investment, which is likely to mean The "hard times" of the early 1930s are happening again!

There is only one way for the Russian nation to escape this misfortune, which is to integrate into the European Community...

These reactionary remarks, which seem to be spoken from the bottom of his heart, will certainly not impress General Vlasov, who is still a loyal fighter of GCism. According to regulations, he must hand in this letter in person to the political commissar of his unit. Zhdanov has been hospitalized in Moscow for the past two days to recuperate, so he can only leave it to Kuznetsov.

"But how did this letter get to my house?" General Vlasov looked incredulous when he mentioned this. "There must be no postman communication between the city of Leningrad and the village of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) outside the city, right?"

"Of course not," Kuznetsov shook his head. "It was sent in Leningrad."

"In Leningrad? From where?" General Vlasov asked.

"I don't know," Kuznetsov smiled bitterly, "the siege for more than half a year has changed this city forever..."

In fact, the people in the besieged city were completely desperate in the spring of 1943, and no one expected that there would be a time to rescue the siege. At that time, most Leningraders were already mentally prepared to become Petrograders... People who had been hungry for months, how could they care whether the household registration book was Leningrad or Petrograd? Just eat some!

Moreover, the siege of Leningrad was not an airtight iron barrel. The siege was more than 200 kilometers long, and it was impossible to completely isolate the inside and outside of the city.

The White Army and the German army besieging the city deliberately created some vague areas so that Russian farmers outside Leningrad could conduct some "smuggling" with those inside the city. In order to obtain some food to ease the supply in the city, the Leningrad City W headed by Kuznetsov turned a blind eye to this "smuggling behavior" - in fact, there was no way to strictly investigate, and there were too many investigations. Yan might cause trouble. Moreover, neither the Leningrad City W nor the Front Army Headquarters thought at that time that the city would be liberated one day...