The Rise of the Third Reich

Stalin's orders seemed to be inconsistent. On the one hand, he ordered Zhukov to save the precarious Leningrad no matter what; on the other hand, he ordered Pavlov to prepare to defend Moscow, and also said that "Moscow cannot become the second Leningrad"... ...This obviously means that Leningrad has fallen!

"Dmitri Grigorievich, what do you think Comrade General Secretary thinks of the fall of Leningrad?"

In the war room of the Supreme Command, a somewhat confused Zhukov sent all the staff out, and then asked Pavlov in a low voice.

"Leningrad cannot be held anymore..." Pavlov replied in the same inaudible voice, "but no one can order the abandonment of the second capital."

When it comes to the ability to understand the intentions of his superiors, Zhukov is really inferior to Pavlov. Things that he couldn't understand after much thought were revealed by Pavlov with just one word.

Now is not the time to consider whether we can hold Leningrad, but the time to consider who will take the blame.

Stalin could not bear the blame, so he was unwilling to order Leningrad to be abandoned.

Zhukov nodded: "I understand, the 6th Tank Army and..."

At this time, Pavlov waved his hand and interrupted Zhukov. He said: "Georgy Konstantinovich, when it comes to commanding large forces and decisive battles with the German army, my ability is far inferior to yours. General Secretary Comrade knows it very well, so he asked you to go to Kalinin City instead of Leningrad City. I am currently responsible for building the outer defense line of Moscow. You will definitely be the one to direct the defense of Moscow. "

This actually tells Zhukov that he will not let him take the blame for Leningrad, because Stalin still needs him to defend Moscow.

Zhukov let out a breath and agreed with Pavlov's analysis. He thought to himself: "Stalin must not be willing to ruin two precious tank armies in vain. The reason why he emphasized that all the troops should be invested was just a gesture to shirk responsibility. And it is the people who are responsible for the changes in Leningrad. The people are probably Vlasov, Kuznetsov and Abakumov..."

…

"Leningrad can no longer be defended! Now I have defeated the cause left to us by Comrade Lenin..."

This is what Stalin said after Voroshilov, Zhdanov, Molotov, Kalinin, Mikoyan, Andreev and other members of the political bureau in Moscow rushed to the Kremlin. The first words I heard.

"This is all my fault," Stalin smoked his pipe, squinted his eyes, and looked at the people in the conference room coldly. "I misjudged the situation and launched the world revolution at the wrong time. And I also A major purge was launched within the Red Army, which caused the Red Army to lose a large number of experienced military strategists... Therefore, I should be responsible for the current failure and I want to resign from all positions. "

ah! ! !

Stalin wants to resign?

Several political bureau members were all dumbfounded.

Stalin's eyes slowly swept across several dumbfounded faces, and then he said coldly: "Before I formally resign from all positions, I would like to recommend Voroshilov, who has rich military experience, to replace me as the general secretary of the party."

Voroshilov, who was in a daze, almost fainted when he heard this. Voroshilov and Stalin have been comrades for many years, and they still don’t know what this man is thinking?

Will he resign? Will he hand over the power to others?

What about dreaming?

This is testing! If you make a mistake, you have to go see Lenin!

"I can't do it, I don't have the ability, I can't fight..." Voroshilov immediately jumped up from his chair, shaking his head like a wave drum, "And this war was not fought well, I should be responsible for it." The main responsibility is that I was the People’s Commissar of National Defense when the war broke out. It’s all my fault. I want to report to the political bureau and resign from all my posts.”

Another one who resigned!

Stalin ignored Voroshilov and instead set his sights on Zhdanov, the former Leningrad Region W Secretary and City W Secretary. He now handed over the work to Kuznetsov and ran to Moscow himself. recuperate.

Stalin's gaze swept him away, and he immediately jumped up from his chair in a sick mood, "Comrade General Secretary, I should bear the main responsibility for the crisis in Leningrad. It's because I failed to do a good job as a secretary... so I want to resign from the party." All duties, both internal and external.”

Since he has to resign, of course he cannot take over as a great leader.

"Comrade Molotov... how about you lead the Soviet Union?"

"I, I can't do it, I can't even be the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs..." Molotov also jumped up. Like the previous two, he first made a deep self-examination and then submitted his resignation.

"Then Comrade Kalinin, you will be the general secretary." Stalin asked the white-bearded grandfather Kalinin again.

Kalinin did not stand up immediately because he could not stand up at all - it was not that he was frightened by Stalin's proposal, but that he was really old and sick (he had cancer), and he had to be supported when he came to the meeting, so why did he think he was great? Leader?

"Comrade Stalin," Kalinin said, although he was old and sick, but he was very clear-headed. He knew that he had to say some fair words today, "As an old Bolshevik, I want to make severe criticism to you!"

criticize? So kind!

Everyone stared blankly at Comrade Kalinin, waiting for him to criticize Stalin.

Kalinin said: "Today you destroyed the party's collective leadership system. This is a major mistake!"

Stalin nodded modestly, and the comrades continued to look at Grandpa Kalinin.

"As we all know, the Bolshevik Party is not a party with an arbitrary leader, but a party with a complete democratic procedure that can gather the wisdom of the whole party for major decisions." Kalinin continued in a hoarse voice, "So every major decision of the party is the crystallization of the wisdom of the whole party, and it is not something that any party leader can decide alone. This is a system created since the Lenin era, and it has been well followed before today. But Comrade Stalin, you just violated this system and took the responsibility for the temporary military failure on yourself, as if all the major decisions of our party were made by you alone. So this is a very wrong behavior, and it is a behavior that all comrades in the party cannot allow. Comrade Stalin, you must make a deep self-examination."

High! Really high!

Several members of the Political Bureau looked at the old predecessor Kalinin with admiration.

Stalin nodded with great sorrow and self-criticized: "Comrade Kalinin is right. I will review my mistakes."

Kalinin looked at the party's organization minister Andrebov again, "Comrade Andrebov, do you need to punish Comrade Stalin?"

"Yes..." Andrebov immediately followed up, "Comrade Stalin, you are not allowed to resign again in the future. This is not allowed by all comrades in the party."

Stalin once again modestly said: "I withdraw my resignation and will not make the same mistake again in the future."

Now only Mikoyan, who is in charge of foreign trade, has not expressed his position, but no one thinks he will oppose Stalin - he is also a revolutionary from Georgia, Stalin's fellow countryman and confidant.

"Comrades," Mikoyan spoke at this time, but he did not criticize Stalin again, "I suggest that the political bureau conduct collective self-criticism on the difficulties currently facing the party and the country."

This means that everyone is responsible, and everyone is responsible for making mistakes in the line.

"Agree!"

"Agree!"

"I support Comrade Mikoyan's proposal!"

"..."

The Political Bureau immediately voted and passed it unanimously!

"In addition," Mikoyan continued, "we should also try to negotiate peace with the enemy to prevent the glorious city of Leningrad from falling into enemy hands. If necessary, we can consider ceding Eastern Ukraine and Eastern Belarus."

Now no one dared to express their opinions immediately. Eastern Ukraine is too important to the Soviet Union. It is the center of coal, steel and machinery industry.

If Eastern Ukraine is lost, the Soviet Union will find it difficult to be self-sufficient in coal, so what strong industry can we talk about?

"This is a difficult decision," Stalin said gloomily at this time, "but I believe that we have only temporarily lost Ukraine. As long as we can learn lessons and reorganize with the support of the United States, I believe we will soon recover. German imperialism will not stop expanding after getting Ukraine and Belarus. They will go to war with the United States, which will bring them huge losses and disasters. So in the near future, we will definitely recover all the lost territory. In addition... we must also make some necessary reforms, which is the key to the survival of the Bolshevik Party!" Mikoyan's suggestion soon became the resolution of the Political Bureau, and on the morning of June 14, Hersman learned the latest peace terms of the Soviet Union-Hersman's goal has been achieved! But he now has no way to immediately propose to end the war with the Soviet Union, because the chaos in Leningrad is still going on, and there are signs of intensification. "Imperial Marshal, if we can't take Leningrad, we will agree to the Soviet Union's peace request, how about it?" In the Ministry of Defense building at 73 Wilhelm Street in Berlin, Hitler, who was attending an emergency meeting of the High Command, stated his position at the beginning of the meeting. "Sure." Hersman knew Hitler's idea long ago - it was hard for him to resist the temptation of disintegrating the Soviet Union, a huge victory.

"How is the Leningrad front now?" Hitler asked again, "Can it be taken?"

"It's not a big problem to take the periphery of Leningrad," Hersman said, "Last night, three more Soviet infantry regiments defected... Obviously, part of the Soviet army in Leningrad is disintegrating, and now I don't know what the situation is in Leningrad.

However, on the Volkhov River battlefield southeast of Leningrad, the Soviet resistance is still tenacious. If we really want to fight the Soviet Union to the end, we must have a plan to start a two-front war and a protracted war."