Struggle in Soviet Russia

Entering Moscow at the end of August, the weather is no longer the heat of midsummer, especially in the early morning, when the temperature is 16 or 7 degrees, it will even give people a slightly cool feeling.

It was less than seven o'clock on the tree-lined road shaded by tree shadows. Victor, wearing a black Lenin costume, walked slowly on the wet road on the ground. The shiny black leather shoes under his feet knocked on the ground, making a click of light. ring.

Behind him, Sofia and Varenka in uniforms followed far away, neither following too closely nor too far away.

A little farther away, there were four soldiers of the Political Security Bureau armed with pistols. They were Victor's personal guards.

Although the rainy season has passed, the weather in Moscow does not seem to be very good. The air humidity is so high that although it does not rain, the roads are still wet, and even the rows of chairs on the side of the street are wet.

Following the boulevard and walking all the way to the building of the National Security People’s Committee, Victor stopped, he hesitated for a moment, and finally turned around and looked at Varenka following him.

Seeing him turning around and looking at him, Varenka hurriedly followed.

"Go and drive the car," Victor said when Varenka walked over.

"Yes," Varenka nodded, turned and ran towards the parking place.

"Do you need me to go with you?" Sophia followed and asked in a low voice.

At this moment, Victor needs to go to Red Square, not to see Comrade Stalin, but to attend a funeral at the Military Museum on Red Square, the funeral of Comrade Joseph Rodionovich Apanasenko.

The former Tsar of the Far East, a strongman in the military who dared not rebel in the entire Far East, will hold a funeral today.

In fact, Apanashchenko had been killed more than half a month ago. He was seriously injured by a bomb thrown by a German plane during the Battle of Kursk. He was almost killed on the spot.

This hapless general comrade worked hard in the Far East for several years. Not only did he deter the Japanese attempts to attack the Soviet Union, but he also provided massive troops and equipment for the battlefield on the Western Front. To put it bluntly, whether it was the victory of the Moscow battle. , Or the victory in the defense of Stalingrad, are closely related to his contribution. After all, many of the troops invested in these two battles were provided by him.

Both Comrade Stalin and the People’s Committee of National Defense were well aware of Comrade Apanashenko’s outstanding contributions. Therefore, when the Battle of Kursk was about to begin, Comrade Stalin specially called him back from the Far East and asked him to give it to him. Vatutin served as his deputy so that he would succeed Konev in the future and personally command an army on the front line.

At this point, Comrade Stalin’s intentions are very clear. He hopes that Apanashenko can get some of his military merits so that he can be promoted to marshal in a logical way.

Comrade Stalin believed that Vatutin could understand his intentions and should also be able to cooperate with his will, but obviously, Comrade Vatutin, who wanted to express himself so as to reverse the image of a loser in the previous battle of Kharkov, Unable to understand Comrade Stalin's intentions, he thought that Apanaschenko, who was transferred to the Voronezh Front Army as deputy commander, was to replace him, so the contradiction between the two sides had been sharpened directly from the day the latter took office.

The commander-in-chief organization of the front army under Comrade Vatutin’s responsibility is squeezing out Apanashchenko, and does not even actively provide the latter with operational briefings, so much so that Apanashchenko needs to take the next step for many issues related to military deployment. Level combat group army command to find out.

Comrade Vatutin didn't want Apanashenko to take over his command. He just wanted him to be a scarecrow, and Apanashenko wanted to make a difference instead of being treated as a corpse-position vegetarian food. As a result, the commander and deputy commander of a front army broke up, and no one was going to make a living.

Comrade Stalin learned about the situation faced by the Voronezh Front Army and came forward twice to mediate their conflicts, but the effect was not significant.

Comrade Stalin found Vasilevsky and Zhukov again, hoping that they could come forward to coordinate the conflicts in the Voronezh front army command system, but the two men gave a suggestion that Comrade Apanaschenko did not command the combined forces of various arms. Experience, in a battle of great significance like the Battle of Kursk, he should not be allowed to serve as the deputy commander of an important front army, not to mention that his deputy commander of the front army also had conflicts with the commander of the front army.

At this time, Comrade Stalin chose to back down. He recalled Rokosovsky to Moscow, hoping that he could accept a new deputy commander, and then send Apanashenko to him as his deputy.

On this issue, Rokosovsky chose to accept it and told Comrade Stalin that Comrade Apanashenko had made important contributions to this war, and it was necessary to give him an explanation.

Everyone originally thought that Comrade Apanashenko’s problem was solved. It won’t be long before he will find a new position that suits him, and in the future battles, he will follow up step by step and find enough existence. feel.

But God likes to tease people so much. The NKVD’s new appointment documents have not yet been issued, and Comrade Apanashenko died of his wounds and completely retired.

Victor didn’t know what Comrade Stalin’s attitude towards Comrade Apanasenko’s death was. He only knew that after the news of Apanasenko’s death reached Moscow, Comrade Stalin returned two new telephones in his office. .

Moreover, since then, even when the celebration of the victory of the Kursk Battle was held in Moscow, Comrade Stalin did not allow Vasilevsky and Vatutin to return to Moscow. Also since then, when Comrade Stalin was in front of others, he also Vasilevsky has not been called by his full name. Furthermore, after the death of Apanashenko, Comrade Stalin finally accepted Vasilievsky’s resignation, removed his title of head of the General Staff, and allowed him to stay on the front lines to direct the battle.

Victor did not want to comment too much on the rift between Comrade Stalin and the General Staff. After all, the issue here is very complicated.

Regarding Comrade Apanashenko’s question, the staff of the General Staff headed by Vasilievsky may not be purely out of selfish interests. Moreover, they may still not want Comrade Stalin to intervene too much on military issues.

At the beginning of the war, the position of the General Staff was very embarrassing, because Comrade Stalin held the absolute dominance, and even on issues such as the offensive and retreat of troops, Comrade Stalin had to dominate.

With the end of the Moscow campaign, the General Staff had finally taken the lead back. Comrade Stalin seemed to have realized some of his problems and began to no longer intervene in military issues too much.

In other words, today’s situation is not easy to come by. The General Staff may not be concerned about an Apanashenko issue, but it is worried that this matter will cause a misjudgment to Comrade Stalin and make him start a solid start again. , And they have to point fingers at military issues.

From the standpoint of Comrade Stalin, this matter is equally complicated. His will cannot be implemented in the military and there are many resistances. This is obviously a very bad sign. He was originally a very suspicious person, but now he encounters this kind of thing again, just imagine, what kind of feeling will he feel?

I can’t say anything else. What is certain now is that when the war is not over, Comrade Stalin will choose to be patient. He is unlikely to take any drastic measures. As a mature politician, he is naturally able to handle it. Serious.

But once the war is over, the status of the General Staff is no longer so important. Whether it is Vasilievsky or Vatutin, even Zhukov, they will not end well. They will be marginalized in the shortest time. , It is a certainty.

For Victor, he had no feelings with Comrade Apanashenko. Although he had some dealings with this person when he went to the Far East, the contacts were far from close.

However, after all, they have dealt with each other before, and the other party is dead. As a colleague in a sense, he also needs to show up at the funeral.

Varenka quickly drove the car over, Victor got in the car first, Sophia got in the passenger seat, and the car drove out to the direction of the Red Square.

Apanasenko’s funeral was held in Moscow, but after the funeral, his body will be sent back to Stavropol for burial, which is Apanasenko’s hometown. Based on his qualifications and status, It is also very sad that he cannot be buried next to Lenin's tomb.

When the car drove to the Red Square, when Victor got off the car, he saw that the military museum was already full of people, most of whom were wearing military uniforms, obviously from the military.

When Apanashchenko served in the Far East, he really offended many people, but most of the people he offended were local officials. In the army, his popularity is quite good. This is also the most recent one. The main reason why Vatutin is widely criticized.

To be honest, Viktor is somewhat unclear about what Vatutin thinks. Before, this guy was defeated in the Battle of Kharkov, and then he put the blame on the friendly forces, causing Golikov to sit on the bench. .

This incident had already made many people dissatisfied with him, and even despised him. As a result, after only six months, such a pandemic happened again.

It is foreseeable that next time he encounters an unfavorable situation in war, Comrade Stalin will probably be the first to make him unhappy, let alone others.

On the Red Square, Victor got out of the car and walked towards the crowds while wearing a "black hoop" on his arm.

When he was still twenty steps away from the crowd, he saw a group of people turning around the corner in the direction of Lenin's tomb. The first person was Comrade Stalin.