Struggle in Soviet Russia

Yusupov Palace, Comrade Stalin's room.

Victor sat on the sofa and looked at Comrade Stalin, who was frowning at the document opposite, with a heavy expression on his face.

Two hours ago, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill left Yalta with their respective negotiating teams. They needed to take a car to Sevastopol, and then leave the Soviet Union there by plane.

According to the previous thinking, this afternoon, Comrade Stalin should not work, he needs to rest for an afternoon, and then take the train back to Moscow in the evening. But obviously, his idea was finally shattered, because Victor received a very important piece of information and had to report to him immediately.

This intelligence from the New York intelligence station reports the latest progress of the Americans in the research and development of nuclear weapons. According to the intelligence, the first real nuclear bomb developed by the Americans has now completed the final assembly work. Next, they will carry out various debugging of the nuclear bomb, and it is expected that the final test explosion will be carried out in the next three to four months.

As far as Victor knows, the Union's progress in nuclear weapons research and development is not very slow. At present, at the research and development base in Chelyabinsk, the first real nuclear bomb manufactured by the Union is also in the process of assembling. , but it will probably take nearly a month to finally complete the work.

Since the determination of the great power of nuclear weapons, Comrade Stalin has been very concerned about the research and development of nuclear weapons. According to his request, any latest information on the research and development of nuclear weapons in Britain and the United States must be reported to him as soon as possible, which is why Victor is in a hurry today. The main reason for reporting to him.

At this moment, Comrade Stalin has two documents in total, one is the latest information from the New York intelligence station, and the other is the latest progress in nuclear weapons research and development submitted by the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Comrade Stalin compared the two documents. Although he lacked understanding of the technology of nuclear weapons, he was still able to see how far behind the Union's research work was through this comparison.

In the previous year, that is, in the secret meeting of the People's Commissariat of National Defense held in 1943, the special work plan for the research and development of nuclear weapons was formally established. At that time, Comrade Stalin made clear instructions for this work. Research and development is a top priority for defense, about a new way of warfare, and about the national security of the Alliance.

After more than two years of hard work, the alliance's nuclear weapons research and development work is progressing smoothly, but in terms of speed, it still falls behind the Americans and the British. Comrade Stalin will definitely be dissatisfied with this.

However, from Victor's point of view, he believes that the Alliance Academy of Sciences and the relevant working groups of nuclear weapons research and development have achieved very remarkable results. Although their work progress falls behind the United Kingdom and the United States, the gap is not very big after all. In just two or three months, there is no difference.

Of course, from the perspective of Comrade Stalin, his dissatisfaction is not without reason. After all, he considered this issue from a political perspective, and from a political perspective, "first" and "second" are Two completely different properties.

Throwing the two documents in his hand on the table, Comrade Stalin had a gloomy face, leaned forward, took the phone from the table, shook the handle, and seemed to be planning to call someone.

However, he just shook the handle of the phone twice, as if he thought of something, put the microphone back directly, looked up at Victor who was on the opposite side, and asked, "Do you think it is necessary for the People's Commissariat of National Defense to set up a A special agency directly under the leadership to be fully responsible for the research of nuclear bombs? If there is such a department, can it further accelerate the speed of research and development?"

Facing Comrade Stalin's question, Victor thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "That's it, Comrade Stalin, I think there are several reasons why our research and development progress is behind."

Comrade Stalin sat up again and made a gesture for Victor to continue.

"First of all, the factor of war has delayed our research and development progress," Victor said. "Compared to the Americans, we are affected by the war and do not have so much money, materials and manpower that can be directly invested in the research and development of nuclear weapons. The investment of resources will undoubtedly have the most direct impact on the progress of research and development.”

"Secondly," he said after a pause, "I think the issues raised by the experts of the Academy of Sciences are not wrong. There is a lack of sufficient uranium resources in the Union, whether it is Kazakhstan's uranium mines or Kyrgyzstan's uranium mines. The mines are not rich mines, and this has a great impact on us as well.”

"Affected by these two factors, even if we set up a department directly under the People's Commissariat of National Defense to directly lead the research and development work, I am afraid it will be difficult for the Americans to succeed in the first test explosion. ' said Victor.

Comrade Stalin did not speak. He picked up his pipe and put it in his mouth, but did not light the shredded tobacco.

"Compared with establishing a direct department dedicated to leading nuclear weapons research and development, I suggest that we should consider another direction," Victor said, "that is, under the special committee, set up a department dedicated to investigating relevant nuclear weapons research and development institutions in Germany. "

Having said this, Victor took out his small notebook from his pocket, flipped through it a few times, found some of the records, and said, "Before, the Foreign Intelligence Service passed a classified information to the intelligence organization in Thuringia. , reported a dirty bomb detonated in the area by the Dibna Nuclear Bomb Laboratory. We handed over the relevant intelligence information to Comrade Kurchatov, who replied that the dirty bomb was not really meaningful nuclear weapons, but it contains uranium."

Turning over the page in the record book, Victor looked at the following content and continued: "According to the relevant information we have in the past, the Germans have been exploring for uranium in the Saxony area, and the relevant exploration data show that the The uranium reserves in the region far exceed the uranium reserves we have proven in Kazakhstan. Therefore, my suggestion is to quickly set up a special investigation department under the special committee to follow our army to the Berlin area. To advance, in the relevant occupation zone, investigate the German nuclear weapons research and development departments, which should include the uranium exploration department in Saxony, and should also include the Dibner Nuclear Bomb Laboratory, Von Arden Laboratory, Hertz Laboratory, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics, etc."

Combining the notebooks, Victor concluded: "Our purpose now is not to compete with the Americans or the British for the title of the first development of nuclear weapons, but to focus on subsequent technological development. I have worked with experts in related fields. We have discussed that the application of nuclear technology should not only be limited to weapons, its application fields are very wide, we can put more efforts on the application of nuclear energy in many fields, which may help us in the relationship with Western countries. In the confrontation, win more opportunities.”

Comrade Stalin did not say whether to accept or not to accept this proposal made by Victor. He frowned at the documents on the table, and after a long time, he raised his head, glanced at Victor, and said, "We must return to Moscow as soon as possible. Go, I think, work in this area should be discussed at the meeting of the People's Commissariat of National Defense."

After speaking, he stood up from the sofa and walked straight towards the bedroom.

"You should also go back and rest for a while," he stopped again when he was about to reach the bedroom door, and turned back to Victor and said, "When you get on the train at night, I hope you can have enough energy to draft a relevant aspect. Report."

Hearing these words, Victor sighed secretly. There is no doubt that Comrade Stalin should have accepted his suggestion.

Watching Comrade Stalin enter the bedroom, Victor stood up from the sofa, cleaned up a few documents on the table, held them in his hands, and turned to leave the room.

Coming out of Comrade Stalin's office, Victor returned to his room on the first floor. He simply took a shower, packed some documents and salutes he brought, and changed into a military jacket, then left the room and went out.

Although Comrade Stalin let him go back to rest before, as the security officer for Comrade Stalin's trip this time, Victor doesn't have so much time to rest. During the period from the afternoon to nine o'clock in the evening, he still has to check The traveling convoy, in addition, has to go to the train station in Yalta to check the security of the special train.

During the summit meeting of the Three Kingdoms, under the seemingly calm atmosphere of Yalta, there were actually too many hidden battles. The Third Reich, which had already reached the brink of destruction, naturally would not give up this great opportunity. The Germans still arranged a series of assassination operations, eager to take over the heads of the three countries of the Allied Powers.

Fortunately, in today's coalition, whether it is the People's Commissariat of State Security or the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, in terms of work efficiency and work capacity, it is not comparable to the situation a few years ago. In some respects , similar to the growth of the Soviet Red Army, they all experienced an evolution from rookie to expert.

As the first chairman of the People's Commissariat for National Security, the work Victor has done in the past few years is also extraordinary. However, at this time Victor did not know that as the war gradually came to an end, his country The chairman of the People's Commissariat for Security is also about to finish his job. In Comrade Stalin's plan, he already has the idea of ​​assigning him to a more important post.