Struggle in Soviet Russia

Drizzle enveloped the entire Moscow. Considering that it is unlikely that the Germans would launch night air strikes in such weather, most of the air defense balloons floating above the city had been lowered at night, but the part above the Kremlin was an exception. , They are still swaying gently in the rain.

In Comrade Stalin's office, heavy curtains were hung in front of several windows, so no light would leak out of the room.

In the room with a lamp on, the hum of the air conditioner makes people feel annoying. Although experts and technicians have worked hard to reduce the noise of this German air conditioner, the effect is still not so obvious. Therefore, As Comrade Stalin said, he would not die from a German bomb, but instead would die from a heart attack caused by the noise of a German air-conditioner.

When Beria knocked on the door and walked into the room, Comrade Stalin was holding his pipe and standing near a window looking at the map hanging on the wall.

On this map, the location of the German 4th Armored Group on the front of the Western Front is marked with a big question mark. The appearance of this question mark originated from a confidential information sent from Berlin, and according to that information. Information, the German High Command is planning a new attack on Ukraine. They planned to transfer the 4th armored group commanded by Guderian to Ukraine after the Battle of Smolensk was completely over, and to outflank the Soviet army in the Kiev area from the back of the Dnieper line of defense.

When this information was put in front of Comrade Stalin, his first thought was whether the Berlin intelligence personnel were crazy and brought back such a completely unreliable information, but...

The current situation is that in the General Staff, and even within the Supreme Command, many people have turned to support the withdrawal of the Southwest Front from Kiev and go to the Dnieper River to build a new line of defense to avoid being encircled by the Germans.

But in the eyes of Comrade Stalin, Kiev is different from ordinary cities. It is the capital of Ukraine. Losing it means losing the entire Ukraine. Considering Ukraine’s rich resources and its significance to the alliance, Comrade Stalin hesitated. Undecided, it is difficult to make up your mind to discard it.

The sound of footsteps behind him shocked Comrade Stalin's thoughts. He took the pipe in his hand and looked back. After seeing that the person was Beria, he turned around and pointed the pipe in the direction of the desk. Said: "Comrade Lavrenti Pavlovich, I hope you can bring me some good news."

"It should be considered good news indeed," Beria walked to a sofa at the desk, did not directly sit down, but put the documents in his hand on the table, and said, "I think we should be true this time. I caught the tail of the'Short-winged Thrush'."

"Oh?" Comrade Stalin strode to the back of the desk, dragged the document in front of him, twisted the corner of the document and opened it.

He did not go directly to the content of the document, but instead went to the last page to see the drafter of the document. As a result, he saw a somewhat familiar name: Viktor Viktorovich Tarasev.

He was chanting Victor's name in his mouth, and a dazed look flashed across his face. It was obvious that the memory of Victor was about to disappear.

Beria obviously saw Comrade Stalin’s doubts. He smiled and said: "Remember the old Tarashev's son? He was still in Lviv before, but now he is in the direction of the Western Front. The head of the People’s Committee of the Interior."

"Oh," Comrade Stalin then remembered who the owner of this name was. He frowned and said, "I remember he was just a lieutenant before? He was promoted so quickly?"

"It's the lieutenant," Beria smiled. "Moreover, this young man's abilities are really good. Comrades Khrushchev and Serov spoke highly of him. Moreover, the previous one in the direction of the Khrushchev River A defensive battle was also commanded by him."

Comrade Stalin was surprised again. After all, he is the supreme ruler of this country. He will remember some things, but some things are difficult to impress in his mind. He was deeply impressed by the defensive battle on the Hermosti River, but this profound refers to the meaning of the battle, not its specific commander.

Without saying anything, Comrade Stalin sat down in a chair, took his own glasses and put it on, and began to look through the documents carefully.

Beria didn't say anything, and smoked quietly on the opposite side, except that the light from the corner of his eye was always patrolling Comrade Stalin's face. However, when Comrade Stalin was flipping through the document, the expression on his face was always so calm, without any ups and downs, until he turned the last page of the document, then he nodded with a smile and said: "Very good."

After a pause, he said again: "However, this little Victor doesn't write reports very much. Why didn't I see the follow-up action plan here? Hasn't he considered these issues yet?"

Beria’s power struggles with his subordinates have always been pretended to be invisible, and he has never been partial to any party. This is a means of control. Although not clever, it is very practical.

He is neutral, so he will not conceal anything. At the moment, Beria will tell how Victor caught the clues of the "Short-winged Thrush" organization, how to expand the scope of clues step by step, and how to finally get the list. Give a brief overview again. Immediately, he briefly mentioned the scramble within the NKVD on the "Short-winged Thrush" case, saying that this case is no longer the responsibility of Victor, so his report did not mention it. Go to the next step.

Similar to Beria’s attitude, Comrade Stalin would not pay attention to the issues of fighting for power. In his opinion, this kind of power struggle that does not affect him is not a bad thing. At least, it can promote some people’s progress. Heart.

"I think you are right, Lavrenji," Comrade Stalin slowly took off his glasses after looking at the signature at the end of the report. He seemed to have commanded a battle in Wolf’s time."

"It was Rudki, and the defense he organized bought time for the mechanized 5th Army to retreat," Beria said.

Comrade Stalin nodded and said: "It's really unexpected that the old Tarashev actually has a very good son."

After a pause, he said: "For such young people, the NKVD should pay more attention to it. Only when there are more such capable people can your work improve."

What this said revealed Comrade Stalin's thoughts. It is obvious that he still feels dissatisfied with the work of the NKVD.

"Comrade Serov has submitted a new list of promoted personnel, which includes him," Beria hurriedly turned off the topic and said, "However, the private life of this young man is not very accurate, and the organization bureau may not be so easy to review him. pass through."

"Private life?" Comrade Stalin asked curiously.

"Since entering the NKVD system, this guy has had an overly ambiguous relationship with the three women," Beria smiled, "more or less, this is considered a stain."

"What a stain," Comrade Stalin stood up and said disapprovingly, "young man."

He held the pipe in his hand, added the tobacco leaves, and lowered his head and said: "Lafrenji, we must figure out the focus of the cadre's inspection, political stance, and work ability. This is where the Organization Bureau needs to pay attention. What kind of department is the organization bureau? Has our organization bureau evolved into a marriage registry? I always think that all people who stare at other people’s private life problems are out of a jealous mentality, don’t you? Do you think so?"

Beria can naturally understand Comrade Stalin’s attitude on the issue of private life. After all, the leader himself is not very clean. The original Zinoviev used this excuse to criticize him. The exiled Mexican guy did not. Don't slander him on such things.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Comrade Stalin rarely criticizes people for so-called private life issues. Among them, his reply on the question of Mehlis slander Rokosovsky is the most classic and representative.

A very good summary is: in the eyes of Comrade Stalin, what kind of character the people working below are not important, what is important is ability, and the position and position are correct. In these aspects, the last two This is particularly important.

In addition, on the issue of dealing with Victor, even though Comrade Stalin had some connections with him, to be honest, he never gave any special treatment to the son of the deceased, and the people who even knew about this matter were limited to Beria. But from another perspective, although Comrade Stalin did not give Victor any preferential treatment and did not arrange for Beria to take care of him, his personal impression is always different from ordinary people when it comes to Victor. .

After all, Comrade Stalin is also a human being, and he has the same feelings that some normal people have. There is no doubt about this.

For Comrade Beria, for many things, he did not need Comrade Stalin to say too thoroughly, or even Comrade Stalin specifically to point out, only from the other party's inadvertent words and deeds, he will do at least what he thinks is the best. The right choice.

Of course, for Victor, he still doesn't know anything. He doesn't even know that the Organization Bureau of the NKVD is about to launch a political review of himself, let alone that his career has reached a very critical moment.

He didn't even know that when he returned to Vyazma, the Soviet line of defense had already reached the brink of collapse, and he would once again fall into a heavy German encirclement.