Leaving aside the exchanges between these two shameless men, Reinhardt and Mussolini, the other two leaders, who were on both sides of Germany and Italy, also had no peace.
During Churchill's reign, the crises in Africa and the homeland were devastated. Stalin, who had not encountered war, was not at all at peace in his heart.
He frowned and stared at the map in the smoke-filled office.
Seeing France, Italy, Germany and Britain fighting happily on the African battlefield, Stalin, who was far away in Moscow, should have been unable to sit still for a long time.
If it hadn't been for the fact that spy Olga had intercepted German intelligence indicating that Japan was planning to make major moves in the Far East, Stalin would have been ready to mobilize Germany to take action.
These days, the weather in Moscow is rarely very sunny, but Stalin always sits in his office melancholy.
There is a question that has been bothering him for a long time - isn't it said that Japan is about to move north? It has been more than 2 months, why has Japan not taken action in the Far East!
Telegrams sent from the Far East front line said that the Japanese Kwantung Army did not even mobilize a single soldier, as if it had not received a battle order.
Stalin originally thought that this was a good show played by the Japanese to paralyze the Soviet Union and wait for the Soviet army to relax before taking action. But later he discovered that he seemed to be thinking too much.
Today, this confusion will finally be solved in Stalin's mind - the "key" to the solution comes from another telegram from the Japanese Ministry of Defense intercepted by the Soviet Ministry of Enemy Industry.
At around two o'clock this afternoon, Stalin's cronies hurried from the telegraph room with panicked steps. He entered Stalin's office without even bothering to knock on the door.
Stalin trusted and understood this confidant very much. He knew that there must be some important situation, otherwise this confidant, who was usually calm, would never appear so panicked.
"What makes you so panicked?" Stalin asked.
"General Secretary, this is the telegram that comrades from the Ministry of Enemy Industry have just intercepted from Japan. I believe it must contain content that you are interested in." The assistant excitedly took out a telegram.
"Show it to me." After Stalin finished speaking, he took the telegram and read it carefully.
After a long time, Stalin almost got angry and cursed loudly: "Damn Reinhard, he actually played tricks on us! We were all treated like monkeys by him!"
This was the first time for this confidant to see Stalin get so angry. In panic, his body trembled slightly and the documents in his hand fell to the floor.
After picking up the documents, the confidant still couldn't calm down for a long time. He had a premonition that something big might happen. Based on his understanding of the leader's temperament after following Stalin for many years, Stalin would definitely not forget this. At least.
, before completing his revenge, he will definitely remember what happened today carefully.
Facts have proved that the confidant's judgment was not wrong.
The sky in Moscow was still sunny the next day, but the atmosphere in the conference room of the Krem Palace was not relaxed.
At this meeting, Stalin gathered and recalled all the senior generals of the Soviet Union. Everyone knew with their buttocks that the General Secretary must have some battle arrangements, otherwise why would he gather the generals together?
These senior generals are very well-informed. Earlier today, they also heard about yesterday's interception of Japanese telegrams by the enemy's Ministry of Industry. Some even knew a little bit about the contents of the telegrams.
Before the combat meeting was held, several Soviet generals were discussing outside.
"I heard that the enemy's Ministry of Industry cracked a Japanese telegram yesterday. The content of the telegram probably stated that Japan was frequently deploying troops in Southeast Asia and had no idea about the Far East," said a general.
"Yes, I heard about it too. And it is said that the Ministry of Enemy Industry also cracked the telegrams between the Germans and the Japanese. From the telegrams, it seems that this is just a play between the Japanese and the Germans. The Japanese
There are no plans to touch the Far East at all." Another general also shared what he knew.
Many generals were mixed together like this, sharing what they knew with each other.
"Damn little dwarf, damn liar Reinhardt." Stalin roared in the conference room: "We have to give them some color, especially to give this hypocritical villain Reinhardt a long memory! Let him
You know, we in the Soviet Union can’t just lie to you.”
"Leader, do you mean that we are going to launch an attack on Germany's eastern front?" Khrushchev, as the first secretary of Ukraine, first asked tentatively.
Because he is mainly responsible for Ukrainian affairs, and Ukraine has the closest cooperation with the Germans. Once the two countries are at odds, Khrushchev's political performance will inevitably plummet as the Germans withdraw their hands. This is something he does not want to do.
seen.
"Yes, that's right. Comrade Khrushchev, you guessed it right." Stalin was not aware of Khrushchev's psychological activities at all, and said to himself: "Before the attack, I am also preparing to conduct a drill.
Simulate a head-on conflict between our army and the armored forces that the German army relies on to fight, and use victory to increase the confidence of officers and soldiers."
"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Zhukov, the task of simulated exercises will be left to you." Stalin instructed these two already well-known generals.
"Yes, leader. We will definitely complete the mission!" the two generals replied unanimously.
Following Stalin's orders, Pavlov and Zhukov quietly conducted a confrontation exercise at a secret military base in Western Siberia. This was a very important armored combat exercise in the Soviet army's combat plan.
Pavlov was lucky and was assigned to command the Red Army troops, which were the Soviet troops in the exercise. Zhukov was unlucky, and was assigned the Blue Army commander, who usually lost, which was to simulate commanding the German troops.
In the Soviet Union, the Red Army was usually on our own side and the Blue Army was on the enemy side, so every time the show was played, the Blue Army defeated the Red Army. This was in line with the Soviet "tradition". Therefore, Pavlov was assigned to command the Red Army, which can basically be said to be divided.
It's a great opportunity to show off.
But after the exercise, Pavlov, who had always been diplomatic, had a fierce direct conflict with Zhukov.
It turned out that Zhukov discovered that there were obvious loopholes in the Red Army's strategic deployment, so he changed the pre-planned plan and directed the Blue Army to attack in advance. The surprise attack defeated the Red Army troops commanded by Pavlov based on the plan.
Pavlov was dissatisfied and complained to the General Staff, saying that Zhukov's unauthorized modification of the exercise plan was a violation of discipline and that Zhukov was showing off his talents.
Zhukov became angry when he heard this. After all, he also believed that he had defeated the main force of the Japanese army in the Far East and was not just a clever guy.
So Zhukov bluntly criticized Pavlov in turn, saying what if he faced not a drill but the German army?
For this reason, Stalin had no choice but to educate and guide both of them. However, at that time, Pavlov and Zhukov did not listen to a word.
Objectively speaking, Zhukov's ability was unmatched by anyone in the Soviet army at that time, but Pavlov was obviously more likely to become a big deal. Pavlov was not as sharp as Zhukov. He paid great attention to the relationship between superiors and subordinates.
In my relationship, I almost never had any quarrels with others, and I never let anyone get off the stage.
Pavlov's character was obviously appreciated by the Supreme Commander Stalin. For a long time, Stalin had higher expectations for him than Zhukov.
After Pavlov returned from the "gilding" of the Spanish Civil War, he was commended by the Supreme Command and was naturally appointed director of the Soviet tank and armored forces.
Soon, he and Zhukov, who also showed his talents in the Battle of Nomenkan, were promoted to generals.
But after this exercise, the gap between Zhukov and Pavlov has been revealed inadvertently.
Obviously, Pavlov is better at life, but Zhukov is better at fighting!
Afterwards, Stalin promoted Zhukov to the commander of the Kiev Special Military District, and placed Pavlov, whom he trusted, as the commander of the Belarusian Special Military District. This could be regarded as a balanced promotion of the generals he would use to launch war against Germany in the future.
