Struggle in Soviet Russia

Moscow, Red Square, a black "Moscow" car slowly drove into the Sksky Clock Tower. Three minutes later, the car parked in the Kremlin, in front of the small white building where Comrade Stalin was working.

A guard walked over quickly and opened the back door of the car. Beria, wearing a gray suit and round eyes, got out of the car. The accompanying secretary walked around from the other side and carried a briefcase. Pass it to him.

After tidying up her suit, Beria quickly walked up the stairs in front of the stairs, all the way to the second floor of the small building.

He met Stalin’s first secretary, Poskrebeshev, at the corner of the stairs on the second floor. After asking Comrade Stalin if he was free, he was taken to a temporary lounge to wait.

About ten minutes later, Beria, who was slightly sleepy, received a notice that Comrade Stalin wanted to see him.

Since finishing his work in Georgia and being transferred to Moscow to take over as a member of the People's Committee of the Interior, Beria has become a frequent visitor to the office of Comrade Stalin. This is mainly because Comrade Stalin attached great importance to the work of the People's Committee of the Interior.

It was still the familiar spacious room, most of the curtains in the room were drawn, only a window away from Stalin's desk let in light. The room is not only dimly lit, but also filled with a strong smell of tobacco...This is not a place that can make people feel comfortable.

Beria has just finished his inspection of the internal affairs of several cities in the Don River Bend, and only returned to Moscow this morning. He first reported to Comrade Stalin about the problems found during the inspection, and then changed his tone and introduced the topic. In the direction of Karelia.

Currently, the Soviet Union is negotiating with Finland on the issue of common defense. This so-called common defense is to establish a common defense mechanism in the Gulf of Finland. In order to achieve the purpose of common defense, the Soviet Union hopes that Finland can move it on the border of the Karelia Isthmus. , Moved 40 kilometers north, and at the same time handed over part of the islands and territories of the Gulf of Finland to the Soviet Union. In exchange, the Soviet Union was willing to give Finland twice as much territory in the northwest of Lake Onega.

In Moscow’s consideration, the Finnish territory is too close to Leningrad. Once a war breaks out, the Soviet army will not have sufficient buffer areas north of Leningrad. Once Leningrad is lost, it will be directly affected. The threat is Moscow.

However, despite the proposal to exchange twice the territory, the negotiations between the Soviet Union and Finland are still going on very difficultly. According to the report submitted by Molotov, it is basically impossible for this agreement to be reached.

For this reason, while the negotiations were underway, the Soviet Union had begun planning to launch a war to seize the strategic buffer zone it wanted by force.

Recently, the intelligence department of the People's Committee of the Interior has begun to infiltrate Finland. One of the important items is the investigation of Finland's "Mannerheim Line".

In the office, Beria and Comrade Stalin exchanged some opinions on the investigation. Comrade Stalin suddenly changed the topic from the "Mannerheim Line" to the issue of the construction of the Soviet Western Defense Line.

Regarding the issue of the western border defense, neither the Military Commission nor the General Staff have been able to form a unified opinion recently. Comrade Stalin himself could not make up his mind about this.

In the Soviet Union, three departments are responsible for the construction of defense lines and fortification areas. The Military Commission is responsible for establishing the principles for the construction of defense lines and fortification areas, that is, where to build them; the General Staff is responsible for formulating defense lines and fortifications. The regional construction plan, that is, how to repair this thing, determine the firepower ratio, firepower support and other technical issues; the General Bureau of Engineers under the People's Committee of the Interior is responsible for the specific construction work. This shows that the People's Committee of the Interior has a certain say in the construction of defense lines and fortified areas.

Perhaps considering that Comrade Stalin would ask related questions, Beria made preparations in advance. He took out several documents from his briefcase and sent them to Stalin, saying: "This is Bogdan Zakhalo. After inspecting the construction work of the fortification areas in Kiev, Tirastopol, Mogilev-Yanpol, etc., Comrade Vitch officially submitted the report."

Bogdan Zakhalovich refers to Kobrov. This person is not only an experienced house worker, but also a standard military infrastructure madman. He attaches great importance to the construction of military fortifications. When I went to one place, the first thing I did was to inspect the construction of the Yongbei Fortification.

Comrade Stalin nodded and opened the top document.

This is the report on the construction of the fortification area in Kiev submitted by Kobrov. According to the content of the report, the construction of the fortification area project started in 1931. So far, only the frame of the bridgehead has been repaired. Among the existing 257 fortifications, only 5 can be ready for battle at any time, and 175 of them are affected by the terrain and have no field of vision at all.

The most terrible thing is that the fortification area of ​​Kiev is only 15 kilometers away from the downtown area of ​​Kiev. Once an enemy launches an offensive against Kiev, they do not even need to attack the fortification area to launch an artillery attack on the city of Kiev.

Comrade Stalin's face became gloomy, and it was obvious that the content of this report did not make him happy.

Later, he flipped through the remaining two reports. Similar to the situation in the fortification area of ​​Kiev, 80% of the battle fortifications in the fortification area of ​​Tiraspol lacked the field of vision, and the effective combat depth of the entire fortification area was not more than 3 kilometers, which was too weak. In the area where Mogilev-Yanbol fortification was built, most artillery fortifications lacked the field of vision...

After reading the last report, Comrade Stalin's temperament finally couldn't stand it. He grabbed several documents with a sullen expression and threw them away, just as the documents were flying in the sky, roaring: "This It is dereliction of duty and treason! The corresponding responsible person must be held accountable, the person who should be shot, the person who should be exiled in exile..."

Beria got up from the chair, picked up the scattered documents one by one, and put them back on the desk. Only then did he finally come up with his own opinion: "Considering the many problems in the original line of defense, I The view is that it is necessary to rebuild a line of defense on the new border."

There is no unnecessary nonsense, explaining the reasons, and drawing conclusions, it is so simple, and Comrade Stalin likes this style of speaking.

"I agree with you, Comrade Lavrenti Pavlovich, yes, I agree with you," Stalin suppressed his anger and said in as calm as possible. "However, for the new line of defense, it is still The military committee needs to come up with a specific plan."

"I will coordinate with Comrade Kliment Yefremovich as soon as possible," Beria nodded and said.

Kliment Yevremovich means Voroshilov.

"In addition, regarding the construction of the fortification area, I received a report from Lviv," said Beria with a smile, "by Viktor Viktorovich Tarasev Submitted by the lieutenant."

"Oh?" Comrade Stalin was taken aback, and then asked, "Is that the child from the old Tarashev's family?"

Beria nodded, then took out another report from his briefcase and sent it to Comrade Stalin.

Stalin took the report, opened it and looked at it, then he took his glasses and put it on again, and looked at it carefully.

For ordinary people, they may not know who the old Tarashev was mentioned by Comrade Stalin, but as the leader of the People’s Committee of the Interior and a frequent visitor to the Konzevo Villa, Beria was right. This is a lot of understanding.

This old Tarashev was not an important person. He was just a farmhand in the village of Kuleyka in the Turukhansk Krai. However, the small village with only 9 households received one in 1913. An exiled and restless prisoner. The prisoner was suffering from severe lung disease at the time and was undernourished for a long time. He looked like he would die at any time. Fortunately, there were good people in the village, who gave the prisoner a lot of care and finally helped him escape the exile.

Yes, this prisoner, who was thin and could die at any time by coughing, is now sitting opposite Beria. His current name is Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

Of course, Comrade Stalin was a very cruel leader. He didn't value personal feelings, and no one could expect him to be grateful to someone because of his original circumstances. However, for Beria, who pushed Victor to the front of Stalin, he didn't think he was doing useless work, after all, this was just an arrangement he made casually.

If Comrade Stalin can take a high look at this young man because of what happened at the time, then Beria’s hand is equivalent to a very good card in his hands, and he played it at a certain critical moment. Maybe you can receive very good results. Conversely, if Comrade Stalin quickly forgets this young man, he will not lose much, at best it will be regarded as a game of chess.

"Well," Stalin read the report from the beginning to the end in about seven or eight minutes. He took off his glasses and said with a smile, "Not bad."

After finishing this sentence, he said with emotion: "Time flies so fast. It has been almost thirty years. When I arrived at Kuleyka, this guy was just born, not much bigger than a hedgehog. "

There was a pause in his tone, and he shook his head and said, "Old Tarashev is a good man."

After speaking, he returned the report to Beria, without any comment on the content of the report, and directly said: "As soon as possible, determine the new defense line construction plan, form a report and submit it to me."