Chapter 649 The Third Attack (End)

In many cases, making peace is not necessarily more costly than persisting in resistance.

If Vasilevsky's strategy continues, the Red Army will of course be able to continue to postpone the fateful moment, but in turn it will avoid the decisive result - whether it is good or bad! Therefore, Zhukov concluded that even if Stalin agreed to a concentric attack from the north and the south, his starting point was not to continue the war. On the contrary, he was looking for a decent and safe way to negotiate a peace. Vasilevsky's delaying tactics were destined to be ineffective. It will not be adopted if it meets the political premise.

As far as Zhukov is concerned, he actually has the best option, which is to immediately use the existing situation and conditions to quickly negotiate peace with the Germans - because the news of the British trying to negotiate peace has spread, and once the British surrender, the pressure on the Eastern Front will be further increase. As for the Americans, he did not think Roosevelt had any ability to fight back. They themselves must at least solve the Falklands issue first.

Practice proved that his conjecture was correct. Molotov used the phrase "qualified chief of the general staff" to describe Vasilevsky, which fully explained this "bookman's spirit". But Stalin obviously had different ideas on how to make peace, otherwise he would not have ignored Zhukov's "optimal plan" and chose the second-best plan, and was still thinking about fighting a war.

"What do the comrades at the grassroots level think about the armistice?" Stalin had obtained some public opinions from Beria, but he was still a little uneasy and needed to find others to confirm and implement it.

"The voices at the grassroots level are very complicated." Molotov sighed. "Some comrades believe that with the war progressing to this extent, the Red Army's chances of achieving military victory are extremely slim. Although it is painful to learn from Comrade Lenin's signing of the Second Brest-Litovsk Agreement , but there is still hope for a comeback, which is more common among leading cadres and officers at mid-level and above; a small number of comrades believe that the war has started so far, it is very difficult for us, but the enemy is equally difficult, and if we continue to persevere, the dawn may appear in front of us; A very small number of comrades believe that such a contract cannot be signed with the enemy, but they cannot persist here any longer. They suggest that the party and state institutions should be relocated to the Far East and Siberia, and that a part of the Red Army should be broken up into pieces to fight guerrilla warfare in the occupied territories—— This strategy draws on the example of China. After losing most of its elite territory, the Nanjing government did not make peace with Japan, let alone have relations with the Japanese puppet regime. Instead, it moved to the southwest to continue resistance. "

According to Molotov's summary: the first opinion advocates learning from Lenin; the second opinion advocates learning from the Paris Commune; and the third opinion advocates learning from China, but he cleverly avoids his own tendentious opinions.

Stalin turned his attention to Voroshilov, who replied: "I personally think the third option is not a good idea. The situation in the Soviet Union is different from that in China. The population in the Far East and Siberia is too small, less than 10% of the total population of the country, and the economic foundation is Weak and unable to persist for a long time, although the southwestern region of China is much less developed than the coastal areas, the gap is not as big as ours, and its population density is not low. When the situation was at its worst, the Chongqing regime at least had the total population of the country. 40%; as for the second type, I think we need to master the strategy of struggle.”

The so-called strategy actually means that if Lenin had agreed with the majority in the party to fight Germany to the end, the new Bolshevik regime would immediately become the second Paris Commune. Voroshilov was one of Stalin's closest cadres. His fighting skills completely disgraced the title of marshal, but his political ability and ability to observe people's opinions and figure out what was going on exceeded most people. Otherwise, three of the original five marshals would have been purged, and the other one would have been eliminated. Budyonny is standing aside now. He is the only one who is still alive and well. If he had not been good enough, he would have become a sacrifice of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Stalin nodded. Voroshilov's opinion was actually very clear: the third option was not a good solution; the second option was a dead end, and the only option was the first option.

"It seems that most comrades agree with the first method." Stalin said slowly, "This shows that the secret actions and decisions of the Party Central Committee some time ago are supported by the masses and reflect the fundamental interests of the majority of people. What do you think? "

Molotov and Voroshilov looked at each other, thought for a moment, and nodded in unison.

Seeing the two people expressing their opinions like this, Stalin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: If anyone took what he just said at face value, he would be an out-and-out fool - poor Vasilevsky, for example, might fall into it. The implicit intention of the question just now was to ask these two close men: If Stalin negotiates peace with the Axis on behalf of the party and the country, can he continue to gain the approval of the majority of people? Will it not affect the status of the party and the status of the leader?

Therefore, these two people had to think deeply before they dared to nod. If they nodded easily, once the news leaked out and there would be opposition from inside and outside the party, Molotov and Voroshilov would soon be pushed out as scapegoats.

"How are the peace talks between you and Ribbentrop going? Will the Germans suddenly change their minds and raise the conditions?"

"The Germans' conditions are there, at least they haven't been adjusted yet." Molotov added, "On the contrary, Ribbentrop has repeatedly assured me that Hitler has no intention of completely wiping out the Bolsheviks, let alone liquidating the main leaders. He wanted to get a Europe that excluded the Soviet Union and had Germany at its core - a Europe with the same values, ideologies, and political organizations. In order to eliminate the competitor that threatened it the most, he launched this war. He said that in the next two years. Each Russia is independent, and Vlasov’s puppet regime will be absorbed into an integrated Europe. As for us, we can exist independently.”

"It's not that he doesn't want to destroy us, it's that he's unwilling to pay a higher price unless he plans to fight for another 2-3 years and kill 2-3 million Germans." Stalin sneered, "The reason why he is willing to make peace with us is because He believes that we no longer pose a threat to Germany, and he must concentrate on dealing with the United States before he can realize his dream of world hegemony.”

"This is something we can take advantage of." Voroshilov immediately added in a dog-legged manner.

"Send a telegram to Comrade Zhukov and ask him to return to Moscow and take charge. The Central Asian countries will recognize their independence. They are all Tatars anyway." Stalin waved his hand nonchalantly. "Ask him to immediately deploy a combat plan. My goal is to use 4 We will carry out an offensive plan of 1.4 million troops on one front and from the north to the south, threatening the enemy but not confronting them head-on. We will make Hitler aware of our strength and force him to accept changes to the terms that are beneficial to us.”

"Do I need to ask Comrade Meretskov to assist him?" When soliciting private opinions some time ago, the person closest to Zhukov's ideas was Meretskov, so Voroshilov asked this question.

"No, continue to ask the Chief of General Staff for assistance. The overall campaign will be presided over by Comrade Constantine." Stalin paused, "The northern cluster is commanded by Meretskov, and the southern cluster is commanded by..."

Speaking of this, he suddenly got stuck. He thought that the commanders of the southern fronts were not doing very well, and for a while they couldn't choose a favorite commander. The Bagramyan recommended by Zhukov last time was even worse.

Molotov coughed and reminded: "Let's go back to Comrade Vatutin. Yeremenko is too bad-tempered, Comrade Rokossovsky is too cunning, and Comrades Malinovsky and Tolbukhin have the qualifications." It’s not enough, but he needs to be given a more capable chief of staff and a more capable political commissar.”

"This is a good suggestion. Let Comrade Sergei Matveyevich Shtemenko be the chief of staff, and let Comrade Khrushchev be the political commissar."

Voroshilov nodded repeatedly: If it were before, everyone would be rushing for this kind of position, but now the situation is not good, everyone is a little afraid of the situation, and has become afraid of these hot positions - no one wants to become Timoshenko was second.

Molotov asked: "What changes do you want to make in the contract?"

“First, both regimes need to jointly issue a declaration stating that they jointly adhere to the opinions of national self-determination. At the same time, within Russia, based on different understandings of the socialist road, the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks independently explored and established separate countries. Both sides recognized that they were Soviet Union regimes. It is an independent component of the Russian Federation and is a whole. When communicating with foreign countries, they are called Russia (Bangladesh) and Russia (Brazil) separately. Secondly, the border between the two countries is based on the existing line of actual control, with a 200-kilometer safety zone in which German troops can be stationed. However, The total number of German troops should not exceed 1 million, and the period of stationing should not exceed 5 years. The number of foreign troops stationed in the Menshevik regime should not exceed 300,000. Third, the Menshevik regime has independent legal, military, and economic systems, and trade between the two sides No tariffs will be levied on each other; fourth, the total strength of the Menshevik regime shall not exceed 500,000, and the total strength of the Bolsheviks shall not exceed 3 million; fifth, the total size of the Soviet reparations to the Axis shall not exceed 10 billion marks, to be paid in 30 years, at a ratio of 1:6 The proportion is divided between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks, with no compensation from the other..."

Stalin made more than 10 opinions in one breath. Judging from the non-stop rhythm, it was obvious that it had been brewing for a long time: some were clarifications of previously vague content, some were interpretations of previously avoided content, and some were additions and adjustments. .

Molotov did not argue whether the modification of these terms could be recognized by the German side, because negotiations are never purely about politics and communication. The key lies in strength and status. If the Red Army shows momentum on the battlefield, he will still have the chance to win a decisive victory even if he cannot. He was sure to get better terms, so he nodded readily: "Then I will use this revised opinion as a blueprint and continue to negotiate with the Germans to confuse the line of sight and cover the deployment of our army."

The other two people expressed their approval. They obviously did not know that it had been less than 20 hours since the launch of the "Dawn" campaign...