My own war game

Chapter 154 The Disliked

The Kremlin, Moscow, late September 1941.

As the Germans got closer, the atmosphere in the Kremlin became more and more serious. Everyone looked nervous and their normal pace quickened.

At the end of the deep corridor, in a small conference room, Stalin, the Soviet Union’s top authority, was listening to the latest report.

"Comrade Stalin, the German Second Panzer Army rested for less than a week after occupying Kiev, and has already moved eastward to Moscow. It is currently located northwest of Moscow and is advancing towards Tula and Molok in an attempt to cut off our supply lines."

"The enemy's 4th Army is currently located in the southwest and is trying to bypass Morlock and directly threaten our southern defense line."

The staff officer pointed to the two German army marching diagrams on the map that looked like pincers and reported.

Stalin's face was expressionless. He took up his pipe and put it in his mouth and asked, "Have the central and municipal government agencies been evacuated?"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, according to your instructions, some government agencies and important personnel have been moved to Kuibyshev."

"How is the defense mission arrangement going?"

"The 5th, 16th and 43rd Armies have formed the outer defense line, and General Zhukov has built a complete defensive position."

"The city's defense force is under the command of General Artemyev. The citizens have also been organized. There are independent workers' divisions and women's transport teams. Everyone is very enthusiastic about fighting the invaders."

Stalin nodded, without commenting on his subordinates' work. He slowly walked to the huge map and looked up.

Minsk, Smolensk, Kiev..., one large city after another has fallen into the hands of the Germans, and now it is finally Moscow's turn.

"We can't retreat any further..." Stalin muttered to himself, and then immediately shut up.

He couldn't show any weakness now, not at all.

"Comrade Stalin, good news! There is good news from Kiev!" A thin man wearing glasses suddenly pushed open the door of the conference room and shook something in his hand.

There were no more than five people in the entire Kremlin who dared to lose their composure like this in front of Stalin, and the person in front of him was one of them.

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria.

The future second-in-command of the Soviet Union is currently the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, but in fact he has already controlled the entire Moscow underground police force and is Stalin's true shadow.

"Calm down, Comrade Beria. What we need most at this moment is calmness! You can tell me slowly what the situation is." Stalin stopped his intelligence chief's overly excited behavior in time.

Beria unfolded the telegram in his hand and handed it over. "Comrade Stalin, I just received news that the Southwestern Front has not been completely wiped out. At least 30,000 people have broken through the encirclement of Kiev."

"Oh?" Stalin grabbed the telegram and read it carefully without caring about losing his composure.

The Soviet Union's manpower supply is now precarious. Even women have begun to take up arms. The unplanned 3 people can play a role in turning the tide at some point.

"Good! Good! Very good!" Stalin put down the telegram in his hand. "Where are these troops now?"

"They broke out in separate groups and are now slowly gathering in Voronezh. A small number of them have even restored their organization. And I have good news. General Kirponos is not dead, he is still alive." "Alive?" The expression on Stalin's face changed again. If having an additional 30,000 remnants of the army was a pleasant surprise, then the news that Kirponos was still alive was a bit complicated for the supreme commander.

Kirponos was the first to propose withdrawing large troops from the Kiev area, but was reprimanded by Stalin.

In the later Kiev breakout, Kirponos' Southwestern Front was one of the few teams that fought tenaciously, and now it has pulled out a remnant army of 30,000.

If Kirponos died, there would be no problem. The central government could directly give him the highest posthumous honors, and Stalin would not mind burying him behind the Kremlin wall and hanging medals on his tombstone.

But now that he was alive, things were different.

In order to ease his embarrassment, Stalin put down the telegram in his hand and said, "Comrade Beria, can you tell me in detail how they jumped out of the encirclement?"

"Of course, I have a detailed report here." Beria handed over a document that had been prepared long ago.

Stalin took the document, flipped through it a few times, and then an expression of interest appeared on his face again.

"Oh? Our intelligence agent lurking next to Guderian played a key role?" Then he looked through the documents carefully again.
"Using a bomb to explode the Second Army Headquarters, paralyzing the enemy's command system for several hours, creating an opportunity for the troops to break out, and even almost killing Guderian?"

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, our intelligence agents are very outstanding. They have been lurking for more than a year and finally played a key role this time." Beria replied with a flushed face after receiving the praise.

"Okay, let the intelligence agents involved in the operation come to Moscow immediately. I want to award them medals personally and let everyone around me know that intelligence agents are also the best fighters!" Stalin nodded with satisfaction.

"I have summoned the two intelligence agents back in advance, and they will arrive in Moscow within four days." Beria replied with a smile and a nod.

Comrade Stalin's mood was obviously much better afterwards. Not only did he invite Beria to the smoking room for a rare chat in the name of relaxation, he even told a few jokes in which the protagonists were Germans.

The whole process took more than half an hour, which is a treatment that many marshals do not get.

"Okay, Comrade Beria, let's stop here for today. I'm going to start working again." Stalin extinguished the pipe in his hand.

"Okay, Comrade Stalin, please take some time to rest. We all can't do without you." Beria expressed his loyalty just right and then stepped out.

Back in the office, Beria's silent assistant stepped forward tremblingly and said, "Sir, please forgive me for being blunt, but you didn't mention it in your report just now, mentioning..."

A pair of cold eyes swept over
"What didn't I mention?"

“No, nothing…” The assistant lowered his head and stepped back.

"I know who you're talking about." Beria took off his glasses and rubbed them in his hands with a cloth. "But how could I give such an achievement to the British guy? Of course I can't even mention him in the report."

"But sir, the other party has already come to Moscow with General Kirponos and should arrive in the next two days."

"Yeah, it's a bit troublesome." Belia put on his glasses and squeezed out a voice from his teeth.

"Got to shut this guy up."

(End of this chapter)