Struggle in Soviet Russia

In the conference room on the third floor of the General Staff Building, Victor was sitting in a chair by the door. He bowed his head and closed his chest, as if he wanted to curl up as much as possible so that no one would find him. .

On the side of the oval conference table in the middle of the conference room, on the only main seat on the right, Comrade Stalin, who left the Kremlin for the first time since the victory of the Battle of Moscow, was cursing furiously at everyone present.

Yes, at this time, Comrade Stalin was furious. He had just cursed Beria, who was attending this meeting in plain clothes, a **** head. According to him, Merkulov, who was in charge of domestic intelligence work, should be shot. , Because everything that happened in Kharkov proved one thing: this guy was a traitor, a spy for the Germans, and all he did was to ruin the Red Army and ruin the Alliance.

In Kharkov, Ukraine, the general staff’s goal was to recapture Kharkov’s offensive campaign, which collapsed in just one week. The entire southern army suffered heavy losses, north of Baraklia. Geographically, the entire Soviet army responsible for defense at the Barvinkovo ​​salient was surrounded by the Germans, which included the entire 6th and 57th Army, as well as most of the 9th and 38th Army.

What is unacceptable? There is no doubt that failure is unacceptable, and even more unacceptable than failure, is that this failure should have been a success in everyone’s eyes. As a result, when the ending of the show, people realized that , The success that everyone expected, turned out to be a complete failure.

The doomed defeat in the direction of Kharkov buried the great situation that the Soviet Red Army had finally won. The situation in the south and southwest directions has been completely eroded. Due to the huge loss of equipment and personnel, the Southwest Front and the South Front Army will be in the next period of time. Within time, even a decent line of defense could not be organized.

Comrade Stalin was going crazy. He even wanted to send Timoshenko, who was a Southwest Front Army, to a military court. If it weren't for the joint dissuasion of Vasilievsky and Zhukov, Comrade Timoshenko would be unlucky.

Comrade Stalin in a state of rage always finds someone to take responsibility. Everyone knows that, but in this battle, it is very easy to find a scapegoat or thief. Therefore, a report drafted by the General Staff Headquarters was submitted to Comrade Stalin at today's meeting. The leaders of the Red Army system spoke all of them and threw this scapegoat on the head of the Internal Intelligence Bureau of the NKVD.

What does a failed battle have to do with the NKVD? Hey, it really matters, because before the start of the battle, Comrade Merkulov submitted a piece of information. According to this information, the German army in the Kharkov area has deployed a heavy armored group on the line from Mizjov to Merefa north of the North Donets River.

Based on this judgment, the Southwest Front Army Headquarters judged that this German armored heavy group assembled in Mizjov must be the German 1st Armored Group Army, and the reason why they were deployed in that position must be to follow up in the direction of Chuguyev. .

For this reason, the headquarters of the Southwest Front Army deployed heavy troops in front of Chuguyev, and at the same time, placed the main attack direction on the front line of Barvinkovo.

As a result, this erroneous intelligence brought catastrophic consequences for the deployment of the Soviet army. When the 9th Army launched an offensive in the direction of Barvinkovo, it almost immediately suffered a strong German counterattack. At the same time , The German 1st Armored Group Army quickly appeared in the joint position of the 9th Army and the 57th Army. In the battle on the second day, the German army broke through the weak junction between the two armies and quickly infiltrated the rear of the two armies. On the third day of the campaign, when Timothy, the commander of the Southwest Front Army, reacted, the 9th Army had actually been beaten and collapsed.

So, take a look, who should bear the main responsibility for this failure? Shouldn't it be the internal intelligence department of the NKVD?

In fact, in the face of such a situation, no one has anything to say, not to mention that Merkulov has no opportunity to explain at all, because he still faces a fatal problem, that is, in Kharco. While the husband suffered a disastrous defeat, Major Grigory Ivanovich Kotov, who was in charge of intelligence work in this direction...rebelled. He surrendered the Germans and betrayed the entire Kharkov. Intelligence Network. In the course of the battle, the entire Kharkov intelligence network was uprooted by the German intelligence services. From Kharkov to Stalino, and even Odessa, a total of 27 intelligence teams of the NKVD were destroyed and lost. There were 63 radio stations, and nearly 240 potential intelligence personnel were lost.

Now, no one knows whether Major Kotov had long been in the German army, or whether he chose to surrender after the battle because he was afraid of being held accountable, but no matter what the possibility, as the direct leader, Melku Love needs to stand up and take responsibility.

Sitting in his chair, Victor's heart was really frightened. Fortunately, he was transferred to the General Staff Intelligence Bureau early and did not continue to be in charge of the internal intelligence department of the NKVD. Otherwise, the pot would have to be left to him. Come memorize it.

Since the beginning of the year, the NKVD began to deploy an internal intelligence network according to the plan he provided. Kotov was promoted at this time. Several months of work proved his ability. In Ukraine's Donets region, the entire complex intelligence network was established with his efforts, and the NKVD was even preparing to request credit for him. Even if Victor is changed to be responsible for internal intelligence work, he will reuse talents like this, but who knows that such a result will occur?

According to Viktor’s speculation, Kotov should have voted for the Germans a long time ago. Win.

In any case, the NKVD was really embarrassed about Kotov’s rebellion, and there is no face. What kind of fate Melkulov will face is still unknown. But Comrade Beria has been asked to make a review at a meeting of the People’s Committee of National Defense.

At today’s meeting, Merkulov has been temporarily relieved of all duties. Comrade Lev Yemelyanovich Vlodzimirsky, who is in charge of leading the Major Case Investigation Bureau of the NKVD, will Investigate him personally to make sure that this guy has not treasoned to the enemy. In Victor's view, no matter what the final result of such an investigation is, or whether Comrade Merkulov can be restored to his original post, this incident will be a huge stain on his resume. Any ambition and future of his Will be soaked in this stain and be dyed as black as ink.

Logically speaking, today's meeting should have nothing to do with Victor. After all, he is not responsible for internal intelligence work, and the reason why he is here is because of the order given by Comrade Stalin himself.

No matter when Kotov was, or what German army he was targeting, this guy was a traitor. He betrayed the Alliance, betrayed his motherland, and brought heavy losses to the Alliance. Most importantly, his The behavior almost made Comrade Stalin vomit blood, so a guy like this must pay a heavy price for his behavior.

Kotov’s family was under the control of the NKVD two days ago. Although how to deal with it has not yet been determined, it is estimated that their fate will not be too good. For Kotov himself, Comrade Stalin did not intend to release it. However, according to his order, the intelligence organization must hunt down this guy and make him pay the price of blood for his actions.

The pursuit and killing of traitors has always been the responsibility of the Foreign Intelligence Department of the NKVD, but now in the eyes of Comrade Stalin, the NKVD is like stinky shit, not only smelly, but also not Trustworthy, so he called Victor over, just to hand over this task to the General Staff Intelligence Agency to perform. For this task, Comrade Stalin gave a deadline-two months.

Within two months, Comrade Stalin will see Kotov’s head, otherwise he will not sleep well, and the consequence of his poor sleep is a grumpy temper. Then, in order to calm his anger, Victor will have to roll. Siberia went logging.

What can Victor do? He is also very helpless.

The current situation is that he doesn't know where this guy Kotov is, and his eyes are blackened. How to make an assassination plan? In addition, the Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff has no intelligence network in Ukraine and no experience in performing assassination missions. Therefore, this mission is almost impossible for him to perform.

Fortunately, Comrade Stalin did not completely lose his mind. While giving this order, he set aside Comrade Beria and directly made a provisional appointment decision: the new head of internal intelligence work of the NKVD confirmed Previously, this position was held concurrently by Victor.

What Victor needs to do is to formulate a detailed plan for the assassination of Kotov on the one hand, and to rectify the internal intelligence department of the entire NKVD. He needs to rigorously examine the heads of each direction and region of the internal intelligence department, and make sure that there will not be another Kotov among these heads.

Don’t think that Comrade Stalin is blind and deaf. He knows everything about the NKVD and naturally knows who is completely loyal to Beria. In the case of Kotov, he was obviously responsible for Beria’s work. Extremely disappointed, this arrangement might be a reminder to Beria.