Struggle in Soviet Russia

On the second floor of the Livadia Palace, the former office of Tsar Nicholas II.

With a cigarette that was about to burn out between the fingers of Victor's right hand, he walked in from the door with a blank face. At first glance, he saw a few people gathered around the luxurious dark purple desk.

Although not all of these people are Soviets, there are also a few representatives from Britain and the United States, but Victor still knows all of them, including Alexei Antonov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Soviet Army General Staff, Sergei Shtemenko, the Allied Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Portel, and Deputy Chief of General Staff Norman Portlet.

As for the last one, it is Hoyt Vandenberg, currently the commander of the U.S. 9th Air Force, and as far as Victor knows, this person will soon be transferred to the U.S. Army Intelligence Department, and then, in his efforts Under the work, the United States will form a large-scale and highly capable intelligence agency - the Central Intelligence Agency.

As the head of the Alliance Intelligence Agency, how could Victor not pay enough attention to this Mr. Vandenberg. He has been arranging potential spies by his side since before, and the progress of the work is not bad.

When Victor walked in from the door, several people in the room were leaning against the large desk to look at a map. Victor didn't have to look at it, he knew it was a map of Germany, and the one in the room earlier These people are discussing the issue of large-scale bombing of eastern Germany.

At the beginning of this year, both the alliance and the Anglo-American allied forces obtained a piece of information, the general content of which is that the German army will mobilize troops from other fronts to fully support the war on the east front, so as to prevent the Soviet army from continuing to move towards Berlin. advance. According to this intelligence, the number of reinforcements that the Germans may mobilize to the Eastern Front is about 500,000.

There is no doubt that the reinforcements of dozens of divisions and 500,000 people will be a huge obstacle to the advance of the Soviet army on the eastern front. It will not only cause trouble for the Soviet army's offensive, but also delay the war. process.

In order to prevent the German reinforcement plan, and at the same time, also to destroy the military industry to the greatest extent, the Allies formulated a large-scale air attack plan, which was named "Operation Thunder", and the purpose of the operation was to attack the German oil. Production, transport lines, destroy German aircraft factories and military docks and more.

However, with the German counterattack in the Ardennes, the Allies encountered a series of troubles, and this action plan was temporarily abandoned. Communicate with the alliance on the selection of bombing targets.

In fact, at this time, the Germans are no longer able to launch any large-scale counterattack against the Soviet army on the eastern front. The fastest advancing force of the Soviet army to the west has arrived at a place less than 70 kilometers away from Berlin. , the so-called air strike support proposed by the British and American allies has little meaning for the Soviet army.

But little significance does not mean no significance. After all, according to the military information provided by the General Staff, the German army has been deploying troops between Berlin and Leipzig, enhancing its military strength on the eastern front, and sending military supplies to the front.

Hearing someone walk into the room, a few people around the desk looked back. When they saw that it was Victor, the representative from the Allied forces straightened up, said hello to Victor briefly, and then turned around. He turned around and listened to Antonov again about the demands of the Soviet army.

Viktor walked over unhurriedly, stood between Antonov and Shtemenko, and looked at the map on the table through the gap between the two.

At this time, Antonov was drawing a line on the map. According to him, the Soviet side could receive Allied air raids on eastern Germany, but the Allies must ensure two points: First, any bombing operation must Get permission from the Soviet Army to avoid accidental bombing. Second, the main bombing operation should be limited to the area of ​​the connecting passage between Berlin and Leipzig, in order to prevent German reinforcements to the east.

It can be seen from Antonov's statement that the Soviet Army actually did not need the so-called air strike support from the Allies, at least the sense of demand was not so strong.

After Antonov finished his speech, Norman Portlet began to express the suggestions of the Allies. From the perspective of the Allies, they have listed a series of important military factories, oil refineries and other goals in eastern Germany. , and according to Allied plans, these targets were the main points of their air strikes.

From the perspective of the Allied forces, all military targets in the eastern region of Germany should naturally be their air strike targets, but from the perspective of the alliance, a large number of military targets listed by the Allies are also what the alliance will need in the future. The difference between the captured targets and the Allied plans is that these targets are not the targets the Alliance wants to destroy, but the targets that the Alliance plans to transfer directly to the Alliance after the occupation. Therefore, from this point of difference, Antonov would not agree with Norman Portlet's proposal.

Afterwards, the two sides repeatedly discussed the establishment of the bombing target, and it took about 40 minutes to finally finalize a major bombing target, and this target was acceptable to both the Allies and the Soviets - Dres pause.

From the perspective of practical needs, in terms of the current state of the German army, the Allies actually have no need to carry out large-scale air raids. Although the resistance of the German army is still very tenacious on the Eastern Front, it is also created for the Soviet army. There was a lot of trouble, but to be honest, the Soviets had not yet fallen to the point where they needed Allied air support.

Of course, Britain and the United States are so eager to provide air support to the alliance. Naturally, their intention is not to help the Soviet army advance to Berlin faster. On the one hand, their real purpose is to prevent the Soviet Union from gaining more war from the Germans. On the other hand, it was for demonstrations, to show the Soviet side their powerful air combat capabilities, and to gain an advantage in certain post-war political issues.

As the saying goes, where there are people there will be fights. Inside the coalition, as the war draws to a close, the political struggle that has been veiled over the past few years is turning into a backwater. Similarly, as the war against Germany comes to an end, the concealed contradictions between the alliance and Western countries such as Britain and the United States are rapidly turning into major contradictions.

Now, at least the attitude of the British has changed from trying to deal with the Germans in the past to dealing with the Germans while restricting the direction of the Soviets. Therefore, this so-called large-scale air raid aimed at reinforcing the Eastern Front, Its real purpose was to show the Soviet army the strength of the Royal Air Force.

Of course, the reason why Moscow did not have a clear attitude to reject the request for air strikes from the Allied forces was that on the one hand, it was indeed to weaken the strength of the German army and the resistance to advancing to Berlin, and on the other hand, it was also to see the real combat of the United States and the United States in the air force. ability.

So, in this case, Dresden became the victim of the secret wrestling between the Soviet Union and Britain and the United States, but as the head of the intelligence work of the alliance, Victor did not know that the scale of the air raid would be so large.

After determining the main target of the air strike, everyone went to the Italian garden downstairs for lunch at the invitation of Antonov.

The so-called Italian Garden is a garden in the Italian architectural style in the Livadia Palace. This garden was also held during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. It is just outside the palace and can be seen from the garden. The **** towards the Black Sea is very nice.

It is a pity that the weather is not very good today. Although the rain is small, it still does not stop. The staff has set up a long row of canopies in the garden, and under the canopies are filled with various A long table of food and drink, and enjoying a hearty lunch in the rain, is a rather elegant affair.

Although Victor went to the garden with the staff, he did not stay here for too long. He soon returned to the palace and went to the billiard room that once belonged to Nicholas II. Comrade Stalin had talks with Roosevelt and Churchill. , in that room.

As the main person in charge of the security of the meeting, Victor was relatively free during the meeting. After all, he participated in the real negotiation work, and at the same time, he had the right to walk around the whole venue at will.

As far as Victor knew, this morning's meeting was not a formal meeting attended by the heads of the three countries from the very beginning. Starting at half past nine, Comrade Stalin and President Roosevelt had a secret conversation for nearly an hour in the reception room next to the White Hall. , this reception room is the office temporarily arranged for Roosevelt during the meeting.

The meeting lasted for an hour, only Comrade Stalin and President Roosevelt were present, in addition, not even Comrade Molotov was allowed to enter the room, so no one knew what was discussed between them, and there was no meeting Record keeping.

After this secret meeting, the two went to the pool room to talk with Churchill, who was waiting there.

Of course Victor did not know what the secret meeting between Comrade Stalin and President Roosevelt was about, but he was able to realize that the meeting was likely to reinforce Comrade Stalin's delusion that Soviet-American relations would end after the war. It has been well maintained, and this illusion will also greatly affect the formulation of a series of major policies and policies of the alliance after the war.

If an assumption is made, if Roosevelt did not die so early, then there may indeed be a brief period of relaxation in Soviet-American relations after the war, but this time will certainly not be long. In other words, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, Roosevelt or Comrade Stalin can't maintain it. This is a general trend that cannot be changed by human beings.