Chapter 145 – Flexibility Struggle

“But?” Stalin put down the information in his hand and glanced at the waiting Beria and asked, “Comrade Beria, what is the range of the target’s level of secrecy?”

“Among the Ministry of Internal Affairs, apart from myself, only First Class Political Commissar Senior General Merkulov knows.” Beria quickly replied, “The level of secrecy is still quite high, the underground workers next to the target are in direct contact with the first class political commissar directly, there is absolutely no possibility of exposure.”

“Don’t say anything particularly absolute.” For some reason, Stalin had reservations about the phrase absolutely no possibility of exposure, which made Beria instantly become wary.

It was a rather frightening thing for someone like someone who served as a high-ranking security cadre to not be trusted at the highest level anymore. Could it be that Stalin had grown tired of First Commissar Senior General Merkulov? Or had there been a distrust of the entire Ministry of Internal Affairs?

While Beria was thinking, Stalin said with a sense of relief, “This way we can determine a very important thing, change the way of the struggle, in this devastating war, the only country left out is the United States, Britain and France have been hit to varying degrees, and these countries in Europe are in urgent need of colonial blood transfusion, the biggest problem is reconstruction, which is the same as ours, the most important problem is to rebuild the country. problem is reconstruction, which is the same as our Soviets.”

“Comrade Stalin’s opinion on this matter is consistent with the intelligence fed back.” Beria agreed unconditionally, “We have received information that the military forces of France and Holland, have returned to Asia in an attempt to restore colonial rule in Southeast Asia. The U.S. is not explicitly opposed to this.”

“Then our Soviet attitude is one of explicit opposition!” Stalin stated his attitude succinctly.

“Then Comrade Stalin, what level of support and assistance would be appropriate?” Beria inquired as soon as he heard this, the decision on this kind of matter was still in Stalin’s hands.

“Give all moral support, except help and assistance.” Stalin chuckled, “Solidarity costs nothing, but fighting the Americans costs something. We’re going to go a step further and ask the Americans for a partitioned occupation of Japan, of course the Americans won’t agree to that, but we’re just going to mention that Hokkaido will be detached from Japan for good, and that the Japanese will never see Hokkaido again, it’s as if they can’t see out of their own ears.”

Stalin knew, of course, that the Americans, now with nukes in hand, had no one in sight, but the good news was that Britain and France, as well as the colonial powers of Europe, didn’t seem to want to get involved in this mess.

Is it good that Europe and America are not on the same page? Of course, at least for a short time, Europe will not follow the United States to start World War III.

The topic of World War III was not at all a taboo subject in the countries of 1945, and many people believed that a world war was bound to break out sooner or later, and there were many such voices within the Soviet Union.

In fact, even Stalin himself was not completely at ease with the current situation in Europe, believing that the possibility of the outbreak of a world war existed, especially after the United States had a nuclear bomb in its hands, this threat was even more intuitive.

That’s why Zhukov was allowed to invite Eisenhower to visit Moscow in his personal name, to make a friendly attitude to ease the relationship between the two sides, and Eisenhower had just left.

Eisenhower was invited to the Soviet Union, accompanied by Zhukov, he watched the opening ceremony with the Soviet commander-in-chief in Moscow’s Red Square, and in the face of cheering crowds, the two embraced and waved their hands, and all agreed that the U.S. and the Soviet Union had strong relations.

In their spare time, the two men talked for a long time, from the Battle of Leningrad to the Battle of Moscow, and from the battlefields of Africa to the Normandy landings, understanding and respecting each other even more. To their great joy, during Eisenhower’s visit, Japan surrendered. This was a great achievement for the longtime veterans.

“In due course, Comrade Zhukov can be allowed to make a return visit to the U.S. Didn’t Eisenhower extend an invitation.” Stalin calmly said, “the dispute with the United States on the Japanese issue, and Comrade Zhukov’s return visit is not in conflict. Détente and struggle at the same time, and there are ways and means to be followed.”

At present, on the premise of retaining the interests of Eastern Europe, Stalin felt that a détente attitude could be adopted towards the Western European countries could be adopted. For it was not only the Western European countries that needed to be rebuilt, but the Soviet Union as well.

Even as much as the Western European countries feared a Soviet invasion, the Soviet Union also feared the outbreak of World War III and a joint invasion by the U.S. and Britain and France, and since Germany had launched a sneak attack on the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union, up and down the hierarchy, had become distrustful of these imperialisms.

Now these imperialist countries are equally untrustworthy but can be polarized and disintegrated. Delay the union of these imperialist countries.

And on the other hand in Eastern Europe, Stalin thought it was possible to adopt an offensive defensive strategy, using the Korean Peninsula as a bargaining chip to gain as much as possible in Japan, and to get the United States to recognize that the Soviet occupation of Hokkaido was only a minimum goal.

In fact by this time the Americans did not have much of a presence in Korea, because Korea had previously been under Japanese colonial rule, naturally there could be no presence of American forces, and the Americans were not in a position to project a large amount of military power onto the Korean Peninsula for a while, unlike the Soviets, who would have had a large number of troops in Siberia and could have swung south at any time to put in their forces.

And in fact the Soviets did deploy military forces in North Korea long before the US did.

Without nukes, the Soviets, who were already well into the Korean Peninsula, would have been perfectly capable of kicking the U.S. out.

But with the nuclear bomb is different, the attitude of the United States and the nuclear bomb before the explosion, compared to a heaven and earth, interpretation of what is called flip-flopping faster than a book.

Stalin was even glad that at the Potsdam Conference, he accepted the backroom deal initiated by Britain. If there had been a delay in reaching an agreement, the United States, which now had a nuclear bomb in its hand, would surely have found an opportunity to give the Soviet Union endless humiliation.

On Japan and the Korean Peninsula, Stalin had already predicted the certainty of being pressured by the U.S. This time was certainly not the warm and fuzzy time before when the World War had not yet ended, but was full of gunpowder.

Japan and the Korean Peninsula are still different, the Soviet Union can follow the previous agreement, let the peninsula south of the 38th parallel by the U.S. surrender, because the Korean Peninsula is at least part of the continent, even if it is to let the Americans in, the ground forces of the Soviet Union overwhelming superiority should not be afraid.

Hokkaido, on the other hand, was a different story; the US Navy was an army from the future compared to the weak Soviet Red Navy. If it was possible to get the US to recognize the de facto Soviet occupation in exchange for Soviet superiority over the US forces on the Korean peninsula, it didn’t seem like too bad of an outcome by any stretch of the imagination.

Theoretically Stalin was not ready to give up anywhere, but until the Soviet Union’s nuclear bomb was successfully developed, to a certain extent he had to hold back now, and was even prepared to comply with the withdrawal in Iran, rather than to make a civilized attack on the Pahlavi, and to maintain the tacit understanding of the north-south partition with Britain during the Imperial Russian period would have been enough.

Now the Soviet Union to Britain and France to take a détente attitude, even if it is to engage in trouble can not be in Europe, but to use the cards in hand, in the Far East, where Britain and France do not have a vital interest in Japan and the Korean Peninsula as a chessboard and the United States to fight.

As for the backroom deal at the Potsdam Conference, all of them are recognized, and a clear timetable for withdrawal is given, and liaison is maintained with Britain and the United States, especially the United Kingdom, to ensure the transparency of the withdrawal.

“Nuclear bombs such weapons the United States has the Soviet Union does not have, our nuclear bomb program must be taken out as soon as possible, in order to change the current heart of the weak, so that the Americans in talking to us, put the voice a little lower.” Stalin said as he looked at Beria with a very serious gaze.

Beria was the head of the Soviet Union’s nuclear program, and as early as the time of the Moscow Defense War, the atomic energy intelligence in Beria’s hands had accumulated a thick pile. British and American spies from all directions had sent back information that in the next two years, it was likely that the British nuclear bomb would be researched.

According to Soviet intelligence, the first to develop a nuclear bomb would be Britain, but to no one’s surprise, Britain’s nuclear bomb program was terminated and incorporated into the Manhattan Project.

Beria, as the Soviet People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs, had detailed information on the British and American nuclear bomb research, but Stalin was not interested in nuclear bomb research during the war, resulting in Beria’s inability to conduct research.

A loud bang from across the ocean awakened Stalin, and the two nuclear bombs that later exploded in Japan really made Stalin realize how serious the consequences of an error in judgment could be.

If the British hadn’t always blackmailed the USSR with American nuclear weapons for their own benefit, the USSR would have lost a lot more once the US started to do the real blackmail.

“The project has been progressing steadily, and we will be sure to calm the United States down as soon as possible.” Beria gave a solemn assurance.

“Tell Comrade Molotov to set a time to send a delegation to visit the Western European countries, with France and Britain as important destinations.” Stalin nodded, and with a turn of phrase began to indicate a move to show goodwill toward Britain and France, “Have the Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe accompany the delegation, and start the visit as an artistic exchange, so that it is a little more innocent.”

The city of Bonn, British Occupation, a model of reconstruction in the eyes of the British Empire press, as a key member of the Board of Trade, a tireless liaison officer to Europe, and in the midst of the sandwich life, it is difficult to extricate themselves from the life of the occupation forces.

Loyal imperial civil servants, now suffered from the corrosive pull of the Dragoon Guards, if it had not always maintained a beginning, Alan Wilson would not have lasted until now.

But the small life is quite good time is still a handful of time, Allen Wilson is a person of principle, and is very concerned about the spirit of the contract, will not be like other foreigners in Germany, casually take a few cigarettes to cheat the girl’s body, he still want to two sisters to live without worry before he can rest assured to leave.