Unlike the Eastern countries, the Russian People's Liberation Army (PLA) claimed to be at odds with the Bolsheviks, and the most that the Eastern countries were doing was digging up some territory and wealth, while the Russian PLA wanted to dig up the Bolsheviks at the root -- this left Stalin without the slightest room for compromise and had no choice but to fight hard. The problem is that the current headquarters of the Russian Liberation Army is clearly located in Rostov-on-Don, and the flags flying high seem to mock the incompetence of the Red Army, how can this not make him angry and annoyed?

"Comrade Stalin, I have an update for you." Hearing the sound behind him, Stalin knew that it was Molotov coming, he sighed, and while motioning for the other party to sit down, he waited patiently for the other person to speak.

"The situation has changed dramatically, and Britain has submitted a note to us after suffering heavy setbacks in the North African and Middle East campaigns: first, because they need to make up for their own losses, they will reduce the support of heavy equipment, especially aircraft, tanks, and anti-aircraft guns, and the Americans will be responsible for filling the shortfall; Second, the current situation in Persia was very unoptimistic, and the 10th Army under the command of General Wilson was losing and was likely to suffer a complete defeat, and they were desperate for us to launch an attack in the direction of northern Persia to contain the Germans; Thirdly, the JW-51 flotilla will depart from Iceland on January 26 to deliver supplies to us, with a total of 13 transport ships, but there are only 90 tanks and 67 aircraft on board, and none of them are the latest models, and the rest are mainly logistics materials and industrial products, and there is no fuel at all; Fourth, the current source of British oil has been cut off by Germany, and the United Kingdom requires us to carry fuel oil on the RA fleet that returns empty-sea in the future to make up for the shortfall. Molotov's mood was noticeably not high, and apparently the note made him very angry.

The Arctic route generally refers to Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union, and the code for the fleet from Iceland is PQ, and the code for the departure from the Soviet Union is QP, and the PQ has been numbered until 17, and due to the heavy losses of PQ-17, the corresponding codes were later changed to JW and RA respectively. In real history, the JW-51 fleet departed from Iceland to the Soviet Union at the end of 1942, but due to the current misappropriation and delay of supplies by the British side, the JW-51 fleet not only departed a month late, but also reduced the scale of transportation. In fact, Churchill even wanted to throw the JW-51 supply task directly to the Americans, but the situation in the Middle East was tight, he counted on the Red Army to pull him at a critical juncture, and in order to move the Russians to work hard, he had to send the JW-51 out of his head, and the tanks loaded on it were all M3 Stuart, General Grant and other goods, the planes were basically Hurricanes, and he was not willing to give any of the latest Spitfire 9.

"What do you think?"

"It's very dissatisfying, but there is no doubt that the British are telling the truth." Molotov did not choose to add fuel to the fire after pondering for a while, but said frankly, "The British Eighth Army lost 300,000 land forces, and the 100,000 troops of the Tenth Army can't be saved. I felt that they urgently needed to rebuild 5-6 armored divisions, and the British ambassador bluntly offered that he was reaching out to the Americans, and that it was better to count on American goods than to force them to provide them with equipment that was out of date. At the same time, it makes sense to ask us for oil, and now the main crude oil producing areas in the Middle East are controlled by the Germans......"

"But where is the Americans' aid?" Stalin's face was very displeased, and his voice suddenly raised an octave, "The Persian route is broken, and the Arctic route can't send much because of the needs of the British themselves, I can understand Churchill, but what about the Americans?" The supplies and help they promised have not been fulfilled since November, and now they are letting American supplies fly in? ”

"The Americans have said they will intensify their transportation on the Far East route -- now that the main force of the Japanese Navy is not in the Pacific Ocean, they think it will be safer, although it is a little farther away."

"It's not a little, it's a lot! If you count the days of departure from the U.S. port and finally get into our hands, the Pacific route will take at least 2 months. ”

"The U.S. ambassador said that in order to make up for it, the United States is going to send three months' worth of supplies at once -- to make up for the debts promised to us in November but not fulfilled at one time, and the size of the fleet will exceed 40 transport ships, and all these ships will belong to us after the transportation is completed."

"At what cost?" Contrary to Molotov's expectations, Stalin did not react with much ecstasy, but directly asked other questions.

"The ......," Molotov hesitated, "they want us to send troops to the Middle East to attack the Germans -- at least to drive the Germans out of Iraq and Persia, and not to give the Germans oil comfortably." ”

"And now I finally remember that?" Stalin was very unhappy and said, "You want to use these supplies to make us die for them? Do you know what the attitude of Comrades Konstantin and Vasilevsky to this matter is? ”

Molotov was silent, and the latter two had repeatedly stated at previous meetings that it was not feasible for the Red Army to launch a large-scale offensive in the Middle East - the weak logistical supply system could not support the large army at all, and with the same number or even a little more troops, the Red Army was no match for the Germans at all, unless the Turks could be drawn in.

There was an embarrassing silence in the office, and it was a long time before Molotov heard Stalin speak slowly and softly: "How is the contact with the Bulgarians?" What kind of armistice conditions did Hitler demand? ”

It was only then that Molotov realized that Comrade Stalin had summoned him today for this purpose, and he said in a hesitant manner: "According to the opinion conveyed by the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III, the Germans are very expensive: first, they want us to unconditionally recognize the independence of those 'Eastern countries'; second, they demand that we compensate us for the military expenditure of 100 billion Reichsmarks, which can be offset by precious metals, agricultural products, minerals, and oil; Thirdly, we are required to retreat 400 kilometres back from the existing de facto military demarcation line, to hand over these places, together with the territories already occupied by the Germans, to the Russian Liberation Army and to establish an independent state - as for the land we have lost, the Germans have encouraged us to attack Afghanistan and India, and to obtain land from there to make up for it. ”

After saying this, Molotov cautiously raised his head, for fear that the Supreme Leader would be angry and turn his anger on himself.

As a result, Stalin was silent again, apparently pondering some questions, and after a long time he was heard: "Continue to negotiate with the Bulgarians one more time: the first we can admit - these countries joined the Soviet Union only later anyway; Thirdly, we cannot admit it, and it is proposed that the land of the ethnic Russians be returned to us, and as a concession we may increase the indemnity to 200 billion Reichsmarks, and promise that we will deploy fewer than 1 million troops in the future west of the present front; As for the Russian Liberation Army......"

As soon as he said these words, he immediately put on a hideous countenance, and said in a gritted tone: "We are our enemies, and we will never allow them to appear on Russian soil, didn't Hitler lay a large territory in Africa?" You can move there - if the Germans really like them so much. ”

"Comrade Stalin?" Molotov felt that he could not keep up with the rhythm of the Supreme Leader.

"What, think that I surrendered and wavered and betrayed the party and the country?" Stalin squinted his eyes and cast a glimmer of star, which made the veteran Molotov shudder.

"I didn't mean that, I mean...... Yes......" he stammered several times, but did not complete the words after "yes ......".

"I know what you're thinking." Stalin sighed and put on a pleasant expression, "I also had to do it as a last resort, in my position, I must plan for the long-term interests of the party and the country, do you think Britain and the United States will win the final victory?" ”

"This ......" Molotov hesitated, the question was difficult to answer.

"You can't answer, can you? Actually, I can't answer either. Stalin smiled bitterly, "Whether in terms of production, navy, resources, and population, the Allies are firmly superior to the Germans, but why have they been pressed and beaten?" There must be a reason for this, and that is that we do not have a proper understanding of warfare and a poor use of tactics and strategy. We desperately need a chance to take a breather. If the Germans were to achieve a final victory, it would be much better to make peace now than to be forced to sign an alliance with the city in the future; If the Americans can achieve a final victory, then why should we be afraid of signing such a clause now? At the beginning, Comrade Lenin resolutely signed the "Brest Peace Treaty" with Germany under the tremendous pressure of the whole party, but I did not understand it, and even vehemently opposed it. Now the same situation is before us again, but Comrade Lenin is gone, you say, what should I do? Is it to evade or take over the responsibility? Moreover, the Americans have repeatedly demanded the unconditional surrender of the Germans, don't you think there is a big problem in it? -- This means let's bleed clean! ”

"You are the most outstanding, wisest, and greatest leader recognized by the whole party and the people of the whole country, the most faithful successor of Comrade Lenin, and the only hope for leading us to victory.

Stalin did not answer this remark - he did not know how much he had heard of such sycophants, and was obviously not in the mood to enjoy such blatant flattery at such a time, but after thinking for a moment, he added: "Contact the American ambassador at once, if the United States can persuade Turkey to join the camp of the allies, or at least if Turkey can agree to provide us with the logistics and supplies necessary for the war, I am willing to send at least 500,000 men of a front army into the Middle East to fight, otherwise, I can only ensure that northern Persia is not occupied by the Germans." (To be continued.) )