"What remedial plan does the General Staff have for the poor performance of our army in the Winter War?" Stalin spoke slowly, and the pupils of his eyes shone sharply as he looked at Shaposhnikov.

As the de facto chief of the General Staff in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the army, Shaposhnikov was certainly responsible for the current unfavorable fighting on the Northern Front: whether the Soviet army was flawed in tactics, organization, logistics, equipment, or training, he had no reason to dismiss it. As for the deeper reasons for the quality of the officers and soldiers, Stalin consciously ignored them: how could the wise and correct anti-rebellion campaign, which eliminated countless spies and traitors hiding in the ranks of the people, be a great victory comparable to that of the Second October Revolution, and adversely affect the army?

Shaposhnikov looked heavy and said: "Our army has indeed exposed many deficiencies in this war. First of all, there were big problems with the pre-war preparations of our army, and the difficulties of breaking through the Karelian Isthmus in winter were seriously underestimated. And after the setback of the offensive, the officers and men of the front were not able to give full play to the Leninist initiative and adjust themselves, and it was not until you, Comrade Stalin, appointed Comrade Timoshenko as commander that there was a change. In the future, the General Staff Headquarters will carry out an all-round reform of the training of the troops, and plans to enable all personnel to acquire qualified military skills within five years. To do this, we should ......"

The muscles on Stalin's face twitched imperceptibly, and his teeth bit the pipe in his mouth hard. Although these words are talking about strengthening training, the core of the problem is directly directed at the quality of personnel, and this inevitably involves the 40,000 high- and middle-ranking officers who were suppressed in the Great Purge, directly intruding into Stalin's political forbidden zone. Stalin gritted his teeth: Could it be that the Red Army, which had been perfect in all respects before, was it because of the anti-rebellion campaign he initiated that it had ruined the army to the corrupt appearance it has today, which even the Finns could not defeat?

However, despite his great anger, Stalin had to force a look of attentive listening and agree. Because Shaposhnikov's follow-up analysis was rigorous and clear, and no loopholes could be found in all aspects, if Stalin rashly flipped the table and rioted, it would be tantamount to changing direction and admitting that this issue was related to him, and then it would be difficult to maintain the absolute correctness of the law of the Great Purge. It is true that Stalin is also aware at the moment that the purge of too many officers has affected the combat effectiveness of the Red Army to a considerable extent, but this must not be put on the table!

In addition to absolving himself of responsibility for the purge, Stalin's reason for suppressing his anger was that he understood that Shaposhnikov was talking about the facts, and did not have the slightest intention of insinuating against himself - those who had the courage to do so back then have long since become the guns of the internal affairs personnel. Today, when Stalin's words can decide the life and death of anyone in the Soviet Union, Shaposhnikov does not dare to act disobediently with ten dares.

Not to mention that there were not many capable and loyal generals like Shaposhnikov in the entire Red Army. After all, the Soviet Red Army was different from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in that it undertook important external functions, and while there were lackeys like Voroshilov, it also needed real personnel to support and assist them.

Shaposhnikov did not realize that he had already walked on the ghost gate, and continued: "According to the test of actual combat in winter, the new divisions of our army in 1939 have excellent combat capabilities, but their number is too small to support the backbone of the Red Army. I therefore recommend that the National Defense Council need to allocate more funds to the Army for the formation of 100 new infantry divisions. In this way, the strength of the Red Army will surely make a great stride. In the end, Shaposhnikov looked at Stalin with a little more anticipation and eagerness.

Stalin was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses, and a look of embarrassment and groaning appeared on his face. This time, Shaposhnikov made clear to him the unfinished implication: The insufficient funds received by the army in recent years have obviously affected the reorganization of the standing forces, and the current invasion of Finland is unfavorable. In the face of the German bandits on the eyes of the West, the Red Army urgently needed to reinvent its forces to deter a strong enemy, and in order to achieve this, it was necessary to invest sufficient financial and human resources.

However, the Soviet Ministry of Finance has not been able to come up with more money this year to meet the army's demands. In addition to the fact that the Winter War dragged on for a long time and consumed billions of rubles, the more important reason was that the Soviet Union passed the plan for the construction of the Ocean Fleet the year before last, and invested a huge amount of money in the bottomless pit of large-scale construction.

With Germany breaking through the limits of the Treaty of Versailles in 1935 and Japan and Italy refusing to sign the Second London Naval Treaty the following year, a new race to build ships began around the world. As the public enemy of the Western world, the Soviet Union obviously could not continue to lie high in this situation of imminent rain, and soon, a shipbuilding plan that was even more exaggerated than the German Navy's Z plan was put on Stalin's desk.

According to the plan of the Soviet Navy, they were to build eight 35,000-ton battleships and as many as 18 26,000-ton large cruisers by 1943, which was more than the total tonnage of the capital ships actually started by Britain, Germany, France, and Italy during the same period. A few months later, the Soviet Navy enlarged the displacement of the planned battleships to 57,000 tons, and the Red Navy wanted to spread its wings like Kunpeng, surpass Britain and catch up with the United States within six years, and dominate the blue ocean from then on.

Although the Soviet shipbuilding industry in this plane is much stronger than in history, and it can assemble 30,000-ton large battleships on its own with the import of key components such as steam turbines, anyone with a little common sense can see that this plan is still far beyond the scope of Soviet industry and finance. First of all, the number of slipways in the Soviet Union could not meet the construction of such large warships, and other problems such as steel, shipbuilders, logistics support, seafarer training, and so on were even more smeared.

In fact, this plan was entirely the product of "political correctness" thrown out by the Soviet Navy in the context of the "Great Purge" era to please Stalin. As long as the supreme leader is coaxed and shows his revolutionary fervor and unfledged loyalty, then the blue hats of the Ministry of the Interior may let themselves go and save their family from the tragedy of family ruin.

Stalin showed great enthusiasm for this fantastic project. He originally had an almost fanatical love for large warships, and in the past few years he has single-handedly promoted the renewal and development of the Soviet fleet. In Stalin's view, the majestic capital ship was an excellent symbol of the Soviets' national prestige to the world, which could terrify the imperialist robbers. Therefore, the Soviet Union's building of a large fleet under the new situation is the trend of the times, and it is the core mission that needs to be ranked in the first place in national defense construction.

As soon as the dictator with absolute power speaks, the people below can only carry it out. No one dared to be passive on the project on which Comrade Stalin was focused, and thus ended up being accused of being a spy and being arrested and shot. After painstaking efforts from all sides, the Zenith satellite released by the Soviet Navy was finally implemented in July 1938: the State Defense Committee approved the construction of six battleships and two large cruisers, two of which were to be built at the Nikolaev shipyard on the Black Sea.

Rao is that the Soviet Defense Committee has already cut more than half of the plans for the Navy, and the actual implementation still drains the vitality and blood of Soviet industry. The standard displacement of the new battleship is as high as 60,000 tons, which is not far behind the Yamato class, and the volume of large cruisers has also surged to 33,000 tons, which is completely at the level of the Nagato and Nelson classes. The astonishing demand for special steel and industrial raw materials by these eight behemoths directly overwhelmed countless factories in the Soviet Union. In order to maintain the progress of the shipbuilding project, the production tasks belonging to the army have been put on hold one after another, and the various equipment necessary for the formation of a new infantry division is naturally impossible to talk about.

"The new KV tank of our army has also played a huge role in the last two months of fighting. None of the KVs were penetrated by anti-tank guns, and it even had a battlefield record of firing an Italian 47-mm armor-piercing shell with a side armor at a distance of 50 meters. Similarly, the number of 47-ton tanks of this type is very scarce, less than 30 units have been produced at present, and our army now has a shortfall of at least 3,000 units. Shaposhnikov added again.

Stalin smoked his pipe silently, and several thoughts quickly turned in his mind. In normal times, he would never have allowed his Grand Fleet plan to make way for other projects, because this was not only his long-cherished wish for many years, but also the most perfect embodiment of his leader's authority and achievements. If the splendid spectacle of the Grand Fleet of the Soviet Union were to be built, the whole Soviet Union would be completely subjugated to its light: one would only have to look at these visually striking majestic ships and think that they were created by the genius of the "Great Father" on the basis of poverty and whiteness, and this influence is more powerful than any propaganda slogan!

Now, however, seeing the army's poor performance in the invasion of Finland, Stalin had to consider a choice between spectacle and military construction. The 60,000-ton giant ship cannot be built in more than five years, but the improvement of the army's combat capability can produce immediate results. Despite his extreme reluctance, Stalin's reason prevailed over impulse. As long as Soviet power can last forever, the day will come when the red flag will fly high in the ocean.

"I am going to propose at tomorrow's meeting of the Supreme Council that the four battleships with the lowest degree of completion be stopped and dismantled, and that resources and manpower be diverted to other uses." Stalin spoke calmly, causing Shaposhnikov to cheer excitedly. He stared at the chief of the general staff in front of him and said, "Please take more care about the work of army rearmament." This is the trust and trust entrusted to you by the motherland and the people. ”