On the evening of 3 June, after two consecutive days of consultations and communication, Molotov and Ribbentrop finally communicated and exchanged views on the main articles and reached a consensus -- not agree, of course, but that the two sides understood the same connotation and essence of the issue and avoided unnecessary arguing. He then returned to Moscow without stopping www.biquge.info and immediately saw Stalin in a hurry.

Over the past 48 hours, the fighting on the front lines has continued to deteriorate:

On the Uralsk side, the vanguard of the German Weix cluster defeated Malinovsky's vanguard, and the follow-up army continued to advance, forming an encirclement of Uralsk, and the city was still in the hands of the Red Army, but everyone thought that it would not last for 2 days, even if it survived, it was useless, the Germans blocked the road here, and the gains and losses of a city did not change the gains and losses of the entire supply line;

On the Transcaucasian side, the German army continued to attack, and also released a division of airborne troops in the early hours of yesterday morning, leaving the Red Army behind the enemy and almost collapsed.

The two fronts of Vatutin and Rokossovsky were besieged by the three-way army, and the German army almost built an encirclement around Stalingrad, of course, this encirclement has not been sealed, but the situation is very critical, there are less than 500,000 troops in the encirclement, but there are more than 900,000 German troops on the periphery;

Yeremenko, reinforced by Chernyakhovsky, was barely able to hold the Astrakhan front, but his ties with Stalingrad were largely severed.

In two days, the Red Army lost at least 150,000 troops -- in fact, many of them were lost two days ago, and it is impossible to count them today, and now the total strength of the Red Army on the entire southern flank has dropped to only 1,500,000 (excluding the 350,000 troops in Central Asia), and the basic distribution is: 500,000 in Stalingrad, more than 600,000 in Astrakhan, 150,000 in Atyrau and near the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, more than 100,000 on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, about 200,000 in Uralsk, and the remnants of the Transcaucasian may be less than 30,000;

The number of the Axis Army was nearly 2.2 million, and the basic distribution was: more than 900,000 in Stalingrad, 450,000 in Uralsk, more than 300,000 in Transcaucasia (including more than 100,000 Iranian troops), and nearly 500,000 on the Astrakhan front.

Looking at the rhythm of the blue flags stretching out in all directions and the red flags shrinking into a ball on the map, Molotov only felt his scalp tingle.

When he heard that Zhukov, Rokossovsky and Vatutin led the remnants of the defeated army to trap the isolated city of Stalingrad, his eyes were even more wide-eyed: in the minds of the Germans, these few are still good Soviet generals, if they are buried in Stalingrad, what will happen in the future?

Especially when he heard that there were at least 10-15 days left for the rescue of the Three Front armies organized by Tolbukhin, Molotov couldn't help but shout: "Danger! ”

As soon as this voice was interrupted, Stalin realized that Molotov was coming, so he reluctantly nodded and said: "You have come back just in time, Comrade Vasilevsky is deploying the defense of Stalingrad." ”

"Do you think it is possible to hold out until our troops arrive?"

"You can hold out until this point, but it won't change the tide of the war." Vasilevsky gently pushed the whip, "The Germans encircling Stalingrad do not have so many troops, as long as there are 50-600,000 troops is enough, and the remaining 30-400,000 are used to maneuver on the periphery, and then at this time, the enemy troops in Transcaucasia will also swarm, plus the Kleist cluster near Astrakhan, the enemy army still has 60-700,000 mobile troops, not to mention that the reinforcements of the front army will first rush through the interception of the two armored armies of Army Group Center." ”

"No, there may be more than that." Molotov shouted anxiously.

"Huh?"

"The Battle of Iceland is over, Britain is negotiating surrender, and it is reported that more than 90% of the terms have been agreed with Germany, and the German forces deployed in Western Europe will reach the Eastern Front further."

"Is this possible?"

Antonov, Deputy Chief of Staff, added: "It is indeed possible that our diplomats in London have sent information that the Germans have suddenly ceased large-scale air raids on Britain, and they suspect that this part of the air force is no less than 5,000 aircraft, which is a harbinger of an imminent peace between Britain and Germany." ”

Stalin's brows furrowed tightly, of course he understood the opinion of the two chiefs of staff, even if the front army to relieve the siege arrived, it would not be able to withstand the continuous flow of German troops, and unless he abandoned Moscow, he could no longer take out additional troops to reinforce the Stalingrad direction, and Moscow itself would be at risk of being surrounded.

Instead of continuing to express his opinion on military issues, he asked Molotov: "How are the negotiations?" How high is the Germans asking price? ”

Molotov immediately recounted the main clauses, and the crowd fell silent, and their hearts were very heavy.

The terms are, of course, very harsh, but some are not unacceptable.

For example, 2 million troops, Vasilevsky privately reported that he needed 2.5 million to 3 million troops, although now there are only 2 million, but I heard that Vlasov's army is only limited to about 1 million, and the Germans garrison 1 million, so that 2 million troops are generally enough, and it is not difficult to use the internal police and Red Guards to arm 500,000;

Although 300 million tons of crude oil is a large number, it was put before the war, that is, the production of the Soviet Union in 8 years, not to mention that the Germans agreed to pay it in 20 years, and this compensation demand is in a sense lower than Stalin's expectations;

The EU and the United Nations are not important in Stalin's view, and international treaties are just scrap paper in Stalin's eyes, as long as they have strength, they can do anything;

The juxtaposition of East and West and Russia was something he agreed to at the beginning, and it is nothing more than that it has now been further clarified and solidified.

The only problem is the national border - not only the entire national border will have to retreat to the east of the Ural Mountains, but also the large territory of Central Asia will not be maintained, which makes everyone feel a little uncomfortable, but it seems a little unreasonable to go to war for this line. At the end of the day, it's completely impossible to do now.

Vasilevsky wanted to speak, but Stalin opened his mouth first: "How can the Germans be willing to cease fire on the spot first?" ”

"Give Moscow or Stalingrad in its entirety, all the Caucasian troops to the north of the Volga, when will the retreat be completed, when will there be a ceasefire, and the Germans will guarantee not to fire at the retreating troops during the retreat."

"Comrade Vasilevsky, what do you see?"

"This ...... It depends on the party's determination. Vasilevsky sighed, "From a purely military point of view, the retreat from Stalingrad cannot change the strategic situation, but can only effectively preserve these more than 1 million troops; If the war is to continue, these more than 1 million troops are indispensable; Of course, staying in Stalingrad we may be able to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, but in the end we will inevitably retreat. ”

Stalin pondered for a moment and gave two more important orders: "First, Comrade Tolbukhin's front does not have to move south from Moscow; Second, the Stalingrad issue and the terms of peace talks await a decision at this evening's Politburo meeting. After saying that, he left the General Staff, and in the process just now, Molotov kept hinting at him with his eyes, he has been an old partner for so many years, and he understands this tacit understanding.

When there was no one around, Molotov reported the situation and his personal judgment to Stalin, and then whispered: "Ribbentrop revealed an unconfirmed information that Yakov was in a prisoner of war camp, and he also gave him a few pictures, and then he also said that he could be released early." ”

Stalin looked at the photo, the corners of his eyes twitched a little, but quickly suppressed this emotion: "How did Comrade Yakov get captured?" Is there any other eyewitness corroboration? Did he betray the country and the party after he was captured? Do you have any thoughts of wavering? ”

"This ...... Probably not. ”

"We must carefully corroborate the evidence, and we must not let go of any clues." Stalin sighed, "At such a critical moment as the negotiations, the Germans suddenly came to this hand, and it is difficult not to think of any conspiracy." ”

"So, why don't you let him come back first? The Germans did not have any additional conditions. ”

"No way!" Stalin waved his hand and said in a fierce voice, "It is true that he is my son, but he does not have the privilege of being above others, and there is no reason to quietly return at such a moment." If we do this, what will other cadres and the masses think of us? I'd rather the Germans release a couple of commander comrades back first. We must have an overall situation and a strategic height, and we must be able to sacrifice for the revolution and the party's cause, and we cannot sacrifice ourselves as soon as a practical problem falls on our heads, and I am not so fragile! ”

"Yes, that's what you're criticizing." Molotov accepted the criticism sincerely, without the slightest expression of displeasure on his face.

He raised the question of how Comrade Stalin should deal with and think about it was his business, and criticizing himself for specialization was of course just, but he did not regret the proposal, because this was the only correct way to deal with it, otherwise in the future Yakov would come back, and he would not know how Stalin would hate himself. He knew that Comrade Stalin had always spared no effort to cultivate the eldest son, and the reason why he was captured was also the result of being put in the army for training, and the second son Vasily was a playboy, although he held the title of ace pilot, but those who knew the inside story understood that this identity was actually very watery. Although the youngest daughter Svetlana was a favorite of thousands of people, she always worked against Stalin, and it is said that she was also obsessed with the 40-year-old film director, which greatly annoyed Stalin, but the political and military situation was too tense for him to spare more time to pay attention to this. If you want to talk about a successor, there is no doubt that Yakov is the most suitable.

At the Politburo meeting, Molotov elaborated on the main articles one by one, and re-explained the amendments he proposed and the objections raised by the other side.

After his debriefing, everyone fell silent, and the room was eerily quiet......