"How's the British doing?"

"It's bad...... It was worse than we expected. Beria paused, "Two days ago, on January 13, Rommel continued the offensive with reinforcements, and the Indian troops in the hands of Admiral Wilson were very incompetent, they had lost the Ahvaz oil field group and retreated to Isfahan, the only good news was that the oil field group was destroyed by them. In addition, a German detachment landed in Bandar Abbas, which was occupied with the German Airborne Brigade, and a group of oil tankers were intercepted on the way......"

"Why don't you sink these fools? Even if the port is blocked. ”

"It is full of refined oil, which was rushed out by the British from the Abadan refinery, with a total of about 100,000 tons, and I was going to sneak to India, but I didn't expect to meet the German cruiser formation that came to land on the way." Beria laughed dryly, "Now that Britain's crude oil supply base is all occupied by the Germans, and the shipping routes are blocked by the Japanese, so ......"

"It's a real headache for this supply channel to be cut off......" Stalin sighed, thinking of his supply shortage, and sat down on the sofa in a dejected manner.

In fact, due to the rapid progress of the war in North Africa, the aid channel through Persia began to deteriorate from November, and at first Churchill only appropriated key equipment, and all kinds of materials and raw materials were still available, and when the combined fleet broke through into the Indian Ocean, this channel was completely closed. After November, the Soviet Union received only more than 100 tanks and more than 200 aircraft, and in December, this number fell by more than half. Since last week, there has been a shortage of armor steel for the Red Army, which the Americans promised to help the Soviets fill the shortfall. When he said this, Stalin did not know that the hundreds of thousands of pairs of leather boots and thousands of tons of canned food that were supposed to be given to him had become trophies of war for the Germans.

Due to the threat of the Tiger tank, the grassroots have been calling for a complete shutdown of the T-60 \ T-70 \ KV series production line and making every effort to ensure the production of the T-34, in view of the fact that not only the performance can be considered, but also a certain number, in the end Stalin did not agree to close the T-70 production line, only agreed to shut down the T-60 and KV series production lines (KV-85 is only considered an emergency product), concentrate on the production of T-70 and T-34, and at the same time increase the SU-76 for the sake of combat emergency, The production capacity of the SU-85 tank destroyer.

According to Stalin's requirements, the monthly output of T-34 is not less than 1500 units, the monthly output of T-70 is not less than 500 units, and the monthly output of tank destroyers cannot be less than 500 units, and at the same time, the trial production and improvement of other new models can not be delayed, but in fact, the military industry department tried its best, and the monthly output of T-34 only reached more than 1200, and the monthly output of T-70 barely exceeded 300, even if the production volume of SU-76 \ SU-85 was added, the total number did not exceed 2000. On the one hand, the production of T-34 was expanding and resuming day by day, and on the other hand, there was a shortage of various materials and materials, although every effort was made to make up for it by simplifying the process and lowering the standards, but it still did not reach the target, and in addition to the considerable losses in the Battle of the Don River, by the beginning of January, the number of tanks in the Red Army did not increase significantly. Although the military industry did not say it, Stalin knew it well: the current T-34 and the pre-war T-34 are completely two qualities, and if even American armor steel is not used, I am afraid that the quality and production will be even worse.

At this time, the production volume of the German No. 4 H-type tank has reached 1200 a month, the monthly output of the No. 3 assault gun plus the pursuer is 700, and the T-34 company repair belt in Skoda's hand has steadily exceeded 300 in a month. If we take into account that the late Type 3, which is superior to the T-70, is gradually withdrawing from German equipment, it is easy to understand why the German army can always achieve 1:6 and 1:5 results in armored warfare on the Eastern Front.

"Have you figured out the production volume of the Tiger tank?"

"Our comrades didn't get it, but Britain and the United States had a piece of information that was transferred to us." Beria smirked, "They estimate that the monthly production is between 150-170. ”

"So many?" Stalin was shocked, and then thought of the situation at the front, and although he did not want to believe it, he could only accept this fact.

"Will we have a chance to destroy those factories?"

"It's basically difficult, these factories are heavily guarded and well-defended, and it's very difficult for outsiders to get in. Moreover, there are a large number of false targets around, and the US Air Force has carried out targeted bombing of these factories and supporting factories, and I heard that hundreds of planes have been shot down in a few months, all of them heavy bombers. Beria looked helpless, "Only once did a few bombs hit the target, and the Germans completely repaired it two days later." ”

Air raid!

This was the last thing Stalin wanted to hear, and the General Staff had warned more than once that Baku might be bombed by German planes, and this had become the biggest hidden danger in his mind -- without American armor steel, the T-34s would be less in quantity and less in quality, and without Baku's oil, half of the Soviets' energy sources would be lost.

"I know all the situation you reported, pay close attention to all movements in the direction of Turkey, Persia can be solved by military means, Turkey must rely on political means, now call the two comrades Molotov and Zhukov over."

"Comrade Konstantin, can we launch a massive offensive in Persia and drive the Germans away?" As soon as Zhukov came in, Stalin asked him a difficult question.

Zhukov thought about it carefully and shook his head: "I'm afraid it's difficult. ”

"What do you need? Troops? Equip? Plane? I can transfer all this to you, and the troops on the Don front can also be withdrawn and arranged in this direction. Stalin said anxiously, "Now the Germans are putting knives in our stomachs, and this is even worse than in the direction of Rostov." ”

"Comrade Stalin, you are right in your judgment, but militarily it is really difficult, unless we can get help from Turkey." Zhukov walked to the map and explained to Stalin in detail, "From what I know, the current commander of the German army in the direction of Iraq and Persia is Rommel, and he now has 3 armored divisions and 2 paratrooper brigades under his command - all of them are very flexible and prestigious units, with strong combat effectiveness, and at the same time they are assisted by tens of thousands of Iraqi troops, which means that the German army not only has a reliable rear, but also does not have to worry about its own logistical supplies. Topographically, most of the Middle East west of Persia and currently occupied by the Germans is plains and deserts, which is very conducive to the movement of armored forces, while Transcaucasia and northern Persia, where we are located, are surrounded by mountains - the poor road system means that we cannot put in our forces quickly, and we can only put in light infantry divisions - they will not have too strong offensive capabilities. ”

Facts have proved that Zhukov's judgment was not wrong, although the decision to transfer 150,000 troops into Persia was made a week ago, but so far, apart from the garrison when the British army divided Persia, the vanguard of the Red Army has just passed Tabriz, and it is still more than 500 kilometers away from Tehran and more than 800 kilometers away from the Ahvaz oil fields.

"Is it feasible to attack Mosul first?" Stalin pointed to the Mosul oil complex, 350 kilometers southwest of Tabriz, and asked, "If we can take this place, we will basically be able to achieve our goal." ”

"Very difficult. There are Viking divisions guarded there, maybe an Italian paratrooper brigade and 1-20,000 Iraqi troops, we have to send at least 6-70,000 troops, more than 300 tanks to have hope, and when these troops are in place, the German reinforcements will come again, and now the British and American estimates of the speed of German reinforcements through the Eastern Mediterranean sea are 2 armored divisions or 4 infantry divisions per month. Zhukov smiled bitterly, "We once asked if we could interfere with or delay them, but Britain and the United States said that there was nothing they could do, Malta was now too busy to take care of itself, and the German troops did not have to take the Italian route, but could be transported by sea through Greek ports to Haifa in the eastern Mediterranean - this route was faster and more convenient than sea from Italy." ”

Stalin finally understood why Zhukov had been emphasizing the need for "Turkish help" if Turkey was on his side, and that if Turkey were on his side, he would be able to use planes to bomb the German convoy from Greece, and at the same time he would be able to quickly get the support of dozens or even millions of Turkish troops, who would be able to overwhelm the German army in the direction of Mosul without fighting.

He turned his head and asked Molotov: "What about contacts with Turkey through third-party channels?" What conditions do they need to go to war? ”

The latter shook his head: "Not ideal, the Turks are asking for a lot of money - the north is demanding territory in the Transcaucasus, including our Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the south is demanding the Mosul region." ”

There is no need to ask such conditions, Stalin will certainly not agree, he is a Georgian, could he have woken up and become a Turkish citizen? Of course, Turkey also has a reason, Turkey has lost a large part of its territory in the previous Russo-Turkish wars, and now it is really necessary to find some back.

"What do the Turks want to do? Territorial ambitions for us? Stalin sneered, "They are so self-conscious." ”

"Comrade Stalin, I think that this is actually the meaning of refusing to join us - it is not possible to use the reasons that we cannot refuse." Molotov thought for a moment, "The United States offered $500 million for Turkish neutrality. ”

"Roosevelt was so generous that he would rather spend $500 million than send us more equipment." Stalin stared at Molotov, "Please contact Britain and the United States, and be sure to increase the delivery of us, otherwise the Soviets will not last long." ”

"Besides......," he said, turning to Zhukov, "devise a relatively reliable plan to see where our Persian line of defense would be more appropriate -- to keep Baku anyway." (To be continued.) )