"I agree with Comrade Manturov," Zhukov, who once fought side by side with Manturov, agrees with Manturov: "Judging by the current situation, it is very likely that the Germans are going to attack the Western Front in Belarus and the Northwestern Front in Estonia, and it is an indisputable fact that they are massing forces in the relevant directions. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In recent days, our reconnaissance planes have also repeatedly spotted huge convoys of transports in the German-occupied areas of Belarus and Lithuania, and the warehouses and barracks of Army Group Center are also full of all kinds of strategic materials, obviously preparing for a new large-scale offensive. ”

Timoshenko nodded and agreed: "According to the analysis of the two months of war, the Germans have always taken Moscow as the primary target, followed by Kiev and Leningrad.

Otherwise, they would not have concentrated the main forces of 50 divisions in Army Group Center at the beginning of the war. Their goal had always been clear: to take Moscow and eliminate the great Soviet power.

Therefore, they concentrated their main forces on Army Group Center. And Army Group South, which is in charge of the Ukrainian direction, has not had an advantage in forces since the beginning of the war. ”

"After listening to the analysis of the three comrades, I also began to think that the Germans were going to attack the Western Front and the Northwestern Front, so let's discuss the future deployment." Listening to the analysis of Manturov, Zhukov and Timoshenko, Stalin also began to realize the possibility of the Germans attacking Belarus and Estonia.

Now that the German invasion of Belarus and Estonia was a foregone conclusion, the question of what to do next was how to deal with the German invasion.

"At present, the strength of the Western Front and the Northwestern Front is not enough, and we should transfer more troops and more aircraft from the rear in order to have enough strength to deal with a large-scale attack by the enemy in the future." As commander-in-chief of the north-western direction, Marshal Voroshilov was well aware of the lack of troops in the north-western direction.

But in addition to the strength of the troops, the Estonian North-Western Front also faces an even more significant hidden danger. Only Manturov was aware of this hidden danger among the supreme commanders present, "In addition to increasing our troops, we must also beware of the threat of Estonian nationalists." ”

Stalin cast a puzzled look on Manturov's young face and asked: "Estonian nationalists?" What kind of threat can they pose to us? ”

"Since the liberation of the three Baltic states in our country last year, the nationalists of the three Baltic countries have always taken a hostile attitude towards the great Soviet power.

Those nationalists have been seeking independence and hoping to be free from our rule.

According to some reports of the Political and Propaganda Department of the North-Western Front, when Germany invaded Lithuania and Latvia, the local people not only did not do their part to drive out the German invaders, but also treated the fascists who invaded their homeland as liberators.

They provided a large amount of intelligence to the German invading army, and provided them with information about the terrain of the battlefield, some provided food and other materials to the fascist army, and some even participated in sabotage activities, including the sabotage of the Red Army's communication links, as well as the destruction of warehouses and transport convoys.

These things are all true, and all the circumstances are detailed in some reports of the Political Department of the North-Western Front.

Although the Estonian nationalists are not strong, their numbers are relatively small, their resources are not large, and their organization is not strong, their influence on the situation of the war can be very large.

Every piece of information and bread provided by Estonian nationalists to the fascists could have a major impact on the outcome of the war.

Before these things happen, we should be prepared to deal with these things as they happen.

For example, we can mobilize more radio stations for the Northwest Front, increase the proportion of radio communications, and let radio completely replace wired communications. In this way, it will be very difficult for those saboteurs to cause any damage to our communications.

In addition, if possible, the comrades of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should also take some actions to find out the leaders of the Estonian nationalists, arrest potential saboteurs, and crush all sabotage plots. ”

Stalin nodded and said: "I will call the comrades of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the comrades of the Quartermaster Department of the Red Army, to deal with these matters." So, the question now is, where should we mobilize so many troops to the front lines? ”

"Comrade Stalin," Shaposhnikov, who has always been weak in character and rarely expresses his position, suggested, "we can mobilize the existing forces from the Caucasus, Turkestan and the Far East. At the same time, it is also possible to mobilize those reserves who have received relevant training, form new units, go to the battlefield and participate in the Great Patriotic War! ”

Zhukov added: "Now most of the troops of the Caucasus and Turkestan have been transferred to the front, and only a few dozen divisions deployed in the Far East are available.

Since there is no military action against us on the Japanese side at present, and a peace treaty has been signed between Japan and the Soviet Union, these dozens of Far Eastern divisions can actually be transferred to the front line to participate in the fighting.

These units had already accumulated sufficient combat experience in the operation on the Khalkhin River (Battle of Nomenhan) and were no worse than the troops on the front in terms of combat capabilities. ”

At this time, Molotov, who was also the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, suddenly frowned. "Comrade Zhukov, I also think that we should transfer those dozens of divisions from the Far East to the Western Front in order to cope with the war against Germany.

However, Japan has now concluded an alliance with the German and Italian fascists. If we transfer our troops from the Far East to the western theater, the Japanese may take the opportunity to invade our territory in the Far East and fight with Germany in the east and west, which will be very unfavorable to our war. ”

"The Japanese will not invade the Soviet Union," Manturov said again, "according to the current situation, the Japanese have invested too many troops and consumed too many resources on the battlefield in China. They can no longer devote more troops, no more resources, no more enemies.

They are like people who have stepped into a quagmire, they can only care about escaping from this quagmire, and they can't care about anything other than the quagmire, and the possibility of declaring war on our country is very small. ”

"Vorodya," Voroshilov called out Manturov's nickname, "I know that you have always been more accurate in judging the situation, but for now, we had to be careful. Until there is conclusive evidence that the Japanese army will not invade us, we should not casually transfer the main forces of the Far East.

Of course, the troops of the rest of Siberia, as well as some surplus forces from the Far East, can also be transferred to fight on the Western Front. So far, we have more than forty divisions deployed in the Far East, and we can transfer a few, or even a dozen, of them to fight on the Western Front.

In this way, we can both retain the main forces to deal with the Japanese army and reinforce the battlefield on the Western Front. Of course, the strength of these divisions will not bring any change in the situation on the Western Front, so we need to mobilize more reserves and form new forces to solve these problems. ”