Alexei. Aleksandrovich. Kuznetsov received a very high standard reception in the Kremlin. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Info Stalin personally greeted him at the door of the Kremlin Building No. 1 and addressed him "dear Alexei" - a title used by Stalin in his personal letters to Kuznetsov during the siege of Leningrad.

At that time Stalin said in a letter: "Dear Alexey, all hope is in you. The Motherland will not forget you! ”

Along with this letter was a pack of Stalin's favorite cigarettes - the only handwritten letter with a gift that Stalin wrote in his lifetime. It can be seen how much Stalin valued this second-in-command of the Leningrad city.

And today with Stalin to greet Kuznetsov are Beria, Pavlov, Zhukov and Abakumov, who is about to go to Leningrad to be responsible for the purge.

After greetings and pleasantries, Stalin took Kuznetsov by the hand and was surrounded by the crowd to a room that was set up as a war room, a large room with a high roof but poor lighting, with a large sand table in the middle.

The sand table shows the military posture around Leningrad, which looks like it is not bad, and the wooden models that symbolize the Soviet division or brigade are densely packed in and around the city of Leningrad. Models of the German army are less numerous, mainly concentrated in the south and southeast of the city of Leningrad and the north of the Pskov region. And in the central part of the Pskov region there are many small models symbolizing the Red Army.

At least from the sand table, the units of the German Army Group North were being attacked by the Leningrad Front and the Kalinin Front of the Soviet Red Army.

"Dear Alexey," said Stalin, who at this time seemed to admire Kuznetsov very much, still using the envious title, "although the Soviet Union was facing an unusually serious situation, the situation around Leningrad was improving...... If there was any place that could be a turning point in the war, I think it would be near Leningrad. He turned around and asked Zhukov and Pavlov, who were standing beside him, "Is that so?" ”

"Yes, around Leningrad is the most promising." Zhukov took up the question and said, "According to the plan drawn up by the Supreme High Command, the Kalinin Front and the Leningrad Front will launch an offensive in late June against the German states of Balticia and the cities of Velikiye Luki and Pskov in the Pskov region, forcing the German troops concentrated south of the city of Leningrad to return to reinforcements, so as to put an end to the threat to Leningrad once and for all." ”

After listening to Zhukov's introduction, Kuznetsov was slightly stunned and asked rhetorically: "The Fourth Leningrad Battle has been postponed to late June?" ”

He had been instructed to start in early June at the latest.

"Postponed," Zhukov replied with a blank face, "this is for our newest and most powerful Joseph. Stalin-type tanks equipped the troops. ”

Zhukov was opposed to the postponement of the Fourth Leningrad Campaign, for which he quarreled with Stalin. In the end, however, he was "convinced" by Stalin to postpone the start of the operation until late June, waiting for at least 200 JS-2 (Stalin Heavy Tank) tanks to equip the troops.

For this heavy tank, Zhukov is very optimistic and thinks that it is a weapon against the German Tiger tank! However, it is a bit rash to delay the launch of a campaign in order to wait for 200 tanks.

After all, the power of the Germans around Leningrad would also have increased due to the delay in time. According to the information currently available, the Germans were mobilizing the Polish Defense Forces to fight against the Soviet Union in order to make up for their own lack of troops.

In addition, France has recently shown full support for the Russian Empress Olga, and it is likely that more troops will be sent to join the attack on the Soviet Union.

"While waiting for the arrival of the JS-2 tanks," Stalin said in a very calm tone, "we must also carry out a small purge of Leningrad, eliminate the latent reactionaries, and reorganize the army there." So that Leningrad once again turned into a strong revolutionary fortress! ”

This is a "small purge" and not a big purge, but the 20,000 reactionaries still have to be arrested. By arresting these people, the loose hearts of the Leningrad people will be cohesive, and all kinds of reactionary ideas will be reined in, which will be very beneficial to the upcoming Fourth Leningrad Campaign.

Before the "Little Purge" could take place, the unreliable units in Leningrad had to be mixed with those transferred from outside - Stalin wanted to transfer these "families of gun-carrying anti-GM elements" out of Leningrad. However, there were no troops to replace them, so they were reorganized.

After the reorganization is completed, the troops will participate in the "small purge" together, and after some rectification, they will be used in future operations to attack fortifications and wars of attrition.

At the same time as the reorganization and purge of the troops, the factories and population in Leningrad must also be evacuated, and the reliable ones will go first, and the unreliable ones will go later, and finally they will always be evacuated to an empty city......

……

"General Secretary, Comrade Bulganin and Comrade Kuznetsov have arrived."

Stalin had just sent off one Kuznetsov, and another Kuznetsov had already arrived with Bulganin, the political commissar of the Atlantic Fleet of the Red Navy.

This Kuznetsov was the People's Commissar of the Red Navy and the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, and at the same time he was the deputy commander of the Atlantic Fleet of the Allied Powers, which was to be rebuilt.

The rebuilding of the Allied Atlantic Fleet was agreed upon at the talks between Stalin and Hopkins. Bulganin would once again join the "American political commissar" McCarthy as political commissar of the Allied Atlantic Fleet, while the commander of the Allied Combined Fleet would be Admiral Stark, the same Admiral Stark who was in the post of Chief of Naval Operations at the time of Pearl Harbor, who was dismissed from his post as Chief of Operations in early 1942 and sent to Iceland to serve as commander of the U.S. Navy's European Command. Successfully commanded the withdrawal of American troops from Europe at the beginning of '43, and then replaced Admiral Ingersoll at the helm of the Atlantic Fleet, and now became the natural choice of the commander of the Allied Atlantic Fleet.

In addition, the chief of staff of the Allied Atlantic Fleet would be Admiral Cunningham, a British (Canadian) Royal Admiral who had been evacuated to Canada - the British government in London, which was now not recognized by the United States and the Soviet Union.

"Comrade General Secretary," said Marshal Kuznetsov, who looked very imposing in a crisp naval uniform (not long ago he was made a marshal), first saluted Stalin and then reported: "The morale of the Atlantic Fleet is very high and ready to strike at any time!" ”

Because the Red Navy's nest was in Leningrad, and now that the city has been lifted, the trapped families and institutions of the Red Navy have moved to Molotovsk, so the morale of the Red Navy has been greatly improved.

And the dispatch of the Atlantic Fleet of the Red Navy means that it can go to the United States...... Comrades still miss life in New York very much.

"It's polar day at the North Pole now, right?" Stalin frowned and asked, "Will the fleet reach New York safely?" ”

"Yes." Kuznetsov replied with a smile, "Admiral Stark of the United States has already developed a plan to mobilize the main forces of the enemy fleet to cover the sorties of the Red Navy. ”

"Oh?" Stalin asked with interest, "How are the Americans going to mobilize the enemy?" ”

"They are ready to protrude from the Caribbean Sea with their main fleet to threaten the Guyana-Europe sea line of communication." Kuznetsov said that "if the situation allows, the Americans are also ready to threaten the Azores." ”

According to Stark's plan, the main force of the Atlantic Fleet will definitely lead to the main force of the European Combined Fleet. However, Halsey will not really engage the main forces of the European Combined Fleet, his purpose is only to contain the opponent and pull the opponent in the direction of the Caribbean as much as possible.

"At the same time," Kuznetsov said, "the Americans will also send several escort carriers and Independence-class light carriers to form a task force and take the Arctic Circle route to meet our fleet's breakthrough through the Danish Strait." ”

After the fall of the British mainland, the United States abandoned its stronghold in Iceland and withdrew all its troops to North America.

The Germans then moved into Iceland, where they deployed JU288 bombers and HE219 fighters, but not in large numbers. Because the waters near Iceland have been very calm since the withdrawal of the Americans, not to mention that the fleets of the United States and the Soviet Union have never been there, and even the submarines of the United States and the Soviet Union have not been seen much, so it is a waste to send too many planes.

Kuznetsov added: "The Americans now have a carrier-based high-altitude fighter that can fight the JU288, which is launched into the sky with catapults and rocket boosters. As long as the JU288 of this kind of aircraft is given to the Germans a few hard blows, our fleet will be able to break through. ”

Stalin nodded, he knew that it was possible to break through by surprise once, but there would never be a second chance!

That is, it is easy for the Atlantic Fleet of the Red Navy to go out, but it is difficult to return to Molotovsk.

However, Stalin still had to let the Atlantic Fleet of the Red Navy attack, because the Americans showed a threat to German hegemony in the Atlantic, which was always more favorable to the Soviet Union's peace.

Although he was threatened by Hopkins and poured cold water by Hitler, peace is still Stalin's current "national policy". Both the activities of the Red Navy fleet in the Atlantic and the upcoming Fourth Leningrad Campaign were aimed at a relatively favorable peace treaty.

Even if this peace treaty does not last for a few years, Stalin is now willing to ask for it. Because in the Ukrainian direction, the USSR faced a crisis that the gods could not save. And the fall of Kharkov, Donetsk and even Kursk now seems to be only a matter of time.

And as soon as these heavy industrial towns are lost, the military industrial strength of the Soviet Union will be greatly reduced, and continuing to fight will only be more disadvantageous...... (To be continued.) )