Trotsky's words do represent the inner thoughts of some of the Great Elders, who are very disgusted with the expansion of the old revolution, especially those like Li Xiaofeng, who are still ugly in appearance, and their opinions are even greater.

However, Li Xiaofeng has his own theory: "Iceland and the Faroe Islands are both Danish colonies, and strictly speaking, this is the result of Danish aggression and expansion. The status quo in Iceland and the Faroe Islands is not in keeping with the subjective wishes of the local people. As the representative of the world proletariat, it was the responsibility and obligation of the Soviet Union to liberate Iceland and the Faroe Islands from Danish control in order to advance the cause of the emancipation of the world proletariat. ”

Li Xiaofeng glanced at Trotsky and continued with some pride: "We are not going to expand, but to liberate. Iceland and the Faroe Islands should be independent from Denmark and become independent states capable of determining their own destiny! ”

The corners of Trotsky's mouth twitched, he naturally didn't believe Li Xiaofeng's nonsense, and he could see through at a glance that someone actually wanted to expand in disguise. You don't have to go to Iceland and the Faroe Islands garrison!

However, when Trotsky was about to refute, Li Xiaofeng suddenly added: "Of course, we must also realize that both Iceland and the Faroe Islands are weak, have little ability to defend themselves, and are easily invaded by foreign enemies. Especially at present, when the imperialist bloc is at war and the fascist forces are in the dust, the Soviet Union should act as a protective umbrella for Iceland and the Faroe Islands and provide guarantees for the security of Iceland and the Faroe Islands...... I think a temporary garrison is justified, and when the external threat disappears, the Red Army will withdraw from Iceland and the Faroe Islands on its own initiative. The fate of the two countries will be completely in the hands of the peoples of the two countries! ”

Trotsky was speechless. Anyway, he can't do anything about Li Xiaofeng for the time being. At least there is no good reason to oppose it, and if it is for the sake of opposition, I am afraid that someone will simply push the boat down the river and cancel the land-for-aid program.

After thinking about it, Trotsky thought that it was better to focus on the overall situation first, and that supporting Britain was the most important thing. However, the British were not so happy with the Soviet demands, and immediately after the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, the Royal Navy seized Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Why. It was not the geographical importance of these two islands that controlled them would have locked the northern German access to the Atlantic.

And now, as soon as the Soviet Union opened its mouth, its intentions were naturally self-evident, and the island chain consisting of Great Britain, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland was as effective for Germany as it was for the Red Navy. Even for the USSR, this island chain was even more deadly.

Although Britain regarded Germany as its worst enemy for the time being, the threat of the Soviet Union would not be ignored. In the event of a future confrontation with the Soviet Union on the European continent, Iceland and the Faroe Islands will be of great significance.

Anyway, after a long discussion in the British House of Commons. Nor was it possible to draw a single conclusion, and even the opposing forces prevailed. Until Qiu Fatzi made it clear: "The threat of the Soviet Union is the future, and the threat of Germany is the present." If Nazi Germany cannot be defeated, what is the point of Iceland and the Faroe Islands in our hands? ”

Churchill's words are reasonable, for the British Empire has reached a life-and-death point, and when it comes to having to cut the flesh to save its life, will the skin be attached without hair?

At Churchill's insistence, the British Parliament finally passed a resolution on Iceland and the Faroe Islands: "Iceland and the Faroe Islands will secede from Denmark and become independent sovereign states." Considering the sinister nature of the international situation and the lack of self-defense capabilities of the two countries, protection was temporarily provided by the Soviet garrison. ”

To be honest, this resolution was a bit humiliating for the Danes, the Danish cabinet did not escape as in history, it was killed by the KGB, and there was no legal basis for the British occupation of Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

But what about being ugly? International politics only believes in fists, and whoever has the biggest fist is the uncle. Weak Iceland and the Faroe Islands are completely unqualified to speak, and even the finished Denmark is just a fart.

Even Nazi Germany, which occupied Denmark and was ready to make Denmark a model, did not strongly protest, because Hitler did not want to overstimulate the Soviet Union at this time, and even fantasized about an alliance with the Soviet Union. If it succeeds, what is the Soviet Union's point of swallowing Iceland and the Faroe Islands?

Of course, the most important thing is that after the surrender of France, the mustache is now in a state of confidence, and he does not feel at all that Britain is capable of confronting him, and I am afraid that the conquest of the British Isles is only a matter of time before he sees it. After taking over the British, the German Navy did not have to care about the tiny Iceland and Faroe Islands at all.

So the dirty deal between Britain and the Soviet Union went very smoothly, and the Soviets took Iceland and the Faroe Islands for 50 Type 36A frigates and associated design drawings, 100 marine diesel engines, 100 76.2mm anti-aircraft guns, 1,000 Yak-7,200 SB-2s, and 20 million tons of iron ore.

It should be said that the price is still very affordable, but considering that the British are also generous, this deal is not a particularly loss for the British Empire.

Of course, the British were also dissatisfied with this deal, originally they wanted to get the better performance of the Yak-1 or Yak-3 series, rather than the low-end consumption Yak-7 from the training machine. The Soviet side actually didn't even want to give the Yak-7, after all, although the Yak-7 has limited performance, the pilots generally feel good, and it is more convenient and cheaper to manufacture than the all-metal Yak-3. According to Li Xiaofeng's opinion, simply giving the MiG-1 or MiG-3 to the British can be regarded as waste.

However, after the British pilots tested the MiG-1 and MiG-3, they did not have any good feelings about these two interceptors. After some bargaining, it was finally sold as the Yak-7. Objectively speaking, the performance of the Yak-7 is similar to that of the Bf109E-3, which is still beneficial for relieving the huge pressure in the air battle of Britain.

And because the Yak-7 was born out of a trainer aircraft, training and maneuvering were relatively simple, especially for British pilots with higher flying qualities. It is not difficult to master the flying skills of the Yak-7 in a short time. The only thing that displeased the British was. There was a problem with the engine of the Yak-7. Because of Maozi's limited manufacturing level, the M105P engine has the shortcomings of power loss and easy overheating.

Of course, for the British, who had a very urgent need for fighter jets, these were minor problems, especially since the Soviet Union delivered 1,000 Yak-7s within six months at the urging of Trotsky, and the British could not find fault with anything.

However, such a fast delivery rate is not normal in any way, especially considering that the Yak-7 was only officially put into production in January 1940. Such a delivery speed is exaggerated. In fact, at Trotsky's strong request, all the fighting Yak-7s produced by the Soviet Union were sent to Britain, and even most of the Yak-7 combat models were withdrawn from the active troops, leaving only the trainer-type Yak-7 for training and use in the troops.

Not only the Yak-7, but almost all the materials "aided" to Britain were transferred from the troops, such as the Type 36A frigates, a considerable part of which were orders placed by the Red Army before, but the Red Army's radio stations and some weapons were dismantled.

This was only the first deal between Britain and the Soviet Union, and soon the second deal was on the Politburo's desk, and the British purchased 500 Yak-7s and 400 BT-7 tanks and more than 500 100mm recoilless guns and 122mm howitzers.

These deals rearmed Britain. made an important contribution to the defense of the British Isles. But for the Soviet Union, that was the problem. A considerable part of the weapons that were supposed to be delivered to the troops were intercepted by Trotsky. It affected the preparation of a part of the second-line troops.

For example, the 400 BT-7s mentioned earlier, according to the original establishment table of the Red Army, each infantry division has a tank battalion, although T-34, T-35 and T-54 entered service with the Red Army in advance, but the number is not enough, and can only be provided to tank divisions and mechanized infantry divisions in a limited way, as for other ordinary infantry divisions, they can only use the old BT-5, BT-7 and even T-26 to make do.

As a result, Trotsky transferred this batch of BT-7s away, and directly led a considerable part of the tank battalions of the Red Army infantry divisions to run out of tanks, and according to Tukhachevsky's estimates, at least 15 infantry divisions were affected, and the tank battalions of these infantry divisions became units on paper, and the General Armament Department could only temporarily equip these 15 tank battalions with anti-tank guns and change them to anti-tank battalions.

However, as everyone knows, the Red Army at this time was rapidly expanding, not only the shortage of tanks, but also the shortage of artillery, and the 76.2 mm guns that should have been equipped with these units were also in short supply, and in the end, about 9 anti-tank battalions could only temporarily deal with the old guns or 100 mm recoilless guns of the First World War.

In fact, the Soviet Union's preparations for war were not only a lack of equipment, but also a bunch of strange problems. For example, between 1927 and 1937, the Red Army built a total of 13 fortified districts along the long border between the three Baltic states and Ukraine, each with a width ranging from 48 to 140 kilometers.

On paper, this seems to be a great wall of steel, but everyone understands that the economic conditions of the Soviet Union at that time were actually not good, and the so-called Great Wall of direct guidance zhì was also very shrinking. The vast majority of the fortifications were built to the standard of using machine guns, and only 20% of the combat installations were equipped with artillery, which was really embarrassing.

Worse is yet to come, starting in 1938, when the Red Army began to prepare for war, it was discovered that only six of the previously built Great Wall of Steel had deployed defensive troops, and the rest were basically left unattended.

On May 25, 1940, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR inspected the state of the Kiev fortress area, it was very worried and said to the Central Committee: "The situation is very serious! ”

How grim is it? Let's look down, according to the report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine: "The Kyiv fortress area is an arc-shaped strip with a radius of 100 kilometers, which surrounds Kyiv and meets the Dnieper River at its left and right ends. Of the 257 defenses, only 5 were ready for battle, and the left and right flanks of the fortress were completely defenseless, allowing enemy troops to invade at will. Moreover, 175 of the 257 fortifications did not guarantee the proper firing range due to the poor choice of terrain (built in hills, mountains and forests). The camouflage of the firing point has not been maintained and repaired for a long time, resulting in 75 per cent of the facilities being scrapped and needing to be dismantled and rebuilt. ”

"Another. 140 permanent bunkers with 1930 machine gun shields. The device has a fatal flaw. When firing, there is a high probability that a strict zhòng malfunction will automatically shut down, and the resulting ricochet can kill and injure your own soldiers...... None of the defenses have any optical equipment, and they are rated for compliance by only 2%. According to the investigation, there was no periscope before December 1938. On December 25, 1938, the unit was given 150 periscopes, but the brigade commander Schvikin erroneously instructed to place these valuable equipment on the weir slope next to the warehouse, and the 300,000 rubles worth all the equipment was scrapped...... The fortified area was so lacking in binoculars that the troops used the remaining 18 completely unusable binoculars as emergency combat supplies...... The fortified area lacked the necessary heating equipment. Only four defenses are equipped with steam heating, but none of them are usable. ”

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to a subsequent investigation by the NKVD, the problems of the Ukrainian fortified areas are not just a lack of equipment: "The defense configuration of important areas of the fortified areas is quite bad, tactically it is not up to standard at all, and the depth of effective defense is only about 1 kilometer. 80% of the defensive areas have zài shooting blind spots, and there is no guarantee of shooting boundaries. A 203-mm shell or two or three 47-75 mm howitzers hit the outer wall directly and destroy the defenses. ”

"Only three companies of the 76th Separate Artillery Battalion (an enlarged version of the old artillery regiment) could be mobilized for duty at sunset on 'M1 Day' (the day of the mobilization order) (the average distance between the unit station and the fortified area was 75 km). In addition, the battalion was armed with French-made 155-mm guns without shells. By order of the military district, the shells of this type have already been transferred to the city of Klimenchuk. As a result, the battalion was actually able to mobilize only two companies. ”

"There are a total of 297 design facilities in the fortified area, including 279 permanent pillboxes and 18 covered semi-artillery trenches. However, most of the facilities are being renovated. It caused extreme chaos. The moisture attached to the armament was not wiped and was not maintained with oil. Because of the completely irresponsible way of maintenance. Most of the weapons in the facility have been scrapped due to dust and rust...... The power erection in the facility is chaotic, and normal lighting cannot be guaranteed at all. The AL6-12 and AL12-2 internal combustion generators, which were configured to ensure the internal ventilation and lighting of the semi-artillery trenches, did not have dehumidifying equipment and could not be started...... The guns that were deployed in the defenses in 1932 were not dismantled and cleaned until 1937, and all of them showed signs of rust. Two other guns were mistakenly injected with cooked oil (spindle oil should have been used) and the oil injection holes were blocked, causing the cylinders to explode. Artillery bolts and oil spills also occurred from time to time, and 60 per cent of artillery firing drawstrings were missing. Spare parts for artillery were not stored in the defenses, but in warehouses in the distance. ”

"There is an extreme shortage of artillery professionals in the artillery battalions. For example, none of the commanders of the 40th Independent Artillery Battalion knew artillery technology. The artillery equipped with the battalion was completely not properly used and maintained. In addition, the fortress units have not had cadres responsible for combat training since they were formed. All units have never received systematic education, and the training of soldiers is organized and carried out on the basis of the training program of the combined arms, and the commanders do not know the standard defensive combat skills of the fortress. ”

"To make matters worse, due to design errors, most of the permanent bunkers were not up to standard and could not be stationed with troops. Because of the incorrect estimation of the depth of the groundwater, more than 50% of the combat facilities were flooded with water of 20 to 40 centimeters, the drainage pipes were completely ineffective, there was no electrical equipment in the fortified areas, the humidity in the residential areas was too high, it was very hot, and there was no ventilation equipment, and there was no room for similar equipment! ”

"The logistics of the fortified area was disorganized, and it was not even thought about storing grain warehouses. The construction plan was crude, and most of the combat facilities were located in hills, depressions, or dense forests, and the effective range of most of the weapons ranged from 50 to 100 meters. For example, the permanent blockhouse of Position 3 was built on a soft slope that often landslided, which could not be camouflaged, and caused the artillery in the pillbox to be unable to fire because it was below the surrounding surface. To secure the boundaries of these bunkers, 120,000 cubic metres of earth had to be thoroughly cleared and about 300 hectares of forest and shrub had to be cut down. ”

"Most of the firing ports and gun mounts were intended for the Maxim machine gun, and the new machine gun could not be used. The semi-artillery trenches, which were supposed to be roofed, were not installed with shields and were practically not protected from rain. ”

When the report of the NKVD was placed on the desk of the Politburo elders, an inevitable storm was lifted. The first of these was Dzerzhinsky, and the impartial man in the iron mask was most disgusted by this kind of thing, and to put it mildly, he had zero tolerance for such situations.

"Shocking! It's just shocking! Dzerzhinsky waved the report and said with open teeth: "This is only the situation in Ukraine, and it is conceivable that if the NKVD, the KGB or the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection seriously investigate, the situation may be even more terrible than reflected in the report." Comrades, I just want to know, since 1937, we have been shouting about strengthening national defense construction, and after more than three years of hard work, we have achieved such results? ”

Neither Sverdlov nor Trotsky spoke, the former just bowed his head and read the report silently, while the latter sat comfortably with his eyes closed, and Ruzutak and Ulitsky next to them touched their eyebrows slightly. As for Li Xiaofeng, he is in a state of waiting to see the joke.

In fact, the armament of the fortified area is not very good, I am afraid that except for Dzerzhinsky, everyone knows it in their hearts, but at this time, it is probably said that this layer of window paper was suddenly pierced...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the parasite Schistosomiasis, a piece of snow 1, Admiral Hood, All-you-can-drink a thousand cups of people are not drunk, hzwangdd, Kamen Angel 555 and Comrade Juventus!