At the meeting of the CPSU Political Bureau on the war in Outer Mongolia, Beria, chairman of the Soviet Committee for the Suppression of Rebellion, suffered a big secret loss, not only lost his stink and became a laughing stock, but more importantly, he lost points in front of Stalin, which was what Beria feared the most.

If you don't want to try your best to recover the decline, and then in the future, your position in the top echelons of power in the Soviet Union will be greatly damaged, and it will not be a good phenomenon for yourself, Beria is ruthless, and he will hold on to Major General Sergeyev, the commander of the Third Army of the Transcaucasian Military District, and he must muddy the waters, even if he can't pry the commander of the Transcaucasian Military District, General Kulygin, he will take the opportunity to wedge a few nails into it!

Beria shook his spirits, prepared to come to a Jedi counterattack, pulled back the defeat in one fell swoop, stood up, and was just about to agitate the three-inch tongue and make a tirade, but Stalin waved his hand to stop him and said: "Comrade Beria, you sit down first, we don't need to dwell on irrelevant matters, and deviate from the theme of today's meeting, let's return to the main issue, the current situation in the Baikal region makes us have to make a decision, whether to continue to attack the interior of Outer Mongolia, or stop here, and observe Tang Qiuli's reaction?" ”

Beria's face was no longer iron-blue, but pale, and the spirit and spirit of his whole body seemed to have been drained away, and he sat back in his seat in despair, and his brain was briefly blank, "Why, Comrade Stalin, you didn't even give me a chance to confess, why is this happening?" ”

The other members of the political bureau looked at Beria with indifference, and the military generals looked at them with pleasure.

Stalin was a man and a master of political struggle. In Stalin's opinion, the death of a colonel is not worth making a fuss about, and the reason why Beria does not give up is nothing more than this colonel, born in the Cheka system, and loves his subordinates. There was nothing wrong with it, but at a meeting of this size, Beria lacked the big picture for the sake of a colonel who died in battle. Or rather, out of place!

Pour some cold water on him appropriately. Good for Beria himself. And the Chief of the General Staff, Petroshilov, with his own understanding of him, will not embarrass Beria in public, and if Beria does not use the topic to play, the topic of discussion will still revolve around the question of whether to continue to expand the results of the war. In a way, Beria is stirring things up.

Since the General Directorate of Military Intelligence and Beria's Cheka system have confirmed that Tang Qiuli's Outer Mongolian border guard troops. Without a large number of tanks and artillery, as well as other heavy equipment, it is necessary to continue the campaign to recover Outer Mongolia, but it is also necessary to listen to the opinions of the military generals, although their opinions cannot affect their own decisions, but in order to embody democracy, give the members of the Political Bureau a chance to speak, after all, is it a party meeting!

Stalin took a puff of his pipe and said: "I would like to hear the opinion of the General Staff!" ”

Marshal Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff, glanced at Beria, who was lost in his soul, and said in a usual calm tone: "Comrade Stalin, comrades, the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, the military operation in the Soviet-Mongolian border salient, in the Baikal region, has achieved the desired goal, and the two cavalry brigades of the independent division that were originally defending in this area have hastily withdrawn southward, that is, Tang Qiuli is in the Outer Mongolia region and has no ability to resist the attack of our Soviet Red Army for the time being. ”

"Therefore, the General Staff believes that it is very necessary to continue the campaign to recover the Outer Mongolian region before Tang Qiuli arrives with the independent division, but the time for the end of the battle must not be delayed too long, lest the main force of the independent division in China come up with reinforcements and cause the war to fall into an indefinite entanglement situation."

"The tactics adopted should be to concentrate more superior forces and heavy equipment, especially tank and artillery units, as well as the air force, to launch an all-out attack on Outer Mongolia, and at the end of September, to occupy the line from Kulen to Saiyinshanda, at that time, even if the main force of the independent division comes up with reinforcements, we can also take advantage of its favorable terrain conditions on the Saiyinshanda line to establish a solid defensive line and prevent the Chinese army from advancing northward.

The meeting room fell silent for a while, and the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU were carefully thinking about the gains and losses, and Stalin opened his mouth, breaking the calm, "Comrades, just now, Comrade Petroshilov, has put forward a concrete plan, you can express your opinion, my personal opinion is that this plan is realistic and feasible. ”

The Supreme Leader has affirmed the plans of the General Staff, that is, Comrade Stalin already has in his heart the decision to continue to expand the war, and in this case, who still raises objections, and does not agree to the military operation to recover Outer Mongolia, is not he asking for bad luck and being kicked in the head by a donkey?

All the members of the Political Bureau of the CPSU who attended the meeting, including Beria, raised their hands in favor of the plan of the General Staff, and Stalin said: "Okay, the meeting of the Political Bureau has unanimously agreed on the plan of military action for the recovery of Outer Mongolia, then we will hand over the command of this military operation to Comrade Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff, with full responsibility!" ”

After a round of warm applause, Stalin continued: "I still have a personal opinion, at present, it is obviously difficult for the Transcaucasian Military District to meet the needs of continuing to expand the results of the war, therefore, I propose that it is necessary to add three to four mechanized divisions, two tank brigades, and corresponding artillery units to the existing strength, and in addition, in the air force, one or two more fighter divisions can be added to the Transcaucasian Military District to offset the superiority of the independent divisional aviation." ”

"Finally, I set up a command for the campaign to recover the Outer Mongolian region, with Comrade Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff, as commander, Comrade Bessovsky, head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence, as chief of staff, and Comrade Kulykin, commander of the Transcaucasian Military District, rushed to the Baikal region to form a command of the former enemy and take up the post of commander and commissar in order to unify the command of all troops, what is your opinion?"

As usual, there was a round of applause, and Comrade Stalin's mention was unanimously agreed by all the members of the Political Bureau, and after the meeting was dismissed, Stalin left Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, alone, which made Beria jealous.

In the huge office, only Stalin and Molotov were left, Stalin put away at the meeting of the political bureau, confidently posture, and said to Molotov without worry: "Molotov, regarding the campaign to recover Outer Mongolia, my biggest concern is that it will not be able to end in a short period of time, even if Tang Qiuli's main army does not come to reinforce it, it is not easy to end the campaign before the end of September." ”

"Once the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, in the Outer Mongolia region, fall into a protracted war of attrition, we will not have more mobile forces to reinforce them, and once Tang Qiuli's main army reinforces the battlefield of Outer Mongolia, it will be a disaster for Kuregin, back then, we had a great advantage in the Outer Mongolia region, but the final result of the war is difficult for us to accept."

Molotov groaned and said: "Comrade Stalin, I understand your worries, what you are most worried about is not the Outer Mongolia region, but Hitler's Germany from the west, if we invest more troops in the Outer Mongolia battlefield, it will inevitably cause an empty force in the European direction, and Zhukov's Far Eastern Front, confronting the Japanese Kwantung Army, will not be able to get out, once Hitler's Germany attacks us, the Soviet Union will be very dangerous." ”

Stalin nodded, there was a lot of helplessness on his face, if there was no Hitler Germany, this steel knife hanging over the head of the Soviet Union at all times, with the national strength of the Soviet Union, only need to mobilize about 50% of the troops, in the Outer Mongolia region, and Tang Qiuli's troops have a big fight, and they don't care if they fight for two or three years, Stalin has absolute confidence, even if he fights for consumption, he will also consume Tang Qiuli, and he can finally get the Outer Mongolia region.

But not now, the Soviet Union must concentrate about 80 percent of its forces in the European direction to guard against an attack that Hitler's Germany may launch at any time, and the forces that can be used on the battlefield of Outer Mongolia are only the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, and moreover, there is not much time left for the commander of the military district, Kulykin, and he is not allowed to fight a protracted war.

Judging by myself, the time of Germany's attack on the Soviet Union will be a year later, and this is just a theoretical inference, if the German offensive is advanced, the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, unable to complete the plan of the General Staff, occupy the line from Kulen to Saiyinshanda in Outer Mongolia, and the Soviet Red Army, which is busy dealing with the German offensive, will not have any ability to give reinforcements to the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District.

If the end time of the Outer Mongolia Campaign is far away, Tang Qiuli's main army will definitely go all out to reinforce the Outer Mongolian border guards, and at that time, it will be the most dangerous time for the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, and there can only be two endings, one is to be repulsed, but to be surrounded, just like the result of the first Outer Mongolian War.

Although the Soviet Union has the world's largest military power, Stalin still feels that the troops are not enough, in fact, the Soviet Union is now in the ongoing or upcoming battlefield, divided into three places, the most important, in the European direction, although there is no fighting, but it is the direction that Stalin is most worried about.

On another battlefield, on the front line of the Trans-Khingan Mountains in the Far East, a battlefield of confrontation with the Japanese Kwantung Army, Zhukov's Far Eastern Front, with more than 2 million troops, was trapped there for two years, and it was impossible to get out.

If the Soviet Union had been able to mobilize about 40 percent of its troops and throw it into the Trans-Khinganling Battlefield, the Japanese Kwantung Army would not be an opponent, and the Far East would have been recovered long ago, but the biggest worry was that the German army that had swept across the European continent would have more than enough to protect itself and be unable to reinforce other battlefields.

The last battlefield was the one that Stalin could not grasp the most.

(To be continued) (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )