Chapter 1783 Echo from Moscow (Part 1)

Beria has a habit, a habit he has developed for a long time.

Every time he made a report to Comrade Stalin, he would first observe Comrade Stalin's face and expression. Even if some things must be reported truthfully, the way to say it must be determined based on Comrade Stalin's expression. Different ways of speaking will achieve different results. Even if the narrative facts remain unchanged, this is inevitable.

Judging from Comrade Stalin's expression today, the supreme leader is obviously in a very good mood. It can even be said that he is smiling and happy when he sees others.

Of course Beria knew why. In fact, he came here just for this matter. The report that Stalin asked him to do specifically had already compiled the information.

"I think you brought news worth celebrating, Beria, am I right?"

Since entering the wartime state, Comrade Stalin rarely joked with others, even the people in the core team around him. Beria has forgotten the last time Comrade Stalin took the initiative to laugh with him like he did today. Since when is it a joke?

While keeping Comrade Stalin's every word, deed, and demeanor in mind, he also blurted out the appropriate answers.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, our intelligence network in Berlin has sent back the latest news, which can be believed to be reliable enough. There are a total of two good news compiled, one on the front and one about Berlin. , which one do you want to listen to first?”

"Oh? Two?"

Needless to say, just by looking at Comrade Stalin's interested look, we knew that the Supreme Leader was interested. After thinking for a while, he immediately spoke out his answer.

"Then let's talk about the frontline first. I care more about the battle on the frontline. For us, this is the most important. The internal fighting within the enemy is continuous, so we can talk about it slowly first."

Whatever Stalin wanted to hear, he would say it first. Beria had already thought about it before entering the office, and of course that was what he was doing now.

"Model, commander of the enemy's Army Group Center, is in big trouble, Comrade Stalin. The huge defeat on the front line has caused him to almost lose trust with Hitler. We have sufficient evidence to show that this has a lot to do with the annihilation of the Grossdeutschland Division. relation."

While giving the first explanation, Beria also took out a report that he had personally prepared from his briefcase and handed it to Stalin on his own initiative, so that Stalin could listen to his report and combine it with the written text to understand it more thoroughly and in detail. .

"Hitler became furious because of this. Our intelligence personnel were unable to access the specific content of the meeting, but it is said that the curse was so loud that even the guards in the corridor outside the door could hear clearly. Most people were driven out of the office, leaving only The next few people were scolded and spat on, and almost all the dirty words were used.”

"Although this kind of thing happened often after 43 years, this time is different. The level of anger is far greater than anything we have known in the past. Of course, this may also be due to the accumulation of assassinations that followed immediately. It is not uncommon in our intelligence work to find a suitable outlet for negative emotions."

The loving comrade, who was reading the report while listening to the explanation, was very interested. After flipping through the last page, he immediately replied to Beria.

"So, the enemy's Central Army Group may change its commander again? Have you found any specific information about this?"

Comrade Stalin's analysis was correct, but the subsequent development of the truth was slightly deviated from this. Beria had enough knowledge and understanding to give an answer that shook his head slowly.

"If Hitler had ever had such an idea, it must have been suppressed by now."

"It is not a wise choice to suddenly change the commander when the war is about to begin. The senior Wehrmacht officials in Berlin tried to make him understand all this, and it seemed to work after the rage. Model has one last chance. This is described in the intelligence available to him, But we don’t know what “last chance” actually means.”

"The only thing that is certain is that the distrust between each other and the random interference in command on the front line have become more serious. Model may make many seemingly incomprehensible actions in the next battle, just like this time the enemy The sudden change in strategic direction puzzles us.”

"This is just a probabilistic incident. It depends on how the enemy handles it. We will continue to pay attention to this matter. Comrade Stalin, I have ordered this to be listed as the top priority of the intelligence system. Once We will report the latest situation to you immediately. At the same time, our troops must also be prepared to adapt to changes. Any situation may occur in the next battle. These are two completely different commanders appearing in the same unit. The inevitable result of a violent collision in the army."

Beria has found out that the reason for Model's abnormal behavior and seemingly "anti-intellectual behavior" in this battle was due to the interference of Berlin's top brains in the specific strategic and tactical planning of the front line. As a result, this report was submitted to Stalin yesterday and was learned immediately.

But this fact is not the most important. The most important thing is that Stalin was simply amused by the way the top brass of the Wehrmacht carried out orders.

They knew that the order had serious problems and was actually unexecutable, but no one dared to make it clear in front of the head of state. Everyone looked at me with big eyes and looked at you.

In the office of the Prime Minister's Office, Xu Shu entered Cao Ying without saying a word, and the head of state did whatever he said, as if there were no problems in the execution of the order and would be implemented 100%, at least this was the illusion it created for the head of state.

But when the order is implemented from top to bottom, the real situation is not like this.

Starting from the level of the German Army Headquarters and General Staff Headquarters, it is actually clear to what extent the situation on the frontline has deteriorated. It is simply impossible for the highest order to be faithfully implemented. From an objective reality perspective, it is impossible to do it in the first place. However, no one dares not to execute the order and do nothing. So what should we do?

Simple, let's modify the order and execute it to the best of our ability and the actual situation on the front line. In this way, not only can you have a clear conscience about your identity and honor as a soldier, but you can also do your best in actual work, right? It's like killing two birds with one stone, killing two birds with one stone. Bless my great Germany to be invincible in the world!

Therefore, the order Model received was actually a modified order after being transferred to another hand.

Does Model know about this? Of course he knows that given his status.

But this guy also had a "very tacit understanding" with the German Army Headquarters and the General Staff Headquarters. I would do whatever you asked me to do, and I would pretend to be confused and not question or confirm the authenticity of the order. Anyway, even if a real order falls into my hands, I can't do it. I might as well take the order that I can do and try my best to do the best.

As for what the so-called "best" is, Model himself has no idea. He can only say that he does his best and listens to fate.