I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 2

“According to the reports from our intelligence network, the fascist army is divided into three army groups. These army groups, which control the north, the center, and the south, each have one or two field army-sized mobile groups under their command. They are currently breaking through the front lines and encircling and annihilating our forces.”

Of course, this is not the knowledge I got from the intelligence network. 

As a military geek and a war game maniac, I should be able to recite the German army’s organization during Operation Barbarossa. 

I could write down the German army’s structure on the map on the conference table right now.

The generals in the conference room looked at me with shocked eyes. 

Did they think they were caught praying for some kind of rebellion? 

They thought I was stunned by the shock, but I had already prepared all the operational plans! 

Ah, how can I not praise Comrade Secretary-General?

‘I’ also felt a kind of orgasm. 

I’m just a person from the future, but they are people who proved their abilities from nothing and climbed up to this position. 

There were some people who were famous for being incompetent, like Voroshilov or Budenny. 

Anyway, these are the legendary generals of the Soviet Union who made history and they are looking at me so amazingly!

“They easily encircle and annihilate our forces with their superior mobile forces, but we have three weapons to counter them.”

I got up and started a speech. 

If Stalin’s body was a little taller, I could have looked down on them, but he was not a complete hobbit, so I could look down on the sitting people. 

The generals looked at me with awe.

“General Zhukov! Do you know?”

“I have no idea, Comrade Secretary-General. Please enlighten me.”

Wow… Zhukov, the best general of the Soviet army, looked up at me with respect and bowed his head. 

Ah, I’m drunk!

“The first is space. The fascists can cover our motherland’s vast land with their mechanized forces. But someday they will run out of fuel and supplies and have to stop. Right now they are close to the railway and the border, so they can run around freely, but the deeper they come in, the harder their supplies will be and our forces will be concentrated on the front line. We will crush them when they have no choice but to stop!”

I slammed the desk with force as I said the word crush, and all the people were startled and sat up straight. 

Some of them nodded their heads with all their strength to show their agreement, and some others seemed to think deeply.

I also enjoyed their reactions that I knew well. 

Voroshilov, a typical yes-man, just nodded his head without thinking. 

On the other hand, the generals, if I had to name them, Zhukov or Konev were surprised but also deeply pondered over what I claimed.

“The second factor is time. It’s the middle of summer right now. The weather is sunny, which allows them to advance easily. But they have limited time. In 20 weeks, at most, the days will get colder and the rain will fall. When Rasputitsa comes, they will be isolated in enemy territory. On the other hand, we can supply ourselves as much as we want with the railways we have already laid.”

I knew the lessons of the toxic wars well. Countless European monarchs had invaded Russia. 

Conquerors like Napoleon and Hitler had underestimated Russia. 

But Russia’s territory was much wider than they thought, the roads were worse, and the winter was colder.

“The third factor is… numbers, I suppose. Our population is three times larger than those of the fascists. Right now, they have mobilized four million troops, and we have deployed less than three million on the front line. So we are outnumbered for now. But we can recruit more troops than them, and soon they will drown in the wave of the people!”

As I finished my speech, applause erupted. 

Some even stood up and clapped enthusiastically. 

Others nodded their heads and gave generous applause. 

It was time to show them the power of a future military nerd.

A huge map showing the enemy’s deployment was plastered on the wall of the conference room. 

The map was filled with military symbols showing the positions of the enemy and our forces.

The Nazi German army had designated three places as their primary targets and attacked them fiercely.

First, the northern army group was heading to Leningrad, the former capital, the heart of the revolution and industry. 

The central army group was heading to Moscow, the obvious capital. 

And the southern army group was heading to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

I called out one by one the arrangements I had made in my mind, like a maestro conducting an orchestra.

The first one to mention among the Soviet generals…

“General Zhukov!”

Zhukov, who seemed to be chewing on my words or deep in thought, answered loudly and sprang to his feet. 

You’ll have to work hard for me. 

There aren’t many people as competent as you.

“Comrade Zhukov, you are now assigned as the commander of the Southern Front Army from the former Odessa Military District. At the same time, you will also serve as the commander of the Southern Military District and take control of the Kiev Military District-Southwestern Front Army as well. You will be responsible for all the forces south of Pripyat Marshes.”

“Yes! I understand!”

In history, it was Budenny who took this position. 

Despite his experience as a cavalry commander during the Red-White Civil War, Budenny suffered a terrible defeat and ruined the front line. 

He was not ignorant of mobile warfare, but Stalin’s order to stand firm led to a disaster.

Zhukov, who had been the commander of the Kiev Military District (or the Southwestern Front Army), was the best choice to command the southern front.

Kirponos, who was not here but had died defending Kiev, was also one of the most competent high-ranking commanders in the early stages of the toxic war. 

He would do his part.

“Our goal in the southern district is to minimize the damage and defend Kiev and Sevastopol. But if you think you will be surrounded, you can give them up. There is no need to waste our people’s lives on stubborn local defense.”

One of Stalin’s biggest trolling, the order to defend Kiev. 

Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Group was moving south to encircle Kiev, but Stalin insisted on holding the position until the end.

As a result, 600,000 troops were trapped, the Kiev Design Bureau was lost, and Kirponos was killed. 

The German army that poured through the gap pushed all the way to Kharkov and occupied all of Ukraine.

We must not repeat this mistake. 

We have to protect Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and Sevastopol, the base of the Black Sea Fleet, but we can’t afford to cram hundreds of thousands of troops there. 

I hoped Zhukov would handle it well, but I couldn’t help worrying.

“I will appoint General Pavlov as the commander of the Western Front Army. The responsibility for this defeat can be postponed until the situation is settled. The Western Front Army will delay as much as possible in Smolensk and prevent the enemy from advancing rapidly to Moscow. You can retreat from Minsk without being surrounded and leave only a minimum of defense forces.”

The most powerful group army of Germany, the Central Army Group, had already passed Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and was advancing. 

A few of our troops were fighting desperately in Minsk, but the German armored units passed them by and stormed into Soviet territory.

Their destination was Smolensk, the gateway to the center. 

It was a large city that had to be passed to get to Moscow. 

Smolensk, which had burned during Napoleon’s time, was now destined to stop the German army.

“I will rename the Orel Military District as the Bryansk Front. The commander is… General Eremenko!”

There was a huge swamp between the center and the south, Pripyat Marshes. 

This area was difficult to maneuver, so the German army did not enter it, but we couldn’t just leave it open.

The Dnieper River flowed through Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, so we could fight a defensive battle along this river. 

We didn’t need to allocate too many resources there.

“I will promote Lieutenant General Konev to General and appoint him as the commander of the Northern Front Army. I will also promote Lieutenant General Bagramyan to General and appoint him as the commander of the Northwestern Front Army.”

Konev and Bagramyan were young. 

When I said they would skip a rank and be promoted to generals by two grades, many people’s eyes widened. 

They might think that field army commanders were high enough… But they did well enough in history.

I had some trouble choosing the commanders. 

I excluded those who were clearly incompetent at leading large armies, such as Borosilov, Budenny, who ruined the south due to Stalin’s order to hold the ground, and Timoshenko, who was in charge of the disastrous battles of Minsk and Smolensk, despite their rank of marshal.

I also excluded those who were less famous but still caused a lot of trouble, such as Kulik, who blocked the introduction of the T-34 and other modern weapons, and Popov, who led to the defeat of the Kharkov defense. 

There were no good generals left.

The situation would improve in the mid-war, when some people would rise to prominence and rank by their achievements, but the early-war Soviet high command was a joke compared to the German level.

I had to promote those who would make a name for themselves later by one or two ranks and hope for the best.

Zhukov was already famous for his victory at Khalkhin Gol, but I also had to nurture some less known but promising generals, such as Ivan Konev, Nikolai Vatutin, Rodion Malinovsky, Fyodor Tolbukhin, and Pavel Rotmistrov.

“Finally, I appoint Marshal Shaposhnikov as the chief of staff and Colonel Basilievsky as the deputy chief of staff. The chief of staff will supervise the general staff to deploy as many troops as possible to the frontlines and coordinate the new units to the necessary sectors.”

Shaposhnikov would retire in 1942 due to his poor health. 

I planned to appoint Basilievsky as the chief of staff then. 

He was a competent officer in real history, so I decided to follow his example.

“I said it was the last one, but one more thing… Marshal Kulik!”

I had not appointed the supreme commander yet. 

Kulik rose from his seat with a smile full of anticipation. 

He looked around the audience with a smug expression and answered.

“Yes! Comrade Secretary!”

“Execute him!”

As I shouted, NKVD agents stormed into the conference room. 

Everyone froze in shock. 

Kulik was dragged out while screaming and begging for mercy. 

Three gunshots were heard outside. Kulik’s screams stopped.

The conference room was silent as if it was filled with ice water.

I grinned and a man walked out from the middle of the room. 

He held a briar pipe that ‘I’ liked. 

He came closer and lit my pipe. 

Then he announced in a cheerful and loud voice.

“Marshal Kulik… well, he is not a marshal anymore. Kulik betrayed our union and sold our internal information to the enemy. He revealed the deployment and weaknesses of our western front army. He also leaked our new tank designs. We executed him on the spot for his crime and we have ‘evidence’ to prove it. If anyone wants to see it, just ask.”

Beria overwhelmed the audience with his sarcastic and cheerful voice that suited his role as the head of secret police. 

Of course, behind him was ‘me’, who was happily smoking my pipe.

The military needed a scapegoat. 

In real history, Pavlov and other high-ranking officers of the western front army were executed for their failure.

If it became an established fact that the military did nothing wrong, then the blame for the early-war debacle would fall on the political sphere. 

If we lost our power along with such a massive defeat? 

That would be a disaster!

Pavlov was not a very capable general, but he was not utterly incompetent either. 

It was better to execute Kulik, who was openly inept and sabotaged our military by blocking the development and adoption of T-34 and machine guns. 

He was also notorious for being a troll and a scumbag who only got his position because of his friendship with Stalin.

There was no need to deal with Borosilov and Budenny like that. 

The punishment should be swift and minimal to assure that there would be no further expansion. 

If I executed both Borosilov and Kulik, those who considered themselves close to me might fear me and betray me. 

There was no need to be more cruel here.

“He colluded with the Nazi bastards and sold them everything about our western front army. He also gave them our new tank information. But according to our counterintelligence investigation, he acted alone, so there will be no more punishment for the military.”

The atmosphere in the conference room was still cold. 

Those who hated Beria like Zhukov glared at him openly. 

The high-ranking officials of our regime – Molotov, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich – also kept their mouths shut.

“The military meeting is over now. The appointed commanders will finalize their own staffs and report them. Time is urgent, so go to your posts as soon as possible.”

The people left like a receding tide. 

I took a puff of my pipe and felt the smoke craving in my lungs.

I had never smoked before, but Stalin’s body seemed to be addicted to nicotine. 

It felt so natural to inhale the smoke. 

I relaxed in the soft chair as the tension suddenly eased. 

I hoped we could win.