I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 30

Hitler, are you insane?

I wanted to call Hitler right away and ask him what he was thinking when he ordered the massacre of the civilians.

As we pushed back the German army through our offensive operations, some of the territories that had been under German occupation were liberated. 

We kept receiving information that the Nazi bastards had slaughtered civilians in the places they had occupied.

“We have reports that at least 46 villages have been confirmed so far…”

“They’re crazy, they’re all crazy.”

The villages in the areas that our vanguard units had liberated were mostly reduced to ashes. 

The German army, which had to advance while bleeding from the disastrous failure of Operation Barbarossa, burned down the villages and killed all the residents with brutal vengeance.

Some of the escapees became partisans and joined our army as ‘liberation forces’. 

They cried and told us what had happened during that time. 

This scene was captured by a war correspondent’s camera and became a poster and propaganda material.

“They killed all my siblings! They all hung them on trees… Sob… I was the only one who could escape. I was the only one in my family who survived!”

The middle-aged man who became a partisan looked like he was crying blood. 

With his bloodshot eyes, he shouted for revenge against the German army.

The Soviet authorities didn’t need to manipulate the incident. 

Beria wanted to write a script according to his taste and give it to the actors, and then produce a movie to promote the atrocity of Germany. 

I also read Beria’s script, which was full of provocative and shocking content.

But reality was more cruel than fiction. 

The man in the movie right now was a real partisan, and he was telling what he had experienced without any exaggeration.

“Ha… Is that true?”

“Yes, Comrade Secretary General. As you ordered, we only made him tell the truth.”

Beria also looked stunned, his usual smile gone from his face. 

He watched the screen with a grim expression. 

The atrocity of Germany was widely spread through broadcasts, movies, posters, etc. 

He was confident that there would be no Soviet citizens who didn’t know about the cruel deeds committed by the fascist invaders.

“And Borosilov, you were in charge of the subtitles and translation work, right?”

“Yes! The translation work is in progress in French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese!”

I gave Borosilov this job as a favor since he was kicked out of the Ministry of Defense after the Winter War and was unemployed in the Ministry of Culture. 

Now, the videos about Germany’s massacre would spread all over the world in various ways.

I had already sprinkled bundles of bloody dollars to the American media. 

It was to package this war as not a war between thugs in Europe far away, but a holy war of humanity to punish the anti-human criminals.

Churchill, who was politically cornered, bit the bait I threw him and agreed to do his own English translation work. 

He would probably release them one by one to his own media outlets, right?

“Sigh…”

But I felt disgusted. 

The Soviet Union had also committed massacres.

The Soviet Union had divided and swallowed Poland with Germany as partners. 

In the process, they separated and killed nationalists and militarists among the Poles they captured as prisoners. 

They tried to persuade workers and peasants, but they killed them based on their ‘class composition’.

The place where these massacred Poles were found was near Smolensk in Katyn Forest, so it was called ‘Katyn Massacre’. 

Anyway, more than 20 thousand Polish officers and intellectuals were massacred on a large scale.

Of course, Germany also massacred many Poles they took away. 

One-sixth of Poland’s population disappeared due to massacres by both sides during World War II.

It didn’t matter much who killed more between human scum. 

Even though I knew that, I felt guilty for shamelessly exposing Germany’s massacre while following my own orders.

I would feel better if I admitted to the massacre… But what if that reduces my landless? 

What if more Soviet soldiers die because of my orders for my own comfort?

‘I’ am in Stalin’s body now, so I can deny any responsibility for what happened before? The previous personality? The personality inside me? But I didn’t think I would feel better even if I did that. It would just be a post-hoc measure.

“Comrade Secretary General, releasing impure people back into society in times like this is a possibility for sabotage and spying! Please reject it.”

“No, there’s no need for that. What are you talking about sabotage? Do you think it’s normal for NKVD to kidnap buses and send them to gulag for being late? Can’t you control one thing that happens in your organization?”

Beria opposed my order to release ‘prisoners’ in gulag according to the stage. But what would he do if he opposed me? 

I’m the Secretary General.

There were certainly people who had committed crimes in the gulag, but there were also a lot of people who were dragged there unjustly. 

Some were taken for minor offenses, and some were framed as spies by the NKVD or even fabricated as criminals to fill the quota of prisoners.

If they were only serious criminals or war prisoners, maybe… But was it normal that nearly 10% of the 160 million population went through the gulag?

“By the way, while you’re at it, improve the treatment of the gulag prisoners to a normal level. We have now obtained a rare opportunity to be recognized as a ‘normal country’ in front of the world. But why should we cause trouble by clinging to trivial issues?”

“…Yes, Comrade Secretary.”

Beria bowed his head with a pale face. 

Hmm, did he think he would be purged? 

The current NKVD chief Beria was the one who criticized the measures of his predecessor Nikolai Yezhov and took his place.

But now that he saw the Secretary ordering him to do things as if his own measures were excessive… Maybe he felt a chill.

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of holding you responsible.”

“Thank you!”

When I spoke softly behind him, Beria stopped and bowed his head to thank me. 

Well, well, get out quickly. 

When I gestured, Beria left my office with a slightly better feeling.

I really had no intention of holding him responsible.

For the time being.

The offensive in the south was going well. 

The combination of the initial surprise effect and the superior air force that the Soviet army had never enjoyed before was too much for even the elite forces of the 6th Army to handle.

The German army seemed to be familiar with pushing back the enemy with tanks, but they were still clumsy at stopping the Soviet army that attacked with tanks. 

In the invasion of Poland or France, the German army was always in the position of an attacker. 

They could not imagine themselves as defenders.

“Hahaha! That won’t do, you filthy fascist pigs!”

Bang! The KV tank easily bounced off the 37mm tank gun. 

It was a slow tank with a 76mm gun that was equivalent to the T-34, a messed up drivetrain and a messed up steering system, but there was one thing that it could be extremely proud of.

That was armor. Relying on that thick armor, the KV tank led the way in breaking through the German defense line. 

The German army’s main anti-tank guns could not effectively deal with the Soviet medium tanks. 

Even the T-34, which was one class lower, was the same.

They could catch them with guns like the 8.8cm Flak 56 caliber gun, but the German army was not yet veteran enough to flexibly pull them out for anti-tank battles.

Also, in this situation, it was difficult to divert anti-aircraft guns from anti-aircraft duties. 

They could be smashed by the Soviet air force that they had ignored until now. 

Taking advantage of this point, the Soviet armored units ran wild.

“Phew… The damage is not small, is it?”

“I’m sorry!”

“No, it can’t be helped… I guess our soldiers’ skills are not that high yet. It’s inevitable.”

Our officers were not very good. 

Their blunders were revealed in detail in the battle reports, and Beria asked me how to punish these officers secretly.

Of course I rejected it, but our officers clearly showed their lack of understanding of the abundant supply and artillery firepower and combined arms tactics that they suddenly received! 

They would get better as they gained experience. 

Those who couldn’t would probably die on the battlefield.

Fortunately, the German response was also below expectations, so the offensive operation in the south itself went smoothly.

The commander of the southern front Zukhov, our general Zukhov boasted loudly.

“If we keep this up, we can drive out the fascists and plant our flag in Berlin!”

Of course he also looked at me. No matter how arrogant he was, he couldn’t fly after seeing Tukhachevsky’s purge.

“Of course this is all thanks to Comrade Secretary. I give this glory of victory to Comrade Secretary!”

“We haven’t won yet, have we? Uhahahat.”

The 1st Armored Group and 6th Army tried to counterattack frantically, but they were caught and torn apart by the defense line that Zukhov had painstakingly built.

What about other German forces? 

The offensive of Germany’s 17th Army to save them was stopped by Malinovsky’s 26th Army and other desperate resistance.

 Their offensive was not very scary in the first place. Yeah, they were losers without tanks and friends.

“The German tank production is still around 500 units per month.”

“We are about… 1800 units!”

“Very good!”

Clap clap clap clap clap! 

Everyone applauded and cheered. 

Many of them were light tanks, but even those light tanks were lacking for someone somewhere.

The production of trucks, tanks, and military supplies was literally endless. 

The workers ‘voluntarily’ worked in three shifts and waged a heroic labor struggle. 

As a result, the Soviet Union now succeeded in producing at least three times as many tanks.

The German 17th Army’s counterattack was easily blocked for this reason. 

Germany spent too much energy on building submarines and fleets. 

They could overwhelm Britain in the Atlantic, but they were naturally at a disadvantage in the Eastern Front where tanks and planes clashed.

Of the more than 5,000 tanks produced so far, nearly 4,000 were deployed to the southern front and were crushed by the mass.

Here, Germany’s systemic disadvantage of coordinating civilian and military supplies and mobilizing private companies was added. 

The Soviet Union sucked up tens of thousands of tons of materials from the United States through lend-lease and went all-in on military supplies production, but where could Germany do that?

We contacted the artillery unit with American-made radios and requested artillery fire, rode reliable American-made trucks and received fire support from machine guns, anti-tank guns, and rocket launchers loaded on them, and broke through the enemy lines. 

When German tanks appeared, we shot them with American-made bazookas. 

That was the situation on the front line.

Germany had no tanks and no friends, so it must have been sad. 

Uhahahaha!