I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 8

It had been a month since Germany launched its attack with Operation Barbarossa. 

The summer was still at its peak, and it seemed like an eternity until Rasputitsa, the muddy season, and then winter.

But there was some positive news. 

The three German army groups had been stopped by the defensive lines of Pskov, Smolensk, Zhitomir and Kishinev, and their spearheads were gradually breaking. 

Also, according to a report from the 1st Guards Cavalry Army led by Budyonny, they had succeeded in disrupting the supply lines of the Central Army Group.

“Comrade Secretary General! Our cavalry army is ready to march to rescue our comrades who are defending Minsk!”

“Hmm… Good. I have received your report of victory, comrade. I hope you will win again and return safely.”

“Thank you, Comrade Secretary General!”

Budyonny’s voice on the other end of the phone was hearty, as if he had boiled a cannon. 

It was hard to imagine him as the gloomy man he had been. 

I glanced at Voroshilov, who was laughing next to me, and he scratched the back of his head.

“Don’t you think we should praise Comrade Budyonny for his heroic struggle?”

“Maybe we should.”

Yes, victory was good. 

It meant that fewer Soviet people would shed blood and that we were one step closer to ending the war. 

But Stalin inside me had a slightly different perspective on the situation.

Budyonny was the man who had practically organized the cavalry army since the Civil War. 

The ‘Song of Marshal Budyonny’ was used as an unofficial anthem by the cavalry. 

And the Politburo hated the militarization and factionalization of such an army. 

Stalin inside me also whispered anxiously. 

What if he tried to become Napoleon?

The voice that sounded like a hallucination kept nagging me at the meeting where I heard Budyonny’s report, at the discussion table.

Budyonny was going to Minsk to glorify himself. 

He would save the isolated allies and liberate the city. 

He would be the liberator, the hero of the cavalry army and the great marshal of the Soviet Union, Semyon Budyonny!

“Isn’t it possible to maintain the isolated forces in Minsk by airlifting supplies at night?”

“It is possible. If we set up a makeshift airstrip near a railway station in the swamp and focus on supply only at night… We can maintain it until the airstrip is attacked.”

See? 

Budyonny is after his own glory and fame! 

The right decision is… 1st Panzer Group. 

We should break the tip of the Southern Army Group’s spear instead of sticking cavalry in the city.

Was this whispering done by ‘Stalin inside me’? 

Or was it created by my own doubt? 

I had never thought of myself as a suspicious person.

But I had found myself doubting someone several times lately and even started to doubt that.

Of course, strategically speaking, it seemed right to target the rear of the 1st Panzer Group. 

Kleist’s 1st Panzer Group was pressuring the front of Zhitomir and Kiev, and could potentially head south instead of east and encircle and collapse our southern front from three sides.

If this was checked by Budyonny’s Guards Cavalry Army, which could stab at the stretched left flank of the 1st Panzer Group and cut off the German supply rail network from Rovno, then what if this Guards Cavalry Army got stuck in Minsk or consumed so much that it could no longer function as a strategic variable? 

And what if that happened because of Budyonny’s personal ambition? 

That would be a purge-worthy crime. 

It was a serious offense for a commander to waste troops for his own benefit rather than for justice.

Budyonny was undoubtedly an excellent cavalry commander. 

But it was not the era of cavalry, and he might be good at maneuvering in a plain with few people compared to its area, but could he break through the defensive line built by German officers who had been trained in hellish trench warfare?

I couldn’t expect that much from him. 

No, it wasn’t Budyonny’s problem, it was the problem of cavalry as an arm. 

He lacked vehicles, artillery, and air support, while German supply units had all three.

Of course, I knew it was okay to some extent in my head.

When I consulted with Zhukov, he didn’t rate Budyonny’s decision – going to save Minsk – so badly.

“The southern front has received almost all of the strategic reserves and will not collapse easily in front of the German offensive, comrade Secretary General. What worries me now is Smolensk. As discussed at the General Staff, we have detected signs that Guderian’s 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups are preparing a total offensive to cross the Dnieper and have concentrated their bridging engineers and equipment there.”

Hmm… Is that so? 

Well, Germany’s strategic goal for 1941 was Moscow, now and then. 

And it seemed likely that they would put more effort into capturing Smolensk, the gateway to Moscow, which was still open.

“If they cross the Dnieper to the central direction, they won’t have enough strength to launch a major offensive in the south. The Dnieper is not as wide as the Dne’str’, but it is also a wide river, and there are many streams flowing through this land, even if there are few geographical features in the south. The southern front command has already surveyed the bridges that allow the movement of tanks and troops, and has prepared to blow up the bridges to stop the enemy’s advance through the local party organizations and civil support teams.”

I felt more confident when Zhukov said this with certainty. 

They couldn’t make bridging equipment so easily, and if they went to the center, the southern defensive line would still hold on.

As a single field army, the 9th Army was the largest and it occupied and fortified the border with Romania like an iron wall. 

With the mountainous hills as its advantage, the 9th Army had some of the few mountain divisions in the Soviet army and it defended along the Dniester River, a major river near the border. 

Zhukov assured with a confident tone.

“Comrade Secretary! There is no need to worry!”

As expected of Marshal Zhukov! We trust only in you, General! Loyalty loyalty

‘Stalin inside me’ also seemed to think that Zhukov was trustworthy as he did not say anything else. 

Maybe that was just my imagination… But who else could I trust if not the Soviet ace who practically commanded the toxin war? 

Borosilov who smiled hehe next to me and tried to please me?

Anyway, taking Minsk seemed like a good choice. 

Ah, the fickle heart of a man…

Minsk was a supply base for going to Smolensk. 

And Smolensk was a base for going to Moscow. 

During the Patriotic War, or Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, Napoleon had burned down Smolensk, which was an old and important city. 

After breaking through Smolensk, the last base before Moscow was Rzhev, famous for Model’s mobile defense and ‘meat grinder’.

If Smolensk’s defense line was not broken, the armored units that had to advance to Moscow would become a huge salient that depended on a single railway line. 

Of course, if they had this city, it would serve as a supply depot for attacking the next city. 

But they had to defend the city to prevent that!

The advancing German army needed supplies to capture Moscow. 

The most efficient way of supplying was by railway, so cutting off the railway lines could reduce the supply of the front-line units. 

Budenny’s original operation was also like that.

If they kept Minsk in check, or prevented them from using Minsk’s railway network for a long time? 

They could choke off Germany’s supply lines.

The central group of armies had about two field armies worth of troops that depended on one railway line that went around mountains and rivers. 

If they dragged on time day by day, soon Rasputitsa, the season of mud, would come and supply would become more difficult and the Soviet army would become stronger.

“Fire! Fire!”

“Riflemen, charge!”

A rotation of massive troops clashing without interruption was happening on all fronts, but the hottest place of battle right now was the central front. 

The soldiers and strategists on both sides of the toxin did not hesitate to name the central front as the most critical battlefield.

“First of all, crossing the Dnieper River is more advantageous for the central group of armies.”

That’s right. 

The central group of armies had two armored groups that could be called spearheads. Quantitatively speaking, about half of Germany’s armored units. 

And as they got closer to the upper part of the Dnieper River, the river width also narrowed and it was easier to cross.

The benefits of breaking through the center were also greater. 

As history proved.

“If the Dnieper is crossed and Smolensk is captured, there are several options for the fascist army.”

“What are they?”

“Well first…”

Basilevsky spread out a map in front of the Politburo members and briefed them on the situation. 

As production and resource distribution issues were decided by the Politburo and General Staff, ultimately strategic decisions had to come up here.

“The right wing of Smolensk, Vitebsk, has already been captured, and if we add Smolensk to that, a passage for the fascist army to advance to Moscow will open up. The fascists can either advance to Moscow like this…”

Black dots stuck to the board one by one. After Smolensk came Vyazma. And then Rzhev.

“This way, the central group of armies can threaten their target, Moscow. Or they can divert some armored forces northward…”

“Velikiye Luki?”

“That’s right.”

Velikiye Luki was also a city worthy of being called a railway hub. 

The feature of this city was that it handled the supply line leading to Pskov, which was the gateway to Leningrad in the north.

“If Velikiye Luki is captured, there may be no point in blocking Pskov. Of course, the northern group of armies is just an auxiliary force for the center, rather than opening up an avenue for them…”

“That sounds reasonable.”

That’s right. 

In fact, in real history, Pskov should have been broken through by now and a siege battle should have been taking place in Leningrad, but the northern group of armies was far away from their strategic goal, Leningrad. 

It seemed unlikely that the center would go to Leningrad, wasting precious time.

“The remaining option is the south. They can use the bridges of the Dnieper River to pressure the Western Front and the Bryansk Front, and ultimately go south to encircle our comrades who are holding out in Zhitomir-Kiev.”

Basilevsky’s baton drew a long line on the map. 

Yes, that was what happened in real history.

Smolensk was broken through without resistance, and Hitler crushed the defense army and ordered Guderian’s 2nd Armored Group to go south by the Führer’s order. 

There were arguments that this was a mistake that delayed the capture of Moscow and that it inflicted a great blow to the Soviet army, but at least the latter was true.

The force led by Guderian, the master of armored warfare, swiftly went south and encircled and annihilated the Soviet army holding out in Kiev. 

Even after that, the Kiev encirclement battle remained as the battle where the most troops – 600,000! – were encircled in history, and the Soviet army suffered a lot of damage. 

Stalin’s order to defend and Hitler’s order to advance crossed each other perfectly.

I did not want to repeat Stalin’s mistake. 

So I tried to grant the generals autonomy in strategic retreats and not interfere with the operations as much as possible.

“Is it possible?”

“Yes! Comrade Secretary!”

Pavlov nodded his head when I asked. 

He knew well that the Politburo and ‘I’ had already given him a chance. 

He would have been executed in real history due to the early defeat, but he still maintained his position as the commander of the front.

Of course, he must have known that his life was in danger if he failed again, after seeing Kulik’s execution. 

The Western Front was also fighting desperately under his command. 

For now, I had no choice but to trust him.

If he disappoints me again…