Chapter 234: Retribution

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The Kremlin, the landmark building of Moscow.

Stalin stood on the balcony, watching as the red flag was solemnly raised by the soldiers. He then walked back into his room with his hands behind his back. His mood had been very bad these past few days, so bad that many things that should have been happy could not bring a smile to his face.

One was that his former right-hand man, his most trusted subordinate, Yezhov, was dead, killed in a street gunfight. He had been shot in the back by his own confidant. The scene was chaotic and full of suspicious points. But in the end, the case was handled as a revenge act carried out by the victims of the Great Purge. Yezhov, after Kirov, had become another Soviet leader to die under mysterious circumstances.

Of course, there was another, more depressing matter. Many in the military felt that Stalin had let Yezhov die under unclear circumstances, which was an act of shirking responsibility. They strongly demanded an end to the Great Purge and the rehabilitation of the dead. This tide of thought was giving Stalin a huge headache. He had no choice but to order another purge of the military command echelon to consolidate his increasingly fragile grip on power.

On another front, from Khrushchev’s account, he now knew just how many interests the Soviet Union had lost in Poland. These interests were so vast they could no longer be described in numbers: hundreds of thousands of able-bodied young men had been picked up by the Germans for free, and there were also over a hundred thousand Ukrainians and Belarusians. Germany had not only obtained a large amount of population resources but had also gained far more land than had been originally demarcated.

Stalin had to admit that the young Führer of Germany had won. He had won vast territories and had also obtained hundreds of thousands of laborers from Poland and even the Soviet Union. But as the leader of the Soviet Union, he had to get his own back. This was what he most wanted to do now, and also what he had to do.

But declaring war on Germany was unrealistic. After all, the more pressing problem for him now was the military’s dissatisfaction with the Great Purge, and his army had also proven in practice that it was no match for the German Wehrmacht. If a war were to break out, it would clearly be a self-inflicted humiliation, which would further shake his prestige and foundation at home.

Not only could he not go to war, but he even had to prevent the German army from going to war with the Soviet Union now. Because the Soviet Union needed at least two years to sort out its internal problems before it would have the confidence to face the German army’s provocations. If the two countries were to fall out now, then even if the Soviet Union could win, it would definitely be a pyrrhic victory that they would be unwilling to accept.

So he could only choose another way, a way that would make Germany pay a price but would not allow them to take their anger out on the Soviet Union. But after so many days, he still had not been able to find a perfect solution. Looking at the thick snow outside the window, a feeling of cold seemed to seep into the warm room, making him shiver from head to toe.

An aide knocked on Stalin’s open door and reported at attention, “Great leader, Comrade Stalin, Comrade Khrushchev wishes to see you.”

Stalin nodded, signaling for the person to be allowed in. A short while later, Khrushchev came in, in a hurry.

As soon as he entered the door, he said to Stalin with a smile, “Great leader, Comrade Stalin, I have made some headway on the plan you mentioned to retaliate against Germany.” As he spoke, he placed a treaty on Stalin’s desk.

“Oh?” Stalin was taken aback for a moment. He then picked up the document and took a careful look at it. The document was not complicated, because the name of the file was written clearly on the cover, and this name seemed to be the content of the file itself. On the white cover, a line of large characters clearly read: “Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Stalin asked with a frown. What loophole could this treaty possibly have? It was unlikely. And even if there was a loophole, with the current military strength of the Soviet Union and Germany’s covetous attitude, whether they could even exploit these loopholes was a question. For a moment, Stalin couldn’t grasp the key point, so he stopped pondering it himself and asked Khrushchev directly.

Khrushchev didn’t dare to keep Stalin in suspense. He quickly explained, “Comrade Stalin, this contract has no loopholes, but the document itself is the biggest loophole.”

“Oh? The document itself?” Stalin glanced at the document again, waiting for Khrushchev to continue.

“What if we leak this document?” Khrushchev revealed the secret directly. “If the British or the French were to obtain a copy of this treaty, then what would happen to Germany?”

What would happen to Germany? What else could happen? Germany’s lie of an eastward crusade against the Soviet Union would become a joke. No one would believe the German Führer’s explanations anymore. Excuses such as a lack of materials, bad weather, and so on would no longer be believable. The whole world would know that Germany’s eastward crusade was just a hoax. The French would be furious. Hundreds of thousands of French troops would cross Germany’s western border, and the whole of Europe would be in a fight. Never mind Germany threatening the Soviet border; at that time, whether Germany could even continue to exist would be a question.

“Excellent! Very excellent!” Stalin was so happy he slapped the table. Finding this solution was the happiest thing that had happened to him in the past few days. The smile seemed to have returned to his face—the beautiful big mustache on his mouth was once again turned up at both ends.

“Comrade Stalin, the only thing that needs to be solved now is how to hand this document over to the British or the French without getting involved,” Khrushchev said with a smile. “This time, it will be enough to give the Germans a real headache.”

“Why do we need to stay out of it?” Stalin said triumphantly, tossing the document on the desk and standing up. “Think about it. Even if the Germans know we leaked it, the French will already be preparing for war. What else can Germany do?”

“Then will Germany go to war with us directly? That way, this treaty would be useless, and they could still say it’s fake…” Khrushchev asked with a frown. “Wouldn’t that be counterproductive?”

“Do you take the British and French for fools?” Stalin was in a good mood today. He waved his hand and explained with a smile, “They have already guessed half of it. They just can’t be sure that Germany has a secret treaty with us. If we leak it, then no matter what Germany does, it will already be too late.”

Soon, a Soviet diplomat was visiting the United States. In the US, he suddenly announced that he was seeking political asylum. He cried and shouted about how he had been persecuted in the Soviet Union and swore that he was actually the son of an anti-communist capitalist. In any case, he got his wish and made the front page of the American newspapers.

Just as the United States was racking its brains over how to deal with him, he told his captors that he had many secret Soviet documents and that he would only hand them over to the American authorities if he were allowed to live in the United States.

Of course, the United States eventually agreed. This Soviet diplomat, in order to obtain American citizenship, then presented the documents he had “stolen,” which was the secret “Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact.” The American intelligence agencies that received these documents immediately sensed the seriousness of the matter and quickly handed them over to President Roosevelt.

Since Germany was not continuing the game according to the pre-arranged plan, then it was impossible for the United States to continue to support Germany. An uncontrolled world power was not something the US government was willing to see. So President Roosevelt immediately contacted his allies, Britain and France, and soon, both countries knew of this secret document.

And this “Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact,” which should have been sent out on January 1, 1938, after being handled through this series of steps, was finally handed over to Britain and France on January 5, 1938.

Of course, this document quickly became another piece of evidence for Germany’s intention to attack the Low Countries in the west. Together with the German “Case Yellow” plan that had been captured in Belgium a few days before, it further proved that Germany’s plan to invade France was completely true.

Thus, this document was sent to the French frontline general headquarters and handed over to the Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-French coalition forces, General Gamelin.

“So, the Germans’ idea of attacking France has been around for a long time… It seems they have planned it very meticulously,” Gamelin said, looking at the report that had been deliberately sent to him. He casually tossed it aside. “The intelligence department really has nothing better to do. What’s the point of sending this report to me?”

He gave a cold laugh and, pointing to the operational map, said to the several generals under his command, “We were preparing for war before we received this document. And now? We are still preparing for war… What difference does it make?”

At the same time, in Germany’s Western High Command, General von Rundstedt was also looking at a report about the leak of the “Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact.” After reading it, he also casually tossed the document aside.

Looking at the bewildered expressions of his subordinates, von Rundstedt smiled and pointed to the map of France in front of him. “We were preparing for war before we received this document. And now? We are still preparing for war… What difference does it make?”

In the command post, everyone laughed along with him. Five consecutive days of rain and snow had not made the roads muddy, nor had it been able to stop the German army from completing its final war preparations.

The cannons had already been pushed to their designated combat positions. Guns and ammunition had all been fully allocated. The entire Western Front had even had improved rations for two days. The tanks had been meticulously maintained, with oil added on time to protect the gears, and even in this weather, the equipment had not been damaged by the cold. In every secret fighter hangar, fires were lit on time to keep them warm, and the pilots were all ready to go.

It was really strange. After several consecutive days of heavy snow, it had stopped two hours later. The sky was cloudless, a picture of fine weather. It seemed that God had finally made up his mind and wanted to see a spectacular slaughter.

The hand of history at this moment pointed to an inconspicuous number: January 6, 1938.