I Became Stalin?!

Chapter 48

The real fight begins now. 

Germany has adopted a strategy of eliminating Britain, the threat in the west, first, and then concentrating its forces in the east.

“Tell Zhukov and Kirponos that the ‘annoyance’ will start soon.”

The Romanian troops were distributed across the entire front of the German Southern Army Group in divisions and brigades. 

However, they seemed to be very confused by the news of the coup in Bucharest.

The dictator Antonescu was arrested by the revolutionaries and exiled somewhere, and four divisions of loyalist troops loyal to the king occupied the capital and cut off their supply lines. 

It was not a situation to be taken lightly.

“We must launch a general offensive at the moment when the German army is shaken and defeat them!”

“Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff!”

The grand strategy of isolating Germany from its resources was still in operation. 

Many resources were needed for military production, and we wanted to cut them off one by one and strangle Germany’s breath.

First, the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania. 

The Ploiesti oil fields, which accounted for one-third of the oil production of the Axis countries, were now on the verge of falling into our hands. 

If Germany lost Ploiesti, it would have no way to produce new gasoline except to dig from the small oil fields in Hungary or use liquefied coal.

Neither was a very efficient method.

“Is Ploiesti burning?”

“Yes. We dropped hundreds of Victory missiles and completely destroyed the refinery facilities.”

“Good. If King Mihai complains, promise him compensation and appease him.”

We bombed the refineries and oil fields so that Germany could not occupy them even if they pushed back into Romania. 

We didn’t have to worry about oil shortage anyway, since we had planted plenty of American refineries in the Caucasus.

Did we envy that little Ploiesti oil field when we had Baku, the world’s largest oil field in this era?

Next were the remaining countries in the Balkans.

“The Yugoslav partisans are taking a positive attitude. They say they welcome anyone’s help, as they are in a state of isolation.”

“Bulgaria secretly expressed its willingness to surrender, saying that it wanted to avoid fratricide among Slavic peoples. They say they will send a special envoy.”

Germany and Italy used both diplomacy and force to secure the Balkans in their hands before invading the Soviet Union. 

They first threatened Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria to join the Axis alliance. 

They trampled Albania and Greece with military force, and also suppressed the anti-Axis coup that occurred in Yugoslavia with guns and swords, completely pacifying the Balkans.

But they didn’t want to get involved in the war with the Soviet Union. 

Except for Romania’s Antonescu, who was greedy for land, and Hungary’s Horty, they were only half-hearted participants.

Bulgaria even refused to send a single soldier. 

Now that Romania has fallen into the hands of pro-Soviet forces, a domino effect was slowly happening in the Balkans.

“We have to give as much support as possible to the Yugoslav partisans after we take over Romania. The German troops they are holding in the Balkans…”

“It’s close to 300,000 men, Comrade Chief of Staff.”

The Yugoslav partisans under Tito’s leadership were too large to be called ‘partisans’. 

In actual history, they were powerful enough to roll tanks and fighter jets and fight head-on with German troops.

They relied on the support of the people in the mountainous areas near the Adriatic Sea to create liberated zones and resist. 

To control the partisans, Germany had to station a huge force of one field army in the ‘rear’ of the Balkans.

“Yes. The more German troops are stuck in the Balkans, the less German troops are humiliating our motherland. Let’s do everything we can to help the partisans’ struggle. Next is…”

The map showed each country painted in red, black, or gray. 

Black was Germany and its allies, red was our allies, gray was neutral countries

With Romania turning red, we had broken out of isolation, but still, most of Europe was either gray or black.

“What are we going to do with these neutral countries that might turn around…”

“…Turkey’s leaders… Turkey’s public opinion is leaning towards pro-Germany. They say that Turkey needs cooperation from Axis countries to survive as long as there is no way out overseas even if they cooperate with Allied countries…”

Bang! 

I slammed my desk and everyone flinched. 

What do you want me to do!

Germany eventually brought down Britain’s Mediterranean fleet and made it their ‘Mare Nostrum’, an inner sea of Axis countries. 

Although they only captured Suez Canal and failed to expel British troops stationed in Iraq before turning their heads for Britain’s island defense battle, the Mediterranean was in their hands.

Turkey was wavering between the Mediterranean, which had fallen into the hands of the Axis, and the Soviet Union, its traditional enemy. 

Would they side with Germany, which was dominating all of Europe with its rising momentum? 

Or would they side with the Soviet Union, which had bravely resisted Germany’s invasion?

In actual history, Turkey was conflicted between Germany and the Allies until the end, and only joined the Allied side after Germany’s defeat was certain.

“What I want to hear is a plan! A plan! How can we tie Turkey down?”

“We have the option of invading Turkey.”

Shaposhnikov muttered and then said calmly. Invading Turkey?

“As long as the Axis fleet is in the Atlantic to protect Britain’s landing, our Black Sea fleet is no less than the Axis Mediterranean fleet. Even if Turkey becomes hostile, their weak army cannot cross the Caucasus Mountains.

As long as we have one army stationed in Baku, the oil field, we can defend against the Turkish army. Then, we can pressure Bulgaria from Romania and ally with the socialists in Greece…”

The longer he spoke, the less confident he sounded. But… if he succeeded, the reward would be huge.

Turkey was a source of chromium, a mineral essential for military production. 

The only way for Germany to get chromium during the war was through Turkey. 

Without chromium, the quality of military supplies would plummet, so invading Turkey and cutting off Germany’s import route was also a good strategy.

If Germany had been focusing all its forces on the eastern front, we would not have had any room to look elsewhere, but since they had withdrawn many elite troops and air forces to Britain’s island defense battle, there were many possibilities.

“Beria!”

“Just give me an order, Comrade Chief of Staff.”

“You’ve done enough on Turkey’s situation, now collect intelligence on the Turkish army as soon as possible. Likewise… find out about the Iranian army too.”

Beria responded with a cheerful and mischievous smile that had returned. 

He whispered something to an NKVD agent and left. 

I looked at Molotov now.

“Molotov.”

“Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff!”

“Conduct diplomatic negotiations with Turkey and Iran without revealing our military information… But!”

I spoke firmly and everyone paid attention to me. 

We had to do something about Turkey and Iran, which were located in the ‘soft belly’ of the Soviet Union in the Caucasus region. But it was too much to step on both of them.

In actual history, the Soviet army invaded Iran in 1941 with only three field armies.

Similarly, Turkey, which asked Britain for 150,000 rifles in 1940 because it had none, could also be crushed with a similar scale. 

Our problem was that if we touched both of them, we would be dragged into a stalemate by the intervention of Axis expeditionary forces.

So we had to choose one. 

If we had to choose…

“You can be as stubborn and oppressive as you want to Turkey. If worst comes to worst, we can blockade the Bosporus Strait and Istanbul with mines and close the door of the Black Sea. Then we can wage a delaying war along the Caucasus Mountains. Make sure Turkey knows that war is possible during negotiations.”

“Yes! Comrade Chief of Staff.”

The buffer zone was already formed. 

As long as Romania and Yugoslav partisans blocked land transportation, German troops could not walk into Turkey. 

Germany’s supply capacity was limited. They didn’t have trucks or ships or planes like America.

They had to turn their heads around Europe to get back to Turkey and the Balkans now that they were operating in Britain. 

We would use this gap to take everything from Yugoslavia, Romania, Turkey to Iran.

“On the contrary, act as if you will agree to anything they ask for in negotiations with Iran. You can agree verbally as much as you want. Just don’t hand anything over right away and stall for time. Once Turkey is settled, we can turn our direction and threaten Iran.”

Iran had been suffering from the pressure of Britain and Russia-Soviet Union for a long time. Since the Great Game of the 19th century, these two powers had invaded this region for hegemony in Central Asia, and public opinion was inevitably leaning towards pro-Germany.

In reality, they drove out Reza Shah and installed young Pahlavi as a puppet by invading Iran in 1941 with Britain and Soviet Union… But now Britain was too busy to do that.

“Underwater, negotiate with Iranian nationalists-socialists led by Mohammad Mosaddegh. Our long-term goal is to overthrow Pahlavi’s monarchy and let them take power on our side. But for now, just make sure Shah doesn’t go over to Germany. If we get involved in that region for too long… We’ll only lose on our main front.”

Resource nationalism would also work here.

Look at the greedy behavior of Germany! What do they want from Iran and the Middle East other than oil? 

If the Soviet Union falls here, there will be no one to check Germany. 

Then Iran will only have to wear a new yoke of Germany instead of Britain.

But if they maintain a pro-Soviet neutrality – at least opening up the lend-lease to Persia – Iran can exert some leverage between the two powers. With their resources.

In actual history, in 1951, Mosaddegh resigned as prime minister due to a coup supported by Britain and the United States. 

The anger of the Iranians, who had been manipulated by foreign powers since then, erupted into the Islamic Revolution of Khomeini.

On the other hand, the Soviet Union only offered cooperation secretly. 

Let’s shake the world together someday.

We were solving what Germany had to bleed for with just showing our guns while they were absent. Germany made too many mistakes in diplomacy, and acted as if they could solve everything with military force.

We were not much different, but… only compared to Germany.

“Everyone, go out. Beria, you stay.”

“Yes!”

As people left, Beria approached me with a brisk walk. 

He had a mischievous curiosity in his round eyes.

“Comrade Chief of Staff, do you have something to say?”

“Katyn. The Katyn Forest…”

It was time to pay for our sins. 

The Soviet Union had committed many disgusting massacres, not as much as Germany, but one of them was the Katyn Forest.

The Soviet Union and Germany, who had signed a friendly non-aggression pact, attacked Poland, their common enemy. 

They destroyed Poland and divided its territory, and dragged the officers they captured as prisoners. 

The Soviet Union dragged them out of the camps where they were held and slaughtered them.

In the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, which was recently occupied by Germany, there were ‘evidences’ of that crime. 

They would destroy the credibility of the Soviet Union in the international community as much as Germany.

“Ah? I didn’t know that Comrade Chief of Staff would care about such trivial things. But… everything has been ‘taken care of’. Hahahaha!”

Beria laughed. ‘Taken care of’?

Did he kill them all?

“I ordered NKVD to dig up the Polish corpses that had turned into skeletons from the burial site. We did it while there was a stalemate near Smolensk. And we buried the dead without distinction in the pits we dug up, so they can’t be identified!”

“…”

I couldn’t stand looking at Beria, who seemed to be asking if he did well. 

He did such things to look good to me.

Sins should be exposed and punished. 

The Nazis did, the Japanese did, the colonial empires and the Soviet Union did, and many more countries would do so.

But if we hide it like this… can we really get our deserved punishment?

He left the room with a chuckle at my faint words. 

I hated myself