“Nikita Khrushchev,” said Kirov, almost spitting out the words. “We have long suspected he was a leftover from Beria’s regime,” he said to Zhukov. “So then we are gambling that news of these preparations will get to Volkov somehow, and from him to the Germans. “
“Correct,” said Berzin. “If they believe it, it will mask the withdrawal of those shock armies. Once we get them north of the Don again, we will put out that lack of adequate transport is slowing down the redeployment, and that the operation must be postponed another week. This will hopefully suppress any questions about why they are still lingering north of Boguchar and Veshenskaya.”
“Then I’m sending them west,” said Zhukov, pointing at the Don bend. “Right at Rossosh. That is the breakthrough point for the southern wing of the offensive. Once through we have the option of either turning north behind Model’s Army, or simply pushing west and south to Kharkov.”
“And the northern wing?”
“6th Army has reformed at Tambov and I will hurl it right at Lipetsk on the river, and they will have more than a little help. Volsky’s 4th Mech is heading there, again with cover orders that he is going up around Moscow for the Kalinin Group ruse. And you once asked me where all our tank corps were. Well, they were mostly rebuilding; receiving all these new tanks I spoke of at the outset of this briefing. I have now placed 11th Tank Corps at Tambov with the 6th Army, 2nd Tank Corps at Morshansk, 3rd on the line north of Voronezh, 5th at Penza in deep reserve. Beyond that, all of 1st Shock Army is still in the Tula sector reserve now, and it can be moved south to support this attack. Altogether, this will be the largest offensive of the war for us, even bigger than last winter.”
“Amazing,” said Kirov, very glad to hear all this. “Not two months ago you told me we could barely scrape up the forces to mount those attacks in the south.”
“That was true then,” said Zhukov. “The good thing about those attacks is that we did not get hurt too badly. We lost one Guards rifle corps, a few more run of the mill divisions, and those two tank corps. That was the only real sting, but we’ll rebuild them. As for the Shock Armies, they remain in very good shape. They’ve had over a month to rest and refit, and in that interval a lot of formations that were building in rear areas have now become available. What I told you the last time we met was true, but remember, the enemy has pulled nine tank divisions off the line and sent them to the northern front. They did not think we had the strength to attack with what we already had in the field, but they were wrong. Now, with the arrival of these new tank Corps, I have the forces to proceed.”
“Yes, Factory 100 in Leningrad has been working around the clock,” said Kirov. “Yet don’t you think we’re asking a lot of the Siberians?”
“And they are giving it to us,” said Zhukov. “Karpov sent us a big group he had assembled at Perm. I did everything but beg him for more support, and he delivered. Those men went right back into the ranks of those five Shock Armies, and they will be ready. Yet I do not think we can go to the well there again. There is a limit to the manpower Siberia can provide us. We must raise more troops, even if we have to conscript the entire population of Leningrad. Because if this operation fails, then that is where they will come next—Leningrad. They have already redeployed those tank divisions I mentioned north of Smolensk. They joined the three others they sent north of Minsk.”
Kirov nodded. “For Leningrad,” he said. “They couldn’t break our china at Moscow, and they are still trying to smash what’s left in the cupboards by taking Volgograd and everything to the south. Now it is high time that we started throwing cups and plates around ourselves. General Zhukov, get after them. Launch this operation as soon as you deem it feasible, and keep me well informed. By the way, what will you call it this time, Pluto?”
“For the largest offensive of the war?” Zhukov shook his head. Pluto is but a barren rock, or so I am told. Neptune would be better, but it is cold and blue. So this time they will feel the wrath of red Jupiter.” He smiled. “Isn’t he the Roman god of sky and thunder, king of all the other gods?”
“Why General,” said Kirov. “I did not know you were a religious man.”
The meeting ended on a high note, and a very hopeful one. At last the relocation of the factories had taken root. The output was up, and they were producing more tanks, more planes and trucks. The slogging Red Army was finally getting more motorized, and while those forces were in no way as skilled as Germany’s Panzer Divisions, the Soviets were building more and more each month. The sheer mass of the army was daunting to any foe that contemplated battle.
That young man warned me of this long ago, thought Kirov—Fedorov. I wonder what has become of him these days? When I boasted that we already had 500 of the new T-34s back in the summer of 1941, he told me I would have to build 50,000. Now we are finally scaling up production to do that, and to build better tanks as well.
When Zhukov had departed for the front, Kirov sat with Berzin before a warming fire. “Well this is all new,” he said, “and most unexpected.”
“Yes, we are well outside the covers of that last book I saved,” said Berzin. “There was no Operation Jupiter, but I think the Saturn Operation in the Material achieved its goals.”
“So we trade one god for another,” said Kirov, “or one planet. Was Zhukov holding all this force back? Why didn’t he report the progress of these new formations during the last briefing?”
“I think he likes to keep his cards held close to his vest,” said Berzin. “From an intelligence perspective, we knew they were building, but only he can say when they are ready for operations, and he can be very tight lipped. I suppose that can be a beneficial trait.”
“For heaven’s sake. I’m the General Secretary. I should have been informed.”
“Perhaps he was telling the truth. Two months ago, none of these new formations were ready. Now they are, and that is all we need be thankful for.”
“Did you catch that business about the shift of those German tank divisions to the line of the Divina River?”
“I was aware of that. They tried to make it look like they were part of the staging for their Smolensk cleanup operation, but I could see more in those deployments. Zhukov was correct. It’s Leningrad they want next year—old Saint Petersburg. If we don’t beat them up badly enough this winter, then this is where they will attack next. The decisive battle could be fought right here.”
Kirov reached for a bottle of vodka, pouring two glasses. “You know,” he continued, “I was once warned not to come here—to Leningrad, and by that same man I mentioned a moment ago—Fedorov.”
“You have told me this before, yet in all honesty, I still have difficulty grasping what happened to you at Ilanskiy. That place is still there, the same railway inn. Are you still thinking about it?”
“Of course—it is always in the back of my mind. Yet who knows if the phenomenon I described to you still persists. 1908 was a very long time ago.”
“Perhaps,” said Berzin. “Yet the thought that a man could go there by simply taking a walk down that stairway is most unnerving. I wonder what that Russian Captain was doing there a while back? Yes, I know, I’m not supposed to wonder about things. I’m Chief of Soviet Intelligence, and I should already know. Well, no one is infallible. It has also occurred to me that the Germans might know about that place. Perhaps that was the reason they were so eager to lend Volkov all those transport planes.”
“They did him no good,” said Kirov. “No, Grishin, I think Ilanskiy is the one secret Volkov keeps tight. He certainly must know about it, as that is how he came to be here. But would he tell Hitler this? I think not. Power is power as long as you can keep it in your back pocket, and use it when necessary—like this nice big offensive Zhukov pulls out of his hat. Let us hope it takes us farther than his spoiling attacks. Volgograd was the really big victory for us in late 1942, at least according to the Material. I had hopes that something similar might be achieved with Uranus and Saturn, and when they reached the Don, and cut Steiner’s Korps off like that, I was holding my breath. I thought time would twist these events into an image of the history we have in that book, but it was not to be.”