Struggle in Soviet Russia

In the three-story command center building, the third floor faces the launch site's core hub hall, Victor put his arms on the table, his elbows on the table, his hands on his cheeks, and his eyes looked through the clear glass window in front of him. Looking at the test launch site in the distance.

In order to prevent the failure of the launch from affecting the safety of the command center, the test launch used the No. 6 launch site far away from the command center. From the floor-to-ceiling window, the rocket on the launch site is a small point and cannot be seen clearly at all. However, these It doesn't matter. After all, whether the launch can be successful or not, everyone here does not need to see the real scene. It only needs to confirm that the rocket has successfully lifted off, and then it is enough for the shooting range to give an effective feedback.

At this time, at the launch site, the rocket body originally placed on the flatbed truck has been supported by the bracket, and in the command center, the technicians are doing the final inspection work before the launch - for all those involved in the research and development of rocket technology For the staff, today is a historic moment. At this time, failure is not allowed in any part of the test. Therefore, everyone is very nervous.

Compared to those technicians, Viktor felt a little bored at this time. In addition to the final test results, his mission to Kapuskin Yar this time has been basically completed. When the final result came out, he could go directly back to Moscow to hand over the mission.

The warning light installed just above the floor-to-ceiling window is still flashing red. According to the program, when the warning light turns green, the countdown is about to start. Now everyone on the podium is waiting. The green light is on.

On the rostrum, Viktor was sitting on the left of Comrade Malenkov, and Comrade Malenkov was on the right, and Comrade Beria was on the right, but at the moment Comrade Beria's seat was empty, he went to the communication room Received telegrams from Moscow.

After waiting for a few more minutes, Victor lowered his arm and looked at the watch on his hand. It was already a quarter past one o'clock in the afternoon, and according to the previous arrangement, the launch test should have officially started at one o'clock, and a quarter of an hour had passed by this time.

Frowning, Victor leaned to the right, approached Comrade Malenkov, and asked, "What's the matter? The launch time has been delayed by a quarter of an hour. Is there something wrong?"

Comrade Malenkov was looking down at a document in his hand. Hearing Victor's question, he looked at his watch subconsciously, and then tried to reach out to turn on the microphone in front of him, but was stopped by Victor.

Turning his head in surprise, Comrade Malenkov glanced at Viktor, only to see him raise his chin towards the podium in front of him.

Looking in the direction he indicated, Comrade Malenkov saw next to the podium, Comrade Beria was talking to Korolev and other experts, and looking at their expressions, it didn't look like something was wrong. how the problem looks.

Comrade Malenkov raised his eyebrows and retracted the idea of ​​asking in person. He turned his head and glanced at Victor, then pushed over the document he had read before, indicating that Victor should also look at it.

Victor didn't refuse, he reached out and took the document, and while reaching for a cigarette from his pocket, he looked down at the contents of the document.

After reading only the beginning of the document, Viktor stopped. He took a cigarette and handed it to Comrade Malenkov, while asking: "The question of the Far Eastern Committee has been settled? The Americans have made concessions?"

Comrade Malenkov took the cigarette and lit it with the lighter that Victor handed over before shaking his head and said, "The final negotiation has not yet been reached. According to the schedule report submitted by the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs, the Americans should not compromise for the time being. willingness, but this does not affect the issue of compensation, especially the distribution of ships.”

The document that Comrade Malenkov read before was about the issue of compensation from Japan. To be more specific, it was about the division of Japanese ships in active service.

After the Japanese announced their unconditional surrender, how to liquidate Japan, a fascist country after the war, has become the most concerned issue of all warring countries against Japan.

As a major player in the Pacific War, the Americans from the very beginning wanted to keep the power to handle and manage post-war Japan firmly in their own hands, and Washington didn't just want to exclude the alliance from dealing with Japan. Going out, including the United Kingdom, China, Australia and other countries, it intends to squeeze out of the game. To this end, on the one hand, the Americans established the so-called "Command of the Allied Forces in Japan" in Japan, and decided that MacArthur would be the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in Japan without consulting any allies.

In addition, the Americans suggested that all allied countries should send representatives to form a "Far East Advisory Committee". This committee has no decision-making power on the control and handling of Japan. Only one report to the "Allied Command in Japan" The power to make recommendations and provide advice is, to put it bluntly, an empty body that doesn't care.

Naturally, the Alliance would not approve of such a domineering approach by the Americans. However, at that time, the Americans had nuclear weapons, but the Alliance did not. Therefore, under the helpless circumstances, the Alliance responded by refusing to participate in the so-called The "Far East Advisory Committee", meanwhile, also refused to withdraw troops from China's northeast and northern areas of the Korean peninsula.

In the following few months, the Soviet Union and the United States have been negotiating the issue of control of Japan, but they have never reached a decent result. On the contrary, the situation on the Korean peninsula is rapidly becoming tense, and frictions between the two sides continue.

It was not until the coalition's own first nuclear bomb was successfully tested that the Americans finally made some concessions. They accepted the coalition's request and formed a "Far East Committee", which was composed of representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom. To veto decisions made by the Allied Headquarters in Japan, in other words, this agency still has no decision-making power, but it has a certain veto power.

If it had been put forward a few months ago, faced with the proposal made by the Americans, the alliance might have really accepted it. After all, at that time, the Americans had an absolute advantage in military strength. They had mastered nuclear weapons that the alliance had never mastered. Moscow Had to accept Washington's nuclear blackmail. But now, the situation has changed. The alliance has its own nuclear weapons, breaking the American nuclear blackmail. At the same time, because of the first step in rocket technology, the alliance even has an advantage in some aspects. Therefore, the Americans this time It is difficult to make the alliance feel satisfied with the suggestions made.

What does the league want now? There is no doubt that what the alliance needs now is to share power with the United States in formulating and implementing Japan's occupation policy. In other words, the alliance believes that Japan's affairs cannot be decided by the United States itself, and the personnel of the Allied Command in Japan. The issue of equipment cannot be decided by the Americans themselves, and the alliance must also play a role in it.

Previously, the alliance put forward its own proposition on the occupation of the Japanese sub-district. Moscow needs to have control over Hokkaido. Only when the alliance controls the four northern islands and Hokkaido can it effectively control the Soya Strait and even the entire The Sea of ​​Okhotsk, thereby obtaining a choke point for the Alliance's Pacific Fleet to safely enter and exit the Pacific Ocean, is of great significance to the construction of the Alliance's blue-water navy.

However, in the negotiations that lasted for several months, the Americans did not make any concessions on the issue of Hokkaido. As a result, the alliance also began to trouble the Americans on the issue of the Korean peninsula. Comrade Molotov In a letter submitted to the US President last December, Moscow's position on the Far East issue was clearly stated: the United States should either hand over Japan's Hokkaido to the alliance, or hand over the southern part of North Korea to the alliance, because The original request of the Alliance at the Potsdam Conference was that Hokkaido would be occupied by the Alliance. At the same time, the Red Army's offensive on the Korean Peninsula would stop north of the 38th parallel. Now that the Americans do not intend to abide by the consensus reached at the Potsdam Conference, Then the alliance naturally has the right to gain control over the entire Korean peninsula.

The alliance's security policy in the Far East is actually very clear. Either it can obtain a safe waterway in and out of the Pacific Ocean, and vigorously develop the military strength of the Pacific Fleet, or it can implement a regional denial strategy, which may come from the sea. Controlling the entire Korean peninsula beyond the area of ​​the coalition coastline is critical to the security of the coalition's coastline.

In the past month or so, the alliance and the United States have been repeatedly entangled on these issues. The smell of gunpowder on the Korean peninsula is getting stronger and stronger. Comrade Vasilevsky, who is visiting the South Sakhalin region, even suggested that the alliance should block the southern part of the Korean peninsula. region, putting pressure on the Americans to make concessions on the issue from military action.

Victor has recently learned about the problems in the Far East. He knows that the US and the Soviet Union have not reached a final agreement. Therefore, he is surprised by the document in hand, because according to this document, the four countries of China, the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom have already An agreement was reached on the division of Japanese ships in active service. After four rounds of drawing lots, all the ships currently owned by Japan have been divided cleanly by the four countries.

According to the results of the four rounds of lottery, the alliance won 34 ships, including six destroyers, including Haruzuki, Hibiki, Hatsakura, Kiri, Tori, Shii, etc. Don't think that there are quite a lot of these ships. After the surrender, the little Japan was poor. Most of these ships that China, the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom took to divide up are faulty, and some of them don't even know if they can be repaired. Moreover, most of the thirty-four ships allocated by the alliance are coastal defense ships with small tonnage and little value.