Opening Moves

One by one, they arrived, until the chosen meeting place was full of senior officers and their aides. Cigarette smoke filled the room and whilst some of the talk was of wives, daughters and mistresses, or a son needing advancement in someone else’s area of responsibility, the conversation eventually turned to the one question no-one could answer but, about which, everyone was prepared to venture an opinion. Why on earth was every senior commander from the entire Red Army and Air force assembled in this room? The interestingly small numbers of naval seniors present fuelled speculation further.

Some still expected a squad of heavily-armed NKVD to rush in and spray the room with bullets but most appreciated that something very momentous was about to be revealed.

An NKVD Major-General entered the room at the allotted hour of eleven o’clock precisely and sent the aides away, leaving solely their bosses who submitted themselves to the requests of the NKVD officer and followed him into the larger chamber from which he had emerged.

Another room from the bygone age of the Tsar’s, gold leaf still shining on ornate cornicing and wooden wall panelling polished to a deep velvety glow by generations of servants. Some of the art works hanging on the walls or displayed on marble plinths represented an entire tank regiment in rouble value. It would be fair to say that most there failed to appreciate the beauty and opulence of their surroundings, especially once they saw the entire GKO assembled on a podium at the end of the former music room, with the General Secretary sat in the middle, silent and coiled like a snake about to strike.

Directed to their designated places on the arranged seating plan, Marshalls and Generals alike sat down and were presented with a simple folder. The name in large bold type on the front cover gave more than one a moment of mirth, but not one that survived a withering stare from Stalin or Beria. They knew better than to open the file yet but it did not stop their minds from working hard to fathom the meaning of the title. There were only two officers present that did not search for the link between their presence here and the title of the folder. Those two were GRU Generals who were intimately familiar with the documents it contained.

A nod from Stalin and the Deputy Commissar for Defence stood, the room hushed and waited expectantly.

Nikolai Bulganin stroked his goatee beard for a second and then spoke in a deep gruff voice.

“Comrades, you have answered the call to come here and you will now learn of the part each of you will be required to play in shaping history.” That certainly got their attention, especially as most felt they had already played a useful part in shaping a positive history for the Motherland and, for that matter, the world.

“The German is defeated and cowed, half his lands and cities are ours, and we will bleed all we can from them in reparation for their bloody unprovoked attack on our Motherland. That is our right.”

The surprising spontaneous but light applause died a swift death as a silencing palm was raised.

“But comrades, we cannot rest there whilst others go unpunished for their aggression and treachery. Part of Germany is still free, occupied by the capitalist states; the same capitalist states who prevaricated, doing nothing of worth whilst you and your men bled in 42, 43 and half of 44.”

That drew a few nods and sounds of agreement. A raised hand again brought silence and Bulganin continued.

“Yes, the Capitalists Allies initially fought hard against the German and soon they broke them, those pitiful few divisions that faced them,” Bulganin qualified in a dismissive tone.

“We fought for every metre of land, ours, and theirs, and paid in blood! Whereas these Western Allies, these democratic nations, Ha! ,” Bulganin snorted his disgust, “They were welcomed with open arms into the German lair, the green toads surrendering in their thousands whilst they fought us tooth and nail.”

More positive noises of agreement from the group and again the hand was raised.

“The capitalists have lordship over the better half of Germany and have constantly threatened and tried to bully our Motherland over our agreements to withdraw to some apparently agreed lines on a map,” his voice rose, “Expecting us to concede ground rich with the blood of our troops!”

“We have responded to our agreements and relinquished some territory, as they have,” he conceded, “But they still sit on lands won from the German at great cost, not to them but to us!”

With a solemn shake of the head, Bulganin almost reluctantly continued.

“Berlin, bloody Berlin. How many of our sons’ hearts were stilled in those streets eh? Streets made sacred with our Soviet blood! And yet we have ceded vast portions of the city to honour our agreements.”

The diatribe was having its effect and some of the ensemble were becoming agitated. Stalin sat inscrutably and observed the emotion build.