Chapter 33: Against the Trend
"Yuri Arkhipovich? Comrade Captain Kulyokov, this is irresponsible behavior of yours. It is a passive resistance to the anti-counterrevolutionary work and a typical manifestation of political immaturity. Do you understand?"
In a barracks of the 209th Battalion, the blond Major Russell sat expressionlessly on a simple chair, flipping through a report submitted by Yuri in front of him, seemingly indifferent.
Next to Major Russell, a middle-aged man in civilian clothes with a round face and a lot of fat on his face was getting angry at Yuri. This man was Yuri? Ivanovich? Sobolev, an officer of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs from Lviv, not a member of the military. Compared with Russell, this guy was obviously more annoying. He was not only arrogant but also brainless, and he was completely bureaucratic. Although his roar was scary, Yuri really didn't take him seriously. People like him were not very politically skilled, so there was no need to be afraid of him.
"Comrade Supervisory Committee Member," Yuri's chair was two meters away from his desk, and he looked like he was interrogating a prisoner, but he was still neither humble nor arrogant when he spoke, "I disagree with you. The last time the rampant Bandera militants attacked the Lutsk radar station, I was in command of the entire battle. In that battle, my 209th Battalion suffered heavy losses. With this in mind, you should know how much I hate these traitors. Yes, I hate these traitors, and if possible, I hope they will all be hanged. But the problem now is that I have no reason to transfer this hatred of the enemy to my comrades, and there is no reason to accuse those comrades who have no problems of some crimes that do not exist in the first place."
"How can you be sure that those people you think have no problems really have no problems?" A thin man sitting next to Sobolev interrupted. This man looked to be in his early fifties, with severe baldness, and a shiny bald head, and there was a point in the middle of his head, like a large dum-dum bullet.
This man is Ilhom Heidarov, an Uzbek who works in the Political Department of the Kiev Special Military District and is a division-level military commissar.
Among the three members of the working group, this guy was the ugliest, with obvious Central Asian facial features. But if Yuri had a good impression of any of the three, it would undoubtedly be this guy. In fact, through this period of contact, Yuri also realized a problem, that is, Ilhom did not want the cleansing operation to expand within the Kiev-Tibet Military District. Just like the question he asked, it seemed to be blaming Yuri, but in fact it was giving him a chance to explain, hoping to help him get out of some trouble.
"Yes, I can't guarantee that they don't have problems, just like I can't guarantee that they do have problems," Yuri looked at Ilhom, nodded seriously, and said, "Comrade Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin once said: There is no lie in the world that everyone doesn't believe, and there is no one who doesn't believe a single lie or only believes lies. I know very well that today, here, I can go against my conscience and say that everyone on the list has problems, but this lie may be believed by someone today, but tomorrow, at least in the near future, there will always be someone who will question this lie. So, after careful consideration, I choose to tell the truth. I don't know many people on the list. I don't know not. Comrade committee members, you can say that I am incompetent and even remove me from my position, but you have no right to ask me to pin the charge of treason on everyone without any basis."
"Yuri" Sobolev was furious. He stood up from his seat suddenly, slammed the desk in front of him and roared.
"Well, Comrade Yuri Ivanovich," Major Russell seemed very calm. He stretched out his hand to stop the furious Sobolev and said, "There is no need to be so excited."
Sobolev was obviously afraid of Russell. After hearing these words, he suddenly stopped the roar that was about to come out of his mouth, sat back with a flushed face, and everyone could see that he was still angry.
"Comrade Captain Yuri," Major Russell calmed down the furious Sobolev and turned his gaze to Yuri. He said in a calm tone, "As a commander, I think you should understand everything you need to understand. You need to take responsibility for all the testimony you made today and your statement."
"I will never shirk my part of the responsibility, Comrade Major Russell," Yuri could certainly hear the potential threat in these words. He hesitated for a moment, and finally said through gritted teeth.
"Well, you can go out," Major Russell said in a deep voice without saying anything else. He put away the list and Yuri's report in front of him.
Looking at the major's gloomy expression and then at Sobolev's angry eyes beside him, Yuri felt heavy-hearted. He slowly stood up, saluted the three men, then turned and walked out of the barracks.
In this day and age, non-cooperation or even a passive attitude towards the anti-counterrevolutionary movement is a very dangerous behavior. Just as Sobolev said, it is a manifestation of political immaturity and a wrong stance. Such people generally cannot get anything good. But even knowing this, Yuri still chose what he thought was the right approach. Does he regret it? To be honest, he really regretted it the moment he stood up.
If he could choose to cooperate with the working group and give the working group what they needed to see in the report, then the worst result would be that he could continue to be the commander smoothly until the war broke out. But now? Maybe being dismissed from his post is just a good ending. If he fails to do anything right, he might end up in jail, or even be sent to the guillotine.
Yuri walked out of the barracks with his military cap in hand, and stood on the wooden steps in front of the barracks, looking at the soldiers who were training in the center of the camp. Due to the anti-counterrevolutionary campaign, the entire 209th Battalion was very abnormal during this period. Whether officers or soldiers, everyone was worried and had no intention of training. Although the daily training was still carried out in an orderly manner, the soldiers' spirits were completely different, and Yuri could fully perceive this.
After watching the training situation on the steps for a while, Yuri frowned in dissatisfaction. However, when he thought that he didn't know how many days he could continue to be the commander, he didn't want to say anything more. He just put his military cap on his head, straightened the hem of his uniform, and walked towards his barracks.
Everything that happened in the 209th Battalion is only a microcosm of the overall situation in western Ukraine. With several rebellions in western Ukraine, the storm of anti-counterrevolutionary activities has begun to spread widely. The terrifying nationwide anti-counterrevolutionary movement a few years ago seems to be happening again.
In Lviv, Kiev, and the Kiev Special Military District, nearly 600 people were quickly identified as traitors and spies and executed in the first few days of November. Vasily Rulsjian, the political commissar of the 209th Battalion, was executed during this period. The entire process, from interrogation to conviction to execution, took only four days.
The most outrageous thing is that the political commissar of the regiment headquarters who had signed the arrest order for Vasily Rulsten was also arrested by the NKVD on the fourth day after Vasily was executed, and was executed three days later.
Faced with the surging tide of anti-counterrevolutionary activities, Yuri could no longer hold back and chose an attitude of passive resistance. At the same time, another person could no longer sit still, but he did not choose to passively resist. Instead, he decided to go directly to Comrade Stalin and file a complaint.
Just after Yuri expressed his non-cooperation to the working group, the next day was the Soviet Union's annual National Day.
Moscow, Red Square, on the viewing platform above Lenin's Mausoleum, Zhukov, wearing a brand new general's uniform, stood quietly in the second row on the left. In front of him to the right was Marshal Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko, who had just been promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union a few months ago. Further to the right was the veteran Marshal of the Red Army, Marshal Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov. Looking past Marshal Voroshilov, to the right was Comrade Stalin, who had specially changed into an old military uniform.
On the square below the viewing stand, a formation of T-26 tanks was slowly moving past with a deafening roar. The thick smoke coming out from the back of the tanks filled the sky above the entire Red Square.
In fact, a military parade was held on Red Square on May Day a few months ago. Logically, there would be no military parade on National Day this year. However, changes in the international situation have changed this normal situation.
Just last month, the Soviet intelligence department received accurate information that the Germans had transferred as many as 36 divisions of troops from Germany on the Western Front to Poland. At the same time, a large number of experienced German officers were poured into the Romanian army and were training Romanian soldiers.
Even without further intelligence, the General Staff had reason to believe that the German offensive against the Soviet Union was probably imminent, but the real problem was that the Soviet Union was not really prepared for the battle.
This National Day military parade was actually a demonstration, the purpose of which was to deter the Germans' aggressive intentions or at least postpone the actual outbreak of the war.
However, compared with the purpose of the military parade, Zhukov hoped to use this opportunity to make a suggestion to Stalin, that is, the ongoing purge in western Ukraine must be stopped.
