Chapter 742: Surrender (Revised)

"What, what's going on? How could this happen?!" Looking at the bodies in the leaflets, Fominekh was stunned. One of them was Marshal Budyonny's family. The bodies of all the family members had wooden signs with the words "Traitors to the Motherland" hanging on their chests.

Fominekh was not a tactical idiot. He quite agreed with Marshal Budyonny's tactics of stationing troops in cities to fight street battles and consume the German army's strength. After all, once they left the city, they, the infantry, would only be crushed by the German armored forces on the flat terrain of Belarus and Ukraine.

And he also knew that Marshal Budyonny was determined to fight the Germans to the death and had no intention of surrendering. Why were his family members executed as traitors? ! Did Stalin define them as traitors just because they did not carry out Stalin's order to take the initiative to attack the German army? !

"This is impossible, how could this happen?" Just as Fominekh was mumbling in confusion, Budyonny's adjutant kicked him hard. "You are still pretending to be confused?! It was you damn bastards who reported the evil to Stalin?! Why were the families of officers executed, but not the families of you political commissars? What good does it do you to frame us like this? Ah?! Can you get promoted or make a fortune?! You bastards are the sinners of the Soviet Union! Traitors!!" He became more and more excited as he spoke, and the force of his feet became stronger and stronger. After a while, the unfortunate Fominekh was spitting blood and dying.

"Take him out and shoot him!" Marshal Budyonny waved his hand and ordered people to drag the unconscious Fominekh out.

The adjutant spat angrily. "Comrade Marshal, I think Stalin has gone crazy! The Soviet Union will be destroyed in his hands sooner or later, and there is no need for us to be buried with him."

Marshal Budyonny nodded gloomily. "You go contact the Germans."

"Yes!"

Soon, Marshal Budyonny issued a notice to surrender to the German army.

The news of the collective surrender of the defenders of Belarus and Ukraine reached Moscow, making Stalin furious. "How dare he! Why didn't he die in battle?! He is a betrayer! A naked betrayal of the Soviet Union!" Timoshenko first, Budyonny later, two consecutive Soviet marshals surrendered to the German army; this would have a very bad impact. Moreover, Budyonny was one of the first marshals after the establishment of the Soviet Union. He could be said to be the oldest hero. How could he surrender like this? !

Stalin, who was furious, immediately found Beria and ordered the arrest and execution of Marshal Budyonny's family.

When Beria heard this order, his heart skipped a beat. The last time he arrested Timoshenko's family, he was in vain, and the last time he arrested Yakov's uncle's family, he was also in vain, which made him a little psychologically traumatized.

He did not dare to delay for a moment and immediately led people to Marshal Budyonny's residence, but found that the house was empty and full of dust. It was obvious that no one had taken care of it for a long time.

"Escaped again?!" Beria was sweating coldly; first Timoshenko, then Yakov, and now even Marshal Budyonny's family was missing? It was really a ghost, how could such bad luck fall on him? !

But when he asked the neighbors around, the answer he got made Beria shocked and angry. The neighbors told him that a group of officers wearing blue hats and claiming to be officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to execute their family a few days ago, and the bodies had been handled by the local police.

"Who did it?!" He was the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Who dared to bypass him and Stalin and arbitrarily execute the family of the Soviet marshal? He immediately launched an investigation, but found something even more shocking; not only Marshal Budyonny, but also the families of senior Soviet commanders in the encirclement of Belarus and Ukraine were all killed.

Beria finally understood. No wonder the Soviet troops in Belarus and Ukraine surrendered en masse. They were probably informed that their relatives were executed as traitors. But he and Comrade Stalin had been kept in the dark.

Beria naturally did not dare to conceal such a big thing and reported it to Stalin immediately.

After listening to Beria's report, Stalin frowned. "Are you saying that someone pretended to be from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to execute the families of those senior commanders, including the family of Marshal Budyonny?"

Beria wiped the cold sweat from his face and replied tremblingly. "Yes, Comrade Stalin. I have investigated all the action teams of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was not their doing. Someone must have pretended to be them."

"Why didn't anyone report it?"

"..." Who dares to say anything when the Ministry of Internal Affairs does things? Moreover, they were shot in the name of executing traitors to the motherland. If they dared to say anything, they might be involved in some kind of relationship with the traitors. Who dares to cause this trouble?

Fortunately, Stalin did not delve into this issue. "Who do you think it is?"

Beria blurted out. "It must be the Germans." Who else could it be but the Germans? And even if it wasn't the Germans, they had to blame the Germans.

Unfortunately, even if they knew it was the Germans who did it, what could they do? Even if they swore to God that it was definitely the Germans who did it, I'm afraid no one would believe it. Maybe they would be despised, because they didn't admit it and blamed the Germans.

Stalin obviously thought of this situation and said angrily. "These stupid guys fell into the trap of the Germans so easily."

In just one day, the Soviet troops in Belarus and Ukraine surrendered one after another, and they turned into the Restoration Army full of revenge. Every senior commander gritted his teeth and vowed to make Stalin pay the price.

In this way, the German army gained nearly one million troops without firing a single shot.

Yannick also promised Budyonny that he would give him a piece of land to establish a country after defeating the Soviet Union.

Subsequently, Budyonny published a smear campaign against Stalin, which also listed several of Stalin's crimes, including the murder of the great revolutionary mentor Comrade Ulyanov; and there were many more details than Timoshenko's accusation.

His broadcast made Stalin furious. Timoshenko said that he had murdered Comrade Ulyanov before, and now Marshal Budyonny also said that he had killed Comrade Ulyanov. Although this was clearly a conspiracy of the Germans, Stalin also knew the truth that three people make a tiger. If everyone believed that it was really him who killed Comrade Ulyanov, not only would he be disgraced and deserted by his friends and relatives, but the entire Soviet Union would be in danger.

Furious, Stalin ordered Beria to get rid of Budyonny and Timoshenko together.

This made Beria very worried.

The people who were supposed to assassinate Yakov and the German crown prince haven't even arrived yet, and now they're going to assassinate Budyonny and Timoshenko?!