Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: NBC (2)
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The man of the frozen tundra, Stalin, was trembling at the might of the new weapon America had displayed.
He had deliberately invited Soviet military attachés to showcase the power of the "nuclear" bomb with utmost confidence.
The Soviet Union was clearly at a disadvantage.
Of course, the Soviets weren't just sitting idly by in the nuclear arms race.
Under Lavrentiy Beria's supervision, Igor Kurchatov's research team had already begun nuclear studies.
While securing uranium for nuclear research delayed real progress until 1943, it wasn't all that far behind America.
However, with the Soviet Union teetering on the brink of survival in the war against Germany, conducting proper research amid the conflict was no easy feat.
In the end, it wasn't until after the war concluded in 1945 that the Soviet Union could pour national resources and budget into it.
By that point, they were several years behind America.
Stalin had confirmed that gap just yesterday.
The reality of the new weapon, which had existed only in theory, was more captivating than he had imagined.
Stalin wanted the new bomb that America had monopolized.
His own research was lagging far behind, and he coveted America's nukes just the same, so the Red leader's options were obvious.
If he couldn't have it in his own hands, he would have to share in what others possessed.
Fyodor Kuznetsov, head of the GRU military intelligence agency, entered the office at the General Secretary's summons.
"You called for me, Comrade General Secretary?"
Stalin tapped his desk with his pen before voicing his thoughts.
"We need to get our hands on that weapon for the Union."
Kuznetsov, a man who had survived by reading the room, immediately grasped what the General Secretary meant.
"If it's America's nukes you're referring to, I believe that's difficult for the time being."
"That's why we need to steal their data. Bring back materials that can advance our scientists' work."
In fact, they had been diligently stealing Western data since 1943.
But what Stalin wanted went beyond that.
The General Secretary desired intelligence that could dramatically shorten nuclear weapon development—decisive information.
Kuznetsov didn't want to give a hasty answer and fall out of favor.
"We'll mobilize the GRU's intelligence network to the fullest."
He couldn't commit definitively.
There were Soviet spies who had infiltrated the Manhattan Project, but whether the data they brought could dramatically accelerate nuclear development was uncertain.
The General Secretary was displeased with the intelligence chief's hesitant response.
Do it or don't.
Say you can or you can't.
What kind of intelligence handler couldn't even give a straight answer?
Stalin clicked his tongue.
With the situation like this, the Union's foreign strategy would have to shift to defense for the time being.
It seemed best to shelve the localized war planned in northern Italy as well.
'Generously estimating, we'll need to play defense for four years.'
But that would tarnish the Union's prestige too much.
They needed to stage some face-saving event to buy time.
'I'll have to think it over slowly.'
The General Secretary turned his gaze back to his documents.
If the Soviet Union was shocked by America's nuclear development, Britain was on the verge of fainting.
Not because of the nuclear development itself.
It was due to Washington's sordid betrayal.
"What do you mean they've developed it all and now refuse to share nukes? What kind of nonsense is that!"
The British Empire had been running the Tube Alloys project in preparation for confronting Nazi Germany.
But because it required astronomical budgets, they pivoted to collaboration with America.
That led to the Anglo-American Manhattan Project.
Yet America refused to share the nukes.
They had been struck hard in the back of the head.
America responded to Britain's protests with this absurd logic.
"Nukes are too critical a strategic asset to share."
The British government suffered a fatal blow over this issue.
"First they snatch our colonies from the Americans, and now they take our nukes too? This government's nothing but a bunch of idiots!"
Mosley didn't miss the opportunity.
"The British Empire must reclaim its rightful due! Attlee, who only invites humiliation, must step down!"
Churchill chimed in as well.
"If we let the Attlee regime, which is itching to sell off every last bit of the British Empire, continue, the Empire is finished. Now's the time for us to raise our voices. Attlee must resign!"
Amid fierce chants, fascists and conservatives joined hands and marched through London.
This marked the beginning of the so-called "London March."
The Attlee regime didn't yield to the fascists' resignation protests.
"Suppress them."
This time, the Home Office didn't oppose the crackdown.
Handing power to those fascists and their allies would undoubtedly undermine the values the Labour Party stood for.
Riot police were mobilized in droves, and tear gas blanketed the streets.
"We'll create a new alternative for the British Empire!"
"Shut up, you fascist bastards!"
Britain plunged into chaos reminiscent of a civil war.
This chaotic spectacle in Britain greatly bolstered France's Pierre de Léotard regime.
"Look at Britain, crying for freedom while losing order and principles in reckless abandon. That's what we looked like in the interwar period. Let's bid farewell to that miserable past and march toward a future devoted to the nation and community. What France needs is not freedom, but order and discipline."
Léotard waged this propaganda campaign to justify his rule.
That said, Léotard wasn't indifferent to nukes.
'Who doesn't know they're a good thing?'
But France lacked the capacity.
Just the military spending poured into Algeria and Indochina was enough to bend the nation's back.
Nuclear development in that situation?
Léotard harbored no such dreams.
If they were to develop nukes, it would be after quelling the colonial unrest.
While key competitors in nuclear development—Korea, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and others—were hitting walls of time or budget, America savored the sweetness of nuclear monopoly.
If only for a fleeting moment.
What America had overlooked was that the world was full of voluntary communists.
Even without enticement from agencies like Soviet military intelligence, no security could withstand the loyalty of those who pledged themselves to the ideological motherland.
Scientists in the Manhattan Project—Klaus Fuchs, Theodore Hall, David Greenglass, and others—stole information of immense value and passed it to the Soviets.
Detonator mechanisms, assembly sequences, blueprints, test results, implosion designs, and a host of other technologies were neatly packaged and delivered.
It was information of a quality and quantity that GRU-recruited spies could only dream of.
Unaware of this massive leak, America predicted Soviet nuclear armament wouldn't happen until the mid-1950s at the earliest.
But that assessment was wrong.
The Soviets were shortening the timeline at a frightening pace, thanks to America's blueprint.
Naturally, Soviet spies weren't limited to America.
Korea had its share of those loyal to the ideological motherland.
Park Jung-cheol, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute for Human Peace, secretly sent information to the Soviet Union, the ideological motherland, once a week.
Of course, the information Park sent held little value beyond confirming Korea's nuclear development level.
After half a year of feeding intel to the Soviets, Park was arrested by the KCIA.
"You bastard, how long have you been at this?"
In places like Britain or America, they might follow due process with investigation and trial, but this was the dictatorship of Daehan.
Ruthless violence and torture were unleashed on Park Jung-cheol.
"I-I'll tell you everything."
Park babbled incoherently, confessing every detail of his actions.
In the process, the word "Communist Party" slipped out.
"Korean Communist Party? Ah, so those bastards are behind it."
In truth, Park wasn't even a member of the Korean Communist Party.
He was just a wild-caught communist who turned red from reading books.
Of course, the KCIA wasn't benevolent enough to consider such circumstances.
They fabricated crimes where none existed; with a spy case on hand, staying idle would have been the real anomaly.
"Mobilize."
KCIA counterintelligence agents and police counterintelligence units nationwide launched a massive joint crackdown on the Communist Party.
This unexpected wave of mass arrests dragged the Communist Party leader, Pak Hon-yong, to the police station in handcuffs.
"What's our crime to deserve this?"
"You've got crimes, you red bastard."
Communist Party members faced intense interrogations the moment they were hauled in.
If they had no crimes, ones were invented for them.
Like sweet potatoes in a string, most Korean Communist Party members ended up in holding cells.
Kim Il-sung was swept up in the process as well.
"I'm innocent as the heavens above. Who are you calling scum?"
As soon as Kim bellowed, a boot flew at him.
Under the merciless violence, Kim couldn't even scream.
"I-I'm sorry."
Only then did Kim learn that one mustn't voice complaints before public security organs.
The police, who seemed insignificant when he was a soldier, now felt more fearsome than the heavens.
Thus, the Korean Communist Party crumbled overnight, but the Soviet government showed no reaction.
"Let the Koreans handle their own internal affairs."
Stalin had stood by while communists in Germany's sphere were crushed during the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
This time was no different.
With the power balance already tilting due to nukes, making an enemy of Korea would be foolish.
'I can't afford to antagonize Lee Seong-jun over a handful of Korean comrades.'
The trigger for the arrests was spy activity in the first place, so Stalin was reluctant for the Party to comment.
"Still, for the sake of our Asian comrades, if you could just say a word."
"You're a slow one, comrade. Give him time to reflect in the Gulag through labor."
Stalin chose to close his eyes and ears.
If the Union wanted to meddle in other great powers' internal affairs, it could wait until the Union reigned supreme.
Until then, silence and endurance were the only options.