The Northern Combat Group had to play the role that the SS had played historically, acting as firefighters on the battlefield. Wherever there was danger, they rushed to it. The Northern Combat Group and the Finnish 9th Infantry Division commanded by Colonel Silas Vuau, who had cooperated before, were sent to Viborg by General Mannerheim to help the Finnish 23rd Infantry Division defend Viborg. Their opponents were the Soviet 13th Army, which had just been mobilized by the Soviet Union some time ago and had just arrived on the Finnish battlefield. The 13th Army consisted of the 3rd, 15th, and 23rd Infantry Corps, tanks, artillery, aviation, etc. Corps and troops, totaling 100,000 men.
From March 8 to March 11, the Soviet 13th Army used its absolutely superior tank troops to break through the Finnish 23rd Division on the east side of Vyborg (this division was mainly composed of elderly reserve soldiers and had low combat effectiveness. (too strong) position, but with the efforts of the Northern Combat Group and the Finnish 9th Infantry Division, they took advantage of the darkness to launch a counterattack and regained the captured position. After all, the Soviet 13th Army has a clear advantage, and the soldiers have just been mobilized from the Soviet Union. Therefore, under the powerful attack of such a new force, the Northern Combat Group and the Finnish 9th Infantry Division, which have been fighting fiercely for several months, will not be able to deal with it. When fighting against them, it began to seem powerless.
The Soviet 13th Army continued to attack with the support of tanks, artillery, and aviation and indiscriminate bombing, and Vyborg's defense line was always in danger.
While the fighting on the Finnish battlefield was in full swing, Molotov had already arrived in Berlin for a month. Such a long delay was mainly caused by two reasons. One was that after Molotov arrived in Berlin, the Soviet Union’s former enemies Commander-in-Chief Timoshenko is still conducting ongoing investigations, because in Timoshenko's eyes, the relationship between Germany and Finland has always played an important role, so it is necessary to find out what kind of relationship Germany and Finland are now.
After Timoshenko's unremitting efforts, more and more information continued to come from the battlefield. Some soldiers reported that the troops they fought against were different from the general Finnish army. There were also Soviet Red Army soldiers who knew German and understood. According to what the soldiers of the Northern Combat Group said, there are various signs that what Timoshenko least wanted to let happen happened, that is, it is very likely that the Finnish army will have an army composed entirely of Germans.
Timoshenko did not dare to neglect, so he had to convey his guess to Moscow and obey the general secretary's decision. After Stalin learned the news, his reaction was incredulous at first, and then he was deeply angry, not against Germany. Anger, but anger towards the Director of the General Administration of State Security, Beria, because some time ago, Beria was still guaranteeing that if Germany sent volunteer troops, they would be discovered by Soviet agents.
Now, there is no sign that the agents deployed in Germany are functioning as they should. For this reason, Stalin found Beria and scolded him severely. The result of this incident was that after Beria returned to the State Security Administration, he immediately recalled all the spy chiefs deployed in Germany to the Soviet Union. As soon as the agents returned to the Soviet Union, they were detained without explanation and immediately followed. Here comes the secret interrogation. All the heads of the intelligence network were recalled to the Soviet Union, causing a short-term chaos in the Soviet intelligence network in Europe. This chaos was known to the Gestapo, who had always regarded them as opponents in the dark, but under Heydrich's Under the order, the Gestapo did not alert the enemy, but quietly followed the flaws leaked by the Soviet intelligence personnel to find out the strength of the Soviet intelligence network in Europe, and then fell silent again. Although Heydrich temporarily let these agents go, Horse, but one day, this time bomb will destroy the entire Soviet intelligence network in one fell swoop.
Another reason is caused by Germany. Generally speaking, Hit? After Le knew that Molotov was coming, he understood that Lin Wei's actions in Finland must have been discovered by the Soviets. It was even harder to hide a combat operation involving tens of thousands of people. The only difference was time. Sooner or later, Hit? Le was mentally prepared for this incident, so after getting the news of Molotov's visit, Hit? Le knew immediately that the Finnish actions had been discovered by the Soviets.
In Hit? It seems that at this time, the main thing is to cool down first and let Molotov hang out first, Hit? Le initially estimated that Molotov would be irritable in a few days and would come to Hit on his own initiative? Le, and a few days will give Ribbentrop enough time to deal with it, but unexpectedly Hit? Unexpectedly, Molotov was also constantly receiving instructions from within the Soviet Union at this time. Starting from Timoshenko's investigation, Moscow initially judged that there was probably a small but very elite force in Finland. Troops composed of Germans were fighting, and a few days later, new news came from Moscow. It said that there were about several thousand German volunteers, including a considerable number of World War I veterans. When Molotov was about to meet with Ribbentrop, new news came again. This time the news was that the Finnish Division, composed of about 15,000 Germans, was fighting in Finland, including the 10th Several Soviet Red Army divisions, including the Eighth "Yaroslavl" Red Banner Motorized Infantry Division, have been completely wiped out by this force. So Molotov had to postpone the meeting again.
Also on March 11, Molotov, who had finally figured out the relationship, finally met with German Deputy Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. Now Ribbentrop was very proud, although So far, he is still only the deputy minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs no longer dares to challenge his authority. Because Niuret is close to the Wehrmacht officer corps, he is not favored by Hit? Le believes that it was only because of Lin Wei's dealings that Niulet did not offend Hit too much? He was forced to step down. Now in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ribbentrop is basically the uncrowned king. Niuret and the elites of the Weimar Republic have basically been replaced by Hit? Le was placed in an idle position and did not interfere too much in the affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, allowing Ribbentrop to have the opportunity to fully demonstrate his talents.
At the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is only one street away from the city hall, two equally powerful people met again. The difference from the last time was that Ribbentrop no longer sent him to Moscow as he did the last time. He came to the door and begged for help in a low voice. Instead, he sat in the main seat and stared domineeringly at Molotov who walked in with him.
"Mr. Ribbentrop!" As soon as the two sides sat down, Molotov said straight to the point, "According to the last Soviet-German non-aggression treaty, your country will support the Soviet Union's actions around the Baltic Sea. Yes! And now our government has received news that there is a German army fighting the Red Army in Finland. I don’t know what explanation you have for this!"
"Mr. Molotov! Of course the empire has not obstructed your country's actions around the Baltic Sea, and has never opposed the interests of the Soviet Union!" Ribbentrop said righteously, "I can guarantee that until now, , not a single unit was sent to Finland by the German Empire to fight, and the target of the battle was the Soviet government, which has always been friendly to the Empire. In this regard, I must explain again and again that the head of state has always wanted to maintain friendly relations with your country. Our enemy is Those evil capitalists in the west are the shameless traitors who have been humiliating Germany."
This kind of diplomatic rhetoric is not enough for Ribbentrop, who has been an ambassador to the United Kingdom for two years. During his experience as an ambassador in London, Ribbentrop faced cynicism from all walks of life in the United Kingdom. Fu has long been accustomed to being overwhelmed with joy and anger, and when he talks about these crowns, he will not lose to anyone.
Molotov immediately realized that the person in front of him was difficult to deal with. The last time he had the upper hand in the negotiation with the person in front of him was entirely because the other party asked for help, which gave him the upper hand in Moscow. In fact, this is indeed the case. Last time, Ribbentrop mainly roped in the Soviets to deal with Poland, so that Britain and France would not dare to antagonize the Soviet Union and Germany at the same time. Only then could Germany successfully take over Poland, and a snowstorm of East Prussia and The shame of the German mainland being artificially separated.
Molotov knew that to gain the upper hand in this negotiation, he had to produce convincing evidence, so he took out a stack of documents, "Mr. Ribbentrop, the soldiers on the front line heard this more than once. Some people in the Finnish army spoke in German. Even when fighting the Red Army, when some soldiers shouted to each other, it was clear that these people were Germans. These are the testimonies of Red Army soldiers. I hope you will read them. Look," Molotov said, handing the document to Ribbentrop.
Ribbentrop took the document, glanced at it hurriedly, and said slowly, "First of all, Mr. Molotov, I don't know whether what this document says is true. Secondly, even if it is true, This document is true and it is a normal thing. We cannot lock all the people at home. They are going to Finland to participate in the war. That is their right. Mr. Molotov, as far as I know, for you The evaluation of this war by other countries was indeed very negative. People from many countries even went to Finland to volunteer. The soldiers of the Red Army may hear French and English, but you are not sure that what they hear is German. Furthermore, even if there are Germans serving as volunteers in Finland, that is their individual right, and the country should not interfere with this. But as a representative of the country, I assure you now that the German government has never sent any troops to Finland. combat".