NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 291



Only Noblemtl

Episode 291

Shadow Government (5)

People often use the expression “the flower of the battlefield” to describe tanks.

Since their first appearance in the Battle of the Somme, tanks have had such an enormous impact on the battlefield that they have become indispensable.

The endless rows of trenches, the fierce shelling, and the bad weather combined to create a small hell that sucked the lives of soldiers like an anthill that sucked in ants.

To cross this terrible space created between the trenches, a tremendous amount of blood had to be shed.

Tanks were created as a weapon to break through the enemy’s strong defense lines, replacing these weak soldiers.

The number of people is limited, but as many tanks as resources allow can be built.

That is why the new weapon tank that debuted on the battlefield at the end of the last great war soon became the star of the new battlefield that was to come.

In that sense, the interwar period was the golden age of tanks.

The great powers, having confirmed the versatility and utility of tanks in the previous great war, poured resources into the development of tanks, which were just beginning to take their first steps.

However, since this type of weapon was new, engineers from each country used their creativity to design all kinds of tanks.

Some tanks had multiple turrets, some had wheels instead of tracks, some were simply trucks with turrets, and some were simply cars with iron plates attached and called tanks.

However, there were a few countries that were ahead in tank development, namely Britain and France.

In particular, Britain was the first country in the world to deploy tanks on the battlefield during the Great War.

There is no rule that first is always best, but it is also true that the pioneers have an advantage over the later entrants.

In particular, the Carden-Lloyd tankette, Vickers tank, and Independence tank developed by Britain were considered the standards for tanks around the world.

Even the Soviet Union was developing a domestically produced tank based on British tanks in order to keep pace with the new era that was coming, and was developing a new weapon called a tank.

The Soviet Union, whose national infrastructure had completely collapsed after the Great War and the Civil War, was unlikely to develop a proper tank right away.

Skilled technicians and engineers had long since fled abroad or died during the war, and those who remained devoted themselves to developing tanks under difficult circumstances.

However, although they have been focusing on tank development for several years, there have been no notable results.

There were several changes in government, orders from the higher-ups changed, and the military’s demands and development funds changed every year, so there was no way this could proceed properly.

As this situation continued, the workers gradually lost their motivation to work, and rather than handling work autonomously, they were busy just doing what they were told from above.

“Nothing special happened today, was it?”

“If there’s work, there’s something else to do.”

“That’s true too.”

At the Kharkov Locomotive Plant in Kharkov, Soviet Ukraine, efforts to develop an independent Soviet tank continue even today.

They were troubled by a recent incident where a fire broke out in the prototype engine of a new Soviet tank.

“How’s the T24? Have you checked to see if there’s anything wrong with the engine?”

“It seems like there’s a problem with the cylinder… … No matter how much I take it apart, I can’t figure it out.”

“What? They’re yelling at us from above to fix the problem right away and have a new tank by next month.”

“That’s why you’re going crazy.”

The engineers at the Kharkov plant were under a lot of stress because the new tank project was not progressing at all.

No, to be exact, I was stressed because my superiors were forcing me to perform in situations where I couldn’t perform.

“I wonder where the answer sheet came from.”

“Another nonsense… Haven’t you ever heard that if you hope for luck in the world, honesty in labor will regress?”

“Yeah, you’re good.”

“Instead of thinking about that, let’s think about how we can solve this problem.”

“Yeah… yeah, you’re right.”

At that time, the engineers’ worries were deepening.

“Comrades! Rejoice, comrades!”

“?”

The director of the Kharkov factory came to the technicians with a red face and explained to them:

“Comrade General Secretary Stalin has promised extensive support for the development of a new tank, and the Politburo has sent us a blueprint for the development of a new British tank and its engine!”

“blueprint?”

When they heard that the blueprints had been taken from England, the technicians rushed over and took the blueprints that the supervisor had copied.

“This is… … .”

“I think it’s a Vickers tank?”

“No. This tank is too big to be called a Vickers, and it has a cannon instead of a machine gun.”

“Is that so?”

“And the gloves there are several times stronger… … .”

“The engine is a diesel engine, not a gasoline engine?”

“Diesel?”

Engineers worked hard to analyze the blueprints and interpret their contents.

However, there was a lot of inaccurate information in interpreting this blueprint, and there were quite a few things that were difficult for them to understand at their level.

“I don’t think the numbers here match up well?”

“One side of this place is completely erased.”

“Is this an error that occurred during copying?”

“No, it looks like someone deleted it on purpose.”

“Erased? Who?”

“I think it’s for confidentiality purposes?”

“Write… … .”

In particular, the engine had a detailed design, but the most important figures were completely erased.

It was as if someone had deliberately painted over only the numerical parts.

“Who deleted it?”

“Could it be that a problem occurred while extracting information from the Politburo?”

“Maybe so… … .”

“Maybe someone erased it on purpose.”

“Who erased it?”

* * *

Vladivostok, a port city in the Soviet Far East.

I am the head of the Far Eastern branch of the Soviet Politburo, which is said to have brought down birds.

And here was the most dangerous man in the world, the one who would terrorize the entire world.

“Hwaaam… … .”

“… … .”

“why?”

“Oh, no.”

Beria glanced at the man yawning heavily as he lay on the sofa in his office.

Beria thought.

He is a high-ranking member of the Politburo, a branch manager, and not just an individual agent, but a person who can even bring down a bird in the Soviet Union.

But the person in front of him didn’t care about that, and he barged into someone else’s office from the morning and played around like it was his own living room, which really bothered him.

“Why are you glancing like that?”

“… … How did you get in here?”

“I heard that everyone got out of the way when I said I came to meet Beria dressed casually.”

“… … .”

The Soviet Union’s best-protected intelligence agency was breached with just a single word.

“… … I think we’ll have to pay more attention to security later.”

“It’s not like I won’t be able to come in, but is it really worth the effort?”

“… … .”

Beria gave up on security and asked about the blueprints he had given him a while ago.

“That thing you gave me a while ago.”

“That? What is that?”

“No, I mean the tank blueprints.”

“Oh, that? How is it? Is it somewhat useful?”

“Well… … The response from the field is good, and the authorities are also happy, saying it is a dazzling achievement.”

“yes?”

Beria had recently received from him the blueprints for a tank that was currently under development in the West.

This is the development drawing of the latest tank, which the Soviet Union had not even heard of being under development.

“I never imagined that the British were designing such an advanced tank. If the blueprints are so detailed, I bet they’ve already produced a prototype.”

“Huh? That’s not it~”

“yes?”

“They wouldn’t even think of making something like that?”

“yes……?”

Beria did not understand what he was saying.

“What do you mean? You have no intention of making it? Even to me, a layman in the world of weapons, it was a very advanced tank.”

“Well… … I guess that’s true.”

“I thought it was called Matilda? Judging from the fact that the name was intentionally given as a female one, I think the British are also taking security precautions when making it.”

“Um… … That’s true, but I don’t think we’re making it now.”

“Yes? Then where did you get it?”

In response to Beria’s question, the young man stood up, laughed, and lightly tapped Beria on the forehead.

“Haha, I saved your life with great determination, but does the source matter?”

“That’s… … that’s true, though.”

Beria could not hide his uneasy feelings.

His intuition told him that there was definitely some kind of secret there.

But with his help, he had saved his position and his life, so he couldn’t bring himself to tell him the secret he was hiding, because it was like saving a drowning person and asking him to hand over his bundle.

Although Beria was known as a loyal dog of the regime and a heartless, ruthless murderer, he was not shameless enough to say such things to the person who saved his life.

The man in front of him was not someone he could mess with.

Beria called himself a servant of the people.

It means that he is a person who knows how to work harder than anyone else.

“Since it was brought by you, what does it matter where it came from?”

“Yes, that’s the attitude.”

“lol.”

Beria, who had been called Stalin’s ruthless hunting dog, was now just a neighborhood raccoon with a friendly smile.

* * *

This time I got lucky.

No, rather than saying I was lucky, it would be more correct to say that my old partner was of great help to me after a long time.

“Thanks to you, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.”

I lightly swept the laptop that had been carelessly thrown onto the passenger seat of the car and congratulated my long-time partner.

To be honest, it was difficult to make it seem real because the information contained in this guy’s database was so brief and simplified, but by erasing the parts that needed to be erased and cutting them down appropriately, I was able to quickly create a plausible confidential document.

‘I thought the Soviets would be suspicious… … but it seems the information was more plausible than I thought.’

To be honest, even when I first handed this material over to Beria, I wasn’t sure if it would work.

It was just a move made with the intention of either getting eaten, or else covering it up by saying that they had been fooled by the bluff of the British.

But this material worked much better than I expected.

The Soviet government and even its technicians fell for my faulty information and accepted it as if it were some kind of jewel.

‘But would this be of any help in the Soviet Union now?’

Honestly, I’m not sure about this.

That’s because I chose one of the tank blueprints that had been made during the interwar period with a lot of care put into it.

‘If I succeed, I can ask them to drop some soybeans on this side too, and if I fail, I can pretend not to know.’

First of all, my goal of rescuing Beria has been achieved, so the rest is good.

Actually, I didn’t really think about it.

Anyway, I was an outsider when it came to weapons, and my only goal was to pay off my debt to Beria.

but.

* * *

A few months later.

The Soviet Union celebrated the New Year with a grand military parade in Moscow.

Naturally, at the head of this military parade was the new T-24 tank manufactured at the Kharkov factory.

“Is this the new Soviet tank?”

“Isn’t it great?”

“hmm.”

Also present were German officers who had come to the Soviet Union for training under the treaty between the Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union.

“hmm.”