John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY MARK WEBER IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Hitler Attacked Russia Because He Thought a Soviet Assault Was Imminent
“Two historic documents shed light on Germany's intentions”
For those who have studied the history of WWII, this is an old notion.
And it does not have great substance.
Going back to Hitler's early writing and speeches, the dream of conquering Russia was there, always.
It was more than a dream, it was a total fixation.
It's what he wanted to do, too, before he became embroiled with England, France, etc. in Western Europe.
Events in Europe delayed him.
As for Stalin, he was aware of Hitler's ultimate intentions. How could he not be, the way Hitler advertised?
Of course, the possibility always existed that, one day, Stalin would strike Germany, but Russia had no specific intention at the time.
It needed time to prepare for any eventuality. The Nonaggression Pact with Germany was viewed by Russia as buying time.
Hitler had built the finest army in Europe, and Russia was behind in almost everything. Stalin understood this. He was a very intelligent and well-read man, despite all his other horrible qualities. And he was not rash.
Stalin had industry working furiously to prepare a large tank reserve in the east, one that Germany was not fully aware of at the time of invasion. That preparation was one of the things that enabled Russia ultimately to win. Armor like the T-34s wasn't sophisticated, but maybe if you had enough, it could be decisive.
Once in the war, some of Russia's weapons proved poorly built. One high official had the temerity to tell Stalin personally that some of the fighter planes were death traps, junk. Stalin told him, you shouldn't have said that, and the man disappeared shortly.
Also, near the time of the invasion, Stalin was making tremendous efforts to keep the Germans happy by fulfilling resource orders as quickly as possible. There was an intense, costly effort to do so, even sometimes putting Russian orders second. It was not the posture of a soon-to-be invader.
Operation Barbarossa was delayed again right near its crucial launch date by unanticipated troubles Hitler had to deal with in Greece. Had it been launched earlier, as had been planned, it is at least possible the Germans might have succeeded. The winter would not have come so soon, a winter the German troops were not prepared for, and there would have been more weeks of good weather for the first shock of the attack.
