SStalin'sIntentionsJune1941PageSix

Conclusion

A reinvigorated debate continues to this day, revisiting whether the Soviet Union prepared
for a defensive battle in June 1941 or whether the Soviet Union prepared to attack
Germany later that summer. Historically, conventional wisdom holds the Soviet Union
mobilized in a strictly defensive mode up to the day Nazi Germany attacked. The best
possible evidence existing today supports this long established view. Nevertheless, the
question remains: was Stalin preparing to attack Germany in June 1941? The answer to
this question may be decidedly different in another decade from what it is today. One thing
is certain however.

Though Stalin's thoughts on the eve of War are still an enigma there is little question Stalin
was to blame for what became the greatest military defeat in Russian history. Stalin made
or approved the orders putting the Red Army in a woeful position to either react to an
invasion or take the initiative. In addition, Stalin, for one reason or another, failed to
address the tremendous and varied sources of intelligence explaining the 1941 German
army in Eastern Europe was preparing to attack the Soviet Union.

There is a considerable amount we do not know about the 1941-45 war in Eastern Europe.
Important questions remain. Questions well worth exploring, even today; some sixty plus
years after the War ended.

1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6

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Endnotes:

1. Steven Douglas Mercatante has recently completed a manuscript exploring both why
Germany came far closer to winning the Second World War in Europe than previously
thought and also why Germany suffered catastrophic defeat; a manuscript stemming from
over two decades researching and studying the Second World War. Steven's writing in the
historical field also draws upon his experience as a former history teacher, from his
undergraduate studies in history at the University of Michigan and his graduate work in
history at Eastern Michigan University. Steven is also a practicing attorney and a published
author in the legal field; combining his interests in writing and history for an article entitled
The Deregulation of Usury Ceilings, Rise of Easy Credit, and Increasing Consumer Debt,
published in volume 53 of the South Dakota Law Review.

2. Catherine Merridale, Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945, (Picador,
2006) at page 16.

3. Peter McCarthy & Mike Syron, Panzerkrieg, The Rise and Fall of Hitler's Tank Divisions,
(Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002) at page 99.

4. David M. Glantz, The Soviet-German War 1941-1945: Myths and Realities: A Survey
Essay, A Paper Presented as the 20th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture at the Strom
Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs Clemson University, October 11,
2001 (Clemson, South Carolina) at page 17.

5. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 223.

6. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder Headline
Group, 2005) at page 49.

7. Heinz Guderian, Panzer Leader, (De Capo Press, 1996), at page 242.

8. Richard Overy, The Dictators Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, (W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) at page 94. Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941 A City and Its People At
War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) at page 82.

9. See Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern
History, (Macmillan, 2007), and Ed. Keith E. Bonn, Slaughterhouse, The Handbook of the
Eastern Front, (The Aberjona Press, 2005) for a detailed look at the demographic and
economic impact the War had on the Soviet Union.

10. Raymond James Sontag, James Stuart Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941
Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, (Department of State
Publication 3023, 1948), at page 353.

11. See Howard D. Grier, Hitler, Donitz, and the Baltic Sea: The Third Reich's Last Hope,
1944-1945, (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2007) for, among other things, an interesting look
at Sweden's role in the War.

12. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 87.

13. Edward Peterson, An Analytical History of World War Two, (Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
1995) at page 220. John Lukacs, June 1941 Hitler and Stalin, (Yale University Press, 2006)
at page 74.

14. Robert M. Citino, Death of the Wermacht, The German Campaigns of 1942, (University
Press of Kansas, 2007) at page 35. John Lukacs, June 1941 Hitler and Stalin, (Yale
University Press, 2006) at page 73.

15. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at page 30.

16. German Relations With Russia Hitler's Masked Intentions, Propaganda by Whisper From
Our Diplomatic Correspondent, The Times, Thursday Jun 12, 1941; pg 5; Issue 48950; col
F.

17. Russia and Germany, Troops Reported to be Massing Stalin's Dilemma, From Our
Correspondent, The Times, Jun 14, 1941; pg. 4; Issue 48952; col G.

18. Robert M. Citino, Death of the Wermacht, The German Campaigns of 1942, (University
Press of Kansas, 2007) at page 35.

19. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at pp. 133-135.

20. See Gabriel Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia,
(Yale University Press, 1999).

21. Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941 A City and Its People At War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
at page 47.

22. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at page 147.

23. Albert Seaton, The Battle for Moscow, (PEI Books, Inc. 1980) at page 23. Albert L.
Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2002) at page 122.

24. Richard Overy, The Dictators Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, (W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) at page 93.

25. Id. at 93.

26. See Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern
History, (Macmillan, 2007) at pp. 99-135.

27. Gabriel Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia, (Yale
University Press, 1999) at pp. 243, 319.

28. Id.

29. Richard Overy, The Dictators Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, (W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) at page 93. John Lukacs, June 1941 Hitler and Stalin, (Yale University
Press, 2006) at page 80.

30. Richard Overy, The Dictators Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, (W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) at 491. Also See John Lukacs, June 1941 Hitler and Stalin, (Yale University
Press, 2006) at page 33 (the Soviet government had gone so far as to hold ready a freight
train at the Manchurian border loaded with rubber for Germany at the German request).

31. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 94.

31a. John Lukacs, June 1941 Hitler and Stalin, (Yale University Press, 2006) at pp. 69-71.

32. Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941,
Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, (United States Department
of State Publication, 1948) at pp. 217-234.

33. Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939-1941, (Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002) at pp. 76-77.

34. Id. at 162-163.

35. See Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002).

36. Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002) at page ix. John Lukacs, June 1941 Hitler and Stalin, (Yale
University Press, 2006) at pp. 69-71.

37. Although Zhukov's planned version of this doctrine showed considerably more restraint,
as the German army had already massed on the Soviet border, than as practiced by the
Americans in attacking the effectively contained and largely impotent Iraqi state during
2003.

38. Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941 A City and Its People At War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
at page 41.

39. Ed. Keith E. Bonn, Slaughterhouse, The Handbook of the Eastern Front, (The Aberjona
Press, 2005) at pp. 113-114.

40. Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002) at pp. 91-92.

41. A.N. Yakovlev, ed.,1941 god. Dokumenty, (Moscow: Mezhdunarodniy Fond
"Demokratiya," 1998) page 162 translated and reproduced by Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's
Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002)
at pp. 94,167.

42. Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002) at pp. 94-95, 101-102.

43. Viktor Suvorov and Operation Barbarossa: Tukhachevskii Revisited, David M. Humpert,
The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 18:1, 59-74.

44. Richard Overy, The Dictators Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, (W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) at page 92.

45. Id. at 92.

46. Among the elements working against any veracity to a perceived Soviet offensive
intent, most prominently are the sources. There is little doubt if German officers, through
post-war memoirs, could create another version of the First World War "stab in the back
myth"; this time regarding Hitler and his alleged primary role in destroying German military
might during the Second World War - then Russian Generals and political leaders could do
the same to maintain their stature. An ongoing debate over Khrushchev's role in slanting
the post war Soviet literature toward Stalin's failings continues to attract researchers
stymied by Khrushchev's attempt at providing cover for Soviet military leaders wielding
influence in 1941; and since controlling the debate following Stalin's death. See Albert L.
Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet Grand Strategy 1939-1941, (Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2002) at pp. 100-103.

47. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 40.

48. Id. at 34-36.

49. Gabriel Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia, (Yale
University Press, 1999) at page 153.

50. Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941,
Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, (United States Department
of State Publication, 1948) at pp. 328-330.

51. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 82.

52. Id.

53. Richard Overy, The Dictators Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, (W.W. Norton &
Company, 2004) at page 486.

54. Id. at 486.

55. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998), at pp. 100-101.

56. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 30.

57. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at page 175.

58. Id. at 175.

59. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 69.

60. Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941 A City and Its People At War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
at page 62.

61. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998), at page 11. Albert L. Weeks, Stalin's Other War, Soviet
Grand Strategy, 1939-1941, (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002) at page 133.

62. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at page 175.

63. Russia and Germany, Troops Reported to be Massing Stalin's Dilemma, From Our
Correspondent, The Times, Jun 14, 1941; pg. 4; Issue 48952; col G. The consensus
opinion expressed by the experts in 1941 has managed nevertheless to turn into a lingering
belief today Germany made a tremendous mistake in even contemplating a successful war
against the Soviet Union. Hindsight plays a role, but what framed post war opinions even
more were the self-serving memoirs produced by German Generals after the war. Generals
who lost a war nearly every one of their contemporaries expected them to win. German
defeat was far from preordained, but so was German victory.

64. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 22. Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941 A City and Its People
At War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) at page 43.

65. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 69.

66. Viktor Suvorov and Operation Barbarossa: Tukhachevskii Revisited, David M. Humpert,
The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 18:1, 59-74.

67. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 23.

68. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998), Id. at page 110-112.

69. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 71.

70. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at page 150.

71. Id. at 160-163.

72. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998), at pp. 34-35.

73. Max Hastings, Armageddon, The Battle for Germany 1944-45, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)
at page 125.

74. Catherine Merridale, Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945, (Picador,
2006) at pp. 55-56.

75. Id. at 57-59.

76. Id. at 59-67.

77. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 31.

78. Catherine Merridale, Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945, (Picador,
2006) at pp. 59-67.

79. Max Hastings, Armageddon, The Battle for Germany 1944-45, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)
at page 99.

80. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 30.

81. Max Hastings, Armageddon, The Battle for Germany 1944-45, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005)
at pp. 103-104.

82. Chris Bellamy, Absolute War, Soviet Russia in the Second World War: A Modern History,
(Macmillan, 2007) at pp. 84-85.

83. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at pp. 24-25.

84. Peter McCarthy & Mike Syron, Panzerkrieg, The Rise and Fall of Hitler's Tank Divisions,
(Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002) at page 105.

85. Kenneth Macksey, Tank Warfare A History of Tanks in Battle, (Granada Publishing
Limited, 1971) at page 155.

86. R.M. Ogorkiewicz, Armoured Forces, A History of Armoured Forces and their Vehicles,
(Arms and Armour Press, 1970) at pp. 229-230.

87. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998), at pp. 116-118.

88. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975) at page 63.

89. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998) at page 13.

90. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at page 28.

91. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998) at page 184.

92. Id. at 187.

93. Id. at 188.

94. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998) at page 187.

95. Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, The Nazi-Soviet War 1941-1945, (Hodder
Headline Group, 2005) at pp. 28-29.

96. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus The Red Army On The Eve Of World War,
(University Press of Kansas, 1998) at page 187.