MacKenzie, David, and Michael W. Curran. Russia and the USSR in the Twentieth Century. 4th ed. Wadsworth Group. 2002.
Did Stalin Plan to Attack Nazi Germany in July 1941?
Was Hitler or Stalin responsible for the outbreak of the bloody
and destructive Nazi-Soviet War? The traditional Western and Soviet view was
that Nazi Germany launched a sudden and unprovoked attack—Operation Barbarossa—on
an innocent USSR on June 22, 1941. That interpretation views the Nazi- Soviet
War as the result of unprovoked but planned Nazi aggression against a Stalin
anxious to avoid a conflict. In sharp contrast stands Viktor Suvorov's (pseudonym
for Viktor Rezun) article of 1985, and 1988 book Icebreaker, asserting
that Stalin was preparing to attack Nazi Germany on July 6, 1941, invade Western
Europe and communize it. In his Day-M book of 1994, Suvorov claimed
that Stalin had decided in August 1939 on such a Soviet war of conquest as an
"icebreaker" to arouse European workers to initiate a socialist revolution.
Suvorov's "icebreaker" thesis was promptly criticized by Western scholars
as bad journalism based on inadequate and false documentation. A devastating
critique came from the Russian scholar Gabriel Gorodetsky in The Icebreaker
Myth (1995), then in Grand Delusion (1999),9 based on exceptional
access to Russian archives. Some German scholars, anxious to exonerate Hitler
and blacken Stalin and Soviet Russia, accepted much of Suvorov's thesis. They
claimed Hitler only turned against the USSR after learning of the planned Soviet
invasion of Germany. Some Russian scholars in the post-Soviet era have partially
supported Suvorov's claims.
Here we will present the pros and cons of this still hotly disputed controversy
for student evaluation. First, comes a summary of the Suvorov thesis followed
by critiques of one Russian and one American scholar. Then we will summarize
recent German and Russian partial support for Suvorov and a brief conclusion.
The Suvorov Thesis
Viktor Rezun, who defected to the West from Russian Military Intelligence, adopted
the pseudonym Suvorov, the name of Catherine the Great's brilliant general.
Beginning in 1985 he affirmed that Stalin had been seeking a war between Germany
and the West since the rise of Hitler, which he had promoted—viewing a
Nazi attack against western European countries as an "icebreaker"
that could reopen the possibility of a Communist revolution in Europe. The European
working class would acquire a powerful ally in the form of the Red Army, which
Stalin would insert after the competing "imperialist powers" had exhausted
one another in war. Suvorov asserted that Stalin planned to attack Nazi German
forces on July 6, 1941, reach Western Europe and communize it. Suvorov envisioned
thousands of Soviet wheeled tanks speeding along Germany's Autobahnen.
Stalin's plan was frustrated, noted Suvorov, when the Nazis, discovering Soviet
preparations, launched "Operation Barbarossa," a preemptive strike
that was amazingly successful because it caught Soviet forces in forward deployment
preparing to strike west and thus unprepared for defensive operations. Claimed
Suvorov:
I would like to suggest that,
from the beginning of the war, the Soviet communists made accusations against
every country in the world with the deliberate intention of concealing their
own role as instigators (of World War II) (xv).
From the 1920s on ... Stalin revived the strike power of German militarism.
Certainly not against himself . . . [but] so that war could be declared on the
rest of Europe. Stalin understood that a powerful, aggressive army does not
start a war by itself.
A mad, fanatical leader is also needed. Stalin did a great deal to see that
just such a leader [Hitler] should appear at the head of the German nation.
Once the fascists had come to power, Stalin persistently and doggedly pushed
towards war ... In the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939),
Stalin guaranteed Hitler freedom of action in Europe and, in effect, opened
the floodgates of the Second World War (xvi).
Even before the Nazis came to power, the Soviet leaders had given Hitler the
unofficial name of "Icebreaker for the Revolution." . . . The communists
understood that Europe would be vulnerable only in the event of war and that
the Icebreaker for the Revolution could make it vulnerable. Unaware of this,
Adolf Hitler cleared the way for world communism by his actions. . . . The Icebreaker
committed the greatest crimes against the world and humanity, and in so doing,
placed in Stalin's hands the moral right to declare himself the liberator of
Europe at any time he chose. . . . Stalin understood better than Hitler that
a war is won by that side which enters it last and not by the one which goes
into it first. Stalin granted Hitler the doubtful honor of being the first,
while he himself prepared for his unavoidable entry into the war "after
all the capitalists (will) have fought amongst themselves." (Stalin, VI,
158) (xvi-xvii).
In a chapter towards the end of Icebreaker entitled "The War Which Never
Was," Suvorov affirmed:
Hitler considered that a Soviet invasion
was inevitable, but he did not expect it to happen in the very near future.
German troops were diverted to activities of secondary importance, and the beginning
of Operation Barbarossa was postponed. The operation finally began on 22 June
1941. Hitler himself clearly did not realize what a tremendous stroke of luck
he had had. If Operation Barbarossa had been put off again ... to July 22, Hitler
would have had to do away with himself considerably earlier than in 1945.
Suvorov was referring to Stalin's alleged plan to attack Nazi Germany on 6 July
1941:
There are quite a few indications
that the date for the beginning of the Soviet Operation Groza ("Thunderstorm")
was fixed for 6 July 1941. . . . Zhukov and Stalin liked to deliver their surprise
strikes on Sunday mornings, and 6 July 1941 was the last Sunday before the concentration
of Soviet troops was complete (pp. 344-45).
Then Suvorov described the scenario for "Operation Groza":
At 3:30 A.M. Moscow time on 6 July
1941, tens of thousands of Soviet guns shatter the silence, announcing to the
world that the great "liberation" campaign of the Red Army has begun.
The Red Army's artillery is superior both in quality and quantity to any in
the world. There are vast reserves of ammunition stockpiled on the Soviet frontiers
(p. 345).
Suvorov asserted that Stalin had decided on a war of conquest at a meeting of
the Politburo of August 19, 1939 (p. 345).
Refutations of the "Icebreaker" Thesis
Gabriel Gorodetsky, a contemporary Russian scholar, had crossed literary swords
with Viktor Rezun, better known as Suvorov, ever since the latter had presented
his "icebreaker" thesis, stating:
Suvorov depicted Soviet Russia as
the aggressor, rather than the victim,in June 1941. He advanced the preposterous
and unsubstantiated claim that throughout 1930-41 Stalin had been meticulously
preparing a revolutionary war against Germany. Operation "Groza" was
planned for 6 July 1941 but was preempted by Hitler's own invasion of Russia.
The implication is breathtaking: in executing his foreign policy, Stalin, like
Hitler, was pursuing a master plan which sought world domination by transforming
the Second World War into a revolutionary war.
The acclaim that Icebreaker of Suvorov received in Russia and Germany,
and the failure of Russian military and diplomatic historians to condemn it,
induced Gorodetsky, after careful examination of numerous archival materials,
to denounce it in his Grand Delusion:
As a former master of disinformation
in the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence), Suvorov exploited the fact that
the period in question was rife with myth and conspiracy, most of it deliberately
propagated. . . . The popularity of Suvorov's flimsy and fraudulent work in
Russia and in many quarters in the West proves that the oldest, stalest conspiracies
survive longest. His books engender myths and consistently and deliberately
obstruct the search for truth by simplifying a complex situation (x).
Suvorov's views, continued Gorodetsky, coincided with a bitter debate in Germany
about the nature and course of its history, known as Historikerstreit.
Thus some German and Austrian scholars adopted Suvorov's views in order to support
their defense of the policies of Nazi Germany. "If Stalin had indeed been
intent on 'liberating' Central Europe, then Hitler's decision to fight Russia
could no longer be viewed ... as a strategic folly or crude aggressive act"
(x).
The American military historian, David B. Glantz,10 who has devoted much writing
to the history of the Red Army, rejected Suvorov's conclusions about Stalin's
offensive military plans and the Red Army's ability to launch a massive invasion
of central Europe in July 1941:
Thus Rezun (Suvorov) resurrected the
hitherto muffled and generally discounted argument. . . . that Stalin and his
cronies were directly responsible for fostering the outbreak of the war. ...
In Icebreaker Rezun documented his contentions with personal recollections
and material culled from a host of Soviet open sources with questionable regard
to context. While claiming to have had access to classified archival materials
while serving as a captain and major in the Soviet Army over twenty years ago,
he undercut the possible arguments of those who might use such materials in
the future to refute his claims by asserting that the most controversial information
in the archives has been suppressed or removed. At the least one can validly
question how an officer of his lowly rank could have had access to such material
in the first place and, if he had access, how could he recall the minute details
of such an extensive collection after so long a period.
In his expose, Rezun wove a complex mass of credible facts taken from Soviet
memoirs and postwar studies into a less credible web of intrigue surrounding
the circumstances associated with the outbreak of war. . . . He presented considerably
less evidence to support his more radical contentions concerning Stalin's war
plans for 1941. . . . He contended that Stalin planned offensive action in the
summer of 1941 (specifically, on 6 July), that he deliberately mobilized and
deployed a massive strategic second echelon to achieve victory . . . consisting
of imposing "black-shirted" NKVD formations and crack shock armies
. . . , that Stalin deliberately dismantled existing defensive fortifications
to facilitate his impending offensive, and that General A.M. Vasilevsky. . .
. was the architect and designated implementer of Stalin's cunning plan (pp.
4-5).
Thus Glantz found Suvorov's whole case regarding Soviet intentions in 1941 incredible
because of his misuse and distortion of often-questionable source materials.
Four years of catastrophic purges, affirmed Glantz, and in the midst of a badly
handled force expansion and rearmament program, "the Red Army was clearly
not suited to the conduct of large-scale offensive operations in summer 1941"
(pp. 6-7).
Recent Russian Evaluation of the "Icebreaker"
Thesis
Since the collapse of the USSR, Russian scholars have been free to reach their
own conclusions about controversial questions relating to Soviet history. On
the back cover of Stalin's Lost Chance, by Mikhail Mel'tiukov,11 contemporary
Russian historian, appears:
Political conditions for a blow at
Germany on the part of the USSR were sufficiently favorable. Unfortunately,
Stalin, fearing an Anglo-German compromise, as a minimum delayed for a month
the attack on Germany which was the only chance to defeat a German invasion.
Probably, this decision is one of the basic historic miscalculations of Stalin,
losing a favorable opportunity to destroy the most powerful European state and
by going to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, to eliminate a longstanding Western
threat to our country. As a result the German leadership could begin on June
22, 1941 the realization of the plan, "Barbarossa," which under the
conditions of unpreparedness of the Red Army for defense, led to the tragedy
of the year 1941 (for Russia).
Since 1993, noted Mel'tiukov, the military and political problems of the USSR
on the eve of the Great Fatherland War (Nazi-Soviet War) were at the center
of a discussion sparked by the publication in Russia of Suvorov's books. "Although
written in a genre of historical journalism and representing a type of 'puff-pastry,'
in which truth is mixed with half-truths and lies, they rather clearly outlined
the circle of problems . . . insufficiently developed in (Soviet) historiography."
New materials and investigations, argued Mel'tiukov, showed that the traditional
official Soviet version about the exclusively defensive intentions of the USSR
was invalid (p. 8).
An Austrian Reinforcement of "Icebreaker"
In 1985, before Suvorov's book on the "icebreaker" theory, the Austrian
scholar and former Wehrmacht soldier Ernst Topitsch,12 reached some
similar conclusions regarding Stalin's plans to attack Hitler and move westward
in 1941 or 1942. In his preface to Stalin's War, Topitsch argues:
Hitler and Nazi Germany forfeit their position at the centre of the stage and
make only episodic appearances—chess pieces rather than players—
forming part of a long-term strategy already conceived by Lenin which aimed
at the subjugation of the "capitalist world." . . .
Topitsch went on to emphasize the key role and outstanding ability of Stalin
revealed during World War II and to deprecate Hitler's role and prescience:
"It became more and more apparent that Stalin was not only the real victor,
but also the key figure in the war; he was, indeed, the only statesman who had
at the time a clear, broadly-based idea of his objectives." Topitsch stressed
that his purpose in composing "a radical new theory" of the origins
of World War II was not to exonerate Adolf Hitler but "rather to reduce
the German dictator to his real political and intellectual stature and to correct
the widely accepted overestimation of his ability." Stalin, affirmed the
Austrian, had utilized and exploited Hitler's weaknesses to spark the outbreak
of World War II:
What we know of the development of
the Red Army in the spring and early summer of 1941 . . . speaks much more for
than against the aggressive intentions of the Kremlin. ... By late summer the
preparations for a mass offensive against Germany would have been concluded
and such an attack was planned for 1942. The latter date was named by Stalin
himself on 5 May 1941 in a private speech to officer cadets. . . . Stalin had
excellent information about German plans and preparations for (Operation) Barbarossa,
but in spite of this, he did nothing to guard his forces against the tactical
surprise of the invasion. . . . There is a red thread woven into the fabric
of these events, a thread which represents a well-conceived policy, positioned
with astonishing finesse and carried into practice in accordance with clear
and logical principles. This proves Stalin to be a statesman of genius . . .
, far superior to Hitler and those guiding the destiny of the western powers.
... It was Stalin who emerged the real victor of the Second World War.
After the conclusion of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939, affirmed Topitsch,
Hitler became the dupe of Stalin, who utilized him to defeat France in 1940
and drive the British from the European continent. That Nazi victory "would
naturally shake the capitalist world to its foundations and open up the possibility
of revolutionary subversion in the centres of 'imperialism.'" The German
conquest of France, asserted Topitsch, finally created the situation Stalin
had hoped for. "The 'imperialist' war had now broken out in all its violence."
He continued:
Without knowing it or wanting to,
the Germans had performed a surprising and very important service for Moscow:
they had eliminated the military capacity of Russia's most important opponent,
the Western powers, from the continent. . . . Only the Wehrmacht stood between
the Red Army and the Atlantic. If the German army were defeated, the Soviets
would be masters of the European continent.
Up to then, affirmed Topitsch, Hitler had unwittingly aided Stalin, but after
summer 1940 he became a hindrance "whose removal. . . wouldn't seem to
be too great a task." The author then cited clues to suggest Stalin's resolve
to exploit a unique opportunity. On June 30, 1940, Foreign Minister Molotov
told the Lithuanian foreign minister: "We are more than ever convinced
that our brilliant comrade Lenin made no mistake when he asserted that the Second
World War would enable us to seize power in Europe. . . ." Thus Hitler
was to be utilized as "a battering ram against the allegedly strongest
bastion of capitalism, Great Britain." Topitsch intimated that the Kremlin
decided to embark on an offensive strategy right after the Nazi victory over
France.
Topitsch concluded from a Molotov speech in August 1940 that Stalin aimed to
provoke Nazi Germany to attack the USSR "in order then to inflict a defeat
by counterattack, and so gain mastery over the continent of Europe. The USSR,
asserted the author, "felt itself more and more in the position ... in
case of war (in) . . . completely wiping out the enemy aggressor on his own
territory." Regarding this as his "new theory," Stalin ordered
it tried out in war games and exercises -during the winter of 1940-41. However,
his plans were preempted by the Nazi invasion of June 1941. "Yet Operation
Barbarossa not only covered up Stalin's plans (for an attack) to perfection,
but ensured the complete success of his intention to thrust onto Hitler the
odium of the aggressor" (pp. 4, 8-9, 40-41, 54, 66, 69,119).
Conclusions
What, then, is our verdict on the "Icebreaker" theory? Despite its
considerable support by some Russian and German scholars, most historians reject
it for (1) lack of adequate documentary proof of a Soviet assault plan for July
1941; (2) evident weaknesses and shortcomings in the Red Army in 1941 that would
have made its implementation virtually impossible; (3) Stalin's basic caution
and reluctance to place the USSR at risk, as shown by his appeasement of Hitler
in 1940-41; (4) the absence, as Stalin surely realized, of any significant revolutionary
sentiment or agitation among European workers; and (5) most scholars who support
"Icebreaker" or a variant thereof appear personally motivated—Russians
in order to vilify Stalin and the USSR, Germans to exonerate Hitler of responsibility
for provoking World War II. Most scholars thus still accept the view that Hitler
was the aggressor in June 1941 against Soviet Russia in Operation Barbarossa.
•
8 Viktor Suvorov, Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?
trans. T. R. Beattie (London, 1990).
9 Gabriel Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia
(New Haven, CT, 1999).
10 David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War
(Lawrence, KS, 1998).
11 Mikhail Mel'tiukov, Upushchennyi shans Stalina (Moscow, 2000).
12 Ernst Topitsch. Stalin's War: A Radical New Theory of the Origins of the
Second World War (London, 1987).
Suggested Additional Reading
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Archives (New York, 1994).
BEEVOR, A. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 (New York, 1998).
DIALER, S. Stalin and His Generals ... (New York, 1969).
BOTERBLOEM, K. Life and Death under Stalin: Kalinin Province, 1945-1953 (Montreal,
1999).
BREINDEL, E. TheVerona Secrets: The Soviet Union's World War II Espionage Campaign
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BRZEZINSKI, Z. The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict, 2d ed. (Cambridge, MA, 1961).
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CLARK, A. Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-1945 (New York, 1965).
CLEMENS, D. S. Yalta (New York, 1970).
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DOUGLAS, R. From War to Cold War 1942-48 (New York, 1981).
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1999).
---------. The Road to Berlin: Continuing the History of
Stalin's War with Germany (Boulder, CO, 1983).
FEIS, H. Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin (Princeton, 1957).
FISCHER, G. Soviet Opposition to Stalin (Cambridge, MA, 1952).
FUGATE, B. Operation Barbarossa (Novato, CA, 1984).
GORODETSKY, G. Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia (New
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---------. Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of
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KORIAKOV, M. I'll Never Go Back: A Red Army Officer Talks, trans. N. Wreden
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LIGHTBODY, B. The Cold War (New York, NY, 1999).
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LYONS, G., ed. The Russian Version of the Second World War (New York, 1983).
MASTNY, V. Russia's Road to the Cold War ... (New York, 1979).
MCCAGG, W. O. Stalin Embattled, 1943-1948 (Detroit, 1978).
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NEKRICH, A. M. The Punished Peoples ..., trans. G. Saunders (New York, 1978).
PATERSON, T. G., and R. J. MCMAHON, eds. The Origins of the Cold War (Lexington,
MA, 1991).
PETROV, V., comp.June 22,1941 (Columbia, SC, 1968). PURDUE, A. W. The Second
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REINHARDT, K. The Turning Point: The Failure of Hitler's Strategy in the Winter
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1996).
SALISBURY, H. The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad (New York, 1969).
SEATON, A. Stalin as Military Commander (New York, 1976).
SHULMAN, M. Stalin's Foreign Policy Reappraised (Cambridge, MA, 1963).
SIMONOV, K. Days and Nights (New York, 1945). (Novel on Stalingrad.)
SNELL, J., ed. The Meaning of Yalta (Baton Rouge, 1956). STEENBERG, S. Vlasov
(New York, 1970).
TARRANT, V. E. Stalingrad: Anatomy of an Agony (New York, 1992).
VITUKHIN, L, ed. Soviet Generals Recall World War E (New York, 1981).
WERTH, A. Russia at War, 1941-45 (New York, 1964, 1984).
WOHLFORTH, W. C. The Elusive Balance: Power and Perceptions during the Cold
War (Ithaca, NY, 1993).
ZAWODNY, J. K. Death in the Forest: ...the Katyn Forest Massacre (Notre Dame,
1980).
---------. Nothing But Honour: The Story of the Warsaw
Uprising, 1944 (Stanford, 1978).
ZHUKOV, G. E. Marshal Zhukov's Greatest Battles (New York, 1969).
ZINNER, P. Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-1948 (New
York, 1963).
ZUBOK, V., and C. PLESHAKOV. Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev
(Cambridge, MA, 1996).
"ICEBREAKER" THEORY: BOOKS [RF: discussing the topic in general]
BEEVOR, A. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 (New York,
1998).
DUNN, W. S. Jr. Hitler's Nemesis: The Red Army, 1930-1945 (New York, 1994).
GLANTZ, D. M. Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War (Lawrence,
KS, 1998).
GLANTZ, D. M. and J. HOUSE. When Titans Clash: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
(Lawrence, KS, 1995).
GORKOV, I. Kremi, Stavka, Genshtab (Tver, 1995).
GORODETSKY, G. Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia (New
Haven, CT, 1999).
MELTIUKHOV, M. Upushchennyi shuns Stalina (Moscow, 2000).
NEVEZHIN, V. Sindrom nastupatel 'noi voiny (Moscow, 1997).
RAACK, R. Stalin's Drive to the West, 1939-1945 (Stanford, CA, 1995).
SEVOSTYANOV, P. Before the Nazi Invasion: Soviet Diplomacy in September 1939-June
1941 (Moscow, 1984 [a Soviet view]).
STOLFI, R.H.S. Hitler's Panzers East (Norman, OK, 1991).
SUVOROV, V. (Viktor Rezun). Den'M. 6 iuliia 1941 (Moscow, 1994).
---------Posledniai'a respublika (Moscow, 1996).
---------. Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?
trans. T. R. Beattie (London, 1990).
TOPITSCH, E. Stalin's War: A Radical New Theory of the Origins of the Second
World War (London, 1987).
WEINBERG, G. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War E (Cambridge, England,
1994).
ARTICLES
DALLIN, A. "Stalin and the German Invasion," Soviet Union, XVIII,
nos. 1-3 (1991): pp 19^37.
KIPP, J. W. "Barbarossa, Soviet Covering Forces and the
Initial Period of War___" The Journal of Slavic Military
Studies 1,2 (June 1988): 188-212.
NEVEZHIN, V. A. "The Pact with Germany and the Idea of an 'Offensive War',
1939-1941)," /SMS 8, 4 (December 1995), pp. 809-843.
ULDRICKS, T. "The Icebreaker Controversy: Did Stalin Plan to Attack Hitler?"Slavic
Review (Fall 1999).