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 When Stalin and Hitler signed their Non-Aggression Pact, both of them knew it would be broken. With a copy of Mein Kampf in his hand, Stalin knew full well that Hitler hated the Bolshevics and had dreams of expanding Germany to the East. The question was when it would take place.
Stalin had several theories leading up to the fateful day of June 22, 1941. The theory that remained consistent was that Germany would not break the pact sooner than 1942. His gut told him it would be more like 1945. This would give Stalin plenty of time to prepare for a war with the Nazis.
His theories were based purely on logic. Hitler was still at war with Britain. Stalin reasoned, "I am certain that Hitler will not risk creating a second front by attacking the Soviet Union. Hitler is not such an idiot."
Everyone was telling the Soviet leader otherwise. Winston Churchill tried on several occasions and was met with great disdain. Stalin believed the Allies were attempting to push into a war with Germany in which the Allies could back the Nazis to defeat Russia. FDR tried as well and was ignored.
Stalin was constantly warned by intelligence reports provided by his own men. All signs indicated that Germany was preparing for an invasion some time in the summer of 1941. The final warning communicated to Stalin came six days before the invasion from a Soviet spy in the Luftwaffe. Stalin responded, "Tell the 'source' in the Staff of the German Air Force to fuck his mother!"
The fullness of Stalin's delusion was realized when Hitler attacked on June 22 - the same date in which Napolen invaded Russia 127 years earlier.
Stalin broke. Not much is known about what was going through his head, but we can glean a lot from his actions. There was no public address delivered by the ruler. He gave a few military orders for counterattacks, but all resulted in more destruction of his armies.
Russia's armies were not prepared. There was a lack of equipment, training, and commanders. Even rifles and machine-guns were not available in adequate numbers.
All of this was a direct result of Stalin. He refused to let his armies prepare even when his men begged him. There was not a single regimental commander who had taken the normal course at the Frunze Academy, Russia's equivalent of Fort Leavenworth to train General Staff. Stalin had killed them all through his purges.
On June 28, Stalin was able to sum up the situation perfectly. After spinning his wheels trying to get good intelligence from the front lines, he was only able to get a few pieces of very bad news. The leader erupted in front of his men, "Lenin founded our state and we've fucked it up."
Stalin headed for home. He would see no one and refused to answer the phone.
Orders could not be given without Stalin's approval. The Germans were approaching Moscow and Leningrad while the Red Army was paralyzed.
Supreme Defense Council
Two days later, Stalin's closest men knew the situation was desperate. With Stalin gone, the Germans were guaranteed a sure victory. A plan was orchestrated to pull the leader from his slump and get back into active leadership.
The men arrived at Stalin's home to see him haggard and depressed-looking. "Why've you come?" he asked. They explained to Stalin an idea of started a Supreme Defense Council and that they wanted Stalin to lead it.
Stalin woke from his slumber.
The Kremlin was back in action in the late afternoon of the first of the month. On July 3, Stalin finally addressed the nation on the radio a full two weeks after the war began.
Stalin was back in full force by July 10 when he declared, "Officers who do not carry out orders, abandoning their positions like traitors and leaving the defensive ridge without orders have not yet been punished." He also sent out the head of the NKVD to forward units who had "done nothing so far" and "deal with the cowards and traitors on the spot."
The result of four years of fighting the Nazis took its toll. The mid-estimate for those killed by the Nazis is roughly 20,000,000. At the same time, Stalin waged a war against his own people. There were many methods imposed by Stalin during the war. Some were already common practice.
The methods included:
- Execution
- Shooting prisoners
- Forcing labor
- Deportation
- Good ol' purges
- GULAG deaths
- Imposed famine
- Sending unlikeables to clear landmines by walking through them
- Hosing down "traitors" who retreated from the front line
The result was 10,000,000 Soviets killed by their own government. That is nearly 1 out of 20 Soviet citizens. Stalin was determined to defeat the Nazis and he was prepared to throw as many bodies at the front lines as needed.
This is the Stalin we've all come to know. This is the "Man of Steel" who built the "unstoppable Red Army" to crush the Nazis. This is the Stalin who never met a Soviet he wasn't willing to sacrifice.
Had Stalin's two weeks of cowardice lasted longer, Hitler might have successfully defeated the Soviet Union. It makes one wonder what worse fate the Soviet people might have faced under Nazi rule.
References
Antonov-Ovseyenko, Anton (1981). The Time of Stalin: portrait of a tyranny . New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Berthon, Simon and Potts, Joanna (2006). Warlords: an extraordinary re-creation of World War II through the eyes and minds of Hitler, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. United Kingdom: Da Capo Press.
Conquest, Robert (1991). Stalin: breaker of nations. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Rummel, R. J. (1996). Lethal politics: Soviet genocide and mass murder since 1917 (1st paperback ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
March 3, 2007 - Update on Stalin's "Fuck His Mother" Comment
After watching a 1999 BBC series entitled War of the Century, I was presented with a different version concerning Stalin's "fuck his mother" comment. In the Warlords book, they described Stalin as "screeching" the comment. The series based off the book follows the same notion.
But in War of the Century, they described Stalin receiving an intelligence report presenting the information from the spy in the German Airforce. The show described Stalin as scrawling on top of the report "Comrade Merklov, you can send your "source" from the headquarters of the German air force to his fucking mother. He is not a source, but a dis-informant."
The intelligence document had just been recently declassified at the time the show was produced and they also had a picture of the report with Stalin's message.
My interest was not over the translation of what Stalin told the spy he can do with his mother, but more over whether he said the comment or wrote it.
Warlords lists their source for the exchange coming from Simon Sebag-Montefiore's book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. I tracked the book down and read the description of Stalin scrawling on the message and signing it "J. St."
Not sure why "scrawled" got turned into "screeched", but was it was interesting to see what I thought a verbal exchange discussed as written communication on a BBC program.
New References:
Sebag-Montefiorce, Simon (2003). Stalin: the court of the red tsar. London, England: Vintage.
Rees, L. (Writer). (1999). High Hopes [Television series episode]. In L. Rees (Producer), War of the Century. England, UK: BBC.
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