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This groundbreaking study reveals the extent of British military planning against the Soviet Union during the first two years of the Second World War. These plans, formulated on the widespread belief that Soviet Russia was an active and willing partner in Adolf Hitler's war of conquest, were designed to bring the Soviets to their knees and deprive Nazi Germany of vital raw materials, especially oil. Churchill himself was one of the leading proponents of action that would have led to an Anglo-Soviet conflict even as the war with Germany raged on. Utilizing many never-before published documents, Osborn challenges conventional wisdom that Allied hopes were pinned on a Soviet entry into the war against Germany and proposes instead that, had the Nazis not successfully invaded France in May 1940, the Allies might well have launched their own offensive against the Soviet Union.
Anti-Soviet rumblings began shortly after the Red Army seized eastern Poland in September 1939, and became more strident after Joseph Stalin invaded Finland later that year. Truly serious planning did not take place, however, until after Stalin's disastrous war with Finland ended in March 1940. Immediately following the abrupt end of that conflict the Red Army sent substantial reinforcements to the Black Sea region, the area most threatened by Allied attack. In March-April 1940, the British undertook secret reconnaissance flights to obtain photographs of important targets inside the Soviet Union. The swift collapse of France in May 1940 insured that British bombers were not launched against these targets, but suspicion lingered between Britain and the USSR throughout the war, contributing to Stalin's refusal to believe Winston Churchill's warnings that Hitler was preparing to invade the USSR in 1941.
List of contents
Preface
Prologue
Poland, Finland, and the Nazi-Soviet Combination, September-November 1939
The Soviet Union Attacks Finland, December 1939
The Allies Search for a Weaker Enemy, January 1940
Finland, the Caucasus, and the Katyn Forest Massacre, February-March 1940
The Failure to Aid Finland and the Continuing Debate, March 1940
Operation Pike: The British Plan to Attack the Russian Oil Industry
Hitler's Blitzkrieg Foils the Allies and Relieves the Soviets, April-May 1940
The Nazis Attempt to Turn the Soviets Against the Allies, June-December 1940
Operation Barbarossa and new British Plans to Destroy the Russian Oil Industry
Conclusion
British Archival Sources
Index
About the author
PATRICK R. OSBORN is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is currently an archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration./e
Summary
Utilizing many documents, this study challenges conventional wisdom that Allied hopes were pinned on a Soviet entry into the war against Germany. It proposes that, had the Nazis not invaded France in May 1940, the Allies might well have launched their own offensive against the Soviet Union.
